Friday, June 9, 2023

Out with the old

I've been planning to clear out the cool season flowers in my cutting garden for some time now.  Between the advancing mildew and rust afflicting the spring bloomers and the need to make room for the dahlia tubers I've sprouted in temporary pots, this was weeks overdue but, as the spring flowers showed up very late this year, I admit I've been reluctant to let them go.  I decided to cut those that were still in good shape to give away to neighbors.

I filled an old beverage carrier with 6 glass jam jars with mixes of love-in-a-mist (Nigella papillosa), larkspur (Consolida ajacis), Minoan lace (Orlaya grandiflora), and assorted sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus)

I filled a second beverage carrier with the same flowers but used only a single species in each glass bottle

I placed both beverage carriers and 2 pots containing Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi' cuttings on the driveway curb a little before 1pm yesterday.  After lunch, I added 4 more bottles to the mix, filling empty spaces in the carriers.

 

I saw an elderly neighbor carry off both beverage carriers with everything that remained in them around 5pm.  My husband says the carriers were about half full when the neighbor asked him about them.  My husband encouraged him to take "some" and, as his daughter had just arrived for a visit, he took one carrier for her and the other one for his wife.  He came back a little later to offer his thanks.  It may not be what I intended but, if they appreciated them, it's all good.  The Aeonium cuttings didn't have many takers so I left them on the curb overnight.

Meanwhile, my cutting garden is still only partially cleared.  Although I included sweet peas in my giveaway, I haven't pulled any of those vines yet.  I've cleared half of the other two raised planters thus far.  I hope to clear the majority of the middle planter this weekend.  Space constraints may push me to remove the remaining Nigella in the first planter too.

The photo on the left shows my cutting garden on May 25th.  The photo on the right shows it yesterday after I removed half the Nigella, all of the Orlaya, and 2/3rds of the Consolida.  I also removed all the self-seeded Coriandrum sativum (cilantro/coriander) as the plants were flopping over and going to seed.

The sweet peas were the last to bloom and they've grown so tall it's hard for me to cut them.  The vines are also showing more mildew with every passing day.  Although the moist marine layer is a factor in that equation, I contributed to the problem by failing to properly thin the vines when they finally took off.

Dismantling the raised beds was complicated by the fact that I'd laid hardware cloth over them to keep the raccoons and other critters out.  I'd cut out sections of the wire mesh to accommodate Anemone bulbs, foxgloves and snapdragons but the areas I sowed seeds in were completely covered with it.  While I could pull up the Nigella and Consolida flower stalks relatively easily in most cases, getting the fat stalks of Orlaya and Coriandrum out was much more time-consuming.


In addition to needing space for the sprouted dahlia tubers, I'd like to sow zinnia and sunflowers seeds as soon as possible.  I'm guessing that I'll feel compelled to clear the planter occupied by sweet peas sooner rather than later, possibly by mid-month, even if it pains me to do so. 

Another weekend task is planting seven new plants I received by mail yesterday.  At least I have spots identified for six of the seven of them.

 

I received 3 Agastache 'Ambrosia', 3 Gazania 'Otomi' and one Fuchsia magellanica 'Hawkshead'

 

I hope you have enjoyable plans for the weekend, either in the garden or outside of it. 



All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

24 comments:

  1. Ha! For a brief moment I thought one of us is confused, thinking it's Monday :-D
    This is the most heart delighting six-pack I've ever seen, I'd walk off with it too.
    Chavli

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    1. But would you have walked up with 2 six-packs, Chavli? In his defense, the neighbor in question is over 90 years old...

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  2. I totally agree with Chablis. I would have taken the whole 6 pack. It is a great way to make a big bouquet as a gift.

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    1. Maybe next time, I'll just put out a couple of really big bottles, Linda. I knew someone might take one of the carriers as they're easy to pick up but I hadn't expected 2 of them to walk away at the same time ;)

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  3. That is so kind of you to share your flowers. I'm sure the neighbors appreciated them. :)

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  4. You are such a thoughtful neighbour Kris. Flowers will always brighten someone's day and that has to make you feel good.

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    1. I feel better giving flowers away that throwing them in our green bin, or even my own compost bin ;)

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  5. That first photo--all the joy of springtime! Any neighbor over 90 who can still get out and walk over to your house--maybe that deserves a big reward.

    Never occurred to me to thin the sweet peas here because with all the dry winters it was never necessary. This year different story--they've created a jungle.

    All the marine layer days have made Zinnia growth here painfully slow.

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    1. I'd lightly thinned my sweet pea seedlings early on but wanted to see some growth from them before I took that further; however, by the time they finally shot up, it was too late. "Jungle" is a good description for my patch too, HB. I've cut back some of the vines but they're impossible to disentangle at this point.

      I'd wondered how the Zinnia seeds would react to this weather. I'm hoping that, when I finally get seeds in the ground, it'll be warm enough to spark a quick growth spurt.

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  6. Well, as much as I would WANT them all - I think that's a bold move taking both. Still, it makes me laugh at a 90 year old man grabbing both containers full. I've done the same with a glut of ripe tomatoes. Everyone was well behaved that I saw. Is your plant arrival from Annie's? I'm looking forward to some clean-up outside today.

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    1. Yes, Annie's is my go-to source for mail order plants - and I couldn't pass up their Memorial Day sale ;)

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  7. I want to be your neighbor so bad...

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    1. If you were, I'd pass every presentable agave on to you, Loree :) I wasn't really expecting the Aeonium 'Kiwi' cuttings to have a lot of takers but then one person may have taken all those too for all I know. I really need to thin out some of my Aeonium arboreum...

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  8. What a lovely idea sharing your beauties with your neighbours. The flowers are dreamy, I'd like a painting of them. I can't get my head round sowing zinnias in June. I have had difficulties commenting on your blog lately Kris so I am going to try as Anonymous. But it's Chloris here .

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    1. Blogspot and Wordpress seem to have trouble getting along when it comes to allowing comments across forums, Chloris. I had to open a Wordpress account to ensure I could post on WP blogs and I know others have had similar problems with Blogspot. Posting anonymously and adding a name to identify you works fine. Thanks for persisting.

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  9. Your neighbors must watch the end of your driveway like hawks, lol! You're such a generous neighbor. I hope they appreciate you! Eliza

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    1. We'll see what happens when it comes time to "harvest" the Agave bulbils, although I've seen relatively few of those developing thus far. Most neighbors don't actually say anything to me about my giveaways unless they actually run into me as they're picking something up ;)

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  10. This is the sweetest and most thoughtful thing I've head of in a long time! You're making the world a tiny bit better. Thank you for that.

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  11. I was surprised to see some cilantro sprouting the other day in our shade garden under the trees near the creek. I have no idea where they came from. Maybe the compost, maybe one of the plants brought in from somewhere else. I've been tempted to plant Nigella, but haven't gotten up the courage yet. Beautiful flowers.

    I like the idea of giving away things that were produced from the garden to make the world a brighter place. About the only thing I ever have are extra plants from my propagation efforts. Those usually get given away at work, plant swap events, or traded to a local nursery. This year, I've also made some thank you cards using photos from our garden. It's been fun to see how they turn out.

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    1. I didn't sow cilantro seeds last fall and I suspect I won't need to do so this fall either. I even had some Nigella pop up in beds that I didn't sow with seeds so I'm thinking they're good self-seeders too ;)

      I wish there were plant swap events like those you have up north here, Jerry, but SoCal - or at least my part of it - doesn't have much of a gardening community.

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