Saturday, September 11, 2010

As Summer Wanes

The long, hot days of summer are growing shorter, but it is still very warm and painfully dry. The leaves have not yet stared to turn, though there are reports that the aspen in the mountains are beginning to turn golden.  The garden is going dormant, winding itself down. The pumpkin, squash, and cucumber vines have died back. The zinnas are fading fast. The cosomos got a late start and I am hoping that they seed before the first frost. I always combine them with dill, for the two make a lovely combination for the pollin collecting critters. The new Garden Spot had some successes: huge pumpkins that the grandkids will love, a plethora of the sweet butter nut squash, acorn, and summer squash, an over abundance of cucumbers. We got the rhubarb and raspberries started. There were failures as well. The tomatoes are just plain dismal. They are very slow to ripen and while there are about 20 vines, the production just didn't happen. There is always next year, and over the winter we will reevaluate and decide what we need to do to have better soil prep and devise a new irrigation system to move from expensive city water to using the well water. Raised beds might be in order to help combat the hideous goat head stickers and Canadian thistle and to give the garden some shape and order. Lots of Round-up, I guess, next spring. Now I need to order the bulbs, for it is getting late and I must have my spring color.

My blog has been accepted to Blotanical. I am quite excited to see how I will rank and to see if I gather any followers along the way. So the pressure is on now to meet the standards set by so many fabulous gardeners, bloggers, storytellers, writers, photographers. While I have lofty creative goals to meet, I must exercise self discipline and not become obsessive in the medium; I do have papers to grade and lectures to plan. None-the-less, I am quite excited to become apart of a wonderful community of those who garden with a passion. Welcome to my Garden Spot.

7 comments:

  1. Well Welcome to BLotanical and despite you saying summer is waning - still going full spate in your pics!

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  2. Our days are still plenty warm and it is very dry, but the nights cool off and the mornings are really cool, but the garden is done. I do appreciate your welcome. Hope to hear from you again. Ann

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  3. Welcome to Blotanical Ann. Even with summer waning, your garden seems to still be going strong with beets, pumpkins and butternut squash. I love this time of year!

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  4. Hi. I just subscribed to your web page. I found the information on poultry useful, for we will get our chicks in the spring, probably just a dozen for fresh eggs. Thanks for visiting my blog. Come back again.

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  5. Hi Ann, You have a beautiful blog. Love the pink hibiscus and the many butterflies here. You mentioned that you'll love to have English gardeners joining you. Hope you don't mind a Malaysian popping in every now and then. :)

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  6. Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving your kind comments. Good luck with your blog :-) Beautiful butterfly pics!

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  7. Welcome to Blotanical Ann! I am so honored to be one of your first faves! Thank you so much! I know you are busy, but since you are new, you will be feature over at blotanical ... so it is a good time to connect with folks and get your blog more known. I love your photos of the butterflies and hummers! Carol

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