Good morning, and they're off! Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.
Here in Denver, it is become impossible to ignore that summer 2010 is on the wane.
Temperatures in the 90s are becoming the exception rather than the rule — we've spent the week in the 80s except for one day, Wednesday, when the high was 96°.
Overnight lows are falling below 60°; the pattern of cooling is occurring earlier in the overnight hours so comfortable sleeping temperatures happen before, rather than after, midnight.
Early Tuesday morning there was a definite autumnal nip in the early morning air.
The forecast for the weekend is for a blast of summer heat in the 90s, before trending down into the mid-80s highs typical of late August and early September.
We'll still get hit with heat — but not as high, and not as often.
Da Boys went back to school this week — Younger Son to start high school and Elder Son (hopefully) to finish.
And zucchetta have engulfed the back fence.
As is usual for late August, the veggie patch has become a jungle between the zucchetta and Lebanese clarinet squash vines, dahlias, volunteer nicotiana and fennel, and tomato vines sprawling everywhere. Zasu Pitts has taken her exploration on high, navigating along the fence rather than trying to find her way over-under-beyond-and through the rampant foliage. It wouldn't be so bad if I had managed to stake the dahlias in a timely manner. But I didn't, so the blossoms are appearing down low rather than on high. Oh well.
This weekend I need to get out with my Sharpie pen and mark the blooming gladiolus; as mentioned before, I've learned that the ink of a permanent marker will stay legible on the leaves of glads and bearded iris through the growing season, making it easier to track what is growing where.
I'm looking forward to getting my car parked in front of my house again; on Wednesday I had gone out and bought new hoses (for whatever reason, I've had pinhole leaks develop in two hoses this year) and a big bag of potting soil, along with a few groceries. By the time I got back, the Xcel Energy construction crews were back and the street was clogged with equipment. I ended up parking in the middle of the street for a few minutes to quickly whisk the groceries and hoses onto the front porch, but the potting soil remains in the hatchback, parked a block over.
I've discovered that potting soil has a very definite, and very strong, scent. It's not really unpleasant, but it will be nice to not momentary think "what is that smell" every time I get into my car.
The Xcel line replacement construction is scheduled to continue through September and into October. Gaaaahhhhhh! (deep breath; only two more months of this shit).
In any event, I'd used up the last of my potting soil last weekend getting the new brugmansia into larger pots. I still have some jasmine that need repotting, and I think the fuchsia and hanging geranium will do better with fresh soil when the over-winter inside. Well, actually, the fuchsia has summered inside — it's been blooming very happily hanging in the kitchen window all summer. However it needs watering far too often so I know it's badly root bound. I think I'll divide it into two smaller pots and the geranium will receive similar treatment.
I also had to re-supply myself with brush killer — it's been a very good (or very bad) year for tree of heaven sprouts; one managed to get growing in a small crack right at the base of the foundation to the addition where it's impossible to pull. It totally amazes me how fast those fuckers grow — damned thing is four feet tall! There also are a couple of large ones growing in the beds next door. Time to whack back, strip bark and paint them with brush killer.
The good news is that my all-out-warfare on bindweed last year seems to have been successful. I've only had a handful reappear in the planter boxes in the parking strip, and those failed to reappear after being pulled once. They may be back another time or two, but whatever reserves remain in the roots are quickly dwindling.
That's what's happening here. What's going on in your gardens?