gardenbug8's Blog
gardenbug8's Blog
Last Post 1 day, 2 hours Ago
Jul 22, 2008 | 12:17 PM PST
Tags: corns , beans , squash
Harvested some corn and boy, they are good and sweet but I don't think I will ever plant corns again as they are really cheap here in California, sometimes 4 for a dollar but now it is 35 cents each. The silver queen hybrid corns I bought from Park's and planted last spring were so tall that the leaves bent over to my neighbor. I swear it is more than 10 ft. Looking as we drive on the highways here, the corns do not appear to me that tall, thought they were only 5 feet tall. I can live with that but 10 ft. Forget it, I will just buy them. Beans and squash did not do good either so the 3 sisters planting of corn, beans and squash, is no more for next year. At least I have a good harvest of tomatoes and the cilantro and eggplant is on its way too.
Happy gardening to all. I read almost all the blogs but haven't much time to respond because my internet service is having a problem. I lose connection just as I am ready to submit my response and I get so tired of trying. Don't know if this blog will post.
Happy gardening to all.
Jul 14, 2008 | 12:43 PM PST
Tag: Clemats
The strong wind damaged my clematis last month. I thought that it is dead when this clematis with one bloom still showing wilted and died. All the stems turned brown so no sign of life whatsoever so I just pruned it all the way down to the ground hoping I can plant another before I dug out the whole dead plant. Good thing that it was so hot and no clematis nursery will ship during this time so I said I will just wait for my order next fall and plant it in this planter. Lo and behold, three weeks later, a small green leaf sprouted and today it is tall and healthy. Thank goodness it was hot so the planter stayed undisturbed and here comes Clematis Rhapsody ready bloom again next spring.
Clematis Blue Light and Lasurstern are still blooming even with the intense heat we are having this year.
Jul 9, 2008 | 9:14 AM PST
Tag: hibiscus
I shouldn't have opened my email today because it brought a very sad news. My niece Rosan, Anna's eldest child, sent an emai that her Auntie Marie was sent to the hospital for passing out after visiting my sister Anna's grave last Sunday. Anna was burried with my parents and Marie was so depressed and cried out like crazy when they visited Anna. Marie took care of Anna 24/7 when she was ill and dying and she took the brunt of all the hard work being an RN hersef. She was crying and saying that maybe she did not took care of her enough so Anna died while here in California she took care of a lot of sick patients. She now works as a volunteer to care for cancer patients and one time she emailed me that just seeing the patients say thank you to her and seeing their smiles was more than enough payment for her work. But now, we are guessing that some of her cancer patients are living longer than Anna did so she feels so inadequate that she let Anna die. We cannot tell her enough that it is God's will that He took Anna and now, even when the doctors tell her that she needs to rest and take care of herself, she continues to travel by bus and visits cancer patients. I told her that maybe she is doing what she is doing to make-up for what sh did not accomplish with Anna. I cannot afford to lose another sister and at the rate she is going, I pray that she would come back here in California and rest and take care of herself. Marie is younger than me but sometimes, she won't listen to me and she does what she wants to do. The travel and caring of other cancer patients I'm sure is taking a toll on her. I feel so helpless because she is so far away from me and with my any emails, she seldom responds because she says she is always busy. What else can we do? We just pray and pray for her and only God knows what is next for her and us. (Sorry for this long blog, just have to get it out of my system because this is one of my bad day.) Anyways, happy gardening to all. I planted a red hibiscus for Anna and she used to come out of her sick room just to look at the beautiful blossom. The african violets, her favorites, that I bought and took care of in her honor, and I don't know what I did that it dried out and died. Now, I am taking care of my blue hibiscus and thinking of it and taking care of it as if it is my sister, Anna. I don't know how long this grieving process will end and only God can sustain us all, and my garden too.
Jul 8, 2008 | 10:30 AM PST
Tags: bearded iris , Succulent
Over this long weekend, my two sisters and nephew visited and for such a long time since the death of my younger sister, Anna, we really had a good time, some few laughs and all together a nice July 4th weekend. Last Friday, I pruned some of my succulents (jade, sedum, purpura, hens and chickens, etc.), 23 in all and saved it for planting today. Today, beginning at 5 a.m. I cleaned out and dug all the bearded Irises on the south fence. Altogether, I think 9 clumps of overgrown Irises. Good thing they were not planted deep so with a little help of a shovel, I was able to dig them all out. I have grown tired of cleaning the dead leaves after all the blooms are gone, as beautiful as they are, my back can no longer afford the hard work of cleaning them out so after a few more cleaning out, roots and all, I planted all 23 of the succulents. This way, it will be a no brainer as far as watering and weeding are concerned. At least I saved and planted more than a dozen of the rhizomes into a very large planter, this way, cleaning would be easy. I still left the vinca minor as ground cover but still the south fence will look clean from now on, hopefully.
Jun 27, 2008 | 11:09 AM PST
Tag: grapes
I have a 2 year old concord seedless and a 3 year old flame grapes growing up a pergola. Any experienced grape growers out there? My question is how often do you water them and do they need fertilizer. My grapes seem to be growing good. I made the mistake though that I thought the flame was only two years old and the concord is three years old but after checking my records, it was the other way around. However, thinking that the flame was only two years old, I pruned all the clusters leaving only 6 but on the other hand, I left all the clusters on the concord and now there are about 2 dozen grape clusters growing and beginning to get ripe. I should have pruned the concords heavier than the flames. I water them once a week. Any sugestions or advice?
Jun 20, 2008 | 10:26 AM PST
Tags: Growing Tomatoes , tomatoes
First of all, I am now harvesting some beautiful tomatoes from my topsy turvy planter, however, how do you prevent the black rot at the bottom of the tomatoe? How often do you water and how often do you fertilize them? Although some of the tomatoes from the upside down planter are really nice and blemish free, some have bottom rot although the one I cut up did not go all the way inside, almost just the skin and then some. I had followed the instructions of one gallon of water everyday when the plant matures.
Jun 5, 2008 | 8:51 AM PST
Tags: grapes , corn
Tuesday night and Wednesday, we had some strong winds again. Today is nice and calm so I was able to do a lot of weeding since 5:36 a.m. and took pictures.
I had to put a bucket besides the restraints already in there to prevent the wind from toppling down the corn stalks yesterday but I might as well keep it there as I'll never know when another strong winds is coming.
First pictures are the Concord grapes. Some look good but others are so bruised by the strong winds as they touch the wires on the pergola. Last picture is Flame grapes which for some reason are far behind the Concords. I don't know why but the Flames were only showing a small swell on the stems when the Concords had lots of leaves already.
Jun 2, 2008 | 11:37 AM PST
Tag: upside down tomaoes
Well, it looks like there are pros and cons as far as using an upside down planter is concerned. The last picture was taken from the bottom growing plant where there is not enough sunlight penetrating the planter. It could also be that water on the leaves are not drying out before dark or I was overwatering it. I was just following the planter's instructions to water at least one gallon a day when the plants mature. Also, there was no instructions to plant on top which I did. Anyway, the results show the ugly tomatoes that grew at the bottom. The second picture shows the tomatoes growing on top of the planter showing good looking tomatoes. The first picture is also from the bottom plant which are out in the sun. I think next year that I will just plant on top of the planter.
May 28, 2008 | 11:37 AM PST
Tag: pets
I am so sick of my neighbors' cats unloading themselves on my yard. This morning, I was spreading fertilizer on my front lawn when I saw what looks like a brown stone and as it looks exactly like the brown stones I have around my front yard bed, I picked it up to tell my husband who does the lawnmowing to watch out for the brown stones that may scatter to the lawn. As soon as I picked it up, I screamed so loud eeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkk. It was a fresh dog's poo. I threw-up in the lawn and didn't get to finish my chore. I ran to the shower with my clothes still on and wash my hands until they hurt. My hubby must be wondering if I am going crazy but I did not say anything because I was very very upset. I got so lazy and frustrated that I may not be doing any yard work soon. Yesterday, I scooped several of the cat's poo in my back yard. When wll this end?
I had been trying to buy those electronic invisible fence to ward off all of my neighbors' pets. Do any of you have such a thing or know of any? As much as I love cats and dogs, (we used to have two cats and a dog in our previous house), pets and garden are not compatible so no pets for me now.
May 25, 2008 | 10:57 PM PST
Tag: memorial day
For Memorial Day tomorrow, please say a prayer for our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq whether, you are for or against these wars and for all servicemen who are still with us or gone to heaven. Our servicemen are just doing their jobs for us to enjoy our privilege and rights as Americans. I was not born in this country, naturalized 37 years ago as the wife of a Navy gunners mate who served this country for 26 years, served in Korea and Vietnam. My first husband had the seaman’s blood flowing in his veins so after retiring from the US Navy, he joined the Military Sealift Command until his retirement. His love for this country transferred to me because every Memorial Day program on TV which I watched tonight still brought tears to my eyes. His last Certificate of Recognition from the first President Bush was for Desert Storm which is now in my son’s keepsake. It was so ironic that when he passed away, it was Saturday on Memorial Day weekend. I used to keep telling everyone who will listen to this bad joke that don’t die on Memorial Day weekend because no one will take care of you until Tuesday.
It was in one of his tour of duty where we were stationed when I saw my first Clematis and fell in love with it but I didn’t have the time to nurture these plants until my retirement.
God bless you all and to all servicemen out there, active or retired, my hats off to you and my prayers. Any serviceman on this site happily gardening???
May 23, 2008 | 10:31 AM PST
Tag: clematis
I forgot to take pictures of these when they first started blooming. Both have now faded somewhat from the heat of the sun but this is the first year Star of India (puple) had these many blooms while this is only the second year for Ville de Lyon (pink) planted near f. Sieboldii so not much blooms yet.
May 21, 2008 | 9:09 PM PST
Tag: hummingbirds
Check this out - hummingbirds at birth. It is awesome. Hope this works:
http://community-2.webtv.n
et/Velpics/HUM
May 21, 2008 | 1:12 PM PST
Tag: scams
Well, my friend gave me another advertisement that is very similar to the one that scammed me which is a part-time bookkeeping job at home, cash traveller's checks, wire the money to UK and get your 10%. This other one says he is a marketing manager based in China with offices in Europe. Your job is office assistant, receive traveller's checks from US customers, you cash it yourself because it takes too long to cash these checks in China so you do it yourself which in turn will earn you 10% going to 12% if YOU ARE GOOD AND EFFICIENT, and may even earn you a trip to China and Europe. My friend was a former City Manager of a small city here in California and knows a lot of big shot city and university employees. He said that at one University here in Northern California where he got the ad from the school's newpaper, more than 100 students fell to this scam. The scam is all the traveller's checks you will get are counterfeit but not knowing this, you cash it at your bank and wire 90% of the money. In a few days, your bank charges you for these bogus traveller's checks so you are out the 90% of all those counterfeits. So be very wary, my friends, there sure is a lot circulating out there.
PS - when Chattycarnation gave me that government website for fraudsand scams going on, I immediately cancelled my debit card which can be used without a pin and replaced it with an ATM only card which cannot be used without a pin. So far I have not been damaged by using my debit card but I cannot wait for that to happen so now, I only have ATM only card.
May 20, 2008 | 8:58 PM PST
Tag: tomatoe
Yesterday, I was out gardening till noon because the strong winds had subside and the weather was cooler. I was cleaning out some dead leaves and on one planter, I saw a tomatoe plant almost 8 inches high. I remember adding my compost dirt to this planter so could it be that the tomatoe seeds that were going into my compost pile did not perish? So I transplanted that plant on top of my other upside down planter. I also saw what looks like a watermelon seedling a week ago and today, that seedling had dried cotyledons although the rolly pollies are eating the newly grown leaf. How can I get rid of these rolly pollies without insecticides? My corns are also getting very tall now.
May 16, 2008 | 10:32 AM PST
Tag: clematis
We had verry strong howling winds the last two days here which wreck havoc on my container planters. Worst damage was on my clematis Rhapsody which dried up and wilted most of the blooms. The wind survivors are those in-ground planted against the back wall fence. Before I lose all the blooms with another strong winds predicted in the next few days, I took their pictures.
Victoria
Minuet planted with Victoria
The one surviving Rhapsody bloom.
