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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 :)
Wed. evening I was able to get out into the garden and get 4 buckets of the bane of my garden removed...GRASS. I had to use the pitch fork to loosen the soil so I could get the runners from under the soil. When we tilled it early this spring to add the rabbit manure we didn't remove all of this grass first. Now it is all coming back from all of the little pieces that were chopped up and are now under the soil. I am lucky in the fact that my 5 yr old is a gardener to the bone like me, she loves and begs to help when I am doing things like that. I would show here were to put the pitch fork and she would get on and rock side to side to get it down in the soil. She doesn't weigh much but she is determined. Then we would pull it back to loosen the area where we wanted to work. Its nice to have someone around that enjoys gardening like I do, even the weeding. Its still satisfying to get it removed, even if it is just pulling grass. I got a good area cleared out and hope to get the rest done by the end of the weekend.
After all of the grass is removed I will be planting where needed. I will remove all Zucc. plants as they have been too damaged by the leaf footed bugs and squash borers. I need to get a list together of all that I will be planting. I just picked up some more seeds last week that are clearanced because its summer now.
Last night I mowed the back yard. It had gotten kind of tall because of all the rain we have had lately. Its been good for the garden though, I haven't had to water the garden in quit awhile. I used the bagger on the mower and put some of the clippings in the compost, its getting pretty damp though. I spread the rest of them around in different places along fences and such where it will help to keep down weeds and or grass. I am doing much better this year with keeping the yard mowed. At least I don't have scruffy, leather faced guys coming to the door asking to mow the yard yet this year. LOL
Two of the three elephant ears I planted are up and growing like crazy. My white clematis has two buds on it and the red one has finally decided to grow. The annual bed with the sun flowers, petunias and zinnias is filling in more everyday. If I could just keep the neighbor’s sheltie from doing his business there I think it would do better.
The hostas in the shade bed are all putting up buds and will flower soon. The coleus are huge and have filled in wonderfully. All the impatience are thick with flowers and the calla lily now has five blooms on it.
My dinner plate dahlias all have buds now and I can’t wait to see them bloom!! Lion Bane, Larkspur, Sweet William, Columbines, Coral Bells are all going great in my woodland bed.
The veggie patch is my favorite place. Checked last night and my squash all have blooms or buds and the cukes are not far behind. I pick four beans and ate them right there last night, oh so sweet. My two later tomatoes are now blooming and will add to the high count of maters very soon. Think my lettuce and spinach are just about done and I have some more bean starts that I am going to put in their place. So I will pull out the last of those greens this weekend and get that area ready for the beans. Need to start looking for some canning or pickling recipes for banana peppers, I am going to have a ton of those. I love pickled peppers.
Hubbers cut the lawns last night and watered a few of my pots that were looking sad after the first sunny day we’ve had in a while. The new willow likes its new digs at the back of the pond. I sent photos to our vagabonding parents and they loved all the work we have done so far. I will try to get on later tonight and post some update photos.
Started my compost heap but with all the rain we have had this week it still isn’t getting warm. What have I done wrong? I layered browns and greens just like the book says, should I give it a stir already? I shredded leafs that I used really well and added a layer of sticks at the bottom for air. Then in went a layer of grass clippings and deadheaded flowers, a layer of dried leafs, then more of the same and so on, with a squirt of water. But then it has rained all week also, is that the problem?
Woke up early today. Went and took care of my grandfather's lawn first.
Picked up a load of composted horse manure from D's house, only one front end loader scoop this time to leave extra room. Stopped by Delaware Brick and picked up another strap of bricks for the patio. The compost had slid everywhere, so I just backed up to the pile and loaded a strap that fell over who knows how long ago up by hand over the tailgate. The yard man's always friendly, and he gave me a hand, so it took no time. And now he doesn't have to wiggle the forklift around the fallen pile anymore.
Mr K worked on the patio all evening. I pruned the rugosa rose (ouch, see photo album for a look at the thorns) with remarkably little damage to my person compared to last time. Got the tomato cages in, and unloaded the compost--half in the new bed out front, half in one of the raised beds out back. I should've watered, but I was tired and windburnt, and it was getting dark.
Talked artistic vision briefly before we headed in to get cleaned up for dinner. There's a Zen garden in my head and I'd like to make it materialize. It's got to wait until our current batch of projects but I think he's on board. We've got a weeping willow we put in the first summer we bought the house, so it's getting pretty big. Maybe 30 ft away is a gingko we put in 2 summers ago. They're around a drainage/retention ditch that's about the size of a school bus, maybe 4 ft deep with a 40 degree slope at the end where the trees are, and gradually sloping up to ground level at the other end. We've lived there 4 years now and I've only seen it hold water once. One winter we had a massive thaw, it filled up and froze, and the next morning nothing was left but the frozen crust across the top--the water had all drained out from under it. I'm thinking a few more specimen trees, at least a Japanese red maple and a black pine, maybe a weeping cypress if I can find one hardy enough to not have to put it inside for the winter. A wide expanse of white sand, and a rake. A few different sizes of stone, both as borders and around the trees. Moss around the trees and on the rocks. Maybe a small grove of bamboo if I can find one I'm confident will not invade. And maybe some ornamental grasses as a transition back into the rest of the yard. And wide slate stepping stones, set into the slope, and down the middle of the sandy expanse. That, and some removable timber bridges that can be stowed out of sight will help with the raking, since the sandy expanse will probably be at least 30-40' wide.
Talked to my father, the resident expert in all things wood and woodworking related, over sushi after dark. Needed advice about the pergola which I'd like to start soon, and I'm also curious about bamboo reed fencing, which caught my attention during my wanderings online last night. His impression is favorable, so maybe I'll run it by the Mr. We have distinctly different aesthetic sensibilities in many areas. Talked a little about my Zen garden vision, and T says they've got tons of moss in several different varieties free for the taking.
I love plant sharing. They're so darn expensive to buy in the nursery or greenhouse, or even in the big box stores. And the ones that divide and multiply are no trouble to dig out. They barely even leave a hole when you take a few out. I've given some stuff to T before, and she gave me some lily of the valley. I'm not much for the through-the-mail exchanges some forums do, but I give stuff away in person all the time. I've got the address of one of my coworkers starred in my email right now so I can drop off a goodie box at her house one of these afternoons when I get a chance.
I added some of the compost to the bed I was gonna plant the yellow squash in, planted all the squash which I hadn't planned on planting that many. Ole well, what I don't want I'll give away (I hope). Still have lots of other stuff to plant. I did get the "Black" tomatoe bed planted. Still have 1 full bed I can plant in, so plan to plant it full of melons. Just gonna amend the soil first, just to tired this afternoon and still had supper to cook. I make myself stop around 6 so I won't be so late getting outta the kitchen. But I got a tray of Pupura Foxglove and a Mixed of colors of Foxglove planted near the pond area. 2 Red Stem Hydrandreas planted that I rooted from a friend of mines mother plant. If I could ever figure out how to post pics I'll add some. Its suppose to storm here for the next couple of days, one reason I wanted to get as much planted as I could. trudy
Ah the end of winter, how lovely!
As the days lengthen and grow warmer here in Seattle, it seems high time to start some plants growing. Thus far at my house we've started tomatoes on the windowsill, and carrots in the ground out back. Soon it will be time to turn the compost and mix it into the beds, removed the weeds that have grown over the winter, and get the rest of the summer crops planted.
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