Tag Archives: plants

aphids…

16 Monday Nov 2020

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I brought in one of the pots with datura in it, hoping it would last through the winter… I didn’t spray it with soap like I did for the other plants I brought in…

I have now discovered that it brought aphids into the house and they were feasting on my avocado plant…

I put the avocado in the tub and soaked it with the soapy water and covered it with a bag… after leaving it for a day I removed the bag and put the plant in a room without any plants in it… there were still lots of aphids so I cut off some leaves and nearly drowned it in the soapy water…

then I cut down the datura to the base… after soaping it up I will watch to see how it does…

fingers crossed that this will get rid of them and the avocado will be happy…

roots…

13 Friday Nov 2020

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I went around the house and counted my orchids…

there are five in the dining room, all of which are more or less in a dormant state… I went to move two of them and discovered that they had put roots into each other’s pot… how cool is that… reminded me of the amazing banyan tree in Lahaina…

there are seven in the living room, three small ones and four large ones…

right now, this is the only one blooming;-)…

the other three full size ones in the living room have buds starting;-)…

smack…

11 Wednesday Nov 2020

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I’ve collected all my egg shells since I read about using them to add nutrients to plant water…

they have to be crushed, but I was worried that if I used my food processor they might dull the blade, so decided to put them in a bag and use a wooden spoon to crush them…

the bag sits on the counter and every time I go by it I use the wooden spoon and smack it a few times…

kind of cathartic;-)…

corms…

04 Wednesday Nov 2020

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had a lovely time on the deck this afternoon with the dahlias…

I had watched a video from Dahlias by Julie on how to separate them and was looking forward to the process…

turned out it is much more difficult than I learned… not sure I ever spotted the eyes… it will be interesting to see if any of them grow when planted in the spring, lol…

in the end I put the corms that I separated into a paper bag which then went into a dark basement closet…

but it was a beautiful afternoon…

repurpose…

25 Sunday Oct 2020

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spent the afternoon reading in the living room and decided to move the avocado plant and orchids that have been in the window…

they have grown enough that they block my view of the bird feeders… I anticipate spending a lot of time watching the birds over the next six months…

I’m planning to repurpose the dining room table as a bit of a garden for the next while… not going to be having anyone over to eat there, lol…

root…

19 Monday Oct 2020

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today I spent some time in the garage working on the dahlias…

I took out each of the pots which I brought in a few days ago to thaw, and removed as much soil as I could…

it took a long time, mainly because the plants were packed tight in the pots and were root bound…

now I’ve brought in one pot which all the tubers fit into…

after watching a few videos last week, the next job, in a week or so, will be to separate the tubers into ones that have eyes and package them up for the winter…

winter-proof…

17 Saturday Oct 2020

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yesterday Hilda the Gardener came to winter-proof the garden…

she trimmed back ferns and hostas; emptied pots in front and back; brought all the dahlia pots onto the deck and cut them back; pulled weeds and trimmed the wild rose in the front flowerbed…

my job will be to remove the dahlia tubers, separate and pack them up for the winter… I’ve had to bring them in to thaw so that I can break up the soil, lol…

we are not raking up the leaves, but will have my grandson do one last mulch in the garden once the furniture is put away…

happy and sad that the garden is nearly prepared for winter…

still a few fish to catch and furniture to move…

stuck…

15 Thursday Oct 2020

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after the boys left yesterday, I brought in the plants which they had removed from the pond…

took a while, but eventually I got them all into the tank in a way that made me happy, although the tank looks very full…

not sure if they will last the winter, but it is worth a try as they are expensive and the lilies produced a number of blooms which doesn’t always happen, lol…

once the two pails of fish were in the house, I waited for a number of hours so that they could acclimate to the water temperature in the house…

when I finally poured them into the tank most of them did fine… but one of the biggest ones got stuck between a plant and rock and didn’t seem to be able to get out from the spot… I was very worried and it took about half an hour before it moved out from the tight space…

today they seem happy, but maybe a little crowded;-)…

and I enjoyed having company to talk to throughout the day;-)…

mulching…

14 Wednesday Oct 2020

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what a lovely afternoon… my son-in-law and youngest grandson came over with lunch… we had burgers and subway sandwiches in the garage…

then my son-in-law installed a new security light and camera on the garage… biggest issue was getting it to connect to the app, lol…

while he was doing that, my grandson took on mulching the leaves in the front yard… it was his first time mowing… he is getting big…

and the two of them caught eleven of the nineteen fish in the pond… it was great fun to watch them work together to capture the individual fish…

they also pulled out the plants that I am going to try to overwinter…

what a treat;-)…

fishnet…

04 Sunday Oct 2020

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went outside to see if I could get the waterfall going… it stopped for some reason early in the week so I had gone out and unplugged it… I wasn’t looking forward to the prospect…

I took a ton of leaves out of the pond and dug around the pump with my hands to clear out some of the muck… the water was cold…

got everything working, moved the milkweed, and emptied some of the pots which held dead plants… I left the fishnet in the water hoping the fish will get used to it so when we go to catch them they will be more cooperative, lol…

then I spent time cleaning out the morning glories, adding plants to a pot by the hot tub and rearranging furniture around the lower deck…

it looks lovely and will be a great place for any garden visits that might happen on nice days;-)…

by the time I was finished, I was very happy and pleased with all that had been accomplished…