Month: June 2010

James was stung twice by yellowjackets while he mowed the lawn in their back yard. Terminix came out today to spray. I hope that gets rid of them.
Tomatoes in the new garden don’t look too great. I think they needed more water. I gave them Miracle Gro today and am going to water them and the grass every day for a while.

Yesterday and this morning, everything got a good watering.
In spite of inertia, I did 3 hours of mowing, staking and deadheading.
It’s humid and disgusting today, typical New England summer weather.
James, Ethan and Tyler are playing with water guns – a good idea. I threatened to bring them home if they didn’t come up with something to do other than watch Nickelodeon.
Emme won airplane tickets to Nantucket at the concert last night!

It must be the humidity.
I’ve lost all incentive to do much of anything but stare out the window.
The garden (knock wood) looks great and except for the battle with slugs, isn’t requiring much maintenance these days. I did “8” the cukes last night.
Fluffles is a tiny train wreck. It’s been impossible to brush out or even cut all the knots in his fur, so I’m bringing him in for grooming next week.
Found out that Mashpee’s “quiet hours” are 10 pm to 7 am. Which means I can get started with the mowing now.

Ryan’s daisies and the St. Johns Wort have started. The St. Johns Wort is perfect: those who said to cut it to the ground were absolutely right.

More sweetpeas, purple ones, and they have a fabulous fragrance.

Both of the butterfly bushes have started as well.

Even the cukes have blossoms. Wish I could say the same for the tomatoes. The ones in the cold frame at least look healthy. The ones in the garden I labored so hard to create look awful.

Fed Neptune’s to the tomatoes and other veggies, plus the big lupines. Exactly two weeks since the first feeding.
Good soaking rain around 5 AM this morning, brief but potent storm. Even the normally imperturbable Fluffles was taken aback by the thunder.
Removed two dozen slugs afterwards from the Stella d’Oros, mostly near the porch. Put out upside-down flower pots to capture more.
The white sweet peas started blooming this week. Nice fragrance and easy to grow.

Mowed the front, side and about 1/4 of the back after work.
When it got late, I dragged out the old push mower, which was actually fun to use. I’m glad to have held on to it.

8’d a little Chrysanthemum in the front and the Hibiscus tonight. Hot today.

Since around 2 this afternoon, it’s looked like it was really trying to rain. So far, though, all we have is heavy fog, rather nice in fact.
James, Eric and Ethan were here for the weekend. No one was hurt (thank goodness) and casualties to the house – a knocked out window, a rip in the trash can cover, the thermostat mysteriously turned up to (choke, gasp, humid enough for ya) 74 degrees – were easily corrected.
Brought Emme to the nail salon and we picked up a Father’s Day card and gift for Peter on the way back. She is thrilled to be out of school and sympathized with my running around: said that I might be done with errands, but not with chores.
I’m thrilled that the big ornamental grasses that were skinny little guys last year are now strong enough to no longer require stakes.
I finally finished digging up the grass and spreading mulch on the far left side of the border garden. It now looks empty. I did a lot of watering this morning and cut down the mystery tree by the fence. Will dig up the roots in the fall.
I’m amazed at how well the Miss Kims are doing; even the brand new one is putting out new foliage.
I labored from April till November 2009 for June 2010.

Larkspur started blooming yesterday.

Dead-headed roses this morning.

Flowers on the inkberries!

The “light” pruning of the Summersweet turned into a good-sized project, but it’s done.
I hope the plants forgive me for my numerous mistakes.
This weekend is predicted to be a washout for outdoor activity, although Robert did get in a sailing lesson today.
I was able to do an internal exchange at Sea Mist to the week of September 26.
The Lupine are not doing well at all, probably not enough sun. I bought two bigger ones at the discount nursery today; at 30% off, they were not much more expensive than the tiny ones. I will definitely have to find a better spot for them.
Something tore up one of my blueberry bushes, probably a raccoon or a dog. Lesson learned about how to better set up the netting. I redid the rest so that the nets don’t form a barrier.
James did a fantastic job of cutting their lawn, which resulted in an enormous pile of grass. Peter is smart, he raised the lawnmower to about 3-4 inches off the ground. I haven’t seen their lawn look this good, ever.
Dropped off some leftovers from last weekend’s yard sale at the Falmouth Hospital thrift shop, which is just about the nicest one around, yesterday on the way to work.
I was happy to get this and a couple other weekend chores out of the way, made things easier today since I had so many errands: Hyannis Toyota, Home Goods, Visitors Center to pick up a transfer station sticker, prescription refill, Robert to sailing, etc. Rented “Shutter Island”, good film, better than I expected.