Archive for September, 2019
How Does Your Garden Grow – Part Two
https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2019/08/18/how-does-your-garden-grow-part-one/
Well it has been a strange summer, incessant rain ( as I remember it ) in June and then sun , sun, sun and now September and I am sitting here on the 22nd of September in the air-conditioning watching the trees and flowers wilt in the intense heat and sun shine.
I love September, usually because the warm days , cool nights and some rain give the flowers their last burst of colour. Not so in the garden this year. The pots planted around the pond to keep out the dreaded Blue Heron ( my angel of death) look stringy and awful. They did their job but hid the water and fish not only from the Heron but from me.
Before the Heron
After the Heron
The roses reacted to the damp and wet and cold in June by getting black spot and another fungus which meant cutting them back and giving them medication. My mini – orchard suffered, mostly the cherry trees they look decidedly problematic. https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/yellowing_leaves_and_leaf_loss_reported_in_tart_cherries
There isn’t a lot I can do , not being young and agile enough to climb ladders and spray and prune. Needs must and my energy is used up inside the house at the moment. So fingers crossed the trees are strong enough to survive. The towering Sycamore looked awful earlier on in the spring with its blight but after a few weeks regained her leaves and looks healthy enough, so fingers crossed.
Although the blossoms on the fruit trees were plentiful and gave much pleasure to eye I am afraid, the birds got the cherries ( I managed one and it was delicious) I also managed one plum, a couple of apples and two pears . The peaches, although so heavy they bent the branches , by the time they were full and ripe disappeared overnight, squirrels played havoc and then the Puckwudgies. ( Groundhogs to uninitiated to this blogger) crept under the fence from the blue house and had their fill, same with the apples . It was almost like the squirrels were working for the groundhogs!
I live in hope that next year I can get at least some cherries and plums. The raspberries also went the way of the birds but they also kept the Heron from landing so it was a tradeoff.
Not all was frustrating , following Monty Don’s advice https://montydon.com/ I decided to have the grandchildren scatter wildflower seeds and sunflower seeds in the unused garden. Apparently weeds love good soil but wildflowers can thrive in poor soil and can out produce the weeds. Well why not give it a try, I certainly could not weed this year and even getting the grass cut on the now double lot has been a chore. Happily, the boys , took to their task with gusto only the seeds were sprinkled with great abandon, not paying any heed to boundaries . Hence wildflowers popped up everywhere even in the gravel .
And Yes the wildflowers did keep the weeds at bay, this is part of the garden planted with the wildflowers
and the missed part … the weeds
I guess Monty was right and so since the wildflowers did their job of keeping down the weeds and bringing in the bees and pollinators they will have an even bigger spot in the garden…………. to be continued
Sept 3rd – Moving On??? Chris Ritchey
“Try to remember the kind of September……….. “
I have no difficulty in remembering this Labor Day Holiday of yesteryear . You had been given another chance of a “cure”. Of course I realize now that the word “cure” was not an accurate description as given to us by the Cleveland Clinic. The “trial” of SGN 35 was just that another trial. What followed was a frenzied trip to Houston, and more of that four letter word HOPE!!!!
Septembers have come and gone and I remember the “beginning of the end of hope” with the pain that never lessens. As this blog brings to the fore writings of previous Septembers, I revisit those emotions of those times.
One such September third came to the fore today because it had been accessed by someone reading my words.
As I read what I had written in my emotional incontinence , I wonder would I have written anything similar today , you can see the anger, the hurt and the disgust I felt and I asked myself would I have felt the same or written the same today? The answer is YES! just as time has not eased your death and “taking of the memories that should have been” neither has it lessened the feelings I have toward those of self serving hypocrisy. The anger that keeps me upright is beneficial to being………… it is now part of me and who I am….
I love you my son ………. you are but a last breath away…
Chris Ritchey Source
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