Over the Weekend

  • Mowed the lawn – check.
  • Weeded the shed gardens – check.
  • Weeded the sitting wall garden – check.
  • Weeded and mulched the mailbox garden – check.
  • Weeded the corner shade garden – check – kind of.
  • Weeded the birdbath garden without a birdbath – check – kind of.
  • Cut back a ‘Powis Castle’ artemisia that was long and leggy – check.
  • Found out ‘Powis Castle’ artemisia was rotting at the crown – boo.
  • Sadly removed ‘Powis Castle’ artemisia – check.
  • Looked around and reassured myself that I had made several other backup artemisias through cuttings – check.
  • Moved large sitting rock underneath a witchhazel to compensate for the expanding size of the witch hazel – check.
  • Mulched the mum garden and grumbled about rabbits – check.
  • Moved stepping stones near my plant holding bed – check.
  • Cooked Chicken Parmesan for dinner – check.

I enjoyed the weather this weekend!  How about you?

(I left out the part about cleaning the carpets of our house on Saturday!)

4 thoughts on “Over the Weekend”

  1. My Powis Castle looks a little raggedy and leggy. I usually prune it in the spring but since its early, will the plant benefit from a little pruning? Since the winder was so mild last year and is likely to be the same, does it matter? There is a lot of black dead foliage underneath the plant where it doesn't get sun. It looks a little spindly too – the heat, humidity and drought seemed to stunt it but now that we got so much rain, it has new growth on the tips. So should I go ahead and do a little pruning or just wait until spring? Helen

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Over the Weekend

The weather this past weekend was perfect for outdoor gardening activities! Unfortunately we are still a good six weeks away from safe outdoor planting and many of the tasks on my long term spring agenda need to wait until the frosts are done, but there is always something that can be done! Garden preparation!

By far the biggest job my garden requires in mulching. It’s essential. Mulch keeps the weeds at bay, keeps the water from evaporating from the soil too quickly, breaks down and feeds the soil, and looks pretty spiffy too! On Saturday I picked up two yards of mulch and began the cleanup and mulch process. Each ornamental garden bed was weeded, edged (I did that prior to this weekend), and mulched with a fresh layer of hardwood mulch. You can use stone mulch if you like but I always prefer the organic mulches that feed the soil. It’s more work since you need to add more each year but as the mulch breaks down the soil quality improves. When you have heavy clay soil that extra organic matter is a major asset.

Two yards of mulch and 6 garden beds later – not to mention one sore back – my front gardens were prepared for growing. The front porch garden is ready. The daffodils are springing up fast. I still need one more ‘Otto Luyken’ Cherry laurel to complete the evergreen backdrop. The crape myrtle on the left will be gorgeous this year – it has no choice… 😉 One problem with this bed is the natural stone border. I love the natural look but the stones tend to sink quickly into the grass once the growing season starts and they become hard to see, even after trimming. We may have a solution: I’ll buy some cheap concrete cap stones about 4 inches thick as a bottom layer to raise up the natural stones. No one will see the concrete and the natural stones will remain above grade to give us that natural stone border look.

The front sidewalk is cleaned up now. The scraggly sprigs of stuff on the right are the leftover stalks of the salvia. To the left is my winter jasmine just barely making the shot. I still need to trim the yews – I just ran out of time. 

One newer bed that received a mulching is the one under this Bradford pear tree. The pear tree is slated for removal soon but we thought we would give it one more bloom before cutting it down. This bed already had irises, agastache, penstemon, and a viburnum. 

My goal is to get all this mulching stuff done way before warm weather comes. That way I can simply enjoy the garden and maintain it rather than work myself to exhaustion – but most likely I’ll end up getting myself into some other project!

4 thoughts on “Over the Weekend”

  1. Getting all of the prep work done is exciting isn't it? Looks good Dave…and you just sit back and relax during gardening season? Please do have your wife take a photo of that!

  2. Looking good! With this warm weather, it is difficult restraining ones self from planting something. But not a good idea just yet. I have cleared the main garden and am ready to mulch it. The weeds are awful this year plus I had help with some grass growing where it should not have grown, compliments of my silly hubby. LOL. It was 80 degrees here yesterday and that was hot while taking out the old leaf, pine straw, pinecones and other debris. I cant wait for a clean look to the main garden. It is a back breaker for sure…

  3. Your gardens sure are looking good Dave. I need to mulch also. Planted today, will finish up tomorrow. Or try to. lol

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Over the Weekend

This weekend was a busy one and not even really in the garden. The garden chores that need attention are significant but sometimes I actually have to get out of the garden to do other things! Hard to believe but it’s true! This weekend had me shopping for materials on Friday night until 9:00 at the local home improvement store followed by a closet organization remodel (with custom built shelves) in my daughters’ room on Saturday. I do have to admit that the garden was not completely neglected, I did manage to buy two Camellia x ‘Winter Snowman’ plants while shopping for supplies! ‘Winter Snowman’ is a camellia that is a hybrid of Camellia sasanqua and Camellia oleifera. It’s a cold tolerant camellia that is supposed to be hardy in zone 6 and flowers in November or December.

After a hard day of measuring, cutting, sanding, painting, screwing, and sweating I saw this sunset I had to share. It’s an almost perfect picture except for the utility poles.

A September Sunset

Cooler weather began to creep in on Sunday with wind and temperatures in the lower 80’s. The cool weather means that many of the neglected tasks of the hot summer can now be tackled or completed. I’m thinking of a certain garden shed in need of painting…

Now that fall is here what chores are you looking forward to doing in the garden?

4 thoughts on “Over the Weekend”

  1. I still don't believe you sleep Dave. Beautiful sky photo! I have to get passed this wedding before I can really think about the garden chores…(I have been dreaming about the garden though, lol)

  2. that view is stunning!

    this week i'm hoping to cull out what is not doing well and plant the first crop of cold season greens. i'm going to try overwintering one or two beds this year so those will have things like broccoli, and maybe i'll even coax some pansies along for spring!

  3. Darla,

    I do sleep! After all it's too dark outside to garden at night. 😉 I hope the wedding plans are coming along nicely!

    Rowena,

    I just wish that picture could be seen from our front porch. We sit low on the other side of that hill and I had to drive up for the picture. I really need to help my veggies along but the deer have kind of been helping themselves. 🙁

  4. Dave,

    I think Autumn is possibly the busiest time in the garden for me.

    Cutting stuff back, pruning this and that, raking leaves, I said RAKING LEAVES… The Walnuts in the parking area drop a veritable carpet of leaves.

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