Fried Bananas

Fried Bananas
in full sun with purple petunias

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Finishing the front - for now

Well I started by digging the few Ailanthus roots that were sticking up in the holding bed in the back.  These roots run long distances and I chase them with a shovel until they "go to ground."  I'm going to need to get a digging bar to work in this area and in the back beds, as the rocks are getting too big for me to get out of the ground.

Before I got too tired I went back to finishinh the front.  Both Galaxy and Rhino Hide had sunk down in their grow bags and needed to be fixed.  So I put an inch or two of composted cow manure around each plant and lifted them up with a garden fork, so that they would be planted at the correct level.  Here's a pic of both after the fix.
Galaxy 

Rhino Hide


Next I re-edged the front lawn, placing the excess material by the East fence to start building a berm there.  Some of the grass that came out of the edging I transplanted to the South East side replacing some quack grass.  We'll see if this is a better way of establishing lawn in this area than overseeding.  The front looks good right now, but it needs more mulch since the edging and planting.  I also need to move a full grown azalea (if I can), from next to the maple to further down towards the street.  I want to replace an out of control euyonomous in this area.   But this is a very big job, both the removal of the euyonomous and the moving of the azalea.  I'm not sure I'll get to it this Fall or next Spring.  There are a lot of ailanthus roots in this area also.  This will have to wait until I'm done with the holding bed, the back bed and the fall mulching.

Lastly I checked H. Mirror, Mirror for foliar nematodes.  I took a leaf that had some necrosis in it and cut it into pieces.  I then floated that leaf in a clear glass bowl and put it in a sunny window.  After a few hours I looked at it under a magnifying glass.  No bugs.  I will still keep this in a pot until late next summer.  This plant comes as a gift from a gardener that I know has nems, so I'm being extra careful with it.  It's a great gift plant, and I'm looking forward to seeing it mature.

Supposed to get 2-3 inches of rain tomorrow.  I think I'll go to HD to get a digging bar and order some mulch from Whittier farm.

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