Turning a Thumb Green

Watering day at the Oak Hill homestead. Last week the rain was enough to freshen everything on this new expanse of 43,560 square feet, but there’s been little of it this week and everything is sagging with the need for a soaking. I watered some three days ago but only in one area, struggling with a disagreeable hose that slithered itself into kinks at every chance, cutting off the flow of water. Neither could I get a spray nozzle attached, making do finally with a languid flow of water.

Today I used a hose on the near side of the house and made a much better job of it. Made a good job of getting dirty at the same time, but accept that dirt is a big part of yard work. Late afternoon is prescribed as the best time for watering, and on another day I will wait until the cool of the day. Read an Earth Day magazine article yesterday that said in watering outdoors during the heat of day half the water is lost to evaporation. I don’t question that wisdom but hope that some of the evaporation is ameliorated by the shade that covers a large portion of my yard, front and back.

Confederate jasmine growing on a trellis at the front door

I have a lot to learn about yard care and gardening, so the coming months will definitely be a learning experience. Still a little nervous about happening upon a pygmy rattler flashing its fangs in all these leaves and brush, my movements are probably over careful, not quite trusting that my approach will in many cases scare off a snake. A large patch of purple lantana just in front of the screened porch is in bad need of raking, leaves layered almost two inches deep, but I worry what may be sleeping or living among that comfortable nest of leaves.

Purple lantana in a thick bed of leaves

A few tomato plants and an herb garden would be a useful project to undertake and the herbs might not be difficult. Never having tried tomato plants, a bit of reading and asking questions will have to come first. Growing up in south Louisiana my father cultivated a backyard garden every year, growing tomatoes, green peppers, eggplant, squash, butter beans and string beans. How he loved that garden, working in it just about every day after work and on weekends. But he could never entice me to join him in the hoeing, weeding and coddling. I might be in a  better position today had I laid aside the football or bicycle and worked with him in those precious rows.

Yesterday I fertilized the dozen or so citrus trees on the property, but it looks like more will be needed to give the trees some bulk. Half are spindly with too few leaves but the lemon in the front yard doesn’t look all that bad. Again, the right method or fertilizer is something a beginner needs to look into. For this first time, I grabbed up a bag labeled citrus fertilizer in the hardware store and followed the directions. A nursery might be a better choice for fertilizer and advice.

One puny and struggling Meyer lemon

As for the bugs, a new accessory seems to be effective in keeping them at bay, despite the odd appearance. Running the risk of looking like the hostess in the Piccadilly Cafeteria, I pin a sheet of Bounce fabric softener to the front of my shirt where it hangs in bad imitation of a frilly handkerchief bunched like a flower.

In the Green of Things

Deadline day and the landscape gardeners are doing a botanical boogie-woogie outside putting over one hundred new plants and trees in place across ten different planting areas. In the northeast corner a man wrestles a majestic beauty into place between crinum lilies and bulbine plants, making sure the alignment gives the harmony he is looking for. To the west of that a team of three settle a huge Chinese fan palm into its hole, sprinkling both hole and root system with plant food and beneficial bacteria.

Scattered around the grounds are big bundles of blue-eyed grass and bales of rusty Georgia pine straw. The blue-eyed grass will fill out beds, the straw provide a blanket for newly planted areas and warmth for unsettled roots. The pine straw is also useful in blocking sunlight from sprouts of pesky dollar weed. In this climate dollar weed spreads quickly, like that equally troublesome southern cousin kudzu. For four months the newly planted beds cannot be sprayed with weed killer. The pine straw will help to hold the dollar weed down.

One of the gardeners has dug up two huge rocks, moving them into a Japanese-like arrangement around the newly planted pineapple-guava tree. Blocked from the wind and salt spray there is hope that the rocks will eventually become host to baby ferns and swatches of green moss.

Two desired varieties are missing for the time being. The final design will include orange birds of paradise and white fountain grass, but the first is late arriving and the second arrived in what the head gardener calls a weak and unhealthy condition. The fountain grass will be sent back and those designated areas in the plan will remain empty until March when the new grass arrives.

The white sand beach and ocean blue are now fronted by a new aspect of flowering green and rusty red pine straw. Calls to mind a famous line, “God shed his grace on thee…”

Photos:

(1) giant agave plant being put in

(2) after planting with juniper, pine straw and giant rock

(3) blued-eyed grass in pine straw with bulbine and giant rock