| July 1, 2005 Thunderstorms and finally a good bit of rain. |
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| July 2, 2005 Tied up some tomato limbs that got blown over in the storm yesterday. Catching and drowning Japanese beetles. |
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| July 3, 2005 Mulched the pentagon bed and the second bed on the left. Got a small cabinet to keep on the front porch for sprays, sprayers, etc. to keep them handy. Miniature water lily in the new pond is blooming. |
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| July 4, 2005 Rained off and on all day, so I couldn't get any spraying done. Did move one large water lily from the front pond to the back one. Picked 11 cucumbers. Gonna have to make pickles. |
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| July 5, 2005 More rain. I really thing the cornmeal on the lawn is helping prevent brown spot this year. There are some brown patches, but I think they're just indicative of the grass going dormant in the hot weather. No large areas like the last few years. So far. |
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| July 6, 2005 Heavy rain shower tonight. Rose 'Sharifa Asma' has some buds about to open. 'Marie Pavie' has lots of new growth. Fed all roses with RoseTone. |
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| July 10, 2005 Out of town this weekend, which ended up being very eventful. Bought 2 roses: 'Glamis Castle' and a pink Carpet Rose. Also got a daylily: 'Sunday Gloves' and 3 hostas: 'Vim and Vigor', 'Winfield Blue', and 'Krosso Regal' (replacement), and a clematis 'The Presient'. One of my 'Heritage' roses was killed by some underground devil and something is ruining the leaves on one of the new 'September Sun' hostas beside the garage door. Still killing Japanese beetles--about 100 tonight and that many got away. Picked 27 cucumbers. Found tadpoles in the birdbath. |
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| July 11, 2005 Justin came by to discuss adding a deck to the back of the gazebo for a dining area, a section on which to put a small hot tub, and a fence up the right side yard. Picked first tomato of the season. |
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| July 12, 2005 Lost 2 lilium to voles/chipmunks. One area of the front porch bed is virtually empty now. |
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| July 13, 2005 Fed roses and peaches MiracleGro. Sprayed roses with Messenger but a thunder storm with hard rain came in less than 30 minutes so it probably won't be effective. Rose 'Sharifa Asma' has a delicious scent. |
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| July 14, 2005 Got 2 'Helvola' water lilies that I'd bought from a Dave's Gardens member, as well as my secret mini hosta trade: 'Stilleto', 'Chinese Sunrise', 'First Strike', and 'Gold Edger'. Also was sent a 'Blue Crown' passiflora and a beauty berry bush. PLUS a package of Messenger and a package of Mighty Plant plant food. Another thunder storm. Picked several LARGE blackberries. |
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| July 16, 2005 Got all the new hostas potted up. Also got the water lilies potted up and one placed in each pond. Moved one iris from the back pond into the tub of the front pond along with one of the new water lily. "Dwarf" cattails in the new pond are anything but; they're out and I'll give them to Justin. Rose 'Christopher Marlowe' is blooming. Very pretty with a strong scent. 'Golden Celebration' has opened it's first bloom. Although half eaten by a Japanese beetle, the scent is strong. 'Gertrude Jekyll' is about to open her first bloom. More vole damage done to the front porch bed: an echinecea, a hardy geranium, and daylily 'Prarie Blue Eyes' was loosened with some roots gone. Put the daylily in water to soak and I'll pot it up. Had some Mole Max from last year that I sprinkled over the entire bed. |
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| July 17, 2005 More heat and humidity. Started 'Georgia' collard seeds. Picking 15 cucumbers, on average, every day. Got quite a few cherry tomatoes today. Japanese beetles seem to be fewer. Rose 'Gertrude Jekyll' blooming. Great scent. Neighbor told me she caught a chipmunk in that hosta that was damaged. Some dahlias are looking droopy in the front porch bed. No doubt due to voles. |
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| July 18, 2005 Noticed what probably is canker on rose 'Royal Wedding'. Pruned out the damaged canes. Will apply Daconil tomorrow night as it was about to storm tonight. |
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| July 19, 2005 New 'Tamora' rose has had all but one root eaten. Put it in a bucket of water and will pot up to see if I can save it. More lilium and a dahlia gone, as well. Actually got a picture of a vole sticking his head out of a hole and chewing on a lilium stalk. One trap successful and 3 more set in that bed. Put Daconil on the 'Royal Wedding' and found canker on 'Falstaff'. Will prune and treat it tomorrow night as it started raining again tonight. Will also inspect the other roses for canker. |
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| July 20, 2005 Pruned suspicious looking wood from 'Falstaff', 'Crown Princess Margaretta', 'Iceberg', and 'Ruffled Cloud' and then sprayed the cut canes with Daconil. Picked cucumbers and tomatoes. Spread coffee grounds in the left side bed. |
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| July 21, 2005 Two more lilium gone. Deer-eaten daylily 'Darla Anita' has a bloom scape peeking out; it's going to rebloom! Potted up the two dayliles that fell prey to the voles, 'Daring Deception' and 'Prarie Blue Eyes'. All collard seeds are up. |
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| July 22, 2005 After soaking the almost-rootless 'Tamora' in water with a little SuperThrive added, and liberally dusting the root, graft, and lower 2 inches of stems with rooting hormone, I potted it up in a 3-gallon pot, burying the stems about 2 inches in the soil. Added a small tomato cage to the pot to hold up the clear plastic garbage can liner with which I covered the whole thing. Poked holes in the liner for ventilation. |
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| July 23, 2005 Lots of little chores done today, mostly maintenance type things and tidying up. Spread coffee grounds in the pentagon bed and spread a handful of Epson salts around each rose with a little pelletized lime in each container bed. One rose 'James Galway' is blooming. 'Christopher Marlowe' is blooming it's little head off. 'Abraham Darby' appears to be forming a bud or two. That's all of the new this year roses with blooms/buds except 'Zepherine Drouhin' so far. Picked a large bag of cucumbers. John put some hardware cloth on the front of the compost bins to keep stuff from falling out when I turn it; all other sides got it put on last year. |
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| July 24, 2005 Potted up rose 'Glamis Castle' and planted the pink Carpet Rose in the pentagon bed. Got 'Kitten's Paw' and 'Sunday Gloves' daylilies planted, as well as clematis 'The President'. Japanese beetles are on the wane, but still around. Finished cutting back the spiderworts. Repotted the saved gardenia in ProMix; the stuff I used before was too heavy and didn't drain well. Gave the red twig dogwood to my neighbor; needed the space for a rose. Started some alfalfa tea (a little over 2 quarts of alfalfa pellets in 3 gallons of water in 60 quart containers--will fill with water in a few days, after it ferments and feed roses and blackberries with it). Still picking cucumbers and getting a few tomatoes; the vines are loaded with green fruit. The 'Tamora' that I'm trying to save is yellowing. Normal? |
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| July 25, 2005 Oppressively hot with high humidity. Got alfalfa tea stirred, killed some Japanese beetles, got the necessary watering done, and that's it. |
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| July 26, 2005 Still hothothot! Watered, deadheaded the roses, added water to the front pond, killed some Japanese beetles, and stirred the alfalfa tea. I thought this stuff was supposed to stink! Just smells like wet alfalfa pellets so far. |
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| July 27, 2005 Continued hot until just before night when a cold front came through, bringing much cooler temperature, rain, and wind. Got the alfalfa tea stirred and a couple of pots watered before the storm came up. |
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| July 28, 2005 Much cooler today, although continued humid. Rose 'Crown Princess Margaretta' is blooming. |
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| July 29, 2005 Over an inch of rain last night, and overcast and misting today. Picked 7 cucumbers--rained freshened the vines. Alfalfa tea has little volcanos of foam; I think it's ready. |
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| July 30, 2005 Put alfalfa tea on all roses and filled the bins up with water again. Pruned blackberries. Got 1/2" rain in a heavy shower. Bought 2 Mole Movers for the front porch bed. Will get more if we think these work. |
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| July 31, 2005 Woke up to a drizzling rain for a total of 2" overnight. Rose 'Falstaff' has opened his first bloom. Dark, pinky red which changes to dark cerise. Mild fragrance so far. Pretty, very pretty. The only new rose from this year that hasn't bloomed is 'Abraham Darby' and it's only a matter of days before he opens one up. VERY pleased with this year's roses so far. Looking forward to planting more next year as I cut back even more on food crops. Tomatoes are full of large fruit, but are slow to ripen. Still picking an average of 6 cucumbers daily. 'Crown Princess Margaretta' is still holding her bloom. Potted collard seedlings up into 3" pots; they have to wait for the cucumbers to give up the ghost in order to have a planting spot. Planning on seeding kale in the same beds, around the collards. Hoping this will be a living mulch, as well as serve as an "intensive gardening" space. An experiment, so we'll see how it works. The plan is to only use the center left side yard beds for food crops in the future, and devote all other beds (except for the blackberry bed) to ornamentals. Installed the new Mole Movers. The old one has been in the street bed. Sprayed 'Glamis Castle' and 'Kathryn Morley', the only two with blackspot, with Bayer Advanced Disease Control. Their leaves were still wet from rain; hope that didn't matter. Daylily 'Darla Anita; is going to bloom soon. Spread more DeerScram, just in case. I dearly want to see this one bloom this time. |
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