Getting some where.
Jun. 5th, 2009 07:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mellymellI like it when I can cross a lot of stuff off a list and not put many new things on it. Gardening is winding down. Soon it will just be maintenance for the rest of the summer. Feeding, watering, weeding, harvesting, that's all. But when you've got 6 gardens and several containers indoors and out, I guess that's still a fair amount of work.
I got the rest of my summer annuals into the front bed yesterday. Also, all the things I had for direct sowing got done. Monday and Tuesday I got similar tasks in other beds done. I need to mulch and these beds will be done.
I was surprised to find the zinnia seeds I planted in the back garden on Monday had already sprouted yesterday. This morning I noticed the marigolds, cosmos and Mexican zinnias joined them. I'm hoping for something similar from the ones I planted in the front bed today. Unfortunately, only a handful of the sunflower seeds I planted sprouted. I might see if I can get some more to put out.
I got 5 miscanthus (reed grass, 2 are variegated and 3 are the "zebra" grass variety) to plant around the A/C units. We decided instead of a reed fence, which looked shabby after one season, go for reed plants. This is the thing I added to my list as I crossed so many things off. I need to remove some grass there, plant these, install a border and get some more river stones to put down around them and it will look like a new bed and perhaps will dampen the sound from the A/C units a little.
I got the Colocasia (elephant ears/taro/whatever) back in the ground too and I'm contemplating trying to leave them there this fall instead of digging them up. From what I read when I first got them, you're supposed to dig them up in this zone and winter them in peat moss so they don't freeze in the ground. I never get around to the peat moss part. I just let them dry out in an empty pot with whatever dirt is around them and inevitably some of them rot. But they also multiply very prolifically, so I always have plenty for the next year even with the loses. I'm thinking I might just be able to mulch them heavily in the fall and hope for the best. I mean, I don't dig up my cannas and they're supposedly the same way. Granted I lost some cannas the first year we were here, but I didn't mulch in the fall that year. I might try it. Worst case, I have to buy some more or I have to dig the ones out of the container I keep of them to separate for the garden next year or I get to change them out for some of the neat black magic ones.
I'm happy to see all four of the pale lavender asters I planted last fall have come back up and look happy and healthy. I keep pinching them back to make them branch so they'll be nice and full come bloom time.
The purple heart we planted last year along with all the other summer annuals has come back up as well.
The glads all appear to have multiplied considerably. Not many new ones that will bloom this year, but lots of tiny new leaves that are obviously bud bulbs from the main ones I planted last year. They're going to spread quickly I think.
Now that they're done, I really need to move my irises around. They're overcrowding the azaleas and one of them didn't come up the first year. So, I've got one area that looks crowded and one where there's a hole. Before their foliage dies back completely (especially on the Siberian variety), I need to dig them up while I still know where they are.
I keep hacking at the Jessamine to keep it in a nice column around the gas lamp.
Installed a new sandstone stepping stone to replace the ones that had broken up. Ok, so really it's a paver, but I liked it and couldn't find a stepping stone I liked at Home Depot. I'd love to do a patio in these, but they're pricey (like $7 each or something).
The vegetable garden is coming along nicely, with some small fruits on things. I had to pinch tops off of tomato plants. Most of them are already halfway up their cages and don't even have fruit yet. The one that was struggling seems to have turned itself around without any intervention from me. I got an eggplant in Monday and it's grown probably grown 4 inches in all the rain this week since it got in the ground. Everything could really use a dose of fertilizer. Maybe on Sunday. That will be the next chance I get to do it if I don't today (and I've got too much to do today).
Can't help but think if I did all this in April when I was pretending to be a philosopher, I'd have time to sew and run and do jewelry work right now. Maybe it needed to be done. Maybe I was being self-indulgent. It's all a matter of perspective, I guess.
I keep having this recurring thought as I stand before a bed and plot where to put holes and how plants will grow together and such that planting a garden, especially mixing annuals with perennials and bulbs and such, seems a lot like choreography. This one has this bloom time and that color will go well with this one that has the same bloom time. And make sure you don't put this one in front of this one, because it'll be too tall and this one will be taller during its season but once it dies back, this one will come up in its place. But it's got some aspects of general design as well (a lot of which I learned in floral arranging). Making sure you have a mixture of textures, colors and heights to make things interesting. Something trailing, something low growing and mounding, something tall and spiky, something wispy, etc. It's a harmony of aesthetics and timing that I think is most closely reflected in a dance. I must look like I'm deep in thought while I'm planting flowers.
I got the rest of my summer annuals into the front bed yesterday. Also, all the things I had for direct sowing got done. Monday and Tuesday I got similar tasks in other beds done. I need to mulch and these beds will be done.
I was surprised to find the zinnia seeds I planted in the back garden on Monday had already sprouted yesterday. This morning I noticed the marigolds, cosmos and Mexican zinnias joined them. I'm hoping for something similar from the ones I planted in the front bed today. Unfortunately, only a handful of the sunflower seeds I planted sprouted. I might see if I can get some more to put out.
I got 5 miscanthus (reed grass, 2 are variegated and 3 are the "zebra" grass variety) to plant around the A/C units. We decided instead of a reed fence, which looked shabby after one season, go for reed plants. This is the thing I added to my list as I crossed so many things off. I need to remove some grass there, plant these, install a border and get some more river stones to put down around them and it will look like a new bed and perhaps will dampen the sound from the A/C units a little.
I got the Colocasia (elephant ears/taro/whatever) back in the ground too and I'm contemplating trying to leave them there this fall instead of digging them up. From what I read when I first got them, you're supposed to dig them up in this zone and winter them in peat moss so they don't freeze in the ground. I never get around to the peat moss part. I just let them dry out in an empty pot with whatever dirt is around them and inevitably some of them rot. But they also multiply very prolifically, so I always have plenty for the next year even with the loses. I'm thinking I might just be able to mulch them heavily in the fall and hope for the best. I mean, I don't dig up my cannas and they're supposedly the same way. Granted I lost some cannas the first year we were here, but I didn't mulch in the fall that year. I might try it. Worst case, I have to buy some more or I have to dig the ones out of the container I keep of them to separate for the garden next year or I get to change them out for some of the neat black magic ones.
I'm happy to see all four of the pale lavender asters I planted last fall have come back up and look happy and healthy. I keep pinching them back to make them branch so they'll be nice and full come bloom time.
The purple heart we planted last year along with all the other summer annuals has come back up as well.
The glads all appear to have multiplied considerably. Not many new ones that will bloom this year, but lots of tiny new leaves that are obviously bud bulbs from the main ones I planted last year. They're going to spread quickly I think.
Now that they're done, I really need to move my irises around. They're overcrowding the azaleas and one of them didn't come up the first year. So, I've got one area that looks crowded and one where there's a hole. Before their foliage dies back completely (especially on the Siberian variety), I need to dig them up while I still know where they are.
I keep hacking at the Jessamine to keep it in a nice column around the gas lamp.
Installed a new sandstone stepping stone to replace the ones that had broken up. Ok, so really it's a paver, but I liked it and couldn't find a stepping stone I liked at Home Depot. I'd love to do a patio in these, but they're pricey (like $7 each or something).
The vegetable garden is coming along nicely, with some small fruits on things. I had to pinch tops off of tomato plants. Most of them are already halfway up their cages and don't even have fruit yet. The one that was struggling seems to have turned itself around without any intervention from me. I got an eggplant in Monday and it's grown probably grown 4 inches in all the rain this week since it got in the ground. Everything could really use a dose of fertilizer. Maybe on Sunday. That will be the next chance I get to do it if I don't today (and I've got too much to do today).
Can't help but think if I did all this in April when I was pretending to be a philosopher, I'd have time to sew and run and do jewelry work right now. Maybe it needed to be done. Maybe I was being self-indulgent. It's all a matter of perspective, I guess.
I keep having this recurring thought as I stand before a bed and plot where to put holes and how plants will grow together and such that planting a garden, especially mixing annuals with perennials and bulbs and such, seems a lot like choreography. This one has this bloom time and that color will go well with this one that has the same bloom time. And make sure you don't put this one in front of this one, because it'll be too tall and this one will be taller during its season but once it dies back, this one will come up in its place. But it's got some aspects of general design as well (a lot of which I learned in floral arranging). Making sure you have a mixture of textures, colors and heights to make things interesting. Something trailing, something low growing and mounding, something tall and spiky, something wispy, etc. It's a harmony of aesthetics and timing that I think is most closely reflected in a dance. I must look like I'm deep in thought while I'm planting flowers.
