Garden Q&A

mlaiuppa asked...
Can you grow lobelia or ageratum? They're blue and low and would work in the front of the cool planter. 
Yes, definitely, and I saw some yesterday at the overpriced garden shop and will try to find them in 6 packs today.

You can't grow clivias? My Mom's are blooming a wonderful vibrant orange. 
 Clivias
I haven't seen clivias here, and looked them up online. Pricey!

And no fuchsias? They have uprights that do well in shade and filtered sun. All sorts of colors. 

Fuchsias

I haven't considered fuchsias, because we have such hot summers and I always think of them dying of thirst in the pots at Home Depot or Lowe's. On the other hand we have places on the front porch to hang them and a lot of shade in the yard for shrub varieties. I will think about this.

That was a ton of work you did in a 24 hour span, with breaks for food and sleep. 
It was pure heaven to work in that gorgeous dirt. Loved every minute of it. With the exception of trying to get the plants out of the 6 packs. I cut the plastic and still had to rip it off in pieces, in garden gloves which made it more of a challenge. Finally took them off and used my bare hands. You should see my nails now. Ha! I prepared with a hat and wet towel for the back of my neck. That made a difference, but then the next day it was much cooler and I really got things done quickly.

Have you given up on your Scandinavian berm of composting stuff?
Yup. The hugelkulture idea is kaput. The guys who cleared the land put all the debris, wood, pallets, garbage from the previous owners etc. all in that big pile and it will be taken to the dump this week.

Will the new fence be enough to keep the deer from tasting the new buffet or don't you have deer?
We live in town and don't have deer. However we have rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels and the fence won't help keep them out. However our bird feeder and the tender bamboo shoots are keeping the squirrels at bay.
Phase two is the veggies garden and that will need fencing of some sort. Stay tuned.

Any plans for "working" trees? The kind that produce edibles like peaches or apples or lemons?
O gosh...you are way ahead of me. When our veggie beds are in I might take a look at the remaining space and consider peaches or plums.  I am pretty much over spraying fruit trees for good, but if I can find some varieties that do well without spraying I might consider it again. At our first TN house on the mountain it came with an orchard which was so exciting, but then after a few days of rain the trees were actually pushed out of the ground by the water coming down off the mountain. That ended that orchard. 

I must say that this garden is becoming my ultimate dream come true. Having the space, and finances allows me to have it done right, and with speed. Being 70 now makes me aware of the time I have left to work and I want it to be a pleasurable process, using the experience of all my past gardens to avoid the pitfalls.

Patio, Plants and Jubilation

Nick and Carlos finished filling the beds with the (most delicious dark chocolate cake) soil at 2pm on Friday and I went right to work planting the garden, finishing up around 2pm on Saturday. I took a break to sleep while dark. But as early as I could see, I returned to the joyous task.

On the left is the hot (colored flowers) bed, the center is the cool bed and on the right is the white bed.

The white bed also has herbs at the front, since I had fewer white flowers available to plant. Herbs include basil, thyme, sage, and fennel. White perennials in this bed are poppies, specimen daisies, coneflower, iris and phlox. Still waiting to buy  a flat of white impatiens or similar annual for the back cubbies. Front cubbies hold white begonias, and backed with wave petunias and vinca.

The cool bed has blue and purple flowers (I hope) but the foxglove and delphiniums are not ready to flower, so I can't say what color they are. Of course the foxglove won't be blue, but it will be tall so I put those along the back. Salvia, several varieties,  hardy geraniums, veronica, baptisia and a few petunias in this bed. But plenty of space for more blue flowers as the shopping continues. Little sprouts of zinnias fill the cubbies in back but the front cubbies are still empty.

It's totally easy to find hot colors in both annuals and perennials.  Stargazer lilies, coneflowers, poppies, coreopsis, achillea, speedwell, canna, hardy geranium, phlox, rudbeckia, lupins, kniphofia, yarrow are the perennials. Annuals include nasturtiums, zinnias, verbena, begonia, petunias, calibrachoas, asters, marigolds and whatever else I have squeezed in there. I really like Profusion Zinnias, as they form a nice clump. I might have to move a few of these to give the others more space.
Nick moved soil to the front of the street facing bed so I could plant daylilies and more perennials between. We've moved the hydrangeas and hostas to the shade already, but they will have their own 'berm' against the fence in the near future.

 

 The four clematis continue to bloom and the will be placed against the yet to be installed fence surrounding this part of the garden.

 This pretty much ends construction phase one of the garden, and then the big veggies bed will be constructed, starting at the end of this week. Or so I was promised.
But first this pile of debris has to go...

. . . .At Last!!

 Today is the day, HURRAY! Hard to decide which day I was awaiting with more anticipation: the house closing or dirt delivery. Whatever, I am thrilled that Christmas  Garden Day has arrived. Woowoo!!! This pile of luscious black soil was dumped last night around 6pm. I threw the driver a kiss. 

The size of the dump truck was huge and I expected an equal size load of soil, but this may just be the first of many. I expect it will just fill one bay of the three sides of the bed. The interior depth is about 24" and crushed rock is already filling a couple of those inches. Drainage is important, as well as the stability of the beds. When it is dry, our 'soil' is concrete and when it rains a lot it turns to mashed potatoes. I loathe putting down rock in any garden but needs must, as they say in Britain. 

In the meantime I am kinda liking this idea that I saw on Pinterest for keeping garden tools handy and out of the tiny one car garage. This side of our garage is a desert and rarely sees any sun or water. I hope the brooms will be alright there. We have a ton of leaves and tree blooms falling on the patio this Spring so sweeping is a regular task (until we get a leaf blower, which I dislike for the noise it makes). Dave promised to wash and paint this pallet...and I promised to get some hooks to hang small tools like trowels, hedge shears, tree pruners and secuteers.

  

Speaking of Pinterest, I saw this cute homemade garden pagoda, and tried to assemble one from the debris left from the patio brick. ha! I await one good wind to topple it, hopefully on top of the voracious big fat seedling eating critters that have attacked my efforts.

 Mustn't grumble, I have a good bunch of basil already sprouting its second set of leaves, and loads of zinnia, which seem to sprout overnight. Love their enthusiasm.

 

So many plants ready to plunk in.

 Four clematis, and an equal number of coneflowers, some swiped from my previous house...and a whole tray of asters, which I never have had in my garden, but aren't they sweet?

Home Depot had a huge (on sale )selection of tremendously large hydrangea, so I went nuts and got eleven. Some white, some pink, some blue-ish and then the new selection this year, Bloomstruck. A white turning pink turning purplish mophead variety.

Still unplanted in the garden is my darling little fig tree, which is going great guns in the galvanized pot. We relocated this from the previous house too, before it had its current leaves. They grow really fast and I am crazy about having one, and maybe more if I can find the variety I want.
We are sooooo glad to have the space, the trees, both the sun and the shade and landscaper to do all the hard work. I keep saying that now that I am 70, I deserve it. Dave does too, even tho he is a mere youngster at 63.

 Must mention my two pots of Empress Wu hosta. I ordered one and it arrived with the main stem broken at the base. So I had them replace it, and lo and behold the roots had news for me. Two sprouts appeared even before the replacement arrived. These are reputed to be the largest hosta yet. O boy!

 

The Fat Lady Sings!

That would be me...the house closing was easy peasy and done in 40 minutes. Immediately went to the bank and then to Home Depot where we got 8 different hydgrangea plants. Putting down roots asap.
I am singing We're in the money, and Celebration, and Roll out the Barrel, and for good measure the Hallelujah Chorus.

It's All Coming Together

The final 5 days of this house sale are here, and it has not been without drama.

The home inspection found water in the crawl space and that led to having  to 'encapsulate' the entire crawl space, add dehumidifiers, sump pumps and new duct work. The cost to us was significant, and it delayed closing another month. They finished the job Monday and the AC has been on full force to clean the air of any possible spores and today the air will be tested and we await the results...I am praying all will be well and we can close for real on the 30th. Arrgghhh.

 Saturday we moved the last of the furniture to our current house and set it up in the sunroom where it looks perfect. Yay! We have yet to feel moved in, while waiting for the shoe to drop on the other house. Soon, soon. Lots of art work is propped up all over and decorating is on hold because it is ALL ABOUT THE GARDEN.

 The raised beds are in!!! and the drainage tubing is being added today, since we live in a wet area when it rains and a desert when it doesn't. Thank heaven for the good soil being delivered soon. In the meantime, I have changed my mind a dozen times about the plans and we are working on the design as we go along. 

As you may recall from the last post, I was wondering how Nick the landscaper would solve the uneven coursing of the concrete blocks. Here is the sliced block, which does the trick. When plants are in there, it will be completely unnoticeable. I am so excited to have this dream garden coming true.

  I confess, I keep stealing my plants away from the other house and bringing them home. These are pink coneflowers. I truly doubt they will be missed in the garden back there, and the new owner is still getting my beloved Japanese Maples, hosta giganteum, and my blue and yellow baptisia. All are replaceable.

Garden Patio

 The patio garden is coming along at a quick pace and I couldn't be more excited. Three tiers of bricks on three sides will be filled with annuals, perennials and trailing plants. 

The pavers will be filled with polymeric sand today. Polymeric Jointing Sand is a high-tech mix of graded sand and binder, specially formulated for the filling of narrow or wide joints when installing pavers, slabs or natural stones, or when replacing existing joints. Unlike conventional sand, it stays in place . As you can see, the brick is missing in the corner, and I will be very interested to see how he manages that fix. 

  The plants are starting to collect in a big way, and yesterday I got a bunch via mail order, packed in a bag and stuffed into the mailbox. Not good. Many of the growing tips were damaged or destroyed, so I contacted the seller and will get them replaced. I will still plant what was ordered and see if they will take. Most of my mail order experience has been quite good, but one never knows.

 My friend Patsy gave me a very nice hellebore, or Lenten Rose and it has been very happy in this pot. I added a cranesbill geranium from the other house in that pot and dug up a small bleeding heart and brought it here. Must have bleeding hearts! I have pink and white and another must-have plant is the Celandine (or wood) Poppy. All work well in the shade.

If you recall my post about Huglekultur, let me just say that I neglected to catch my landscaper before he scooped it all up and made a pile of it in the middle of the yard along with other debris. Nevermind.