Beat the heat

One more casualty of the winter storms is our heat pump. as it was a 23 year old system, this means replacing- the whole system. while we get it together to do that, we have gone back to older ways of cooling the house on hot days.Seems strange-need more sun for gardens-more shade for house., hm.

We have 8 paddle fans in the house. I also put a window exhaust fan in bedroom., it'll draw hot air up the steps and out-or that's the plan. so far, even at 90 during the day it's been fine for sleeping at night.

we did put in a room AC in the family room which has to cool at least 2 rooms (Rosie and babies must be comfy!in the living room); we can shut doors to hall, kitchen etc, and this works wonderfully. ( mostly we needed it in the time period before the trees were out in leaf,. that early heat spell was really something!Humid days are difficult;dry days not bad at all.) I can grill on hot evenings and keep heat out of the kitchen.

trees are miracles. it can be a full ten degrees cooler under the trees.( thus the desire to add some flowering trees and nice chairs to the area behind the house) For fake tree shade-umbrellas work. I have 2 on the deck. it covers the hottest part of the house during the day.I've wanted to try a sail ( triangle) over the kitchen doors but right now, I just lower the shades over the glass. keeping sun out is a big step in keeping cool.

on one corner of the deck, I've made a semi-tropical paradise. a fig tree is due in, to add to mandevilla, a fake grass mat rug, chairs and tables, a basket with geraniums. the hot red flowers are really lovely and the plants are, once again, covering the wall and helping to cool us.

We also left the bushes -bushy- this year. as long as we don't have central air-every bit of the shade provided by the bushes is welcome.( I normally cut them down by about half) I'd be putting in trellises and quick growing vines if i didn;t have large shrubs. We also lost the tree directly in front of the family room; quite a blow, it cooled the entire end of the house,mostly we want to get it down before it falls on the house. not sure what kind of replacement could be considered.perhaps a lower row of shrubs with the liriope at it's feet.

So-think it through, if one side of the house is tall, adding narrow/tall bushes or trees with more spread out bushes below can really help.trellises allow a large variety of plantings to grow, and most die back with winter, allowing the sunlight in,Simple shades, on up to thermal curtains if needed, can cut heat/glare form the windows. Fans move air. a dehumidifier might be enough if humid air is the problem and not the temperature,And a water feature will actually help; the sounds of water just speak of coolness.

Remember grandma's house? or beach houses cooled only by the breeze? take the hint-we lived without AC in the past. cutting back on machine created air-good for many reasons.

Which month is it again?

We go from 85 one day to 60 the next. Finally have started getting some rain.the early heat led to tremendous growth on some plants; I still have peppers cukes and beans to plant but trying to hold off on those. don;t have radishes or turnips or lettuce or peas out of the ground! the garlic is huge-but the puppies chose to play  in it. some stalks are bent over but i am leaving them alone; if they die off early, well, we may have garlic greens instead of garlic bulbs. it'll still taste good. the shallots look like wild hairy men who need haircuts.

Considering the growth, I have started re-mulching the beds with compost. ( keep biological activity up, keeps worms happy, shades the ground. soft ground better for plants after all) just a thin layer..which is good because I have used up most of the 3 piles! Goat manure breaks down fast;it's just a 15 minute chore to move more to the pile and then wait a couple of weeks.the rest of the garden compost goes to filling up the potato bags the rest of the way ( no manure, no lime, that's potatoes for you) they are nearly a foot over the bag;compost about 3/4 of the way up. I have just been waiting for the later starters to catch up.( fingerlings. the carolas and kerrs grew just fine) I could just put in straw but i want to see just how many potatoes will grow!( straw mulch did not work for me growing potatoes, even a foot thick) I am not sure if it just the bag culture or if the nettles and comfrey mulches I put in have caused the superior growth.just-do it all even the "one percenters" I guess! there are literally only a handful of holes from flea beetles. I am hoping this means predator/prey balance is good even this early, among the insects.

the polyculture is phenomenal. I am pulling lettuce, radishes, and herbs right now. may have to start planting beans in the next couple of weeks ( you have to keep the plants growing thickly. I didn;t have any peas to throw in so I'll be laying in beans fairly thick for nitrogen)

a medlar ( lovely tree and late fruit, which can be a blessing. you have to blet it-let it soften to eat it) an English thornless raspberry and an Anne yellow raspberry are sitting on the deck waiting to go into the permaculture or "food forest." the only losses up there were the little siberian pea bushes. strange as they are supposed to be drought tolerant.I have to find a different nitrogen fixing bush. the currants and cherries are coming along nicely.

the older permaculture- the chinese yam ( cinnamon vine) skirret and several daylilies survived the winter flooding.lots of alfalfa etc growing nearby to mulch the plants with. that's a surprise- that so much survived.we've never had water up over the road before.

none of the new lilies are up; perhaps they got eaten too. it's sad....

the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Tops on my list-Bruce found rose trees! Purple, Lavender and white,they are stunning, up against the house in front of the new paving stones....next on the list,a bench to sit by them! if this interests you, check out your local  Lowe's!

Zukes and other squash planted-with such hot weather, I can't hold them in the soil blocks any longer. I will say-those soil blocks- are wonderful. they whole thing pops in the ground no fooling with roots.More soil blocks for basil, zinnias ( cannot find square containers to fit up by the flowerbed..sigh) most compost-gone! and I need to treat all the beds with a dusting of it..will figure it out.

I replaced the goat eaten lilies-stargazers, suzukis, etc planted. even with wet humid weather, digging holes deep enough for these big, big bulbs was tough. ( B&D Lilies does not skimp...worth every penny) this was terrible ground to start with-very encouraging to see nice dark soil about 6 inches down, but the clay...is still under there.My shoulders hurt from digging!

A few of the little bushes in the new permaculture don;t look so hot. bummer. might replace the siberian pea bushes with buffaloberry.A medlar, and raspberries are on the way...which will fill out the strip quite nicely. let;s hope for more settled weather, not so hot! the blueberries and blackberries do seem happy  :)

the polyculture bed looks wonderful. we have edible radishes ( beans will fill in the spots) and the broccoli are humming along. parsnips, herbs, etc are growing well. Lettuce should start being harvested by next week! I love this idea!

Need to buy straw for the pepper bed ( full of Jerusalem artichokes-shoot-I'll just keep cutting them for the compost pile.) might finish off the potato bags with a few inches of straw too. the potato plants are already above the 18 inch bags, composted about 10 -12 inches deep...so compost or straw needs to go in there.

 the pitifully few pea vines are actually blooming and looking great. I'll have to devise better planting methods next year.the garlic plants are bigger than my irises..which are not blooming well this year well, maybe more settled weather will get them going too.

Weigela (lovely bush, pink/white flowers) and foam flower cover the front of the house...Megan;s weeping rose has bloomed..much to be grateful for so far.Tomatoes need their melon companions...tried to restart nasturtiums ( I seem to be clueless about nasturtiums)