30 June - too hot for outside work

It's about 80°F outside, at 10am today, with nearly no wind. I gave up weeding around then, and turned on the sprinkler again to soften the ground for this afternoon's weeding session. A swarm of bees flew by shortly before I gave up, giving me extra incentive to seek shelter.

The sunflowers - doing very well despite the lack of any attention whatsoever. I'll probably skip weeding this bed entirely, since they seem to be holding their own against the weeds.


Perennials

A pretty surprise this year: the Maltese Cross came back beautifully, with striking red-orange blooms you can see from the road. Neighbors have asked what they were, noting how nice they look against the stone of the house. I'll have to start more this summer and expand them along the back of this planting bed.








Filberts

One of the first plantings we did when we moved in years ago was planting three filbert bushes. Each year they've gotten marginally bigger from the stick-like original plants, and now they're several feet tall with clusters of nuts. Perhaps the nuts will be enough for both the critters and the humans this year (since the critters always win the battle of first to pick). Filberts (or hazelnuts, if you prefer) are excellent for baking, adding to Thanksgiving stuffings, and eating raw.



Can you tell where I stopped weeding last night to take the photo?


So what will happen to the weed debris? Thankfully, a large area of brush not too far from the garden readily accepts a weed-compost heap. It's at the edge of the elderberries, giving the bushes plenty of good soil over the years, but keeping the weed seeds out of the garden proper. I move the weed pile over a few feet every year, since I never turn these piles and they take longer than normal to compost.



Here's the info on the sprinkler:

The base telescopes to about 3 feet, providing some loft for the water drops over tall plants. Especially good when I haven't cut the grass in a while and the access path of the garden is about 6" deep, and covers the impact sprinkler almost entirely. Additionally, this is plenty tall enough that the dog (or me) doesn't trip over it & cut a paw. It's made by a company called Melnor.