Cleanup Done? May 2, 2007
Posted by carolmk in Clematis, Garden_update, Spring_Cleaning.add a comment
OK, this weekend I finished cleaning out the flower beds of leaves, odds and ends and dead plant material. I also managed to rototill the two new flower beds I prepped last summer and the garden. In addition, I put up the rest of the peony rings (unless I missed one or one hasn’t sprouted yet), took pictures of the yard (finally) and planted the poppy seeds from Mr. Evans in the front porch bed, love in a mist behind the garage by the back door and the moss rose seeds under the kitchen window. I cut the oldest branches on the forsythia as close to the base as I could; ditto the dogwood. Somehow I mustered enough energy to also plant the potatoes: Cranberry Red, All Blue and Yukon Gold from Territorial Seeds. I didn’t have enough energy to plant the onion plants that arrived on Friday. I did put them in a bucket of water on the front porch. Hope that holds them. After all that (and some more), I was exhausted both Saturday and Sunday night. Saturday saw a high of about 74; Sunday 85 (totally ridiculous and no wonder I felt like I was melting). Rather sore yesterday but much better today.
It is the end of the semester, so I’m in the battle between school work and trying to get stuff done outside–I’ve still got a lot to do both places. I’ve got the sweet peas and morning glories seeds soaking–I really should go out and plant them now, but I don’t think I will. This weekend, half the neighborhood was cleaning their garages. It’s weird how they all seem to pick the same day.
If I get home at a decent time tomorrow, I’ll plant the soaking seeds and start planting the onion plants. If I’m really ambitious I’ll get the rain gauge out too. It would have been nice to have it last night. I rained (complete with thunder) from about 9:00 until at least 2:00. I didn’t get much sleep–too noisy. However, the grass is definitely greener and taller. I’ll need to call about mowing this week or next. Today it was 47 when I left for work and it was 69 when I got home about 5:45.
The blood roots are basically done and the May flowers are finishing up. The spring beauties are going strong and the trillium buds are showing some touch of white. Still no sign of Jack-in-the-pulpits. The bluebells are just barely starting to open. I have a couple dozen daffodils in bloom in the back side bed. Due to the exceptionally warm weather this weekend, some things are rapidly growing. I have a few clematis with buds (Westerplatte, Crystal Fountain, Belle of Woking and Multiblue). I can’t believe how rampant Westerplatte and Crystal Fountain are. They basically died back to the ground and they both are about 2-3′ high already. Of course it helps that they are against the wall of the garage with a southern exposure. Betty Corning and Duchess of Albany are about 2′ high (they of course die down to the ground every year). We won’t talk about my Virgin’s Bower (I think I’ll need RoundUp again). The viorna by the electric fence came through the winter well as did crispa which is looking better now than it did at the end of last summer. So far, no sign of life from Carnaby, Killian Donuhue, Victor Hugo, Bee’s Jubilee, Ochroleuca, Fremontii, Pitcherii, Hirsutissima, Texensis, Vesuvius or Avante Garde–but I’m not giving up hope yet–some other stuff hasn’t come up yet either. A few of the peonies (near the house) are showing signs of buds–others are just barely up.
I expect I’ll see plant orders arriving late next week. Hopefully, the weather will be good this weekend so I can get stuff caught up and ready. I’ve got a stack of twigs/branches to take to Brush Control and it looks like the raspberries (both red and black) are ready for pruning. The dandelions are starting to sprout so I’ve got digging to do. Anyway, spring is sprung!
Spring–At Last? April 22, 2007
Posted by carolmk in Clematis, Garden_update, Spring_Cleaning, weather.add a comment
OK, last week mornings were below freezing and we were lucky to get up to the 40s. This week, we still had mornings around freezing but every day was warmer than the last. Today, Saturday, it was 49 when I got up and it got up to 76!
With the warm weather a lot is happening quickly in the yard.
My wildflowers in the White Pine Bed have survived nicely (I think). I’ve got three May flowers (hepatica) in bloom. Two are white, one is pink. The pink one has a least 20 buds. I couldn’t tell how many buds were on the other plants. I’ve also got about half a dozen blood roots in bloom in three clumps–more blood root shoots are coming up. There are leaves of dutchman’s breeches showing–just. The Jacob’s ladder is about 6″ tall and the leeks look healthy. I think I’ll need to thin the waterleaf as I see quite a few coming up. Bill Mackenzie clematis is alive, there are buds and I think a new shoot. I raked the excess leaves out of the bed today and removed the wires from around the blueberries–they all look pretty good. I need to get deer deterrent stuff out there tomorrow before they are grazed to nubs. The deer are nibbling on my lilac and have almost eaten the summersweet down to the ground. One of the rhubarb plants is just coming up.
The small wildflower area around the big side maple is showing a lot of life as well. There are a half dozen spring beauties in bloom, the Jacob’s ladder is about 6″ tall and the meadow rue is up.
I finished cleaning the east side bed completely. All leaves are cleared. The peony rings are up on Sister’s bedroom bed, her maple tree bed and the east side bed. There are some signs of bleeding hearts coming up in the east side bed. That’s one I need to divide. The virgin’s bower, Will Goodwin, texensis and Betty Corning clematis on the east side bed are showing signs of life. Hakuree, in Sister’s bedroom bed is looking good as is Polish spirit in Sister’s maple bed.
I worked outside for about four hours today. I mostly worked on raking leaves out of flower beds and then grinding them up using the leaf vacuum. I raked out the garage bed, kitchen bed, pin cherry bed and back side bed. I got six bags of ground leaves. The rest of the cleanup will need to be done by hand. I also need to prune things back in each of those beds. I’ll see what I get done tomorrow. It was fairly windy today, not the optimum for picking up leaves.
Garden Cleanup: A Start April 15, 2007
Posted by carolmk in Clematis, Garden_update, geocaching, Spring_Cleaning.add a comment
The weather has finally warmed up. It was cold most of the week until yesterday (Friday) when we finally broke 50 degrees. Some mornings this week were in the low to mid 20s with highs in the 30s.
Yesterday, I got home from work early and worked outside for about two hours. I put stuff outside:
I also pulled down the garden cart and put on a bag for tomorrow (Saturday). I unpacked a tower and two trellis’ that arrived from Smith & Hawken. I now have a bunch of cardboard to tear down and recycle on my front porch.
I pulled the bags of leaves off the rose behind the garage and the rose along the side of the garage and I picked up all the garbage that had blown into the yard over the winter. At long last I actually removed the not-so-festive Christmas garlands and wreath from the front porch. I’m sure the neighbors are relieved. I pulled up or cut down all the deer deterents I had placed last fall–I probably missed a few but I think I got most of them. The deer are definitely visiting and munching. Fortunately, there is not much up yet to munch.
Today, Saturday, it was about 27 when I got up and the highest temperature I saw was 56. I worked outside without a coat, just two sweaters, for about three hours. I managed to cut back all the clematis, pick up sticks (there was quite a pile as a result), pick up the sod disrupted by the snowplows, started pulling leaves off two beds and assembled the two trellis’ and moved them into place–I’ll stabilize them tomorrow.
There really isn’t much up yet. The snowdrops are still blooming. I have a few crocus in bloom and some winter aconite. The forsythia is really ready to bloom. Another day or two of warmer weather and the buds will open–it should be pretty spectacular. It looked like most of the clematis are alive; about a dozen, can’t tell yet. Some have green buds but most I could tell were still alive because the wood was green inside as I pruned. The daffodils are coming up and the few remaining tulips from the previous owners. The rhubarb is still looking short (and very red); none of the rhubarb in the white pine bed is up yet. There are a few signs of my Jacob’s ladders coming up as well as a pasque flower.<p>
There’s a lot of leaf removal in beds. I know mulch is good, but this is a bit much! The leaves are almost one foot deep in places. After all the bending and picking up, I wonder if I’ll be able to move tomorrow?
I suppose I should try to take some pictures to document this year in my garden!
I also attended a geocaching introduction today at the Chamber of Commerce. It sounds like fun. There are about 700 geocaches within a 100 mile radius! Amazing!
March 7, 2007 March 7, 2007
Posted by carolmk in Clematis, Ordering, Photography, Software, Web Site.add a comment
Well, I’m not off to a very good start here in keeping up a blog. I need to develop a routine and make it a habit.
A lot has been happening the past couple weeks. We had two large snowfalls of about 12″ each and currently have about 12″ on the ground. In parts of the yard the snow is deeper than that. The weather is supposed to warm up tomorrow and I expect we’ll have considerable melting.
I’ve placed my order with
for perennials and daylilies. I also placed an order with Kinsman for some hanging basket supplies and a garden labeler.
I still need to order some supports (for clematis) and maybe some stuff from Gardens Alive.
Meanwhile, I’ve been working on the web site. I have most of the data in on my clematis (bloom charts and basic information) and for the plant beds (with what sunlight/shade data I collected last year). I’ve also scanned in a couple hundred pictures (not all garden related) and I need to identify and edit the ones I want to use on the web site. Mostly what needs doing is writing the main page and getting the photos that I currently have in. Then I need to check it out on several browsers on both Mac and Windows platforms and tweak again. Of course, I need to keep it updated as the garden season progresses.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve also made a decision on a digital camera (on order and arriving any day) and I’m evaluating the pros and cons of Adobe Lightroom vs. Apple Aperture for organizing my images. More on that evaluation later.
Spring is definitely on the way. I need to get in shape for all the bending, hauling, cutting, weeding, planting, etc. to come!
Saturday February 17 February 16, 2007
Posted by carolmk in Clematis, Ordering, Web Site.add a comment
It’s warmer out today (currently about 21) with a blue sky and fluffy white clouds. We still have about 4″ of snow that is looking rather dingy. With warmer weather, I’m hoping for some snow. All of the big storms were south of us and we could use some more snow as insulation.
I went through some of the remaining catalogs this morning to see whether there are any I can winnow out. I’ve already ordered from:
I still have to order from Garden Crossings and some garden supports (trellis and pillars). Otherwise, it looks like the majority of ordering is done.
I also posted my web site, The Back Forty (still being written), for testing on different platforms and browsers. I’ve actually got more content on the non-main page pages. I still need to do a bunch of scanning for the missing images. The clematis listings are almost finished. Next on those pages are entering the data from last year’s bloom chart for the one that bloomed and then finding and scanning pictures. I’m still playing with the CSS and some scripting for the site. It will be interesting to see if I actually get it not only up but maintained.
