BS: Gardening 2010

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 May 10 - 01:21 AM

Bobert, I've done the exact same surgery. It does work, but you have to get to the plant before the entire stem is yellow granular mush. Last year, they were gone before I realized the worms where there.

You have to make the cut lengthwise, along the stem, missing the plant's circulatory system.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 May 10 - 02:13 AM

I started digging a new bed this evening, down at the curb. I'll put down newspapers and mulch around the plants, to help keep weeds out. I'll have to water the area some in the morning, the soil is fairly compacted, but once it is broken up, and mulched leaves mixed in, it isn't bad.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: GUEST,LynnT
Date: 23 May 10 - 07:45 AM

If anyone is in or near the DC area, I am clearing out a part-sun bed to make room for more interesting plants brought home from recent swaps & sales -- if anyone wants
- tall phlox (grown from seedlings, probably pink),
- Sweet William,
- tiger lilies,
- Golden Seal,
- catnip,
- cassia bushes,
- hosta plantagenaria,
- sedum Autumn Joy,
- lamb's ear,
- pink turtlehead
- lotsa other stuff,

come on by -- four people did yesterday, and there's still lots left. You can PM me at ltitle2003 at yahoo dot com.

Lynn

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Cuilionn
Date: 23 May 10 - 07:47 AM

A belated thanks to Bettynh for the wonderful link/post about Shiso, aka Perilla. Thanks to you, I've not only found a potential cash crop, I've also apparently found a source for home-made soft drinks, anti-asthma medication, a cancer cure and tick repellent!!!

Seeds are going into the ground this morning!

--Cuilionn

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bettynh
Date: 23 May 10 - 11:32 AM

Enjoy, Cuilionn. I've talked online to southern gardeners who call perilla a weed because it seeds itself everywhere. But last year I tried it and only got a few spindly plants (they were crowded in a pot to be fair). Keep them warm and watered for sure, and I wouldn't worry about them seeding around up here in the north.

I'm trying to limit my garden space, so I'm trying some edible ornamental beds. Garlic chives are everywhere anyway (they seed around and the flowers are welcome in August). I've got parsley and cabbages between the pansies and I'm about to plant basil beside the colchicum bulbs, to maybe hide the foliage as it dies back. My favorite basil is African Blue, which I can hold over winter in a big pot and take cuttings for spring. I haven't had luck with overwintering any other basils.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: gnu
Date: 23 May 10 - 03:59 PM

I have a tomatoe! It's about 2/3s the size of a small pea, but I have one.

Ahhh... I cheated. As my back is still not cooperating, I bought a potted Early Girl, Scotian and tiny tim. Lots of flowers. Here, according to my Gramma, tomatoes wouldn't even be planted until three days before the next full moon.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 23 May 10 - 05:07 PM

My neighbor came yesterday and dumped a load of sh*t on me- er, on my land, right next to the garden. I had a glorious morning today spreading much of it around, then threw caution to the wind and planted tomatoes BEFORE MEMORIAL DAY- simply Not Done in this region. And also planted squash, and sunflowers, and added marjoram and sage to my herb garden, and watered everything. Tomorrow I'll work some more on the flower garden- I've moved some glorious dahlia tubers from house to house through 5 moves in the past 10 years and now they will bless my (hopefully) permanent home.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Alice
Date: 23 May 10 - 05:09 PM

No snow today! Woo hoo!

Building the compost heap.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 23 May 10 - 09:14 PM

Good on ya, Alice!

Your season may be short, but I bet it is glorious!

Dahlias! Of all the sun plants I left behind, it is the dahlias I miss the most. They were the queens and whores of my summer and fall garden. I love 'em.

For this part of the country, it has been a very moderate spring, temp. wise. Had been very, very dry, but the last week has seen a lot of rain, and probably more to come for the next few days. Was concerned that my cuke and zuccini seeds had rotted, but noticed a couple of cotyledon leaves of each emerging today, which is the earliest I would have expected to see them.

Not real happy with the topsoil I bought by the scoop to fill the raised beds. Too much clay. Hard to work compost into it because of clumps that can only be busted up by hand when the moisture content is just right. It would probably be ok on the ground, where I could run a tiller through it it.

The hydrangea macrophylla and hydrangea arborescens are both loving this rain. I have one arborescens that is a cultivar, but I don't know which cultivar - don't think it is Annabelle - and a friend gave me a start of the species found along edges throughout the east. Also don't know the variety of the macrophylla - it was also a pass along plant from a friend. It is compact and the blooms are not overly large. By the time all the blooms are full and mature, it will all be blue, but right now, some are blue, some are pink, and some are lavender.

Re: lightning bugs/fireflies. I was surprised several years ago when my southern California in-laws visited to learn that they do not have fireflies out there. Do you have them in Montana, Alice?

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 23 May 10 - 09:55 PM

I am more aware than ever that not being able to commit to this piece of property is a major factor with respect to gardening.   It is not where I want to be. It is where it is immediately practical for me to be. I could learn to want to be here, but am hesitant to do so due to both family issues and concerns about employment stability. When I started serious work to create the garden in Hillsborough, I believed I would be there for the rest of my life.   I do not regret what I did there. I'm not sure I can do that again, however.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 23 May 10 - 10:14 PM

Yer a gardener, Janie... Ya' can't hide from that no matter where you are... Yeah, new gardens, old gardens, the next garden??? It's part of the deal... Nuthin' is forever except...

..gardening!!!

So make the best of it and, hey, no matter where you'll be when yer 88 you'll still be puttin' yer hands in the dirt... No way outta it...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Alice
Date: 23 May 10 - 11:01 PM

It is peaceful working in the garden. There are birds building nests all around.

No fireflies here, but lots of butterflies and dragonflies, just a little too cool yet for them to be about.



Alice

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 24 May 10 - 12:06 AM

Thanks, Beaubear. I needed that.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 May 10 - 12:34 AM

Janie, find some lava sand to add to your soil--try a feed store. Greensense, I think, sells 40# bags. And some decomposed granite (I've found that in bags at Home Depot). They will help make the soil more approachable.

I dug a new bed, or at least, started that new bed over the weekend. I'm going to plant my gift to the neighborhood there, transplanted volunteer tomatoes. And probably some sunflowers, just to make that bed really pop. I love the way the ones that are growing in other parts of the yard now look.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 24 May 10 - 07:24 AM

Looks as if today may very well be the day for all the seedlings (6 varieties of tomatoes, 3 of pepper and 2 of eggplant) to come outta the potting shed to play with their buddies in the veggie garden... Actually we're kinda ahead of schedule this year since I've been home more...

The next real biggie is our pond... It has developed and leak and I'm in the process of learning everything I can about "bentonite clay", a product that when tilled into a dry pond makes for a good natural liner... When I first brought this up with an old farmer friend he said to put some hogs in the pond... I thought he was jokling but he wasn't... The hogs will pack the bottom down and prevent leakage... No hogs!!!... Clay... Gonna be a big job but it has to be done... Looks like I'm going to be in the bottom of the pond with the clay and my roto-tiller for a couple days!!!

Everything else here is absolutely beutiful... Never looked so good... The deer fence is the reason... We have had *zero* deer damage in out little 6 acres of paradise...

Gotta go...

Happy gardening, ya'll...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 May 10 - 11:40 AM

My goal is to make the front yard garden a real knockout this year. It's creeping down the hill steadily, and I'm moving some stuff down to the curb. I don't want to make it into the front page of the paper, or even the front page of the Life section - but I want to make it an example in general for folks who pass by the place. It's going to be evenings and weekends put into it still, but I'll get there eventually. Maybe by July or August I can have enough beds ready to put in a fall crop of stuff.

I was at Sam's Club the other day, behind a couple who had a basket full of boxes of produce--every single one of these items grows well in this part of Texas. I asked if they were shopping ahead of their garden producing enough to eat. They said their neighborhood association bans gardens. That they've managed to sneak a tomato into a hedge where no one has noticed it yet. That sounds damned unAmerican to me! No gardens? Probably no clothes lines, no solar panels, no whatever. Talk about anal thinking.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 24 May 10 - 09:05 PM

I'm new to ferns so did not know what to expect. Only have 3 - a ghost fern, a japanese painted fern, and what I think is ebony spleenwort, (the little single fronds I noticed in 3 places along the foundation of the house when I was grubbing out the ivy and liriope last year.) The g.f. and J.p.f. sent up a bunch of fiddleheads all at once a couple of months ago. To my surprise, both are continuing to send up fiddleheads, one or two at a time. With the rain we have had the past 8 days, I am seeing new fiddleheads everyday. I'm noticing that with ebony spleenwort, which is still in a pot, but doing very well. Apparently have bunches of fertile fronds that have come up, but haven't noticed any new sterile fronds.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: The Sandman
Date: 25 May 10 - 01:18 PM

a good time to plant japanese knotweed, this plant is used in chines medicine and is also edible

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 25 May 10 - 01:54 PM

Plant Japanese Knotweed? Who needs to plant it? Around these parts it is a very common, invasive weed.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: MMario
Date: 25 May 10 - 03:03 PM

japenese knotweed - one of the few things you are allowed to destroy on sight in NYS - that and purple loostrife.

Janie - I've got japanese painted ferns too; Ive started to develop a little bit of woodland garden and they seem to like it there.

An odd stretch of ground, I go from almost full sun to partial shade to full shade in the space of about six feet - which makes life interesting.

Received my daylily plants over the weekend - I ordered 7, they shipped 9 ;(two freebies) and I planted 34. Can't complain about that.

This place SAID they shipped iris through may - but none of the iris I ordered got shipped. So now they won't come until September or October.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: gnu
Date: 25 May 10 - 03:20 PM

Bobert... before you buy any bentonite, read up on how to use it. It can be a bit tricky.

As an engineer designing containment dykes, I never once spec'd that method associated with "tilling". I always spec'd the mats, but they are expensive and expensive to install. Of course, that was on large projects. You may find sommat available for a small scale project. And, as you won't have mechanical stress upon your pond liner, it may be the way to go.

Of course, I assume you are investigating all the options.

One of the problems with the "tilling" option is this. If you don't get the job don't right in just one small area, you will have to do the whole thing over because you will be looking for a needle in a hay stack. Actually, the needle would be easier to find.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 25 May 10 - 07:53 PM

Well, gn-z... The pond ain't all that big... Maybe 70 feet by 40 feet and tear-dropped shape... I've been readin' up on the clay and seems like I need 2 pounds per square foot... I think it'll work just fine... Better than letting four-legged critters into our gardens to do the job...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 25 May 10 - 08:41 PM

The hydrangea arborescens given to me by Son's g.f.'s father is still in the pot, and is blooming. It is not a cultivar, but the wild species. Subtle and beautiful. Not sure where I will site it. Not next to the arborescens cultivars.

I'm wondering if the quercifolia he gave me is also the wild species. It will not bloom this year, but is doing well where I planted it. He is going to be a wonderful garden resource - he loves native and species plants, and the gardens around their house are stunning. (Gonna have to talk him out of some of the hundreds of hellebores they have growing *grin*.

Neemed the azaleas, as the lacebugs are just starting to appear again. They are all doing well, Bobert - they have loved this coolish spring, and especially have loved all the rain we have had lately.

Had to lop off a branch or two from a dogwood - the squirrels had finally figured out how to let their weight carry the branches down so they can reach over and grab a handful of sunflower seeds from a "squirrel-proof" feeder - thus avoiding the spring that closes the feeder when a squirrel jumps on it. Took 'em two years - smart and persistent little blankity-blanks.

Last but not least, replaced several hose-end gaskets - they were leaking at every connector!

Last, but certainly not least, replaced a bunch of gaskets in hose connectors and fittings to stop leaks. The mosquitoes nearly carried away before I was done.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: MMario
Date: 27 May 10 - 08:58 AM

Crap - just lost a long post by hitting the wrong key somewhere; suffice it to say what I thought was dead is live; and I need to water.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 27 May 10 - 12:17 PM

Ah, another of those resurrection plants, eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 27 May 10 - 12:55 PM

Speaking of azaleas, Janie, the late bloomers are just coming in and many of them are from various "mis-labeled" cuttings so there are more than just a few surprises out there... One is very much like Komo Sheikibo but a real day-glow kinda purple/lavendar color... Also, a nice white "strap pedal" one that we are clueless about...

Magnolia is in bloom...

yesetrday was the big day... We finally got the stumps that rtefused to burn outta our pond field and we can now go about trying to get some fescue to grow (for now) to hold the soil from ending up in the pond...

Still too hot to put out our seedlings... Maybe Sunday...

Well, nap time and then back it it...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bettynh
Date: 27 May 10 - 01:13 PM

We had a nice t-storm last night, so I'm headed out to the cemetary to plant the stones for this weekend. My parents and grandparents are together, and the upright stone is in full sun. I plant both sides of that stone, so two minigardens of annuals, probably petunias and maybe zinnias, and some gloriosa daisies for the late summer. My aunt planted sedums at either end of the stone, so I'll prune them back and fertilize, and they'll be bushlike by August. They've been there about 10 years and haven't grown too big yet.

My great-grandparents are in another cemetary, with the stone backed by a stone wall and in shade. Impatiens go there, and alyssum. The lily of the valley pops up wherever it can survive the lawnmower. There's lichen on that stone, and I haven't scrubbed it off. Eventually, it might cover the lettering, I suppose, but they say lichen only grows where there's clean air, and I kinda like seeing it there.

I keep meaning to go back in midsummer to collect irises from some of the overgrown graves. This year they'll be in full bloom for Memorial Day. I do like the single-color old-fashioned sort best.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: gnu
Date: 27 May 10 - 06:15 PM

Quite the windy day here... Mum's apple tree blossums were flying all over such that it minded me of snow at times. But, a much kinder and gentler snow.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Alice
Date: 27 May 10 - 06:30 PM

Too darn chilly and cloudy here. I'm getting impatient for better growing weather.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 May 10 - 06:54 PM

Worms, bugs, things that eat up or curl leaves are making their presence known. Found lace bugs on the eggplant, not sure what else. Some worms on the okra. I have a bottle of BT I bought last year that has stayed in the fridge. I will replace it next time I'm over at my favorite feed store - I'm not sure how long this stays viable. I know if I bought it at the garden center near here theirs sits on shelves in an extremely warm room, and they probably don't throw out anything if it gets old. My regular place sells enough to have some product turnover.

Sounds like thunder, but the storms in the area are to the east. Not sure if we'll get anything tonight. I watered with the soaker hoses this morning.

It is lovely. Tomato plants over the top of the cages now, several fruits in sight. Peppers are putting out fruit, basil is almost big enough to start pinching off leaves for my cooking. Mmmmm!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 27 May 10 - 07:12 PM

Arrrgh -post lost in cyberspace just now.

Bettynh, I can just picture you tending the plantings. Wish my departed loved ones were somewhere that allowed the same.

Although a couple of the cuke and zuccini seeds have sprouted, most have not. I think I will wait a few weeks, and plant again - our growing season is so long that most veggies planted at the beginning of the season poop-out or get eaten up by disease well before the first frost. Once the tomatoes really take off, I will also root a couple of suckers and plant them along about the end of June.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Alice
Date: 27 May 10 - 11:58 PM

I had to make a temporary plastic covering over my little garden and tuck in a couple of hot water bottles to give the bedding plants a fighting chance over night. (big milk jugs full of hot water)

It's just not warming up enough this spring for things to grow... may have to make a more permanent plastic greenhouse.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: MMario
Date: 29 May 10 - 04:26 PM

Last shipment of plants for the "spring", I think, came in today. Ordered 8 , they shipped 9, I've planted 5 and have 10 left to plant....gotta love it~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Alice
Date: 29 May 10 - 04:31 PM

Today was the first day without cold rain for some time, so I was able to plant more containers and turn the compost. Yay! None of the seeds have germinated. Just too cold lately. I planted more peas.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Alice
Date: 29 May 10 - 05:44 PM

Another cold rain has started (feels like snow).
But I found another way to keep the tender pepper transplants warm.
I put a string of Christmas lights under the clear plastic tent greenhouse that I set up over the containers. Close to the garage, it was easy to reach an outlet with an extension cord.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: MMario
Date: 29 May 10 - 05:56 PM

Clever, Alice! I have to pot up some wine coloured myrtle. I should have done it last month, but I forgot.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 May 10 - 06:11 PM

Sounds cheerful, Alice. Here, it's in the 90s and I'm pacing myself as I work, trying to stay in shady areas of the yard. Making progress in weeding and putting down newspaper and mulch to keep some of the weeds out. I dug up chunks of oregano and gave to several neighbors to plant as groundcover (at the very least).

Some of my tomatoes have quite pronounced early blight, others don't. I sprayed hydrogen peroxide on them today, but I think I'm going to break down and get some of that Veggie Wash that is supposed to help kill it off or slow it down.

Back out to the yard. I've cooled off a bit. There is a noticeable smell of sweat and dirt on me this afternoon. I guess I should go roll around with the dogs, they should love me this way. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 May 10 - 09:50 PM

A neighbor and her small son were out walking their dog this evening. She paused to ask about the garden, was that eggplant I was growing? We talked gardening for about 20 minutes, with the short tour, promise of a small tree I'd dug out of a bed and put in a pot (vitex) and I'm sure she'll be another good candidate in the neighborhood for my extra eggplant. It seems if I don't plant many one year, because the last was so prolific, then I don't get enough. So this year I have several plants in, and it's like getting rid of zucchini when they're in season. My neighbors on either side don't eat them, but across the street a couple of them do, and now one more up the block. :)

I didn't finish anything today, but I suppose it's hard to say that gardening is ever completed. I working on the kitchen garden, weeded and then put down newspaper and mulch in areas where I'm not planting but I don't want it full of seedy weeds either. I don't plant crops right against the house since there was a termite treatment here years ago. I figure even though time has passed, I'll grow my veggies a couple of feet away from that contaminated zone.

I'm shaping the raised keyhole bed, I've put about 1/3 of the first row of rocks down, and filled in with mulch and weeds I dug up today to hold down a layer of newspaper. I'll get some top soil to fill it up with (I expect it to be 12 to 18 inches deep when complete) so the weeds at the bottom won't be a problem. I used scraps of mortar and old rocks and bricks from a big wall that was torn down years ago for the first row, but that probably won't be visible because the grass will grow a little ways up around it. I have some nicer stone I'll use in the next couple of layers. All of this was dumped at the back of the yard, and now I'm slowly hauling it into the front yard again.

I have peppers almost big enough to pick, the basil is now big enough to start pinching off leaves to use, I've been eating strawberries for weeks, and though there aren't many on there right now, the leaves are looking good and there are lots more flowers. The oregano needs to be trimmed back, it has all flowered. It comes back nicely after being cut back.

It's warm, typical Texas summer. I wore sunscreen because I knew I'd be out there all day. It seems to have worked. No crispy spots.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: MMario
Date: 01 Jun 10 - 11:10 AM

Had the hose running for about 10 hours yesterday; did a wee bit of gardening every time I went out to adjust it; too hot to do anything much more. Got a few more plants planted; I'm down to five daylilies and 8 primroses to plant. Started back weeding and mulching yesterday; deadheading tree peonies, etc.

Though they have been predicting rain left and right lately - we got only a wee sprinkle last night and not much more this morning. we need a good long soaking.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Alice
Date: 01 Jun 10 - 11:39 AM

Did some edging yesterday. I have a long driveway and sidewalks with overgrown grass. edging tool

I never thought much about crisp edging around garden or flower beds until I read garden blog this weekend with nice photos of edge borders. As long as I had a barrier there or mulch to keep the grass/weeds away, I didn't bother with cutting an edge. My neighbor who has long passed away used to sit on a rolling stool he made and edge with a butcher knife along a foot wide flower border he would plant by all his sidewalks. It was his spring ritual.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: MMario
Date: 01 Jun 10 - 11:44 AM

Janie - I'm usually satisfied if one can tell approximately where the lawn ends and the garden begins.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jun 10 - 05:22 PM

We had one of those when I was a kid, and I've always thought they were a wonderful idea. I'm getting ready to put down some steel edging, but something like that, run a couple of inches in front of it every so often would sure make weeding easier. I get tired of restringing the trimmer because the edging often times breaks the strings off.

Getting to the high-90s today. I've been putting out heavier mulch around some of the beds.

Has any of you used Epsom salts in your garden? A friend sent this link to a blog. I don't believe the photos one way or the other, they could be taken any time. But have you tried it and does it help add micro nutrients, or cure gardening issues? I'll go check out the DirtDoctor.com also, but first-hand accounts are always useful.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 01 Jun 10 - 06:13 PM

Mom and Dad use epsom salts on their peonies - supposedly strengthens the stems. I haven't noticed it helpful for that, but it is a good source to correct magnesium deficiencies. Apparently a high potassium fertilizer can prevent plants from taking up magnesium in the soil, and the epsom salts can be used as a foliage spray.

I used it in my potted tomatoes last year as I thought I was seeing signs of magnesium deficiency. I apparently misdiagnosed the problem, because it did not help.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jun 10 - 12:15 PM

What does a magnesium deficiency look like?

I went out this morning and weeded then added extra mulch in some areas of the beds and around big plants. It's supposed to be in the mid-90s today and break 100 soon.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bettynh
Date: 02 Jun 10 - 12:25 PM

Magnesium deficiency in raspberries

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 02 Jun 10 - 10:00 PM

Thanks, Bettynh. Looks similar in tomatoes. In later stages, the bottom leaves yellow and die.

Apparently certain fruit-bearing plants (such as tomatoes, raspberries and blackberries, and apple trees) are especially sensitive to magnesium deficiencies. Seems that tomatoes are sensitive to a bunch of deficiencies. I had trouble with blossom-end rot for years. A local organic market gardener told me that the ph of our local soils makes it difficult for tomatoes to take up calcium, and told me to mix in a full cup of bone meal in the soil below the planting hole when I set out tomatoes. I took his advice, and have not had problems with blossom-end rot since then.

Talking about ph, I assumed the soil here is acid, as that is the norm in this region, and lordy knows I have bunches and bunches of oak trees and leaves, which I understood, perhaps incorrectly to contribute to acidity. The azaleas seem to do well enough, though I use an acid fertilizer around them. However, the soil is very rocky, and the rock is feldspar, some strains of which contribute to alkaline soil. (I can't find information about the local feldspar, at least not written so that I can understand it.) I noted in another post that some of the blooms on the mophead hydrangea I brought with me are pink and some are blue, a few are violet, and a few are mixed -and all are staying those ways as the colors deepen. both colors appear on both hemispheres of the shrub, but blue dominates on one side, and pink on the other. I speculate the over-all ph of the soil here is probably neutral, with micro-patches of higher and lower ph, and that where I have the macrophylla planted there is significant variation. I would think that if the soil was uniformly neutral where the root system is distributed, the variation in color would be equally distributed on the plant.

Opinions?   

Guess a soil test might be a good idea, eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jun 10 - 02:36 AM

My tomatoes that seem to be ailing are growing on raised beds made out of purchased top soil, mixed with bagged humus, and mixed with soil amendments. Perhaps I should try that epsom salt mix on them.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: MMario
Date: 03 Jun 10 - 09:16 AM

Finally got the rain they've been promiseing (threatening?) for a week...not enough, but some.

Down to three daylilies to plant.......

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jun 10 - 11:12 AM

Heavy rain last night. Lovely (except we were caught out in it).

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bettynh
Date: 03 Jun 10 - 11:57 AM

When I hung out at AOL's gardening forum, I got to know Carolyn Male, a lovely lady completely obsessed with tomatoes (she literally wrote the book on heritage varieties). She strongly believed that blossom end rot of tomatoes was an uneven moisture problem. Her solution was better soil and lots of mulch.

Janie, is there a foundation, concrete walk, or concrete rubble anywhere near those hydrangeas? Even a few buried bricks with mortar will change the pH for a few feet in all directions. I have a campanula that will migrate 4 feet over a season to cuddle up to a concrete walkway. The only explanation I can think of is that it's seeking the lime.

Meanwhile I see the ants have been busy spreading my spiderworts. It's a reminder of the underground world around me.