BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Joybell
Date: 02 May 04 - 08:23 PM

Rain here too at last! Wetland filling up and frogs calling. Magpies calling ready for thier Winter courting. Joy

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Bobert
Date: 02 May 04 - 09:53 PM

Oh, that beautiful rain! We had two hours of steady rain here this evening and all is well. I had gone by a friends who is in need of some help increating a privacy planting and since it was his birthday, I took a young white pine, mixed in my ammendmants and planted it for him. The rain should give it a ral shot in the arm...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 May 04 - 12:17 AM

I not only pulled myself out of my sickbed today, I think I conquered this stupid bug. I went out this afternoon and dug up the Bermuda in one bed and I finally put some steel edging around it. Tomorrow after work I'll put down compost, newspaper, and mulch, to try to keep the Bermuda out. I filled the wheelbarrow full of the weeds three times, and I left a lot of the dirt on them this time because by past experience I've found that with shaking the dirt those pesky balls from the nut grass drop back into the bed. I'll compost it all before I return it to a bed. I have some really sweet plants to stick in there once it is all ready. I worked around the existing Desert Willow, a red yucca, some ornamental grasses, a white gaura (covered with aphids, but I sprayed it) and a lovely recumbent pink verbena. New will be some penstemon and lamb's ears.

It felt so good to get that exercise! A neighbor walked by, out with her dog. She said they had concluded I must do all of this gardening for therapeutic reasons. Partly that, but mostly because I just enjoy the work.

I'm going to dig a bed outside my bedroom window :) but the soil there is still too gooshy from the rain. Maybe by mid-week it will be a bit fluffier. I have so many projects that I'll probably never run out of them in all of the time I live here in this house, and that's fine with me! I enjoy anticipating how much better it will look each year.

Are there any gardeners on this thread who don't like the work? (I'm not talking about August 5th when it's a f**king 113 out and you have to go mow the lawn).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Janie
Date: 03 May 04 - 08:28 AM

SRS somehow I missed that you were sick. Glad you are better. Dirt under the fingernails cures alot of ailments, doesn't it. I have managed to avoid the nut grass in my yard, though many of my gardening friends have it to deal with. Are you going to put in fragance plants in the bed outside your bedroom window?

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 May 04 - 12:23 PM

I have some rosemary for that spot, and nearby there already is a vitex that smells very nice. The garden center had some lemon geranium on sale over the weekend and I may go pick up a couple (I used to have that as a houseplant in the Northwest--I'm still surprised at the things that grow outside down here in Texas!)

Each evening for the last couple of weeks as the humidity rises the honeysuckle is in the night air. It smells wonderful! (I would never plant it intentionally, and not near the house--it's pretty wild around here, but I do love the look and smell of it).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 May 04 - 08:30 PM

My back yard was filled with fireflies (lightning bugs) on Friday evening. They were wonderful!

I've been digging the Bermuda grass out of flower beds and going ahead and putting in steel edging. It helps a little bit.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: black walnut
Date: 10 May 04 - 02:34 PM

Sigh....fireflies!!!! Well, our serviceberries finally bloomed, and the barren strawberry groundcover looks magnificent, especially when it weaves around the creeping juniper.

~b.w.

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Janie
Date: 10 May 04 - 03:48 PM

No fireflies here yet. BW, early spring is so wonderful. I like to think about you having yours now, while my early spring is long gone.

The roses and peonies are in full glory now. The Oriental Poppies are starting to bloom, and the larkspur will start blooming any day.
I blew the family budget this weekend on summer annuals to replace all the pansies and violas I have in the pots and windowboxes on the porch. I have one 25' x 5' bed that is planted enitely in yarrow "Colorado" mix. A few of them are starting to color-up. I like to stand out there in the moonlight and fantasize about how it will look when all the yarrow is blooming. A good part of the weekend was spent trying to pull-out the runners of that wild goldenrod I mentioned in an earlier post. I truly have created a monster!

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: black walnut
Date: 14 May 04 - 07:47 AM

Whaaat? This thread is creeping...has spring long gone? Not here by any means. I went to the garden centre yesterday and today I'm planting! Perennials, of course. Chocolote boneset eupatorium, barren strawberry, white and purple coneflower, little bluestem, and on and on and on.

~b.w.

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Bobert
Date: 14 May 04 - 08:48 AM

Purdy warm here in Wes Ginny but everything looks great... Iris's in bloom, some late blooming azaleas at the height of their color, clemitis (white) in bloom, candy tuffs loaded, larksper hanging on, shooting star (blue) in bloom, bleeding hearts (white and pink) still hanging in, rhodos either in bloom or just opening up depending on cultivars, solomons seal and yellow bell both still blooming and is lilly of the valley...

Ferns are all unfolded and we're amazed at just how many new babies we got this year...

We've been out spraying hortcultural oil on verything that tends to suffer from mold or scale... Plus "Liquid Fence" for deer... Busy time of the year...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: JenEllen
Date: 14 May 04 - 12:07 PM

I managed a walk to the garden this morning and found that I HAVE PEAS!!!!! The onions are going great guns too, so there will be WallaWalla Sweets to share!

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 May 04 - 12:12 PM

So, JenEllen, you went in the garden for a pea? Don't do it too near the onions!

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: JenEllen
Date: 14 May 04 - 12:17 PM

LMAO....damn syntax.... I was going to reply that I went in the garden to turn the water on, but that doesn't sound all that great either...LOL

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 May 04 - 05:06 PM

Friday, at last! Another weekend looms! I have lots of stuff to do in the house--putting shelves in a bookcase, painting, tiling, cleaning. . . but I know that since it'll be nice weather and we had a wonderful heavy rain yesterday (means the soil will be PERFECT for digging in!) that I'll be out in the yard all day tomorrow. I'm gradually cleaning out the beds, putting in new mulch, putting in a few bedding plants in places, etc. I have some new gladious bulbs to find a place for and since my iris went totally into hyperdrive this spring I have to transplant a few of them at the same time. I have a couple of small shrubs to move in to as-yet-undug beds, and I have to turn the compost. It's a big compost enclosure and a small new compost pile beside it.

I have lots of things that have seeded the area and started small sprouts that need to be dug up and transplanted, and several of those are promised to neighbors. I have to start digging out some stumps and roots from a hedge I murdered last year in the spring. If I manage one or two a weekend (ha!) I'll have them out by mid-summer.

I also have news! My neighborhood is adjacent to 200 acres of prairie and riparian land that was sold and was slated for development. Several developers came in on spec and tried to get the village to rezone to little zero lot line ghettos, and we wouldn't let them. This last guy actually did buy the land before he went through the process, so he was more motivated to work with us (the land had been zoned multi-family, for apartments, and no one wanted those and he didn't want to build apartments because our zoning was so strict, as one guy said, "you'd have to own a Lexus to be able to move in there.") I spoke, as did others, about the need for larger yards. In the end, his PD (planned development) was set with existing standards of mid-sized lots in the village, at least 75' wide (not huge, but larger than one finds in large urban areas today). And I feel like I worked hard and single-handedly to get the city council to understand how important to accept the land along the creeks, where they won't build, as park land. (They were originally going to have the developer keep the land--long story). The developer agreed last night to deed all of that over to the city, so that means a nice little trail system over about 50 acres of greenbelt. Not huge, but we only have about 2500 population now (this development will probably add about 1,500 more people) so it's a nice ratio of people to park land. I sure couldn't afford to buy the land and just leave it as it is, but at least we'll get nearly 25% of it (including the largest chunk that is across the street from me, as it follows our creek). Our village is completely surrounded by Fort Worth, and we're very near to a trail system that follows our creek from where it enters Fort Worth. I think we can connect to that in the future, to everyone's benefit. The village plans to leave the native vegetation in place. Yessss!!!

So what is everyone else doing this weekend?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Joybell
Date: 14 May 04 - 06:27 PM

Congratulations Stilly River Sage. We've had those encounters before we moved away to the middle of nowhere.
Just had our first frost for the year. Very light but there's a chill in the air now by dusk. Days are warm and sunny. We have a visiting Boobook Owl. Hope he/she stays. They sound like Northern Hemisphere Cuckoos. (Our Cuckoos don't say "Cuckoo") A small flock of Grey Fantails arrived a few days ago. They have a sweet song with bits that sound like someone sawing on a fiddle. Pretty little restless birds, very curious and tame even in bushland. Joy

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 May 04 - 11:20 PM

This morning as I drove to the university I looked up to see a group of birds--on the leading edge was an owl, and behind it were the harriers, a bunch of small dark birds. Could have been starlings or grackles, or perhaps blackbirds. The large bird was beautiful--at first I wondered if it was a seagull, for the size, but as I passed under I realized what I was seeing.

After work this evening I dug out about 3/4 of an existing bed that was filled with Bermuda grass, leaving the desirable plants in place. I'll finish tomorrow when it's full light, because I have to dig very carefully around a prickly pear cactus (transplanted from the acreage across the road). "Very carefully" is for me, not the cactus! If it gets broken, all of the parts can sprout roots. If I get poked on the spines, I'll sprout little festering spots until the spines work their way back out.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 15 May 04 - 04:23 AM

SRS - congrats on the planning scheme! Everyone seems to want a house with a garden but developers are only interested in getting as many tiny house boxes into as small an area as possible.

The scout hall I want to buy already has a 3/4 bed house attached to it, but developers want to make the hall into 2 more houses and 3 garage/sheds into another 2 houses.

I want to turn it into a sewing business with cheap B&B on the side.... anyone got a spare £2million I could have please?

There's a big concrete playground that has planning permission for a communal garden for these houses. I think that's the only thing I'd keep the same, dig up the concrete and turn it into a fragrant garden.

Spring has finally given way to summer, I have 15 different flowers out, including an extremely late crocus (planted in March because I forgot to do it in October) and a very early Californian poppy.

And it was even warm enough to sit out there last night.

Mind you, we have greenfly here in plague proportions.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 May 04 - 01:04 PM

No, I'm not ready for summer yet! Keep spring going a bit longer, please! Summer here is Hot-And-Muggy-As-Hell and hard to get motivated for yard work.

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: pdq
Date: 15 May 04 - 01:21 PM

Here in the high desert (Great Basin) we have had two hard frosts, even some snow, in the last six weeks. A local garderner remarked "Aah, May fifteenth, he official date to plant tomatoes...for the third time!"

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Joybell
Date: 15 May 04 - 06:49 PM

Prickly pear was introduced here about 100 years ago. Then when it looked like it was a bad mistake, bugs were introduced to kill it. The bugs preferred native plants so cane toads were brought in to eat the bugs. Seems the toads don't feel like eating when the bugs are active - wrong part of the life-cycle, so now the cane toads are killing everything. Any bird or small mammal that tries to eat the toads gets poisoned. Round and round we go!
On a happy note - our baby Brush-tail Possum we rescued and raised is ready to be released on our property. She will have to find other playmates. She's fun to have in the house but it's like living with a monkey. She swings around on the curtain rails and tears across the bookcases, knocking everything flying. If we are eating she grabs food from our plates. That film about Helen Keller comes to mind, the family meal-time before Patty Duke got through to Helen. Joy

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 May 04 - 10:59 PM

I think that's before Anne Bancroft got through to Helen (Patty Duke). (Though I think there was a remake with Duke in the Sullivan role, I always think of the old movie first).

Sounds like a way to mess up a house in a hurry, having a character like that running around. But not quite as messy as having a 15-year-old daughter. . .

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 16 May 04 - 08:12 AM

Well, today my garden is full of unhappy blackbirds and my house is full of unhappy cats.

A baby bird has taken its first jump from the nest and landed in our garden. It seems to be OK as it's secreted itself behind some ivy and is being fed regularly by adults. To help it out, I've shut my cats up (can't do anything about the other 5 in the area though) and left it alone. I have three very agitated blackbirds hopping about the garden and trying to look big and fierce now. I think I may have to sneak out and scare off another cat.

It's very distressing to see the poor bird, but I know better than to pick it up, so it looks like my three puddies are going to have a boring afternoon on the sofa!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 16 May 04 - 08:36 AM

Bad day for Mr and Mrs Blackbird - I found baby No.1 in the bedroom, decidedly the worse for wear, but it looks like it was a clean kill, which, considering I have 2 cats with hardly any teeth and the third has dicky legs, is about all we can hope for. I'm doing regular patrols of the garden now where chick No.2 has moved to another sanctuary but is in peril from the ginger tom from over the back.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 May 04 - 10:36 AM

Part of the "survival of the fittest" theory involves being able to raise your young successfully. If these birds weren't particularly good next builders, then their young will die and they won't be passing along their inadequate genetic material. If they learn from this mistake and figure out how to raise their young by bolstering their nest and building it further away from cat predators, then they'll be smart enough to reproduce.

Darwin in a nutshell.

I'm going to put some purple martin houses out in the yard this year, in preparation for next spring. They do a wonderful job of eating mosquitoes. (I plan to have a house, not gourds. My neighbor has a couple of them going and has offered to advise me when I'm ready to put it up.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 16 May 04 - 05:47 PM

BAby No.2 seems to have made it back to the nest, anyway, Mr and Mrs and Aunty blackbird seem to be still collecting stupid amounts of food for something......

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Raptor
Date: 16 May 04 - 06:13 PM

It is a myth about baby birds being abandoned because a human picked them up and put them back in the nest!

Many nest records involve taking babies out of the nest boxes to wiegh them for records!

But you should always keep cats indoors!

Feral cats kill thousands of birds each year!

Raptor

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 May 04 - 10:08 PM

I do agree with Raptor. I've heard over the years that returning the baby is probably more dangerous to the human than the chick--like being dive-bombed by agitated parents, or falling from your ladder in the process. If they keep falling out, then there's something other going on (siblings competing for food and space, or a poorly built nest).

Years ago we had two bluejays build their nest in a rather small pine in the back yard. The kids were thrilled about it. Came a huge heavy wind and rain storm one night and the tree was too limber (thus mobile) and it pitched the baby out. We found it in the yard the next morning, dead from exposure.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Mar 05 - 02:36 PM

New year, new gardening question.

I was going through some old clippings this morning, tossing most but bringing a few back to the top of the stack for further consideration. I found one from Dec. 1994 that my Dad sent, to do with the discovery of the Wollemi Pine in Australia. It was thought to be extinct 150 million years ago, but a few small groves turned up. This story is much like what occurred in China with the Gingko and Dawn Redwood trees. Relatives of the Wollemi Pine, according to this site, are the "Kauri, Norfolk Island, Hoop, Bunya and Monkey Puzzle pines." They're not related to pines like those in the New World (Pinus sp) and elsewhere.

Have any of you put rare or unique features in your yards and gardens, along the lines of growing a tree like this? I have a Dawn Redwood in my front yard, but they are widely cultivated now, and this one will probably do very well in our creek-bottom soil. The Wollemi pine grows in a rain forest, so I won't attempt to grow it in the North American prairie. But what rare plants are you cultivating, or considering adding to your yard? And have any of our Oz gardeners taken a look at this tree?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: JennyO
Date: 12 Mar 05 - 01:26 AM

Wollemi Pine (Words: Denis Kevans & Sonia Bennett, Music: Sonia Bennett)

Wollemi, Wollemi, Wollemi - look around you
Keep your eyes open, ah look about you.
Wollemi, Wollemi, Wollemi - look around you
Keep your eyes open, ah look about you.

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: JennyO
Date: 12 Mar 05 - 01:36 AM

Oops, hit submit too soon. There's more. That song was written by Sonia Bennett and Denis Kevans from the Blue Mountains and is sung by Sonia Bennett. Here is a more complete version, although I suspect there are other verses:

There's a tree that's so rare,
Grows deep in the gorges out there,
Deep in my heart I will sing of the Wollemi Pine,
No preaching words, no angry tones,
The Wollemi stands all alone,
One hundred million years of passing time.

Chorus:
Wollemi, Wollemi, Wollemi - look around you
Keep your eyes open, ah look about you.
Wollemi, Wollemi, Wollemi - look around you.
Keep your eyes open, ah look about you.

The only clue to your tale,
Were some leaf prints in the shale,
And we thought you'd come and gone long years ago,
But suddenly what do I see,
A living Wollemi tree,
Where the mountain waters pure and sweet do flow.

Chorus:
Wollemi, Wollemi, Wollemi - look around you
Keep your eyes open, ah look about you.
Wollemi, Wollemi, Wollemi - look around you.
Keep your eyes open, ah look about you.


I believe you can now get your own Wollemi Pine, and apparently they are quite suitable in gardens. I must admit I haven't got one yet. I tend to go more for fruit and vegetables.

Jenny

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: open mike
Date: 12 Mar 05 - 01:51 AM

wollem in ther local native Concow Indian
dialect means white
or "white man"

i ahve a dawn redwood too,
and some very ancient plants
come up in my garden..
Horse tail is a primitive
species.
http://www.aquaticplantsofflorida.com/horsetail.htm
You do not often see Loquat fruit trees--i have
several.

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 12 Mar 05 - 08:47 AM

It's a new year and Mrs Blackbird is already scouting for nest sites. Mr Blackbird has seen off one contender for a prime spot and is patrolling even as I type.

The blue tits and coal tits are bouncing around getting ready and the magpies are gathering on the roof.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Mar 05 - 12:39 PM

Where I grew up in Washington State we had lots of equisetum (horse tail) in boggy spots around the yard and in ditches along roads, etc. It is very old. (There was also always lots of skunk cabbage, but I don't know how old that one was, and I can visualize others I can't put a name to at the moment).

I've been planning to find a place to put a magnolia. That's an ancient flowering tree.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: dianavan
Date: 12 Mar 05 - 07:28 PM

Forsythia, ornamental cherry, hyacinth, daffodils and lungwort.

The soil is so dry for this time of year. All crumbly and nice. There is only a tiny bit of snow left on the mountains. With no snow pack it means our water reserves will be very, very low. The weather is lovely but I fear that it will be a very dry, hot summer with many forest fires.

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: GUEST,Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Apr 05 - 10:14 AM

A pair of house finches are nesting in a plastic bag hanging on the decorative iron work on the non-opening side of the sliding glass back door. I reinforced it with a couple of extra bags. They don't seem to have noticed that their yellow house is now white. The bag is filled with dried zinnia heads from the garden last year. Food galore, should they be partial to these flowers! (I've seen little birds tear these apart to eat when the plants start drying in the fall.)

My front yard is exploding with four or five different types of iris--and I wish I had a satsifactory second act, but I don't. It will subside into a sea of spiky tall leaves until the vitex comes into bloom and the lantana start their continual color. Neither of those is due for another month or more at least.

Salvia greggi (many colors, not just pink) is beautiful now, and it comes and goes as it get watered or rained on. There is a lot of that in a couple of areas of the yard, and I'm planning to transplant one or two to spread the wealth.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Janie
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 09:02 AM

The lettuce, spinach, radishes and bunching onions are all sown and beginning to germinate. Hope to get kale planted this weekend.

Have daffodils in bloom as well as crested and reticulated iris. The wood hyacinths are about to bloom. Larkspur, ammi and poppy seedlings are all over the place--I have to get to thinning them.

The lawns around town are looking quite charming with clouds of color from spring wildflowers--henbit, white and purple violets, common speedwell, mosses blooming, and of course the dandelions. And all the fall planted pansies in pots and beds around porches are beginning to put on their show.

The weather may be cold--but spring has come to the southland.

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: MMario
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 09:05 AM

grumble,grumble, grumble, grumble,grumble,6 inches of snow saturday night another two this morning gromble,grumble,grumble,grumble.

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 09:06 AM

I've had lantern flowers blooming outdoors in the backyard since Feb 1st.
day lillies are sprouting about an inch.
All my indoor bromiliads are blooming and the gardenia bush has buds.

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 10:17 AM

Daffodils got a mild coat of ice last week, but are still looking great, though they're standing in dry grassy weeds. Lily plants are spouting in back and need to be transplanted to rescue from the dogs who now live back there. We finally got rain. On top of our now-powdery soil, that equals a finely ground mud. Supposed to be warm today, but I don't know about next weekend, when I might be able to finally attack the yard with a shovel and get some fencing up to keep the dogs out of my veggie patch (where a couple of volunteer onions have sprouted and my garlic is returning.)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: MMario
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 10:19 AM

is the garlic returning to your garden similar to the swallows returning to Capistrano?

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Janie
Date: 27 Feb 06 - 10:29 AM

SRS--we have had a dry, warm winter following a very dry fall. Usually the ground here is too soggy to work in February, but not this year. Hope we are not into another cycle of drought.

This winter has been so mild that my Sunny Border Blue veronica has bloomed sporadically all winter long, even with the short day lengths, the roses never went fully dormant, and even the new growth is already developing black spot.

MMario--imagine your ground soaking up that snow as it melts--and smile!

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Janie
Date: 28 Feb 06 - 08:41 AM

Well, NOAA has officially classified my area is in a moderate drought. That be bad news with it just February.

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Bobert
Date: 28 Feb 06 - 08:47 AM

Still too early here in Page Co., Va... Plus we're at 1270 feet so I'm not expecting much for another month and a half... Sniff... But I got the garden plowed (70X40) in October with about 2 tons of chicken manure so it's ready and willing just waiting for, ahhhh, some heat... High yesterday was 35 degrees....

But I'm really looking forward to our first spring and wandering back up into the mountain so see what wildflowers grow up here... And mushrooms...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Janie
Date: 28 Feb 06 - 08:51 AM

Bobert, I really miss the mountains in spring.

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: number 6
Date: 28 Feb 06 - 09:15 AM

-10 c out there today ... miles yet to go before any gardening here. I just hope we don't have the rainy, foggy weather we had last year.

sIx

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: MMario
Date: 28 Feb 06 - 09:23 AM

heck - that's positively balmy - it was 7 degrees farenhiet colder then that this morning as I drove through town

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Janie
Date: 28 Feb 06 - 09:26 AM

The high today here will be 60 F (she said, with just a hint of gloating in her voice)

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Feb 06 - 02:15 PM

78 here today. And since it is February 28 and it is 78 degrees, through extrapolation you can guess that July 28 is going to be a whole lot hotter. The garden languishes at that point.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Mar 06 - 09:47 AM

85 for the high today! This afternoon I'm going to take a few hours off from work (comp time) and I'm going to to transplant a salvia gregii (shrub) that is too big where it is and will only get bigger once the growing season kicks in. This will at least give it a fighting chance to survive instead of being cut out entirely. I had a bed in which I tried to get lantana to grow shrub-like, but it wasn't cooperating. I have one that is doing it right in another part of the yard, but these never caught on. I'm going to move a couple of salvia into that bed instead. It's about as tough a plant around here as any, and they are very happy in this soil and climate.

It smells to good to work around it, too. Salvia are one of those plants that you can buy in a tiny little 4" pot at the beginning of the year and have it just as big at the end of the growing season as the one you spent beaucoup bucks for in a gallon pot. That's my kind of plant! It also comes in great colors and here it blooms almost year round.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
From: MMario
Date: 01 Mar 06 - 09:54 AM

saorely tempted to send down a hit squad - but on the other hand maybe I just need to go visit the texas relatives.