Jul
07
And again, life goes on in spite of all the work I need to do in the garden. Luckily, no matter what I do or don’t do, nature will take over and do its thing. I’m just its most reliable tool.
Now it’s too hot to do a lot of things that I wasn’t able to get done, like removing the forsythia. Sure, I could go ahead and whack it out – in the heat. But then I wouldn’t be able to pass it on to anyone. It would be a goner. So I will wait for cooler weather in the fall.
So here is my current list of garden chores:
Bag Worm
- Finish clean up and repair from the tornado damage.
- Re-pot and fertilize pond plants
- Get more fish (mosquito and gold) for the pond.
- Treat pond weekly
- Dead head spent blooms
- Prune back dead perennials and bush and tree branches.
- Cut back asters and mums for fall bloom
- Mulch! I still haven’t managed to get my mulch! I’m just going to have to break down and buy some.
- Start pruning back tomatoes for fall production
- Start hunting and killing bag worms. I found one today in the bald cypress. Just dunk the little suckers in soapy water.
- Bed out around pond and chicken coop.
- Mow weekly
- Water in zones to 1″ weekly. Potted plants daily.
- Feed and water the birds!
- Start planning for a fall garden. Hmm… I could still plant zinnia and maybe some more sunflowers? Summer squash seed and southern peas still have a chance if it’s watered well. Winter squash, pumpkins and gourds could go in by the end of the month. I will have to break out the books and catalogs and plan the rest of it.
-- Weather When Posted --
- Temperature: 89°F;
- Humidity: 38%;
- Heat Index: 89°F;
- Wind Chill: 89°F;
- Pressure: 29.84 in.;
Jun
04
Oh good grief! I just can’t catch up! I barely got anything done in May off my list of chores so most of it will have to carry over to June. I am, however, calling in extra troops – I’m going to have 1-2-Tree to limb up and thin all the trees. That will be a huge help. And if we can get rid of the defunct boat, I can have them deliver a load of mulch while they are at it. Then it will just be a matter of finding the time to get the mulch out.
KC Napping
So here is the list…
- Continue spraying weekly with baking soda spray to treat roses for black spot and crape myrtles for fungus.
- Continue foliar feeding weekly with Garrett Juice, Seaweed or Compost Tea.
- Continue mowing weekly and get mower blades sharpened (still).
- Continue to clean and treat the pond weekly.
- Deadhead any flowers that look leggy or worn out.
- Mulch all beds. I MUST get this done before the temps get too high!
- Dig out the forsythia (still).
- Build new compost rings (still).
- Feed and water the birds.
- Begin watering weekly where needed – especially the veggies!
- Finish building a bed around the chicken coop. MUST get rid of that Bermuda grass. That is the worst weed in my garden! I have also found out that it is one of the biggest allergens in my garden.
- Dig out the Johnson grass clumps and reseed with Buffalo grass.
- Apply second treatment of nematodes to control ants, fleas, grubs, ticks, chiggers…
- Harvest veggies! We have already gotten a few cherry tomatoes, yellow squash, sweet peas, green beans, and cucumbers. Yeah!
- Time to plant Zinnias. I still have some seed I saved from last year. What I really want to get is some more Xeranthamums! Those were pretty!
- WEED, WEED, WEED!
I need to find a pretty (and big) pot to plant the bouganvilla that we got to commemorate our anniversary. I also need to find some nice creepers to plant between the pavers to the pond and chicken coop. Four more okra would be nice too. I only see one that has come up from the seed I saved. Maybe I can still find some (on sale even)? I would also like to find a “Whale’s Tongue” agave. We saw one at the arboretum and it is so cool – and it’s drought tollerant! Oh! And a weeping Blue Atlas Cedar (in a pot). The ones at the Arboretum were gorgeous! My luck, though, I would probably kill it. Things in pots, don’t you know.
We are looking into putting in drip irrigation but with so many other things happening right now, I’m guessing that is one project that will have to wait. We are also getting gutters installed (finally!) and hope to get some REAL rainbarrels (and not just trash cans) to help with the watering.
Something is happening to the hyacinth bean vine. I’m not sure what, but I will try to figure out what to do about it. It’s dying back from the tip. Hmm… The apple tree is also suffering. I think it has fire blight. I need to treat it with the sick tree treatment and prune back any dead spots. I think it got sick because the cats stressed it out by clawing it. I will try to cage the trunk to get them to stop that.
OK… let’s see if I do any better through June than I did in May!
-- Weather When Posted --
- Temperature: 80°F;
- Humidity: 37%;
- Heat Index: 80°F;
- Wind Chill: 80°F;
- Pressure: 29.95 in.;
May
01
There! That should keep me busy!
Apr
14
April is already half done and I don’t even have a working list of what I want to get done yet! Aaaahhhhgggg!
Sylvester - Bantam Rooster
OK… here is the list I KNOW needs to be done:
- Sharpen all tools
- Tune up the lawn mower (wish I could trade it in for a cordless electric)
- Mow once a week
- Clean and treat outdoor furniture
- WEED, WEED, WEED
- Prune storm damage out of trees
- Prune last of roses (we will hope that it’s better late than never)
- Clean and treat the pond weekly
- Clean out the shed (again!)
- Fertilize (go find free horse manure, clean out chicken coop and use, rabbit manure, etc.)
- Get free tree shreddings (let sit for a month before putting on beds or buffer with cardboard)
- Make new compost rings
- Spray roses weekly with baking soda spray
- Spray everything with compost tea
- Wrap apple tree trunk
- Remove forsythia and ornamental peppers (they are too big for their space now)
That should take me well into May and that doesn’t even include any planting! I’m afraid I may forget to plant something until it is too late, so that is my next task – fine tune my planting list.
