Garden chores...

A kinda humid and warm November day. I spent the morning taking care of my roses, which I've been neglecting the last year or so. Not a good idea. During Noel, I got a bit of blackspot which got much worse than I should have let it. I had some serious defoliation, and I decided to do a major pruning on all my roses -- cutting them back into bounds, removing all the twiggy growth (a tendency in both the Chinas and the Teas), opening up the centers for improved airflow and blooming, and some selective cane pruning to encourage some growth. They were a mess. I feel guilty. I ended up with two huge piles of cuttings. The roses look better, but they'll take a long while to recover. I ended the ordeal with a long, thorough watering and some foliar nutrient spray.

My vegetable garden has now expanded into my old butterfly garden, so I also moved a Russelia rotundifolia and a 'Forsythia Salvia' (Salvia madrensis) out of that bed into pots, in preparation for my new low-water butterfly garden in the front yard. Both of these were still in full bloom, but my garden plans wait for no plant!

Let's see... what else. I moved a 'Hamlin Orange' (on Flying Dragon rootstock). I needed a path to get to the top of my vegetable garden, and the tree was in the way. I was careful, having cut the roots about a month ago, and I don't think it even noticed.

Oh, and I finally brushed dormant (Volck) spray onto my Flordabell peach. It's small enough still to make it easier to brush than spray.

Fall seeds...

The boy & I started planting his half of the kids' garden. Our timing was off, but the boy was really excited about starting his garden, so we planted anyway and can hope for the best. We're a bit early for the 'Bright Lights' Swiss Chard and the 'Summer Glory' lettuce blend (Parks); and a bit late for the 'Miniature White' cucumbers.

For the first time, I used some shade cloth over the greens. Maybe that will allow us to sneak the plants into fall without summer's noticing. The cukes are marked forty-nine days, giving us a good chance at harvesting some before our likely frost date around the end of November.

I've been busy at work (I have to get rid of that job thing), so instead of growing my own from seed, I purchased some tomato seedlings from Nize, my friend and local organic grower. Don't get me wrong -- I was ready with a bunch started indoors. But the darn cat ate them. And the dirt they were growing in. And then vomited them everywhere. But mostly on the furniture.

Sometimes it's hard to love the cat.

Anyway, I couldn't find time to replant, and it's probably too late to start now. So, I bought some small, organic seedlings. In my own plot, I put some 'Purple Cherokee', 'Roma' and 'Better Boy' into my grow holes filled with mushroom compost.

I should quickly run down what's blooming well in my garden...

• The zinns have started to fail. Not enough sun, so fungal issues.
  
• The Torenia that's been growing for months now is also looking ratty. But the cuttings I rooted still look fine, which makes me suspect a nematode problem. I'll check when I yank them.
  
• Confederate Rose is blooming daily.
• Roses. 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' continues to bloom nonstop. 'Tuscan Sun' is a close second. My 'Natchitoches Noisette' hasn't bloomed as much this year. It's the fourth year it's been in the ground, and it may well be starting the slow decline that is the inevitable fate of all roses not grafted on 'Fortuniana'. My English 'Abraham Darby' looks great, but I'm still waiting on 'Teasing Georgia', an English Rose I bought in the spring from the (now defunct) MerryGro Farms. It's growing well, just a little reluctant to bloom. But I think I should have a nice flush in November. It's not a great time for roses here, but fall's blooms are right around the corner.
  
• My geraniums made it through the summer for the first time. They look great. Keeping them pretty dry was, I think key. And so did starting them from seed. I should probably try to remember to plant some of the seeds I got from Swallowtail next week.
• Brugs rock. And so does my Datura. I need more.
  

A garden update in pictures...

My poor, benighted corn ('Silver Queen'). The bugs this time of year are really bad, but I hope that the corn will outgrow/outlast the flea beetles and aphids...

Blue Fortune Agastache (I think)... Highly attractive to bees. Leaves smell like licorice when pinched.

August brings lots of blooms on the roses (here's 'Abram Darby', an English rose that does well here), but their quality is often disappointing. This bloom has been damaged by heavy rain and a bit of fungus.

Dahlia 'Sunshine' from Easytogrowbulbs.com. This dahlia's the first I've found that blooms here in the fall. No disease problems, and a ton of blossoms on the way. Grows under the shade of a huge 'Prosperity' rose.

New to my garden, Rudbeckia triloba.

Duranta erecta, 'Sparkling Showers.' First time it's bloomed all summer. I have a huge D. erecta 'alba' growing nearby. Nice wildlife value, and the flowers work very well in bouquets.

Isn't okra wonderful? (Annie Oakely Okra from Pinetree)

A garden update in pictures...

'Our Lady of Guadalupe'. I understand why it was the favorite rose in a survey of Central FLA rosarians... Amazing blooms, almost hybrid-tea in form, but on a vigorous and well-shaped bush. And apparently pretty disease-resistance, since I don't see a spot of black-spot.

First day back to school...

My garden, ready for fall planting.

New micro-spray sprinkler in action... love it!

Silver Queen Corn growing amongst some Mississippi Silver Crowder peas.

Veg Garden Cleanup

I spent the morning ripping out virtually everything from my veg garden, excepting some peppers, crowder peas, one cherry tomato, an eggplant ('Little Fingers'), a patch of okra, and my sweet potatoes...

Well, I know that sounds like a lot is left, but the garden looks empty. (I'll try to remember to post a picture of it tomorrow.) I laid down about one-hundred pounds of well-aged compost from my bins, a thick layer of newspaper of that compost, and then a thick layer of pine needles (the needles are more aesthetic than functional). In a patch of crowders that I started a few weeks ago, I transplanted the corn I started in jiffy-cups a couple of weeks ago. (Kind of an abbreviated version of the 'three sisters' approach to growing corn.) Next week, I'll plant out the cukes and tomatoes.

It's very dry here, but I've been irrigating and the growing conditions are otherwise perfect. My new 'Lady of Guadalupe' roses are just amazing -- the form of hybrid-teas on a floribunda bush. The cuttings I started last month are coming along well, too. Everything but the agastache rooted.