It's Raining

Yeah, it's raining today.  The yard is only partially cleaned up, I still have a couple of areas to cut down garden phlox and pull weeds from.  I guess I'll have to wait a while for things to dry up.  Hopefully there will be some good days that are fairly dry and fairly warm yet.....I have some planting to do, like those around my mail-box and I can't plant in mud!

I know pictures make this blog much better, but this time of year, all you can see are the empty places!  That might give perspective tho, so I'll go snap a few as soon as it stops raining!  Meanwhile, take the time to clean up YOUR garden.  Stuff left on the ground from this years growth can carry forward lots of unwanted insect infestations and fungus.  Don't use the cut down infected growth in your compost pile  (if you have one),  you'll be spreading the spores and insects into your humus.

Take care, and go plant something!

The Mailbox

As I think about the perennials I ordered for around the mailbox, I can't help but think how much different it will look!    I have had bulbs and annuals there most of the time I've lived here.  It will be nice to have it kinda take care of itself!  Again, I'll post pictures when it starts looking decent!

BTW.. I was surfing around looking for information on Garden Phlox when I came upon a good site about gardening.  This might be a  reference for lots of garden know-how.  I feel that this person has been gardening a long time.

http://www.douggreensgarden.com

Autumn...cleanup time!

You know how toward the end of the season it seems like the weeds take over?  Well, they certainly did in my garden this year.  Today I witnessed that as I began to cleanup the spent perennials and discovered the vast number of weeds that had crept in.  I pulled, dug and raked to get the ground ready for next year.

I have finished my course in Gardening and Landscaping, so I've begun to work toward a bigger plan for my new garden.  You might remember that I started a fern corner, I guess that was the first step.  Now, since I have some ideas about the rest of the back yard, I've dug up some Mondara that was taking over a rock garden area.  It always looked like a weed, and I was tempted to cut it down and then it would bloom this red fluffy star-type of flower.  It wasn't real showy, so I decided to dig it all up.  I suppose there will be a few that I missed that will come up next spring, but then I can see them and dig them up too. 

I've planted Pampas grass as my first permanent plant for the new garden. (Except for the ferns :) It seems that everyone says that they don't make it through the winter here, they're not hardy enough.  However, there are several stands of the white-plumed grass growing near Polk City!  So, we'll see.

I have an order in for some other plants to put around my mailbox....ones that will be better than the foxtails that are growing there now.  I'll be sure to take pictures next spring to update everyone!

I will be posting more often now, as I add plants and ideas to my garden.  I've been a little lax, but I'll be better, I promise!

A Great Vacation!

Just a few days vacation can make all the difference in the world to your attitude!  On a beautiful, not too hot day, I spent several hours in the garden, cleaning up debris and running all the sticks and trimmings from the garden through our chipper shredder.  Now I can move easily through the area leading to my fern garden and the mulch the chipper produced is wonderful for keeping in the moisture.

Today, it's raining.  It's perfect.  We went to the Iowa State Fair yesterday and it was fairly hot, but not to the point of exhaustion.  Having this day of rain is relaxing, cooling and a great time to spend indoors catching up on friends and family.

Take care, and we'll talk again soon.

Down the lane

In the back of my garden, I have a little area that has a path through it.  We mow it every time we mow and it is fun to walk down it.  There are garden phlox blooming on both sides as well as the Clematis.  I took my camera out and recorded a video but I'm unable to load it here for you.  Maybe someone with more technology will read this and give me hand??

Okay, so there was this huge storm last night. It was around 9-9:30 and we wondered how everything outside would do with the wind. I have this little maple tree that I pulled up as a sapling in the yard that I planted in a big container. It's working on it's second year now and
Ray says, "don't you think you should plant it????" Well, when you buy a tree in a container at the nursery, it most likely is 3-4 years old. That gives it a nice root ball and it's a happy camper. So, if I were to plant it this year, it would probably not survive as well as it would if I wait. Ray also worried about it during the storm and wondered if we should bring it inside. No....I say, the wind helps it develop roots capable of holding it upright as it grows. If you coddle it, it will be weak!

Fine, he says. It really was a very nice storm.

Still doing stuff....:)

Even though the days are hot and the mosquitoes are hungry, I'm still working towards the garden! I'm working online towards my Landscaping and Gardening degree! This module is about drawing up the landscaping plan. I'm learning to draw to scale, perspective and different ways to use architect's tools to help. I've never worked much in graphic design and hope I get the hang of it! To be able to create the best possible plan for my home garden is my first goal. Later I might reach out to others that would like to plan their gardens.

So, for now I'm inside in the AC environment away from the screaming mosquitoes and working hard toward my degree! Later.