Author Archives: Annie

About Annie

Welcome to the Curious Mind Garden. My name is Annie, and this is my little patch of cyberspace. I post about things that interest me, and I find a lot of things interesting. :)

Garden Journal: A Lot of Planting Soil and a Couple of Trees

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This weekend proved fairly productive. We moved a truck load of planting soil and planted two new trees.

Here is our Idaho Black Walnut at the bottom of the front yard:

017I know. It’s really impressive right now. However, I want to remember it at this size when it’s a nice, big, healthy tree, providing nuts and shade. Besides, we live on decomposed granite, so the hole for this fellow and the nectarine were huge and necessitated moving a truck load of planting soil, so they have a fighting chance of finding some nourishment to grow. So, that twig took a whole lot of work!

Here is our Independence Nectarine outside the paddock.

018I question whether we have quite enough hours of below 45 degree weather between November and March for this one to set fruit. It needs 700 hours, and we are probably close, but I’m not certain. Either way, starting a new tree, with all of its oxygen-producing goodness, isn’t a bad thing and it may provide shade for the goats, even if it doesn’t set fruit.

We also dug a trench above the patio and filled it with planting soil, in preparation for planting bulbs. This was originally a bed for irises, and some remain, but they are spotty. So, I thought I’d fill in with other bulbs till I can add more irises in August from Horton Iris Garden. Altogether these blooms will, with luck, provide some nice color on the patio and inside the house.

Of course, all of this necessitated trips to stores which featured bulbs. So, my bulb planting list got a wee bit longer.

020

Worse of all, I may just have bought a buffet of raccoon and/or deer snacks. Darn, the nice weather and those displays that make me eternally hopeful!

Of course, no simple project on the property would be complete without discovering a couple of more projects in the process. The to-do list is not extended to include:

(1) running fresh drip lines to the new nectarine and apricot and the photinia fraseri at the barn before the weather becomes warm enough for the rattlesnakes to wake from their hibernation;

(2) cleaning out the old hay in the barn and get it into the compost pile.

Of course, the patio bed and vegetable garden are still calling my name.

Garden Journal: Fruit and Nut Trees

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Today, we had the fruit and nut trees pruned and fed with organic food. Again, we are probably a couple of weeks late as this should have been done during December or January. But, the leaf buds have not yet burst on the trees, so we’ll see what happens.

In addition, the trees received the following spray (per the California Master Gardener Handbook):

almond: dormant oil

apple: dormant oil

apricot: dormant oil & fixed copper (micro-cop)

cherry: dormant oil & fixed copper

peach & nectarine: dormant oil & fixed copper

pear: dormant oil

plum & pluot: dormant oil

 

Gardening Journal: Pruning and Planning

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After three weeks of what was probably the flu, I ventured outside into my yard and vegetable garden today. The sunshine and fresh air were delicious. With some help from my boys and a lot of help from my spouse, we managed to prune all of the roses, butterfly bushes, Mexican sage, canna and hydrangeas. (How is it that it took hours to do all of that and resulted in many truckloads of clippings, but only took seconds to type it?) I think we are a bit late, but we’ll see. We also fed the roses their annual half to full cup of rabbit food. I also made arrangements to have our fruit and nut trees pruned, sprayed with dormant oil and free copper, and fed with organic fertilizer later this week.

Then, the planning and dreaming started! I surveyed my veggie garden and . . . well, let’s say I have the opportunity to have a lot of fun there. 🙂

Here’s how my six beds look today.

018021022023025027028The good news is that the crab grass in the last bed pictured did seem to be deterred by black plastic. Everything else, however, looks in need of a fresh start. My plan is to start with new weed block and mulch on the paths before weeding the beds and turning in a nice layer of steer compost in each. After that, I’m not sure what I’ll plant this year. Therein, lies the fun!

I do want to try one new thing this year, though. I bought these lovely morning glory seeds today.

030I’m going to sow them around the walls of the garden in hopes the horse wire will act as a trellis and give my garden some beautifully colored walls. My concern is that the wires will become too hot in the sun and watering may be an issue, but I figure it’s worth a try for $4.40.

While at the store, I couldn’t resist these lovelies, either.

029These are destined for my patio, along with a nice top coat of mulch to block weeds.

I also want to clean up my bird feeders and replant the planters on our deck.

For tonight, however, I’m spent from the day’s pruning and planning. I foresee a hot shower, a hot cup of chocolate coffee, and a couple of episodes of Midsomer Murders to round out a perfect day.