Experiments in the Garden

This year my father advised me to place wet newspaper around my vegetable garden and then layer it with grass clippings. This holds the moisture for the roots and keep weeds down.

I decided that the wet newspaper thing might be helpful applied elsewhere. When planting my big clay pots, i added newspaper around the inside of the pot. It has really helped the plants in the pot... no drying out.

I also did a similar thing for some of my hanging planters. The ones most prone to drying out... i added newspaper.

I felt that the newspaper in the garden, in the pots and planters all were really helpful to keep the soil moist. So my latest experiment with newspaper is... shredded newspaper, turned in to the soil that i was prepping for planting. I had a pack of marigolds waiting to be planted. I know that the marigolds struggle with the clay soil and the need the consistent moisture. So we'll see how this experiment works out.

July Gardening Update

It's been a while... and the garden continues to grow and thrive. It has been a very dry and cool summer so far. I like the cool part, but the dry part has its challenges. Today I had Joseph get out the garden hose... which i try to avoid using. The water barrel is empty, the ground cracked... so a good soaking was in order. The weather forecasts for some showers tomorrow. I feel like i primed the pump by watering today.

We carved out more garden space along the pine tree line (see photo). It felt good to get more of the weeds out of that area. In its place i transplanted an old-fashioned red daylily, lily-of-the-valley and oatgrass. In another section i split apart a very large variegated hosta. It was a challenge digging it out. We ended up dividing it into five pieces. We planted three in the new bed. The other two we planted near the base of the blue spruce. In the side bed where we lifted the hosta... we transplanted a bleeding heaart that wasn't happy under a tree. I believe that it will be a good spot for it. And because the bleeding heart is going in to its dormant stage, i planted zinnias there too. A second bleeding heart I transplanted to the front of the house. I still have another one to move.

I've also added the image of the shallow pot. I decided to plant chicks n hens along with rocks. I am pleased with the reults.