My Little Corner of the World!
Ventured out this morning early and it was 80 degrees with 90% humidity. By the time I got back home it had dropped to a much nicer 72 degrees and the humidity was gone.
Go figure.
It's Indiana. Stick around for a while, it might snow.
Anyway, re-calculated my day plans in a big way and headed out to subdue the tangle of vines, crops of crabgrass and rescue my herbs which have been treading water since the last huge rainfall.
I've learned that Sweet Basil doesn't care how much water it gets.
It just pokes its head above water and yells
"Bring it on!"
(...possibly in Italian...)
Rosemary just stops everything. It treads water until it is rescued. Luckily the super hot temperatures have been wonderful for my compost box and everything inside has been morphed into rich black soil. So adding to the washed out planter was simple.
I top dressed the roses while I was at it.
Greek Oregano, on the other hand, just gives up...turns brown....and dies without dignity.
"It's dead, Jim."
Tried to save a bit of the latter that was still somewhat green and tucked in the remains of my White Cloud Petunias. Most of them were crumpled up like sad used Kleenex...but these few survived.
The Dwarf Sunflowers are starting to form green heads and in a month or so the corner of my patio will be filled with their (much shorter) sunny faces.
The Mammoths that "Idgy" and I shared yearly became impractical on the patio...and did not container well for either of us. Ergo, Dwarf Sunflowers. Hopefully this will renew our Sunflower Share for next gardening season.
I also have some planted in our (Nicki and I) garden.
The Morning Glory vines had taken over. They are now trimmed back to their trellis and there are several blooms beginning.
The Roses are covered with buds and I expect an explosion of blooms in the next few weeks!
Also trimmed back and potted the trimmings of my Variegated Ivy which was all but eating my boulders and Seiseki stone.
Found the instructions for making this hypertufa trough, and it may be my Fall garden project.
The addition of decorative multi-colored hot peppers was a whim. Nostalgia.
My Aunt Vernie (who gave me my love for all things gardening/homesteading) used to always have a rusting blue and orange metal Maxwell House Coffee Tin full of them just outside her wooden screen door leading into the farmhouse.
Nicole saved and gave me a plastic blue and orange Maxwell House Container (...they're plastic now...sigh), and I may end up transplanting it over anyway.
Just because.
So, with Tucker straw-bossing (between his naps, of course) I managed to get the borders, Ivy, roses and beds tidy.
Then I could finally be that "lap" that he had been waiting for all along!
Watched the hummingbirds and the bees fight over the feeder, and a couple of bright yellow Sulpher Butterflies go flapping past.
Inside now making Meatloaf and Mashies and Such. Looked back out a while ago to see that he had found, yet another, comfortable spot to relax and survey his Manor and Kingdom.
It's GOOD to be The Cat.
Back to Virtual Scotland Tomorrow. Checking out the geographical make up, the faults and thrust, and maybe a few ruins along the way :)
