Let the garden season begin!
Mar. 16th, 2012 10:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzYesterday the weather was quite lovely and I spent most of my afternoon in the garden. I sweeped up all the cypress junk that had fallen over the patch of strawberries (I'm happy to see they are struggling to come up regardless). It was a nice layer in the compost barrel and then I realised it probably takes ages to compost and it will do quite nicely as a mulch path. So I scooped it all out again. I can say with at least some certainty there are probably no coffee filters in the mulch path. I think.
I also ploughed the earth. I am a little puzzled why, but my father always did this at the beginning of the year. It gets rid of the weeds (they get turned under) and I suppose it adds air to the soil. I'm a good girl and do it, despite not knowing why I do it, exactly.
The beds are less than a meter wide, and two mulch paths (sans coffee filters, I hope) provide access to the beds and the hydrangea near the wall. In front of the shed is our raspberry and our blackberry, so we will need to get there. In the corner behind the hydrangea is our apple tree.
It took some doing, but the hydrangea is finally tamed. I had cut it back severely last autumn and with the new spring growth I could cut it back more and shape it a bit. It's near chest high, and it hides a rose bush that's been growing 30 cm from the base.
I also cut back the blue potato bush and the rose trellis. The rose cuttings are not going into my own compost barrel, because I'll be finding loose thorns for the next ten years if I do.
The branch cuttings are a good base for the new year of compost, adding air to the barrel. I opened up the bottom of the barrel and saw lots of silverfish, so it's a good start of the habitat. I didn't take any compost out yet. (See my earlier comment about coffee filters.)
The mystery plant which was actually a diplademia has not survived the winter. It deserved to die, because no plant that comes from a subtropic zone should be planted in zone 7, Western Europe. I am not one to coddle my plants or wrap them in bubble plastic come winter, and if I can't take it inside it's probably going to have to brave the frost on its own. I doubt the bubble plastic would have sufficed in any case, we temperatures of -10°C, so the ground was frozen solid.
It probably also killed off my rosemary shrub, although there is still some green in there. I'm hoping it'll come around still (any help?).
Both cats accompanied me outside (and I'm not used to shooting in JPG anymore) and Dusty was helping me sow some vegetables. The cups are all provided by Twi and are very helpful for sowing. I've strewn the remainder of the strawberry seeds under the cypress, where I planted my mother's strawberries last year also. I also spilled some chives seeds under one end of the rose trellis and parsley under the other end of the rose trellis. I strewed some catgrass seeds (thanks Steelweaver!) in the old pond bucket under the cypress as well. Lisa doesn't mind eating daffodils for her tummy, but I'd rather she not puke in the house at all (of course she picked the mat to do her business with the hairballs on in stead of just 'helping the garden along'). The bit of garden between the vegetable patch and the compost barrel will be dedicated to flowers, and I was happy to see stuff already coming up. The pitiful geraniums I bought last year at a discount in September are back, the campanula is coming up (and got a sprinkling of wildflower seed mix to accompany them) and the Harping Johnny is coming up anew.
In the little plastic cups I sowed pumpkin, beans, radish, lettuce, paprika, and courgette. I also planted the mint in one of my old planters (and put it on the terrace so it can't escape).
All that needs doing now is some growing. I still need to remove the remains of the diplademia, but that can wait. It might make a new bid for life, but I really doubt it. And I hope the blue potato bush starts sprouting signs of life soon as well.
I also ploughed the earth. I am a little puzzled why, but my father always did this at the beginning of the year. It gets rid of the weeds (they get turned under) and I suppose it adds air to the soil. I'm a good girl and do it, despite not knowing why I do it, exactly.
The beds are less than a meter wide, and two mulch paths (sans coffee filters, I hope) provide access to the beds and the hydrangea near the wall. In front of the shed is our raspberry and our blackberry, so we will need to get there. In the corner behind the hydrangea is our apple tree.
It took some doing, but the hydrangea is finally tamed. I had cut it back severely last autumn and with the new spring growth I could cut it back more and shape it a bit. It's near chest high, and it hides a rose bush that's been growing 30 cm from the base.
I also cut back the blue potato bush and the rose trellis. The rose cuttings are not going into my own compost barrel, because I'll be finding loose thorns for the next ten years if I do.
The branch cuttings are a good base for the new year of compost, adding air to the barrel. I opened up the bottom of the barrel and saw lots of silverfish, so it's a good start of the habitat. I didn't take any compost out yet. (See my earlier comment about coffee filters.)
The mystery plant which was actually a diplademia has not survived the winter. It deserved to die, because no plant that comes from a subtropic zone should be planted in zone 7, Western Europe. I am not one to coddle my plants or wrap them in bubble plastic come winter, and if I can't take it inside it's probably going to have to brave the frost on its own. I doubt the bubble plastic would have sufficed in any case, we temperatures of -10°C, so the ground was frozen solid.
It probably also killed off my rosemary shrub, although there is still some green in there. I'm hoping it'll come around still (any help?).
Both cats accompanied me outside (and I'm not used to shooting in JPG anymore) and Dusty was helping me sow some vegetables. The cups are all provided by Twi and are very helpful for sowing. I've strewn the remainder of the strawberry seeds under the cypress, where I planted my mother's strawberries last year also. I also spilled some chives seeds under one end of the rose trellis and parsley under the other end of the rose trellis. I strewed some catgrass seeds (thanks Steelweaver!) in the old pond bucket under the cypress as well. Lisa doesn't mind eating daffodils for her tummy, but I'd rather she not puke in the house at all (of course she picked the mat to do her business with the hairballs on in stead of just 'helping the garden along'). The bit of garden between the vegetable patch and the compost barrel will be dedicated to flowers, and I was happy to see stuff already coming up. The pitiful geraniums I bought last year at a discount in September are back, the campanula is coming up (and got a sprinkling of wildflower seed mix to accompany them) and the Harping Johnny is coming up anew.
In the little plastic cups I sowed pumpkin, beans, radish, lettuce, paprika, and courgette. I also planted the mint in one of my old planters (and put it on the terrace so it can't escape).
All that needs doing now is some growing. I still need to remove the remains of the diplademia, but that can wait. It might make a new bid for life, but I really doubt it. And I hope the blue potato bush starts sprouting signs of life soon as well.
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no subject
Date: 2012-03-16 10:14 am (UTC)Al onze Rozemarijnen hebben ook het loodje gelegd. Ervaring heeft ons geleerd dat een beetje vorst geen probleem is, maar als het meer wordt dan -10 of langdurig aanhoud ze het niet gaan redden. Misschien dat die van jou het nog gaat redden omdat je een beschutte tuin hebt, maar wij zullen (weer) nieuwe moeten gaan kopen.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-16 04:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-16 05:42 pm (UTC)