Why I Oughta...

For the past few years, I've tried to create an early-season yard and garden 'to-do list' that keeps me focused on completing some key tasks. I've also worked to keep score on those lists over the years to make sure there's some level of accountability involved. Starting in 2019, I had a short 10 item list and a 7 part addendum. The scorecard: 12 of 17 complete. 70.5% Last year, in 2020, I had 25 items on the list. The scorecard: 22 of 25 complete . 88%. This year, I had another 25 items on my list and with December, it seems like it is a good time to score my activities. How did I do? Here's my 2021 to-do list: 1. Planting Priority Area 1 in the backyard. Not done. Punted because of the fire pit area.   2. Planting Priority Area 2 in the backyard. Check. Way more than a simple, check though. Planted hostas , shaped the beds , Ghost Ferns , Brunnera , Ligularias, transplanted hostas and an Oakleaf Hydrangea and a Weeping Nootka Cypress tree as a

I started my lawn feeding program this year (2021) with a granular bio solid product called e-Corganite (from Menards) and I'm finishing off the year with the same 40# bags of e-Corganite for my late Fall/early Winter dormant feeding.  I had three bags of this fertilizer on hand and threw it down heavy this weekend.  I'm PRETTY SURE that I did the same thing (an early December feeding) last year, but I don't have it posted on the blog.  Here's a post from early December 2019 showing how I used a few bags of Milorganite on the lawn as it was dormant and cool .   Many folks will tell you that this late Fall/early Winter dormant feeding of the lawn is the *most* important one you can do - and if you were to do JUST ONE feeding per year, this one might be the one to choose.  Penn State's extension office says the benefits of feeding your lawn this time of year include a good 'green up'.  From PSU : Late fall fertilization should take place when shoot growth ce

These are the days for filling up our compost bins.  Each Fall, the leaves in our yard drop all of their annual leaves and I use the mower to mulch them up and pick A LOT of them up off the grass .  My process is actually a little nuanced in terms of mulching vs. bagging.  I use my Ego leaf blower to clean out the beds and push all the leaves to the middle of the yard on the grass.  From there, I use my mower - with the bag attached - set to the lowest level to begin to mulch-up and vacuum all the leaves.   However, I don't immediately clear the mower bag once it is full.  If you've done this (like I do), you know when the bag is full because you start to see dust and little leaf parts flying around because there's no place for them to get ejected into the bag, so they kind of fly out the sides.  I'm doing that on purpose - so I leave a little bit of leaf litter (mulched up, mind you) behind on the lawn to feed the soil. But, after doing that for a couple of passes, I e

Yesterday, I posted a few photos of a pyramidal boxwood - Green Mountain - that I planted in a backyard bed and talked about how it was tucked in by the Belgian Fence and some ornamental grasses.  If you looked closely at one of the photos yesterday, you might have noticed a few other shrubs in their nursery containers in the background.  Today, I'm sharing the details in the [ garden diary ] of those other two shrubs hiding back by the fence. As part of our plan, the designer called for a series of Chicago Lustre Arrowwood Viburnum shrubs in a few different spots around the yard.  Below, you can see two areas that call these particular shrubs out. Part of the area you see in the plan above was/is called out as " Priority Area #2 " in this year's list of Priority areas.  You can see that it calls for four Viburnum in this section.  But...when you're dealing with some end-of-season shrub sales, you don't always get the quantity that you want.  I couldn't f

When I posted last week about the replacement (tiny) Ginko tree that I planted 'ib2dw', I mentioned that the Ginko wasn't the last tree for the year.  There are a few more coming this week - starting with my very first Dogwood tree.  When I bought the small Chinkapin Oak tree from the Conservation Foundation in late September , I also bought another small native tree:  A Cornus alternifolia (Pagoda Dogwood).    Below, you can see the tag for the tree. This dogwood is different than the ones I've seen in the big box nurseries where I typically see Cornus kousa and Cornus florida.  You can read up about those various cultivars around the Web - but the main takeaway is that florida is the standard that has been around for a while, but kousa is a new(er) sport that is more disease resistant.   The dogwood tree that we selected is known as the Pagoda Dogwood.  Morton Arboretum has a tree listing up here for the Pagoda Dogwood - Cornus alternifolia . They describe it an '

Yesterday, I shared a look at one of the Moneywort plants that I transplanted from a container to our side yard.  It has thrived in deep shade. And....Last week, I posted (again) about dividing and transplanting some Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses in our front beds (under our Norway Maple) and talked about how one of my 2021 to-do list goals was to transplant some foster plants AND to divide up some of my existing perennials.  I've created 12 'free grasses' by dividing up what I have on hand and in *that* post, I mentioned that I also divided a purple Heuchera earlier this year - but failed to post about it. The last time I checked in on this particular plant was last August when it had survived a full year after being transplanted the previous Fall.  But, earlier this year - right around early Spring - I dug up and divided this plant into three separate plants and put them back into the same bed on the northside of the garage.   You can see that bed below with the

I added another (existing) perennial down in the newly created bed by the sidewalk that has been a troublesome spot for growing anything since we moved in.  After cutting out the small bed, I added some Lemon Coral Sedum then installed a Panicum Shenandoah Red Switchgrass last week .  I mentioned that I was going to put down some other things this Fall in that post and today's photos show off the new addition:  a pink Bee Balm.  Officially:  Pardon My Pink Monarda didyma (Bee Balm) - which I kept in a container all Spring and Summer in the backyard.   You can see it in the photo below (Bee Balm in the bottom left of the bed): I held on to the plant tag when I planted this in the container, knowing that I was going to be digging this into the beds at some point.  Below is the front of the plant tag showing it takes Full Sun: Below, is the back, where it says to tuck it into the 'front of your border'.  Done and done.  The only issue that I see here is that Monarda prefers mo

Last week, I posted a couple of photos of a tiny Ginko Biloba tree that I received in the mail that had suffered some shipping damage and had a bent-over trunk.  I ended up planting that damaged Ginko tree in the backyard - uncertain if it will survive .   When I sent in some photos of the damage that the Ginko biloba tree, they shipped me out a replacement tree.  This second one arrived undamaged and in slightly better condition.   Ginko trees are known to be pretty slow-growing, so I needed to stick this tree in a spot that I can largely ignore for a number of years.  Knowing I had one (already) in the backyard, I figured I should look at my front-yard tree planting wish list and pick out a spot that made sense.  My history of small trees is mixed, but one of the (more recent) success stories was the Bald Cypress that I planted a few Falls ago .  That tree started VERY small - about the size and caliper of this Ginko.  But, it has thrived.  I showed off the recent late Summer flus

Most every Fall, I've planted bulbs of some variety.  The last few seasons, it has been tulip bulbs in the front and back beds.  But, I've also planted Alliums over the years including these Purple Sensation bulbs in 2017 and 2018.  This year, I'm going to be digging in a little bit of both - including some Tulips that Nat bought at Costco and some Alliums that both she bought (at Costco) and some others that I ordered online.  I'll post about the tulips in the coming days, but first up are these Pinball Wizard Allium bulbs that came home from Costco.   This is a pack of five - and because I bought other types online, we stopped with just these five, despite knowing that you're *supposed* to plant bulbs in big masses.  The package (below) shows a little child's head next to some MASSIVE purple Allium flower heads.  The listing at Longfield Gardens shows them as a pack of two , but, they're the *full* bulbs, while the ones at Costco come as a pack of five,

Earlier this year, I posted some thoughts about how I could create a Block I - University of Illinois - topiary in our backyard and how I was inspired by an Etsy listing.   In that post, I did some of the layout and decided on a 4' wide and 6' tall Block I that would be about 18" thick when mature.  I've been thinking about something like this topiary for a number of years after seeing a bunch of them at a nursery on Route 12 that were (mostly) created from Arborvitae .  But, knowing we have mostly shade out back, I went through the mental gymnastics to convince myself that if I bought an 'upright' Yew, I could make the Block I topiary a go.  So, imagine my delight when I came across some $5 Fall sale Hicks upright Yews at Home Depot over the weekend.  I stuck a couple in my cart and brought them home. I put them out in a few spots and thought about placement.  I kept moving them, walking away and viewing the pots.  I want to see it from near the patio, but al