bugs are gone!

The ant/aphid infestation on my Rose of Sharon is completely gone. And since spraying my hollyhocks with Sevin I haven’t seen any more hollyhock sawfly larvae chomping away. They still haven’t bloomed, but I’m hopefully every day when I come home from work to catch a glimpse of color.

Last weekend I removed a portion of my Black-eyed Susan’s in the west side planting bed to make room for two more pepper plants and give my rosemary some more space. In addition to the new red and green bell peppers, I also planted an heirloom tomato in the driveway planting bed. I’m hoping it will get enough sun there, because I’m running out of space elsewhere.

Mr. Stripey, as he’s called, is an old-fashioned beefsteak that will have yellow and red stripes outside and mostly yellow coloring inside the fruit. It has tiny leaves and the flavor is supposed to be sweet and mild. We’ll see in approximately 56 days!

I think I initially underestimated the support my tomatoes would require. But now I regret skimping on the stake size, because my ‘big boy’ and ‘black cherry’ tomatoes have already grown almost to the top of their stakes. So, I will have to purchase taller/stronger stakes to support these veggies and re-tie all of the tomatoes. Bummer.

I also (finally) replaced the pansies in my pots by the front steps with a ‘lemon chiffon’ million bells (Calibrachoa) in each pot. I’m not usually one for monochromatic pot plantings, but my front door is hardly used and there’s enough going on in the nearby planting beds to warrant simple pots.

My oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) have started blooming on both sides of the front door and look really great behind my patch of catmint (Nepeta) to the right of the front door. To balance that, the Nepalese columbines I planted on the left side of the front door bloomed well and are slowly taking over one side of that planting bed.

The Hellebores are still blooming and look great next to the sensitive ferns (Onoclea sensiblis) out front. My Iris have finished blooming and I need to weed the bed by the mailbox to get it ready for the daylilies which will start to bloom soon.

The only other annual I have added this season is a ‘Mini Blue-Veined’ Supertunia. I added this to my blue pot with the Salvia and Spirea. The salvia has already started blooming and the Spirea will soon follow.

My herb pot is not looking so good. The cilantro started to bolt last week, so I cut off some of the flower buds. The basil, which has been looking ill ever since the floods, now looks awful. My parsley and thyme are the only things doing well. They seem to have had good drainage and decent sun where they are. I may have to start over with new cilantro and basil, maybe even from seed.

veggies and such

The tomatoes I have included in my garden thus far include Roma, ‘Black Cherry’, and ‘Big Boy’. Roma is a smaller tomato that should have a plentiful harvest starting in 70-80 days from transplanting. ‘Black Cherry’ is a sweet-flavored, round dark cherry tomato that should ripen within 60 days of transplanting. ‘Big Boy’ is a meaty, large hybrid introduced by Burpee in 1949. ‘Big Boy’ will ripen within 80-90 days from transplanting.

So, by the end of June, I should be harvesting the first tomatoes. I would still like to add an heirloom variety tomato and some more varieties of peppers. I have already planted one Jalapeno pepper which will ripen in 78 days.

Everything else in the garden is doing great. My Iris is now blooming very well by the mailbox, white and yellow blooms. The Baptisia and Peonies are about to bloom. My Azalea in the secret garden is blooming wonderfully.

The only pest problems I’ve had continue to be the aphids and ants on my Rose of Sharon. I used soap spray on them last week, but it has rained off and on since then so I don’t think it’s had a chance to work yet. I’ll keep trying the soap spray.

The photo is of my ‘herb garden’ container and some other perennial plant containers that I keep directly off my back deck. I'll probably add a petunia or million bells to the blue pot soon. But, I love all the different colors foliage and the pots themselves provide right now, without a single flower!

taking up space, in a good way!

I finally planted my herb garden (in a pot), Roma tomato (with stake), and all of my hollyhocks. In order to plant the tomato, I had to relocate some Black-eyed Susans and realized I just have too many. So, in addition to the previously offered sedum, mint, and creeping jenny, I would also like to offer some Black-eyed Susans.

When planting the tomato, I was reminded that all tomatoes are virtually vines. Because tomatoes try to root wherever the stem touches soil, planting lower will create more roots and better support. I removed the lowest pairs of leaves and then literally back filled the hole just under the first leaves. I put a 4’ green stake next to it and will use flexible cloth ties to secure it as it grows.

I also finally got to plant my new blue pot! I relocated an existing Salvia and ‘neon flash’ Spirea to the blue pot and will add some sort of flowering, trailing annual as well. The pot itself was already quite heavy and the thought of filling it with soil was less than attractive. For this reason, I put two empty plastic bottles in the bottom to take up some space (pictures). This is a great way to save soil and reuse some of those plastic bottles too!

The aphids (and ants) are still coming back on my Rose of Sharons, so my next step is to spray them with a soap solution. There are a variety of homemade soap spray recipes on-line. I think I’ll just mix some dish soap and water in a small hand-sprayer and see how that works.

Ants and things

Things are growing great in the garden. I spent some time last weekend weeding several beds and trying to ‘thin the heard’ of mint, creeping jenny, and sedum. Would anyone like to come over and take home a sampling of these voracious ground covers?! I also mulched a little and amended the soil for the Hollyhocks which I will be planting this week!

The Hellebores are still blooming. The Rosemary is blooming now, pretty little blue flowers. The Peonies, Baptisia, and Iris will all be blooming soon. My Epimediums are now blooming in my side shade garden (picture). That’s a really neat perennial for the shade garden. They are also commonly referred to as Barrenwort and Bishop’s hat.

Epimediums are grown as much for their flowers as they are for their heart-shaped foliage which can take on beautiful fall coloring. Their tiny flowers are suspended ever so gracefully on their arching flower stalks. Epimediums make great accent plants and groundcovers, although they die back almost completely in our zone. I like to pair my yellow blooming Epimediums with purple-leaved plants like Ajuga and Heuchera.

I recently discovered ants on some of my Rose of Sharon. I fear the ants are ‘milking’ aphids which in turn are feasting on the new foliage. This morning I sprayed the bugs off with water, let’s hope that keeps them away. My next approach may be to use a soap spray. I generally try to avoid using any chemicals in the garden, but especially now that I’m growing edible plants, that would be my last resort.

There are ants on my Peonies as well, which are across the driveway. I have come to expect this every year on the Peonies. [Although at first it was alarming and I admit I sprayed my Peonies with ant killer chemicals that first year] A very knowledgeable gardener explained to me that ants help the Peony buds ‘open up’. So now I ignore the ants, and my peonies have never suffered because of them.