Summer End Happenings

It has been quite an interesting couple of weeks here. The weather has been hectic and it’s hard to tell if we are still in Summer or moved onto Fall. One week it’s scorching hot and the next it’s very cold; then having to deal with allergies and everything in between. Nevertheless, it feels good to welcome a new season.

A few days ago, a young chicken found itself into our backyard, and it was quite hilarious to watch my kids run after it in multiple attempts to get it to return to where it came from. One of our close neighbor’s have a chicken coop, and strangely, the chickens prefer to sleep in a tree. It took a while, but in the end, the young chicken climbed onto a bench and flew into a different neighbor’s backyard. We all had a good laugh and workout out of it …

A few months ago I experienced first hand how invasive the ‘Madame Galen’ Trumpet Vine can get.
Last Fall, we trimmed the vine back to the main trunk and relocated it by an opened area next to the storage shed. We thought we took out all the roots, only to find out a few months later (after it rained heavily) that this plant is extremely invasive. Young plants began emerging and worsened each time we got rid of it. Two weeks ago, we dug a large area, found the main root and pulled it out. Keeping our fingers crossed!

Finally, after months of trial and error, we caught one of two mischievous squirrels. These rodents are becoming smarter when it comes to avoiding traps. They have destroyed so many of my tender and younger plants that I am now going back to using chicken wire to protect the most vulnerable plants.

I have been doing a lot of cleaning in and around the house. Indoors, I have been sorting, organizing, re-organizing, getting rid of, and giving away stuff someone else could use. There’s still much to do, but as of now, it’s good. Outdoors, we finally finished the deck.

Happy gardening.