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die, oregano, die!
Nov. 2nd, 2012 09:55 pmmy main garden has oregano growing in it. when i planted it, this seemed like a great idea, since we eat plenty of it. buuuut... not nearly as fast as it grows. also, since i've been rather busy, i haven't kept it pruned back like i'm supposed to (it gets woody).
since i've acquired a bunch of new bulbs, i decided to rip out some of it to have some space to plant. easier said than done. turns out oregano has roots like shrubs: thick, deep, abundant. also, there were other plants (mostly astilbe¹) mixed in with it, and plenty of bulb clusters in the same area needing to be lifted and divided, so i didn't want to use a rototiller. ripping out a bit more than a square meter's worth without killing everything else there took close to two hours. that does including lifting and dividing the bulbs, though.
they certainly needed it. one cluster -- roughly the size and shape ofbraaaaaains a brain, with dangling roots everywhere -- had doubtless started as a single daffodil and a single crocus. it contained 30-50 bulbs. (i lost count a couple of times. trying to disassemble a 3-D biological jigsaw puzzle without breaking any of the pieces is challenging enough.)
i'm nowhere near done. taking all this stuff out reveals that there's a lot more rocks, gravel, and hunks of aggregate left in the garden than i thought. all that needs to go. i've also got to loosen the soil down to about a foot, since i bought some new allium. ("gladiator"; huge flowerheads and huge bulbs to match. it goes in deep.) and then everything that will fit gets replanted, followed by finding space for the rest. this should fill most of the weekend.
this is the part of gardening i'm least fond of, but the results are worth it. not only do i have more flowers than i know what to do with, the neighbors think i'm some kinda gardening genius because there's always something blooming. as though the "succession of blooms" bit is my idea.
1: astilbe is one of the few flowering plants dïe überblönde deigns to notice, and she actually like it. so, i try to keep it around. it's slowly spreading, but it can't compete with the most enthusiastically spreading perennials i have.
since i've acquired a bunch of new bulbs, i decided to rip out some of it to have some space to plant. easier said than done. turns out oregano has roots like shrubs: thick, deep, abundant. also, there were other plants (mostly astilbe¹) mixed in with it, and plenty of bulb clusters in the same area needing to be lifted and divided, so i didn't want to use a rototiller. ripping out a bit more than a square meter's worth without killing everything else there took close to two hours. that does including lifting and dividing the bulbs, though.
they certainly needed it. one cluster -- roughly the size and shape of
i'm nowhere near done. taking all this stuff out reveals that there's a lot more rocks, gravel, and hunks of aggregate left in the garden than i thought. all that needs to go. i've also got to loosen the soil down to about a foot, since i bought some new allium. ("gladiator"; huge flowerheads and huge bulbs to match. it goes in deep.) and then everything that will fit gets replanted, followed by finding space for the rest. this should fill most of the weekend.
this is the part of gardening i'm least fond of, but the results are worth it. not only do i have more flowers than i know what to do with, the neighbors think i'm some kinda gardening genius because there's always something blooming. as though the "succession of blooms" bit is my idea.
1: astilbe is one of the few flowering plants dïe überblönde deigns to notice, and she actually like it. so, i try to keep it around. it's slowly spreading, but it can't compete with the most enthusiastically spreading perennials i have.