Hi there!
We're definitely jumping on the clover-lawn-bandwagon. I hate watering the lawn; it feels like a waste (we don't have children nor dogs to frolic in the grass). Plus, we love to watch the bees on the clover. So we overseeded the back yard with clover!
We were going to rake the grass first, but quickly determined that would be too labor intensive for the entire backyard. My sister tried to run the compost through the spreader, but it was too clumpy. So we mixed the clover with sand and went to town. It's been a few weeks, and we do have baby clover coming up! Even after I accidentally flooded the backyard with my inability to understand the sprinkler system (next post lol!).
We also got a shade-tolerant seed mix to fill in some spots out front that got walked on a little too much when the grass was new. We did rake up the front yard, sprinkled bonemeal and raked it in, and followed that up with the grass seed. It's also come up and is about an inch tall. We're learning!
We did miss the window for fertilizing our lawn (between building the arbor and family things), so our grass is a little sickly looking. I figure we'll give it some compost with the seed in the fall before winter hits. I procured fertilizer for next spring so we don't have any excuse to not do the thing.
I am truly excited for the clover. We do have some patches that came up volunteer-like in the beginning of spring, and they're happy little islands of verdant green and white and purple. I'm just imaging a natural stone pathway with fluffy clover on either side, oh so cute!
Peace from North Idaho,
MrsRepairTech
Hi there!
Things are blooming and growing! We've been enjoying summer immensely despite the smoke.
We've been getting the occasional Sun Sugar tomato, and the strawberries. So yummy!
My sister has been taking a variety of rose photos; it's hard to pick just a few to share.
The volunteer sunflowers are starting to make blooms! This one is by the compost pile, presumably from the bird feeder.
My sister is experimenting with propagating succulents and a thimble cactus. Apparently you just... set them on soil??
We planted real bona fide morning glory, and it is glorious in the mornings. ;)
The fuchsia and blazing star bidens just keep blooming out front. If you dead-head it, it will bloom!
And lastly, here's a couple photos from my sister relaxing in the back yard. Truly blissful! And you can see all the clover seed coming up in the second one. ;)
Peace from North Idaho,
Mrs.RepairTech
Hi there!
Our roses have been their own drama saga this year. This is my first time planting them, so I figured we'd be in for an adventure.
First, there was the sprinkler system.
Our roses were getting doused with the overhead sprinkler and they very much did not enjoy that. The first hurdle was mildew. We tried just wiping the leaves with a soap and baking soda. That helped but didn't remove it completely, so we contrived to turn off the back section of the sprinklers. That was a whole 'nother struggle snuggle, but I think we've figured it out.
Second, there's the lawn slope.
Which the roses are directly in the path of, so they were getting too much water, sitting in almost a mud. My sister dug down a bit and mixed in more compost to help with the clay content and water filtration. Between that and adjusting the sprinklers, I think we have figured out the water problems.
Third, there are the aphids.
It was apparent pretty quickly after planting that something was eating the roses, and upon further inspection, that something was aphids.
Strong lemon balm tea did not work. We'd had success with it when gardening with our mom as kiddos, but these aphids were too determined for such paltry parlor tricks.
We released a ton of ladybugs (last post), and while there are no longer aphids on the peach tree or potted plants, the roses continued to be afflicted.
Then, we dug up the grass around the roses and around the arbor. We had always intended to replace it with flagstone and groundcover. At this point, it had just become the home for the aphids.
Sadly, when aphids were STILL making it over to the roses, and all the blooms had dropped their petals, we used bug spray. We really really didn't want to use an insecticide because of the honey bees. I'm glad we could wait until the flowers were done before using it. We're not dead-heading the roses, so I was hoping they would be done blooming.
Within a week of spraying, the west rose had exploded in new growth. The east rose is making a couple more buds, so it doesn't have as much new growth. It needs to get with the program!
Here's to making roots and leaves!
Peace from North Idaho,
Mrs.RepairTech
Hi there!
I'm loving the deepest color of the Joseph's Coat blooms:
We are building our own eco-system in our new backyard. The aphids were going a little strong, so we opted to introduce ladybugs procured from Northland Nursery. We figured they would help with the aphids now, and be good food for when our praying mantises, which must have hatched sometime mid-June!
This year's first baby we've spotted:
A photo of the Momma mantis taken last fall:
She laid her ootheca under that wooden bench.
So, with our $10 container of 500 ladybugs in hand, we brought all the afflicted plants to the garden and put them in a circle around a couple dishes of shallow water. We've decided the releasing of the ladybugs will be an annual ritual.
With the packaging unsealed, and the majority of the bugs dumped upon the plants, I then learned my sister really does not like bugs. Even ladybugs, which I personally don't think count as bugs. So I got my turn to gently knock them off the mesh into the plants. It was so cool! I had lady bugs crawling up my arms and over my hands. They were so cute!!
We checked up on them the next morning, and several had migrated to the peach tree, as well.
They definitely made a good dent in the aphid population, alleviating the chewing on the peach tree and herbs.
But the roses needed a little more work. We'll continue the aphid saga in another post. LOL
Peace from North Idaho,
MrsRepairTech
Hey there!
Obligatory roses update! Camy got some great pictures right after the rain this week:
Plants tend to just "come home" with us. A pretty pink Gerber daisy was the first... in February when there was still snow on the ground. It was happy to grow in the window sill as long as we gave it lots and lots of water. It started budding again soon after we cut our first flowers.
It looks like the only picture we got of any of its flowers is this one, even though we did get quite a few from it.
By April, it was in a larger pot, and definitely outgrew that quickly.
My sister acclimated it to outside with the rest of the plants, in hopes of repotting it soon. By the time she was repotting it in May, it was very root bound.
Unfortunately, we didn't realize the dollar store pot didn't have any holes for drainage... until the daisy started to change color from being water logged. When my sister took a drill to the bottom of the pot, she could smell the root rot.
It's hanging on by a thread, but she doesn't have much hope for it. The last round of blooms died when they were just a couple inches tall. Death by cheap container?
Fast forward a couple weeks... it definitely died. Next time, we'll plant it in a flower bed. :)
Peace from North Idaho,
MrsRepairTech
