The Nuclear Option

I generally try to stick with organic gardening methods, not because I'm a fruity leftist (though of course I am), but because the smell of the agrichemical stuff irritates me. But today, I made up a batch of what I call Death in a Jar:

No, it's not hot Dijon mustard with white wine, though that would have been kind of interesting. It's Roundup, mixed at a high concentration.

That's because I came home last night to discover that although I had spent half last weekend weeding Bermuda grass out of my roses, it had come back and filled in even more. Look:

Well, I can't very well spray in there, not without killing the roses. So I got a watercolour brush that was past its prime, made up my Roundup mixture, and hand-painted Roundup on every blade of grass in the roses. If anybody ever doubts my devotion to my roses, just tell them that.

In other news, we have a lot of fruit. For one thing, the strawberries have, like, exploded in berries, which makes me wonder what the harvest would be like next year if we didn't let them set fruit this year. No way of knowing because those strawberries are MINE.

We also have a bunch of quinces setting up, which has left me conflicted, because clearly the quince is a very strong tree and maybe we should let it have a few quinces this year. There are nowhere near enough to make even one batch of jam, but we could leave a few on and have some of them with cheese.

One of my tasks today was top-dressing the blueberries with some of our new compost. They are setting fruit like crazy, and while there isn't much new compost in the pile, they deserved it (I gave some to the sweet cherries, too, because they are heavy feeders).

And finally the Asian pears are starting to look alive. I try not to fuss and fret over plants, because killing them is all a part of gardening, but it would have really sucked to kill some really nice trees. Not that they aren't replaceable, but it would have meant one more year until we could eat the fruit.

And what pretty leaves! I love the blush of red. (Please ignore the pile of used up marking paint cans in the background; I am such a slob.)

All the other fruits are doing well, but sort of boring because they're just leafing out as trees, yawn. Of course, the experimental grapes are limping along, mostly because somebody keeps pilfering the stakes and ripping the plants out of the pots in the process. I'm not naming names, but we do have photos of the crime in process.

Can I just say that I am so unreasonably in love with this plant? I mean, I could stare at it all day. All I have to say is that it better self-sow all over the garden.

And the Cecile Brunner burst into bloom this week. It was dark when I got home, and even without the flashlight I could see her all covered in blooms across the yard. (Yes, when I get home on Fridays I wander around the yard with a flashlight checking on my garden.)

Cecile Brunner's flowers are smallish, only a couple inches across, but they have a nice sweet rose fragrance, and the pink is just perfect. I love this pale blushing pink, and I don't much understand the obsession people have with red roses.

My Cobweb Thistle (a California native) is getting nice and big. They look like small artichokes in bloom, only much more prickly. I should see if they are edible. (I know it looks like somebody peed all over it, but that was me carefully watering just the plant after having painted Roundup on the Bermuda grass around it.)

I planted a few varieties of non-orange California poppies, too, which are blooming nicely. I don't have much against orange, except that these flowers are right in front of a hedge of pink roses, and orange and pink look really horrible together. Here we have an 'Alba' and 'Purple Gleam'. I don't know if some of their seedlings will revert to orange, but they do self-sow.

The Nemophila 'Penny Black' is doing well, though I'm thinking I should have planted it further forward because it is so short. Another California native, but I've never seen it in the wild.

I planted these Viola 'Etain' under the roses, and if they do well I may plant more viola there. Viola like part shade, but the same soil as roses, and sun in the winter. That's pretty much a perfect description of the space inside the rose bed. And they look so pretty in there, before there are any rose blossoms to compete with them.

Speaking of competing, Mme Alfred here is growing very fast. It is almost scary, how fast she went from nothing to three feet tall. I should see if I can get the neighbor on that side to plant a wisteria for her to tangle with, like the Cecile Brunner. That weensy little plant to her left is a Nigella.

Technorati Tags: gardening, plants, roses

posted by ayse on 05/06/06