Lately I’ve been thinking “what’s wrong with my garden?” I don’t have to look far for the answers. Weeds are coming up everywhere. Plants have suffered under the dry and hot conditions we’ve had this summer and are only now beginning to come back. Then again some plants are just plain dead like two hemlocks and two mugo pines. I’m not sure why two hemlocks were effected and the others were not especially since they were all treated exactly the same and were in the same conditions. Some mysteries are not meant to be solved!
So what is really wrong with my garden? Here’s the short list!
- Encroaching weeds – crabgrass in particular which is going to seed now!
- Too many plants in too small spaces – when starting the garden I planned on transplanting things in a few years so that I could get a more full look right away. It’s now been a few years and it’s time for transplanting! Not to mention plants like mint and Sweet Autumn clematis that are bent on complete and total garden domination.
- Need…More…Mulch…
- The edging needs weedwacked. I had trouble starting my 2 year old Ryobi 4 cycle weedeater the other day. Hopefully I can get it working to trim up the areas that really need it!
- The vegetable garden is a mess with tomatoes gone wild, rodents munching my melons, and what else? Weeds! I need to get my fall garden going but have some prep work to do first.
- The birdbath in the birdbath garden needs repaired. (The soldering broke on the copper bath.)
- Stepping stones need made for the side garden.
- The yard needs mowed.
- An azalea needs rescued from the weeds along the slope.
- A swale needs constructed for better drainage near the shed.
- The tiered garden bed needs filled with soil (layered/lasagna method).
- The garden shed needs caulked and painted
I could probably go on. And on.
So what’s wrong with your garden?
I have lots of weeds too. It's just too buggy to go out there and pull them. We have a major mosquito problem. Oh and critters have been eating our fruit, tomatoes and eggplant. One of our eggplants was totally eaten! Argh!
I feel your pain Dave! Let it cool down a bit first and then it won't seem so much like work.
The heat! That's what's wrong with the gardener and the garden. Will be 99 here today.
As for my blogging – I feel like I've written about everything in my garden at least 20 times, so what's new to report? I don't want to expand my garden just to have new topics. A conundrum for a blogger.
Sounds like the end of the summer blues, except this year it seems to be the reds because of the heat.
I just took down another dead hanging basket this morning. I have learned one thing, you can't grow hanging baskets in the heat.
I have a small yard so everything that goes wrong is up close and personal. It's going to be 94 again today.
Eileen
Dave, Not enough help is what's wrong in my garden! Most of my energy is going into watering~and then the heat just sucks out the rest! Fall is coming and with it I'm sure some much needed energy…
It's that time of year when I re-evaluate the garden. The main "wrong" with my garden is the need to move towards more heat and drought tolerant plants (seems a little harder to do in the shade) – even if it makes them less winter hardy. Figure the number of hot, dry days vastly outnumbers the freezing cold days – so it should effectively reduce my gardening chores!
I love the idea of sharing with readers other neat things you've read at other blogs. I think I'll try it on my blog. You have also inspired me to start building some raised beds! I don't have as much time as you, being a home-schooling mother of six, but I've been told I have way too much energy, so maybe I can get started this fall!