Any new tips or techniques to pass on that you have learned or relearned this season? How about new tools you may have discovered that make work easier.
For me it has been a season of learning my limits are easier to hit every year. The heat was worse for me than about any year I can remember and we really didn't have any record highs. It was so dry after July 4th until about 3 weeks ago. I think we lost several iris and maybe some small shrubs. I watered with soaker hoses and osillating sprinklers for days on end sometimes just to keep plants going. Now since it has rained the grasses and weeds are growing so fast our DIL & I can't keep up with the weeding and mowing. My main goal is to prevent seed heads from falling to the ground. I have used a LOT of herbicide this year with mixed success. Just did more this afternoon.
GOD bless and keep each of you. Remember that a positive attitude is your best weapon against trials & handicaps.
Yardening season is close to being over.
Slowly I am acquiring more raised beds. When I first moved here the Homeowner's Association had such strict rules that I had no choice but to hack away at this tough rock-filled black clay and create double-dug beds in French-intensive style. Seven years later I just no longer have the strength to wield a mattox that much. I'm keeping the beds I've already built, but since the HOA directors have mellowed a bit, I plan on adding at least two raised beds a season (still have space in the side yards) by using the commercial sidings...not cheap, but much easier to maintain. I'm using sifted yard soil and compost plus a little commercial potting mix to fill them, and I've found that the 3' x 3' size is much easier for me to work with from my tractor seat than the more common 4' x4' size. The two beds nearest the kitchen door are great for salad crops. Yuska