Triumphs and Tribulations

I decided to take an inventory of what has or is going well in my garden, and what is problematic:

TRIUMPH: I have succeeded in luring in birds to my garden. I have shrikes, grackles, doves and a woodpecker (seen in the bottom picture, third branch up on the right). I'm not sure what the bird is below. It doesn't appear to be the shrike that regularly visits now.








TRIUMPH: I saw my first snake in the yard today. I would like to have a black snake or some sort of garden snake around here to help control the spiders and bugs.


TRIBULATION: I got a splinter under my nail while gardening, and it will probably be there for awhile. There's no way to get it out.


TRIUMPH: I took another glance behind the shed today (which is pictured in the header of this blog), and found that at some point in the last month the wind got strong enough to knock over the work table back there.


That's not what's the "triumph". What's good about that is that it allowed me to get a better view of the area back there. I found out that there appears to be a sink or washtub back there, although I can't be certain whether it is connected to water. I can see a hose in the image as well, and it almost seems it may be connected to the tub?


Also I could see that there is a wooden "bin" built on to the side of the shed, I think. I thought I saw something like that the other day, when looking at the side of the shed from the front. (That's difficult to see, as there is a huge bougainvillea and banana trees blocking access to the right side of the shed.) So I don't know whether there may be anything in that "bin".

Then I also noticed that there is a ladder hooked onto the back of the shed.


Good to know!

TRIUMPH: I may have finally found an ant bait that works on the ghost ants that have overtaken the house!


I've tried numerous baits, and haven't gotten them to take any of them. They seem to like this one!


TRIUMPH: I finally have a shovel and a rake. The rake is awesome!



TRIBULATION: Anytime that I rake the pile of leaves by the deck, I have a bunch of what look to be roaches that go scampering for cover. It freaks me out everytime!


TRIUMPH: I'm excited to see that so far the seeds I'm trying to start are hanging in there. I'm hoping that I found a good spot for them, and the sprouts will get enough light, but it will be cool enough to prevent them from drying out quickly.



TRIUMPH: The weeding is slowly coming along.



TRIUMPH: My hibiscus is looking a little better today after I repotted it. I potted it the other day in the Timberline soil, and it began to wilt and lost the bud that was preparing to bloom. Today it has started to firm up again after I repotted it yesterday in Jungle Growth soil.



TRIUMPH: My bougainvillea continues to get more and more gorgeous.



TRIUMPH: The Angel's Trumpet has gorgeous blooms, despite the fact that it has hardly any leaves. I guess it puts all of its energy into its blooms.



TRIBULATION: My strawberry plant has never thrived, but has merely "survived". It's probably a year or more old at this point.



TRIUMPH: My orange tree continues to grow. I can't believe I've kept it alive in a pot for all of these years. I historically haven't been real successful with plants, because they dry out so quickly, so this one beat the odds. (Since I've lived in the house, I've been much more successful with the potted plants, since I have a hose now.)


TRIUMPH: My tomato plant is doing well, and the fruit is continuing to grow.


TRIBULATION: My aloe is pitiful. I don't know why. Maybe because it's rootbound? Or because it gets too little water? It's a very bland yellow instead of green.



TRIBULATION: My ficus seedling is not doing well. Perhaps I should have gotten some rooting powder before trying to transplant it from the ground to a pot? Or perhaps the shock of having initially planted it into heavy soil instead of starter mix?



TRIUMPH: My poinsettia actually bloomed a little this year! Now in 2009 I'm going to prune it back in hopes that it will really bloom late in 2009.



TRIBULATION: The no-seeums are terrible in my yard right now! I get eaten up everytime I go out to work in the yard.


TRIUMPH: I found my violet, which has been missing since I bought it days ago, and it was still alive. It was in a plastic bag on the table with some other items.



Those are my "Triumphs and Tribulations" for this week. We'll see whether I can turn around some of those "tribulations".

A Day In the Yard

Well, I got quite a bit done in the yard today, although most people who saw it wouldn't know it.

First I potted and repotted some of the plants. I potted the cauliflower...


...and a yellow pepper plant.


I bought this plant because it was so large and had big leaves. It was the biggest specimen of them all. And then one of the cats (Shotsie, I'm sure) chewed up the leaves while the plant waited on the lanai to be planted.

And I repotted the tomato plant that was potted in some horrible soil the other day. (Do NOT buy the Timberline potting soil at Lowe's. Users on the forum suggested I try Jungle Growth brand instead, and they were absolutely right-- that is a great soil!)




The tomato plant came with two small fruit already on it, and now there is another.


I swear that the Eggplant has also grown in the two days that I've had it. This is after I potted it a couple of days ago...


..and this is today.


I also checked on my other little red pepper plant, which was so horribly neglected during the move and has mostly died. This plant has been around for about a year now. I spotted a tiny little pepper trying to form on it...


I am also trying to grow a pineapple plant. We'll see how it turns out, and whether it rebounds. It took me awhile to figure out what I was doing with it, and I could never get roots started in it, so I just planted it.


I've heard others have planted a pineapple top directly into soil and succeeded in getting it to root, so we'll see how it goes.

I also have this pitiful little strawberry plant which has never successfully done anything-- including growing. It has stayed tiny. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. It says to keep it moist, but maybe I'm keeping it too moist?


My Patio Orange Tree is still doing very well. I can't wait until it decides to flower. I think that it is probably 3 or 4 years old now.


I also repotted my hibiscus that I just potted the other day using that horrible potting soil. It has really wilted since I potted it the other day.


I hope that it rebounds now that I repotted it with Jungle Growth potting soil.

I also repotted my ficus seedling that I dug out from under the ficus tree. It had really wilted after potting it the other day, and I determined that this may be due to the heavy soil. So today I repotted it with a starter mix. We'll see whether or not it rebounds.

However if it doesn't rebound, I may have another one. I'm not sure whether this one is a ficus too, but I spotted it today growing in a pot of snake plants on the deck.


I also got a splinter under the nail today.


I haven't been able to get it out yet. It's still there. It'll probably have to come out on its own.

I also moved my seedlings to the front foyer, since they seemed too exposed outside and I don't have a good sunny window in the house.


I'm trying to start carrots, leeks, bush beans, bibb lettuce, romaine lettuce, cilantro, rosemary, and chives. We'll see whether or not I succeed in starting them and raising them to the point when they can be potted. It's so hard to keep them watered, they dry out so quickly.

But that's not all I did today! I also did a lot of weeding. I weeded the bed around the mahogany in front of the shed.

BEFORE


AFTER


This pile of weeds is just from that little square:


I didn't even know that there were ferns in that bed until I accidentally started pulling them up with the weeds.


Also while pulling weeds from this bed, I looked down in my hand to find a tree that I had pulled out.




I don't know what it is, so I potted it to give it a chance to reveal itself to me, so that I can determine whether or not to keep it. Who knows. Maybe I'll find out that it's just a really big weed (as big around as my index finger).


I pulled lots of weeds from the grass, too. I would reach in and pull out two handfuls of weeds from one small area. I have areas like this throughout my yard.


Unfortunately by pulling out the weeds, I'm pulling out the only green in the yard, and sometimes leaving behind dirt instead, since the weeds are about the only green in the lawn!

Then I started on the hibiscus bed, which started out like this...


...and ended today like this.


By the time I finished today with weeding, I had a large yard bag full of weeds.


Oh, and in case anyone has noticed the branches piled up, I thought that I would explain that I am storing up some of the larger wood for a "dead pile" back behind the shed.


I wanted to create a dead pile to give a home to frogs and lizards and snakes and such. Unfortunately I don't have any really big wood to put in the pile-- just some larger branches.

While out today, I also got a couple more pictures of my blooms.

The bougainvillea by the fence continue to get prettier and prettier.


The boug by the shed is much bigger and fuller than the other two, but it also doesn't have the blooms of the other two.


The Angel's Trumpet continues to let loose with a barrage of blooms.


I can only imagine what it might do with some attention. Right now it is so leggy and pitiful.

And the mango continues to get big blooms.




So it was a pretty productive day in the yard, but there is still LOTS to do!