My Garden Diary

While we were in Maui, we had a major rain storm in southern California. Although it's been over a week, the soil is still quite wet. But the California drought is not yet over. So far in this rainy season, we have had less than 2/3 of the rainfall that we had last year at the same time. And last year was a very dry year.

Today, fed the cinquefoil in the parkway. Of course, this means I also fed the weeds growing there. I hope the cinquefoil will grow vigorously enough this year to start crowding out the weeds.

Turned over the compost pile and stirred in the wood chips from when my trees were trimmed (1 Feb). First, however, I stirred nitrogen (urea, 45-0-0) into the damp wood chips to promote faster composting.

Fed the roses, both in front and in back. I saw a few aphids on one of the roses, so I used a commercial rose food with a systemic insecticide.

The buds on the peach tree are breaking. I applied a second treatment of dormant spray (copper sulfate and dormant oil, emulsified in water).

The Penstemon is almost done blooming from last year. I finished cutting it back (25 Jan) so that new growth will be more bushy.

A few years ago, I rooted a leaf cutting from the Aloe Vera growing in the breakfast room greenhouse window. A few weeks ago, the parent plant appeared to be rotting; so I discarded it. Today, I repotted the new plant.

The nephthytis (Syngonium podophyllum) in the greenhouse window has become quite overgrown. I took cuttings today to root. I've learned the hard way to keep the parent plant until cuttings are well established.

Weeded the brick walkway that leads to our front door and the brick panel in the parkway around various utility junctions.

Finished broadcasting gypsum in front and also applied it to the parkway. I also finished applying gypsum to the west bed. Gypsum (calcium sulfate) opens clay soils, counteracting the pasty structure. This allows water to penetrate more easily. With the continuing drought, this should reduce the amount of water wasted when I irrigate, allowing me to cut back on the time the sprinklers run.

Just as I finished composing this diary entry, it started drizzling. Rain is likely by Friday. I'm glad I didn't waste water rinsing the gypsum into the soil.

Today, I fed the lawn (pink clover ground cover) and adjacent shrubs with an off-brand lawn fertilizer (27-4-6). With light rain expected over the next three days, both yesterday's gypsum and today's fertilizer should be well rinsed into the soil without much runoff. I just hope the dry air — three consecutive days with the relative humidity not even getting as high as 20% — doesn't evaporate the rain before it reaches the ground.

Amazing! The marigolds in front are still alive and blooming. These are usually too tender to withstand winter frosts, which we had in December. They are often treated as annuals, to be removed at the end of autumn.

Finally did the dormant spraying today, for the peach tree and roses. This required several pauses while waiting for the breeze to stop.

Weeded the walkway between the circular and east beds in back. This area gets only a little foot traffic, so the weeds start to cover the decomposed granite. I also finished the first pass of weeding the parkway in front.

Trimmed the ground cover — mostly pink clover (Persicaria capitata) mixed with some cinquefoil (Potentilla neumanniana) — that was growing out of the rose bed and over the decomposed granite walkway. At the same time, I also weeded the walkway.

Cut back much of the Penstemon to make it grow more bushy and sturdy. However, some was still blooming and will have to be cut back later.

Spread gypsum on the raised bed for the dwarf tangelo and the adjacent portion of the west bed, on the west end of the rose bed, and on the entire teardrop bed. The gypsum should break up the clay soil and allow water and nutrients to penetrate better. With another drought year looming, this could be very important.

Not only was it breezy, but some rain is possible tonight and tomorrow morning. Thus, I still have not been able to do any dormant spraying.

Still too breezy to do dormant spraying. Also, rain is possible within the next day or two. The spray I use is ineffective if there is rain within 48 hours.

Fed each rose in back with a generous amount of ammonium sulfate, a half-handful of iron sulfate, and about a tablespoon of Epsom salts. I gave a similar feeding to the star jasmine.

The breezes were still too strong for dormant spraying. Furthermore, rain is expected less than 48 hours from now, which would require respraying.

Again, I raked, raked, and raked some more. The oak in front and The Tree in back both still have old leaves waiting to fall. But the warm weather has already caused both trees to start sprouting new leaves.

Today was supposed to be the day for dormant spraying on the peach tree and roses. However, the breezes were too strong.

Applied acid — soil sulfur, gypsum, iron sulfate, and Epsom salts — to the liquidambar tree (L. styraciflua) in front and the tea tree (Leptospermum laevigatum) in the teardrop bed in back, both of which are often afflicted with chlorosis. I also tossed some sulfur around the azaleas and camellias in back.

The miniature 'Salmon Ovation' rose on the patio is almost in full leaf, having been pruned just two weeks ago. I gave it a small dose of ammonium sulfate, iron sulfate, and Epsom salts. The other roses are also beginning to leaf out. I'll have to feed them soon.

Now I have to wait for the winds to moderate so that I can do dormant spraying for the peach tree and roses. With the current forecast, this might not be until after the weekend.

Pruned a second major limb on the peach tree. There are only two more to do.

Started pruning the peach tree. I placed some of the longer branches on the leaf mulch to stabilize it and prevent the wind from scouring the leaves away.

I think I'll have the peach tree removed this coming fall. Too many main branches are severely damaged by bark borers. While the tree will still produce a reasonable crop of fruit, it is no longer thriving.

As I was putting away my tools, I looked out in front. The oak had dropped more leaves. You could not tell that I had raked just a few hours ago.

Stirred the barrel of excess oak leaves from Friday (2 Jan) into the compost pile. Then, I raked more than enough oak leaves in front to fill the barrel again. I've mulched all the beds that need it. Since the barrel will put the compost pile near its capacity for new leaves, I then filled the green trash bin with even more oak leaves; this will go to the county's composting project.

The Tree is beginning to drop leaves. Soon, fallout from The Tree will overwhelm any capacity for storing, composting, or mulching; so I topped the green bin with what I raked in back, taking advantange of a little space left in the bin.

This afternoon, the valley white oak (Quercus lobata) in front started dropping most of its leaves. You could not tell that I had raked yesterday. Yesterday, I picked up enough leaves to fill a 40 gallon trash can. Today, I picked up enough to fill that can three times. The east and circular beds in back are now fully mulched, and the trash can is still full. No, I won't actually trash the excess. Instead, they will go into my compost pile. Oak leaves make the best compost (actually leaf mold), superior to any other leaves.

Finished pruning the roses in front and pruned almost half the roses in back. It seems that climbing roses have twice as many thorns (or more) per length of branch than shrub roses.