What have you done today in the Garden?

Daniel you not only have a green thumb but everything you do is perfection. The tree unions are perfect,and seedlings looking good. Everything you grow is always incredible. Your passion is contagious.

Thank you everyone for all your compliments on the peony flowers. You just can’t go wrong when growing these flowers.

Oreti you’re lucky not to have venomous spiders. We have brown recluse, Blackwidows and yellow sac spiders. Are the only venomous spiders that require medical attention . And knowing what they look like and where they hang is helpful .

Jewell weeding is a daily necessary evil like house cleaning. UGH …I am so behind almost can’t see the plants. Doggie holes got those too. .Dogs are just doing what they are bred to do.

 

Gosh @Daniel W everything is coming along brilliantly....you definitely have the knowledge and expertise..

 

Thank you Pacnorwest and Daniel you do well with your grafting.

 

A bit of watering, planted 5 pots of rooted mint into a big container and fed the birds.

 

Is pond hard liner , soft liner ,block?

 

The water lilies are in a prefab black pond container that is 25 years old. Probably holds 45-50gallons.
It’s half pond mud and half water. Last winter it froze one time to many and sprung a leak. Can’t move it because it’s mounted in a rock bed padded with liners and encased with large and small rocks. It holds hardy lilies that have bloomed every year faithfully. So now have been filling it daily with water. Before I try to dig it out will see if they bloom first. It’s an odd placement and quandary for sure.
My son will come visit soon hoping he can help me decide what to do.

 

If you know where the leak is I know pond armor makes stuff to patch them , Not sure if can be used under water of if you would have to drain it a bit.

Not sure what else is on the market , might be something you could use under water.

 

@Nate77 Thank you good idea. Looked online and found a couple of different products to fix leaks in ponds. There is a spray foam and a caulking type tube that is water proof. I’ll look into that.

 

Today I emptied out most of the rainwater barrels.

This one still has quite a bit of water and three frogs.



I don't know what will happen to them as the water will run out soon. I use up the water so mosquitoes don't proliferate. How did those frogs get in there, anyway?

There is a lot of nocturnal frog croaking around here.

The first miniature Alstroemeria is blooming. I overwintered it in the garage, totally dry.



It might need a bigger container. There are tall, red Alstroemerias blooming in the deer border. They survive the winter with non problem.

I pruned the poinsettia. Kind of drastic. There are green nodes on those stems.



The first flower on David Austin rose Bring Me Sunshine. This one has a great myrrh fragrance.



The bush seems quite vigorous.



That Supersweet 100 tomato plant that I grew from a cutting in water, is having a growth spurt now.



I hauled some pavers to fill in empty spaces under the park bench, and did some watering.

I think that Bring Me Sunshine rose is my new favorite. The myrrh scent is intoxicating. It might be too vigorous for its container. Time will tell.

I cut back the Japanese Maple in the front border. It was about 20 feet tall and encroaching the wildfire defensible zone. Now it looks like a Dr. Seuss tree. Maybe I should have cut it down completely. There are other Japanese maples around the yard anyway.

 

@Doghouse Riley , I do not know how mimosas do where you are, but here they are very invasive and many have only bad things to say about them. The flowers are lovely, but they make millions of seeds. Yours already has 3 times the root/s of what is above ground. The roots curve above ground also, as well as go very deep. They get gigantic. I have many--they were here when I moved here, and they are difficult to kill.

January 12, 2019, we had a severe ice storm, and it took out the giant mimosa by the back of my house. It hit part of the house. When it fell, it had 6 or 7 large trunks, at least 3 fell against my house, 1 damaged the trellis for my roses, and 1 landed on my roof over where my bed was inside. I can share a photo. (my house is over 100 years old, so pardon the looks) We had heavy damages in that storm, but thankfully good neighbors and friends helped to clean up all the mess. When I was checking my horse and her fence, many large limbs crashed where I had been a few seconds before. Also, I witnessed several limbs on an elm by the lines that come into my house bend backward and crash down. I believe angels did that, they should have taken the power line down. That black thing in the middle of the tree is/was a dog house that was over on the left of the tree. I am trying to get to my photos on FB, but the internet is not cooperating. The one in my computer is too large. I will try to get that photo here tomorrow.

A friend gave me a large cherry tomato plant this evening. He has a lot of extras, his went to seed last fall I guess? A piece broke off, so I will try to make clones of it. Robbie (of Robbie and Gary on you tube) clones some of her tomatoes. I have it in water for tonight, but I cannot put it in the kitchen window, the cats would kill it. I am looking up the video, so I know how to do it better. There are LOTS of videos about cloning tomatoes on you tube. Look it up.

 

AAnightowl ice storms are the worst. We have had a few. The heavy ice weighs down the tree limbs and some fall from the weight. Leaving trees lookin lop sided and strangely open spots. These larger limbs near homes fall and cause a lot of damage to property. Downed power lines and no electricity . Many roads are so icy cars that are out on ice simply become bumper cars , smashing into others as they slide down hill uncontrollable bumping into cars , houses til they come to a stop.

 

Wow! I am so behind on posts! I just watered everything, it was up in the 80s (F) high 80s. I got home and everything was begging for water. We had field day today. Tomorrow is my last day. Today was the last day for kids. I am so ready for the break!

 

Well that was weird; my reply was put in your quote, Nightowl

 

My first ice storm was when we lived in Texas. Everything was incased in ice. Each pine needle had its own ice surrounding it. Electricity went out and was out for 4 or 5 days! All the motels were filled. We got the last room in the motel we stayed in. My daughter called people that night and the next day we borrowed a generator and an indoor propane heater. Her husband cooked on his gas grill outside, wrapped in his Carhart coat, wearing a hat and gloves. We went to Lowes because they said they had one propane left, but they wouldn't hold it. Of course, by the time we got there it was gone. So we were coming out of the parking lot and I looked across the street. I remembered that CVS sold propane, in Texas. Their propane cage was totally filled, no one thought of going there! We bought two, since we didn't know when the electricity would come back on nor did we know how fast the heater would use up the propane. We ended up not needing the second one. I really don't want to go through that ever again!

 

When I replaced the roofing felt on our tea-house fourteen years ago, I made a new decorative feature for the top.







Unfortunately, the elements have got to it and the "scalloped" bit at the top was rotting away. So I removed it, the other day.





It didn't look right without it, so a replacement is "under construction,"

I'll be fitting it probably tomorrow, once the paint is dry. Unfortunately, the local wood yard no longer stocks that particular moulding, so I've used something less decorative, "but there will be some small additional feature to compensate."

Wood is now very expensive, as is everything. This has cost me around thirty quid for something which most would consider is entirely unnecessary. But there you go.

The roofing felt has lost much of its green sand, so appears quite weathered, but it's polymer, so completely watertight, so I'm not bothered. The rest of the woodwork of this building is rot free, despite now being 37 years old.