Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The planting continues

A little behind in my blogging here so I will keep it short and sweet. Basically planting, planting, and more planting. The weekend of the 13th I planted upwards of 200 bulbs – primarily Katherine Hodgkin irises and Little Princess and Little Beauty tulips – both only 4” high so none of that unsightly vegetation growth waiting to die back! I had a handful of giant Hyacinths added to the mix as well as Kalidescope and Jimmy tulips (20” and 24” respectively) and the last 6 of the tradescantia. It’s been two weeks and I must say I think I have succeeded in keeping the squirrels away. I planted the bulbs at the required depth and once in the trench I added a bit of soil and then on top of that I placed chicken wire then I covered with the rest of the soil! I have seen some holes around where I planed but as soon as the chicken wire showed up the digging stopped. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it keeps them away for good. I also added some all-natural bulb fertilizer called Bulbs Alive that I ordered from Garden’s Alive. A little extra love never hurt anything! And as an added bonus I had some extra chicken wire so I cut that and placed it on top of the irises and tulips. It is very trashy to see this all on my front lawn but it is only temporary until I know the squirrels have stopped their efforts to populate the word with oak trees!
This past weekend I planted 6 tall phlox in ice blue and 6 astrantia plants. Those all went in the back along the deck. The astrantia were rather sickly looking when they arrived but hopefully they will bounce back.
The rock garden got a few extra additions too – three magic carpet thyme that (hopefully) will have pretty pink flowers and a nice scent throughout the summer and I also dropped in 3 fescue blue grasses. They were sooooo cute when they got delivered – only about 1” high but they are expected to grow to 18”.
I am still waiting on a few more things – 1 gardenia bush, 9 hardy pansies and 3 snow in summer. After that I will be officially done with the fall planting. The winter months are going to be long….what am I going to spend my weekends doing now?

Thursday, October 11, 2007

How to take care of 'that'?

I have purchased so many new plants and flowers over the past several months and have some great site bookmarked on my computer but sometimes I just don't have the time to log on and read them. To save time and keep things organized I have created a 3-ring binder broken out in tabs by perennials, annuals, shrubs, veggies, tips, lawn care, etc. This has really helped me keep everything in one place - including those pages of magazines that I have ripped out.
I have found a magazine that has great gardening ideas, recipes and DIY plans called Garden Gate
It has given me some ideas as to how to continue to build on my existing landscape and some recipes to get rid of all those zucchini!
I also received a great deal from them in the mail that provided two great free books and a discounted subscription - check it out (and no I am not a sales person for them, just a happy subscriber!)

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Tis the season for planting

Wow, did it get cold fast! This past weekend I decided not to plant any of my bulbs because it was still too warm and I didn’t want them to bloom prematurely – what a difference a few days makes! It is now down to about the 40’s at night and I have taken in my basil and the gardenia houseplants for their own safety!
What I did plant this weekend was 6 of the 12 tradescantia I purchased. I was waiting patiently for UPS to show up with my other 6 but no luck – he didn’t get here until Monday so those little puppies are in the crisper in my freezer. They come as bare root which is something I am not familiar with planting so I am hoping I did it right. The squirrels haven’t touched them since I planted them, which makes me think that perhaps I didn’t!
I also separated the creeping phlox and replanted it into different areas of the rock garden because they were inadvertently planted in one huge mass in one area – oops!
Because it was forecasted to rain all week I took the opportunity to lay down some grass seed too. I used the Garden’s Alive Gold Compost – which are pellet-size hay forms that expand when watered and keep away the pesky birds, not to mention retain moisture and naturally deteriorate without laying unwanted weeds into the lawn. We’ll see how it all works out soon (I hope).
This next weekend I have 3 scabiosa, 6 tradescantia and 3 verbasum to plant. Hopefully the temperature will hold up and I can get those in along with the 100 iris’ and 40 tulips too!