My Garden Diary

For each bulb, I dug a hole. Because the soil was quite moist, I mixed peat moss into it to prevent the heavy clay from becoming a single mass of paste. Then I mixed bone meal into soil at the bottom of the hole and covered that with some more soil before planting the bulbs. Finally, I put a large handful of gypsum on top to help prevent the clay from becoming paste.

Actually, only the tulips are true bulbs. Freesias are corms, and ranunculus are tubers. Also, I ran out of bone meal and finished by using super phosphate.

Pruned the 'Baby Blanket' rose in the large pot on the patio.

My landscaping is all done (2 Nov) with one major exception and some minor touch-ups. The exception is the red fescue (Festuca rubra) lawn in back. The sod farm that grows this ornamental grass can't supply any until February.

Stirred the compost pile and added some urea (50-0-0 fertilizer). Since more rain is expected (possibly tonight), I did not water the pile.

In anticipation of rain, I placed generous amounts of gypsum where I'm going to plant new roses, a Camellia japonica 'Daikagura', spring bulbs, and a new Christmas heather (actually a heath, Erica canaliculata 'Boscaweniana'). The rain should disolve the gypsum, which will improve drainage in my heavy clay soil. The Camellia replaces the same variety in the camellia bed in back. The old shrub was damaged both by the Great Freeze of '07 (15 Jan) and the trenching for the drain lines from My Hill; however, it had not been growing well even before then. The old heather had also been doing poorly, and I had it removed. The new heather will be in the middle of the main part of the front yard, away from the competing roots of my neighbor's Italian cypress.

Moved the potted herbs back onto the restored walkways near the circular and teardrop beds in back. Groomed the peppermint (Mentha piperita), tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus), golden thyme (Thymus vulgaris 'Aureus'), and sage (Salvia officinalis).

(After I wrote the above, we did get a trace of rain — only 0.05 inches.)

Took cuttings of the variegated pothos (Epipremnum pinnatum 'Aureum') from the hanging pot in the upstairs blue bathroom and potted them in a half-and-half mix of sand and peat moss. When they are well rooted, I will use them to replace their parent plant, which is becoming over-grown.

Repotted the Cymbidium orchid that winters in our dining room. It was still in its original plastic 1-gallon nursery can. I used a mix of 1/4 sand, 1/4 peat moss, and 1/2 partially composted wood chips with just a pinch of bone meal added to ensure phosphorus would be found by the roots. It was so pot-bound that I was unable to divide the individual plants. If it outgrows its new red-clay pot, I might have to cut the plants apart.

Started to assemble a new trellis to replace the trellis that buckled in October's Santa Ana wind storm (22 Oct). I used 18-gauge steel L-strips when I assembled the damaged trellis; I chose this lighter gauge because it was both less expensive and easier to handle. For this one, I'm using 14-gauge strips, which are actually heavier and thicker than 18-gauge. I have always been confused by the fact that gauges with lower numbers mean thicker strips of steel or larger diameter electrical wires.

Had the final on-site inspection of the repair of My Hill this morning. The only thing left to close out the grading permit is some paper shuffling by the County, but the papers have not yet been sent by the grading contractor or by the civil engineer.

The 'Goodwin Creek Grey' lavender that I planted last month (24 Sep) failed to survive last month's Santa Ana storm. I planted a new one.

That same storm sucked the moisture out of my dwarf orange tree faster than the roots could replace it. Although the soil remained damp, leaves shriveled. There is some die-back, but new growth is sprouting.

The rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) in front was blocking the public sidewalk. When I went to trim it, I discovered that last month's wind storm had shifted it so that major limbs now extend over the sidewalk. I trimmed it back to make the sidewalk passable. I now have to decide whether to remove those limbs or to try and straighten the bush.

Raked leaves in front to add to my compost pile. I put the new leaves at the bottom of the pile with a bit of partially composted leaves every so often. After watering the pile, I scattered some urea (high-nitrogen fertilizer) on top and rinsed it into the pile.

Trimmed the Australian tea tree (Leptospermum laevigatum), which was blocking the adjacent walkway.