Saturday, February 03, 2007

Spring Cleaning in the Garden

Between the Candelaria Plant Sale and La Gringa's blog entry about her garden, I was inspired to dig into mine. It really needed it. Some of the container plants were old and even though I've pruned and fed them they had gotten woody and just were not vigorous anymore. Some plants were in the wrong place, well you know how the garden can get ratty looking.

So today, out went the lantana. After trying it for 5 years, I've decided that it just doesn't do well in pots on the upper terrace. Too much sun and wind maybe. Out went the Margarita daisy. It was big but last year it hardly had a flower. Out went the basil. I'll start over with some baby plants. Out went what was left of a couple of lettuce plants. I cut the mint back, and the rosemary, and the firecracker plant. I also cut back a vine in a pot. I can't remember the name of the vine but the leaves had some infestation that I couldn't get rid of, so I'm giving it a chance to come back out without the infestation. Any problems and it goes out too. Dug up one Mexican sage and repotted it and cut the other one back severely. I repotted a jade plant to the terrace where it should get more sun and be happier. Also moved a couple of begonias to the terrace from the patio. On the patio I cut a Sheffelera back to about 3 feet tall because it had grown tall and skinny. Still more to do but I already have 5 garbage bags of clippings.

I want a ficus tree for one big pot and also I'd like to have a Mexican lime tree on the terrace. Now I really have a reason to go to the Candelaria Plant Sale.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Billie, the problem with the Candelaria plant sale is that I can never hold it to "a ficus tree... and... a Mexican lime tree. But it's better than going to Costco. At least if I overspend on plants, I'm good for birthday and Christmas presents for the next year.

La Gringa said...

Sounds like a lot of work but I'm sure they will recover in no time. I enjoy "house cleaning" in the garden much more than real house cleaning!

Billie, have you thought about trying to compost those 5 bags of clippings? If you don't have much space, some people have luck doing it in a big trashcan. The resulting product makes a wonderful fertilizer. Just a thought from your organic friend.

Billie Mercer said...

Yes, I have thought about it and I don't have a place to put the garbage can. Mmmm....well maybe I do now. Since I don't use the terrace over the bedrooms anymore, I might be able to put something small over there. Of course it will mean carrying down the compost 2 flights of stairs....and if it goes to the big terrace, back up 2 flights of stairs.

Thanks for the question. I was using an old answer but I might have a way to do it now.