This week I did the early fertilizing using Holly-tone on acidophiles like bleeding heart and azalea and 10-10-10 fertilizer on most of the other shrubs and flowers. Those plants that like a more alkaline media like columbine and lilac got a side order of lime with their fertilizer. Lime is calcium and magnesium carbonate and raises the pH of the soil. I also used pH-lowering sulfur compound on the blueberries, who like a tart, acidic media. I also limed the lawn.
I used bone meal on the flowering bulbs outside the fenced part of the yard. Bone meal, as you might suppose, is ground up bones and so is high in phosphorus, which promotes flowering. I can’t use it inside the yard because the dogs eat it.
I used a total of three 40-pound bags of Holly-tone, three 50-pound bags of 10-10-10 fertilizer, and three 40-pound bags of lime. Last year nothing got any treatment because of my broken leg and nobody seemed very unhappy, but this year some things are looking tired, even though it was a mild winter. Perhaps, it was because they went hungry last year.
I also did deadfall removal and some pruning as I made the rounds, and yesterday I spent the afternoon working on the junipers along the driveway. The junipers are a row of old, old shrubs that must date back to the 1940’s when the house was built.
They are tall with gnarly trunks, interlaced branches, lots of old cracks and breaks in the trunks and limbs, some supported by crutches. These shrubs take a beating every winter because the evergreen foliage retains a lot of snow, and that weight causes fractures. Judy tells me to cut them down and plant something new, but I have too much respect for their venerable age not to try and keep them going. I did have to do extensive pruning a few years ago because they had taken over too much of the driveway.
White crocus found a spot in the pachysandra.
Driveway junipers with lifts and crutches.
Junipers were originally planted too close to the edge of the driveway to allow for spread.
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