Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Drought Broken!

Hibiscus by the garage door, revived after a night of rain.

These sunflowers grew up from last summer's seed which fell here where J, pushed up a rubble of stones and dirt. Mr. Rogers, the former owner, built a stone-walled raised bed in this spot.  I used it last year for sunflowers, finding it very awkward--too deep to reach into for weeding.
This is where the greenhouse is eventually supposed to be constucted.

A closer shot of the sunflowers.

Indoors, the cats have been cranky and lethargic with the on-going heat.
[I am likewise, although not sprawling on the floor!]

Willow usually spends nights outdoors, rushes in for breakfast and collapses.
Here she is in J.'s recliner.  The pose is very characteristic.

I was outside by 7 this morning, the better to enjoy a world refreshed by rain.
The unsquelchable Willis capered at my heels, then went on a hunting mission in the field beyond the
 lower garden.
His efforts were almost immediately successful.


I finally found the tag for the small tomatoes--Early Treat.
Its a shame that most of the seedlings which survived potting on were of this variety--not of the maincrop types which succumbed to a poor quality of potting soil.
These have made a good early nibble but they are not canning size or quality.
Yesterday we put 2 pails full of them through the juicer and bottled and processed the resulting 8 1/2 qts.
Hot, steamy work!
Rain came on Sundy evening accompanied by a thunder storm.
We sat on the front porch in the dark enjoying the sound of rain, the freshening smell of the yard, the welcome cooling of the air while Wills the Cat milled about, unaccustomed to the edge of the
porch being wet.
The rain continued gently for about 2 hours.
Monday morning we set 15 t omato plants into soft moist earth.
Back in the garden after some erannds in town.
Green beans, beets, Swiss chard, have all been tucked into available spaces.
Rain caught us as we worked, happily drenched.
Tuesday morning moist and mizzling, a few cucumber and squash seeds tucked into the upper garden.
It is growing more humid as the sun peeks through, but we'll deal with that.
The enthusiams of the dedicated garden are bubbling with hopeful plans--again!



8 comments:

  1. Thank goodness you got some decent rain ....the sun flowers are gorgeous ...good luck with your latest plantings. xx

    Jake is showing a great improvement ...we think the infection is on the run....hes back to his cheeky self.

    ReplyDelete
  2. it must be very refreshing for you, to have rain at last. The sunflowers looks gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very good to hear that you have had some rain at last!
    Your hibiscus is pretty one.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm so glad to hear that it is raining some where! Love your sunflowers. They make a pretty composition next to the weathered gray building. Don't blame the cats for sprawling on the floor, if this weather keeps up, I might join them!

    ReplyDelete
  5. WHAT a relief for you to finally get some rain, and I am glad it has spurred you on to growing more things in the veg. plot. Envious of your tomatoes - my 3 big-enough plants have flowers but they are not being pollinated.

    I hope you get a "normal" summer now. We are just hoping that we get an Indian one this year.

    ReplyDelete
  6. They're promising us rain today, hope so, my husband's 2 gardens are burning up.
    Enjoyed your story.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I heard that Kentucky got quite a bit of rain. We're still waiting for it here in southwest Ohio.

    Wonderful pictures.
    Lillian
    lillianscupboard.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. So glad you got some rain at last -- and we got some sunshine at last! They are threatening possibility of thunder showers for Friday, but they rarely reach the coast. Rain in July is unusual for us.

    ReplyDelete