Note: My Web pages are best viewed with style sheets enabled.
|
Note: My Web pages are best viewed with style sheets enabled. |
Unrated |
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?
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 June
Clear, sunny, and hot Temp: 72-97
Rain — |
Trimmed the edges of the walkway along the west end of the back lawn. Not only was the red fescue growing out over the walkway, but so was the ground cover from the west bed.
Finished pruning the second Rhaphiolepis indica by the sidewalk in front (16 Jun). I'm not sure the moved 'Red Minimo' miniature rose (18 Jun) will survive. But the other miniature roses in the pottery bowl seem to be doing well. The 'Brandy' rose in front is actually blooming. There is still only one cane, but I think it will indeed recover from its trauma (16 Apr). |
| 18 June
Clear, sunny, and quite warm Temp: 60-92
Rain — |
Removed two dead or dying miniature roses from the pottery bowl on the patio (2 Jun). One 'Shy Girl' is still doing well, and a 'Red Minimo' adjacent to it looks like it will recover. I moved the 'Red Minimo' opposite the 'Shy Girl'. Then I took two more of the miniature roses Evelyn received when she retired (5 Mar) and put them in the intervening spaces, forming a line with the one in the middle. Someday soon, I hope to identify this rose.
Trimmed the east edge of the lawn some more, this time from the herbs to the patio. Trimmed the edges of the teardrop bed. I also trimmed the tea tree (Leptospermum laevigatum), which is the main feature of that bed. In the ground, sweet bay (Laurus nobilis) will grow to be a large bush or a small tree. However, mine is in a 12-inch flower pot. It grows very slowly because its roots are constrained. I trimmed it back today to promote the growth of fresh leaves for cooking. I also removed flower buds from the dill (Anethum graveolens) and oregano (Origanum vulgare). When dill flowers, it then starts to die. Oregano can be quite invasive; I certainly don't want any oregano seeds to form. |
| 16 June
Clear, sunny, and hot Temp: 65-100
Rain — |
What happened to the June gloom?
Fed the dwarf citrus, even the lemon which has not yet had any new growth this year. Started pruning the second Rhaphiolepis indica by the sidewalk in front. |
| 8 June
Morning: June gloom Temp: 60-82
Rain — |
Finished pruning the first Rhaphiolepis indica by the sidewalk (2 Jun). Only two more to go. |
| 2 June
Clear, sunny, and hot Temp: 62-91
Rain — |
The Rhaphiolepis indica by the sidewalk in front has grown too large, blocking half or more of the sidewalk. These are not the "compact" variety growing near the front door. Since these bushes are now at the end of their bloom period, I started pruning one of them, stopping only when the green trash bin was full (already half full from gardening work on other days).
The miniature roses on the patio are not doing well. Two or three look burned, as if they got too strong a dose of fertilizer. The 'Brandy' rose in front that was left a broken stump when the oak tree was trimmed (16 Apr) now has a new shoot from above the graft. |
| 21 May
Cloudy, gray, and cool Temp: 58-70
Rain — |
Finished feeding the roses in front.
Started trimming around the edges of the lawn in back, at the east end where heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica) alternates with society garlic (Tulbaghia violacea) growing through the red fescue (Festuca rubra). One of the Nandina has died. However, this is a plant that can spread by underground rhizomes sending up new shoots. I dug up two such shoots from another Nandina and potted them. When they recover, I will use them to replace the dead one. (No, heavenly bamboo is not invasive like some bamboos. In any case, this is not a true bamboo but a flowering plant. True bamboo is a grass.) Also trimmed the grass around the potted dwarf citrus. It's too easy for snails and slugs to use the tall fescue to bridge over the copper wire I had wound around the containers. Since only the orange and kumquat already had copper wire, I finished the day by winding some around the lemon's new pot. |
| 19 May
Paritally cloudy, mostly sunny (sometimes hazy), mild Temp: 57-86
Rain — |
Fed the dwarf citrus. The container for each tree sits on a large concrete round, with a triangle of paver bricks raising the container so that air circulates under and so that the drain hole is not blocked. The bricks for the lemon were not straight. I fixed them, but I strained my back in the process.
Fed most of the roses in front with a commercial plant food that contains systemic insecticide. This should control the aphids and spider mites that bother the roses. I think 'Brandy' is gone. Its stump has not resprouted since one really strong cane was broken away by the tree service when they trimmed the valley white oak (Quercus lobata). I couldn't feed 'Mr. Lincoln', where the hose was trickling, or 'Fourth of July', which was watered just before 'Mr. Lincoln'. Those two should be dry enough by Monday. Fed the pink clover (Persicaria capitata) in the front lawn after giving it a generous dose of gypsum. Picked two artichokes, the first of the season. They were rather small, but there seemed to be much more edible portions in proportion to the size. They were delicious! Pruned one of the 'George Taber' azaleas. I hadn't planned to prune any of the azaleas this year, but this one had grown so tall that it was hiding the 'Daikagura' camellia behind it. |
| 12 May
Clear with some scattered high clouds, sunny (sometimes hazy), and warm Temp: 54-83
Rain — |
Pulled and mowed weeds in the front parkway. I used my paring knife to edge, regaining about 3 inches in the width of the sidewalk.
Trimmed the ivy (Hedera helix 'Hahn's') around the Liquidambar tree. |
Weather data are from the Cheesebro (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 then 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 20 Sep 2005 with the first measurable rain, 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.
The signature line I use when writing messages about my garden includes the following:
 Main gardening page |
 Current month's diary page |
 David Ross home |
 |
