The Great Melt of '26

 Hot.  So hot.  Melting.  Stuck indoors.

Guess that's a good excuse for an update.

My focused tasks lost focus with the weather.  I'm a larger lady and I don't do well in these hot, humid days of summer.  I've also kind of lost my drive.  I'm dealing with a few not so great issues with my health and one of the mules, so it makes it hard to really throw myself into the yard chores.  I did get the squash plants in the ground, so that's good.  I'd call that a focused task since I had to pull all the grass that came up through the mulch on the bank, but after bumping into a milk snake that was close to three feet long, my focus went right out the window.  I made sure he stayed on his side of the bank while I worked on mine, so the squash are a little shifted to one side of the area.  

Most of the spring sown crops have or are failing.  I've lost half the onions and shallots, and the snap peas are pretty pathetic.  The potatoes are doing great above ground.  I can only hope for the same for below.  I lost one of the six tomatoes but replaced it with a pineapple tomato variety.  I can't wait to try that in salsa.  The peppers are doing well, but I never got around to planting my corn...again.  I haven't planted any cucumbers yet, either.  I'm really slacking this year.  The hillside garden is more weeds than anything else.

The cottage gardens look pretty good despite me drowning them in soil.   I did lose a lot of plants over the winter, but some of the bulbs, like the varieties of alliums I added, are filling in empty spaces.  

The meadow, though.  Wow, is that really starting to come to!  Most people would probably identify at least a third of the plants as weeds, but I love them all. The pale purple and Bush's coneflowers are thriving, the field daisies have run rampant throughout, and my white penstemon seeded a baby that actually bloomed this year.  And it's still going like gangbusters.

 

 

 

See, not all doom and gloom.  As a bonus, I was able to meet my great granddaughter.  Her parents used wildflowers as a theme for her baby shower and in her room, and as soon as I heard that, I decided this was Charlotte's meadow.   It was fantastic to have her see her namesake garden, even if the copious amount of bees meant she couldn't really wander through it.  She managed to at least sample a small part of it.

Also, there is evolution happening in my water feature!

 

I've never seen them reach this phase in past years, so I'm pretty stoked.  Live long and prosper, little tadpoles!

Focused Task!

I'm digging this focused task approach.  It can be difficult not to be distracted by a secondary chore, but I'm getting better at catching myself before I stray, and staying on track.

Focused Task #2 was to replenish the big planter at the house with new, pee-free soil.  Mother's cat decided that was a delightful place for a wee last summer and nearly ruined my leek harvest.  I ended up removing most of the soil and then never got around to refilling it, so once I'd pulled all the curly willow sticks out of it, I figured it was time.  A new load of 50/50 soil/compost mix with some perlite added for good measure, and it was ready to plant.  I have three varieties of peppers that I started this spring: Thai, Hungarian Hot Wax, and California Sweet.  I purchased one bell variety and two jalapenos, so I think that should be a good mix.  

 

I added a couple basil plants and a curled parsley, then between the rows I planted carrots to the back and radish to the front.  To top it all off, I even mulched!  Job done.  And how about that clematis?  With the Ragged Robin at its feet and the mallow looking very shrub-like, it's a smorgasbord of pinks.  

Focused task #3 was redoing the inside of the polytunnel.  The grass and weeds had started pushing through the woodchips I had put down a few years ago, so I weedwacked the grass, put down large cardboard boxes with the sides up to discourage weeds along the edges, remulched, then potted up my tomatoes.

 

Sadly, I've hit another period of ennui, and just haven't had the desire to start more seeds.  These were a garden center six pack of beefsteak tomatoes.  I'm thinking of starting some Chadwick Cherry tomatoes because they did so well last year, and I like the large size of them for cherries.  If I do, they'll be planted in the bench pots, so only four need to be germinated.  

Next focused task?  So many to choose from.  The mule fence, the hillside garden fence, the cat fence, the front pasture fence, the re-mulching of the hillside garden, the de-grassing of the backyard bank, the finishing of the alpine garden, the moving of the manure piles...now I've done it.  I'm overwhelmed and anxious and can only muster a plaintive whine of defeat. F O C U S, woman.  Focus.

I done did it!

 My first 'focused task' - edging the hot gardens - from start to finish.  

 

 

Digging the grasses and weeds out of the edges was a nightmare, but even worse was trying to dig out all of the Jerusalem Artichokes.  They have quadrupled over the last year!  This is the pile of tubers I was able to dig out, now I don't know what to do with them.

Anybody want some free plants that are pretty much the herpes of gardening?  Once you have them, you never get rid of them.  

Straight through May and on to June

Well, that escalated quickly.  Once again, I feel as if I turned around and everything brown is green again.

It continues to be a cooler than average spring, and we've had a few storms that were untypically savage. Pouring rain, high winds, and cold fronts.  Today's storm of May 30th brought snow to the upper elevations - nearly six inches to the summit of Mount Washington!  It's been a cold, heavy rain here, but much welcomed.  We've moved the needle from severe drought conditions down to moderate over the past few months.  We've had a few summer sneak peeks of 80*F here and there, but pleasantly cool otherwise.  

The pasture has fully recovered from my accidental torching, and emerald green grasses now cover the burned area.  Reputa took a trip to my small engine guy's garage to see if she was salvageable.  Thankfully the only damage reported was a burned up drive belt, so I told him to give that old wench whatever she wanted, she deserved it.  A new belt, an oil change, new spark plug, air filter and fuel filter...the full spa treatment.  

 

She's back and running like a champ, but I'll admit that the first time I hauled a cart of manure out across the pasture, I was shaking like a leaf.  I didn't dare leave her running and after I'd put her away when I was done, I spent a good ten to fifteen minutes staring at the route we'd taken, checking for smoke or flames.  The next day I ordered two small fire extinguishers online.  One fits snugly into the pocket on the back of the seat cover, and having it has made me feel that much safer. 

On the suggestion of my small engine guy, I checked the mower deck pulleys and sure enough, one had frozen stuck.  The friction from that must have created the heat that sparked the dead grass that burned the pasture that lived in the house that Jack built.  Sorry, got a little carried away with that one.

Reputa is done mowing for the time being, and I'm not sure that I ever want to put that mower deck back on, even if it were fixed.  It's becoming increasingly difficult to lower my broken body to the ground to get it hooked or unhooked from the tractor, and it's even more increasingly difficult to heave my massive bulk back up onto my feet.  I still have the wimpy Craftsman rider for lawn mowing and such.

 In the gardens, I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the species tulips I've invested in.  I've flagged the red with yellow striped looking ones and plan to relocate them to the hot gardens.  The rest will remain in the cottage gardens, where they are just stunning. 

 

 

 Also in the cottage gardens, some of the Snake's Head Fritillary came back, and bonus - a few are pure white instead of the classic pink checkerboard pattern.

Happily enough, the 'Louise' dwarf iris finally emerged.  

 I can't wait to relocate them and the 'Katharine Hodgkin' to the alpine garden.

Oh, updates.  Well...more mule fence went up, but not enough that I can let them out yet.  I finally found someone to help and when she's here, things go three times as fast.  The cat fence still sits on the pallet, waiting for the day I finally start that project.  The hillside garden is an absolute m.e.s.s. - the grass has overtaken half the beds, the cool weather crop seeds I sowed a month ago have basically done nothing, and a bunch of my onions died off.  Weeds are rampant, though.  So hardy, much thriving.

I've ended up buying a lot of started vegetable plants because I just don't have the gumption to start more seeds indoors.  In fact, I've dismantled the racks and put them away for the time being.  I wish I'd taken some recent photos of the winter sown seeds.  They have done fantastic!  Going forward, that's how I plan to do my seed starting.  The only problem was that once the seedlings were big enough to pop out and pot on, I looked at the hundreds upon hundreds of them and said NOPE.  I pulled the seedlings out of the jugs in solid mat forms, broke them up into chunks, and planted them in clumps around the cottage gardens and the meadow area.  The only ones I decided to pay attention to were the Verbena Bonariensis and the white penstemons from my own seeds.  I planted those in clumps in a holding bed, and will try to separate them and move them when they're bigger.  

Speaking of the meadow area, I cannot get over how much growth has happened in just a few weeks.  This is a photo from May 12th and the same area today, May 30th.

One of my quick projects was painting the short metal fence that had been out front to divide the yards and use it in the meadow garden.  Last year the meadow plants grew crazy tall and flopped into the path area, and trying to water or simply walk around admiring my plants was difficult, especially when they were covered in stinging insects like bees and wasps.  Hopefully these will help hold things back a little. I am short a few sections, so I put some grade stake fence in as a placeholder until I can get some more panels.  In the front yard I needed to stake my peony and baptisia, and ended up cutting a ringed tomato cage in half.  I have a bunch more of those type of tomato cages and I may try using those for staking some of the taller plants in the meadow, as well.

I was thrilled to find two of the baptisia I grew from seed came back for a third year.  I'm hoping by next year they'll actually bloom.  The clematis "The President" that I bought at Job Lots last year came back, too.  I secured the dress form to the fence this spring so it has something sturdy to climb.

I'm also happy to report that after three years (yup, I started these seeds in 2023!), my Virgin's Bower plants are finally coming to life.

The three that I planted inside the bird cage are growing like crazy.  They definitely followed the rule of three that my mother reminds me of when I get impatient - the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, the third year they leap.  Since this vine won't bloom until late summer or early autumn, I've also planted some morning glories in with it to add some color.

The yellow twig dogwood is blooming - it feels like this is earlier than normal.

Ugh, look at all that grass.  I had planned to spend an hour every night working on pulling the grass on the bank and fluffing the bark mulch.  Planned.  Old.  Tired.  Too many projects.

Elsewhere in the meadow, spring bloomers are doing their thing.

And around front, the Midwinter Fire Dogwood garden has finished its display of tulips and daffodils, but they were spectacular this year.

The sunset colors of Tulipa 'Marit' were beautiful, and reminded me of the Mango Charm I had a few years ago.  These are a Darwin tulip, and may rebloom for a few years.  Those rich dark pinkish red tulips are leftover 'Artist' from last year, but honestly I feel like they were mislabeled.  I plan to split this clump and spread it throughout the bed, and hope it will come back again next year.  Whatever it is, it's a wonderful contrast to the softer colors of the daffodils, and picks up that pink in the 'Marit'.

With so many projects and everything getting ahead of me, I'm trying to focus on one thing at a time.  Tomorrow I will finally put edging around the hot gardens in front of the barn.  That will probably take me most of the day, but if I have extra time, maybe I can fit in some fence work.  We'll see.