It is 74 degrees at only 10:45 today and already the sun feels hot. The ground is hard and dry from the lack of rain and the grass is brown. It seems like mid-summer is here early this year. We are supposed to get rain next Friday and off and on through next weekend. Lets hope.
I am keeping up my watering schedule and the plants seem to be doing well. I managed to scratch 4 Chorus Line Daylilies into the earth today where I had planted lirope a few days ago. I bought them in one big pot, then unpotted them, washed all the soil off and separated the big clump into 4 plants. If it takes, it won't be bad, 4 pink repeat blooming daylilies for $5.
The big bell pepper is still hanging on as are some of the little bells on the other plant. I noticed today that the eggplant has several big purple flowers. We'll see if it sets fruit. Tom tomato still doesn't look that great in a few places. There is one little branch I think is a goner, so I'm going to prune it off. The Roma tomato is growing, as are its basil friends. I will cut them back next weekend and make pesto. The little rooted basils that weren't doing well outside yesterday seem to have perked up inside overnight. I will keep them in the windowsill for a few more days and see how they do, then work on moving them outside gradually if I need to. Guess I'm used to the mint: root it in water, pot it up, shove it outside.
Bobbie is bringing her string trimmer in a bit so I can work on the front yard. Right now I am off to clip some grass.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
new azalea, tomatoes and LOTS more
I started out this morning at Lowes, with a major disaster. I got my bag of potting soil, but it was faded and the plastic ripped terribly getting it into the car. On top of that, the soil turned out to be very wet. I discovered that I do not need to repot the Roma tomato, as it is already in a 14" pot. This AM I potted up the Better Bush tomato, all my little Summerlong Basil seedlings and also the two rooted sweet basil cuttings. The sweet basil cuttings were not looking good, so I pulled them back out and stuck them in little 3" pots and put them in the windowsill. We'll see if they revive. I have been trying to move the golden oregano I rooted outside, but it was 93 today and everything was starting to look worse for the wear, so I moved those back inside for the day. The Chinese Lantern in the blue pot I accidentally kicked off the porch last night did not survive, so I put another plant in the potter. I got the remaining Chinese Lanterns moved into 8" plastic pots. I also gave a plant to Norman's wife when she came over to see if she could borrow some potting soil. I lost one of the tarragon seedlings. It just pretty much burned up I think and I have another that is only so-so looking right now. I will have to make sure the seedling tray is out of direct sunlight during the afternoon tomorrow. I think it might move it out to the porch.
Repotting the two yellow bell peppers was not nearly as bad as I thought it could be and I didn't even lose any peppers off the plants. I did notice that the big bell pepper on the one plant has either been eaten by an animal or it has a disease. I will have to figure out its problem tomorrow if I can.
I went to Wal-Mart to look for a new water wand and to get some more potting soil. I got a Bush Goliath tomato, as I now have a spare 14" pot, and some sweet basil seeds to seed around it (Month by Month Gardening in the Carolinas recommends seeding a late crop of basil in July?!?!). On the way back to the car, I saw some Encore Azaleas. There were just a few and they were marked down 50% off (they weren't looking 100%) so I got an Autumn Amethyst for $6.50.
Back home it was planting time. First step was to start doing something about the box of dirt. I shoveled some into the wheelbarrow and added some compost and used this dirt to add more dirt around the azaleas, rhodie, salvia and small beautyberry. The heat of the day was not good to the 6 pack of coleus my mom had gotten me yesterday, so then it was into the ground with it. Hope it all survives. From there, it was time to plant the double impatiens and Bridal Veil astilbe down by the azaleas. That went well and then I cleared a bigger space on the other side of the ginger lilies and mixed up all the rest of the left over dirt in the box and compost and planted the Encore azalea on top of the ground and made a little soil volcano for it to grow into. Now I will need to get some mulch to mulch in the area. I think I will go to Lowes for that, even though I don't like their mulch as well, they are a lot closer to Wal-Mart and I already have Lowes mulch in the area. I did get about 1 1/2 bags of the good Wal-Mart mulch down over my perennial bed. Hopefully that will help keep everything moist and happy. My goal of having the box of dirt gone has been met! Its space is now being taken by a potted Bush Goliath tomato.
Planted today:
- Bridal Veil astilbe
- Autumn Amethyst Encore azalea
- Bush Goliath tomato
- Better Bush tomato
Repotted:
- 5 Chinese Laterns
- 2 yellow bell peppers
Repotting the two yellow bell peppers was not nearly as bad as I thought it could be and I didn't even lose any peppers off the plants. I did notice that the big bell pepper on the one plant has either been eaten by an animal or it has a disease. I will have to figure out its problem tomorrow if I can.
I went to Wal-Mart to look for a new water wand and to get some more potting soil. I got a Bush Goliath tomato, as I now have a spare 14" pot, and some sweet basil seeds to seed around it (Month by Month Gardening in the Carolinas recommends seeding a late crop of basil in July?!?!). On the way back to the car, I saw some Encore Azaleas. There were just a few and they were marked down 50% off (they weren't looking 100%) so I got an Autumn Amethyst for $6.50.
Back home it was planting time. First step was to start doing something about the box of dirt. I shoveled some into the wheelbarrow and added some compost and used this dirt to add more dirt around the azaleas, rhodie, salvia and small beautyberry. The heat of the day was not good to the 6 pack of coleus my mom had gotten me yesterday, so then it was into the ground with it. Hope it all survives. From there, it was time to plant the double impatiens and Bridal Veil astilbe down by the azaleas. That went well and then I cleared a bigger space on the other side of the ginger lilies and mixed up all the rest of the left over dirt in the box and compost and planted the Encore azalea on top of the ground and made a little soil volcano for it to grow into. Now I will need to get some mulch to mulch in the area. I think I will go to Lowes for that, even though I don't like their mulch as well, they are a lot closer to Wal-Mart and I already have Lowes mulch in the area. I did get about 1 1/2 bags of the good Wal-Mart mulch down over my perennial bed. Hopefully that will help keep everything moist and happy. My goal of having the box of dirt gone has been met! Its space is now being taken by a potted Bush Goliath tomato.
Planted today:
- Bridal Veil astilbe
- Autumn Amethyst Encore azalea
- Bush Goliath tomato
- Better Bush tomato
Repotted:
- 5 Chinese Laterns
- 2 yellow bell peppers
Friday, May 25, 2007
border filled in and more
Yesterday Susie brought me some purple coneflower and lambs ears from her garden. I knew that they would be almost enough to fill up the perennial bed, but I'd still have a bit of space. I stopped at the Farmer's Market on the way home and got another mallow, a pink salvia and an Autumn Joy sedum to round out the best. Last night I got it all planted and watered in. This AM it looked pretty good except the tops of the coneflowers are a little droopy. Hopefully this will resolve itself. After watering the side yard today, I saw that the mallow was falling over, so I grabbed the stake I was going to use for the hollyhock and used it to stake the mallow back into place.I still have some coleus that has not been planted, but I finally planted the 6 pack of red velvet last night. I planted it back by the 2 Miss Biloxi camellias. I just need another 6 pack of coleus for the other side. I may send my mom to the Farmer's Market tomorrow and have her pick out whatever she likes.
I picked some leaves off Tom tomato and the wave petunia last night so I could take them to Underwoods today and find out what to do. The diagnosis was fungus and I got some neem and pyrethrin spray to treat the plants and some fertilizer for my veggies and I also got a 6 pack of purple upright annual verbena to edge the perennial border.
One of my major goals for this weekend is to get rid of the box of dirt that is by the oak barrel. Step one was to move the lirope that was living (amazing it is still alive after all this time- I only heeled it in and have NEVER watered it) in the box and finally plant it up front. I planted it on the house side of the ditch in the area where they backhoe scraped up my yard getting the yard waste. I watered them in and will water them for a few weeks while the get established, and that is it. I still need to figure out what to do with the dirt (right now I'm leaning toward dumping it along the back fence) .
I watered the grass on the driveway side of the yard as it was pretty much dying from lack of water. Tomorrow I will try to get the front yard watered, which is having the same problems. I also REALLY need borrow the weed eater from Bobbie to cut the yard (the mower would be better but it is such a pain to transport).
I stocked up on stakes today and staked 2 of my 3 other bell peppers and my eggplant with 3' stakes and used 5' stakes for the hollyhock, mallow and delphenium. I may need to buy taller stakes for the peppers, but I hope not. I did see that the other yellow bell pepper now has one actual pepper on it. Hopefully the fertilizer I used today will be a good think and will help more of the blossoms set fruit. Despite his illness, Tom tomato continues to set fruit.
I want to get some sort of plant to place between my two azaleas to add a little color to that area (since I am watering every day). I had been thinking of a geranium because for some reason I thought they grew in shade, but apparently not! I went to Country Boys thinking maybe I would find a nice big begonia or double impatien or something that I really liked. Didn't see anything that looked just right for back there (I'm now thinking astillbe). I was looking over the herbs and while playing around found varigated peppermint. It was SO fragrant! At this point, it almost looks like a low creeper like pennyroyal, but it is stupposed to get up the 24". I just had to get it. I also got a Better Bush tomato, that is supposed to be a standard eating tomato but made for containers. When I got the Roma, my mom's comment was "no slicing tomato", so now we have a slicing tomato as long as it grows.
I need more pots badly. I hit up K-Mart and got 3 more bronze pots in two sizes. The smaller pot is the new home of the varigated peppermint. I am going to plant up some coleus in one of the larger pots. The other one will just be extra for right now, but I love those pots so much I'll kick myself later if I don't get enough now. This evening I hit Garden Ridge and got some more cheap pots, some small ones for more of the Chinese Laterns and a big one for the Better Bush tomato. Now of course, I need more potting soil.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
trying to keep up with the watering
After the mishap with the hanging baskets last week, I have been doing well keeping up with the watering so far. Operation Grow Grass appears to finally being seeing some success as well, as I have seen grass sprouts over in that area. I will keep up the 20 min every AM watering schedule for at least a few more weeks. The weather has been very dry and in the mid 80s and some of my existing grass isn't looking so hot. I watered some of it in the back yard for about 20 minutes this AM and I guess I will have to start watering some of it off and on as well. I have a few other areas where I have spread some grass seed but haven't seen any success yet. These areas get watered by the hose when I am watering my plants, so they don't get as much water. I am planning on covering them with some straw and see if that helps.
Last night I discovered some flowers on my one coleus, so I cut back the offending sections. I also took a cutting to try to root, just in case the plant decides to give up the ghost.
I am working at rooting some mints to take with me when I go to KY for my friend Carol. Several of my mint plants seem to not have any areas left where there are leave with two additional little leaves, so I am not sure about cutting them anymore or what to do. I'm going to stop by the farmer's market on the way home from work and I will ask them.
I think I might have powdery mildew on my tom tomato and maybe some sort of mold on my one wave petunia. I am going to make up a baking soda spray and try to treat them. May try the cinnamon thing as well.
Planted today:
- purple coneflowers from Susie
-lambs ears from Susie
- Autumn Joy sedum
- 2nd mallow
- bellflower from Ingles
Sunday, May 20, 2007
more container planting
Last night I tried to get a bunch of work done, knowing I would be out of town all day today. I got some additional grass seed put down by the water heater, then covered all the grass seed with straw, which hopefully will cut down on the mud, but was not great for my allergies. Then, I FINALLY planted up the final hanging basket for the front of the house. Right now it doesn't look like that much, as I had to buy 2 new small sweet potato vines and the one trailing coleus is just a tiny cutting I had rooted, but I figure the sweet potato vine will start filling in soon and the big trailing colues should also start growing pretty quickly, if their relatives on the porch are any indication.
When I went to Country Boys to get the tomato and red bell pepper, I found a hollyhock that I got for my mom and a delphenium for myself. I planted those in the perennial bed and put in stakes for them last night, but I didn't attach them to the stakes yet. They are currently short enought that they don't need to be staked yet.
Then, it was time to plant the veggies. I had purchased 4 sweet basils to put around the roma tomato and was planning to put the whole thing in a 14" plastic pot I had bought. I did pot this all up, but trimmed off a bit of the basil to let more light in for the tomato. Hopefully the pot is not too crowded and I'm figured the tomato will start growing up soon. I also potted up the red bell pepper in its own pot. Both the new tomato and the red bell pepper will be living by the herb barrel.
This evening when I got home I had a little time to work and finally pulled some more pansies out of a pot and potted up my purple striped petunias. I also moved the one cell back big daddy petunia into a larger pot and put the remaining cell pack of the purple striped petunia into the little pot the big daddy had been in. The single big daddy is actually looking good enough to go on the porch right now, so I might even though the green pot it is in is not all that exciting (just a plastic hanging basket pot Bobbie gave me).
The newly planted hyrdangea is looking great today with more blooms coming and the color deepening on them. The old Endless Summer is not doing nearly as well. Its one leaf it did have now seems to be dried up and it felt really dry around it, even though it was just watered. So, I watered it tonight and guess I will have to give it some extra water. All the other shrubs seem to have survived being fertilized. My new watering schedule seems to be working pretty well, so hopefully things will continue to thrive. I potted up all the lemon balm cuttings I had made today and they should be ready to go to new homes soon.
I also learned a valuable lesson today: don't mess with leaning plants. I was looking at my snapdragons and one of the biggest was leaning over quite a bit. I was messing around with it, moving it back up to vertical and trying to think about how I might stake it (don't have an extra stake right now) and the vast majority of the stem snapped off at the soil line. So, I went from having a big beautiful blooming but quite leaning plant to have just one single stem left and a hole in my little bed. ARGHHHHH.
When I went to Country Boys to get the tomato and red bell pepper, I found a hollyhock that I got for my mom and a delphenium for myself. I planted those in the perennial bed and put in stakes for them last night, but I didn't attach them to the stakes yet. They are currently short enought that they don't need to be staked yet.
Then, it was time to plant the veggies. I had purchased 4 sweet basils to put around the roma tomato and was planning to put the whole thing in a 14" plastic pot I had bought. I did pot this all up, but trimmed off a bit of the basil to let more light in for the tomato. Hopefully the pot is not too crowded and I'm figured the tomato will start growing up soon. I also potted up the red bell pepper in its own pot. Both the new tomato and the red bell pepper will be living by the herb barrel.
This evening when I got home I had a little time to work and finally pulled some more pansies out of a pot and potted up my purple striped petunias. I also moved the one cell back big daddy petunia into a larger pot and put the remaining cell pack of the purple striped petunia into the little pot the big daddy had been in. The single big daddy is actually looking good enough to go on the porch right now, so I might even though the green pot it is in is not all that exciting (just a plastic hanging basket pot Bobbie gave me).
The newly planted hyrdangea is looking great today with more blooms coming and the color deepening on them. The old Endless Summer is not doing nearly as well. Its one leaf it did have now seems to be dried up and it felt really dry around it, even though it was just watered. So, I watered it tonight and guess I will have to give it some extra water. All the other shrubs seem to have survived being fertilized. My new watering schedule seems to be working pretty well, so hopefully things will continue to thrive. I potted up all the lemon balm cuttings I had made today and they should be ready to go to new homes soon.
I also learned a valuable lesson today: don't mess with leaning plants. I was looking at my snapdragons and one of the biggest was leaning over quite a bit. I was messing around with it, moving it back up to vertical and trying to think about how I might stake it (don't have an extra stake right now) and the vast majority of the stem snapped off at the soil line. So, I went from having a big beautiful blooming but quite leaning plant to have just one single stem left and a hole in my little bed. ARGHHHHH.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
new hydrangea
Wednesday morning was spent dealing with a bunch of disasters. Major disaster struck my hanging baskets at the front of the house when I realized that I hadn't watered them since Sunday. They look half dead, but seem to have revived since being watered regularly and kept out of direct sun for a day. The lantana and verbena are both out of bloom right now though. I also discovered that the double impatiens inside the gazebo were looking horrid from lack of water, but they too seem to have revived.
Then I looked at my sweet basil and realized that it was trying to bolt, so I chopped off the tops and it is pesto time. Hopefully the basils will continue to survive and make more leaves so I can make more pesto later.
I have now lost one whole pot of basil seedlings. I am not sure what killed them, but I am hoping that some of the other small pots will survive and that I will get some viable seedlings in the oak barrel. I have something up in all part of the oak barrel except the borage. I did see borage at the farmer's market, so if worst comes to worst I can also drop in a transplant. The chives also aren't really coming up. And, I'm seeing lots of little flies around it, I am wondering if they are white flies and might be part of what killed my basil.
I also have lost one of the coleus that I planted along the side of the house. I think Flo may have laid down on it or something.
Friday was cooler than it had been and I was off all day so I had a productive day. Thursday night I succumbed to temptation and bought a new Endless Summer hydrangea, which I got planted in the shade border in the space I had reserved for it. I also got the little dead nettle I had rooted up planted nearby. I also found some impatiens in the right color to finish up the little impatien border back by the camellias, I planted them in the leftover dirt from the hydrangea hole. I had a few extra impatiens, so I added those to various places in the shade border.
I then finished up weeding out the camellia bed and added 4 bags of pine mulch. I got this mulch at Lowes, which is where I got the other bags of pine mulch, but these stuff didn't look the same, it was reddish, and I don't like it as well. I need to add some more mulch to this area, but I think I will try Home Depot or Wal-Mart and see if I like what they have better. I also added a bag of cyprus mulch to the front bed with the ajuga. Hopefully the ajuga die-back I had going on earlier has resolved itself and those two plants will start spreading soon. The other 3 are looking great.
I have decided that I need a few more basil plants and I also think I will try a roma tomato and a red bell pepper. I'm going to stop for these on the way home from work tonight. I will be out of town most of the day tomorrow, so I am probably done for the weekend.
I have been continuing to water the grass seed, don't see any grass sprouting so far. I need to check the bag for how long it is going to take. I want to get some more grass seed and some wheat straw as there is an area that is getting watered every day that I didn't seed, and it is getting VERY muddy now, so I need to fix that situation. I also have the potted plant watering, front and back, down to a science now I think and it takes about 20 minutes total. So far, I am able to get it down before work easily as long as I keep moving in the AM.
Then I looked at my sweet basil and realized that it was trying to bolt, so I chopped off the tops and it is pesto time. Hopefully the basils will continue to survive and make more leaves so I can make more pesto later.
I have now lost one whole pot of basil seedlings. I am not sure what killed them, but I am hoping that some of the other small pots will survive and that I will get some viable seedlings in the oak barrel. I have something up in all part of the oak barrel except the borage. I did see borage at the farmer's market, so if worst comes to worst I can also drop in a transplant. The chives also aren't really coming up. And, I'm seeing lots of little flies around it, I am wondering if they are white flies and might be part of what killed my basil.
I also have lost one of the coleus that I planted along the side of the house. I think Flo may have laid down on it or something.
Friday was cooler than it had been and I was off all day so I had a productive day. Thursday night I succumbed to temptation and bought a new Endless Summer hydrangea, which I got planted in the shade border in the space I had reserved for it. I also got the little dead nettle I had rooted up planted nearby. I also found some impatiens in the right color to finish up the little impatien border back by the camellias, I planted them in the leftover dirt from the hydrangea hole. I had a few extra impatiens, so I added those to various places in the shade border.
I then finished up weeding out the camellia bed and added 4 bags of pine mulch. I got this mulch at Lowes, which is where I got the other bags of pine mulch, but these stuff didn't look the same, it was reddish, and I don't like it as well. I need to add some more mulch to this area, but I think I will try Home Depot or Wal-Mart and see if I like what they have better. I also added a bag of cyprus mulch to the front bed with the ajuga. Hopefully the ajuga die-back I had going on earlier has resolved itself and those two plants will start spreading soon. The other 3 are looking great.
I have decided that I need a few more basil plants and I also think I will try a roma tomato and a red bell pepper. I'm going to stop for these on the way home from work tonight. I will be out of town most of the day tomorrow, so I am probably done for the weekend.
I have been continuing to water the grass seed, don't see any grass sprouting so far. I need to check the bag for how long it is going to take. I want to get some more grass seed and some wheat straw as there is an area that is getting watered every day that I didn't seed, and it is getting VERY muddy now, so I need to fix that situation. I also have the potted plant watering, front and back, down to a science now I think and it takes about 20 minutes total. So far, I am able to get it down before work easily as long as I keep moving in the AM.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
digging in the perennial bed
Today I finally had the time and the dry weather to dig in 1/2 of the planned perennial bed along the back of the house. I added 1 bag of Black Cow and 1 bag of cheap compost with cow manure. Right now the only things in the bed are the 3 native Joe Pye Weeds I bought from Carolina Wild, 7 bareroot hollyhocks that I had bought back Wal-Mart long time ago (don't know if any of them will take) and a few glad bulbs I planted today. I also planted that dahlia tubers and some more glads in the 2nd half of the planned bed, which currently is just serving as storage space.
I also spred more grass seed along the side of the house that borders Curtis. This time I have decided that I will have to break down and water the area daily to see if I can actually get grass to grow. I have worked over the past week to weed it and try to get rid of as many tree seedlings and roots as I can. Today I set up the cheap sprinkler I got for the first time and it has quite a reach. Unfortunately, the only way I could be sure that water was reaching some areas was to stand there and see if I got wet. So, I got kind of soaked, but I did finally get the sprinkler up and running. I am hoping that if this works well and grass starts to go, I can try the same process again in another part of the yard. I also spread a little seed in areas around containers I water often figuring I will at least get this seed damp every day. My big problem is that I got grass seed in a few of the containers. I will have to try to remove it or I will have grass in with my basil.
On the herb front, I got another sweet basil today to replace the purple basil that died. I have also started two pots of sweet marjoram out on the porch, as the seedings I started indoors have not been doing too well. I lost most of those when they accidentally got left out in full sun all day. They have now been spending part of their time each day on the shady part of my porch. I've also moved the chamomiles to bigger pots and they are going outside as well. The nastursiams are up in the whiskey barrel and I think some of the parsley is as well. I do now have a few dill seedings, but i still only see one thing that might be a chive and nothing in the borage area. The basils are coming up well and some of the purple basils that were damaged in the heavy rain seem to be regrowing leaves.
The zinnias are getting bigger and are now looking crowded. I would like to try to move some of the seedings out of the one pot and into another pot. I also need to pull out the pansies and put in some of the other flowers I have purchased. The potted plants all look pretty good. I am trying to water every day and the rain is helping some of the plants.
My shrubs are all putting out new growth and looking pretty good. I bought some fertilizer today with the plan that I will fertilize and water on Wednesday. I do need to get back to weeding the one part of the camellia bed, but as that area is in shade part of the day, that is one job I can do when it is really hot.
I am going to go to the Farmer's Market this week and see what perennials they have. If I find what I am looking for, I might buy a few and then that bed is probably finished until the fall or until someone has a really good sale!
I do not think all the Elegens hostas I have are actually Elegens, as they do not all look alike as they are leafing out. Some have a little whitish edge to them. That is pretty, just wish I knew what they were. I have cleared room under the tree for 2 more hostas. I am planning to go to JFS on Friday to see what they have and if I don't find something there, I can always go to the Lily Lady on Sunday. I saw some beautiful tall foxgloves at Underwoods yesterday, but due to the poisonous issue, they can't go in the perennial border and I don't really have room for them on the other side of th fence so... no big beautiful foxgloves right now. I checked out my bleeding hearts. My regular bleeding heart is growing and actually growing over one of the hostas. I've thought about doing a cutting to see if I can root it. Don't know that I need another bleeding heart, but I could always give it away. The regular bleeding heart seems to be done blooming, but the native fernleaf bleeding heart is still blooming. It is supposed to keep blooming straight through fall. I am really liking this plant so far!
The mints are going crazy, growing like mad. I took some spearmint cuttings today to try to root up some more plants. I am going to cut a bunch of herbs on Tuesday and take them to yoga with me, figuring someone there might want some fresh herbs to cook with or something.
I also spred more grass seed along the side of the house that borders Curtis. This time I have decided that I will have to break down and water the area daily to see if I can actually get grass to grow. I have worked over the past week to weed it and try to get rid of as many tree seedlings and roots as I can. Today I set up the cheap sprinkler I got for the first time and it has quite a reach. Unfortunately, the only way I could be sure that water was reaching some areas was to stand there and see if I got wet. So, I got kind of soaked, but I did finally get the sprinkler up and running. I am hoping that if this works well and grass starts to go, I can try the same process again in another part of the yard. I also spread a little seed in areas around containers I water often figuring I will at least get this seed damp every day. My big problem is that I got grass seed in a few of the containers. I will have to try to remove it or I will have grass in with my basil.
On the herb front, I got another sweet basil today to replace the purple basil that died. I have also started two pots of sweet marjoram out on the porch, as the seedings I started indoors have not been doing too well. I lost most of those when they accidentally got left out in full sun all day. They have now been spending part of their time each day on the shady part of my porch. I've also moved the chamomiles to bigger pots and they are going outside as well. The nastursiams are up in the whiskey barrel and I think some of the parsley is as well. I do now have a few dill seedings, but i still only see one thing that might be a chive and nothing in the borage area. The basils are coming up well and some of the purple basils that were damaged in the heavy rain seem to be regrowing leaves.
The zinnias are getting bigger and are now looking crowded. I would like to try to move some of the seedings out of the one pot and into another pot. I also need to pull out the pansies and put in some of the other flowers I have purchased. The potted plants all look pretty good. I am trying to water every day and the rain is helping some of the plants.
My shrubs are all putting out new growth and looking pretty good. I bought some fertilizer today with the plan that I will fertilize and water on Wednesday. I do need to get back to weeding the one part of the camellia bed, but as that area is in shade part of the day, that is one job I can do when it is really hot.
I am going to go to the Farmer's Market this week and see what perennials they have. If I find what I am looking for, I might buy a few and then that bed is probably finished until the fall or until someone has a really good sale!
I do not think all the Elegens hostas I have are actually Elegens, as they do not all look alike as they are leafing out. Some have a little whitish edge to them. That is pretty, just wish I knew what they were. I have cleared room under the tree for 2 more hostas. I am planning to go to JFS on Friday to see what they have and if I don't find something there, I can always go to the Lily Lady on Sunday. I saw some beautiful tall foxgloves at Underwoods yesterday, but due to the poisonous issue, they can't go in the perennial border and I don't really have room for them on the other side of th fence so... no big beautiful foxgloves right now. I checked out my bleeding hearts. My regular bleeding heart is growing and actually growing over one of the hostas. I've thought about doing a cutting to see if I can root it. Don't know that I need another bleeding heart, but I could always give it away. The regular bleeding heart seems to be done blooming, but the native fernleaf bleeding heart is still blooming. It is supposed to keep blooming straight through fall. I am really liking this plant so far!
The mints are going crazy, growing like mad. I took some spearmint cuttings today to try to root up some more plants. I am going to cut a bunch of herbs on Tuesday and take them to yoga with me, figuring someone there might want some fresh herbs to cook with or something.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Achoo
It was at least 89 today and the air quality is terrible. I have been battling horrid allergies for the past week or more and haven't done much in the yard as a result. I have a new prescription for allergy meds that seem to be helping.
Recently I have replaced the pastel pansies in the green pot with peach million bells, taken the two dusty millers out of the pot with the English daisies (I replanted one in a new pot with a variagated verbena and a mystery plant that sort of looks like bacopa and planted the other in the ground by the snapdragons) and added the one foliage plant I got to the pot. My other pot with English daisies had gotten really dried out, so I tried to really hydrate it and I'm hoping it will bounce back.
The pansies are still pretty much hanging in there, though the tiger eye pansies in the yard looked flat the other day. I have decided that the striped petunias will replace them when it is time. The big news is that the bulb foliage is finally starting to look really yellow. I am hoping that this weekend I will maybe be able to mow it down around the tree. I also moved the two pots with the dying paperwhite foliage over by the gate where they will get full sun (I'm hoping this will speed the demise of the foliage). As soon as all the foliage is gone, I will pull out the pansies and replant all those pots.
I looked at Tom tomato today and was surprised to see at least 8 baby tomatoes! Wow, I would think it is too early. I have also seen buds on some of the hot peppers, so I might be seeing baby hot peppers soon too. I hope I get a decent harvest of hot peppers. I haversted some more herbs for my mom's one co-worker this weekend and she was really happy. The basils look like they might be ready for a mini harvest and I still want to get another sweet basil to replace the purple basil I had to pull. The herb barrel so far has some sprouts of the two basils, but nothing else so far. I did finally get the nasturtiums planted the other day. I also sprinkled some marigold seeds by the herb garden and around the area where the clematis is, which is either coming up or I have a weed in that area, I will wait and see. The potted zinnia seeds continue to get bigger now that they are no longer getting dumped over by Flo. The snapdragons are also blooming and the licorice plant is putting out new growth and starting to look better. I may move it to another pot.
Pink Ruffles azalea didn't look so good today. It had some yellow leaves and seemed very dry. I watered both azaleas and the rhododendron. We are supposed to have 4 days of off and on rain, so hopefully they wil recover. I am going to get some more mulch and add some soil to their hills, then mulch heavily for the summer.
Recently I have replaced the pastel pansies in the green pot with peach million bells, taken the two dusty millers out of the pot with the English daisies (I replanted one in a new pot with a variagated verbena and a mystery plant that sort of looks like bacopa and planted the other in the ground by the snapdragons) and added the one foliage plant I got to the pot. My other pot with English daisies had gotten really dried out, so I tried to really hydrate it and I'm hoping it will bounce back.
The pansies are still pretty much hanging in there, though the tiger eye pansies in the yard looked flat the other day. I have decided that the striped petunias will replace them when it is time. The big news is that the bulb foliage is finally starting to look really yellow. I am hoping that this weekend I will maybe be able to mow it down around the tree. I also moved the two pots with the dying paperwhite foliage over by the gate where they will get full sun (I'm hoping this will speed the demise of the foliage). As soon as all the foliage is gone, I will pull out the pansies and replant all those pots.
I looked at Tom tomato today and was surprised to see at least 8 baby tomatoes! Wow, I would think it is too early. I have also seen buds on some of the hot peppers, so I might be seeing baby hot peppers soon too. I hope I get a decent harvest of hot peppers. I haversted some more herbs for my mom's one co-worker this weekend and she was really happy. The basils look like they might be ready for a mini harvest and I still want to get another sweet basil to replace the purple basil I had to pull. The herb barrel so far has some sprouts of the two basils, but nothing else so far. I did finally get the nasturtiums planted the other day. I also sprinkled some marigold seeds by the herb garden and around the area where the clematis is, which is either coming up or I have a weed in that area, I will wait and see. The potted zinnia seeds continue to get bigger now that they are no longer getting dumped over by Flo. The snapdragons are also blooming and the licorice plant is putting out new growth and starting to look better. I may move it to another pot.
Pink Ruffles azalea didn't look so good today. It had some yellow leaves and seemed very dry. I watered both azaleas and the rhododendron. We are supposed to have 4 days of off and on rain, so hopefully they wil recover. I am going to get some more mulch and add some soil to their hills, then mulch heavily for the summer.
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