by angela@diggingbliss | Jul 29, 2013 | landscaping, trees
We finally did the dirty deed. The huge sycamore tree dominating our small backyard is gone. Granted, the tree was not diseased, nor a danger. But it snuffed out precious morning light, dropped anthracnose-ey leaves everywhere, and it was simply too big and oddly placed.
The work was done while I was at work, but my fiance Kim was able to photograph and videotape everything. He texted me photos throughout the day, so I could see the progress.
When I first moved in, my friend Cheryl said,
“It would be a sin”
to cut down the ginormous tree in the back. And my mom recently declared,
“You can’t cut down that tree.”
I did appreciate their concern for the tree and all it provides (loveliness, greenery, shade), but every once in a while ya gotta do something selfish. The tree was casting a shadow, literally and figuratively, on my happiness.
The first few cuts on the backyard sycamore
In my mind, I was left with two options– either move to another house or kill the tree. After much mulling and several bids from arborists, I finally went with my gut. After all, we live here and want to be happy here. And my folks just built a house behind ours, so if we move now, we’ll lose out on the closeness that proximity affords. (more…)
by angela@diggingbliss | Jul 20, 2013 | books, digital gardening, gardening books
If you’re not one of those people who needs to smell the papyrus when reading, you might be interested in knowing there’s starting to be quite a nice selection of digital gardening books available for FREE from your local library. OverDrive is the mover and shaker in the business these days, with some competition from the 3M Cloud Library. While OverDrive and 3M are the e-book vendors, your library is the provider. (more…)
by angela@diggingbliss | Jul 12, 2013 | air plants, houseplants
At the nursery where I work, we regularly receive shipments of Tillandsias or “air plants”. Thoughts on maintaining them varied among employees, but the general consensus was that they required “occasional misting”. That seems logical, but what we ended up with were air plants that were too dry at the tips and rotted at the base.
With multiple employees whisking by at random times to give a quick spritz , we were probably misting our tillandsias to death. Over time and after doing a bit more Googling, we decided instead to give our air plants a nice long bath in tepid water, with absolutely no misting between baths. Soaking times can vary, but the longest recommended time I found on Tillandsia sites was 24 hours. The result? Happy air plants!
When I soak my plants at home, the average soaking time is two to four hours, once every week or two. I let my plants’ appearance guide me in determining when to water. After removing my tillandsias from their bath water, they feel turgid back on their Thigmotrope Satellite Fleet tillandsia holders they go. To gauge when to water again, I just give the plants a gentle squeeze. If the leaves look curled or dull or limp and have some give when I squeeze them, it’s time to water again.
To ensure even soaking, I flip my plants mid-soak.
My next assignment is to find a good air plant fertilizer regimen, because I want to encourage them to multiply and re-bloom. Can that be achieved in my filtered-light bathroom? We’ll see!
