admin | 
09 10th, 2008| 
Well, garden neglect hit a whole new level this past 2 weeks. We’ve had so much rain that I couldn’t weed much of the time. And then the rest of the time, truthfully, I just didn’t want to deal with chiggers and ragweed. Mostly the ragweed. The chiggers I can at least use bug spray to deter.
I sucked it up today, though. I still have some plants to get planted. We’re supposed to have several inches of more rain in the next 2 days, possibly starting tonight. I figured I’d better get those plants in while I could. (It’s been dry for a whole 2 days now). Unfortunately, much of my pot ghetto went to the big compost heap in the sky while they waited for me to plant them. It makes me sick. I did still have 7 I planted today and another 6 or so that need to dry a bit before I plant them. (They are dianthus and their pots are saturated from the rain, which they don’t appreciate. I figured planting them right before several inches of rain wasn’t smart. So I’ll let them dry out in the interim).
The ragweed is still a problem. I’ll be feeling it the rest of the day now. I did get some weeding done,a mere drop in an ocean. And I moved a couple of buckets of soil that needed to be put up against the house to direct water away from the basement instead of it pooling as it has been. It looks like it will make a difference.
While out in the garden, I noticed several things. First: my Buxton Blue geranium has bloomed for the first time– finally. I don’t blame the plant. It started the growing season with only two of the sorriest looking leaves around. It took major damage from a late freeze. Anyway, it’s recovered nicely and is blooming. Yay! Three pieces of plants which broke off during weeding earlier in the summer have all taken root and are growing quite well. Another yay! These were small pieces originally and they’ve increased their size several times over their starting size. The mums and sedum are doing well and apparently settling in from their rude move a few weeks ago. In fact, the mums have new buds on them. Do mums keep blooming until frost? The sedum and blooming and looking lovely and the shade garden is looking nice. The garden is FULL of happy butterflies, bees, and other insects. I noticed, too, that a half dozen borage seedlings have sprouted. I guess they are the eager ones. They aren’t going to get too far before a killing freeze.
The soil is what has surprised me the most, though. In three of the 4 beds, my husband generously ammended them with literally tons (20, I think) of builders sand, manure and other stuff. He lugged all the bags up and tilled them in. (This was years ago). Those beds were given some help. The native soil is nothing but pure clay. The fourth bed got nothing. I was in a hurry to get some stuff planted in it, so I just started planting. Poor plants! Today I was really pleased to see that what I have in that bed is no longer pure clay. It’s not as friable as I hope to get it some day, but it’s much, much improved. I have done only one thing in that bed that could be considered remotely helpful: I mulched. The other thing that was helpful was something I didn’t do: I quit using chemical fertilizers and fungicides a couple of years ago. The incredible change to the soil is due, I believe, to the hardworking worms in it. And there are a LOT of worms. It’s amazing the difference they’ve made.
In another bed (one of those that got the original treatment), I was even more surprised. This bed is on a bit of slope and every time we get a heavy rain, it washes all of my mulch away. (I keep meaning to put some sort of berm at the top of it but haven’t). So I quit mulching. This poor bed has sat in baking sun, unprotected. This summer I didn’t even water there except by hand for the plants that were new to the garden. As I was weeding today, the soil was as friable and perfect as could be. How on earth did that happen? I’d sure like to get results like that in the rest of the beds! I was also very pleased to see that the teeny tiny baby salvia I transplanted there have taken and are doing very well. Those won’t get washed away, either. They are tough plants.
So, I didn’t get enough done out there today but between allergies and the fact that I had a workout at Curves this morning, I’m beat! The kids will be home soon and they’ve got a play date with several friends up at the park. I plan to become one with a park bench while they play! If I’m lucky and the rain holds off a few hours longer than they think, I might be able to get some more weeding in tomorrow morning. And I need to get the apples of the apple tree. I’ve never made a pie before, but I think I’d like to use those apples to make some pies. With the next couple of days being rainy, that might be a nice activity.
