When The Sunflower Smiles...

   ...It did stop raining constantly, but now we have slipped into the hot and humid days of late sumbymer here in Ohio.  The temperature has been in the 90's.  All I can manage to do is constantly scrounge for icy cold food and beverages to consume.  My last grocery run had very little real food in the purchases.  All I could think of was popsicles and Italian ices.  My container garden is doing just fine as long as I keep watering everything.  Most of my herbs are drought-tolerant, so this sweltering weather actually suits them.  I can hardly believe that my solitary lavender is starting to crank out more blooms.  Note to self, must get yet another large container for the lavender plant.  That sucker is trying to crawl out of its large pot.  Maybe it has been influenced by the mammoth sunflowers that I  planted next to it.  Those giants are about 12 feet tall and still growing.  They aren't ready for flowers yet.  At this point I am just hoping that I don't hear any "fee fie foe fum" sounds from the back porch.
     A few weeks ago I bought some catnip plants from one of the local farmer's markets.  At first they acted like they wanted to wilt and die.  But I was determined to have some decent catnips here at Johnson House.  After repotting them in a much larger container and harvesting them, I was rewarded with such full wonder plants that I was able to water-root some terrific bits of catnip.  I have a lot to work with now, both for my uses and for my household kitties to enjoy.  For several weeks I was able to keep the pot of catnip on the high railing of the back porch.  I knew it would be a matter of time before the local kitties discovered my fragrant green treasure.  Sure enough, I found my pot down on the porch floor on its side.  Miraculously the pot had not broken  Only a few leaves were scattered on the porch.  After that I brought the catnip in to sit on the top of my refrigerator overnight.  Daytimes are seemingly safe for the catnip to live outside, but night time is when the toms prowl and find my plants.  The night time refrigerator roost makes it safe from my indoor kitties as well.  And just when I thought it was safe to plant my echinecea in the ground, my resident groundhog munched off the tops of the plants. I feel as though I am playing "musical plants"...catnip, inside/outside, echinecea, top railing.  It didn't take long for the echinecea to grow back.  Phew! 
     The really exciting news is that of my holy basil crop.  Admittedly I started those plants from seeds late in the spring.  But they sprouted, which is somewhat of a miracle for me.  I have never been all that great with starting much from seed.  Up until now our summer has been kind of cool.  Ever since the seedling were barely big enough to transplant, I have been amazed at their progress.  So far I have two plants that are finally large enough to start harvesting.  The rest of the plants will be catching up to that point very soon.  For years I have used holy basil in capsule form to help me get through those gray winter days in Ohio.  I am looking forward to trying holy basil in tea form.  Their basily-fruity fragrance is an enticement to make wonderful herbal tea.  How I wish my garden friend Delilah the dragonfly could be here to share it with me.
      So goes the simple adventures of container gardening at Johnson House.  We still have a few months to enjoy our gardening efforts before the autumn leaves signal the end of summer and harvest.  Everything in the garden is begging for bigger containers. I'm working on that as I keep an ear cocked for "fee fie foe fum"... 

 

Getting bigger and bigger!