Why I Oughta...

The last time I posted about this Weeping Cherry tree in the far reaches of our yard was back in April when I showed the buds that had set the previous Fall .  Today, it is struggling.  Not dead yet, but on the way to being put on the "LOST" list.  You can see a few green leaves on some of the limbs, but most of them are bare.  Some of the limbs have dried leaves on them.  Perhaps overwatered?  I'd be surprised if it was because the tree didn't get enough water.  Polar Vortex, maybe?  Not sure. This was one of our Earth Day Trees from 2018 and it seemed to be doing just fine last year.  However, it *did* have a shoot come off of the trunk - below the graft - that I thought was an indication of a totally healthy tree.  However, now... in retrospect, it might have been a sign that the tree was struggling for life and it sent out the shoot to ensure that it has enough energy to survive. 

Way back in January of this year, I posted a link to a 2019 gardening trends piece that mentioned that "gabion-style walls" were going to be hot this year .  If you aren't familiar with a gabion wall, go read that post where I unpack the whole thing .  On a recent run to pick up a sandwich out by Seven Bridges one weekend, I came across Ike & Oak Brewing that has these large gabion walls set up around their patio.  You can see a few of them in the photo above.    On trend, it seems.

This year, I'm trying a few different things with my yard including tending to it by myself (instead of having someone else cut it), trying Milorganite instead of a traditional 4-step synthetic fertilizer program, mixing and spreading my own herbicide blends and even trying to use a soil temperature tool to time the application of various things .   There are a few more things that I have planned including the application of this product you see in the post above.  But, first...a soil test.  Yes, I'm going to test the soil we have, but I'll post more about that when it arrives.  I have a few choices to make in terms of how to pick the areas for testing. Now, back to this package of The Andersons Humic Acid.  As I've talked about in the past, I've been spending more and more time looking at other folks on YouTube talking about their lawns and what-have-you and one of the products that I've seen a few times now is Humic Acid.  I poked around and this art

Of the three hydrangea plants that we've put in on the south fence line of the backyard, this "teardown hydrangea" is doing the best.  Above you see it here in Early June of 2019.  Here's a post showing it in August of 2018 .  It threw off a bunch of nice-sized blooms last year, so I'm hoping that this year, it will do even better.  Comparing the two photos, it has seemed to grow larger/taller than last year.  I'll have to try to document later this Summer where this thing blooms - on new or old wood. 

Last year, I planted ten tiny bare root strawberry plants in containers and placed the two containers outside of our kitchen windows.  I didn't end up getting any fruit and when looking at the containers at the end of the year, it seemed that they were mostly dead and weren't going to come back this Spring.  I took them off to the compost bin earlier this Spring and moved on. But this past weekend, Nat asked me if I could move a strawberry plant that was growing in and around some ornamental grasses.  What strawberry plant, I asked?  And she pointed me to this one.  Turns out, we have a volunteer Strawberry plant that is coming up and flowering.  What a nice surprise, right?  I *do* need to move this, but I'm thinking I should wait for it to go through one season of throwing off whatever tiny berries it might throw off this season, then move it.  This post says to wait until August : If you already have an established bed, you should generally transplant strawberr

Last year, I discovered a few smallish, but growing trees that had been through some heavy pruning in our yard.  The previous owner had cut most of the little cluster of trees back to stumps at some point before we acquired the property.  Two or three of them are tall (15' or so) and I couldn't figure out what they were, so I sent a few photos in to the U of Illinois Master Gardener program .  They identified them as American Elm trees and provided some details about Dutch Elm Disease and pests that weaken these trees.  With my recent interest in bonsai including the purchase of a few pieces of nursery stock ( here , here  and here) , I've discovered that one of the *other* ways to get bonsai trees is through the collection of natural bonsai species.  Or...what I think they call "Pre-Bonsai" species.  Collecting bonsai (or...again pre-bonsai) is about going out in nature, finding and selecting potential trees that can be dug up and potted.  I'm think

Last year, I added two common Purple Lilacs to the southside fence line to our backyard in a couple of spots that were called out for hydrangea plants in our plan.  I deviated from that plan because Nat always loved our neighbor's Lilacs in Elmhurst and wanted to try to replicate that in some way here in Downers.   The first two (commons) get about 12 feet tall and can take a prune .  My expectation is to get these to grow *up*, but pruned back to make a bit of a hedge.  They were small when we put them in and they're small today. Nat mentioned that she wanted to add even more lilacs to that spot and so after looking at the plan, I found two more hydrangeas that we can swap out for lilacs.  And after a little bit of research, I found this other variety called "Nocturne".    These are later blooming - to extend the Lilac season - and are similar shaped .  The leaves are a bit different, but the most important part is that extended blooming season.  You can see th