Turkeys, Grrr.

 

The wild turkeys have spent a lot of time digging up the young plants I put in. It has been incredibly frustrating. I have covered most of the ground around the plants with pavers and boards, and finally put up bird-scare ribbon. I actually don't know if the ribbon is working because I haven't seen any turkeys in the yard since I put it up. Replanting and raking out all the mulch was getting very tiring. 

My order of agastache was canceled, along with one of the two groundcover sedums. I did receive one of the groundcover sedums, although I haven't put it in the ground yet. I'm still waiting on Tyler to finish the decking --I really am beginning to wonder if he's going to do the job. 

I did move some of the solidago fireworks from the east bed to the area in front of the hollyhocks and prairie dropseed grass. I also added one to the dragon bed, along the back. 

I am really looking forward to seeing this new bed next summer.

We also had a fiery skipper in the yard for the first time (unfortunately being killed by an ambush bug) --I think they're more common south of here. That's the photo above.

More Planting

With some additional rain in the forecast for today, I needed to get the 10 plants I had on hand in the ground yesterday. It was a nice cool morning for it, but the digging was really hard! Most of these plants went into the outer edge of the Dragon bed, where I pulled up landscaping fabric this spring. The dirt here is still so awful! I added quite a bit of compost with each plant.

Because I double-ordered hoary vervain, I put these two plants in the area behind the dragon head where I had removed some of the Baby Joe pye weed. That was easy digging, because I'd dug it up previously, and it has been mulched for several years. 

All the rest was like digging in dry cement, even after that 3/4" of rain. I actually dragged the hose around and watered the holes I dug for everything else, before putting the compost down and the plants in.

Behind and to the west of the baptisia, I put in the two amsonia plants. Behind and to the east of the baptisia I added the two obedient plants. 

The two heart-leaved asters went a few feet east of the armillary compass. 

Finally, after resting, I got the black cohash and goat's beard planted to the west of the hydrangea.

It has rained all day today, but it's only added up to 1/2". The next few days are sunny again, so I'll have to run the soaker hoses in a day or so. And I do still have Blue Fortune agastache, and two groundcover sedums arriving in mid-October. Plus the bulbs :-)

 

Adding and Editing

Apparently I ordered a lot of plants over the last two months 😆

It has been miserably hot and dry over the last weeks and months. It finally rained last night, and we got just under 3/4 inches. It's enough so that I won't need to water today, but I will again tomorrow.

During the cooler mornings of the past week, I did a lot planting and watering.  

1. Spotted bee balm and blue sage went into the SE corner of the wood shed, with the iris and lambs ear. 
2. Baby Joe pyeweed was transplanted from the back of the dragon head to just behind the dianthus. I left some behind the dragon head, but it doesn't seem happy in that spot --buds don't really bloom. There is red monarda back there which I'm sure will colonize the area.
3. Three aromatic asters and three hoary vervain were planted around the armillary compass, alternately. The vervain is more upright, and blooms in summer. Asters tend to be more airy, and bloom in fall. I'm hoping the combination will work well.

Yesterday I received two black cohash, three obedient plant, and three heart-leaved aster. The black cohash will go near the hydrangea, as they are woodland plants, with tall flower spikes. The aster and obedient plant need more sun, and will be added to the dragon head bed.

Early Fall Editing

This coming week, Tyler is going to redo the deck walk and landing pad to and around the water spigot on the SW corner of the house. I've been working on some stuff in order to get plants out of his way, and just doing some normal fall editing.

This morning was a great morning in the garden. We're in one of our more and more common "flash droughts", so many mornings are cool and not humid, and the mosquitoes have disappeared for now. While I get tired of the watering, I'm grateful for the lack of mosquitoes.

I needed to move some Autumn Joy sedum so it won't get stomped on during the decking project. So I put the hose there on a dribble in order to soften the ground. It was two nice clumps, which would have needed separating soon anyway, so win-win. They are now in pots with some compost to keep till I can replant them in the same area. 

I also have some oriental lily bulbs in that west bed, in front of the prairie dropseed grass and hollyhock. I dug out the shorter ones (again, after soaking the ground). They're so dang deep, it's hard to do with a trowel. These are the yellow set. I removed the oregano in the raised bed, added some compost and planted the bulbs in that location.

I also removed the purple coneflower from the northernmost raised bed, since we've agreed that it would be nice for that bed to have only shorter plants so we can see to the other two beds. I got that transplanted to the back of the dragon bed, where the soil was literally as hard as cement from the lack of water. I do use a soaker hose in that bed, but it goes just along the current plants, so other areas are dry, dry, dry!

I dug out the rest of the iris around the AC unit. Some of them I've put in a pot with some moist compost so I can replant them when Tyler is finished. A few others I've planted around where the mock orange shrub roots are. I used roundup in that area earlier to try to kill back the tree seedlings and the remaining mock orange. It seems to be working, but we still can't mow there because of the stumps. I figure maybe I can just make that an iris bed --it gets more sun since that limb was removed from the silver maple, and the soil is very sandy, so well-drained. Rob has talked about burning out those stumps, and if he gets to that it's fine, but if not then we'll have some iris there.

I still need to cut back the aster that's by the southernmost raised bed before Tyler starts, and I'd like to cut back the dead branches in the mock orange area.

Elderberry Plants

I had received the three elderberry plants from Prairie Moon Nursery (in 3" pots) a few days ago, and today I got them in the ground. They are planted along the chain-link fenced dog run that we use as storage. I caged them so the rabbits won't eat them.

This area gets morning sun, and the soil seemed really nice. There is also a seed stalk from the hollyhock plant that I'm hoping will give me some flowers in a year or so, as the shrubs grow. I also bought wild cucumber seeds to plant there this fall, and if they work they'll climb the fence. I may try some morning glory next spring too. I still need to mulch and fertilize tomorrow, but I ran out of steam this evening.

I also finally got the floppy brown-eyed Susan out of the ground. I soaked the ground and then was able to do it with just a trowel. It's so nice to have that done. I think I'm going to fill that space with a few new sedums (there is already an Autumn Joy there), and then add some groundcover sedums as well. It's a very hot spot with so much afternoon sun. There is prairie dropseed grass and the hollyhock behind, closer to the house. I need to improve the soil and put a layer of mulch on it for winter. 

I brought the fern in for the season --it's getting down to 48 tonight, and we have some predicted low 40s coming up. 

I also did some watering and fertilizing. There is more to do tomorrow.

Picked a beet!

I picked a beet today! Given how neglected they've been, I'm surprised to even get one. The nasturtiums have really taken over the Vego bed, and they look so pretty I don't want to pull them to plant beets. I think next spring I will plant beets around the edges of the raised beds. I need to try to work in some compost this fall, so they are ready. 

I also picked one of the poblano peppers yesterday, for Rob to use in his stuffed potato meal. I ate a bit of it, and it tasted good. I have 5 or 6 that look good right now. I'd really like to make stuffed peppers with them.

I'm still needing to water. We've only gotten 1" of rain in August so far. I really under-watered the hydrangea, but I think I've corrected that now. We've also had some nights down to 50F, and the Purple tomato fruits are looking weirdly blotchy. It's going to warm up again this weekend, and I'm hoping more tomatoes will ripen. Over all we've had a really cool August. It's been delightful weather.

I moved the hostas from the north bed and placed them at the base of the clethra. I hope they'll be okay there --they will definitely get some afternoon sun. But I suppose if they start to burn, I can move them again. 

I received and planted the blue baptisia (false indigo), fairly close to the dragon's head. And the new pink clematis came back! I'm very happy about that. I'll need to protect both clematis from earwigs in the spring, and give them more fertilizer. Actually, I think I need to give everything more fertilizer.

Early August Tasks (Very Dry)

 No photos today, just a note for some things I was doing on this day.

While we had a lot of rain in June, and early July had enough, since the middle of July it's been very dry. There have been isolated storms, but they've missed us.

I've been using the soaker hoses where I have them, but there are always places I don't.

So today I watered the hosta and geranium that I transferred to the East bed. The hosta are doing well, but the geranium has been fairly eaten. But it's a hardy plant, so I'm hoping it will rebound now that the earwig population should decline. 

I watered the few beets that germinated, with the nasturtium in the Vego garden.

I also watered the hydrangea and sweet William under the black walnut. I transferred a heucherella there a month ago because it was being so eaten, but it's being eaten just as much in this new location. I sprinkled some of the Captain Jack's Slug & Bug killer around those plants. 

That stuff seems to be helping where I've used it, and hopefully it is cutting down on the population that will start breeding this fall.

The pot with blue salvia and white allysum next to the mudroom porch is just spectacular right now. I've been giving some Miracle Grow flower boost fertilizer to the pots, and they appear to be responding.

I also did some deadheading --the very pretty and loose pink alliums had finished, so I cut those back. I removed a few more spent daylily stems as well and I harvested a few more tomatoes.

Then I made up some Round-up to take care of the crop of young dandelions that were coming up all over in the mulch. I really need to get the bench area thoroughly mulched next spring.