I can’ say that August is ever down time for me in the garden. I mean, it totally could be if i wanted it  to because if I keep up with the weeding and deadheading ( which requires a commitment of 10 min a day) then there really is nothing to do except the odd day of watering or pruning here and there. What happens just about every year , out of boredom truthfully, is I rip stuff out . This year is no different EXCEPT that there are complicating matters.

Back in May 2014 my oldest son got engaged. They wanted a simple outdoor wedding and said “We’ll just have it in the yard”. My response?  OOOOOOOOH no you won’t!  You may wonder why I would refuse my first born and also give up an opportunity to show off the garden, and the answer is not what you may think…..it has to do with port-a potties. our family is large, so even a small immediate family- only gathering is quite a large number. Add in her family, and now we have exceeded the ability to provide adequate potty service for everyone and I have a borderline crazy -town aversion to portable toilets. I won’t use one, I don’t want to see or smell them and i certainly do not want some large truck with some sort of cutsie name  like  ‘Throne Depot ‘ dropping any off in my yard. Nope. Not a chance. So we relocated the wedding to  Wachusett Mountain which has loads of real flushable potties with sinks and running water and decided to just have the rehearsal dinner here.  It will be a New England Clambake with all the fixins’, catered, so I thought easy-peasy.

At the same time we have been dealing with the replacement of the decking around the pool, or as i like to call it ‘The Project From Hell’  and after firing the first company, starting the process all over again, redsesigning the whole thing and hiring a new company, this project that started when there was still 4 feet of snow on the ground is yet to have begun. Of course they have called and set up our start time right after the big event, so the pool area , which has been in a sorry state since we opened it in May, has descended into a full blown mess as we had to start ripping out the existing landscaping   before they get going with the pavers. Add in a garden tour planned by a local garden society who will be here in early September, and you may say with confidence that I am overwhelmed.

I know, I know, I do these things to myself, but why does it always work out this way?

This week I actually hired some help to take out 4 overgrown shrubs that needed to go. Great decision on my part if I do say so myself. Now this weekend we only have to dig out what is left of 2 of the stumps,  take out the crappy soil from the areas and replace it with compost and loam, paint the areas of the fence that were hidden by the shrubs and are now exposed, move everything off the deck to make room for the caterers and stain it while it is empty, move a large stand of ‘Sum and Substance’ hosta which are HUGE, hang lights around the area where we will set up the tables, bring a bunch of stuff we are clearing out ( old umbrellas , the kids old pool basketball sets etc) to the recycle center, and then we can move on to tidying the garden for visitors.

Without whining I will tell you that we spent all of this past week going to medical appointments with my youngest daughter , who is thankfully in year 9 post cancer treatment. Every once in a while all her appointments clump together and they take priority over everything else. Today was the last of them except the eye dr which is next week so now i can focus on the tasks at hand. Well,  I can sort of focus since my dress fitting has yet to even be scheduled, the deck company  is coming for a site visit, I have to make the arbor decorations for the wedding service……sigh.

I know it will all get done. I know I work best under pressure. I got this…I think.

Meanwhile let’s look at what has been going on here in the garden without me……ending with the obligatory cute corgi photo