BS: Gardening, 2009

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 May 09 - 11:34 PM

It sounds beautiful, Janie.

The bee apparently isn't going to make blankies from my little rosebud tree; at least it is all leafed out, looking quite proud and I am delighted.

The yarros by the front steps is juts putting out some buds and is already 2-3 feet tall. At the other en,d in the perennial patch, the two yarrow which have been planted for the same amount of years have suddenly taken off. They are in a hotter, drier area and just never did much, but this year they have really matured and are going great guns. My old flax plants have been in full bloom for a month. The new ones as well as the other little perennials we planted last fall, all came back including the mini-carnations and baskets of gold. My brother bought me a gorgeous columbine, Colorado's state flower, and it doing well in the shady end of the bed.

I also have some yummy smelling stocks, marigolds, pansies and a hollyhock which are doing well. My ex is going to bring me some baby sagebrush which I love...it will be really nice to add them in. I think I will put them out near a corner. Oh, my clematis is blooming and the sweetpea is just getting ready to...it has REALLY flourished!

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 21 May 09 - 01:25 AM

Stock is hard to grow here. It gets hot too early in the season. What species and varieties of yarrow do you have, Kat?

I remember my first trip to California, years ago, and how charmed I was at seeing the bright yellow blooms of fern leaf yarrow (achillea filipendulina) naturalized along the coastal slopes. It is easy to grow in gardens here, but does not naturalize. Here on the East coast, white is the only native achillea millefolium that grows wild, but I understand that native millefoliums in pinks and burgundies grow out West. Is this so, in your experience?

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 21 May 09 - 01:35 AM

And I love the smell of Stock. It must truly be scruptious to have it in your garden.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 May 09 - 01:44 AM

Janie, we know what the answer would be if you asked the ex if you could dig in the garden. I think it's time you cultivate the gardener in your son, and draw a good map for him to follow. Discreetly. Or hire the old lady who raided the yard when you still lived there. She has the balls to do it again, I'd bet. ;-)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: maeve
Date: 21 May 09 - 08:14 AM

Some very enjoyable garden description are appearing here lately; thank you to the author-gardeners.

Thanks to Janie, gnu, and Kat too. It's a big deal for us.

Janie- yes, we are within an easy drive to Johnny's. We also buy a lot of plants and seeds from Fedco Seeds.

We enjoyed an early morning walkabout. Some of our early orchard and woodland plantings have really begun to take hold. Morning is a good time to see the future possibilities.

I'm learning to watch for tasks with which friends can help us. That's another big step forward. Now that we have friends who are eager to help we have to look at our work load in a very different way, and match the task to the helper's interest and ability. We've been working on our own since the beginning; it's a wonderful problem to have to focus on where we can use the help we've needed for so long.

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 May 09 - 10:28 AM

Oh, maeve, while I was plotting yard piracy for Janie I forgot to tell you congratulations!

Get well soon, both of you!

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: MMario
Date: 21 May 09 - 11:15 AM

yesterday our peonies bagan to burst into bloom (almmost literally - no bloom in the am, several fully open in the pm)
pink, red, wine coloured so far. Both tree and herbaceous. The first of the columbines, and there are buds on the clematis.

Rhodies not out yet but showing colour.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 21 May 09 - 11:18 AM

maeve,

Don't know if this would interest you or not, but thought I would pass it along.

A number of organic market growers and nurseries here got a lot help by offering apprenticeships. My ex husband is an herbalist and wildcrafter and his main source of labor has been apprentices for years. They work in exchange for the learning opportunity, usually one day a week.

A local community college also has a program in sustainable agriculture and they pay organic growers as field instructors to offer internships.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 21 May 09 - 07:41 PM

Well, well, well...

My month from hell is going to end either tomorrow or Monday when the 237th shrub or tree is planted and mulched and I can then turn some of my attention to my own garden...

I did replant lettuce (head variety), spinich and beets last night just before dark... We replenished the garden with chicken manure this spring and when the tiller man tilled it I don't think he took enough passes 'cause we have a lot of cloddin'... Clods suck and the garden is going to fight us this summer but taters are up and what is up is purdy....

This is about peak for the ornimentals... Hundreds of azaleas and rhodos in full bloom... Even with the deer damage it is quite impressive... Next year with the deer fencde it ougtta be a spectacular show...

Used the tractor bucket to put in a nice little raised bed (20 X 5) between a creape myrtl and a dogwood where we can stick even more azaleas... And a native rhodo (deep marron flowers) that we got in North Carolina... Think it's going to be a nice bed...

Growing out about 30 native azaleas in our veggie gardern... The are from Tennessee and will be yellows and oranges and maybe a few whites... They are about 20 inches tall right now and babies but but next spring they will be certified teenagers with hard wood and all... Then we can sell them as real plants... lol...

'Bout it for now...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 May 09 - 09:09 PM

Holy moly, that's a lot of plantin', Bobert!

Janie, I lost the marker for the yarrow years ago, but the main ones I have are the yellows. I do have one kind of subdued red; that's one of the ones which has suddenly decided to flourish and is going to be really pretty when it opens. I had never noticed the scent of yarrow leaves until I had these ones...kind of a lovely lemon-mint, really nice. Did you know it used to be illegal in some places to grow it because it was used as an abortifacient?

Roger's first grape vine is still growing really well...it is very vigorous every year. The other two which I gave him didn't do very well last year and did not come back this year. The stalwart one grows quite large, so I think we can train it to take over their spaces, too.

My ex is going to bring me some baby sagebrush and, also, wild sunflowers! I've got just the spot for them, too.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 May 09 - 12:33 AM

That's the stage you need to reach, Janie, with your ex--you'll know things are smoothed over when he brings plants or offers to let you come dig them. It can sometimes take a long time to get to that point, though.

Achillea millefolium (yarrow) was all over when I was a kid, and I've seen it in Texas and New York--great smell, distinctive. It's a white garden variety wildflower (if you'll pardon the oxymoron!)

I think I'm going to go a little crazy with the old seed packs this year. I have several places where I'll have bare soil. Some tried and true favorites, like the state fair zinnias (they actually do better when I plant them in July, and when they get big in the fall the look great and aren't all covered with powdery mildew yet) and various plants I'd like for the color but who knows if they'll grow. I'll sow them and see what happens. :) (Am I getting wild and crazy in my middle age?)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 May 09 - 12:08 PM

Whaddaya mean getting?**BG** Sow them wild oats, woman!

I hope it doesn't take Janie as long as my ex and I...thirty-two years! But then we didn't live anywhere close to one another until seven years ago.:-)

Out here all of the commercial places use the yarrow and Russian sage as ornamentals. I have the latter near my back gate. I'd like to move it, but it seems really happy there, so I think I'll leave it alone.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 22 May 09 - 06:39 PM

Well, hooray!!! Purgatory has ended!!!!

All 237 treesa dn shrubs are palnyed and I am a fee amn again... It may take a few days of landscape detox before pardening will have any appeal to me but for now??? I'm all planted out... But...

The P-Vine is out planting the tomato and pepper plants that she grew from seed as I write... Night are going to be 55 or above from here out so they should take off...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 23 May 09 - 09:48 AM

To parden. verb. The act of obtaining pardon through tending the garden.

Today, housework, oil change and other chores.    Early tomorrow morning I drop Sum Yung Sun off at the school very early for a 10 day stay with the freshman class at a migrant worker's camp. Which means two days of what looks of be perfect weather to garden and finish painting the garden shed, and not speaking to another soul if I don't want to.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 May 09 - 11:30 AM

Sounds good--but check in on MOM if you think of it. She'll enjoy hearing what you're up to. Oh, wait, wrong thread.

Let us know how it goes. I'm spending a couple of days mostly on my own this weekend, but my daughter may be dropping off their kaput mower for me to work on.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: MMario
Date: 23 May 09 - 11:56 AM

Potted up six martha washington geraniums for the porch - three winish coloured one in a big pot, then graduated shades of pink in three singleton pots.

Plugged a Lenten Rose and a toadwort into my shade garden. Spread a couple wheelbarrows of mulch. Have moved the hose three times already today - Going to take a break since it's noonish -

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: gnu
Date: 23 May 09 - 02:43 PM

I suppose I could Gaggle, but maybe someone has the answer at hand.

If the spacing is "tight" in a limited space plantaion, is there a preferred orientation of rows with respect to grid north?

Or is it all with respect to plantaion spacing?

I know this can get complicated... tier your plantings with different types to take advantage... whatever. Just think one type, limited space... anyone?

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 23 May 09 - 03:55 PM

3Gnu, not sure what you mean by plantation planting, but infer you are talking about planting in straight rows in a small veggie garden. If that is the case, rows are best planted running east-west. Tallest plants would go into the northern-most row, and shortest into the southern most row.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: gnu
Date: 23 May 09 - 04:01 PM

Janie... that is just what I meant by "tiering"... just think... ah... say, apple trees... all the same.

hmmmm... okay... tall, all the same, tight space... what do you do?

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: MMario
Date: 23 May 09 - 05:00 PM

gnu - it depends on the plant - s ome do better with an east west row orientation; others with a north sourth row orientation when grown in mono-blocs

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 23 May 09 - 08:12 PM

Yeah, gnu-zer... Depends on how much light the plant wants... Take spinich, for instance... If you have limited space you ight want to grow beans up a piece of fencing between the sun and the spinich... This will allow the spinich a chance to grow closer to the way it likes... Hierarchy isn't everthing... Yer lettuce, beets and radishes will appreciate a break from full sun...

Does this help???

I didn't do much today... Raked out a new raised bed for the P-Vine to plant some stuff that doesn't want full sun...

Not too much else other than mowin'...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 23 May 09 - 10:44 PM

What is it you have in mind to plant, Gnu?


All I did today was pull out some bolting lettuces from a pot and replace them with caladiums and impatiens.

I'm glad I didn't sell my grow light shelving unit, trays and ABS blocks. I think I can find a place in the house to set the unit up this winter to start plants from seed. The house faces south, and the windows along the front of the house are all good and big. I enlarged the window in the dining area of the kitchen, which I use as "family room", so that space, the living room, and the spare bedroom all get good, bright light during winter when the leaves are off the trees. I might even be able to grow lettuce and greens during winter using the lighted shelving in front of one of those big windows.

What made me think of it was caladiums. I can never find the varieties I want at nurseries and garden centers, and in the past have bought "bulbs" and started them under grow lights in late January or early February. I've always grown them in pots before, but with all this shade, they would be nice additions to some garden beds.

Hope to dig out poison ivy tomorrow. Have been saving cardboard boxes, and may also lay out some beds by laying down the cardboard, covering it with layers and layers of newspaper, then shredded leaves I saved from last fall.

The slugs are devouring my basil.

Something appears to be nibbling away on the new growth of the Japanese Painted Fern I planted a few weeks ago. The Ghost fern lloks just fine.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 May 09 - 10:56 PM

I tried three different types of string before I decided on the one that will work best in this new trimmer, and then I did the whole front yard, and mowed out front. Saving the back for tomorrow. I didn't dig more garden, but I did pound in some short posts and strung up a light fence of chicken wire to keep stray critters (dogs, in particular) from strolling into the front yard garden. I have it only about 1/3 in place, but already it looks more like an official garden. Tomorrow I also hope to finish emptying out the plastic bags of top soil, mulch, and manure.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 23 May 09 - 11:30 PM

Ain't string trimmers a bitch? (but beat the alternative, that's fer sure.)

I've got a Weedeater Featherlight. It won't start this spring, for the first time. I suspect it just needs a new sparkplug and cleaned up, but I don't know how to do that. I can change the plug, but don't know how to gap it, and don't have the confidence to follow on-line instructions on using carburator cleaner to clean up the little engine. The internal combustion engine is a mystery to me and I can't tell a carburator from an air filter from a gas line.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: maeve
Date: 24 May 09 - 12:09 AM

gnu- You've gotten some good answers already. You have a limited area, you have the apple tree, and you're wanting to plant some veggies this year? Think about what you've been told here already, figure out what else you really want to grow, and do the best you can.

Remember that you don't have to plant everything right now. You could try some things in small amounts, and replant the area as you harvest. You could try bush beans instead of pole beans to make the best use of the sun. You could plant cukes to grow up strings tied into the outer branches of the apple, or in a hanging basket. You could put some sun lovers into buckets, and move them around a bit to increase their sun exposure. Lettuce and beets can go at the feet of taller plants where they get some shade from the hotter sunlight of summer.

Container gardens are handy, and the Harris Seeds website had some good info recently. Square foot gardening might suit your garden space in that you plant just the seeds you need with careful spacing. Let me know if you'd like some links. Plant veggies in bags of compost and you could carefully slide the bags around to adjust for the angle of light changing throughout the growing season.

If it was my garden, I'd start by planting just a few seeds each of the foods I want to try, and more of the crop I most enjoy eating. Then keep adding a few more seeds (or purchased seedlings)every week or two. Study the way the sunlight hits the plants, and make adjustments as you go. It is required that you have some fun with it.

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 May 09 - 12:26 AM

That's a neat website, maeve, but it surprises me that they no longer will ship live plants for this season. There are a lot of places out here in the West which are just barely getting started with growing season and might want to order. I know they have to be careful when it gets very hot, but it still surprises me before the end of May. Neat stuff they've got, though!

Also, you all mention putting down cardboard, mulch, etc. Around here, even a day or two of cardboard and water and you can have a gazillion nasty bugs underneath, including earwigs/pincher bugs. I wouldn't want to encourage them nor have them in my flower beds, so how do you all get around that? Or, am I misunderstanding?

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 May 09 - 12:34 AM

Janie, those are meant to be tossed rather than repaired. That makes me all the more determined to repair.

You don't need to gap the spark. I try to get my mower spark plugs at Sears--they have a heavy duty one that seems to last longer than others. I don't know if there is an equivalent for line trimmers. I have the previous trimmer that has probably to have the carburetor cleaned. It's like a firm mesh that if you can reach it you can clean it. But you have to know what you're looking at and have time to take it apart. I'll let you know if I ever get it fixed. I figured if I waited to trim until I fixed that one I'd have code enforcement knocking on my door.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 24 May 09 - 08:27 AM

The spark plug will come pre-gapped, Janie... Drain all of last years gas into a can and put it in yer car's gas tank... The oil mix won't hurt a thing... Then put fresh mix in and it will start... May take 5 ot 6 pulls... Unless, of course, you own a Poulon weedeater... There's a reason they are called Poulons 'cause you spend half the time pullin' on the strater cord trying to get the sumabich to start... lol...

I have detoxed from my landsacpe-job-from-hell and ready to get back into planting... They are callin' for rain later today and for the next 2 days so that means plant, plant, plant so the P-Vine and I will be trying to get in the 30 some plants we have accumulated this spring into their new homes...

Bought 6 bales of straw yesterday to mulch the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants that we put in over the last few days... Best mulch out there for veggies... Gotta put it down deep... Like 6 inches minimum...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: gnu
Date: 24 May 09 - 09:23 AM

Great info.... thanks all!

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 24 May 09 - 09:55 AM

Change in forecast to mostly cloudy with showers likely, and we got just enough rain last night to make a bit too wet to dig or work around plants. Can't paint the shed with this forecast either.


Gee, I guess I'll lolligag for the rest of the weekend:/)

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: maeve
Date: 24 May 09 - 10:51 AM

I wanted to respond to a few posts but haven't been online much.

SRS- Thanks for the congrats. I really wasn't sure we'd pass with things in such confusion.

Janie- The apprentice notion is a good one, thanks. We may be ready for that next spring. It's worth investigating. I know I am tired of being the main muscle in the veggie and perennial gardens, and TL needs to not be carrying all the wood around by himself. As the orchards mature we'll need help there, too. Oh- and enjoy your enforced lollygagging!( You've got to read this explanation for the word; too funny! One take on "lollygag"   )


MMario- The peonies sound lovely. I crave many more of both peony types, especially those that have beautiful single or semidouble forms and unusual colors. We have four tree peonies; a red/white, a fringed single white, a lavender, and an apricot (so the label says; it hasn't bloomed yet.)Do you have a favorite source?

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 May 09 - 11:05 AM

Bobert,

My daughter brought down their mower (a used one from the parents of one of the housemates) that doesn't start. I checked it over and so far this is what I've done:

changed the spark plug
added oil. I had to add oil to get to the "add oil" line, then fill it up. I don't know how they ran without it catching fire, but maybe that's why it won't start now.
cleaned the air filter

I added a little fuel but I didn't empty the old. If I empty that out and put in fresh (I have a preservative in it) do you think that will help, or should I spray or swish some kind of solvent (and what would it be)?

Where is the carburetor on mowers? This is a Briggs and Stratton (no surprise) off brand. And amazingly it doesn't seem to have a choke. There is a little lever on the front of the engine, around from the rubber thing to prime the engine. There are no instructions with this thing.

Does any of this make sense? Any thoughts? I have a neighbor across the street who offered to take a look at it, but I probably won't catch him for a couple of days since he works on weekends. Sooner we get this back to the kids the sooner the homeowners association gets off of their backs for growing wildflowers in the yard.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 24 May 09 - 02:36 PM

Thanks for the link re: lollygag, maeve. You're right. Very funny!


Well, I haven't lollygagged as much I thought I would. At least so far.

Dug up those little ferns that I think are probably Ebony Spleenwort and potted them up. They were right against the house in heavy clay of a very shallow depth before I encountered fill, and have very small root systems. I figure a season being pampered in a pot on the carport where they will be cossetted will be a good idea.

Also pulled spinach and lettuce out of pots, and potted up some more basil, caladiums and impatiens that I bought this morning on my way back from dropping my son off for his 10 day field trip. (grrrr....neither of us bothered to recheck the time we needed to be at the school. We could have slept until 6:30. Instead, we were up at 5:00. No one should be up at 5:00 am on the Sunday of a three day weekend.) I'm particularly proud of the arrangement in one big, square pot. "White Christmas" Caladium, a small, variegated hosta for which I have already forgotten the name, and white impatiens.

I'm using the carport as a covered patio. A low brick wall runs the length of it, facing north. Looking for Dragon Wing begonias to set on it, without any luck. The great nursery and garden art store where I used to buy them, and that was just down the road for years went out of business 2 years ago. Now, the good nurseries are all at least 1 1/2 hours away. It seems the the big box stores here don't carry them.

I have what appears to be a dwarf mulberry growing on the northeast corner of the property. I'm hoping to be able to prune it so that it doesn't block what sun I get. The berries are ripening now, and it is drawing all kinds of birds. I hope not to have to cut it down for the sake of the sun.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 May 09 - 05:00 PM

Hey, Janie, great minds think alike today. And weather has cooperated. It was quite overcast and drizzling when I started, but now it is bright, some overhead clouds, and I'm moving along at a steady pace, but stopping at predetermined points to do some other garden tasks. I get started on one thing sometimes and wear myself out doing it alone--but today I figure I'll dig a while, then weed and mulch, then address the paths into the garden (newspaper on the ground, covered with the woody compost from the city site where I get it free), then back to digging. This way at the end I don't have just a swath of exposed dirt and and exhausted body, I have exposed dirt and a more polished looking rest of the garden. I'll spread an organic fertilizer when I'm finished and water it in after 7, when my side of the street can water today (even addresses on even days, in the evening).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 24 May 09 - 06:21 PM

SRS,

I'm assuming that the mower is a push variety with a single cylindar... The carb sits on top of the gas tank and there is a little plastic tube that goes down into the gas tanl which feeds a jet (oriface) and when the intake valve opens while the piston is on it's way down the suction pulls fuel into the combustion chnmber to be burned... There is no float bowl... These carbs are purdy simple... The only things that can wrong are (1.) the plastic tube getting clogged or (2.) the jet getting clogged...

If you take the air cleaner off by removing the single screw on top of it you are no looking into the carb... There will be a round opening that the air goes thru... Be sure that the foam rubber air cleaner is clean itself... If it's all crudded up with dust and dirt wash it with varsol or in gasoline itself or buy a new one fir 2 dollars...

If yer going to the parts house buy a can a "sarting fluid" if the mower hasn't been run in some time and take the air cleaner off and spray a short one second burst into the carb with out the choke "on", then choke it and it should start...

If you have replaced the spark plug and tried to start it with the "starting fluid" and fresh gas and it doesn't start then that means that you have no spark which means that you porobably have rust on yer magnito... Rust on a magnito is something that yer prolly not gonna want to deal with cause yer gonna have to take the cover off that has the pull cord in it... They can be a little tricky and if you've come this far and nuthin' then you'd better take it to yer local small engine repair shop...

Hope this helps...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 24 May 09 - 06:49 PM

How long have you had water restrictions, Maggie?


I just read an article in National Geographic about the damage done by the "green revolution" of the 60's and 70's that encouraged mono-culture, dependency on heavy irrigation and petroleum based fertilizers supplied at no or low cost by governments in places like the Punjab region of India and sub-Saharan Africa. The soils got depleted and with climate change and drought, everything went to hell in a handbasket. (The article was actually about the food crisis brought on by population increase, made worse by climate change, unsustainable farming practices that promote the use of genetically altered seed and fertilizers produced in 1st world countries and sold to third world countries.)

It isn't that I don't know a lot of this already, but it all recedes into the background over time when I am not personally affected. An article like this one wakes me up again, and reminds me that the time is coming when either I, or my progeny are likely to be affected.

I've been talking about rain barrels for years and done nothing about it. I can't afford to buy them, but I bet there are plenty of plans and ideas to make them from cheap trash cans, etc.

Many of the blooms on the mop head hydrangea are just starting to show some blue. It is a water hog compared to the native hydrangea I have growing elsewhere. I get sentimentally attached to plants that were passed along to me by other gardeners who I love and respect, and this mop head is one of those. My friend Joe, who is in his upper 70's, is a true lover of plants. Loves collecting and propogating them, then passing them on. When I was still growing cut flowers for market, he'd come over and help me in the garden, just for the love of it. I don't really much like mop heads in the landscape (tho' they are wonderful in the vase, or dried and tied onto the Christmas tree.) But Joe loved this mop head. He pegged a branch, potted it up, and brought it to me in the fall of the year. I couldn't just cast it aside. So I pegged a branch to root from the one he had
brought me, and dug it up and brought it along to this house when I moved. The native hydrangea I brought with me was also from him. He's having health problems now, and is getting ready to leave his house and garden and move into an apartment in a retirement community.   

Joe is a real plantsman. He calls himself a "hunter-gatherer." His gardens are not particularly aesthically pleasing, but every little nook and cranny has something interesting growing. He uses a lot of found and scavenged materials for edging, etc. He got a bunch of cinderblocks from a demolition site that he used to build raised beds helter-skelter in his small backyard, and there is something growing in every hole in every cinderblock. There is a place in town that makes fake marble for countertops, and he has scavenged long, 6" high waste pieces from their dumping area to edge beds with. Roofing shingles mulch paths through the wonderful hegemony of his backyard. Tomatoes and larkspur entwine (intwine?) in the sunny spots, rare roses grow above a ground cover of strawberries, and scallions come up among the hellebore in spring.   He's got pawpaw's growing on the back of the yard, some native, some oriental, and some that are natural hybrids between the two that he grew from seed after the insects cross pollinated them. He is the only person I know who will propagate roses from seed just to see what they look like after cross-pollination. When they finally bloom, he likes to guess from their appearance which of his roses were the parents. How can I not tend his hydrangeas with loving care?

Just rambling. Hope ya'll don't mind.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 May 09 - 11:43 PM

Janie, those of us who garden and have friends who garden know that feeling, though I don't have anyone around here who is so meticulous with the plants. I have exchanged a lot of plants with neighbors, and when you think about it, it's amazing that our yards don't all look alike for all of the plants we've shared, but they don't. Something to ponder.

Bobert, I have some starter fluid for the tiller (that I haven't used in ages) so I'll see what I can do without blowing the top off of the mower. :)

I managed to work through the first rain today--drizzle, really--but as the second one came along I had to call it quits. The first was just dampness falling, but the second arrived on the gust of an outflow boundary and it was packing firepower via noisy thunder. I hustled my tools into the garage, emptied the dirt from wheelbarrow to garden (no point in a bucket of mud tomorrow) and quickly scattered some fertilizer. I think it soaked in versus washed away, because I have the mulch down to help hold things in place and catch the granules.

There are a bunch of ceramic pots around the side door and a few more on the front porch. They are either empty or occupied by weeds, very little came back. I pulled the weeds, and decided my budget just doesn't support bedding plants for the pots, let alone the larger established plants, so I sorted through my old seed packets and went to town. A surprising number of seeds are still viable several years later, and I over-planted, to compensate for fewer sprouting. So far I've put out three types of flowers as I emptied packets (marigolds, various zinnias, and portulaca). I have several more pots to go--maybe I'll put onions in this year. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 May 09 - 12:39 AM

Janie, beautifully described...thanks.

SRS, you've given me an idea. I have some seeds which I did not use a couple of years ago. I meant to plant them in my flowerbed, but I think I'll put them in an empty pot. Thanks for the idea!

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 25 May 09 - 02:10 AM

So.. I've never grown Romaine lettuce before.. how do I know when they're ripe and ready to eat (and before the snails get them all)?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 25 May 09 - 08:17 AM

LTS, all I grow are loose leaf varieties, of which Romaine "are one."   Don't worry about ripe.   You can cut them whenever they reach the size you want, and before they bolt.

I rarely harvest a whole head of lettuce. Instead, I start removing outer leaves as I need them as soon as the plant is big and full enough to continue to thrive. Two or three heads of loose leaf lettuce are all I need to keep two of us in lettuce throughout the season, until they bolt from the heat.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 25 May 09 - 08:31 AM

Well, we have harvestable spinich up but with rain coming the next few days I think we'll just leave it alone and let the leaves get bigger and greener...

Oh, and thanks for the descripyion of Joe's garden... He sounds like a real character... Reminds me of some of the stuff I have incorporated into our gardens... Nuthin' goes to waste... Even broken cindar blocks... They make for very good bottom fill under oue many rock retaining walls that are very much part of creating beds on the sides of hills, something that we have no shortage of...

Good luck with the mower, Maggie... Starting fluid has no shelf tife so it should still be good...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 May 09 - 12:11 PM

I bought this can last year, Bobert, so it's not only still good, it's almost full. I could start a squadron of mowers at this point.

Gorgeous day here today, but with the rain we had last night, I'll need to adjust my yard activities according to what I can do that doesn't make the muddy spots worse.

I was poking around in Photobucket today because they offer site statistics for the photos. I found that several of my photos have been viewed by one site, and out of curiosity, went there. I find an Indiana landscaper has scooped up an entire blog entry of mine and placed it in his blog. I know you can link back and forth, but he has actually taken my text and continues to link back to my photos (he's taking my words and using my bandwidth to show the images--in other words, he's breaking some rules of polite web use, at the very least, an plagiarizing at the worst). I'll have to either sign and link all of my blog entries or figure some way to encourage attribution. He has posted my House with a yard entry.

Meanwhile, gotta get out into that yard for a while today.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 25 May 09 - 12:27 PM

Well, not only is the rain holding off, but it has turned partly instead of mostly cloudy.

Finished potting up what I had, fertilized the azaleas, mowed the grass, washed some porch furniture, some bird feeders, some clay pots, and repotted my Christmas cactus into the Guy Wolff Mudcat pot I bought in the auction a few years ago.

Now into the house to do the floors.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 May 09 - 05:41 PM

Sounds very productive, Janie!

I got the rest of the pansies and marigolds potted with help from Morgan and Rog. Also planted some seeds in a pot. Then it rained.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Barry Finn
Date: 25 May 09 - 06:28 PM

Whew, this weekend just finished filling in the raised beds (2-3x12, 8" high & one 10x20 12'high) & the garden againt the house, turned the ground under them first. Hope the dead dog doesn't start howling or yelping, she's now our garden ghost.
It took 7 yds of loam & I've about a yd left over for around some trees & spots around the house & a couple spots in the yard. Put in the tomatoes, eggplant, dill, peppers, celery, carrots, snap peas, basil, cukes, parsley & some frienly garden flowers that watch over our crop.
Up north here in NH we can't move to quickly, we just has a frost last weekend all the way south to Boston & Cape Cod.
Hope you're ok MMario.

Janie. yrs ago I had a gas powered trimmer. No string, metal blades something like a propeller (for use in construction but they've since stopped making them, angerous), took out unwanted shrubs, bushes, overgrowth, weeds & small trees. My back yard in an overgrown jungle due to yrs that I couldn't physically keep up with. I'd like to plow it all under & start from scratch. I was out there with a sawsall & wishing for that old trimmer.

Barry

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 25 May 09 - 07:30 PM

Yeah, Barry, alot of the weedeaters come with a metal blade in addition to the spool... Not too good on weeds but sho nuff will eat thru stuff up to an inch in diameter...

We got in several dicidious azaleas this afternoon before the rain came...

Looks like about 3 day of rain from here... We'll take it...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Maryrrf
Date: 25 May 09 - 07:40 PM

Yesterday I saw two little tomatoes on my "early girl' variety. I can't wait for homegrown tomatoes.   I've been munching on lettuce from the garden for over a month and there's still plenty, and it hasn't bolted or turned bitter. This was the first year I planted romaine and it did great - I'll plant that regularly now. Soon I'll harvest the peas I planted in February. It took awhile but now the pods are starting to fill out nicely. I've got baby pumpkins too. The melons are flowering like crazy. The squash is doing well but no flowers yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 25 May 09 - 07:43 PM

Welcome, darlin' Barry!

Slow and steady wins the race with gardening. It is great to hear you are out there and able to garden.   bit-by-bit you will decide what part of the "wilderness" to tame, and what to leave because you recognize it as good habitat. Your climate is so different up north. You are planting what are cool season crops down here that are finished by the time tomatoes and cukes go in. While our long growing season has it's advantages, it must also be nice to have such a variety of veggies growing at the same time. I can't imagine going out to the garden to harvest salad greens and cukes at the same time.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: bobad
Date: 25 May 09 - 07:47 PM

I envy all you gardeners in the more temperate climes. We just put our tomato plants in yesterday and have a frost warning tonight. That's gardening here in The Great White North.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 25 May 09 - 08:44 PM

Whoohoo! Just saw the first fireflies of the season!

Figured this was as appropriate a thread as any to post this to, even though it has nothing to do with gardening.

Read recently that firefly populations are declining in many parts of the world. Speculation is that it is due to light pollution.