Porch Garden Update

So, these pictures are a little old - but they're the most recent pictures I have.

The tree:

So, the "tree". As you can see the "grass" is dying. So what i've done is moved it to more shade (actually, mostly shade but with plenty of natural light), pruned it of all it's dead leaves, and then consistently watered it. The side that gets the most sun is doing much MUCH better now. But this is about as bad as it got.

(Grass & Evergreen)

(Total)


Porch:

The porch is doing OK. For the most part it hasn't changed, which probably isn't really a good thing. I've just read that if you have too much bark, or "barky things" in the potting soil, it competes with the plants for nitrogen. And my homemade soil is 70% bark. So I"m going to start fertilizing it with compost (which is nitrogen enriched) and maybe something else.


Wine Barrel:
(Primrose)
I had moved this to the porch steps thinking it would get more sun there.... I was wrong. And it wilted and turned dark. This is only 1 day after moving it back to it's original spot - and it perked right up. However, it's now wilted again. Maybe because it's hot and it's in a terra cotta container (which evaporates water through the walls). I might try watering it twice a day.


(Hanging)
As you can see the hanging pot is growing slowly. I think because it only gets 1 hour of direct sunlight. It might also be because of the soil! (goodness that soil!)





(Heuchera)
Seems really perky and the leaves aren't dying, so I'm taking that for a good sign. However, no new growth is coming in.


(Hosta)
This plant... this poor hosta.... is almost completely dead now. Worse than this picture here. These leaves in this pictures are big compared to the small 3 leaves that are left. I'm hoping I can still save it by mixing in compost with the soil. That is my goal!



(Brunnera)
This was doing really really good for quite some time. New growth coming in the center, spreading out, etc. But now it's stopped and all the leaves, not just the big ones are browning. So I'm thinking it may be too hot for them and I forget to water it every day.



Moms:
I did my very, very best to try to bring this back to life. It's not happening. I tried pruning it of it's dead leaves and branches and watering it when I was supposed to, and I even fertilized it with the other plants. Absolutely nothing has happened. It may have already been dead by that point though, but I didn't know because some leaves were still waxy. I think I am going to chuck it... sorry mom!



It's a little frustrating with the growth rate and dying ratio, but I do sometimes laugh about it. I keep reading and will try new things. I just feel like so many things are going on in my life it's hard to focus on gardening. But I always come back to it.