Hello August: Will you be as soggy as July was?

My husband said yesterday: "I'm so glad it's August and the beginning of the end of summer." A minority opinion, I'm sure, but we both prefer the fall over summer, that is, a normal hot and humid summer. This season it's hardly been hot at all. We've had only one day over 30C (86F).

Click on photo to see it larger

The Agriculture Canada map of Ontario's precipitation since April 2009 tells the story: except for maybe a week or two in June, it's been wet all the way. (That area of deep blue denoting "extremely high" rainfall amounts at the tip of Lake Ontario is where we are located.)

I have never seen the gardens and lawn areas here so lush at the beginning of August. I have also never had to mow as much. Last week I mowed the lawn around the house on Friday night, and it needed cutting again on Monday night. That's just three days - during which we got almost four inches of rain.

How green is my lawn? After last weekend's torrential rains,
this little flood pond appeared and disappeared in a few hours

Aside from fungal diseases showing up on the leaves of some plants, peonies and serviceberries, for example, and tomato plants that look pitiful and are bearing hardly any fruit, I don't have much to complain about. I don't even mind that the meadow flowers are a week or two late - that just extends their beauty. This is not like a drought season, when I question whether gardening is even worth the effort.

The meadow last week - Monarda didyma (in the background)
is still in bloom. Normally it would be finished by now

Here's a hilarious picture that my neighbor sent me yesterday. How do you like these new shoe styles for a wet summer?

© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener