Why I Oughta...

Yesterday, I posted about my first experience with trying to dig up and save dahlia tubers using the "saran wrap method" .  In that post, I talked about how I decided to leave a couple of tubers in the ground to see how they would do.  We're in Zone 6a/5b, so dahlia tubers are *not supposed* to survive our Winter.  But...because of the unique setting, I thought I'd give it a shot.  By 'unique setting', I'm talking about what I think is a small, potential 'microclimate' that exists on the side of our house. By 'microclimate', I mean...an area that is slightly "warmer" than the rest of our garden.  I'm not talking a huge difference.  But, I suspect there's some difference. Why?   Well...experience, mostly.  And, the Disneyland Roses.   I had Disneyland Roses up front and along the side.  The three in the front...lost their first Winter.  The three along the house?  All have survived. What makes it unique?   Fi...

Last Fall, when I was digging up/out the (extended) IB2DWs bed for the small conifer garden along the property line, I turned to a mix of grass-removal techniques.  The whole area was turf, so I did three things:  Dug it out, smothered it/covered it up and flipped it over (and smothered it).   For the material that I excavated, I brought most of it over to the southside of the house and used it to fill in the little gully/swale on the side of the house.  And, I tucked in a bunch of it (flipped over) along the side of the porch where I'd seen some erosion over the years.  On this side of the house, we have just ONE downspout that handles a big portion of the roof and when it gets clogged up, that gutter 'tops'.  That's one source of the erosion.  The other is the downspout outlet.  Whatever *does* get down the downspout, comes out one of those surface drains.    That 'flipped' turf was a way to raise the ground-level here.  And,...

Last Fall, I extended (what I call) the IB2DWs (In Between Two Driveways) bed to reach down along the property line, all the way to connect to the small sidewalk-adjacent bed.  In it, I planted a number of conifers ( Conifers Should Come First) , transplanted a few divisions (Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grass and Serendipity Allium ) and tucked in a few other things.  When I made that bed, I was converting it from turf and that meant that I used a combination of techniques:  removing the turf, smothering the turf with cardboard and just leaving some of it in place.  I planted everything in biosolids and then topped the bed with even more biosolids.   But...I mostly focused on the planting.  And left the bed in a not-so-finished state.  That meant that grass was poking through in spots, the edges weren't clean and I applied arborist wood chips.  The chips were intended as an initial attempt to both retain moisture and (hopefully) improve the ...

Last week, I posted the details and photos of the first late-winter application of municipal biosolids in our garden and talked about how I was going to try to find some time to head to the mulch pit to get a few loads before gardening season heats up.  I applied that initial load to some areas that needed the soil amendment including the Spring Grove Ginkgos, the epimedium colony and my Hellebores.   I mentioned (in that post) that for every spot that I dumped a bucket of biosolids, I spotted 2x more spots that could use a top-dressing.  Not to mention the lawn, the parkway and the compost bins.   Over the weekend, I ran out and picked up another load.   About 8 five-gallon buckets filled up 2/3rds-of-the way.  And dumped and spread out around the backyard.   I added another partial-bucket under the Linden trees: And, right at the base of my bird feeder pole: At regular intervals along the front of the south border: Around the tru...

Late last Fall, I found some time to head over to the mulch pit to pick up a couple of loads (in 5 gallon buckets) of municipal biosolids and brought them home.  I dumped the biosolids out and scattered them across a number of the perennial beds in the front/back/side yards .  A top dressing of sorts.   And a dormant application of organic material with the goal of improving the soil conditions.  I also thought that by applying them in early Winter/late Fall...there would be ample time for them to 'age in place' during the dormant period.  With the return to the garden in the past few weeks to begin to prune back/remove old stems and lightly begin to clean up, I've noticed some areas where the naked soil is 'showing'.  What can fix that?  Mulch!  Oh...I guess that's true.  But, I also thought...biosolids could do the trick.  And...off I went to pick up a load.  Here, below, are a few spots where I spread the material out. ...

We've had a VERY mild Winter.  There was a span of about three weeks when it was brutally cold and it seemed like it snowed every.single.day.  But, overall...it was mild.  And that's likely turned a number of gardening variables on their ears.  Emergence.  Bloom time.  Exposure to late Frosts.  And, more, I'm sure. One of the 'mild Winter' related change that I saw VERY early in January was that the tulip bulbs that I had planted around the parkway tree had ALREADY come up, out of the mulch.  By January 5th.   J A N U A R Y. That seems VERY early.  It was BEFORE that three-week spell of 'brutally cold' weather that I mentioned above.  But, tulips being tulips, the foliage didn't mind the weather.  (or...the snow blanket was sufficient insulation.) I'm *very* aware of mulch volcanoes around trees and worry that every year - when we add another layer of mulch - that I'm burying things and creating problems.  Everyone sa...

On the first of February (2 weeks ago today), I noticed the pink tips of the Hellebores had emerged from the mulch in their annual late Winter arrival.   Those pink tips and buds were accompanied by the previous year's foliage - which persisted through the Winter.  With the temps in the 40's yesterday after work, I decided to get out there to clean-up the foliage.  Here, below, is the 'before' photo - with all of the green leaves on the plants: And, here below, is the 'after' photo.  Looks like a messy pile of oak leaves laying on the ground.  But, if you look closely, you'll notice some peeks of pink.  I've left the leaves in place (for now) as a little bit of extra protection until we do a proper cleanup in the beds. Here, below, are a few more looks at this year's Hellebores being protected by Oak leaves. I considered a 'chop and drop' for the foliage - where I'd trim-off and then cut-down into smaller pieces the stems and leaves and ...

Like everyone that I know, I've been a bark mulcher.   For my entire gardening existence.  That means that every year, we get a big load of hardwood mulch (usually 'fines') that is spread out on top of all of our beds to serve as a mulch.  It is the exact same thing that everyone on the block does:  make the beds look 'pretty', provide a bit of weed suppression, retain moisture and make things look uniform.   But, over time, I've learned that those hardwood bark mulches aren't exactly what I've been aiming for in our garden and this year, I just skipped the application.  Instead, I applied a mix of compost in some areas and biosolids in other areas.  And, in a lot of the garden...I applied nothing.  No new mulch.  The beds have had a couple of years of bark mulch application, so in most spots it isn't like there's nothing on top of the soil, so I figured I could get away with a year off of the mulch.  And, I chose this past year (20...

Last Fall, I planted a number of small containers of Ajuga Chocolate Chips that I brought home from Lowes and their year-end sale.   I put some in the back and stuck three of these groundcover plants into the little island bed that is tucked in between our driveway and front walk/stairs/porch.  I don't seem to have posted any photos in the garden diary, but I ended up taking one.  But, in the photo I have from late October 2022 (below), there's only two Ajuga Chocolate Chip in this bed.  You can see that they were pretty small and green. That was very late October.  So, what do this groundcover look like nine-months later?  See below for an update.  And.....surprise!  There's three of them.  (I guess that I ended up planting a third here???) They've spread out and filled in some of that space.  They're doing exactly what they're supposed to do:  fill out that bed, cover up the mulch to make more of a 'living mulch', reduce the...

Last week, I shared the 14 plugs of Ajuga Chocolate Chip that I planted around the backyard as groundcover near the border of some of the beds.  In that post, I talked about how I had grown in my appreciation of Ajuga Chocolate Chip (and groundcover writ large).  I came across it first from Erin the Impatient Gardener and her talk with Roy Diblik.  I bought the first few containers last Fall .   I recently came across a second Ajuga variety:  Bronze Beauty.  Same deal from Home Depot:  Six-pack of them.  Of note, this Bronze Beauty has a purple handle - and says it is designed for SHADE.   I decided to give it a try in two different situations:  First...tucked in between (and at the feet) of some established hostas.  See below for those hostas and Ajuga Bronze Beauty together: And, I put the other three right along the fire pit metal border - you can see those below.   #17 on my to-do list was to 'keep going wit...

Another day, another post in the garden diary to note the spring foliage emergence.  This time...it is one of the Ligularia that are planted in our backyard - in a shady spot mixed in amongst hostas.  I don't seem to have posted about planting these, but I'm pretty sure that I planted three of them - from Roy Diblik's nursery in Wisconsin.  They seem to struggle, so I'm not sure if they'll be back or not and if they'll thrive.  At least one of them is going to give it a go this Spring - see below:  My experience with these is that they're pretty sensitive to water, so I'll try to stay on them.  And...maybe even give them another shot up front in the new bed. 

When I was just starting to garden, one of the first things that I was able to document in my garden diary was the annual emergence of peonies.  Nat's Mom planted them for us in our house.  And, those red tips were one of my earliest lessons in the garden.  I've documented the Peonies being 'back' almost every year. Here's the 'back' post from 2021 .   And 2023 is no different.  Below are a few photos of the early, red growth from these tuber-based flowers that are planted near our kitchen windows.   I moved most of our peonies HERE because it is just about the *most* sunny spot in our yard.  Besides next to the patio (hey!  That gives me an idea).   I'm not CERTAIN how many are here - at one point there were four including a white one .  These photos are from a week ago (April 6) and I see two so far:

I wandered around the beds for the first time in a week recently and noticed a few things have come back for the 2023 growing season and wanted to document them - and their timing - here in my garden diary.  I'll do that over a few posts in the coming days.  First up?    Three Jack of Diamonds Brunnera that are planted in the southside backyard bed .  Below, you'll see the early, curly foliage that is coming up front the hardwood mulch: I planted these three in Summer of 2021 , so this will be their third growing season in our garden.   Here, below, is a wider-angle look at the three of these shade-tolerant perennials. They're pretty hard to see in that pic...so....below is an annotated versions;

I wrote about how I was seeing some Wild Onions appear and looked at the soil temperature tool to find out that the soil temp currently in my Zone 5b is higher than the historical averages.    I also showed how I was seeing the Daffodils emerge this past week, too.  Those seem normal.  Or close to their history in my garden diary. But, an Allium showing up this early? Last year (2022), I was documenting the tips of Allium bulbs emerging in early April .  This year?  See below for a look at some of them that sit on the side of the hosue at the feet of the SugarTyme Crabapple Trees: Now, these were planted in 2021, so last Spring (2022), was their first shot at growth.  Perhaps they were just delayed.   I'll have to get out and have a better look around to see if other Allium bulbs are emerging early, too. 

The patch of yellow Daffodils are back and are certainly a sign of Spring in our backyard.  These sit under the canopy of a large Red Oak on the south side and were Spring ephemeral flower bulbs that I inherited from the previous property owners.  Without any help at all, they keep coming back year-after-year.  They flowered just once - in 2021 - but maybe they'll bloom again this year.  Here's how they look right now - tips of green foliage peeking through the mulch:

Just a few days ago, I posted photos of what I think is the earliest emergence of the tips of Hellebores in our backyard and talked about how I'm not sure what is driving this early Spring .  When I was out front, I noticed that there are other things *already* moving in the garden.  Specifically...some tulips.  Down in the little bed wedged in between the sidewalk, our driveway and the property line are some tulips that were planted in Fall of 2021.  Last year was their first season and I noted their emergence in early March .  So - just like with the Hellebores - this is about three weeks earlier than last year.  Here, below, is a peek at some of the tulip foliage that has sprung up.   H ere's a look at where these bloomed last season .   These are MOST LIKELY going to need a little protection from getting trampled by the kids and neighbors and their dogs.  I looked in a few other spots - around the parkway tree and underneath the...

Last year, I bought three Japanese Forest Grasses - Hakonechloa Macra Hakone Grass - from Northwind up in Wisconsin and planted them right at the base of the big Northern Red Oak tree - the tree swing tree amongst some hostas.  These grasses are similar to the All Gold variety that I have in a few places, but these aren't as 'lime green' color, but rather a darker green.  They're also (per the signage) more vigorous.   This is their first Spring and all three of them have emerged from the mulch.  You can see them (below) tucked into the border with some hostas (Frances Williams and others) above them.   My plan is to let all of these things come up and then decide if I need to transplant a few things around.   The bare root hostas are starting to get to a more-mature size and as they fill in, I think there might be a few more than necessary here.  

While I can't get started with Spring clean-up just yet, the warm(er) temperatures have me wanting to be outside in the garden working on things that I'd like to get done this season.  One of the projects that has been on my mind since last Summer is thinking about a plan to address the hydrophobic mulch that is present in a few spots - but specifically under the Norway Maple outside of our Front Porch.   I don't think (I can't find) that I've posted specifically about hydrophobic mulch.  And the problem that it creates.  It is something that I'm dealing with in a couple of spots, but as I've gotten to learn more about it, I'm still trying to figure out both what CAUSED it and how to address it.   One of the VERY COMMON reasons for hydrophobic mulch is that it was applied too thickly.  That's true for me.  Especially under the Norway Maple.  I've had a lot of trouble growing under that tree - h ere's a whole post on the topic - so I'm n...