This is going to be a long post. Get yourself a cup of tea.
Yesterday, after a half-decent night's sleep (4 hours is considered decent), Ted felt ambitious. I'd spent the day processing various vegetables for the freezer and had no idea what he'd been up to back in the woods.
Here's your first glimpse of his new project.
This morning, I wanted to see what parts of the gardens needed attention. My favourite way to do that is to wander around with the camera. It's my reward for the hours spent weeding. I was also hoping to see some dewdrops.
There are still new beans coming on. We had some for supper last night in a chickpea/bean/feta salad. Yum.
Our annual cutting flowers are putting on a nice show this week.
And, the tomatoes are struggling to stay alive.
One of my thoughts this morning was that it might be time to process the green and red cabbages for winter. I think that will need to wait until we get back from our planned Quebec holiday. Cooler temperatures are in the forecast and hopefully not a lot of rain. It's too early to process them today. I am also hoping that whatever has decided to eat them will not be too hungry in the interim.
Our two yellow zucchini plants are still faithfully presenting us with two zucchini/week.
The Bull's Blood beets that I transplanted from thinning another row are coming along nicely. I imagine we'll have some nice beets in a month if the frost stays away.
There are early signs of the change in seasons. Dogwood shrubs are beginning to colour.
Elderberries are growing. Not a lot of pollination for this guy. It still is beautiful though.
Here's more of Ted's progress yesterday. He has a vision of making the wooded and pond areas wheelchair accessible for our old age. I guess that term - old age - is relative. Last week, our almost 11 year old grand daughter said, " Grandma, you are very inflexible." As in, my body, not my mind 😵 - I couldn't do handstands and cartwheels like she and her sister can. The flexibility ship sailed a long time ago. Hence these changes to the gardens now.
Goldenrods are a great filler flower for our Wednesday arrangements. I am glad that Ted saved some of them.
Aha!!!! Dew drops! How on earth do they attach themselves to the top of the leaves? You'd think that gravity would pull them downwards.
Those horrible Japanese beetles have now developed a taste for Jewel Weed.
I wish this duck would magically come alive and eat them all.
Looks like we won't be using our hosta leaves in tomorrow's arrangements. Each leaf has at least one slug hole in it.
It's interesting how plants find a way. Maybe we will too.
Some plants have a tendency to shove everyone else out. Like these perennial rudbeckias - black-eyed Susans. I'll be digging up a whack of them in September to make a better spot for the dahlias.
The last few years, one Rouge Vif d'Etampes pumpkin had a special spot in the fall gardens. I have plans for doing that again: to place one on top of a tomato support in the middle of the perennial garden. It looks like an offering of thanksgiving to me. This year, our pumpkins ripened earlier than in other years. So, they will need to wait until the tomatoes are finished with their supports. They need to be patient. I think they can manage that request.
It's also interesting how new people come into our lives, each bringing something that we need. Yesterday, a new kindred spirit visited - a man who is 5 years older than we are. He left us with the thought, "I am living on borrowed time." That's how we feel too, even though we haven't put it into words.
Crabapples are starting to colour.
Still a lot of beauty even though this dahlia is a bit ragged around the edges.
There is beauty in decay.
I am hoping to still use the allium seed heads in fall arrangements.
I think this is our 4th planting of beets. I don't have room to plant them in plugs. They would have a better chance of succeeding if I did. Maybe next year.
That's the end of the morning tour, but wait........
.... someone had other plans that needed documentation. 10 cubic yards of dust & chips were delivered yesterday and were weighing on Ted's mind.
Remember how I said earlier that we've been planning for our old age? A roll of heavy landscape cloth arrived at the door yesterday too. Today, in the coolness of the morning, we laid it on the path.
Temporary forms were hammered in place and that pile of dust & chips began to be shovelled into a wheelbarrow and wheeled across the lawn. Chipping sparrows chipped and a returning house wren warbled. Maybe they are happy that we've chosen to stay here and see what becomes of our borrowed time.
After lunch, our gardening buddy insisted on coming over, helping wheel the dust & chips. She and Ted finished this section AND started two distant sections in the woods. We are learning to accept help.
“I suddenly realized that we were on borrowed time,
that time is always borrowed,
and that the lending agency exacts its premium
precisely when we are least prepared to pay and need to borrow more...”
André Aciman
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