Yes it looks a bit sad out there and the weeds sure got the upper hand during all that rain. But I was out this evening picking tomatoes - a half dozen large Supersonic and one Cherokee Purple - and though they badly need tying up, it looks as if there will be a big crop.
The only thing that looks really good now is the nicotiana sylvestris which has gotten huge and is in full bloom against a background of tall miscanthus. That combination was accidental but I must remember it for next year. The nicoltiana also smells great - I was looking around to see if there were any oriental lilies still in bloom.

I'm with you guys. My garden is gorgeous right now - the rain made everything jump about a foot - but that includes the weeds. And everytime I walk out there and think about doing anything about it, I get tired and go back inside. It's like a jungle. Everything is out of control. It's been a great summer for establishing plants - all the rain and moderate temperatures have made things grow like crazy - but man, just contemplating all the cleaning and weeding and trimming exhausts me!

I am overwelmed by the weeds, too. I was enjoying all the blooms, though, until a storm blew through the other night and decimated my garden! Blooms blown off, stems broken in half, and a lot of stuff literally laid flat! I wasn't home for the storm so I wondered if hail was involved.

I give up in the garden in August. The heat and humidity just about kill me so I spend my outside time sitting under the patio umbrella looking at the weeds with disgust. But I also sit there and envision changes I want to make in the fall and following spring.

Usually the cooler weather hits and my enthusiasm comes back so I'm not too hard on myself or my August attitude.

Yeah, I know what you mean -- August doldrums! What energy I still have is decimated by the need to harvest, blanch, freeze, can...oh, you know the drill! No time to worry about the small stuff like weeds -- and my poor flower beds are left to fend for themselves.

Had a great crop of peas -- they loved the cool summer, and kept bearing and bearing -- Too much cold and wet for good tomatoes; constant wet invites wilt and other viruses. Squash and eggplant are my other failures this year. Have other gardeners in the area noticed a distinct lack of pollinators this year??? No honey bees, very few bumbles.... But carrots and parsnips and beets and beans, beans, beans! All doing very well! The hummers are attracted to the scarlet runners and keep them well pollinated! Potatoes are waiting to be dug, but they will store better in the ground until the end of September -- then whatever's left of the root crops go into the root cellar -- if I pile lots of leaves on the parsnips, they will overwinter in the ground, and provide our first spring veggies from the garden == sooo sweet with all that stored sugar!!!.

Favorite crop this time of year? blueberries! Stick a quart container (the kind wonton soup comes in) in the freezer and toss in each day's picking (except what DH needs for his cereal!)By the end of August, we will (hopefully) have at least two containers full. The wet month has been good for the wild blackberries, too! Big, plump berries and lots of them! They get the same treatment. When the weather gets cooler, the frozen berries get dumped in a pot and it's jam time! Normally, there would already be several containers of raspberries waiting for their turn in the jam pot, but a combination of the wet and our neighborhood bear put paid to that crop! Have you ever seen what a bear can do to a raspberry patch in a single night! They like the tender new shoots (next year's berries, too!) as much as the berries, and literally strip the plants -- ripe berries, unripe berries, new leaves, all gone in a single night!

Okay, I've blathered on long enough -- Veggies are my passion, can you tell???

Hey, Dian57..ever hear of people that look like their pets? When I read your post, it made me think we gardeners are like what we sow. Some of my plants do great in spring, early summer, kind of peter out in August, and pick up in the cooler fall. Made for gardening I guess. Just a thought. More rain today...my formanosanum lilies bloomed in the white garden today, I can see them from my window, and if the rain lets up, I may venture over and take a peek. I was hoping they would hold out until September..my species lilies are blooming now in the white garden, I wanted to extend my lily season..Oh, well, at least I don't have to water them!

I know exactly what you guys mean. I went on vacation for 8 days, came back and the weeds were growing like crazy! I would pull out a bunch of them, turn my back for something and all of a sudden there were 87 more! It gets really aggravating and frustrating. I have 4 pots of plants that have been sitting for the last 3 weeks, need to be put in the ground but I am just so TIRED of digging holes I don't feel like doing anything. My gardens just look so pretty the way that they are that I don't feel like bothering anymore. Maybe some mums might help????????

JustJoeyGirl--now you've got me smiling, my dog is a basset hound!

Ha ha ha ha ha....you are too funny. : )