Wednesday Wonder
The butterflies arrived so late this year, but finally, there are lots of wings in the garden. This little guy was willing to pose for a picture….
Read MoreSunday Blooms…Hoping for Rain
Ok, so it may not have actually hit 100 yesterday except in heat index (which surpassed 100). That’s what I get for looking at a bank’s temperature reading when the whole sign is out in the blazing sun! That sign (on a bank in Farmington) should lead to some amazing numbers being posted when we really do get hot in July and August.The Butterfly Weed above is doing well in the heat. I’ve yet to see any Monarch activity. (This is a native host plant of the Monarch butterfly. There are 100 kinds of milkweed and you can see pics of them here at monarchwatch.org ) I haven’t seen nearly as many butterflies of all kinds this year. I think the rainy, cold Spring may have set them back. The ac/heater guy who tuned up our system the other day said for the first time in his career he had made heater calls in May!
More weather lore: In June we’ve only had about 2 inches of rain per the NOAA website. They must have fallen somewhere around us, because I don’t think we’ve had that much righ here. So in June we’ve had half the normal rainfall for the month. In May we had around 8 inches, versus a normal of nearly 5 inches. Which all sounds (and feels) kind of crazy. At the same time, the historical charts say this area of the Ozarks can range anywhere between 21 and 70 inches of rain per year, with the normal being in the mid-40s. Fascinating! And I wondered why all the old farmer types are so interested in weather lore…it’s habit forming to start really observing these patterns. Now, when the patterns are as whacky as they have been this year, it can become a true gardening challenge.
Below, the Daylilies are still holding up, if fading a bit. No, those apparent raindrops fell from a hose, not the sky… Maybe we’ll get lucky and actually get that slim chance of rain today!
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Read More100 Degrees in the Shade..
metal hummingbird and daylilies
The hummingbird was given to us by our wonderful friends Cem and Marianne years ago. Only yard-art hummingbirds are out in the sun today. It’s 100 and hardly a cloud in the sky. Heat index near 105 today they said down at the Farmers’ Market this morning. I did notice it was crowded before 9am – sure sign its going to be a scorcher. Otherwise it seems to get crowded between 10 and 11 a.m.
The photo above was taken about two weeks ago – the last time we saw a drop of rain. It rained like mad all through May, then stopped abruptly and we haven’t seen a drop. Since that time, it’s been full sun, dry and above 90 every day. So, I was out in the yard at 6 a.m. — gardening hours are about 6-9 a.m. these days — getting out the BLACK BOXES..
I didn’t mean for the boxes to be black, a nice subtle green or tan would be nicer, but when I went to the store last year to get a half dozen of those on-sale plastic storage bins (the medium sized ones) my color choices were Screamin’ Razorback Red, Disco Purple, or black. Since I planned to use them as watering devices for newly planted trees during hot, dry spells, I went with the least obtrusive of the three. All I can say is they are more attractive (and hold more water and are safter for critters) than the leftover 5 gallon paint buckets I used to use.
In either case, you drill three to five pinholes in the side. Fill the container with water from the hose and the water seeps slowly out the pinholes over a few hours, allowing it to deeply soak the soil around the young tree, rather than just running off down the hill or across the yard. It’s also MUCH quicker to fill these tubs, place the lid and walk away, rather than to leave a dripping hose on the tree and try to remember to go move it every few hours.
Watering Young Peach
I’ve found it’s smart to put the holes about quarter inch up from the side. This allows a bit of water to remain once it has emptied — keeping the whole thing from blowing away in a sudden wind. (Ask me how I know this!) Since the lid is put back on once you fill it with water (to prevent birds or critters from meeting their doom) there’s no problem with mosquitos and you can just dump the little bit of water out on the tree when it’s time to put away the the black box for the season. I only fill the boxes about 2/3 full, otherwise they stretch out and I can’t get the lids on.
Black Box Watering a Prairie Fire Crab Apple
Generally, a deep soaking like this will last a week in all but the hottest dog days..which are usually in July and August instead of JUNE! This weather doesn’t bode well for those months! I suspect the black boxes may be out a long while this year.
As for the rest of the trees I didn’t get around to planting because it rained for a solid month…they are in partial shade in their pots where I’ll baby them till Fall tree planting times gets here in September. Then I’ll get out Whoa-Nellie the red tiller (stole this name I think from my neighbor’s yellow tiller I borrowed before I got my own Whoa-Nellie) and use it to dig enormous tree planting holes in this rocky, rocky ground. That is Whoa-Nellie’s main job since all the garden is raised beds…and she’s darn good at chopping into rocky clay. But all that will have to wait out the heat…
Stay cool! Remember to keep fresh water out for the birds and frogs and toads and critters:
Use planter saucers for tiny garden ponds!
Here’s one of the many planter saucers that keep water around the garden. The birds love them tucked in between the plants – and since we don’t have cats it’s more important to protect the birds from hawks while they bathe. The saucers are easy to dump out just by tipping them over with your foot and refilling with the hose. They’ll dry out before mosquitos have time to populate – but keep them full of fresh water, not dry! The songbirds in our yard and garden increased exponentially once we started keeping water out all the time for them. So now we have to keep it up. It’s so wonderful to watch them bathing and cooling off. Try it!
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