July=Hot & Rainy

Moving a Rhododendron

The front yard was an area that I kept ignoring, but really needed some shaping up. Besides being busy with the veggie garden and back yard, the reason I was holding out is because I really wasn't sure what to do about the front. Did I want to build it up? Did I want to plant more? Should I get rid of the hydrangea? The front segment just looked unbalance and had different needs - blistering sun on the south side and cool shade on the front side.


Before: Our meager little shrubs last spring '08. From left to right is my peony, a rhododendron (center) and hydrangea (that came with the house) and a new weeping cherry blossom tree.



After: I moved the Rhododendron over to the left about 2 feet and turned it 90 degrees, so it would grow more attractively. Doesn't it look like a totally new plant!?

I asked my neighbors who told me that the Rho had been there at least 6 years and hasn't grown one bit! So I did some reading online about how to care for Rhos and read they needed a shot of fertilizer in the spring, moist soil, natural compost such as leaves, and in extremely poor cases some strategic pruning. This spring I did give it some flower food pellets and noticed the Rho grew at least a foot! I also pruned 2-3 branches back that were growing funny.



Before I moved it, I filled the hole with lots of leaves and tree bark that I gathered from the lawn. Carefully I moved the entire Rho with the root ball intact into the hole and back filled it with very rich humus from the nursery.



Always water thoroughly. I made a "well" around the base and slowly poured 2 buckets of water into the area. Then I mulched over it.



To the left of the cherry blossom tree, I divided a large hosta into 5 smaller bunches. The area there was always a bit of a mess due to the run off and it's all shade now that the tree is there. The hosta will hopefully hold the soil down when it rains hard and it's a good spot for the hosta too.

It's a baby! Pumpkin that is!

I believe this is a little holiday pumpkin for decorative purposes only and not the large jack o lantern kind. It's so cute!



The pumpkin acts as a ground cover for the corn here. I'll have corn in a couple of weeks. I love how they look paired up with the black eyed susans.


There are 6 large (and 3 developing) bell peppers on my potted test plant. There are still none on my plants that are in the ground. I'm really proud of these babies.


Bottle neck gourd.


Aerial shot of the south east side of the garden full of perennials. In the upper left corner of the photo is where I may put the veggie garden next year. That area gets the most sun.


Over the weekend, I was able to do some weeding. There were quite a few weeds (3 wheel barrels full), but not as much as previous years. I am already thinking about moving certain plants for a better display next year. There's so much to do!

Lemon Cucumber Plant

My raspberry bush was starting to dwindle and rather than have a big, empty pot all summer, I placed a cucumber plant into the pot along with the raspberry bush. The cucumber plant has really taken off and there are lots of little lemon cucumbers on the vines. I can't wait to see them all pop up. I'm growing very fond of the container gardening. The plants are so much cleaner, less buggy, grow better and there's no weeding involved.



In other garden news:

• 2 pumpkins are beginning to develop
• 1 red gladiola is beginning to appear
• Sunflowers are starting to bloom
• Lots of english cucumber growing
  
• Need to move the Obedient plant, delphinium, wild indigo
• Next: Work on the garden bed in front of the house
  

Lemon Cucumber

There are few updates over in the casa, so check it out.

I found this little baby hiding amongst the leaves in the veggie garden. I can't wait to taste it!