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| Wind-blown Clematis |
Boy, it’s been a hard bunch of weeks.
Boy, it’s apt to continue to be so for a whole lot more
weeks. Boy, have we pissed off some major gods of decency and humanity. And the
weather gods are not being very friendly, either.
So before I get into what the garden’s been doing – or not
doing – or doing strangely – let me just say first that just because the
governors are opening up our states after stay-at-home orders – too soon, I
believe – doesn’t mean you can relax. Don’t take your face masks off, don’t
stop sanitizing and washing your hands, don’t go into public places unmasked,
and don’t be idiots – if there are too many people packed into a place you want
to go, or there’s no real ventilation in those tent restaurants you think you
want to eat in, or you see other people engaging in risky behavior near you –
DON’T GO IN or DON’T STAY. And if you’re
in a store/post office/etc and there are self-centered, selfish dickheads
spreading respiratory droplets all about because they don’t like wearing a mask,
snarl at them, lecture them, if you have one hand them an extra mask, and tell
them to put it on. Explain why. Then stand in front of them and stare at them
until they blink first and put it on. Remind them that it won’t hurt them to
wear one and even if they don’t believe it’s necessary, the only human and kind
thing to do is to wear it SO THEY DON’T FREAK THE REST OF US OUT!
Yes, I’m shouting.
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| First Poppy |
And then – OMG. Don’t even consider voting for the idiot who
masquerades as a president in November. And don’t let our elected
representatives get away with all they’ve been getting away with. Find your
voice and express it, loudly and often. I’m sorry if you’re a misguided
Republican or whoever else was duped into voting for the very, very, very bad man – wake up, don’t do it
again, find some balls and say so out loud so all your duped friends and elected
officials can hear you, because it’s herd mentality – that’s different from
herd immunity – that got us into this mess and has kept us here long past time.
Or don’t – go ahead and vote him in again and then hand a
destroyed democracy, an autocratic regime, a disgusting, stinking mess, over to
the next generation. Take the risk that the military won’t step in to put an
end to the craziness if we won’t. Watch those armed self-righteous wing-nut
militia types hiding amongst us try to take over and have fire-fights with the
military on public streets. That should
be fun.
And finally, Black
Lives Matter. That doesn’t mean other lives don’t matter, it means we need,
as individuals and as a nation, to recognize that the Black lives we’ve for so
long relegated to a place of less importance, either consciously or
unconsciously, need to be embraced as if they were we. And that means rooting
out of our collective activities and institutions and soul whatever makes us
think, or feel, or fear, that any other
humans are Other and that their tragedies and happiness is not our business. All
humans lives and whether they can live comfortably, healthily, fearlessly, are
our business – they’re our most important business. Except for the dickheads
who won’t wear masks or keep their hands clean – they’re not quite human and
you have my permission to subject them to whatever unpleasantness it takes to
get compliance. To quote an old herb teacher of mine: Bastards!
When they make me
god, there’s gonna be retribution.
Rant over. For now.
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| Lady's Mantle |
So, the weather gods have been screwing with us this year.
We’ve had maybe 3 or 4 days of kinda normal June weather, which has made most
of us forget how much the weather has sucked, even last week. We had some
August weather in April and May, and some March and February weather in April
and May and early June, and we seem to be in some sort of drought now, after
weeks and weeks of too much early rain. The ground’s dry down 4 or 5 inches,
and seeds are having a hard time trying to germinate and grow their little
roots in the dust. Watering, unless one can do it for hours daily, only wets
the very topsoil, which doesn’t help much – it’s better than nothing, but
barely.
Things that usually don’t germinate well – parsnips – have
germinated early and beautifully, and no, I don’t know why. Things that usually
germinate almost immediately – beans and peas, for example – have taken weeks
to germinate. My risky planting of fava beans and peas during August in April
did finally germinate, but it took more than a month; they’re in flower now,
but the plants aren’t as tall as they should be. In fact, a lot of things are
in flower now, desperately trying to produce seeds early and quickly because
the weather has been so unreliable, they’re trying to quickly reproduce; thus,
all the extra pollen you allergy sufferers are contending with while assuring
people that’s what it is, it’s not corona virus symptoms. Turnips, and carrots, and beets are doing
miserably, and they should be well on their way by now; broccoli rabe
germinated spottily and then keeled over and dried up when only half an inch
tall.
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| Egyptian Onions forming bulbs at top |
Garlic, and Egyptian onions – the one planted last fall and
the other a perennial - are doing very well. Leeks and onions, planted this
spring, not so much. The asparagus went to seed very rapidly, in less than 2
weeks, and already is sporting a lacy mass of fern and berries.
The hummingbirds arrived during that rainy freezing February
in April time, managed to survive it, and Buzzy Boy regularly dive-bombs us. I
nearly stepped on a very small toad in the garden the other day – it was
shorter than the end joint of my thumb, and a little annoyed with me because I
was watering his hidey hole, apparently. This is the year the lunaria are in
bloom – masses of white and purple flowers that look a lot like phlox; the
blueberries are loaded with flowers, as are the raspberries, and the bees are
busy. The rhubarb got big enough to pull and immediately formed flowers, which
must be cut off, if we want to continue to pull rhubarb for awhile longer. The perennials I planted last fall are taking
forever to emerge, and I think many were lost, probably because of the terrible
spring weather.
Irises opened three days ago, and lilies and poppies today.
The peony buds are swelling, and the rhododendrons popped open over the last
couple of days. Flax is in blue bloom. I
still haven’t gotten the annual flower seeds planted: calendula, love lies
bleeding, nasturtiums, bachelor’s buttons, cosmos, morning glories. All those
will go in tomorrow, and more basil. The self-seeding California poppies are up
and everywhere, as are the Johnny Jump Ups, and some of the CA poppies have already
blossomed. The few wild flowers I tolerate in places in the garden – patches of
white violets, daisies, Black-Eyed-Susans, and a tall feathery-leafed thing
that I can’t seem to find in my Wildflowers
of New England books – are vigorous and spreading.
And, it turns out, Columbine spreads itself, and the flowers
turn into different colors on different babies; this fascinates me. We had many
cherry and pear and apple blossoms, but none on the new-last-year peaches and
bush cherry; they’re probably a year or so too young. And a Green Man with a solar light in his
head has taken up residence on the garage wall, shining pale golden light
through his eyes at night, looking toward the garden. He looks exactly like The
Tall Guy, but while we all recognize it, we think he doesn’t see himself in it.
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| The Green Man |
I’ve been marking the perennials with copper markers so I
won’t plant over them come fall or next spring, or weed them out when they don’t
look like themselves, and so The Husband can identify them now they’re doing
interesting stuff.
Not sure what the final version of this year’s garden will
be like. It’s different every year; sometimes annoying, sometimes gorgeous,
sometimes disappointing, sometimes abundant.
Sort of like life. And you don’t need to wear a mask in the
garden.
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| Columbine |
For the blog, 11 June
2020
See the Spring Photo
Gallery for a visual story!
All photos Deb Marshall
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