Weeds!!

Ahh!!  So many weeds!!  I feel like we have been weeding for the past three days.  It just never ends!  And because weeds aren't enough, my Celosia design has aphids.  :(  

On a positive note, we found out that the two goldfish we adopted are, in fact, alive.  We hadn't seen them for a week, but one day they came out of hiding.  Their names are Coco and Jiggy.  If they come out again, I will take a few shots.  Garrett added some more goldfish to the pond as well.

 We cleared out a lot of weeds from the edge of the garden.

 Alex

Dave

So lately our days have been filled with weeding, pruning, and watering.  We still have more to do before I would say the garden is "finished."  Garrett also finds many new things for us to add to our list. 

Morgan

Sunny Day

I can't believe how fast these two weeks have gone by.  I also am shocked by how much we have accomplished.  Yesterday, we finished the new rock path.  It just needs to be brushed off but we are holding off to let it settle into place.

I also added a lot of annuals to the garden.  I tried to make some interesting arrangements.  My favorite part about working in the garden is having the freedom to create and design.

Today, I finished the hanging baskets.  Dave and I spent the afternoon weeding.  We have been migrating from the back of the garden to the front.  It will look wonderful when we finally mulch it.  I think that it may change throughout the summer as we find more areas to improve.  Some people have pointed out things that they would change, and we definitely appreciate the input!!

Oh! And we have some baby birds in the wood house.  :)

Morgan

Tuesday May 24, 2011

Hello, this is Dave Hicks one of this years interns for the U of MN, Dept. of Horticulture's Display and Trial garden located at the NW corner of Folwell and  Gortner Ave's. on the beautiful St. Paul campus. We are off to a great start, and hope to have our annuals in the ground by weeks end. It seems as if everything out there was just waiting for the goofy weather to end and is now making up for lost time, including the weeds. But, we are "winning" the battle presently. Stop by and see us if you happen to be in the neighborhood. I'll post some pictures soon.  

Tulips

Today we spent most of our time turning beds over and trying to move plants into the garden.  The Lamium and Sedum have taken over some areas and we've spent quite some time digging it out.  Dave and I created a nice geranium rainbow by the patio.  I think it will look wonderful once it fills out.

The salmon-colored variety is my favorite.

We also started planning the vegetable portion of the garden (yum!).  The whole garden is starting to look less desolate now that the greenery is coming up.  After that rain, though, the weeds we had removed are returning with force.  I think that once we reach our mulching stage, the weeds will be easier to manage.

There is not a lot to note today so I decided to take some pictures of the tulips.  They are beginning to disappear.

Oh and some Rhododendron!

Morgan

First Week!

Welcome to the Display and Trial Garden Blog for this summer!  We have completed the first week and have made quite a few changes!  Posted below are a few pictures of the garden before we began our clean up and preparation.

As we continue to update the garden, I will post more pictures of our progress!

On Monday we spent a lot of time removing dead matter and tilling.  Tuesday included similar tasks, but we began to find places where we would like to make changes to the layout.  We considered plants we would like added and also removed.  I spent a few hours removing tons of chives and oregano that had gotten out of control.  Wednesday, we were finishing a lot of the clean up work.  I spent the afternoon pruning shrubs and discovered that I really enjoy it!  Thursday, Dave and I started a large project.  We removed a fair amount of stones from an area in the garden in order to build some walking paths.  We haven't completed the paths yet, but they are turning out quite well.  (As are our muscles!)  The goal is to allow people to get closer to the plants and also create aesthetically pleasing trails.  I am quite excited to see how it turns out.

We were trying to complete our last path when the rain chased us indoors.  While we were waiting out the rain, we started picking out our options for a few of the planters.  The rain let up and we decided to take our choices outside and plant them before the rain came again.  We finished planting, but failed to beat the rain!  I felt and probably looked like a wet cat, but it has been so warm out that I definitely am not going to complain about a couple of rain showers!

Next week I will be posting more pictures and updating more frequently.  Although we have accomplished a lot, we still have a large amount left!  Hopefully, we can get everything planted by next Friday. Wish us luck!

Morgan