Day: June 11, 2021

Garden Pictures, June 2021

Turkey Tracks: June 11, 2021

The poppy is only spectacular for a few short days, but while it is in bloom, it is glorious.

The Globemaster alliums are in full bloom. I love the individual star shapes of their big globe flowers.

The peonies are also in full bloom now. And those are white Easter lilies alongside—which will bloom later in the summer. You can also see the new Cat Mint plant by the deck steps. I’m trying it out in that tricky spot where I dug out the Ladies Mantle last year. The support board at the edge of the deck was rotten and got replaced a few weeks back, thanks to Shane Chontos.

The dusting on the Cat mint is the super, duper fertilizer formulated by Steve Solomon and sold by KIS Organics. Son Bryan and I figured it is cheaper to order it than to try to put together and store a big batch. This mixture is magic in the garden. Steve Solomon has many books, but if you want to try his organic fertilizer recipe, it is online: http://www.growgreatvegetables.com/fertilizers/a-great-organic-fertilizer-mix/

In this spot, the Cat Mint plays off of the established Cat Mint plants at the edge of the rock wall that lines the pathway to the house.

The strawberries are loaded with berries this year.

As are the raspberries. And the established blueberry bushes in the back of the house have recovered from last year’s debacle with the brown tail caterpillar destruction and subsequent serious cutting back. Last year I got caught by surprise, but this year I’m “on it.” I check these plants several times a day, have removed a few caterpillars, and have dusted the ground heavily with diatomaceous “dirt.” So far, so good.

While weeding under the oaks on the far side of the house, I got into these very toxic caterpillars’ bristles and got the blisters and itchy rash on both arms and on the back of my neck. It is better now, but it takes a long time to detox and for the rash to dry up. These toxic creatures, which are only about an inch long, prefer oaks trees, but when they exhaust the leaves, they will eat anything and LOVE fruit plants of all kinds.

I was outside all day yesterday, with only a brief lunch break. It was BLESSEDLY cool finally. I got so much heavy work done—to include spraying deer repellent again. The deer ate the tops of the phlox in the side garden the other night—and munched on some hostas in the front of the house. The strawberries and the driveway beds are nice and neat again.

Last night was great sleeping, and today the temps have hovered around high 50s. I closed all the windows again as I don’t need to be heating the outdoors!! I’m NOT complaining. But so far, no rain, and once again, we really need rain.