{"id":44345,"date":"2016-05-03T02:11:35","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T07:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/?p=44345"},"modified":"2016-05-03T02:11:35","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T07:11:35","slug":"a-successful-gardening-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/a-successful-gardening-day\/","title":{"rendered":"A Successful Gardening Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Golden<\/a>

Golden Pothos<\/center><\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve been enjoying working in the yard the past few months. The landscape here changes with every drop of dew and every blossom.\u00a0Yesterday I pulled all the thin, cut bamboo poles\u00a0out of the garden and lined them up to choose by size to weave a fence for new area. \u00a0I cut my 80 feet long giant golden pothos into manageable 4 feet lengths and planted in the front berm. The pothos was a giant wall, leaves twice as big as dinner plates, until the cold dropped the leaves and left me with only one 80 feet long bare strand. I first prepared the ground for it by stabbing a shovel into the ground to break up the roots, then pulling up all the crabgrass and wedelia. I planted the cuttings in 3 horizontal rows 8″ (20 cm) apart and 8″ deep. I watered it all in then covered with several inches of mulch. That part of the yard is closest the street but it’s also under high shade all day. I thought I’d spend some time and effort making my yard pretty for whoever passes by. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I also thinned out another half dozen loquat saplings as tall as me and a dozen more ankle high and set them aside.\u00a0I pulled all the wedelia from under the grandmother loquat tree in the front yard and raked it aside. I exposed crumbled lengths of bamboo in the mulch and raked it aside. As I dug into the ground, I unearthed several large rocks and bricks from old projects, long\u00a0grown over. I set them off to the side. I pulled up about 20 bromeliads and tossed them off to the side. \u00a0Soon I had raked clear the ground beneath the grandmother loquat and had a pile each of loquat saplings, bricks, bromeliads and wedelia.<\/p>\n

I could now see a wider view of the street from my driveway.\u00a0I placed two bamboo poles horizontally and head height between two trees about 6 feet apart. I stacked the rest of the poles vertically in fence-like fashion to give privacy from passersby. I used green vines to secure the poles. \u00a0I moved some of the large stones into view. \u00a0It felt so much more spacious and looked more pleasing to the eye.<\/p>\n

Last week I re-designed the area where I keep my trash bins, which is at my garage door. I don’t like them being visible from the street so they’re behind several inverted black bins. \u00a0I placed several plants on a shelf along the top of the black bins, and a couple of plants below with a vertical cinder block totem pole along the garden side. I should have done that years ago. \u00a0I’m just now beginning to design the yard to please the onlooker from the outside, rather than please me from the inside.<\/p>\n

My friend Carol came by for the loquat saplings and she gifted me a dozen home grown eggs and a tomato plant. Score! \u00a0She came just as I was preparing to take a loquat tree around the corner to plant for a\u00a0friend\u00a0who has a typical Florida yard with shell marl instead of soil. A few years of no cultivation and the Florida sun and it’s almost hard like a road.\u00a0I’ve never seen a yard with the ground as compacted as this. It’s new construction 10 years ago where they used extra fill to make the ground higher. I went to dig in the middle of the yard with the shovel and I literally could not get it to go 3 inches deep.<\/p>\n

My friend used a pick ax to break up the shale so I could dig\u00a0into the ground. I will get a pitchfork in the next few days and I will stab it all around in the ground next to the trees and bushes to give the roots room to grow. The tree is in a perfect place to give shade to the backyard and it should only take 2 to 5 years to get a nice size. I took an extra garden hose over there to have a hose that reaches all the way around.\u00a0That’s the difference between being in the Florida sun all day and having some relief in the shade. I’m a block away but I’m under all shade so my yard is nice and loamy and soft and easy to plant in.<\/p>\n

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