It's officially summer tomorrow- at least at my house

The real first day of summer is not until June 21st, but here at my house I consider the first day of summer to be the day after my last day of work for the school year. Well today was the last day of school, so tomorrow is my official first day of summer. What will I be doing?? Well hopefully it won't be cold, windy, and rainy tomorrow like it was today. I plan on weeding my garden, and digging up some additional plants for my plant sale/garden walk on Saturday. It's also the time of the year for me to visit the dentist. Weeding-Dentist???? Sounds like an awfully exciting first day of summer (note some sarcasm), so I might just have to throw in a trip to Kohls with my 30% coupon.

Sharing my Garden

Tonight I was thinking about how I share my garden.  Even though I put the work into my garden, it is not just for me.  There are so many different ways I share my garden.

My husband is the first person I share my garden with, literally.  This is both a good and bad thing.  He often thinks he is helping me, like when I was in Charlotte, NC last fall and he chopped all of my climbing roses and clematis to the ground thinking he was helping with my fall yard work.  I may have mentioned this before, but he absolutely cannot grow grass.  Yet he likes to dump dirt all over our yard in hopes of evening it out.  The result =>

My climbing roses this year compared to what they looked like last year at this time.

My husband is great at helping me with any project I dream up.  He has built many fences and trellises for me, not to mention all of the new garden beds he has helped me build.

I also share my garden with all kinds of critters.  Chipmunks, rabbits, deer, bees, spiders, possums, hawks, eagles, and all kinds of critters visit my garden.  Their highjinks can be found all over.

 

I also share my garden with many neighbors.  Good and Bad.  I have two neighbors who allow my gardens to expand into their yards, and one neighbor who I hide with giant pine trees and fences, since their lawn grows taller than my plants....guess which one I try to hide from the pictures below.

I share my garden with friends and family,  including friends and family who are no longer here on earth.  There is an old door in my garden that once belonged in my grandma's house.  I look at my pond and I think of how my in-laws bought it for me when I graduated from college with my master's degree.  I look at my ladder and think of how my father-in-law helped me find an old ladder in the landfill.  I see my pencil cactus and think of how it spends it's winters at my parent's house.    I see the little garden gnome in my mini garden and think of my friend who made him for me.  There are so many memories that I share with friends in my garden, and I hope to have many, many more.

So if you ever visit my garden, realize that no matter how much work I put into my garden there are others who share in it's creation.  

Seed GROW Project June Update

Well the danger of frost is finally done, or is it?  Just this morning on the news I saw that northern Wisconsin might actually get frost tonight.  Since I am not in northern Wisconsin, I decided to sow my remaining 'Spitfire' seeds for the seed GROW project.  I mixed them with 'Grandpa Ott' morning glory seeds, as I figured the purple of 'Grandpa Ott' might be a good contrast to the red/orange of the nasturtium.


The seeds I planted in March and covered with my pop bottle cloche continue to grow, despite critters and weather working against them.  The day after I snapped the picture of the nasturtium last month a critter, guessing a chipmunk (the same one who ate my tomato plants probably), dug the cloche off of my nasturtium.  This was the night it decided to snow.  It had been in the 80's that week, and then by Friday it was 30's and snow.  So my nasturtiums were exposed to the elements, but they were tough and fought through it.  I am jealous of the other bloggers who already have blooms, but in the past my nasturtiums haven't even bloomed until mid-August.


"I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project. Thanks, to Renee's Garden for the seeds."

Drawstring Effect in Hostas

Carnival

Did you ever buy a really cool looking hosta, and the next year it was one of he ugliest things you ever saw?  You were hoping it was just a one year thing, but the next spring....there is that ugly hosta again.  The leaves look all cupped (not in a good way) and usually the edges start to almost melt away.  Well that ugly hosta might be suffering from drawstring effect.  Drawstring effect happens to certain hostas, especially in the north where summers are cold and wet.  Drawstringing is where the center of the hosta actually grows faster than the edge of the hosta.  There is nothing that can be done to fix the problem completely, but you can cut the first flush of spring leaves off, as the summer leaves won't drawstring.  For a complete list of hostas that are known to drawstring, click here.

Whirling Dervish

St Elmo's Fire

Garden Fair Weekend

For anyone interested in buying plants there are two great opportunities this weekend.  The first garden event is taking place in Appleton.  The Outagamie County Master Gardeners will be holding their 11th annual plant sale on Saturday, June 5th from 8am-3pm.  Rumor has it that they have well over 4000 plants available.  Many are dug from members of the Master Gardener's yard, so you know they grow well in Wisconsin.  The sale takes place 3365 W. Brewster St., Appleton, which is kitty corner from Fleet Farm on Wisconsin Ave.  For more information visit the Master Gardener's site.


The Green Bay Botanical Garden is also having their annual Garden Fair, which will include hostas from the Green & Gold Society.  The sale is from 9am-4pm Saturday and 9am-3pm Sunday.  They also have a wide variety of garden art.  For more information on this sale, please visit their site.

Wordless Wednesday

Cheesehead Gardening Episode 4 - Containers