Month: August 2024

Well if last week was the week of the drearys, then this week was autumn. One week hot and humid and dreary, this past week was chilly in the mornings and lovely during the days. Jeans were needed as were the wool work sweaters. This week I think it is going to be a combination of the two, cool nights, perfect for sleeping, and warm days so swimming will be possible along with garden work.

I will say that the cooler temperatures certainly got me thinking about the end of the growing season, taking notes of what went on this year and planning for next year. Oh yes, I am already thinking of next year…what to grow, what not to grow and the amounts to grow. More of that in the future posts. I want to keep you hanging in floral suspense.

I can’t believe that the next blog posting will be in September, where on earth has the growing season gone? It started with tulips in mid February and here we are, still going. To be honest, I am ready for the season to wind down, even though that still really doesn’t happen until the end of November for me. Tulips this year are getting delivered in November, dahlias will have to get dug and stored. Beds have to be put away of this year’s crops and some prepped for very early planting next spring. A flower farmer’s life is rarely done, always moving on to the next season six months if not more before it actually happens.

But enough of that, the flowers are looking good and the selection is still great. Due to my one armed spring, and the challenges of of pests I don’t have the numbers of flowers that I had wanted, but I haven’t run out of flowers so that is good. The dahlias, zinnias, celosia are all looking good, the snapdragons have been pulled and are done for the season, the chrysanthemums are starting to form little flower buds…the moles are still dining on everything they can….argh.

I don’t have many flower photos this week for your enjoyment, just one of the instagram #windowframthursday. I call this dark and gloomy. Like the weather we had been having.

I am going to go off for a swim, and Steve will regale you with his little ditty.

Till next week. Allie, I dream of flowers and getting internet.

It is dreary today day, or even this weekend, but that is OK with me. I am enjoying the joys of reading and not much more knowing that when the week returns tomorrow I will be busy in the gardens weeding and getting wood chips on the paths, harvesting and all the flower stuff.

Before I forget to tell you, we have no internet. It has been a pure mess since we changed going from a business internet to residential to get ready for the hopefully pleasure of Fidium. We have absolutely no idea when we will be hooked up, last Tuesday is long under the internet bridge. I will do my best to get the newsletters out but I am making no guarantee. I have to do it either at my brother’s next door or at the library, both inconvenient but doable. Just assume the flower shed will be open on its normal hours. I can be reached by text…just a stink’n bummer. Luckily I have high speed at the lake so the Sunday blogs will still be out to entertain you.

Amazingly I haven’t taken many flower photos to share this week. I do have my #windowframethursday photos to share but that is about it.

Hydrangea, celosia, zinnias, orach, yarrow and dianthus from the high tunnel that hasn’t died from thirst amazingly enough.

So I will leave you for the week now. Remember that the flower shed will be open Tuesday afternoon from 2-5 and Friday from 9-2 even if I don’t get the newsletter out!

Until next week, Allie, I dream of flowers and having internet again….

Last week certainly was a doozer. We had a hail storm on Monday afternoon, luckily all the flowers are fine, and I wasn’t home to see it happen because I probably would have been in a panic.

Then at the end of the week we were told to brace ourselves for the remnants of Hurricane Debbie, so I added another layer of twine to support the dahlias and kept my fingers crossed. Luckily, we only had a half inch of rain, and lot of wind, but not to two plus inches they were warning us about. In between these events we had some good rain so I haven’t had to water all week! Our well had a week’s vacation.

The flowers are looking good. I am fretting I won’t have enough for the following week, but I seem to be getting by. The dahlias are coming in slowly. Persnikety things dahlias. They don’t like it too hot, which we have had plenty of this summer, then this past week hasn’t had lot of solar which they also don’t like. Not much I can do but be patient.

My flower days are filled with tying up the flowers, weeding, mowing and harvesting. All necessary. Once the row is weeded I try as quickly as possible to get mulch down to try to discourage more weeds.

I did have time to do my #windowframethrusday arrangement. Not my best, but not horrible either, but here it is for your enjoyment.

I am starting to go over in my head about next year, I know more perennials for sure, but if you have any suggestions just let me know.

I had a special guest visit the garden on Saturday morning. My long distance cheering fan and mentor, Kathy G. Thank you for taking the time to visit me. It means the world to me.

Until next week, Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

I hope everyone was able to stay cool this past week. I was doing flowers early in the morning in what cool we had then would sit on the porch in the afternoon under the ceiling fans reading. What a novel thing for me to do! and I was reading novels to boot, not books on how to grow better flowers! Very novel.

The flowers are looking good despite the heat and the lack of rain. I am careful with irrigating because of our well but so far so good. Last week I filled the mobile water tank three times and drove around hand watering just about everything that was put in new this year that isn’t on the watering system. That took a while, and three batteries to run the pump. Next week I will take a picture of the remote watering system which is kinda cool and one that I am very grateful for. Steve picked me up two more batteries because one battery is good only for 1 1/2 tanks of water. Each tank holds 65 gallons.

As you can see the flowers are quite floriferous. The zinnias have finally come into their own after such a terrible start. There aren’t as many as I would like, but I have them. The celosia is starting to feather, the scented geraniums are magnificent as foliage, the orach is setting very cool pods for interest, I am harvesting various perennials and am still battling rodents that are driving me crazy.

I had a snake eating a frog and I reminded said snake that we are to work together on this gardening project. You are to take care of the rodents, the frogs take care of the insects and we need to work as a team and not eat each other. Sheesh.

The dahlias are starting to bloom, slowly. They don’t like the heat and it slows them down, which is interesting because they are from Mexico. I am harvesting some, but I have lots of buds so soon, really soon I hope. I will have buckets of dahlias.

I just want to say thank you for your understanding that the flower shed was closed the last few Tuesdays. Life sometimes overrules flowers. We should be good now for the rest of the season with the shed open both Tuesday afternoons and Fridays. If you have special requests just let me know in advance so I can have things ready for you.

I haven’t done and #windowframethrusdays for a while because well, life is just not aways accommodating but finally I got one posted last week. I hope you enjoy it as much as I had fun creating it.

One last shout out to Gary who saved me once again with the website. Thank you Gary. You are my savior.

Until next week, I dream of flowers. Do you? Allie