yardgranny6's Blog

Dickens and other stuff
Nov 12, 2007 | 5:09 PM PST
Tags: Dickens , Photos

The trip with my DIL and friends was wonderful. Just what I needed. We laughed and shopped and tasted and ended the day long trip with supper at Fatz Cafe.

I have just downloaded some pictures and now realize I need to take more tomorrow as some of the areas to be redone are finished and I haven't taken the after photos. So check back later.

My Angel Trumpets will get their last picture taken tomorrow with their sad top leaves and heavy buds and blooms. The Tibouchina is still putting out purple flowers but the backyard mums are going down and will need to be cut back in the next few days. The bank area that was so beat down by the heat and no rain is actually perking up some now. The Verbena is looking good. This is an area that will have to be redone and replanted next spring. Don't know if the Verbena will come back but the wild burmuda grass has taken over in a few spots. Will dig it out and put down black plastic garden bed covering. I think I will try some of my daylilies and lirope on the bank along with some annual trailing petunias and sweet potato plants next year. Soaphouse had such good luck with her sweet potato plants this past year. Isn't her front looking good in this late fall/early winter weather?

Will post pictures of the plants inside the house soon. My husband says it looks like I dug  up  every garden  and brought them indoors. Can't believe it but I have Tibouchina blooming in the sunroom. Some of the cuttings are from members of GG, so I will try to get pictures of those cuttings and label them.

One of the things I like is the purple shamrock a friend gave me. He considers it a pest and I may too next year, but the color is wonderful. I brought some inside and left other of the bulbs in a pot outdoors. And the Firespike from one of you is beginning to get leaves. It looks to be rooting much like the Angel Trumpet. Speaking of which, some of those cuttings may need to have bigger pots as they are really growing.

Think I will start a photo album of our Master Gardener greenhouse. You might be interested to see how things grow during the year. It just takes so long to upload the photos. Maybe that is good as I might have thousands downloaded by now.  Also want to revisit my friends Larry and Ruth Ann to see their greenhouse in another month or so. I really love a greenhouse. It just lifts your spirits and frankly gives me a thrill.  One thing taking the Master Gardener course did for me was to take this small window of interest in gardening, throw it wide open, then magnify it  and multiply it 10 fold.  It was like an awakening within that said this is what I love, this is where I want to be, this is what I want to do for as long as I physically can.  And then you wonder why didn't I know this 20 years ago?

More to Come Later

 

 

 

 

 

 

Building Butterfly Cage
Aug 10, 2007 | 2:31 PM PST
Tags: cage building , photos

Here are three pix of the cage as I built it. First pix shows one side of a screen with the two blocks screwed on. You go right through the metal frame into the block. You do this on two screens at the top and the bottom. When you finish you have two screens with four blocks and two screens without. Four screens in all.

Then you place the other two screens as close to the edge of the blocked screens as you can leaving no gaps. You want a solid cage. Again screw right through the metal frame into the ends of the block that are attached to the first screens.

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The above pix is also the side you place your hinges for the top of the cage. Screw again right through the metal frame at the side and into the top edge of the block and frame of the top screen.

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Someone let me know if this makes any sense at all. WOW!  Easier done than described. Linda B of SC

Saturday and the cage has four sides
Aug 4, 2007 | 3:30 PM PST
Tags: wild burmuda grass , dog days , photos , stubborn screws , Heat , Polio

Just spent the last few hours reloading all my albums. Check them out . Seems you can add pictures to the existing albums but you have to contend with the vacant photo slots. It took me a little while to realize I could just delete the blank pictures. For now the job is complete. Sure hope that never happens again.

Finally fought the battle of the drill and the stubborn screws. Hubby came out and helped me steady the frame. Now to get a couple of small hinges to use for the screen that goes on top of the cage.  Trimmed all the heads off the fennel today. The parasitic wasps like the pollen on the fennel but they will lay eggs in the caterpillers. And we don't want that to happen. Saw a few more eggs so hopefully we will be able to see a few cats mature into flying flowers.

Another bane of my existence is wild burmuda grass. I wonder if there is really anything that will kill that stuff. It can creep in, over, through and up out of foot of soil to grow where you don't want it to, like in the flower beds. Spent a couple hours this am cleaning it out of the bank where I have mulched and planted verbena and three Knockout Roses. It is looking really good now that all the grass has been taken out. Not sure what to do with it this fall/winter. I am tempted to move all the verbena and spray real hard for grass and weeds. Sounds like more hard labor, wonder if I can get overtime for the job?

The heat is coming harder every day. May be 100 degrees over the next few days. Gag! I just don't do the heat. Never could even as a kid. I remember laying on a blanket under the big maple tree in WV looking up into the 'dome'. It was a beautiful tree. WV heat is not quite like SC heat but it was miserable.

I am old enough to remember the real dog days of summer when you just did not get out and run and play hard. That was the time of Polio and the Iron Lung plus other summer ills and flu stuff.  I saw an Iron Lung a number of years ago when I worked in a hospital office. They were bringing it down the hall and everyone stared and most wondered what in the world was that? I knew and just felt a rock in my stomach from the memories of that time. At 12 years old my best friend died of Polio and her brother was in an Iron Lung for a long while. He was eventually able to come out of it with some paralysis and became a lawyer. Thank God we have innoculations against that nasty disease.

Time to rest the shoulders. More to Come Later Linda B from SC

 

 

 

Another Day in the Garden
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

Sad Sad Day
Aug 1, 2007 | 4:41 PM PST
Tags: photos , courtyard , HOT , watering

(singing) "where have all the photos gone, took a long time posting" (my version)

Sure hope they find the bulk of mine, takes time to download those pictures. NUTS!

Had busy morning today. Went across the street to the intermediate school and helped work on a walled in courtyard. Has not been used in a number of years. Great place. Several teachers have taken it on as a project and will utilize the place this year. One of the teachers received a grant for $6000. What a coo! She has some really good ideas. Today we mixed sand and compost together and spread it out, the plants were to come today as well. Won't be able to help plant as my hubby has a doc appt. tomorrow morning.

Then a friend came to begin moving a piece of fence. It stands between my air/heat unit and my neighbors unit. She cannot get a mower behind her unit and there is no room to maneuver my mower. We both had units replaced a few years ago and you should have seen what those poor men had to go through. And they were both there at the same for a couple of days. They even knew each other as all these air/heat guys do. Now it will be necessary to move a few plants, dig up some roots and fill holes. More work for this ole gardener. It won't get done until it cools a whole lot, like in sept/oct.  Did you know the old tale about transplanting and moving plants only in the months that have an "R" in the spelling? Think about it.  

It Is So HOT!! and no rain, I am on my way outside to turn on the water. It is feast or famine with the weather isn't it. Oh Well, it is August now. Can't expect great weather 12 months out of the year. SC has great weather most of the time.

Wish I could take the air conditioner outside with me. Going Now  More to Come Later. LB