2026 CW37 - A Sickly Week
It was a pretty sickly week. Mostly for me, but also a little for the garden.
I spent half of the week taking medicine, reading, and making my way through educational YouTube content centered on some other hobbies of mine such as personal finance and 3D printing.
For the most part though, that did not stop the garden! From afar, things still look pretty swell. I’m not going to break this week’s blog down into sections, because frankly I did not get out much and do not have many pictures to share. I have one small “cover story” type thing to cover regarding some Spider Mites on Rose plants, but other than that things are pretty sparse.
I hope to be back at 100% next week and providing the usual amount of in-depth garden coverage!
Before we get into the Spider Mite situation, I want to cover a few more bright spots around the garden! Here we have one of our final Cantaloupes in the foreground, the ever-abundant Luffa vines in the background on the trellis, and several open Moonflower blooms in this early evening snapshot. This is quite the pleasant spot to sit and rest when working in the garden, and thanks to the vines and trellis it is shaded for most of the afternoon!
Out front we check in on our St. Augustine lawn! Unfortunately, the front yard was subjected to an accidental double-dose of weed-and-feed about 6 weeks ago that burned off much of the yard. However, with careful management of the cutting height and irrigation, the lawn has since sprung back to life! One thing I wanted to highlight is this cross-section view showing the depth of the grass. St. Augustine LOVES it long and is generally happy at mower settings in the 3” - 4” range. We cut ours at the 4” setting, and the resulting height is about six inches above grade.
Perusing the rest of the garden for something quick and easy to share this week, my attention was arrested by a few of the Caladium varieties we have in the backyard. These plants, along with Hostas, are some of the most intriguing opportunities for growth Sara and I have in the garden. We are each fascinated by these plants and have historically struggled to grow impressive specimens. Perhaps next year we’ll find the time to really focus and perfect these foliage wonders!
Now I suppose we transition into the ever popular Pests and Pets section despite the lack of sections this week!
Recently during an evening garden walk, Sara’s keen eye noticed a fresh infestation of Spider Mites on one of our climbing roses (Madame Alfred to be exact). We have NEVER had spider mites in our garden before, so honestly this was kind of an exciting opportunity to check something new off the list!
After doing a little research and some perusing at the local big box store, I settled on Captain Jack’s Rose Rx to combat the tiny takeover. As with any infestation or disease, treatment is substantially more effective if you first remove the affected portions of the plant. So, I cut back all of the rose runners which showed signs of significant infestation and applied a liberal amount of the (neem oil based) insecticide.
Hopefully this combination proves successful and the rose will be enabled to continue on its journey to the top of the trellis!
It wouldn’t be a garden blog without some pet portraits! Yoda and Henry couldn’t be bothered for any poses this week, but Scout eagerly insisted on taking these late-evening glamour shots in the backyard!
Sorry again for the short one this week! Hopefully I find myself fully restored and ready to blog next week.
