as summer comes to an end…

Hi!
I apologize for my absence. I don’t know what happened to my blogging mojo in August. I had been working on 4 different posts, and when I got them done I closed my wordpress dash and never came back! I even have a few things noted and bookmarked to talk about, but I’ve not made it all the way to writing a post.

So what better to write about now than getting organized to get things done in September?

We’ve had a lot of hot sunny weather lately and I’ve not spent much time in the garden since Mimi had her surgery in June. I’ve watered and tried to keep everything alive through our 2 months of drought (as always my garden is so parched!), and I’ve done a couple of quick weeding tasks on the patio and tied up some things that were falling over, but for all intents and purposes I’ve left my garden to its own devices. That’s not going to work long term. I lose interest in the garden every fall, and pay the price every spring. So this year I’m going to set very specific goals for September – the month between the hot summer weather and the cold wet fall weather. I figure if I can get a few key things done before the weather turns I will be ahead of the game come spring.

The preliminary list:

• clear moss off pathways (so it can start accumulating again in our 9 month wet season!)
• clean green gunk (PNW algae) off gates and the fence (ditto)
• cut the lavender
• clean the flag (if hubby will get it down for me)
• prune the rhodos and the rose of sharon
• prune the flax where it’s sticking into pathways
• transplant a small hydrangea that I thought I had killed (it’s alive!)
• plant a couple of things I had in pots that I have almost killed
• plant some bulbs 
• WEED! (yes, still, and again….) 

Some of these tasks are quite quick and easy – if I grab a tub/bucket and the pruners I can easily take care of the pruning in an hour or so. And as long as its dry I can cut the lavender at the same time. (Note to self – cut the lavender the next dry day we have, maybe even this afternoon. Delaying because it’s prettier to have lavender in the garden doesn’t make good sense. It’s already past its prime and it’s more important to get it cut while it’s dry so I can use the buds). 

The flag requires marital cooperation. It’s low on the priority list because I can’t reach it myself and I’m not going to ask hubby to do it when he’s busy with business stuff. But if he does get it down for me I can try to de-algae-fy it. (If you stand on the north side of anything for long enough around here you’ll grow moss. We’re the Ever-green state.)

Transplanting is a good idea as soon as the rain looks ready to start, although I’d rather do it in the sun. I had a list of things to move in the spring, but a lot of them depended on moving one thing to make space for another. I’m going to make another list and see what needs to go where. I have struggled to find a good spot for that hydrangea. It’s in a terrible spot right now, barely visible. But it gave the plant a chance to recover and grow and I think with some planning I can find a new spot for it where it will be happy. The bigger issue of moving my big hydrangea to a spot where I can see it more clearly will take more planning. It’s hidden behind a 10 foot flax right now! I need a spot that won’t be too hot and dry, but has plenty of space. The hydrangea is one of the first things I planted in my garden, back when the porch gardens were sand, paint chips and weeds. It’s amazing how much things have changed. One or both hydrangeas might end up in the back yard. 

My cherry tomatoes have been producing like crazy this summer so I need to plan to leave space for them in the front yard for next summer too. I’ve only ever grown tomatoes in pots before. Growing them in the yard works so much better – I don’t have to water as much and I get a lot more fruit. (I’ll share my tomato relish making adventures in the next couple of weeks). 

I have a bad habit of keeping old to do lists that I haven’t finished so I’m going to go back and see if I have lists of all the things I intended to do in the spring that I still need to do. I think I know what most of them were – transplanting the hydrangeas, some of the clumping bamboo, digging up the elephant grass which has been engulfed by free grass and can’t be weeded (because it’s grass growing in grass…), and probably moving some lavenders around. Planting some things in bare spots and moving some things out of overgrown spots.

I think if I can get into the garden at least 10 days next month I can get everything done. If the weather is fairly decent, that shouldn’t be a problem at all. I’m not one to garden on cold or wet days. Fingers crossed that we have a bit of an Indian summer!  

I’m going to try scheduling myself a little time to do priority tasks like gardening (and blogging!) each day. I’m not good at schedules, but I can try to find a way to make it work. 

For now I’m going to take a few pictures to add to this post and while I’m out there I’ll cut the fragrant lavender. 

Hey, I got something done!

See you back here soon,

Jo:)

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