Summer

Well, summer is starting.  Took it a while this year.  Not that I mind as it has been ridiculous hot last few years.  Got the misting system up and running just in time.  The A/C works.  Tried it out last week. We are ready for summer this year.

The two new barn door shutters are up and they are great!  We never did put an old style shutter on the guest room so I am hoping that shading that window will help keep the house just that much cooler.

I planted marigold and cornflower seeds this morning.  It is a bit late in the year but there should be plenty of time for them to get going.  I have a pink cornflower in the Secret Garden on the east side of the house.  Wow!  Really a pretty color.  I have some mystery flowers coming up in the Secret Garden as well.  They are starting to get flower buds so I guess we will know soon what they are.

Oh yeah, I am starting a cactus garden in the front and it is a modest start but I got the three cactus pads into the ground today. I got the cactus from the high northern sagebrush area near Wild Horse reservoir.  My neighbor is going to give me some more and I can always order out of the catalog.  High country gardens have cold hardy cactus.

Laundry day.  Hanging stuff out on the line.  More later.

Planted Rocky Mountain Bee Balm Purple
Rocky Mountain Bee Balm Yellow
Dill
Cleome
More marigolds
More cornflowers

Did I mention that it is laundry day?  I have taken to putting the clothes on the line and it is a bitmore work than just throwing them in the drier.  It took us 4 years to get a clothes line in, maybe five.  Now that we have one I am trying to use it diligently.  I did save $50 last year on electricity.  Was it all because of the clothes line?  I don't know but that amount of money did pay for the clothesline.  Everything I save this year will be gravy.

Don't forget that the world is in a bad state and saving electricity means burning less coal.  So, it is a win for my pocket book and a win for the planet.

One last load of clothes to hang up.  The sheets.  They are hard to keep out of the dirt.  I do have plans to pave underneath the clothesline but we have to go up on the ridgeline maybe ten miles away to get the nice flat rocks for pavers and we just haven't managed it yet.  Maybe over Fourth of July weekend.

Fertilizing the front and back areas using the new Venturi fertilizer hook it right up to the drip system fertilizing system.  Loving it.  Saves me tons of time and effort and it makes it easy to keep up with the fertilizing.  Should I mention again that my yard has trees you can see?  Wow.

If you haven't started out with a completely barren yard you just don't know how much time and effort and patience goes into developing said yard.  I will one day have real shade.  A commodity in short supply in this desert environment.

Anyway,  watering and fertilizng the East windbreak overnight tonight.