So tired of summer

I have abandoned fall planting of anything because I am just so sick of the yard by September that I fail to provide the care fall-planted plants need.

In the spring, when I see all the tulips, hyacinth, snow drops, etc. in the yards of others, I think I will plant some come fall. But I don't. The only fall planting I foresee is some garlic I purchased at a farmers market, expressly for planting in the strawberry bed. If I fail to do that, well, I can eat the garlic.

In past years, the common milkweed has been overrun by aphids, but not this summer. Those little critters did notice the new-to-this-year swamp milkweed in the rain garden, however. Interesting.

While the weeds are mostly under control, this one corner has been neglected. It continues to be neglected because some wasps/bees/something-that-stings have built a nest under the compost bin. I can (quickly!) dump kitchen scraps in the bin, but that is about all I dare try.

All the winterberry holly shrubs are loaded with fruit this year. If we get some snow, those red berries will look lovely against a white background. At least, until the robins strip the plants. But that is what the winterberry is there for.

There has been just enough rainfall to keep the lawn growing, but the forecast for this week is dry, dry, dry. It's all I can do to force myself to water the container plants. I welcome a hard frost.

The lazy gardener

This summer I was beginning to think that the yard was becoming more than I could handle. Then a neighbor gifted me with a used compost bin (my old one was dying a rather ungraceful death), which forced me to dig out the compost, which took three hours on a lovely sweatshirt kind of day. That's when I realized it is not the yard work that is too much, but the HEAT. The temps this past summer were too high for too long, leading to abbreviated dog walks and no desire to leave the air conditioned comfort of my home. The trick going forward will be to figure out how to yarden despite the heat. All the wood chips we mulched with this past spring is a good start, as that labor has paid off in reduced weeding.

I planted some goutweed (a.k.a. bishop's weed) under the 'Limelight' hydrangea a few years ago. It has spread around the front of the shrub, just as I planned, but the area behind is still rather barren. When the goutweed blossomed, Jason at gardeninacity suggested I cut off the blossoms before they went to seed. I did this, but tossed them behind the hydrangea, in hopes of filling in that area without any real work.

While we were in Columbus IN this past summer, we stumbled across an alleyway with a long bed of Northern Sea Oats (or River Oats). I love River Oats, especially in fall when the seed heads turn copper-colored, but those seeds spread. The "prairie sampler" I planted on the south side of the house was an epic FAIL, so I plan to transplant those plants elsewhere, where they will get more sun and rain, and fill that bed in with River Oats from the front yard. Toward that end, this fall I cut the seed heads off and threw them in the back of the prairie sampler bed. Hopefully, some of them will sprout and take root.

What kind of labor-saving gardening methods do you have?

A couple of perfect days

Finally, it feels like spring. Yesterday I spent a goodly amount of time in the yard, transplanting, seeding, weeding, etc. Today my SO came over and we constructed some cheap, but effective compost bins.

Not a big task, but one more item we can check off the to-do list.

On the not so happy side of the house, I noticed this tent caterpillar nest in the purple sand cherry:

It is the first time I have seen such a thing in my yard. I cut off the branch and burned the nest. I'm hoping that is the end of this story.

One of the areas I weeded yesterday was the bed by the front walk. I dug out the lavender plants and passed them on to my SO, as they were becoming rather unruly. We both puzzled over this plant:

It looks like a salvia, but the foliage at the base is rather dense and spreading, so I fear it is a weed of some sort (whereby "weed" is a plant growing where one does not want it to grow). There are a couple of them, and I'll let them be for now. I have planted so many bulbs and plants into this bed over the past several years that I have lost track of what should be there and what should not.

Finn, the helpful gardening cat, continues to guard the yard. He hasn't caught all the bunnies yet, but I have not seen the woodchuck lately. Maybe he has taken up residence elsewhere. (Knock on wood.)

Although I like my pink flamingos, I have never understood the attraction of garden gnomes. That is, until I found this one at a nearby garage sale.

The resident old fart exclaimed, "I can't believe anyone is buying that ugly thing!" and then promptly dubbed me the Gnome Lady. I've been called worse.