Flower Gardens This Summer

Our flower gardens took a big hit with all the rain we've had and the lack of sunshine didn't help at all but, surprisingly, I've been able to keep most of the flowers alive.  

I found that all the rain was flushing all the nutrients out of the soil in the gardens, window boxes, planters and flower pots.  Once I noticed that our flowers were wilting and dying, I realized that all the rain was probably flushing out all the nutrients from the soil so I started fertilizing the flowers daily rather than weekly.  Once the flowers started to look a bit more healthy, I cut back on fertilizer but I'm still doing it far more frequently than usual.  Of course, we're still getting more rain than usual too.  

As I said, the lack of sun has been a problem too and, unfortunately, there isn't anything we can do about that.  I suppose we can just make sure the flowers are getting everything else they need.  

The other thing I didn't think about is that our flower pots, window boxes, and planters are designed to drain extra water but I think they might be draining too quickly.  When we had solid rain for weeks on end, I had initially stopped watering figuring that the flowers were getting the water they needed.  Actually, I was worried about root rot due to too much watering.  I was wrong.  When I checked the soil in these boxes and planters, the soil was bone dry.  That shocked us so I started watering everyday again even though we were getting rain every day.  Maybe we weren't getting enough rain?  Maybe some of the window boxes weren't actually getting any rain because of the soffits overhead?  All I know is that, even though it was raining every day, our potting soil was still parched.

I shot these photos, below, within the past week.  This was probably our peak of blooming... maybe a few days past peak.  I'm already seeing the gardens fading away and finding red leaves on the lawn now just a few days later. 

Oh...  the lawn is another story...  a skunk keeps digging up our backyard lawn.  I've tried spraying deterrents on the lawn...  the skunk still comes back nosing away all over our lawn to get at bugs/grubs.  I could trap him but then what do I do with him?  My main concern is to keep the skunk from making a home in our crawl space again.  (I think he is probably living somewhere on our next door neighbor's property.)

So, even though we haven't really been able to spend more than two days or so in the yard this summer because of rain, rain and more rain, it was looking good when I shot these photos.  The crazy thing is that spring was like a desert here!  Now it is like a swamp!  On the positive side, at least we are not flooded like far too many others.

This sign is on the front of the grandkids' playhouse...  I caught Ace trying to take this sign down a few days ago...

The next few photos are of the putting green.  I think this will be the last summer of having a putting green and rough in our backyard.  There have been a number of annoyances with it.  

First, it requires far too much water.  That hasn't been much of a problem this summer because of all the rain we've had but it requires a good watering twice a day and even more on sunny hot days.  

The combination of high maintenance and rarely being used makes me want to redesign this part of the yard for use with something requiring far less maintenance which might be used more often than we're using the green.  

Another annoyance is all the golf tees and golf balls I find all over the yard when I am trying to mow the lawn.  The grandkids leave these all over the place.  

Lukey and I already measured this area of the yard for horseshoe pits a couple of weeks ago.  Honestly, I'm not looking forward to the work in converting this to horseshoe pits but I'll save a lot of work and water in daily maintenance.  The big question, however, is whether or not my spinal injuries can handle throwing horseshoes a few times each summer.

Maybe next summer I'll just set up the dimensions and landscaping for horseshoe pits.  Then the following year I'll add the actual sand pits and associated horseshoe stuff.  Or, maybe I'll find another use for it between now and then....  hmmm...  maybe a beautifully landscaped garden railway instead?

The green is looking good at this point in the summer though...

I really hate those concrete test cylinders.  They turn my stomach every time I see them.  It is a nightmare keeping grass from growing tall in between the cylinders too.  I don't know what to do with them though.  I thought that edging the little fairway area with them would work but I don't like them here either.  They are simply ugly.  I suppose they might look better if they were painted brown as though they were mini wood pilings....   but then I would need to maintain painting them every now and then.  Honestly, I'd prefer to just get rid of them somehow.

Landscape architecture is something I enjoy and that is pretty obvious if you ever visited our backyard.  We get compliments from people passing by the house every time we are out there.  

Some years the flowers look better than others and this past week was looking pretty good!