Weeds. Although I am trying out boiling water and/or vinegar on the pathway weeds, I'm pulling all the others by hand. And with the ground being soft and wet it's really the perfect time.
If there's room for that many weeds, then there is definitely room for a plant and perhaps some larger rubble.
By the time I weeded my way to the top, the rain picked up.
This year my goal is to fill in any open spots in the slope, but without crowding anything. Some repeating pops of color would be nice. I have some speedwell, salvia and sisyrinchium dotted throughout, but it is a weak showing, need to beef that up. Since they are all blue, I'll to stick with blue and perhaps add perennials with white or yellow flowers. I think this would be a nice spot for a hammock, hahaha.
While I was weeding, Ivan sent a picture of this beautiful Aloe speciosa.
from The Dry Garden in Berkeley.
I have a few of these, much smaller. Patience, patience. I started some tomato seeds, and a few salvia & gomphrena seeds to plant out around St. Patrick's Day.
And as always, Dr. Feelgood was on hand for advice.
Any other weeders out there? I suppose next I need to get to trimming the rose bushes down.
Aloes do take their time getting to bloom stage. Re weeds, at least you left yourself room to maneuver when removing them. Many of mine are virtually impossible to get to without getting stabbed, even when wearing gloves.
ReplyDeleteHa! I did manage no stabs yesterday, but that is certainly not the norm.
DeleteI highly recommend industrial strength vinegar. It is expensive but I put it in a spray bottle and it lasts a long time. It works.
ReplyDeleteThank you Phillip, I was wondering if I needed a stronger vinegar - I will get some today!
DeleteStarting tomatoes, etc. already? St. Patrick's Day? Makes me sigh.One nice thing about being in New York State is that you get a rest from gardening outside but, it can be frustrating, too.
ReplyDeleteThat's true, I look forward to the change of season - but then when winter is here, I just want to be outside. I do plant my tomatoes out a bit early, I'm probably dancing with the devil a bit.
DeleteI do love your plants! Dr. Feelgood looks sweet!
ReplyDeleteI use vinegar, as well. I pickled some asparagus last year, and rather than waste the vinegar after I'd eaten all the asparagus, I poured it on the flag stones!
Thank you, Dr. is a sweet boy :). I like how you used the vinegar on your flagstones, good idea!
DeleteWeeds are the bane of my life in summer - and heat! I always pull weeds out by hand, but we get two dreadful weeds here, nutgrass and wandering dew, which I think will have to be poisoned, especially the nut grass. It is popping up everywhere and as fast as I pull it out, it multiplies. When the ground is soaked, the weeds come up so much easier, but the nutgrass still keeps growing. Such is the life of a gardener.
ReplyDeleteOof, nutgrass sounds awful. I think my summer weeds are more inconvenient - this is mostly dandelions and lawn type grass.
DeleteNot too many weeds here yet, but I pull them as I see them. We got 1.5"+ of rain over the past few days so weeds will be sprouting again. Well, better than drought!
ReplyDeleteAloe speciosa flowers are gorgeous--always thought they were one of the prettiest of the genus. Your garden is looking good despite winter cold and rain.
I would too like some fillers in between some of the Agaves and Aloes on my front slope, but it's tough to find plants that will work and look good in the conditions out there.
I'm glad you finally got a good dousing! Worth a little weeding. It is tough, picking the right plants to fit in. I've picked up a few bulbs for the slope, a few cushion plants. I think I need repetition so it all ties together? I'm with you, still thinking on it.
Deletegorgeous blooms on the speciosa! Weeding is tough work- Ivan and I used to do it in the steep front of the co-op. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is, but it's always GOOD to get your hands dirty, hahaha!
DeleteBeautiful blog
ReplyDeleteThank you Rajani
DeleteThose green stripes on the Aloe speciosa flowers are particularly eye catching, especially when coupled with the red anthers protruding out. I spent some time last week down in Temecula and was caught off guard by the amount of rain pouring down on Monday. Everything was so green and lush - weeds everywhere. Not at all what I expected for SoCal, but it is still winter. Come summer, I imagine it will be the crispy brown I was expecting. I haven't bothered with the weeds yet, though I should. Once the weather warms up here in western Oregon, it will be too late. All of the millions of little weed seedlings will explode into growth, swamping everything in a few weeks. But, I still need a winter break from the garden. I'm not quite ready to spend much time in it yet. Most of mine will be hand weeded because the weeds grow too close to valuable horticultural plants for herbicides. Vinegar and boiling water have never cut it for me - just too weak for practicality unless I had the time to reapply over and over and over.
ReplyDelete