Pandemic Garden Club
Jul. 9th, 2022 07:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scrubjayspeaksWelcome to the July edition of Pandemic Garden Club! Growing good things in strange times!
Anyone is welcome to comment with what they're growing right now, things they would like to try, problems they're encountering, and questions they have. Share resources, answer questions, shout encouragement.
As for myself...
This is both short and late, because I'm on mandatory overtime at work this month. And, to a lesser extent, it's been hot enough to make me reluctant to do much more than keep the plants adequately watered. Also, just a minor thing: I had covid last month, which took me out for a while. So not a lot of garden activity.
I planted a bunch of salvia seeds in with the one-gallon-size plant mum got for me to replace the last one that gave up over the winter. I didn't really expect the seeds to grow, because everything I plant in the castle garden seems to do nothing the first year and then randomly appear when I least expect it. But here they are, sprouting up all over.
After a slow and meager start, the sunflowers have made great strides. The mammoths are living up to their name, and the flower heads are finally forming. The stems are alarmingly thick. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't these trunks.
We did have a weekend of much cooler temperatures, during which mum and I planted a bunch of new shrubs in the wildflower field. I've got two lupines, a rock rose, a California buckwheat, and a low-growing sage variety. They'll all be drought tolerant and, to varying degrees, heat/sun tolerant, someday, once they're established. For now, though, they are all tiny babies who get little shade cloth tents erected over them and regular waterings.
Eventually, all these trees and shrubs will do a lot to manage the microclimate around my house. They'll give shade and reduce evaporation and provide windbreaks. First, though, I have to invest a lot of water and care to keep them growing toward that future.
Speaking of the long game, this is our lemon tree. It lives inside a cold frame (dwarf lemon tree, I should specify) because we absolutely do not have a winter climate compatible with most citrus fruits. I grew up with multiple lemon trees that had fruit pretty much perpetually, so the loss of readily available lemons is one of the great tragedies of my relocation. But look! It only took over a decade, but it finally produced its first lemon!
It all just takes time. And luck. And work. Nothing much.
Anyone is welcome to comment with what they're growing right now, things they would like to try, problems they're encountering, and questions they have. Share resources, answer questions, shout encouragement.
As for myself...
This is both short and late, because I'm on mandatory overtime at work this month. And, to a lesser extent, it's been hot enough to make me reluctant to do much more than keep the plants adequately watered. Also, just a minor thing: I had covid last month, which took me out for a while. So not a lot of garden activity.
I planted a bunch of salvia seeds in with the one-gallon-size plant mum got for me to replace the last one that gave up over the winter. I didn't really expect the seeds to grow, because everything I plant in the castle garden seems to do nothing the first year and then randomly appear when I least expect it. But here they are, sprouting up all over.
After a slow and meager start, the sunflowers have made great strides. The mammoths are living up to their name, and the flower heads are finally forming. The stems are alarmingly thick. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't these trunks.
We did have a weekend of much cooler temperatures, during which mum and I planted a bunch of new shrubs in the wildflower field. I've got two lupines, a rock rose, a California buckwheat, and a low-growing sage variety. They'll all be drought tolerant and, to varying degrees, heat/sun tolerant, someday, once they're established. For now, though, they are all tiny babies who get little shade cloth tents erected over them and regular waterings.
Eventually, all these trees and shrubs will do a lot to manage the microclimate around my house. They'll give shade and reduce evaporation and provide windbreaks. First, though, I have to invest a lot of water and care to keep them growing toward that future.
Speaking of the long game, this is our lemon tree. It lives inside a cold frame (dwarf lemon tree, I should specify) because we absolutely do not have a winter climate compatible with most citrus fruits. I grew up with multiple lemon trees that had fruit pretty much perpetually, so the loss of readily available lemons is one of the great tragedies of my relocation. But look! It only took over a decade, but it finally produced its first lemon!
It all just takes time. And luck. And work. Nothing much.
