SUMMER! WHERE HAVE YOU GONE?

Watching the flames in the fireplace, thoughts tumble through my consciousness.  Summer, where did you go?  All those grandiose ideas about upgrading my yard. planting a couple of new trees, changing the garden beds, visiting other gardens, traveling ... someplace.

All those items on my bucket list.  The only one that got completed was staining the deck - and it got painted instead.  It isn't that nothing happened this summer, a lot did happen, a lot got accomplished, it just wasn't quite what I had planned.

This topsy-turvy spring/summer started when a friend and I drove to Augusta, GA for a Practice Day at the Masters Golf Tournament.  Never in my wildest dreams did I suppose I'd get an opportunity to do that.

As an ARS Judge and a National Garden Clubs, Inc. Judge I had two judging assignments lined up.  Due to strange weather both were cancelled.   Okay, I'd have plenty of time to work in my gardens.   Instead I ended up judging and entering shows in Duluth, St. Cloud, Green Bay, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, plus three State Fair Show.  It was fun, some blue ribbons, but I do panic a bit when entering shows; will the mechanics hold up, will the plant material stay fresh, did I cover all the rules, will I arrive on time with all the road work....  I did get to visit Boerner Botanical Gardens in Milwaukee and the fabulous Duluth Rose Gardens.

Instead off improving my flower beds one got eliminated.  Several years ago I developed, in the middle of my back yard, a lasagna garden - a garden made by layering leaves, compost, sand, etc. without digging the ground beneath.
Location! Location! It was in a bad place.  Eliminating that plot was a wise decision.

The ginkgo tree I'd grown from a stick got properly moved to the front yard.  It is now over six feet tall, growing in its new spot and quite healthy despite the hot temperature with little rain right after it was moved.

Can't say the roses fared well this year.  A number of miniatures and minifloras
didn't survive the ups and downs of the winter.  Those that did had to struggle through this summer.  With high heat, little water, lots of weeds and Japanese Beetles, just keeping them alive has been the main goal.

 Much to my surprise the grapes have done quite well this summer.  I picked a large pan full and yesterday another pan full along with three wasp stings.  Ouch!  There will be plenty of juice for a dozen or more jars of jelly.  There is already gooseberry juice in the freezer waiting to be made into jelly - hadn't planned on grapes too.

It's been that kind of summer.  Something new, something different, no dull moments here.  I've heard this is what keeps one young and vibrant.  Gee, I do hope so.