Garden Progress

 

Peaceful view on my walk.

It is very hot and humid these past few days and the scattered thunderstorms are missing my area. We had one very short one last night, but it barely quenched the ground. I'm getting tired of watering my garden every day. Amyjean came over the other day to mow my lawn, for which I am so grateful. I fed her dinner, and promised her a baptisia and iris from my garden. 

I repurposed two window screens and some garden fencing into this kale cover
to keep the cabbage moth larva from making lace out of the leaves.

My still working friend Janice wanted some help with starting a garden. Her husband had bulldozed this side of her house and laid down a thick layer of wood chips as mulch. On Sunday I went up the plateau to her house in the woods to begin. I brought lots of plants from my garden to add to the ones Dale brought and we began with a stone path through the bed. Janice moved most of the stones because I am still under activity restrictions. She is tiny but mighty! Then we set about planting 40 or so perennials into the ground. We discussed adding some mountain laurel shrubs near the house as a nice back drop to the flowers.

Janice and her new garden.

I had my 2 week post op appt., and while everything looks good,  another week of restricted activity was added to my sentence/recovery. I have been gardening quite a bit, but not really exerting myself and taking many breaks. 

For several weeks every year, this is a common occurrence. For the most part, drivers stop and let the many geese slowly make their way across roads. It's most heart warming to watch 8 lanes of traffic come to a standstill on busy Route 4 to let the goslings cross.

I had a rather bumpy morning of errands last week. I drove 25 miles to get a gift certificate for a friend, and on my way back, I stopped at a roadside stand. I heard a loud crash, and right behind me a car got rear ended by another car. I went over to make sure everyone was OK (they were) but it looked like both cars were totaled. I comforted one passenger who was in tears, and then let the professionals take over. 

Twenty minutes later, I was stopped at a red light, thinking about careless drivers seeming more prevalent, when I felt a jolting crash. Now I got rear ended while stopped at a light! We both pulled into a parking lot, I called the police, then waited about 20 minutes for the report for insurance. I took it to be checked yesterday and they found $1100 of damage - a dented bumper. 

My car is 10 years old so I'm not sure I'll even fix it. I think it may be time for a new car.

I've been gardening for the most part for the past week and making lots of progress getting things planted and weeded. I even harvested some garlic scapes (pesto!) and lavender for my tea.

My garlic crop. I'm down to 3 little cloves from my crop last year, and I refuse to buy any from the store.

I forgot about some baby potatoes in the pantry and they sprouted. I decided to plant them to 
see how many I could raise. They are all mounded up and just need to make potatoes.

A striped sweat bee in the garden. 

This penstemon has produced a beautiful display.

Another penstemon I've had for many years. - it's my favorite.

I've made plans with my sisters to take a little cabin camping trip to a beach area in Rhode Island at the end of the month. I'm not a camper and have no equipment so that should provide some interesting situations. These little getaways are so much simpler to plan than big trips with airports involved. 

Now I'll try to stay cool for the rest of the day which will be close to 90°F - yikes!