Friday, July 23, 2010

Change Three Things

A couple of days ago I went out to do the yearly July deadheading in the hot full sun garden. I used to fill a pickup load with cuttings to go to the compost at the landfill.  Even with 3 composters of my own, these cuttings were overwhelming. So for the last few years I have made an effort to control the amount of flowers that are spent by July and need deadheading. Thankfully it was a cool, overcast morning. A local man drove by and stopped his pickup by the boulevard and told me how much he enjoyed looking at the flowers. I cheerfully asked “Do you ever drive by the back alley and peek into the back garden”. Yes, he said he did. We are a small town. As he was leaving I commented that I didn’t like deadheading. He said, “but that’s gardening”.  Suddenly I stopped and thought. He is so right this is gardening.  I picked up my cuttings and do you know what? They only filled a large wheel barrow.  That’s progress.  Have you ever noticed how the rhythm of weeding and deadheading helps you meditate on what is on your mind. On my mind was what I want to change in the garden. I think 3 things:
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This is the 50ft strip of boulevard that lines our property. I call it the Hot Full Sun Garden.  You see on the far left a strip of red pavers. We put those in so that guests coming out of their car would have somewhere to step out and onto the sidewalk. On each side of the middle cement walkway that leads up to the house are 2 sections of garden separated by another middle section of pavers that meet the sidewalk.  These red pavers take work to keep weeded.  My change is that I am going to lift up a few of those pavers and plant some of the weed suppressing ground huggers like lavender thyme and veronica pectinata. I will mulch them with gravel. This will create some solid stepping areas that will suppress weeds. 

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This is the outside of the backyard fence.
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Here is another view. This fence is about 50ft long. Some of the plants I planted, some self-sowed. The problem is that creeping bindweed has self-sown or bird-sown into this area. I don’t want it to creep into my garden.  So I plan to dig out the plants in this area and starve out the bindweed by covering the area with newspaper and landscaping fabric.   This will be a hard job for cool weather. The plus is that I can later redesign this area and this year it will give me somewhere to keep autumn leaves. Last year I dumped the leaves on the edges of the garden. As mass quantities of leaves decompose they rob the soil of nitrogen. Thus a couple of my grape vines look a bit yellow.  I have fed them with manure. They still have lots of grapes, but I won’t be dumping leaves on them anymore.
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Under the center arbor sitting on the left are 2 nanking cherry bushes. These bushes give good tasting little cherries which the birds enjoy. They are planted in a raised bed, the front of which I use to grow greens. These bushes have to go!  I want to put my portable cold frame in this area and try to grow some spinach and kale in the fall and maybe early winter.
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One thing done – Two to go!  Ted said “You cut down the cherry tree!” I said, no they are bushes. It took me a minute to get the reference….”I cannot tell a lie, I cut down the cherry tree”.  I guess George Washington really didn’t say that.
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This big bug I know: Cicada. They come up from the earth, grip a branch, then shed their outer skin . He must of been drying his gossamer-like wings before flying high in the trees to start his song.  Ok, so I don’t know the details, but I am sure some of you do! Please share.

22 comments:

  1. This is a really good time to evaluate things and make lists of what to do when the weather cools a bit. I've got one job I plan to start this weekend, hopefully it won't be too hot. I love how full of flowers all the different parts of your garden are right now. I didn't know that the decomposing leaves could rob the soil of nitrogen, that's good to know. Have fun checking the last two things off your list. We don't have Cicadas here, they sure are strange looking.

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  2. Hi Catherine, the cicadas are odd looking. They live in the soil, some I guess for years. They have a song like a childs rattle, I can't decribe it. But it seems to gently go in waves. It is part of the summer here. I love to hear them, there must be so many because I can hear them right now and I am inside.

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  3. We sure have cicadas here! A few years ago we had the 17 year ones and they covered out gardens, trees, front doors, sidewalks. Yuck, plus they do a lot of damage to the treet branches, especially the youger ones.

    I love what you are doing with your parkway garden. I have the xeric alley garden, and my whole garden would need to be xeric this year - in the 90's every day for quite awhile.

    Eileen

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  4. Gloria, I also did not know that the leaves would rob the soil of nitrogen, I thought that they were good for it.
    I am going to take my weeks holidays in August, and really take a good look at what needs taking care of this fall, I need to get a list together so I can be more efficient this year.

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  5. Hi Deborah, Composted leaves are an excellent fertilizer for plants. But, I put on uncomposted leaves. I placed them near the fence on the edges of the garden. It got them out of sight. To compost the leaves microbes use nitrogen and compete with the plant for the nitrogen needed to compost those leaves. So best to compost the leaves first then add them to the plants.

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  6. Dear Gloria, I was most interested to read of your planned changes and the reasons which lie behind them. Gardens are, in my view, constantly evolving as we strive to improve and perfect them and therein is to be found much of the fun and interest. Have you tried bagging leaves in black plastic sacks, punched with holes, and left for a year to produce the most wonderful leaf mould?

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  7. I love your idea of growing some creeping plants intentionally between your pavers. If something will grow there anyway, it might as well be something you want, and that will smell lovely when lightly crushed. Don't feel bad about the cherry shrub, I would have done it too...for the sake of the winter greens of course! That's gardening too...they're never done, and always in a state of change.

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  8. Hi Eileen -I hope we never get a cicada plaque! Right now grasshoppers are really bad in some areas. I have a few. I almost wonder about removing weeds, since it gives them something else to eat. 90 degrees is tough weather for the gardens. We fluctuate so much, some 90s, upper 80s but we cool off in the high 50s at night. And we are not humid.

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  9. Dear Edith - good point about bagging the leaves. I do bag them, but in the spring I dump them out of the bags since I don't have a good place to hide them. I just dumped too many on 2 grapevines. You are so right gardens are constantly changing. The back alley makeover is going to be a hard one....but once done, I think worth it. I dream of the day that I can garden without projects(except for getting the compost) that get me dirty from head to toe. I don't like earth and bugs on me!

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  10. Clare from Curbstone - Thank you! I love having my greens. Clare, this year I put beets in a Earth Box planter and they got so, so many leafminers. I am picking off the leaves, but the beets are not as big as I hoped. Do you or does anyone have a natural remedy for those leaf mining larvas. I think I read that can use a cover cloth. I think I will try replanting in the ex-cherry bush area.

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  11. Well, I don't particularly like deadheading either, but you are right...it is a great way to get in touch with the garden and think about you want to do differently. I love how you make changes in the garden and tackle problems using natural methods :-)

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  12. Hi Noelle - thank you, for some of these garden changes I need all the "atta girls" I can get :)

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  13. Funny...I was just telling my husband that the deadheading is never ending. I agree that when you're deadheading all kinds of plans for garden changes run through your head...mostly I tell myself to stop buying plants that require so much work....yeah, that's not going to happen :)
    I use some pavers in my beds so I can walk through them without stepping on plants.

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  14. I kind of enjoy deadheading. It's my zen-y time to do just what you're doing. Inspect and maybe make some plans to change a few things. I am so looking forward to seeing you next month. I suppose I should pull some weeds before you arrive. :D

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  15. Patsi - So true deadheading is never ending. What I look for is plants that do not need July deadheading or that do not need it very much like the shorter yarrows, sedums and ground covers. :)

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  16. Kate, I read Ted your message and he said, oh no, we are making her extra work! Don't pull too many weeds, I know your gardens is beautiful. I am thinking it might be good right now to have more weeds. The grasshoppers are getting bad and big! How quickly they grow.

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  17. Gloria, I make notes all season long about what I need to change/move/rethink in the garden for next year. But sometimes all those notes can be a bit overwhelming. I like the idea of picking three things to focus on. (Good luck with your bindweed; it takes real dedication to keep at it until it is gone.)

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  18. When I was a kid, I used to see the shedded cicada skins in our yard. To this day, it still scares me a little. Your flowers are really pretty! Nice garden.

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  19. Hi Gloria, I have just discovered your blog. Hello from the Oregon desert. Your gardens are 'glorious'!

    I know what you mean about deadheading -- but I find it satisfying too, in that it gives me time to appreciate the flowers whose beauty I have been blessed with. My bigger time-consumer is still, and always will be, weeding. I have gone from hating it (in my younger days) to a feeling of satisfaction at seeing the clean soil. Then I moved on to thinking, 'wow, this is just green manure -- thanks, garden' (when I get to them before they flower). This year I have chickens and spring weeding was a cutworm-fest for the chickens. So there is always something new to learn and appreciate. I bet chickens would eat grasshoppers too.

    Thanks again for a lovely blog and peek into your gardens. I'll be back.
    Kathy

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  20. Hi Jean - So true about the bindweed. There is not alot of it, but each year it grows a bit more. We had more moisture than usual and it is liking it. I go back there and try to get the flowers. But the area is so filled with plants that the bindweed gets lost. I enjoy your blog and comments

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  21. Meensnyc - The shedded cicadas do look strange. For that matter the cicadas are an odd looking insect. At least they don't have a stinger :)

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  22. Hi Kathy - Thank you for your kind words! Yes, I think chickens would be good grasshopper eaters. Alas, town does not allow them. So I must squish when I can. Years ago in another garden I used Nolo Bait which was a natural BT that cut down the grasshoppers. I hope nature curbs the grasshoppers

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