Winter hardy cactus beds

My first task of the day was to join B... and Al... as we cleaned the outdoor cactus bed at the front door of the greenhouse. I began by removing and rolling the nylon netting, cleaning out the debris stuck in the netting, then carefully rolling up the netting for storage until next Fall. Under the netting, the bed was covered with long pine needles which protect the small cactus plants and yuccas. Many of the Opuntias (O. macrorhiza and O. fragilis) looked to be in fine shape, having survived the winter well. They looked green and healthy. I read that Opuntia fragilis is native to Minnesota. The task took about 3 hours for the three of us to pick away most of the pine needles from around the cacti, quite delicate, knee-bending, and back-stretching work.

I spent 20 minutes tending to the vine bench. There were several vines that had stolons stretching onto neighboring plants. These had to be removed or pruned to prevent the plants from becoming hopelessly entangled.

Finally, I was able to repot the Cotoneaster frigidus tree which I had intended to do last week. This week, Curator J... had sourced a plastic pot large enough for the root ball. Before potting the plant, I had to clean out the pot with the outdoor garden hose located between the buildings. I removed the old pot from the root ball, really ‘tho most of theold plastic pot shattered as I pulled on the edges. It was quite easy to expose the root ball. Once fully exposed, teased away the root fibers and cut off the lower 2 inches of the root ball. This will allow the new roots to find the

new potting soil.

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Thrip control: peppermint and clove

Here's a question: how many natural plant scents do you find repellent? The one that comes to the top of my mind is the scent of the newly blossomed corpse flower, Amorphophallus titanum . It smells very much like the name implies. If I could produce a scratch-and-sniff blog post, I would be tempted. The odor is horrible to humans, but sweet to some flying insects which are also attracted to rotting flesh. But perhaps you cannot tolerate the scent of clove, or eucalyptus? Insect pests are like us in this respect. Pests in the garden and greenhouse Insects, arachnids, fungi, and viruses. Their numbers are legion. The battle is constant. The most effective weapon is vigilance. In addition to vigilance, there are biological controls made from natural compounds which are generally non-toxic to humans. Included in this category are essential oils. For example cinnamon, rosemary, sage, neem, clove, peppermint and many others. These oils are repellent, and even toxic, to many of the pests...

Remembering my former city garden

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Dorset Coast, UK, 2024

I've had the privilege of visiting the United Kingdom a few times, but I had never visited the English Channel or the south coast. On a recent backpacking trip up the Thames River with friends in the county of Oxfordshire, my partner and I took the opportunity to explore a small bit the coastal county of Dorset. Route to the Dorset Coast We had ended our hiking trip up the source of the Thames River in the town of Cirencester, in Gloucestershire. From there, we took a train south to Bristol, then continued south on a train to Dorchester, in Dorset. From there, we caught a double-decker bus to Bridport. In Bridport we hiked with our meager backpacks a short distance down to the connected harbor village of West Bay. Bridport and West Bay, Dorset Since we didn't have a rented car, public transportation was our only option to get around. We chose the town of Bridport and the connected harbor of West Bay as our base for exploring the coastal trails. We chose this location because:...

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