Planting purple wave petunias concludes five days freshening flower beds
with seven cubic yards of hardwood fine mulch.
Stay at home! 2020
Tag Archives: garden
Spring Gardening or…
9 Aprwhat are they?
Spoiler alert: Amazon sells them. (That is how I discovered the name.)
I have been in garden centers often over the years and never saw one. I acquired them from an estate a couple of years ago. They are:
rotary tillers (with a broom type handle)
Applied testing: It does a nice job freshening up last year’s mulch and also works well mixing homemade compost with clay type soil.
Winter Gardening
7 JanWinter gardening means trimming dried perennials and raking leaves. That is…until my neighbor gave me an amaryllis bulb kit. Delightful! (The kit includes one bulb, glass jar and growing medium.)
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- Dec 24
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- Dec 31
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- Jan 5
Jan 6 (Ephiphany)
Baby Kiwis
25 JunJune 2019: Woo! Hoo! In this photo…blurry, baby kiwis!
Baby kiwis
Apparently, I focused on the the one top-left of center. Three in this photo!
It has taken two years for this perennial plant to mature and bear fruit. Also, we have had significant rain fall this season. The vines have grown over ten feet long. Hopefully, the vines will meet the arbor between the house and garden shed…may not be this year. (I would have planted if closer, if I had understood how it grew.)
May 2018: Last year’s great expectations deflated. Here we “grow” again! Our perennial kiwi vine has a strong start for this season. It is front and center in the photo below with four vines. So far, the longest one is over three feet long.
May 2017: Yesterday, we were pleasantly surprised to find potted “Hardy Kiwi” for $12 at Cox’s Plant Farm. I thought kiwi grew on trees like apples or cherries. It is a vine that prefers a trellis to support perhaps 100 fruit. We’ll let you know how we did.
http://ediblelandscaping.com/careguide/Kiwi/
Dirty job: composting
27 JunYard
Kitchen
Compost bins
Composting is both a dirty job and “Black gold” to enrich vegetable garden….this season’s yield…200 pounds!
For eighteen years, I have used a three step process to mitigate the slime and smell of kitchen waste. This year I added a fourth step.
- Compost kitchen and garden waste (very slimy and smelly)
- Compost yard waste (primarily trimmings of perennial flowers).
- Add kitchen compost to yard waste = black gold
- Top off with ashes from fire pit for enrichment
All gardening starts with dirt. Yes, it is less expensive and messy to buy compost by the bag at garden centers. Homemade is better.
Fabulous Foliage
16 Junand thank you to 2,000 followers!
Hosta: Rainforest Sunrise
Hosta: Guacamole
Hosta: Golden edge
Our very cold late spring in central Indiana stunted blooms on our flowering trees. However, the rains that followed supported the best season ever for our hostas.
Kiwi for gardening
24 MayMay 2018: Last year’s great expectations deflated. Here we “grow” again! Our perennial kiwi vine has a strong start for this season. It is front and center in the photo below with four vines. So far, the longest one is over three feet long.
May 2017: Yesterday, we were pleasantly surprised to find potted “Hardy Kiwi” for $12 at Cox’s Plant Farm. I thought kiwi grew on trees like apples or cherries. It is a vine that prefers a trellis to support perhaps 100 fruit. We’ll let you know how we did.
http://ediblelandscaping.com/careguide/Kiwi/
From Houzz: Moon Gates in Garden
21 AugWith all the interest in the sun and the total solar eclipse today…let’s balance the chatter with photos of what is blooming in Elfcroft’s Moon Garden.
I love the ideas in this Houzz article on Moongates. Enjoy!
What’s blooming in the Moon Garden?
6 JunOak Leaf Hydrangea
http://www.hgtv.com/outdoors/flowers-and-plants/flowers/create-a-moon-garden
Campanula, EH Frost
http://www.perennials.com/plants/campanula-poscharskyana-eh-frost.html
Iris, tulip and peony blooms have come and gone.
