Yesterday and the day before were absolutely gorgeous, minus a sizable storm that rolled through Monday night. The temperatures were mild both days, and in July, that's a true gift. Summer shows up for real the next ten days, but it IS that time of year. If we have low humidity and there's a breeze, it's not too terrible, though. I always feel bad complaining about our temperatures when I see the temps out west. Each area of the United States has its beauty, and weather must be endured in all areas, I guess. Some parts it's heat, other parts it's winter that lasts for months on end. You take the good with the bad.
Summer temps get you ready for Autumn, though. Just about the time you think you cannot stand another hot day, you feel that first breeze that hints at cooler days to come. But in the meantime, the garden is beautiful and a daily gift to the senses. Look at that sunflower a couple pictures below. Isn't it gorgeous?! The nice thing about this particular type of sunflower is that it does not get too tall and grows like a bush. With the wind that we get in these parts of the country, huge, tall sunflowers on solo stalks do not fare well. You either have to plant stuff really thick or know that whatever type of flower you buy, it's gotta be able to withstand wind.
Zinnias are great in wind, as well. Zinnias bush out as they grow, and they also begin to grow together and support each other. We do plant them thickly because of the nature of wind out our way, but even a more thinned-out approach will eventually fill in nicely and create a summer-long cutting garden for you.
I'm going to go picture by picture for the sake of chronicling. Feel free to skip all of it and just enjoy the pictures. It's pretty tedious, but it will help me later. Side notes are thrown in, as well, lol.
Close-up of a California Giant Zinnia. Currently, the stems/bushes are nearly up to my waist and still growing. Stalks have thickened up and the entire large patch is pretty much filled in.
Cutting sunflowers were planted along one edge of the giant zinnia patch. One pack of sunflowers has yielded about four or five plants, each of which have bushed out and have multiple sunflowers. Note to self: plant a couple rows of these next year, edging out the zinnia patch on three sides.
Close up of the sunflower. Wonder what it's like to be this beautiful? I mean, look at this. It's ridiculous. Only God could have come up with this.
A peek through the garden to the "bowling alley," a long and large strip of open space on our property that looks like you could put in a bowling lane. Makes a nice contrast in a yard that is overly-landscaped (that's a thing, for sure; simply means there are too many things that need constant upkeep).
What's this?! It's a baby Trudy! When you look like Trudy, you get whatever you want.
Part of the giant zinnia patch. I need to get some overhead shots of this. I can't get it all in one picture. This year, we extended it by a couple feet. I think next year that we may extend it another six feet to adjust for adding three sides of sunflowers.
Zoomed out shot to show that the sunflowers are on the edge of the giant zinnia patch. See how they've bushed out and have multiple blooms on the bush? Not too tall, either, which is great.
Do you see my spectacular monarch below? They are starting to show up! By August, they'll be off the charts/all over the place. You can always tell when I spot one of the boys in the garden. You can hear me yelling "NO NO NO NO NO! We do NOT eat our pollinators!" Soon after the yelling, you'll generally see me or my husband running out to the gardens to grab the culprit stalking the pollinators. I know, they're cats and that's what they do. But they're well-fed cats (fat), and they'll just have to find something else to do outside. My pollinators are off-limits.
Cucamelons! Looks like a miniature watermelon, doesn't it?! I love these. I eat them right off the vine. They taste like a cross between a cucumber and a melon. And yes, they really are as small as they look. They grow like a vine, so my dad has a wire trellis arranged for them to climb. These were planted last year and came back on their own. We'll see how many growing seasons they end up having from that one pack of seeds two years ago!
This is hosta gone wild. Isn't it gorgeous? These frame part of the front of the house. My dad worked on these to get them divided from other parts of the yard. It's amazing how they expand and fill in after just a year or two.
Baby Higgins has spotted something across the property! She spends a lot of time up this tree when we have them outside. She's the best climber out of all the kitties and extremely confident in her footing. I do have tiny heart failures when she goes a bit high for my taste, but she always climbs down like an experienced black bear. It's both fascinating and unnerving to watch.
One other note on the garden - the tomatoes are taking forever to ripen. In years past, we've always had big plates of fresh tomatoes sliced with salt and pepper for our Fourth of July spread. This year, we've just not had much luck in having ripe tomatoes yet. We've gotten a few off the plants, but there must be a million green tomatoes in the garden. It's not just us, either. It seems to be a common occurrence for a lot of gardens this year. I'm not sure what to expect. Those tomatoes are either never going to ripen, or they're going to all ripen LITERALLY on the same day.
I need to share pictures of the corn patch and the pumpkin patch soon. Not a typical corn patch, for sure, as this year, my dad opted to grow popcorn! And, yes, I do mean popcorn, like the stuff that you eat during a movie!
That's the update, aka the mundane ramblings for record keeping. I'm off to fix myself grits with vegan sausage and a side of toast with peanut butter and strawberry jam. Cannot beat that for starting out the day! Happy hump day. Here's hoping we slide into the upcoming weekend with ease!
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