Early August Tasks (Very Dry)

 No photos today, just a note for some things I was doing on this day.

While we had a lot of rain in June, and early July had enough, since the middle of July it's been very dry. There have been isolated storms, but they've missed us.

I've been using the soaker hoses where I have them, but there are always places I don't.

So today I watered the hosta and geranium that I transferred to the East bed. The hosta are doing well, but the geranium has been fairly eaten. But it's a hardy plant, so I'm hoping it will rebound now that the earwig population should decline. 

I watered the few beets that germinated, with the nasturtium in the Vego garden.

I also watered the hydrangea and sweet William under the black walnut. I transferred a heucherella there a month ago because it was being so eaten, but it's being eaten just as much in this new location. I sprinkled some of the Captain Jack's Slug & Bug killer around those plants. 

That stuff seems to be helping where I've used it, and hopefully it is cutting down on the population that will start breeding this fall.

The pot with blue salvia and white allysum next to the mudroom porch is just spectacular right now. I've been giving some Miracle Grow flower boost fertilizer to the pots, and they appear to be responding.

I also did some deadheading --the very pretty and loose pink alliums had finished, so I cut those back. I removed a few more spent daylily stems as well and I harvested a few more tomatoes.

Then I made up some Round-up to take care of the crop of young dandelions that were coming up all over in the mulch. I really need to get the bench area thoroughly mulched next spring.