Garden Journal for March 21 and 22, 2009

back yard

• Swept out, removed pine garland protecting base of white climbing rose, moved protected pots away from house to get more sun and rain (bay, coral climbing rose, blueberry)
• Put new bases on 3 remaining barn siding boxes, topped up soil and covered with mulch.
• Pruned white climbing rose, retrained shoots, and raked out some mulch & dead leaves. A few leaves were dried out on the canes – removed those. New growth coming in.
• Pruned coral climbing rose. Removed leaves that were dried out. Aerated soil and added ~1/2 cup used coffee grounds + 1 banana peel cut into ½” pieces in a ring around base – about 2” deep. Loads of red, new leaves coming on.
• Pruned lavender (“fat spike”) back to base: all but 2 branches were dead
• Pulled up lavender (hidcote): pruned earlier this year back to base in hopes of saving it, but it got too cold and died?

diseases
Removed a few leaves with black spots and maybe 1 with powdery mildew (or starling poop?) from coral climbing rose.

observations

• Buds are looking good on rhododendron, and bleeding heart not up yet in front yard.
• Peony buds are popping up -- will I actually get blooms this year? If not, consider planting in a deeper pot?
• Lilac is leafing out nicely. Hope it blooms this year -- even a teensy one!
• Not sure how blueberry bush will do this year; it bloomed late last fall and started to form little berries that didn’t fall off and now look hard and dried out.
• Lettuces and a couple carrots planted late last fall are coming up like gangbusters. If we put a hoop enclosure on them this fall, we might be able to harvest greens and root vegetables all next winter (assuming winter is as mild as this last one was).

weather
Sun seems to rise due East now (stood in the middle of an east-west street this morning and it was dead center). Good light throughout the day for more than half the backyard. Sun still not hitting tree box in front, but inching closer.

planning

• Keep an eye out for succulents, drought/heat resistance plants, and interesting pots for roof deck plantings.
• Move bleeding heart so it gets more shade when sun shifts in mid-summer?
• Plant sweet woodruff against house wall in front yard? Guy at Fragers Hardware said it’s not as aggressive as mint, comes back every year, smells good in sachets, and he loves it. Grows up to 18” high and is meant as ground cover, so it could replace some mulch.
• Use dark, finer mulch in front yard this year. Red cypress isn't providing enough contrast and is tending to grow fungus in lower layers.
• Paint inner walls of steps with blackboard paint? Need to find out if it's weatherproof.
• New lemon thyme plant is probably needed – current one looks dead. Water for a few weeks and see what happens.
• May need to transfer lilac to a bigger, deeper pot. Defitely need to construct a bamboo "trainer" to keep it growing up and not out.