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Apr 21, 2008 | 9:36 AM PST
Tags: Bloody Cranesbill , Perennial Bed , Ornamental Flower Basket , Mulch
This weekend I expanded my front perennial bed about 5 ft. I think next year I will bring it all the way up to the house, but this is a good start for now.
In the photo below you can see the large flower basket that my dad made me last year and the phlox (purple and white) on the left side. I divided these and moved them in last year. It looks as though every single one made it through our harsh winter. I checked them out and see lots of little flower buds. They will be opening soon. I hope they begin trailing over the edge this year, but I know it may not be until next year.
Off to the right of the basket is where I began the expansion. I sheared off about 5 ft. of Creeping Charlie. Hoping to keep it under control a little better this year. I split the Bloody Cranesbill that did so well over the last couple of years. I managed to get six good sized divisions. I planted 5 in the new bed and gave one to the neighbor and left a good chunk of the original plant in place. Below you can see the divisions happily in their new home.
I am trying a new process for mulching. Someone suggested that instead of using landscaping plastic to use old newspapers in thick layers to keep the weeds at bay. So here goes, I put down newspapers over the bare ground around all of the divisions, and then added 3" of mulch. Hopefully Charlie won't visit my new bed.
This is the original plant in full bloom in 2006. It was almost twice as big last year and should have split it then, but it was too late before I realized it.
Bloody Cranesbill 2006
Here is more info about Creeping Charlie and Creeping Jenny
They are different plants but both are perennial. Both can be invasive.
Charlie has scalloped edged leaves and purple flowers. It spreads by runners. Any where the runners touch soil they grow roots. If you use a hoe to dig it out any broken pieces will grow roots and compound your problem. It is best to wait until fall if you are going to spray it with chemicals, but pulling it up in the very early spring before it gets it's new growth on it seems to work best for me.
Here is more info about Creeping Charlie.
Jenny is often sold for a ground cover, but most people here in Nebraska use it only in container gardening and treat it as an annual. It has round leaves and it is often chartreuse in color. It has yellow flowers.
Here is more info about Creeping Jenny.
Mar 22, 2008 | 11:17 AM PST
Tags: mulch , wind , newspaper
is still blowing some little gusts of wind around today. It makes it hard to place newspaper down, wet it so it stays in place, then fill the cart with mulch and place it on the newspaper.
I have about one load of mulch left to do today, had to take a break and get a bite to eat. Now I am back to the mulch and whatever else I can get done today.
It is time to visit the local Food Lion. That means searching through coupons and making sure I have the right product and that the date is still good. Not my favorite thing of course.
More to Come Later
Mar 19, 2008 | 1:05 PM PST
Tags: rain , persicaria , lorapedulum , mulch , poppy , poppie , maple , saucer magnolia
We have had quite a few rainy days here lately (great for the drought) and today was no exception. I just love the way the garden looks after a good rain! I was planning on plant shopping this afternoon, but it was raining so hard...my girl and I sang songs and watched the rain from the front porch. So lovely! In between rain showers, I was able to get some nice picts of the garden as of late:
View from the front porch:
Various views of the front of the house as seen from the street:
Looks like the redbud will be in its full glory in no time :)
The lorapedulums are doing great and I love the contrast of the Junipers. The one shrub has a piece of it that grows with the white blooms. I have long debated as to cut it out each season, or leave it be. Sometimes I think it is fun and unexpected, other times I think it looks like a mistake...I can't decide.
Saucer Magnolia survived one of the late freezes and is in its glory! I just love it...when the petals start to fall, it looks a bit like a summer snow.
All the front perennials are starting to come up and I look forward to adding even more this season!
These seedlings were easy to spot in the wet mulch...I think they might be poppies. I threw out a bunch of poppy seeds in this bed (not expecting much)...if they aren't poppies, then they might be a weed, I am not sure:
The Japanese Maples are budding out nicely. They were severely affected by the late freeze last year. Looks like this year will be better:
The creek is doing its thing...and all the moisture should be wonderful for the newly planted Great Gunnera Bulb
Nice view of the back yard today (hubby has promised to have all the veggie bed fences done and installed by april 1st for planting time :)
The persicaria is coming back :)
And finally...a view of the back, from the back ( I enjoyed comparing this picture with the same shot from last summer....its nice to see the progress)
I am so enjoying watching spring unfold! Maybe I will get to my plant shopping in the next couple of days. I have so many things on my list to add to the garden...and our home depot landscape supply just stocked up, so I can't wait to check it out!!!!!!!
Jan 13, 2008 | 3:23 PM PST
Tags: fall , tree , clean up , planting beds , mulch , wood chips , pine straw , hydrangea , hosta , path , nandina , conifer , creek , hammock
I had another great weekend in the garden. Got LOTS done as I am taking advantage of the warm daytime temps we have been having lately. I spent so much time on the front yard this past growing season, that now I am excited to get more work done in the back. I have been doing things such as defining the beds and putting in paths. I ordered another load of the free woodchips from the city and got busy spreading it:
I laid down a path in between the beds leading to the back. The bed to the left contains hydrangeas and hostas. I just transplanted all the hydrangeas to a better layout and added 2 variegated hydrangeas on either side of the sweet gum tree - I am looking forward to seeing how it looks come spring.
Here is the same path, from the back view:
My husband cut down the remainder of the trunk of the tree we took out last weekend. He was excited, because this meant he got to buy an electric chain saw. He always loves getting new toys...as you can see it definately did the trick:
I also transplanted the nandinas that were in the front of this tree over to another space so that now I have room to put in a nice conifer garden :) I also finished spreading all the pine straw (this helped to define the beds and create some new planting areas in the back yard. Here is a good shot of the back yard as of today:
The creek area even got some attention this weekend. Once I finish dragging the brush to the curb, it will be all cleared and ready to plant up with ground covers and ferns. I also plan to put an arbor at the gate with a nice vine on it and an outdoor hammock so that the area can be fully enjoyed!
I am interested to see what survived out of my bargain fern purchases that I planted back here in late summer. Once the drought hit, they began to suffer...so we will see. The creeping euonymous is doing well, however :)
On the list for this week: finish spreading wood chip pile and dragging creek brush to curb!
Dec 27, 2007 | 2:20 PM PST
Tags: pine straw , mulch , winter weeds , weeding , knockout , alliums , tulip , daffodil , hellebore , linten rose , new year , bulbs , madame alfred
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! I have been taking advantage of both the season end sales at the garden centers and my time off from work to get a lot of things done in the garden. My local garden center has all their left over bulbs on sale for 75% off, so I planted 20 purple and 20 orange tulips in the front yard. I also planted 30 daffodils by the azaleas in the back yard. I am still waiting on some allium bulbs I purchased on line. Those will go in the back yard so that I can see them while I do dishes :).
I got 2 more double knockouts for 50% off to compete the grouping by the bird house.
I also spent a good bit of time applying a generous layer of pine straw over the front beds. It took 36 bales! It used to take 90+, but now that the plants are growing in niceley...it takes less. It feels so good to have this done. Here are some picts:
Yesterday, after taking down most of the Christmas decor, I spent a majority of the afternoon weeding the back yard and getting it ready for its winter pine straw application. I have 2 Madame Alfred Roses on order that I will plant on either side of the arbor in the back. I selected this particular rose because: it is thornless, evergreen, climbing, and blooms white....the only rose I could find that met all of these criteria (which is what I wanted for the arbor).
While I was doing this work in the back, I noticed that for the first time, my hellebores are blooming! I got these as little seedlings from my mom's garden 4 yrs ago...patience pays off!
Can't wait for my goodies to come in the mail...but I really can't wait to see the bulbs come up in the spring!
Happy New Year Everyone!
Dec 16, 2007 | 3:02 PM PST
Tags: coral bark maple , double knockout , rose , winter , cold , mulch , pine straw , discount
Well, last week the temps were in the 80's and now the high today was in the 40's with a windchill below freezing! Not that cold for a lot of you up north, but its cold for us here in Atlanta! But, I must say...its about time. I stopped by a local nursery yesterday that has just declared bankruptcy (due to the drought) and they have almost everything on sale. I got a fabulous Coral Bark Maple that I have been wanting for some time to use as a focal point for the new bed in the back yard. I finally got to get it b/c it was 50% off. My sweet (and somewhat disgruntled) hubby helped me get it in the ground today:
BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!
Can't wait to see it come spring...
I also got another double knock out rose to add to the front. They were 50% off too! I wanted to get more, but only had room for one in the car since we also had the baby with us :)
This will add some nice color by the abelias
My wonderful and still somewhat disgruntled hubby :) is at Home Depot, as I type, getting bales of pinestraw to do the winter mulching. YEAH!!!!
Oct 23, 2007 | 2:53 PM PST
Tags: rain , woodchips , mulch , divide , transplant , drought
Well, its been raining here for 2 days straight!!! I can hardly believe it!!! Its is so wonderful and now I have a glimmer of hope that my fall veggie seeds might grow after all!!! Can't wait to see the garden as the days progress! I know it will give me lots to do and I am so glad! Hopefully I can do some more dividing and transplanting. I am also planning on ordering up some more of the free woodchips from the city for the back yard.
Oct 21, 2007 | 7:51 AM PST
Tags: drought , mulch , figs , fig , pepper , tomato , green , fall
Well, we picked yesterday what I am pretty sure is the last of the harvest. We picked all the green tomatoes on the vine, since the temperatures have cooled off so that they won't ripen. Hopefully they will ripen on the window sill:
We continue to get lots of figs and enjoy eating them right off the tree! We also picked the rest of the peppers.
I had planted a bunch of fall seeds, but since I can't water....they will not grow :( So, I look at my pitiful patch of dirt in despair :(
But, the situation here is so dire, I understand.
I will focus next on mulching since thats really about all that can be done.
Oct 5, 2007 | 3:43 AM PST
Tags: snowpeas , Strawberries , watercress , toadflax , bamboo screen , mulch
We've been harvesting snowpeas here and there. I've been eating a few but also blanching and freezing some for future use. My 'ordinary' peas haven't started cropping yet.
The main task of the day was mulching the native garden (they are all very young plants). I potted some strawberry runners that I recently bought on ebay (kunowase variety). Potted some watercress that I got from the nursery and re-potted some toadflax seedlings that I had grown. I also planted some tree seeds for bonsai - Giant Redwood, Banyan tree, Japanese Cedar and Australian trees - Cider Gum, Native Apricot, and some Tea Trees.
We started to put up a bamboo screen for some privacy. When we bought the bamboo screens from the nursery, I picked up some copper snail repellent and a shade loving plant - name forgotten - which I'll take a photo of tomorrow!
Sep 1, 2007 | 1:14 AM PST
Tags: mulch , Preen
Well the people I hired to clean out that bed, hopefully got all of the poison ivy! I can actually see the old bones of that overgrown bed! During the course of neglect .. I lost a couple of hosta, but my coral bells, hydrangea and a few other things actually do not look to bad considering the drought.
Now I need to work on it. So more has been added to my fall to-do list! First thing is to get some soil amendments in there. Maybe add some Preen to help stop the weed seeds from sprouting??
What kind of mulch do you use, up close to the foundation of a house?
Aug 3, 2007 | 3:10 PM PST
Tags: spraying , building cage , photos , friends , mulch , bearded iris
This post has been edited by an administrator
Spent the morning doing a little clean up and spraying for more weeds. Too hot for this yardgranny to do much heavy stuff. After that I began putting together my butterfly cage. Some of the screws were more stubborn than my middle son. Several went right in with no problem and then others were determined not to have any part of this project. Then after I got two screens put together, I realized I would have to take one side loose and reposition it so there would be no gap between the screens. Since it was almost noon and my patience had about worn out, I decided, much as "Miss Scarlett" would say, I'll do that job tomorrow. So first thing tomorrow I am going to finish that cage.
Since it looks as if my photo albums are not returning, I will have to begin reposting pictures. I am hoping my DIL will send a pix of my new grandpuppy. Kalua Hershey is her name and she is a longhaired, chocolate mini daschund. She will be a spoiled and much loved addition to their home.
A MG friend came by with a load of bearded iris last week. Some have found new homes and the others were finally heeled in until our next meeting to be shared with the group. I have a new spot being readied for my iris. They have not been moved in a number of years and did not bloom well this spring. They will all come out of the old bed and into the new one and be joined with a few of the new ones. Hope I remember to pick up some gypsum before I go to planting.
It is always nice to have someone else look at your gardens. They see it from a whole different perspective than the owners. A friend came by while I was out one day and then called to say my yard was 'beautiful'. Really made my day to hear that. Most of the time I see all the projects, weeds and plants that are not doing so well. So ask people to come over and look around anytime they are in your neighborhood, then be sure to ask them what they thought.
Time to go for more mulch next week. Seems there is always a need for a load. There are many places that need to be filled in especially the dogwood tree bed. That is the bed I weeded for 3 hours or more one Saturday. It was full of wild violets. And to think I used to love those little plants when I was a kid.
Must go for now, More to Come Later
Jul 25, 2007 | 3:31 PM PST
Tags: elijah blue fescue , coreopsis , moonbeam , euphorbia , blue haze , berm , sunflower seeds , okra , zucchini , beneficial insects , mulch , pine straw , salvia
Today, my daughter and I took a little trip to our FAVORITE nursery. I had a gift certificate and they are having a summer sale, so I got lots of goodies!
- 2
types of coreopsis, a yellow and a hot pink - 8 Elijah Blue Fescues
- 1 Black and Blue Salvia
- 1 Blue Haze Euphorbia
So fun to come home with this lot and plant them all...heres what I did in the front:
BEFORE:
AND AFTER:
I dotted around the Elijah Blues and put in the yellow moonbeam coreopsis in the new berm. In the fall, i think i will divide the coreopsis and spot it around a bit. There are several clumps from the one pot I bought, but I was afraid it would shock it too much to divide right now in the heat of the summer. The rest of the plants made their way into the back yard.
My hubby also went to get the rest of the free pinestraw I scored on craigslist and I got that all spread in the back. I still need a bunch more, but it looks great. Its amazing what a difference mulch makes!
Here are some other shots of around my garden today...
Sunflo
wer seeds showin up:
Snacked on this guy while pulling some weeds...yum, yum! Also harvested a giant eight ball zucchini today...will sautee for dinner tonight :)
Almost ready to pick :)
Found this guy on the sunflower today and I looked him up in my insect book and he is a beneficial. Maybe he will eat some of the squash borers!
Jul 23, 2007 | 10:39 AM PST
Tags: Veggie , Compost , mulch , tomato , zucchini , flowers , gerbera , petunias , hardy hibiscus
I could not bring myself to do anything inside this weekend, so the dust bunnies are still hopping around my house this morning. Oh, well. I spent both days out in the flower beds and veggie patch. Watered early Saturday and got the holes dug for the butterfly bush and hardy hibiscus that I got. As I was weeding and deadheading, there were a lot of thin spots in the mulch. I went down and got about 10 bags and brought that home to spread around. I love new mulch. Covered all the beds and had enough to put back behind the pond.
Some of the other daylilies have put up scapes and have buds. Can’t wait to see them. The gereberas have finally decided to bloom again and for some reason the wave petunias have also gotten a second wind from the something and are flowing all down the side of the old stump, thick with purple flowers.
Hubby helped me finish the three sided slat fence to put around my compost pile. My pile isn’t very big yet but I am working on it. Chopped up the kitchen scrapes in the food processor and put them out there too. Bill got me a pitch fork this weekend. I was trying to turn the pile with a shovel. Wow what a difference that made. (Duh!)
Cleaned and weeded in the veggie patch and tied up some more tomato limbs to the trellis. I have two zucchini left that haven’t been hit by the vine borers YET. My cukes have climbed nicely all over the fence and there are dozens of fruit hanging down. They are so good and crisp.
We did not get the new raised bed up. Hubby brought home work for a project that he was under a crunch on, so it will have to be next weekend. Will go by the dump and pick up some compost (have to make do until my own is ready) and some topsoil down at the landscape yard.
Had enough tomatoes to make another batch of sketty sauce. Added a few of the yellow tomatoes to it. They did lighten the color of the sauce but it still tasted great. Used loads of fresh basil from the herb pots of the deck. Made some Penne, a tomato, cuke and pepper salad and had a yummy dinner. Only things not from the garden were the pasta and the bread. You just can’t beat that!Jul 22, 2007 | 2:47 AM PST
Tags: avocado , Pomegranates , seaweed emulsion , fish emulsion , mulch , soil pH , multi grafted apple tree , quince , Strawberries
We got up early on Sat to go to the farmers markets. We're trying to learn about the seasons and eat locally grown, fresher produce. So we bought some veggies and australian native flowers. I soaked the vegetables for pesticides when I got home.
We did lots of gardening as it was unusually warm. The pomegranate and avocado that we bought recently were still in their growing bags from the nursery, so we potted them. We're renting our house so we have to grow our trees in pots and dwarf them a bit so that we can take them with us to future houses. It's also better for these trees because they need free draining soil and we have heavy clay soil. I ran around testing the soil pH in the different garden beds today - the soil was acidic when we moved in, but we have managed to make it neutral over time.
I'm still confused about my strawberries: I didn't cut them down because they are still fruiting! It's late winter and there are lots of strawberries in progress. Will letting them live increase their susceptibility to diseases? I thought they were supposed to die! anyway, that is an ongoing mystery..
I mulched all of my fruit trees and berries with lucerne, and gave the trees and garden beds some seaweed solution. I gave my asian greens and winter lettuces some fish emulsion, and also gave some to my peas because I don't want them to flower until after the last frosts. 6 weeks until spring, but there could still be some spring frosts. We planted out a sago palm and moved some clover to areas of bare lawn - we have been under water restrictions for many years here due to drought. Lawns have had to be sacrificed but clover seems very immortal.
Today we went to see a friend who we found out works at a nursery. We bought a flowering quince, a bare rooted 2-way grafted apple tree, a few native Australian plants and ground breaker solution. He took 70% off everything which was exciting. When we got home we potted the tree and we found out that the naughty local possums had eaten our mustard green manure.
Jul 5, 2007 | 5:08 PM PST
Tags: lawn , fescue , beds , path , berm , fall , mulch
Most of my projects this season have evolved around my plan to minimize my lawn area. Actually, I use the term lawn VERY loosely, it is really more a patch of weeds that requires fairly regular mowing and always looks bad. So, at the beginning of spring, I asked my neighbor (who is a grass guy) about getting rid of the weeds and doing "real" grass. He described the process and really this is something I have resisted all 4 years that we have lived here because of the cost and maintence involved. But, I have done so much with the gardens that a nice patch of lawn will just be the icing on the cake and might finally prompt some compliments from my non-gardening neighbors. (I used to think I didn't care if anyone else but me liked my garden but, yes, i actually do care). So, I decided to add lots of new beds and paths to get my lawn area down to a reasonable size. I am FINALLY done with that and will put out fescue seed in the fall....Here are Picts of the progress so far. And, if you enjoyed this or any other of my blogs, PLEASE take time to add comments...I just love that , it make my day...THKS!
Area ready to make into path:
Gotta Love free mulch from the city:
A good workout later...nice path :)
Side yard with free mulch to make a nice drive area for my hubby's truck:
Good shot of new beds bermed up and ready for plants:
Good shot of my new patch of lawn "ameoba" ready for fescue:
I will keep you posted in the fall.....
Jun 30, 2007 | 6:18 PM PST
Tags: mulch , double knockout , red maple , fall , okra , weekend , datura
-I got all the mulch moved!!! It looks FABULOUS. I still need another load for the right side of the house and crepe myrtle alley.
-Laid out a new bed for the back yard, I will berm it up with the free city compost and plant a red maple as the center. (All in effort of operation lawn minimization.
-Okra is growing :)
-Broccoli is appearing :)
-Squash coming along :)
-Turks cap Lily Blooming :)
-Purple Datura Bloomed!
-T
he inlaws are in town and for my upcoming birthday they gave me a gift certficate to one of my favorite garden centers in Atlanta! Can't wait to spend it in the fall!
-Went to the nursery yesterday and when the sales guy asked me if I needed help, I told him I was looking for half dead plants for cheap....he hooked me up! 3 gallon double knock out rose for $10, 1 gallon Pink Dianthus for $2 and a guaera (spelling?) for $2. Woo HOOOO. I want 7 double knockouts for the front, so I am going to attempt to propogate from the one I got.
-Tomorrow morning is my watering time, so I will give everything a much needed good drink.
-This week my big plan in the garden is to clear out behind my back fence where there is a creek...it is SO overgrown with privet, wild grapes, and god only knows what else. I think I may try to make a wreath or something out of the grape vines that i pull. I'm going to post before and after picts of this one....
-All in all a great gardening weekend
Happy Gardening to all and to all a good night :)
Jun 27, 2007 | 5:32 PM PST
Tags: mulch , lawn , broccoli , okra
So I just had a load of "free mulch" delivered from the city yesterday. This is all part of my OPERATION LAWN MINIMIZATION. I have spent yesterday and today moving the mulch around to create path like areas in my garden where there used to be lawn. Quite a job but SO worth it! AND, its free!!! I should be all done with moving the pile by tomorrow night, then I will call for the next batch...think I will need more. There is nothing like the look of a freshly mulched garden! I also got the side bed that we recently topdressed with compost covered in pinestraw and it looks SO GOOD! Picts to come soon :)
On another note...I am super excited because I am starting to get broccoli and my okra plant is blooming, YEAH!
May 27, 2007 | 7:58 AM PST
Tags: manure , composted , roses , fall flush , mulch , water , rain , Thai Green Eggplant , squash , Amillia , beefsteak , fruit , pinestraw , peppers
I brought home another load of composted manure from the fair grounds, I wanted at least one more load before fall. Man is that some good stuff!! Seeing how in July I will need to reapply it around my roses for their fall flush. This time it wasn't so wet, so unloading was much easier. The load I got earlier sure has made a difference in my plants, they were in bad need. Just couldn't tell it til I added it. I'm thinking about putting some down as a mulch in one bed just as an experiment to see what ill happen.
I'm having to water everyday now, but its now where I can alternate the beds. That may not last long if we don't get some much needed rain. I got another large container planted of comfrey. Still have a half a tray to go. I was wanting to plant the last 2 Thai Green Eggplant plants in the last container I have seeing how from what I've read it won't bear fruit til the 2nd year. Just need to get another container.
I picked my 3rd mator yesterday. A nice Amillia beefsteak. All my mator plants are loaded with fruit. I have decided not to stake the ones in the flower beds. I've read where staking really isn't needed an sometimes you get more fruit by letting them sprawl. Will be interesting, The fruit will have pinestraw to keep them directly off the soil. I got out this morning an did some roundup, just spot spraying. Its been windy here the last few days an today was the first chance I had with little wind. Still need to do the garden pathways, but there not to bad yet. I did pick 2 of the patty pan type squash and a few banana peppers. Not enough squash to do much with yet, hopefully they will hold up long enough for more to get ready for a mess. Don't really know how to fix them yet, first time with these. So any recipes you want to share, please do.
I had planned on copy an pasting my Bloom Calendar to here, but this site won't let me. So I guess if you want to see what plants I have you'll just have to visit my photo album. Although it's nowhere near complete, u can see some of what I have growing here on the Lane.
One of my baby chicks died yesterday, couldn't really tell why. But it did. I've been letting the older chickens out about every other day, may be will go to daily now that the dog has gone to Florida. One of the campers wanted her, so it all worked out good.
May 14, 2007 | 11:01 PM PST
Tags: weeding , corsican mint , groundcover , mulch
Took the cultivator out and did some weeding around the veggies tonight after I mowed my grandfather's grass. That's all I got done outside, but inside looks quite a bit tidier.
The Corsican Mint I bought the other day is for an experiment with live mulch. Could've sworn the label at the greenhouse said it liked full sun, but the reading I've done online since says it prefers at least a little bit of shade. I suppose we shall see. I bought it to put in the veggie beds, so I could allow it to fill in and form a solid mat of "mulch", but the veggie beds are most certainly full sun.
Hopefully I'll have time to go put it in tomorrow.
Apr 18, 2007 | 7:37 AM PST
Tag: mulch
The second saturday of each month there is a free mulch give away in town here. We had gotten some last summer and decided to get some to use to cover the garden. You do have to pick out the sticks that are too large and the occasion pinecone that wasn't completely chopped up, but hey, its FREE. Saturday I went and got the back of the truck filled. Two big scoops from a front loader, he just dumped it in. We laid newspapers in all of the aisles and between the plants, spritzed them with the hose so they didn't fold up with the breeze then covered them with 3 to 4 inches of mulch. If it packs down or settles we can spread more latter this summer. We did all of that last night and got about 3/4 of the way done. I'm just glad that we will be able to finish it with one truck load. Next month I will get another load (maybe just half full) so I can do all of the flower beds and some of the area around the chicken house.
