garden plans 2013

We are going to cut back on the "grow your own" in 2013. We will buy a limited number of starter plants, which will include heirloom tomatoes and a variety of chili peppers. We may include a few herbs like basil and lemongrass though our basil crop from last year was ruined by leaf miners. I love lemongrass! Besides enjoying them as an aromatic in cooking, I like them as ornamental grass. And at the end of the growing season, I collect the dried grass to use as mulch.

In addition to the fall planted bulbs, which have already begun to pop from the dirt filled planters on the balcony, I think we will grow more flowers in 2013. Flowers in summer will be great especially if they are fragrant! We tried to grow dahlias last year. They started out great but was infected with both the white powdery mildew, spider mites, and aphids. I'm going to try to grow dahlias again this year. Other flowers we will grow in 2013 are daylilies, gladiolus, and more irises though I planted some in the fall for what I assume will bloom in the spring? I guess I will find out sooner or later.

 

Hopefully growing flowers on the balcony will make a nice little haven for us to enjoy. And in order to enjoy the garden, we will need a place to sit so acquiring furniture is a must for 2013. I have had my eyes on this French bistro set by Fermob.

Here's to an exciting new gardening year!

dahlias are coming back

I was getting worried about the Arabian nights dahlias because they were showing signs of distress. The leaves were speckled and turning brown as if drying up. At first I thought it was caused by the organic bug sprays I was using. I have found a few aphids and infestation of spider mites on the dahlias but I was surprised that these little buggers could cause this much trouble.

Despite the dahlias being distressed, they were still producing new growth and flower buds albeit smaller flowers from what they started out blooming. But even the new growths were also showing the speckled leaves.

I then realized that the dahlias were getting too much water. In fact, the planters were sitting in water. The planters containing the dahlias have drainage holes but the water wasn't draining away because it was sitting in a tray of water. I dumped out the water and the dahlias began to show signs of improvement.