Transplanting

I couldn't wait any longer. The ground is soggy and wet, but my fingers are itchy to be in real dirt. So I moved a few plants that not only tolerate wet soil, but thrive in them.

The magnolia has been moved to the gully, behind the fallen oak tree.



Redtwig dogwoods got moved from the driveway border to the gully too. It's going to be a never ending fight to remove the ivy that grows on my side of the stream, but it has to be done. As soon as I see new growth in the spring, I'll weed whack it and start spraying, pulling, and cussing.



While I was down there, I picked up enough stones to finish edging the rose garden. The last one was a fighter.



I also transplanted the sweet gum I brought back at Christmas from the parents. It had been living in a one gallon pot beside the garage door through the last cold snap. It's got nice buds on the tips of the branches, so I think it should survive just fine. It's also planted in the gully, but a little further from the stream. I love the foliage, but hate the seed pods. So it's relegated to an out of the way spot where I rarely walk and never barefoot.

It's 46 degrees and cloudy. Rain is supposed to be moving in this afternoon. The temperatures will drop overnight returning us to normal January weather of 50s/30s. It was nice while it lasted.

In the hoophouse, I set out a few more of the wintersown containers I did last night. Sixteen quarts were done. Four 2-liters were placed at the end of the driveway. I saw more rudbeckia sprouts. I've decided to leave it alone for a week. I'm out of space anyway. Small tip cuttings of Carla's fig went into a container in the hoophouse as well.

Spring can't get here soon enough.

3:24pm - lunch break. Although the weather indicator says it's cloudy, it's not. The sun has been out today since noon. It's 68 degrees. I'm sweating.

Almost officially fall.

At just after 5pm this evening, it will be fall. I can start moving plants this evening. I can't wait. I'm already thinking ahead to next year.

I've been inspired.

And so I've created a rose garden. Right now it's just a lot of dead bermuda grass and clay on a very sunny "corner" of a new path. But each rose I plant gives me a chance to work a lot of soil around the plant. I add lots of organic stuff and stir well. I'll be putting down cardboard and mulching with leaves in a couple weeks. The grass was killed with RoundUp several weeks ago.

I moved Mr Lincoln, my "orange" rose, a Sunny knockout, an unknown lavender hybrid tea rose that I got for $1, and because I needed a sunny spot for it, a Confederate Rose (Hibiscus mutabilis). I had wintersown this one and apparently forgotten that I had planted out one container. I found it this morning under some flopping echinacea.



On the corner, there's an old pink camellia that was nearly 30' tall when I moved in. It was so big, it blocked all the sun out in the backyard. If I was to grow tomatoes, it had to come down. Hopefully the new growth will make it through this year's winter. The stump is pretty large.

I'm sure it's not the best time to move roses in the South, but they're all fairly new and had barely begun to put out new root growth. I'll just have to watch the watering for a week or two. And we're forecasted to have lots of rain this week.

It's 75 degrees and cloudy. :)

I performed a few more injustices this morning too. I pulled out all the red spider zinnias and convolvulus. I transplanted a few things, rudbeckias, melampodiums, datura, and helianthus.



I moved a couple of young hibiscus.



That red Texas star is not happy.



I also moved some echinacea that were wintersown.





I sowed some seeds and transplanted some white crape myrtles.



I moved the Korean lilac into the driveway border. The rudbeckia here got pulled.



The loropetalum near the front door got a new home in the white bed.



A tea olive from the backyard took it's place in the corner.



I saw a butterfly I couldn't identify.



The stargazers in the front bed got relocated too. I didn't chop into a single bulb like I usually do.



I planted one of the lobelia. I want to see how it performs here over the next few days.



I tossed all the pulled plants, seeds intact, into the gully. Volunteers, maybe?



A lone Stella D'Oro is blooming near the mailbox.



Now, I think I want to paint my bedroom.

Day 2 of spring 2009

I spent most of the first day of spring driving. The model was delivered to a small town about 2.5 hours from me. It will be in their paper next week, so I'll be able to show you what it looks like then. They might even mention my name when they cover it.

When I got home, the first thing I did was unload all the dirt I picked up at Lowes. I've been saying I needed dirt for several weeks now. And now I have it - 8 bags of it to be exact. I've got tomatoes that need to be potted into larger containers. I've got cherry tomatoes that need to be potted into individual containers. I've got lots of annuals in the basement that need to be repotted too. The plan is to get all of that done this morning. I hope I have time.

Today is also a day for starting root crop seeds. I don't eat many, but I'm going to direct sow beets into the garden. I found a pack of sweet peas that might do well on my trellis in the perennial bed. They should have been planted last week. I'll also direct sow morning glories and cardinal vine. This year, the trellis will be covered by annual vines until the climbing rose I planted gets some size to it. I also want to plant a Carolina Jasmine on the opposite side, but I haven't bought one just yet. Maybe I'll bring one home on Monday.

Other seeds I'll be starting today include:
Nasturtium (moonlight, Dwarf Cherry Rose, and Jewel Mix)
Moonvine
dutchman's pipe vine
millet (Purple Baron and Purple Majesty)
Convolvulus tricolor - a dwarf, trailing morning glory
Dill
Fennel (bronze and green)
Dusty miller
Four O'Clocks (white and Limelight)
and finally, Mammoth sunflowers

These will all be started in small containers for transplanting in another month. Some of these I have never grown. Most are accent plants for the garden, or companion plants for the veggies. The Four O'clocks will be used as trap plants to keep my roses and veggies safe from the dreaded Japanese Beetles. I hope all those Robins I've been seeing in the yard for the past couple of weeks are helping. I think they're probably eating earthworms instead. Stupid birds.

Walking around the yard last night, I noticed the ginger lilies are returning in the rear bed. The grasses there are coming back too. Unfortunately, my Kleims Hardy gardenia wasn't as hardy as they claimed. It's been slowly turning black over the last three weeks. That's too bad. It had a great smell this summer when it bloomed. Maybe I'll consider getting another one this summer when they arrive at the store. Maybe not.

It's 5:06am, clear and 37 degrees. One more night of frost in the 10 day forecast. Tomorrow, the indoor plants will go back into the hoophouse, hopefully for the last time.

8:15am - 34 degrees now. The basement is clean. Time to make it dirty again.

Back to Work

This time, it's not in the yard. I've got a meeting this morning at 10:30am with a new client for the project I bid on a few weeks ago. I'm ready to work. It's been a long break. At least I got lots done in the yard. I could have used another week, but not having worked since Thanksgiving, funds are running low. The money will be nice. I'll still find a way to get outside an hour or two each day between now and the end of March when this one will be due.

In case you're curious, I build architectural models. I have a degree from UNCCharlotte in Architecture. I graduated in 2000 after 6 long years of no sleep, too many cups of coffee, and a lot of learning. In May 1997, I went to work for a model maker part time. I really enjoyed the work so by the time I graduated, I had no plans to become an architect. Instead, I found that working with my mind and my hands was a better path. In October 2004, I left that company and started my own. Here are some examples of work I have done in the past.

Yesterday was a very good day for playing in the dirt. In the basement, I had started seeds for Yvonne's Salvia, Zinnias 'Purity', hot pink trailing petunias (collected from my own plants), and an assortment of tomatoes. Last fall, I started a few varieties of echinacea and rudbeckia. They have been in the hoophouse all winter and really haven't put out much growth. I still transplanted all of them to individual containers and put them back in their sheltered homes until spring. The indoor seedlings were also transplanted into single containers. They're under lights right now since a sudden hard freeze or frost would send them into the netherworld. I'll need to make a new inventory list of all my plants during the coming week.

I did not transplant the tomatoes. I want to wait until they have at least 2 true leaves on the seedlings. I need to add a little more soil to the container they're in. This will allow them to put out more roots along the buried stems. Not sure where all of those plants will go. I haven't even begun to germinate the cherry varieties yet. I might wintersow those and hope for the best.

In the yard, I found several new crocus bulbs blooming. These are in the perennial bed. Last spring, I was already cutting grass at this point so I probably mowed them down before they had a chance to bloom. There's foliage all throughout the bed. I can't wait to see what else pops up over there this year. On the side slope, a single periwinkle bloom caught my eye. I'll have to get a picture later this afternoon when it's open again. For now, here's the crocus.



Last night, the forecast was for early morning snow. It did rain a little during the night, but now the sky is clear and the sun is peeking through the trees. It's 34 degrees.

Hunks O'Seedlings

Halfway through trying to clean up the leaves and debris from the winter, I gave up and picked out which wintersown containers would get "planted out". Wintersown.org is THE place to start if you're wondering what all this is about. It's basically sowing your seeds in the dead of winter. You use containers (like milk jugs or soda bottles) as mini greenhouses. The seeds germinate early because the soil is warmer inside the container than outside in the garden.

Long story short, too late. I picked out several containers. The lasagna pans contained diathus pinks maiden and trailing carnations. In the two-liter soda bottles were sea holly, cupid's dart(2), hollyhocks(2), scabiosa(3), dianthus 'Sweet William', and lamb's ear.



Only seedlings that has their first set of TRUE leaves were eligible for planting out. There are nearly 80 containers with sprouts in them. The idea is that since these seedlings have survived much colder temperatures than anything expected between now and spring, they'll be just fine out in the garden. I have my doubts, but the people at GardenWeb assure me they will be fine.

So off I went into the perennial garden. Around the edges of the rocks, I planted dianthus and trailing carnations. The scabiosa isn't a pretty plant, so I placed it further back in the bed. I planted the white ones in the moon garden. The hollyhocks were scattered throughout. 5 clumps of at least 3 hunks of cupid's dart were scattered around as well.

I use an old spoon to scoop out a "hunk" of seedlings. Then I use my fingers to dig into the soft dirt. I make a hole about the same size as the hunk, plop it in place, and sort of spread the dirt around to make contact on all sides. That's it.

Cupid's dart


Hollyhocks


dianthus


scabiosa


Now all I need to do is water them tomorrow with half strength liquid fertilizer and wait for the blooms. Some of these plants could take a couple years to bloom. Hopefully, the cupid's dart will show me a few flowers this year. And I really hope they make it through the next few weeks of "winter" here in NC.

I also transplanted some black eyed Susans, shasta daisies, and coreopsis 'Early Sunrise' from the hoophouse containers in to the perennial bed. The remaining shastas will be planted in the moon garden tomorrow.

It's 64 degrees and sunny. Strong wind gusts all day.

Up to my eyeballs in seedlings, plants, cuttings, and seeds.

It's 70 degrees, breezy, and sunny. A stunningly beautiful day here in NC.

I didn't feel too well this morning. Must have been all that food my parents cooked and brought last night. But I finally made it outside.

In the hoophouse, I had started my cool weather veggies. I transplanted red/green cabbage, carrots, and lettuce to the rear bed in the backyard.









Since I had the hoophouse open, I took some photos of what's inside. Not everything is actively growing. Some of these were cuttings that I rooted this past fall. There are gardenias, confederate jasmine, euonymous, roses, and privet. Some are stuck in sand or soil that I'm trying to root now like Japanese Maples, dogwood, redtwig dogwood, double mock orange, etc. There's more I know, but I didn't take the time to make a list. Instead, here are some pictures of the plants.





I have 32 Black Eyed Susans that I started from seed in October. I'm hoping they will bloom having been through a cold spell out in the hoophouse. I did the same with Shasta daisies, but they didn't all make it. I've also got 15 coreopsis "Early Sunrise" divisions from a single plant I purchased last spring. Most of these will go into the plant sale in early April. You'll notice I use plastic cups instead of nursery pots. Two reasons, I can get them locally and they don't take up as much space while providing lots of room for deep roots.







I also have plants growing inside under lights. I've got zinnia, pineapple sage, brugmansia, and other tender perennials and annuals.







I started some more seed yesterday in one of my bottom heat contraptions. This one has 1 set of 150 Christmas Lights buried in 2" of sand. I mist the sand with a spray bottle to keep the humidity level high. The lights warm the sand to just over 80 degrees. That warms the cups to about 75 degrees. I have been trying to germinate yellow datura now for 2 weeks. I think my seed have rotted at this point. I'll leave them a few more days to be sure. There are annuals like petunias and zinnia as well as a whole container of different tomatoes. I want to use the cloning machine to propagate enough plants to sell at the farmer's market this year.





I've also got rooted figs, lady banks roses, and confederate roses. These were cuttings received in trades for other plants that I have/had. It still amazes me that I can stick a twig in dirt and have it grow into a new plant within a few weeks. The areochamber will get a nice workout this summer propagating softwood cuttings.







baby figs!



I can already see and taste the fruits of my labor. Spring is just around the corner.

Snow Day

It's 21 degrees and sunny. There's a light dusting of snow on the ground. It started last night around 10pm. I don't plan on venturing outside until the temperature is at least above freezing. That should be around 1pm. So here's a shot from the front steps.



See, not a lot of snow. Today I plan to clean the house. I never realized how much dust I could stir up just by painting. I've got some things that need to be moved into larger containers on the propagation rack. And there are some willow cuttings that are going to start wrapping roots around me in the dark if I don't get them potted.

12:44pm - Most of the "snow" has melted. It's 28 degrees and windy. I need to chop some firewood for the next few days. I got the willow transplanted from water into cups. I have four kinds: red, black, giant white, and coral embers.

Starting seeds and transplanting

It's 36 degrees and sunny. Yes, sunny. Finally. It was 28 overnight with a high in the mid 50s forecast.

I sowed some seeds on the bottom heat contraption this morning. Yvonne's salvia, double yellow datura, buddelia 'white profusion', and an impatien mix I got from a trade. I'm starting these early so that I can use the aerochamber to propagate more in the spring. Some may be sold in the plant sale this year. Others will be used to fill in the bare spots between perennials that won't bloom their first year.

I'm also transplanting some of the willow that's been sitting in a glass with water for the past few days. The roots are large enough to move to soil on 4 or 5 of the cuttings. I want to get them into soil sooner rather than later to avoid transplant shock.

The rest of the day is up for grabs. I need to work on a cover letter for a job I intend to apply for early in the morning. I need to feed the compost bin and might even turn it over. I also want to transplant some of the cool weather crops like cabbage that have germinated in the hoophouse.

Two cups of coffee down and I'm thinking I need another. Still waiting on answers from the new client regarding his project. He's waiting on the higher-ups. In any case, I intend to put my hands in some outdoor dirt today.

The North Bed

Today I spent some time paying more bills, shipping more plants for trades, and filling out more applications for a job.

It's been cloudy and overcast all day with sprinkles of rain throughout. It's 57 degrees so I won't complain too much about the weather. At least it made planting all those hosta bulbs easier.

Yesterday, I scored big. I got a 5 gallon bucket full of hosta roots and bulbs from my friend John. We dug up his nearly 10 year old hosta bed and spread things out a bit. It's a small space so we only planted about 18 clumps. That left a LOT of hosta to dispose of. I was more than happy to oblige.

Using my trusty bulb auger and a cordless drill, I managed to plant 35 clumps in under half an hour. These will be the basis of the North Bed. As you might expect, this is on the north side of the house and receives only a smattering of morning sun in June and July. It's always moist over there. A couple of struggling azaleas and leaves are all that's in that area now. With the hosta seeds I've wintersown, this area should be a show place a few months out of the year. I plan to intermingle impatiens that I'll be growing from seed this summer for a little color.

The North Bed





I'm also searching for shade loving shrubs. So far, I've had suggestions for hydrangea and Aucuba japonica 'Gold Dust'. The Aucuba has always been known to me as "painter's bush" with it's speckled leaves. I grabbed a few cuttings from Larry's yard (a neighbor) for the aero chamber. We'll see how long it takes to root them if they will at all right now.

I inserted a few cuttings from John's Euonymus "Green & Gold", too. They needed pruning and I of course took the cuttings. If all of them root, I'll send some plants back to him this summer to fill in around his back deck.

I took 9 "root cuttings" from my lavender crape myrtle. I also transplanted 25 black eyed susans I stared on 9/11/08 from seed into individual cups. They were in the cold frame and had grown large enough to handle. Finally, I potted 18 pieces of Coreopsis "early sunrise" into containers. They were placed in the cold frame 3 weeks ago and most have small roots. I want to get them into something else before they grow too large to handle. The Shasta Daisies and Sweet William Dianthus will remain until spring. Maybe.

I'm glad the cold is gone. I feel almost myself again. Maybe I'll go break up some more pallets. The rain is here to stay for a few more days. I sure could use a little sunshine.

3:10pm The sun came out for about 15 minutes. It's still cloudy, but I get to see a small beam of light every now and then. I'll take it.

8:36pm Looks like another warm evening. It's cloudy, and more rain is in the forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday. I took a walk after dinner. That fig on 6th Street got an unscheduled pruning.