Unfun Gardening

Now that we're in the midst of a high-pressure system for the first time in months, it has come time to start to tackle some of the not-so-pleasant tasks at Chickadee Gardens. I actually have a lot of gusto when it comes to these kinds of chores because the payoff in the end is big. Just dive in and make it happen. Somehow. Delayed gratification is a skill-set we gardeners embrace. So with shovel, loppers, secateurs and wheelbarrow in hand, FM and I dove in.
 
This is a before shot I shared last week. This is the back side of one of the Himalayan mounds (as we affectionately call these berms we created some years ago). Ceanothus gloriosus had been, well, glorious here for several years but took a downhill turn. While it might have made a recovery this summer, one thing I have learned that if it bugs me that much it's okay to remove it. And so we did.


But, first, this is the real point of the ceanothus removal. Once that ceanothus was gone Oscar would have lots of room to dry out and shine. Here he is in his "before" location. He had been pristine for years but these last two winters have taken a toll.

Here's the ceanothus on removal day. This whole bed had become problematic with grass growing in it and a sideways rosemary there center stage.

FM examines his foe

And with gusto we both cut, dug and pulled. Okay, FM did most of the heavy lifting.

The base of the largest of the two, this was from a 4" pot in 2017.

That's a lot of stickery debris.

FM bags a three-headed ceanothus. His shovel is his weapon. His loppers always at the ready. 

It already looks so much better.

Now for the Oscar relocation project. He was not that difficult to dig out, surprisingly, but the soil he was in was kind of smelly, as in really wet and odorous. The dangerous part of working with Oscar is the incredibly sharp barbs at the top of each leaf. We both have scars from agave barbs, and Oscar has a big set. So it was careful, careful.

The pink bucket is to protect a little plant while we were digging. FM is pulling out one of Oscar's pups. 

FM twisted Oscar out onto a blanket so he could be delicately lifted to his new home. FM says PU that was a stinky wet hole. No wonder Oscar looked so unhappy.

On the other side of the berm I dug a new home for our favorite agave. FM bought a pickup load of gravel just for this project. There's a lot of gravel in there, a deep hole and a good slope so hopefully Oscar will recover.

Positioning Oscar took time and care. Watch out for those barbs, FM!

Oscar in his new home. We know he's smiling!

From the back side. There's a lot of rot in there but I'm hopeful he'll dry out and I can clean him up later this summer, and then new leaves will continue to grow out of his center. The worst thing that can happen is that Oscar dies. If it happens, it happens. There's nothing we can do about it. We did save a few pups from him and I plan on potting them up so we'll still have him around so to speak. A world without Oscars is just not a great place.

Before

After

After with additional gravel. The scraggly plant at the base is an eriogonum, a native buckwheat that was swallowed up under a bunch of shrubs. I'm trying to give it a second chance as well. It looks pretty bad, but I'm willing to try until I can't stand it any longer. 

Here is the spot where he used to live, now graveled over and opened up.

Another un-fun project. Four Rosemarinus 'Huntington Carpet' did this. They had been really healthy up until this year, a second round of six months of winter finally did them in. 

By the way, FM has a new theory about seasons: Winters are now 180 days in length. Summers are 180 days. And, here lately, Spring is 2.5 days and Fall is 2.5 days. Total: 365 days. And in Leap Years, well, Spring and Fall are 3 days each. It works out. 

Anyway, out came the dead rosemarys. The soil they are in, although seriously amended with sharp gravel, was so wet it's no wonder they died.

The retaining wall is now free of brown, dead rosemary overhangs.

Before

After. You can see where they were by the moss growing on the wall.

Before, other direction

After. I am so much happier with this. The "sort of alive" ones went to the chicken yard and were planted in full sun, if they make it then great. The whole chicken yard is like that, full of bits and bobs that were potential compost but given a second chance.

One final image of our new cistern that FM hooked to the downspout on this corner of our house. But it's disconnected, you notice? That is because it's full! Yes, 2,500 gallons of water in this big jug, collected in just about a month of rain from one quarter of our roof. Now my next task is to keep track of how long this lasts me watering the garden. If it significantly reduces our summer water bill we are considering adding more, one under our deck, for example. Stay tuned.

So. Hooray for the sunshine, for the warmth (above 60 degrees!) and the rapid leap from bare twigs to leaves and hopefully flowers. The sky says summer but the garden is catching up from February, it's an odd juxtaposition. The flowers are coming, though, and they will be most welcome.

That's a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens. As always thank you so much for reading and commenting, we love hearing from you! What are your unfun garden tasks?

Comments

  1. My unfun spring garden task as I continue to rehab my garden (from delightful but neglectful previous owners) is dealing with a large open pathway that is a weed magnet. I am spent yesterday afternoon laying out landscape fabric over the muddy packed-in gravel and we'll fill it with new gravel this weekend. Every year, this area confounds me as it becomes hard as a rock but completely filled with weeds which must be hand-picked or whacked down. Not this year! I also need to get several loads of compost and wood chip mulch before the weeds take over the other beds that are slowly filling in with perennials, but that will take a little bit of time. Weeds!!! (shakes fist). However, the SUN this week is glorious, the tulips are opening up, and I swear all the trees immediately pushed out new leaves. Back to the 50s next week... but we will enjoy this moment!

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    1. Oh my Daphne, that sounds like no fun at all! Good for you for tackling it, though. Mulches are the best for hiding unpleasantries in my garden, for sure. They are a life saver. The sun IS glorious, we are so happy! Enjoy and good luck with all your garden tasks!

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  2. I'm very impressed by your 2500 gallon cistern (and more than a little envious). Kudos on tackling those tough jobs too. A word of warning about the Ceanothus: my husband and I took out a dying Ceanothus hedge a few years after we moved in but, very recently, I've seen signs in 2 spots that the Ceanothus is mounting a comeback, more than 6 years after we dug it out.

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    1. We are super happy with it so far, Kris. And thank you for the word of warning about the ceanothus - I was wondering if it might try to make a comeback. I'll keep an eye out.

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  3. Jeanne DeBenedetti Keyes10:46 AM PDT

    Looking so much better, Tamara! Yes, continuing the unfun task of removing dead and dying plants so ugly that I can't stand it! And pulling weeds. So, I am curious. Is it better to wait for rotting agave leaves to fully dry out before cutting them off? That's what I have always done but I got some advice to "cut them off before the rotting leaves infected other leaves". Thoughts?

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    1. Hooray! Thanks for saying so, Jeanne. Removing dead and dying plants - though sad - is therapeutic when it's all said and done and you have new spaces to plant in (or not). I don't know about the agave advice - I mean when they are fleshy they are oozy and seem to me to be more likely to spread pathogens. When dry it seems much cleaner? Does anyone have any solid knowledge on the subject? Jerry?

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    2. I agree it is better to cut when it is dry, but so much depends on the weather after the operation too. If you cut when it is cold and wet, you run the risk of either exposing the healthy tissues to more of the weather conditions that caused rot in the first place or you could accidentally damage the healthy tissues during the removal process. However, if you wait, you run the risk of the rot spreading while the weather remains wet and cold. It also depends on the amount of rot. If there's a lot and it's penetrated to the central core - that's a really hard situation to recover from. If it is just a blotch here and there on the outer leaves, keep an eye on it and wait until drier weather.

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    3. I knew I could count on you for a "what to do" - very thorough answer, Jerry, I appreciate it as do our readers. I'm grateful that Oscar's center is intact and growing well, it's the outer leaves mostly that are impacted.

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  4. Wow, Oscar is so much larger than I realized! He must have been one very heavy boy to move. I've been doing similar here this week. I finally tackled the front garden for a good clean up, two solid days of work and I'm still not done. Oh and I know that stench of rotting agave, yuck! Today I'm finishing the cut back of the fatsia out front and digging all the little things around it's base because this weekend Andrew is helping take the fatsia out and put in Holman, my adopted—very large and trunking—Yucca rostrata, yay! It's a big change for the front of the house. Sunshine!!!

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    1. Oscar is chonky, for sure! He was heavy, thank dog for FM's muscles.
      Hooray for sunshine and tackling your front garden! I can hear the happy in your words, Loree - I think we're both a little stunned and overwhelmed by glorious vitamin D.

      I'm so happy for you and your adopted Yucca rostrata - how cool is that! Enjoy....

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  5. That's a lot of work! I love your new cistern.

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    1. Thank you Gail! I'm hoping it makes a good impact on our summer watering. I'll keep you posted.

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  6. Anonymous8:19 AM PDT

    Good job on both those of those tasks. Although not huge fun, there is much satisfaction when accomplished. I expect Oscar to his appreciation by looking stunning by fall.
    I finished all my chores last fall. Most challenging was removing 3 sword ferns that had become too big and moving my Ryusen maple to a shadier spot. I appreciated the brawn assistance of the home owner for this. Digging up and deciding Brunera Jack Frost and Hosta I can accomplish on my own. I only grow plants that are hardy, so no winter damage to clean up. I'm left to meander in my garden with little tasks, breathing fresh air and basking in the glory of late spring.
    You didn't say if you'd be replacing the rosemary, or adding plants to accompany Oscar.
    Chavli

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    1. Thank you Chavli, I hope Oscar will be healed up significantly by fall too.

      Those sword ferns can get huge! I'm glad you are meandering and taking in the lovely spring weather, that's what gardens are for. I don't think I'll replace any of the plants because frankly, everything is getting so overgrown that they need a little breathing room. Plus I'm sure the gaps will fill in quickly.

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  7. Anonymous1:51 PM PDT

    Aren't those the rosemary you were trying to decide if you wanted to remove anyway? The border looks great without them.

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    1. They are the very same. They really declined quickly, like within a few days so out they came. It was obvious they were goners. I like them better without too.

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  8. A huge job but well worth the effort. So many people say that upping the shrub content of your garden is better as you age but I have a lot of doubts around that. Pruning and removing damaged shrubs is heavy work. Oscar will be happy with his new digs.

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    1. Thank you! You know I've been thinking about your shrub comment a lot these past few days and you have a good point. I guess it's worth carefully considering which shrubs, if any, you choose to plant. Pruning and removal is tough.

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  9. Un-fun garden jobs--I focus on remembering I'm outdoors, its a beautiful day, the birds are singing--that however un-fun the task is, it's always nice to be out there in the garden. I hope your Agave recovers rapidly. Agaves don't die, really--they renew themselves by offsetting and or bulbil-ing. Oscar will never leave you.

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    1. Ah, you are so right, thank you for the reminder, Hoover Boo. Any day in the garden is better than a great day inside. Mostly.

      And you are right again about Oscar the agave, I think he'll be with us for the long haul.

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  10. What an accomplished day! The wall looks like a different place entirely with the rosemary gone, so much better. I pulled a much smaller, more rotten agave victoriae-reginae yesterday and whooosheee! The smell! The berm looks fabulous, I'd be going out to check that out multiple times a day.

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    1. Thank you! I think it looks a lot better, too. That's too bad about your agave, and the smell. Wow...rotting plant is not a pleasant odor. Thanks about the berm, it does please me now which is a lesson to do what your gut tells you.

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  11. I've got lots of removals too. Nothing as big as yours. Unfun tasks include picking leaves and fallen needles out of bushes, cactus, and yuccas, and trying to dig weeds out of tight spaces. Weed tsunami with onset of warm weather is also unfun.

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    1. Oh yes, yes, yes...picking leaves out of plants? Yuck. I forgot about that one. It's always on my "late winter chores" list - with all the Acer macrophyllum and Quercus garryana overhead. No fun pulling leaves out of yuccas and other spiky bits.

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