Gardening can be frustrating at times

I would like to think that I am somewhat of a decent gardener; at least with what will and will not grow in and around my yard. If truth be told, over the years I have killed my share of plants, some pricey, some not. But through the process, I have learned what I need to plant in order to assure a continuous bloom from May through October. And for the past few years, I've achieved just that.

I know that when I place annuals in my planters, both in the front yard and back, I need to abstain from those that require partial sun. I must buy hearty annuals that will survive the daily drying out of soil that occurs from full sun beating down upon them and the non-stop cross breeze that is refreshing on a hot day, but really takes a toll on my flowers. So I do. And generally it takes me and hubby, a few weekends schlepping through numerous nurseries to find the plants that we know will survive. It will take us 2 days to get everything planted. Lotsa hard work. But I love the results........usually. This year Mother Nature has really thrown all gardeners in the Northeast for a loop. With almost 3 weeks of non-stop rain, mist, drizzle, dismal, dreary days, my planters are water soaked, and the leaves on the flowers are beginning to yellow and develop the dreaded "Black Spot", a fungus so foul that you need to pick off the affected leaves and seal them in plastic bags to prevent any further proliferation of the nastiness.

I specificlly planted flowers that withstand sun and wind, they are drought resistant, too much water is not a good thing! So my flowers in my planters seem more than a bit puny this year, definitely not as robust as in the past.

I am guessing that once I am able to work in the perennial beds, I will find mildew growing on lots of stalks along with my least favorite thing to find, slugs. In my first encounter with a slug I tried to squish it with my fingers (I was wearing gardening gloves) but all the slime that they emit made me a bit squeamish, so I prefer the salt shaker method now. Someone recently told me that slugs love beer, who knew? And if you bury a small cup into the ground just at ground level and fill it with beer, the slugs will ooze on over to take a swig and fall in. So the next morning all you have to do is empty the cupful of drunken slugs and start over and catch a few more.

However, with all this rain , our grass is lush. In fact hubby reseeded a small patch of bare lawn on the North side of the house, which in the past has not done well, and this year, voila, like magic we have no more bare spots. So I think there may be a plus to all of this rain, but enough already. I think it may be time for a Sun dance.....in fact when the front lawn begins to grow mushrooms, lots and lots of mushrooms, we need more than a single dance, I think we need the full recital!