Plum Tree Problems
I'm having a bit of an issue with my Italian Plum tree. It's over 30 years old - according to neighbors and by the looks of it - so it's probably to be expected to have problems. Since moving into this house in 2004 the tree has given us a couple of good crops for plum jam and plum chutney.

With this years cool wet spring the bark has begun to split, which is a common woe for thin-barked trees, especially fruit trees. I could work with to save it but it really is on its last legs, so to speak. Yesterday I discovered several dozen leaves have been infested with aphids. The leaves are curled and there is the tale-tell stickiness all over them. I saturated the affected leaves and surrounding leaves with soapy water hoping to slow them down but today they are still there.

Relocating Salvia

Salvia Coral Nymph

This Salvia Coral Nymph was sitting in front of the house this morning. I planted it at the same time I planted four others - shown below - in one of the plots in the backyard. The ones in the backyard appear to be much happier so I decided to re-unite them. Hopefully they will all get along nicely.

 This Salvia is an annual but is said to reseed readily, I'm hoping this is the case because these are a beautiful shade of pink. They are sited in front of the above mentioned Plum tree and will hopefully get large enough to cover the upcoming stumps that will remain after I cut that Plum tree down.

Primrose Opening Up

The Evening Primrose Fireworks Oenothera fruticosa glauca has finally opened up, about two weeks behind schedule. Within a week these red-edged beauties will be covered with bright yellow flowers.


Well, that's all the updating I have for now. I'm going to sow some more Zinnias and Sunflowers to help fill in some empty spots and I think the container plants need a drink of water.

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Minimal leaf damage . . . not much to worry about

Searched the garden with a flashlight before sun came up this morning to try to learn what is eating my plant leaves. Did not find any slugs or snails, which was my first guess. Did find a few sow bugs aka pillbugs. Not really very many to concern myself over. Could it be these that are eating my plant leaves? Upon further investigate via the internet I learned: ‘sow bugs are omnivores or scavengers feeding on dead or decaying plants or animals. Some may eat live plants.’ I think it’s more likely they lust after the decomposing shredded bark I use for mulch.

Besides, sow bugs are a food source for other animals. So, for now, I’m ruling these guys out as the cause of my loss. How do you like the cool 'scientific' touch of this sketch? Looks like something straight out of my high school biology class.

The leaves in question are pepper – only one type, the other two are untouched

Pepper Golden Bell leaf damage

eggplant – I have only one and it’s ion the same bed as the pepper with the same kind of damage

Eggplant Ichiban leaf damage

my only hydrangea – oh no not my only hydrangea!

Hydrangea Annabelle

Curiously, only one of the Hosta has holes and only a couple – slugs absolutely adore Hosta plants and would tend to claim the whole plant as theirs, so again, I don’t think it’s slugs.

Hosta Piedmont Gold leaf damage

A few weeks ago, after much, way too much, rain for this part of the country, I found a great many slugs and only 3 or 4 snails, which I am pretty sure the large population of birds that visit my feeders daily quickly dispatched. With slugs and snails you can expect to find slime trails on the plants and the surrounding area leading up to the smorgasbord. I haven’t found any slime trails at all. So, I think I can rule out slugs. I will try the old ‘beer in a cup’ trick just to see if any are still out there. Just bury the container so the top is level with the ground and they will fall in and blissfully drown themselves in beer. I love this idea because I get to drink the 'excess' beer.

Another clue in determining what is eating the leaves is where on the plant the damage is. The holes are not on the edge, that pretty much rules out most caterpillars, but not all. The holes are irregular shaped – not perfectly round - and the majority of ‘holes’ are actually rips or tears. This is the most puzzling feature of all.

I did get an idea from one website – Yates - that suggested the ripping damage might be caused by birds. Makes the best sense so far. The aforementioned large population of birds could be searching for bugs and ripping my leaves as they pick the little morsels off the plants. I do see several birds wandering through my beds pecking about here and there. Could it be that I will need to surround the plants with netting to keep them out?

Boy, this gardening thing could raise my ‘cost of growing my own’ just a little more. I may as well grow my plants inside a building. Just kidding. The damage is rather minimal so no extreme measures will be needed, yet. I just want the mystery solved and I’m pretty sure that birds are probably the cause.

It is odd though that the leaf damage is on a Golden Bell Pepper plant and not on the Purple Beauty Pepper or the Anaheim. Hmmm, maybe these birds are picky eaters after all.

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Morning rounds

 The grass is wet every morning. This is really good for the plants coming alive for the summer months. 

Squash Pumpkin Cantaloupe

Carrots

Radish yellow and purple

The hanging planters and containers sitting around outside need a little more than this morning refreshment to stay alive. I sprinkle them well with additional water. Soil in the clay pots is typically dry to the touch while the plastic pots are damp. They still need a deep soaking everyday.

Buddleia Black Knight

The Buddleia (Butterfly Bush) needs to have its older branches cut back more than the spring trimming I gave them - since I killed a couple of these a few years ago by following advice that said cut them all the way to the ground I'm a little scared to cut too much until after they are really coming back big. It looks like it safe to cut the rest of it back.

Pepper Golden Bell

The pepper plants are still being chewed on. The Golden Bell appears to be the favorite of whatever is eating them. It would seem a night time visit is needed to find out what is eating these. I found several holes that were not there yesterday. With the cooler than normal weather and all the rain my suspicion is high that these are the ear marks of slug and snail activity. But, I need to know for certain who the culprits are.

Raised bed sentries

Every morning when I look out on the row of raised beds and see those newly built trellises I think of sentries watching over the garden. They all seem foreboding and it is hard to imagine that they will soon be covered with vegetative growth and then those great sentries will be too small.

And now, on with the days schedule of weeding, trimming, and propagating.

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Going Vertical

Bean teepee

I built this teepee type trellis back 2007 for an 'extra' cherry tomato plant I had at the time and have since used it for green beans. Works much better for beans than tomatoes.

It's just over six feet tall and fits perfectly inside the garden over -winter.

It's made of redwood and cedar which are supposed to be able to take the elements but since I have room in the shed for it and it's rather light weight I decided to bring it indoors each year.

I just recently got the urge to build a couple other type trellises and today I finally got around to it.

Tomato cage made of redwood and pine

Here's a tomato cage for the Cherokee Purple. It looks pretty big but the tomato plant will fill this in pretty quickly once it gets going. Normally I only use redwood or cedar but I had some extra pine furring strips so they got the call. They can replaced in a couple of years with more resilient cedar or redwood.

Squash Ladder

I know this isn't a very good photo of this but you can get the general idea. It stands six feet tall. I've never tried one of these but have read some pretty good reviews. There are a couple of pepper plants in this bed two and I'm a little worried they might get trampled over because squash is pretty aggressive and doesn't play well with others.I have a back up plan though if the peppers need to be moved. I rather like the idea of squeezing as much as possible into the space I have but this may be a bit too much. Only time will tell.

This three panel trellis 'fence' was install in 2009 to cover up a chain link fence that was installed to hide the compost pile. The panels are tied to the chain link by wire, the right side is attached to a chain link fence and the left side is tied to a metal pole I anchored in the ground with cement. Well, the wind pretty much has its way with this whole thing because I did not do a very good job of anchoring that pole.

So, I got to thinking that instead of digging up the pole and anchoring it properly I'll just add another pole. This time a 4x4 redwood post was used and I did a much better job of anchoring it. I placed it just far enough from the metal pole to insert another more narrow lattice piece between the two and it is holding that whole fence through some very strong winds we have had of late.

Adding hardscape items sure changes the complexion of the garden. Next, I'm thinking about adding a water feature of some sort. We have bunches of birds visit us everyday and I want a better means of getting fresh water to them other than me hauling it out to them every morning.

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Making More of What I Have

It's been awhile since I've written anything down, at least here on the blog. I have a thick spiral notebook I carry around with me that acts as a sort of 'memory annex'. Believe me I need something to help me remember my thoughts and what I did today.

Anyway, lately I've gotten the bug on to learn as much about propagation as I can. The garden is going on six years old now, at least the first several beds are, and those plants that have survived my learning process are really doing well. So, I decided to see if I can make more of them.

Sedum - aka Stonecrop - seemed the obvious choice to start since they can root in just about anything. I have some Sedum 'Autumn Joy', 'Improved Golden', and 'Red Carpet' that have all been wonderful performers that I can always find room for more - even if I have to dig new beds.

Autumn Joy is full bloom is a rather large plant for Sedum

Autumn Joy is one of my favorite Sedum, the 'blossoms' are creamy ivory at first and then slowly goes through a steady progression of reds - pink, cherry, rose, russet, copper and finally dark mahogany.

This one is six years old and stands 12-15" tall.

They say these get floppy and need to be pinched at the top but I haven't had any problem with it, except it doesn't multiply fast enough for me.



Sedum 'Red Carpet' has quickly become a mainstay in my garden. It, like the 'Autumn Joy' doesn't spread very fast and for the life of me I cannot understand it being referred to as a ground cover, but it is. I love the deep, dark red of this plant. This one is three years old last month and it has spread out from 4" across to about 18". Not really fast for ground cover status but I do like it 'non-aggressive' nature.

Sedum 'Golden Improved' is one of the most beautiful sedums I know. Bees love this plant so much that they completely ignore all other plants around it. The plant looks like it is vibrating from the number of bees that this plant attracts.

This one blooms in Spring while other sedum typically bloom in Fall. Its masses of yellow star-shaped flowers and rich green scalloped leaves make it one of my all-around favorite plants. And it is drought tolerant.

And here are the cuttings. I snipped each branch about 4-6" long, stripped off a couple of leaves from the bottom - this is where the new roots will emerge - firmed them in a little into potting soil and put the whole box in a shady area. Make sure they stay moist and new roots should appear in about 3 weeks. I'll keep them where they are until a cloudy day and transplant them into the new homes.

The Red Carpet already had roots on them when I snipped the stems.

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