Friday, April 13, 2018 - Fertilizing and Snapshot

Yesterday, I dispersed Snapshot, the germination inhibitor I use on the mulched areas. Today I used all the Jobe's fertilizer spikes I have for the trees and shrubs. Tomorrow I have a class on bonsai trees at the Botanical Garden. Sunday, it is supposed to snow.

Wednesday, April 11, 2018 - Spring Plantings

It got up into the 70's today. A beautiful sunny Spring day.

I commissioned the irrigation system with the exception of zone 12, which has a break in a line. I also dosed the pond with the annual Spring commissioning stuff.

I transplanted the kale and the peppers out into the raised beds. I have three types of peppers this year: Jalapeño, Peppadew and Santaka. The Santaka Pepper originates from Japan. It is rather small in size, cone-shaped, measuring about two inches in length. SHU: 15,000 - 30,000 (2 to 12 times hotter than Jalapeño). I also seeded some Swiss Chard, carrots and beets in the west raised bed. The leeks are coming back for a third season in the west bed.

The rhubarb is looking very healthy this season. This is probably the fourth or fifth growing season for this specific plant.

Thursday April 5, 2018 - Spring

A month from today, I head for Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago. My wonderful daughter will join me.

Today, the sun is out and it is in the 50's. It feels like Spring. I put a new barley bale in the pond. This year, instead of putting in the lower pond, I am putting it in the stream between the upper and lower pond. There is good water flow across it and it will not sink. I also pulled the dead growth out of the Day Lily pots and around the pond plants.

Barley Bale

I will be transplanting the indoor plants out into the garden before I leave for Spain with the possible exception for the okra. I thought I had three or four okra plants sprouting from seed. However, now it seems I only had one really successful. I replanted six more seeds in the compost tray hoping they will sprout. I would like to take at least three plants out to the garden. There is still time as I don't think the weather will be warm enough until mid-May.

Okra

Peppers are doing OK with several good sprouts from all three types.

Peppers

Kale is also doing well.

Kale

Still no obvious roots on the Brugmansia, but the leaves look healthy.

Brugmansia

Tuesday March 20, 2018 Inside planting update

Over seven weeks ago, on January 26, I started many seedlings inside. Some have done well and some have gone nowhere. It will be another three or four weeks before considering putting outside.

Less than a week ago, I started my okra seeds. They already have started to sprout. These were seeds I harvested from my plants last Fall.

Okra

At the same time, I took a cutting from the Brugmansia and have it in a vase of water. It supposedly will root out and I can take it down to Houston in May.

Brugmansia

The three varieties of peppers (Jalapeno, Santaka and Peppadew) are all doing well.

r to l: Jalapeno, Peppadew, Santaka

The kale is doing OK and there is a little growth of Pansy, but none for the Viola or leeks. Although, the leaks we planted in the west raised beds are showing new growth for the third year.

Then there are the ones that have not shown any activity.

Artichokes

Dawn Redwood, Sweet Pepper, Leeks

Friday March 16, 2018 Spring and Rose Pruning

I noticed today that the Knockout roses had new leaf growth. While the MoBot had not, as of March 14 pruned their roses, I believe the time has come.

I hope I have not over-pruned!

I also today reinstalled the pond level control. It looks as if the freezing weather is essentially over for this season. I need to dig up the irrigation line over by the west fence and fix the leak I created when I planted one of the holly hocks.

Thursday March 15, 2018 Red Twig Dogwoods and Raised Bed Soil

During my walk through the Missouri Botanical Garden yesterday morning, I noticed that some time during the past week, they had cut back their Red Twig Dogwoods. I've been monitoring this on a weekly basis. I knew the time to cut them back was in late Winter or early Spring, but I decided to follow the guidance of MoBot. I cut ours back to the same degree as did MoBot. The three plants along the fence were not cut back last year and had reached a height of almost six feet.

A couple of days ago, I sent John (Landscaper) a note asking if he could bring me some good quality soil to overcome the subsidence we've experienced in our raised beds before I do the planting this Spring. John came out yesterday and said he would get me a price immediately and get the soil brought in quickly. Have not heard anything back from him yet.

Update: John called Friday morning and they brought out a 50/50 mix of soil and compost. Looks good.

Friday, January 26, 2018 Spring Plantings - Inside Starts

Yesterday, I planted three types of peppers. Six of each: Peppadew, Santaka and assorted jalapeno.

Today, I planted kale, pansy, viola, bell pepper, leeks and artichoke.

I also planted some of the Dawn Redwood that has been in the refrigerator since November 2, 2017 to cold stratify the seeds to break the embryo dormancy. The biggest challenge with the redwood was to identify the seeds. While the instructions I am following said to put one seed in the middle of a 4" pot, I ended putting a small amount of the mixture in the middle of the pot.

Sunday, November 12, 2017; Pruning

We have had some relatively nice weather this past week. Sunny and cool during the day. No hard freeze yet. We still have the water line to the pond active, but I'll probably winterize it soon. After that, any water additions to the pond will be manual. I did put the pond deicer into the pond last week. The water temperature is hovering around 50F so we might be finished feeding for the season. The small fry koi and no longer small. No way to count just how many are in there!

Over the past couple of days I have pruned the Hornbeams along the east fence line, the Zelkova, the Serviceberry and the Canadian Red Cherry.

Hornbeams

Serviceberry

Zelkova

I cut back on of the Red Twig Dogwoods in front of the northeast gate. This one had essentially lost all of its leaves. Last year I did not cut these back at all. I noticed however that the MoBot cut theirs back, nearly to the ground, in the fall. As of last Wednesday, they had not cut theirs back, but since this one had lost all its leaves, I decided to cut it back.

Cut back the Red Twig Dogwood on the right

Throughout my outside activities, the neighbor's Spitz were very attentive.

Squirt on the left and Lilly on the right

I also noticed that the Brugmansia that I bought inside last weekend has added several healthy leaves. While outside during the Summer, it did not seem very happy, losing most of its leaves and sprouting no flowers at all.

Brugmansia 

Sunday, November 5, 2017; Weed n' Feed

I applied the Weed & Feed to the back yard fescue grass. I used the same product as last year which says to apply it in early fall while the weeds are still growing. I used our Scotts Easy Hand Held broadcaster on a setting of "4". The stated dosage rate was 2.8#/1,000 sq ft. We have a strong storm coming in this afternoon which should soak the stuff into the soil.

Last year, I applied the same stuff at a broadcaster setting of "2" on October 3.

Saturday, November 4, 2017; Clean up

The okra plants died with the first light freeze a couple of weeks ago. Today, I pulled them out and chopped back the chives. I should have pulled the jalapeños as well, but didn't.

I also discarded all the coleus that we had potted. Some of these were several years old and were tired. I also cut out the dead branches of sage. Next on the agenda is to prune the serviceberry.