Happy Solstice! Happy Summer! Today Is the longest day of the year and the start of summer gardening. I do hope that today’s 82 degree temperature is a sign of things to come, for spring rains have seemed never ending.
Even though it has remained cool until now, with lots of rain, my garden has taken off and plants that were just beginning to show growth a week ago have suddenly mushroomed. The lupine that was in full bloom a week ago, now is almost spent, as are the irises and the rhododendrons. It seems like my grasses have taken off, except for the ones I divided. They are even getting flowers, which some of them didn’t even show all last year. My day lilies have also just started blooming. I am looking across my garden at a lilac branch we pruned off our lilac and formed into a stake for one of our dahlias. It is sprouting leaves. We will see if it survives and whether I will let it grow into another lilac.
I have been tending the various vegetables I have in containers. I plan to start some runner beans soon. One of the garden tasks I started today, was pruning rhododendrons and deadheading them and getting out some of the excess growth. I would like to limb them up and make them look less like a bubble. I have a good start on one of them. Three rhodies to go and a huge pieris. Should I hire some help? Maybe. We will see how long it takes me to do each one.
Well, this is the weather I wait for. Sure hope this is really the start of summer here. My home garden is ready.
Home Garden Diggers 