JoAnne Skelly: A lazy gardener in summer

I’m a terrible gardener in the summer. It’s too hot to be outside, except at dawn or after 8 p.m. I just can’t seem to get too motivated to get up at 5 a.m. to go weed. And, I run out of energy by 4 p.m. Besides at both dawn and dusk, there are too many mosquitoes out. Needless to say, not much is getting done in the yard.

Yes, I water the vegetable pots every day. Fortunately, there are only six of them, so it takes very little effort. I also give the conehead spruce (a dwarf Alberta spruce) a thorough washdown to keep it free of spider mites. I have been giving a little extra water to some variegated irises I transplanted a few weeks ago. I fill the bird baths every day too. Why should the birds suffer because I’m lethargic?

Something besides the heat has me feeling defeated and that’s the vole infestation. There are so many tunnels in my flower beds, in the lawn and under the trees that it’s very disheartening. I started setting mousetraps in the runways to try to reduce the population. I’ve caught one so far. My husband is the hero who empties the traps when a critter is caught. I had hesitated to set traps, because I don’t want to cripple a rabbit that gets caught accidentally. Yes, the rabbits are pests too, but a dead rodent is easier to accept than a mutilated bunny.

Yet, I was very encouraged when I woke up this morning and saw not one, but two, barn owls flying around the yard. I’m hoping they will catch a few critters for me. But the numbers are so high, I think a miracle is required. That may take more than two owls. We used to have great horned owl families, but they didn’t return this year. Where are the bobcats that used to be here? Who else is thrilled to hear coyotes at night? Maybe they will catch a few pests too.

I did get a bit of work done this morning. I finally finished pruning the water sprouts out of the crabapples. Remember I wrote about that a few weeks ago? Took me long enough. I also started pruning out the water sprouts in my Amur maple. I had waited to prune those until the goldfinches had fledged from their nests in that tree so I wouldn’t disturb them.

I hope all my gardening pals stay more motivated than I. Stay cool everyone!

JoAnne Skelly is an Associate Professor & Extension Educator Emerita University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.