SUMMER UPDATES

Hi everyone, hope your summer has been awesome.  My summer was going along so good until I got a stress fracture in my tibia and ended up wearing this boot up to my knee until now.  My gardening kinda came to a halt since it was hard to do anything...except sit and rest my aching leg and having my husband preach at me about it!

My boot is finally off for small stretches during the day and I am able to check out a few more things going on in the gardens.  It was so hot and humid here this year which is not the usual weather by Lake Michigan and my pond did not fair well with the constant algae bloom going on....it never did seem to balance itself out this year.  We tryed everything natural that we could and nothing worked....Never had this problem.

frog on a lily pad

The pond didn't fair out so well

Peas and beans growing nicely, until the hot spell came

There are still a few flowers left in the garden but most everything else has came and went...it was a very fast growing season.

As September fast approaches and my leg gets better each day, I do look forward to my favorite fall season and being hopefully in tiptop shape next year!





THE POND IS COMING ALIVE.

Alot of new things have been happening around the pond.  One new thing is we ordered some bullfrog tadpoles and trapdoor snails that will be here today.  We dont like using chemicals in the pond and this will be a great natural way to keep the pond clean.  The bullfrogs will just be a great thing to watch for our grandchildren, and us of course!

Our potmen have finally made it to the pond and are happy as can be with there new hair!  They make a great addition and focal point for any visiter to our pond area.

My little pond guy relaxing at the edge

This is my new bigger guy with his spiked hair

We also put up a new solid fence in the back to make it more secluded.  I love to be up by my pond and relax by myself away from the nosey neighbors and kids who try to throw things into the pond!

The monarch butterflys are early in our area this year, probally from the unpredictable weather we had all winter.  We didnt see any until July last year.   The milkweed is just big enough to lay thre eggs on.

Monarch butterfly eggs on milkweed

Butterfly/hummingbird garden

I will update as soon as my snails and bullfrog tadpoles are in the pond and moving around...Its very exciting here, around the pond!

GERANIUMS

Geraniums are a pretty easy plant to save from year to year and all the methods I have tried all worked.  The method I like the best is the paper bag one, which consists of cutting back each plant, dig out, put the plant in a paper bag and roll the bag down.  As easy as can be, and all you need to do is soak the roots in water once a month and re bag it.

There are little flowers on the stems

I also experimented with leaving two pots of geraniums intact, the only thing I did was cut them short and these I water once a month too and keep a paper bag covering them in a dark corner of the basement.



The plants do have growth on them, in the pots and in the bags.  There are actual  flowers on the stems each month when I take them out to soak, not sure if that's good or not. but this is an experiment after all so I'm sure Ill find out.



REX BEGONIA

Rex begonias are plants I never knew existed until the day I came across one at the local greenhouse.  It looked beautiful with its burgundy and green leaves swirled in a pattern that was unlike any other plant Id seen.  I grabbed one, not knowing anything about it but willing to see if I could get it to grow for the summer season.  To make a long story short, and with much trial and error, it did thrive!  So what about for winter? Should I throw it in the composter...or I thought maybe try a leaf cutting.

I cut two leaves with about a 3 inch stem, wet them, dipped them in rooting hormone and made a hole to stick it in.  One didn't make it and withered, the other one didn't grow, but didn't die either.  It took about 2 months for it to feel solid in the pot which meant it had finally gotten some roots.  I water it once a week,and keep it out of direct sun.  It has now grown another shoot next to its main leaf and my hopes are high that I will end up with another great Rex begonia for the next growing season.  I sure love planting experiments!

Rex begonia leaf

New sprout