Forgot to post the maintenance work I did to clean up the front yard beds to prepare for the daffodil and tulip show.
March Blooms
Tag: yardwork
Will It Live: Fern Edition
I’ve been fretting about the ferns in the shade bed. Since nearly everything but the ferns and hostas have emerged, I’m getting a little anxious to see if they made it through the freeze.
The ferns in question are of three varieties: two specimens of Japanese painted fern, Anisocampium niponicum, and two specimens of Silver Brake ferns, Pteris argyraea (?), and a clover fern, Marsilea macropoda,
The marsilea overwintered in the garage, but perished when I moved it inside in March. But I had already anticipated getting another specimen from Painted Flower Farm.
The Silver Brake ferns were marked for zone 9 hardiness according to the Lowes plant tag, so they could have been misidentified/mislabeled. Instead of Pteris quadriaurita argyraea, these may actually be Pteris cretica, at least based on the image lookups I’ve performed. Regardless, I didn’t expect them to resurrect. But I potted up the rootballs anyway to make room for an assortment of new plants.
The Japanese painted ferns were giving me the itch to go buy new ones. But I waited them out.
Hello, Spring
Time to plant!
More March Plant Purchases
Undeterred by my recent shipping disaster, I went ahead and ordered more plants online.
From one of my favorite online shops, Colonial Creek Farm:
| Description | Qty |
| Kitten Around Catmint | 1 |
| John Whittlesey Salvia | 1 |
| Mirage Rose Bi-Color Salvia | 1 |
| African Blue Basil | 2 |
It’s never too late to get bulbs. I’ve been needing to replace the calla lilies that turned into mush after the freeze. I ordered lilies through Brent & Beckys. It may be too late to enjoy the gladiolus, but I’m hoping I can get them into the ground by end of April.
| Description | Qty |
| Zantedeschia Picasso – Calla Lily | 6 |
| Lilium Lollipop – Asiatic | 5 |
| Lilium Muscadet – Oriental Lily | 5 |
| Gladiolus Zizanie – Sword Lily | 10 |
I received a heads up on a new nursery in Denton, so I headed over Denton Plant Factory right away and got a trunkful of plants. Four Seasons Nursery was only a short drive away so I hopped over to get some ornamental basil, strawberries and golden sage.
Will It Live? Veggie Edition
Finally got around to cleaning out the stock tank beds of dead plants and withering leaves/stems. It looks like some veggies are extending their stay.
Brussel sprouts, red russian kale, kohlrabi, some Parris cos and red lettuce are being joined by some broccoli specimens. The wasabi radish turned out inedible, soft and mushy after sitting out on the counter. I’m not sure if the remaining specimen is salvageable, but I will leave it in-bed for now.
I lopped decaying tops and removed decaying leaves/debris to give the new offshoots some space and light.
In addition, I installed seedlings in the vacant square foot spaces, mostly lettuce starts and 9 chinese broccoli seedlings. I had to throw out my spinach and bok choy seedlings due to heavy infestations of aphids.
Instead, I direct sowed all my bok choy seeds into the stock tanks, along with some Tokyo White bunching onion seeds. Let’s see how these do.
Next time, I may have to buy a bag of ladybugs and a fine mesh cloth to clean up my beds, as suggested by my instructor from StartOrganic class.
Another useful tidbit I learned from garden class: certified organic means no applications of fertilizer/compost within 90 days of harvest.