Gardening Diary – May 21, 2019

 Cut off a section of the hose which had blown a hole last week. Added a male connector so that this section can be added to the hose that we bought last week. The section had the original female connector.

The hose can now reach the Strawberry tower which we watered today.

Sharon pruned the Tomatoes and then continued to weed the Rose bed.

Spread 3 more 3 ft³ bags of pine bark mini nuggets mulch from Ace Hardware so that the recently weeded areas of the Sedum / Iris bed has been covered.

Cut down the Green-headed Coneflowers [Rudbeckia laciniata] that was growing between the Green-headed Coneflowers bed and the Rose bed.

Cut back about 18 inches off the top of the plants in the Green-headed Coneflowers bed. While this lowers the height of the flowers, it also increases the number of flowers.

Gardening Diary – May 17 - 18, 2019

 Spread out Preen Extended Control Weed Preventer on the Sedum / Iris bed.

Spread 4 3 ft³ bags of pine bark mini nuggets mulch from Ace Hardware on recently weeded areas of the Sedum / Iris bed. A few weeds that emerged in these areas were also removed.

To get into the shade, started to weed the back of the right side of the back bed.

Sharon continued to weed the Rose bed.

Gardening Diary – May 15, 2019

 

Sweet Potato Vine, Marguerite Ipomoea

[Ipomoea batatas].

Picture taken May 15, 2019.

Sharon weeded the pail that contained the Sweet Potato Vine.

Gypsy Sweet Pepper

Picture taken May 17, 2019.

She replaced the Gypsy Sweet Pepper that Lilly had broken on Monday.

After planting the Tomatillo [Physalis philadelphica] on Monday, Sharon found out that there had to be another Tomatillo for cross-fertilization. She planted the additional Tomatillo not far from the first one in straw bale bed #3.

In addition to the following plant, these were obtained from Lowe’s.

Sonic Bloom Pink Weigela

[Weigela florida ‘Bokrasopin’].

Picture taken May 15, 2019.

Planted the above Weigela in the Sedum / Iris bed.

Tomatillo

[Physalis philadelphica].

Picture taken May 15, 2019.

Sharon spread diatomaceous earth over vegetables that did not have blooms.

Then, Sharon continued to weed the rose bed.

Took the three pots with Attention Please Tall Bearded Iris [Iris germanica ‘Attention Please’] that we got from Mingie’s, split the contents into 10 plants and planted them in the Sedum / Iris bed:

Attention Please Tall Bearded Iris

[Iris germanica ‘Attention Please’].

Pictures taken May 15, 2019.

Gardening Diary – May 13, 2019

 

Sharon with Icicle Radishes

Picture taken May 13, 2019.

Sharon harvested all of the Icicle Radishes from straw bale bed #5.

Lunchbox Red Sweet Snacking Pepper & Gypsy Sweet Pepper

Picture taken May 13, 2019.

Sharon planted 3 peppers, Lunchbox Red Sweet Snacking Peppers, Gypsy Sweet Pepper & Yellow Bell Sweet Peppers, in straw bale bed #5 from where she took out the Icicle Radishes. Unfortunately, Lilly had broken in half the Gypsy Sweet Pepper.

Tomatillo

[Physalis philadelphica]

Picture taken May 13, 2019.

Then Sharon planted a Tomatillo [Physalis philadelphica] in straw bale bed #3.

Sharon started to weed the rose bed.

Coral Beauty Cotoneaster

[Cotoneaster dammeri ‘Coral Beauty’].

Picture taken May 13, 2019.

Planted the above Coral Beauty Cotoneaster in the original bed and planted the following three plants

Snow White Indian Hawthorn

[Raphiolepis indica ‘Snow White’].

Picture taken May 13, 2019.

Goldflame Spirea

[Spiraea x bumalda ‘Goldflame’].

Picture taken May 13, 2019.

Magic Carpet^TM Spirea

[Spiraea japonica ‘Walbuma’].

Picture taken May 13, 2019.

in the Sedum / Iris bed.

All of these plants were from Lowe’s.

Gardening Diary – May 11, 2019

 Continued to weed the Sedum / Iris bed.

Gardening Diary – May 10, 2019

 

Tomatoes and Peppers|
Picture taken May 10, 2019.

Zucchini

Picture taken May 10, 2019.

Sharon spread kaolin clay over the plants in straw bale beds #1-5, 8.

Continued to weed the Sedum / Iris bed.

Added a spinner in the original bed not far from the Red Hot Pokers [Kniphofia sp.] and replaced the support for 1 of the spinners in the Sedum / Iris bed. All the outlets worked in the original bed and in the Sedum / Iris bed.

Checked the outlets in the bush bed. The outlets were ok from the Hicks Yew [Tuxus x media ‘Hicksii’] to the Autumn Jazz Arrowwood Viburnum [Viburnum dentatum ‘Ralph Senior’]. The outlet was not connected to the hose at the Kaleidoscope Abelia [Abelia x grandiflora ‘Kaleidoscope’]; plugged the hole which was next to the ground and added a new one on the top of the hose.

Could not find the outlets at the remaining 3 plants of the bush bed.

Gardening Diary – May 9, 2019

 Today, Sharon planted:

Pimento Sweet Pepper

Picture taken on May 9, 2019.

Mr. Stripey Tomatoes

Picture taken on May 9, 2019.

Zucchini

Picture taken on May 9, 2019.

Burpless Cucumber

Picture taken on May 9, 2019.

and

Cherokee Purple Tomatoes

Picture taken on May 9, 2019.

After planting, Sharon used diatomaecious earth on the plants in straw bales #1-6.

These plants were obtained from Minges Nursery yesterday.

Continued to weed the Sedum / Iris bed. Found some more outlets one of which was defective. Pruned last year’s growth off of the New England Aster [Aster novae-angliae].

Sharon continued to weed the 2nd bulb bed.

Gardening Diary – May 8, 2019

Straw bale beds #1-4

Picture taken on May 8, 2019.

Sharon and I tied string on the supports for straw bale beds #3-4 to provide support of the Peppers and Tomatoes in the latter beds.

Sharon pruned the Tomatoes.

Original herb bed

Picture taken on May 8, 2019.

Sharon and I weeded the original herb bed which will contain the Watermelon plants. We obtained these plants from Minges Nursery today. Noah will be planting the Watermelons.

Gardening Diary – May 7, 2019

 Checked out the Autumn Jazz Arrowwood Viburnum [Viburnum dentatum ‘Ralph Senior’] which had been pushed down by the heavy rains this past weekend and noticed that one of the branches had been split. Cut off this and one other branch.

Sedum / Iris bed

Picture taken on May 7, 2019.

Pruned the Russian Sage [Perovskia atriplicifolia]. The smaller Russian Sage next to this was dead.

Weeded about half of the Sedum / Iris bed. There was no evidence of some of the plants that were added the past 2 years. For example, there was no sign of the 3 Arizona Sunset Agastache [Agastache ‘Arizona Sunset’] planted last year. There were a couple of small swigs of Yarrow where there were 3 large 3 Strawberry Seduction Yarrows [Achillea millefolium ‘Strawberry Seduction’] last year. Not sure whether the problem was the weeds or the flooding that occurred during the Winter.

Almost all of the weeds were Violets [Viola papilionacea], Showy Evening Primrose [Oenothera speciosa], Yellow Nutsedge [Cyperus esculentus] and Daisies (Oxeye Daisies [Leucanthemum vulgare]???).

There is a patch of plants on the upper left of the photo which contains some Showy Evening Primroses. The leaves are similar to those of the Daisies but the root structure is different.

Found several outlets one of which was damaged.

Gardening Diary – May 6, 2019

 Repaired the hose which blew out a hole. Used a connector to join the 2 pieces obtained after cutting out the hole.

Attached the hose to the irrigation system that starts in the original bed. Started to check each of the outlets. Replaced a spinner which was chewed up by one of the dogs.

Added a Y connector to the irrigation system near the bird bath and added an irrigation line over to the Red Hot Pokers [Kniphofia sp.]. Did not add a  spinner yet.

Went over to the Sedum / Iris bed to check the outlets. Since this bed had not been weeded, we needed to weed to find the outlets.

After weeding around the first outlet, the hose blew out another hole. Repaired the hose by cutting the hose at the new hole and added a male attachment. (One of the constraints on the side of the connector added earlier was stripped.)

Autumn Jazz Arrowwood Viburnum

[Viburnum dentatum ‘Ralph Senior’].

Picture taken on May 6, 2019.

Before weeding the Sedum / Iris bed, noticed that the heavy rains over the weekend had pushed down the Autumn Jazz Arrowwood Viburnum [Viburnum dentatum ‘Ralph Senior’]. Will examine this tomorrow.

Gardening Diary – May 4, 2019

Walkway

Picture taken on May 6, 2019.

Walkway next to left fence

Picture taken on May 6, 2019.

Weed-eated all the walkways in the left side of the garden enclosed within the new fence. In addition, weed-eated the walkway in front of the left side of the back bed and the walkway between the front of the right side of the back bed and the straw bale beds #1-4.

Spread out Preen Extended Control Weed Preventer on the original bed. Since it was going to rain, I did not water the bed.

Gardening Diary – May 2, 2019

 

Front porch bed

Picture taken on May 2, 2019.

Pruned the 4 Flowering Quinces [Chaenomeles speciosa] in the front porch bed so that Dave can mow next to this bed.

Sunny Knock Out Roses

[Rosa ‘Radsunny’].

Pictures taken on May 2, 2019.

Weeded the Sunny Knock Out Roses bed 

Purple Smoke Bush bed

Picture taken on May 2, 2019.

and the Purple Smoke Bush bed.

Gardening Diary – May 1, 2019

 

Kaleidoscope Butterfly Bush

[Buddleia davidii].

Picture taken on May 1, 2019.

Finished pruning the Kaleidoscope Butterfly Bush [Buddleia davidii] and chipping the branches that were cut off.

Groovy Grape Butterfly Bush

[Buddleja davidii ‘PPBD-I’].

Picture taken on May 1, 2019.

Pruned the Groovy Grape Butterfly Bush [Buddleja davidii ‘PPBD-I’] and chipped the branches that were cut off.

Josee Lilac

[Syringa ‘Josee’].

Picture taken on May 1, 2019.

The Josee Lilac [Syringa ‘Josee’] had no leaves and no new growth. As mentioned last year, there was another bush growing right next to it. Even though that the bush was cut down last year, it grew to about 8 feet tall. There were some flowers on it. We decided to cut it down since it was very close to the house and was a fast grower. All the branches except for the bottom of the main branch were chipped.

During last Summer, we cut down some branches of the Cardinal Red Twig Dogwood [Cornus sericea] that were covering the straw bales beds. The branches were left in the walkway next to the 2nd bulb bed. Finally, we got to collect these and chipped these branches.

In the process, weeded this walkway.

Threadleaf Blue Star

[Amsonia hubrichtii].

Picture taken on May 1, 2019.

Cut back last year’s growth of the Threadleaf Blue Star [Amsonia hubrichtii] and weeded around this plant.