Cooling the Chiles Amid the Wind Damage

We had some high winds last week. Some people lost power and a few trees were knocked down.  Our damage was limited to a couple of broken ribs in this old patio umbrella.

Our top producing plant in the garden, the hot chile plant, gets a little rangy this time of year.

Time to cut it back...I cut the plant to half its height.

Then, I tie up up to a stake to keep it upright.

After that, I notice a couple of good chiles on the Anaheim chile plant. Those will be helpful in this week's cooking.

That, some deadheading, mowing, and other trimming fill our compost can over the brim.

The yard looks better when done, could probably stand to use a sweeping but there's no more room in the can.

Maybe next week.

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

The Rosy World of Our Patio

While the front yard roses are just starting their first bloom of the year, the backyard blooms are done.

It's time for the first deadhead of the year.

At the top, 'Moonstone' and it's unknown yellow companion display dozens of spent flower. Chop! Off the go.

Mr. Lincoln is also looking a little peaked. Much better after a much-needed haircut.

Not to be outdone by the roses, our spicy hot red chiles are getting a little rangy. Cutting it back to the new growth with help it produce another bumper crop...we've still got hundreds of dried chiles from last year waiting to be used.

Darryl
Copyright 2014 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved.

A New Year...New Chores

Spending a little time on New Year's day doing a little gardening in the 70 degree, California sun.

The grapevine is starting to shed its leaves and has dropped enough to work on getting the critter net off of it.

First, some pruning shears to cut off the branches that have grown through the netting.

Next, some scissors to cut the net in half. Then, it's just some muscle power to pull the two halves off.

Outside of the laundry room, some of our hanging baskets are getting pretty long.  It's just a simple matter to park the green waste bin underneath it...

...and just slice it off at the right length. The cut part falls right into the bin and is ready to be hauled away.

Darryl
Copyright 2014 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

May's Gray Days...

Not a lot to do on the gardening front this weekend as clouds moved in for a spring shower.  Deadheading a few roses, mowing the lawn...not the most visual or interesting chore to talk about (although it is good exercize), sweeping, and fertilizing.

Still, this gives me more time to just enjoy the garden, look around, and take stock of where we're at.

There are a lot of things about to happen, as evidenced by the little flower buds popping up here and there. The corn stalks are shooting up flowers, it won't be long till we see some ears developing along the sides.

The grape vine is in full bloom. Not spectacular flowers, hard to even see, but it'll be much nicer when these polinated blooms mature into delicious fruit. It's looking good right now but there'll be a battle coming up on to fronts...the animals that like to eat the grapes and the fungus that'll destroy them if I don't treat at just the right time.

Chiles getting ready to bloom. No problems here, just waiting for all that flavor to be ready to pick.

Squash blossom...zucchini and summer squash will be very dandy when they come up.

A little beyond the flowering stage, our citrus is now showing tiny, little fruits.

The guava tree is showing a ton of blooms. This has been a rehabilitation project for us. We used to have it in a container and winds kept blowing it over. We moved it into the ground but haven't had any fruit for three seasons. We're crossing our fingers because we haven't seen this many buds on it for a long time either.

Lastly, on the beauty front, these little buds will open up to the very fragrant and pretty plumeria flowers soon.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Deadheads In The Garden

Roses are great and, other than an annual pruning, take little work. Look at our front yard rose garden above. Lookin' good, right? Well, can you see the little work that needs to be done?

Unfortunately, roses don't look good forever. After a week or so, the flowers are done.  Either pollinated or just played out.

Here, you can see a haggard looking Julie Newmar that has seen better days.  It's time to deadhead.

I said roses took little work...this is the little work that they take. Deadheading is just the cutting off of spent blooms.

Most advice tells you to go down until you see the first set of 5 leaflets and cut just above that. That's sound advice. If the plant would look better going down a couple of more sets of 5 leaflets, go ahead and do it.

Remember that this is not pruning, just maintaining. If all the flowers pollinate, leaving them on the plant will severely hamper bloom production so we want to get rid of them when we're done...just cut them off, no need to do deep pruning during the season.

I like to deadhead just before I mow my lawn. I just throw the cuttings on the grass and mow them into the lawn as a mulch.

All done, here's my front rose garden after it's first haircut of the season.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Calling All Deadheads...This Week's Gardening Chores

No, there's no Dead concert going on. I'm talking about cutting off spent rose blossoms. They look dead, hence the term "deadheading." 

Here's a bush perfect for this .  To deadhead, find the first set of leaves under the dead blossom with at least 5 leaflets. You can go a little lower too, if you'd like...to keep the shape desired, etc. Cut on a angle just above those leaves.

When there are multiple deadheads on a stem, I like to cut low enough so I can get all of them in one cut.

Why deadhead? First, it makes the bush look cleaner and nicer. Second, dead blossoms left on the plant tend to turn into seed pods (rose hips) that inhibit more blossoms from forming on the bush. When you deadhead, you cut off the hormones that tell the plant to shut down flower production...flowers then sprout from the junction of the leaflet and stem where you cut.

Being early September, this will be the last deadheading of the season. This is pretty much the same for most of the continental United States. Along with the final deadheading, we feed our roses one more time with fertilizer. 

Now, we'll just let the roses be for the rest of the year. No cutting, no feeding (continue to water as needed, though). Those rose hips that develop will help nourish the plant for the cold weather to come.

Other chores going on for the Cheapskate this weekend:

Mowing the lawn
Fertilizing the garden
Checking spray patterns on the sprinklers and drip emitters

Darryl
Copyright 2012 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved