My Garden Diary

Today, my computer calendar told me it was time to feed the roses. I used a commercial plant food with a systemic insecticide. I did this quickly and then rushed back inside to warm up.

I created a new Web page that details the climate in my garden.

Finished pruning the Burford holly in front.

Started pruning the dwarf Burford holly (Ilex cornuta 'Burfordii Nana') in front the living room windows. I want it below the bottom of the windows. I could only do one of the three shrubs because the garden-waste bin (for the county's composting program) was nearly full of leaves from the back yard.

Fed the roses in back with the same nutrients that I used in front (19 Jan). I also gave the Liquidambar tree (L. styraciflua) in front a good dose of iron sulfate to prevent the chlorosis that always seems to afflict it.

Cut down the pink Penstemon in the rose bed, adjacent to the east bed and its red Penstemon (17 & 19 Jan).

Mulched more of the parkway in front with output from my office shredder (8 Dec 2010). After wetting it down, I topped it with compost.

The roses in front are sprouting. I fed them with ammonium sulfate, iron sulfate, and a little Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate). I gave extra Epsom salts to two of them that did not produce new canes last year. The magnesium promotes the growth of new canes.

Finished cutting down the red Penstemon in the east bed (17 Jan). Next I'll have to cut the nearby pink Penstemon in the rose bed.

YES!! The Cymbidium orchid is about to bloom. The suspicious shoot (9 Jan) has several flower buds at the end. Also, I see two other shoots that might result in flowers.

Tested the sprinkler systems in front and back. With no rain in the past two weeks and with the current warm, dry weather we're having now, I had to start the sprinkler clock for the first time this year. During the testing, I had to trim around two sprinkler heads where low shrubs and ground cover were interfering with the spray pattern. Another head will require a new riser to elevate it above an adjacent large shrub.

Applied dormant spray to my roses, the new peach tree, and the grapes on My Hill. I used a mix of copper sulfate and dormant oil in water with some liquid soap as a wetting agent. Fortunately, the wind seemed very light while I was spraying.

Last year (25 Jan 2010), I cut the Penstemon almost to the ground. It responded so well, I started cutting it down again. I did about half of the red-flowering plants in the east bed. When that is done, I still have the pink-flowering plants in the adjacent rose bed.

Raked even more leaves in back. Today, I was able to clear some of the mounded leaves from my garden paths because the garden-waste bin held only a few weeds and the results of pruning the grape vines.

Climbed My Hill to prune the grape vines. I might actually get a few grapes from the 'Flame' vine at the top of My Hill this year, but I don't expect anything from the 'Perlette' and 'Black Monukka' vines near the bottom.

I will have to clean out the cross-hill V-ditch at the top of My Hill some day. Weeds are sprouting in the mud.

Although it has been more than a week since the last measurable rain, the soil on My Hill and in the flat areas of my beds is still quite moist even at the surface. Right now, I am having no problem meeting the water conservation goals set by our local water service.

Finally pruned the climbing 'Peace' rose. It grows so vigorously that I found it hard to choose which canes to remove. I settled on three canes to the left and three to the right, along the top of the low slough wall behind the plant. Although I headed the six canes that I kept, the plant now extends over 16 feet along the wall.

After pruning six roses in front and one in back (25 Dec), I sealed all the cuts with white glue. Then it rained. With rain predicted after I did the other roses (1 & 6 Jan), I didn't bother to seal the cuts. No rain is now expected over the next seven days, so I sealed pruning cuts on all the roses.

All the roses are now pruned. Next to feel the slice from my shears will be the grape vines.

Raked more leaves in back.

While raking leaves from the back lawn, I noticed some small holes and thin spots in the grass. I spread compost in the worst of those spots.

Pruned three more roses (25 Dec). Only four more are left to prune, but two of those are difficult climbers. There was still a flower on the climbing 'Dublin Bay' when I pruned it. I cut the flower and put it in a bud vase for my darling Evelyn.

While pruning, I noticed that some of the pink clover (Persicaria capitata) growing above the accumulated leaf mulch in the rose bed was damaged in the recent frosts. From past experience, I know this ground cover will recover quickly in the spring from its roots, which are under the mulch.