| August 21, 2004 As we're trying to paint the house, all the iris and crocosmia had to be cut back early. I hope they survive; they got awfully soggy when we pressure washed the house, and now pieces of paint are all over them. Hubby will "vacuum" those up with the leaf blower, and we are covering the plants with sheets when we paint. I also had to cut back the rhodie and the lilac in the front, to get them away from the house. Yesterday, I bought six hardy mums from Roger's Nursery ($1.49 a piece); half are burnt orange, half are white. Planted three orange and two whites in front of the brick planter, and behind the tulips. The remaining white went in the front bed, replacing the cosmos, which had died (because I fertilized them with Miracle Grow). Speaking of things that don't like Miracle Grow, my basket of petunias was brown this morning. I had just used Miracle Grow Houseplant Food (liquid) on them; last time they got brown, I thought I had under watered, but apparently it was the fertilizer. September 18, 2004 First a note about veggies. Next year, we need to plant cucumbers ONLY on the shadier side of the garden. They never do well in the full sun. So near the shop they go! Also, in a pervious log, I forgot to mention that I had to cut back the evergreen clematis dramatically, so that we could paint the house. It is now confined to the trellis. Recently, I planted a tiger lily that an online friend sent me. Of course, now I don't recall exactly where I put it. I know it's in the front bed, and I think it's between the meter and the large burgundy mum. I also discovered some fall crocus, barely blooming over at the side of the house. I dug it up and planted it in the front bed, between the Love rose and Dogwood. The National Home Gardening Club sent me a test product about a week ago. It's Whitney Farms' Smart Start Plant Food. The food is in teabag-like packets. Today, I followed their directions, and used two packets beneath one of my mums (the white one in the front bed). It will be interesting to see how it does compared to the others. Of the new mums, only one of the rusty-colored plants is beginning to bloom. I also bought a bunch of bulbs. At Bi-Mart, I purchased: * More red and purple tulips (2 packets of 5, for $2.49 each); I'm wondering if they are the same as I got last year, because they say to chill them first. I know I've never done that with my tulips. The red are called "Darwin," the purple "Triumph." * Meleagris Fritillaria (the checkred kind) (2 packets of 8 each, for $2.49 each) * Mixed Hyacinths (6 bulbs for $4.99) * Poppy Anemones (2 packets of 15 for $2.49 each) in mixed colors I also bought a packet of mixed Ranunculus at Jerry's (10 bulbs for about $3) Mom also gave me some of her daylilies. They sat in a bag for several weeks while we painted the house. I slapped them in the ground today. They hadn't been divided in eons, and were almost impossible to cut down to smaller plants, so I don't know how well they'll do. September 28, 2004 I spent about an hour in the front garden today. I raked up the leaves from under the rose bushes, and clipped off any black spot leaves. I then sprinkled cornmeal around each rose. As soon as the sun came back, so did the aphids, so I sprayed all the roses for that, too. My dahlias had developed mildew, so I made a mixture of � teaspoon of baking soda to 1 liter of water and sprayed them a few days ago. This seemed to improve the condition, but not quite remove all the mildew, so I sprayed again today. The blanket flower is surviving is twisted root ordeal, but many of the stalks died. Today, I cut those away. I also did routine deadheading. In bloom are: a few roses (I am not deadheading at this point, so that they can produce rose hips and wind down for winter); helensflower, dahlias, a few petunias, blanket flower (barely); sweet alyssum; mums. The mums I bought this season are beginning to bloom more profusely. The rust colored ones look nice; the white ones have yet to bloom. I still haven't planted my new bulbs. |