Gardening in the Dog Days of Summer

The July garden is typically kind of a bummer for me. In years like this one with all of the rain, weeds abound making weeding an all to frequent necessity. Its also usually blatantly clear by July which of my Spring and Fall plantings didn't work. Unfortunately, with the blistering heat its hard to do anything about plant casualties until the Fall. This year is no exception.

I've had great success (maybe too much success) with my herbs and my side bed looks great, but some other areas aren't quite as I'd hoped. Rather than get down this year, I've decided to channel my gardening energy into planning for my Fall plantings.

I've already got a list of changes to make:

• In my side perennial bed, my Bee Balm is OOC (out of control) and totally dwarfing my Yellow Yarrow.
• Some Hellebore or Lenten Rose are getting too damp and need to be moved out of the path of rain runoff in the back by the pond.
• A few Hostas are getting more sun than I ever thought they would.
• Re-organize my mailbox bed. The drought tolerant plans have worked great, but my arrangement left a little to be desired.
• Move my Gladiator Aliums to a more showy location where they can colonize their hearts out!

In order to stay energized, I'm focusing my efforts to NOT on what is struggling, didn't work or is shriveling up and dying; but rather to what and how I want to use my Fall weekends. I'm getting out my garden magazines and problem solving and thinking about Fall bulbs. (If you are doing the same, consider Terra Ceia Farms (a NC company)). I'm also starting to ponder a new bed for the front yard which means sketches abound. No time for the blues!