Gratuitous Saturday Garden Posting – Now With “Pastoral Symphony” Update(s)

Greetings, my fellow port swillers!

Because I motivated myself to mow and trim the lawn of Port Swiller Manor yesterday evening, I had the time today to really get a twist on trying to clean up the garden.

The main villain I have to contend with at this time of year is the jewelweed, a kind of impatiens that, if left to itself, would blanket the entire area in stalks five or six feet high.   It’s easy enough to pluck out when small because it has shallow roots, but there are just so damn many of them that I confess to spraying large chunks of them in otherwise open patches and only pulling the ones immediately around other plants that I wish to preserve.

Hey, there’s only one of me.

When the butterfly bush is in full swing at high summah and surrounded with various nectar-loving bugs and birds, my garden has what I have seen written somewhere as “a certain dryad loveliness”.  Otherwise, I admit that it is semi-cultivated at best.   As I say, there’s just one of me and I don’t have the time, energy or dosh to really do the thing justice.

Some day when if I retire, if I don’t get sent to the camps first, my plan is to bring in a pro, clean the place out, build proper beds, critter-proof them, and then start again with some serious horticulture.

In the meantime, I’ll just muddle on.

UPDATE:  Mrs. R and the gels went to the local community festival this afternoon, something I’ve been able to avoid successfully for fifteen years.  Having finished my chores, I climbed into the hammock with my book.  It was mid-80’s, very humid and sunny.  Soon, I was lost in La La Land.  Woke up a while ago to find a darkening sky and thunder in the distance.  Must now go check out the radar to see what I’m having for dins – steak on the BBQ or a burger grilled inside.  All will depend on how fast the system goes through.

UPDATE DEUX:  Burger it was.  I went out after the deluge had eased off and looked around.  Remember that scene in “The Perfect Storm” when Clooney looks out the porthole and sees a dim gleam of dawn after getting battered all night?  And how just as you’re thinking he’s got a shot to get out the sky suddenly goes all dark again?  It was something like that.  Ultimately, it didn’t actually rain during the window in which I would have been grilling, but this is a thick-cut steak from the deli at 13 bucks per pound and I’m not going to play silly buggers with something that pricey.

We’ll try again tomorrow.  Forecast says it’s another crap-shoot.