From the category archives:

Gladiola

Bulbs and Brush

by Lisa on October 24, 2004

121_2153_JFR.jpgWe finally attacked the bed where I want all of the new bulbs to go. I was dreading it, but it wasn’t that bad. We pulled all of the glads and dahlias, and I’m amazed at how great that soil is. This is the new bed I did this spring, with the lasagna method and all that. It was full of earth worms, too, so it seems to be working really well.

121_2162_JFR.jpgFrank finally got his tractor back yesterday (YAY!!!), so I even got him to help me tackle the end I ignored in the spring, and we finally pulled out everything at that end, including the ratty forsythia that I really hated, and all the weeds that were tangled up with it. The bindweed in this bed was really awfully impressive, unfortunately.

121_2170_JFR.jpgSo now that bed looks much more like it was planned, and like that stone wall has been there all along, instead of being new this spring. We filled it up with sifted topsoil as well, evening it all up a bit, and then covered it with some mulch, which pile is almost gone.

121_2179_JFR.jpgWe are moving the fence around back on the septic fence to give the girls some new grazing areas. It’s amazing how quickly they’ll go through an area of brambles and weeds. They know now when I go out there and start messing with the fence, it means new yummies are on the way, and they are so eager. We almost have to have one person distract them with treats while the other adjust the fence. But they are doing great at attacking the brush, which is exactly why we got them.

in Bindweed, Brambles, Bulbs/Corm/Rhizomes/Tubers, Clearing, dahlia, Forsythia, Gardening, Gladiola, Lasagna Layering, Mulch, Pasture, Reviews, Sheep, Soil, Stone walls, Tractor, Weeding, Weeds, Worms

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Pulling the glads

October 8, 2003

We finally got out there to pull the glads and the dahlias. We’ve had four or five hard frosts already this year. (Isn’t this early for that? It feels very early.) So we went out after work tonight and ended up working a bit in the dark, but that’s okay. The glads are really reproducing [...]

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Quick mushroom update

August 22, 2003

Just a quick update on the mushroom front — there are no actual mushrooms out there yet, but there are lots of primordia, the little things that come before the actual mushrooms. We are psyched! I think this means that we will soon have real mushrooms, so maybe we actually did something right. In the [...]

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The Forgotten Bed

June 21, 2003

The weather’s been nice enough in the evenings lately that we are spending time sitting out in the gazebo with a glass of wine. One of the things I noticed last night was that I haven’t touched my forgotten bed, the one directly behind the gazebo. It can stay forgotten for much of the year [...]

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Planting Glads and Dahlias

June 1, 2003

Gah, more rain today. But we knew it was coming, so we got out there early in the morning to finish up stuff that really had to get done. It’s getting very late to plant dahlias and glads, and I’m glad they are all in now. I wasn’t sure where to put them. The spot [...]

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Finishing the Front

April 27, 2003

I started outside this morning wanting to finish the bed directly in front of the front door. Though I’d done the majority of that bed, for some reason I stopped short of the most visible part, which was dumb, but I started there today, and what a huge difference it made! First off, I tackled [...]

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Garden Chores in the Snow

November 1, 2002

We could only work out there for a couple of hours in these temps, and with the low stamina that we both have, post-surgery. We’ve waited too long to put the garden to bed, of course. Pulling glads while there is snow on the ground? I haven’t a clue if they’ll come back for me [...]

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