Links
Archives
30 year old house. In my third growing season. Still A LOT of work to do. Gardening in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Zone 7b. E-mail me at gsmith@email.com with comments!
Friday, August 29, 2003
Whew, hard work today. I picked up a few things from Pike that were on sale. I got a couple of lantanas for $1 each, a hellbore (royal heritage) for $8, and a pitcher plant for $4. Then I went by Lowe's for dirt and mulch. I also got a chaste tree while I was there. When I got home, I still had the 6 roses that I got last Sunday to plant. So that's 11 things I had to plant today.
First I planted the pitcher plant near the road is the "swampy" part. The worst thing about that location is that the grass and weeds run rampant there. It will be hard to keep them out of the pitcher plant. Then I planted the hellebore in the new shade garden under the oak tree. I took the plant out of the pot and was loosening the roots when...... ANTS! EVERYWHERE! They had a nest inside the rootball of the hellebore. I think they were fire ants; they sure looked like them. They were all over my hands but didn't bite or sting me once, so maybe they weren't fire ants. They swarmed like fire ants though. I just went on and planted the plant anyway, not caring about the ants. I'll keep a sharp eye out for them to see if a mound comes up. I had put out some diazanon in that area last week, maybe that will control them.
After that bit o' fun, I went to the back yard where I had sat out all of the roses. I decided to plant 2 of the butterfly roses (that's the mutabilis rose for those who go by the scientific name) back there. I'm going to call that area the "pool garden". Because there used to be an above-ground pool there before I bought the house. Now there's sand everywhere and there was a "wall" of red clay that the pool sat next to. I have slowly been smoothing that down to a hill. Anyway, "pool garden" makes it sound like it must be beautiful. (Well, it's not.) Then I decided to plant the other 4 roses in the rose garden in the front. My rose garden isn't much of a rose garden yet. The star is the green snake rose. Last year before I moved it from my mom's house, it was 14 feet wide! It's easily that big again. It would be bigger except my rose garden isn't that big so I run over it every week when I mow the lawn. I used to pick it up and mow under it, but it's so big now it doesn't really matter. I have a snowfire rose that I transplanted this sping which did great at first. Then I thought it was dead. But it has one shoot coming up that looks very good. Chances for next year aren't looking good, but we'll wait and see. Once I got all of the roses planted, I got out the soaker hose. I had put some tubing under the ground last year but so far I had not had any need to use it yet this year. (Well, there were a few times when I would have used it if it was all setup, but oh well.) I had to do some digging to find the end of the tube. But after a bit I got it going.
I put the lantanas in front of the house along the slope coming down. I then planted the chaste tree down near the "long bed". There was a humongous rock in the hole where I was digging. I had that sledge hammer out at one point, but only managed to chip it a bit. I think it was granite. It was so big that I gave up (a first) and changed where I was going to plant it by a couple of feet. I have never grown a chaste tree before. It was sold as a perennial. I was suspicious that it wouldn't really die back to the ground. I did some searching on the web when I got home and I read that it dies back in colder areas. So hopefully here in Georgia it won't.
I went through 4 16.9 oz bottles of water today. And got plenty of sun. I still have to get up early tomorrow and mow the grass. By the way, the grass killer that I used last week has done an excellent job. The brand name is "Eliminator" which isn't really a no-name brand. I will probably be buying this in the future as opposed to roundup if the price is better. I didn't use it on any tough weeds, so I will probably keep getting the roundup brush killer for the hard jobs. But for "edging" the grass around the beds, "eliminator" was well worth the savings.
First I planted the pitcher plant near the road is the "swampy" part. The worst thing about that location is that the grass and weeds run rampant there. It will be hard to keep them out of the pitcher plant. Then I planted the hellebore in the new shade garden under the oak tree. I took the plant out of the pot and was loosening the roots when...... ANTS! EVERYWHERE! They had a nest inside the rootball of the hellebore. I think they were fire ants; they sure looked like them. They were all over my hands but didn't bite or sting me once, so maybe they weren't fire ants. They swarmed like fire ants though. I just went on and planted the plant anyway, not caring about the ants. I'll keep a sharp eye out for them to see if a mound comes up. I had put out some diazanon in that area last week, maybe that will control them.
After that bit o' fun, I went to the back yard where I had sat out all of the roses. I decided to plant 2 of the butterfly roses (that's the mutabilis rose for those who go by the scientific name) back there. I'm going to call that area the "pool garden". Because there used to be an above-ground pool there before I bought the house. Now there's sand everywhere and there was a "wall" of red clay that the pool sat next to. I have slowly been smoothing that down to a hill. Anyway, "pool garden" makes it sound like it must be beautiful. (Well, it's not.) Then I decided to plant the other 4 roses in the rose garden in the front. My rose garden isn't much of a rose garden yet. The star is the green snake rose. Last year before I moved it from my mom's house, it was 14 feet wide! It's easily that big again. It would be bigger except my rose garden isn't that big so I run over it every week when I mow the lawn. I used to pick it up and mow under it, but it's so big now it doesn't really matter. I have a snowfire rose that I transplanted this sping which did great at first. Then I thought it was dead. But it has one shoot coming up that looks very good. Chances for next year aren't looking good, but we'll wait and see. Once I got all of the roses planted, I got out the soaker hose. I had put some tubing under the ground last year but so far I had not had any need to use it yet this year. (Well, there were a few times when I would have used it if it was all setup, but oh well.) I had to do some digging to find the end of the tube. But after a bit I got it going.
I put the lantanas in front of the house along the slope coming down. I then planted the chaste tree down near the "long bed". There was a humongous rock in the hole where I was digging. I had that sledge hammer out at one point, but only managed to chip it a bit. I think it was granite. It was so big that I gave up (a first) and changed where I was going to plant it by a couple of feet. I have never grown a chaste tree before. It was sold as a perennial. I was suspicious that it wouldn't really die back to the ground. I did some searching on the web when I got home and I read that it dies back in colder areas. So hopefully here in Georgia it won't.
I went through 4 16.9 oz bottles of water today. And got plenty of sun. I still have to get up early tomorrow and mow the grass. By the way, the grass killer that I used last week has done an excellent job. The brand name is "Eliminator" which isn't really a no-name brand. I will probably be buying this in the future as opposed to roundup if the price is better. I didn't use it on any tough weeds, so I will probably keep getting the roundup brush killer for the hard jobs. But for "edging" the grass around the beds, "eliminator" was well worth the savings.
Sunday, August 24, 2003
I went by Lowe's this morning to pick up a little mulch and dirt. They had all of their roses on sale. I bought 5 butterfly roses for $2.50 each and a 3 gallon floorshow rose for $5.00. Nice! I picked up a wood fern while I was there. That's definitely for the shady area under the oak tree. I'm not sure what I'll do with the roses, except for the floorshow rose which will go in the rose garden. I want to plant a all of the butterfly roses together. They would be great massed together like that. I would like to put them along the road somewhere, but that might be difficult.
I have soccer later today. An outdoor scrimmage at 4:00 and then a few of us from the indoor team are meeting at the the GSC facility to watch the summer league playoffs.
I have soccer later today. An outdoor scrimmage at 4:00 and then a few of us from the indoor team are meeting at the the GSC facility to watch the summer league playoffs.
Saturday, August 23, 2003
Ok, I have decided to make this a gardening blog, although I may mention some other things as well.
Today was just a maintenance day. Mowed the lawn, pulled a few weeds, used the clippers on the tall weeds near the road. Sprayed some grass killer (some off brand, not roundup this time - we'll see if it's any good) along the road, driveway, and backyard. I received a new Plant Delights catalog in the mail yesterday. Just really started looking at it and one thing caught my eye right away: a red stem elephant ear. Wow! It costs $25 but I'm afraid that I will have to order this one.
While mowing the lawn today, I was thinking about what I could do with the shady area under the oak tree. I planted 3 azaleas, a camelia, and a mahonia last week. I was considering putting bricks or stones around that part. But today I was thinking that I could outline all of that and all the way over to the 3 pine trees as well. I could then pile in a bunch of dirt and have a nice area there that I wouldn't have to cut. Not much grass there anyway. It would take a lot of dirt and a lot of bricks / stones. I'm hestitant to start doing that though because I still have a lot of work to do in the back yard in terms of bringing in dirt and mulch.
I hope to get some pictures going on here soon. Then maybe you'll know what the heck I'm talking about.
Today was just a maintenance day. Mowed the lawn, pulled a few weeds, used the clippers on the tall weeds near the road. Sprayed some grass killer (some off brand, not roundup this time - we'll see if it's any good) along the road, driveway, and backyard. I received a new Plant Delights catalog in the mail yesterday. Just really started looking at it and one thing caught my eye right away: a red stem elephant ear. Wow! It costs $25 but I'm afraid that I will have to order this one.
While mowing the lawn today, I was thinking about what I could do with the shady area under the oak tree. I planted 3 azaleas, a camelia, and a mahonia last week. I was considering putting bricks or stones around that part. But today I was thinking that I could outline all of that and all the way over to the 3 pine trees as well. I could then pile in a bunch of dirt and have a nice area there that I wouldn't have to cut. Not much grass there anyway. It would take a lot of dirt and a lot of bricks / stones. I'm hestitant to start doing that though because I still have a lot of work to do in the back yard in terms of bringing in dirt and mulch.
I hope to get some pictures going on here soon. Then maybe you'll know what the heck I'm talking about.
Friday, August 22, 2003
Starting a blog. Not much else to say at the moment.
