Hey friends welcome to Gardening with Creekside today we are going to tackle some projects that
have been driving me crazy and it is time to get them done so you're going to kind of spend
the uh morning in the garden with me as I get various projects done obviously we are sitting
here in front of the house the front yard and you will see my lovely overgrown boxwoods behind me
and then you will see this gorgeous sweet potato vine that is extremely happy needs to be trimmed
back we've got some weeding to do we have got some fertilizing to do it is a very warm July
Morning it is about 10 o'clock in the morning so I'm already running behind but that's all right
this is the first time I've gotten into the Garden in about two weeks because of all the traveling
that we have been doing here lately so I am super excited to be in the garden and my little furry
companion is also very very happy to be back in the garden with me so we're going to try to work
with purpose and move with purpose because it is hot like I brought her out this morning to go to
the bathroom at like 6 30 and I was like oh my word it toasty so we're gonna move with purpose
now behind me you will see we have got this uh nice hedge of boxwoods in the front of our house
you've been with us a couple of times before as we have trimmed this nothing really glamorous about
trimming boxwoods but it makes a huge difference obviously and honestly we are way way behind on
trimming these so that is going to be the first topic that we are going to tackle so let me get
everything set up and then we're going to get those trimmed up and show you how I'm going to
do that we're going to tackle these boxwoods and get them knocked out really quickly hopefully so
one these are we believe these are winter gym we planted these
um probably 15 years ago we've been in our house 19 I think we planted these 15 years ago we keep
it really simple in front of our house we have got massive color everywhere else and we don't extend
these beds because of the way that water drains through the for from our front yard because you
know water is an issue here so we just keep it really simple I love boxwoods I know some people
don't I personally love boxwoods but yes these are Winter Jam it's best that we can know I do think
that their life expectancy is going to be kind of short because on the back side they get zero sun
and they're starting to have just a lot of wood and not a lot of green foliage and they're just
getting massive so it's going to be I'm going to kind of play it by ear as far as how much I trim
these back but clearly they need to be shaped up they are in massive they're like please show us
some love so that is what we're going to do day of course I have my electric steel trimmers this is
the steel HSA 66 we've had these for quite a few years now there may be a newer model out there but
I love that they are electric because super easy to manage it's lightweight and it's not as loud
and it's just really easy for me to manage so I love those so yeah we're just going to go in there
and shape them up clean everything up get the bed weeded because there are some weeds on the edge of
the grass flower bed from the grass coming in so we're gonna get all that cleaned up I would love
to be able to mulch this today simple reason we're not going to mulch today we ran out of mulch so
the mulch truck has not come back so once it comes back we will come back through here and obviously
get it nice and mulch which is like the lipstick or the earrings on the flower bed it just makes it
look just Supreme so that's all right today main goal today get these trimmed get these cleaned
up then we're going to fertilize the hanging baskets they have filled out so incredibly nice
so I'm going to show you how to fertilize because a lot of people are asking how do I fertilize my
annuals so I'm going to show you how incredibly easy it is but first things first we're going to
get these trimmed basically I would like to make them a little wider at the top and then bring them
in we're just going to see how it goes but get these all shaped up so we're just going to kind
of set up the camera you're going to watch me work hopefully we won't run into a black snake a couple
years ago Jackson and I were doing this very thing we had a black snake in one of the one of
the boxwoods so hopefully there's no surprises no Yellow Jackets I got my faithful companion right
here so hopefully she'll give me a little heads up if I start to run into something I shouldn't have
friends so the boxwoods are trimmed and oh my goodness it is uh I am a
hot sweaty mess right here and Brenda is with me trying to keep her attention on
me today and not the sweet customers who are visiting us sweet girl like streets and so
they're trimmed I am soaking wet with sweat dripping off the face and I'm in the shade so
there you go we're going to do now is the cleanup so I'm just going to rake everything out go ahead
and weed while I'm doing that rake weed throw it in the back of Johnny and then we will go ahead
and move on to fertilizing and trim it up this beautiful sweet potato vine that is overtaking
my sun patients because it's just such a happy camper so the progress continues I did get a
little bit probably in certain areas into some some like dead growth I don't want to prune it
back anymore because I want to see overall green and not any brown obviously right uh so I do
think that these boxwoods their their life is is probably limited here in these flower beds within
I would say probably the next year definitely the next two years so they look great now they
look so much better so we're just going to go with that get everything cleaned up and uh keep
sweet girl here focused on some yummy treats all right we'll see that here in a second good girl
the boxwood project is complete they have been trimmed we have cleaned up we have blown we have
gotten the weeds out the only thing that that is left to be done as far as the boxwood bed is
to mulch it and once we get a delivery of fresh mulch then we will come in and mulch it my fellow
gardeners or the ones that deal with heat and humidity my southern people and other parts of
the country that are very hot and humid green probably was not the best shirt for me to wear
because it shows sweat really well but you know I could go change my shirt and I could freshen
up but I am going to wear my sweaty shirt like a badge of honor because if you are gardening
in the end of July in the South or anywhere where it is hot this is what's going to happen to you
you are going to get completely sweaty and you are going to be soaking wet that is the joy of
gardening in hot humid areas and 98 of the time I was in the shade so there you go so my people
who live in dry areas or areas that have like zero percent humidity practically or very low dew point
um enjoy that enjoy not you know gardening in soup so what we're going to do today next is it's time
for me to fertilize them we have gotten lots of questions about how do I fertilize my annuals
what's the best practices like I don't know how to fertilize my annuals so I'm just going to show
you really simple I think a lot of people start to overthink when you know fertilizing and it's
I promise once you take the fear out the basics is really really simple now you're going to want
to start with some really great quality water soluble fertilizer and you're only using this
water-soluble fertilizer on your annuals I do not use water soluble fertilizer on perennials
or hydrangeas none of that only my annuals and really those that are like my super flowers so
make my supertunias my super Bells today we're going to do angel wing begonias that have the
baskets that also have Diamond Frost in it I've got some superintendo mini Vista whites behind the
camera at the edge of the sidewalk we're going to fertilize those so that is what we're going
to fertilize right annuals especially flowering annuals because food equals flowers the one thing
that you're not going to have to fertilize a ton begonias in general don't need a ton of fertilizer
but because I planted these angel wings later and I trimmed them back really severe I need to go
ahead and give them a little extra food impatience some patients and patients in general do not like
to be fed if you're going to feed them maybe you feed them twice in the summer three times in a
summer once a month that kind of thing begonias again as general don't like a lot of fertilizer
your coleuses typically don't need a lot of fertilizer you're thinking of things that
have massive flower power now what are you going to fertilize with I personally only use proven
Winters water-soluble fertilizer this is what we sell at the nursery this is what we use this is
what I use as a home Gardener here in our flower beds and the flower beds at the nursery this is
just a fantastic great food for these plants your your ratios it's a 24 12 17. so that gives
you an idea on the different ratios of that and if you can't find water soluble proven Winter's
water soluble fertilizer uh my next go-to would be Jax Jax is a fantastic very reputable brand that
makes really great high quality water-soluble fertilizers and and just products in general
so if you can't find proven Winters hopefully you'll be able to find Jacks now inside you have
um you have your little measuring scoop that comes with a scoop and it comes with two packets
of the dry powder so this is really easy y'all I promise so what we're going to do is I have
a watering can this is a two gallon watering can I am going to give each one of these hanging baskets
a full two gallons of my water-soluble fertilizer it is simply one large scoop
this fertilizer per one gallon of water so if this is a two gallon watering can how many scoops am I
doing yep two scoops so two scoops in here and I like to put the fertilizer in first so when I add
the water with the hose it kind of mixes it up I have found personally if I add the water first
and then add the fertilizer I have to stick my hand down in there and judge it around to
get it to dissolve which is not the end of the world but worked a little smarter than harder so
eliminate that step because these hanging baskets are absolutely massive remember these are like the
24 inch in diameter and they're like 18 inches deep they are extremely heavy so I am not going
to be just willy-nilly taking these up and down if you have like the you know a 10 inch or a hanging
basket so that's light like on my back porch you can absolutely take them down set them in
a tub fertilize them and let them sit there for about 30 45 minutes because that way I know with
hanging baskets sometimes we feel like all the water just like runs out and we just wasted all
that great fertilizer get a tub get some sort of big large tub if it's like a tupperware container
fertilize it Let each basket sit for about 30 to 45 minutes pick it up let it drain and then hang
it back up fantastic Proven Winners recommends doing it every seven to ten days that would be
in an ideal perfect world personally I'll just be honest I can't do that like I just it it doesn't
work so if I can do it every two weeks every three weeks then I am feeling really good about myself
so any food is better than no food but you will see a massive difference if you can do it every
seven to ten days that is awesome and your plants are going to love you and perform great for you
so what I'm going to do is I'm just going to show you really simple one and then of course
these hanging baskets are tall so I do have my ladder so I'm going to scoop them up fill it
up and then I'm going to do that four times so I can get all four of these hanging baskets fed oh
all right my friends so here we are at the edge of the sidewalk gonna go up there remember we
planted these two containers of the super tuna mini Vista whites you will notice I think you
can see that I have terracotta saucers underneath them and all you're going to do is just come in
and you're going to water and not let the dog drink the water because it is fertilizer water
she hasn't learned the difference yet um and so I'm just going to divide this equally amongst
these two now I love having the saucers on my containers like this of my supertunias because
that way when I come in and I make sure that they get plenty of water they are looking slightly
crispy right now Jerry and I were you know at in Grand Haven Michigan at Spring Meadow for several
days and while my sweet children do relatively a really nice job of taking care of the plants
while we're gone and they did water them maybe they didn't water them as much as I would have so
they look a little they look a little crispy but that's all right they will bounce back
with this fertilizer and then that good consistent water so that's it so I can already see that there
is the fertilizer water in the saucer this is a great way to make sure that especially if your
containers are somewhat dry like mine are that it goes through and sucks it up and then the the
salsa there is of course that you make sure that your stool gets really nice and saturated and so
that's just a great tip when you have a container that's not an aqua pot it's not self-watering
container and you need to make sure that those containers get nice and really well watered and
all the way through then that is a great thing for you now when you have containers and you
um you know because life happens and sometimes they get completely dried out when you are
whether this is just regular watering or whether you're fertilizing you're going to have to go
back over that a couple of times because when that potting soil is completely dry and you put
water on it it runs straight through like it will immediately come out of the pot whether
it's a container like this or it's a you know plant that's still in its Nursery pot whatever
so you're going to either going to have to come back and water it two three four times nice and
slow let that water sink through or put it in a saucer or put it in like that shallow tub let
that water go all the way through that soil and really saturate that soil so if you have
something that's constantly drying out either move it up to a big container put a saucer underneath
it but frequent watering to make sure that your soil is nice and saturated is the key all right
all right let's go look at the Box quiz let's look at the whole project all together and Say Goodbye
all right our jobs for today are complete Brenna and I have had a very successful morning in the
garden and it feels wonderful to have this done the box was look so much better it actually looks
like a gardener lives here instead of having those wild woolly boxwoods but you know what
y'all do it when you can right we Perfection is a completely false concept it does not exist here
on Earth so just get out there and do what you can and if you have projects that are driving
you're crazy try to set aside set aside some time to get it done like these boxwoods were
driving me absolutely insane because you know we spent a ton of time on our front porch so to have
this done just makes me feel so good now yes but when we again when the mulch arrives we'll come
back here it'll really make me feel good then but to get that fertilized the hanging baskets
fertilized my supertune is fertilized got some weeding done down through the sweet potato vine
we'll get to that project on another day you know do what you can don't kill yourself but
just whatever that project is that's been driving you crazy try to block out a little time and get
it done so my friends have fun out there in your garden stay hydrated it is hot out here and as
always we hope you found this fun informative and inspirational and a little humor mixed in
as always we so appreciate you you all have a great day we'll see in the next video bye friends