Trimming Boxwoods and Gearing up for Composting

This past weekend was hit or miss when it came to working in the yard and gardens at Crest Avenue.  It was 82 degrees on Saturday and 84 degrees yesterday.  Both days were less humid than usual, so it was actually quite nice to spend some time outdoors.  We finally got some much needed rain, so I was in and out and sometimes working between the raindrops.

The projects are many, especially this time of year.  Weeds need to be cleared.  A walk around the property to take a look at the landscape to see what is doing well and what needs some attention, whether it is pruning of dead growth or fertilzer or both.  I also did some much needed pruning on the various hedges.  I trimmed the privet hedge along the front yard.  This hedge had gotten way too tall and lanky.  Trimming along the side and cutting back the height of each plant will force it to fill in nicely and give me the privacy that was originally intended.

I next moved to the boxwood along the front walk.

You can see the trimmings along the sidewalk.  These are dwarf boxwood.  They only grow to a height of about 3 feet in nature.  I love boxwood.  I have it many places in my landscape.  It is hardy and I enjoy the evergreen feature.  During the winter months I like to be surrounded by evergreens.  It helps chase away the winter blues.  Ideally, you would trim boxwood in early spring by using hand shears to remove any dead growth from the winter months.  Hedging or "shearing", as it is sometimes called, can be done in late summer or very early fall.  Just make sure you do it in plenty of time so that the plant has time to heal before frost sets in.  Yes, that is a shadow of my had and camera in the lower right hand corner.

I decided I would try my hand at composting.  The Cheverly Community Farmer's Market was selling these composters for $20, which was a deal.  I have seen these advertised for sale on Google from as low as $94.99 to as much as $119.99.  I think it is a good idea and I'm looking forward to getting this assembled and starting to produce some very beneficial mulch for my gardens.  You can see my orange, heavy-duty extension cord laying on the sidewalk in this picture.  Good thing I had this one because I sliced the one I was using with the hedge clippers earlier in the morning.  They stopped working all of a sudden and I couldn't figure out what on earth was wrong with them.  I went inside to take a break and got my wallet and keys and was ready to head over to Lowe's to get a new set of clippers.  When I picked them up to take them inside, I saw about two feet of severed electrical cord hanging from the receptacle on the bottom of the clippers.  So I put my wallet and keys back in the house, got another extension cord from the shed, and kept working.  Such is the life of a gardener.  I replaced the severed cord with another one yesterday afternoon just in case I get overzealous in my hedge trimming again this week.

And finally, the tomatoes.  This tomato plant is heavy laden with these huge beefsteak tomatoes.  The only problem is they will not turn red.  Even I get stumped every now and then about why something is or is not working in the garden.  I did some research online and found out that I needed to cut back on the watering.  So that is what I have done.  Let's hope that I have another picture later this week of this sweet tomato in crimson glory!