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!
(The resource area is posted at the end of the the July 3-6 Gardening Thread beginning after post 112!)
Amen!
Have a Blessed Christmas!
Hello from Buford Georgia where my crew and I battled incoming rain to get a yard ready for sell. We made it in 3 hours or less! And then the bottom fell out of the sky. It’s a warm day today, with temps near 60+.
