Good morning, and welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging,
Power Tool Edition!
Denver has been getting its first shot of hot weather. We were into the upper 80's/lower 90's on Thursday and Friday, forecast is for 89 today, but we're scheduled for a bit of a cool down tomorrow. Nighttime temperatures are also staying well into the 50's, so I've removed the wall-o-waters from the tomatoes: I have blooms, so perhaps, maybe, if the stars align, I'll get some early-setting fruit.
And blooms are busting out all over. This rose bush came with the house. Have no idea what kind, other than it is wild assed, old, and the same type is planted all over our neighborhood. As to how old, well, the crown is about 16" wide. It may be almost as old as the house, and the house was built in 1887.
After it blooms we whack it back - if we didn't, it would take over the whole porch. But it pairs wonderfully with the iris; although it's been very hard to get pictures that actually give the full effect (I've probably shot and deleted 3 dozen pictures to get these):
I call this the Power Tool Edition because on Thursday, I grabbed Mr. Frankenoid's portable saws all from his workshop and used it to prune the lilac and daphne bushes. Ooooohhh, power tools.
While a marvelous technique, you must be careful because once you start cutting it's too easy to just keep going. When using a handsaw, you tend to be choosier about what to prune because it's so damn much work. But, I knew I had massive whacking to do with the Carol Mackey daphne. I read up carefully on pruning spring-blooming shrubs, and one as overgrown and shaggy as my dear Carol needed a massive haircut - just not all at once. Per instructions, I removed about 1/3 of the main branches. Next year I'm to remove ½ of the remaining old branches, and the year after that the remainder. This should generate nice, new clean growth, get rid of the leggyness, and allow me to keep her in trim in the future.
Alas, however, my attempt at air-layer rooting was a dud; didn't get a single root in either pot. Oh well, it was a nice try. Guess I'll just have to buy Carol Mackey's to put on the east side of the front porch, after I complete my wicked, secret, evil plan to decimate the gawd-awful-butt-ugly-invasive bush that Mr. Frankenoid loves. I think his "love" of several plants that came with the house is that they are impossible to kill. We bought our house from HUD, and it had been split into two apartments before that. Until the recent gentrification, this neighborhood was pretty run down, so anything that survived had to be tough as nails. Thus, he "loves" the plants not because they are beautiful (although the iris are), but because they can be ignored (although that gawd-awful-butt-ugly-invasive bush can not be ignored; I am the one who digs out the roots to keep it from migrating out and strangling the rose bush, and from breaking apart the skirt of the front porch).
I, however, love to fuck around with the plants, and want more than just survival. Give me beautiful foliage, good smells, and gorgeous flowers! And I get all three with Carol Mackey daphnes, even if they do not thrive when neglected.
This is also the Power Tool Edition because I used the electric drill to mount half-circle planter boxes on to the arch leading into Mom's Corner.
And while we're at it, here's my favorite "planter", a toy wheelbarrow from when Eldest Son was a toddler, and a rail planter filled with stock and dianthus, placed where a breeze will blow the scent into the house:
Forgive the blurs on the pictures; I let Ian use the camera last night, and I'm afraid a grubby finger was placed where it shouldn't have been. Sigh.
Thanks to Arwen the Terrible (felinius pesticus horrificus) (shown here doing "kitty in the jungle" this morning, trying to figure out where all those bird noises were coming from),
I also accidentally tested something I had read about spinach. When I planted my first vegetable garden, I had told my sister that I needed to thin the spinach. She told me not to bother, that it wouldn't hurt to have it closely planted. I bowed to her experience, and for several years sowed the spinach seed quite thickly. But I had horrible trouble with the spinach bolting after just a couple of pickings.
With the advent of the Internet, I decided to do some research on what can cause spinach to bolt prematurely, and read that it bolts faster if the plants are crowded. Since it's been a couple of years since I've grown spinach (I had limited use of my veggie space when the back yard was a construction zone), I hadn't had the chance to test the theory.
This year I got half of the spinach planted, widely spaced, before Arwen the Terrible showed up to "help", and with her help, I did not get the seed evenly planted. Some of the plants were horribly crowded. And guess what - the 'Net was right. The properly spaced spinach is showing no sign of bolting, while in the crowded spinach several plants already bolted. So, now you know - put lots of room between those spinach plants. The leaves shouldn't be touching at all.
And now, more pictures of iris. This one is my absolute favorite, and I got a couple of shots which are among the best photographs I've ever taken:
, plus one of the brand-new iris, a repeat bloomer (I think I paid $5 for one iris):
We also have both the coral and white Jupiter's beard blooming, and it sets off wonderfully against the front porch:
I also have a couple of types of dianthus blooming. The low pink one is extremely fragrant (I think it's "tiny rubies", but I'm not sure, as we planted it 10 years ago), and a hot magenta pink dianthus that I truly adore. It just pops out at you:
Finally, the Johnson's Blue cranesbill, Missouri primrose, and mother-of-thyme are blooming. Is this a great time of year or what?