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Garden journal
Mar. 22nd, 2010 08:22 amPhoto, right: the 'gervase' hippeastrum I've been raving about -- just as beautifully raspberry-colored as the first one I saw. And it has a second flower stalk! And perhaps if I treat it right it will send up some pups!
Yesterday was a marvelous blue-sky day, so we decided to see if we could find Longwood Gardens. We'd just sent in a year's membership on Thursday and were doubtful we'd be in the system yet, but we found it and they had us in the system! So we explored acres and acres and acres of conservatory. Like the Flower Show only with better light and fewer people at 10:00 on a Sunday morning. By the time we left the hordes were arriving, so now we know when to go. I did spend a minute sleuthing out the shoppe -- which will sell you everything from $$$$ orchids, wardian cases and suchlike gimcrackery to a $2.75 packet of french thyme seeds from Renee Shepherd.
On the way down to Longwood, we noticed a nursery ("Terrain at Styer") that has been a Flower Show exhibitor, so we stopped on the way back to pick up the soil amendments we needed for the back courtyard. They have their very own blend of organic potting mixture made right there in Chester County from various ingredients. Not surprisingly, given that Kennett Square is/was the mushroom growing capital of the country, they also sold spent mushroom growing medium (that would be well-rotted cow manure and straw) as compost.
I made unhappy faces when we got home so we agreed that we'd at least start breaking up the concrete. Not surprisingly, once we got rolling we were happy to keep it up. I mostly did bits around the edges, although I did swing the sledge for two bouts while Roy caught his breath. We dug past the brick and coal-clinkers rubble to the icky clay that's the real soil here, and got a hold about a foot deeper than we needed.
We mixed the icky clay with some "topsoil" we had -- a sort of gallimaufry of broken crockery, potting medium and rotted houseplants that I'd been building up in the corner -- and with some of the fancy Chester County stuff -- watered it in nicely, dropped in the maple tree and called it a day. That side of the yard looks a little empty without the motley crew of mismatched pots and milk crates lined with contractor bags that had previously passed for a garden border.
The old aquarium stand has moved up to our sitting area behind the house so that my expanding collection of hippeastrum can sit in the shade but out of the wet. The plants will get less than an hour of early day sun there, not enough to fry them, and strong shade including some light reflected from another building. I think/hope they'll do better there.
Yesterday was a marvelous blue-sky day, so we decided to see if we could find Longwood Gardens. We'd just sent in a year's membership on Thursday and were doubtful we'd be in the system yet, but we found it and they had us in the system! So we explored acres and acres and acres of conservatory. Like the Flower Show only with better light and fewer people at 10:00 on a Sunday morning. By the time we left the hordes were arriving, so now we know when to go. I did spend a minute sleuthing out the shoppe -- which will sell you everything from $$$$ orchids, wardian cases and suchlike gimcrackery to a $2.75 packet of french thyme seeds from Renee Shepherd.
On the way down to Longwood, we noticed a nursery ("Terrain at Styer") that has been a Flower Show exhibitor, so we stopped on the way back to pick up the soil amendments we needed for the back courtyard. They have their very own blend of organic potting mixture made right there in Chester County from various ingredients. Not surprisingly, given that Kennett Square is/was the mushroom growing capital of the country, they also sold spent mushroom growing medium (that would be well-rotted cow manure and straw) as compost.
I made unhappy faces when we got home so we agreed that we'd at least start breaking up the concrete. Not surprisingly, once we got rolling we were happy to keep it up. I mostly did bits around the edges, although I did swing the sledge for two bouts while Roy caught his breath. We dug past the brick and coal-clinkers rubble to the icky clay that's the real soil here, and got a hold about a foot deeper than we needed.
We mixed the icky clay with some "topsoil" we had -- a sort of gallimaufry of broken crockery, potting medium and rotted houseplants that I'd been building up in the corner -- and with some of the fancy Chester County stuff -- watered it in nicely, dropped in the maple tree and called it a day. That side of the yard looks a little empty without the motley crew of mismatched pots and milk crates lined with contractor bags that had previously passed for a garden border.
The old aquarium stand has moved up to our sitting area behind the house so that my expanding collection of hippeastrum can sit in the shade but out of the wet. The plants will get less than an hour of early day sun there, not enough to fry them, and strong shade including some light reflected from another building. I think/hope they'll do better there.
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