Front Bed
Ok, so yesterday (Saturday) I left the soaker hose on the front bed for like, 8 hours, so that the soil would be damp and easy to work. I know that hose works well, and even with all that time, it wasn't really wet, or even damp, just kind of the right normal level. So either that area drains beautifully, or it really really needed some water.
I kind of tried to get myself to start on it yesterday afternoon, but I just couldn't. I stood out there looking at it for a while, at least?
This morning, I was ready for it. I started digging out some of the first clumps of the red Daylilies, and promptly destroyed them by breaking off stalks that did not bring with them any roots. So I slowed down on that a little bit.
I did ultimately move more than half of the little yellow ones. In the process, I think I turned and loosened nearly all the soil in there. I even pulled off lots of the mulch as I was doing this, so I have half a tub full that I can put back on if I want to.
Now the center is really nicely full of daylilies. In the back row, I've got the Clematis, who seems very happy, and two Echinacea. In front of that, to the right, I left the very large clump of tall daylilies. I was originally thinking I would divide that into individual stalks, but I got really scared after my attempts to do that initially with the other red ones. And I'm not even sure what color these are, they might be that dusty pink color? Who cares. Anyway, their size and shape and location makes perfect sense- they're directly in the middle, and they're the largest plant and almost the tallest. If I moved them, it would almost need another serious plant in there. In that same area, moving towards the left, there are the two Black Eyed Susans, and the rest of the space is filled in with the yellow daylilies, moved from the areas in the front and broken into smaller clumps and spread out. These were a lot easier to divide. A lot of them do have buds on them, so if everything is ok, I might see some flowers in the next week or two!
Ok, of course, to put all the stuff in the back, I had to dig out the Liriope. That wasn't necessarily hard- the difficult thing was trying not to mangle anything else as I tried to get in there. There were only the 3 big ones and the smaller one that was way in the back left corner. There's also one in the back end of the right side, that's not too big but it could have been divided no problem. I decided to leave it there because it's not bothering anyone. And way way under the hedge on that size is a little one that doesn't seem to be growing at all. Like, it's not quite dead, but no one cut it back because they couldn't see it, and it's not showing new growth. If I was like, in need of more Liriope, I could go get it, but I don't see that being a problem.
So of the Liriope I dug up, one was pretty small and I just transplanted it without doing anything to it. The other 3 were divided into at least 4, maybe 5 pieces, which wasn't as controlled as I thought it would be. I thought I'd be cutting them into nice quarters, but it was kind of just pulling off chunks that looked right.
I ended up with plenty of little Liriope to fill in the front of that bed, and it looks so much better. They're not so small that it looks like they were just planted, but it looks much more controlled and cared for, and obviously better designed. I should have take a "Before" picture. And then of course I finally planted the few purple annuals in there. There are 2 Calibrocha on the right side, where I didn't really change anything else. The other 4 Calibrochas are in the front center kind of to the left, mixed in with the Liriope, and the purple Sweet Allysum are along the front, mixed with Liriope.
Then I threw down a lot of bone meal. Maybe too much. I will need to make sure it's covered with some more dirt and maybe mulch, and then give it another nice long watering.
I still want more annuals in there, but maybe I don't need it. I got a mixed pack of Petunias, and at least one of them is dark purple, so I can put him in there. If I do get more, which I should not do, it has to be more of the same kind of thing.
That big Daylily in the middle might start to bother me if it does bloom some kind of weird red, which is what I'm remembering. Of course, I can certainly dig it out in the fall and move it. It would be nice to have a deed purple day lily in its place. White Flower Farm has 2 good ones, but I am not really going to pay $15 for a single bare root day lily, come on.
Also! I was able to get a lot of the tulip bulbs out when I was digging around, which I had really hoped would happen. They're drying out now, and I will bag them up and save them to replant in the fall.
Sidewalk Bed
I did plant the rest of the red Daylilies that I dug up. I really should water them since I just put them in... I also put in one of the saved ornamental grasses. One section that we replanted a month ago is still just a pile of sticks, so I just lifted it (which was effortless) and plopped the other guy in there. I do still have another ornamental grass chunk, so I might put it in there. I would also like to get some kind of nice annual for that bed. Last year I did some Lantana and I thought they were pretty good. I could also spread a bunch of Sunflower seeds and just see what happens. They'll face the wrong way... but that's ok, I'll plant them on the other side, so when people walk up the path they see them all. And that will only cost like, $5 or $10, and take almost no work.
Now, I could dig up and divide all those Liriope in the Sidewalk Bed, and spread them around, and that would fill it out even more. Just kidding, I am absolutely not doing that.
The Yarrow that are in there now are looking great- they are very full and bushy, but no signs of flowers yet. Maybe I'll give them some bone meal.
Side Bed
I watered this spot this morning, and after a few hours there were some puddles forming. So I'm a little bit concerned about the drainage there. I was able to remove that fern from the center. It was really overcrowding everything, and it doesn't really make sense for it to be in the center of the sunniest spot I have. Now the Zinnias are getting more sun, and the roses have more room to grow out.
The only other thing I want to do is maybe dig up the really big hosta. It's getting too big for the spot it's in, and it's a little crowded. If I could divide it, I would put the other half in the back, maybe the corner right near the sidewalk. It can totally cover the Muscari that are there, because those will come up in the spring before the hosta is really growing, and as it gets bigger it will just cover that spot without interfering with them at all. That's the spot that's most likely to get stepped on or to be clothes-lined by the hose, so I would like the idea of having a tough anchor plant there.
There are quite a few leftover Gladioli popping up in there. I'm kind of tempted to just pull them out, bulb and all, and add them into the container that I have the others in. I like this plant a lot. It's so easy, it gets these huge, dramatic flowers that make great cut flowers, you just plant some cheap bulbs in early spring, which is when you want to do that kind of thing, and you get the reward for it quite quickly. And if I just do them in a container, recovering the bulbs at the end of the year will be easy. Maybe I should give them some bone meal too. I don't really like them as bedding plants. They kind of pop up and spear right through the other plants, and then they're kind of awkward and tall when they're mixed in the other plants. Yeah, I'll just pull them out and replant them. And after they do bloom, I should remember to leave them there, with their leaves, so they can keep growing and be just as good next year. I did replant some of last year's, so I don't know how they will do. I also wouldn't know which is which- it's half re-used bulbs, half old bulbs from last year that I never did plant. The fact that the ones I just left in the ground are coming up is a good sign, I think. They really shouldn't have survived winter at all.
So I should cut back the Muscari at some point, although they aren't really bothering me. And I think I will go ahead and transplant the last few Zinnia starts that I have upstairs under the light. I did a tray of them yesterday. And hey, maybe I'll give them some bone meal!
In the window box, the sunflowers I transplanted look like they are doing well. I also planted a lot more seeds (the Elf sunflower) directly in there, and at least one of those has sprouted. It would not be a bad idea to put some kind of short, trailing annual in there. If I had more of those pink Nasturtiums, I could have planted them in there... That window box is going to dry out a lot, and I don't think the Nasturtiums are all that drought tolerant.
Raised Bed
I haven't done much with this besides water it. I think the tomatoes look great. And as I'm watching them, they definitely are getting sun from 7 am to 2 pm. Over the next few weeks, it will get closer to a full 8 hours. I still have a lot of kale in there. I was supposed to harvest it all yesterday, because that was the coolest night we're going to get in a while. But I don't totally want to rip it out yet, because I don't have anything to put in there.
I'm really disappointed with the Swiss Chard seeds that I started. This was the "Rhubarb" kind I grew last year with great success. They all sprouted just fine, and then they just didn't do anything. They're still there, and they still have just one set of leaves, and they're looking really thin and sad. I might not have kept them watered all the time, but they don't look like the straight up died. And usually if I kind of dry them out, if I get them watered again, they either come back, or they're totally fried. I started a tray of the Bright Lights Swiss Chard, which I bought this year, and they seemed to germinate faster. Maybe they'll be better, maybe last year's seeds aren't as good? That seems odd, because usually they either germinate or they don't.
The Beans have all sprouted and they're going strong. I think they're going to like it there, I think they will get a lot of sun, especially in the morning. In front of them I have those few Strawberry plants, and they're ok, I guess. They're definitely not going to produce any berries this year. But I'll give them a shot, and maybe they'll spread a little and get established and next year will be better.
In the meantime, I will probably use that space for more herbs. I've got a lot of Basil starts upstairs that could probably be transplanted any time. And they will get a lot of sun there. I've got a few sad little cilantro plants in there now, and they're already trying to go to seed! Those fuckers. I don't even know what to do with them, I feel like it's hopeless.
Next year, I might want to plant Tomatoes in that second part of the raised bed, since it will be the third year growing tomatoes in the main part. I think it will be ok, although I worry that it's not deep enough and that below that, it's not draining so well. But Mel Bartholomew thinks it's totally fine to grow a full sized tomato it just 6 inches of soil! And a square foot of area! Totally fine!
Near the tomato plants I have now, I planted some of the tall sunflower seeds in the back corners, between the cages, and some of those have sprouted. I'm thinking they will definitely look nice, and they might provide some extra support.
The chives are kinda meh. I had two very nice plants in there the last few years, and only the one of the right side came back. I planted a new one on the other side, along with a Parsley plant, which seems to be doing very well.
The Radicchio seem to be ok. I'm really hoping they will hang out throughout the summer, so in the fall I will have these big, full, dense Radicchio heads.
Patio
Oh my god, this hedge. (I've decided it's a Holly.) I was pruning it, and it's full of these gross caterpillars making all this webbing everywhere! They're so gross! So I bought a caterpillar killing spray (active ingrediant: Spinosads) and sprayed pretty much the whole bottle. But I'm checking on Mike McGrath's archives and he definitely pushes BT as the best caterpillar attack. I couldn't find that at Lowe's, so I got this stuff, but I will probably need to order something with BT.
After pruning the hedge back so I could open the lid on the grill without singeing the leaves, there was this space of the wall, so I put out two pasta dishes with water and some BTI granules, in hopes that the birds will use it as a bath. Nothing yet.
I planted a few more small bunches of Liriope in the patio bed to fill it out, and it looks really great. Although, one of the biggest Coleus has a bunch of webbing on it, I think it's from those same asshole caterpillars.
I did plant some stuff in the wall container. First I dumped out all the soil and lined it with a trash bag with slits cut into it. then I refilled it with mostly that same shit soil, and put in that spiky plant that exists for this purpose only, and about 6 Petunias of various shades of pink. And that's it, I will not be putting in anything else.
On the other side of the wall, the Morning Glories seem to be doing ok. One has already made its way inside the wall. I have planted a lot more seed in there, all after soaking for a day or two to get them to just start to sprout. I really hope they take off, they look so nice on there.
This little gutter garden thing, I don't know... when I water it, no matter how I do it, it all kind of tips forwards and dumps out a lot of dirt. I'm going to try to drill some holes in the front and zip tie it more upright. The lettuce I transplanted in there hasn't really grown at all. I mean, a little, but it's very slow! The Arugula that I just threw in there is actually doing pretty well, and it does look nice, and it's easy to harvest. I've put a lot of Nasturtiums in there, some as transplants and some just as direct sow seeds, and they seem to be doing ok. I don't know how they will hold up in the summer heat, with my infrequent watering.
I really, really need to sweep that shit out. I will do that today, for sure.
Things to do:
- Dig up and divide the big Hosta and plant half of it in the back. Tomorrow
- Transplant the last 3 Zinnias into the side bed. Tomorrow
- Transplant the Basil starts into the raised bed in front of the Green Beans. Tonight
- Fix up the Gutter Garden. Tonight
- Pull up the Gladioli from the side bed and transplant them to the container with their friends.
- Water the front bed and put down the rest of the mulch. Tonight
- Water all the containers. Tomorrow morning
- Find something with BT and spray the shit out of the hedge. Later
- Plant the last ornamental grass in the sidewalk bed. Tomorrow
- Get some Sunflower seeds and plant them in the back of the sidewalk bed. Later
- Sweep up all the mess on the sidewalk. Tonight
- Harvest the rest of the Lettuce and Kale. Tomorrow morning
- Get more pink Nasturtium seeds and plant them in the Gutter Garden. Later
- Bag up the rest of the clippings and yard trash to save for compost. Tonight
- Sweep out the patio. Tonight
- Pack up all the tulip bulbs for fall. Tonight
- Put away the really big container, and any other containers I'm not going to use. (That should be most of them. I should also wash some of them. I now have a ton of little plastic pots that I can use for seed starting and stuff like that, perhaps more than I need.) Tomorrow
Damn, once I got all the crap out of there and swept up all the filth, that is a nice looking patio! Let's have a party! But no one can come inside! Seriously though, if I am going to have a party, it should be June 13th.
Oh my god, what do I need to do before I have a party? I mean, I need to get cushions for the ottomans. That's the least important thing, what is wrong with you? I need to vacuum and clean the kitchen and clean the bathrooms and have the guest room ready. And fix the dishwasher door! And fix the bench we broke at the last party.
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