Dig, Work, Fruit, Abe Darby, Fight!

I've been so tired after working in the garden the past couple of days, I've been unable to blog.  
Trench for planting the new privacy hedge.  More work but better results than individual holes.
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Digging the trench exposed the old drain pipes.  Fortunately, they were  easy to get out.  Anyone need some drain pipes?
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The new part of the privacy hedge will continue from the old Eugenia part of the privacy hedge:
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The new part will be Ligustrum japonicum, which will get about 10 or 12' tall, (3 - 3.6 M), smaller than the Eugenias.  I got one gallon-sized Ligustrums after comparing the size and price to five gallon Ligustrums.  For one third the price, they are about half the size, and Ligustrums are fast, fast growers.  The time difference between a one gallon and a five gallon plant is only four to six weeks in our climate.
Photobucket  We can wait a month for the additional size in order to save over 100 dollars!  
I really wanted to stick a couple of Pittosporum 'Tasman Ruffles' into the area, but they will look odd.  Somewhere else.  Wait. Patience, grasshopper patience.
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This is another consequence of the new culvert, an odd triangular area between the old retaining wall and the culvert.  Do I rebuild the wall along the culvert, creating a flat area at the bottom of that slope?  It looks strange.  I need opinions.  I was intending to put my compost tubs back here somewhere.  More thinking required, but that's okay--thinking is far less painful than all the digging I've been doing.
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I started getting a little too obsessed with that area, so I took a break and checked the fig tree, the fruit of which is slowly starting to ripen.  We've had cooler-than-normal weather, so the figs have been slow.  Fruit split, too.  
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The neighbor's Arbutus hanging over the fence drop these beautiful, edible, but flavorless fruits:
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On our side of the wall, the Metrosideros are blooming in the same beautiful crimson:
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Nearby, Abe Darby is also blooming again, finally.  Two complete defoliations due to horrible rust.  I finally decided to spray Abe down with fungicide.  His foliage is beautiful now...
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...but the flowers are poorly due to the energy he expended defoliating/refoliating.  Poor lamb.
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Now as to the puppies, they prefer to sneak into the powder room and have a screaming fight with each other in the toilet, but they don't both fit into the toilet any more, so they have fights under the desk in the kitchen instead.  
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Screech!
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Just the soothing atmosphere needed after digging and digging and digging.    



Comments

  1. Hard work but it's all going to be worth it :)

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    Replies
    1. Hope so! I know it's the journey, not the destination, but the journey is kind of rough right now.

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  2. that triangular area looks like a utility area to me. Put a gate in to nowhere, kind of like the government.

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  3. Sounds like time for a little pampering. Some might call it self-indulgence; I prefer the term "self care." Face it--with triple digits for the next week, what better is there to do in the garden?? A deep soak in a therapeutic tub? Perhaps a massage for those aching legs and shoulders? (With all that digging, methinks we're beyond a pedicure here, folks.)
    Kay

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    1. well, canning tomatoes was like a steam bath today. Does that count?

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  4. I really like the looks of that Pittosporum. P. tobira is just hardy here, so I googled Tasman Ruffles and found it to be even hardier. Now to find someone selling it.

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    1. Monrovia is selling it. Is Monrovia a wholesaler to your area? Did not know it was at all cold-hardy...that's a surprise! Good luck in your search. It's quite a pretty Pitts; sparkles in the morning sun.

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