These are pretty hibiscus flowers on my Mellow Yellow Hibiscus. This plant really loves the heat. This is a reseeding hibiscus. I've decided it is not a perennial. It throws off lots of seed, and I've concluded that it is reseeding itself every year. I read on the Dave's Garden website that it does not set seed. That is not true. Every year it grows, but never in the same spot.
There was a little bit of rain last week based on the water levels in the rain barrels, but not much. We need rain.
- Saturday morning I was up by 5:30. Drank coffee for an hour or so waiting for it to get light outside.
- I started in the Rose Garden. I cleared out a few beds that I didn't get to last weekend. The bed with the Fortune's Double rose is now clear and ready for the lycoris display to begin. I planted a bunch of bulbs there last year. Perhaps they won't bloom this year - they are not fond of being disturbed, but I hope I get a few blooms at least. I worked on the Noisette bed and the Valentine bed as well. And, of course, I watered the whole time I was out there.
- The Ballerina roses were looking pretty ratty driving in to the entrance to the place, so I spent some time pruning them. One of them had some pretty thick vines growing amongst it. That vine comes up everywhere. It grows on the trees on the neighbors' property, and it suckers like mad. I cut away the vine and poisoned the cut stems with my oil can. Cleaning up the Ballerinas took some time. They could really use some tender loving care. Next week I will mulch and fertilize. I gave them a good watering.
- Bert went to Papescapes to buy some more soil, but they were out. Disappointment! I will have to wait until next week.
- Since I did not have fresh soil to finish my deep bed in the Vegetable Garden, I decided to prepare the 8x4 bed nearby. I dug many shovel-fuls of dirt out of the bed and threw them in the deep bed. Then I replaced those shovel-fuls with lots of the soil mix that I put in the deep bed last weekend. Then I added 3 bags of compost that I bought at Buchanans. Turned the soil to mix it all together.
- I weeded for quite a while in the shady part of the Star Garden. I cut back the Indigo Spires down to the ground. Hoping for one more great showing of flowers before the first frost. I cleaned up the paths and raked. Still needs some work, but looks much cleaner.
- I fed the bees some sugar water. It's so droughty that I decided to give them a boost.
- Sunday. Up early and out the door before 7:00.
- I started in the Rose Garden pulling a few weeds and beginning the watering regimen.
- The pine needles have dropped along the trail, so I raked up three truckloads of them and spread most of them under one of the blackberry beds in the Orchard. I saved several piles for later. I did a bit of weeding while I was down there.
- The best place to rake up pine needles has gotten overgrown with yaupon, so I got the loppers and cut a dozen or so down to the ground. I poisoned the cut with my Remedy / diesel mix.
- I sowed 100 Tohya soybeans in the bed I prepped on Saturday. This is a bit of an experiment. I'm not sure if they will do well with a fall planting, I have only read about spring plantings of soybeans. But green beans will do well with a fall planting, so we will find out in two and a half months. They are ready to harvest in 78 days which puts us to into the first week of November.
- I weeded a section of the newest bed in the Vegetable Garden and then spread pine needles over it. I don't want to mess with it for a couple of months, and pine needles keep everything down. Next to that section I weeded, loosened the soil and spread hairy vetch seeds over the area. Hairy vetch is a green manure, it is nitrogen-fixing. I will plant two tomato plants in that spot in the spring.
- Went back down to the Orchard mid-morning and weeded the bed near the entrance which was crabgrass-choked. I cleared out the area around the coneflower I sowed last winter. I weeded around the trellis and spread some pine needles in that spot.
- I finally planted my Blue Mist flowers. I have two that have been sitting in the front bed for many weeks. Their roots had grown out of the pots and into the ground. I planted them in the Star Garden next to the Peggy Martin rose. I surrounded them with pine needles for a little protection. Planting things in August is not easy on plants. While I was there I weeded on the other side of the path. My Schoolhouse Lilies are already sprouting. One of the bulbs had been uprooted by the armadillos, so I planted it in a sunnier spot nearby. I've never liked where I planted those dozen or so bulbs many years ago.
- Can't believe I had the strength coupled with the desire, but I tied up all the canes of my Climbing Pinkie to the trellis. This involved dragging out the ladder, cutting away lots of spent cannas (I probably should let them dry naturally to feed the rhizomes, but it was hot and I didn't want to climb amongst them) so I could grab all the rose canes. Climbing Pinkie has thrown off 10 foot canes all over the place. I wound them around and tied them off. An armadillo has dug a burrow in that bed. It's fresh. How galling that one of those little bastards is living right in my garden. I checked, and he wasn't in there. They typically dig a dozen or so burrows within their territory, and they move around.
- Next, I worked on the front beds. I weeded, pruned my roses, cut away the seed heads of Giant Rudbeckia, cut back Verbena Bonariensis, gathered up dried unsightly debris, smoothed out the soil (armadillos really mess up the soil) and generally made everything look much better. I'm really happy about the work in the front beds.
- Last gasp of effort - I planted an Alamo Vine (that I bought at Buchanan's on Friday) on the trellis in the Orchard.
- Drove in to work on Monday morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment