Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
paradisecircus

Happy 2014!! Even happier my shurbs lived!

paradisecircus
10 years ago

Happy new year everybody! Hope you all had fun and your gardens have fared well (if you had a freeze like we did in/around DFW!) I was happy to see that the young evergreen shurbs I planted in the fall survived. Woohoo!

Now, with N. Texas weather doing what it does at this time of year, these intermittent mild days have me itching to get in the yard again. Aside from clean-up, what would be good to do at this time? I was planning to wait until after the 1st of Feb to prune and whatnot. I also have a large bag of veggie scraps I've kept in a box for burying in my flower bed after the last freeze. Re-mulch maybe?

Speaking of mulch, I have piles and piles of fallen oak leaves and pine needles. Been thinking about bagging it all, shredding it, mixing it with bagged mulch and re-mulching the flower bed.

How has your garden fared and what's next on your agenda? :)

Comments (6)

  • sunnysa
    10 years ago

    Happy New Year to you, and everyone, too. So, it's good to hear that your new shrubs survived. That's always a good feeling. But, here locally, we're in for another cold front, so I'm not up to woo-hooing, yet, lol. What kind of shrubs did you plant?

    My gardenia is still green, so I'm very happy about that. I pruned it just a bit and placed piles of leaves in the bed, but other than that, I have not even watered it. And, so... I wait and wait... ever the pessimist, ha!

    Can't answer your question about the leaves, 'cause I'm not knowledgeable on that subject, but we have mounded all our leaves into a what we hope will be a 'Spring' flower bed. I'm more than ready to be in the garden again !!

  • paradisecircus
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I'm sure we're in for a few more freezes as well. These occasional mild days are such a tease! I planted a few types of holly, 2 white Indian Hawthorn (young ones, only about 6" tall at time of planting), a dwarf Nandina labeled "Flirt" and an elaeagnus. Your gardenia looks great!! Leaves look nice and healthy! My shrubs have made it but the tender growth on some of them took on a bit of winter burn. I want so badly to trim off the winter damage but know it's best to wait to do that. Haven't watered hardly at all. The clay soil here holds onto moisture pretty well. But I have continued to dump leftover coffee and the grounds into the flower bed. Especially around the hawthorns.

    I like that all the fallen leaves, while a "mess", aid my flower bed. They tend to pile up naturally around the base of shrubs so I leave them to insulate and protect the ground around the base of shrubs while it still gets cold at night. One nice surprise this winter has been my kalanchoe. I received it in Feb last year. A flower delivery from dh for valentines day. The long nights and limited light from being inside has caused it to bloom :)

  • sunnysa
    10 years ago

    Your Kanlanchoe is beautiful. How nice that it is flowering now while everything else is dormant. Hope all your newly planted shrubs make it through the winter.

    Yes, the flower beds are better off with the leaves but that may not be the opinion of this little fellow. I'm sure he wondering where to look for his nuts, lol.

    This post was edited by sunnysa on Sun, Jan 5, 14 at 22:22

  • PKponder TX Z7B
    10 years ago

    That is a gorgeous kalanchoe! Sunnysa, your gardenia looks very healthy!

    Paradisecircus, we use all of our leaves, a substantial amount, chopped with the lawn mower or leaf vacuum and spread in all of the beds. I'd go ahead and put the veggie scraps where you want them and top the off with leaves. Our soil never freezes and decomp happens even when it feels cold to us. Do you compost? We make a couple of temporary bins from some old fencing to corral chopped leaves to use for compost. It's nice to dump veggie/fruit scraps, used coffee grounds, ect and then toss the leaves over the 'messy' bits. This layers the greens and browns and makes compost. It's even better when we get lawn clippings to mix with the leaves because of the volume of greens.

    We got all of the outside Christmas deco down on Saturday and spot watered. The gardens are really dry here in the sandy soil that we have. We opened the cold frame and spritzed those plants too.The temps were so nice. I had the hammock set up in the back yard on New Year's Day.

  • paradisecircus
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    sunnysa- Ha! That poor squirrel looks confused! We have 2 that have taken up residence in our oak trees. The bumper crop of acorns we get every fall is like an all you can eat buffet for them. It greatly upsets my dog Minnie. She loves to chase squirrels and gets so upset when they taunt her at the kitchen window! Hm, wonder if it's possible to post vids here...:)

    pkponder- I don't compost (especially after having a few rats and mice make appearances in the yard during the freezes) but decided to at least save veggie scraps. I figured I would just shove them down into the dirt and cover with mulch. There's a good layered mix of coffee grounds, egg shells, carrot, celery, bell pepper, etc. scraps in this box.

    Thanks for the kalanchoe compliments! I really didn't expect that I'd keep it for so long but this little Valentine's Day plant from FTD has really hung on! I know kalanchoe are tough plants but this little guy has made it through some rough times ;) Besides, it's one of those plants that just makes me happy looking at it. The leaves look like hearts to me :)

  • PKponder TX Z7B
    10 years ago

    I love kalanchoes too! I had a yellow one for years, but forgot it last winter and it didn't come back.

    There are rats in my neighbor's shed, we see them on the fence and they drive my dogs mad! I can honestly say that I have never found any rodents in my compost. I only put produce, grass clippings, weeds and plant trimmings, old corn meal and the chopped leaves. Never, ever any meat or animal products. Well, that's not true, I do use any cow or donkey poo that I can get :-)

    Burying scraps in the soil works too if that's the way you prefer. Lots of people do pit or row composting right in the beds, like you.

Sponsored
MAC Design + Build
Average rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars18 Reviews
Loudon County Full-Service Design/Build Firm & Kitchen Remodeler