Summer at Branch and Vine

We may be retired but summer here is not at all retiring or lazy.  There’s just always something to do outside to keep up.  We enjoy most of it and feel good when things are accomplished but we also are glad when we get to the weekend and do less work.

We have been working on the flower beds in the front of the house.  We have laid most of the brick but will have to get some more to completely finish.  Mike put in top soil and some of it was washed away by hard rain.  That was early in the month and we would really love some more of that rain even if it is hard on the flower beds.

I planted flower seeds about a week and a half ago and they don’t seem to be coming up.  I’ve kept them watered so I have no idea why they are not appearing.

Mike cut down several trees behind the house and has stacked them at the saw mill to start drying.  Soon he will start cutting lumber but isn’t sure exactly what he needs to cut yet.  It is very hard work and slow going when you are working alone.  And did I mention that it is hot here?

The garden has done well until now.  We had to try to water it this morning because everything is so dry.  For a while, we were picking about 25 pounds of squash every other day.  There are still a lot of squash but they are growing more slowly because they need water I think.  There are about 8-10 pumpkins starting to grow.  We are trying to pinch off the ends of the vines to force more growing energy into the fruit.

Of course, the zinnias are wonderful to have in the house.  There are some in the raised beds and at the pond.  I could enjoy even more.  There are sunflowers in the raised beds but I haven’t had the will to cut them yet.

The lavender has done really well.  It has almost tripled in size since we planted it.  There are not many blooms but I’m guessing that is not unusual for newly planted plants.  Hopefully there will be more next year.

This week has been the hottest ever with temperatures over 100 degrees many days, high humidity and no rain until last night when we thankfully got almost 1/2 inch of rain.  We need more and are watching the forecast.

Now that Midsummer has past, I can see the ferns in the woods starting to wilt and soon many will be brown.  The baby fawn is bigger, the young foxes are out learning new hunting skills.  I don’t think they are very successful yet but everyone has to learn.