Posted on 12/18/2021 6:42:24 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
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I’ve been off this one for a while…..Christmas cactus and peace lilies will be in bloom for Christmas! I have several Lemon verbena cuttings I put in water before the first frost. When I got home from work yesterday, they were all have roots growing. I get lemon verbena for the winter.
The Hummingbird Garden was a mess – dead tithonia in one bed & dead Cosmos/zinnias in the other. I love Cosmos, but these had all fallen over …. the plants still bloomed laying over, but now that they're dead, it was like a thick mat of dead stalks. The first order of business was to untie all the tithonia stalks (blew over in a bad storm & had to tie them back up) & pull up the metal fence posts anchors. The tithonia was cut into manageable pieces and tossed into a pile outside of the garden fence. With the tithonia bed cleaned up, I could then use that bed as a place to put the Cosmos debris. Normally, I would load straight into our garden cart & haul it away, but “somebody” else was using the cart & would not give up possession for 15 minutes, so I had to go to the intermediate step of using the tithonia bed for debris. Once the Cosmos debris is hauled away (happening this morning – tithonia went last night), then the old pine needle mulch will go in the walkway & the bed will be weeded, if necessary. I'm glad this is done because once the ground freezes (which happened to me before), any weeding has to wait for a thaw.
Next was my “mystery” bed. I topped all of my veggie/flower beds (except for the 2 Hummingbird Garden beds) with leaf compost. All are looking just fine, except for one which was growing a great crop of some weed. Initially, it was a few green sprigs, but since we've had a mild fall/winter thus far, more & more “green” was showing up to the point the weeds were thick enough it was beginning to look like ground cover. Initially, I was just going to spray & kill it in the spring (vinegar, Epsom Salt, detergent), but it was getting larger & more dense so I checked it out & pulled a few. I was surprised at how the small plants had a fairly extensive root system and so by Spring, it was only going to be more established & harder to deal with. I was able to weed the entire bed thoroughly and worked the compost into the soil, too. Where this particular weed came from, I don't know – not the compost. This bed was used for radishes, cucumbers, a couple of Teddy Bear sunflowers & Morning Glories (plants are definitely not morning glories). The bed stayed “clean” all during the growing season – never had to weed it so I do not know where this stuff came from in such abundance! It's gone now & I'll keep an eye on all the beds, but so far, everything looks good. - can't wait for Spring planting season!
The temperature is dropping at least 30 degrees between today and tomorrow (with rain probably late afternoon & into the evening), so the lovely short-sleeve weather is going to be gone. A little “Christmas” weather is ok …. 'tis the Season! :-) Have a great weekend, everybody. ~Q
Hi all, enjoying some fresh snow and watching the birds eat. I am hoping for some advice on amarylis bulbs. Have had them for many many years. I rarely can kept them going and bloom a second year. I have bought cheap ones and pricey ones. I have even tried putting them in the ground for the summer for growth. (Michigan) and I got a bloom stalk in the middle of the summer. This year I could not resist getting some. I got 3 of the standards, for 6.00 each that’s a lot of bloom. 2 are left blooming and I am already thinking about how to get them to bloom again. I know not to put them in a bigger pot. I have an attached garage where I have stored them also a cold front closet which is a little warmer. I normally shake off the dirt and bag them. Should I just keep them in the pot? Fertilizer when and how often? Any advice appreciated. Also when is best (earliest) to dry them out and make them go dormant. Not crazy about having a bunch of green plants around inside and no blooms. Thanks! Plus Wishing you all a Merry Christmas. Those of you still gardening are very fortunate indeed!
Everything tucked away in the green house. Bubble wrap inside and out (zone 7a). Lemons will be ready to pick soon. Limes are small will pick some just to see. Tomato plants i started about 2 months ago are about 2+ feet high and budding so i loped off the tops so they get bushy. Ready to start my spring and summer crop. I have 5 pallets set up this year for about 125 plants in 5 inch round peat pots. I will do celery as it is still growing. Sweet onions and some regular pepper plants as the jalepeno and poblanos grew like crazy. Of course tomatoes, broccoli, cantalope, marketmore cucs, zuchini and i’ll try corn again. Beans and peas worked pretty good and i have a trellis built for extra tomato plants this year that i will use for peas and beans.
In regards to your post theme (Let Heaven & Nature Sing) & the two accompanying pictures , I ran across this ... beautiful video, scenes from nature & meaningful words, especially if you find God in Nature (which I do).
Still, Still With Thee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMIgLwxYTzk
1 Still, still with Thee, when purple morning breaketh,
When the bird waketh, and the shadows flee;
Fairer than morning, lovelier than daylight,
Dawns the sweet consciousness, I am with Thee.
2 Alone with Thee, amid the mystic shadows,
The solemn hush of nature newly born;
Alone with Thee in breathless adoration,
In the calm dew and freshness of the morn.
3 Still, still with Thee! As to each newborn morning
A fresh and solemn splendor still is giv’n,
So does this blessed consciousness, awaking,
Breathe each day nearness unto Thee and heav’n.
4 So shall it be at last, in that bright morning,
When the soul waketh and life’s shadows flee;
O in that hour, fairer than daylight dawning,
Shall rise the glorious thought, I am with Thee.
Your weed looks like Henbit to me, but check it out. Chickens like it ...
(The resource area is posted at the end of the the July 3-6 Gardening Thread beginning after post 112!)
Well, my garden is put away for the winter and the last couple days mr. mm and I spent traipsing around the property.
We had the chain saws out and the loppers and were clearing out dead wood from the wooded parts. There were lots of dead small trees that you could just push over. I learned quickly to try that before using the chain saw.
We cleared out a bunch of dead undergrowth and got rid of a bunch of the invasive Japanese honeysuckle. Nasty stuff that.
Winter is a great time for stuff like that. The undergrowth is mostly dead and it’s so much easier to walk through the woods. And ticks are not so much a problem at this time of year, although they can still be active to a degree.
I found a great website for buying saplings of various trees very inexpensively. Better than the National Arbor Foundation.
NH State Forest Nursery
https://www.nh.gov/nhnursery/documents/spring2022nurserycatalog.pdf
We’re going to plant native species for the wildlife.
I’m not thinking it’s henbit ...
“All henbit leaves are hairy. “
No hairy leaves on my weed.
https://turf.purdue.edu/henbit/
Supper tonight has homemade tomato sauce using the tomatoes from this summer’s garden.
All the outdoor plants are put to bed. We will see them again in spring!
Blessed Advent to all who observe this penitential season.
Quiviut; Maybe creeping charlie?
https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-kill-creeping-charlie-2131200
I think you already know how to deal with it!
Christmas Greetings from southern New England!
I have had to stand-down from heavy lifting as I had the cataract removed from my right eye. It was very successful, but I am limited at least until next Wednesday.
That being said, the first winter storm seems to have arrived two hours early, just a few minutes ago. I have the snow thrower mounted on the John Deere 318, but the belt isn’t hooked up and the lift wasn’t working. Low on hydraulic fluid.
Most of the beds are mulched for the winter.
That’s it!
I also think I heard my brother mention “Creeping Charlie” ... he’s got some big patches near his lawn.
My raised bed dirt is very soft/loose - adding mulch every year helps a lot. It makes pulling weeds a lot easier with a better chance of getting all the roots. I think I did a pretty good job yesterday, but I’ll likely have a couple pop up in the future. I’m still puzzled how it’s just in that one bed that has been pretty clean for at least a year or two.
Last year, I sprayed in the spring with the vinegar/Epsom Salt/detergent solution. I have never had it work before, but I sprayed again in a couple of days & it REALLY knocked out any weeds while they were small. I used pine needle mulch and I had the “cleanest” beds ever ... pulled a weed here & there, but never had to sit down for a few minutes to truly “weed”. I hope the same will happen next year.
Thanks for the info/weed ID!
Amen!
Have a Blessed Christmas!
Ooops! meant to include a few others in the Post address!
It did look fuzzy to me. I see you have concluded it is Creeping Charlie. I thought the scalloping was too defined to be CC. I have that stuff like mad here. When it is mature, the root is like pulling up a carrot. Good luck; it is tough. I am not adverse to chemicals, but even 2,4-D alone won’t to the job with one spray. Round up works, but much of mine is in the turf.
“Not crazy about having a bunch of green plants around inside and no blooms.”
This is part of the problem. After the Amaryllis blooms, the greens are what put the energy back into the bulb for the next bloom cycle.
So, after these bloom, you’re going to have to live with just the greens inside until you can put them outside in a dappled-shade spot for the summer. I’d also leave them in the pot, but give them fresh soil when you bring them in again before frost.
So, if that really makes you crazy, then just buy the el cheap-o’s, enjoy the blooms, then compost the bulbs and get on with life. ;)
My ‘Marilyn’ amaryllis arrived and the Picotee is supposed to be here next week.
You’ll be proud to know that I’m getting a bloom spike on my newest Orchid! This is the ‘mini’ Amanda gave me for Mother’s Day, BUT it’s pretty much just growing up to be a regular sized orchid, which I was hoping was the case. Phalaenopsis.
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