Today in the garden, I...

My mower is self propelled, but that doesn't do much good when the lawn is this deep. It will be self propelled by me, I fear.

No pics for today, I have a ton of non-garden work today followed up by a two hour internet radio show this evening in which I am interviewed for an hour and then I interview someone for an hour. I did photograph the new row of tomatoes and will try to get the pics out of the camera and on here tomorrow...

Congratulations on being on the radio. Always good to know a celebrity!

Cool mulch! I am a tired girl but all the perennial babys and glads are in (except for the teensy weensy babys which need more time in pots to develop bigger roots). Next digging dahlia holes and doing containers. DH did 'lawning' chores and helped me get a clematis up on the wood shed roof. My staple gun theory didn't work so well so he nailed on some bird netting which should work better. I will take a pic.

I'm tired too but have more to do nonetheless. Mulch, that sounds positively heroic!

This morning I got up early and went out and planted in the back: wintersown zinnias, cosmos, cleome (!), Aesclepias incarnata (!) starts, yay! And also planted two little sedums I found at the nursery yesterday, and a very small rose I got cheap cause it had been damaged. We shall see if it makes it -- after I cut the bad parts off and quarantined in with a few spritzes of soapy water for its aphids, it looked rather perky. It is something called Caramba, or Tanabamar -- a "ground cover rose" -- which, if it takes hold where I put it, will be very nice.

I also worked into the compost two large garbage bags of nice grass clippings I scored yesterday, interlayered with dried leaves and a few twigs, got that all set up........

then went and clipped the nearly mature seedheads of a lot of foxtail barley grass along the verge behind the fence. Neighbor had gotten week whacker out to some of it yesterday and unfortunately left some strewn dried mature seedheads around, so I picked up as much of that as I could and figured I better get proactive back there.

Set the soil up in the huge container on the deck for the chard I will put in there when the sun goes over the roof and shades the deck. Then I will plant tomatoes, cucumber, and pepper starts also in large containers. Well, if I get that far, that may wait til tomorrow, depending on my energy level and whether I in fact have enough potting mix materials! The coir I ordered got delayed, so I may be halted in my tracks. We shall see.

I also have flowers to plant out on the deck. Found a lovely heliotrope! I love those.

You have been a busy girl! And you have scored some good finds. I have been pulling weeds and cleaning the house. Yuk! I would be mowing the grass but it rained again. Everything looks wonderful though except the 2 ft. high grass. Guess I will mow tomorrow.

I let my grass get pretty tall this year before we cut it and it looks like letting it run lose rejuvinated it. So much thicker and greener. So on the bright side you may have a more lovely lawn for letting it go ;)

When I get back home I'll water and work on getting more of my peppers in place.

Here's hoping you are right duchess. I have lots of stuff to plant.

I hear ya. This time of year I always end up wondering just what I was thinking when I started all those seeds =)

Today in the garden I dug up a number of fern leaf tansy plants and potted several of them in bunches in 2 pots, watered them and set them in the shade to get themselves together. Dparsons, did you want some those? Then I planted in two little achillea plants, paprika. they bloom red and fade out to a peachy yellow. I already have some but wanted more. I also bought a 4 pack of mixed colored begonias which will be in a pot and didn't get planted yet. I took about 50 pictures, kept 30. Noticed how the daily rains are delighting the aphids. Wondered if roses would get powdery mildew this year. Looked at a difficult area and wondered what to do with it.

That sounds like a nicely balanced day, Roybird.

Planted that chard I got set up for this morning, then this afternoon I mixed by hand in a large trug/tote, soil potting mix for 8 five gallon grow bags in which I planted 8 tomatoes, one of each variety I grew from seed. I also mixed by hand same for two 3 gallon pots into which went the lemon cucumber that looked like the winner of three plants, into one, and the Big Red bell pepper in the other.

Oops. Almost out of potting mix! Mixed up what was left and planted the heliotrope, the lovely wine flowered geranium and the erigonum (? -- fleabane it is) in two nice big probably five gallon pots.... the one with the heliotrope needs something else but I ran out of alyssum seeds and haven't decided if I want to move some to that pot or what.

I also filled a low window box type planter to sit in front of all those black grow bags, planted the three cactus flowered zinnias I had sprouted and sowed other zinnia seeds as well as a couple other things (that's where the last of the alyssum seeds went.)

I keep thinking at some point most or all of it will be planted and I can enjoy doing the more fine-tuning stuff........

I still have one tomato plant that is going to go out back...... a bunch of money plant starts I don't know what to do with yet, all the foxglove seedlings, four basils, four hungarian peppers.... all still needing to be planted out.

But I am fair tuckered, it was a big day!

This message was edited May 26, 2009 6:56 PM

That's the thing with seedlings. If you can keep them moist enough to grow, get them thru the last cold snaps, etc. Then you have umpteen jillion plants to deal with!

Yes, and I am thinking it may not be that much more thrifty than just buying plants...... well, it probably is for having this many, but not by much! Plus which, a heck of a lot of work! Honestly, I am glad that part is over for the time being, though in the beginning I loved it, and next winter will probably get suckered in again.

I have some seedlings that are so tiny I don't want to plant them out there yet, and they are such sluggards, growing so very slowly. Ah, well, it is the complaint of abundance.

Anyway, most of what I grew I could not have bought around here anyway. Even with three nurseries, I am not thrilled with what's available. Paj suggested a claret cup cactus and I went looking for one and the poor gal behind the counter at the one place honestly knows almost nothing....... but anyway they don't have any cactus. She looked at me funny for asking too, not offensive, just sort of, please don't expect me to know anything kind of look.

Yes, I know the look. "Cactus -- those big things that grow in Arizona? You want to plant one here? " I used to endure that over Thai basil, but now lots of places carry it. I only brought up claret cup cactus because I had seen them in bloom at a couple of our local nurseries. But Claret cup cactus grow wild here, so it is less surprising that they would be in our nurseries.
I didn't get all that much done in the garden today. It rained off and on all day. My dogs were both depressed. They don't like gray skies and thunder and lightening. They slept curled up in the house. I did photograph some iris, but haven't downloaded them yet. I filled up gopher holes that turned up in the veggie beds my newer iris are living in. I talked to the neighbors a lot -- I love my neighbors, but it is very hard to get any work done in the garden because they all want to talk.
I weeded a bunch -- among the iris in the veggie beds and in the part of the veggie beds where I plan to plant veggies. I potted up 2 iris I brought back from the Convention -- a gift from another DGer and also two lilies that I bought on sale at one of the local nurseries. I started filling the big pots out front with bright colored flowers both for me and for the hummingbirds who like them so much.
And I continued planning where I will put all the bazillions of plants I have purchased lately. I prepared pots for some sunflower seed, but won't plant the seed until tomorrow.
I did not mow the lawn. I wonder how high it will grow before the rain quits.


This message was edited May 26, 2009 8:30 PM

Paj, the suggestion of claret cup was a good one and I imagine I can find some somewhere..... I have seen pictures of them a lot......

anyway, glad you didn't mow your lawn, too wet anyway, eh?

Yes, that was why I didn't mow it. It was too wet yesterday when I mowed a portion of it, but today it rained and I gave up on the project. I am hoping that duchess is right and the lawn will be better for this growth spurt. But that does go against conventional lawn wisdom. My lawn is very small, but it is nice to be able to walk through it with the grass below the knees!

Today in my garden I didn't do much (garden wise)... getting ready for our outing this weekend and preparing the motorhome for our monthly tenant who will arrive Monday (only a few waking hours to turn it over between us and him, so trying to do as much in advance as possible). But, while I took a well deserved break, a pretty hummingbird made excellent use of almost every flower on one of our fuchsias! She was loving that plant! And, completely OT, I chatted a while with two sets of bicyclists staying in our RV park... amazing how far they ride! One couple... Phoenix to here, then Canada, ultimately Alaska in 4 months! (And,another set of bicyclists have come from Pueblo, CO, to here, then on to Utah, a one month journey, the elder of these two just turned 60 years old!). Wow, huh?!!!

Wow, Brenda, that person makes me look like a wimp. I am 64, but I wouldn't think of riding my bike from my house to downtown Los Alamos -- much less from Pueblo to Dolores and back again. I wouldn't do it, primarily because of a large hill between my house and downtown. But I imagine there are quite a few hills between Pueblo and Dolores! I am such a wimp.

I can only hope to be in that good of shape at 60.
Today in the garden I killed by back planting about a quarter (maybe slightly more) of our front yard slope. If I can walk tomorrow, I'll take and post pics. ;-p

We only have our bikes to ride to the bar down the street and back home again...

Wow, DJ, sounds like we have matching backs. Looking forward to those pix.

Today in the garden, I...
... took some pictures!
Here is the western side of my front yard slope that faces south. I still have much to do including removing some more old mulch & some small weeds, placing stones below my new plants, and mulching everything.

Clockwise from top left: the slope (gee - you can hardly tell I did anything); upper wester end of slope; last fall's planting above western end of slope in the front yard; close up of top of slope to the right of the stairs.

Here's more detail of the stuff i planted on either side of the stairs. For all the work I did yesterday, it still looks like I did not much. I hope it looks better after I place rock and spread mulch.

It's looking good, DJ! I know how you feel though, I planted about 20 plants in my new raised bed, and waiting for them to grow takes patience, which I am not well known for, LOL!

Oh, me too know how it feels, DJ, but once they get settled in and grow just a bit it will look even more lovely, that is a lot of work!

Oh - just so everyone knows - the row of dianthus and the lemon balm have been there for a few years already. It's all the teeny tiny things that have me feeling unaccomplished. patience with plant growth I don't have. A budget for larger plants is another thing I don't have. It will look good eventually...

Lol. I feel you on the budget for large plants. "I'm not a Dr, I don't have patience"

Don't worry about planting smaller plants, DJ. The smaller ones adapt and grow more quickly than the larger ones. In a year, it will look terrific. I see you decided to use some stones after all. That was a good decision.
And by the way, I think it looks very nice. Has it been drizzling up there the way it is down here? If so, that should help your plants settle in.
I began planting my large planters out front with dahlias and salvia and some petunias that Plants of the Southwest gave me free with the tomatoes I bought. I always seem to get something free when I go there. I planted in the rain until my hands got too cold. I love the rain but want to work outside and it is kind of hard to do without getting cold.

Snow in the higher peaks of the Sangres, hail in Las Vegas, N.M. And no sign of the storm moving away before the weekend. Hail drill time already! Sadly, the roses are too big to be covered and are already unhappy with the weather anyway. The good news is that I got a new camera which I will assemble tomorrow and hopefully won't care so much about the ruin of my roses! This morning in the garden I crawled under the large Sally Holmes rose and cut down a small apricot tree and an elm that were growing underneath it! Also cut some dead twigs from Sally.

What camera did you get Roybird??!!! And congratulations! So exciting!

Brenda

It poured rain and thunderstorms over the 3 day weekend and much of Tuesday. Today was cool and eventually cleared up but I was too sore and tired to do a whole lot. The ground was nice wet for planting, which is good, but my hands got cold (and my hands rarely get cold). I have more to pu in, but it will have to wait until the weekend.

Looking good DJ. Yesterday I had to water for the first time. That was amazing as usually I have to start watering as soon as the ground starts to thaw.

Brenda, I got the Canon XS Rebel. It is less expensive than the XSi, which I also considered. But I was able to get a telephoto lens as well as the regular lens that came with the camera. I need to learn about various lens and so forth. This is not a big, professional camera but it does shoot in RAW and JPEG and takes a variety of lens. Lenses? My English isn't good today. I'm really excited to try the new camera but have to teach a class today, etc.

Sound terrific, roybird. My camera is a Cannon but some other line. It does shoot Raw and jpeg but doesn't take different lenses. DH is itching for an upgrade, but I am happy with the one I have. I do think the big telephotos are wonderful, but it takes a lot of time to get them on and focus and all that. I am too lazy to do it, but DH may have to have a fancier camera eventually. He is an equipment geek. Before digital he had an incredibly fancy Leika camera and lenses but has no plan to go back to film. He is a far better photographer than I am, but doesn't do it very often. He took most of the pictures at the Desert Botanical which I shamelessly posted as my own. Actually I think I did mention that he took most of them.
In the garden, it loved the rain. I planted salvia, zennias, small dahlias, verbena and petunias in my large pots out front -- until like Jude, my hands got cold.
Today, I will wait for the grass to dry up some and will continue to mow my jungle of a lawn out back.
My first arilbred iris bloomed yesterday. It got kind or torn up by the rain but here is Nineveh. It is only about 12 inches high.

Today I marveled at how well my Walla Walla onions are doing! I was so concerned about them at one point because they seemed not to be growing at all, but they are real success story!

The annual opium poppy (Lauren's grape, I think? the tag is out there and I'm not) that was given to me in a teeny tiny pot that I then divided into clumps is also taking off, yay!

The blue flax I wintersowed all has flower buds, as do a number of other wildflower things. And every day more blooms open; I think the lovely red one in the wildflower mix clumps, also wintersown, is the annual red flax.

Lessee. The tomato I put back there only the other day has flowers whereas none of the ones I am babying up here on the deck is flowering yet.

None of the perennial foxgloves I labored over from seed has made it past the first transplant, they all bit the dust in the heat despite my best efforts, oh well. But the Foxy starts that survived thus far, about five of them, seem good to go.

I ate some dill in my eggs this morning. There is enough to harvest and actually taste.

My snow peas (Ha!) finally have some flowers so I do still hope for a few peas.....

Really enjoying the lettuces I planted and already thinking about fall crops of lettuce, greens, onions.....

The little rose Caramba I salvaged and put out back seems to be holding its own.

And we have a week of coolish weather forecast so that should give all of it time to get even better established before Real Summer gets here.

satisfying.

Kyla that all sounds fantastic. So many successes! Congratulations!
I've never tried foxglove but I admire them so.
I have a plant that is trying its best to croak but I'm giving it my all - Fireball Monarda. It is planted in the shade and I'm still having to water it twice a day. We had an unexpected windstorm come up and I didn't get the Fuchsia down from the branch it is hanging from - it blew out of the tree and where did it land? You guessed it - smack dab in the middle of the Monarda, sheesh!

Oh, no! That would feel turrible. specially to the Monarda.

I love love love Monarda, it is one I want *some* variety of here, but have not yet acquired or attempted.

Twice a day watering does sound extreme, though........ Wonder if High Country Gardens has any xeric Monarda varieties in their bag of tricks?

Ooh! Just heard thunder, we are having some stormy things happen, not much moisture in it...... starting to hear about lightning strikes and fires off in the woods......

Well, so much for "not much moisture" -- soon as I posted that, it started to rain and has rained steady and hard since, not looking to let up soon either.

And apparently this pattern is around for longer than a week, according to one forecast.

Sounds like good news for the garden :-)

Today, in my garden, I didn't do a whole lot. I went out and photographed the newly open iris in the yard, then went of to Santa Fe to see the garden show put on for benefit of the Santa Fe Botanic Garden which has so far not happened. But it is coming along and will be a lovely xeric garden once they raise enough money.
I toured many lovely Santa Fe Gardens and that of a good friend who also served me an excellent Salade Nicoise with white wine and gave me a tour of her own garden first. Lovely day!
In the small amount of time I had after I returned home, before dark, I watered all the plants in temporary nursery pots and planted zennias in the big pots out front. I also grated up yet more Irish Spring soap to sprinkle in my iris beds out back to keep those ever present gophers out. It seems to be working, but I also have a sack of granular castor oil to try. And after that I will try coyote urine, which can be purchased for a small fortune, and it that doesn't work, I will insist that my DH go out and urinate in the iris beds. He probably will refuse, but I have a friend whose DH is doing just that. Of course, she is having him do that within a walled yard. The irises I have that are being nightly dragged down gopher holes, are outside of my garden walls. Darn! I explained to him that he could do it after dark. Not clear whether he agreed to do so or not.
One way or the other everyone I know is getting crazy over gophers. The head of Parks and Recreation wants to go after the with the Rhodenator, a gadget which will fill gopher tunnels with a mixture of propane and oxygen and then remotely light a spark, ignighting the whole mess. Supposedly all the gopher tunels will collapse. I saw the movie, Caddy Shack, and I think the head of Parks and Rec here is trying to do the same. I have never found a good way to get rid of gophners.

This message was edited May 31, 2009 10:34 PM