Gardening

All Aboard!

A BRIEF HISTORY OF OUR PLANTS

Our plants had to experience intense heat during the summer and rains in a coastal HOT climate,
To such extent that when i pour water on them they release heat in such a large quantity that it asks for instant pity,
And adding to the misery was that a few pots became shattered on one side due to unknown circumstances(Cycle skids found in abundance...that neighbour kid)
so when i poured water on the plants it leached and starved the plants, just by merely water kissing the soil.
So many good flowering plants started drooping, though they survived challenge #1

Next due to the intense heat the soil just started drying up and cracking, such that when ever i poured water it just ricocheted off the soil layer,

Then some how an army of ants felt comfy in the soil

Then after treatments we shifted our base i.e. our house to another city
and during the ordeal only 39 survived
well think positive

TBA

For the cracked soil feature, we had to churn the soil every 4 days, but that was a bit tough
so what i tried was to insert a tube in one fissure, nearest to the root and let the water run slowly, but the problem i discovered was that the water just bounced back

back to the drawing board

then i tried an ancient plan,
i dug up a shallow moat at a 2-3 inches away from my plant's main stem, and then punched a few holes randomly in the soil in the shape of a bowl, i.e curving inwards, and i let the water loose.
this worked some what but it was not much effective since after few days, the roots were clearly visible,
i had to fill the soil back again
TBA

Well, thats all i experimented for that problem
my dad got a bit tipped off since i was uhhhh.... harming the plants who were older than 20 years!
yep all of em are older than me

So to keep them from overgrowing, we regularly hire a skilled gardener who prunes the plants, almost making it bald
then they just shoot up again!
TBA

Now for ants, what we did is that, when we periodically change soil, we just mix a pesticide with the soil and then plant the plant back again
works !

Mixed pesticide with the soil!

What type of plants are we talking about here?

Sturdy buggers Anyway We use a solid powder and not a liquid one, and the technique worked fine with one teaspoon only many ants just swarmed out, Makes it look pitiable Then we called a gardener, who said our technique was ok but use it sparingly he gave us a bottle of cow urine(i think) and told us to add it in the soil, the plants came up then Now from the historic knowledge, we also used dried cowdung cakes, broke them into pieces, and laid them on the top soil, and put a small layer of soil over it, and started watering, boy did the plants reach their peak of growth! TBA

Hello!

Since the weather is actually bearable, I decided to plant my flower seeds. I discovered that I'm really an instant gratification sortof girl. I hate waiting for those little seeds to come up! I think I MAY see something in the wildflowers that I planted, but I'm not exactly sure! I really hate this.

Anyway, when we moved into our house in September, there were bushes/shrubs that were so unmanageable that we had to tear them out. With a large pick up truck. Whew. In all the planting that I'm doing or planning to do, there always manages to be a root or leftover from the original shrubs. I'm learning to work with them and even letting some of them grow back.

I've layered the front-right (south facing) by the front entry with Canna Lilies, Calla Lilies and a few wildflower seeds scattered about. Down the front sidewalk are two lines of daffodils/purple flowers that haven't quite bloomed yet. Apparently they didn't like being moved from one part of the yard to another! There still green so I consider myself lucky there. The many MANY in the original place are doing very well, and I'll probably post pics as soon as I figure out how. I have no idea what they are But they are blooming so they must be happy.

I have a peony bush (root), sunflowers and gladiolas by the east facing porch. Still waiting for little signs of those too!

Wait, is this boring? I'm new here so I'm not sure how interested everyone is in my yard escapades!

It sounds like a great setup Mary. Looking forward to the pictures.