Hot and Sweaty
I’m sure this is a recurrent theme in the gardening blogs lately: it is too damn hot! Our A/C has been broken for months, but, after sweating through the night, the repairman fixed it this morning. Hallelujah!
Honestly, I don’t mind the physical discomfort while I’m in the garden. The hose is always handy and I stick to the shade and non-strenuous activities. My chief activities have been watering, weeding, and pricking out seedlings. (Yes, I am still sorting through all of my winter-sown perennials!) I am also doing a lot of daydreaming. I stand in the shade, with a sprinkler at my back, and work through design plans to implement in the fall. I have even dared to transplant a few things – knockout roses, siberian iris, burgundy gaillardia, threadleaf coreopsis, and zebra grass. Thanks to copious water, only the zebra grass looks like it is truly suffering. (I’m hoping it will spring back when things cool down.)
After working in the garden for a few hours in the evening, I come in sweaty, dirty, and reeking of DEET. Yesterday, there was no relief to be found indoors, but I’m looking forward to an icy blast of air tonight!
Honestly, I don’t mind the physical discomfort while I’m in the garden. The hose is always handy and I stick to the shade and non-strenuous activities. My chief activities have been watering, weeding, and pricking out seedlings. (Yes, I am still sorting through all of my winter-sown perennials!) I am also doing a lot of daydreaming. I stand in the shade, with a sprinkler at my back, and work through design plans to implement in the fall. I have even dared to transplant a few things – knockout roses, siberian iris, burgundy gaillardia, threadleaf coreopsis, and zebra grass. Thanks to copious water, only the zebra grass looks like it is truly suffering. (I’m hoping it will spring back when things cool down.)
After working in the garden for a few hours in the evening, I come in sweaty, dirty, and reeking of DEET. Yesterday, there was no relief to be found indoors, but I’m looking forward to an icy blast of air tonight!
posted by Kasmira at 1.8.06
5 Comments:
I do lots of sweating while I work in the garden. My aunt and I had a conversation about this just a few weeks ago. We don't mind the sweat and dirt while working, but when we are supposed to be relaxing, heat and sweat are usually unwelcome. I like your blog and your flowers are gorgeous!
You have been very entertaining and clever. Your gardening has been inspirational. I have a gaillardia, first year, and it has bloomed but is very leggy. It will probably be 5' if I stake it properly but I haven't, the stakes are about 4'. Can I cut it back now? It is now blooming quite profusely?
Lucy - I've had the same problem with my burgundy gaillardia. It sprawled all over everything else and I ended up moving it.
I think it is a little late in the season to cut it back and still expect blooms. You could try, but I would caution you not to be too disappointed if it didn't bloom much for the rest of the season.
Next year, I'm going to try cutting my gaillardia back by half early in the year (May?) to try to get it to be bushier.
Wow, you still have seedlings! I'm planning on doing that this winter. when do you start, and how many trays do you sow? And where do you put them all???
Allison - I'm still sorting through the goatsbeard (Aruncus) and Heuchera seedlings that I wintersowed last winter. (I began on the winter solstice.) I probably have a few hundred of these two plants. It's hard to find enough containers to prick them all out in to.
Post a Comment
<< Home