First, the mishaps. The screwups. The WTFs up with my gardens.
My vegetable garden? My beloved, belabored vegetable garden? Well, it’s not having the relationship with me that I had hoped for. I put in a lot of work early and expected reliable payoffs. Nah, no such luck.
Vegetable Garden, June 2016
Spinach, June 2016
More…Dying…Spinach, June2016
So, I have no success in that stupid vegetable garden. But I do have luck with the edibles. They’re just all herbs! Wonderful as they are, you can’t make an entire meal or even a whole dish out of herbs. (Well, you can, but only 1 in 4 in the house would eat it. Moi.)
Sunny, warm/hot, but dry and breezy. Everything and anything you could want. It’s all here now. Pinnacle, I dare say?
It’s probably why I have a dearth of flowers blooming in June. Too busy enjoying the green and the weather (…or working …or wrapping up the school year) to be out selecting flowers that bloom at this time.
I do have a few things worth mentioning. The start of some of my summer flowers – pink yarrow, which I planted years and years ago; lychnis, which predates us moving in 12 years ago, and the new Mexican Hyssop I just planted late last fall.
The echinacea just about to pop. And so far the deer haven’t eaten the dahlias I planted. (I couldn’t make it one post without mentioning deer…) I keep telling the kids that the dahlias are – per the package – “dinner plate” sized. I’ve never grown dahlia’s before. So they’re really excited to see a flower that size. And me too. (Note to self, go put some soap or something on the dahlias…)
The deer ate my Iron Butterfly; clearly I need “Iron Deer” instead… Or something.
Speaking of deer, I came out this morning to turn the sprinkler on and startled a deer that was under the forsythia. I was startled. It was FREAKED OUT and bolted into the neighbor’s yard.
The mint I planted in pots is doing well. I need to trim it to encourage more stems and fuller growth. I don’t quite have “mojito capacity” just yet. Need more mint.
(Hold on – going to move the hose/sprinkler. Which I call “gardening.” [Ignore the vino verde in my hand…] Aaaannd I’m back.)
To digress – why so long between posts? Well, I’ll tell you. I’m very busy ignoring bills, being delinquent in any paper mail I receive, not buying my 6th grader in-season clothing (she grows 5 inches a year! don’t judge), attempting to not sign up for summer camps until they’ve sold out (that was fun) and very busy wondering if I have 5 clean-enough outfits to get me through a work week without doing laundry.
Did I mention my companion today, vino verde?
It’s soooo, soooo, sooo very green in the yard. Everything green. The butterfly bush is all green and HUGE, but not yet purple. The rose of sharon is green, but not flowering. So no pics of the green-not-yet-flowering things.
Here’s what’s flowering today or recently:
Clematis on front stepsClematis en vaseLychnis Rose CampionPink YarrowMexican Hyssop (and it tastes delish, like mint, but not)Lavender before it bloomsAnd, the kinda sad veg gardenRaspberries! Let’s see if we get any before the birds
I’m pretty sure my friends and family are tired of hearing my garden ramblings.
Glazed, wandering eyes. There’s only so much they can take about the difference between generic mint and Kentucky Colonel and whether or not I try 3 or 4 new kinds of mint this year. Being 12 degrees outside doesn’t help.
So, years later, I’m turning again to you, dear Internet, as my eager outlet.
Here’s my mint today. A little gem of a leaf is still there amid the mostly decimated plants. If you listen closely you can hear it: …mojito… mooooojitoooo….
'Burbtopia 