Month: April 2010

It was around 20 degrees when I woke up this morning. Removed two of the pillow cases that had covered the roses in the circle. The fabric was frosty and had that nice fresh air scent.
The cure may have been worse than the disease for the other roses; I’m afraid some of the delicate leaves may have broken off.
The sweet pea seedlings survived, as did the few healthy plants in the cold frame.
I threw some daisy and wildflower seeds in the planters next to the stairs. Think I’ll start the poppies and put them in the cold frame.

The lawn and tree people were here today, fertilizing the grass and spraying the oaks and the ornamentals.
I pruned all of the lavender – need to replace four plants.
Finished pruning one of the Miss Kims, two more to go. The fourth really does look dead.
One of the roses had black leaves at the tips, and the rose expert at Mahoneys thinks it was due to the cold. Seeing as how frost is predicted after midnight tonight, I put pillow cases and other lightweight fabrics on the rose bushes.
Spent several hours and hundreds of dollars at Hyannis Toyota this morning while they completed 120k service and recharged the A/C.
Had a job interview this afternoon.

Talked with a new arborist/landscaper yesterday; he thinks the azaleas will be fine. We sat on the deck to go over his pricing for tree work, and he was kind enough to say “This is nice.”
What a change from last April, when the yard was still a disaster!
He passed on a lot of good information about the St. Johnswort, butterfly bushes and Clethra, suggesting that I hold off on pruning until everything leafs.
He said it will take two years for the grass to come in completely, not necessary to overseed until the Fall. He said not to worry about the grasses that haven’t started yet, they are warm weather plants and probably won’t show new growth until May.
There is life in the fourth Miss Kim, although it will need to be pruned.
The lettuce and radishes “fried” in the cold frame over the weekend.
Jonquils are blooming in the back and the sweetpea seedlings have started.
The Siberian iris I planted in the front last year and the two clumps of home-grown iris in the back (that I thought I’d obliterated) are up and seem to be healthy, along with the phlox. No sign of Mike’s Easter lily yet.
Since rain seems to be holding off, I sprayed the roses with Fung-onil today to prevent black spot. The ones by the house are days ahead of the ones in the yard.
Emme and James helped me plant pansies in the shed flower boxes. I posted the weekend party photos yesterday.
Cleaned up with the new leaf vac at Edgewater yesterday. Finally caught up with laundry and email correspondence today.

The rabbit has eaten all of the crocus in the front yard, but left the back yard alone. Even so, I sprayed all the spring flowers today with a garlic and egg infusion.

The crocus in the back are quite pretty, purple and white. I’ll have to plant some yellow this fall.

Also sprayed the azaleas with Fungi-Oil. We’ll see if this helps.

I really need to enrich the soil in the front. Big difference in the size and robustness of the flowers between the front and the back.

First of three plumbing classes last night at Cape Tech. Learned a lot. No hands-on this week, but we’ll get into blow torches next week.

Picking up the kids later today for their weekend at South Cape Resort. Why did I offer to do this?!

I had a $10 coupon and a $25 gift certificate to Ace Hardware, so splurged on a Toro Super Blower Vac.
Azaleas appear to have leaf spot fungus. I am devastated.