Why I Oughta...

Yesterday, I posted a photo of my tallest Nicotiana Jasmine in bloom that was direct-sown in our sideyard flower garden .  I mentioned that those seeds came from Nat's Mom and that she grows Nicotiana every growing season.  That wasn't the only packet of seeds she shared:  she gave one of the kids a packet of "Evening Morning Glory" - Moonflower.  I didn't post about it, but I also direct-sowed a few of these seeds.  They're BIG.  Like cherry-pit-size.  I tucked them into the bed and forgot about them. Moonflower - or Evening Morning Glories are a vine and have big blooms.  But, they're ephemeral.   The Observant Gardener has a post up titled "Be Patient With Moonflowers" that overviews this flowering (annual vine) and the features.  Here's a couple of blurbs : One of the most exotic plants that I have ever grown is the mysterious and stunning moonflower. This is not an easy plant to germinate, but it is worth the effort.... ...A u...

I planted a 1# Cascade Hops Vine in early Summer 2021 that I bought at The Growing Place (Aurora Location).  At that time, the plant was pretty mature; based on the bulging, root-bound container.  So, it wasn't a surprise that I saw hops (fruits) that first season .   Then, in year two (2022), I was surprised to see that the very same vine that fruited so easily produce no hops in the following year.  Here's the vine a year ago - with no hops on it anywhere.  This year, we're back in the hops-producing mode as the vine has some larger, mature hops and some tiny, small ones.  Before I show the hops, let's talk about the vine.  I created a wire (attached to the fence) trellis a few years back , but I believe that hops vines want to REALLY CLIMB.  This goes to six-feet-tall and appears to have been cut-back at the top.  My hunch is that I didn't manage the vine enough and it started to climb over the fence and the neighbor trimmed it back...

The Cascade Hops Vine (Humulus Cascade Hops) has grown up the small, temporary trellis and is covering a good-sized width of the fence behind the plant these days.  Below, is a photo showing the Hops vine as it stands today - happy foliage and plenty of vines seeking upward growth. I planted this vine in Summer 2021 , so this the third growing season and last year, I added some wire (screwed to the fence) as a trellis for it to grow up .   The vine quickly consumed that trellis and wants EVEN MORE. In terms of fruit, it threw off some of those beautiful hops in the first season ( August ), but struggled last Summer and started to turn yellow by early September .    I'll watch this August to see if we get any hops.    One thing that is certain - I have to do even more trellis-wise on this next year.  Maybe it is up a wire?  Or around a hoop?  

What a difference one year makes.  At least that's the case with our Cascade Hops vine that is growing in our backyard.  Last August (the first growing season) the vine threw off fruit (hops) by mid-August.  In that post, the vine was happy and thriving .   This August?  Not so much.  First...there are no hops.  And, second...there's quite a bit of yellowing and browning on both the vine and the leaves.   Below, is a photo showing the current - late August - view of the vine: I have NOT fed this, but I'm thinking that's a step that I need to take going forward.  I've also not paid much attention to this water-wise, but I'm also thinking that's something I need to do next season. The other dynamic here is that I did trellis this up (somewhat) , but it needs to be trellis'd higher because I'm pretty sure the tips of the vine were/are leaking OVER to my neighbors yard.  I'm thinking that means I need to create taller (and likely w...

#6 on my 2022 to-do list included the need for providing a more robust structure or trellis system for our one-year-old Cascade Hops vine that was planted last year.  Last year, I used a small, metal ornamental trellis that allowed the vine to get up about three or four feet off the ground .  This year, I was planning on providing a true, stand-alone trellis.  But...the growth of this vine thought otherwise.   Why?  Because it grew like crazy and by the time I was getting around to thinking about which trellis to buy, it was too late.   But, my 2022 to-do list still stood.  What could I do?  I decided to take the same route I took with the Belgian Fence frame:  attach some deck screws to the fence and wire up a grid on the fence to provide for the vine to grow up.   I put in a dozen or so screws and wrapped green, outdoor wire around them in a box-shape and some cross-wires to make various ways for the vine to grow. ...

This is just year two of the set of Cascade Hops vine that I have growing in our backyard, but that's a little like providing ages for some of the kids in the Little League World Series.  I'm not sure it is accurate.  That's because I bought a SUPER root-bound plant that was more mature than traditional nursery stock, so I'm thinking that it is one year older than I 'consider' it to be. Besides the container it came in, what's another indicator of the REAL age?  It fruited last year - in year one - of being in the ground .    As I wandered around the beds peeking at what is coming to life this Spring, I noticed the tips of the vine emerging from the mulch and was surprised by the color:  they're purple.  See below: Feels like I'm NOW on-the-clock with a portion of #6 on my 2022 to-do list:  install a proper trellis for the Hops vine .  Need to find one and bring it home BEFORE the vine takes off this season.

I added a Cascade Hops vine (Humulus lupulus) to our backyard earlier this Summer when I bought what seemed like a very mature (root bound) 1# nursery container at the nursery.  I had an existing (small) trellis and figured that I didn't need anything more significant this year.  That plant had a rough transition and suffered from some transplant stress because I beat up the roots pretty good.  But, it recovered by July and started to grow up and out . So, imagine my delight when I went out to the garden this week and saw that that this vine had fruited and we have some hops in this - our first growing season.    Why am I surprised? I've grown hops before.  Back in 2012, I planted a similar sport of hops vine - Golden (vs Cascade this time) back in Elmhurst.  And, according to this 2013 post , it didn't produce any fruit that first year.   And, didn't get any fruit in the 2nd growing season (2013) according to this post from 2014 . ...

Earlier this Summer - in early June - I planted a Humulus Iupulus 'Cascade' Hops vine in a sunny spot of our backyard.  I posted about it in July and mentioned that it was a very mature vine that was 'bulging' in the container that I bought from The Growing Place.  It suffered some tremendous transplant shock, but with a little bit of attention (and water), it recovered.  The photo below shows what it looks like mid-Summer - just about 40 days or so after planting it.  You can see that one of the vines is edging over the six-foot-tall fence. I put up a small, thin metal trellis that I found on our lot when we moved in, but you can quickly sense that it needs more.  Back in Elmhurst, I had these wooden trellises attached to our fence that I think would be worth exploring in this spot next year.  I'll have to put - adding a real trellis or vine system - to my 2022 to-do list.  For now, I'm thinking I'm going to drive a couple of screws into the fence ...

Back at our old house in Elmhurst, we had a pair of Hops growing on trellises along our fence in the backyard.  We had both Golden and Cascade Hops and I really liked how they added a vertical element to our landscape.  In our current plan, we don't have any trellises planned nor does the plan call for Hops vine in any location.  But, when I came across this REALLY full 1# nursery container of Cascade Hops (Humulus Cascade) at The Growing Place, I grabbed it and decided to figure out a good spot for this later.  Here's what the container looked like when I brought it home below - very vigorous and healthy.  The container was BULGING - you can see it below.  And It seemed like this Hops vine was VERY root-bound.  So, it took some time to get this thing out of the container.  And when I did, I had to trim up some of the roots to get it from strangling itself.   As for the location, you can see below what it looks like after being planted f...

Yesterday, I posted (for my own thinking) a lumber order for the building of a Versailles Orangerie Planter box and mentioned that it was one of a couple of projects I'm thinking about as part of our social distancing program.  I recently received the catalog from Gardeners Supply Company - which is a joy to read right now - and saw this large cedar obelisk.  They're asking $199.00 for what seems to be a pretty " good quality item ".  But, I know that I can beat that price if I built them myself. Here's the Gardener's Supply Company Obelisk.  This is NOT my photo - it is via their catalog here: Source via Gardener's Supply . As for the 'why' add an obelisk, well...I'm not totally sure just now, but thinking about growing something like hops.  We had Golden Hops planted in our yard back in Elmhurst and I liked having them grow up a trellis.  It took a couple of seasons to get them to grow vertically, but by the time we moved, they...

Yesterday, I posted a photo of the variety of grapevine that I planted in our container this Summer (Somerset) and mentioned that I did that just because I wanted to post a follow-up.  Today, is that follow-up.  You can see that we have been attacked by some Japanese Beetles.  They've basically skeleton-ized some of the larger leaves.  Unfortunately, they arrived when I was out of town for the better part of a week, so they got a head start.  Since then, I've tried to monitor the plants and remove the beetles everyday by hand.  I tried drowning them in soapy water with mixed results.  Turns out, the Japanese Beetle is a known grapevine.  This piece from My Grape Vine says : The Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica, also known as the jitterbug) is one of the most visible and most destructive feeders of grape vine foliage out there. The Japanese beetle attacks most green parts of the grape vine, but mostly feeds on young leaves in the upper ...

Right before we went out of town for a few days recently, I gathered all of our patio containers and put them together in order to assist the watering - which was being done by one of our neighborhood kids.  I snapped this photo of all of them in one spot to text to Nat to share with the girl's Mom so she knew what needed to be watered, but I figured I'd post it here to mark what our patio containers looked like in July of this year. In the far back, in the yellow pot 1 you can see the Chicago-hardy fig tree 2 that my Sister Vic and Equation Boy/Man gave me for my birthday this year.  Right in front of that is one of my wine barrel planters with a grapevine 3 growing on the trellis.  That's also the pot that has the Lemon Coral Sedum growing in it . In front of that wine barrel, but mostly obscured is my large basil plant.  It is sharing a pot with one of my Elephant Ears .  Then, buried under the foliage is the other wine barrel planter.  That'...