The Garden, Geese and Lilacs

While my wife was attending the funeral, I made a trip down to the garden to mow the grassy perimeter and to do a couple little chores. One was to pick the asparagus but as you can see above, the heat of the last week caused it to bolt bringing it to an end shortly after the season started. This next week is supposed to be cooler normal temperatures so perhaps there will still be a bit more but the weeds will make them hard to find.

There were two varieties of pole beans already up. I wasn't sure about putting in the fence immediately after planting in case we were exactly on top of the row of seeds but it looks like we missed. Even if it was right on top, I thought the plants would still push up around the side of the bottom wire anyway.

 Our peas are up though this hot weather isn't doing them any favors. Probably next weekend we will mulch them to preserve moisture and control weeds a bit better.

Not a very good picture but my lilacs are finally starting to look like lilacs. I planted them some seven or eight years ago and caged them against the deer. But they have been very slow growing. I pondered if it was due to the metal fencing I had around them. The deer hadn't touched the leaves protruding outside the fencing in all those years so I assumed that they weren't desirable to deer. They are right at the end of our driveway and so last fall, I unfenced them and set them free. Sometime earlier this year in late winter, some %#$# deer ate one of them (the stick sticking up on the left). There is a new shoot coming up from the base so perhaps it will still survive. 

Using up a credit from a seed store, I placed an order last summer for a few more lilac plants. This is the credit from the same outfit that sent us our strawberry plants last year in JULY that immediately died! I'm still waiting for the lilacs.

I walked outside this morning and came across this scene. Immediately I had this goose conversation swirling in my brain that stayed with me the rest of the morning...

A goose hopped up on a hickory stump and said, "Boy let me tell you what. In case you didn't know it I'm a fiddle player too and I bet a fiddle of gold against your soul to think I'm better'n you!"