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My Garden Diary

March and April 2010

Copyright © 2010 by David E. Ross

Many years ago, when I first started my Web site, I created an online diary of my gardening activities and observations. However, with work and the commute from Hell, I was often so tired I had to choose between maintaining my garden and maintaining my diary. Sometimes, I did neither. In 1998, I stopped my diary and removed the pages from my Web site.

Now I am retired. I am well-rested and have plenty of time to both garden and maintain a diary. So here it is.

Also see What's Blooming in My Garden Now?


April-May 2004
June-July 2004
August-October 2004
November-December 2004
January-February 2005
March-April 2005
May-June 2005
July-August 2005
September-October 2005
November-December 2005
January-February 2006
March-April 2006
May-June 2006
July-August 2006
September-October 2006
November-December 2006
January-February 2007
March-April 2007
May-June 2007
July-August 2007
September-October 2007
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July-August 2008
September-October 2008
November-December 2008
January-February 2009
March-April 2009
May-June 2009
July-August 2009
September-October 2009
November-December 2009
January-February 2010

Entries are in reverse order (latest at the top). Daily, I might stoop to pull a weed or use a hose to water some potted plants; however, I don't consider those significant gardening activities. Thus, you will not see daily entries. Also, I might accumulate a few entries before updating this page on the Web.

When plants have well-known common names, their scientific names are given only the first time they appear on this page (entry closest to the bottom). There, the common name is in bold.

Dates refer to other entries in the same year (but perhaps a different page) as the entry in which they appear unless a different year is given.

Date and Weather Observations and Activities
29 April

Clear, sunny, and cool

Temp: 42-60
Humidity: 39%
Wind: 2-17

Rain —
Season: 14.18
Week: 0.01

Climbed My Hill again, to weed another section. I've been ignoring the grassy weeds because I plan to spray a grass-specific herbicide soon.

Started pruning the eugenia (Syzygium paniculatum) along the east edge of the front lawn. Because they were damaged by the "Great Freeze of '07" (15 Jan 07), I've left them alone. Now they are mostly recovered and overgrown, even encroaching my neighbor's front yard. I finished two of the seven bushes and slightly started a third.

25 April

Clear, sunny, and mild

Temp: 52-78
Humidity: 31%
Wind: 0-11

Rain —
Season: 14.18
Week: 0.22

Some of the plants in the greenhouse window — including the Phalaenopsis orchid — have scale. When I watered them today, I used a drench containing a systemic insecticide. If I didn't make too lean a mix, it should give protection for almost a year.

Thinned the immature fruit on the peach tree in back. I remove about half of the baby peaches. The remaining ones should now grow larger. However, their pits won't be any larger. Thus, I might get more useable fruit than if I didn't thin.

22 April

Mixed — Cloudy, gray, and cold while working in my garden

Temp: 39-57
Humidity: 56%
Wind: 0-12

Rain —
Season: 14.17
Week: 0.22

Climbed My Hill. I pulled weeds from one quarter of the slope and tied up new growth on the grape vines. I had planned to spray grass killer, but there was a breeze. While I was on My Hill, a rain shower started. Climbing My Hill is not something I enjoy, so I got wet while I finish with the grape vines. There was no way I was going to waste the effort of getting up there.

The breeze was fortunate. The early breeze discouraged me from spraying grass killer. With the rain, my spraying would have been useless; the rain would have rinsed the herbicide off the grass.

After I put all my tools away and went inside, the rain stopped. Late in the afternoon, the sky started to clear; and the sun was shining.

15 April

Partially overcast, mostly sunny but sometimes hazy, and mild

Temp: 49-75
Humidity: 39%
Wind: 0-12

Rain —
Season: 13.95
Week: 0.48

Planted some wax-leaf begonias in front to replace those that did not survive being stepped upon when we had some repairs to the front of our house last year.

Potted up basil (Ocimum basilicum) and dill (Anethum graveolens). The pots will sit in a shady spot on the patio in back for a while. Then I'll move them to be near the perennial herbs.

Now that the vernal equinox has passed, the morning sun lingers too long on the greenhouse window in our breakfast room. Today, I hung shade cloth over the window.

The foxglove (Digitalis purpurea 'Camelot Lavender') that I planted near the tangelo in back (12 Mar 08) died late last year. D. purpurea is a short-lived perennial or (in some climates) a biennial. Today, I planted a different foxglove — D. mertonensis. This is supposed to live much longer than D. purpurea.

Often, chlorosis is caused by heavy soils that drain poorly and not by a lack of metallic salts or a soil that is too alkaline. So, in addition to all the metallic sulfates I spread around yesterday, I gave generous doses of gypsum (calcium sulfate) to the gardenia, tea tree, and liquidambar today. Gypsum reacts chemically with my clay soil to make it porous and improve its drainage.

14 April

Clear, sunny, and mild

Temp: 46-70
Humidity: 43%
Wind: 0-15

Rain —
Season: 13.95
Week: 0.48

Some "critter" defeated the 1/4-inch wire mesh that I added to the squirrel trap (3 Dec 09). It either clawed or chewed it away from the outside of the trap to steal the bait. Today, I rebaited the trap, placing the bait in a small box of wire mesh. I expect that whatever animal has been stealing the bait will now have to enter the trap to get it.

Fed the dwarf citrus and gardenia with commercial citrus food and added zinc sulfate. I also fed the same mix to the tea tree; because it gets chlorotic so easily, I also gave the tea tree some iron sulfate and Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate).

The liquidambar tree also gets chlorotic. I gave it iron, zinc, and magnesium sulfate. I had already fed it generously with ammonium sulfate, so I didn't feed it any nitrogen this time.

9 April

Clear, sunny, and mild

Temp: 54-73
Humidity: 33%
Wind: 4-12

Rain —
Season: 13.47
Week: 0.54

Finally finished pruning the myrtle (14&24 Mar, 4 Apr). Then I fed all five bushes with ammonium sulfate to promote the growth of new foliage.

Started trimming the edge of the lawn in back, along the decomposed granite walkways. This was not done through the winter, but the red fescue (Festuca rubra) continued to grow. Some runners had taken root in the walkway; cleaning out that growth is quite tedious. While trimming the lawn, I cleared the grass from the base of the flower pot where my dwarf 'Eureka' lemon is growing. I also trimmed the edge of the west bed opposite of where I was working on the lawn.

8 April

Clear, sunny, and warm

Temp: 61-82
Humidity: 21%
Wind: 1-18

Rain —
Season: 13.47
Week: 0.54

Although we had over 0.5 inch of rain just a few days ago, the parkway in front is quite dry. While I went about other garden tasks, I let the hose trickle on clumps of cinquefoil, moving the hose now and then.

Trimmed the pink clover around the edges of the front lawn. It has grown quite well, coming through the thick leaf mulch that accumulated on the lawn late last year. Since I trimmed the edges about a month ago (4 Mar), this task was easy. This time, I not only trimmed along the brick walkway but also along the public sidewalk and our driveway. Cleaning up took some time because of a large accumulation of fluff, fallout from the oak's (Quercus lobata) flowering.

When I trimmed the myrtle in back (4 Apr), I discovered a shrub head for my sprinkler system. Since it was on a 2-foot riser behind a bush that was 6 feet tall, it was ineffective and wasting water. Today, I added 4 feet of riser to the head.

4 April

Mostly cloudy, occasional hazy sun, and cold

Temp: 43-62
Humidity: 60%
Wind: 1-8

Rain —
Season: 12.93
Week: 0.04

In back, trimmed the red fescue lawn (Festuca rubra) away from the 'Wenatchie Skies' bearded iris (which is about to bloom) and away from the sprinkler heads within the lawn.

Fed the Camellia sasanqua in the rose and east beds with a commercial camellia and azalea food. I also fed the roses in front and back with ammonium sulfate.

Finished pruning the third myrtle (24 Mar) and completely pruned a fourth. There is only one left to cut.

24 March

Clear, sunny, and mild

Temp: 50-78
Humidity: 43%
Wind: 0-12

Rain —
Season: 12.89
Days since last: 18

Finished weeding the parkway in front. No, I did not get all the seedling weeds. They are just too tiny to pull. Using either an herbicide or a hoe would damage the cinquefoil (Potentilla neumanniana) that I'm trying to grow there. This means that I'll have to weed the parkway again in a month or two.

Fed the dwarf citrus, Gardenia jasminoides, and Australian tea tree (Leptospermum laevigatum) with sulfates: ammonium, iron, and zinc.

Pruned another myrtle bush (14 Mar) and started on a third. As happened last week when I nipped a finger with my pruning shears, I again failed to keep my body parts away from the tools. This time, I nipped my left arm. So far, I've avoided serious injuries. Twice — long before I started this diary — I wound up in the emergency room at a local hospital because of gardening injuries.

17 March

Mostly clear (a few thin clouds), sunny, and warm

Temp: 63-79
Humidity: 21%
Wind: 1-10

Rain —
Season: 12.89
Days since last: 11

Repotted some house plants that are in the greenhouse window.

The lavender (Lavandula lanata × dentata) cuttings that I took last year (11 Nov 09) rooted well. I repotted them with a mix that contains some nutrients. I then put up some cuttings of the spoon-flowered chrysanthemum (C. morifolium) that's on the patio. When I put up cuttings, I use a 50%-50% mix of peat moss and coarse sand without any nutrients. Nutrients — especially nitrogen — promote rot and can cause the cuttings to fail.

Fed My Hill, widely broadcasting the 27-4-6 house brand lawn food that I used in the beds (5 Mar and 28 Feb). Merely climbing My Hill was an ordeal. When I got to the top with the bag of fertilizer, I had to rest and catch my breath. While up there, I removed some weeds. In my pocket, I had a large garbage bag, which I stuffed with the remains of the 'Red Apple' iceplant (Aptenia cordifolia) that I had pulled and dropped into the V-ditch a year ago (18 Mar 09) to dry. Some were still alive and flowering!

All three grape vines have new shoots, even the 'Black Monukka', which was very late to sprout last year.

14 March

Clear, sunny, and mild

Temp: 48-68
Humidity: 25%
Wind: 9-19 (gusts to 38)

Rain —
Season: 12.89
Days since last: 8

Weeded more of the parkway. I also weeded the brick panel where all the utility junction boxes are.

Finished cutting back the Artemisia 'Powis Castle' (10 Mar). Then I gave each of them a generous dose of fertilizer.

Started pruning the myrtle bushes (Myrtus communis 'Compacta') in the east bed in back. While I cut the Artemisia every spring, I cut the myrtle every 4-5 years. This year, cutting is definitely needed. The bushes are shading adjacent plants and starting to grow out over the walkway that separates the west bed from the lawn.

10 March

Started with cloudy, gray, and cold
Finished with a few clouds, mostly sunny, and still cold

Temp: 40-56
Humidity: 69%
Wind: 0-24 (gusts to 35)

Rain —
Season: 12.89
Week: 0.25

The anticipated rain storm was not sufficient to rinse the fertilizer into the soil in back (5 Mar). I had to run the sprinklers for a few minutes on Saturday.

Weeded more of the parkway in front.

Fed the roses with a fertilizer that contains a systemic insecticide. I ran the drip irrigation system for the roses in front so that I could scatter the granules within the pattern of the emitters. In the process, I discovered a few emitters that required adjustments including one where the feed tube had come loose from the emitter.

The bark on the Podocarpus branch that I've been training as a new leader (17 Feb and 17 Jul 2008) indicated that the wood had matured, becoming stiff. I removed the stake. I also removed a few competing lower branches that were growing vertical without being trained.

Removed another remnant Aristea ecklonii (18 Feb) from the rose bed. There is another one nearby, but I can't remove it now because it's in the middle of a bunch of freesias and ranunculus (R. asiaticus) just starting to bloom. When those spring flowers go dormant in summer, then I'll remove that Aristea.

Planted some candytuft (Iberis sempervirens) along the edge of the camellia bed, extending a mass of these that grow on both sides of the stepping stones that divide the camellia and east beds. While digging the planting hole for one of them, I hit a stone. Usually, I can dig the stone out and trash it. This time, however, I had trouble finding the edge so that I could get my trowel under the stone. Eventually, I discovered it wasn't merely a stone; it was a stepping stone that disappeared when My Hill was repaired. I used a crowbar to pry it out of the soil. Since I already replaced the missing stepping stone, I'll have to decide how to use this discovery.

Severely pruned four of the seven Artemisia 'Powis Castle'. I hope to cut the remaining three next week.

Lightly trimmed the dwarf 'Eureka' lemon and dwarf 'Robertson' navel orange. They too are beginning to have new shoots. The lemon was growing out over the adjacent walkway. It still has some branches that need to be removed, but they have lemons on them now. The orange merely needed some excess growth removed so that the new growth does not exceed the ability of its constrained roots to support the tree.

5 March

Mostly cloudy, some hazy sun, and cool

Temp: 42-64
Humidity: 40%
Wind: 3-10

Rain —
Season: 12.78
Week: 1.38

In anticipation of another rain storm, I fed the back yard. I put two pinches of ammonium sulfate around each wax-leaf begonia in the raised bed around the dwarf tangelo. I then fed the lawn and most beds, using the same house brand of lawn food that I used in front (28 Feb).
  • In the west bed, I skipped feeding the dwarf myrtle (Myrtus communis 'Compacta'); they will be fed after I cut them back.
  • In the rose bed and east beds, I skipped the Camellia sasanqua. In the circular bed, I skipped the azaleas. These will all be fed when they have finished blooming.
  • In the camellia bed, I fed only the candytuft (Iberis sempervirens) and crocuses Crocus vernus. The Camellia japonica and azaleas have not yet bloomed.
4 March

Started with scattered clouds, hazy sun, and cold
Finished with clear, sunny, and cool

Temp: 41-63
Humidity: 72%
Wind: 0-15

Rain —
Season: 12.78
Week: 1.38

Trimmed the edges of the pink clover (Persicaria capitata) lawn in the front. It was beginning to smother the wax leaf begonias along the brick walkway.

Gave the dwarf ivy (Hedera helix 'Hahn's') on the mail box a "hair cut". I also trimmed the ivy around the liquidambar tree (L. styraciflua), which was beginning to invade the pink clover lawn.

Weeded the parkway near the mail box.

Cut back the red Penstemon in back, at the north end of the east bed. The pink Penstemon that I previously cut (18 Feb) already has new shoots.

Weather data are from the Cheeseboro (CHE) weather station, a little less than 1.2 miles ENE of my house.

The high temperature (°F) is daytime for the indicated date; the low temperature (°F) is for the night ending on that date.

The relative humidity is at noon. (In my garden, it is likely higher than reported, a result of regular irrigation.)

Wind speeds (mph) are average (not peak) low and high, midnight to midnight (subject to later correction for diary entries posted before the end of the day).

Rain is in inches. Rain amounts are omitted after 60 consecutive days elapse without any measurable amount.
Season is the cumulative amount of rainfall since the start of the current rainy season, which began on 13 Oct 2009 with the first measurable rain in 129 days, until noon on the indicated date.
Week is the cumulative amount of rainfall from noon seven days ago until noon of the indicated date. If no rain fell in that period, Days since last is reported.

Characterization of the weather (e.g., Clear, sunny, and warm) is purely subjective; for example, "warm" might occur with higher temperatures than "hot" if the former occurs with lower humidity and more breezes than the latter. Also, a day that would normally be characterized as "mild" might instead be "warm" if the immediately previous days were quite cold.

The signature line I use when writing messages about my garden includes the following:

Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
January-February 2010
November-December 2009
September-October 2009
July-August 2009
May-June 2009
March-April 2009
January-February 2009
November-December 2008
September-October 2008
July-August 2008
May-June 2008
March-April 2008
January-February 2008
November-December 2007
September-October 2007
July-August 2007
May-June 2007
March-April 2007
January-February 2007
November-December 2006
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July-August 2006
May-June 2006
March-April 2006
January-February 2006
November-December 2005
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January-February 2005
November-December 2004
August-October 2004
June-July 2004
April-May 2004

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