BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden

Subject: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 10:17 AM

Since a late spring storm blew through here with a lust for young buds and tree limbs last night (tornado sirens went off) I thought it was time to update the place where Mudcatters who putter in their yards can share their gardening adventures and expectations. Here is the other thread that covered Spring in the Northern Hemisphere.

It may not officially be "summer" on the calendar, but in my scheme of things, when you have many days in a row with temperatures in the low- to mid-90s, it's summer. Everything was growing marvelously, we've had enough rain to give the trees and veggies and all a good boost. Last night's rain and wind gave them a bit of a backward jolt. Knocked my biggest (sniffles, wipes the corner of her eye) most glorious Texas Star hibiscus off right at the root. The rest of the stems will take over, but this had buds! My tomatoes all seem to be in a bit of a confused thatch this morning, but no branches or fruits appear to have been broken. I lost some large limbs on the trees back behind the fence that grow next to the creek. That's actually okay, it lets more sun in on a bed I've been planning to plant soon. I don't think any tornadoes actually touched down in all of this, but there were a pair of super-cells that went over the top of the area so even their straight-line winds were pretty destructive.

I think my next door neighbor and I made this happen, but please don't leak it to the press! We'll be hounded by insurance companies for compensation. What did we do? We both saw the storms coming, and thinking they'd be the same ol' same ol' bit of rain, we BOTH scrambled to sprinkle fertilizer in our yards! That's a double whammy if I ever heard of one! Not ONLY did we lure the storms here, but all of our fertilizer was probably washed away so we'll have to go back on the weekend and do it the old fashioned way, sprinkle it around then water it in. (We both go organic, so it won't burn stuff even if it gets applied twice).

How's it looking for the rest of you Mudcat summertime gardeners? (Those still immersed in spring can choose their threads, the one linked or this one.)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 10:27 AM

I have a b-i-l who likes to put in gardens (latest count - 22 of them) but tends to skimp on the upkeep.

The count so far this year is three gardens weeded and mulched - three gardens partially weeded and mulched. 17.5 gardens to go.

The NICE thing is that our chinese paper-bark maple has finally started producing seedlings - after 20 plus years. And they appear to be coming true to type - at least as far as leaf shape. It'll be a few more years before we know if they have "the bark".

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 12:32 PM

If by gardens you mean individual flower beds, I have that habit also. Last count there are 11; one is fallow for now, four are in pretty good shape, two have veggies and the grass is okay there (protects the plants) and four still have to have the bermuda grass removed as deeply as possible without destroying the plants that are supposed to stay in the bed. Good thing about last night's rain--in a day or two the ground will be dried enough to be perfect for weeding the grass out.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 06:48 PM

Mine is full of roses. Can't walk down the garden without having to stoop under the roses and end up with hair full of rose petals.

And greenfly.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Tracey Dragonsfriend
Date: 03 Jun 04 - 04:13 AM

Mine's growing concrete this year. And next year. And the year after that. And... you get the idea! One thing about concreate - it comes up reliably every year...

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jun 04 - 10:12 AM

Heavy rain again last night. If this weather would only pace itself! One heavy rain a week would be nice. But several in one week then a month with none--that's the killer.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 03 Jun 04 - 10:14 AM

I hate mislabled plants . the white tree peony bloomed pink (deeper pink then the pink ones we planted). The suppossedly deep red "Don Juan" rose is white with red fringes.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 03 Jun 04 - 06:03 PM

That is so frustrating - my 'miniature' pittisporum is actually 10ft tall and growing! It wasn't supposed to grow over 6ft.

Maybe it just likes the soil.... just like the slugs and snails do.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jun 04 - 06:07 PM

Oops--that reminds me--I have a saliva out back that is probably swimming by now. It kept drying out in it's black pot. I haven't decided where to put it. I had to have it--it's gorgeous, but since the directions say it will grow to be 5' tall I know that around here it will double that. (Salvias of all types do that around here.) The rain last night no doubt filled the bucket I set the thing into.

Arrgggghhhh!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: GUEST,TheBigPinkLad
Date: 03 Jun 04 - 06:15 PM

I've got into hostas lately. They look so verdant in the rain. Moved into a new house with 12 fruit trees, four BIG veggie beds and nearly a 1/4 acre of lawn. Found out what I really like is watching Groundforce on TV.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Sorcha
Date: 03 Jun 04 - 06:25 PM

I bought bedding plants for the rock garden and tomatoes today. Also bought some water garden plants and 3 goldfish. I'm behind with planting because of being gone.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Bobert
Date: 03 Jun 04 - 07:32 PM

Well, Iz beat... Been weeding and mulchin' all danged day... I'm on my fourth truck load of mulch (2 yards per load). But all the palnting is finished... I had 13 acubas and another half a dozen azaleas to plant, plus till the veggie garden and plant it. It has been unusually warm and wet so evrything is growin' like gangbusters... The tomatoe plants are allready 3 feet tall... Most of the spring bloomers have come and gone however, we have several variet if irises either in bloom or getting ready to bloom... I've been pulling out bee balm because it was becoming invasive but have a stand mixed with cleomi about 10 feet by 4 feet so the humming bird will be real happy... I'm going to be potting up linten roses to give away since I have hundreds of babies... We've been spraying a lot of Liquid Fence on flox and hostas to keep the deer off them... The voles are real pesky and we've taken to using more Permiti;; in the soil we mix up for plantings...

Lavender is beginning to bloom. Salvia is blooming. Candy tuff still blooming. The ornimental grasses are doing great...

One proble I have is that the P-Vine has gone to work at a garden center one day a week and gets a 25% discount. To date she has made $700 but spent $1000. Hmmmmmm? The Wes Ginny Slide Rule warned me about this possible scenerio...

Oh well, the gardens have never been more impressive... But a lot of work...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 04 Jun 04 - 03:10 AM

My roses are spilling out all over the path, my water lily is still alive and may even flower this year, my white buddleia is budding, my fushia is rosy and the pyrocantha is getting a trim next week.

I used to have hostas. I just have fat snails now.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 04 Jun 04 - 12:09 PM

we have several water lilies in bloom - the lotus are starting to put out leaves.

we noticed over this weekend that one of our "shrubs" supposed to grow only 12-16 ft Has overtopped the second story of the house. the trunk of this "shrub" is almost a foot in diameter.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Jun 04 - 01:07 PM

My redbud was whipped around during the storm on Tuesday and now it is listing several degrees to the southeast. I don't want to wiggle it any more than necessary and I am not sure if propping it up is the answer. I planted it three years ago and it has many stems branching off of the central bole. I'll spray with neem and/or bt to keep anything from taking advantage of a weakened tree and call my Dirt Doctor guy on his talkshow on Sunday to see what he recommends. He advises not staking trees when they're first planted because he feels it weakens rather than strengthens them. This was never staked, and since last year has been laying on a nice amount of wood.

Any thoughts?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Janie
Date: 04 Jun 04 - 10:48 PM

I wrote the following 2 nights ago, but had to copy and save it cuz the 'cat went down (or sumpin'). Most of it still holds, except the gods smiled today and we got a day of light, steady rain. Probably not a full inch, but every little bit helps. Since it was cloudy and cooler, most of it soaked in. Hurray!

I too have a lot of beds--and they do keep one busy, don't they?

It looks like we may be headed for another year of drought here in the southern part of heaven. Year before last, during a severe drought, I irrigated regularly, but the water bills were almost $500/month, and I ain't got that kind of money! I am trying to resist irrigating anything but the veggie garden, but it is tough to watch stuff wilt. I have broken down and spot watered a few plants that looked like they were going to die, and a couple rudbeckias that volunteered this year have died from the lack of water. We got about a quarter inch of rain Sunday, and that was just enough to insure survival for another week. Even so, we got enough rain for the spring garden (though no abundance of rain,) and my early summer garden is fairly drought tolerant.


So, for now, the garden is doing ok. At the very front of the garden, along the street, there is a 25'x 5' bed of "Colorado Mix" yarrow at peak bloom. When the wind sets it to dancing, it looks absolutely dreamy. My easter lilies are in full-bloom, and some of the asiatic and tiger lilies are just starting to open. The larkspur, coreopsis, and lychnis are nearly finished. In another large bed are blue hybrid larkspur interplanted among yarrow "Gold Plate" and "Coronation Gold." That bed has really been striking. In another spot are blue Stoke's Aster, surrounded on three sides by butterfly weed, and they are doing really well. The dahlias are doing so-so without enough rain, and my roses and peonies were mediocre, for the same reason. My drifts of "Jacob Kline" monarda are in big trouble--I have started watering them.

Located on the upper corner of the front garden, near the north front corner of the house, are a spectacular china fir and a huge, old holly that looks like a burford holly on steroids. The canopy they form is plenty high enough to walk under and covers quite a large area with dense, dry, year-round shade. This year I finally have the time to begin creating a garden room there. It is challenging and fun to find plants that will provide color or drama in such low-light conditions. I suspect I'll be experimenting there for a few years.

On another note, I know my posts about the garden tend to be quite long. Somebody let me know if I'm being borish, or otherwise need to cut them down substantially.

Thanks,

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: LadyJean
Date: 05 Jun 04 - 12:26 AM

I don't really have a garden. I have half a fire escape, and flower boxes. But my dwarf dahlias are looking good this year, and my Mexican love vine is in bloom for the first time since I got it! And the catnip is looking very good. My cats are pleased.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jun 04 - 11:25 AM

Note to self: relocate hummingbird feeder. Too many wasps attracted to it.

I walked out my back door yesterday and got a nasty sting on the shoulder by a wasp. Didn't even see it coming. Upon inspection of the back side of the house I found three new wasp nests, and I'm sure they're locating near the feeder, because I see them on it frequently. I'll go get another one of those shepherd's crooks and put it further out from the house. It's hanging at the far corner under the patio cover right now. Ouch!!! I have a standard bird seed feeder back there also--too bad some of those birds don't eat wasps.

Yard looks great after a full day of mowing and most of the trimming is finished.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Rustic Rebel
Date: 06 Jun 04 - 10:36 PM

I put my vegtable garden in today...Ahhhh a sigh of relief and contentment emits from my body.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jun 04 - 12:28 AM

I picked my first three pink tomatoes yesterday. They're finishing ripening on the windowsill (if they stay in the yard the birds will get them).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: mouldy
Date: 07 Jun 04 - 02:31 AM

After the wet weather we have had, my little walled garden is suddenly as tall as it is wide with the advent of warm weather! My Victoria Plum tree - planted fairly close to the house 'cos it's a "dwarf" (but now has other ideas, it seems) is so laden with fruit that I am convinced that it is going to sweep the floor with its branches before long. I have had to remove one small branch that came across the path and was leaning on the kitchen window. Things have never put on so much growth! Even my vegetable patch is rampant. The pink fir apples have caught up with the kestrels.

My unnamed (but I think it's "Ispahan") shrub rose (10 feet and still going) is perfuming the whole garden. I have for many years treated it more as a climber by pulling over and securing many of the tall shoots it sends up every year. Then it sends out lots of flowering shoots. I didn't trim my gallicas this year, but they don't seem to mind.

The water lily has flower buds forming. It flowered for the first time last year, and looks like it's going to repeat the favour.

Gotta go - need garden

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jun 04 - 11:34 AM

Where are you, Andrea? That sounds like some garden!

I have a vitex in front and one in back, and they both smell wonderful right now. If you stand close to them you can hear a steady hum with all of the pollinators at work.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: muppett
Date: 07 Jun 04 - 11:54 AM

I've all sorts in my little garden, every time I go to Morrisons I buy at least one thing for it, so now it's full of various blubs, plants and seeds. Do an inspection of it every mornings checking for slugs & snails(don't want to put pellets down.
Can any one suggest how to get rid of the weeds in my lawn without using weed killer?

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Jun 04 - 11:56 AM

Learn to call them 'WILD FLOWERS'

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: el ted
Date: 07 Jun 04 - 11:57 AM

Use explosives muppett, works wonders for me.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jun 04 - 12:26 PM

If you fertilize your lawn the grass will crowd out the weeds. Don't use a weed and feed, use something organic like corn gluten meal or dry molasses, or a good organic fertilizer. It takes a little longer to work but the yard and beneficial critters are a lot happier.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: muppett
Date: 08 Jun 04 - 04:11 AM

Guest,
I am calling them wild flowers,there's clover, buttercups,dandylions & burdock and if I leave them long enough it'll be easier to weed the grass, trouble is I wont have a lawn then to sit on.

Cheers the rest of you I try your remidies.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 08 Jun 04 - 08:59 AM

In my garden, there is a broken fridge, a wheel off a Ford Escort, and loads of bricks and weeds.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: GUEST,JOHN FROM ELSIE`S BAND
Date: 08 Jun 04 - 11:50 AM

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: GUEST,JOHN FROM ELSIE`S BAND
Date: 08 Jun 04 - 12:06 PM

The garden is in great condition regardless of the attention paid by damn foxes. Its no good the hunt chasing over the fields and through the woods, their best chance of success would be along the A25 and surrounding neighbourhood of Kemsing and Sevenoaks.
Weed and Feed tip for lawns. This has got to be the most effective and inexpensive remedy.
19 parts Sharp sand.
7 parts sulphate of ammonia.
3 parts sulphate of iron.
Its all available. Mixed well and spread at 4 ounces per square yard in spring and then mid summer. Excellent results. It does for all the wide leaf weeds. Buy it in large enough quantities to be shared between a number of neighbours. Just the ticket.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Jun 04 - 12:57 PM

John from Elsie's band, that sounds like an extremely noxious and caustic approach to lawn care. I did a search and find ammonia sulphate recommended for golf courses, which sets off alarms for me--golf courses are notorious for being bad neighbors as far as chemical and water use. All you'll have is a monoculture of grass, but not another living thing. Some of these chemical fertilizers are what go into explosives and if they aren't cleaned carefully they can rust or corrode metal and stain concrete, etc. Storing extra bags of this stuff down in the garden shed can get you marked as a terrorist if you're not careful! Store it incorrectly or have a small explosion near it and you'll take out the neighborhood federal building.

Sharp sand is a builder's sand, and can be contaminated, since there isn't a chemcial purity standard it has to meet. It's used in mortar and such. A better one to choose to help loosen clay soil and at the same time help hold water in soils that tend to dry out too quickly is lava sand, one that is made of ground up lava. For iron, try greensand, and be careful not to use too much because like any product that delivers iron, it can burn.

Here's a good resource for organic gardening that won't leave your yard gasping for nutrients or pollinators, and won't endanger your health to apply it. Just give it a thought!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Janie
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 08:59 AM

This week scores of goldfinches have descended on the garden and feeders. A few of their distant cousins, purple or house finches (I'm not sure which)have joined them. They are such a joy to watch.

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: GUEST,JOHN of ELSIE`S BAND
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 09:51 AM

Stilly River Sage,
                  This cocktail is certainly not a noxious mixture when used for this purpose. It is drawn fom a book on organic gardening by a horticultural expert from The Royal Horticultutal Society at Bisley, Surrey. The coarse Sharp sand contains nothing that will damage the top dressing or sward of the lawn and will assist aeration. The sulphates, compounds of naturally found elements, are intended to "drown" plants such as daisies, plantains, clover, moss, dandelions and a host of others in excess nitrogen which they will greedily take in, at the same time feed and promote strong growth in the grass. When carefully distributed the result is an attractive grass only lawn. Regarding the broad leaf plants such as plantains and dandelions which are not particualarly attractive in themselves, if left to grow large they produce a patch where all the grass has been stifled.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 09:59 AM

Well be careful, John. It is an explosive (literally!) compound you're handling there. Part of that mix is what was used to blow up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City a few years back.

What year was that book published? Can you give an author and publication information? Occasionally what was considered organic a few years ago is no longer in use (I'm thinking here of some of the pyrethrum products--my Dirt Doctor guy used to promote it, but research now shows that it can be associated with asthma and other human health problems). I'm curious to see what else your book says. (Some interesting research is coming this way from places like New Zealand, where they've also been struggling with things like nutsedge or nut grass, that torments gardeners here. If there is a way to in an isolated manner nuke that stuff, even organic gardeners might consider cheating a little if it will get rid of this pest).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: GUEST,JOHN of ELSIE`S BAND
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 10:08 AM

S.R.S.
      I am at work at the moment but tomorrow I`ll post "chapter and verse". If you have a fax no. I`ll do some pages for you.
                                                       John

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 10:21 AM

Don't worry about faxing pages--I work in a large university research library so even if your book is old or from a small print run, I can usually get my hands on it through Interlibrary Loan.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Joybell
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 07:39 PM

Well hello all of you Summery gardeners. We are bedding down for the Winter. Winter here means a different set of flowering plants, though. We don't get snow - just a few frosts. Yesterday three Brolgas - large native storks - flew over us and discussed our wetland. Decided it was a bit small and flew off. The early settlers called them "Native Companions" and the farmers around us still refer to them by this name sometimes.
We don't have a garden as such - except for a few small vegetable ones. The rest is grassy woodland - or will be when we finish replacing the pasture weeds.
Lots to do this year. Our little mob of coloured sheep got mauled by neighbour's pet dogs and had to be killed. So horrible! but we have to move on. We were slowly planting up the place, behind fences, and letting the sheep keep the weeds down until we'd got the whole place done. Now we'll have to move faster before the weeds take over. We'll plant about 1000 trees and shrubs this year and many thousand ground flora plants as well. We have a few tiny remnants of indigenous grassland where Chocolate lillies and Weeping grass hang on. Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Bobert
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 09:19 PM

Another excellent grass fertilizer is "malorganite" which is all organic and come from the sludge in sewage treatment plants. Some local governments give it away. Loaded with nitrogen... Also keep deer away...

We've got a few late blooming irises (white and yellow) in bloom and a few early cosmos in bloom. The lavendar is also starting to bloom and smells delightful...

With the warm spring and above average rain fall, everything is going great guns. Pulmonaria are obsenely big with lots of donors this year. Same with the various gingers. And ferns... Solomon seal is so think we've given some of it away. Same with linten rose, wild yam and maiden hair fern....

The Noerthern Virgina Azalea Society has chosen our place for its annual plant cuttings swap so we're trying to get all the beds mulched. I've emptied my 3/4 ton truch 4 times so far and looks as if one, maybe two, more loads will do us...

Voles are real bad this year. I've got mouse traps set fir them and caught a few and the cats have caught a few but... they're bad... They've gotten two hostas, even thou they were planted with permatil!!!

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: GUEST,JOHN of ELSIE`S BAND
Date: 10 Jun 04 - 04:44 AM

Stilly River Sage,
                  See if you can find "Grow Your Own Fruit & Vegetables" by Lawrence Hills, published by Faber & Faber, re-issue 1976, London. It has no ISBN No. on the frontispiece. He was at the Henry Doubleday Research Organisation. It really is a very informative book giving ageless advice for those interested in the garden.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: GUEST,JOHN of ELSIE`S BAND
Date: 10 Jun 04 - 07:07 AM

Telephone conversation between my dear cousin Ed who lives in Esperance, W.A. and myself:-
Ed:- Yeah, we`ve got acres of grass meadow.
Me:- What do you do with it? Do you have sheep on it?
Ed:- No, they`re more trouble than they`re worth.
Me:- Then what do you do with it?
Ed:- I mow it!!

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Janie
Date: 10 Jun 04 - 08:52 AM

Bobert, that sludge may not be as safe as you think---heavy metals and all that.

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Jun 04 - 10:33 AM

I think there are ways they can clean up that stuff nowadays, if they take the time and want to market it as a healthy garden product. I'll check my sources for any discussion of the subject.

John, thanks for sending along the citation. This is primarily out of curiosity and for comparison purposes--sometimes things you discover from decades past are found to be leathal mixes, yet other times you find that old remedies are just what you were looking for and fit your modern needs exactly.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Bobert
Date: 10 Jun 04 - 08:18 PM

Yeah, Janie, I certainly wouldn't use it in a garden no matter what anyone said but grass?

Okay, what's up today, Bobert?

Well, hollyhocks bloomed ( yellow/white and pink) today. Hmmmmm? More cosmos blooming... These iris's that are blooming are all river varieties which like wet feet and grow in a *dry* creek which stays moist....

Clemitis (deep purple) are late but in bloom...

Found a cool flower on the side of the road which I can't identify. It looks just like a dandylion when it goes to seed except it about 5 inches in diameter. I'm sure its a weed but it sure is pretty. I picked it and sprayed it and hope it doesn't fall apart...

Ran stringers for pole beans tonight since they are up about 2 feet and knitting themselves together...

Lettuce is about done as it's getting hotter... the snails got heir fare share and some...

Caught one vole in traps in the last day... I hate them critters....

Planted one last azalea and have only two or three more pots to be planted before calling it quits until fall...

Vrey warm here...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Jun 04 - 11:09 PM

Bobert, you've been busy! We've been indoors with all of the rain (over 10 inches here in the last four days). When there were clear patches between storms I went outside to check the yard. The poor redbud that was injured last week is leaning as much as ever, but it is still in full leaf and it hasn't fallen over. A desert willow was whipped around enough yesterday that it's drooping a lot more than usual. Everything else looks pretty good, and the weeds come out of the garden soil as easy as can be. I stood out in the front tonight and cleared about a square yard of garden in maybe 10 minutes.

I have Swiss chard that wintered over and after taking a couple of weeks to cut off the winter leaves and let new ones come in before finishing taking the old leaves, I now have 8 or 10 healthy chard plants cranking out the leaves. The big ones can be used rather like cabbage--I sliced up a few leaves (1/2 inch wide strips, cut across the leaves and through the center stalk) and dropped them into some veggie soup. They're wonderful! Like cabbage, they need to cook for a little while, but unlike spinach, they don't disappear into nothing. I sliced the stems cross-wise and dropped them in also, and they're about the consistence of celery. They actually are a little firmer but are very good. When the leaves are smaller you can boil or steam them just like spinach. It's good with a little vinegar.

We've started eating tomatoes. Had several on tacos tonight. Mmmmmm!!!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: mouldy
Date: 11 Jun 04 - 02:58 AM

SRS - I'm right at the bottom end of North Yorkshire, and the Vale of York (ie - flat). Only about 30 feet above sea level.

I grew some Ruby Chard last year, but because of the nature of my vastly overplanted little plot it wasn't too successful. I thought I'd cleared it out, but nevertheless, one plant has grown this year. I have also put 3 Cape Gooseberry plants in (Physalis). The Tayberry looks like it's going to crop well this year, if only I can beat the birds to 'em.

My veg would do a lot better if I could demolish part of the big house next door, which shades it during the afternoon. But when your garden is an old foldyard, (not much depth of soil before rubble) and the house next door is the original farmhouse, you can't do much about it. My house celebrates its 100th birthday this year - it's Edwardian "in-filling", and replaces a barn which had to be pulled down. The whole plot, including house, is only about a fifth of an acre.

It's the little garden with big ideas!

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Jun 04 - 11:29 PM

This evening I pulled some bacon out of the freezer, got out the mayo and the lettuce and, you guessed it, we had homemade BLTs for dinner. My kids thought I was being a bit fastidious when I toasted the fresh whole wheat bread--the variety I buy is a little wide for putting two side by side in this long narrow toaster. I insisted on toasting them one at a time so there wouldn't be any soft spots on the toast, then put mayo on both sides, layered on the lettuce, the home-grown and oh-so-flavorful generous slices of tomato, and some nice thick smoky bacon. The last touch, to put the top slice of toast on and give it a gentle "mash" to compress all of the parts together enough so it holds a bit and fits into your mouth. Mmmmmm! (That last part probably doesn't appear in any cookbooks--and don't dare do it with a hermetically gloved hand--the love from the cook to the diner passes through the bare hand compressing the sandwich ever-so-slightly!)

Meanwhile, I have a bunch of golf-ball sized canteloupe coming up in what was supposed to be a bed of lantana. I used compost last fall as top dressing on the bed, and I have a couple of volunteers out in the front yard. That's okay, though, because I also planted tomatoes and green peppers out there, and there is some oregano in one bed being encouraged to act like groundcover. The fruit is in good company. And for color, my Texas star hibiscus burst into bloom last week for the first time this summer. I have four plants, but this one is earlier than the rest. We had six simultaneous flowers a couple of days ago. Last year was my first for growing them, and the plants were all small. They grew back much larger this year, and each flower is the size of a saucer. (That's a temporary link to the flower, I'll be cleaning out the files pretty soon, and quite a few have already gone away that I linked to in earlier posts on other topics).

The downer in the neighborhood is that an 80-year-old neighbor who has lived in the mountains of Colorado for years finally moved back to Texas because he couldn't live in the high elevation with his breathing problems. The house he owns here was rented out for many years. Now he's back, and the old fart has decided that the squirrels are stealing too many of his pecans. His nextdoor neighbor estimates that he has trapped and shot about 30 squirrels. Neighbors have crept into his yard and stolen his traps (he used to have some of those nasty old ones that clapped shut and crushed the animal between the halves). He got some have-a-heart traps, but he shoots the poor things where they are in the trap before disposing of them. He doesn't do anything with the pecans so that's just an excuse, but we're racking our brains to find some way to put a stop to this short of putting his head into one of his own traps. I heard that another neighbor walked up to him tonight and freed the squirrel right in front of him before he had time to shoot it. Hurrah, Beth, but I hope no one gets hurt!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Jul 04 - 05:08 PM

I am contemplating writing a children's book (rated "X" for violence) called The Big Green Splot. It will deal with the huge slippery spots that occur when you capture and smash tomato horn worms, those huge green pendulous green (did I mention green?) softbodied green leaf-eating-and-pooping-all-over-the-plant machines that I found in the garden yesterday. Yech!

I sprayed BT at dusk--that oughta give them a belly ache! (I managed to find and remove a half-dozen of the things in the front yard--the way they selectively denude a few branches here and there they are really hard to spot. And they're so green! They are, not surprisingly, the exact color of the leaves they are devouring.)

Other than that, tons of tomatoes, lots of chard, and a few melons and squash getting ready to pick soon.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: CarolC
Date: 08 Jul 04 - 05:13 PM

Our strawberries are still bearing, which really surprises me, since other things that come on around the same time as, and even later than strawberries have long since perished.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Janie
Date: 08 Jul 04 - 07:42 PM

Veggies and flowers surviving but only just. We aren't exactly in a drought, but we aren't missing it by much. I am watering only the squash and cukes. The peppers are wilting. I went out to irrigate them and realized I can buy them at the local Farmers' Market for less than it will cost in water to keep them going. Tomatoes are doing ok. I useually plant "Super Sweet 100's but this year planted Chadwick Cherries but that was the only organic cherry tomato seed I could find. Big mistake. They are too big and not nearly as tasty. The Brandywines are cracking badly because of the irregular moisture. Fortunately, I've had no hornworms the past three years. (They ARE nasty little beasties, aren't they?)

I had a number of packs of sunflowers and Benary Giant zinnias that I had never got planted. Last evening I mixed 'em all up in a bowl, broadcast them by handfuls into the garden, and wished them luck. If nothing else the doves and sparrows can scratch for them.

The goldfinches continue to be a delight. A pair of Carolina Wrens have taken up residence in a pot of caladiums and impatiens on the porch, smack dab in front of the window. Checking daily for babies.

If it doesn't rain soon....there is always next year.

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Bobert
Date: 08 Jul 04 - 09:08 PM

I hate them green horn worms, too... We put sabildilla dust on 'em which is like ground up oyster shells which they eat and it messes up their tummy. Tough beans, worms. Get over it! No, don't...

Speakin' of critters. I think it might have something to do with the cicadas we had this year but this is the year of the mole (which doesn't really bug me) and it's smaller buddy, the vole. The vole eats plant roots and loves hostas. It comes outta holes from the mole tunnels and eats 'um right at ground level. We've got a dozen mousetraps set at the holes they come out of and have killed about 60 of them in the last month. They haven't outright killed too much since we catch 'um before they kill a plant and take the plant out and put it in our plant hospital to recoperate.

No ripe tomatoes yet. Looks like another 10 days on the early ones Snap beans will be ready for daily pickins about Sunday. Egg plant in a week. Peppers, two weeks. Squash and cukes are slow this year.

Blooming: habiscus (blue native), flox (3 varieties), cosmos, coreopsis, lavendar, hydrangia, manarta (red with lots of humming bird activity), cleomee (pink) just blooming, butterfly bush (have both monarchs and swallowtails).

Bird activity: Too many juvenile blue jays! Young finches (gold and house) are a trip with their bickering at each other, titmouse, nuthatch youngins, cickodee, wrens, piliated woodpeckers (no off spring this year), lots of younf hairy and downey woodpecker along with young red bellied. No red headed woodpeckers at all this year though the piliated are entertaining enough. The cardinal had only two babies who I think are male and female. Kinda hard to tell since they are both still juvenile...

Thats it from up here on the Blue Ridge Mountin in Wes Ginny...

Anyone have a line on sabadilla dust? We can't seem to find it anymore???

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: MAG
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 01:05 AM

No green hornworms here for awhile. I just went at 'em with the good pruners. like slugs.

My first brandywines are about ready to eat. I have the bacon in the freezer waiting. I generally don't bother with the lettuce.

*Big Orange Splot* is the name of a picture book by Daniel Pinkwater, so I think your book title might raise hackels, SRS.

I am not keeping ahead of the weeds before they drop their heavy ol' seedheads. except the buttercups. I think I finally turned a corner on the buttercups.

Since I don't spray anything except for rose funguses the birds love my yard but I couldn't tell you what all they are. They sound nice though.

I keep getting these vounteer wild plum trees my yard is not big enough for. Surely the birds aren't ...?? nah.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 01:05 AM

I don't know about that dust--down here Howard Garrett recommends diatomatious earth for lots of things. Do you think it would work for you in this application? Visit http://www.dirtdoctor.com and do a search on the many uses.

I worked one summer at San Juan Island National Historic Park in Washington State's Puget Sound, and out there we had lots of owls who took care of the voles. As a park ranger, I used to take visitors through a wooded area where the owls used to perch. You could literally pick up a dried felt-like owl pellet under the trees and talk to the visitors about the wildife, then pick this apart to show the entire skeleton (dismantled) of the vole, packed in it's own undigestible fur.

Our tomatoes here have been ripening for weeks, and we're not fending off predators and trying to keep the fungus (turns the leaves yellow) at bay. I have some "super fantastic" (maybe "super terrific") type tomatoes, not the largest around, but nice and it resists some of the hot weather. I also have a hedge of cherry tomatoes. The skins are tough, but blanched and peeled they are soooooo good in anything you want good tomato flavor in.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: MAG
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 01:15 AM

I like early cascade, because they are such heavy producers; and with homegrown, any variety is better than storebought. (anybody know that song?? "Just two things that money can't buy, and that's true love and home-grown tomatoes.")

Bobert, early this year something totally ate my delphimiums. Overnight there was nothing left but a hole. Whatever it is likes daffs too, so I think that lets squirrels out.

(I have to say that shooting the squirrels is more humane than other ways of bringing them under control.)

Any ideas what might be gobbling bulbs like a hog in a gourmet deli?

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Joybell
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 06:59 AM

It's cold and wet here. Our winter wetland is full of singing frogs. Mountain ducks - (like your mallards) are floating over the paddocks around us. Wattles are starting to flower and Coreas - lovely little bushes covered with green and red bells are a mass of blooms. Honey-eaters all have yellow-dusted faces from the pollen.
The exciting news from us is that we think we may be able to visit New Mexico next Spring. I'm studying up on the desert and grassland wildflowers of America. It's all so overwhelming. Didn't think we'd see America again. More about that closer to the event.
For now we're tree planting as fast as we can before the weeds take over. Happy Summertime everyone. Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Grab
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 07:18 AM

Our lawn is looking good. Dug the whole damn thing over (by hand) in Jan, mixed in a load of sand and compost, dug the whole lot over again, top-dressed and seeded it (thank god we only have a small garden!). Now we finally have a lawn that's a lawn to be proud of, instead of a dandelion plantation... Very glad I put all that sand in to improve drainage - we're on solid clay here which doesn't drain at all, but it's been raining hard for 2 days now and no sign of waterlogging, so that's worked out well.

Nose-wise, we're doing good. The weigela and lilac have long since come and gone, and the philadelphus has just about finished now, but the night-scented stocks are still going strong (they've been out the last 2-3 weeks and show no sign of fading), the lavender's in full bloom and the buddleia is just coming out too. Honeysuckle is disappointing though - didn't prune it this year and as a result it's looking distinctly sickly with hardly any flowers. Looking forward to our ceratostigmas coming out - no scent, but gorgeous blue flowers. If the summer's nice, we might get lucky and get a second lot of flowers on our little lilac (macrophylla lilacs flower twice in a good year).

Graham.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 10:41 AM

MAG--I had The Big Orange Splot in mind when I suggested the story (but I was pulling your leg). As it happens, my yard and garden are such a unique collection of plantings in the neighborhood that the individuality expressed there is something Daniel Pinkwater would no doubt appreciate. I love that book--we read it many times when my children were small.

My earlier post should have said we're now fending off predators (something is eating green tomatoes and squash).

I've done a little searching on some of the flowers mentioned that I haven't seen. No images of "ceratostigmas" easily found, but I did locate philadelphus and
buddleia. They're lovely!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 10:51 AM

tomatoes have begun to flower and set fruit - squash (zuchinni, delicata and butternut) are flowering but only male; lavender in flower, lawn mowed (it took 10 days - between rain, three broken belts, etc,etc)

Deer still eating the lilies just as they are about to flower - both the asians and the daylilies.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 01:24 PM

So why aren't you eating those deer? (In season, of course!)

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 01:26 PM

because even though we have a lot of people who hunt our property the deer seem to breed faster then they can shoot them! We had a doe with TRIPLETS this year!!!!!! (seems no one told her how unusual that is)

I've actually been eating venision stew the last couple days -

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Bobert
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 05:02 PM

Mag<
The deer generally won't heat plants down to the ground. The love aeting buds and top growth but ain't into bending down to the bottom of the plants unless its winter and there's nuthin' else to eat..

Sounds like the work of Mr. Vole, a mouse sized rodent who uses the moles tunnels to get around. They love roots and the lower parts of the plant. They uswually will just eat that part and not the entire leafed out are. They can eat from under the ground or on ground surface and will kill yer plant if you dn't recoghize the damage early denuff to get it out of the ground and into yer plant hospital.

As fir killing the voles, mouse traps work best. Whereever you see mole activity (hills above the tunnels) who will probably see holes about 1 1/2 inch round. Thesew are vole holes. Set the trap with peanut butter as bait and be sure to put an empty flower pot over it so the cat doesn't home with a messed up paw, or yer nocternal critters don't ket their feet cuaghted either...

There are other products for voles and moles but chenicals and poisons which you don't really need to be using...

BTW, we have a dozen traps set and have been avaeraging 3 voles a day.

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 05:24 PM

Bobert,

Are you skinning the little guys? Make yourself a moleskin vest. :)

I just harvested some chocolate mint and spearmint and now have bunches hanging from the knobs on my kitchen cabinets. They were just getting ready to put out flowers. I have yet to harvest the lemon balm. I've heard about this herb for years, but never used it. Is it the same as with the other mints, dry it and make tea with the dry leaves? Or is this one that is better used fresh?

Has anyone used hibiscus for food? I know it is used in teas, and it is a wonderful red color. But it doesn't work for dye because when you add the vinegar it turns muddy. So if I've been saving the Texas Star hibiscus flowers adequately, is it safe to use them in tea or other foods for color? I suppose I would remove the pistil and stamen and just use the petals. Any thoughts? I pick them up each day from the lawn after they fall off of the plant.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Bobert
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 06:58 PM

Well, SRS, up here in these mountains, the native habiscus don't bloom much so I don't remove any of them. The one I have in bloom now has only one flower....Last thing I'm gonna do is eat the danged thing.

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Joybell
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 07:28 PM

Our kids loved "The Big Orange Splot". We shared their love of it. Now we live in a place where nobody worries if we paint the house in rainbow colours. I painted an old car that had been abandoned in one of the paddocks too. It's covered with bright birds and rainbows and stars and flowers. The place is full of interesting bits and pieces collected from the local tip (rubbish dump). They closed it to "scavengers" like us, sadly. No imagination! Now it costs people to dump stuff and you're not allowed to make withdrawls.
Our kids on the other hand are quite glad we live so far from them. I think we are heading for old, quaint and harmless. Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: MAG
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 09:15 PM

Bobert, I hadn't really considered voles, as I am in a small town on a residential sidestreet.

Howsumever I HAVE seen holes of the size you describe. Moles   occured to me, but they are not supposed to be that destructive to plants; they are just supposed to eat the livestock they come across as they tunnel. No hills, just the occasional hole a mite too large to be an ant hole, and now the Peruvian daffs are gone, too.


grrr. Diatomaceous earth works great on the slugs.

There is nothing natural about cultivating a garden, and nobody promised us no work.

I would not call mya garden large, but I DID mulch outt all the grass and do flowers ...

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Janie
Date: 09 Jul 04 - 11:55 PM

Something is getting under my fence and nibbling on the bush beans. I can't figure out where. I suspect baby rabbits. I can't spot trails or tracks, though, so I don't really know.

This weekend will be time to start seeds for cole crops for the fall here. I know I'll start kale, but maybe not much else that I can't wait and direct seed. Broccoli is not a crop with which I seem to have much luck. Insects and four-leggeds always seem to beat me to harvest.

Couldn't help myself---began spot watering the dahlias and irrigating the first of my big front mixed beds and borders. It has been consistently hot and dry for too long. Even the cone flowers and Stoke's Asters are staying wilted until it is dark out. I'm not willing to let the perennials die.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Jul 04 - 10:53 PM

I let a broccoli go to seed out back, so I may have a lot of it this fall. We were curious to see what the "life cycle" of broccoli was like. It's big and messy at this point, with occasional bizarre stalks shooting up from the bulk of the plant and waving yellow mustard flowers.

Something is nibbling at my rudbeckia, and I've had to set up the sprinkler where normally the plants are tough and used to dry conditions. I think all of that rain in June threw everything off.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Jul 04 - 03:35 AM

Whew. Had to rescue a tiny house gecko from the cats before posting this. They're cute little things and so small they sometimes wiggle in under the door (the geckos, not the cats!)

Here's something to think about next time you're working in the yard morning or evening (high mosquito activity time):

Flicking Mosquitoes May Prevent Infection

July 18, 2004 03:28 PM EDT

TOLEDO, Ohio - Flicking away pesky mosquitoes may be better than swatting the bloodsucking insects, which can risk infections if their body parts are smashed into human skin, researchers say. The issue is reviewed in an article published this month in the New England Journal of Medicine that focuses on a 57-year-old Pennsylvania woman who died in 2002 of a fungal infection in her muscles called Brachiola algerae.

Doctors were puzzled because the fungus was thought to be found only in mosquitoes and other insects. But it's not found in mosquito saliva like West Nile virus and malaria, so a simple mosquito bite could not have caused the infection. The article's authors concluded that the woman must have smashed a mosquito on her skin, smearing its body parts into the bite. "I think if a mosquito was in mid-bite, it would be wiser to flick the mosquito off rather than squashing it," said one of the authors, Christina Coyle of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

Many people already take similar advice when removing ticks. Doctors have long cautioned that squashing a tick on skin could put a person at greater risk of Lyme disease, said Dawn Wesson, a tropical medicine specialist at Tulane University. Despite the Pennsylvania woman's case, Roger Nasci, a mosquito expert at a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention facility in Fort Collins, Colo., said there is no scientific basis for switching to flicking.

He also pointed out that flicking the bugs off is not a permanent solution. "Unfortunately, then the mosquito often goes on to bite another person, or bites you again," Nasci said.

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Joybell
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 09:53 PM

Just when we thought there was a simple solution to something. Still it's worth thinking about. Perhaps we could flick and then squish. A sort of mid-flight clap and squash. With undamaged hands. Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: Bobert
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 10:14 PM

MAG,

We are under siege by voles... We're using mousetraps with clay pots over them around their holes. We've caught around 70 of them this year.

The vole is half the size of the mole or about the size of a mouse. The vole eats plants and uses the moles tunnels. The moles just make tunnels which are irriitating enough but the moles only eats grubs and other things other than plants. ''We plant everything in permitil but the voles will sneak out of a hole and walk right up to a hosta and start eating the stem where it comes out of the ground. They love hostas... Some folks have taken to planting their hostas in a steel mesh cage that extends above the ground with the top bent outwards like a little vole wall...

Man, I hares tme critters....

Flox (white-"David") is in full bloom. Deer ate a couple nast night so we sprayed everything with "Liguid Fence" tonight...

Don't like the deer either...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Summer 2004--Yard & Garden
From: MAG
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 01:19 AM

well, at least, if you hunt, you can eat the deer ...