Garden Report

You may recall that a bit ago, I was busy reclaiming our garden space.

It worked out a whole lot better than it had in previous summers.  I actually got it cleaned up enough to be out there and not surrounded by weeds, branches, thistles, and the like that had taken over.  And I was in a groove, where each weekend I would go out early on one of the mornings and pull any weeds that were still trying, and sweep up whatever was there from the previous week.  I bought a few plants and put them in pots, found some bird feeders we'd had and put them out, and also found some of the wind chimes we had (I love wind chimes).

The good news?  It's still in pretty decent shape.  We even found a couple of chairs and a table on sale to put out there.  And the birds, squirrels, and plants seem to be pretty happy.

The bad news?  Well, of course I hurt my knee pretty badly - well, OK, both knees within weeks of each other, so I haven't been able to bend down to pick anything up, and therefore haven't been out to pull weeds and sweep.  Also, there were quite a few weekends when it poured rain the entire time, so that took care of any time planned out there.

But mostly?  It has been way too hot and way too humid to be able to stand to be out there at all, even long enough to fill the bird feeders and/or water the plants!  That takes less then 10 minutes, and still by the time you come back inside, you are completely soaked in sweat.  (Not perspiration.  Not a glow.  Sweat.  Period.)

I am looking forward to a change in the weather that will come if not sooner, at least in the fall.  Then we can enjoy being out there, and working out there will be pleasant.  So there's that.  But the fact that I was able to make any progress, and that it's at least under control on a basic level, means that things can only improve if I can stay with it.

All is not lost, though.  We are still able to look out the window and see our plants and bird feeders, and hear our wind chimes.  And the couple of plants outside the doorway to our street are happy too.

Geraniums and impatiens, blooming away!

The Gerbera daisy is blooming again, and the sweet potato vine is really happy.

These are the two newbies in the garden.  I had two avocado pits that I rooted.  I hope at least one of them takes hold and I can have an avocado plant at least for a little bit.

The garden impatiens and the sweet potato vine are getting along quite well, and the impatiens has hardly stopped blooming so far.

This photo looks weird, because I took it from above.  The mandevilla has not bloomed, but it's very busy filling out and climbing.  And the little purple flower plant (whose actual name I forget) has bloomed for the third time!  (The flowers are actually a light purple, not whitish like they appear here.)

So the garden and the plants and the bird feeders are doing quite nicely.  And in a summer that has been awful for so many reasons, it's a nice bright spot that I can see every day.

I know for those of you who are real gardeners, this is nothing.  But we finally have a garden that we can enjoy again, once the weather decides to cooperate.  And after wanting to get it to this point for a few years, and never making much progress at all, it's a sense of accomplishment to feel like it is coming back to being one of the best things about our house.