September 2009 Archives

Shrubs with Skirts

By kei on September 13, 2009 4:00 PM | No TrackBacks
I finally planted one of the tea bushes today.  I put a little skirt of landscaping carpet around it, then mulched over it.

Here's a picture of it with the landscaping fabric around it:

TeaShrub.jpg




















(Don't worry - I did cover the fabric with mulch!)

I also made little skirts for the lilac and the crape myrtle. While ripping weeds away from the crape myrtle, I used the watering can to hold down the sheet of landscaping fabric.  When I moved the can, I noticed that drops of water were beaded up on the fabric. Uh, I was under the impression that water would go through the fabric.

So I dug the instructions out of the trash and read them.  The instructions assured me that the fabric is permeable to "air, nutrients, and water."  It also showed someone putting the fabric down with the lighter side up.  Well, I had just put the fabric dark side up around two shrubs and covered it with mulch.  I'm not going to re-do them.   I did flip the fabric around for the crape myrtle.  I'll just see what happens.

Fallin' Behind on the Blog - har, har

By kei on September 11, 2009 3:20 PM | 36 Comments | No TrackBacks
Well, hi!  I've neglected my blog terribly. :(

My poor garden fizzled out this year.  I could not stay on top of the weeds, and the tomatoes apparently drowned.  However, the Lolipop cherry tomato is still going strong.  It definitely gets my vote for "favorite tomato."

I picked one watermelon when it was about the size of a cantaloupe.  I still haven't eaten it. I hope it really is ripe!  (There was uncertainty about its ripeness when I picked it.)

Meanwhile, some of my ornamentals are being interesting. Check out the beautyberry:

Beautyberry.jpg















Here's a close-up of the berries:

Beautyberry_Detail.jpg















Aren't they pretty?  Oddly, I don't think that birds are eating them.  I keep looking for signs that the birds have been chowing down on them, and I don't see any. 

Also, the Muskogee crape myrtle has finally decided to bloom.  It's weird - its leaves are starting to change colors and it's just now blooming?!?  Well, whatever.  I'm just glad to see that it can bloom, and that the blooms are lavender.  They're a lighter lavender than I was expecting, but, meh.

I recently bought some tea shrubs.  That's tea-like-you-drink shrubs.  It's a camellia - camellia sinensis.  The blooms are small and white and not very showy, but in this case it's the leaves that I'm interested in.

I also bought an ume tree.  Since I have been waiting until the temperatures drop before digging large holes in the yard, it's been hanging out in its little pot for a few weeks.  I think it might have dried out. Sad. Well, I guess I can always order another one.

« July 2009 | Main Index | Archives | October 2009 »