Friday, September 28, 2018

Digging It

With this lovely late September weather, we have been busy in the garden again. Really I should qualify that to say Tom has been busy in the garden, and I have helped a little.

 In our front yard we had some old rhododendrons that were not contributing anything. 
 We also had these Japanese cedar balls, one of which had just up and died.
 So I got out the lopping shears  and my secateurs and chopped them down and cut them up and stuffed them into the yard waste bins.
 Meanwhile Tom was out in the back yard, building new trellises for the new raspberry and blackberry patch. Then he got all the whip like canes tied up. 

Since I cannot dig out root balls anymore, Tom then came to my rescue with his big iron pike and pried out the roots. 
 Charlie checked in and sat with me on the front steps to watch Tom work. We were keeping him company. 

 This was all done over a period of two days. Then on Thursday we went plant shopping. At Home Depot we found Skimmia bushes for a very reasonable price to replace the Japanese cedars. We found one hydrangea we were looking for at Vasseys Nursery, 30% off, and then we scored at Watson's, where we found all of the hydrangeas we were looking for, at 30% off.  These are the four varieties of Hydrangea arborescens we bought to go with the one Annabelle that was already in that location. We needed hydrangeas that do OK in the shade, and these will. 
Today Tom hauled a load of compost from our bins and then got everything planted.
 He got distracted by his lovely bed of autumn blooming hardy cyclamen. 


  The view from the front door. 
I did do some digging. I dug out a big clump of epimedium that had planted itself and was spreading. I added a heuchera we picked up cheap at Home Depot and a couple more that we had in our "nursery" that were from our yard that we had chopped off and re-rooted. 
Out in the greenhouse Tom has been tending his geranium cuttings.

And the tender plants have begun their migration from the patio to the greenhouse for the winter. 
I think that will be the last flourish for this month. October will find us busy both here and in the Whidbey garden. 
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11 comments:

  1. Granny MarigoldSeptember 28, 2018 at 6:19 PM

    There's a lot going on in your garden and greenhouse. It's looking good.

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  2. RedSeptember 28, 2018 at 7:17 PM

    That's a lot of work for one day. It's been so cold and wet here that nothing has been done in the garden.

    ReplyDelete
  3. outlawgardenerSeptember 28, 2018 at 9:38 PM

    As always, you two impress me with the amount of work you do to keep your garden looking so marvelous! Some great new additions! Kind of sad to see the plants go inside for the winter but how lucky we are to have greenhouses that make it possible to overwinter some tender things.

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  4. Henny PennySeptember 29, 2018 at 4:37 AM

    Now that is real gardening! Feels like I've had a gardening class. I am going to try using a metal rod to pry up root balls. There are several here from bushes cut down this summer. That is a great idea. Thank you. Hope I've got the muscle and strength. I love your new plants. All those Hydrangeas will be beautiful.

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  5. DJanSeptember 29, 2018 at 5:28 AM

    The weather is glorious right now, if a bit on the too warm side for me! But it cools off so nice at night. You both accomplished a great deal, as usual. :-)

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  6. TaborSeptember 29, 2018 at 5:42 AM

    I am always amazed at your energies and knowledge of this gardening thing. Clearly you both love it. My husband uses similar bags as those round canvas ones to plant potatoes.

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  7. Great Grandma LinSeptember 29, 2018 at 6:34 AM

    gardening is lots of work but beautiful results!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Jeff AmiraSeptember 29, 2018 at 9:43 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jeff AmiraSeptember 29, 2018 at 9:44 AM

    I like this blog so much
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  10. Arkansas PattiSeptember 29, 2018 at 11:30 AM

    We tend to forget to keep a garden as beautiful as yours all the work it takes. Still it has to be satisfying.

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  11. KaySeptember 30, 2018 at 5:31 PM

    I'm always so amazed at the energy and gardening expertise you both have. Your greenhouse is totally amazing too.

    ReplyDelete

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