The rose bush is blooming and I'm getting a second flush of carnations and columbines (though I'm not sure if that's supposed to happen, but no one's also told me otherwise...). My parsley's also decided that it wants to be a biannual (despite of the fact that I PULLED IT UP MONTHS AGO --which begs the question: what's it growing from right now?), possibly a perennial. I'm thinking that maybe I should name it, because it's a lone parsley that's surviving by itself from the side of a laundry detergent bucket. One has to admire its tenuous existence.
I've now had this yard for going on three years, and the watering has washed away most of the soil, exposing (because I'm not going to put in new plants until rain season comes again)lots and lots of rocks. I think one of the previous owners (must be before the tarp thing happened) may have had a rock garden / border here, because I came across many pieces of white, sparkly quartz. Yesterday I finally got fed up with the rocks and took a large bucket to the yard to collect them. There were a lot. I wonder, if I don't collect them, ever, if my backyard would come to resemble the rocky shores of Bodega Bay, where BIRDS was filmed. Since we don't have an ocean in our backyard, I can only conclude that it'll have the gloominess of the place, without the actual scenery.
It's just as well that I went rock-collecting.
20080722
20080714
Quick update
Didn't plant the bell flowers. My jasmine plant arrived in the mail! It's not the vine type commonly seen around here, but a proper Arabian tea jasmine that I remember from when I was a kid. ...and yes, it did come in the mail because that type of jasmine isn't common to this region, so I had to order it online.
Jasminum sambac "Maid of Orleans" was planted in the pot of soil originally intended for bell flowers. I can't just stick it in the ground. It's a none native, so it'll more even more fragile than the stuff that normally grows around in this climate, and the soil in my backyard will probably kill it.
All the seeds have germinated, including all eight peas that I planted. I have a mutant pea. It's about the same size as the others except it has abnormally small leaves. The plant biologist in me wants to submit to a lab for genetic screening. The rest of me is more lax and will be content to let it grow and see how it turns out.
Weeded. Again.
Fed worm bin this afternoon. All my worms have NOT died, despite of what my mom kept on telling me. The roses have started blooming again, same with the calendulas, after my round of trimming. We've an orange rose and a pink one both blooming on the same bush right now, and it's very pretty to look at.
Jasminum sambac "Maid of Orleans" was planted in the pot of soil originally intended for bell flowers. I can't just stick it in the ground. It's a none native, so it'll more even more fragile than the stuff that normally grows around in this climate, and the soil in my backyard will probably kill it.
All the seeds have germinated, including all eight peas that I planted. I have a mutant pea. It's about the same size as the others except it has abnormally small leaves. The plant biologist in me wants to submit to a lab for genetic screening. The rest of me is more lax and will be content to let it grow and see how it turns out.
Weeded. Again.
Fed worm bin this afternoon. All my worms have NOT died, despite of what my mom kept on telling me. The roses have started blooming again, same with the calendulas, after my round of trimming. We've an orange rose and a pink one both blooming on the same bush right now, and it's very pretty to look at.
20080703
The limiting factor
I think I have enough potting mix for one more pot, and so now I'm trying to decide whether to go ahead and plant basil or try the campanula (bell flower) seeds (pretty sure I traded for a double-tiered type, so it should look spectacular when it flowers).
Basil has the benefit of being edible (v. good with tomato or as pesto), but I suppose if I plant it here I'll have to lug it to SD with me, since there is no point otherwise: my parents don't eat basil.
I guess that decides that I'm sowing campanulas today.
[Edit 9:21]
Found it! This is the kind I have, the cup & saucer Canterbury bells.
Basil has the benefit of being edible (v. good with tomato or as pesto), but I suppose if I plant it here I'll have to lug it to SD with me, since there is no point otherwise: my parents don't eat basil.
I guess that decides that I'm sowing campanulas today.
[Edit 9:21]
Found it! This is the kind I have, the cup & saucer Canterbury bells.
20080701
Something else learned
The approximate time for weeds to reappear in a zone 8 garden in the summer is: one week.
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