I always let some "weeds" grow in my yard and garden, and one of the best -- especially for late-season blooms -- is, well, I've forgotten what it is. I think it's Late Boneset (Eupatorium serotinum) but it could be White Snakeroot (Ageratina altissima).
The other day when the temperature reached 82ºF (28ºC) I knew I had to take advantage of it and get something done in the garden. But what? Where to start? Actually, the answer was pretty easy: the veggie garden!
My veggie garden has been sadly neglected for two years (or more?) now. Severely neglected. Completely ignored actually. So it was a big surprise to me recently when I discovered...
Emboldened by Peter's recent post about the less attractive parts of his garden, I'm going to share with you the three "nightmare" areas of my garden. Today's is actually the oldest part of my garden: the large raised planter box below the deck.
Not much time for gardening lately, and I have a pretty high tolerance for weeds, but there comes a point when even I say "enough" and have to spend a few minutes pulling.
As I mentioned recently, I've had some time to spend in the garden finally, and this post is a look at some of what I accomplished. It may not be the most inspiring of posts, but it makes me good to share my progress.
I want to talk about a wildflower that is a boon to the late summer/early autumn garden today: Eupatorium serotinum or "Late Boneset". Most people call this a weed, but I think its multitude of small white flowers is beautiful!
For somebody who is obsessed with plants, constantly caring for them, helping them to look their best, the way I treat my lawn is a bit surprising. You see, I just don't really care about the lawn. The turf grasses are left to fight it out with the weeds. I practice the "mow what grows" philosophy most of the time.
I often hear other gardeners talk about some interesting "volunteer" in their garden, a plant that grew out of nowhere in just the perfect spot. For me this does happen once in a while -- except for the "perfect spot" part, as I usually have to transplant.
Cooler fall weather always invigorates me, making the horrible, put-off garden tasks look almost fun. The shorter days probably help too, as I know I can only get an hour or so of work in out there after my day job, and an hour isn't so bad, right?
I so rarely post for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, mainly because of timing. The 15th of every month usually catches me by surprise, and I don't have time to collect bloom photos and put together a post. This year I want to be more bloom conscious though, so I'm making an extra effort to make GBBD posts happen.
I was originally going to write about my main springtime garden nemesis (violets), but as I started photographing I realized that there are more than one, and violets are probably not even at the top of the list.
After almost four years of blog posts, it can be challenging to come up with fresh topics, things that I haven't written about or showed you before. Which is why today's post is so very special, as it's a first for this blog, something I guarantee you haven't read about here before.
I've been lazy this summer. I've let some weeds and weedy perennials get out of hand. I already mentioned the globe thistle that have spread more than I wanted them to, but there's more. Today we're looking at my largest raised bed:
That interesting plant in my yard that turned out to be a common, nasty thistle?
Like most (all?) gardeners I see "volunteer" plants pop up in my yard every year. I'm not talking about "weed" plants, but the unique and possibly worthwhile plants that appear out of nowhere. A couple of years ago lemon balm appeared in my garden. Dogbane did too.
I've got an interesting volunteer growing in my yard. Okay, most people would call this a weed -- I would. I was in fact about to dig it out the other day, but realized...
Yesterday was the first day in about a week on which it did not rain, and we actually saw sunshine! I have to tell you that it's frustrating at this time of year to be unable to do much outside for days at a time.
I tried an experiment this past weekend, one that was not particularly pleasant. Remember the bittercress that I photographed recently? I worry about this weed more than any other in my yard, as the ripe seed pods literally explode when touched, flinging tiny seeds in a 6-foot (2m) radius or more.
It's spring again, and that means its time for a look at my early-season "alternative lawn" plants.
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