All posts by jane

ADD and Gardening

Uncategorized

I just installed the updated version of the default WordPress theme. Things will appear a bit more simplified around here while I begin tinkering with the theme to customize it. CSS is almost as fun as gardening.

Tonight from 7:00-9:30 was spent outside weeding, deadheading and ripping out plants. At one point I awoke, dazed and confused, in a pile of recently uprooted snapdragons, dirt under my nails and frothing at the mouth. No, it wasn’t that extreme, but I did loose my patience with the garden tonight.

The snapdragons I had planted last year managed to winter over. So did a lot of violas. Both are annuals in our zone. Both grew back this spring and summer because they had self seeded, but the plants did not seem as healthy and full as the first year they were planted. I pulled all of the snapdragons and most of the violas out tonight.

There were tons of weeds growing into the beds. The main offender was ground ivy. I have a love/hate relationship with this plant. It fills in shady and damp areas of the Lot that challenges more finicky plants, which can be nice. But it also snakes swiftly across the ground in vine form, sprouting roots at every joint of the plant. Every time I weed I’m ripping up some Creepy Charlie.

Tomorrow night I’ll use the recently cleared beds to rearrange some perennials. Those measurements printed on the nursery tags should really be referenced when planting. Last year I was impatient and dropped the plants into the ground closer together than recommended. This year the plants have matured and are fighting for space. Not only can this cause disease, but many of the plants grew leggy and taller than normal because they were reaching for the sun. I have a feeling the Lot will be a constantly evolving canvas.

Name that bug; win a new car!

Uncategorized

That is a complete lie. Ms. N and I both have this bug in our gardens and have no idea what it is. Friend? Foe? She found the insects on her hydrangea. I found them buzzing around the bottom leaves of the hollyhocks (which are being overtaken by weevils and rust, blast it!).  Note to self: find a good insect identifier on the Internets.

The weather was hot and intermittently rainy this past weekend. What a great time to visit nurseries! Oy, a big mistake. I was doing so well until the last stop and then purchased several new plants. All perennials were 25% off though! I have this same problem during cold months here, but it involves yarn instead of plants. This was the haul:

  • Autumn Bride Coral Bell (Heuchera villosa) which I grabbed accidentally when reaching for the Key Lime
  • Little Lantern Ligularia
  • Joystick Red Thrift, Sea Pink (Armeria pseudarmeria)
  • Alexander Loosestrife (Lysimachia punctata)
  • Golden Male Fern (Dryopteris affinis)
  • Limerock Ruby Coreopsis
  • Thriller Lady’s  Mantle (Alchemilla mollis)

I did purchase a Jack Frost (Brunnera macrophylla) for Mom G’s garden. She had her eye on them during our 2010 Nursery Crawl, but the price tag kept her from purchasing one. Also, I found a fantastic nursery when I begin to tackle integrating flowering shrubs into the Lot.

The beans and cucumbers in our veggie beds are doing well. The beans have unfurled their arms and are beginning to climb up the twine strung between the top of the support and the soil level of the bed. The  cucumber are also ready to climb. I began work on a type of cradle I found a sketch of in Patricia Lanza’s Lasagna Gardening. I am reusing lengths of twine that were binding together bales of hay. To secure the ropes together, I looked up some knots and decided on the Sheetbend knot I found here. Hopefully I can finish the cradle this week and post a photo.

As a last note, the June 2010 issue of Wired has a fantastic article about gardening. Don’t Call It Gardening – The Wired Guide to Domestic Terraforming by Dominique Browning almost caused me to shoot cereal out of my nose this morning. It is definitely worth a read, especially for those gardeners that have a hefty does of Geek in their blood.

A Wild Weekend

birds, pruning
Purple Knockout Salvia
Purple Knockout Salvia

With the Heritage Hill Garden Tour on Saturday, I wasn’t able to play in the dirt until Sunday. Most of the day was spent deadheading and pruning. We had a stellar Spring season and a beautiful beginning to Summer. The plants on the Lot are still about two weeks ahead of last year’s dates. In Ms. A’s full sun beds, the plants are even further ahead.

Already, most herbs on the Lot are wildly overgrown. Last year many of our herbs grew ill because of the ridiculously wet Spring and dense growth of the plants. The Catnip was lost to powdery mildew. (I know, who could possibly kill Catnip?!) This year the growing season doesn’t seem nearly as wet, but I’ve tried to pay special attention to allowing enough air to circulate between and through the plants. The Chocolate Mint, Salad Burnet, and Winter Savory were thinned by trimming out the oldest (largest) stalks near the base of the plant. The Tarragon was cut back by 1/3, leaving about a foot and a half of height. The Sage, Lemon Thyme and Oregano are on the radar for tomorrow. I’d like to look up each one on the Lot for specific care instructions.

Deadheading befell the Foamflower (long overdue because the seed heads are pretty), Beardtongue, Roses, Early Sunrise Coreopsis, Dahlia and some more Jupiter’s Beard. I also went through three hanging baskets and containers deadheading annuals. Tomorrow some Lilies and Blanket Flower will be losing some spent blossoms.

In full bloom after this weekend are the Bridal Veil Astilbe, Purple Knockout Salvia, White/Dark Bee Delphinium, Hollyhocks, Moonbeam Coreopsis, Tequila Sunrise Coreopsis, Snapdragons, and Chameleon Plant. The Hostas, Nicotiana, Key West Astilbe and Gayfeather are all well on their way to producing blooms.

The most exciting news this past weekend was an unexpected visitor to the Lot. My Other Half and I were chatting in the backyard, me pruning and he keeping our four-legged garden helpers out of trouble and vegetable beds, when we heard this low buzzing/humming type of noise. When we looked over at the back bed, sure enough there was a ruby throated hummingbird dancing around the Jupiter’ Beard! It’s hard to withhold a squeal of delight when you see something that cool. We make efforts to lure this beneficial-to-the-garden type of wildlife to the Lot. As soon as the little guy buzzed away, my Other Half took off for the kitchen to whip of a batch of Mom G’s hummingbird feed. The feeder is now filled and ready for any additional visits. Next up will be a minature terry cloth robe and pillow mint.