Saturday 7 September 2019

Season Change

Six On Saturday is a weekly gardener's hashtag hosted by The Propagator.  Be sure to both drop by his blog & check out Twitter for links from all over the world.




As the days get shorter, my M.E. gets more evident.  It's been 2 weeks since I've had energy to read SoS blogs & I really miss keeping up with you all.

Here's hoping this week'll be different, just in case y'all've done something scandalous that I might wanna try myself.

In the meantime, can you believe this spider captured a honey bee?  I'm feeling like Eve when Cain went after Abel.

So let's do this thang.



1.  No good deed goes unpunished.

Last week, Mlle DoodleFace & a visiting dog took full advantage of our back garden, smashing a few plants in their glee.  I very kindly brought in some broken sunflowers & what does one do?


Vomits in the kitchen.


2.  Calendula.

Also last week, some volunteer cosmos sulphureus showed up in the flowerbed.  This week's volunteer . . .


. . . Calendula Snow Princess, with a verbena adornment.


3.  Cucumbers!

When we were growing up, a large pickling crock would get hauled outa the basement in late summer, take up residence in the kitchen.  Although my younger brother could fit inside this crock, my mother pickled her cukes in it.  I don't remember which kind, as she made both dill & sweet pickles. 

Mmm, mmm, those pickles were fine, but my favourites were Grandma's horseradish dills.  O. Morgan (as she signed our birthday cards) was the only person I ever knew to make horseradish dills, so a singular treat from a singular woman.  A treat I'll never taste again.

Keeping with family tradition, I killed my first cucumber plant this year & the 2nd one's been a slow producer, giving us maybe 2/week.


Just when I think the vine's done, though, I find another itty bitty cuke flexing its spines.


4.  Zinnia.

About the time my zinnia Queen Red Lime were starting to go gang busters, I read that a second sowing at that very moment would keep them blooming into October.  I needed more seed for that, so got 2 other types.

The tall, spindly Red Spiders are covered in buds, but the flowers are small, about the size of a 20p coin (smaller'n a nickel in the US).  I hadn't expected them to be that tiny, but the flowers are fascinating, all squiggly & weird.


Peaches & Cream are as robust as the Queen.


Got a bit of alpha-omega going on here.


5.  Room with a view.

I garden in about 10 minute spurts in order to fool the M.E. into believing we're resting.  My current big project would've taken me an afternoon only a few years ago, but I've spent the last coupla weeks moving plants from what I'd thought'd be the shady border (but isn't) into the front garden, which is partially shady but small.

The key is making sure those 10 minutes are well planned, so I'm not caught out having to stop at a point that'll cause plant murder.  For this project, I do a lot of pondering about placement during my breaks.  Since my bedroom is at the front of the house, I do some of that pondering when I'm allegedly taking it easy.


This actually gives me a better sense, than standing in front of the beds does, of how much room I have, though I don't really know why that is.  Alas, this photo also shows me how many plants are still waiting for my attention.

One of my neighbours keeps offering to help, but I just hiss at her.


6.  Chocolate daisy.

These seeds were flouted as growing into wondrous 12" plants covered with yellow flowers that smell like chocolate.  Though healthy enough, by mid-summer, they were half the expected size with no buds.  Deciding they must be biennials, I kept a disinterested eye on them, lest villain slug venture near.

Look what happened behind my back.


One flower on one plant, & what an interestingly creepy looking flower. 

I dutifully got down on my knees to sample the scent, dressed in my shorty nightgown for the benefit of my neighbours who had sex in their window this week while I was watering plants.

It smells more of honey, though there's a faint chocolate whiff.  Perhaps in a day or so, the scent'll be stronger.






That's it for this week.  Thanks for stopping by - don't be shy about leaving a comment.



See you next time!

11 comments:

  1. This zinnia Queen Red is so beautiful ! Maybe because it's so simple. I love it. Pickles are over, here. 4 big jars filled : ready for the season ( I eat them with "charcuterie" or salads)

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    1. I love its little yellow squiggly bits, but the red bits in the chocolate daisy look a bit creepy to me, for some reason. I've not eaten pickles in salad, except for pickled beets. Sounds interesting.

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  2. That's a lovely calendula. Mine suffered a similar mishap as your sunflowers. Not a waggy tailed dog but a wife with a bike on a recently narrowed garden path. My own bad. I hope things improve M.E. symptoms-wise for you soon.

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    1. I like lots of different calendula, but I have to say this one in particular is a favourite. I was sorry I hadn't saved seeds from last year, & won't make the same mistake this year. So. Was this narrowed garden path the same one I suggested? O dear! (I admit to nothing!)

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  3. Sorry you haven't been feeling too good, sending good vibrations to you. I laughed at the naughty puking dogs. :D Although I am sure you didn't at the time. Next doors cat was sick on our steps last week, which isn't as bad as in the kitchen. Then my OH stood in it. Which also made me laugh. Although he didn't. I have never succeeded with zinnia, but I love them, nice to see yours. Take it easy, but not too easy :)

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    1. My original reply to you seems to've disappeared, so hope I'm not duplicating here. The puker is the sunflower, not the dogs. With the pollen on the sill & sink, then the flower head bent, the whole set up looked like the sunflower had vomited pollen all over the place. Perhaps I've got a unique sense of humour?

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    2. No, it still counts as vomit :) Now off to prove I'm not a robot, they just won't believe me you know!

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  4. Oh Lora take it easy. M.E sucks! Good blog as always.

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    1. Thanks, Paul. Unfortunately, my temperament isn't exactly well suited to a take-it-easy life. The garden is a godsend.

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  5. Chocolate Daisy is a new one for me and if it looks a bit weird so much the better. I have a chocolate cosmos that might flower before the winter, it has a bud. I like a scent that carries, can't be doing with the hands and knees bit.

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  6. I agree on scent that carries. The chocolate daisies will have to bulk out a bit if they're to be smelled at normal height, even on a hot day.

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