| May 1, 2005 Gone for a long weekend and came back to lots of growth. Rain gauge says we got 3/4 inch while we were gone. One vole trapped. Raccoon(s) busy digging up my planters. |
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| May 2, 2005 Very cool; holding off planting beans and cucumber seedlings. |
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| May 3, 2005 Ordered 2 'Climbing James Galway' roses from Heirloom Roses to go into large containers on either side of the back fence arbor. Planted baby limas in the pentagon bed. Got hosta liners potted up into larger pots. Mulched back deck beds and first set of new backyard beds. |
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| May 4, 2005 Treated the ponds, cleaned out the side yard beds and planted the cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. Also cleaned out the paths between the side yard beds; need more cypress mulch for the paths. Discussed some changes/upgrades: new, more esthetically pleasing posts for the blackberry bed fence, and permanently placing the cold frame in the space in which the compost bins now reside after the bins are relocated. Since it will stay in one place then, I can put the heating coil back in place and have a hot bed too. Finally getting blooms on the Lily of the Valley. Or, I may just put it in the small left side yard bed--it's really not big enough for much, and the cold frame will fit in it quite nicely. |
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| May 9, 2005 Went to Anderson's this past weekend. Bought an 'August Beauty' gardenia. I'm going to have a gardenia, one way or another. Will plan to bring it into the garage or sunroom this winter if needed. Also got several hostas: 'September Sun', 'Hottsy Tottsy', 'Baby Bunting', 'So Sweet', 'Strip Tease' (all replacements), 'Little Mouse Ears', 'Spilt Milk', 'Sitting Pretty', and 'Hadspen Blue'. Most Iris germanica are blooming. Will need to divide 'Champagne Elegance' this year, as well as the old fashioned two-toned purple in the front porch bed. Recently planted daylilies are looking good. I've decided to remove the fig. Lots of new growth at ground level, but if it's going to die down to the ground every winter I'll never get a crop. It's taking up valuable real estate and giving nothing in return. Same with the old-fashioned lilac. It's days are numbered. Front porch 'Polish Spirit' clematis are getting away from me...again. |
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| May 11, 2005 Very dry, we need rain. Watering every night. |
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| May 12, 2005 Finally got some rain. Bought a 'Forever and Ever' hydrangea (blooms on new wood) and several hostas at Lowe's: 'September Sun', 'Minuteman' (both replacements), 'Bright Lights', and 'Fortune's Hyacinth'. Also got a 6-pack of the impatiens I'm using this year--need a replacement and then I'll have some spares. |
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| May 14, 2005 Got the fish (3 about 2" long and one about 5" long and some water plants (fairy moss, a chameleon plant, and some water mint) for the new pond. Pond is very brown. Lots of sediment I think, as well as less than optimum filter cleaning. Rigged up some quilt batting in the pond net to add extra filtration. Fist are hiding out, as Justin said they would. At Lowe's I got one of those self winding hose reels. It had better work. Also got another 'Guacamole' hosta. I absolutely love the one I have already. Butter beans are finally beginning to come up. Getting decent germination of the daylily seeds. They're doing great in the cold frame. |
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| May 15, 2005 Have had to get the large fish out of the skimmer basket numerous times! Water is clearing up, but is still brown tinted. Set the charcoal filter up in an old knee-hi stocking. "Planted" the water mint in several places (8 or 9 total), with their roots in the water. Put the fairy moss in the water and some of it has found little nooks and crannies but most of it keeps finding it's way into the skimmer. Potted up all the new hostas. John made a cover for the skimmer opening out of hardware cloth to keep the fish out. |
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| May 16, 2005 Called Stark Brothers for some advice on what to feed the peach trees and Colonnade apples. Was told to use the fruit and citruc tree spikes, despite the fact that they're in containers. Fed tomatoes Tomatotone and cucumbers 10-10-10 and mulched them all. Potted up the new gardenia 'August Beauty'. |
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| May 18, 2005 Potted up 23 pots of caladiums--including a few saved over from last year. All of the fish are finally out of hiding. Little ones are eating a little. New pond water seems to be a shade lighter. Maybe. Applied corn meal to lawn for fungus control. |
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| May 19, 2005 Ordered roses: 'Eden' from Heirloom roses and a 'Cecile Brunner', a 'Pearl d'Or', and a 'Marie Pavie' from The Antique Rose Emporium. Little fish are eating consistently and the big one has begun to eat. Put plant spikes in all the potted impatiens. Got the recommended spikes for the fruit trees but they seem much too large for the plants. Not comfortable using them, I don't think, even after cutting them in half.
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| May 20, 2005 Cold and rainy today. Bought hosta 'Wide Brim' at Lowe's, as well as two 21" containers for the Climbing James Galway roses.
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| May 21, 2005 Potted up 'Wide Brim'. Got an obilisk at Lowe's--planted 'New Dawn' rose in a large square planter and added the obelisk. May try letting it run on the back deck rail. Probably will be a disaster, since it gets so large, but it's worth a try. Also got 3 astilbes--2 red and one pink. Got pretty much everything fed with Osmocote, Hollytone, or similar food, including fruit, first batch of daylily seedlings, and roses. Fed waterlilies and Louisiana iris. Put some Ironite on the new gardenia, as well as the lime and orange. Fed cucumbers with Osmocote for vegetables. Checked the sun and I think the old hydrangea will get enough where I'm going to move it. Potted up second batch of daylily seedlings. Potted rhododendron in next larger pot. Got the astilbes planted. Today was gorgeous. Bright blue sky, temp in the mid-70s, a very light breeze, and a few high clouds.
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| May 22, 2005 Another beautiful day. Got the violets out of the daylily beds.
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| May 23, 2005 Bought collard and kale seeds while I was at Southern States picking up a bag of ProMix. Potted up the 'Climbing James Galway' roses in 12" pots to let them grow a bit. Put them in a mixture of 1/3 bagged topsoil, 1/3 homemade compost, and 1/3 bagged humus/composted manure. Mulched the daylily beds. I really believe the pond water is getting less tea colored. Dug up the old-fashioned lilac, which was not growing well, and the fig, which got killed back to the ground this past winter. It was coming back out but the amount of winter kill each year meant few figs, so out she came. Moved 'Daring Deception' daylily from the arbor bed to the daylily bed and moved the dark pink azalea to that spot. Now the way is clear to move the hydrangea to the old azalea spot so we can move the compost bins. Whew! 'Katherine Morley' rose is blooming, and all three front pond water lilies were blooming at the same time today. The new fish are learning to eat well.
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| May 24, 2005 Moved the old hydrangea around to in front of the gazebo. Started working on the new compost bin area. Rose 'Katherine Morley' blooming. Got a notice from Heirloom Roses that my 'Eden' won't be shipped until June 6th.
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| May 25, 2005 Rained last night and was too wet and cold to work outside today. The Antique Rose Emporium order must have come yesterday evening; I found the box on the front porch this morning. Unpacked and watered them and the hydrangea. Hydrangea looks pretty good, considering what it went through yesterday.
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| May 26, 2005 Hydrangea looking good, still. A couple of stems are floppy, but the rest are doing well. Moved the compost bins to the far corner of the left back yard--against the fence. Got 6 5-gallon buckets of sifted compost but most of the stuff was undercooked and put back in the bins at the new site. Took all day but it looks good. Will make two beds out of the previous compost bin site, which will probably be used for daylily seedlings.
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| May 27, 2005 Got the left side bed dug out, lined, and refilled. Put gardenia from that bed in a large pot; will probably keep it there for a while to see what it does. Will replant sages and daylilies that came out of the bed. We have apples--on 'Emerald Spire' and 'Ultra Spire'!
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| May 28, 2005 Added 9 bags of composted manure/humus and 2 5-gallon buckets of coffee grounds to the re-worked bed and got the saved plants replanted. New gardenia has lots of blooms and smells SO good. Wonder how long it will take me to kill this one? Hydrangea slip that I got from Mama last year has buds :)
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| May 29, 2005 Got the renovated bed mulched; I can rest easier now in case of heavy rain. Used an old rusted out wheelbarrow as a planter for a hosta 'Albo marginata', some impatiens and some lime green coleus. Bought 2 other hostas: 'Whirlwind' and 'Gold Standard' (a replacement). Potted up 2 tall bearded iris that were removed from the renovated bed: 'Bridge in Time' and 'Rebound'.
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| May 30, 2005 Finally got the new roses potted up. Also got a Knockout rose and potted it up. Ordered David Austins from Jackson & Perkins: 'Falstaff', 'Christopher Marlowe', 'Abraham Darby', 'Crown Princess Margareta', 'Gertrude Jekyll' and 'Golden Celebration', and three others: 'Iceberg', 'Royal Wedding', and 'Ruffled Cloud'. Don't know where I'm going to put some of these but the price was great and that's never stopped me before. Mulched the wheelbarrow container and the peaches. Sprayed peaches and apples. Potted up the newest hostas. Watered; we need rain.
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| May 31, 2005 Neighbor gave me part of a large lacecap hydrangea. Will get it potted up tomorrow night.
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