Catching Up On The Yard Activities, Part 2

I have had the darndest time with the soil in the small crop bed.  The soil is unusually clumpy.  Not wet-clumpy, dry clumps.  And they are hard.  That is unusual.  I can usually just crush them by hand easily.  I even added compost this year.  Maybe I dug the clumps up from deeper in the bed this year.  I need fine soil for planting carrots and lettuce, etc.  Fortunately, it has rained for 2 days so I think I can crunch up the hard clumps in a couple days.  And maybe I better add a couple inchs of leaf-gro to turn in!


I cleaned out the small 5' pre-formed pond last week and siphoned it dry.

Then I repotted all the waterlilies and sweet flag, refilled it, and waited a week.

I added some mosquito dunk and was surprised to find ( a week later) that there were larvae all through it.  I took a full dunk and crumbled it up all over.  I am glad to see there are no larvae to be seen now!


So I added 4 small orange fantail goldfish to the pond.  They like to sit under water plant leaves, so they are hard to spot, but I stood by the pond for a while and finally noticed them moving around.  They stick together.  I may put some netting over the pond to keep the goldfish safe.  I had 3 that lived there for 4 years then all disappeared in a week.  I suspect a raccoon.


I pre-soaked some other crop seeds several days ago.  It gets the initial root started so you know which seeds are viable.  Flat Italian beans, corn, cukes, cantelope, honeydew, and watermelon.  I got those all planted just before the rains came Saturday.

So I'm waiting for the first seeds to come up.  I'll bet on the beans to show first.

Catching Up On The Yard Activities, Part 1

I should have been posting a few times the past week, but I get distracted by other things (cooking,  cleaning, yardwork, cats, MSNBC, etc).  So I will try to catch up a bit now.

I've spent the most time in the yard.  Last week was wonderful outside.  Temps around 70F, low humidity, mostly sunny.  I was greatly encouraged to spend time outside.

First, I introduced Marley ( my new cat from January) outside for the first time.  I got a harness he couldn't get out of.  It was a trial to get him into it.  Took tries on 3 days before I succeeded.  But he was stunned to be outside and didn't fight the harness (much).  It wasn't that he tried to get out of the harness, but tried to walk around things that would entangle the leash.

 He couldn't figure out why he couldn't walk under the deck, or around poles, or through tomato cages lying on their sides.  But he was happy to be outside so he didn't complain (too much) about being "guided" away from those places.  He had a grand time outside until I brought him in (30 minutes the first day, an hour - twice - the second day).

 Since he showed no signs of running or trying to escape the tall fence, I let him out free the 3rd day for an hour while I was out with him (close to him all the time).  The 4th day he liked to just sit on the grass in the shade and wander around a bit.  I feel free to let him out when I am out and Iza is out.  Iza is protective of the yard and if a stray cat came in, she would be right at it before Marley had to defend himself (he IS still only 8 months old.  Reminder:  Get him microchipped next week!  Just in case...

The Spring weather has been fluctuating so badly (highs of 50F one day, 80F a few days later) that I have not been sure when to plant the tomatoes.  Tomatoes can be permanently stunted at 50F.  It finally settled out last week and I got them all planted.  I only like the heirloom tomatoes these days.  I grow them from seeds.  There are 2 Brandywine, 2 Cherokee Purple, 1 Aunt Gerty's Gold, 1 Prudens Purple, 1 Tennessee Britches.  There is also 1 Stupice.  It is a hybrid that matures fast.  It hasn't worked well the past 2 years and this is its last chance here.  And I better get the hanging pot with the cherry tomato set up soon!

The space to the right will be for bell peppers and basil.

Mothers Day

I feel a bit odd today.  This is the first year I don't send a Mothers Day card...

She died last Fall of "natural causes" at age 83.  Her death was not unexpected.  I've already not sent one birthday card.  But somehow Mothers Day seems more specific.  It shouldn't.  She had her own birthday, and every mother shares Mothers Day.  Maybe that's the problem.  So many children got to send a Mothers Day card this year and, for the first time, I didn't.

I don't feel forlorn or lost or abandoned or anything.  I'm too old and sensible for that.  I miss her, of course, but it's that I had been making or sending cards to her for, oh, 55 years and it feels odd to stop.

Happy Mothers Day, Mom...

Lysimachia vs English Ivy

OK. so I have about 20 sod chunks of the invasive Lysimachia 'Firecracker'.  I also have a raised area in the center of the backyard that has become covered with english ivy (well, if you have a wild area, ivy isn't bad looking).  The raised area is too rough to mow and I have considered at times hiring someone to level it, or turning it into a wildflower area.

I can mow entirely around the area, so nothing can actually escape.

That middle area as been a problem for 25 years.  When I moved here, it was covered with thorny locust scrub.  It took 5 years to finally cut them all down.  Then it took another 5 years to actually kill all of them.  Thorny locust is TOUGH.  I read stories of farmers using the cut trunks for fenceposts, and the trunks would ROOT and start growing again.

So, anyway, now it is basically a area where english ivy has taken over, poison ivy keeps trying to get established, and tree saplings keep trying to get growing.  And brambles love it.  I can keep the saplings and brambles chopped down.

I'm going to plant the Lysimachia chunks every 5' throughout the english ivy and see who wins!

I know from several years experience that the Lysimachia grows so tall and thick that there are never any weeds in the patch.  That's one thing I like about it.  And it does have a nice flower and the purple foliage is impressive!

So I am going to see what happens for a few years.  Which invasive plant do you think will win?

Corralling The Lysimachia 'Firecracker'

I recently wrote about what I thought was Coreopsis 'Golden Gain' invading the neighboring plants.  I discovered it was actually Lysimachia "Firecracker' (thank you Gardenweb Forum), which is a VERY invasive plant.  It seems to be a type of Loosestrife, which is a real invasive family.

It had suddenly spread into some stokesia on one side and into some asters in the back.  It had totally smothered a patch of Coreopsis 'Moonbeam'.  It has fibrous matted roots that are impossible to disentangle from other plants.

It was sold to me as the Coreopsis 'Golden Gain' and since it had a golden flower, I didn't realize I had been sent a mislabelled plant.  Fortunately, the vendor is making it as right as they can by sending replacements.

Still, I had to do a lot of hard work to correct the situation.  As it actually IS a rather good looking perennial, I wanted to keep what I could.  If I had a sunny spot surrounded by paved surfaces to fence it in (like driveway/sidewalk/house) I would have dug it up and moved it there.  But I don't.

So my solution was to dig up the plants in the invaded area, install edging barrier around it, and replant the lost stokesia and asters.  Looking back, I am thinking I should have just used Roundup!  But all's well that ends well...

First, I dug up a foot around the area I wanted to keep, a nice 8' diameter circle.  It was just like digging up turf sod and about as much fun.  I am saving the dug up sod because I have an idea what to do with it!

Here is one side cleared out.  Digging around the soaker hoses was not fun, but pulling them up through the existing plants and trying to nestle them back down afterwards seemed worse.

Here is a picture of them invading the asters in the back of the garden.  They seem to spread the roots out 2' in Fall, then the new stems emerge suddenly in Spring.  You don't get much warning.  Last year, I thought they were self-sowing, so I snipped the flowerheads.  Alas, that wasn't the problem...

After I dug them all out leaving the 8' circle, I dug a trench around them.  Since they haven't spread under the path edging, I think more edging will contain them.  It took a spade to cut through the matted roots, a mattock to dredge the trench, and a trowel to scoop out the soil.  Loads of fun...

I threaded some old edging under the hoses through the trench...

And backfilled on both sides.  The edging looks high, but that's because I removed a lot of soil with the dug pieces.  I will have to add more soil to return it to level.  The edging should be sticking about 1/2" above ground.  Mulch will cover that.

You can just see the space for the 3 replacement stokesia to go.

Any Lysimachia that try to escape the edging will get a vinegar spray first, and a Roundup spray if absolutely required.  And if the edging really won't stop it, I will make a cardboard circle around it and give the whole patch the Roundup!  I'm taking a chance even giving these plants a second chance.  But if they will stay in bounds, they'll have long happy lives.

Now what am I going to do with the parts I dug up?  Future post!

Mowing Again!

A few days old, but I didn't want to leave the subject of the mower repair hanging...

Yay!  I got my mower back Saturday.  I was about to haul out the old push mower, but the repair guy called Friday and said the riding one was fixed.  The grass was getting a BIT high.  Here are some pictures of the first swaths I cut...

The grass was 10" high! And I keep the blade 3" high for good grass health and weed suppression.

Another view of the tall grass.

And another.  I would have felt embarrassed, but my neighbor's grass was the same height and HIS mower is working.

It took an hour with the old push mower to get all these corners and edges mowed clean.  I sure am glad to have it back working!

My next big yard project is to reduce the amount of lawn I have...

Finished The Pond

Not much to show.  My hands got too muddy to take many pictures!

Basically, I had a dozen pots that were fallen over in the pond with the Sweet Flag leaves growing curved toward the light.  I had a large pot of mixed clay and pea gravel to refill smaller pots, broken terra cotta and golf ball sized stones for weight in the bottoms, and a new bag of pea gravel to cover the soil on the tops.

I found the corner of the sunken patio a convenient height to do messy work...

Here is a stage in the procedure.  The 2 pots on the right have had the stones put in the bottom, some clay/gravel soil added, then rooted portion from the original pots.  I am about to add new pea gravel on top and move them to the pond.

This is the small pond with Sweet Flag around the ledge.  There are 5 hardy waterlilies in the deeper center portion and several on the outer ledge.  The lilies on the ledge (and half of the Sweet Flag) will be moved to the larger pond as soon as I replace the damaged lining.

I have a small water pump for the small pond.  After it has circulated the water and filtered out the silt for a few days, I will add a few small goldfish.

At least I know now that I simply MUST lift all the pots each Spring and cut back the roots.  And next year I will cover it with plastic window screen instead of clear plastic sheet so the pond can breathe but the Spring Peepers can't mate!

A Great Day To Be Out Yesterday!

What is so rare as a day in Spring?  Well in MD, they really are rare!  The average temp this time of year is 70F, but that usually means days of 55 intermixed with days of 80.  Finally, yesterday was actually in the upper 60s, which is MY kind of weather.

I spent almost the entire day outside.  The major project was to clean out the small pond.  I have a larger pond, but that project is for another day.

I have to mention first that I covered the pond with clear plastic because the Spring Peepers drive me crazy at night.  If there was 1,000 it would be OK because the noise would average out.  But I get just a few and there is a loud crok every minute or so.  Its like the Chinese water torture!  So, for sleepfulness, I cover the pond when they are mating.

The first thing I do in a major outdoors project is set up a rest station.   Hey, I'm 60 years old!  Chair, radio, beer.  In the shade...

Here is the pond when I uncovered it.  Live plants...

But purple sludge!  My first thought was "red algae bloom" (toxic).  I washed my hands frequently.  I made a hole in the muck to get a hose siphon started.

It's easy.  I just laid out one hose downhill and attached another from the spigot to it.  Fill the first with water, disconnect, and get it in the "hole" in the pond fast.  Here is the downhill end of the siphon hose.

It took an hour to siphon (hence the need for radio and beer), but it was finally done.  Look at the mess I saw!

Meanwhile, as the siphoning was going on, I weeded the garden.  I dug up quite a bit on some invasive grass.  Nasty stuff that spreads by long underground runners.  I used to know the name of it, but it escapes me now.  Suggestions welcome.

When the pond was drained, I mucked out the bottom silt,  Its great stuff for the compost pile!  A pond skimmer net is good for getting that stuff out.

Because of the red algae(?), I sprayed it with chlorinated water.  I don't know if that will kill it, but it sure won't help them any (search for WC Fields and moths).  I scooped the remaining water out with an old pitcher and poured the rich silt-water on the neighboring flowers.

When I had the pond about as clean as I could get it , I refilled the pond center about 4" deep.  That's so I can set the surviving plants back in some water tomorrow when the chlorine has mostly evaporated out. 

They all need repotting.  I tried that last year and failed badly.  Some pots floated and some just fell over.  THIS time, I have gravel to mix with the soil and bits of broken flagstone for the bottoms of the pots to weight them down.

The repotting was necessary because, 3 years ago, I discovered that the entire pond was a mass of roots.  Stupid me, I didn't know that they grew roots out of the pots!!!  And it had been 5 years since I planted them.  I spent hours cutting the various pots apart (the roots were all intertwined).  And that was in the cold March water (I still shudder from the cold water)...

But this year, it is going better.  I have the stuff to repot them properly (read up on it at pond plant website).  And I am going to put a waterpump in there this year to keep the water circulating.  Does anyone know if those U/V filters really work?  I might try one.

Getting The Garden Ready

In between the near-daily rain last week, I got the garden beds prepped for the season.  I had some free County-supplied mulch in a pile for 2 years, and it composted nicely.  The stuff was like fine leaf-mould.  So I added 3" to each of my beds

I took pictures of doing one of my 6 raised beds.  Here is the composted mulch on top...

I added slow-release organic fertilizer.  I blend it from 2 sources, but it is about 10-10-10.  Then I turned the soil, twice, with a spading fork.

Then leveled it with a rake and tamped it lightly. 

Consider it repeated 5 times for the other beds.  I love the rake I found a few years ago.  Its not a "bow" rake.  This is a "leveling" rake.  It is exactly 24" wide (useful for measuring) and has a straight bar on the back to make everything smooth and even.

As soon as the weather is right (about another week), I am ready for the tomatoes, peppers, melons, etc!  Meanwhile, I am hardening off the seedlings.  One hour the first day, 2 hours the next, etc til 8 good sun hours.  I can hardly wait...

Marks (Murphy's) Law

I love my riding lawn mower.  But it seems to develop a new problem every Spring.  This year the choke knob broke off in my hand.

I'm one of those people who NEVER have normal problems.

My "Top 30" plant provider sent me the wrong plant 5 years ago and it turned out to be "wickedly invasive".

My twice-spayed cat STILL goes into heat.

Any repair problem is "Wow, I've never seen THAT happen before.

My "Murphy's Law" event is what "Can't happen",  does.

So, naturally, the choke knob problem was "that doesn't happen".    Well, it did.  I pulled the choke out as usual a few days ago and the shaft snapped right off.  I could feel it.  And it just came out loose when pulled.  You can't start an mower that needs the choke adjusted when you can't adjust it...  I felt around inside the engine compartment to see how it was attached, but couldn't see a clue to how to get at it.  It turns out later that the entire gas tank has to be removed.  "Not something I want to mess with".

So I called a guy who will come and fix mowers on site.  I've used him before.  He does good work and is honest and his deal is "fix on site".  But to be honest, he usually has to take the mower away.  But at least he will do that.  He did something neat that I will have to remember.  He bypassed the choke by spraying carburater cleaner down the removed air filter!  That primed the starter!  Hey, I didn't know.  Maybe you did.  LOL!  I'm a gardener and woodworker.  When it comes to engines, I'm lost.   I have 2 gas chainsaws in the basement and I can't make them stay running.  That's why I have an electric one.  It always works!


So he started it right up (Starting the mower was not the problem when the choke lever worked) and drove it onto his truck.  If I had known that trick before he came, I would have mowed the lawn first.  It is already 4" high and growing.  When I get the mower back in a week, it will be 6-8" high.  This time of year, you CAN actually watch the grass grow!