I saw so many Facebook posts yesterday humorously referring to the summer solstice, such as "looks like it's gonna be a long day," and "this day goes on and on."
But you know what? It was still just 24 hours, like the one before and like today. I hope you spent yours wisely.
I did not walk. I had a lot of trouble getting motivated to do anything yesterday for some reason. Maybe because the day just stretched e-n-d-l-e-s-s-l-y ahead of me. I finally got outside around noon to work on the perennial beds that line our driveway.
Those large maples in the yard on either side of the driveway drop their leaves, as maples do, and I hadn't yet raked from last fall. I like leaving them there over the winter, offering a bit of protection to the plants. But I gotta be honest, the driveway is the last garden area on my list of beds to tend. Maybe because I don't look at it every day.
At any rate … both sides (about 100 feet from one end to the other, so 200 feet of garden space) are now cleared of leaves. Many wheelbarrows full, dumped along the edge of the "lawn" so that if I need the leaves for compost I can easily retrieve them. Next I need to clear out the weeds to make room for new plants.
The only thing that has survived over the years are day lilies, ornamental grasses and Autumn Joy sedum. When I pulled all those leaves away, I found a tiny hosta with only two leaves and a white astilbe, already flowering. Quelle surprise! I'll probably move both of them to the brick planters in front of the house.
I talked with my friend who owns Groundworks, and we think a combination of grasses, spirea and a low-growing sedum would provide a low-maintenance solution to the problem of now what? I have plenty of creeping sedum around the front yard flower bed and it's spreading like crazy. Free plants! Might as well relocate it from where it doesn't belong, right? Better than just attacking it with a hoe.
At any rate, that was my first-day-of-summer activity. My shoulders and back are a little sore, in a good way, because I don't use those muscles just walking up and down the hills on our road. But I also didn't log any miles. Grrr. I probably could have taken a walk before all that yard work. But I know me, and I know if I had, I wouldn't have done the work. And I was much too tired afterward to walk even one mile.
I did take a walk through the vegetable garden after dinner. The summer squash is beginning to bloom, I picked three more cherry tomatoes and I think the beets have started coming up. They're slow germinators and there are already lots of weeds in that row. I'll have to wait until what I think are beets get a little more mature before I tackle that job. The winter squash is coming along, too, as are the green beans. If I can keep the deer out, this might be a decent garden year.
Have a good, good Sunday. I'm taking a long walk this morning and hope to work on those driveway weeds later today. If I don't … they'll be there tomorrow.
At any rate … both sides (about 100 feet from one end to the other, so 200 feet of garden space) are now cleared of leaves. Many wheelbarrows full, dumped along the edge of the "lawn" so that if I need the leaves for compost I can easily retrieve them. Next I need to clear out the weeds to make room for new plants.
The only thing that has survived over the years are day lilies, ornamental grasses and Autumn Joy sedum. When I pulled all those leaves away, I found a tiny hosta with only two leaves and a white astilbe, already flowering. Quelle surprise! I'll probably move both of them to the brick planters in front of the house.
I talked with my friend who owns Groundworks, and we think a combination of grasses, spirea and a low-growing sedum would provide a low-maintenance solution to the problem of now what? I have plenty of creeping sedum around the front yard flower bed and it's spreading like crazy. Free plants! Might as well relocate it from where it doesn't belong, right? Better than just attacking it with a hoe.
At any rate, that was my first-day-of-summer activity. My shoulders and back are a little sore, in a good way, because I don't use those muscles just walking up and down the hills on our road. But I also didn't log any miles. Grrr. I probably could have taken a walk before all that yard work. But I know me, and I know if I had, I wouldn't have done the work. And I was much too tired afterward to walk even one mile.
I did take a walk through the vegetable garden after dinner. The summer squash is beginning to bloom, I picked three more cherry tomatoes and I think the beets have started coming up. They're slow germinators and there are already lots of weeds in that row. I'll have to wait until what I think are beets get a little more mature before I tackle that job. The winter squash is coming along, too, as are the green beans. If I can keep the deer out, this might be a decent garden year.
Have a good, good Sunday. I'm taking a long walk this morning and hope to work on those driveway weeds later today. If I don't … they'll be there tomorrow.
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