May Day - May Gray

Welcome to May!  I remember when I was little I would make a little flower bundle for my Mom and maybe a neighbor or two.  Today, here in Camarillo, CA we are having our typical "May Gray" weather.  The sky is overcast and there is enough moisture to keep everything just a little wet.  It's not raining though.  Just a light mist every now and then.  It's not too hot or too wet to garden.  It's also great weather for adding soil supplements, so out I went. 

Baby's Tears.  Soleirolia soleirolii
Cyclamen

To the left of our front sidewalk, we have a bed with just a few flowers and lots of Baby's Tears.  Baby's Tears love shade and moisture.  Obviously it gets what it needs here.  It has totally overwhelmed the flowers!  Luckily it's easy to pull up to give the flowers a chance.  I'll need to repeat often.





Phew!  This poor Cyclamen can get a little sun and air!  The snails and slugs love the shade and moisture too.  I saw a little damage to the leaves, so I put out some Sluggo.  Sluggo breaks down to organic fertilizer and is supposed to be safe for pets.  Some slug and snail bait is very attractive to pets and very poisonous.  Just to be sure, I only use it in the front yard.

Now you see it, now you don't.  Just a week or two ago the Raunculus looked full and healthy.  The other day I saw that most of them are almost gone.










I don't know if you can even see the one in the foreground.  It just has a few stems and very little else.  The red one in the back is doing a little better, but it's only because the slugs haven't gotten to it yet.  The whole plant may be gone tomorrow. With weather like this, the slugs will be out  munching all day.  With any luck, the slugs will be distracted with the yummy Sluggo and my Ranunculus will be spared.

I finally put out the Soil Acidifier today.  I scattered it all around the base of the Hydrangeas and Camellias.  I'll repeat in a couple of months.  Home Depot has a video about adding acidifier.  In the video, Rick Feldman uses an electronic PH reader.  I can tell by looking at these plants that they are very needy.  He says the goal is to have a reading around 6.  I may need to get the gadget so my plants don't need to get so needy. He says the blue hydrangeas will only be blue the first year unless you add a special bluing agent.  I didn't know that!  I have heard they need copper and to add pennies to the soils as well as the acidifier.

I wanted to also show you my new little spreading rose.  My friend Kristen gave me this one and a light purple one.  She said they are suppose to spread out several feet.  This one is still small, just about 8" tall.  But it got its first yellow blossom.  You can see I've sprinkle some fertilizer today as well.






Yep!  May Gray is perfect weather for spreading fertilzer, Sluggo, and soil acidifier.  Perhaps I'll take a few flowers next door.  Happy May Day!