soaphouse's Blog
soaphouse's posts about: annuals
Jul 3, 2007 | 7:26 PM PST
Tags: annuals , petunia , million bell , impatien , impatients , hanging basket , shepherds hook
So every spring I have great ambitions for my garden. Beds to start, plants to move, things to divide...etc. Every year I struggle with what to do with annuals. I have always attempted some sort of combination of Mexican Heather, Petunias and sometimes Lantana. I have had much success in the past with Mexican Heather but thats about it.
One of my problems with annuals tends to be that I always skimp. I usually try to do it on a budget, so I buy the small plants and not enough of them and I don't ammend the soi or mulch. SO, I told myself that this year is going to be different. I am going to spend the money and have some nice annuals that will make me smile every time I pull up to my house.
I proceeded to the store to purchase my shepherd's hook and hanging baskets. Then after visiting a few local nurseries i found a perfect combination of Purple Million Bells, White Wave petunias and Lobelia and of course some bags of high quality fertized soil. I go home and plant up my pretty little baskets, give em a good water, struggle to get the sheperd's hook in the ground, then hand em up...SUCCESS!
All I have to do now is keep them watered and watch the blooms spill over the edge (right?). So, I wait and wait and wait and all that happens is all my little plants slowly die. We are in a drought and have watering restrictions so I even resort to giving them a shower in my bathtub! Nothing improves, I pull out a few plants that are gonners.
THen I decide that I should go get some of the water retaining crystal stuff and repot up whats left of my baskets with fresh soil and that additive. Off to the nursery I go and repeat my previous steps. Plants look better, only problem is that now they are retaining moisture and they weigh more. I hung them on my IRON sheperd's hook and it broke!!!! So, in a last ditch effort, they are hanging on my front porch which gets NO sun and they will surely die!
Don't even get me started on the 2 FLATS of Impatients I planted in the back yard that never bloomed and look like green sticks now. ARG!!!
Jun 23, 2007 | 2:01 PM PST
Tags: harry lauder's , compost , annuals , grass , bench , juniper , laurapedilum
I LOVE compost. I know all of us gardeners love that black gold. I am so lucky that my city offers it free. Especially since what I make on my own in my backyard isn't nearly enough for the whole garden. My husband is so kind to go get truckloads of it for me. Thats what we spent a good part of the afternoon doing. I had just finished weeding out all of the running Bermuda grass (which was an ENORMOUS and seemingly neverending project), so I wanted to topdress this bed with the compost because I have found that it is a great deterrent for the grass coming back. And, the plants love it. The funny thing is that the stuff the city has for free smells really bad...pretty much like poop. So, you can imagine what my non gardening neighbors think of me. It takes about a week for the smell to gass off and once that happens I will mulch with pinestraw. This is the bed to the left of our driveway:
THis bed is one of the works in progress. i am trying to hide the view of the neighbors yard. I have planted two Laurapedalums and a Juniper around the bench. I know with a little time and patience they will do the trick.:
I was also given a Datura seedling one year and it does a great job of reseeding and they just pop up all over the bed. I divided some of my grasses this year to put near the front to provide year round interest and to take the place of the annual bed. That is too high maintenance and i am not willing to spend the money to do the mass planting it takes to make a good show so it just ends up looking pathetic LOL
And of course I LOVE my Harry Lauder's. He was the very first thing we planted here and he has done great:
Can you tell how hot it is by the picts.....glaring sun, dry soil...It was 96 today and we haven't had a good rain in months. We are in a drought and I am only supposed to water Tues, Thurs, Sunday from midnight - 10....ARGH!
But, I am all for helping and conserving our resources, so I try not to cheat too much.
Can't wait to water tomorrow :)
