Sunday, April 9, 2017

Yesterday I energized the irrigation system and tested all 13 zones. Everything seemed OK. There are a few spray heads that are partially plugged. There are also several spray heads that I need to change the orientation, field of coverage and/or the height of the nozzle. These were apparent to us last Spring and I brought it to John's (Landscaper) attention. At the time, it was obvious that John really did not want to be troubled with it. It really was Wally's (irrigation guy) area and John said he was having problems getting Wally's attention. I knew I could address the issues myself later so I let it slide. Well, it is now "later". I will do some research on these Rainbird spray heads. It won't be too complicated and the parts are readily available almost anywhere.

We have received a lot of rain over the past week or so. The only areas that look like they need water are the raised beds (Zone 13). Today I set the irrigation system to only run Zone 13 for one hour starting at 0530 hours every day. The Zone 13 uses drip hoses. While I see absolutely no signs of the 15 pepper plants I set out two weeks ago or any of the chard or kale, I am still hopeful they will come up.

Today is a another beautiful Spring day, albeit a bit gusty (the chess pieces are falling right and left). I took T's ‘Trailing Red’ livingstone daisy out to be planted in the same spot as last year. This is beautiful green and white waxy-leafed plant with tiny red flowers. It seemed to like the location T selected for it last year and spread greatly. I knew it was not going to survive the winter so last fall I took two cuttings and brought them inside. One I put in a bottle water and the other I planted in a pot. Both did very well over the winter. The one in the water rooted and I sent it to Houston with Laura for their garden. The one I potted is now back in its original home.

I also performed some surgery around the Canadian Red Cherry. We noticed last year that there were sprouts coming out of the root ball of this tree. I cut them back a couple of time last year and it appears I will need to do so again this year.

Before culling the root ball sprouts

After culling

I also pruned of the dead branches of the ‘Silvery Blue’ Russian Sage up by the Arborvitae. This sage is just now starting to show some tiny leaves. It seems to leaf out and blossom later than the ‘Denim n Lace’ Russian Sage down by the Zelkova. 

The remainder of the morning I spent weeding spearmint from the east raised bed. This stuff is very invasive and I will never plant it again unless in a container.

This afternoon, I notice the copious number of blue flowers on the lungwort along the east side of the chess board. They seem to like that sorry soil!