mediaOrganic » Perennials

eureka! a positive identification

John — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:16:51 +0000

For the past few years I’ve watched every spring as clumps of small white flowers emerge from clumps of what looks like waxy variegated grass. I don’t know how they found their way onto my property but they seem to thrive in the semi-shade on the north side of my property under the trees [...read more]

grape trellis built

John — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:10:23 +0000

A fine weekend plus a little motivation can yield results. I planted a grapevine about 8 years ago but the location wasn’t as sunny as it should have been and the vine grew slowly. I finally pulled it two years ago and have had it in the back of my mind to find a [...read more]

blackberries planted

John — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:18:42 +0000

This is an experiment for me. Last year was my first stab at growing berries. I purchased 10 small canes at Lowes (5 red raspberry, 5 black raspberry). All appeared alive and healthy and I found a spare patch of ground in a out-of-the-way spot to plant them. Unfortunately, over the [...read more]

first asparagus harvested

John — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:52:00 +0000

Last year we built a raised bed and planted 40 Jersey Giant asparagus plants. Over the summer they all came up and we had a beautiful “wall” of 3-4 ft high fronds. This is now the second season for the plants and supposedly we can do a light harvest so I carefully cut about [...read more]

transplanted grasses from front bed

John — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:34:58 +0000

When we updated our property four years ago our landscape architect specified about 20 blue fescues for a south-facing area. It was a nice design but the climate and soil conditions proved too harsh for these grasses and they slowly succumbed. At this point about two-thirds of them are dead or near dead so [...read more]