My Garden Diary

Stirred the compost pile and added most of the reserved lawn clippings (24 Oct). I then dosed the pile with high-nitrogen urea (45-0-0) to speed the decomposition of leaves and clippings.

Saved some of the lawn clippings, which I used to mulch the camellia bed. With the water restrictions still in effect in southern California, camellias require ample mulching to keep the soil cool and moist around their shallow roots.

Trimmed the Podocarpus next to the overhead garage door. As the door opened and closed, it kept hitting some of the tree's branches.

Trimmed the dwarf English ivy growing on the mailbox.

Mulched the camellia bed with more output from my office shredder (23 Sep).

One of the pothos cuttings (also 23 Sep) seemed to be dying. I put up a new cutting to replace it.

Contrary to my plans to leave it until spring (30 Sep), I gave the Australian tea tree a thorough trimming. I can now walk along the teardrop bed without ducking and bobbing.

The Podocarpus adjacent to the front porch and the potted weeping Chinese banyans (Ficus benjamina) on the porch were beginning to interfere with visitors to our front door. I trimmed both today. After trimming the Ficus, I gave the pot a quarter turn. Then, I had to trim it some more.

Cleaned mud out of the catch basin at the bottom of My Hill's drainage system.

Just puttered around, mostly removing dead flowers from various plants.

Something was digging in the large pot of Alstroemeria in back. I placed some chicken wire over that part of the pot.

Finished trimming around the teardrop bed (23 Sep).

Trimmed the tea tree, removing weeping branches and branches that interfered with using the adjacent walkways. More trimming will be needed, but I'll leave that for the spring.

The other day, noticed damage on the dwarf tangelo caused by the citrus leaf miner. Two years ago (18 Oct 2008), citrus leaf miner almost defoliated the tree. New, replacement foliage was then unlikely so far into autumn. Today, I gave the tree the same systemic drench that I previously used on the lemon and kumquat (26&30 Aug). Since the tree is due for one more feeding this year, I hope it will do well. I've yet to get any fruit from it.

Mulched more of the camellia bed with the output of my office shredder (26 Aug).

Tied up a vigorous cane on the climbing '4th of July' rose in front so that it will grow towards the overhead supporting wire. I also tied down canes on the climbing 'Dublin Bay' and 'Peace' roses in back so they will grow along the low slough wall. This will cause those canes to produce side shoots with flowers.

Trimmed part-way around the teardrop bed in back. Not only did I remove pink clover that was growing out over the walkway and up into the cuphea; I also cut back the Cuphea hyssopifolia over the walkway where it was below calf high so that it would not trip anyone or get stepped upon. I also removed some of the weeping branches of the tea tree.

Broadcast some high-nitrogen urea (45-0-0) where the peach tree was removed (yesterday). This will promote faster composting of the wood chips and remaining roots.

Of course, I tested my sprinkler system before the tree service left.

Trimmed the pink clover from the wax-leaf begonias along the brick walkway in front. Around those begonias that seem to be doing poorly, I checked the soil moisture and found that the soil was indeed sufficiently damp. I then gave each of the puny plants a pinch of ammonium sulfate.

Trimmed the edge of the rose bed in back, where pink clover was growing over the decomposed granite walkway. I also removed all the pink clover that had encroached from the rose bed into the east bed, where it threatened to choke the coreopsis (C. grandiflora).

Today, I had to dig down to the broken line and beyond so that I could clean the surface (using rubbing alcohol) and glue on a new elbow. I have to delay finishing this repair until tomorrow, when the glue has finished hardening. In the meantime, I covered the repair site and a second manifold for the roses, each with a 1 gallon nursery can anchored with a length of rebar. I also told the new owner of the house, who apparently is dissatisfied with the landscape service for other reasons.

A large section of the flower pot containing peppermint (Mentha piperita) in back broke away and was lying on the ground. I then noticed an additional large crack in the pot. It seems that the peppermint had become so pot-bound that it broke the pot apart. After removing the entire plant from the remains of its pot, I cut out a quarter of the plant and then removed about a third of the root ball's bottom from that piece. I potted it up in a new pot.

When I went to put the repotted mint back in its place, I noticed ants again swarming in the adjacent tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus) (15 Jul 09). I drenched the tarragon and adjacent oregano (Origanum vulgare) with malathion.

Started disbudding the potted "spider" chysanthemum (C. morifolium) on the patio. Disbudding will promote larger flowers when it blooms, late fall or early winter.

Fed the roses in front and back with a commercial rose food that contains a systemic insecticide.

Something is still stealing the bait from my squirrel trap. Because some animal — I suspect a rat — chewed through the 1/4-inch steel mesh that I wrapped around the bait area (14 Apr), I instead lined the bait area with that mesh. It will be difficult for any animal to mess with the mesh from outside the trap.

Tested the sprinklers in front. Contrary to my expectation (30 Aug), they do reach the wax-leaf begonias along the brick walkway. Apparently, the problem with the begonias has been the excessive heat we are experiencing.