BS: Gardening 2010

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 17 Apr 10 - 05:59 PM

I'm up at my parents' in West virginia. Got their perennial border weeded and pinched their pansies for them. I always think of my grandmother when I'm out pinching back annual flowers. She always had beds full of pansies, petunias and snapdragons, and pots of geraniums all over the front porch. She loved them, but nothing seemed to offend her more than a annual bloom that showed any hint of getting ready to go to seed. Snap! Snap! Snap!

Also got their little raised veggie plot weeded and turned. Get to dig up some Single Apricot chrysanthemums to take home as Mom has decided to squeeze in some "Knock-out" roses. (It's shame, if you ask me, cuz there really isn't room for roses - but it ain't my yard *grin* I'm just the gardener.)

Sounds wonderful Mary. I don't know when I'm going to get to plant something in the beds Annie made for me - but the dirt and the beds will be there, ready whenever there is time.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Maryrrf
Date: 17 Apr 10 - 04:50 PM

I planted lettuce - simpson, romaine and mesclun about a month ago and it's almost ready to start harvesting for early salads. Also planted spring onions, radishes and carrots - but only the radishes seem to be doing well. Some of the kale and collards I planted last fall came up again, so I harvested and cooked a bunch of greens last week - mixed them with rice and they were yummy. Also mint and cilantro have come up from last year.   Some people are putting in tomatoes and squash, but I think I'd rather wait till May 1st when all danger of frost has passed.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Apr 10 - 04:16 PM

I have strawberries ripening! How nice! Not much else going on, though I am going to radically thin the oregano and dry what I pull, because I've run out of last year's supply.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 17 Apr 10 - 09:27 AM

Update on The Mystery Plant" I found while hunting mushrooms: it's a "Pink Ladyslipper"!!!!

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Apr 10 - 12:48 AM

Good thing we have a long growing season in Texas, because I'm getting started late again this year. I'll see tomorrow if all of my irises are out.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 12 Apr 10 - 09:10 PM

Ooh! I'm jealous!

Thinking about seeding a late crop of salad greens and onion sets for green onions Wednesday night, which is the only night I'm not working. Some folks are setting out tomatoes and basil. Chances of a late frost are probably pretty slim, but my experience is I don't gain much from planting warm season crops early if the soil is not yet good and warmed up. We had that one hot 3 days everyone in the East got last week, but otherwise night temps are still going to be in the high 40's to mid 50's and daytime highs not reaching the mid 70's until mid to late afternoon.

May nix seeding those cool season crops until I see what is going on with my Dad. Will prob'ly go to WV this weekend and it doesn't make sense to plant seeds that I can't keep watered everyday in what is shaping up to be a dry spring. I could probably get a brief crop of baby salad greens and certainly green onions even if I sow as late as the last week of April.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 12 Apr 10 - 08:54 PM

Planted lettuce and spinich this evening but before that had an hour to walk back in the woods and found another 9 "mergals"... We now have enough for a righteous serving!!! Also cut enough asparagus for another righteous serving!!!

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 12 Apr 10 - 08:26 AM

I'd love to spend a week takin' orders from you, Janie, but I'm kinda booked up right now...

Have you been to the horticultural center at UNC-Charlotte??? Purdy nice place... Not all that big but lotta natives...

Yeah, insecticidal soap/oil is a great product this time of year... Lacebugs are the enemy... The azalea society is working on trying to find a better solution to them and pedal blight... That's the nice thing about tthe society... It's half gardeners and half scientists...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 12 Apr 10 - 12:33 AM

Bobert, Ask the P-Vine iff'n I can borry you for a week or so. Eh?

The North Carolina Arboretum' gardens were beautifully designed, but as an aboretum, I found it disappointing. There is little emphasis on native plants or trees.    A lot of money has been poured into the facilities and the gardens, but it was more like a botanical garden than an arboretum. There are several miles of hiking trails through the surrounding forest, but no written guides or identification of the trees and other flora along the trails.   Although I know more than the average bear about understory plants and wildflowers in the woods of the East, I don't know trees all that well, and my knowledge of woodland plants is rusty. I was frustrated to see many emerging plants that I used to know could not recall (shoulda had my field guides with me.)

One real treat was to see trailing arbutus in bloom in several places along the trails we hiked. There were a number of shrubs in the heath family, mostly assorted hobble-bushes, that I would have liked to have been able to identify, as well as more than one species of native rhodies, and a number of different viburnums.

While I was gone, the solomon's seal grew 6 inches and is starting to bloom. Alternating insecticidal soap with dormant oil seems to be keeping the azalea lacebug in check. I used neem oil tonight instead of dormant oil, and have high hopes for this treatment.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 11 Apr 10 - 09:26 PM

First of all... Just east of Ashville (20 miles) there is a great little nursery called "Meadowbrook WeDu"... The P-Vine used to get their catalogs and from the cataloges one would think they were acres and acres but they aren't... Great stuff and great prices... We werr able to snag several native azaleas there for a song...

Been having lots of fun in the woods... First of all the "mergals" are coming up... Found 6 nice ones last evening... Allready halved and cleaned them and have them wrapped up in a moist paper towel in the refrigerator...

But lookin' for "mergals" also forces ya' to look at what elese is in them woods and I have also found a wild columbine which as a couple of bloom buds on it (can't wait to see what comes out) and a mystery plant... It looked like a jack-in-the-pulpiy at first but it had a bloom bud on a center stalk??? I donno... We'll know soon...

Went to the annual plant exchange in NoVa today with out azalea people... Took up Linten Rose, Iris (3 kinds), Hearts of Bustin, Pulminaria and came home with, ahhhhh, not alot... But it was fun...

I'm beginning my annual landscape-contract-from-Hell tomorrow... Over a hundred 3 to 5 gallon trees at a 15 acre site 20 miles north of there on the river... My back hurts just thinkin' about it...

Cutting asparagus and that's about it for ther veggie garden... We tilled in the spinich and kale that survived the winter and have started fresh rows...

Lotta azaleas in bloom... Lotta...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 09 Apr 10 - 05:14 PM

I'm over in Asheville now with my sister. We spent the day in Pisgah National Forest, starting at Brevard, and climbing up to Mt. Pisgah (by car - not hiking), and stopped at every turn out we came to. Up high it is still quite early spring, but there were trout lilies and cut-leaf toothwort just starting to bloom, a beautiful small yellow violet that I was tempted to dig, and rattlesnake plantain with leaves just unfurling. At lower elevations along a creek or two, golden ragwort was blooming.

Tomorrow we are going to go spend a good portion of the day at the North Carolina Arboretum.

It was good to have a reprieve from tree pollen, but we are back down in Asheville now, and the coughing and drippy nose have started again. (whine.)

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: maeve
Date: 09 Apr 10 - 09:24 AM

Last fall's plantings are doing well. My first spring 2010 planting (lettuce, snap peas, spinach, sweet peas, and carrots) are all up and looking good.

Scilla, daffodils, primroses, pink violets, star magnolia, pulmonaria (pink, coral, cobalt blue, mingled blue and pink), and single bloodroot are stunning. Garden and wild plants are two or more weeks ahead of the usual season's growth. Maple syrup production here was thwarted by the high temperatures. Most farms that usually participate in "Maple Syrup Sunday" withdrew or boiled plain water.

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: MMario
Date: 09 Apr 10 - 08:45 AM

I've got daffies, primroses, hyacinths, scilla all blooming, the daylilies are up, the peonies are breaking leaf buds, the maples have started to leaf (but the oaks haven't) and I am actually ahead of the weeds for the moment!

That won't last, but it is nice to have happen occasionally.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Apr 10 - 01:46 AM

I'm going to have to plant a few tomatoes in bigger pots and have the neighbor water them, I'm not ready to put them in beds yet. Am going to miss my irises in their peak. The blue ones are starting to open and there are shoots everywhere. It is like magic, isn't it, one day they're just leaves, the next there are these glorious flowers?

Got a new camera today, a small one to replace the little digital I use for garden photos that is not doing as many things as I'd like it to do. Like the one one, it will go in my shoulder bag. And this one can photograph the gnat's eyelash. Look out, bugs! (The older one, still functional and a great little camera, will go to Moonglow, who has an even older smaller camera right now. One day we'll all be up to speed, but for now, it's Reaganomics - trickle down.)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 08 Apr 10 - 05:33 PM

As per usual, the P-Vine has gotten us (me) into yet another landscape job from Hell and today the truck arrived with all the stuff that is going to be planted and it's well over a hundred plants... Most of them a cryptomera radican (replaces leeland cypris as the screen plant of choice)... Let's see... 42 of them alone... Not looking forward to this job but, hey???

Got another dozen of so asparagus plants in today where we had some die (possibly voles)... Got potatoes in... Lettuce and spinich and beets in... Seedlings in the barn under light...

Still no mushrooms to be found... It's gonna be rainy tonight and cool tomorrow then up to 70 by Sunday... I'll go out Sunday evening and check again???

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Cuilionn
Date: 08 Apr 10 - 04:57 PM

The robins are back and the daffodils opened on Easter! Yesterday broke a local record with a temp. of 84 degress F. Old record temp for this day of the year was...78 degrees, recorded in 1991. This global climate change/early Spring thing is really throwing my planting schedule.

Do any other New Englanders know if fiddleheads might be ready yet? Ours are far out in the woods and our neighbor usually beats me to 'em, but I just haven't had time to get all the way out there to check. I aim to harvest my fair share this year, if I can get them before he does!

--Cuilionn

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 08 Apr 10 - 08:28 AM

The arums don't appear to have recovered - another sharp frost took the new growth off them and I can't get close to them to see if there is any life left.. time will tell.

Presently there are primroses, periwinkles, tulips, hyacinth and violets in bloom, with green buds and shoots appearing all over the rest of the garden.

I had some help with some major pruning last week so hopefully I'll have a bit more light and the pyrocantha will go back over the fence and not need its support pole much longer.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 08 Apr 10 - 07:33 AM

Oh, geese... Reminds me that I owe the P-Vine a raised bed as soon as my tractor get's out of the repair shop...

BTW, I love raised bed plantings...

b~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 08 Apr 10 - 01:20 AM

Oops. Where I I had son heel them in....

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 07 Apr 10 - 11:23 PM

Raised beds placed and filled with topsoil, plus enough left over to dump on the pile of composting leaves where I intend to eventually have a flower bed.

Finally some inspiration about design and lay out of beds for the side-rear yard where I get the most sun. Spaced out day lilies better (they were where I had my son heal them in when we moved, almost 2 years ago and moved the ginger lilies to a more sheltered location. Nobody mentioned above are in their permanent homes, but should grow well where they are , even if it takes a few years to get their permanent homes lined out and dug up.   Got the oak leaf hydrangea planted, where I think it will stay, at this point.   Still trying to decide where to plant the two azaleas from Bobert that are still in pots. They may live in pots another season. Am using the dirt dumped where I eventually hope to have a garden bed as a nursery bed for the present.

Pollen is the worst it has ever been, and I am having the worst allergy season I have had since I was in my early 20's. Oh well.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 07 Apr 10 - 10:29 PM

The tiller-man showed today and tilled up the veggie garden... So we got in a few seeds this evening (in the heat) and got it all set up- with little flags for where stuff is goin' to live this summer... Even tho it's 90 X 30 things are going to be tight... But we'll have everything we want... Seeds are up and in the barn with the azalea cuttings under grow lights.... I think this year's veggie garden is going to be the best ever... Quite a variety...

Meanwhile, I have gotten another massive landscaping job which will keep me occupied for the next month... Plants coming in from Pender Nursery outta Garner, NC tomorrow... Oh, everything is goin' to hurt tomorrow night...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Apr 10 - 04:14 PM

My first iris opened yesterday, and all of a sudden there are stalks all over the place. I'm afraid I'm going to miss much of the show by being out of town. At least the neighbors will enjoy it. I'll mow tomorrow so the place looks well-tended and not inviting to anyone casing the neighborhood.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 Apr 10 - 05:35 PM

What gardening? We've had s**w every day for the last two weeks. It melts off but comes right back the next day.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Apr 10 - 12:48 AM

I'm headed to Arizona for a couple of days later in the week. I hear the wildflowers are glorious this year. I wonder where I can pack the camera gear. Who needs clothes, right?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 05 Apr 10 - 11:02 PM

93f today, 91 tomorrow and 89 on Wednesday. This does not sound like weather to sow lettuce seeds! And in the 80's where you are Leo?

Annie and the raised beds arrived late this afternoon! I'm all aflutter.

In this heat, the azaleas exploded overnight, and the tulips are having a shortened season. there are a few liitle patches here and there where the previous owner had planted tulips at some point in time, and they have repeated well over the last 2 springs. Unusual this far south for tulips to do well for more than one or two seasons.

She and I are headed for Asheville later in the week. I'd love to see Biltmore gardens, but don't want to pay the price. Will head for the NC Arboritum instead.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Joybell
Date: 05 Apr 10 - 09:47 PM

Maggie, I wish I could come and water your tomatoes for you. Bit far. Watching the seeds you sent me as they become little seedlings. I planted them just after Christmas but I think they are timing themselves to get serious by Spring. It's mid-Autumn/Fall here now so I'll protect them through the Winter.
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Apr 10 - 06:36 PM

Slow to start here, but the injury has healed, so I'll be moving forward as time allows. A little trip will interfere soon, but I think I can arrange to have someone water the tomatoes while I'm away.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: gnu
Date: 05 Apr 10 - 02:39 PM

I had some baked potatoes that I just couldn't finish up so I cut the eyes for planting. Gonna be some tastey when I dig em up... and no cooking! Wish I'da thought of it years ago.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Cuilionn
Date: 05 Apr 10 - 02:11 PM

Here in Southern Maine, our first daffodil bloomed on Easter-- and we heard our first Spring Peepers (frogs) night before last, coming home from a Passover Seder. It's an ecumenical gardening season!

In our hoop house, the kale is about four inches tall, chard is leafing out nicely, and mesclun lettuce mixes & brassicas have sprouted nicely. Yesterday's 80-degree (F) temps frizzled the tops of the spinach, but I think it'll survive if I'm careful about venting the not-so-cold frames.

The maple trees are covered with fat red buds and the sap run was finished long before "Maine Maple Sunday" so that all the sugarhouses had to boil plain water for demonstration purposes. Our peas were planted last week, weeks earlier than normal.

It's been so unseasonably warm here that everything is suddenly, crazily green. My gardener's heart doesn't know whether to rejoice or panic!

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: MMario
Date: 05 Apr 10 - 10:34 AM

Last tuesday - frost on the ground and the car. Friday, Saturday, sunday - temps in the 80's.

Things are coming on like gangbusters and I am VERY afraid things will get killed by a late frost or snowstorm.

Frost free date isn't for six weeks or so!

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 05 Apr 10 - 07:52 AM

Today is back-hoe day (hopefully) which will put us closer to bob-fire day...

Fertilized the asparagus last night... Looks as if we've got a nice crop comin' in allredy... Ate a couple stalks right outtta the garden...

Did alot of spring clean up and nd got my fountain cleaned, filled with water and working... It's 3 tiered and heavy...

Gotta go...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Joybell
Date: 05 Apr 10 - 01:26 AM

I've just come up with a term for gardeners like me. I am re-vegetating most of our 4 acres with local native plants but we have a vegetable garden that has non-invasive exotic flowers for the insects and birds and butterflies.
Anyway the local garden club calls my garden and "Easy-care Garden"!! :-) I wish. Otherwise I'm called a "Greenie" -- but that's a very broad term.
From now on I'm a "Habitat Gardener".
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 07:54 AM

Yeah, Janie... Hot as a three dollar pistol here, as well... I'm afraid that everything is gonna open and then get killed back with a late frost...

Tomorrow is a big day here fir us... My backhow guy is finally going to get all the stumps rounded up from our "pond field" and we can get that massive pile burning... It's so big that I'm going to make a donation to the volunteer fire department to come light it and babysit it until it seems under some level of control... Might have to wait for a little rain first...

Got some hard-to-find chicken manure yesterday to work into the asparagus bed... The poultry farmers only have to clean their houses out once a year now so litter is gettin' harder and harder to come by...

Meanwhile, Linten roses are blooming their little heads off... Some early azaleas are in bloom... The PJM I bough in Blowing Rock is beautiful and in full bloom...

Staked alot of stuff yesterday that got bent over from the snow...

OH yeah, big news... I have been looking at "utility vehicles" (UVs) for quite some time now and the Polaris came on sale in Harrisonburg with 3.9 financing so the P-Vine now has a new wheelbarrow with 4 wheels... Throw in a steering wheel and that makes 5... It was really time... It is close to 2/10's of a mile from the barn where we store all our planting material (pine fines, permitil, tools, etc.) to the new pond gardens and that's just too far for pushing a wheelbarrow up and down the hill... Of course, the Polaris came with a fat payment book but hey??? She's worth it...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 01:07 AM

What I originally intended to post before being sidetracked by the mysteriously disappearing/reappearing posts, was.....

Geez Louise - temps of 89 F are predicted for midweek.!

That ain't right or good.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 01:05 AM

AND, the post I made after the last post above at 12:06 am is now missing, although it appeared after I hit submit.

That post commented that the posts between March 26 an April 2 reappeared after I submitted the 12:06 post. (scratching head in amazement.)

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 04 Apr 10 - 12:06 AM

Something very strange going on with posts. There are definitely posts missing now that Stilly, Bobert and I made within the last few days, and that I previosly read. Mystery plants. Bobert's reply. Stilly's strained back muscles and my identification of the Mystery plant.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 02 Apr 10 - 05:29 PM

Oh no, Maggie!

I shall take this as a cautionary tale and be very careful with myself this week, as I am definitely out of shape from lack of gardening, digging and lifting for the past 18-24 months.

Two weekends ago I spent several hours at Coker Arboretum and the NC Botanical Gardens. Coker Arboretum is a small and very well planned Arboretum behind the planetarium on the old main campus at UNC-Chapel Hill. Too many exotic tree and shrub specimens for what I have in mind, and they have wells from which they irrigate quite freely, which I can not do. However, it was very inspiring from the standpoint of thinking about garden design under all the trees here. They have planted sweeps of hellebore foetida under the trees, that are just lovely, and will remain so well into summer.(expensive!)

I had not visited the NC Botanical gardens except in winter for many, many years. It is very strong on native plants, shrubs and trees, and is going to be very helpful to me in thinking about shrub selection to create an under-story of mostly native shrubs for better bird habitat, as well as a privacy screen. Some very appealing native hobble bush species really caught my eye. When I was there, trout lilies were blooming profusely, and the earliest trilliums were colored up. Lot's of blood root also. The may-apples were up and just unfurling their leaves.



I mentioned previously that Sis had taken down a diseased dogwood in the back yard last fall or winter. I'll have to wait until the oaks have completely leafed out to be sure, but I think taking down that tree is likely to result in enough sun for a sufficient little veggie garden in 3 raised beds, as well as borders for sun perennials. Maybe even some dahlias!

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Apr 10 - 02:31 PM

I'm dying of this forced inactivity. I hurt my back last weekend, and rehurt it a few days later. Now I must let the muscles heal. We have rain this weekend, and that usually slows me down (but I'm from Washington State, where we don't stop our work for a little rain, so I'm having to adopt a Texas frame of mind!)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 02 Apr 10 - 01:46 PM

Mystery plant identified, and now, remembered. It is a miniature variegated hosta I planted last year in a planter with caladiums and inpatiens. I stuck it hurriedly in the ground when I emptied the planter after the first hard frost. It is still not unfurled, but loosened enough today for me to see the pale leaf border, which jogged my memory.

It's hot here today - 87 F. some of the azaleas are starting to bloom. All of those you gave me, Bobert, made it through the winter. Still fighting with insects on the first one you gave me. Hoping if I alternate insecticidal soap with all season dormant oil I can get them controlled well enough for the plant to thrive, instead of just survive.   It has lots of flower buds on it. Can't wait for it to bloom. Of the other two, the larger one which was a rooted cutting has flower buds on it. I thought the one P-vine had started from seed had died over the winter because all of the leaves turned brown. But it recently shed all of those leaves, and new buds are starting to leaf out!

Fiddleheads of Japanese Painted Fern and Ghost fern are up. Big-leafed hydrangea is nearly fully leafed out. Smooth hydrangea not far behind. The parents of my son's girlfriend a big gardeners and brought me another smooth hydrangea and a rooted shoot from an oak-leaf hydrangea.

No moola for potting soil, etc. just yet, so no lettuce and greens seeded. But since Annie is bringing down those raised beds and her trailer, maybe I can get something seeded in an actual garden bed this next week!

Got to pay bills, clean house, work on taxes today, but it is going to be a gorgeous several days and starting tomorrow, I'm headed for the yard and garden.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 01 Apr 10 - 07:38 PM

I love mystery plants... We have lots of them... Worst thing is that, yeah, we probably did plant them and then forgot about them...

Went mergal hunting this afternoon... Still too early... Came back with a dinner plate mound of beatiful moss for our little moss garden...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 01 Apr 10 - 03:48 PM

Sis is coming down next week with the raised bed frames she built for me, and her trailer so that we can haul some topsoil with which to fill them.

Mystery plant! Was out poking around counting the emerging tips of Solomon Seal this past weekend, when I noticed something beginning to come up in front of them (and still not out enough for me know what it is.) Scratched my head on that one for awhile, then a vague memory arose of quickly planting some plant or other just before hard frost that I had held all season in a pot,and decided I needed to get it somewhere, anywhere, in the ground if it was going to survive the winter.

Well, it appears it did survive, and I'll be really curious to see what manner of beast it is!

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: MMario
Date: 01 Apr 10 - 01:39 PM

I hope to start cleaning out the gardens this weekend; thought frost free date isn't for another month.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Apr 10 - 01:30 PM

I put up a new blog entry. Garden injuries feature this time. Watch your back!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 08:55 PM

I'm getting ready to do some major re-shaping of my garden this year. The drainage was horrible last time. I'll do little sloped mini-terraces, leaving myself a way to channel rainwater when needed.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: maeve
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 06:22 PM

We picked up root stock and scions for apple, peach, apricot, plum, and pear trees. It's tree grafting time in Maine.

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Mar 10 - 06:59 PM

I mowed the front today, and cleaned out the hay in the dogs' kennel, so I'll use their old hay in the garden to mulch around stuff. And this weekend comes a big push on the garden. I think we finally have time to plant several things. Next week come the tomatoes. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: maeve
Date: 26 Mar 10 - 06:18 PM

Sounds good, Bobert.

We stopped by the home place yesterday after TL got out of work. While he worked on chainsaw repairs, I planted some more snap peas, spinach, sweet peas, and carrots (thanks, seed donors!) before fitting row cover and plastic film over hoops to shield them from the much colder and more seasonable weather we're experiencing now.

Narcissus 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation', dwarf iris 'Harmony', deep purple crocus, and several kinds of snowdrops are in bloom.

m

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 26 Mar 10 - 04:40 PM

Well, well, well...

Geeze... Looks as if winter might be on its way out so...

Cleaned up the asparagus patch yesterday and fertilized it... We'll add a few more plants this year...

Our spinich and kale survive nicely under the 60 inches of snow we got this past winter and so we weeeded around those two rows and fertilized...

Tomorrow is "seed day"...

Looks like next Friday will be the best day for "mergal" (morelle mushrooms) hunting... Coolish and wet for the next 3 days and then 60's... That's mushroom weather...

We're going to put in about 30 criptomeria raticans along a old fence row that we took out to install our deer fence but also have a contract to furnish and plant 40 for a guy in Ohio who is moving here and needs a screen on the land he had bought...

Picked up a couple native azaleas outside of Ashville last week so we are closing in on having at least one of each of "x number" that exist...

Chicken litter (manure) has gotten scarce because new regs are not requiring it be cleaned out after each flock but I have a line of some anyway...

Tractor needs some work on the control valve for the front bucket --- both had a hard winter!!!

We have a monster stump pile to burn (10 feet high 25 feet wide and about 60 feet long)... Reckon you be able to see it on the Sputnik website when I light it...

That's about it...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Mar 10 - 04:17 PM

This is the time of year when I take a break from work by stepping outside for a few minutes, and before long I have a pile of weeds somewhere. I just can't resist getting those fast growing spring grass weeds out of the beds before their roots are too tough to pull by hand.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: maire-aine
Date: 18 Mar 10 - 03:59 PM

It has been beautiful today, so I got out and raked leaves off of the heathers & heaths and the herb garden. Also trimmed off the old stems in the perennial border. The chives are up about 3-inches, and the thyme & oregano are doing well.

Maryanne