The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

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We had nothing but rain from Saturday night into late afternoon on Sunday, so the option to get out in the garden and get my “digging on” wasn’t going to fly. My soil is compacted enough so I didn’t need to make it any worse by stomping all over it while it was water logged. That is what we call a responsible gardener my friends.
But it was the weekend and I had some time on my hands so I NEEDED to do something plant related. So the focus was going to be on my deck and the containers that reside or will reside there. 
First task was to address the Weigela ‘Wine and Roses’ I had dumped into a container last Fall. The “dump” was the result of my latest plant relocation strategy (with the term “strategy” used loosely) which led to the Weigela not having a proper home. When all else fails, dump it into a container and hope for the best.
Well, that isn’t entirely true. 
First off, I did determine that the shrub could survive the Winter in a container, knowing that the rule of thumb is to subtract two zones off of one’s own plant zone (mine being zone 6) to see if a plant will survive. A little math of 6 – 2 = 4 tells me that this shrub would need to survive down to zone 4 and lo and behold, it does just that.
Secondly, as a design experiment I thought ‘Wine and Roses’ may look OK in a container with some trailing plants at its feet. 
I hit the deck with pruners in hand and went to work on the Weigela. There was some serious dieback on the shrub as all of the new growth was from the base of the plant. No problem, I’ll just cut off the dead wood … and boom:                       

Not too bad, eh? The foliage color is terrific, similar to what I saw when I severely pruned back a W&R Weigela a few years back. However, the bloom count looks pretty low as you can see in the pic but that’s OK, I still view this a foliage first shrub.

I underplanted the Weigela with a few yellow/chartreuse Sweet Potato Vine plants so I hope once those take off, this little combo will look alright.

The only other unknown is whether or not the W&R will take on a pleasing shape in a container. It looks a little awkward right now but only time will tell.

The next item wasn’t a task, but an opportunity to enjoy the Salix (Dappled Willow) ‘Hakuro Nishiki’ I recently relocated after tossing a slowly dying Arborvitae. I friggin love this shrub and enjoy the foliage color when looking out the back door onto my deck:

Good times … assuming I can keep its size under control … but that is a story for another day.

The last task was to start planting some of the tomato/pepper/basil plants I bought last week. I am super fortunate to live right around the corner from Cross Country Nurseries which is a renowned seller of all things peppers/tomatoes/etc. I spent a good hour there last week roaming their greenhouses educating myself on their crazy amount of plant varieties. I vow to successfully grow tomatoes this year and now was the time to start that process and start it right.

As you know, I have a deer problem so keeping them away from any plant is a challenge. Growing tomatoes on the deck allows me to eliminate that issue. Now I just have to keep up with the watering and fertilization. Easier said than done.

I planted two cherry tomato plants – Sweet 100 and Isis Candy – and a pepper plant – Aji Habanero – in containers and now the fun begins:

I got so amped up, that I planted the rest of the tomatoes, peppers and basil in my raised garden bed, wet earth be damned:

So the herbs have been joined by tomatoes, peppers and basil. Sounds damn tasty to me! Now I just need to get on protecting them all from the deer and the jumpy f’n pesky and hungry rabbits.

Work is never done … but we love it, right?

Right?

Right?

John

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