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Post by mickthecactus on Sept 29, 2022 6:43:45 GMT
Yes, picked the last of my tomatoes yesterday and put them into the greenhouse then cleared up the first fall of leaves. It all looks nice and tidy now.
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Post by bjd on Sept 29, 2022 6:59:53 GMT
We don't have too many leaves to pick up yet, but the two massive oak trees in front of our house (on municipal land) have been dropping acorns for months now -- first because of the heat and drought, now because of the wind. I have been trying to pick them up because it's easier to do that than to rip out small oak trees but there are really a lot of them this year.
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Post by bjd on Oct 4, 2022 15:38:56 GMT
I took out the huge phormium and the smaller one next to it, leaving a big empty space in a flower bed. I also discovered that the "soil" there was just sand and a ton of pebbles. Obviously, phormiums don't like good soil. Anyway, we put a ton of leaf mulch and a bag of loam a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, I spent ages looking at what to put to replace it. It didn't actually take very long for the soil to look much better there. This morning I went to the nursery and found a cryptomeria japonica . It has already turned a bit red for fall. The label said 3 metres in height, looking on the internet, I find anything from 3 to 15 metres!! Anyway, I planted it and it looks nice. I also moved some heucheras to a shadier spot under a Japanese maple, moved 2 dahlias, ripped out a ton of weeds and will have to see when I can move the big rose bush.
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 4, 2022 15:59:01 GMT
You’ve done well bjd. Just digging out a Phormium is a big enough job on its own! That tree looks lovely, plenty of water to get it established I guess.
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Post by bjd on Oct 4, 2022 16:54:16 GMT
Thanks, Mick, but that's not my tree! That's a picture off the internet, mine is small, at least for now.
My husband and I took the phormium out with a pickaxe! And a neighbour with a small van took it to the dump for us -- it didn't fit in our car.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 4, 2022 22:56:57 GMT
Gorgeous choice to replace the phormium.
FYI which may not as easy to pull off in France as in the US ~ if you have a friend with a pickup that has a trailer hitch, using that to rip out an unwanted shrub is much easier than having to wield a pickax.
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Post by patricklondon on Oct 5, 2022 6:51:22 GMT
if you have a friend with a pickup that has a trailer hitch, using that to rip out an unwanted shrub is much easier than having to wield a pickax. Might have its own complications:
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Post by bjd on Oct 5, 2022 7:38:25 GMT
Ha, ha, Patrick. We don't know anyone with a pickup truck -- there are a few here but not that common.
The phormium didn't have deep roots, despite its size, and the soil was sandy. Only trouble was the spiky leaves.
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 8, 2022 11:26:10 GMT
Finished tidying the veg bed and spread the homemade compost.
Tried to clear the leaves between the Agave leaves on the outside bed. Not entirely successful.
Planted miniature daffs in the fern bed.
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Post by bjd on Oct 8, 2022 12:07:16 GMT
My gardening these days seems to be moving things around. I dug up the rose bush that had grown too tall and moved it to a sunnier spot. Also took out some white gaura and moved the lower pink ones to another place. Last spring I bought a kind of metal obelisk up which to grow climbing plants. Now that the gaura is out of the way, I bought a clematis and ordered a long-blooming jasmine online, so I will plant them together when the jasmine arrives.
I also discovered that an azalea I bought last spring in fact needs more sun, so I moved it even though it's in awful condition from the heat & drought we had this summer. This morning we realized that a philadelphus is too close to a climbing rose so we took it out and put it where the azalea used to be.
Just have to plant a few packages of tulips once it cools off a bit.
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 8, 2022 12:43:27 GMT
You’re a busy beejd!
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 8, 2022 16:57:06 GMT
Tried to clear the leaves between the Agave leaves on the outside bed. Not entirely successful. How much did you bleed? My gardening these days seems to be moving things around. Bjd, how many of the plants you have now were on the property when you bought it? This morning as I attempted to remove yet more ever-emerging shoots of the supposedly removed Clerodendrum x speciosum, I ran into the giant tuber of the ornamental sweet potato in that bed. I was given a tiny start which I planted in the planter in front of the porch. My mother was horrified, telling me to pull it out immediately before it took over everything. It is indeed a rampant plant, but can easily be controlled by pruning. All summer it provided a cheerful, bright lime yellow skirt which highlighted the foliage & flowers of other plants. In the height of the rainy season, the snails mostly preferred the sweet potato leaves and left other foliage in peace. I'll have lots more if I want, since there is a good bit of root left after I took out the big tuber which was pushing itself out of the ground. Garden tools for scale ~ And speaking of tiny starts of plants which become huge, I was yet again admiring the brilliant white new growth on the screw pine this morning. I was told it got very big, but had no idea until I looked it up ~
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Post by bjd on Oct 8, 2022 17:12:48 GMT
Bjd, how many of the plants you have now were on the property when you bought it? I hadn't thought of it before but actually only two: a huge wisteria growing over an arch placed in a weird place but too big to move, and a rose bush that was also in a bad place and had been stepped on by some guys who came to fix the water meter. I moved it because I hated to throw it out and it turned out to be a beautiful, old-fashioned pink rose. We ripped out 70 metres of ugly hedge, plus a huge camellia planted in full sun, and lots of other bushes that seemed to be put in the wrong place - like bay laurel right under the livingroom window or tall bushes to hide the garden shed. Everything else was done by us (mostly me) but as time goes by, I widen garden beds, or realize that things were invasive(I mean you, gaura) so I pull them out or move them. Mostly, I decide I want more colour, or more bushes rather than small plants. It also took a while to figure out the sun vs shade. There is a lot less of the latter than I had first thought. But as you all know, gardening is an ever-evolving process and this summer with the heat and drought, I realized that I have to plant sturdier things.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 8, 2022 17:20:36 GMT
Thanks for the very complete answer! I knew you all had done a great deal of work, but wow! It's wonderful that you were able to save what turned out to be an exceptionally nice rose. Were you able to save the camellia and the bay, or were they so huge that they didn't work in your yard?
The sun vs shade thing is insidious. It's a constant fight for me as the skinny patio with its high walls exacerbates those effects as the earth revolves through the year.
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Post by bjd on Oct 8, 2022 18:03:14 GMT
No, I didn't keep the camellia -- I planted a couple of others because they grow really well around here. It was massive and we had to take it out with a pickaxe. As for bays, they grow here really well too, so we left a couple of small ones that were growing at the back of the garden to make a hedge with the neighbours. They are now over 2 metres tall and my husband keeps trimming them.
After writing the above, I had a look and realized there was also a rather scraggly rhododendron too. It has nice pink flowers but is tall and thin and a bit smothered by the bay bushes.
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Post by bjd on Oct 11, 2022 6:02:46 GMT
Yesterday I received the jasmine I bought online so I planted the new Kokonoe clematis as well as a Clotted cream Jasmine. I planted them on the climbing frame I bought a few months ago and I'll see next year whether they do as well as advertised. It rained last night so that will be good for them.
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Post by bjd on Oct 17, 2022 14:33:46 GMT
In my continuing moving and planting, I bought a new loropetalum and put it at the very front of the garden where there used to be a trumpet vine and a bunch of agapanthus. I had put a Japanese maple there but it was too sunny so we moved it (again) to the front of the house where it will get sun late afternoon in summer but not otherwise. We dug out more agapanthus and gave some to a neighbour and moved the others. And we have had some rain so the new grass looks really nice -- more like spring than fall. A few pictures just taken: Path from back garden towards the front on the west side where I enlarged both beds New place for the Japanese maple obelisk with jasmine and clematis front facing the street with lantanas, sage, dahlia etc
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Post by casimira on Oct 17, 2022 15:19:28 GMT
Impressive BJD!! And, so well thought out it seems.
Right now, it looks so tidy and the plants you have chosen for the beds near the pathway are so well placed. In due time it will be so beautiful as they fill out.
I didn't realize that you had that much space.
Your hard work will be rewarded. It's such a satisfying feeling and your efforts are admirable I must say.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 17, 2022 16:30:28 GMT
I quite recently learned a new word, and can swear that in all my years of gardening & reading about gardening I never came across it before. I know the Spanish version of the word, but was unaware that it existed in English. I'm very curious to find out if any of the many knowledgeable gardeners on here know & use the word. It can be a noun or a verb. ratoon
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Post by mickthecactus on Oct 17, 2022 17:38:07 GMT
Nope. Unknown to me.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 17, 2022 17:46:21 GMT
I’m so envious of you people who can actually grow things and create actual gardens. Between critters, varmints, high elevation, too much sun and wind (at the lake) or too much shade (at home), a short growing season, and voracious deer (and moose at the lake), I have to be satisfied with very small successes.
My attempts to keep my irises from being eaten have been much more successful so far this year. I WAS using a spray with a nasty rotten egg smell — and had to be very careful not to get downwind of the plant I was spraying — but have switched to a lovely peppermint-scented spray that seems to work at least as well.
And the Coyote Urine Pellets may also be doing their job. Last year the deer munched the Iris leaves to the ground in August. It’s now October 17, and only a few tips bitten off.
Now if I could just get them to bloom!
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Post by Kimby on Oct 17, 2022 17:53:09 GMT
Soon we will find out just how bad the vegetation damage on Sanibel is. In addition to cat 4 hurricane winds that stripped branches and leaves, as well as toppling shallow-rooted trees, we had 6 FEET of storm surge in our yard! (And in our shop.) While palms can tolerate salt, most of the rest of the plants look pretty fried. Time will tell, but I think it may take more time than we have left…
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Post by fumobici on Oct 17, 2022 18:24:46 GMT
Those beds look nice and thoughtfully planted bjd. I think they will only improve with age.
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Post by bjd on Oct 17, 2022 18:41:05 GMT
Thanks, Fumo. I hope they will eventually fill out enough to keep out weeds.
Do I have to prune the vitex? I remember you said you used to have one.
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Post by mickthecactus on Nov 2, 2022 17:17:00 GMT
Last spring I bought a pack of a dozen tulip bulbs called Fruit Cocktail at the Garden Centre. They came from a Dutch company called Kapiteyn. There were 3 colours, 4 bulbs each. When they came up there were 9 of the same colour, 2 of another and 1 of a colour not on the pack at all. I complained to the company and after a reminder got an apology and a promise of a replacement later in the year. I forgot all about it. Today a parcel arrived with 2 packs of 20 bulbs and one of 15 bulbs, 55 bulbs in total. I think that’s decent customer service.
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Post by bjd on Nov 2, 2022 18:01:46 GMT
That's a great company, Mick, and just in time for you to plant tulips. I have given up on buying expensive ones -- just get them on special at Lidl when they have them. They usually don't come back anyway so I feel I have lost less money.
This afternoon I went to a big nursery about 20 km away. Bought 2 David Austin roses, a ceanothus and 2 "midget" pittosporums. Now I just have to figure out where to put them.
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Post by mickthecactus on Nov 2, 2022 18:08:51 GMT
I grow all my bulbs in pots and usually I let them dry off then take them out of the pots, dump the tulips and keep the daffs to repot. I never got round to it this year so I’ve put all the pots out to see what comes up next spring.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 2, 2022 18:37:31 GMT
Great score, Mick!
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Post by tod2 on Nov 5, 2022 9:35:53 GMT
Maybe this should be in the "Something I learned today" but it is also to do with gardening so this is what I wanted to tell you - Mickthecactus especially.
We have been growing tomatoes called Ailsa Craig. I believe there are onions also called Ailsa Craig. All this time I thought the name a little strange but believed it sounded like a woman's name. So, here we are sitting watching a travel programme and what comes up on the screen.....a small island called Ailsa Craig near the isle of Arran! So I looked up lots of facts - And found out that the tomato variety is not named after the rock island. but a motor yacht was. In 1907-8 the boat won a major race and it is thought the tomato was named after the yacht - not the island which sits in the in the outer Firth of Clyde, 16 km west of mainland Scotland.
So much for naming certain vegetable varieties!
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Post by mickthecactus on Nov 5, 2022 10:09:32 GMT
Great story! I always thought they were named after the island.
They are superb tomatoes btw.
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