I've mentioned that I've been cleaning out the garage lately. One garden tool that I've had for a few years but was buried behind a lot of, um, important stuff (not junk, honest!) is an old reel mower that I got from my mother-in-law:
Although there are still some emerging, the cicadas are in full find-a-mate mode, which means noise. Loud, loud noise. (If you're not sure what I'm talking about by "emergence", click here to read my posts about these 13-year cicadas in St. Louis.)
I'm terrible when growing spring greens. I've thought about it a little and I'm pretty sure there are a few mistakes I make, but the main one is I'm not good at thinning. Some of the pots of greens I planted on my deck (for convenience -- no need to make the long trek down to the veggie garden) exhibit this quite clearly:
It's the start of a holiday weekend here in the US, and I am looking forward to doing a lot of different things in the garden, but I may be disappointed. I should say I may be even more disappointed, because I've actually taken a few days off work to extend the weekend, and this is pretty much what I've been seeing so far:
I've been cleaning the garage recently (once every decade whether it needs it or not!) and I don't know how many times I've asked myself "why did I keep this?!" Sometimes there is a reasonable answer. Often times there is not. I've filled a few trashcans lately, but there are some things I just have a hard time throwing away.
For me, Nature is king (queen?) in the garden. I'm not talking about a "natural" look to the garden, as if you've stepped off a hiking trail somewhere, or discovered a hidden glade or meadow. I'm talking about the things in the garden: I want them to be provided primarily by Nature: plants of course, but also stones, rocks, boulders, tree stumps, logs -- essentially plants, stone, and wood. At the same time, I think there is definitely a place for man-made objects and materials in the garden too: glass, metal, fabrics, concrete, and ceramics.
Usually I'm pretty happy to see flowers blooming in my garden. Although foliage is what really makes a garden beautiful (in my opinion), it's also important to add colorful blooms to the mix. Sometimes though, flowers are just not welcome.
Today's post is one of those rambling, no-point, all-over-the-place posts. Mainly some photos of stuff that I saw in my garden this morning that caught my eye. (Yes, it's one of the rare days when I snap photos in the morning and post them immediately.)
Although I'm excited about so many things in the garden this year -- bamboos getting bigger, new varieties of tomatoes I'm trying, new plants that I received from trades -- there are a few plants that have me the most excited. Somewhere near the top of the list is this one.
I don't like to do too many posts of the same type too close together. I like to mix things up a bit so you're not reading about bamboo every day, or seeing endless posts about weeding or whatever. Even so, sometimes circumstances dictate that I need to focus on a single topic more often -- like right now with the 13-year periodic cicadas emerging in St. Louis.
I've had problems in my garden with several different large pests over the years. Rabbits were a problem early on as they nibbled my young plants. I've beaten them with quantity now: losing one plant when you only have ten is a huge loss; losing one when you have a hundred is usually not a big deal. Woodchucks have been staying away from my yard for the last few years, which is great because unlike rabbits who mostly nibble, woodchucks find a plant they like and they eat it. Much more destructive. Right now deer are a problem, as although they seem to be more nibblers like rabbits, their nibbles are much larger, so one bite can take out a whole plant.
Remember the other day when I was digging in the front yard and saw all of the cicada holes, and I looked up that this is the year for the 13-year cicadas in St. Louis? Well they emerged today!
Those of us gardeners who grow and love bamboo have a single goal. Whether we have one bamboo plant that we baby or nearly-unmanageable plantings of dozens of different varieties, we want big bamboo. We want it to be tall, with impressive, thick culms.
My earliest-shooting tall bamboo (Phyllostachys bissetii) started to leaf out the other day, and something seemed different about some of the leaves. Taking a closer look, one of the culms (canes) was producing leaves that were variegated!
My honeysuckle vine is in bloom, and there's nothing I can think of except "orange!" when I stand underneath it, surrounded by its thousands of blossoms. I've mentioned this vine a few times in the past: when I pruned it right after starting this blog, and after it flowered last spring. I have to post about it every year though, because it's just such an eye-catcher!
You know how around Christmas you'll see a lot of posts about beautiful Amaryllis blooms? You'll never see that from me. Oh, not because I don't like Amaryllis or don't grow them. I do like them and have a couple that I've been growing for a few years.
After over a year of blogging about my garden and experiences related to gardening, I've seen the source of my traffic shift. Initially my few visitors either knew my site and came here directly (friends and family), or they came from other sites, mainly the bamboo forums I frequently post on. Over time I've seen more and more traffic coming from Google searches though, and those searches are now the main source of traffic to this blog.
I kinda hate garden projects right now, at least the ones that I think might be interesting or informative as a blog post. I hate them because thinking about the steps involved, taking photos of everything that may or may not be important, and sort of writing the post in my head as I go along really slows things down.
The third of the Irises that I received from a gardening friend last year have finally started to open, and I'm pretty sure they're Siberian Irises.
Most of my gardening time is spent in the backyard. I'm not sure exactly why... maybe it's because it's a private area and I can do just about anything I want with plants, structures, whatever. In the front yard I feel more inclined to blend with the rest of the neighborhood and show more restraint. That doesn't mean I don't have planting beds in front, it's just that they're on a smaller scale. For example, there is no bamboo planted in the front of the house.
I wanted to take some more photos of my sempervivum flowers before they all faded, to show the variety in the blooms. After a few shots though, I realized their differences were subtle.
I'm a gardener who makes his own potting mix. It's not that I'm really fussy about the mix I use (I'm not), or that I don't think there are good bagged mixes available, because there are. I usually make my own mix for a few reasons, including being able to customize it for special needs, but usually to save money. I use a lot of potting mix during the course of a year, and mixing my own saves me some money. When I make the mix, the ingredients are typically bagged topsoil, Perlite, compost (leaf and stick mold), and peat moss.
I already have a yard rather full of plants, pretty much filling my existing planting beds. I already have a driveway full of containers of all kinds, many of which will be planted in the remaining spots in my garden this year, but many are for next year. Although committed gardeners will always tell you there is room for more plants, something new, sometimes there really is not enough room.
The other day I posted photos of my Viburnum 'Onondaga', saying how much I love its blooms, but that I had never noticed pollinators on the flowers. I must never have looked before, or I was looking too early in the cold mornings, because pollinators love these flowers!
My Japanese maple 'Fireglow' (or whatever it really is) has been very impressive this year. I wrote about it earlier this spring, but it's still spectacular. Not only has it finally filled out after five years in the ground, but it's producing seeds like crazy.
Although most of my yard is finally getting into shape for spring, I still have what I consider to be two "eyesore" beds. These are beds that may have been fine last year, but late season and winter and early season weeds have made them less-than-delightful, and seeing them every day makes me feel terrible about my garden. It doesn't help that they're adjacent to each other, right next to the bamboo that lost all of its leaves this winter. Makes this area pretty depressing.
One of the first shrubs I planted in my garden is one of my favorites. Viburnum sargentii 'Onondaga' is blooming now, and that's all I really want to say.
Well, I've done it. I've added another garden task to the list of things I need to stop thinking about and just do. Earlier this year it was the blueberry plants that I finally bought. Now, it's garlic. I've wanted to plant garlic for years, but since it's best planted in the fall and that's the time of year when I'm not really thinking about edibles, I always forget or don't get around to it.
I recently posted photos of my first bearded Iris to bloom this year. That was quite a beauty, and it will be difficult to beat its blooms I think. Or should I say "thought". The second of my unknown Iris types is starting to bloom!
It looks like this year I will actually be able to enjoy the fruits of my labors in the garden, literally. Unless something crazy happens, I will have a few different fruits to snack on sometime soon.
A while back I mentioned the nest that the house finches were building under my porch roof, but I haven't talked about it again since then. I always forget how quickly baby birds grow up, and if you don't watch almost every day you're going to miss something.
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