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Gardening in Air Soup

This morning I stepped outside and was met with a solid wall of hot air, stifling enough to convince me to go right back inside to complain about it.  Motivated by the sight of a gasping oak leaf hydrangea, a bit later I headed out again.  Honestly the air was so thick, I wondered why no Texan had yet developed something like diving apparatus to allow us to breathe in the summer heat.  Oh right, I remember, it's called air conditioning, but I've yet to figure out how to take it outside with me.

This is summer gardening in Central Texas - a little time snatched from the crack of dawn,  short mid-day forays faster than an anole's tongue out and back again,  then a final exhaustive push to finish in the afternoon when the heat has built up but you do it anyway before collapsing in a soggy heap.  It's when 90 degrees is considered a cold front.

So you've probably already figured out there won't be any pictures of cheerful, healthy posies in this post.  There IS a pale yellow water lily blooming in the pond (thank you, Cat) beside the blue spike blooms of the pickerel weed (thank you, Bob), but that picture was in my last post about garden design - so no picture for you!  Stay cool my gardening friends.  It's only a couple of months until we're out of the 90's at midnight.

All material © 2019 by Vicki Blachman for Playin' Outside. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.


Comments

Dee Nash said…
Right there with you. Horrid weather. I just water things quickly and run back in. A few containers. I picked some tomatoes and peppers today. I was sopping wet. ~~Dee
Rock rose said…
I just did a post myself about bone dry Texas. I guess my photos didn’t convince them. Somehow I managed to make the camera lie. What a stinker this summer is.
Hot as heck here too. In addition to gardening chores sitting by the wayside, we aren't walking either....hello a few extra pounds.
Thirty-four years ago, my first was born in Texas...42nd consecutive over 100 degrees. Dear God I was miserable.
Jane Strong said…
Sigh. So true, even here in the interior valleys of southern California. A little less humidity perhaps, but it is yellow outside. You put it all very well especially second paragraph.
cat said…
Oh, aren't we all ready for a reprieve? It has been one long, hot August. Glad to hear the lily is making things cheery.

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