These Mid-summer Days

 

These summer days are slipping away all too quickly as they always do. Being a teacher, this is the point during the summer when I start to miss my kids and make preparations for returning to school. While I do miss my students quite a lot and long to be back working with them, I have to admit that I’m feeling like I’m on the precipice of some great, unknown, somewhat scary adventure for which I have little to no idea how to prepare. Ah well....it’s not just me. There are thousands upon thousands of staff and students who are, all of us, in the same boat! One day at a time...I keep reminding myself. 

It’s been a quiet summer overall. I’ve been on top of checking the zucchini daily and have only had to discard 4-5 that grew into larger than ideal specimens...ha! We have multiple plants, so we’ve been sharing the bulk of the harvest by putting out a share box at the end of our road. It’s been gratifying to see the box empty most days. I’m wondering why we didn’t think to do this in years past. Has the pandemic influenced us to think more about our neighbors at large, instead of just sharing with family members and friends? 

I’ve backed off a bit on the flower gardening having gotten most things squared away in the cooler days of May and June. A little weeding here and there, but thankfully not too much to be done.

I bought this hydrangea in a little pot from Aldi about 5 or so years ago. I had just about given up hope of it ever flowering, when behold, I noticed tiny buds forming about a month ago. I didn’t recall the flowers being this deep purple. In fact, I think they were more of a bluish pink. I checked online, and I’m thinking this could be a H. macrophylla version called, Rhapsody Blue.  Apparently, a little more aluminum in the soil turns the flowers blue, a little less results in purple. Needless to say, I’m thrilled that I got to see these amazing flowers this year and hope I see these beauties for years to come!

On the echinacea front, I have spent an inordinate amount of time and money trying to establish a variety of echinacea species in our Oakleaf Hydrangea bed, as the flowers pair so nicely. It has been quite a challenge, as some type of bug LOVES to feast on the flower petals (and foliage to a lesser degree). At first I thought it might be local bunnies nibbling the tasty petals down to the center. After researching online, I determined it was insects doing the damage. Because we raise bees and wish to avoid contaminating the honey (and possibly harming the bees), we avoid use of chemical pesticides. Bill encouraged me to try using NEEM oil. Walla! It worked last year. But....there’s more to my learning curve. As the plants were setting their buds, I promptly went to the garage and fished out the sprayer that still had the mixed spray from last year and sprayed the plants well. What I didn’t realize is that Neem Oil does not maintain it’s effectiveness from year to year. So sadly, most of my pretty petals got nibbled, and while I ordered more right after realizing this, the damage has been done to most of the flowers. There are a few new buds that are still emerging, so hopefully I can spare them. The good news is that I was pleasantly surprised to see several plants of a native variety (that’s a bit more resistant to insects) flowering in a back yard space where we had planted wild flower seed. Woo-hoo! 

Here are a few more pics from around the yard. It’s that time of year things tend to get a little rag tag due to high heat, humidity, and insects. But there’s still beauty to be found nonetheless. 

In other news, I’ve tried several ways to dissuade the squirrels from feeding at our feeder. The squirrel baffle is the latest and has been working so far. It’s been so nice to look out and see, well...baffled squirrels and birds feeding at the feeder this week. Ah....makes my heart happy!

And finally, I find comfort and pleasure knowing that regardless of what this winter brings, sickness or health, working away or from home, we will keep toasty when we are home with this firewood that was delivered this afternoon. We’ve got some stacking to do in the coming days.