The Summer of Discontent

This summer has turned out to be horribly hot in many parts of the world. It has made a lot of us unhappy with our gardens, too. "If I had only known..."

Looking at the garden yesterday, if I had known of the cool wet summer that I had (very different from our normally hot dry one), I would have:

gone ahead and planted my perennials! I spent the summer watering all those goofy pots!!!!! They could have been so happily establishing themselves, and so much healthier than being watered by city water! Ggggrrrr!

I would have NOT planted my most prominent planter with the tropical hibiscus! No way enough heat and sun to make it flower, so I have this big leafy thing with a few jasmine flowers struggling to make it worth-while.

Somehow August just seems to bring out the worst temper in me as a gardener -- shows me all my mistakes in the hot glare of the sun.

lupine - your garden is probably wonderful. For me, this time of year is a lot of: "woulda" "shoulda" (like why the heck didn't I plant more perennials) - but, as I reflect back, I probably did a pretty decent job for a second year gardener. Another summer, we'll be lamenting all of the high water items in time of drought! ;-)

I do hope the hot glare also highlights some previous successes and accomplishments.

Sbarr: Your post made me laugh. I've been gardening for many years and I still feel like you do every year. All we can do is look forward to the next and hope it will be better. We are so dry here. We are hauling in water to just keep the plants alive. You have done wonderfully for a second year gardener.
Lupy: your right August is terrible for us gardeners. I think in the back of our minds we know winter is coming and it will be over for this year.

Totally agree Lupi - August certainly brings out the very worst in our gardens. Each error stands out so brilliantly - particularly that huge stand of what I now know as weeds that we were sure was going to flower! LOL The sedum and mums will be here shortly to take away the August 'focus'.

Now, see, procrstination has it's place. I have annuals that I didn't get seeded in the ground until "too late" that are just coming into their first bloom now. My gardens are all messy, but there are bright spots!

My shoulda wouldas are mostly in relation to my veggie/herb/flower bed right behind the house. It was very late in - just pick my second batch of peas today - and I don't have it all in cultivation yet. There is a wide border of very dead grass marking where the brick edging goes on the eastern arc, and the western arc is looking very good for what little I put into it.

I am regretting all the goldenrod that I didn't pull earlier - most of it is now taller than my 5' 1" self and scary looking! lol, it will add a very bright note for the next month or so. Next year, more of it goes than stays.

To borrow Sandra's line...woulda coulda shoulda......

Sandra I'm in the same boat as you, my second season building the garden. I have made several mistakes (like planting a 10' wide circle FULL of Dahlia's only to learn that they need staking after about a week in bloom - they are kind of 'holding' each other up!) and another...plant Gladiolus DEEP and stake early! Another....start the veggie garden in March...not May! And I left waaaay too many perennials in pots too long. They never received the growth they should have........and so on.

But I have had many successes too! And I do stand back and think I did a pretty darn good job so far! My family and friends think so too. What a great hobby!

You know Lupy...it's definitely been the best of times and the worst of times. We have been in a 5 year drought but 2003 brought rain, rain, and more rain and yes, even more rain. I just can't believe it. I have seen things bloom that I have never seen bloom before. We have had 5 rain free days this month. And the humidity has been beyond belief. The zinnias are molding and so did my roses. We even had to run a dehumidifier along with running our air. The moisture is unbelievable. I have killed more slugs and snails this year than ever before. They even climb up the side of the house to get away from the wet. But the garden has been very colorful this year. The daylilies were awesome and the dahlias continue to bloom their little heads off. And while I would never ever wish for the drought to come back, I've definitely learned to be very careful what you ask for...whew!

Vic, sounds like my year, too! Some of my perennials which normally bloom for a week were blooming for a month or more! They loved the long cool wet spring, the cool wet summer.

I got the weirdest combinations this year! Now I see why so many cool-season gardeners focus so much attention on plant combinations and schemes. Never seemed important to me: almost nothing in my gardens blooms at the same time. This year???? Yeesh. I had peonies blooming for more than a month! Peonies blooming along with delphiniums and hollyhocks (a first).

So I am very thankful that we didn't get our annual drought, but how to add yet another dimension to my garden planning (hah! what plan???).

Here it was hot and dry as usual, but at least we have had a nice cool, rainy break.

I have been gardening for about 35 years to some degree or another,except when I was working too hard and later when I became ill.

My observation is that gardeners who care will always some
shoulda-coulda-woulda moments each season.

But hope springs eternal and all we can do is keep on keepin on. I think it is God's way of teaching us hope and faith.

Love, Lavanda

It sure is too bad we can't spread the dryness and the moisture around. We are I hope ending our drougth years. This is the fourth year of dryness. We here had no measurable rain since first of June, and the longest hottest weather since they have been keeping records. I don't even want to go out into the garden, but have to irrigate. i tell myself that i am leaving the weeds so the birds will have something to eat!!!! Donna

This made me laugh when I read it today, because I was just thinking why didn't I plant corn. I could have left out the cucumbers that didn't do well at all and have fresh corn today. But, I think last year I said why didn't I plant cucumbers. I guess I didn't know that the cucumbers were not going to do anything this year. This year I put in a cutting garden where some of my veggies would have went and have been very happy with this. I think I just need a larger yard.

I have plenty of space, but need better soil and a little more rainfall than we get.

Where did the summer go?? Is it because last winter was a long one and Spring took a while to arrive!! For all the rain we've had, for all the bugs that have had a ball, I am still grateful for these few months of cooler weather and the rain, certainly a deviation from the norm. I had so much planned for this year, uppermost was the continuation of the hard landscaping but health problems for me and hubbie put paid to that. All in all, given the excessive rain, the two year old shrubs, trees and climbers have catapulted beyond my expectations, the grass has grown where no grass grew before, along with the weeds of course and the purposely sown clover all the way from Germany. Apparent failures have been the strawberries and broad beans which were planted on a sloping part of the garden (by hubbie) and have been obliterated out of existence by the rain and the rabbits even though there is an abundance of clover for the little darlings. I should have done a lot of things, but I didn't, I couldn't!! Maybe, just maybe, some of the landscaping can be done in the fall and it makes sense. If not, there is always next year.

Bunnies just don't eat what I plant for them either! Or what is good for them. Altogether like little children in their behavior.

One thing that I did RIGHT this year was to wait to plant my green beans until late June. They have thrived, I have harvested several times so far, and they are still blooming! Guess I got varieties that love heat.

Today here was horrible. Got up to smoke everywhere. So think couldn't even see the mountains and they aren't that far away. There are at least three wildfires burning in the area, causing the smoke along with air inversion and practically no wind. It is almost 7:00 pm and the smoke is just as bad. Maybe tomorrow there will be wind out of the south, that should clear away some of the smoke. Still hot and dry. I am really tired of hot dry weather, and so are my plants. Donna

Oh, my goodness.......Donna, you are the in the town just below Orville and then Osoyoos in B.C. in the interior of our province.... I hope the situation improves there! Elaine

Donna I saw the fires on the news and I echo Elaine's sentiments. It must be terrible and I do so hope the wind changes direction and that the rains are not far away.

Wow! You guys are right on target! As the daylilies close down and the mums start, I see the blank spots where ther should be Snapdragons or Zinnias to carry me over. It seems what didn't rot in the wet spring is shriveling in the heat!
The cannas are FIANALLY blooming--I thought they had rot when they didn't break ground until July. What a wierd summer...

I live near Canton, Ohio. The weather was so weird this year. The cool spring enabled me to do a lot of gardening that the heat prevents me from doing. But then the rain came, and came, and came..... I couldn't mow for weeks. And then when it did dry out enough, the mower blades had to be set on high and lowered three times to get the grass to its normal height. I was weeding this past week and some of my garden flowers were actually trying to get away from the oversaturated soil. Their roots were partially "heaved" like they sometimes do in winter ! I agree with all of you - every summer is different and we troubleshoot the problems and start planning next year's garden.

I feel your pain lupy, just saw this post after I posted something very similar. Oh well, next year can't be worse!!!

Send some of your rain our way--we're baking out here in Iowa! City water just does not make it when you're establishing new beds in this heat. I think the hose spends as much time soaking me as soaking the beds. I HATE dragging the hose across the long yard to my back beds. I haven't mown in 4 weeks--the weeds are the only green spots in my yard! On the other hand, my daylilies were gorgeous this year and the zinnias are going crazy now!