Don't let the rain stop you!

I love Google, too:

COTSWOLDS
Comes from the name of a man in the 12th century that owned high forest land - he was called Codwald. Also another explanation is that the word 'COT' meant an animal Pen (sheep in this instance) or containment and Wolds means rolling Hills.

Aha! Google is great!

I know... Here we have Norwich, pronounced Nor-wich. But some old-timers pronounce it Nor-itch. I am not sure that any of the ones pronouncing it itch are from there though.

Well, I am done with lunch and off to the great outdoors to do some gardening. I had a lovely time chatting. Have a great sunny day, Pirl!

I just spread 840 pounds of fine dump chips (not their mulch) through two gardens.

I love A/C, too! Thanks, Ivy, for a great chat within a thread.

I needed to rant about the weather and found this website, and this thread. I'm trying to find out how many days we've had here in Maine when it hasn't rained since early May. Maybe five? Even today was supposed to be a clear, perfect day and, guess what? It rained. Twice. The first time was just a shower but the second time was a real downpour. And I had just sprayed my tomatoes -- early blight, even though they're planted in a totally new, different place. And the mosquitoes. OMG! We live in a rather mosquito prone area anyway and have had one of those mosquito magnets for three years. It works pretty well. Usually by this time of the summer I can forgo the DEET except for perhaps around my ankles. This year no way. I have to cover myself with it if I expect to be outside for more than a few seconds. I run around the garden to snip a few herbs for supper cutting, slapping, and cursing. I've used so much DEET that I think I've begun to poison myself. Seriously. I live with my disabled sister, my three boys are grown and on their own. My poor sister has to listen to me moan and complain. I've even slept with earplugs because the rain so irritated me that it keeps me awake. Last summer was pretty bad but by this time the rain had tapered almost to normal. There seems to be no sign of that happening this year. Glad I found you!

I can only offer you my sympathy! It's so hard to love to garden when the weather just won't cooperate.

I wish you sunshine!

smlowry, tough year. you have my sympathy too.
Ivy, those of us that grew up around it pronounce New Haven with the accent on HAVen. Outsiders tend to put the accent on NEW. Is it the same with New London?

Those of us who grew up in Massachusetts have all sorts of town pronounciations that distinguish the locals from the non natives--Gloucester, Worcester, Haverhill, Framingham, Woburn, Peabody,etc, etc, etc. I have a friend who moved to the area a few years ago from Philly and it just drove him bananas. Tee hee. :)

pam

I guess it must be, because I call it New LONdon. I consider myself almost a native since I have been here for 30 years, but some would say no, that doesn't do it.

smlowry- oh boy. My heart goes out to you. I never thought there could be too much rain till this year. I counted 3 days of sunshine for us up until this week. I guess we are lucky. We will get it again tonight. I want to murder the mosquitoes! I am an organic gardener, and I find myself praying for the town to spray for them.

Phuggins- is it

glosster, wooster, -----, framingem, -----,peebudee?

Worcester natives tend to pronounce it more like "Wistuh".

oh yeah, sorry. glosstah, wistah,etc.

The pronunciations are so much fun! Peebudee takes the cake!

The museum in new HAVen (part of Yale) is spelled the same but pronounced Pea Body. My little guy calls it the "Body Museum". I think he took the name to relate to the animal diaramas (sp?) and dinosaur bones they have there.

That is so cute!

We didn't get any more rain last night....I am so happy!

Haverhill = hay-vrill (used to live there)

If anyone watched the last episode of the West Wing - they got it wrong.

Ooops. I liked that show- but I would think they would be more careful.

What about Woburn? I can't imagine what it is supposed to be.

Woburn History: In September 1642, the Great and General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony incorporated Woburn with these words: “Charlestown Village is called Wooburne,” so named after Woobourne, Bedfordshire, England. And in the first half of the 20th Century, Daily Times columnist and trivia legend Mike Curran called Woburn “the biggest little city in the entire world.”

We have a small municipality here called Wequetequock.

(pronounced WIKitee-qwock.) It's my favorite.

When I lived in Oklahoma, my fave was Chickasha.

pronounced SHICK-a-shay. Funny that they are both Indian names.

OK. Are anyone else's plants in shock right now- going from straight rain to full sun and 85 degrees?

Yes Ivy mine are a bit shocked.
Strange, I though about watering today. Decided to wait (rain tomorrow) but I can't remember the last time I watered.

Even with all the rain, can't get away from HOSES - there're all the new plants waiting to be planted and all the new ones just planted. So, hauling hose must just be a permanent part of my life. Faucets in front and on the side and the main gardens, of course, in back. I'm getting pretty good at hose configurations - a great new Y thingy so two hoses can remain attached at the house. I think it's a Nelson - has big levers easily turned and short hoses rather than all metal. And last year I discovered the joy of quick connectors - no more tedious screwing and unscrewing every time I turn around.

Stachys Helen von Stein is a mess with all the water and I have it repeated at the front of the garden - not a good look. Everything else seems very happy - hydrangeas have been heavenly. I cut Annabelle hedge to 9 inches and feritlized in the Spring - they have never been better. Not flopping to the ground as in other years. Oakleaf is blooming, though it often doesn't since it's in a dry area. Well, normally dry :o)

All my Hydrangeas are blooming like crazy- except the Endless Summers! Can you believe that?

Instead of good weather for ducks, I'm changing it to good weather for Hydrangeas!

Mine too!

The delphiniums seem to have liked all the rain this year

I'm green, not from mold, just jealousy!

They're beautiful and the combination of colors is magnificent.

Thanks pirl
Glad it's not mold! ;-)

It's raining so the mold may arrive shortly.

I'm in a much better mood -- we haven't had rain for three days! It was supposed to rain yesterday, and thunder rumbled around the mountains, but we managed to escape. Awesome!

And sun shock, definitely. I found I had to water my chard a bit today to perk them up. Is there anything I can do about the early blight on my tomatoes, which look beautiful still, but at the rate I've been picking off leaves, they'll be bare by mid August. Usually they don't start this until much later in the summer. And to avoid this I put them in a totally new bed this year, but then the weather we've had is perfect for blight.

My heart goes out to those of you who are still getting rain.

smlowry-I sprayed a fungicide on my tomatoes this year when they started blighting. It worked!! I yanked off all the diseased foliage and they're all healthy and green now. I'm glad I did(it was the first time) or I'd have nothing left by now. It was a perfect year for blight.

It took awhile to get it all together and here is a picture of my new walk made of bricks that I "recycled" from a demolition site and my neighbor's daughter's house. I made up a grid in Excel for the design and the masons did a great job laying the printed bricks in my "seaweed" design.

Great job! I love the design and the execution is terrific!

very nice, Yank. I love bricks. so much you can do if you're creative, and obviously you are!

Yank, beautiful! I have some bricks if you ever come to Maine.....lol

Might just do that, Pixie if I run out here. Laid reclaimed firebricks along the side of the garage where the blackberries try to sprout to discourage them. It's kind of a (narrow) yellow brick road. I've never made it as far north as Maine - made it to Vermont and New Hampshire once, been to RI (I think - I blinked going through - so I'm not sure) and Boston. I'm not very adventureous.

Yank ~ i've been to Bridgeport, have a cousin who lives in Manchester spent every April vacation at her house when I was a kid. Been to R.I. ...everytime 495 had a detour Mom ended up in R.I. LOL

Maine is much too beautiful to miss!

Not to mention Pixie!

Pirl you are right..I live here and still think its beautiful....but.a bit chilly right now.
Awe, thanks Dave!

YCat,
Beautiful pathway. Wish I could find some bricks to reclaim.

pixie - cool is fine, just add a sweater. For some who swelter from May to October there's just so much you can remove if you're outside attempting to garden as the temperatures rise to 100 degrees each day.

I'll take cool anytime over the unbearable heat and humidity and three showers a day.

But 18 degrees is too chilly for me to do to much outside!

I can accept that!