A Hard Frost

Beauty can be dangerous. The frost sparkles delicately. It desiccates and destroys. Yet it's a necessary part of the life cycle here in Minnesota.

The cosmos didn't do so great during this summer's drought, and I rationed water, so they didn't bloom until after significant rain. Ten days is better than no days. 

Limelight hydrangea 

Yummy carrots

A cosmos blooms on October 13.

Where is fall?

A pumpkin spice zinnia? This year has been good for the zinnias. They keep blooming no matter what. The weather has been warm and will continue to be so. Fall usually has comfortable days and cool nights, but it seems the warmth continues. I'm not a fan of hot days, especially when teaching. Also, I've been hesitant to plant garlic, but I may have to take the plunge soon. Below is the current state of my second planting of lettuce. I haven't been vigilant about thinning, so the plants are smaller than usual, but that's okay. Anything I get this time of year feels like a bonus. Below that are the asters I planted last spring and worked to save from the rabbits. I'm going to try to save some seeds to plant next spring...and I'll try to outsmart the bunnies. 

September Update

The zinnias have perked up in our recent rains. These are a welcome burst of color as other things fade. (I may have faded on my blogging, too.)

The strawberries have rallied, too. The five plants I saved (note the fence surrounding them) are shooting runners out in ever direction. 

We may have been in a drought, but I got plenty of tomatoes. The wind blew the plants over, so I gathered them in all states of ripeness. I donated quite a few. Also, this wagon? It was a gift from my hubby when we first got married. It's seen a lot of wear and tear as a toy and a garden tool. That's why the old sheet (saved for frost protection) is there, to protect the tomatoes from dirt and rust. 

A couple of weeks ago, the bees enjoyed teh pruple coneflower...and now the birds are eating the seeds. See the spot of yellow on the left side below? That's a gold finch.

In other notes, the zucchini did very well, and the green beans are still producing a bit. The second crop of lettuce is in the seedling stage. And I'll leave you with the Winnipeg Parks rose. I'm loving this vibrant fuchsia!

August garden update

It's harvest season! While I'm overwhelmed by the sheer abundance of the zucchini, everything else is wonderful. The butterflies are loving the zinnias, and I like that the cucumber vines are compact.

All the basils are doing well, and the tomatoes are ripening.

I'm finally getting green beans! I'm digging up an occasional carrot, and the strawberries (background) are recovering and sending out runners. For fall harvest, I've planted some bok choy and lettuce (garden bed not shown...because...boring). Note in the background that the grass is brown and dry. We're in a drought, and I'm only watering as necessary. Plus I'm using water from the dehumidifier and the rain barrel. 

Newly Planted Shrubs

The photo above is NOT my yard. It is the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, where I find inspiration and relaxation. We had a lovely trip when I finished teaching my summer class. Below is my addition of five honeysuckle 'Kodiak Orange' shrubs. That circle of dirt was a fire pit, which was too deep to be effective. We dug out a metal tractor tire insert and several bricks. Our plan is to have an above-ground fire pit area in the center. That's more digging, and I will wait for cooler weather since temps are in the 90s F this week. You can see that I water the shrubs (deeply, once a week) but not the grass. Not pictured are three serviceberry 'Regent.' The far left are native viburnum cranberry bush (five of them), the center is the honeysuckle, and the right is three hydrangea 'Limelight.' I know that the hydrangeas are not pollinator plants, but these are for myself. I have been consistently spraying the shrubs with repellent, so they haven't been eaten (yet). I'm trying to get a nice shady, naturalized area. It will never look like the Arboretum, but I'm hoping it will be a good place to relax. 

Rabbit Fence Update

After socializing (I know! so lovely after months of quarantining!), I learned that rabbits have been eating everything everywhere this year, even in areas where they haven't been a problem. Could it be a mild winter along with a drought? I'm not sure. In my yard, I have bunny food--a large patch of clover (which shows signs of being eaten) and grass (or had grass since it's looking dormant and perhaps dead). My lovely husband and I dug holes in dry, gritty, compacted soil for these U shaped stakes. Once in place, we hung poultry fence. This is flexible green vinyl with 3/4 inch openings. These baby bunnies are tiny, so I went for the smallest openings. At ground level, we bent the fencing out, which is supposed to prevent the rabbits from sneaking under. The "gate" (below) is the fence wrapped around a green garden pole. I align the pole with the U stake and attach it with a blue hair band. The bottom of the "gate" is attached with clothes pins. I don't want any gaps.  I bend the fencing when I go in and out. The result? No new nibbling!

We ALL love green beans

We ALL love green beans. "All" is defined as humans, rabbits, and robins. I'm embarrassed to show this photo because it demonstrates how the rabbits and robins have decimated my beans, whether it's the plants, the sprouts, or the seeds. You can see the netting surrounding the garden bed. The rabbit leaned on the netting to get in. A robin hopped around inside, finding bean seeds. I will attempt planting again, but only after I work on a fence. I hope to start this weekend. And we ALL love strawberries. Even though I planted 20 plants, below is all I was able to rescue. The baby squirrels both dug at them and smashed them while roughhousing. Fun to watch? Yes. But no strawberries for this human this year.