The elderberry continues to struggle. I continue to act like watering it will fix everything.
A neighbor from the Roger Park Monarch Butterfly Project posted about extra sunflowers he wanted to give away. I thought that might be the perfect thing to put in the hole where the elderberry used to be. Amazing, Donbon lives only a few doors down from me so it was easy to pop over and pick up a small, medium, and large sunflower that he grew in his garden cold box.
A heatwave is hitting the midwest with today being the front of it. I made the mistake of thinking that getting the sunflowers and planting them in the 95 degree weather was an acceptable idea. I made it 30 minutes before I was indoors laying on the floor trying to cool down. I hadn’t even had a chance to water the new sunflowers.
So I kept an eye on the weather app all day, waiting for the temperature to dip low enough for me to go out without causing issues. Finally around 7 pm it dropped below 90 and I watered the elderberry, the sunflowers, the rest of the garden. Then I started filling up the new 5 gallon bucket purchased especially for the new solar irrigation system I bought off of TikTok.
I had optimistically put the bucket out last night, minutes after it being delivered, out of hope that the impending storm warnings were true and the elderberry and garden would get a nice soaking. Sadly we just got a swift wind that threw around the dirt and dust from the recent road construction project. Strong enough wind that I went back out to remove the mosquito netting and put a brick in the bottom of the bucket so that it didn’t blow away.
Alas, it didn’t rain so I filled the bucket most of the way today and decided it was finally time to tackle the somewhat incomprehensible directions that came with the $12 solar irrigation kit. In theory I want to be a measure twice, cut once sort of person. In actuality when it’s hot out and flies are biting me, I’m more of “that looks to be about the right length” sort. The most difficult issue seems to be the hosing that connects everything. I thought that getting the right spacing would be what frustrated me. However, in order for the hosing to go over any of the connections, it needs to be dipped in hot water for 15-30 seconds. Through a bit of experimentation I ended up with a jar of water that I had microwaved until it boiled and started racing against the clock. I got four of the watering spikes set up before the biting flies drove me to madness and I decided it was time to go inside. I did turn on the system so it could water what I had set up and I’m happy to report that after I fixed the hose that popped off and started dowsing me, it seems to work.
Tomorrow looks to be only 91 degrees so hopefully I can go out at a time that with less flies and tackle the remaining 6 watering spikes. My hope for the system is that I can catch rainwater to irrigate the garden in heatwaves like this one and droughts like we had last year, and avoid having to make 3-5 trips across the street with heavy watering cans every day. Wish me luck.
Birchwood Butterfly Corner 