Lantana Replaced with Wildflowers

That’s what I hope will be the result! Sadly, my lantana plants looked like they were stricken by some type of disease. To prevent potential risk for spread to surrounding plants, I removed the lantana. It’s a necessary part of routine garden maintenance.
In their place, I sprinkled wildflower seeds. I purchased a plastic bucket of seeds [...]

Trees as Weeds

I’m guessing this is a baby palm tree, but it was not planted by me. Likely, a seed was dropped by a bird and landed in the soil and began to germinate. In any case, these particular trees sometimes appear in various parts of my garden and even between cracks in my cement patio. Right now, [...]

Tomato Container Garden: Seedling Update

I’m happy to report on the progress of my tomato container garden started last month.  Although it took a little bit longer than expected, a healthy 10 out of 21 containers show seedlings! Just another 11 to go!
HOW TO: What I’ve been doing is watering the containers 3 times per week, on the “flat” setting [...]

Garden Design: Installing In-Ground Outline

Literally, from remnant lumber boards! As mentioned in previous posts, I like to think of my garden as rectangular sections that I create by installing lumber boards directly into the ground to create a can’t-miss outline. As shown in the photo, I dug a shallow trench measuring the approximate width of the board.
You don’t have to [...]

Nagami Kumquat Tree: Propagation

Opportunities abound! Each initial seeming gardening “disaster” is an opportunity for me to learn and potentially expand my gardening universe! I recently planted my 2 Nagami kumquat tree into the ground. Today was unexpectedly very windy, and a sucker or shoot growing from the side of one of these trees snapped off.
Normally, suckers are removed since they can [...]

Weeds: Treatment with Roundup Super Concentrate

I bought Roundup Super Concentrate a few weekends ago and tried to use it last week. The instructions indicate to combine a small amount of the concentrated weed killer with one gallon of water. What could go wrong with that?
Well, I thought, Hey, I have an empty 1-gallon water container. Why not load that up [...]

Succulent: Fan Aloe!

Also known as Aloe plicatilis, this stunning succulent native of South Africa was gifted to me a few years ago, purchased at a yard sale! Apparently, I’ve got to go on the yard sale circuit myself if beauties like this can be found! Click on the image to see the absolutely gorgeous details! I am [...]

Digging Holes: Be Good To Your Back!

In a previous post, I’d written about the benefits of container gardening, and how it allowed for me to garden while minimizing stress to my back. But what if you do regular old-fashioned gardening? Are there strategies to minimize stress to your back? The answer to that is a resounding yes! There are many gardening activities [...]

Japanese Aucuba: Roots from Cutting!

On September 27, I placed a cutting of my Japanese aucuba into a small bottle, in an attempt to propagate it (see my previous post). It’s been about 1-1/2 months later and I am happy to report that this cutting is very clearly rooting! Click on the photo for a better view of the very [...]

Brazilian Pepper Tree Seedling Removal

Every couple of months or so, one of my gardening tasks is to remove seedlings or shoots from my long-ago removed Brazilian pepper tree (Schinus terebinthifolius). These seedlings show up primarily in the area famously (!) known as my tree bark lawn. The photo is a close up of what this seedling looks like. I took this photo [...]