“Green grass is Happy grass.”
richI saw lots of sun and hoped it was warm, but the breeze makes the day cooler than I expected. It is only 65˚. The high will be 71˚, and it will go back to the 50’s tonight. I’m still hoping the predicted heat wave will make an appearance, maybe tomorrow.
Skip, my factotum, is here and has a long list of chores ranging from replacing fence posts to cleaning deck furniture. When Skip is done, everything will be ready for the warm days of summer.
When I was a kid, our house had only a small front garden. It was anchored by bushes, and the flowers had to be planted around the bushes. My father was a perfunctory gardener. He planted geraniums and pansies, all of one in the back and all of the other in front. But my father was a master when it came to his grass, his front lawn. That square plot of green got all the attention and care the flowers never did. He mowed and fertilized and watered that patch of grass. I remember it was always lush and green. He allowed but didn’t like the kiddy pool as it squashed the blades of grass. He always yelled when I rode my bike down the small grass hill which bordered the sidewalk. He could see the tire tracks.
My father used a hand push mower and a hand trimmer which sort of looked like scissors. The trimmer clicked and the mower whirred, the two sounds of summer I most remember from my childhoodI . My father never went to a power mower. He did go to electric trimmers, a Father’s Day gift from me.
I can remember summer weekends visiting my parents. My father always gave me a guided tour of his yard. On Saturday I’d sit on the front steps while he mowed. He went back and forth in rows, never deviating from that pattern. When he was finished, he’d ask me how it looked. I always told him the lawn was beautiful. He never said anything but he did smile.
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June 8, 2018 at 2:20 pm
Our heatwave will last during the weekend and after that it will finally cool down to more normal summer temperatures here. I’m glad that we did get warm weather but it was a bit too early 🙂 I do hope we’ll get a chilly night and a cool morning so all the flies stays calm when we’re out on our morning walk.
I can’t remember anyone having geraniums in the ground when I grew up but everyone had loads of them in pots and as I remember it they were almost all read and the few that weren’t where white.Back then geraniums grew high and large but those are really hard to find now days.
My grandfather was a lawn man but none in the rest of the family have ever come close to it :-)All however who have had a garden have had lots of flowers, not so strange since we had many gardeners in the family. My grandfather like straight lines and order in the flowerbeds but my grandmother didn’t and of course she was the one who always won because she planted all sorts of flowers between his so there wasn’t a straight line in sight 🙂 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
June 8, 2018 at 6:06 pm
Christer,
I love the chilly nights we’ve had. Sleeping cozy under the quilt is a wonderful night’s sleep, but I’d like the days to be a bit warmer. Today stayed chilly despite the sun.
The geraniums are in the ground and in pots here. They are also mostly red. I don’t think I have seen a white one. Most times they are in a display pot with a variety of flowers. I have one on my front steps.
My garden is like your grandmother’s. The flowers are all over with no pattern except for tall flowers in the back. My sisters have flower gardens, but I don’t know of any other relatives who garden.
Have a wonderful day!
June 8, 2018 at 4:40 pm
Hi Kat,
My father wasn’t all that concerned about the grass. He didn’t water or fertilize. He mowed with a non-electric push mower and used those clippers. I’ve done it that way too during the period of time when the gas mower gave me asthma attacks.
Neither of my parents was big into flowers or ornamental shrubbery either. What was there when they bought the house was the product of a dedicated gardener and her mother who lived next door. It was beautiful. But it gradually went away as nobody was doing what needed to be done. I remember huge bridal veil bushes, hydrangea, cherry and apple trees, sweet peas, lemon lilies and tiger lilies and massive lilac bushes. All gone except for the black walnuts, some forsythia way in the swamp and the peony plant.
My dad was a vegetable gardener. He had a huge garden that produced a lot of vegetables. He had a tractor and a rototiller and all kinds of stuff for the garden. That was his thing. I do miss the vegetable garden but I’m not a gardener either. And I’m at that stage of life where I don’t want anything in the back yard that I have to take care of. Which is why I don’t mind deer. It’s nice to have large herbivores out back especially when I don’t have to pick up after them. 😀
I saw a few fireflies out in the back swamp last night. That made me smile.
It’s been lovely up here. Warm and sunny but periods of heavy clouds. I think it rained a little bit, too. The house remains cool. Yay.
Enjoy the day.
June 8, 2018 at 6:48 pm
Hi Caryn,
At first I also used a push mower. I didn’t fertilizer, but I did water. The lawn looked okay until my dog, Shauna, decided to dig holes. The center of the lawn was just dirt. The edges had the grass, and it looked awful. In the winter, the front “lawn” froze and looked like a skating rink. I had the whole thing reseeded, but it it never really looked good. Finally, I had the lawn irrigated and reseeded by a landscaper. The dogs stayed in the back and the front looked great, still does. The lawn is green and lush. The back hasn’t been touched except to have dead trees downed and limbs cleared. The dogs love it.
I tried my hand with vegetables and didn’t do well. I’ve decided to stick with flowers and herbs. I do well with both of those. I love being able to go to the garden and snip my own herbs.
I’m excited. I’ll check the backyard to see if mine are back. I do love watching them flit among the trees.
Chilly here all day with a stiff breeze. I had too shut my windows as it was getting too cold.
Have a great night!
June 8, 2018 at 8:40 pm
My father also took pride in his lawn. Every Saturday morning he would mow, edge, sweep and then water the lawn. Or lot was 100 ft wide and 75 ft. deep. He had to use a power mower but a he bought a push one not a self propelled mower. He had an electric edger and swept up the cuttings with a broom. He would never use a leaf blower to clean up. Our lawn was a wide bladed grass called St. Augustine which grows from runners. If the grass was really thick the weeds couldn’t sprout. I hated doing yard work when I owned a house because I have a purple thumb. If I mow, water, fertilize and edge the grass will die. I hired people to take care of the lawn.
Today was sunny with a high in the mid 90s with some humidity. Typical weather for June and early July.
June 8, 2018 at 9:13 pm
Bob,
My father swore his push mower did a better job on his lawn than any power mower. He knew that you needed to keep the lawn a bit high so it wouldn’t be scorched by the sun. That was easy to do with his mower. There were no leaf blowers in his day.
My landscaper does everything for my yard. One of his guys mows, edges, trims and fertilizes. I also have him blow the deck clean so I don’t have to keep sweeping it for company. I keep a hose on the deck so I can water all the herbs and flowers. My irrigation system waters the front lawn and garden. My yard looks great.
I don’t think we got to 70˚. The breeze off the ocean was chilly.