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Gardening Blog (Archive)
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A gardening blog, generally organic.
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Tuesday, May 24, 2005
This blog is being archived and will no longer be updated.
Check out the new blog here: Gardening Blog.
--Colleen
posted by TheBroadroom.Net at 12:21 PM (Pacific)
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Hey! I'm back.
Today we did Phase I of the garden...cutting grass, pulling weeds, some pruning and removing dead plants. The weed-pulling alone could have taken the entire day.
Let's take stock of what the pocket gophers haven't destroyed (knock wood).
Both camellias are still there. The "rats" dug all around the red one but didn't eat it.
The plum tree is there (pounds wood furiously).
The roses, of course. The rats have never eaten any of our roses.
What else...
* the ruby slippers plant
* the lemon verbena
* the calla lilies, other bulbs (iris, daffodils, etc.)
* the lavender
* some geraniums
* jasmine
I've heard of people shooting the gophers (this is not something you would understand if you never dealt with their endless destruction). I'm game.
Another tactic is using a pitchfork. I've tried hitting them with a shovel, that does not work, but apparently you can use a pitchfork. I'm game for that too.
This year I'm going to get those pheromone traps for codling moths. If they work, it's more than worth the cost, since the only other alternative I've heard of is spraying the trees every few weeks.
What else...I'm going to get lots of Grants for Ants stakes, some yellow jacket traps...
Phase II will consist of fertilizing everything, getting some annuals, probably moving a few plants around.
--Colleen
posted by TheBroadroom.Net at 9:39 PM (Pacific)
Monday, February 28, 2005
Well, I found out something. Camellias take forever to grow.
I bought two small ones...about a foot to a foot and a half high...a few years ago. I swear to ya, they've both grown about two inches since I planted them.
I put them in the same place our plum tree is...and the plum tree has grown a lot. So I don't think it's where they are. Other stuff around them...some rose bushes...those have grown also. But not the camellias.
My conclusion is that it's not worth buying small camellia plants. Pay more and get big ones.
--Colleen
posted by TheBroadroom.Net at 4:45 PM (Pacific)
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
I hear that...I didn't do much gardening last year. I just felt buried dealing with the kids, and bummed out over the pocket gophers eating everything I put into the ground.
This year though, it was better. Some things did not get eaten by the gophers. It's true they're massively destructive but they do not eat everything (knock wood).
The daffodils sound lovely. We have some existing daffodils so I haven't bought any new ones. They're selling flower bulbs at Costco...I've no idea how good they are, but the price is right. We've got hyacinths--these are one of the symbols of the Iranian New Year. Not any particular color, just the flower itself.
Of course the trick is to get them to flower at New Year; usually they don't. I suppose you could force them indoors but I'd rather plant mine outside!
So...and we got some other bulbs since gophers don't seem to eat bulbs (knock wood). They've eaten our alliums but nothing else. We have tulips and crocus in colors the kids picked out.
Now you have to get a digicam. :) You can take pics of how the yards look right now. Then each year, you can take new pics. We should have done that here, since the yards were both crapola before.
I am going to see how the bulbs work out...I won't photograph them until I see for sure whether the gophers eat them. Gophers are profoundly depressing creatures.
--C. (formerly J.)
posted by TheBroadroom.Net at 1:39 PM (Pacific)
Saturday, September 04, 2004
I didn't do much in the yard or garden this year. Its not that I didn't have big plans for them. We were so excited to be in our new house and we'd really wanted to do things up right. Then DH's mom sickened and died in the very early spring and that kinda took the wind right out of our sails. It'll be 6 months, next week that she's passed. I'm hoping next spring will be better.
We're already making plans for the yard and flower beds. I want to rip everything out from around our front porch. Right now, its just several mum plants, some ground cover, a rose bush that never set any buds and weeds. I'll let the mums bloom just for some flowers and color and then they'll go. I don't like mums that much. We'll tear everything out and I want to plant a bazillion daffodil bulbs. I love daffodils and I think a mass planting of them will look lovely in the spring. Then, when those are done we'll put in some sort of geranium or maybe pansies for the summer.
The garden is just about done. We ended up with 4 tomato plants and more 'maters than we can use. I'd put in 2 romas, 2 cherry tomatoes and 1 purple russian. One Roma plant ended up being a yellow tomato plant. Those were fabulous! Not much seed and gel in them, lots of tomato meat. They were like candy, soooo sweet! The roma's turned out great, a very good producer. Again, a good meaty tomato. We don't like the seedy, gooey kind. The cherry plants were good producers, but they were supposed to be "currant" tomatoes, even tinier than cherry or even grape tomatoes. I don't know if they crossed with the other plants or if they weren't currant plants to begin with but they were just regular cherry tomatoes. Good, but not near as good as the yellows and romas. The purple russian never did anything. It just got tall and spindly and the few fruit it set, rotted on the vine.
I've still got 2 big bushes of basil I need to go cut back and make into pesto. YUM!
I planted 6 broccoli plants, but the bunnies ate them all.
I put in 2 rows of beans but they either never came up or the rabbits got 'em.
We had alot of cucumbers but they didn't get watered enough so they were to bitter to eat.
The red raspberry bushes are so loaded with berries they're bending over, but nobody here cares for them, so I don't even mess with picking them. The birds sure enjoy them and the bees. I'll dig them out later.
We've got a few decent apples on the tree. Not many, its been neglected for so many years its going to take a few seasons to get it back into shape. I'm hoping the baby Gala trees we put in this spring winter over well. Our old tree needs another apple tree around to help pollinate. I have a feeling that a few years from now we'll have more apples than we know what to do with.
~carol~
posted by TheBroadroom.Net at 1:35 PM (Pacific)
Monday, August 09, 2004
Herrrmmm...no more gophers as of yet.
The old man and I set our new Victor mole trap up yesterday...it's a hair-trigger one and hard to set. But it looks promising. This model sits on top of the tunnel, rather than inside it. We also set The Black Hole one in a different place.
That "Once" fertilizer, really does work. It's pretty dramatic--I put it on our flowering plants--different kinds of roses, camellias, jasmine, plus potted flowers--petunias, impatiens, geraniums, marigolds, verbena, alyssum--they all look much healthier, the foliage is greener and more lush. I can't say whether there are more flowers--but the flowers themselves are nice and healthy. Definitely worth it.
I used up half the box (figuring I'd use the other half six months from now) so I used a different fertilizer...Osmocote...on other plants back there, such as the irises and lilies...and also on our indoor trees. Hm. They look good also, but the change is not as dramatic as of yet.
I also got another fertilizer (color me slow, I'm new to this fertilizer business...plus each one seems to be made only for certain plants)...it's an organic one...for the container fruit trees we have. I've only just applied it though, too soon to report yet.
--J.
posted by TheBroadroom.Net at 5:04 PM (Pacific)
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Okay...I waited a few days. Today there's a fresh gopher hole so I set the trap again.
I haven't gotten the Juicy Fruit gum yet but I did wash out the trap as the gentleman suggested.
I realize that trapping gophers requires something of a hunter's instinct. I've never hunted anything before (nor fished, I lead a dull life *g*) but it did cross my mind to wait until there was a truly fresh hole that had been plugged, but not backfilled yet.
Also, I think I was peeking at the trap too early before. When I did catch the gopher, I had not checked the trap in days (didn't bother, figured I wouldn't catch anything anyway). So this time I'll wait until tomorrow to inspect it.
--J.
posted by TheBroadroom.Net at 3:27 PM (Pacific)
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