Garden Work: 36 Man Hours

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I write about the work every week, but I never mention the real garden work.

Everyone knows this part right? Yesterday, six men, including me, spent 6 hours spiffing up a small, spectacular garden. Thats 36 MAN HOURS. Weeding, pulling up spent biennials, adding lots of annuals (last minute purchase from Wal-X). Adding a compost mulch, seeding in zinnias. The truth is gardening is hard, dirty, hot and I asked myself, why, why do you do this over and over, in every spare minute and every bit of dirt you find?

We did take a break from task driven work. Ethan said how he liked all the dead crepe myrtle branches; see our crepe-myrtle-snow-ball in the pic. (thank you baby Jesus that we are not on aderal). At the end of that 98F, poop covered yesterday, we all went for a swim in the pond, from which we could see the garden, a different perspective, (only two little snakes) and the pay off of seeing a hot dream turned into a cool reality.

Garden Work Work

Prune old spring seed heads. My colleague, Ethan Kauffman, says the brown seed heads and foliage make sissyrinchium look ratty at this time of year. They should be pruned to the ground to allow for a new foliage flush.

Give things a boost, now that the easy life of good rain and sort of cool days is over. A handful of Osmocote Plus or a bit of chicken litter will ensure that your plants have nutrients when they need them, not when you have time to add something.

Get your drip in! Tom and I worked all weekend on the drip-tape watering system we use in the crinum nursery at Beech Island. This is out once-a-year overhaul, check-up and test. You can get water/money/time saving drip systems from www.dripirrigation.com. Only problem is rats eat the stuff!

Build a permanent trellis. Behind a local Chinese fast food place, an old lady grows beautiful veggies and herbs for the restaurant. They have an 8-foot tall permanent trellis made of 2X4s and lattice. They pick cucumbers and beans in the shade, and dont have to worry about rebuilding every year.

Put in late crop veggies. Momma and I planted cowpeas, Holstein peas, asparagus beans and sweet potatoes last Sunday morning. If youre gonna grow a sweet potato vine, skip Blackie think again — grow one that produces food! You can buy them now in farm stores.

Looking Good Now

Hymenocallis A confused group of plants! This incredible plant my friend, Jim Martin, Director of the Charleston Parks Conservancy, calls the 4th of July lily. See his hot and stinky garden pic at http://parkangels.org/profiles/angel-no-11-jim-martin/blogs/130-day-2–etiwan-park-hot-and-stinky Grow it is full sun for white spiders on18 stalks. It is showy and fragrant and works great in that strip of soil between the sidewalk and street.

Liriope muscari PeeDee Ingot (golden monkey grass) We planted this in full sun at the Lake City gardens and the foliage was almost white. Moving it to the shade, where it is more at home, we were rewarded with beautiful chartreuse/gold foliage that simply lights up any shaded area. This clumping grass is topped with typical 1 spikes of lilac-lavender flowers. Selected by South Carolinas great plantswoman Ursula Hertz of Coastal Gardens.

Mucuna cyclocarpa Man, this one is hard to find, but it is the COOLEST plant Ive bought in years. It looks like a fat plastic wisteria and smells like rat poison! Whats not to love? I plated two of these at the same time. The one in Lake City died back completely the first July. but came back the flowing May. The one I planted in Columbia covered an 8 X 12 deck the first season. Available ONLY at www.yuccado.com where my friends describe its flowers, not as plastic wisteria. Instead they say, flowers are reminiscent of clusters of grapes. Love ya guys, but it still smells like rat poison to me!

Easy Blooms

Remusatia vivapara (Hitchhiker Elephant Ear) Seed in prolifically in moist, rich soil, but it is really a great shade plant. Its thick, glossy, elephant ear-like leave only get about 24 tall and 15 wide. Mature plants have a freaky, rat-tail-like erect stolons arise from the tuber and become covered with fuzzy, hooked tubercles (hairy bulbils). These are the hitchhikers to which the common name refers and the reason the plant has spread to so many continents!

Clematis Hagley Hybrid and Crepe Myrtle, Condon Bleu make a smashing pair during late spring and early summer. The Clematis, which exhibits large 6-8 white/lavender/mauve blooms, spreads readily in full sun to partial shade, although my experience is that the bloom color fades more slowly in shade. Planted among the mini weeping Crepe Myrtle Hagley Hybrid, the combination is striking with the beautiful lavender/lilac colored crepe myrtle blossoms. Use this mini just as you would azaleas, junipers or rhododendrons in your perennial borders.

Lobelia siphilitica Blue Wild Lobelia provides that elusive and beautiful BLUE so many gardeners look for. Grow this one in light shade and you will be rewarded with serect stalk to 6 feet. This plant loves moisture and thrives beside a stream. Its easy to grow from seed and the bees really love it!

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