I feel like I'm beating a dead horse with all this doom and gloom I've been sharing with you about the demise of some of the trees in my garden. And I'm sorry to tell you, the drama continues! The Chicago area has gotten over six inches of rain in the last four days, with more to come, revealing something I've never seen in my garden or anywhere else for that matter. You know how you know of something or someone? That's how I regarded cedar apple rust fungus (Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae). I know what it is and would much rather have book knowledge of it as opposed to the up close and personal kind I'm getting on every single juniper in my garden. There are only four, and they're all peppered with orange gelatinous bits of goo that look like some nasty little garden troll blew ...
New Raised Cedar Beds and a Hog Panel Trellis
You've probably done this too. Put something off until next year, making due with it and hoping it'll give you just one more year before you're forced to spring for a replacement. This was the case with the raised bed my husband built 12 years ago. I've grown a lot of veg in that bed and over the years we've learned how we would build it differently, and even better, next time. Only this time, I never would have guessed I'd sing the praises of a hog panel. Back then, I didn't even know what a hog panel was! With soil washing out and the boards coming apart at the screws, it was time to build new raised beds. We had to accommodate for the slope in our yard with an additional board added to the base of the new beds. At four feet wide and 16 feet long, the old bed was just too long. The ...
Verticillium Wilt: The Soilborne Disease Claiming Victim(s)
For nearly 17 years, my garden flew under the radar of disease until last year when it was obvious something was wrong with my redbud tree (Cercis canadensis). One of the main branches didn't flower or leaf out. While I remained hopeful, the reality was that I sort of knew what was happening but didn't want to admit it to myself. It was kind of like saying Beetlejuice! three times. Only this was even harder, this was real and attacking my favorite tree. I sawed out the affected branch and waited for another spring, hoping it might bounce back but it didn't. It got worse. Verticillium wilt has consumed two-thirds of the tree and right now, only the branch closest to the gate has flowers. The rest is dead. So I'm enjoying that last branch while at the same time lamenting the loss of the ...
Save Precious Topsoil When Removing Grass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CArf4kcUmiM&t=58s So here's the thing about winter. It creates plenty of time to think up ways to add more plants to the garden. But the only way to do that is to dig out more grass. SSHHH...don't tell my husband. Guys and their grass. I find it's better for marital harmony if I dig a new bed while he's at work rather than discuss it with him first and hear a litany of reasons why he needs that area. Especially since he's prone to complaining about having to cut it in the first place! The way I see it, I'm doing him a giant favor while at the same time, assuaging my addiction. It's a win-win. You have three options for grass removal: Cover the area with cardboard and allow the grass and weeds to die, which takes far longer than I care to wait. ...
What I Planted This Week: Standing Ovation Serviceberry
I should've known better than to think 70 degree days, two in a row as a matter of fact, would be here to stay. It's April! Just that brief taste was enough to get those garden muscles flexing. That and an early rose delivery for which I was completely unprepared. It seems that this pandemic has thrown everything off, including the shipment of roses that were expected to arrive in late April but found there way to my front porch three days ago. First world problems, I know. But a problem nonetheless when your beds aren't ready. So I panicked. Which is more of an audible experience for family and neighbors who can hear my tools being tossed into the wagon as I talk to myself, verbally working through what has to be done right now before the winter weather returns in two days, as it ...
How to Restore Dull, Rusted Pruners
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0jmCkPsL4A&t=5s I have an admission to make. I'm not the best tool caretaker and tend to beat them into the ground and put them away filthy until they're in such dire straits that I'm forced to finally take action. That was the situation a few weeks ago when I found my pruners buried under a bunch of stuff on my work bench rusted, dull and unwilling to bounce back after I squeezed the grip. Matter of fact, my entire work bench looks like a bomb went off. It's an inherited trait and one that drives my husband crazy. Of all my garden tools, my Felco No. 2 pruners are one of my most expensive tools as well as the most used and hardest working. Which hardly makes them deserving of such indelicate treatment. Fortunately, the damage wasn't ...
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