I have been away for a couple of weeks, helping care for my Mom, who is approaching 91. Like you and most everyone else, there are times that the garden gets left behind while other more pressing things take all our time. Luckily, my husband fed the hens and gathered the eggs, but the rest of the garden had to fend for itself. So, how is the garden after 2 weeks of neglect?
Well, first of all, we had rain. Many plants were pulled back from the brink of dying from drought; this rain came right in time. Others, like these pink rain lilies, spring from the ground only after a natural rain, from a seemingly blank space in the garden bed. I love to see them them each time they pop up. When I see my rain lilies, I know the other plants also received a much needed, deep drink of water.
The storm that brought the rains also brought days and days of salty wind. Look at the wind and salt burn on the SW side of my young maple tree! The salt wind not only blackened leaves, but even killed the tips of some tender branches on trees and other woody ornamentals. Other plants, especially those with shiny/waxy leaves, showed no effects from the salt.
Finally, that same storm brought the tide way up in the yard, higher than it has been even in hurricanes. Although you cannot see any signs of it now, the tide was right up under the bee hives, against the cinder block stands you see here. Apparently the bees where not impressed, and just continued with their day.
And the chickens? Well, despite best efforts, they destroyed a large part of what little had been growing in the fall garden. This weekend we fence them out of that part of the yard, and assess the final damage. We are getting 4 eggs most every day, even though Lena's eggs remain tiny. It looks like she may lay little bitty eggs, even as she matures. My husband likes to say they have only half the cholesterol of the other eggs! We will see if the eggs get larger, but, if not, their tiny but perfect shape make a bowl of eggs look even more interesting and beautiful.
