Friday, April 7, 2017: Succulents in Bed

Today I went out to get more pea gravel and to look at succulents I might want to start in my new garden. I went to a different store (Home Depot instead of Lowe's). They did not have pea gravel but they did have pea pebbles. Probably the same, right? Nope, the pea pebbles are a little courser than the pea gravel. I really liked the particle size of the gravel I put in yesterday, but I mixed it a bit and it will be fine. In the future, I want to stick to the pea gravel as my top layer. I added one additional cubic foot of the pea pebbles to the garden. So to recap, I have two cubic feet of River Rock and three cubic feet of smaller (two pea gravel and one pea pebbles). This final cubic foot allowed me to mound a little.

The succulents at Home Depot were not extremely inspiring, but I did get four. I don't think they are hardy in this area, so I will need to bring them in next fall if I want to keep them at all. As an inexpensive starter, they will be fine.

The Desert Gems cacti are small indoor plants perfect for decorating desks and tabletops. They do recommend growing them in a "bright" spot and say that over watering is the easiest way to "do them in". They suggest watering every 10-14 days.

The Kosmik Kaktus is a Haworthia species from South Africa. It is not hardy here either and I see they recommend not putting it in direct sunlight. Oh well, we'll see what happens.

The Golden Sedum (Sedum aldolphii) is hardy in USDA Zones 8-11. It is a spreader and supposedly will have star shaped flowers.

The Snow Pole Cactus is native to mountainous Peru at elevations of 4000 to 7000 feet. In time, will form a branched, tree-like columnar to 6' in height. Not sure how fast it grows. It says it has a minimum temperature of 32 F. Must not get very cold in mountainous Peru. I decided to put it at the center of the bed.

As I was leaving the Depot, I remembered that the Mobot also has a collection of cacti and succulents at their gift shop. Being just down the street, I decided to stop by and have a look. I ended up getting two plants. I was very disappointed they were not labeled any better than they were.

A cactus. No other information.

A sedum. No other information. Several of the pedals fell off while I was planting. I may see if they will propagate.

Thursday, April 6, 2017: Blue Sky and Succulent Bed

In contrast to the last couple of days, today is beautiful. Temperature in the upper 50's and a clear blue sky. I took the opportunity to work on the succulent bed.

I decided to start with a smaller bed than the one I originally envisioned. I had cleared the mulch off a three foot wide strip about 12 feet long. To begin with, I decided to try a five foot strip. If it goes well, I can add more later.

The soil in this area is mostly clay. Not conducive to succulents. Therefore I started by digging out four to five inches of this clay. Most of it I either gave to my neighbor (Morgan) or deposited around the azaleas in the front yard. That wet clay is HEAVY!!

Using the stone work left over from the sunroom chimney breast, I started outlining the bed.

Next I mixed equal parts of the excavated clay with the two cubic feet of top soil I bought earlier. The mixture was enough to put a two to three inches in the bed.

Next I added the two cubic feet of river rock.

 Finally, two cubic feet of pea gravel.

I would like to observe how this area drains during a hard rain. Drainage is critical for the success of this bed. The weather forecast is showing the next rain to be early next week. In the mean time, I will start locating the succulents I will be putting into the bed. I may get another cubic foot of the pea gravel.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017: Ants, Rain and Roses

A couple of weeks ago I noticed very small ants on the deck around the hot tub. I called our pest control people (the ones I am paying $50/month to keep the insects out). They came out and sprayed. Yesterday, in anticipation for the visit of my sister-in-law, I pulled back the hot tub cover only to find a swarm of ants were occupying the hot tub rim of the hot tub...en mass.

The pest control guy showed up about an hour later and sprayed for effect.

Today, it rained off and on all day. I went out and bought three more roses for T's rose garden. Two were Knock Out's and one was another source.

 I got them planted between showers.

I may put one more rose in if I can find the "correct" color.

I also bought two cubic feet of river rock, two cubic feet of pea gravel and 1.5 cubic feet of top soil. This is what I intend to use to establish the succulent garden. Maybe tomorrow when it is supposed to be drier.