Next year, if I'm planting veggies again, I won't bother with the soaker hose and mulch. Just in the ground and that's all.
In the late summer, I noticed that the huge climbing rose that's about 10 feet from the tomatoes was forming hips very early, and the lemon tree that's just behind the tomatoes stopped making lemons. It turned out all the sprinklers were blocked. After much running around, trips to the hardware store, hassle, hassle, hassle, the watering system is working again. But the plants I guess thought it's spring again. A new flush of flowers and fruits, including tomatoes, even when the temperature begain to get low.
In November, well-meaning friends helped me by pruning the big climbing rose for the first time in its more than 10 year life. They reduced that 12-foot high, immense bush, down to 3 sticks. So they were able to remove the trellis that I had put in when I planted that rose that had since been so entwined that you can't even see it. I was quite alarmed that this huge, fragrant, carefree rose might have been pruned to death. I am relieved to see today that it's leafing out on two of the smaller branches. The 2-inch diameter ones are still bare. Now I can prune the other roses with more confidence, even though they're blooming still.
The Stephanotis is trying to take over the tree next to it so it's probably out-grown its pot. Now that I have the 10 foot trellis freed from the huge rose, I can use it to support the Stephanotis. The big question is where to put it?
Comes Spring, I will be ruthless about getting rid of so many of the potted plants that dot my garden. Looks like the miniature pomegranate bit the dust as did the very hardy night blooming jasmine and the sickly Bearss lime that was root pruned and re-potted (in a half barrel) two years ago. Oh well, good that they're plants and not children who can become ax murders due to neglectful or incompetent parenting.
2 comments:
Up here on The Hilltop, I raise a lot of heirlooms; it takes some work (they bend over the sturdiest of the commercially-available tomato-cages) - I've taken to milling scrap-oak into 1"/square stock, and building frames for them to grow in.
They don't decompose - oak is oak; if I shoot 'em with Man O' War spar-varnish, they lives forever; mostly.
Two cases of canned heirlooms are in the pantry. People love my pasta-sauce and soup; oh yes; they do....
I guess I did know that you were in California, because I've been here before and my brain just didn't connect the two blogs!
I'm downsizing my potted plants here in Georgia, too. They outgrow the pots so fast, and we have to water them twice a day in our brutal heat. All it takes is one day of missed watering and the plants are goners!
We had a beautiful heirloom rose when we lived in Colorado, inherited it with the house when it was already decades old and taking up the whole side of the house and a fence. The best smelling rose I've ever encountered even to this day. I took the pruners to it as we couldn't even walk or mow on that side of the house for the branches thorns, and it came back like a newly planted bush. I'll look forward to seeing a photo of yours when the new blooms appear!
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