Saturday, July 13, 2013

Slogging Through Summer

After the thunderstorm on Thursday evening.
I picked green beans in the morning, a back-aching sort of job.
J. dug more potatoes, then left to deliver a tractor to a buyer below the Tennessee state line.
My mid-afternoon black clouds covered the sky, thunder crashed and rain came down in torrents.


I planted sunflowers very thickly. Some have come crashing down in the
frequent rains.
This bronze-y gold one has attracted bees.

A sunflower about to be.

Cosmos, from seed saved last year, have grown to frothy greenness.
Viewed closely some have distorted stalks--again from the abuse of rain and wind.

Zinnia's also from saved seed.  These flowers prefer sunny drier weather.
The flowers and smaller and less colorful than other seasons.

Elderberries forming.

Queen Anne's Lace in meadow grass.

Stargazer lily which has blossomed today.
Friday was clear and warm--dry enough to work along the edges of the flower strips.
I sheared back the mass of leaning spent flowers--achillea, daisies, veronica--all with extra tall lanky stems.
The southernwood in the background had a tangle of spindly branches dragging on the ground--those are now clipped away.
 

Edward watched from the box elder tree as I clipped and snipped, restoring order to the herb garden by the back door.
The cats came close to wallow in the pile of fragrant clippings: lavender, lemon balm, long straggling stems of thyme.
I ruthlessly lopped the stand of catnip just across the gravel from the herbs and tossed those stems on the pile.
The cats' fur smells deliciously of sun-warmed herbs.
The wet weather has continued so long that as farmer/gardeners we are discouraged.
It is too wet for haying.
The wheat could not be harvested.
M. and G.'s garden, so promising in early June, is soggy, the plants going yellow.
Many of the potatoes we harvested are rotting just days after being brought inside.
Dealing with adverse weather is a humbling thing--no amount of clever husbandry can compensate for a bad growing season!
 

8 comments:

  1. So sorry about your weather -- all that hard work and no progress. We haven't had ant rain (except for about six or seven drops!) since April or May. I just spent an hour watering our small front and back yards this evening. It's heavy work for me to haul out those hoses, but I only do it about once a week. I feel quite pleased that we have rescued quite a number of bushes, young trees and bouganvillea, which were about dead when we moved in. The change of ownership days left the garden without water for too long. But it's looking much better now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. we have quite the opposite here, with very hot very dry weather.
    I enjoy your posts, they are very well observed and your photos always help to set the scene.
    I am just waiting for my USA sunflowers to bloom.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my, I am sorry that the weather is effecting so much of your farm life. I pray you get some dry weather soon.

    Love and hugs to you ~ FlowerLady

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wonderful shot of Edward. Zinnias and Queen Anne's Lace are two of my favorites.
    Lillian

    ReplyDelete
  5. We're having the same garden problems down here in Georgia, just too much rain, reminds me of the first year we came here 10 years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am so sorry to read of the lost crops ...it is so hard for you that produce from the land.Do you do anything with the elderberries??
    It must lift the spirits, watching the feline capers...especially when high on cat nip ...Take Care xx

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sorry to hear about your potato crop. How disappointing. I have taken a chance on it staying hot and brought my tomato plants outside. In previous years they have been blighted . . .

    Sounds like you are keeping on top of your garden chores anyway. I wish I could say the same. It is in the low 80s Fahrenheit here and just TOO HOT for me - I frazzle easily.

    ReplyDelete
  8. My fruits doing ok-ish but my veg crop is mediocre sharon.. not certain i will be bothering next year

    Leanne x

    ReplyDelete