Gardening Diary – April 30, 2019

 

Pink Delight Butterfly Bush

[Buddleja davidii ‘Pink Delight’].

Picture taken on May 1, 2019.

Pruned the Pink Delight Butterfly Bush [Buddleja davidii ‘Pink Delight’]; chipped the branches that were cut off.

Started to chip the branches that were cut off the Dappled Willow [Salix integra ‘Hakuro Nishiki’] yesterday. Had a lot of clogging of the chipper. Sharon thought that the many leaves left on the branches were the cause. We’ll check this out next week.

Started to prune the Kaleidoscope Butterfly Bush [Buddleia davidii] and chipped the branches that were cut off.

Gardening Diary – April 29, 2019

Dappled Willow

[Salix integra ‘Hakuro Nishiki’].

Picture taken on April 29, 2019.

Sharon and I pruned the Dappled Willow [Salix integra ‘Hakuro Nishiki’] next to the right fence.

Gardening Diary – April 27, 2019

Clematis bed

Picture taken April 27, 2019.

 

Crape Myrtle bed

Picture taken April 27, 2019.

Weeded the Clematis bed and the Crape Myrtle bed. Sprinkled Preen Extended Control Granules Weed Preventer on these beds and watered them.

Tomatoes

Picture taken April 27, 2019.

Heavy rain and gusty winds yesterday had pushed down some Tomatoes. Sharon straightened the Tomatoes and added some soil around their stems. She also pruned the Tomatoes.

Sharon sprayed all the plants in the straw bale beds with Kaolin clay.

In addition, Sharon harvested some All Season Romaine Lettuce from straw bale bed #8.

Gardening Diary – April 25, 2019

 Sharon rolled back the bird netting on straw bale beds # 6-7.

She then continued weeding the 2nd bulb bed.

Started weeding the Daffodils’ bed in the front yard.

Gardening Diary – April 24, 2019

 A representative from Backflow Specialty Co Inc came and fixed the plumbing connecting the backflow to the irrigation system. He also did the inspection for the county.

Pink Muhly Grasses beds

[Muhlenbergia capillaris].

Pictures taken on April 24, 2019.

Sharon and I weeded the 2 Pink Muhly Grasses beds and cut back the Grasses [Muhlenbergia capillaris].

Front bulb bed.

Picture taken on April 24, 2019.

Also cut back the Red Switch Grasses [Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’] which were in the front bulb bed.

Cut back last year’s growth of the False Aster [Kalimeris pinnatifida ‘Hortensis’] and the Hydrangeas [Hydrangea sp.] in the Daffodil bed.

Sharon removed onions from the front bulb bed.

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Additional photograph (1) taken today:

Orange Azalea

[Rhododendron sp.]

Picture taken on April 24, 2019.

Gardening Diary – April 22 - 23, 2019

African Marigold

[Tagetes erecta].

Picture taken April 27, 2019.

Sharon planted 24 African Marigolds [Tagetes erecta] in the sides of the straw bales.

Color Pride Coleus

[Solenostemon scutellarioides ‘Color Pride’].

Picture taken on April 23, 2019.

Planted 4 Color Pride Coleus [Solenostemon scutellarioides ‘Color Pride’] near the Astilbe bed in the right rear of the back bed.

ColorBlaze® Dipt in Wine Coleus

[Solenostemon scutellarioides].

Pictures taken on April 23, 2019.

Planted 3 ColorBlaze® Dipt in Wine Coleus [Solenostemon scutellarioides] near the recently planted Burning Bush [Euonymus alatus] in the original bed.

Bandana® Pink Lantana

[Lantana camara].

Picture taken on April 23, 2019.

Planted 2 Bandana® Pink Lantana [Lantana camara] near the Sunny Anniversary Glossy Abelia [Abelia x grandiflora] in the original bed.

All of these plants were purchased at Minges’ Nursery.

Sprinkled Preen Extended Control Granules Weed Preventer on the original bed in the area that had recently been weeded. Watered the original bed.

Gardening Diary – April 20, 2019

 

Sharon added snail bait pellets to straw bale beds #5-8 and placed diatomaecious earth to plants in straw bale beds #1-4 and the Strawberries.

Continued weeding of the right hand fence bed from the Densiformis Yew [Taxus x media ‘Densiformis’] up to the new fence. Sharon also weeded on the other side of the fence.

Gardening Diary – April 19, 2019

 Sharon planted more Yellow Crookneck Squash, Black Beauty Eggplant, Ichiban Eggplant and Cucumbers and added Zucchini.

Original bed

Picture taken on April 22, 2019.

Finished weeding the original bed up to the Autumn Fire Sedum [Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’].

Weeded the Fern bed and the right fence bed up to the Densiformis Yew [Taxus x media ‘Densiformis’].

Gardening Diary – April 18, 2019

 Reinstalled the drip hoses on the straw bale beds. Connected the hose that we have been using to the hose that leads to the drip hoses. All the drip hoses were working ok.

Yellow Crookneck Squash

Picture taken on April 22, 2019.

Black Beauty Eggplant

Picture taken on April 22, 2019.

Ichiban Eggplant

Picture taken on April 22, 2019.

Sharon planted Yellow Crookneck Squash, Black Beauty Eggplant, Ichiban Eggplant and Cucumbers.

Used the weed-eater on the walkway next to the original bed, the walkway between the 2nd bulb bed and the Rose bed, the walkway along the back porch and Butterfly Bush bed and then the area between the front right fence and the newly installed fence.

Gardening Diary – April 17, 2019

 

Cut back Climbing Rose Bush

Picture taken April 17, 2019.

Cut back the climbing rose bush since it no longer produces the Roses that were apparently grafted to a different Rose bush which has taken over. Took the branches over to the area at the edge of Dave’s yard where the city will pick them up tomorrow.

Marguerite Ipomoea

[Ipomoea batatas].

Picture taken on April 17, 2019.

Planted a Sweet Potato Vine, Marguerite Ipomoea [Ipomoea batatas], in the bottomless tub which we installed next to one of the bird feeders.

Beardtongue

[Penstomen digutalis].

Picture taken April 17, 2019.

Last year, we had a volunteer plant grow in one of the pots that had soil in it. It appears to be a Beardtongue [Penstomen digutalis] that looks to be similar to a Beardtongue that we planted in the 2nd bulb bed last year. Planted the volunteer next to the latter plant.

Planted the following in the original bed:

Orange Lantana

[Lantana camara].

Picture taken on April 17, 2019.

Canaries Yellow Wallflower

[Erysimum ‘Canaries Yellow’].

Picture taken on April 17, 2019.

Playboy™ Hollywood™ Hibiscus

[Hibiscus rosa-sinensis ‘14015’ PPAF].

Picture taken April 17, 2019.

Burning Bush (Winged Euonymus)

[Euonymus alatus].

Picture taken April 17, 2019.

We obtained the 2 Burning Bushes from Aldi’s and the remaining plants (except the Beardtongue) from Minge’s.

Sharon watered and weeded the straw bales. In the process, she removed the many Maple seeds that had fallen on the straw bales.

Gardening Diary – April 16, 2019

 Noah and Elizabeth wanted us to grow strawberries in our garden. Since Sharon had plans for other vegetables in the straw bales, we decided to purchase a GreenStalk Vertical Planter. We had seen it on Facebook and we visited the factory/store on Middlebrook Pike. While this planter uses soil, we had seen similar hydroponic towers being used to grow strawberries commercially at King’s Farm in South Knox county.

Weed-eated the area on which we decided to place the planter.

Sharon and Lily in front of the 2nd tier of GreenStalk vertical planter with strawberries.

Picture taken on April 16, 2019.

Noah planting strawberries in the GreenStalk vertical planter under the supervision of Sharon and Neo.

Picture taken on April 16, 2019.

We obtained a full tray of Ozark Beauty Strawberries from Knoxville Seed; we were only able to use 30 of the 35 strawberry plants in the tower.

Sharon and Noah in front of the GreenStalk vertical planter.

Picture taken on April 16, 2019.

After Noah finished planting, Sharon watered the strawberries.

Gardening Diary – April 14 - 15, 2019

 Sharon continued to water the straw bale beds.

Icicle Radishes

Picture taken April 16, 2019.

Sharon noticed that the Icicle Radishes and Roma II Bush Beans were under attack by some insects. She sprayed all the vegetables with Kaolin clay.

Gardening Diary – April 11 - 12, 2019

 Sharon watered the straw bales.

Tried to set up the watering system but the pvc pipe connected to the backflow was split.

Continued weeding the original bed; Sharon joined me in this pursuit when she finished watering.

Gardening Diary – April 10, 2019

 Sharon planted 2 each of the following peppers and tomatoes in straw bales #2-4:

Baron Red Beauty Pepper

Picture taken April 10, 2019.

Sweet Banana Pepper

Picture taken April 10, 2019.

Big Bertha Sweet Green Pepper

Picture taken April 10, 2019.

Beef Master Tomatoes

Picture taken April 10, 2019.

Better Boy Tomatoes

Picture taken April 10, 2019.

Early Girl Tomatoes

Picture taken April 10, 2019.

Empire Tomatoes
Picture taken April 10, 2019.

Rutgers Tomatoes

Picture taken April 10, 2019.

The plants were obtained from Minge’s Nursery.

After pruning the Red Hot Pokers [Kniphofia sp.], started weeding the original bed. Broke a pitchfork trying to get a large clump of Green-headed Coneflowers [Rudbeckia laciniata] that was growing behind the Red Hot Pokers.

Gardening Diary – April 9, 2019

 

Sharon fertilizing straw bale bed #1.

Picture taken on April 9, 2019.

Sharon fertilized straw bale bed #1 with 10-10-10 fertilizer. This completes the preparation of straw bale bed #1. All straw bale beds are ready for planting!

Gardening Diary – April 6, 2019

 

Straw bale #5.

Picture taken on April 6, 2019.

Purchased 3 pvc electrical conduits from Lowe’s the other day. Cut them to form 3 supports for coverings of straw bale bed #5. Unfortunately, we had only 5 curved pieces; we’ll need to get another one.

Took some of the fencing that was installed between the tier bed and the left fence and installed it to complete the fence between the back bed and the tier bed.

While I was doing this, Sharon did some cleaning of the back bed and the walkway in front of it.

Butterfly Bush

[Buddleja davidii].

Picture taken on April 6, 2019.

Sharon pruned the Butterfly Bush [Buddleja davidii] that is in front of the left side of the back bed.

Edging stone in front of back bed.
Picture taken on April 6, 2019.

Sharon and I finished moving the stone edging in the front of the left side of the back bed. Some soil in the area between the original position and the new position of the stone edging was moved to back of the stone edging. This was done to even out the walkway in the front of the back bed.

Red Hot Poker

[Kniphofia sp.]
Picture taken on April 5, 2019.

Sharon and I separated the Red Hot Pokers [Kniphofia sp.] that were removed from the path of the new fence. We planted the 4 sections in back of the Asiatic Lily/Sedum/Iris bed.

Sharon fertilized straw bale bed #1 with Alaska Fish Fertilizer and Miracle-Gro Water Soluble All Purpose Plant Food and straw bale bed #2 with 10-10-10 fertilizer. This completes the preparation of straw bale bed #2.

Gardening Diary – April 5, 2019

 Sharon fertilized straw bale beds #1-2 with Alaska Fish Fertilizer and Miracle-Gro Water Soluble All Purpose Plant Food and straw bale bed #3 with 10-10-10 fertilizer. This completes the preparation of straw bale bed #3.

Sharon watered these straw bale beds. Since it rained last night, she didn’t water the other straw bales.

Gardening Diary – April 4, 2019

 Sharon fertilized straw bale beds #1-3 and watered all of the straw bale beds.

Rest of fence separating the garden.

Picture taken on April 5, 2014.

Sharon and I installed 4 more sections of fence which we purchased from Lowe’s today. This left about 2 feet to cover with some fencing.

Moving of stone edging in front of back bed.

Picture taken on April 5, 2014.

Started moving part of the stone edging in front of the back bed so that we will be able to move the wagon through the recently installed gate.

Roma II Bush Beans

[Phaseolus vulgaris ‘Italian Roma’].
Picture taken on April 5, 2014.

Later, in the late afternoon, Sharon noticed that some critter was disturbing straw bale #7. She covered it with bird netting (Vigoro 14 ft. x 45 ft. Polypropylene Bird Block Netting and Barrier, UV Treated).

Gardening Diary – April 3, 2019

Sharon fertilized straw bale beds #1-3 with Alaska Fish Fertilizer and Miracle-Gro Water Soluble All Purpose Plant Food and straw bale bed #4 with 10-10-10 fertilizer and watered all of the straw bale beds. This completes the preparation of straw bale bed #4.

Gate.

Picture taken on April 3, 2019.

Replaced the gate that we installed on Saturday with a fence panel. Attached the gate to the latter panel.

Part of fence separating the garden.

Picture taken on April 3, 2019.

Sharon then helped me to install the remaining 5 fence panels that we had. Needed to prune some branches of the Wine & Roses Weigela [Weigela florida ‘Alexandra’] and the Minerva Althea [Hibiscus syriacus ‘Minerva’] that interfered with the installation of the fence.

Gardening Diary – April 2, 2019

 The low temperature for early morning of April 1 was in the high 20’s. We did not take any precautions to protect the plants.

Sharon fertilized straw bale beds #1-4 and watered all of the straw bale beds. This is the last time that she fertilizes straw bale bed # 4 with Alaska Fish Fertilizer and Miracle-Gro Water Soluble All Purpose Plant Food.