Hope you all beat the weather

I know Melissa proudly got all her plants into the ground shortly after the weekend (good girl). I worked at it myself today (got most but not all in), did some much needed weeding, and also mowed the lawn again (Gary mowed on Sunday) in anticipation of the downpours forecasted. It was pleasant in the morning, then got really muggy, then the rains hit here at about 2:30. I think I have everything safely under cover, may just sit out on the front covered porch with a refreshment and enjoy the green.

I haven't left work yet. Should be a nice trip home over the 520 bridge (not). I tried to mow a rock the weekend before last and now have an issue with one of the blades and the spindle that holds it. I don't know if I can figure it out myself - might have to call someone else to fix it. Lawn hasn't been mowed since then.

That's the beauty of this weather, though - nothing to do but sit outside and enjoy the green anyway.

My native lonicera ciliosa is just blooming - I was going to take a picture for you all tonight. But it's not looking too good for that.

I'd love to have a covered area to sit and enjoy the green. The family room overlooks the back garden and pond, so it has to suffice. I'd probably be cold, anyway.
But since Deb has so nicely referred to how good I was in getting plants in the ground, I believe this might be the appropriate place to post photos of my much maligned pot ghetto. After seeing the photos, people will truly understand my need to get plant trades in the ground ASAP.

So this is what the fence is designed to hide. My soft underbelly completely exposed. Just to the right as one walks through the gateway, my nursery bed, which is already too small.

Completely exposed to the weather, so good luck to all these plants. To the left of the compost piles, part of the pot ghetto. Many, many daylilies in pots. Also various other things.

You can't see this rack, which is behind the lilies in the above post.

Then to the left of the gate, more lilies.

More seedlings, potted up.

Now that I have finally completely hijacked Deb's thread (sorry, Deb) here is the last photo of my secret shame. My beloved seed bed. Now the whole world knows why I desperately seek to give plants away and am not satisfied for people to simply come and look at my garden.

This weather makes me want to sit around, eat, and sleep. It's a very bad combination.

funny how the weather affects us so differently. it makes me want to go outside with a very large squeegee & the Babe Ruth sized Gigantor Blow Dryer. then i could play outside.
Instead i will vacuum - gosh! that will just make my night!

Huh? You will vacuum? Want to come over and play? I have two vacuums. Also dust cloths. I have a lot of those.

can i can i can i ?
but i do not dust. I let the dogs take care of that with their tails.
or use a blow dryer.

Rats. My dogs don't have tails. They are Aussies. Tails are undignified.

I just discovered the weather has seemingly driven all the leaf miners in the immediate vicinity to my back porch... where they have been joyfully feasting on tomato, eggplant, and coleus plants that were trying to harden off (ha ;))...

Oh Kur that's frustrating! Yesterday I cut most of my chard that was not affected by leaf miners and had it for dinner. If the miners don't ease up soon I am going to pull the chard plants out and start over. They have not gotten to my spinach yet. I don't like those little buggers!

Man it really poured here a while ago. Then the sun came out for a few minutes and I quickly took Koka for a walk. Now the sky is really dark and the rain is starting up again. My irises are looking pretty sad!

I just got back from six days in Chicago to a very bewildered and bedraggled looking garden. There are plants that shot up a foot and started blooming while I was gone (foxgloves!) and others that have now gone completely horizontal under the weight of the rain on all their new growth.

They look very confused to me, as if they are saying - 'Why can't I stand upright anymore? What's that nasty wet heavy stuff all over my leaves? Oh no... here comes more... better lay down so it won't get me. I'm sure the sun will be along any time now. Ouch! Where'd that dang sun go anyway?"

LOL! Glad I am not the only one who hears the plants talking. Mine say 'Enough is enough! We are drowning here!'

Ah, yes, my tree peony hit the dust and the clematis that are starting to bloom look like crap, along with a bunch of other stuff. But, if you look at the videos of the hail storms in Oklahoma last weekend, you don't feel quite so bad.

My Clematis Miss Bateman was glorious, but now it's just soggy. Fortunately, there are a few more blossoms on the way . . .

Frankly, anytime I consider Oklahoma I don't feel so bad...
I am trying to work between rain showers.

ROFL.

Well played Pixy. Well played indeed.

Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain........................

Bad news... Lost another baby duck this morning... :( I'm blaming the weather because it's got everybody scrambling to get everything they can for their babies inbetween the torrents and it's so cold. We had been doing well for a week and a half - I was just starting to feel comfortable... now I'm on guard again... I'm thinking it must have been an owl or a hawk. The remaining 5 will be 14 days old tomorrow, please cross your fingers for the little guys...

Ah, thanks Kymmco! It's a good chuckle.

Bad news, Kur! I will definitely keep fingers and toes crossed for the little things. I don't believe I knew about the baby ducks before now. Is there a thread I've missed where you have talked about them? I hate to think of a baby duck going to a hawk or owl, but I love both hawks and owls. I know they have to eat, too, but maybe they could eat something else.

Yeah, like voles.

Hi Pixy - Yeah, I forget which thread... but here's a picture of the bunch the day they were born... the day before Mother's day...

It's been quite an adventure... She disappeared on the following Monday with the 10 little ones.... (another mallard couple scared her off, I believe) and she returned three days later (minus four - :( - I wish she had stayed!) And then we lost another last night.... I thought we had made it through the tough part... but Mother Nature is harsh...

Yeah, if only they would eat voles!

Those are the cutest ducklings! Yes, mother nature is harsh to be sure. The crows have eaten the eggs in the robin's nest, and then they built another nest in a different location and the crows found that one, too. Poor robins. And poor mama duck.

You guys have really gotten a lot of wet stuff lately.

AWWW on the little ducks. My 5 yr old grandson cried the other day when his mommy read him a book from the library about sea turtles. It broke his little heart to learn that the baby turtles have a hard time scurrying down the beach to avoid predators. I kinda wish I was there to see his reaction and then give him a big, old hug.

Jan - I'm like your grandson, still. I hated books like the Yearling and Where the Red Fern Grows. I hate the Disney cartoons like Dumbo. I must have a happy ending. And I still cry at the baby sea turtles - I talk to the TV set when I'm watching film on this stuff.

Sounds like your grandson is very sensitive . . . bless his heart.

It seems that way! Yes, bless his little ole heart (said with a southern drawl, like my mom's cousin would always say.)

It turned out to be an ablsolutely glorious day after cloudy humids this morning.

After an absolute downpour Friday night, Saturday was downright pleasant, though I always have far too many run-around-town chores that have to be done on a Saturday. I got out in the sun in the latter part of the afternoon and happily have come in with twigs and dirt in the hair.

My school had a literacy night on Friday evening, where families come for a variety of activities with their children. I was in the poetry room. We went out under the roof overhang and wrote poems about the rain. Leave it to kids to see the fun in a soggy situation.

I skipped my errands today so I could spend the whole day in the yard. I'll be trying to fit a lot in tomorrow . . .

Jan, your grandson sounds so sweet! My son used to be like that and he is the most caring and sensitive young man now.

Funny how kids turn out. I have two sons, who could not be more different from one another. The older is self-assured and totally into politics. The younger is sensitive and more of a mountain-man. They both wonder where the other came from. What a treat.

Kur, crossing my fingers for your ducklings too. It is so hard to watch nature at work some times. After all the rain and yuck, yesterday was a blessing (even if it was cold). I was even able to get the lawns mowed right before the rain came back! I have started the habit of looking at the hour by hour forcast on weather.com on the mornings that I am off, and if it says rain by noon or so, I am in the garden at 5:30 or 6:30 am trying to play catch up. I can sleep or do inside chores later...

This morning however, it is dumping, so I guess I have no excuse not to do a bit of housecleaning..

Bonehead, I laugh at your description of your sons. My brother and I are like that. I am so very much like my parents in sooo many ways, and he is so NOT. If he wasn't the spitting image of my father, we joke that he could have been the milkman's son. It makes for an entertaining relationship, and he will always be one of my best friends. I think we temper each other well...

Five of my kids are boys, and it's been my experience that boys (they're now all men) are the stronger sex only in physicality. They are more sensitive then my two daughters. They look like big strong guys and their muscles are, but they are big softies. When one of my sons held his first child right after she was born, he cried like a baby. The girls are sweet and caring as well, but I think they are mentally able to handle tough things a little better. I worried more about my boys when they were young.

Holly I want to be in your class. I bet those kids love you.

It is so wet! The dog park is turning into a mud hole.

So I'm not the only one who monitors weather.com hour-by-hour and tries to schedule the day on it...  I was kicking myself Wednesday morning that I wasn't going to be able to mow the lawn before 4 pm when the rain was scheduled to begin in earnest... because it was obvious it was going to be my last chance to do it while the grass was somewhat dry and not too tall... Now, it's too late... Now the slugs have a full eight inches of cover above them when they cross the yard… Tomorrow it will be nine, and Tuesday it will be ten… I wish we could sprinkle something on our lawns to keep them from growing... I’m inventing that someday…

hour by hour? here it is watched in 10 minute chunks....

not happy with what has been on the menu the past few days - if i don't have the concentrated time on the weekends, then I fall wayyyy behind. Oh, & the lawn: the slugs have more cover as does the dog poop.

I woke up ready to go at 6:00, checked the skies, fed the dogs, & spit nails. Back to bed I went, which is abnormal behaviour for me. Clouds are coming from the opposite direction so those of you north of me will be partaking in some WetCold.

The Hostas seem to be enjoying themselves.

Birdwatching from the living room, with Bloody Mary in hand, isn't too bad until you start reflecting on how much further you are getting behind. Must get going! Must get going! Must! Must! Must!

So tomorrow is supposed to be partly sunny. Then more rain tomorrow evening. Maybe I'll get up at the crack of dawn and get out there. I am more concerned with the weeds than the slugs. That last load of compost was a big mistake. The weeds are so thick in the garden I am pulling them up by the handful. I can only do so much of that before I start having pain in the neck, literally. It's making me a little insane. I've decided I'm not even going to fight the fungus this year. I am defeated. Anything that doesn't want to live enough to fend for itself is just going to be replaced.

Pixy, I have joined you in the defeat catagory this year, but my conqueror has been the great slug invasion. I always have had a slug problem, but nothing like this year. I literally had about two dozen (ranging from the tiny to many three or so inches long) attacking one iris last week. There will be very few iris blooms this year, and I have lost several daylily scapes to them as well. I just can't keep up...