One of my newer garden "rooms" is the Tropical Garden. This used to be the Auxiliary Veg garden, located near the top of the slope above the grape arbor and north of the Winter Garden. It is a sort of gateway garden leading into the Asian Garden area. A few years ago, I removed the fence around the area, contoured its outlines, put in a path, etc. For the past couple years, most of my cannas and colocasias have been there, along with some other "jungly" looking plants. Because I live in Zone 6, actual tropical plants are not an option except as summer residents (I store the cannas and colocasias indoors during the winter). I am slowly adding to the perennial, in-ground plants. I have 6 dark-red flowered hardy hibiscus that did very well last summer. Those huge exotic looking flowers were great! I added two more (pink, I think) last fall but don't see new growth yet, so that's a fingers-crossed. I put in a couple of very small clumps of miscanthus and both are doing well. Took a chance and left the "Hot Lips" Salvia in ground over the winter, with various kinds of protection. The 3 plants that were covered with leaves and then an upturned plastic bucket did excellently; 2 others with minimal cover not so good, and one that I tried covering with mounded dirt died. Live and learn. At least now I know that moderately tender perennials (I think these salvias are Zone 7) will survive our winters with substantial cover.
I'm eager to see if an experiment from last fall pays out: I transplanted two very young mimosa trees into the Tropical Garden, but I cut them down to about 18 inches tall. I don't want them as trees; I want to see if they will put out their typical leaf fronds that resemble ferns. That should give me a suitably "tropical" ferny look without actually using the big Ostrich ferns that probably won't do well in the Tropical Garden because it is (for now) full sun and on a well drained slope.
Yesterday I spent the entire morning working in the Tropical Garden, weeding and putting in the cannas and colocasias. I dug out a rampant clump of goldenrod and now I have a big empty spot crying for something...I'm thinking I'll put the 'Cosmopolitan' Miscanthus I jsut bought last week in there. Its height will work well. I'm wondering if I should go back to Snavely's and see if I can get another pot of the same grass....
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Today the cabbages go in the veg and then it's over to E's house to help her move some junk out. Our weather has been cool/warm and very overcast for the past several days. Light rain and some pretty heavy fog yesterday. Perfect gardening weather where ever the soil isn't too wet.
I've been feeling "scattered" lately. My mother-in-law was Pennsylvania Dutch and she called it "vershimlt." It's when you feel like there's a million things to do and you can't get started on any one thing. Or, started on a million things at once. You probly know the feeling.
I have to keep telling myself I AM MAKING PROGRESS. It's just been hit or miss. Once I get all the "hardscape" projects, like walls, walks, arbors, etc. done, then it will be ok. I'll be one of those gardening ladies who wanders the garden with big straw hat, trug, and secateurs, deadheading roses and humming Brahms ( 
, like that's ever going to happen "done" ha.)
Yesterday morning was spent entirely on the Pot Corral. First, I drove over to Jerry's back lot and got a big load of stump grindings, brought it home and filled all the pots. It looked like so much dirt, but those big pots ate it up like nothing and I still need more to do grow-bags for my hot peppers and eggplants. It also took so much longer than I thought. I still haven't planted tender annuals in any pots yet, but the hardier stuff is in: cannas, salvias, elephant ear, etc. And some perennials: mini roses, hostas. The Boston ferns are also out there and in place, they look a little ratty after all winter in the bedroom, but I see a lot of new growth coming in.
Wednesday I was supposed to meet friends in Gettysburg for lunch, but sudden illness struck and they had to cancel. So I went up to Lurgans Greenhouse instead. It's Amish-owned, huge, unadvertised, and the prices are reasonable. I bought a Rodgersia to grow in the Jungle Cliff, a horsetail rush for the little pond there, and a lovely red astilbe with dark red foliage that for now is featured in one of the big Pot Corral containers. I also stopped at a nursery that is going out of business (Snavely's in Chambersburg) and bought a variegated thyme and a pot of Miscanthus grass "Cosmopolitan" which can get to 8 feet tall. I've been lusting for that grass for a while now and since it was on sale, I bought it. I'll be sorry to see yet another nursery go out of business, but I have to be honest: their deep discount sale prices were still pretty high in my opinion and it's no wonder these nurseries are having trouble staying in business. At 25% off I still paid $19 for a pot of ornamental grass. It used to be that a lot of these places would propagate and grow their own stock, now I think most order in from big wholesalers and that's where the price creep begins. It's too bad because the selection used to be AMAZING and the prices reasonable, but now it's a generic selection and high cost.
May 1, Beltane, May Day, the first day of summer according to the Old Calendar. And wow, here, the weather went to summer right on schedule. We've had glorious summer days, and everything is booming along in the garden.
Late last week our house air conditioning system went haywire, we still have cooling, but it's not working right and the decision between us and the technician was we need a new system. They sent someone over to measure the house, windows, insulation, etc. and today another tech is coming out to show us our options (in other words, tell us just how outrageously priced is this new system, whatever we choose). I'm braced for the worst; looks like I'll be cashing in some of Dad's Savings Bonds.
Monday cousins stopped in for lunch on their way home from N. Carolina. It's like after they left, all I wanted to do was sleep. Woke up Tuesday raring to go and got a lot done around the house and in the garden. I moved all the Boston Ferns out of my bedroom, their winter quarters, and into the Pot Corral. They came thru the winter in pretty good shape, but I know they'll really perk up now.
Got the first section of the hose system hooked up for the veg. At least now I have water to the greenhouse. But I need to do some repairs. The short hose that attaches to the outside faucet and feeds the whole system is squirting water at the faucet so I think I need to take that apart and tighten up the hose end. I have all the veg hoses out but not connected so I may get that done today, just to get it out of the way. It's a bit complicated, but I only need to do this once a year and I've found that having several shorter hoses feeding off one main hose is better for my veg garden than trying to haul around a single hose to reach every corner.
Cleaned out the tulip pots by the deck and replanted the bulbs in the Below the Deck Garden, right at the bottom edge. The soil there is compacted heavy clay, so I dug up and turned over a biggish area and worked some compost into it before the tulips went in. Not so much for the tulips themselves but to just go ahead and improve another small spot of clay. I'm hoping to fill those big empty pots with something cheap from Lowe's. Last year I got a big flat of very very browned and sad looking begonias on discount at Lowe's; a little time and TLC and they were gorgeous all summer long.
I've been putting those "yard sign" wire supports to really good use everywhere! It's great having a quick way to give my emerging lilies support. I did not realize how many lilies I have around here and I'm glad not to have to scramble around finding supports AFTER the plants get top heavy. I'm going to put in some of these wire supports around some young peonies in the Below the Deck Garden too.
Today, the two big projects are to finish digging over the long bed in the veg so I can set up my tomato fence. I put in 4 lightweight metal fence posts and string a section of wire fencing called "sheep fence" on them. The wires are widely spaced (6X10 inch rectangles) so it is perfect for tomatoes. You can reach right through to pick. I'm not ready to set out tomatoes just yet, but this will get everything ready.
The second big project is to go over to Jerry's backlot and get a big load of stump grindings. I really want to finish filling up some big pots and that stuff is perfect for taking up room at the bottom of a pot. It's a mix of shredded wood and lots of dirt, and by the end of the summer it will be rich dark compost. I put a generous layer of regular potting soil on top and plant in that.
I'm so surprised that my "Jane" magnolias are still hanging onto their blooms! They look absolutely magical with the pink and white bleeding hearts and the white native dogwoods. Lucky!
We went from a high of 52F yesterday (Saturday 27 April) to a high of 82F today (Sunday 28 April). It's hard to know what to do in the garden from day to day. Yesterday I got another pretty big section of the veg turned over; I want to put my brassicas in that spot. It grew potatoes last year and I must have forgotten to dig all the rows because I harvested two buckets of potatoes! Most of them look very good; because we never had a long period of hard freeze this winter I suspect they "stored" perfectly in the ground. The rain chased me in before I could actually get my cabbages and broccoli in the ground and today it's too hot to plant them out. I'll wait til Wednesday when it starts to cool down a bit.
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What are the strangest things you've found in mulch or compost? A few years ago, I found a silver ring with a broken diamond chip in it. It had gone thru the township's mulch shredder and the ring was badly twisted. I advertised it but no one came forward and I think I tossed it. Today I found "Crime Scene Victim Barbie"....she must have got raked up with last autumn's leaves and she lay in the red raspberry patch all winter. I got her cleaned up and I'll advertise her in the local Post Office because I'm pretty sure those bags of leaves came from someone in the neighborhood. What a mess. Took me a half hour to get all the dead bits of leafs and things out of her hair and scrub the ick off her.
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Got more "stuff" out of the greenhouse and more plants moved in. I've got it vented to keep from getting too hot and I need to turn on the outside faucet so I can start watering and misting regularly.
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My early red Pontiac potatoes are up and growing; parsnips are up but very spotty. Peas are doing great; asparagus is doing great for 1st and 2nd year plants. Rhubarb is booming along; I have to harvest that soon. All at once it's summer here.
It's that time again: overnight it feels like I've lost control of the garden. Where did all those weeds come from? When did that shrub grow so huge? How, how is there still so much of the veg to "turn over?" It's time like these, it's important to take a deep breath, pour a cup of joe, and remind myself that, one way or another, little by little, poco e poco, it does (mostly) all get done.
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I've been concentrating on cleaning up dead wood and pruning the past few days. Yesterday, I took three big branches off a youngish silver maple that stands very close to the Folly Wall project. Those branches have been overarching the garden area and casting too much shade. Gone.
Then I cut down the two remaining substantial-sized paper mulberries in the Asian/Fairy Glen area. Only about 2 inches in diameter at the base; swabbed the stumps with RoundUp and also pulled out, cut down about a dozen wispy suckers. I don't want to jump the gun, but it looks like the end of years of battling that paper mulberry is finally coming to an end. I want to remain vigilant though because if even one sucker is allowed to grow, it will soon start to throw out roots that create more suckers and we're back where we started. If I can get the Fairy Glen cleaned out, then I'll concentrate more fully on the paper mulberries on the South Border.
I cleaned out a lot dead wood from the east (back side) of the row of arborvitae that stand between the east end of the house and the slope where the Grape Arbor and Fairy Glen are. That spot gets very little sun and the dieback was pretty impressive. Fortunately, most of the wood was so brittle I simply tossed it on the ground and walked over it: instant mulch. The bigger stuff went on the brush fence.
The Japanese Maple I moved last fall from the Below the Deck Garden to the South Border is doing well, lots of new leaves. I took out some expected die-back but the tree looks overall healthy. I'll keep a close watch on it this year.
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This morning I got all the blooming Garlic Mustard out of the Pond Circle's north side. I was very surprised and pleased to see that there is no blooming Garlic Mustard at all in the northern area of the Pine Gap and the new Glade area. I did a major clean out there last summer and it did a lot of good. I'm sure there's going to be more garlic mustard sprouting in there because of the seed bank in the soil, but at least I've definitely broken the cycle a bit and hopefully I can keep ahead of it.
Dug over another section of the veg and planted a short row of Russet potatoes. I thought my Russets had "chitted" (sprouted eyes) pretty well, but when I got into the middle of the bag, no sprouts. So I planted what had sprouted and brought the rest back in the house to sit and chit.
No sign of germination in the 2nd sowing of carrots. I'm going to have to research viability of carrot seed. I'm starting to suspect it's no good after 1-2 years and I think my seeds are pushing that envelope. Seems odd that the first seeding showed sparse germination but I did mix in a newer packet of seed with the older....maybe only the small amount of newer seed sprouted?
Looks like covering the strawberries was a good idea; all the blossoms look good and plants are untouched by frost/freeze. It went down to 29F a couple nights ago. (I learned that if the centers of strawberry blossoms are yellow, they are fresh and unpollinated. Brown, they are pollinated and will soon form berries. Black they are frosted/frozen and will not produce fruit.)
Not seeing many bees at all. I'll have to ask Julie what's up with her hives? I wonder if she would want to move a hive up here to my property?
