Monday, August 19, 2024
The LBirds and Bees and Some Butterflies, Too
Monday, August 12, 2024
Thanks to Carol
While our conversations are few and far between, they are l-o-n-g as we catch up on our daughters, she has one, I have two. We reminisce about our childhood, remembering the best of those years. This time Carol shared with me about her writing, confessing that as an avid quilter and seamstress, she now writes more than she sews and writes daily. She asked about my blog to which I confessed that I had abandoned it, and she encouraged me to start again. As I look back over the years since I began the blog in 2009 shortly after we moved to the Garden Spot, I amazed myself to see how much of the family history I have recorded, so this post for is for you Carol. Thank you for encouraging me to return to writing to tell stories--as you refer to your own writings.
A Sign of the Times: While the weather prognosticators have not declared that Colorado is in a drought, it certainly seems so. We finally had rain Friday, a nice substantial rain the perked up the lawn and made the vegetable garden look worth saving. There is another sort of drought not nature made and that is the availability of domestic or treated water. Here in Northern Colorado cities are charging exorbitant amounts for city water. Many lawns in town have turned to weeds because it is so expensive to water them. For us, in addition to our city water, we also have access to agricultural well water that we use to water the lawn and the pastures. The flower beds and vegetable garden are on city water with timers to avoid over watering
But that's not all, along with the hefty water fee, electric power is even higher. Each month our power company sends us a statement of how much power we've used compared to our neighbors who live on city lots with small lawns. Our water used compared to our subdivision neighbors looks shameful; however, it takes power to run the pump to irrigate our 2 acre hay field and the acre+ grazing pasture, an lawn--not to mention the pump that filters our lily pond, so, yes, we use a lot of power to run the pump that drives the sprinkler system. While the desired plants falter with the lack of rain that provides natural nutrients, the weed population thrives, getting more voracious every year.
Still joy can be found in the garden, so let's visit the time capsule and venture through the summer.
Ponding update: The last post detailed the removing the giant clump of water lily in center of pond. I repotted smaller pieces in Walmart storage baskets. The Head Gardener ordered canvas fiber-like baskets that I used to repot 10 lilies. The pond is probably 80% covered now with lily pads.
One of these three seems to be permanently rooted in the bottom of the pond. Part of the original, it seems to be staying put.
The white trash bags hold the Canadian thistles that I finally pulled. Such ugly plants that we can't seem to get control of. |
Anchor
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The Head Gardener calls it Ponding , ie. Water Garden Maintenance. We are bit late this year because it has been too cold, too wet, or windy...
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Even the backyard garden has moments that can serve as a metaphor for life. While aracinids are not always the most popular creature to st...