Spring has sprung

[bill_schubert]

It is near 80 (26) degrees today and will be most days until it gets hotter. But the breeze is blowing and the grass is growing. So I went out and did some yardwork. Trimming the grass, spraying for broadleaf weeds, deep watering the trees, and such. And for good measure I vacuumed and cleaned my car interior.

While I was at it I took a couple of pictures of our budding Lady Banks Roses. They are trying so hard and just not doing much for two years now. I think I just didn't plant them deep enough and the roots are still digging their way down to food and water. But they are better this year than last and I'm patient:






It is so dry this year and will be worse.  Dana is better about watering these guys than I am but they really need it each day for a while.

We also watched CODA today.  It was good.  Not, IMHO, a great movie.  It seemed kind of predictable and the end too much like Flashdance but wonderful scenes with the family and about deaf families.  So for that worthy of best picture and certainly best supporting actor.

Looking for a new series to watch and re-reading "The Old Man" because I needed a replacement quickly late at night. 

Comments

[beautiful_dreamer_02]

More commonly used with vegetables, I think, but have you considered this garden "hack" for your Lady Banks roses?

You try to do this as close to the plant as you can without damaging roots, or without damaging roots too much. Ideally, it gets done at the time the rose bush is planted.

Drill holes into the bottom half of a length of PVC pipe at least one inch ID. Put it into the soil until it's about three-quarters "buried." Water the soil, but also water directly down the pipe; the idea is, it will carry water deeper, faster, so the roots will search down deep. Those holes need only be on the side of the pipe closer to the rose's root crown. Usually only one pipe per shrub or plant is necessary.

And mulch, of course, to help reduce evaporation and to help keep the roots cool.

[bill_schubert]

That is a great idea that actually points to another. I've got a tree watering device (pretty much the same thing you describe but it attaches to a hose and you stick it in the ground to water under the tree). I've never thought about using it for the roses but will do it. And next time I plant will add your PVC hack. I like it. Thanks.

[beautiful_dreamer_02]

Oh, I can't claim credit for this idea, although I like it, too. And you're certainly welcome to it.

When I first started vegetable gardening, I read advice about using drip irrigation systems (more money than the gardening budget allows) and soaker hoses (better, but they have some chemical drawbacks) and finally I thought, "What if we bury, connecting where we have to, drinking water safe PVC pipes with holes drilled in them, pretty deep in the beds. And at the ends or every so many feet or at the "corners," we could add a vertical pipe via a T-connector to get water down there; we could even pour water down the vertical pipe/s."
The plan was to pour, if I were pouring, three or four gallons of water in one go from a five-gallon bucket. (Need a big funnel? Cut off the bottom of a one-gallon jug as long as the neck will fit into the pipe, and if not, a 2-liter bottle should do the trick.
And, I thought about our very loose soil getting into the pipes and thought maybe I'd have to sew up "sleeves" of that weed barrier landscape fabric.
I nixed my plan, though, after I read about how much damage we do to the soil when we dig, double-dig, trench or otherwise disturb the soil; wish I'd done it before I found out, you know? Anyway, the sleeves, the connectors, funnels, everything---all moot at that point.

If you're going to be hammering the pipe into the ground, it's recommended that you cut the downward end on a slant, maybe 50°, maybe 60, so you're driving a wedge-end and not a flat, blunt terminus. But take your soil into consideration.

Oh, and I never once thought on my own of using this for ornamentals, such as roses, until I happened to see this very hack, maybe in the Old Farmer's Almanack and the illustration showed it being used with a rose bush.

[mallorys_camera]

Do you have AppleTV? (I'm thinking you must because CODA.)

If you like stories about entrepreneurial excess, I highly recommend WeCrashed. It is very well done.