Middle July - HOT
Good GRIEF it is HOT... just as the Old Farmer's Almanac predicted, so I have been expecting it. Here in the Midwest, we call this "Corn Growin' Weather!"..... hot, humid and sticky. Today the humidity is expected because we have finally had RAIN! Here in Northern Illinois, we have watched storm after storm bypass us, either to the North or to the South, but missing us with amazing accuracy.
I know that not all areas around here are scorching dry, as I have done some traveling. Last weekend we went (4 hours) up to Northern Wisconsin where DS #2 has purchased a wooded property ... and I mean IN THE WOODS! The temperatures were a bit cooler so it was a very comfortable trip, and since there had been more rain up there, the fire danger was low. We had a wonderful evening sitting around a flaming fire, listening to the night birds (Whip-o-will and Loon) and star-gazing.... what we could see despite a full moon! Here is a pic of the "wooded lot" that he will eventually build a cabin on.
This past weekend was my Dear Ol' Dad's 81st Birthday, so I drove 4 hours South to visit him. Again, as soon as I was about 2 hours south of our home, the crops were greener, and there was even standing water in the fields to show how much rain they had recently. My brother's lawn was lush and green, and they have been mowing the grass regularly. Dad sits in his recliner and has a nice view out his picture window to the front of the house, so he can see anyone coming and going. I surprised him, as we didn't tell him I was coming. I am sure he loved seeing me, but he was also pretty fond of the coconut cream pie I took for his Birthday treat! As Dad took his afternoon naps, I had a nice time visiting with my SIL as we spent time in their pool.... that was the only way I was going to spend time outside as it was hot hot hot!
Other than these two weekend trips, I have been spending a lot of time on the computer. DH and I decided that with the very precarious elections this fall, it would be a good thing to get our overseas traveling done before all #*!! breaks loose. We decided to do England and Scotland, with a lay-over in Iceland on the way home. I have been very busy looking for places to visit and where to stay, making reservations and talking to online acquaintances about recommendations on where to go and what to see. So far, so good! I have made most of our reservations for hotels (actually, most are guest houses), train, and bus tours, but have a few left to make. I was SO heartened to visit with a cousin this weekend who has traveled there several times, and hear her tell me that the driving will be just fine, it just takes a little while to get "over the hump" of switching sides, and then you are fine. I appreciate her warning that village streets can be very narrow, so "mind the side mirrors"! Her hubby took off a couple on a tight lane! More about this much later....
As for my gardens.... well.... Not so great. My little garden here at home is doing fairly well. I have had green onions, beets (enough to make 1 quart of pickled beets), lettuce, and a nice bulb of fennel - which is an improvement over last year! Now we are getting lots of pickling cucumbers, and I have one batch of pickles in brine, and probably enough cukes out there to pick and start another batch. I also have celery, more fennel, cherry tomatoes, squash (several varieties) and broccoli coming along.... oh, and bell peppers.
My Garden out at Mt Hope Church is a disaster. We dug all of the potato bed out a couple of weeks ago and got less than a half-bushel of small potatoes. The peas all failed, green beans are dying before they even mature, and most of the sweet corn has not even sprouted. I planted over 100 onion plants that I had started from seed and very few of them are surviving at this point.... I do have some tomato plants till struggling and beginning to flower and set fruit, and some purple sprouting broccoli that has leaves, but no heads yet (and this is supposed to be a cool weather plant so it will probably bolt). I did see a nice small head of cabbage out there this morning, so I may get one or two more. Certainly not the full harvest I was hoping (and planning) for. I believe the compost that I used to make my no-dig beds was too high in nitrogen and has just burned everything.... combined with not enough rain and the cardboard base that prevented weeds coming up - but also kept my veggies from getting into the cool soil below. Lesson learned! It will hopefully be great next year, with the compost cooled down and the cardboard disintegrated. This year, we will be good customers at the Farmer's Markets!
As in most of life... it's all a learning curve.....
I know that not all areas around here are scorching dry, as I have done some traveling. Last weekend we went (4 hours) up to Northern Wisconsin where DS #2 has purchased a wooded property ... and I mean IN THE WOODS! The temperatures were a bit cooler so it was a very comfortable trip, and since there had been more rain up there, the fire danger was low. We had a wonderful evening sitting around a flaming fire, listening to the night birds (Whip-o-will and Loon) and star-gazing.... what we could see despite a full moon! Here is a pic of the "wooded lot" that he will eventually build a cabin on.
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| DS & DH cutting a trail through the woods. |
This past weekend was my Dear Ol' Dad's 81st Birthday, so I drove 4 hours South to visit him. Again, as soon as I was about 2 hours south of our home, the crops were greener, and there was even standing water in the fields to show how much rain they had recently. My brother's lawn was lush and green, and they have been mowing the grass regularly. Dad sits in his recliner and has a nice view out his picture window to the front of the house, so he can see anyone coming and going. I surprised him, as we didn't tell him I was coming. I am sure he loved seeing me, but he was also pretty fond of the coconut cream pie I took for his Birthday treat! As Dad took his afternoon naps, I had a nice time visiting with my SIL as we spent time in their pool.... that was the only way I was going to spend time outside as it was hot hot hot!
Other than these two weekend trips, I have been spending a lot of time on the computer. DH and I decided that with the very precarious elections this fall, it would be a good thing to get our overseas traveling done before all #*!! breaks loose. We decided to do England and Scotland, with a lay-over in Iceland on the way home. I have been very busy looking for places to visit and where to stay, making reservations and talking to online acquaintances about recommendations on where to go and what to see. So far, so good! I have made most of our reservations for hotels (actually, most are guest houses), train, and bus tours, but have a few left to make. I was SO heartened to visit with a cousin this weekend who has traveled there several times, and hear her tell me that the driving will be just fine, it just takes a little while to get "over the hump" of switching sides, and then you are fine. I appreciate her warning that village streets can be very narrow, so "mind the side mirrors"! Her hubby took off a couple on a tight lane! More about this much later....
As for my gardens.... well.... Not so great. My little garden here at home is doing fairly well. I have had green onions, beets (enough to make 1 quart of pickled beets), lettuce, and a nice bulb of fennel - which is an improvement over last year! Now we are getting lots of pickling cucumbers, and I have one batch of pickles in brine, and probably enough cukes out there to pick and start another batch. I also have celery, more fennel, cherry tomatoes, squash (several varieties) and broccoli coming along.... oh, and bell peppers.
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| My small garden at home. |
My Garden out at Mt Hope Church is a disaster. We dug all of the potato bed out a couple of weeks ago and got less than a half-bushel of small potatoes. The peas all failed, green beans are dying before they even mature, and most of the sweet corn has not even sprouted. I planted over 100 onion plants that I had started from seed and very few of them are surviving at this point.... I do have some tomato plants till struggling and beginning to flower and set fruit, and some purple sprouting broccoli that has leaves, but no heads yet (and this is supposed to be a cool weather plant so it will probably bolt). I did see a nice small head of cabbage out there this morning, so I may get one or two more. Certainly not the full harvest I was hoping (and planning) for. I believe the compost that I used to make my no-dig beds was too high in nitrogen and has just burned everything.... combined with not enough rain and the cardboard base that prevented weeds coming up - but also kept my veggies from getting into the cool soil below. Lesson learned! It will hopefully be great next year, with the compost cooled down and the cardboard disintegrated. This year, we will be good customers at the Farmer's Markets!
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| No Dig beds created at the Church garden.... too hot. |
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