1 post tagged “landscaping”
My disability has really hindered me from achieving what I'd like to achieve in the garden. Though we have periodically spent boocoo bux hiring landscapers to help with major tasks, loads of things haven't turned out as envisioned. To be fair to me, part of that is because one landscaper didn't do as he was hired to do and I didn't discover it 'til nearly a year later. Preventative measures are SO important in keeping the workload manageable for me. Sheet mulching was a major part of this. The landscaper sheet mulched the back yard but put mulch on plain ground for the front yard and the difference is striking. While the backyard mulching is a year older than the front yard and is only now in need of a re-do (the cardboard underneat is decomposing, letting more weeds up through the bottom), the front yard quickly had issues with Spanish burclover, field bindweed, various grasses, scarlet pimpernel, cleavers (in a big way!), sow thistles and dandelions. I did loads of work trying to nip those in the bud but I can't keep up with nature. That mulch will have to be redone properly. Other problems are due to dormant oiling and fungicide applications not having been made in the winter despite the fact that I asked for it over and over again. Then there are the plant choices that were made in direct contradiction of my expressed wishes...
Despite all that, there are ways I just couldn't keep up myself. I didn't make myself go out in the garden during the gloomy winter. I didn't fully realize all the prep work I could and should have been doing. Then I was out of commission for a number of weeks in February for my surgery. That's a crucial time, too. Though I am about to have the same surgery on my other side, it shouldn't be quite so big a deal that I am going to be less active in August. I hope. Actually, watering will be an issue. For some reason, the installed irrigation isn't working right so I've been doing a lot of watering with greywater by hand.
The oldest parts of my garden are about 2 years old now. It really is a work in progress. I think only the filthy rich can have a garden installed top to bottom in a way that's complete and mature. Well, them and the companies that put on installations for major home & garden shows. Today I went out to transplant a couple of tomatoes that desperately needed to come out of their containers. I wasted a lot of time/money this year by germinating seeds that I then put off transplating when they were old enough. Some didn't cost anything (bell pepper seeds that came from a bell pepper I ate), but others did. And beyond the cost, it's just disappointing that I could have had hefty harvests of watermelon, haricot, snowpeas and other things I like, but I couldn't summon the energy to get my ass into the garden and transplant. Funny thing is, I almost ALWAYS enjoy myself and get energized if I can just get myself out of the house in the first place.
Anyway, I'm lucky to have a large yard. As I learn more about gardening and learn more from experience, it is entirely possible that I could provide all my produce from the yard. (I don't eat as many veggies as some people do. If I were a serious veggie person, I might provide 3/4 of my intake.) One thing I really hated when I gardened as a kid is that I would spend my hard-earned chore money buying plants, spend my time nurturing them to harvest, and then my brothers would steal the fruit. Being in a large family has made me very territorial about my stuff and that really turns some people off. I worried about how I would feel about housemates who might constantly graze in the back yard. I guess my attitude now is to try to grow more than I can eat anyway. Then it won't bother me as much if someone takes something they haven't contributed to. I worried about how it would be if I got a couple gardeners as housemates. I'd want to give them access to the garden since the rent here can't be as cheap as I'd like and I view the garden as one of the big "value-added" appeals of the household. I've realized now that although the major bones of the garden are still something I will be controlling, I haven't got enough energy to intensively cultivate all four raised beds. So if some gardening folks move in I'm more able to let go now. In fact, I'd welcome the help. It could be great.
So, no pictures today, but I need to note things I've noticed. The Malacothamnus fasciculatus is twice as tall as when I took a picture of it in March and it has FINALLY come into bloom. It is a nice choice for next to the Rose Mallow. I'm worried about the size and spread of these plants. While the landscaper made some nice choices for the front yard (an area over which I had less control because my mom cares a lot about how the front looks), he chose some plants that are going to get really big and bushy. And they're too close together. I found out some of that when I finally nagged him into identifying the plants for me (he has a nasty habit of tossing the plant tags) and I looked the plants up. Some of the native grasses that were planted are HYUGE.
I harvested my first spaghetti squash today. I had *thought* was planting Moon & Stars watermelon but I must have mixed my seedlings up. Which means my Moon & Stars seedlings died the death because I didn't get to transplant them in time. The first heatwave we had killed them in their little 6-packs. I was watering and saw a plum underneath the plum stand. I thought I'd inspected them carefully to see if any of the blooms had set fruit and had seen nothing. However, it looks like the Elephant Heart plum managed one solitary fruit. Honestly, it's not any better than anything I could get at the supermarket. I'm really looking forward to when the Blue Damson is mature enough to bear, though.
The Charentais melon has set fruit and they're waxing larger. I first harvested some Stupice tomatoes last week, I think. Today I went to harvest a few more and noticed they have blossom end rot, which is supposed to be from a deficiency from calcium. It can also be caused by drought conditions. There have definitely been days when I've been tardy watering it during a heatwave so I think that's it. At least it's not a contagious thing like verticillium wilt. The Black Krim tomato, which is planted in the ground (the Stupice is in an EarthBox), is slowly coming along. It has set a couple fruit. The first one has got some splits or long scars in it. The Sungold I planted in the ground is a runt compared to the amazing Sungold I had last year. That thing bore like gangbusters and grew and grew. This one is about 2 feet high and just not very robust. There are loads of volunteer tomatoes in that raised bed and I've let them grow. I've let most of the volunteer tomatoes grow but most of them are also very slow growers. Looks like one of the volunteers is a Roma and others are Sungolds.
I think the problem with the tomatoes is that the raised bed irrigation system hasn't been working. And of course there are other areas where it wasn't installed because there weren't plants there at the time. While I've worked hard to be regular about my greywater watering, there have been days at a time when I was too exhausted and unfortunately that corresponded with some hot weather. Oh well. It's a good thing I let the volunteers grow. That way if there are only 3 tomatoes per plant, I'm still coming out okay.
Come to think of it, I have quite a few "failures" that were due to inconsistent watering. The loganberry set fruit for nearly every blossom. But it didn't get enough water when it was crucial so the resulting berries were barely more than a little flesh stretched over the seeds and were thus very bitter. Inedible, really. The mulberry tree didn't get enough water at the right time and thus the berries were smaller than they were in their first year. Unlike the loganberry, it was possible to salvage some of the berries by subsequent waterings. Missing *a* crucial time didn't mean you'd missed all of them.
The lavender holllyhock has come into full bloom and this is after the black hollyhock has completely shot its wad. A frilly pinkish-white hollyhock is also in bloom right now, though it's much smaller and weaker. The artichokes are in bloom. I only harvested two this year and they weren't very good. Not only do I think the landscaper picked bad varieties (he didn't tell me the varieties so I can't learn any lessons), but the ants love them. They're visiting aphids, I guess. And there are other insect grubs that love them. Given that I don't actually like artichokes that much, it's not a good use of my garden space. I think I'm going to rip them out and use the space for more fruit trees. I do like artichoke flowers, however. They're lovely and I'm surprised more florists don't use them in really big arrangements.
Today I collected some seeds from the marigolds, Erigeron glauca, and "Drama Queen" poppy. Seed collecting is something that is very time-consuming and that I haven't been able to do as well as I'd like. Not only would it save me money on annuals, but it would give me some stuff to trade with. Plus I hope to be brave enough to make some approaches to the youth in the neighborhood and get them interested in gardening. Having free seeds for people helps. I may also make some guerilla seedballs to toss into vacant lots in Berkeley. For that project, though, I should really stick to native plants.
