Lots of Gardening Done Today…

Went to a couple nurseries and big-box home improvement stores looking for 1/4 inch drip irrigation tubing with emitters spaced 6 inches apart. I didn’t find any but got a couple of plants.

New Plants from Mid City Nursery

I got the following from Mid City Nursery:
Celery Folia 6 cell-pack (I’ve never grown Celery, except for the Asian Leaf types)
Red Russian Kale Folia 6 cell-pack
Tree Collard Folia 4 inch pot with 2 plants which I later divided into two pots Flickr
Coleus ‘Dark Star’ Folia
Coleus ‘Big Chief’ Folia

I also bought a bag of Bonsai Mix which I will try making some String Balls planters with.

As I putting things away in the patio, I found a box that contained Gladiolus, Dahlia and Asiatic Lily bulb/tuber/corms that my brother bought at clearance a month or two ago. They were not in good condition, but I thought I would go ahead and plant them just incase I can save them.

Asiatic Lily 'Stargazer'

The plants included:
Asiatic Lily ‘Stargazer’ Folia
Dahlia ‘Heat Wave’ Folia
Gladiolus ‘Wigs Sensation’ Folia
Gladiolus ‘Pastel Mixed’ Folia

Saturday Gardening…

The Asparagus Pea is growing nicely and is about twice the size I bought it. I see at least four tiny pods. I wonder if Asparagus Pea (Tetragonolobus purpurea) is an annual or perennial here.

First Asparagus Pea Pod...

I made a couple combination pots. I potted a Rudbeckia hirta ‘Prairie Sun’ into a existing pot with Dahlia ‘Jack-o-Lantern’ and Sedum ‘Angelina’. (photo below left)

Rudbeckia hirta ‘Prairie Sun’ Combination Pot

In another pot, I planted Salpiglosis ‘Kew Blue’, a volunteer Persicaria ‘Painter’s Palette’ that a found and an unlabeled plant from Annies Annuals. (photo above right)

I also potted up my Sugar Cane plant from a one gallon pot to a five gallon one. I was debating wheather to put the Sugar Cane in the front yard or behind the storage to get more sun. My Mom thought it would be better behind the storage, so that’s where I placed it.

Repotted Sugar Cane

I see one Tricolor Bush Bean sprouting up in the hanging pot I made a few days ago. Hopefully the rest will come up soon.

Refreshed a pot with 3 year old Tweedia caerula by adding compost. Also planted seedlings grown from seeds from this plant into this pot.

I’m glad to see that the Scarlet Chinese and Easter Eggplants from last year survived and have new growth.

The Start of Garden Work…

It was beautiful outside, so I did some garden maintenance in the front yard. I first cut down and removed all the dead Sunflowers and Zinnias. Our dog Kelly accompanied me in my chores as our neighbor’s kid kept trying to call her. Kelly pretty much ignored them, because she was busy cutting the grass.

I tried to pull as many weeds as I can and cleaned up the Swiss Chard, Rudbeckia and Mums. This was worth two 5-gallon containers of composting materials.

My mom wanted to pull up the Dahlias in the front planting area, which hasn’t been divided in I can’t remember how many years. This was no easy task because the tubers were huge (like grocery potatoes) and they were intertwined with out White Birch tree’s roots. They were also Dutch Iris and Columbine that we wanted to save, so I had to carefully dig these up and put them aside, until we can replant. It started getting dark, so I could not finish. Those Dahlia tubers were really stuck in the Birch’s root, and I’ll have to tackle this later.

I also collected all the plant labels that were in the planting beds. I washed the dirt off of them and place them away for safe-keeping. Which reminds me, I want to get some black plant labels for my seedlings.

Now, I have a blister from cutting the Sunflower and Zinnia into small compostable pieces. and my back is sore. Gosh, I feel old… hehe :)