coming from the frozen tundra of Yardening 6
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1349926/#new
today finally feels and looks like spring!
Yardening 7, March 2014
yay, Sally! I do believe it might finally be spring! I was just out checking on things, and I saw new shoots coming up for crocus, daffodils, tulips, hyacinth, and muscari!
I also saw some green growth on my yarrow and my sedum--the sedum looks like tiny rosettes, and the yarrow like tiny fern fronds!
Mike and I finally got the Christmas present granite bench and bird bath down to the turtle garden. Once it was situated, I just sat on it and soaked up the sun for about an hour. Couldn't help but notice all the yardening that needs to be done down there. There is a huge white oak that has been slowly dying over the years - it really needs to come down. Lots of branches down from all the other trees and thick mats of leaves to shred. It will take a full day for cleanup - maybe just the right size project to tackle tomorrow if the weather is anything like today. Haven't even checked what is predicted.
Great bottle cap, Sally!
It looks like tomorrow won't be as warm as today (first shorts weather!), but there isn't much chance of rain. I'm not going to mention that 4-letter S-word that might happen on Monday.
AH, yes! Today sure felt like spring....
1"-4" of snow predicted Sun. to Monday. Lets hope it is winter's last Hurrah!!
I spent about 5 hours outside. Once I start--I cannot stop....
I fertilized my lawn with Milorganite--took before pics of my grass in 2 places--
so when my lawn turns lush green in a couple weeks--I will have proof how well it works.
Decided to tackle trimming back a couple of my shrubs. The conical hemlock
by my front door--and the Boxwood(s) in front of it.
I have two of the Hemlocks. trimmed the other one last fall.
Used my electric Hedge trimmer. It went faster than before--as I used to trim them all
by hand with my pruning shears and manual hedge trimmer.
It may look a little "scalped" but the new growth will take care of it.
These are really old--and should, probably, be limbed up.
I was in my step stool and also teetering on my 5' ladder to get the very top.
Had to prune some of it by hand anyway. This did a number on my right hand...
Still have the two Junipers to go. It HAS TO BE done! No ifs and ands...or buts...
I know it is not good for my hand--holding that heavy trimmer and hand-cutting the fatter
branches...SO? What else is new? My Chinese gardener is on vacation.
I also, patiently, sat and pruned back my Piilu Clematis. Two more Clematis to go.
Now is the time! Also need to dig and divide my big ferns. Time for that too.
Mamma Mia!!! It is beginning....
1&2--Here are the two trimmed shrubs
3--Here are the two monster Junipers to go yet. Will use the hedge trimmer on these too--
bit they also have some fatter stems it will not cut through.
Just FYI---These Junipers are the original foundation plants when we bought the house
in 1969. I have kept them trimmed all these years. The huge snow in 2009
did a number on them--they did not use to lean forward this much.
You should see them from behind???? It is like all fat, gnarled huge stems. May dead....
Birds do nest in these--I think.
G.
Those are nice looking Junipers, Gita, look forward to seeing them trimmed up. Are ya gonna share those "before" lawn photos, or are you saving them for later, for comparison? ;)
There's nothing to show--just 2 sections (front and back) of semi-yellow grass.
I will do the same sections when it greens up. A nice rain will trigger this.
If you insist.......Geeesh!....
Section of Back lawn--as you can see NOTHING is up yet in my :YUK" bed...
Section of front lawn. Just dormant grass....
I did a bit of weeding in the front yard today, my sedums are red rosettes too. Bulbs coming up all over. Then I pulled the lounge chair out and relaxed with a beer, lol. Fantastic day.
I sat down on my Porch swing and had a beer too---
Nothing like a cold beer when you been hauling for hours! G.
Gosh what a relief today was! Mark asked me if I wanted to go to Walmart with him, I just said Uh NO not really, not with this weather!
I weeded (deadnettle!) and planted spinach seed.
I'm noticing nettle sprouting up in my yard, too!
Nice job, Gita! Those look like perfect bird-nesting shrubs. The birds must like the berries too.
I think our front foundation shrubs date back to 1969 too. I've been far more interested in adding shrubs than in replacing them. They don't look great, but the birds think they make fine nesting sites.
Gita, there is TOO something to see, Sheeesh!! What is there to see? The "before" view of what your grass looks like NOW... get it? < =P You can now say "Seeee, Milorganite took my grass from THIS to THIS!!" It's all about the comparison. =)
(I tell ya, always gotta teach these young'uns stuff, ...) < =D
Speedie--
Thst is why I said I took the "before" pictures..."after" comes later...
Now to find a Crab Grass Pr-emergent that does not have fertilizer with it..
Don't think HD has it....
NOT spending the ridiculous amount of money on Scotts or Vigoro.
The prices on these are getting ridiculous....
I;m gonna grab every customer by hand (:o) ) and walk them over to Milorganite.
G.
the voles in one of my beds are INSANE, the one back at the corner I cleaned up there, just a thin layer of pine needles and some blown leaves. Vole holes! They ate some Siberian iris, have never known them to eat that. I think they also ate all the Neomarica walking iris patch that was so full last year, from apsenhill. Voles are clearly in charge of what lives here.
I had to be gentle there as some perennials are dormant right down to the soil, or disappeared, not sure. did find tiny leaves from the ground at the Monarda bradburiana, so others may simply be completely wiped out above ground, which seems unusual, but due to this winter.
Sprinkled a trillion Digitalis seeds there. Of four small Digitalis from Gita, only see two surviving.
Murphy's law- all clearly readable plant labels will be found laying loose or raked up.
I have a nice assortment of pots or soil not knowing if I'm expecting some seeds to sprout eventually, some thing to emerge from roots or something died.
I started getting voles two years ago - they sure can be destructive, rotten critters. There is a vole control product from Bonide that you sprinkle in the openings of their tunnels. Works pretty good, but don't know if you want to use something like that. Sally, what a bummer that they got to so much :(. I have more of those iris that I can dig up for you. I call them iris cristata, one of the natives, maybe common name is walking iris?
Pat was mentioning that she saw her hellebores buds yesterday. We live so close, so I thought I should take a second look at mine. I moved away some of the leaves, and yay - there are lots of buds down at the base of the plants. I just needed to be told where to look LOL.
Terri, I could have attached the name walking iris to them by mistake! Those ones that have sort of soft, arching, low leaves, and make almost a rosette/circle of them. I am really hoping the owls I have heard will now get the *&^%^$ voles as they run for their miserable lives across the bare ground...
Wow its getting so cold out! And every time I sit down the cat practically gets suctioned onto my lap. He must agree its cold.
It really seems like the voles and deer team up. What you think didn't get gobbled up from the top gets attacked from the roots. I just braved the snow to get a container so that I'd get the name right. We use Bonide Voletox II, which has granules that you place in the vole hole, so nothing is out there on the ground for other critters to eat. Here's a link -
http://store.doyourownpestcontrol.com/moletox-ii?gclid=CJi1vJf8l70CFcFlOgodFD8A6Q
We get ours at Southern States. Saw lots of surface paths in the mulch as we uncovered the beds this weekend. Was great to see the hellebore blooms, but not so nice to see vole tunnels in among the plants.
Thank you, Pat!
Seeing snowflakes here.
: ^/
Sally, May be crested iris? I gave some of them away. They are pretty small but grow in a circle.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2732/
Pat, thanks for looking that up. I couldn't remember the exact product name. It has been snowing here for about an hour.
Holly, yes that is it! The Plant Files say latin name is iris cristata, common name is crested iris. I know I gave Sally some at one of the plant swaps a few years ago. I love it - spreads nicely, strap like foliage, and such pretty little blooms. Here is a picture from a few years ago.
It is a real favorite of mine when she said it grew in a circular pattern I was pretty sure what she had.
I finished cleaning the Lamppost Bed today. Looks pretty good, lots of sedums and chrysanthemum showing and of course a ton of bulbs.
That is it- or rather WAS...so sorry I allowed your generously shared plants to become Vole Chow. I've had Siberian Iris in that area for years and don't ever remember them getting eaten. Nor have any regular iris ever seemed to go this way.
So Saturday I was able to install all 12 of our new aronia arbutifolia brilliantissima. I can't wait until they bud out!
I included a few of my favorite crocus pics too :)
Sally--
i am SOOOO sorry fot the Vole carnage! What a bummer!!
If you could cordon off that are so Addy won't get to it--could you put out those
mouse bait cubes? The green ones? Or--maybe there is some granular
mouse bait that Addy would not get to?
Or--would any of the covered mouse trap boxes work? Just thinking out "loud'....
G.
Looks great Seq, and beautiful crocus pictures too.
I have sometimes caught voles with peanut butter on mouse traps. I'm not sure what I'll do- but where are the predators? certainly we have seen snakes, and heard owls. C'mon, guys.
I'm impressed, Sequoia, that's a lot of digging for one day. I like that rock edging; did you buy them or dig them up in your yard?
Feel like I'm in a time warp. Yesterday I was in shirtsleeve and flip flops, weeding. Tonight...well, you know what's out there...ain't green
Thanks! It did take me all day but I took my time and enjoyed it. The rock edging I got from local construction sites. If you go to the job trailer, they'll usually let you take it as they mostly just dig a hole somewhere on site and bury it.
Most of the rocks on the one side were getting to low in the soil so as I went along I dug them up and reset them. There were also a TON of feeder roots from a nearby maple that I dug out as well so all that added to the job.
Dumb question though (I'm second guessing myself): since all these plants are dormant, is there really a need to water them after planting? The fill soil was of average moisture and the plants were fairly moist when I planted them. I went with no and have not watered them. Was that the right thing?
Sequoia, I'm not a horticulturist or an arborist, but I would water them to get air pockets out from around the roots. Air pockets can kill roots.
How nice you had great weather too for your job.
I did not know that about getting those rocks. I know you can pick through those temporary driveways and find lots of small chunks of granite from counters, polished on one side, 2 to four inches size generally, kind of small for doing anything, you'd have to collect a lot..
Hmm...I'll post in the shrub forum to see what they all think.
Sally, the rocks in this bed are all 5-8" or so. I have other beds where they are all 12"+. My limit on size is really how much I can carry. I have a few that are probably 70+lbs.
Sequoia, I agree with the water your shrubs votes. It will also help loosen up the feeder roots.
Thanks for the tip about the rocks. We have plenty of construction sites around us, what with the steady stream of older, smaller houses being torn down and replaced by McMansions.
That's a good way to get more uniform size rocks. The ones I dig up vary in size a lot and don't make such nice edging.
I have bought a lot of loose rocks from garden centers; not terribly expensive at 25 cents per pound, but free beats that.
Sequoia, that rock border really looks nice. I don't know about the shrub watering. I'm much better at design aesthetics than plant care LOL. I always am learning on that score from the folks here.
Sequoia, How much water is your soil holding? Right now my yard is pretty wet. If I planted something now I would water it in and that would be enough. Probably wouldn't have to water again for quite awhile.
Sally, no worries on the iris from the vole carnage - between Holly and I, we can definitely provide you with more :)
Hmm...alright, I guess I'll water them tonight then. Thanks for the help and the compliments on the rock border....I love free hardscape!
I'm gonna look on this snow as a positive effect on my freshly applied
Milorganite Lawn fertilizer.
As it melts--it should. slowly, seep it into the lawn and release the fertilizer.....all good!
Jeff--I join everyone and agree than any newly planted tree or shrub
should be watered in. Not for the plant's benefit--but as Karen said--to settle the soil
and eliminate air bubbles.
G.
thanks Terri, if I accept any they will NOT go to the same bed.
I Like that positive mindset, Gita. I'm also feeling good that I got spinach, foxglove and larkspur seed out Saturday.