Is it Fall Yet?

Washington Park Fall

Writing a garden blog isn't that much different than keeping a public diary.  Anyone reading this knows we have a house, a dog and a garden full of an assortment of plants with a few that come down with disease or insect issues this time of the summer. Since we don't have children I wonder if our landscape problems compare to raising children which must be easier than flicking Japanese beetles into soapy jars every morning for eight weeks each summer.  Hey...if we had children maybe they would do the flicking! 

So my true confession is this. I am looking forward to the fall season.  Please, no judgment for this admission. Despite not being able to begin the outdoor gardening season until mid-June because of six weeks of constant rain and eight hail storms, autumn can't get here soon enough.  I say this because I feel like the summer never got off to a good start and catching up never happened either.  I went through the garden motions once the soil dried out in June...seeding, shopping for container plants, putting out the patio furniture, putting up the yellow jacket traps and nursing sore muscles from a hard day of work in the garden - all good, but not great like most years. Something just wasn't right this summer, maybe July went by too quickly or missing so much of the spring season altered the garden universe "chi" or something. The closest explanation is that I would like a garden season do over, but a do over isn't really possible until next spring is it? Whatever the reason, I am feeling a bit blue and think the best remedy is getting to fall which means spring is not that far away.

No doubt a therapist or a close garden friend (almost one in the same ) would tell me to snap out of it...`a la... Cher from Moonstruck. "Summers are short, enjoy them while you can, life is short, enjoy IT while you can."  And they would also say that "gardening is dynamic, we can't control the weather, yada, yada, yada."  They are right, but I still want my do over.  And while we're at it, I wish we could do over or not do over last year's November flash freeze plant fiasco!

The lesson...there actually is a do over in gardening.  It's in my mind right now as I watch new plants get established and enjoy the trees, shrubs and container plants that are pulling their weight in the garden right now as I finish this blog posting.  Next spring will be here soon enough, in the meantime I'm going to go shopping for a new leaf rake.