Gorgeous Gaia! I got a load of gardening to do within a relatively small window of opportunity. As I can not be in the garden and the kitchen simultaneously, our pal, the freezer, offered up homemade chicken pot pie which we gladly devoured. My recipe is here.
The first batch of sowing is now in the incubator: four varieties of tomatoes and two of peppers.
Pruning continues at a brisk pace.
After pruning the plum and peach tree, both of which I keep to a manageable height of about seven feet, I sprayed a diluted, super-fine horticultural oil to combat the mites that love both trees. A repeat treatment will most likely be needed once the young leaves appear. Windless days are best for such treatment or else you will receive an unwanted facial. Ivy also appreciates a thorough clipping back.
While trimming the robust aucuba hedge, I found some large, cherry-like berries. Since this species is dioecious, that is, there are separate male and female plants, it's official that both sexes are present in our garden. I had given up hope because there has been no fruiting since our arrival here five years ago.
There are a few bearded irises here and there, a harbinger of the profusion of blue and purple blooms expected at the end of April which is around when Dirac the kitten will be allowed into the garden.
Dirac the kitten to The Calm One: I did not know we have a gardener!
Dirac: Oh, it is just my other mother, the large, glabrous one, dashing about and wielding her secateurs all over the place.
À la prochaine!
RELATED POSTS
Indoors sowing using heat
Basics of pruning, especially the importance of apical dominance
The first batch of sowing is now in the incubator: four varieties of tomatoes and two of peppers.
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| Recycled food trays and containers! |
Pruning continues at a brisk pace.
 |
| The Calm One did some major Box Elder pruning |
After pruning the plum and peach tree, both of which I keep to a manageable height of about seven feet, I sprayed a diluted, super-fine horticultural oil to combat the mites that love both trees. A repeat treatment will most likely be needed once the young leaves appear. Windless days are best for such treatment or else you will receive an unwanted facial. Ivy also appreciates a thorough clipping back.
 |
| If I can, I leave some berries like those on the lower left for the birds |
While trimming the robust aucuba hedge, I found some large, cherry-like berries. Since this species is dioecious, that is, there are separate male and female plants, it's official that both sexes are present in our garden. I had given up hope because there has been no fruiting since our arrival here five years ago.
There are a few bearded irises here and there, a harbinger of the profusion of blue and purple blooms expected at the end of April which is around when Dirac the kitten will be allowed into the garden.
Dirac the kitten to The Calm One: I did not know we have a gardener!
Dirac: Oh, it is just my other mother, the large, glabrous one, dashing about and wielding her secateurs all over the place.
À la prochaine!
RELATED POSTS
Indoors sowing using heat
Basics of pruning, especially the importance of apical dominance