Citrus Tone Tea on bamboo-- I'll let you know

Made a tea of the Espoma Citrus Tone 5-2-6, I realize I'm going on about Espoma but I really like the idea of fertilizing while also amending the soil with organics and beneficial bacteria.

I used it on the bamboo. I hadn't fertilized it in a while and the 5-2-6 has a nice amount of nitrogen which might help replenish all those leaves that fell off during the dry spell. We'll see, I put in 2 cups for 5 gals and rinsed that down with another five. Do I know what i'm doing? HELL NO. I am so addicted to instant gratification .. Well we'll see. I highly doubt that it will damage a 40 +” pot of bamboo. The soil was moist before I applied the tea.

The Thompson's Begonia bible gives a nice overview of fertilizing chemistry: macro/micro nutrients etc. (which I read last night finally). Hopefully it'll give me some insight into proper feeding depending on what you're trying to accomplish: high blooming ease up on the nitrogen. Lush foliage crank up the nitrogen, etc.

I am also interested in worm casings. I need to do some research. I found a place online that sells 21 lb bag for $30. It is A LOT more expensive in Home Depot. What are they and why are they beneficial to the soil?

Holland America and the buddha's belly takes a hit

7 nights. Gran Turk,  San Juan, St. Thomas, Bahama isle.  ALL protein served from steam table on Lido deck was overcooked. The on-board baker was fantastic. The breads, croissants, desserts were wonderful.

There were several 'up charge' dinners which were worth the extra money paid. One of the nights was 'a night at Le Cirque'. We had gone to Le Cirque in NYC 10 years before on our anniversary so to go on the same night 10 years later was a lot of fun. I had a corn soup (no cream) which was simple and delicious and poached mackeral. Chocolate souffle for dessert. All very good.
2/18 Back in the garden. The only real beating was taken by the buddha belly bamboo. Most of the leaves were brown and falling off. Of course a few minutes of soaking began what seems to be a solid recovery.  Brown leaves are pretty much gone. New green leaves are just getting ready to unwrap themselves.

Moved the begonias and the variegated boug outside. Clean up a lot of the sloppy absorbant polymer that i had sloshed on before leaving. What a waste--though it seemed to keep things from getting too dry.

Threw some Espoma Citrus Tone 5-2-6 around bougies, pulmaria, datura, begonias, false aurelia, croton. Not exactly the appropriate blend, but it's organic, good for the soil and not too far off  from the regular Plant Tone (5-3-3).. well maybe but it's a soil conditioner with beneficial bacteria. I bought some 'Bougain' to try on the bougies. I'll wait a week or two for the Espoma to be absorbed before I apply. I tried to aerate the root ball on the purple by poking holes in the soil around the pot with a bamboo culm. We'll see if this opens things up some. The root ball was getting wet and holding the moisture too long. I'll give it a good dry-out before doing anything else.

Away for a few days

Just left Grand Turk (of the Turks & Caicos). Did nothing but snorkled for half and hour and laid in the sun. Beautiful water. The weather has cleared and the temp was in the 70's though of course felt quite warm in then sun. The water is a sapphire blue. Remarkable. Paid no attention to flora, there were a few coconut palms on the beach the island looks pretty scrubby other than that. It's supposed to be clear at home. I'm sure things are ok.. maybe it'll rain later in the week.

Reading, Sun waiting for lunch.

passing days

2/09/2011

Low seventies and humid this morning. It was supposed to rain, I moved some begonias. I have to learn to leave them alone! When it rains the water off the eves can be torrential and could overwhelm a begonia. The plants I moved were plants I wanted to dry out, there was a reason for the move. Not much else happening. The begonia group I'm a member of on Yahoo are trying to find seeds for some species begonias. Very serious posts. I am not that type of grower. A gardener in Palm Springs invited me to visit her garden.

Getting ready for the cruise leaving on Saturday, I'll figure out something.

I'll have to get some of the auquasorb out of the plants when I get back. I sprinkled some over some of the plants, like the bamboo grass and although it's not visible, it is at the base of leaves above the root ball which might cause some trouble like weighing down the grass.

2/11/2011

Didn't spend much time out this morning. Pulled out the large banana on the west side and put a tall cane and Selph's under it for shelter from sun and rain. I'm going to use the papaya on the other end of the terrace for dappled shade.

2/12/2011

Raining, temp in the 50's! Brought in the plants I think would dry out quickly outside when it gets warmer in the next few days. I'd like to leave them out in the sunny humidity but temps in the 80's even if humid would require some watering. Have to trim back some overgrowth of the Mexican Hat in the blood orange pot. Sweep up and maybe give bamboo torrential watering. Packing for cruise.

AM Watering

Crisp am 60's, watered first thing. The watersorb crystals have pushed up soil and mulch in some pots, but it has to be done. I'll be gone for a week and it may be a  dry one. I'm trying to find a few containers, i.e., gallon milk jugs and put a pin hole in for a slow, slow drip.

I'll clean the pots up when I get back. It'll be interesting if my efforts work.

I've posted pics of Ray enjoying the garden. Ray, 13 years, is a real gentleman all the way. He was adopted from a shelter in Bushwick having been saved from the freezing winter streets of Brooklyn.

"TIGER, tiger, burning bright 
In the forests of the night, 
What immortal hand or eye 
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?" W Blake

The western wind bloweth

I doubt the more delicate rhizomes are going to be able to left outside. Tonight for example, there is a strong wind coming from the west. I had to move some plants toward the western wall which is provides a wind block.  I can't move things around at first sign of weather. It's not good for the plants and it definitely isn't good for the relaxed enjoyment of my garden. I'm hoping that, as some of the other plants grow up and out, i'll be able to figure out how they can be used to provide shelter from the storm. The larger rhizomes and canes seem to be able to tolerate some gusts of wind.

I'd setup an inside window bench for the begonia but my cat Ray would trim the leaves and then purge..

The majority of the other plants on the terrace can be blown around and don't really seem to suffer too much. The coming summer storms will be quite a learning experience. The banana leaves will show some wear and tear but are still so tropical and wonderful addition to the different leaf textures that i'm going for. bamboo and bougainvilla can take a beating, orange / papaya ok too. Jasmine being trained along handrail with euphorbia and vietnamese jasmine -- sturdy all.

I did a hard prune on the purple bougie, I'm going to start having to think about attaching it to the wall using eye hooks / string.

I'm watering in the morning, I'm interested in seeing how the watersorb crystals react. I'm hoping they ou aren't going to blow up over the top of the pot. I hope using them in existing planted pots won't turn out to be a big mistake. I mixed it in the potting soil when I was first mixing it up. I think that with the S FL sun, the amendment to the soil should be increased by a third or so-- this ain't a scientific number. I'll try it in my next potting and let you know.
.

Keeping Everyone Hydrated

Going on a 7 night cruise next week. We've decided not to have anyone come over and water. If my cat went out while they were watering.. nightmare. I had purchased a kilo of the watersorb crystals on the web, I punched holes in the soil and filled them partially up with the crystals, topped the hole off with soil and gave it a nice packing down. On the larger pots, I used a broom handle to make the holes. A good many of the pots I won't need to worry about. I'll give them a hard soak the day we leave, they be fine. It'll be a good test to see how the garden holds up without help during the week. The rhizomatous pots will be fine. The Carribean Queen I'll push under the papaya for a little shade. I mulched around almost everything today, except the cane begonias, a good mulching always make things look clean and tidy.

I trimmed the purple bougainvilla fairly hard, it'll bring out a nice full flush of flowers (bracts). 

I moved a good many of the pots so I could get in and mulch. Swept a lot of fallen leaves / flowers.

I've place b.'Dopey' in front of one of the columns, next to the miniture Italian cypress,  it will get intermittent sun and not be under the eves where the water falls the hardest.

More later.

Sunny in the upper 70's

Nothing to report today. I need to water early tomorrow -- before the neighbors below come out for their morning cigarette. I'm going to sprinkle some Osmocote slow release fertilizer-- VERY SPARINGLY.

This and That

Where are the sources to find the species that was hybridized for Selph's Mahogany? There really aren't a lot of references. There are several volumes of the Thompson series, I have a single volume which doesn't mention it being vol 1, 2 ,3 etc. I'm not sure if it's the complete set in one book. There was also an update done in then 80's. I may have to join the ABS again and start pelting them with queries. Thinking of sources, the Thompson's actually have meticulously documented their work, I should go this and see if I can find sources to check out and document, focusing first on rhizomatous and seeing where I'll go from there. The b. 'Cosair' that I gave a HARD trim to- pretty much down to the rhizomes are already putting up some new leaves. This one is behind the others in terms of blooming, but I see low lying buds there.

I cut the last blood oranges off of the orange tree as new buds are starting to set for next years fruit. The tree is in a corner of the terrace. The light it receives will be on 3 sides, the corner will be darker, I guess that happens in the wild, I am unsure how to prune the tree to it's best advantage.

I'll be away for a week in mid-February a friend has generously offered to water thank goodness.

I have two pots of Duranta on different ends of the terrace. The larger one, on the east side had longer branches which I pushed through the railing so that it spills over the edge of terrace. It's beginning to put out it's beautiful purples sprays of flowers.

The Buddha belly bamboo is sending up a shoot at an angle from the cut l made. I'm going to have to learn how to keep the stalks coming up in the most beautiful way. The last full culm that came up did not have fully round bulbs in the stalk. I'll put a picture to illustrate the shape of stalk I'd like to encourage.o

Regarding handling the new rhizo's with kid gloves, i'm not sure how much I'll really have to do that. Once I get the plants really growing, the wind might even make them stronger. I think it does with other plants after they've been out there for a while. The Plumaria for example has strong trunks. It was 3' tall in September, it tops 6' feet now!

I'm partial to begonias as you can probably tell from my posts. My rhizo's are all beginning to bloom now and it is very pretty sight. Here are some of the begonia related resources that I use:

Of course , the ABS virtual greenhouse:

http://www.begonias.org/greenhouse/index.htm

as well a their great resource page:
http://www.begonias.org/Resources/resources.htm

"Begonias the Complete Reference Guide" by M.L. and E.J. Thompson
This is the bible.