Where Did Summer Go?

Summer now seems like a dream. I know it happened, but I must have been in a fog after the hell that was the coronavirus spring. Or it just went too fast. With all the isolation time, I spent most of it in my garden.

Last fall in an attempt to downsize and eliminate so much of the work and weeding, I ripped out a lot of beds, covered the bare dirt with cardboard, and spent the winter tromping on it to flatten it all out so weeds wouldn't grow. It was a lot of work, but I had confidence this would in the long run make my life less exhausting and more enjoyable. A friend of mine not too long ago exclaimed, "Don't you love strolling in your garden?!" I looked at her in disbelief, "When? When would I have time to stroll when there is always too much work to maintain it?" I made a point to let her know her husband tends to do all the "work" for her.

Then this spring I removed the cardboard, dug up what weeds attempted to grow and covered everything with bark. THREE LOADS of bark! But I love it:

It's such a clean look and it worked! I spent very little time this summer pulling weeds! Hooray!

I did add one plant last year that didn't do much, but I was told it would bloom the following year. Asparagus:

And it did once it grew to eight feet tall!

The bees went absolutely crazy. I don't have photos of them, but during midday I'd see up to five bumbles on one blossom. It was a spectacular plant.

The apple tree went crazy with apples. All the organic spraying I did all winter really helped. Beautiful apples, but then they started dropping about fifty every night. I fed them to the deer and gave them to a friend who has pigs.

The Italian prune tree also went crazy. I gave lots of plums away to friends and sold them to strangers. I counted 1740 plums, not counting the ones the family of seven raccoons ate every night.

Then there is the fig tree! I've never had figs. Last year I transplanted the fig tree out of its pot and into a garden outside my fence that gets sun all day long. The tree is loaded, but it's October and they are still green. I don't know anything about figs so I'm not sure when they ripen. We'll see.

I also grew basil on my deck, and onions, beets and spinach in my raised planter. 

The summer war started and ended with a hornet's nest. I check the eaves of my house and outbuildings all the time in the spring for the start of nests, knock them down, and feel safe. Not for one minute did I ever expect hornets to make a nest UNDER my deck!

One day while I was walking over the deck on the way into the house and wearing sandals I felt a pinch on my foot. I rubbed my foot not sure what that was and continued. I came out the door the second time and a hornet stung me on top of my foot. OMG! The pain was so intense. I had something in my hand and swung at him, he dodged, and came back for another attack. I ran in the house fast. After treating the sting to the best of my ability, I watched from the safety of my glass door and sure enough, baby hornets crawling on the deck just outside the front door and disappearing between the planks. I had not noticed them before. At dusk I peeked under the deck and there was the nest about sixteen inches in height. Holy mackerel! It must have been there for a while but I never noticed. I got some spray. It didn't work. I went through two cans and even after I poisoned the nest, knocked it down, hornets still hung out on the deck. So I began watching for them and when they appeared, sprayed them directly with the spray. There was one hornet that I'm sure was the leader, relentless and mean.

The deck needed repairs so it was important to get rid of them. Even as I started working on the deck two months later, one hornet buzzed too close, but after being swatted left never to return. So scary.

My sting swelled and turned bright red. The pain was intense like an electric shock and lasted for days. After a few days I called the doctor to find out if I should be concerned. They suggested I outline the swelling with a pen and watch to make sure it doesn't grow. People die from these stings. In another twenty four hours the swelling went down. Nasty bugs!

My fall project is cleaning out the daisy garden. I'm going to make it a pink garden. It's the last one to be redone for downsizing!

Hooray!