I mowed the lawn!

Today I finally mowed the lawn. (Well "lawn" is a generous term. I have a small lot with some grassy areas. They hardly qualify as a lawn, though.) This may not sound like a big deal but it's the first time I've done it in at least six weeks. It has been so dry that nothing grew. We finally had a little rain last week and it was amazing how quickly the grass (and weeds) recovered.

Portulaca

I planted portulaca seeds in the window boxes on the sunny side of the house this year. Nothing happened so I filled in with dianthus and lobelia. I had used petunias in the past but they didn't do very well. Thi s year the lobelia dried up and died but the dianthus have done well. They smell very good, too. The only drawback there is that they must be trimmed back in order to keep them blooming. Just recently, I noticed that I have two portulacas finally growing in the window boxes as well. They took nearly three months to get started but they have really kicked in now. I'm going to try to start them early next year and will see if I have better success. They do very well in blazing sun with little water.

Rain at last - hallelujah!

Nothing much has been happening in the garden recently. It hadn't rained in a very long time. Consequently nothing grew much and what was trying to bloom was eaten by rabbits and deer. Everything looks fairly well chewed up. Luckily it started raining yesterday and we've had some hours of very steady rain. This may last for a few more days. The grass - which was starting to look and feel like shredded wheat cereal, has become green again already. I haven't mowed the grass in six weeks because it hadn't grown. I'll need to get back to that soon enough now.