What have you done today in the Garden?

That's my downfall...anything that snaps off I stick in a pot!!!

 

I did a little more cleanup on the border. The giant blackberry is now gone. I think I'll redo the edging blocks a bit, just to make mowing easier. Not a big deal. I'm debating when to plant the fig trees that I started, in there. On the one hand, I want to get the job done and over with. In the other hand, it might be too hot to plant the new trees. Ditto with potting up rose plants that I started via hardwood cuttings last winter.

I started moving the sadder looking plants off the patio. Some are just past their peak or never looked good. The container nasturtiums were nice for a few weeks, but suffered too much from the heat and never recovered. Remember that for next year.

 

We'll have some sad looking plants next week as we're away for 5 days. Neighbour kindly offered to water the pots but they are an extremely busy family and I hate to cause them more workloads.

I will move the moveable pots onto the East Patio and stand them in the big long trays with water and.....

We've been out for most of the day but I have managed to water the garden. At this time of year we have near to nothing shade and it gets well and truly baked on sunny days like today.

 

I hope your time away is good, and the weather takes care of your plants @Oreti .

 

More work on the border. At this point, it's slowly becoming mostly puttering and doing some garden touch up. I will have to keep up with any returning perennial weeds.

I decided to smooth the edge a bit to make the mowing go more smoothly. The most important challenge has been keeping up, so that needs to be easily doable.

I laid put a garden hose to decide on a border. I moved it around and stood back to look from various angles.



It's a bit more subtle curve. Not a lot.

I moved the edging and covered the ground inside the edging with woven landscape fabric, so weeds won't return.



Then I cut openings to plant the final two lavender plants that I've been taking care of this summer. Then covered with about ten big buckets of arborist chips.

(Why didn't I take a photo of that? )

At the back of this border is a row of fig trees, to provide a privacy screen. As well as a few figs. If I add two more, that completes the row (plus move a very small, young one a few feet). I checked the fig trees that I started by air layering. These are my best varieties that I want to keep but are in a location I don't want. This is a Lattarula start via air layer this summer. Roots are exploring out of the bottom, pretty quickly!



I dug a hole for its "final" location, and took the tree out of the container. The roots had really grown fast!



So I carefully wiggled a few roots loose, on the bottom and sides, and planted it.



I watered in well, mulched with leaf mould, and surrounded with deer fencing. It will need a hardware mesh tube at the base for voles this winter, but basically it's settled in. Yay!

Nearby, those lavender plants that I thought I killed, are growing quickly! They are a lot smarter than I am!



I found two more that also seem to be re-growing. I like that.

 

Great job on that new border. You accomplished a lot . Your new flower bed has a super grouping of plants & will make a nice combo of color, height & textures by next summer. The planting of today is the reality of tomorrow.

 

Other than weeds, I hate to toss my good plants.

At least many weeds will feed Horsey or my chickens, so that is a perk.

My cuttings of the purple crepe myrtle have died. I will try more cuttings in cooler weather. They did get well watered, but maybe too much sun? The websites I looked at suggested making cuttings later in the season.

I did do some watering this evening, and picked some more cucumbers and dug a few more potatoes.

 

Me too. But I have learned, I can't keep them all. It's a hard lesson to learn.

 

Daniel— i thought that leafy stem looked familiar. You are right about the toms and Basilicum. Mega drool.

Then I read on and saw that you have been busy again. I like how you identified a change and set about getting on with it. A hose— clever idea.

You gave it a nice meandering stone edging. Did you already have those stones in your possession? It looks brilliant. By the way, you did say that you were going to keep your plants in containers now, right? At first when I saw the plants in their pots, resting on the wood chips, I thought you had them there to try and decide exactly where they would look best. I mean, that is the way we do it here. Then a light went off and I recalled you saying you would do this for easier management.

The fig propagation went quite well, didn’t it. My word, those roots! Well, it settled-in well and Will no doubt begin fruiting before you know it.

A big congrats on the Lavender. It seems so late in the season for the new growth. Will you need to protect them with something this winter?

 

Hi Sjoerd,

Thank you for your comments. I have a lot of respect for your knowledge.

Those stones are in at least their second repurposing. Maybe more for some. I prefer reusing over buying new, if I can.

I do like you said, and move the container plants around before planting. That said, I planted all of the lavender so they can grow searching roots before winter. They were not root-bound, so didn't need much fusing with roots. Winter is still several months away. They are easier to care for in-ground. The pelargoniums stay in their containers. I will overwinter some in the garage. I don't like some of them - the zonal x ivy geranium hybrids (Pelargonium x hortatum x Pelargonium peltatum). Those will not be kept.

Yes, I'm quite chuffed about the fig tree starts. I had doubts, but there they are. Figs root as easily as willows, which explains that.

As for the resurrected lavender plants, I don't know. I think I'll leave them in place, then move them to better locations in Spring. A learning exercise.

 

Picked a lot more blackberries, 29 lb
25lb went into the freezer to use later. 2lb of it i made into a compote and put it in the fridge, the other 2lb is in the fridge to use on breakfast.

Watered the blueberries, polyanthus and the pots under the kitchen window.

 

Those look delicious , Logan. Blackberries are my favorite fruit.

 

Today was hot, so mostly it was watering.

Yesterday pm two of the plants that I ordered for a drought thriving border, arrived. Sage-leaf rockrose (Cistus) and Manzanita "John Dourley", both supposedly ground-cover growing habit. The nursery states they are hardened off and ready to plant. I planted the rockrose. I'm not certain of where to plant the manzanita. It needs room to spread about three feet. I think I know...

I was excited about the miniature roses, but this one looks bad now.



None of the other container roses have black spot so bad. Just a leaf or two at the base. So I decided to cull this one.

Another in my list of what not to grow next year - this "Oklahoma" Zinnia.



The other varieties didn't have this problem.

This Mirabilis was a volunteer on the patio. It came up in a joint in the concrete, from a wayward seed.



I hope to save seeds from this one. It's a different shade of red, than my other ones.

 

Thank you Daniel, didn't do anything today went to see my friends.

 

All I did was head out early and harass the squirrels all around the entire garden. Sprayed squirrel away a combo of peppermint , oil and some other stinky oily ingredients. I wear a mask. It takes almost 3 hours to find the openings and really soak those areas. Which if I could be honest squirrels can be so destructive, some areas it’s like a tiller was left on it own bouncing around like a drunken sailor thruout the area. Then found a rabbit out sneaking around the dogs chased that pest off.
And did the same in new squirrel openings where soil was disturbed this evening . Another 3 hours now they are starting to invade areas under the “She Shed’ .