| September 3, 2000 Have been away since early am of September 1. Rain gauge showed a total rainfall of 3 3/4 inches while we were gone. Even through the shade cloth, I can see that the kale is growing fast and the beets are getting crowded. Collards are growing, including the one I'm trying to save--it's standing up tall and proud. Will have to take the wire fencing off tomorrow. |
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| September 4, 2000 Rained again during the night. Misty and overcast all day--too wet to work outside. Removed the shade cloth from the kale and beets to get a better look. Beets are looking pretty spindly, and the kale needs sun, I think. I'm thinking I'll have to resign myself to having no beets this year. We'll see what they do with the shade cloth off. Went to the nursery and got my fall plants. Pansy: 'Bingo Yellow w/Blotch', 'Bingo Clear White', 'Bingo Light Rose w/Blotch', 'Bingo Deep Purple', 'Bingo Clear Yellow', 'Imperial Purple/Yellow', and 'Delta Pure True Blue.' Also got a flat of Viola 'Princess Mix' since the mice ate the ones I started, as well as several 'Telstar Purple' Dianthus. The nursery owner gave me three 'Lady' miniature roses that had not sold!! Removed the fencing from the collard plants. Thunderstorm in midevening. |
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| September 5, 2000 Last night's storm dumped a total of 2 1/2 inches of rain. Today was cloudy and cool all day. |
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| September 6, 2000 Cool this morning--56 degrees at 7 am, although that is unseasonal. Saw a few yellow leaves had fallen. Summer is almost gone. Sun finally came out this afternoon, after 5 days of clouds. Broken collard was lying over and wilted when I got home from work. Inspection showed that it had been knocked over, but surprizingly, the stem had begun to grow roots!! I stuck it in a jar of water, and before long the bud had perked up. If it continues to grow roots, I'll plant it. Kale is showing signs of stress from lack of sun--pale and not growing very fast. Hopefully it will shine tomorrow. I plan to make some manure tea to feed the kale, beets, and collards. |
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| September 7, 2000 Cool again this morning. Pulled up both varieties of butterbeans and put the vines in the compost bin. Potted up some croscomia bulbs that an online friend sent to me. I'm not ready to plant them yet, so this should give me some time. Started a batch of manure tea, using about a water bucket full of well composted cow maunure in an old pillow case. Put it in a 5 gallon bucket and filled with water, making sure the manure was well soaked. |
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| September 8, 2000 Emptied one raised bed. Will line and refill it tomorrow, and, weather permitting, do two more. That will be all of the wide vegetable beds. Put some manure tea (diluted about half and half with water) on the three smaller collard plants and watered it in. If they don't get burned, I'll do the other collards, kale, and beets tomorrow. |
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| September 9, 2000 Quite warm today. Finished the beds. Whew!! Transplanted one of the smaller collards to the empty space and mulched all of them with shredded leaves. The three collard plants looked good, so I put some manure tea on all of the collards, watering it in well. Also did the kale and beets the same way. Decided to try one of the 'Courtland' apples to see if it was ripe. Delicious!! Slightly tart and very crisp--will pick the rest tomorrow. |
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| September 10, 2000 Hot today--high 80s. Picked apples. Ended up with 10 (11 counting the one we ate yesterday) 'Courtland' and 1 'Granny Smith'. The 'Granny Smith' is still slated for removal, but I think I'll leave the 'Courtland'. Everything that I put manure tea on yesterday looks good--I'll swear the kale has grown overnight! I've come to the realization that time is running out and I probably won't have time to redo the front beds this fall; they will have to wait until next spring. So, I think I'll plant the pots of perennials, bulbs, hostas, roses, etc. (pots and all), in an empty raised bed to overwinter. I need to concentrate on the lawn in the next couple of weeks. Impatiens have done well and are beginning to fade a bit, so they'll be going to the compost pile real soon. Pelargoniums are looking a little peaked, as well. I think I'll overwinter them hanging in bags in the basement, and try to revive them in the spring. All summer vegetables are gone. I am ready for fall. Bought more bulbs today: Galanthus (Snowdrops), Daffodil 'Paperwhite Ziva', Tulip 'Angelique', and Puschkinia (Striped Squill) 'Libanotica'. |
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| September 12, 2000 Emptied the manure "tea bag" into the compost bin. Pulled up cantaloupe and watermelon vines and put them in the compost bin since they were drying up and going nowhere. Kale is already much greener since I've been feeding it with the manure tea. |
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| September 17, 2000 Things are winding down. The last few days, I've been sinking the potted perennials that I won't get planted until next spring in an empty raised bed to winter over. Potted the salvaged collard plant to send home with my mother. She wants to experiment with growing it in a container. Should prove to be interesting. Potted the 'Dover Beach' (blue) and 'Prissy Miss' (pink) iris and sunk the pots. Bought more bulbs. Yikes! Narcissus ' White Cheerfulness', 'Yellow Cheerfulness', a pink cupped 'Pink Pride', and a double, 'Golden Ducat', and Tulip 'Blue Ribbon'. |
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| September 18, 2000 Sifted compost from oldest bin. Got 2 5-gallon buckets of fine compost and 1 bucket of leftovers for compost tea. The rest went back into the bin, and the newest bin was turned into it as well. Dug one hill of 'Porto Rico' sweetpotatoes. Got 1 large tuber, 1 medium, and 1 small. Very pleased. Put Peters soluble plant food on pansys and kale. Planted 4 "hills" of Lunaria seed in street bed. Overcast most of the day with a shower in the early evening, and more rain through the night. |
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| September 19, 2000 Total of 1 3/4 inches of rain since yesterday. Ordered 3 Colonnade apple trees from Stark Brothers: 'Scarlet Spire', 'Emerald Spire', and 'Ultra Spire'. Should be here to plant by the second week of November. They will go into the little bed at the end of the front porch. I can also plant some bulbs and perennials/annuals in between the trees since they take up so little room. |
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| September 20, 2000 Started renovating the lawn today. Should have started about 2 weeks ago. Mowed grass 1" high, raked all the thatch (lots and lots) up, and remowed. Will reseed tomorrow, using Elite brand Rebel fescue mix instead of my usual Kentucky 31 fescue. Kale growing by leaps and bounds. One hydrangea bloom is starting to show blue. |
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| September 21, 2000 Mornings are cool, but afternoons pretty warm this week. Temps from mid 50s in the morning to low-mid 80s in the afternoon. Seeded the lawn today. Will water twice daily until the seeds germinate. Bought more plants. Southern States had all perennials disounted 40%. Bought 2 Siberian Iris--Iris sibirica 'Bennyup Blue' and 'Butter and Sugar', and 1 miniature bearded iris: Iris pumila 'Dwarf Yellow'. Also bought a rosemary plant, a garden phlox, 'Blue Boy', and 3 hostas: Hosta 'Krossa Regal', hosta fortunei 'Antioch', and hosta 'Golden Prayers'. Also got a bunch of 'Sweet Jumbo' onion plants. "Perfect for Fall" the label said. A trip to Lowe's netted me more pansys: 'Crown Azure' and Fama ® 'Lilac Shades', as well as 2 Camellia sasanqua: 'Setsugekka' and 'Yuletide' as well as 1 dark rusty red hardy chrysanthemum, 'Bravo'. |
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| September 23, 2000 I was gone overnight, but came home to almost 1/2 inch of rain in the raingauge. Stopped at several garden centers on the way home. Ken Mathews' in York County, Anderson's in Newport News, Hudgins' on 360 west of Richmond, and Harris', on 58 west of Danville. Bought these bulbs: Double Daffodils 'Rosy Clouds', large cupped Narcissus 'Passionale', narcissus cyclomineus 'Tete `a Tete', and butterfly Narcissus 'Palmares', 'Sapphire Beauty' and 'Symphony' dutch iris (iris hollandica). Bought three tall bearded iris--2 white: 'Lacy Snowflake' and 'Christmas Time', and a dark periwinkle blue called 'Victoria Falls' which is supposed to be a rebloomer. Also picked up some 'Imperial Antique Shades' pansys. Potted all three iris. Mexican bean beetles were attacking one leaf of one collard plant. They were dispatched without ceremony. Tree leaves are just beginning to turn. |
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| September 24, 2000 Very warm and humid today. Found some tiny holes in some kale leaves. Sprayed with insecticidal soap. Planted the 3 new hostas in the small new bed at the end of the back deck. Will add some other plants and/or bulbs too. Sunk the pots with all the new iris in the holding bed. Right at dusk it started to rain; there goes the insecticidal soap I put on the kale, of course. Bought garlic for planting in the next few days. |
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| September 25, 2000 Rained all day and evening, off and on, heavy at times. Received 10 'Blue Aimable' Darwin tulips from an online friend. Couldn't find them anywhere I've checked. |
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| September 26, 2000 Total of 2 inches rain. Today was cool, with highs in low 50s. Breeze was sharp. Was going to do some gardening, but found it too cold when I got home. Forecast is for warmer weather tomorrow, with highs in the 70s. Don't see any grass sprouting. The rain probably washed it all away. |
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| September 27, 2000 Sunny toady, with lows in upper 40s and highs in low 70s. Finally see some grass sprouting!! Planted the 'Bravo' mum and the 'Blue Boy' phlox in the street bed. Also, planted the rosemary, catnip, and lemon balm in the herb garden. Pulled up the lilac that was. Pruned all miniature roses and sunk them in the holding bed. Began to empty hanging baskets/pots and planters. Putting them in the bed with the apple trees. Planning to build that bed up about 2 logs, and don't see any reason to just throw this soil away--let's put it to good use. In looking at the 'Granny Smith' apple tree, there are several new growth limbs that are growing straight up at the back. Will cut off the leaning larger branches on the front, and try to train it straight. Old-fashioned lilac looks like it has grown just a little. Maybe this one will make it. |
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| September 28, 2000 Planted garlic and 'Sweet Jumbo' onion plants. Moved the 'Palace Purple' coral bells to the small hosta bed. The root ball was smaller than when I planted it last year, I think. Also moved coreopsis 'Rosea', veronica 'Alba' and veronica 'Minuet', yarrow 'Cerise Queen', geranium 'Patricia', and shasta daisy 'Little Princess' to the street bed. Put insecticidal soap on kale. |
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| September 29, 2000 Bought timbers and water retaining crystals for the bed to be renovated and deepened tomorrow, as well as bulb booster. Bought more bulbs: Narcissus 'Minnow', 'Thalia', more 'Tete `a Tete' and 'Ziva' paperwhites, and Muscari armeniacum (Grape Hyacinths). Hydrangea bloom is showing lots of color. I think it'll have time to completely open before frost. All tall bearded iris are showing new growth. |
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| September 30, 2000 Got that bed done. Put 3 5-gallon buckets in the bed as place holders where the Colonnade apple trees will go, and filled them and around them, so I could plant 40 'Easter Basket Mixed' tulips in the spaces that will be between the trees. Mixed Holland Bulb Booster® in the soil under the bulbs, and incorporated Agrosoke® Root Watering Crystals in all the soil in the bed to help with moisture needs next summer. Used all the left-over compost that we had delivered, and needed 3 bags of top soil to finish it off, since we added two more rows of timbers. The bagged top soil was pretty wet, so I put off planting pansies until tomorrow. Potted 4 unnamed iris and 5 unnamed tiger lily bulbs saved from the bed. Put two scales from one bulb in a pot to see it I can get new plants started. Planted some crocus and daffodils that were salvaged from the street bed renovation in the small hosta bed. I put the daffodils in pots and sank them, in case they don't get enough sun there next spring to allow them to store enough energy for the next year. If necessary, I can raise them and plant them somewhere sunnier to cure. Fed kale, collards, and 'Earliglow' strawberries with Peters® Water Soluble Plant Food. Grass seed sprouting spottily; lots of it was washed away with last week's rain. Bought 4 'Stargazer' oriental lily bulbs, 2 'Lollipop' asiatic lily bulbs, and some 'Queen of Night' tulips as requested by John. |
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