BS: 2008 Garden Thread

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: LilyFestre
Date: 12 Feb 08 - 11:17 PM

The wind is howling, snow is flying and gardening days are a few weeks away. We have a nice collection of seed catalogs that by this point in time are dog-eared and have things circled with stars beside them. We like to add something new each year and I think 2008 will be The Year of The Sweet Potato in the Festre Family. :)

We will be adding a few more fruit trees, new grapes to the vineyard and more blueberry bushes. I've been adding a forsythia bush each year on my birthday but I think I am going to pick something different this year...Hmmmmm....know any easy care flowering bushes?

Not only is it garden planning time in my neck of the woods but it's also time to start thinking about baby chicks...what kind? How many? We are adding another 80 birds to our flock as I have far more requests for fresh eggs than I have eggs available....but that's for another thread. :)

Anyone do container gardening?

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Feb 08 - 08:54 PM

Brrr! Too cold and windy to do much in the yard today. We had a good heavy rain overnight (also some wind and lightning that took out a tree and a telephone pole and some lines). North Texas is getting positioned for spring!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 11:19 PM

I think Bobert should go pee on his own fence line and see if marking his territory himself works. It's much less expensive (eat some asparagus and drink a six-pack of beer and you'll nuke those deer!)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: GUEST,LynnT outside of DC
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 11:30 AM

Thanks anyway, Janie -- you (and anyone else interested) are still welcome to basil, castor or larkspur seeds. Pinetree seeds has several kinds of poppy listed; I may try them. I used to grow hot-pink mophead poppies but they faded out years ago. It'd be nice to have them back.

Those winds yesterday afternoon and evening blew all the warm out of here -- it was 17 degrees out this morning when Richard and I launched off on our morning mile walk. Lots of big branches down, and more than a few phone/cable lines, not that I was going to tempt fate by walking across them. My fault for talking about how mild the winter has been! But they say it'll be raining again by tomorrow afternoon.

Lynn

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 11:16 AM

I think the mix of bread yeast, sugar and water would be harmless to the cats. I haven't tried it yet, but it makes sense that it would attract slugs. I put brewers yeast in my dogs food in the summer to help repel mosquitoes. I've given it to cats also.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: Bobert
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 10:12 AM

Yo, Rap...

We'er beyond coyote pee... we've used it with only limited sucess... same with human hair, soap shavings, Deer Off, Malorganite (human waste sludge),etc...

The only thing that works is Liquid Fence but its nastier than my Couzin Rufus's breath... And expensive, too... But it works...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 09:09 AM

I'm not really bothered with the slugs.. it was partly my fault for leaving the seedlings on the path, rather than a bit higher up.

I don't use slugicides because they have a disasterous effect on the cats - cats eat the pellets; no problem. Cats eat the slugs; no problem. Cats eat the slugs that have eaten the pellets - BIG problem... the resulting chemical reaction affects the cats' kidneys, as does eating a slug that died of alcohol poisoning!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: GUEST,Essex Girl
Date: 11 Feb 08 - 08:51 AM

Finally managed to get out into the garden this weekend. Some strange sights- The late summer flowering daises are in flower now and there is a bud on the waterlily. The fish haven't hibernated at all and are happily swimming around with many new babies, despite the fact that the pond has been freezing over night. The grass is growing much too fast but is too wet to mow, and the daffodils are in bud. Liz, I have cut my buddleia back to about 2 feet max, I did the same last year and it grew abundantly. I picked up a couple of brilliant slug traps a couple of years ago in a pound shop, but I'd like some more and the shop doesn't sell them anymore. They did a great job when filled with the remains of my homebrew. Anyone know where I can get some?

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 11:44 PM

Bobert, go visit a big huntin' 'n' fishin' store like Cabela's or Bass Pro Shop or Gander Mountain (or look online). Get yourself some coyote or wolf urine and use a few drops at a time where the deer are likely to come in.

Yeah, they sell both coyote and wolf piss. Also fox pee.

I've been trying to find mountain lion and grizzly, but no luck yet. I'm glad I'm not the guy who has to get the cougar to pee in the little bottle....

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: Janie
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 11:37 PM

I don't have any seeds left, Lynn, but check out this site. I don't know anything about her, but if you click her growing guide you get a sense that she knows her gardening and her poppies.

You also might go to a food co-op or other store that carries Frontier brand herbs and spices and buy 'breadseed" poppies. Frontier doesn't irradiate their stuff so the germination rates are good, although you won't have a clue about colors until they bloom.

Or, if you remember, pm me the end of June and I'll send you some pods from this coming spring's garden.

By the way, blue and purple larkspur and these poppies are really lovely interplanted. This is not a great photo, but it will give you an idea.

I was wondering if I would see peony sprouts if I pulled back the debris and dead stems this morning!

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: GUEST,LynnT outside DC
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 10:50 PM

Janie, Bobert et al,
It's been 50 degrees today but so windy the power has cut off twice. Witchhazel (a wonderfully sweet cultivar from Germany, "Westerstede", that I first encountered blooming in a corner park in downtown DC across from the new American Indian museum) and snowdrops are in full bloom, daffs plus the few species tulips the squirrels haven't destroyed (the Ro-Pel apparently wore off mid-January) are poking up their noses, and the first red horns of peony sprouts are also emerging. Too soon for hostas, though. The backyard oriental hellebores are blooming, but not the ones in front, not sure why -- too much competition? Doesn't seem to trouble the H. foetidus. We've only had just enough freezing weather to kill off the dahlias and 4-oclocks -- not enough to trouble the ceanothus or pansies, and even the basil may be OK. A friend sent me seeds of the sicilian basil her grandmother grew -- I have tons of these if anyone would like some; they're pointy-leaved, and sharper in flavor than the taller basils I'm used to, but they make lovely pesto.

Janie, if it's not too late, do you have any poppy seed left you'd like to trade for basil or for larkspur? Last summer I carefully marked the larkspur stems as they bloomed -- I pulled out the pink ones, and the rest are labeled as to whether the parents were white or blue, and I kept the seeds separate -- I only planted seeds from blue in my own beds, but still have plenty left. I also have LOTS of purple-leaf castor bean seeds if anyone needs screening plants for sun or part-shade.

My sympathies with your drought losses, Janie. Last summer's drought in DC (the third year for us) killed a Japanese persimmon tree, several cranberry viburnums and a styrax obassia despite regular watering, and really hit my reblooming irises; borers took a heavier toll than usual, and when the rains finally came in the fall, rot ran rampant. The green beans (Italian purple flat-pods and Kentucky Wonders) were about the only veggies that seemed not to care. I gave up on the melons and tomatoes fairly early.

Plans for this year include expanding the bean/pea garden, growing butternut squash vertically on cattle-panels (last year the compost bin sprouted a volunteer butternut -- who knew the flavor would be so much richer than the commercial squash? It took over a hillside and produced nine lovely fruit, drought notwithstanding.) I got unnamed strawberry plants in a local gardener's swap last spring; they have covered a big section of a bed alongside my driveway -- we'll see what kind of fruit they make.

Guest Guest, you may want to consider planting some potatoes in a half-barrel on your balcony. I used to do this when I lived in an apartment in Indiana. Put about 8"-10" of good soil in the barrel, plant a large handful of baby potatoes evenly spaced an inch or two under the surface (you can mix red and white and even Yukon Golds) and when the vines get about six inches tall, cover up all but the top few leaves with straw mixed with chopped dry leaves or mulch. Do this again when the vines reach a foot tall. The vines will keep growing, blossom (red potatoes have pretty pink blossoms, white ones yellow-and-white flowers) and die back long about 4th of July. Tip the barrel over onto a tarp, and sort through the soil and mulch -- you'll get a crop of marble-to-ping-pong sized potatoes at each level where you covered up the vines.

LynnT

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 02:34 PM

This morning while out enjoying the sunshine with the dogs I noticed that the Japanese flowering quince is beginning to bloom!

USFS plant hardiness zones and the U.S. National Arboretum map (interactive--click on your state for more detail).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: Janie
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 02:07 PM

Bobert - You need to go ahead and plant the poppy seeds now, or the soil will warm up before they germinate - in which case they won't germinate!    Don't cover them, just gently press the soil with the back of a rake after you've scattered the seed. No mulch. They don't tend to come up through mulch.

I forget what else I sent. Hesperis? Rose Campion?

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 12:02 PM

I am in Zone 4a in St Paul. High on the river bluffs, overlooking the Mississippi River valley. It is a gorgeous "new view" for us, and I have two huge balconies--4' X 15' each, with another foot or two of overhang from the roof, for hanging gardens. With our patio garden at our old loft apt, we were just starting to get into vertical gardening, and returning to our old tried and true square foot gardening for the veggies.

I do miss that patio garden feel, but I'll get back to it. This is a temporary move until we buy a house, and I get back to my walled garden living.

But this location is awesome for now--I just had a HUGE bald eagle fly right above my window! We get a lot of raptors here, riding the thermals above the river valley.

So this year, we are going for easy balcony, small space outdoor living for a change. We'll spend more time bird watching with the binoculars, than fussing with a garden.

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: Bobert
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 11:42 AM

6-B here on the Blue Ridge Mountain in Page Co, Va. and though it has been rather warm for Feburary there still isn't much in bloom...

Okay, the Linten Roses are in bloom (soft light purple/violet) and a late Christmas Rose (white) are both in bloom...

We are growing 600 azaleas from last years cuttings for the '09 National Azalea Convention whish our chapter will be hosting... They are in a room in the barn with some heat and lots of light and several have or are blooming from the 24 hour a day light...

We have also ordered all our veggie garden seeds from various seed companies... Most from Jung but not all...

I am planning on extending the veggie garden from 70 X 35 to 100 X 35 this year and have spread the last of my chicken manure on the new portion...

We are still at war with the deer... The Liquid Fence that we spray on the ornimentals hasn't been 100% and we've had some damage from them... They even sampled a small white pine that we used for a Christmas Tree and then planted right after Christmas...

Since the beginning of hunting season, couple with a 30 day "kill permit" after hunting season we've killed 9 does or yearlings, with all the meat going to good homes, but our farm butts up against the National Park so this war will never be won... Containment is about all we can hope for...

BTW, Janie... The seeds you sent us will all get planted this season so thanks...

That's 'bout it for now...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 11:31 AM

Two feet of snow.

Ain't a lot blooming outside.

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: Bee
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 11:27 AM

It's all bleak, bare and icy here in Nova Scotia - but this thread gives me hope!

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: maeve
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 11:12 AM

Our gardens and nursery plants are all deep under 2-3" of snow. Down cellar, our bulb forcing pots are filling with strong white roots. Under the snow, of course, the johnny-jump-ups continue to bud and bloom throughout the winter.

Liz- We've also had good reports about a product called "escar-go" which inhibits the little critters' appetites. Much upkeep involved than our old beer traps and serves as a fertizizer as it decomposes.

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: Janie
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 11:08 AM

Guest, guest,

Where are you?

The sun is bright and the temps are in the upper 50'sF this morning, but the wind is blowing 26 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. I'm going to try to prune at least some of the roses if they don't mangle me as they whip in the breeze. The rest of it will wait for another day.

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 10:39 AM

Liz, put out a shallow bowl with some beer in it and you'll find the slugs all drown themselves at their wild beer party. I also heard recently that you can sprinkle a little yeast and sugar in a bowl of water and accomplish the same thing.

The bird bath froze again last night, so it's still to early for some stuff to go in the yard, but I'm at the point where I need to prune and move stuff. Once the leaves and flowers start I don't have the heart to prune anything, I cherish every bud, even if it is misplaced.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 10:12 AM

Well, it is currently -11F here, so not much is sprouting. However, this year, for the first year ever, I will be doing balcony gardening. I can't wait. I've already started accumulating the catalogs to pick and choose what new things I shall try. We do the farmer's market nowadays, so don't do many fruits and vegetables. But I've got a mind to try some strawberry baskets this year as annuals.

It is container gardening all the way now. And I'm happy with that, actually, much as I miss my beautiful patio gardens I've been cultivating for the last several years as we transitioned out of living in a house w/yard & gardens, to simpler loft apartment living.

All balcony (eastern exposure) & container gardening advice welcomed!

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: maeve
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 06:42 AM

Liz, you could always hire some nice, capable couple of gardeners to fly over from Maine to put things to rights.

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 04:07 AM

After a massive effort to get it into some semblance of order last summer, my London garden is again, a mess. I have violets where the lawn was, daffodils where the potatoes should have been and so much pruning to do that I'm thinking of hiring a skip to put it in.

I've decided that as the tit nest and pigeon platform (can't dignify such a ramshackle construction with the name 'nest') have remained unoccupied for a year now, the buddleia is to come down to a mere 4ft tall. This means chopping down the extra 8ft of it. I also need to trim the firethorn (pyrocantha) back to the fence, hack out a dead dogwood and see about spreading the bag of horsepoo that never made it into a bean patch last summer, because the slugs ate all 24 of my bean seedlings in one night. Bastard slugs.

Then there's talking with the neighbour to help replace the back fence. They're a lovely couple and willing to help us, but strictly speaking, it is our responsibility.

There are odd daffodil spikes here and there, a rose that hasn't been without a bloom since May last year - and also needs pruning before it takes over the world - ivy that's feeding a rather fine blackbird at the moment and a pittisporum tree that could do with some attention. It was supposed to be a small shrub, but now it's a small tree.

Ho hum... a weeks work there is, but I don't have a week to spare!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Feb 08 - 01:05 AM

My daffodils are coming up in the lawn. I moved the bed but some of the bulbs stayed behind in what is now turf. :) No blooms, just rounded stubby green shoots so far. They look wonderful!

Subject: BS: 2008 Garden Thread
From: Janie
Date: 09 Feb 08 - 11:48 PM

I'm in the USA, Zone 7, Piedmont area, North Carolina.

May I embrace the lessons of resiliency that plants and nature's own garden has to offer.

The extensive gardens that I once tended with great care have suffered tremendously from severe and prolonged drought. While I tend toward non-fussy plants (except for my beloved dahlias, which I think have all died) pronounced neglect on my part over the last year hasn't helped.   Even so, nature is generous and promises some measure of glory. The earliest blooms are smaller than usual. They are also more perfect than usual.

Outside my kitchen window, my one camellia reticulata has started to bloom.    A few small clumps of "February Gold" daffodils have opened. I just noticed, by the light of the street-lamp in the front yard, that white crocus buds have colored up and will open tomorrow or the next day.   Self-sown opium poppy and larkspur seedlings are up by the hundreds, if not the low thousands. Purple dead-nettle, henbit, chickweed, winter-cress, and common speedwell, "weeds' that I neglected to pull, are in bud or in bloom and carpet the neglected beds, as well as what should be grassy areas of yard. I know they crowd out the cultivars, but I like them anyway, at least while they look pretty, taste good, or are just at the right stage to tincture.

Assorted species and cultivars of yarrow that I wasn't sure had survived in fall from drought are starting to send up leaves. Not thriving, mind you, but with plenty of life left in them. There are rosettes of rose-campion that survived and also self-sowed. I'll go hunting to see if the reticulated and crested iris are sending up buds tomorrow. The hesperis is undetered by drought or neglect. Bronze fennel, which I had previously rued planting, is thriving and sending up feathery leaves all over the place. The assorted species of coral bells have surprised me with their tolerance of drought.

Tomorrow is supposed to be extremely windy, but mild. My excuse for delaying garden clean-up has been to leave the seedheads for the birds. I'll cut back and haul out what doesn't still have seed left, prune the old roses, note what is sprouting that I thought was dead, hope other plants may give some sign of life soon, and think about what to pot up in a month for when I have to move from here to some other, as yet unknown location.

Especially I'll notice what is doing well, cultivated plant or otherwise, with little or no attention from me.

Age, personal circumstances, and anticipation of prolonged drought with changes in climate are leading to shifts in my thinking about my next garden, where ever I may land. I'm going to think more in terms of enabling than of cultivating the ornamental beds.

What's happening in your neck of the planet?

Janie