Friday, July 28, 2017 Hosta and Decking

A few days ago, I noticed one of my favorite hostas (‘Sagae’ Hosta) had seed pods on it that appeared ready to open. I did a quick search and found a procedure to follow to see if I could propagate. It is pretty simple: allow the pods to open and then place the seeds in a moist paper towel and putting in a sealed Ziploc bag. Once they sprout (the instructions did not speculate on how long this might take), transfer to pots and allow to grow for eight or nine months. So, if I get them to sprout in the month or so, they should be ready to go into the ground next Spring. If I get one to the point of planing, I will put it in the spot between the two northern-most hornbeams.

‘Sagae’ Hosta

Pods and Seeds

In a wet paper towel for sprouting

This week I had the east porch restained (natural cedar color). The last time was in 2011. There is some wood rot, but considering it is over 30 years old, it is holding up well.

After Power Wash

After Staining

Fish update: There are many tiny baby fishes in the pond. The smallest are hiding among the Horn Wort.

Monday, July 10, 2017 Babies

After a two week absence and a week of company, I found myself along on Sunday. I went out in the morning to feed the fish and noticed, for the first time, that I now have 12 fish...not 10. Yep, it looks like I have two young fish. Not sure if they are gold fish or koi. One is larger than the other and they dart around very quickly. I was able to capture a photo of the larger one. The smaller one is about 2/3 the size of the this one.

Tuesday, June 6, 2017: Prickly Pears, Rhubarb, Hollyhock, Kale

I harvested the rhubarb yesterday. I got just over 3 ounces of stalks.

Before harvest

After harvest

Also the ‘Denim n Lace’ Russian Sage is starting to blossom out.

Today, I tackled the prickly pear I brought home a couple of weeks ago. I cut the plastic tub away and disassembled the plant. There two or three trees in the pot along with the cactus so it was necessary to untangle the roots of the cactus from the tree. I essentially dislodged all the soil and brought the bare rooted plants to their new home. One of the cactus appears to have a yellow flower on it. Probably ended up moving about two-thirds of the original cactus to its new home.

New home

Since I was going to throw the leather gloves away anyway, I took the opportunity to remove the potted cactus on the east side of the pond and plant it directly in the rock crevice.

It didn't take long for the flower to open up!

Cactus Flower

Last fall I planted 12 hollyhocks. Today I took stock of those and found eight of the twelve have survived. They range greatly with regards to their size and color. Some have not bloomed yet. The shortest (the rabbits really seemed to like this one) is only about 12" tall. The tallest is (so far) over seven feet tall.

The one on the left is the bunnies' favorite

At least 7 feet tall

This one gets only a couple of hours of direct sun each day. It is almost 6 feet tall 

This hollyhock never gets any direct sunlight. I had little hope for it, but....

Finally, I was weeding the west raised bed when I shockingly discovered a little (2") kale. Early this Spring (too early) I planted kale, chard, beets, leeks and peppers. I had come to the conclusion that nothing was going to come up. There is ONE kale plant! It is just outside the ring of marigolds, so the rabbits may eat it.

Kale

Sunday, June 4, 2017: Prickly Pear Preparation

Today I picked up 1/2 cu ft each of drainage rock, river rock and pea gravel. I am going to use the plastic imitation half-barrel for the orphaned prickly pear I brought home a couple of weeks ago. The total 1.5 cu ft is just about right for the barrel. I am thinking of putting it on the corner over by the east fence line. Other than the neighbor's cats. this area is a relatively untraveled walkway. I can let it cascade down between the fence and the stone wall.

Currently, the prickly pear is in a cheap plastic 2-gallon bucket. It's been there apparently for many years. It has many new growths and numerous volunteers in with it.

I may tackle it tomorrow. I think I may "disassemble" it, prune it, get rid of the weeds and then put it in its new home.

Saturday, June 3, 2017: Rhubarb and Barley

One June 1 I put the replacement barley log in the pond. They recommend replacing the logs every six months and to allow one month for the new log to become effective. Therefore, they suggest putting in the replacement log at the five month mark so that it is effective when the old one is removed. Again, these logs are supposed to release something that naturally inhibits algae formation in the pond. This works due to the interaction the barley, air and the sun. So far, it appears to be working. Compared to last year, I see absolutely no algae in the stream or pond. Last year it got very thick in the stream and I spent a lot of time manually removing it to keep it under control. So far, no need for manual extraction. All the goldfish and koi are doing well with very hardy appetites.

The rhubarb I harvested one week ago today has grown back nicely

Rhubarb one week ago

Rhubarb today

I will harvest it again tomorrow.

Saturday, May 27, 2017: Rhubarb

I believe it was back in 2012 that we planted two rhubarb plants along our west fence line. The first year, one grew nicely and the other one appeared to die. The following year, the one that apparently died did well and the one that did well the preceding year, appeared to die. This went on for the next couple of years before we started our backyard project. To my knowledge, we never harvested any rhubarb from these plants. When the project started, I dug both of them up and stored them in the basement, pretty much ignoring them for the next 18 months. Once the raised beds were installed in 2015, T had me transplant them to the east bed. One appeared to die and the other did well. The one that appeared to die, actually did so this time. The other one grew each Spring and wilted by early Summer. Today, I decided to actually harvest some. I found a roasted rhubarb recipe and hope that by harvesting some of the well formed sprouts, new growth will be encouraged.

Before harvesting

After harvesting

Got just over 5 ounces of stalks

Roasted rhubarb

 Very tart, but very tasty.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017: Carp

The new koi seem to be happy in their new environment. I fed them for the first time this afternoon. The koi are relatively easy to pick out from the goldfish. They are very "light" colored but this may change as they grow. I've named them based on their appearance.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017: Busy day, new carp

I knew this was going to be a busy day. I had an appointment for scheduled maintenance on the Audi at 9:00 am. The dealership is WAY out is West County, about a 30-35 minute drive with favorable traffic. Being so far away, we normally would drop off the car, take a loaner and get errands accomplished out in that area.

Today, my plan was to drop off the car, take a loaner and visit our favorite liquor store, Costco, grocery store and, finally, the Aqua World pond place where we bought our goldfish last Spring. We bought 10 goldfish and only seven are still with us. The other three croaked soon after we got them into the pond. The other seven made it through the winter and appear healthy. I expect they will be with us for a long time.

This time, after viewing what they had to offer, I decided to get three koi instead of goldfish. We went with the goldfish last year to test out the pond. Goldfish are much...much cheaper than koi. I selected three koi that had different coloration. They guy at the pond shop put them in a plastic bag with an air cap. He said that they should be OK for 30-45 minutes. He suggested letting them acclimate to the pond water temperature at least 30 minutes and preferably, an hour. I decided to go ahead and head back home in the loaner so that I could get them acclimating in the pond. I got them home and remembered all my keys were with the car dealer. I was still able to get their plastic bag secured in the pond and opened so they could get air.

When I got home, about two hours later, I released them into the pond. They are about the same length as the goldfish that have been in there for the past year. I see that it is recommended not to feed them for at least 24 hours after introducing them to the pond. I fed the existing fish before I turned the new ones loose and will not feed them again until tomorrow afternoon.

About 30 minutes after releasing them, we had a gully washer which dropped over an inch of rain in about 15 minutes.

Monday, May 22, 2017: Mazda

Today I took Kermit over the Maaco for body work and a paint job. I had procured replacement front and rear bumper covers. All of the body work needed is a result of the two years I lived in the French Quarter in New Orleans. Essentially all the street parking was parallel parking, and sooner or later, that is going to take a toll. The car is mechanically in great shape for a 24 year old vehicle. No rust. The car has just over 160,000 miles on it and I have no doubt it is good for another 100,000 miles. Once I get the exterior in good shape, I need to address the leather interior.

They said the body work would take a couple of weeks.

Sunday, May 21, 2017: Pruning, fertilizing, snakes, Snapshot

Today is the six month anniversary of T's passing. I miss her so much.

It is a bright, cool Spring day. I deadheading dozens and dozens of spent rose blooms.

I pruned back the Azaleas in the front yard. I cut out the dead branches of the Sky Pencil holy in the front yard. I cut out the dead branches on both the Dogwoods in the front yard.

The hollyhock on the east end of the rose bed is getting so tall, with so many blooms, it cannot support its own weight and is falling across the walkway. I staked it to hold it upright.

I also fertilized all the Azaleas (front and back), the Junipers and the three holy in the back yard. I did not fertilize the Sky Pencil in front. I bought an eight pound bag of the fertilizer and used it all.

Not sure if the fertilizer will help the three or four sad-looking Azaleas in the back, but, I cannot hurt them either.

Finally, I noticed a 1" diameter hole right beside one of the hollyhocks along the west fence line. I don't know if this is T's garter snake or not, but let's hope so. The story of T's garter snake is, back in the fall of 2015, when the landscaper was working in the back, they came across a 2' long garter snake. These big beefy guys went berserk and were going to beat it to death with a shovel. T was out there and scolded them. She went over and picked up the snake. The landscaping guys were humiliated. T put the snake out in the new Azalea bed in the front yard, but we never saw it again. Maybe I have found its new home. T would be so happy.

Update on peace lily. I thought I might have killed it when it did not get watered over the past week. It appears it is going to recover.

Finally, I applied another dose of Snapshot to the mulched and raised beds. This is the germination preventer.