I’ve only recently started to grow larkspur. I love them, but I don’t have good luck getting more than one good bloom out of them. I’ll get a few side shoots if I deadhead, but nothing like the first stalk of blooms.
Yesterday I dug up all the old strawberry plants, replenished the soil with compost, and planted new plants (from the runners). I usually do one row at a time, so it’s not such a big job, but I had neglected to do anything at all for 2 years, and it was time to replace both rows. Ideally, you replace one row a year, and then next year you’ll have mature plants giving lots of berries and new plants giving large, but not so many berries. Strawberry plants really only last about 3 years and then they get tired. But they put out lots of free runners. A little bit of work every fall, and you’ll have sweet juicy strawberries every day. You CANNOT buy these in a grocery store!
I have finally had success with raspberries. I learned from my father, a great gardener, that you should devote your time to growing things that are either expensive to buy in the grocery store (like beets), or that you can’t buy in the grocery store (like homegrown tomatoes and strawberries). Raspberries are very expensive, and I never thought all that difficult to grow. I think it was just a Murphy’s Law thing for me and raspberries. First I planted them too close to the wooded/bramble edge of my previous property. They all grew back into the brambles and I couldn’t get to them. Then we moved to my present property a few years ago, and last spring I finally bought some more raspberry canes. I planted them in a stupid place, next to the driveway, in front of the lilacs. They didn’t do very well. So this spring I ordered 6 more canes, moved the 2 or 3 that did survive from last year, and now, I have many raspberries! I bought 2 varieties, Heritage, which fruits on new canes, and In-heritage, which I think fruits on both old and new, I’ve got to double check that one. Anyway, one of them is giving me beautiful berries, much later in the season than I expected. But I’m not complaining.
Here is my rosemary topiary today. I’ve been clipping it a little at a time, and it’s starting to turn into a ball.
This letter was from my school teacher, Mr. Kenny..
It's a priceless gift for a student..:)
This one's for all the Baldwinians..:)
So it’s November, most of the trees have long lost their leaves, except the oaks, which hold on to those ugly brown leaves for most of the winter. But one tree in my yard is at it’s peak, and it’s my japanese maple. Every year She and I forget, and in October we say to each other, it’s not as pretty this year, but then November comes and it bursts into its full bright red glory. A definite pick-me-up for what I think is the gloomiest month of the year.
