Summer Gardening

My daylilies have been really beautiful this year. I am always sad when they start to wind down. When I go out to deadhead and find only one or two more buds left, I know they are almost done and summer will be over soon. I have several that will need to be divided or moved this year because they are so big and aren't blooming as much as they could.

My agapanthus are blooming again this year. I have them in big pots on my back porch. It has taken several years for them to bloom. I have had them now for 10 years. They say not to divide them until they break the pots. This year one of the pots was broken when I went to put them out. I didn't actually divide them, but I did put them in a larger pot. I used to store them in the basement for the winter, but since we finished the basement that wouldn't work anymore. We put new insulated doors on our garage two years ago and so we stored them in the garage and it has worked out really well. The garage never drops below 40 degrees now and it is great for storing the agapanthus. I tried saving a geranium in it's pot and that has really worked out well. The geranium is putting on lots of new growth and will be blooming soon. (I forgot about it until two weeks ago and I cut it back and started watering it.)

Things on the farm are beginning to move quickly. Lynn told me this morning that there will be beans to can next week. They looked so tiny last week when I took lunch to the field as Lynn did some dammer -diking. (This is accomplished with a tool that looks like rows of paddle wheels attached to the tractor. It digs a little hole every so often in the row and makes a place where water can sit and not run off.)

The sugar beets are finally taking off and growing. We had to replant after a hard freeze on May 7th. Those farmers who had planted in March and had beets up that could withstand the frost now have beets that have bolted (gone to seed) and they will have to get rid of all the "bolters". We were late planting and so it just killed our beets. Who would think that would be a blessing, but it was.

I tried to some pictures, but so far no luck. My internet has been really spotty for the past few days. Something to do with the heat I think.