My Garden Diary

In anticipation of rain tomorrow, spread gypsum over the larger (east) portion of the front lawn and around the roses to the west of the driveway. This finished the biennial gypsum treatment of my garden. Between the front and back yards, I used about 200 pounds of gypsum. My neighborhood is on a slope, so level house lots are either on fill or cut. Mine is on cut, which means the subsoil — clay — is really bad. Gypsum combines with the clay to make it porous, improving the ability of water and roots to penetrate.

Pruned the 'Black Monukka' grape vine near the bottom of the west side of my My Hill. This year, the vines had very few grapes. Since I saw few immature grapes, I attribute the lack of fruit to pruning the vines too late and not to squirrels or raccoons. Thus, I decided the grape vines would be the first to suffer pruning this winter. Indeed, buds were already starting to break on some of the shoots I removed because of a lack of winter chill.

Bought a Camellia japonica 'Nuncio's Gem' last week to replace the one in the camellia bed in back. The old one was struggling to remain alive. Today, I removed the old one, which had only one leaf, and planted the new one. I still have to get a 'Carter's Sunburst' variety to replace the one that is indeed quite dead.

Spread gypsum on the smaller part of the front lawn, the side west of the brick walk to the front door. I will do the larger part — east of the brick walk — later this week.

Picked an orange from my dwarf navel orange tree for today's lunch.

The stump left from the Dracaena cutting (10 Nov) now has three buds swelling, which I expect will sprout new shoots.

Trimmed one of the Podocarpus flanking the brick walk in front. I want these trees to grow as columns, but this one has some wide-spreading branches. I used a pole pruner to cut it back.

The potted California fan palm (Washingtonia filifera) on the brick walk might be dying. Earlier this year, it had as many as six large fronds (leaves). Now it has only two, and one of those is turning yellow. It does have a new leaf shoot, so I will leave it until it is indeed dead.

The fruit on my dwarf orange tree is starting to color. I expect to start picking and eating my own oranges in two or three weeks. Every time I count them, I get a different number; but there are approximately a dozen oranges on a tree that is not even 4 feet tall.

Planned to spread more gypsum on the back lawn, but it was too breezy. I would have received a face full of gypsum dust if I tried.

Fed the artichoke (Cynara scoymus) with a commercial fertilizer that contains a systemtic insecticide. The insecticide has proven harmless to mammals (including humans) and birds. It will prevent spider mites and aphids, which can be serious pests on an artichoke. The artichoke went dormant in the heat of summer and recently resprouted. I was told that feeding in the fall is important for producing edible flower buds in the spring.

The Dracaena cutting (20 Sep) is well rooted. I could tell by the roots starting to poke their way out of the drain holes in the bottom of the plastic pot where I put up the cutting. I moved it to a clay pot and placed it in the greenhouse window in the breakfast room. (I use plastic pots only for rooting cuttings since they tend to keep the rooting medium moist.) The stump left when I took the cutting has not yet sprouted, but it is still green. I will keep it for a while.

Spread gypsum in the rose bed.

Finished applying gypsum to the east bed. First, I had to sift the gypsum because it had formed large lumps in the bag.

Had the back lawn mowed. This is done once each year in the autumn. When The Tree goes dormant, I cannot rake the leaves off the grass unless it has been mowed. If the leaves are not raked, they form a covering thick enough to kill the grass underneath.