Connie, I have bark mulch on a few beds and should have added some to the other beds as well, but it it too late now as the plants are too big and close together, hopefully next year I will smarten up and get it done early in the spring.

conniepr27 said:...You guys are so lucky not to have to go to work and are able to be in your gardens any day of the week!

It's really nice being at home, but as a stay at home mom I do stay busy. Especially now that school is out for the summer; most days an hour or two gardening is about the maximum I can get in. Mostly just early in the morning during the week; weekends are usually family time.

This evening we went out and found a nice flood light to illuminate the water feature...for those 10 minutes of evening quiet time for mommy before bedtime. I'm happy.

Set up sprinklers for my sod and grass seed to grow and fill in.

The sod I purchased was brown and in bad shape and not sure if it's growing well, and was supposed to fill in bad bare spots, so I had a genius plan! 💡😊

I spread the grass seed heavy on top of the sod, the seed is growing and at the same time rooting which holds the sod in place, and the sod is a great foundation for the seed to grow on as the spot under the sod had poor soil. So they help eachother and its filling in great now!

Yesterday afternoon I pretty well finished the weeding, glad that's done, for a couple of weeks anyway.

Oh just found this thread! Just sort of skimmed thru it to the end. Good place to talk about our gardening.

Yup it sure is, Rita.

Hey, @keithp2012, I finally got a good picture of the marigold I grew from that seed you sent.

When the flowers first open, they have a very interesting green edge to the petals:



Then when fully open they look just like ordinary marigolds:



It's a nice plant!

Today I had to stake and tie up the false sunflowers, 7 of those, and 1tall plant that gets lovely flower spikes, it was here when we bought the house 14 years ago. That was a back breaking job, I have arthritis in all my joints so when I would twist and bend there were these awful clunking sounds from my spine.

Anyone know what this plant is, the bees love it.

Looks like it might be purple Loosestrife.

Rita, that's what I thought it might be.

kylaluaz said:Yup it sure is, Rita.

Hey, @keithp2012, I finally got a good picture of the marigold I grew from that seed you sent.

When the flowers first open, they have a very interesting green edge to the petals:



Then when fully open they look just like ordinary marigolds:



It's a nice plant!

What an interesting trait, thanks for sharing the photos!

Spent all weekend weeding my son's yard as part of a family work party. Fun and constructive, his yard is now all neatened up, lawn mown, beds weeded and mulched, several overgrown shrubs and a side hedge wrestled into order, cleaned out shed, and organized building supplies. Two full days of family bonding! My turn is next - likely will be a Paul Bunyon project in the fall - limbing and falling trees.

I've been out of town again and my, oh, my have things grown in my absence. Everything is thriving from our recent heavy rains and then the heat and sun. The first thing I do when I return home, and this time was no different, is to groan over the long lawn, then check on who needs water. With our 90º heat and hunidity, I have found I have to watch over the full sun plants very carefully for dryness. Our recent 2-1/2" of rain evaporates very quickly. I think the lawn needs mowing twice a week now. It's St. Augustine. I tend to "cut it long" so that it doesn't need as much water. So to keep it looking manicured, I have to cut it more often. I check on the greenhouse seedlings to see who needs water. It averages 90º inside this time of year in part shade. The fan circulates the air, but the heat is intense. I keep the vents wiiiide open.

My vines have climbed 2 feet in a week so I pulled what I could down to where I can manage them out of the trees' canopy. One I have to get a ladder.

Recent winds have brought down some limbs and spread debris everywhere. I am going to be busy with clean up tomorrow starting in the morning. But before the sun sets, I will get out and mow the lawn.

Gave my Vanda coerulea its once a week dip inside the glass container. Moved around my caladium container, the winds was hitting it hard yesterday, finally found another nice spot for it to dodge the wind a bit. Spray misted all the sempervivums and the orchids inside the growcamp. Our humidity was in the single digit last night..my poor plants! Thankfully it rose a bit to 35% early this morning, and now windy again, so back to 17% humidity levels. Thankfully temps just high 80's.

Hey, Deb, can I borrow your family? Wanna adopt me?

Ha ha Woofie! It was our joint Xmas gifts to each other this year - one full work weekend to each household. Took a lot of pressure off the holiday itself, and keeping us in better contact through the year. I love it.

Nice idea, tho! Our family is waaaaay too spread out for something like that to be feasible.

Deb, what a cool idea. But yes, it would require living close by, for that to work.

Also, in my case, I wouldn't trust everyone in my family to work anywhere near my garden.

By the way, here is a better photo of that marigold plant's bloom, and it is just starting its bloom cycle so there will be more of these. They are really full! Nice flowers. @keithp2012

My hybrid lily seedlings are growing their first true leaves!

Cleaned out a front bed, deadheading and weeding. Surprising how a little work really perks thing up.

Gave all the plants some hose watering, preparing them for our heat wave triple digit conditions tomorrow. Also wet the compost and turned the tumbler. Inspected my caladiums..enjoying to seey new sprouts! More are coming yippee!