It rained today. !!!
It’s been three weeks without. It’s been hot. Remember the ranunculus I had neglected to cover sufficiently in the March cold and feared all was lost? Most survived. They’ve been making buds. Things were looking hopeful! Until this week when a temperature spike left all plants so, so thirsty.
It’s been too hot. Too much full-day sun. End-of-July kind of sun. Ranunculus are a cool season flower. They resent being over 70 degrees Fahrenheit. It hit 90s this week. The ranuncs want to call it quits. All the buds are blowing up, fast. Too fast.
The snapdragons have been wilty and weary. Seedlings have needed water daily – sometimes morning and evening – cuz their little root systems aren’t robust yet. I’m a bit wilty and weary myself. Thank goodness for iced tea. And today, thank you, Nature, for the half-inch of rain!
June 1 is my favorite day of the year. The weather is usually perfectly-Summer-starting and all green things are starting to get their grow on. The insect pressure isn’t so strong yet as to leave leaves tasted and tattered. June 1 feels alive. The poppies thought so, too. Several popped open this morning. 😍
There’s been an adorable 4-legged nugget (and I do NOT mean a chipmunk) spending days under our shed, out of the pounding sun. This same little stinker (notice: tone change) has been spending evenings squeezing through the plant jails to nibble on ranunculus foliage or to >timber!< a snapdragon. This all has me feeling a bit… Nonplussed? Amusedly frustrated? For sure, it has me seriously questioning how to successfully marry my affection for rabbits + my determined efforts to be a flower farmer.
What’s steeping these days? Weed tea! Two days ago I harvested a bucketful of burdock leaves, a few locust seedlings, dandelion leaves, and some abundant opposite-leaved plant that was plentiful on the edge of the scrubby parking lot where I was picking. Importantly, none had seed heads. Don’t need to give them a new home at my place.
What we call “weeds” though, we could actually call “superheroes.” They are species willing to grow – large! – in spots that none of the cuter plants can or want to grow in. Weeds mine nutrients deep in the ground. By collecting their leaves and roots, we can make all-natural plant food. Typically, I throw them into the compost bin to decompose with everything else. This time they will be putrefying (yep, as stinky as you’d imagine) in the bucket for a few weeks, covered with the last gunky rainwater I eked from the barrel. I will post an update when the tea is ready for serving up!
Keep growing!
Oh Amy, I love this so much. I love your growing and being in sync with the seasons and ecology of place. So happy you are growing flowers too that people can purchase. Love that your yard is an oasis.
Thank you so much, Barbara 🙂