Sunday's are usually my gardening day. There is not a lot to do in the summers because most of my plants are not growing enough to need any sort of trimming and deadheading (removing the spent flowers)is not necessary since my plants are also not flowering. In addition, I have not been able to get out there the last two weeks because of the heat and the monsoons. Our poor front yard is quite a mess with a giant blanket of pine needles on the ground! I refused to rake the yard after the first big storm a couple weeks back knowing that I'd have to redo in a few days when the next one came. We even had hail during that big one!
Now "it's HOT" is my excuse. And it is!! This is my first summer doing any sort of gardening and all of my plants were planted in the spring. It is a struggle trying to make sure they survive the summer. An unintended consequence of wanting a great deal of diversity in plants is that they all need different levels of water but they are all on the same drip line. This weekend I need to sit down and find out how much water they each need and then change the emitters to match. Then, I need to figure out a better watering system so the plants that need water daily get it while the plants that don't... don't!
Anyways, Rachael was kind enough and enthusiastic enough to help me one morning while she was here. She helped me rake and bag the pine needles from the lawn and the garden areas. She also helped me spray my roses and hibiscus plants. These need weekly showers of water to knock off any pests like i.e. the spider mites that I thought killed my potted hibiscus. Every single leaf fell off of the bush-- I cut into the bark and verified that it was green, and so alive, and then transplanted it into the grown. It is now fully green again (though the monsoon tore a lot of the leaves) and doing great (so long as I can keep it alive through the heat!).
Much thanks to Rachael for helping me and keeping me company while I worked outside.
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