Tuesday, September 1, 2009

I'm not ready for this.

It's 63 degrees again this morning. It really feels like fall. We should reach the high 70s today. No rain in the forecast until tomorrow. We got a whole 1/4" yesterday. The soil is only damp on top.

I'm on one crutch now. In the house, I can walk around without the crutches. In the yard and at the store, I don't trust my leg. It's been two weeks today since the hateful lawnmower stoned me. It's been two weeks since I've walked on the leg. It needs some time to adjust. But it is much better than even a week ago when the infection started.

So I hobbled around the yard this morning. The white bed is dead. I'll be pulling most of the plants later in the week once I can maneuver without crutches. The potager is done. My rooted and transplanted tomatoes didn't make it. Two weeks without water/rain didn't help. It was probably too late anyway. The perennial bed is still doing okay. A few plants need to be removed. Seeds need to be collected from the rudbeckias. I need to mark certain plants so I can move them this fall. All in good time. I still have a kitchen to remodel.

There were some good things in the garden this morning. The fig I raised from cuttings has done extremely well this year. I want to move it to the potager next spring, after I've built my raised beds using the cheap landscape timbers I bought more than a month ago. Grown from a 12" cutting, it's over 4' tall today. No figs this year...



The Miscanthus "Cosmopolitan" has done really well too. Trevor bought me this one for helping with the garage. That's a Red Texas Star hibiscus behind it.



Salvia subrotunda. Babies have already sprouted in the path and around this plant. The hummers love it. The goldfinches have been harvesting seed for months. It's an annual, but I've been told it reseeds like crazy.



Yvonne's salvia. I wish I had planted this in more sun. There's always next year. I've been collecting seeds. Joshua helped my collect a whole bag full of brown flower stems this past Sunday. I should have lots to share.



Finally, looking forward to next year, these are rooted/rooting cuttings. On the right, Jim's dianthus (Bath's pink). The others were rooted in the cloner and potted up during the last two weeks. I even got an oakleaf hydrangea to root. I'm really excited about that one.



Working today. Lots of mums, asters, and mums arriving from the greenhouses. I'm hoping I can spend an hour at a time on my feet. Yesterday I managed 30 minutes before having to sit down again. I'm not going to push it though. I have a lot of plans for Thursday, my day off.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your gardens look lovely; I like the feel of the "unstructured" beds of salvia, etc. -- feels like a meadow. :) Glad your leg is coming along well. Don't overdo.

Darla said...

Gorgeous........you are so smart to have your cuttings rooting and getting strong for the next season of planting.

MissyM said...

Love the salvia subrotunda. Cant believe how cool it is.

Kris said...

Glad your doing better on the leg, Tom!

Your fig is looking great...hope you get some blooms on it next year. My Mom's neighbor grows fig trees here in NE Ohio. She's got them in half-barrels on wheels so they get moved into a cold garage over winter. Little brown figs - very delish!

Tom - 7th Street Cottage said...

Thanks Nancy. I really just started running out of room with lots of wintersown containers left, so it was more of a 'plunk n run' scenario than any sort of actual planning on my part. I am happy with the street side of the perennial bed. And small pockets in between.

Darla, I never stop gardening here in NC. Only two months out of the year do I really slow down, even then I am inside or sowing seeds.

Missy, I got that one in a trade. I was really happy with the outcome. And lots of seeds.

Thanks Kris. I'm getting around with one crutch today and taking breaks as needed. Hopefully on Thursday, I can get out in the yard and do some light clean up. Everything is suffering. And some stuff just needs water.

David - Pinewood Cottage said...

Tom - love your blog. Our weather runs about the same here in the Piedmont of SC - but i think we've had a little more rain than you have. I wish you would take the time to show how to take cuttings from crepe myrtles. i have tried during the summer and it really didn't work. in town i love some 100+ year old crepe myrtles and want to see if i can get some starts. guess i'll wait until early spring - any suggestions?

Maureen said...

Love the fig - what a pretty plant. Do you expect figs next year?

The Cosmopolitan grass is beautiful too. I have a thing for ornamental grasses. They add such nice contrast.

Also, just curious, how do you over-winter your rooted starts?

Tom - 7th Street Cottage said...

David, I have only successfully grown crape myrtles from seed. I'm going to try hardwood cuttings again this winter. All my softwood cuttings rot. They're supposed to be very easy to root. HA!

Maureen, it should produce figs next year. I took the cutting in late January of this year. My rooted plants either get planted out now or will be placed in the hoophouse I put up before frost.