Fall tasks

I continue to grind away at the fall tasks. Raking and mowing even just a fraction of my yard made me very weary today. It would be more pleasant if it were a little warmer (high around 50 today) and I wasn't subjected to the incessant droning of leafblowers on properties in a who-knows-how-many-blocks radius. Seriously, it's all day long, and it gets to me. Fall is the worst, but it starts around March and doesn't stop till December or so. There was a vicious debate about leafblowers on the neighborhood website a couple weeks ago. People are crazy and cruel on both sides.

I noticed this morning that the anenome in front had white fluff on its stems, and on looking closer, I found the fluff to be covered in tiny delightful seeds. It would be lovely if this plant self-sows!

In addition to some rakin' and mowin' today, I pulled out some dead annuals (we had our first frost last week), and scattered some grass seed in a bald patch by the front door (same spot I planted grass a couple years ago - why did it die this summer?). And I pulled up one of my honey locust transplants in the pots - they looked dead, and sure enough it had not formed roots. Whatevs. Guess it would need some rooting medium were I to try this again. I did read that locusts are very aggressive spreaders, so it probably wouldn't need too much chemical encouragement.

White Flower Farm responded very promptly to my email about the moldy bulb (see last post), and noted that they were sold out of allium so could not offer a replacement, so they refunded me for the allium packet of 3, which I thought was very accommodating of them.

I took all my seeds from the past two years that I never planted - about 7 or so packs - and scattered those in the dirt between the artemesia and the phlox in the front. Don't have much optimism they'll come up in spring, but what do I have to lose? The packets included hot peppers, lavender, basil, portulaca, and parsley, that I remember. I was inspired by this missive from Pinetree Garden Seeds:

Fall is a great time to get a head start on annual and perennial flowers for the next gardening season. Direct sowing flower seeds in the fall can be beneficial to the busy spring gardener; we tend to have more time, weeds are not as much of a nuisance, no need to start them indoors under lights, and the flowers bloom earlier on more robust plants. Here are a few flowers that are best for fall sowing and these ones will often continue self-sowing each season.Sow the seeds when the ground is near frozen, after a killing frost, but before it snows.This keeps them from germinating so they can lay dormant until spring.
Choose a site and prepare soil 1-3 weeks before sowing seeds. Weed, cultivate shallowly and add compost.

​Mixing the seeds with sand can help with a more even distribution or simply sprinkle the seeds from the package over the ground. Water in the seeds or wait until rain is the forecast. Do not forgot to mark your spots so in the spring you can thin them out if needed and keep the weeds down.

Seedlings and grass seed

On Mother's Day, instead of giving myself poison ivy as I did last year, I cleared out the plot in the back that I redesigned in my garden design class. It was hard work, since it seems never to have been improved by whatever stupid person last planted things there, and so no wonder the topiary was the only thing left standing. Anyway, I hauled out a ton of the clay soil and used it to fill patches in the lawn caused by years-ago tree removal and the (huge) "divets" caused by taking down the tree recently, then I put grass seed in those spots.

My little helper.  Naturally the hose did not reach as far as all my grass spots, so we're using the watering can, like people with nothing better to do.

The grass seed spots. Most are at the top of the hill.

I also finally got around to planting the poor trapped seedlings in my mini-greenhouses. They were in there soooooo long. Heaven only knows whether they will make it in their new homes, plus what kind of crazy person creates a box of basil, marigold, and poppies? The kind who is exhausted from hauling clay around her yard, that's what kind. Whatever. I can transplant them later if any of them even make it.

Poppies and alyssum.

Basil, marigolds, and poppies....why? Why not.

Are my lavender seeds still in the fridge? Of course they are. Get over it.

Spring! Ahhhhhh.

I took this picture to illustrate the purple finch sitting on the wire - we had a ton of them this year. But it is also a nice shot of the back yard. The tree on the right, in back, is the one the pileated woodpecker enjoyed.

Why do we have these yellow patches in the grass? Concerning.

This shows where the daffodils are.

And speaking of daffodils, we visited Reeves-Reed Arboretum to see the daffodils in the "bowl" - perhaps we were there a week or two early (on April 10) or late, but it wasn't as spectacular as hoped. And it was so COLD!!

This is a lovely sampling of the three types of daffodils I planted last fall. From left to right, we have Narcissus Erlicheer, which was pretty but too small and whitish to be appreciated from a distance, and the smell was super intense and off-putting and made me sneeze; Narcissus Pink Wonder, which just wasn't pink enough; and Narcissus Rijnveld's Early Sensation, which was marvelous and, indeed, an early sensation.

Blooms in waiting, plus garden design class

Some of my lovely crocuses are juuuuust about to bloom! Mostly yellow in this batch:

Some of the daffodils have blooms readying themselves, too - I think the Rijnveld's Early Sensation is living up to its name.

And the first of the Spanish bluebells is peeking up leaves:

This shows the bluebell plant (up against the wall) in context, with the Pink Wonder daffodils poking up in the foreground. And a dandelion, which must die.

Last week having been so uncharacteristically warm, the magnolia tree is on the verge of massive bloom. It has cooled back down this week, though.

And in my mini-greenhouses, the alyssum has started to germinate.

I am two weeks into a garden design course at the South Orange Maplewood Adult School. It turns out to be taught by the sister of my friend Matthijs, whose daughter goes to preschool with Emma. I would say "small world," but it's not as if we didn't know that about SOMA.

Anyway I have learned all sorts of interesting things, though it has not translated yet into a design for the sad patch on our back patio that I have plans to redo.

Some of the things I've learned:

• Plants with variegated leaves are nice for reflecting moonlight if you'll be enjoying a garden after dark
• Plant grape hyacinths with daffodils because they have shoots in fall that let you know where you've already planted daffodils - plus they're cheap
• We can plant plants hardy to Zone 7A or any lower number
• This area has quite acidic soil. And trees increase the acidity in soil - which is why grass doesn't grow well under them, and moss takes over. You can decrease the acidity with lime.
• Lavender likes well-drained, rocky, limey (not acidic) soil - not clay! (explains why the plants in front did badly)
• Boxwoods don't like mulch
• Epsom salts contain phosporus, which promotes blooms, eg. for hydrangea
• If you want to get moss to grow on something (e.g. stones), mix some moss with yogurt and water in a blender to form a thin paste, then paint it on!
• Lawns should receive about 1" of water per week - if you're watering, give it to them one long (eg. 1.5 hour) dose
• Master Gardeners hotline: 973-228-2210
• Soil tests are especially important for places where you're growing edible plants, to test for contaminants.
• There are a couple nearby gardens that I'd like to visit: Durand-Hedden garden in Maplewood, and Greenwood Gardens in Short Hills

Helen (the teacher) recommended a book listing all plants - National Gardens (there is also a Northeast version), by Sunset publishers.