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Post by Mari on Sept 16, 2020 20:07:39 GMT
Any trouble with ash falling in your garden or is the wind blowing it away from you?
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Post by whollygoats on Sept 17, 2020 4:32:55 GMT
Any trouble with ash falling in your garden or is the wind blowing it away from you? Not here in the city, no. When Swimmer drove Vincent out to the farm in the poultry rescue, it got ash fall then, but none here in town.
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Post by whollygoats on Sept 18, 2020 23:25:10 GMT
So...Swimmer is arranging for the return of the chooks to her farm. The turkeys now occupy freezer space.
Molly is still in the upstair suite and has evidently adapted to her confinement with her human and is eating. Every time I go upstairs I see signs of life, but no fuzz.
The triumphal return to the acreage is slated for Saturday morn. Then, Cleo will get her lair upstairs back, complete with a set of newly installed intriguing scents.
Out in the garden, the katsura at the street is preparing to shed its leaves. I would guess a week or so. It lost all its top leaves in the storm that engendered the fires and the street has consistently shown evidences of added leaf fall since. The cornus kousa is producing a bumper crop of fruit ('strawberries') which are edible, but who'd want to? Answer: SQRLz. I caught sight of one having a leisurely dogwoodfruit on the front steps. It was prolly the same miscreant who'd created the pile of post-walnutfeast leavings on the top step the previous week. Anyway, the kousa is shedding fruit.
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Post by Mari on Sept 19, 2020 19:03:54 GMT
Will you need to assist swimmer with the triumphant return?
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Post by whollygoats on Sept 20, 2020 0:40:40 GMT
Will you need to assist swimmer with the triumphant return? In a way. My minivan will be needed for the shuttle, but I will not be required.
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Post by whollygoats on Sept 20, 2020 2:20:53 GMT
Today, I got started on the thinning of the rudies. The bloom is mostly gone and I want to expose as many iris rhizomes as possible.
The return of the rains will assist in the ongoing efforts to move the Siberian iris at the street.
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Post by Mari on Sept 20, 2020 6:30:37 GMT
Is it possible to prune back my 5 meter high rambling rose to about a meter or meter and a half? It's doing very well, but in the middle it's ugly and we need to take out the raster it's grown through next Spring.
I hope swimmer will find her home as she left it.
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Post by whollygoats on Sept 21, 2020 14:20:00 GMT
Is it possible to prune back my 5 meter high rambling rose to about a meter or meter and a half? It's doing very well, but in the middle it's ugly and we need to take out the raster it's grown through next Spring. I hope swimmer will find her home as she left it. Swimmer is back on the farm with Molly. All is clear here. Yes, you can prune your rose any time you like. The best is after the blooms have blown, but if you have a 'rambler', which is what is sounds like, then it could bloom all at once and be done for the year, or it could put out occasional flowers all through the season. Either way, the pruning will not appreciably affect the shrub, and may even encourage it. Dead-heading (removing blown rosehips) should be taken back to just above a five-leaf branch. The further back the cane you go, the stronger the resulting stub will be to hold the resulting new growth (within reason, cutting it to the ground will assure that it will be a long time reblooming). My sin with roses is allowing the rudbeckia to grow under the roses, which prevents leaf growth, and encourages fungal diseases, on the down low portion of the shrub. I need to be more demanding of my rudies.
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Post by whollygoats on Sept 21, 2020 14:33:31 GMT
Oh...Just before the rains, I harvested the only cannabis plant to survive. The buds are hanging to dry in the basement. It stinks; it stinks goooood.
This also means that all pots are ready for an infestation of spring bulbs. I can extract all the cannabis stumps and start shuffling pots once the bulbs arrive. Clearing the pots of annuals and prepping the pots will take a bit, but less than a day. I must muster enthusiasm. Then.
First off, the Casablanca lilies and the white iris with them need repotting. In to a larger pot. Still, I'll be reaping extra rhizomes from this.
I have three empty 'larger pots' to shuffle through and a source of soil to go with the compost.
Narcissus, and hyacinth, and reticulata....O my!!
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Post by whollygoats on Sept 21, 2020 14:36:40 GMT
Hmmm....I plan on planting garlic this fall, too. In the former tomato spots.
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Post by whollygoats on Sept 22, 2020 0:57:34 GMT
I shared the only watermelon from my garden this summer with my friend Dave. It was actually good.
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Post by Mari on Sept 22, 2020 7:19:35 GMT
Thanks for the advice. I think I'll do the radical treatment since it's the middle part that's ugly.
I've left some room in my fruit bed for tomatoes. I think I may put in some cucumber as well. It's a shame I don't like pumpkin. It grows so easily.
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Post by whollygoats on Sept 23, 2020 2:13:06 GMT
Thanks for the advice. I think I'll do the radical treatment since it's the middle part that's ugly. I've left some room in my fruit bed for tomatoes. I think I may put in some cucumber as well. It's a shame I don't like pumpkin. It grows so easily. The rose will be fine. Take out what you don't like. Heh...Well, cukes and pumpkins are like squash and pumpkins....vines that take up a lot of room. I planted four watermelon and got two melons, one which was edible. I knew it was going to be a slim season when I meant to get cantaloupe sets. Anyways, I had melon vines up in my rose bushes. The zucchini still grows and requires that I do a 'giant step' over it in order to get to the eastern margin of the back garden. And, let me tell you, having successful rhubarb in your garden makes the garden look a whole lot more....lush. Jungle-like. I took another major branch off the lilac today. The 'guide hose' is nearly extracted. I had to wait until the melons were gone and now I have to shuffle some pots out of the way before I can execute the final extraction. Four more days of rain forecast....this will help with the autumn grooming. I still await the bulbs, due in by mail. IIRC, I requested early October shipment.
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Post by Mari on Sept 23, 2020 6:17:25 GMT
I like rhubarb, but it shoots up, doesn't it? I still have room in the front part of my fruit corner so I don't want anything too high. I did plan for lots of strawberries.
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Post by whollygoats on Sept 25, 2020 2:39:17 GMT
My strawberries are directly behind the rhubarb tub. There are also three pots of assorted unknown variety iris, and raspberry canes that are struggling.
It is an area of my garden presently 'in transition'.
I took down and chopped up another major limb off the lilac.
The big accomplishment is to start thinning my rudies and maidenforming some of the most desired known varieties. I maidenformed the 'Throb' set and finally removed the 'guide hose'. I maidenformed the corner of the 'mater bed where the walkway exits the brick patio where the 'Tulip Festival' variety was preeminent...but also unearthed some rhizomes with may be one of the 'red' varietals. I have cleared away enough of the rudies to reveal other problems (grass!) and get some light down to the rhizome domes.
In the midst of all this, I finally posted online for any locals who wanted free tall bearded iris rhizomes to drop on by....So far, only one taker.
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Post by Mari on Sept 25, 2020 8:48:18 GMT
Maidenforming... sounds like a questionable thing to do. I think I need to consult a dictionary
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Post by whollygoats on Sept 25, 2020 12:07:49 GMT
Maidenforming... sounds like a questionable thing to do. I think I need to consult a dictionary You won't find it in a dictionary....It is derived from marketing in the US for women's brassieres. 'Maidenform bras' were touted to 'lift and separate' to achieve the desired results, which is, of course, exactly what one needs to do to achieve the desired result with irises, as well. One needs to 'lift and separate', to 'maidenform', iris rhizomes to encourage them to continue to prosper and grow.
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Post by Mari on Sept 25, 2020 17:39:49 GMT
I did actually find it in an online dictionary but it referred me to a wiki site for the brand. Your explanation makes a lot more sense
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Post by whollygoats on Sept 27, 2020 17:40:40 GMT
So, today portends a return to the garden.
I will most likely be deadheading the last of the second bloom of roses, along with the first rose of the third bloom, which is preparing to happen.
I have twitterbirds in my rudy seedheads already! They know the chowline is open. Of course, I'm in the midst of narrowing the selections, but there is still plenty.
I love the twitterbirds...chickadees, wrens, vireos, bushtits...Especially the crowd of bushtits that arrive all at once.
I think there is a wren nest in the neighbor's viburnum that backs my fence at Cecile's location. I see a fair amount of 'furtive' traffic that lands on the fencetop and shuffles in to the thicket. And, I also suspect the neighbor's ceanothus harbors another wren nest there, just twenty feet away from the aforementioned.
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Post by whollygoats on Sept 28, 2020 3:45:38 GMT
Wow...Once I cleared away significant portions of the rudies (and plenty of weeds), I could see the massive crowding in places in the iris plantings.
No wonder my walkways were crowded by iris leaves.
I now have bins of various varieties of iris rhizomes on my front porch and I've invited local friends to come by and pick up some free iris rhizomes.
I'm gonna be sore tomorrow, too.
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 1, 2020 18:35:34 GMT
'Tis midmorning and the fog at dawn has finally dissipated into a rather nice morning. I cruised around assessing my various projects and decided that it was a good cool morning to go sapling hunting along the China Beach side of my place. This is a relatively narrow defile down the east side of my house, more narrow, even, than the Ho Chi Minh Trail on the west side of the house. At least the Ho Chi Minh Trail has a finished concrete walkway the entire distance. China Beach has broken concrete walkway 'steppingstones'. And shiploads of weeds. My objective was to take out the worst of them....tree saplings. I figure 8 maples, two hazelnuts, 2 walnuts, and one each of black walnut, holly, and laurel was my final tally. Not too shabby.
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Post by Mari on Oct 1, 2020 20:43:21 GMT
I have a constant battle with oak saplings popping up all over my garden... I feel your pain.
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 2, 2020 2:57:33 GMT
With me, it's the wine-leaf sycamore maple at the street. It's abused by being a biggish tree cramped in to a small spot and responds by overproducing spinnet seedpods galore. Hunting maple sprouts is usually focused around the same time as the Lion Hunt, but goes on year-round. These were ignored because of their location and managed to reach seedling status. I have the help of a busy colony of SQRLz and at least two neighbors that feed them. I find peanuts with shells in my planters.
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Post by Mari on Oct 2, 2020 6:45:27 GMT
No squirrels to help them out, here, but there are several very large oak trees in the street behind ours and a lot of magpie and other birds to help spread the plague.
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 2, 2020 16:06:30 GMT
This morning it seems to be a bird jamboree out around the garden shed and the kittycorner back neighbor's set of trees, particularly their dying cherry tree.
There are two distinct types of jays, Blue and Stellar, both crested, but the Blues have the light/dark detailing, while the Stellars have blue bodies that fade into much darker heads. There is a pair of the Blue jays; I'm not sure if there is a pair of Stellar jays. There are also thrushes, sparrows, grosbeaks, chickadees, and at least one hummer. No crows. My bread offerings on what I now call 'the Crow Bar' go ignored.
ETA: It looks like somebody found the bread. My bet is on one or more of the jays.
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 3, 2020 1:32:26 GMT
I am having to repeatedly stop myself from deadheading my roses. It's a compulsion which needs to end to allow the roses to 'hip out' and encourage dormancy. I should only act to remove any extra long canes which might whip around in the autumnal gusts.
That said, 'French Lace' is in the midst of a very fine final bloom of the season.
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 3, 2020 2:28:35 GMT
So, today I maidenformed a small portion of my 'Sultry Challenger' iris. The dark violet silken self is an awesome performer and, I suspect it is my most sought after rhizome. It seems to be quite robust and produced eight stems last season. But, it, like the 'Anything Goes' rhizomes, was crowding the path around 'French Lace', the soft apricot pink rose. The removal of the rudies revealed that there is quite a knot of rhizomes, but the leading edges had room to expand, so I didn't lift them. I just excised the rhizome crowding the walkway, turning the replanted rhizomes so they pushed away from the path in their future expansion...I hope.
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Post by Mari on Oct 3, 2020 6:18:34 GMT
New overlords?
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 5, 2020 1:27:11 GMT
New overlords?
I managed to get all the 'Lenten Prayer' rhizomes back in to the ground...and then some. Meaning I jumped the last three rhizomes across to the other side of the 'mater bed.
I did a rescue on the blue iris that had gotten forgotten in back of 'French Lace' and moved them in to a large pot with only half the surface covered with established iris rhizome of unknown variety.
I parked the tiny remnant of 'Sultry Challenger' rhizomes in one of my pot pots. It will stay there until I determine that they can be portioned out like high-end drugs.
In the other 'incubator', the traypot, I placed all the nubbins from the 'Throb' maidenforming. Those I have possible places for....
It looks like I may have a family of blue jays on, or nearby, the property. I'm not quite sure what the Stellar jay was doing....maybe just taunting the blue jays.
Today, the Oregon juncos were here in regular shifts. I'm still trying to more positively identify my furtive visitors who keep slipping in to the weigela. I'm fairly sure they are wrens, but that's about it.
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Post by Mari on Oct 5, 2020 12:23:02 GMT
Yes, I was referring to the irises taking over.
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