Been too busy to post- but making progress

 As of now, I have about 45 larger plants to get in the ground, 73 started from seed perennials left to plant and 378 iris left to plant. It sounds like a lot, but I started a ton from seed this year, so having less than 100 left to plant is pretty great.

I replaced the wisteria with a native wisteria a couple days ago- talk about a grueling afternoon. I was going to keep the chinese wisteria in the ground until it flowered, but, then realized the trunk was already 6" around and if I waited I wouldn't be able to remove it at all without cutting it apart. I was able to get it with most of the rootball intact and it hasn't even wilted. Stuck it in a large half barrel pot- it can live on the patio like that where it can't send runners everywhere. Removing the runners was such a project. I'm glad I had so much weed barrier down- it kept it from getting more of a foothold, but, oof, what a project removing it.

I have all my solarizing tarps removed, new weed barrier and mulch down. I realized my solarize then weed barrier method wasn't going to work with the iris. Having weed barrier down works fine for roses, but with the way iris spread it's a pain to use. I ended up buying a sod cutter- a manual kick sod remover. It definitely works more easily than a shovel- but is still a tough job. I just need a second set of hands out there to help me mark the rest of the beds with stakes and twine because I goofed the first bed I tried to cut. After it's marked, I should be able to cut and prep a 10'X10' every evening- weather allowing. Of course, spouse is on afternoons this week so it's tricky to find a time I can step outside for a few minutes while he's home to mark the rest of the new beds.

I know it sounds like a lot left to do- but it's so much less left than there was last week.

A rose vendor I like restocked- I've been trying to collect all the remaining Buck roses and they have about 20 I don't have suddenly in stock. However, only ordering them if I get everything else in the ground in the next week or so.

I was lazy today - it happens sometimes

 Of course, now, sitting at my computer at midnight I regret my laziness today. But, it was a beautiful day and I wanted to sit on the porch and drink my coffee and play with my camera. I didn't have the time to spare, but, I took it anyways and used it poorly and enjoyed every moment of my lazy evening after work.

I wish I would have remembered that I agreed to shop for bathroom tile tomorrow night, then tomorrow night would have been the ideal lazy day.

All I did out in the gardens today was water the potteds and pick a 5 gallon bucket of weeds. Of course, we had an inch of rain last week so a 5 gallon bucket of weeds is a drop in a river of weeds. I'm about ready to drop cardboard down on a 20 foot section and cover it in mulch and just restart it that way. I made the mistake of using a grow through weed barrier. I loved that it was eco friendly and biodegradable. Anyways, when it was new, the zinnias I spread on it couldn't quite root through it and died, but, now this year the weeds are using it phenomenally. It is biodegrading in pieces of course. Those pieces snag around my hula hoe and get caught in the rake. Yes, in other words past Jen made a giant mess for future Jen to clean up. However, I bet that if I throw a layer of cardboard over that and cover in mulch that the rest of it will be biodegraded by next year. If I assembled the raised beds that came in last week, I'd even have the cardboard for it.

The rest of my garden is so much easier to maintain while this section is an unholy nightmare.

I have clay soil, so was bewildered to note things a bit wilty. I assumed immediately maybe some kind of rot, but, no, in fact somehow our soil is dry 4" down. I would love to know how, maybe we weren't that humid during the day? Seems unlikely, but, here we are. I have a rain meter and I dump it at the same time every day and make note of any rain. A quarter inch of rain fell two days ago, a quarter inch the day before that and a half inch a couple days before that. Everything would usually be still hydrated. Unfortunately, I noticed about 8 pm, so I will be getting up at 6:30 to water everything before work. I did water the fussiest tonight- the hydrangeas and new plantings and Siberian/Japanese iris. No rain in the forecast for two more days, so I get to go be a water fairy.

I should have another box of iris arriving tomorrow, I printed the tags for them this evening. I usually don't print ahead with iris orders- so many of those come with extras that I usually find I have to print a few more labels. But, I figured any bonuses can hang out on the patio table until after work. It's going to be a reasonably cool day. The mail carrier often arrives at my house before 9 AM, so if I'm lucky I may get them all potted before my workday.

I have a few rolls of weed barrier that were gifted to me by someone that decided not to add to their garden and I was going to use them for another few beds- but now I'm so nervous of using it and having it be terrible. I'm tempted to just buy the kind I know I like instead of using these rolls that look suspiciously like the terrible stuff I used last year. BUT, I'm also incredibly cheap, so I probably will use it and either pat myself on the back next year for saving money or curse my frugal butt.

Noticed a funny smell in the kitchen and was struggling to place it. Not a bad smell, just an unusual smell. Realized my Hoya shepherdii was in bloom.

Rambler Row is started - and I found my camera battery

 It was a cool overcast day, so I decided to skip the last two pots in the bed I was working in and do a bigger project. Enough of the lawn was finally dead to run a row of weed barrier for the beginning of Rambler Row. Currently the row is 4' wide and 50' long and took a bajillion loads of mulch.. lol

The only thing planted in here thus far is the rose Above and Beyond- I planted it awhile ago because I found it at a nursery in June and wasn't going to pass on it until the row was ready. I have a few roses that started as small bands that are temporarily in my regular garden- but will need to move to this row where they will have room to lean forward without being on top of a neighbor. I have a John Cabot, William Baffin, Hansa and a Celsiana that all seem like they will be a bit too bulky for the regular garden. They will move to this row first thing in the spring. With the direction of the sun, I believe I can run a row of ramblers and baptisia along the side towards the road and a row of irises behind them and everything should get enough sun. Of course, if I'm wrong, I know how to move everything again. I'm good at moving everything again.. lol

When we moved a couple of years ago, I misplaced the charger and battery for my DSLR but was too stubborn to buy a new one because I knew it would turn up. Well, that magic moment was today. Spouse dug to the back of his closet and found my backpack which he had mistaken for his old backpack- happy day, there was my charger and battery.

So now my photos will be mediocre instead of wildly bad because I have never gotten good at photography. It's okay though, I enjoy it despite the just okayish results.

And, just because, my grubby little garden 'helpers'.. lol




 

Only 5 prepped beds left to plant- woohoo!

 Okay, so like two pots aren't in the ground yet for this bed- but that's just because I told myself I had to tough it out until I was out of dirt in the wagon. It was another high 80's day- so getting most of it done was pretty great- especially since I had to water so many pots first.

Here is a crappy, late evening photo of what I got done between last night and tonight.




I figure it takes me around 15 seconds to water each potted plant that is at least a gallon in size and I planted at least 40 pots within the last week - so I've saved myself at least 10 minutes of daily watering. 10 minutes in the garden is enough time for me to plant several pots. It's funny how it snowballs like that- each pot I get in the ground buys me more time in my day to put plants in the ground until suddenly it's easy and achievable again. My soil holds moisture very well- I pretty much just water if we haven't had an inch of rain in the last week. However, we're a bit windy and potted plants dry out so fast. I can poke my finger into a 4" pot I watered at 8 AM and it's dry by 4 PM.

Next year, I think I will just plant the band roses instead of following the directions to pot them up instead. Additionally, all my new beds for next year are getting prepped in the fall.

Checked back on my rotting Edith Wolford clump, the iris I cleaned up a couple of days ago still seems fine. Unfortunately, when I felt under the other rhizome nearby, it was rotting underneath. Ugh! So, now I pulled up the last few rhizomes and checked them. Only that one had rot. I scraped out all the rot and treated with alcohol and now it's drying on my patio table. I thought it got the rot from touching the weed barrier- but, it looks like there were multipe slashes across the rhizome and leaves. It looks a lot like weed wacker damage. I'm sort of suspicious that spouse forgot we planted the irises there and thought they were maybe weeds. Additionally, the sign tag is missing. Maybe he ran over the sign tag with the mower and it tore up the iris on it's way out? I'll never know, that man does not admit when he accidentally mows a plant even if you have him on video mowing the plant.

At least, that solves that mystery for me. I need to put an edge the mower can't go over easily. I was really confused because the leaves were broken off but it wasn't rotted where the leaves came off. But, now, rinsed off out of the ground, it is clearly a pretty damaged clump of rhizomes. Oh well- the mother rhizome is fine, at least I still have Edith, but still annoying.

One bed completely planted - 5.75 left to go

 It was 90's again, as it loves to be for my days off when I could get something done. I did manage to get some stuff accomplished though- in the early AM I potted up an iris order and weeded all the pots again. Then I started planting out the garden bed I've been working on. I had to double back a bit, earlier in the week I pulled a few roses out of a bed that is a bit too poorly draining. Unfortunately, it's hard to tell in summer as things do dry out, but, in the spring it was obvious that no rose was going to thrive in those spots longterm. I pulled those to move them and replaced with hardy hibiscus, Louisiana iris and chelone. So glad I bought a variety this year! Moved those roses to higher ground and then went back to work on the new bed.

This is an ugly photo, because it was closing in on 9 pm, but, you can see what I finished up.




As an aside, I absolutely love this wagon. I use it every single day. I have a piece of plywood I set on it for up potting plants, I mix the dirt in the wagon and then have my small piece of plywood over the back third as a work station. I just wish they sold accessories for it. I would love a cupholder/phone holder and a place to hang a mesh bag for small tools. It's pretty much my favorite garden purchase and I'm so glad I went ahead and bought it when my spouse said we already had a wheelbarrow. We basically never use the wheelbarrow anymore, this is just much more pleasant.

Me, side-eyeing the weather like seriously? Why?

 I had so much planned to accomplish this weekend. Originally it was supposed to be mid 80's on Saturday and then overcast and 70s on Sunday. But, some front switched around or some pressure system shifted or what have you, I'm no meterologist. The latest update? Tomorrow is going to be 96 degrees. It will tie with the highest temp for this date last set in 2001. Sunday? Not much better, 91 degrees allegedly. The high temps supposedly end Wednesday with a high of 80.

So, I will be starting gardening at 7 am and hopefully back indoors by 10 am when it should still be low 80s. When I saw the update at 4 PM today, I skipped making dinner and right after work went out and potted up the latest iris arrivals and watered my potted plants. Instead of planting the beds in order, I'll hop around a bit and try to get the most temperature sensitive in the ground first. Hopefully this is really the last of the heat.

Last year, I would save all my gardening for the weekends and basically had to spend 8 hour weekend days in the garden all summer. This year, I'm getting up a bit earlier and doing an hour of gardening before work and an hour or two of gardening after work so I can get away with just a few hours of gardening per weekend day. That really worked well for the littler tasks that you can do a bit here and a bit there. Potting up plants, making new labels, pruning, weeding, topping up mulch, all nice and easy to do in bits and pieces here and there.

I do think I'm going to have to cave and use a couple vacation days the moment we get a couple cool days in a row. I need to spread a couple large sections of weed barrier and while the yard staples will hold for awhile, if the wind kicks up with no mulch on the barrier, it will just whip around and blow away. I basically can't do it in bits and pieces, it has to be done all in one block of time and shoveling and moving all the mulch is so time consuming.

I was really, really hopeful to do that this weekend. I'm really looking forward to this bed because I've been working towards it for a couple of years now. I started buying the roses for it last year. What I want to do is a long, 100 foot row right along the front of the property and this will be my rambler row. Currently, those roses are planted temporarily in my regular rose garden- but, of course, being ramblers they are already getting big despite starting as tiny band roses last year. I got in my roll of 5' wide weed barrier last week. The plan is to put in basic trellises - three posts and a length of fence panels - in basically 6 foot long sections down the whole thing with a gap between each section for ease of maintenance. The roses will get planted on the inside of the fence so they cascade over it. Because of the direction of the sun, they will cast afternoon shade on the sections in front of them. The plan is to use them almost like a privacy barrier and then running along that whole row on the inside will be a whole length of irises and mixed perennials for later summer interest.

I have three more 10' by 10' beds to get solarizing, but, to do that, I have to lift the tarps off the beds they are solarizing now and, you guessed it, replace them with weed barrier and mulch. That will finish the grid pattern I've been working on to go around the round garden. After that, I'm going to take a year off from adding any additional beds and see what it's like to just maintain these and replace dead plants. I'll work on pavers and paths and obelisks and all that other fun stuff that really defines a garden.

Feeling a lot more optimistic

 Checked under the tarps and it's almost planting time. Talk about a relief! The grass is really easy to remove at this point. I have 5 beds that are still tarped and two others that have had the tarps swapped for weed barrier and mulch. Today I walked around with my garden wagon and gathered all the larger footprint plants- every potted rose, peony, clematis, astilbe, hibiscus and any perennials that I bought rather than grew from seed. I skipped the irises for now as a lot of them are going into raised beds and I skipped the remains of what I started from seed as they are mostly smaller and will fit around other things. I also didn't place the mums yet- I'm waiting to see what bed ends up the highest and dryest and that's where they will go.

I got all those larger footprint plants divided out into the 7 new beds and played around with layouts and what colors go where. I may still swap a couple things around, but, all the roses, peonies, clematis, astilbe, hibiscus and other larger perennials have a designated spot- even if they may end up swapping with another one. The two beds that are ready to plant now, I have the plants sitting where they go.

Obviously, that wasn't fast as the pots were in several locations around my yard.. lol Additionally, I'm an accountant and we're doing the whole monthly close procedure at work- so it was a long, hard day. My brain felt like absolute glop by the time I shut my laptop down for the day. On the bright side, I squeaked by all my deadlines, so I just have to hurry up and wait in case there's a last minute emergency with something someone else did.

Best part of all is that I had just enough daylight to start planting a bed, got 10 plants in the ground before the mosquitoes started biting and it was too dark.

My Sutton order came in with more iris than I was expecting, I brought myself a wagon of dirt to pot them up first thing in the morning along with my Black Ridge order that came in the day before. I was completely out of plant tags- so I stalled a day because my plant tags were coming in today.

So yeah, I got everything but irises and mums moved within 10 feet of where it's getting planted AND managed to plant half of a bed on a day I worked overtime. I bet I can plant the remaining 1.5 ready beds tomorrow evening. If I do manage to do that, then Friday I should be able to start replacing the tarps with weed barrier and mulch.

I hate to say it, but I waste a LOT of time in the garden trying to decide what to do next. Sometimes I just get stuck for days at a time unable to decide what is the biggest priority and I just stay stuck until something finally clicks into place.

On a less optimistic note, I found rot in one of the irises I planted in the ground this year. I'm a little concerned because I bought so many irises this year as irises have always done well in my yard with minimal intervention from me. I thought it was borer, but, nope, just basic rot. Now, I do think the weed barrier was touching the rhizome. Unfortunately, this wasn't the fabric barrier I usually use but was instead a plastic based barrier. The rot spots correspond to where it looks like rhizome touched weed barrier. I did scrape it clean and replant. There is still a decent size mother rhizome unaffected, but, two of the ones that would have bloomed next year have rot. It's not the hugest deal as it's Edith Wolford and I did get another as a freebie with another order. BUT, I am concerned, if the weed barrier caused the rot, that's easy enough to avoid. I'll just make sure to use the fabric one I usually use instead. But, if that didn't cause the rot, am I going to get to suffer through the experience of watching a bunch of iris rot? Like, are all my other happy iris just a bunch of beginner's luck?

Progress is progress

 It's been a rough week for getting gardening done- work has been crazy and personal life has been crazy and my elderly little dog isn't having a good week. AND my garden chores are looming and it's not raining.

I'm usually spoiled by a decent amount of rain where other than potted plants and the veggie garden I mostly don't HAVE to water. Dragging a hose around everyday is not for me and it's cutting into planting time. I'm spending so much time watering that I barely have time to get them planted- which would save me a lot of watering time if I could just get them in the ground.

Anyhow- I whine, I know. What I really need to do is not buy another plant until every single plant I already have is in the ground. It has been several days since my last plant purchase.

Happy days though- thanks to the dry weather, the grass I was trying to kill is dying a lot faster. I was able to go ahead and start planting the first of my solarized beds. Planted the last three hydrangea, 2 hibiscus, a baptisia, and around 8 other herbaceous perennials in around an hour. A lot of those were ones I needed to water twice a day- so I probably gave myself 15 more minutes of daily planting time by getting those ones in the ground. I really need to just finish moving everything where it will go. Probably tomorrow night after work I will spread all the plants around on the solarizing beds and figure out where everyone is getting planted. It is a lot faster to plant when you aren't thinking about who will look good with who.

Unfortuantely, I completely forgot that a rose order that I got came in with some pots with quadrupled roses, so I divided those into individual pots back in May. In other words, I thought I had 38 roses left to plant, but, I actually have 70 left to plant. Fortuantely, most of those are tiny roses, so I can always just stick them in the ground in a trench and move them in the spring, which will likely be what I do with all the little ones. I didn't intend to keep so many duplicates, but, got no takers on Facebook marketplace. People where I'm at don't like starter plants - and why buy a vintage miniature from me when Walmart has a basic pink for $3.99? Not hating on those ones from Walmart either. The only thing I don't like about them is that they don't sell them with the names and so you have no way of knowing what zone they are hardy to. I still buy a cute one whenever I see it and stick it in the garden, most of them have overwintered for me. It's just a shame to never know their names.

It's supposed to rain off and on Friday thru Tuesday- I'm really, really hoping it rains during my workday leaving me the entire evening to plant. If it could just do that a few times, I could make a huge amount of progress now that the beds are mostly solarized. Of course, it will probably rain after work, but, a girl can dream.. lol

Yay, it's August, time to panic about all the things that aren't in the ground yet.

 It was a productive day- got my front yard bed weeded again. This is the bed I planted a bunch of the Canadian Explorer roses in last year. Basically it's mostly John Davis, Adelaide Hoodless and a couple Prairie Princess roses. Earlier in the spring, I expanded the bed and added several peonies, tree peonies and hellebores. Today I weeded the whole thing as some grass had intruded- I added a background of 21 hollyhocks that I started from seed earlier in the year- probably won't bloom this year, but they are the same size as the ones I planted last year that are blooming this year. Also added some Cosmos Rubinato I started from seed- a bit late, but, should still be able to flower awhile before frost comes along.

Got my clearance Torch hydrangea in the ground, will be happy not to water that twice a day anymore. It was basically just a pot of roots so it wilted if I didn't water it twice a day. Got a couple yarrow I started from seed into the ground. I really, really like yarrow. I will be buying a lot more colors of that for seed starting next year. Several of my new MDB and SDB iris need to go into that bed as well- but the weed barrier along the front where they are going was only put down over the grass a few months ago and there are still a decent amount of roots there from grass trying to intrude again. I'm going to give it another week since we should be high 80's and then I'll call it good enough and just try to remove as many roots as I can while I go along.

Got the rest of my larger potted plants gathered from around the yard. My spouse and I have differeing opinions of what I can handle in a growing season. He thinks I can handle about half of what I can actually handle and I think I can handle about double of what I can actually handle.. lol So, as the plants come in a giant pile in spring, any not ready to be planted sort of get stuck in between existing shrubbery so they don't stand out as new plants. I know, kind of shady. So, I hauled my wagon all over the place today gathering my various hidden plants. They are all out in the field on a mulched/weed barriered spot now. It is a bit less terrifying having them all together. What remains doesn't look too crazy.

I have a wedge of my circular rose garden that I cannot get the weeds under control in. The whole rest of the circle is easy to maintain, but, one section is just brutal. I weeded it last week just to have it look just as bad this week. I'm just over it at this point, so I'm going to just pack it full of plants and try to outcompete the weeds. I have a couple trays of agastache, salvia and milkweed and a few more yarrow.

Though, I may need to sidetrack that salvia. My climbing rose area is having an issue with deer- allegedly deer don't like the smell of salvia. Of course, that is the only section I don't have any salvia in, so I may need to plant a few there and see if I get to see a single St Swithun bloom this season. At least, the deer are just politely deadheading. I wish they would wait a day or so instead of eating the newly opened ones.

I spent 10 hours gardening today and it doesn't really feel like 10 hours worth got accomplished- but the weeding took forever as it was pretty much sod at that point. I was pretty much cutting it into squares and then lifting it with a hula hoe.

Tomorrow I'll get up early to garden again, but, I'll have to stop by noon to get ready to go visit family. Big goals for tomorrow are just the rest of the clearance plants in the ground. Some of these I bought last week from a local nursery that still had perennials in quarts, great price, but of course at this point in the season it's a pot of more roots then dirt that needs water several times a day. If I can get those in the ground, I'll free up another half hour a day I've been spending on watering them.

Not gonna lie, kind of looking forward to pumpkin spice latte season, seed catalogs and time with my books.