My Garden Diary

Applied gypsum to the circular bed and about a third of the east bed. That means I emptied the started sack of gypsum. Then I decided my back was tired and stopped gardening.

After lunch, I did one more thing in my garden. A shrub head on the sprinkler system was at a strange angle. Resetting its steel rebar support, I straightened it.

Late last week, I removed the shade cloth from the greenhouse window. Actually, a strong gust of wind started removing it while I ate breakfast.

Yesterday, bought four plants to replace three that died and one that was dying, all in the back yard. I also bought 80 pounds of gypsum. Today, it was too windy to spread gypsum; but I was able to plant all four. For each, I started digging a hole with a fence post auger. When the hole was deep enough, I made it wider with a trowel. Since all these are flowering plants, I stirred a handful of bone meal into each hole.

• Planted two pink-flowered Cuphea hyssopifolia in the teardrop bed, replacing two that died. While there, I also trimmed the edges of the bed and ensured that the pink clover ground cover (Persicaria capitata) was not crowding the other three Cuphea. (I wanted to add a white-flowered C. hyssopifolia to the rose bed, but that was out-of-stock at the nursery.)
• Planted a 'Formosa' azalea (Rhododendron indica) in the circular bed. This replaced a plant that was not quite dead yet, which meant that it was quite difficult removing it.
• Planted a Camellia sasanqua 'Yuletide' that died at the north end of the east bed. The dead plant was crowded by Penstemon and freesias, the competition from which might have caused its demise. The other two C. sasanqua 'Yuletide' in that area are thriving and have no such competition.

Cleopatra will not be digging in the garden for several months. She is now hibernating in her house, for which I blocked the entrance today.

Last week, I bought eight square concrete stepping stones, about 12 inches on each edge and 2 inches thick. I removed the rebar from where Cleopatra had been burrowing (18 Oct) and covered the area with the stepping stones. Cleo wandered around the area. If tortoises have emotions, she was frustrated, mad at me, and sulking. I finally moved her into her house. If she stays there, I will close it off to keep intruders out while she hibernates. (Tortoises are vulnerable to being eaten by rats while they hibernate.)

Today, fed the roses with ammonium sulfate (21-0-0). This is the last feeding of the year. I will resume feeding them when I see the start of new growth next year.

• She enjoys napping in the plant's shade. By digging in the plant's root zone, however, she is killing it.
• She should start hibernating soon. If she hibernates in the burrow, she is at risk of drowning when it rains because the clay soil does not drain well.

A few hours later, I looked. Cleo managed to move some of the rebar, not enough to resume burrowing but enough to become tangled in the grid. I will try something else to stop her from digging.

Trimmed the edges of the path in back between the lawn and west bed. This was much easier than when I did it this past spring.

When I reached the north end of the west bed, I seriously (on purpose) disturbed a clump of grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum) growing at the edge of the bed. Many years ago, I planted a few bulbs of these in the east bed around the peach tree. They still bloom quite nicely every spring; they are just now starting to show leaves. Unfortunately, they also produce seed; and clumps of grape hyacinth are coming up all over the back yard. I say I disturbed the clump, not removed it. It is impossible to remove a clump of grape hyacinth without completely replacing the soil; some of the bulbs are smaller than a pea and cannot all be found in the soil.

When I first landscaped my home over 40 years ago, I planted a small bed of lily of the Nile (Agapanthus orientalis) within the edge of the back lawn adjacent to the large patio. Over the years, these have spread. Today, I noticed four were blocking a sprinkler in the lawn. I needed a pruning saw to cut them out and remove them.

Started my biennial gypsum treatment of my garden. Gypsum (calcium sulfate) reacts chemically to make the clay soil porous, improving drainage and help water — irrigation or rain — to penetrate. I do this in the fall in anticipation of winter rains. Today, I broadcast a significant amount of gypsum in the west and teardrop beds in back.

I once read that squirrels avoid going where they smell blood. Today, I took four old socks, put a small handful of blood meal (a fertilizer) in the toe of each, wet them, and hung three from the branches of the pineapple guava (Feijoa sellowiana) and one from a branch of the dwarf orange tree. Guavas should be ripening later this month. Last year, the squirrels left me only one. The oranges ripen in late November or sometime in December. Last year, the squirrels got about three of a crop of only a dozen. If this works, I will use this method to protect my peaches next year. This year, the squirrels got ALL of my peaches.

While hanging the socks from the guava, I noticed that my neighbor's star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) was growing into the guava bush. I cut the vine back to the block wall on the property line and removed as much of it from the bush as possible. I cannot complain to my neighbors since my own star jasmine vine at the other end of the west bed has grown over the wall into their back yard.

The guava bush really needs to be pruned, but that will have to wait until early spring.

Further disbudded the potted chrysanthemum (23 Sep) on the patio.

None of the dwarf ivy (Hedera helix 'Hahn's') that I planted under the mail box in front (6 Mar) survived. I will have to put up more cuttings to root after the weather cools.

Removed many new shoots from the loquat tree (Eriobotrya japonica 'MacBeth'). The tree seems to sprout many new shoots along its trunk and branches after it is pruned (24 Jul). I saved some of the shoots to be new branches when I prune it next summer. When I prune this tree, the brnaches I cut go into the green trash bin for the county's composting program. As I remove new shoots, however, I merely drop them on the ground to form a mulch.

I had planned to put up cuttings of 'Goodwin Creek Grey' lavender (Lavandula lanata × dentata) and Artemisia 'Powis Castle' (A. arborescens × absinthium) today. However, I decided it was so hot that the cuttings might wilt before I could put them up.

Started disbudding the potted spoon-flowered chrysanthemum on the patio in back. Then, I loosely tied the shoots to a central stake (a piece of steel rebar).

Moved the rooted dwarf Burford holly (Ilex cornuta 'Burfordii Nana') cutting (18 Aug 19 & 21 Feb) from its initial 2-inch pot to a quart pot with a mix containing some nutrients. I placed the pot on the shelf outside the kitchen window with a miniature greenhouse over it. In about 3 weeks, I will remove the greenhouse. (The greenhouse is the clear bottom half of a 1-liter soft drink bottle.)

The Dracaena in the greenhouse window grew too tall. I cut it, leaving about 2-3 inches of stump. I trimmed the top and potted in an attempt to root it as a cutting. In the past, not only did such a cutting root quickly; but also the stump developed new shoots. If both happen, I might pot the rooted cutting elsewhere in the house.

Fed the roses with a commercial 6-9-6 fertilizer that also contains a systemic insecticide. I also gave very small amounts of this fertilizer to a potted Hippeastrum on the patio and to a potted spoon-flowered chrysanthemum (C. morifolium), both on my main patio. The Hippeastrum appears to be bothered by some kind of insect, and the chrysanthemum is often attacked by aphids and small grubs at this time of year.

The potted weeping Chinese banyan (Ficus benjamina) on my front porch was badly damaged in the recent heat wave. I severely pruned it to remove dead and dying branches.

Leaf miners have attacked my dwarf kumquat. Since it has finished blooming, I gave it a drench of a systemic insecticide.

While feeding the citrus, I noticed the start of leaf miner infestations on the tangelo and orange. I gave each of those two a systemic insecticide drench. The kumquat is not yet affected, so I did not treat it. This is fortunate since the kumquat is in bloom and being visited by many bees. The systemic insecticide would make the kumquat nectar fatally toxic to bees, but it is harmless to mammals and birds.