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BS: Gardening, 2009
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Oct 09 - 02:46 PM Good! I had straw in mind to mulch them. And weeds--all the better. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:27 AM I have had my first successful strawberry pot this year, SRS. I'll be tucking it into a shed I think, with somstraw tied 'round it I think. Other strawberries are in a whisky barrel ('Roman' variety with pink flowers and good-size fruit) and several hanging baskets. I'll be experimenting with winter care for those too. The strawberries out in the asparagus bed I'll simply mulch well with straw. Alpines I just ignore and they are fine each spring. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:08 AM Strawberries are like weeds, Magz... No problem over wintering them... Yes, you can cut thru the stolins and make new plants... Mulch with something that allows air movement such as straw or pine needles... Straw is better... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:01 AM Yesterday as I drove my daughter back up to college in the late morning we drove past a huge pile of tree chippings that had a light steam or smoke coming out of the top. I explained to her about spontaneous combustion. Don't see it often, but it has been known to burn down barns in the hay was put away wet. I'm going to work on building up the soil levels over the winter. It will probably be on the budget plan--for every bag of store-bought top soil and bag of humate I'll mix in a bucketful of my backyard compost. It will get mixed in the wheelbarrow and then poured into the places I want a higher profile. I have a question. I haven't grown strawberries before, but I put in some this year. Will they overwinter if I put mulch over the top of them, and what about all of these new little plants on the runners? Can I dig them and relocated them without harming any of the rest of the plant (my guess is yes, but I'd like to hear what creative strawberry things the rest of you are doing). Have you ever used one of those strawberry pots? I have one that I've never planted, but if I tucked some of these little plants into it, will they overwinter and will this continue to produce for more than one season? SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 13 Oct 09 - 08:38 AM I have been negligent in my composting... I was hoping to have built a chicken wire bin for my leaves but just never got to it... I even know where it is going to go but, alas, time slipped way this season... I do have several piles doing the slow burn and I have my tumbler but, geeze... Need to get that going... I did, however, end up buying some crappy straw this past year to multh the veggie garden which had alot of see in it and the barley was up 18 inches yesterday when I plowed so I set the plow for the full 15 inches and let 'er rip... That barley, plus the straw is under 15 inches of freshly turned garden soil now so we should be okay with organic material rotting this winter... We are going to sort thru our final harvest this morning and come up with a distribution plan... Fortunately, the Garden Club meets today so there will be some willing takers... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 13 Oct 09 - 04:56 AM Great idea, Janie. The Time as soil-maker technique has worked well for me. If you're able to toss on some organic fertilizer before covering your piles the process will be enhanced. Most of the veggie gardens are now clear, and I hope to get some mulch on the beds after a hard freeze or two. I have several beds of young beets, kale, carrots, spinach, and chard planted as well as the mature beds of the same. I've put row covers over them and will add plastic over the covers so the young ones will grow for another month before resting over the winter and harvest can continue for much of the winter in the beds with more mature plants. Come spring we'll have early greens and sweet carrots. I still have hundreds of potted perennials to replant, pots to clean and sort, greenhouse to clear and set up for spring planting...and ripe strawberries in the greenhouse. Happy garden dreaming for next season... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 12 Oct 09 - 09:33 PM Sorry. Forgot to the after will. I ain't nearly as emphatic as I typed:O) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 12 Oct 09 - 09:31 PM Still harvesting cherry and patio tomatoes from pots, and still have lots of basil. The caladiums are starting to feel the cooler night temps. I'm still having to irrigate the hydrangeas and Bobert's azalea that I planted out this spring. The neighborhood is alive night and day with the sound of acorns falling with pistol-fire cracks onto metal-roofed sheds and free-standing aluminum carports. The slightest breeze sends thousands of them. A good year for mast for squirrels, deer, bear and such in the Carolinas. Wish I had a pecan tree here. Am hoping my youngin' will bring me a 5 gallon bucket of them from the old place when they start falling heavily in November. Nut trees bear in cycles, and this year looks to be a good one. I'm not going to buy a leaf shredder, but I am going to buy a leaf blower this fall if budget permits at all. The soil here is heavy, red clay. I don't have the money to buy hardscape materials, nor the truck or trailer to haul loads of topsoil and compost. So I am going for a very long range plan. I will have mountains and mountains of leaves. I'm going to blow them into high mounds anywhere I think I might want to plant something or start a bed in the future, wet them down good and cover the mounds loosely with black plastic to keep the leaves from blowing away. Would be better to shred them first, but pile them high enough and leave them long enough and they will rot. I'll let the earthworms til them into the clay. I have finally accepted that my life circumstances are not going to allow for much gardening for a few years other than in pots or a small bed here and there. So I'll let time work for me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Oct 09 - 06:30 PM Mine should be going for another month, but it is still so wet that it's difficult to get out to put in winter stuff. Too wet, the seeds will rot. I have some tomatoes but this rain ruined the eggplants. I had one bean plant in I'd ignored and found about a pound of beans on it last week. Nice surprise! Lots of peppers and herbs. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 12 Oct 09 - 03:58 PM Sniff... Well, this one, for the most part, is in the books (and jars and the freezer)... Today was put-the-garden-away-for-the-season day... Yep, we harvested evrything left (10 pounds ripe tomatoes, 30 pounds green tomatoes, 20 some large eggpant, 10 pounds banana peppers, 10 pounds assorted other peppers, a couple stray pumpkins, 15 pounds of lima beans in their shells), removed all the cages, pulled up the plants for drying and burning and plowed evrything else in... We still have fall crops at the top end of the garden (kale, spinich, arugala, lettuce and brocolli)... Gonna shell the limas tonight and we'll freeze them... The eggplant does not freeze well so the P-Vine will take most of it to the garden club tomorrow along with alot of the peppers... But, sniff... ...this one is done!!! On the other front, however, this is a great time to transplant everygreens and move other plants so that is exactly what the P-Vine is doing this afternoon... Been fun... Got loads of food for winter but... ...sniff, none the less... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 18 Sep 09 - 11:05 PM Back in moderate drought, but with some very helpful slow, gentle rain the past few days - not a drought buster, but what fell came softly enough to soak in and not run off, and has saved some plants whose survival was otherwise questionable. Looking at the big cracks in my yard and really, really understanding how much more clay-ee the soil is here. Also contemplating the full effect of all the trees in terms of moisture. Got some pretty extensive cost/benefit analysis to research and think through in addition to site analysis. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 18 Sep 09 - 03:05 PM I'm with maeve... Post when I have more time... But 3/10's inch of rain in the last 4 weeks sucks... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Sep 09 - 02:51 PM We've had so much rain I'm glad I didn't plant anything, it would have rotted. I'll try once it drys out a little. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 18 Sep 09 - 10:19 AM Refresh... I'll post when I have more time. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 31 Aug 09 - 08:42 PM Maryrrf, I used to have a garden when I lived in Richmond and had eggplant and tomatoes well into October... Also peppers of all varieties... We have lettuce pokin' up and our brocolli has doubled in size since last week... We've got a black squrish beetele on the limas and think he's eatin' bean beetles 'cause we don't see too many so we'll just leave well enough alone and hope they fill out... Limas are my favorite fresh bean outta the garden... Went into my local deli Sunday to pick up a few sandwiches while the P-Vine and her sister had the kitchen clogged up with making yet more tomato sauce and was talkin' with my buddy who owns it and mentioned that I have an abundance of tomatoes.... Bottom line, I'm dropping off 20 or so pounds tomorrow in exchange for a couple lunches for me and the P-Vine... I love barterin'... Down in the 50's tonight here in Page Co., Va... Yezzir... Good sleepin' weather... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 31 Aug 09 - 12:15 PM I'm going to start onions from seed along one soaker hose that will stay in place over the fall, in case it is needed. They'll do fine on their own over the winter and will be ready by spring. Other stuff also, but I need to decide when I'm going to start reshaping this new bed. I'm going to add dirt and make it into a truly raised bed. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 30 Aug 09 - 01:04 PM I cleared half my garden, where the squash and cucumbers were, and fertilized it, then tilled it. The weather seems to have cooled off a little, it's only in the 80's today. I guess it's time to put in the fall stuff like lettuce, collards, carrots, radishes, etc. I'm still getting okra, eggplant (made another batch of babaganoush last night), tomatoes, melons, and peppers, so I'll leave that section for a few more weeks. The cantaloups produced, then didn't do anything, but now they're producing again so looks like they got a second wind. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 29 Aug 09 - 05:38 PM We've had a bumper crop of tomatoes this year... Probably the chicken manure... Anyway, we've put up 14 quarts of marinara sauce and today put up 19 pints of V-8 juice... Still not much rain here so the oscillator goes from dawn to dusk... Ready for winter...lol... Actually, there's plenty of gardening yet to be done before winter... Lotta weeding around a healing bed that we put in that is growing out azalea cuttings and boxwood cuttings... The weeds are growing in the mulch itself... Easy to pull but geeze... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 29 Aug 09 - 02:05 PM I did a little foliar feeding and dosed the tomatoes with BT--after our heavy rain I'm sure the last batch washed off. I'm picking eggplants and cherry tomatoes these days. I have a huge crop of basil so will make pesto. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 Aug 09 - 07:44 PM Janie, What is your pesto recipe? And how do you freeze your basil? It is my experience that freezing any herb is tantamount to freeze-drying them. To keep the coriander/cilantro flavor I want for beans I put it in a pie pan, pour a little boiling water over it to wilt the leaves, then freeze the whole thing. I pull out my block of ice and chip off enough for whatever I'm using it in. I want to make pesto, I've picked up a couple of recipes, but the more information the better. I've been picking and drying oregano off and on all summer, I trim off any flowers or seed heads and then dry the leaves so I don't have to sort it out later. The basil went to seed but I've had great luck cutting branches and giving them to people only the have to plant grow back new great looking branches very quickly. And of course it is seeding itself in the garden and I have plants all over. (I love it!) I was over at the ex's house last weekend and it smelled strongly of oregano. I've been sending these herbs home with him and he has basil, oregano and rosemary drying all over the kitchen. I think that for all of the time I've been a gardener, one of the things I will never get tired of is that there is usually enough to share, and it's so nice to be able to send people home with fresh grown things that they really appreciate receiving. Or to be talking to someone in the yard and be able to reach over and pick a nice tomato or squash or something and send them on their way. I'm thinking about taking up the practice I read about somewhere (maybe here) of planting something down by the street so people can help themselves from that plant as they walk by. If no one picks it, I'll harvest it, but tomatoes or peppers, I think they'd go quickly and they're easy to pick (eggplant have such tough stems you practically destroy the plant if you don't have a blade of some sort with you). What do you think? I already know that people regularly pick twigs of rosemary off of the bush I have growing next to the street in my front yard. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 27 Aug 09 - 11:20 PM Will cut and start drying oregano and basil tomorrow evening. Should have done this with the oregano 6-8 weeks ago. Even well past bloom, however, I figure it will be more potent and flavorful once dried than what I might otherwise buy in the store. Having trouble using enough fresh basil to keep it cut back to prevent budding, so it time to start drying. Have frozen an ice tray or two of pesto, but will also freeze some basil, stems and all, to make pesto this winter. Had good success with drying some of the mophead hydrangea blooms. Also got a few dried heads of the native hydrangea to dry green, but the timing is apparently a bit more critical with them than with the mopheads. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 Aug 09 - 01:46 PM I woke to a gentle rain, about 1/4 inch. I rescued a toad out of the dogs' wading pool. I guess I can't give them credit for problem solving--I've been putting a couple of bricks in the water as a way for critters to get out of the water even if they can't get out of the pool, but this week we've had a gecko drown in a water pan (a dutch oven we found down in the creek when Mudcatter Marion was in town for a visit) and this toad in the pool was in desperate shape when I pulled him out. But then, he might just have been a little stiff because the water cooled overnight. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Aug 09 - 09:57 PM Those are the planaria (aka planarian) that you dissected in ninth grade biology, and they are not good for the garden. They're introduced, and if you find one, don't squash or cut it because it just becomes that many new ones. Seal it in plastic and throw it in the trash, or spray it with orange oil and let it shrivel and melt away. Land Planarian from the dirtdoctor.com site. Planaria reproduction. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 26 Aug 09 - 08:35 PM i ran into a gardening friend this morning and she has recently noticed flat head worms in her garden. Their spread into this immediate neck of the woods is quite recent. Not much information available on them that I could find. They apparently eat earthworms, but also slugs. Dave's garden has a bunch of posts, most neutral and a few negative, but no real information regarding whether they should be considered friend or foe in the garden. Maggie, I'm guessing you have them. Any thoughts or information? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Aug 09 - 08:23 PM I cut down the corn stalks this afternoon and set them aside to dry. Maybe they'll be useful in a decorative fashion? Clearing those gives me room to put in another fall crop. I'll replace the soaker hose in that area first, it sprung enough of a leak that I had to turn it off (I had two that were attached to a siamese fitting and would drag the hose to it every couple of days). Looks like we have a chance of rain tonight. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 25 Aug 09 - 07:01 AM Alas, the pecan was at the old house. My mom, the big Christmas baker, counted on me to keep her supplied. She is heart-broken;>) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Aug 09 - 12:36 AM Hopefully you'll at least get some pecans! We all love them, they grow so well in Texas. My dogs will kill for a pecan on the ground and eat them shell and all. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 24 Aug 09 - 06:01 PM Growing many fall crops here is a bit dicey. Kale and turnips always do well, and green onions. Baby lettuce greens might do ok, depends on when the soil temperatures cool down enough for germination. Broccoli struggles in the late summer and early fall heat, but if it makes it through that, will do ok. Part of the reason I may have had trouble with fall lettuce is that my garden didn't get nearly as sun in the fall as in early spring. Our large pecan tree leafed out late, and also shed very late in the season. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 24 Aug 09 - 05:06 PM Don't know how they taste, Magz... They are still hardenin' off... Prolly ready to come in by tonight... Came home early and tilled the old tater patch and so we're ready to put in our brocolli seedlings and plant out fall seeds... Hot here... Pushin' 90... Wore me out tillin'... Think I'll chill fir awhile... Oh yeah, we have scale and lace bugs problems on some of the plants at the garden center so we quarenteened all the affected plants and sprayed them with insectica; soap today and ended up with several customers and had a purdy big sales day... Who would have thunk that??? B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 24 Aug 09 - 04:40 PM Who cares what they look like, how do they taste? I'm in the stage of pulling, transplanting, replanting. I'll put some chard in this week, for over the fall and winter. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 24 Aug 09 - 08:05 AM We took out our Roma Beans yesterday... If it doesn't rain today, I'll till up the space for fall crops this evening... Also dug a srtay potato from last year... Ugliest white taters I think I've ever seen... Look like Three Mile Island taters... lol... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 24 Aug 09 - 06:23 AM Late Blight has shown up in our area, including some of our plants. We'll be pulling and bagging the plants, then burning them to reduce the spread. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 23 Aug 09 - 08:14 PM There is a reason that that we don't have bug farms... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 23 Aug 09 - 03:08 PM Learn something new every day! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 23 Aug 09 - 01:35 PM By the way is there anything that more defines the taste of summer than red ripe watermelon. I had a lot of melon this year and I still haven't gotten tired of it. Munching on some now! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 23 Aug 09 - 01:12 PM Maggie don't be afraid to give cuitlacoche a try. It tastes kind of like a smoky mushroom. It is indeed considered a delicacy in Mexico and I had it several times when I used to travel there on business. I also had a couple of other Aztec delicacies, such as escamoles which are basically ant eggs, and fried maguey worms . The ant eggs and worms didn't taste too bad (we made tacos out of them) but that evening I became violently ill, so I don't think I'd eat them again. I did not try fried or chocolate covered grasshoppers, which are also available in Mexico. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 23 Aug 09 - 11:54 AM The raspberries were loaded this year, a very abundant crop. Not so much the bush green beans. But, a surprising volunteer from the bird feeder seeds that came up in a container of dirt that was on the deck, a very big millet plant with huge seed heads... just waiting to see how well it ripens and when the birds find it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 23 Aug 09 - 10:20 AM I have to run to the feed store and get a syringe today to inject BT into my squash stems. See if that will knock out the worms. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 23 Aug 09 - 02:04 AM I don't have as many sweet banana peppers as last year. They seem to perk up in autumn and I get a lot more then. The plants are quite large. I slice and freeze them. We did a birthday lunch today, then we all ended up in the driveway and into the gardens. Poking around in the corn I found another ear with "corn smut," ugly large fungus-filled kernel's. Moonglow tells me (after researching via Wikipedia) that this is a delicacy in Mexico. Eww. Like eating cancer. . . SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 22 Aug 09 - 08:03 AM We have a bumper crop of banana peppers... Anyone have a decent recipe for canning them??? Be nice to have some picklin outta the process, too... Maybe some heat??? B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 21 Aug 09 - 11:43 PM I'll look, Maggie, probably tomorrow. We have a second generation of cicadas singing now. This group sings loudest late afternoon and early evening. The first batch started in earnest at dusk and continued until the wee hours of morning, when the volume faded a bit. I assume they are different species or subspecies. There was a bit of a lull in the action for 2-3 weeks, or at least a decrease in volume. The current chorus is as loud as the late night singers at their peak, but start earlier, and begin to fade a bit by late night. Not certain, but katydids may be just beginning to join in the nocturnal chorus. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Aug 09 - 12:09 PM I woke at about 6:30 this morning to the thunder in the distance, and by 7 we had a downpour. I wish I'd thought to go pick up my newspaper when I first heard the thunder. I'm sure a lot washed off, but a lot soaked in. My garden is very happy this morning! I picked a few cherry tomatoes and peppers and three beautiful eggplants. Those plants are starting to look better as they put out new leaves and drop the earlier ones. I had let the tomatoes spread into the eggplants, and when the tomatoes got mites, they spread. I always try to give space between plants, but they always grow beyond where I expect them to. Next year I'll try to space them more. Have you seen any of the information about "keyhole" gardens? Maybe this is something you could manage if you have one sunny spot, Janie. I'm running out the door, but I'll post what I found if you don't come up with the Newsweek article that published last week. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 20 Aug 09 - 11:33 PM Well, as I said a looong time ago here, harvest is very late in our zone. That means I've just started seeing green bush beans forming. Only one bean has grown large enough to pick. It was delish. alice |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 20 Aug 09 - 11:15 PM We were the recipients a series of quick and furious showers this afternoon and early this evening. Came down too fast to have lasting effect, but welcomed in the short term. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 20 Aug 09 - 11:13 PM It has been hot and humid and rain is predicted for east of here. I expect to water tomorrow. My front lawn needed mowing and the back will get it tomorrow. Normally this time of year the grass has stopped growing with the extreme heat. Right now the rain has passed, the heat is here, and we have to go out in it to mow. No fun. Fall tomatoes are looking good, cherry tomatoes plugging along. I took a bag of tomatoes and eggplant to work today. They never refuse free produce! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 20 Aug 09 - 01:01 AM Got some great photos of bugs in the garden this morning. Then realized the memory card wasn't in the darned camera. . . I got a few more shots in the sunset light, and maybe something tomorrow, but I have a lot to do. Darn! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 19 Aug 09 - 09:46 PM Dry, dry, dry. Been moving the hose around at 1/2 hour intervals ever since I got home tonight. We are poised on the edge of official drought again here. Haven't been watering the daylilies and they are showing it. Hoping Hurricane Bill will pass close enough to the coast to bring some showers, but it is doubtful. Hope you New Englanders and folks in the Canadian Maritimes are keeping a weather eye out. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Aug 09 - 10:39 PM Mudcat's own potter Guy Wolff is featured in Martha Stewart's blog today. I've been waiting all day for Mudcat to come back up to post this, but I think it will still be available at her blog. April 18, 2009. Here's the album first page--she posted 43 photos of his place and his work! Even more exciting than that, she says that his pottery is featured in the September issue of Martha Stewart Living! I'll start a new thread for this. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Aug 09 - 11:03 AM I've seen corn stalks bundled together and used as Halloween ornaments. I don't have any cattle to feed (they're still green). I'll try leaving the roots in, that's a good idea. Brought in a half-dozen eggplant this morning and photographed some interesting bugs on a plant leaf. The plants aren't as healthy in this spot; it's a new garden area, so I need to really work on the soil amendments and drainage for next year. I'll build it up this fall. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 18 Aug 09 - 08:43 AM SRS Corn stalks may be cut and used as ornaments. I prefer to grind them up as soil amendment/compost material. They are also used as feed for cattle when they're still green. I leave the roots in the soil. They decompose over time, and help hold the soil in place. Plant around them when you replant the area. m |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Richard Bridge Date: 18 Aug 09 - 08:16 AM Tree daturas |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Aug 09 - 12:39 AM No, but my fall tomato plants are looking very nice and are putting out flowers. My cherry tomatoes are still looking good from summer and though they're sprawled all over the place, are still producing. What shall I do with these corn stalks when the cobs are finished? SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 17 Aug 09 - 07:50 PM Uncle Arthur is our Mr. Clifford, Janie... Stays all day following us around watching us work... The P-Vine made me my 1st BLT (turkey bacon)of the season today... Yummy... Anyone have an almanac for plantin' fall crops??? Our's is missing... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 Aug 09 - 01:57 PM I found an old purple onion in the back of a drawer in the fridge that had sent out big green sprouts. I peeled it down to those sprouts and for the heck of it poked them out in the garden. We'll see if anything grows from them. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 Aug 09 - 12:03 AM Janie, get some golden raisins and a good brand of gin. Pour the gin over the raisins in a container with a good lid, and every day eat a teaspoon of the raisins. You can let the gin evaporate if you want or not, they work as well. It works out to about 9 raisins a day, but is supposed to be very effective on arthritis. This is one of the home remedies from the Gradens on NPR (People's Pharmacy). I'm bringing in a few cherry tomatoes every day; the plants have sprawled all over the place and seem to be doing fine. The exhausted plants from other types have been pulled out of their midst. I was going to peg a couple of branches of the cherries to grow new plants and rearrange the bed a little, but I think I'll leave them all alone. I put the new super fantastic tomatoes in different parts of the garden. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 16 Aug 09 - 09:54 PM Had planned to start doing some serious digging today, but ended up with two good excuses. 1. The clay is too hard and dry and it would have ruined the soil structure, and 2. For some reason uncle Arthur showed up with a vengance and stayed all day - still here as a matter of fact. Hands won't close, knuckles, shoulders, knees and hips all with sharp pains, and back hurts from stem to stern, with muscle spasms, especially in in the neck and shoulders. Don't mean to whine - like a lot folks, I generally just accept arthritic pain and mostly ignore it, but today has been unusually bad. It was also a good excuse to not work out in the heat and humidity. I really, really would like to get at least 1 raised bed in soon to plant kale, turnips and salad greens for fall. If need be, though, I guess I can do pots again. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 16 Aug 09 - 08:26 PM Lousy potato harvest on Friday... Too wet a spring and put the chicken amnure on too late which clodded on top of the soil which even after tilling didn't fluff out like it's supposed to... Oh well, maybe Mr. Clifford will sell us a bushel 'cause that's about all we got out of our garden... Our lirope is doing very well... The majestic blooms have fanned and seperated... The Christmas blooms are perfect as are the Monroe White... Great not having to share our gardens with deer... We haven't had these blooms since moving from Wes Ginny... Might of fact, the hydrangeas are blooming their heads off... Unfortuanately, so are the weeds... The price to pay to have no deer... I had forgotten how many weeds those miserable creature ate in addition to our gardens... Oh well... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 13 Aug 09 - 09:24 AM Meanwhile we have Purple Gem rhodies in bloom for the second time this year. That is a first in our experience! maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 13 Aug 09 - 08:49 AM We're getting tired of some of our garden... We put in a half row of Roma Beans and the sumabiches have been cranking out 2 1/2 pounds a day... We've frozen 10 pounds and given away another 20... Time to pull them up... Cukes ain't far behind... The one we planted the 1st of June is crankin' out 10 per day... The one we put in the middle of July is just about ready to produce so... Bye-de-bye, plat #1... No time to make relish... Plus, we still have 7 jars from '07... Gonna dig taters soon as it dires out a little and till up the tater patch for fall crops... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Aug 09 - 12:35 AM The main thing about night time temps that affect tomatoes here is that if it doesn't drop below 80 degrees at night they won't pollinate. This has been an unusual summer. We usually end up with several weeks where it stays that hot, but after a couple of really hot weeks in early July, it has been cooler. And rainy at times. My answer to hot temps is to go around with the blossom set spray and a cotton swab, and touch each flower. They tend to get pollinated by going to all of the flowers, but just in case, the liquid on the swab will trick the plant to thinking it has been pollinated. I tried some of my chard tonight--it has reached the point where it's kind of bitter. I'll start some new this week. It's had a good run. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maire-aine Date: 12 Aug 09 - 09:41 PM I checked the ground under my tiger lilies, and found that the bulbils are beginning to drop by themselves already. I cleared away some of the mulch and poked them into the ground about an inch. We'll find out whether they sprout in the spring. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 12 Aug 09 - 08:19 PM The heat wave left right behind Kendall. Fall garden catalogs arriving daily. I was cogitating, Maggie, on how much later you can start a second crop of tomatoes than can we can here, given that our climate temps are actually pretty similar. I wonder if it has to do with day length (and possibly an earlier cooling of average night time tempuratures than do you.) Tomatoes significantly slow production here by mid to late September, well before first frost. Ditto peppers, cukes, and some varieties of dahlia. You are enough further south that your fall day lengths are likely enough longer to perhaps make a difference. Over the years, I've noticed a number of plants that love both sun and heat decrease significantly in production here long before first frost, but after night temps begin to routinely drop into the low 60's to low 50's, even when day temps stay in the 80's to upper 70's. Whaddaya'llthink? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 12 Aug 09 - 08:24 AM Hydrangea blooms: Wait at least a couple more weeks, Janie, for the Anna Belles... The Oak leaf have allready turned and you can probably cut them now... Back to the A-Belle... Might just wait until they are a color you like and then cut them, bring nside and hang upsidedown until dry... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Richard Bridge Date: 12 Aug 09 - 07:37 AM 900. And my tree brugmansiae are doing nicely |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Aug 09 - 02:36 AM It took a couple of weeks, but I put up another blog entry. We had a visitor to the yard, and I thought I'd see what happened if I wrote a testimonial. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Aug 09 - 11:35 PM I saw an article about growing hydrangeas in Martha Stewart Living a couple of years back, and I think they wrote about that. There were some lovely photos. Try searching her website. The garden is in kind of a holding pattern. I'm picking eggplants and a few cherry tomatoes, but mostly we're shifting gears for fall right now. I don't think I'll fool with corn again. It's labor intensive, compared to the rest, when you consider how little you get from it. When it's finished and ready to come out of that space in the garden, should I let the stalks stand there and dry, or cut them off at the ground? I know people use corn stalks for decorating. Any suggestions? SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 11 Aug 09 - 08:20 PM Any of you have any experience drying hydrangea blooms? I'm having trouble figuring out when the blooms are ready to cut. I cut several Annabelle blooms after they turned green again, but only one of them dried green. The rest turned brown. I just went out and cut a few mopheads that have turned green and burgundy to see what happens with them. All the websites talk about harvesting the blooms after the color has changed and the petals feel papery. I'm assuming I waited too long on the Annebelles that turned brown. Going out and rubbing a bunch of petals to figure out what is papery and what is not is trickier than one would think. I followed the recommendations that said put the stems in a vase with a little water and leave them while the water evaporates. All insights and suggestions hardily welcomed! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 11 Aug 09 - 07:59 PM They look the color of old wine stains on white linen to me. Contest - come up with a color name for that! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 11 Aug 09 - 07:57 PM Yeah, if you leave a tater in the ground all winter it will more than likely make a new plant the following summer... We have several tater plants that came up from taters we didn't get out of the ground last summer... And they are making taters... I guess what I meant to say is that storing taters in the ground is not the best idea... Like going out in the winter and diggin' them as you need them... Maybe where you live but not here... There will be some that are okay but most will be rotting, especially those that are deeper... But, hey, maybe I'll leave a few in as an experiement... Anyone growin' those purple tomatoes??? They are ugly but tastely... Not really purple but not red either.... Magenta??? B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 11 Aug 09 - 03:22 PM My Truelove just brought me an armful of exquisite glads from the southern veggie patch, in white, shell pink, and peach. So beautiful! Thunderstorms are on the way, and the stalks are likely to break in the wind. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Aug 09 - 12:30 AM In Washington State, where I grew up, we would find tiger lilies in the woods. I'd love to have something like that here, but I'm sure they'd wither and die. Despite the high heat down here, I've managed, with my xeriscape plantings, to have quite a lush yard, and when I walk through the front I can smell the sweet scent of a lot of flowering plants. This is such a different yard than seven years ago, when it was Bermuda and a ratty hedge. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 10 Aug 09 - 11:56 PM Regardless, a lovely, graceful lily. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maire-aine Date: 10 Aug 09 - 11:50 PM I, too, have been looking at other lily pictures. It my not be a Michigan lily after all, because the flower looks the same, but the foliage seem different. It may be some variety of turk's cap after all. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 10 Aug 09 - 10:51 PM Been looking at more images of that lily that maire-aine is pretty sure is a Michigan lily. Lovely plant. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 10 Aug 09 - 10:46 PM I'll also be eager to hear about the bulbils. I've thought about trying that with lilies, (and it's the thought that counts, right:>) but have never got around to it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maire-aine Date: 10 Aug 09 - 09:14 PM Thanks for the planting instructions, Maeve. I will report on the results. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 10 Aug 09 - 08:46 PM Usually I would have agreed with you, Bobert. Here though, the little tubers have not only not rotted; they grow into beautiful and healthy potatoes. I've been experimenting for three years and so far it has worked well. I've never tried it in other regions. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 10 Aug 09 - 08:37 PM Don't leave yer taters in the ground 'er they'll rot... Carrots??? Yeah... Not taters... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 Aug 09 - 07:10 PM "bulbils" - what a great term. :) I have one last tomato to put in the ground, and I mostly have to concentrate on mowing for the next week or so. Leftover growth after all of the rain. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 10 Aug 09 - 06:14 PM Mary-anne- check here. Planting depth would be about 1/2-1". lily propagation with bulbils It's easy, but takes a few years to get flowers. I usually just put an inch of compost down under the mother plants, scatter the bulbils, and add another inch of compost on top. Have fun! maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maire-aine Date: 10 Aug 09 - 05:11 PM I have an orange lily that I think may be this . It seems to fit the description, and it was growing in an odd spot until I moved it to the middle of the garden this spring. Anyway, it has little black "bulb-lettes" at the top of the stems, which I've been told will grow into new bulbs. Has anybody propagated lilies this way? How do I know when the bulb-lettes are ready to plant? Do they need any special care? I'm in Michigan, so the winters range from cold to bitter-cold. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 10 Aug 09 - 03:37 PM When I pulled the potato plants and dug out the potatoes, a few of each kind were missed. So it seems that the tiny to small potatoes just sit there all winter, and begin growing shoots and roots in late spring. They bloomed about a month before the potatoes that wintered inside and were planted in May and June. It was a great discovery for us since the pantry is becoming a bit bare this year. I'm sure others have made use of lost and found tatties for years, but it was still a delight for us. Purple, crimson, red, rose, white, and yellow potatoes, some enormous; and no labor for us except to slip them out of the earth! There are also some growers here in Maine who are planting the potato seeds; something we'll be trying this year as well. If I can get it, I'll mulch with seaweed for the nutritional value. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 Aug 09 - 02:54 PM Does the top die away over the winter or does potato winter well, like broccoli or onion? That sounds like a nice discovery, all of those extra spuds! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 10 Aug 09 - 02:48 PM I've dug most of the first and second crop of winter potatoes; those I missed in last fall's harvest that carried over through winter's cold to grow and multiply in spring and summer. Beautiful spuds! I'll dig again a month or so for the biggest crop for sale on the stand and for winter eating, and will plant one last batch that will become next year's new potatoes and summer spuds. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 Aug 09 - 01:23 AM The big freezer was a breeze to defrost this time. I did it right. Last time I used hot water, but this time I remembered to get out my hair dryer, and I got the bung out of the drain and the hose underneath was in perfect order to reach a pan to drain. (This is an old freezer, I hadn't looked under it before to see if the hose was still there). This is the kind of job to do the night before the trash goes out. Lots of stuff I decided might have been compromised with the involuntary defrost was in the door and was kind of old anyway, so it's all down at the curb. Let's hope the guys are on time (early in the morning) or this could get pretty stinky. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 Aug 09 - 01:13 AM After trimming off the odd parts, I cooked the cobs and cut off the kernels. Got about a pint and a half, that is in the freezer. Slow start as far as a crop goes, and all things considered, corn may not be worth the effort. But I'll do some research on the problems I encountered and maybe give it another shot in the spring. There are a few more ears out there, not quite ripe. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 09 Aug 09 - 08:16 PM Thanks for the recipe! Janie, I hope you can replace those things as you need them. I live with soaker hoses every summer--I don't waste water on turf, it dries out and looks awful when it's really hot, but I use them around the foundation and weave them through the gardens. Maryrff, That's how I freeze cilantro, I buy a bunch, freeze it in a metal pie pan after pouring a little boiling water over the top to wilt it all into what ends up a large cilantro cube. I pull it out of the bag and break off a piece when I need it in beans or guacamole. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 09 Aug 09 - 08:08 PM Great garden photos, Mary!!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 09 Aug 09 - 07:57 PM I don't really use a recipe, I just estimate, but basically to make about a cup of pesto: 2 cups of packed basil leaves 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, according to your taste 1/4 cup of pine nuts or walnuts (I personally like walnuts) 1/4 cup olive oil 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated is best Dash of salt and pepper Some people add a little bit of lemon but I don't I put the walnuts in the blender first, along with the garlic which I've already put through a garlic press. Then I add some olive oil and pulverize. Then I gradually add the basil leaves, pulverizing a little at a time, and adding more olive oil if necessary. At the end, I blend in the grated cheese. You can adjust these quantities to suit your taste (hard to go wrong). If you want to really do it the right way, it all should be pulverized with a mortar and pestle, if you have them. But it turns out great in the blender. You can add in a little parsley if you like, I think it improves the color. Last year I froze mine in the ice cube tray then transfered to a zip lock bag once the cubes were frozen. This year somebody said you can just put it in a zip lock, flatten it out and freeze, then break off what you need, so that's what I did. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 09 Aug 09 - 07:33 PM Mary, Your garden looks absolutely awesome! In the upper 90's here today, and for the next several days. First time I have run the AC all day since I moved here July a year ago. It's a small window unit, so it is running continuously. I'll be interested to see what it does to the power bill. I didn't have time to gather and load much of my garden related gear when I moved. The two items I miss the most are the soaker hoses, of which I had several hundred feet, and a Gardener's Supply cold frame that I couldn't find in the rush to move. I'm not going to buy more soaker hoseuntil I get garden beds laid out and know what I need. As it has gotten drier, and now in this intense heat, I'm moving the hose from plant to plant and letting it dribble for 30-60 minutes at a time. I don't have so much in the ground that this is generally a problem, except when I forget the hose is running and go to bed, only to discover it the next morning. I've had a couple of noticable spikes in my water bill from doing that. The shredded leaves I have used for mulch have done a very good job holding in moisture, and have not decomposed as quickly as I feared they might. They are messy when the wind blows, however, and the slugs and earwigs love them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 09 Aug 09 - 06:55 PM Please share your pesto recipe--for some reason I've never made it in all of these years, never eaten it as a specific sauce like on pasta. I'm working on remedying that oversight, and toward that plan I planted basil this year. I'd like to make it to freeze, but need to make and use a batch to test it first. Do you use olive oil or pine nuts in yours? SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 09 Aug 09 - 05:11 PM I just froze a batch of baba ganoush, some green peppers, some tomatoes, a batch of pesto, and made up a couple of quarts of fresh tomato juice. I cut the tomatoes up, skins and all and ran them through the blender. I added a few strips of green pepper and blended that up too, and squeezed in some lemon juice. Heaven! Maggie that happened to me, but fortunately it was just before this season's produce started coming in so I needed to clean out the freezer anyway. I was babysitting a friend's puppy, and in his explorations he tried to go behind the cabinet where the electrical outlet is. Apparently he loosened the plug, and by the time I realized it everything in the freezer was melted. All that was in there was the remainder of last year's stuff, so I wasn't too upset. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 09 Aug 09 - 10:33 AM Our African violet situation is the exact opposite. The plants have given up the ghost but the stand looks fine. ;-D I sprinkled some organic granular fertilizer and dragged a hose to knock it off the leaves and water it in early this morning. Lots of new plants out there need a boost to move into autumn. I'm going to defrost my big freezer today (again). Stupid me, one night last week I opened it and accidentally left the door ajar and it was super humid so not only did bagged stuff in the door defrost, the inside sucked in all of that humidity and the buildup is big like before. So I'll defrost and make sure THAT never happens again (it hasn't before, but it's so damned annoying I'll be extra careful from now on.) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 09 Aug 09 - 08:44 AM Freezing on the cob is the same... It has to be blanched to stop the decaying process... No, we don't freeze any on the cob because it wastes space in the freezer... We are headed up to NoVa today for a jam session with the Archie Edwards Blues Foundation folks who I used to jam with regularlly and have two big coolers full of goodies for them.. The corn and cabbage I will have to get real money for ($4 dozen for the corn and $4 a head for 7 pound cabbage) because they are Mr. Clifford's and he doesn't give anything away, other than gossip and advice (lots on both)... But we are taking three kinds of peppers, several of the purple (which they aren't) tomatoes, yellow and butternut squash, and a large bad of flat roma beans to give to my homies... Goin' be hot today... Around 97 degrees if the weatherman has it right so the P-Vine is going to the jam with me (which begins at 4:00) and we'll just make a day of it and do some stuff beforehand, like antique/collectable shop hopping looking for a plant stand she needs for her African Violet colletion which has outgrown the crappy one we bought for $10 several years ago and is on it's last legs... Happy gardening to all my gardenin' buds, B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 09 Aug 09 - 01:52 AM A bunch of my corn was probably ready to pick today but I didn't get to it and it got dark. Picking corn by flashlight isn't in my plan. I'll get it in the morning. Corn is interesting--it sends out new shoots and ends up with small ears and late tassels. I'm watching it all, making a plan for next year. Thanks for the instructions on cooking/freezing. Do you also freeze it on the cob? I may freeze some just to give it a try, but I think we'll manage to eat most of the corn this year, since I didn't plant a lot. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: katlaughing Date: 09 Aug 09 - 12:21 AM I think I"ll leave my yarrow. They are pretty in the winter, esp. against the snow and I have seen some little birds land on them. They are close to the door, so I don't know if they peck at them because they fly off as soon as they see me when I go to look. I may deadhead the others, white and one red. maryrrf, that's a beautiful lot of produce/garden! When my daughter and I put up a huge amount of corn we did as Bobert said, blanched then ice water and we shaved it all of the cobs, mostly because we didn't have much freezer space, but we didn't use vacuum bags. We just used zip-lock bags and it worked fine. It was DELICIOUS, esp. the white corn. We'd picked it all ourselves out at the Alcova Sweet Corn place which old Harry Eichorn grew. Sad to see he has passed on. That corn was the best! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,Pierre Le Chapeau Date: 08 Aug 09 - 09:52 PM Dark green Tomatoes will ripen if you lay them in a box with a sealed lid and make sure they are not touching each other seal the lid they love the pitch darkness they will ripendue to the gases released by the fruit in the sealed box.its trial and error but I ripen mine off in a old electric guitar case and it works wonders.check them on a weekly basis. regards Pierre. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 08 Aug 09 - 07:45 PM The birds have gotten a few of my tomatoes but not too many, and I haven't had any problems with squirrels. But squirrels have ravaged my brother's tomatoes and he is furious. He's tried spraying them (the tomatoes, not the squirrels) with some kind of mint, didn't work, then garlic extract, didn't work and some kind of spray that contained cayenne pepper - also didn't work. So far he hasn't found anything to keep them out effectively, except I think he shot some of the little varmints which did decrease their marauding. I really ought to go ahead and pick that big zucchini but I'm kind of zucchinied out! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 08 Aug 09 - 07:41 PM Magz, Blanche for 4 minutes, drop into ice water for 5 minutes, cut the cernals off the cob, vaccum bag into one pound bags and put in the freezer... This winter it will taste just like it was just picked... Everyone else, We started the day by going down to help Mr. Clifford in his garden.... He has some health problems and can't do much so we picked his beans.... Picked 18 pounds off his 3 half rows... Also cut a couple cabbage heads which I'm going to take to a music jam tomorrow and sell for him... They are about 8 pounds each... He gets $2.50 for them around here but I'll try to get him $4 a head... We put in a full day here on the farm today... The P-Vine planted half a dozen potted things down in the woods garden and I mowed and mowed and mowed... But it's done for now... The 1 1/2 inches of rain really got everything growing... We planted these tomaotes that were supposed to turn purple so we've kinda been waitin' for that to happen... The P-Vine checked 'um this morning and about 8 of 'um were ripe... Not purple but ripe... They are ugly but taste purdy good... Question, I want to put in a couple compost bins and I've used T-111 in the past for the bottom to keep the compost from getting sucked up by tree roots... This evening the P-Vine and I were talkin' about it and she reminded me that T-111 is pressure treated and folks say yer not supposed to use pressure treated around veggies... So I am wondering if I use it for the floor of the compost bins if the compost will be safe to use around veggies??? Any thoughts??? B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 08 Aug 09 - 06:29 PM That's a good looking garden! You're brave to leave your tomatoes on the vine till they're so red--the squirrels and birds are a problem here once they get a taste for fresh produce. I tend to pick them pink and ripen on the windowsill (I'm stingy--I want more of my produce for me!). A friend of mine out in the Davis Mountains of Texas (elevation about 7,000') has had a good garden this year. He's growing zucchini the size of volkswagon beetles. I told him he needs to get out there a little sooner to pick them. ;-) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 08 Aug 09 - 05:11 PM Here are some pics of my garden. I take photos every now and then just to document the progress. It's been a great growing season here in Central Virginia. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maire-aine Date: 07 Aug 09 - 11:55 PM Hi, Janie. Yes, I'm in the Great Lakes area. My yarrow is achillea millefolium Terra Cotta, and I dead-headed it last year (the first year I had it), but then I dead-headed everything. It grew tall and straight this summer, even after being transplanted in the spring. I guess it isn't too fussy about anything. I've been giving it a lot more water, because we've had a dry spell around here in July/Aug, although we had a wet May/June. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 07 Aug 09 - 09:50 PM maire-aine, In years past, I noticed goldfinches feeding on the cultivars of fern leaf yarrow (achillea filipendulina) that went to seed before I deadheaded. I never saw them on any of the cultivars of common yarrow (achillea millefolium.) I'm in a much different climate zone from you as I recall. Here in the hot, humid, and droughty southeast USA, without deadheading, the fern leaf yarrow, in particular, seems not to fare so well in subsequent years, getting really scraggly and woody much more rapidly, and needing dividing to keep it going more frequently. The common yarrow doesn't seem to care much, except that I notice that some colors of some cultivars are prone to rebloom if deadheaded (mostly the dark pinks and burgundies and the whites in "Colorado Mix," but not "Cerise Queen" or the naturalized white common yarrow, nor the"Summer Pastels" or "Apple Blossom" cultivars of of common yarrow. What happens in your area? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maire-aine Date: 07 Aug 09 - 09:13 PM About freezing corn, my mother did it both ways: 1) boil the corn briefly, then cut the corn off the cob & freeze it in bags, or 2) blanch the corn on the cob very, very briefly, and freeze the whole ear, cob & all. If you leave the corn on the cob, you want to use that up quicker, because I don't think it lasted as well as the cut-off corn. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maire-aine Date: 07 Aug 09 - 09:08 PM I was all set to dead-head my yarrow, but I saw a tiny goldfinch land on one of them and start picking at the seeds, so I left it alone & let the little guy have a chance. I don't think you need to dead-head. I've seen winter garden photos where they were left on. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 07 Aug 09 - 06:09 PM I haven't really gotten into canning, although my dad used to do it when I was a kid. I still remember his homemade tomato juice. The Baba Ganoush freezes beautifully - I make it up with the garlic, lemon juice and tahini and freeze it in quart sized bags. Then throughout the winter I just pull it out as needed. The ratatouille also freezes great. Last year I loved having that in the freezer and just defrosting and eating over pasta or rice. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 07 Aug 09 - 05:32 PM How long do you cook them, and then you freeze cob and all? I have some tomato 4" potted plants to put in that already have some yellow on them. I may take them back. I found some better looking ones at another place, and I'll head over there -- if they have more of the same, I'll go with those. No point introducing that yellow blight/wilt/whatever so early on. It arrives by itself soon enough. It's another weekend. I have plenty to do out in the yard. Mow again after all of that rain, and make a pass at the back (I stopped halfway back last time I mowed, so it's REALLY tall now. Guaranteed to kill the engine a few times.) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: katlaughing Date: 07 Aug 09 - 04:34 PM These all sounds so delicious! My ex, I should just call him by his name, Stan, instead always my ex...is bringing me some fresh tomatoes and cucumbers from his garden. We have one pot tomato which is growing well and has some greenies. They ought to be ripe in another week, I think. Any of you know if yarrow should get dead-headed and/or cut back? Mine got really tall this year and not exactly spindly, but is falling over. I've had a hard time getting Rog to water enough, but now I think he may have overdone it, which is hard to do here. It's the only reason I know they might be leaning over so much, unless they just need to be pruned. Anyone want any seed heads? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 07 Aug 09 - 11:29 AM Maryrff, Are you freezing the babaganoush? Does it come out good? I'd love to do that. Do you freeze it in ice cube trays and transfer to bags, or do a solid batch? Have you done any canning? Have you tasted home grown tomatoes made into tomato juice? I have had tomatoes coming out of my ears, but a friend brought over his steam juicer and after tasting that I can't grow enough plants to make more juice! Juicing also leads to a lot of sauce that I can in half-pint jars. I use more tomato sauce than any other product during the year, so this is a good outcome. Sounds like a wonderful outcome. Post more photos of the garden if you have any. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 06 Aug 09 - 09:26 PM Haven't posted much but man I have had a bumper crop of everything. Squash (yellow and zucchini) enough for me, neighbors and relatives, eggplants like no tomorrow, cantaloups (now finished), watermelons (just had a ripe red slice a few minutes ago) pumpkins (now harvested and the pulp frozen for autumn pies) tons of luscious tomatoes, peppers (bell and jalopeno) okra (so good rolled in cornmeal and lightly fried), cucumbers (first batch of plants have finished bearing but I planted a second batch, so I'll have some more later in the month) basil, parsley, cilantro, and assorted herbs. I've made up batches of ratatouille for the freezer, along with baba ganoush using the eggplants, and also bagged up plenty of tomatoes and frozen them for sauces. Still have to make up some pesto. This has been a great summer for the garden. After fertilizing a couple of times early in the season, I haven't had to do anything else but weed and water occasionally. I had no major insect problems. Pretty soon it'll be time to plant the lettuce and salad for the fall. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 06 Aug 09 - 07:53 PM Sham-waaa-set is a canned sauce... Corn??? Yeah, we're gonna freeze it in vaccum bags... I shucked the last, ahhhhh, 50 or so ears today so they are ready to get cooked, bagged and stuffed in the freezer... We got alot of rain last night... 1.5 inches between last night and this mornin'... I've worked real hard this summer gettin' the drainage ditch open to the run-off pond and it has paid off... The pond level came up about 6 inches... That is alot of water... I walked down there this mornin' and the bullfrogs were a'croakin' all over the place... They is some happy frogs.... Might of fact, jus' about everything is happy... Including the P-Vine 'casue she has a reprieve from waterin' for a few days... Sniff... I kinda got this stomach ulcer thing so I'm goin' ahev to stay away from tomatoes just when they are coming in!!! Danged... That's why I'm a bluesman... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 06 Aug 09 - 01:56 AM Are you going to freeze those ears of corn you shucked? Do you wrap them in plastic then freeze? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 05 Aug 09 - 08:58 PM Are they pickled or simply canned? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 05 Aug 09 - 08:54 PM I don't have a clue... Okay... It is pronounced sham (as in sham) waaaa (as in waaaa) and set (as in set)... Sham-waaa'-set with the emphisis on the the waaa... It's made from tomatoes and onions and peppers and celery and carrots and things and ya' kinda can them all up together to be used later in sauces, stews, casseroles, etc... Yummy stuff and looks good in the pantry, too... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 05 Aug 09 - 08:20 PM Try another spelling...I don't ken ye. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 05 Aug 09 - 08:08 PM Both sound great... I don't like nuthin' in my juice... I can't stand orange juice because it has pith in it... I love the V-* at the store... The P-Vine likesw her juice more pithy... She takes mine and runs it thru one of her blenders and I then I can drink it.... She found her V-8 recipe today, thank goodess, so we're back in the game... Mr Clifford, who just last week was gripin' about the rat-coons gettin' into his corn, came thru with his harvest today... 99 ears... I shucked 41 of them tonight and will get the others tomorrow... He only grows it for us... Beat last years 73 ears so we got our corn for winter... We didn't have the heart to tell him about the dozen we got up in Maryland for fear of one of Mr. Clifford's infamous "fallin' outs"... He can be very cranky but we do purdy well with him... Anyone make "cham-wa-set" (losey spellin'...)??? B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 05 Aug 09 - 07:59 PM My two favorite books on preserving food are: 1. Stocking Up, by Carol Hupping and the Staff of the Rodale Food Center, and 2. Putting it up with Honey by Susan Geiskopf. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 05 Aug 09 - 07:51 PM Tomato Juice Cocktail (From the 3rd Addition of Rodale's Stocking Up) Yield: 4 qts. This recipe must be either pressure canned, or frozen for food safety 12 lbs. large, ripe, blemish free tomatoes 4 medium carrots 2 large red or green sweet peppers 4 stalks celery, including leaves, diced 2 onions, diced 1 clove garlic, minced 1 cup lemon juice 2 tbls. honey, or to taste 1/2 tsp. black pepper 2 bay leaves 2 sprigs fresh basil, dill or thyme (optional) Wash, stem and core tomatoes. Cut into small pieces. Wash and grate carrots. Core, seed and mince peppers. Combine all ingredients in a large, stainless steel or enamal kettle, and simmer over low heat 45-50 minutes, stirring occasionally, until veggies are soft. Pick out the herb springs and strain juice from veggies. Freeze or pressure can. To can, return strained juice to kettle and bring to boil. Pour hot into hot, scalded jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Process 30 minutes at 10 lb pressure. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Aug 09 - 06:37 PM Bobert, I read a nice recipe for something else that I can't find now, but would provide an interesting list of veggies to try (was in Martha Stewart Living). If I find it, I'll send a link or transcribe it. Earlier this week the same friend who loaned me his steam juicer sent this tidbit from a canning discussion group. I think you could do this to make juice, not just to make sauce. Just don't cook it a long time:
the food strainer to remove the skins and seeds. This year - In my case there isn't a written recipe. My process goes like this: - 1 bushel of washed, cored and quartered tomatoes into my 18 QT roaster oven - add any other veggies (like bell peppers and onions) and herbs (fresh basil, oregano, etc) and spices (black pepper, etc) - roast in the roaster oven at 250°F until the veggies are well broken down (usually overnight) - once the veggies are soft I remove the bulk of the liquid by straining into a stockpot, using a second stockpot to hold the solids. After removing the bulk of the liquid (which I reserve) I pour the solids back into the roaster pan. - I now use my stick blender (boat motor) to puree the mass, skins, seeds and all - Now to a stockpot, adjust the thickness (add back some liquid if needed and the seasonings, heat to a simmer, pack in jars, debubble, cap and pressure can - 15 minutes pints, 20 quarts. I would stop at the strain liquid into crock pot--I would put it in a big pot, bring it to a slight boil for 5 to 10 minutes (or however long the canning recipe says) then bottle it in quart jars with 2 Tablespoons of lemon, a little salt if you want, and process it for 45 minutes. How's that sound? I think you should make the sauce with the rest of it, but the point of this is the get the juice, not just to make sauce. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: WalkaboutsVerse Date: 05 Aug 09 - 08:50 AM "Oh, the other thing about WAV, he's also one of those folks who likes to hijack threads so they're all about him before long. It's one of his regular tactics." (SRS)...No - I tried to start another native gardening thread (the previous one was hijacked by people who took it well beyond gardening, and it was - I think, through no fault of my own - closed down) but it was deleted; thus, I pop in here now and again, because I genuinely believe native gardening helps re. some of the matters (overgrazing, depredation of rainforest, etc) SRS also mentioned, above. By the way, for what it's worth, I'm interested in and support the home-grown veggie (including exotic veggies) posts on this thread - limiting food miles, etc. (please see my above post). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 05 Aug 09 - 08:12 AM Well, we are at the point this morning were we cannot possibly eat what has come in... We plant "one" yellow squash plant and it is now pumping out 5 pounds every day... We plant one cuckemeber plant and getting 3 to 4 a day... One banana papper and same as the cucumber... It's not as if we plant too much... It's that we are too good at egtting healthy, productive plants... The P-Vine swears it's from the 6 inches of straw we use to much with... I donno??? Something wrong ('er right)... So this morning I'm going to take 'bout 40 pounds of stuff down the farm coop where, interestingly enough, most of the women who work there are clueless as to where food comes from??? LOL... We got some kind of yellow punkin growing by mistake... It was supposed to be our late yellow squash plant but is making punkins??? Looks like we'll be makin' punkin bread this fall from our own punkins... A couple years ago we got some blue ones that came up mysteriously... Made fine bread and pie... Got another 3/10ths of rain last night... Makes 8/10s in 3 days... Yezzir.... We love that... Mean not having to move the oscillators all day... Noy much else... Hot!!!... Still no vine ripe tomatoes... They will prolly all come in at once... Anyone have a good recipe for "V-8" juice??? Gotta go to work... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 05 Aug 09 - 06:34 AM Maggie, If you are interested, (and if I can find it), I have a great recipe for green tomato pickles. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Aug 09 - 01:40 AM I contacted my friend with the steam juicer and will borrow it to do one more batch of tomatoes. By this time of the season they're not much to look at, but they should taste great as juice and sauce. I will hold a few of the better looking ones out for salads and such. I muscled my mower around the yard today. After 10 days of rain the grass was tall and thick. Mower kept stalling. Now it will get hot again and dry things out. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: katlaughing Date: 04 Aug 09 - 11:25 PM You know folks, none of you owe any kind of explanation or defence to anyone. Please post away and ignore as I promise to do, also.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 04 Aug 09 - 11:14 PM August has definitely arrived. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 04 Aug 09 - 08:29 PM Evil... ya' know... gardeners who don't use only the plants that surround them... Well, if ya' only used the plants around you, that wouldn't be gardening... That would be observing, wouldn't it??? I guess that makes gardening evil??? B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Aug 09 - 07:02 PM veil = evil? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 04 Aug 09 - 06:30 PM Well, some plants that are native are also poisonous, invasive and a complete waste of the nitogen in the soil... Burdock is one... It will crowd out natural wildflowers and suck up gobs of rain water in the process... Poison oak and poison ivy, also native, have no sue what5's so ever yet entire acers have been ravaged by this evil plant... What??? God didn't create people??? And He didn't give us the intellegence and curiosities to make us creative animals??? (Maybe the Devil created us, Bobert... Did ya ever think of that???) Well, no I didn't... (Yep, that is the story... God created "native flora" *whatever that is and the Devil created mean. veil people who garden...) Is that yer final anser??? (Let me get back to you...) Ok... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Aug 09 - 06:11 PM ()...like the tragic loss of native fauna and flora in many "zones" of our world? This is a gardening thread. There is no tragic loss of anything in my garden. There are other threads discussing global warming, depredation of rainforest, overgrazing, and acid rain. Pick one of those for discussing your topic. Oh, the other thing about WAV, he's also one of those folks who likes to hijack threads so they're all about him before long. It's one of his regular tactics. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: katlaughing Date: 04 Aug 09 - 01:39 PM We bowed to Gaia on Sunday and came home with a beautiful HARDY, Drought_Tolerant hibiscus and a gorgeous aster which we planted after a proper chant at the moon the night before. We sacrificed all manner of little baby perlites and other nutritious victims probably including, and not limited to, a worm or two, a roly-poly bug or two and even a nasty pincer bug, ALL natives to our area. Oh, my! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: WalkaboutsVerse Date: 04 Aug 09 - 01:28 PM "whine about problems" (SRS)...like the tragic loss of native fauna and flora in many "zones" of our world? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Aug 09 - 01:17 PM You just don't get it, WAV. This is a thread where we share gardening tips. We share our successes and whine about problems. We don't come to this thread to be preached at. Most of us do some, or all xeriscape gardening. That has to do with zones, and a lot of native plants, but also adapted plants from other areas that thrive in our zones. You don't like this, and keep harping your your religious convictions regarding native plants, but all you're doing is annoying the inmates here. No one is going to adopt your dogmatic approach to gardening. SRS (who doesn't gladly suffer crackpots) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: WalkaboutsVerse Date: 04 Aug 09 - 05:09 AM Butterfly bush (Buddleia) NOT "tree", above, sorry. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: WalkaboutsVerse Date: 04 Aug 09 - 04:47 AM God aside then, SRS, you may have leaned more toward natives than most, Robert, but I still say it would have been better for the native fauna/flora/ecosystem of your area to select all natives: even if some of the exotics you mentioned are PARTICULARLY attractive to SOME native fauna, they are, thereby, still upsetting nature's balance (as with the butterfly tree, here in England). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Aug 09 - 08:53 PM Bobert, You did post a good response, but you have to understand that there is no answer that you will give that will please WAV unless you kowtow exactly to his god as he worships it. His posts here are the abuse of a perfectly good gardening thread for religious purposes. Logic doesn't work against dogma because he isn't talking about gardening at all, in the long run. (One can wonder if poison ivy is native in his area, and does he hold the same views in the face of that itch . . .) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 03 Aug 09 - 08:27 PM maeve, How are your wrist and Truelove's lungs faring these days? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 03 Aug 09 - 08:21 PM eyup..... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 03 Aug 09 - 08:06 PM Thank you, maeve... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 03 Aug 09 - 07:49 PM That's a thoughtful and informed response, Bobert. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 03 Aug 09 - 06:37 PM Huh??? Yes, native flora can restore an ecological balance but to think that only native plants can do that is incorrect thinking... I mean, one only look at our farm as a prime example... Our farm used to be a hog farm... When we bought it it had been two years since any hogs were here but the effects of the hogs were everywhere... We had no worms, very few bugs and hardly any birds... We also didn't have much in the way of native plants other than the hardwood forest that the hogs didn't live in and lots of burdock and thistle... One of the first things we did was bring in lots of soil and created a 400 long garden on the edge of the forest... The plants weren't native to this area on the Blue Ridge with the exception of amny wild flowers that we brought with us... But we also brought hundreds of azaleas, rhodos, hostas, laurels, grasses, etc. that don't grow here naturally... We also brought in about 30 bales of straw and a couple tons of chicken manure and and plowed that into what would become or vegetable garden... And guess what??? Four years later we have these lush gardens made up of all kinds of plants that whyile no native to the Blue Ridge are hardy and happy... And Guess what, Part B??? We also have hundreds and hundreds of birds... And we have thousands of worms and insects... In other words, we have taken "our choice" of flora and created a completely balanced ecological santuary... Okay, too many deer but when one has a farm that borders a wooded national park that comes with the territory... We had them when we first came, too... Now some folks might think us criminals and evil for what we have done but we understand nature, and balance, and ecology and what we have done is restore those elements in nature... Our way... That's the beauty of being a human being... We have choices and if we make correct choices we can live quite nicely and still be "pro-earth" (a term I have used going back decades, thank you...) B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: WalkaboutsVerse Date: 03 Aug 09 - 02:16 PM To SRG and Robert: we humans can, overall, for better or worse, effect habitats more than any other species, yes? And, wherever your neck of the woods is, the native fauna there has evolved with the native flora there, yes? And native habitats have been harmed by human construction, intensive farming, etc., yes? And our garden space, which may be planted with native flora to compensate for such harm, adds up to quite a lot, yes? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Aug 09 - 12:25 PM I'm putting in fall tomatoes now (and pegging cherry tomatoes from existing plants). I'll pick up a Celebrity and see how it does in the cooler fall weather. The Super Fantastic holds up to Texas summers, that's why I go with it. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 03 Aug 09 - 07:40 AM Well, we did have an "Early Girl" (ha) ripen in the window and had it yesterday... It was good to be eatin' a fresh tomato but the "Early Girl" ain't like a "Celebrity" for taste... Now that we've had rain, we'll let the garden dry out a little, dig our 3 rows of potatoes, till up that space and be ready to plant fall stuff in about 3 weeks... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Aug 09 - 01:32 AM Bobert, I understand perfectly about the tomatoes. Be patient, and you will be rewarded. I have a gallon or so in my fridge now, and this is when it has slowed way down. It is simply the best luxury I can think of to reach into the fridge for a perfect tomato to cut into sections for a nice chef's salad (good for leftover lunch meats, etc.) or to slice for a BLT. Hang in there. Soon, very soon! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 03 Aug 09 - 01:19 AM We had a nice rain this morning also, Bobert. Had hoped for some more this afternoon, but it didn't materialize. Still., grateful what we got - no rain guage out, but am going to guess we got somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 inch. Enough, and mostly gentle enough that it didn't all run off into the storm drains. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 02 Aug 09 - 12:13 PM Now back to gardening... Hooray!!! We have had rain all morning... We're up to 5/10ths of an inch... Best single day total in 7 weeks... Yesterday was a day-off the farm... We hadn't been up into western Maryland in years so off we went... Unfotunately we rescued two box turtles off the road before we could get outta the area and so they rode with us in a cardboard box... I wanted to find them a nice home so when we got to Maryland I picked backroads into the Catoctin Mountains and finally found a place where they will do well but... ...by then we were fairly well lost... Okay, maybe not all that lost... But it took some thinkin' to get where we wanted to be... But we did pass a sighn that read "Sweet Corn, $3 Dozen" so we stopped by this farmer and bought a dozen beautiful ears of corn... We genarlly get our corn from Mr. Clifford but he has had serious problems with the Rat-coons and may not end up with enough for us to freeze this winter but it's nice to have our first corn... Still no vine ripe tomatoes... Red but not ripe... Grrrrrr.... I refuse to buy a tomato with a hundred of them waiting to ripen... Bout it for now... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 02 Aug 09 - 12:00 PM Well, as I have pointed out, God's creatures have since the beginning of time been middle-men in hybridization... Birds, insects, and just about every other living thing has carried polin from one plant to the next and thus there are always new hybrids that are naturally being hibridized all the time... But if I have it correct, Verser, if man does the same then that is some evil thing??? Illogical... And as for natives??? We have lots of "natives" which are indeed harmful to plants and animals... Some are poisonous... Some are water hogs... Some are terribly invasive... Yes, natives... Not exotics... Take a maple, for instance... A 20 foot maple, which is good for very little will spread a very hogish root system out 30 feet in every direction for its trunk??? That maple will suck up enough water to grow a year's worth of food for an entire family of humans??? What's with posion oak and ivy??? They are native... Ilantis trees??? Natives... Virginia Creeper??? Etc... But if I plant a lovely evergreen azalea because the flowers are not only pretty but support the bee population I am an enemy??? Huh??? Beam me up... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Aug 09 - 11:38 AM Walkabouts, you're preaching to the choir. And I'll thank you to keep your dogmatic god out of my garden. The corn seems to be about ready--a friend said to peel back a little and feel a kernal--it is a little softer now, can be creased with a thumbnail. I think we'll be eating corn for dinner tonight and tomorrow night and Tuesday night and Wednesday night. . . The monsoon season has passed, and over the last week I've pulled out a number of big exhausted plants (lots of dead lower leaves). As the garden dries out I'll hoe in more compost and begin pegging some of the sprawling cherry tomatoes and pulling more of the old super fantastic. I planted three SF a couple of weeks ago and have three more to plant once I've cleared space. This is an indeterminent plant that trives here. I'll try that trough method of planting corn next year. I'm going to build up one side and turn this into a raised bed for better drainage, but I can still contour the planting bed. The ears of corn will probably be smaller this year because I did some extra fertilizer but not as much as it sounds like they could have used. I did keep them fairly wet. Next year I'll start them earlier and water and fertilize more. I have some squash flowering (I try to stagger some of the crops) and I'll be tending to that, but it isn't anywhere near corn. I wonder--canteloup climbs, would that damage the corn if it grew under it? Time for more newspaper and mulch, and since it is hot and sunny, I'll use vinegar on the grass creeping in from the edges. Looks like a good day for gardening! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: WalkaboutsVerse Date: 02 Aug 09 - 05:43 AM A year or 2 ago, Gardeners' World (BBC), with Monty Don, went through a pleasing pro-native phase but, with a new head presenter, sadly they've gone back to a pro-exotica stance. Hence, this reminder... "Green/eco-friendly gardening is native gardening, and vegetables, plus other consumables, should be the only exotic-flora we plant - as doing so can help limit food-miles, etc. By filling our other garden spaces with natives, we use less water and other resources, whilst aiding the native-fauna that, over the centuries, evolved with them. (Even high-nectar exotics, such as Buddleia, that are very attractive to SOME native-fauna, should be avoided, because they upset nature's/God's balance – God created evolution, too, that is.) Our green gardens, with their vegies and natives, can be made still greener by the addition of compost heaps/bins; a wildlife pond – for native frogs, newts, and so on, rather than exotic goldfish; bee- and bird-boxes, plus carefully- selected feeders; rain- and grey-water vats; by growing everything organically - including thrifty home-propagation plus species-swapping; and by leaving some lush untidy patches, decaying branches, etc." (from here). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 02 Aug 09 - 05:23 AM SRS- You'll have to check an ear to see if the corn is ready. I look for brown silk and feel for plump kernels. You can carefully peel back the sheath to check an ear by sight, and you can pull an ear off to check it for taste- the kernels should be plump, and the taste sweet and milky. If you need to pick more ears than you can eat right away, store it in the 'fridge with the husks on. Hilling- Yes, if they need extra support just hoe (or dump) extra soil around the base of the stalk. Corn grows extra roots to stabilize the top-heavy stalks. One way some folks handle it is to plant the seed in troughs, using a hoe to pull the higher soil in as the stalk grows. Corn is a heavy feeder, so we also throw in organic fertilizer and compost as it grows, and use squash and legumes as an understory planting to stabilize the corn and make extra nitrogen available. It worked very well when last year's strong winds blew everything else flat. Enjoy! There's nothing like fresh sweet corn. m |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Aug 09 - 10:13 PM "Hilled" - does that mean pile dirt around it now? Or it should have been planted on little hills? I took a spray bottle with some BT and sprayed the silk on the top of each ear. None of them are very big, but some of the silk is turning brown. Do I wait until they get plumper and then pick it, or is this as plump as the ears will get? (This is my first time with corn!) I had two heavy rain showers today, and I think there is a chance more more overnight and tomorrow. This is really really old. I want the hot days back with the soaker hoses. It's much better for the garden. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 01 Aug 09 - 12:14 PM SRS- The corn probably needs to be hilled to keep it upright. As for mineral oil, it's dribbled down into the center of each ear "tip" into the corn silk. An eyedropper works well. We're picking snow peas, sugarsnaps and lettuce, with cherry tomatoes as they ripen. We are glad to have the potatoes that wintered over for our meals. The spring-planted potatoes will be ready in another month or so. We have one more batch of sprouted potatoes that I'll plant for wintering over. The potato beetles and Japanese beetles emerged late thanks to the rain, and so far I'm able to keep up with them. The biggest veggie garden is about half-way finished in terms of the pathways being mulched with sawdust and shavings on top of newspaper. m |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maire-aine Date: 01 Aug 09 - 11:15 AM "SWF seeks SWM with pickup truck... Send pic of truck to #3754... " I love it, Bobert. That's me too. I'd even settle for a "Bobcat" if I could drive it. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Aug 09 - 10:56 AM You got it, Bobert! We had heavy weather to beat all heavy weather last night, then it rained again this morning. The creek rose out back--I noticed that while I was on the other side of the yard gate releasing a possum that must have had a hellish night staying out of the reach of my two dogs. They've killed several before, but as it happens, I changed the batteries in their collars last night so they had a definite boundary and they didn't cross it. I heard a yelp this morning that told me something was up so I went out to look and this guy (girl? I didn't look) was staggering along the fence as the dogs barked beside it. No holes in the dogs, though I suspect they had physical contact when this possum played possum for a while because the possum had a couple of holes in its hide where Cinnamon bit it and because Poppy was sniffing Cinnamon's tummy, and I've seen Cinnamon lie beside her prey before. The garden suffered in last night's rain. The corn is kind of leaning (the silks are beginning to turn brown, but I don't think the corn is ready yet, though I saw a couple of worms. What is the mineral oil trick? I think I'll spray BT one more time). The tomatoes are sodden. I pulled out several more plants that were due to come out anyway, and though the cherry tomatoes seem to be in better shape, I may take them out also. They're all kind of ratty from mites, I think. I believe summer blight makes the fruit rot in spots and I just have coarse brownish patches on the fruit skin, not a mosaic, but maybe from mites? The squash and strawberries are happy. I'll do drench BT on the squash, even injecting it into some stems to keep the worms from killing it. It's time to begin the treatments. (I heard about this procedure on the Dirt Doctor program a few weeks ago). SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 01 Aug 09 - 08:27 AM lol! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 01 Aug 09 - 08:06 AM SWF seeks SWM with pickup truck... Send pic of truck to #3754... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 01 Aug 09 - 12:22 AM My ginger lilies are doing well, in spite of still being where they were simply heeled in last August. The tall, salmon colored ones (I have no idea which variety they are) have buds on them. There is also a smaller ginger lily that almost didn't make it in the pot I had it in at the old house, and that I have not yet seen in bloom. Some folks I did some gardening for gave me a division. I understand it is white, very fragant, and blooms around Labor Day. Don't know if I'll see blooms on this one this year - it is up close against a day lily that also was simply dumped into the ground when I moved, and neither the ginger lily, nor the day lily are happy with the arrangement-or lack thereof. I'm just glad they are both alive, and hoping to get everyone better situated before winter. The ground here is a fertile but heavy clay - heavier than what I had at the old place, and is too dry and hard to dig. I miss having access to a pick-up truck that I could use to haul manageable and affordable loads of topsoil and compost. I simply no longer have the physical capacity to dig up lawn and maneuver (sp) heavy clay soil with hand tools to do the levelling required before raised beds can be built and set. , and raised beds are going to be a "must" here because of the native rocks and tree roots. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 31 Jul 09 - 11:01 AM Heavy weather is supposed to move out of here over the weekend, letting our heat return. Maybe it will visit you next. Beautiful couple of eggplants came in yesterday, so I think it's time to make a batch of babaganoush. I picked up a jar of tahini and I have lemons and garlic--we're set! As the season progresses I'm going to formalize the edge of the new garden by picking up some plastic lumber to use as edging and will be filling along it to level this garden. Then when I'm ready to work on it next year I can build in some contours for better drainage. It has been rather haphazard this year. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 31 Jul 09 - 07:38 AM Dry, dry, dry here on the Blues Ridge... Less than an inch of rain over the last 30 days... Spend every waking hour running the oscillatours... Wore out one of our older Gillmore's (stripped gears) and the P-Vine called them complaining about them not making parts for it so Gillmore is sending us a new (and improved)one... Actually, I liked the older ones better... The new ones are confusing... Bought a $45 Green Thumb and it doesn't oscillate right out of the box... We'll take it back and hold out for used Gillmores on ebay, thank you... We've been trappin' the heck out of rat-coons of late... 4 in the last week alone... It's time consuming relocating them to an area where they aren't going to become someone else's pests... We take them 15 miles away into the George Washington Nation Forest where there are mountain streams... We are loving our deer fence... We are in the process of buiding gates to replace the makeshift nails that we have to attach the fence to every time we go out or come in which has become real old... Veggie garden is finally coming in... Maybe our first ripe tomato today??? Peppers, eggplant, cukes, squash plentyfull... Hostas in the first garden we enclosed are blooming inspite of being eaten down before the deer were evicted... All in all, gardening is almost fun again... Now if it would only rain... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 31 Jul 09 - 12:54 AM The lower temperatures and rain here have actually not been very good for my garden. The heat seems to slow down some of the pests and it sure makes the tomatoes ripen in a hurry. We've had rain every day for the last week or more. I cut back a bunch of vines and have pulled a few entire plants and put in several new ones for fall. The powdery mildew is trying to get started, so I'll take a sprayer full of hydrogen peroxide out in the morning. I have had tomatoes coming out of my ears this summer. They've slowed to a trickle of a half-dozen big ones a day, so I can still reach into the fridge and pull out a ripe beauty for my evening salad or lunchtime BLT. A friend brought his steam juicer over a couple of weeks ago, and in addition to juicing mustang grapes, we did a big pot of tomatoes for juice and sauce. As we worked he'd say "I need to inspect this tomato" and out would come the salt shaker after a couple of quick cuts with the paring knife. I think he probably ate the equivalent of a half-dozen tomatoes as we worked. Think about it--would you be tempted to eat a half-dozen tennis-ball sized grocery store tomatoes? One would be plenty. But garden ripe tomatoes are just simply something the commercial growers can't match. Eggplants are now in, and with all of the rain, the plants with the most fruit are beginning to topple over. I'll be propping them with tomato cages and fence posts to keep them off the ground. I picked two big ones today, two yesterday, and I have enough out there to be picking about a dozen a week. Time to start cooking and giving them away (I made a fabulous lasagne over the weekend, with a layer of eggplant. Mmmmm!) I played with a garden toad this evening, trying to photograph him eating Junebugs. He was too fast. Maybe one shot worked--I have to check. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 31 Jul 09 - 12:03 AM We are into the dog days of summer, though (knock on wood) we have had no stretches of upper 90 's to lower 100's yet. All-in-all it has been a more moderate summer, so far, temperature-wise, than we have had in several years. It has been pretty dry here since mid to late June, but I am greatful for the adequately wet spring and early summer, after a few years of hard drought and searing temperatures from mid-June on. The past couple of weeks there have been widely scattered showers in the area, and an occasional brief downpour, but mostly high humidity and the unrealized promise of late afternoon or evening showers. The clouds start to pile up, the humidity spikes, there might even be a little wind or lightning in the distance, and then one accepts that a few miles off, it is someone else's turn for a little shower. I await August with curiosity. I always think of August as a time of peril in the Southern perennial garden. If I was going to lose plants to heat, humidity, and drought, August is when it was mostly likely to happen. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maire-aine Date: 25 Jul 09 - 05:23 PM Rain has been in the forecast all week, but it kept missing my yard. Finally got a good soaking rain yesterday, and for a while this morning. I took a 60-mile ride out to a great local nursery called Arrowhead Alpines , and bought several plants that I haven't been able to find anywhere else. I love this place, so it's a good thing it's a good thing I only go there once a year. If you're ever looking for something unusual, check them out. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 25 Jul 09 - 05:19 PM I wish you all continued gardening success. m |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Jul 09 - 01:06 PM 800! (tomatoes, that is!) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Jul 09 - 01:06 PM We've created quite a large gardening thread this year, what with not only gardening but deer fences and related activities. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Jul 09 - 11:55 AM I processed four 1-quart jars of tomato juice and five 1/2 pint jars of sauce last night, but there are more tomatoes awaiting. I think this will become a weekly event for the next couple of months. Hot again today, need to go back to watering. We do have a small chance of rain for the next few days, which probably means it will be muggy for a while. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 25 Jul 09 - 11:42 AM Congratulations on the finished project, Bobert! It's been close to 100 in the afternoon the last few days, but last night we had a good rain. Raspberries are just starting to ripen. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 24 Jul 09 - 09:10 AM Well, we've been busy with my son and his wife who are visisting from Oregon but we did finish the last 3 acres of deer fencing around the house and the pond... The veggies garden is also enclosed so it has double coverage as it allready had deer fencing... The deer fencing, however, is no match for pesky racoons... One ate the only tomato that was close to being ripe on Tuesday night so we set the trap for him the following night... He got the bait but we didn't get him so I reset it last night and got him... We're going to take him off today to his new home... It is ****so**** nice not having to worry about deer anymore!!! And the bear hasn't made any attempt to breech the new fence, as well... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 24 Jul 09 - 01:12 AM Hard to believe, but we had another rainy day. It's like the "monsoon" that normally hits the Chihuahuan Desert has shifted to the right and we're getting it instead. The new tomatoes are looking right at home and putting on height in the same general area where I had a couple of other plants. I've made an attempt to give these better drainage. I'll pick up some quart jars tomorrow and can some more juice and sauce. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 23 Jul 09 - 07:51 AM Regarding the late blight warnings- We dug our first potatoes of the year yesterday, and all are sound and unblemished. Happy gardening, maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 21 Jul 09 - 12:51 PM I hope I'll have time to see your and ragdall's photos soon. We're too busy working the farm and cleaning out the house there's not much time left for posting, etc. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Jul 09 - 11:13 AM Quite a flurry of conversation on the Mudcat group thread. I put up a few more photos, as did ragdall. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 20 Jul 09 - 05:47 PM So, I pulled out most of the beans, and it cooled right down. Today it has been heavily overcast and is raining. Who knew such a sacrifice would reap such a reward. We had a big gully-washer last night, then today it has been wonderful. I'll wait a couple of weeks and see what else I can pull out if that will make it rain a gentle rain all day. 18 1/2 pint jars of mustang grape jelly labeled and put up! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 18 Jul 09 - 08:49 AM Sounds like it's too hot fir them, Magz... Wait until the last week of August or first week of Septmeber and replant 'um... Our beans are probably a couple weeks away... Yeah, venison... I don't eat no 4-legged animals myself but the P-Vine does... I wish they would have deer season all year 'round... The ol' mountain people will telll ya' that the meat is good any time of the year... Plus, they are a national pest... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Jul 09 - 01:38 AM Processing seven pints of 'maters. A couple of those are just juice, but it is so good in soup or beans. Tomorrow, the big push to pick grapes, and I'm going to try to talk my friend into entering mustang grape jelly at the State Fair this year. (He won the blue ribbon for his strawberry jelly last year.) About ready to pull out a few big, leggy, mite-ridden tomato plants and move to a fresh spot and plant some new ones for fall. The type called Super Fantastic has been a winner for me this year, along with some largish cherry tomatoes. (I froze a whole cookie sheet of them this evening, skin and all, and will bag them tomorrow. The skins slip right off after they've been frozen.) Watching the corn. I had to use BT this week, another worm chowing down in the flowering parts. Who knows what we'll get there. I have a question: the bush beans have lots of flowers but very few beans. They're all leaf, and kind of sloppy. Time to pull them out? Will they start putting out more beans when it cools, or should I start some new ones for fall? SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 Jul 09 - 09:15 PM Surely venison would be a nice addition to the diet? Who would be the wiser? I suppose you'd have to do all of the butchering yourself, though, if it is out of season (most likely). Canning tonight. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 17 Jul 09 - 08:20 PM Well yeah, I have been remiss... We are about to take on "Deer Fence, Part B" which means another 1200 feet or so which will protect then gardens around our house and even down to the pond field... When this is done (Wednesday) we will have peace from most animals... I had a 300 pound bear less than 20 feet from the house the other day... He was just snoppin' around... Last night the deer came into the gardens around the house and ate half of a smoke bush/tree... Then ate flox... Lirope... Whatever... The morons will eat anything... The P-Vine was in tears this morning... Sje wanted me to stay up all night tonight and shoot anything that moved... 5 more days to freedom... The only thing protected now are the veggies which are doing fine... A little late but fine... We'll be like Maggie in 3 weeks with tomatoes comin' outta our ears... That's about it for now... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: peregrina Date: 17 Jul 09 - 10:51 AM thanks for your replies MMario and SRS--I hope I can get some seeds or another stem... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 Jul 09 - 10:44 AM Often time a flower that has died through a mechanical accident (storm, misplaced weed whacker, mowed, etc.) will quickly set seeds as it dies, if the flower was pollinated. Keep any eye on it. I've seen that in some in my yard (usually larger flowers with a little more stored energy in the stem to work with). SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 17 Jul 09 - 09:51 AM it may grow back. some hollyhocks act as biennials, some as short lived perennials. If this particular plant is the latter, then it should grow back. if it had been bloomin a few days you MIGHT get some viable seed frm the oldest pods. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: peregrina Date: 17 Jul 09 - 09:45 AM hours of pelting rain, strong winds, and now a beautiful huge door-side hollyhock that had grown up in a crack in the paving has blown down--all three stalks, despite attempts to support the last two. Can a new one grow from the remaining root? Can I save seeds from a plant that had only just come into flower? plant the brokens stalks? No answers from a short google search, so if any knows, I'd be glad if info. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 Jul 09 - 03:29 PM I guess each of us is outstanding in our field this week. (Not posting!) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 Jul 09 - 01:24 AM I don't have a huge operation like Bobert, but I'm loaded up with tomatoes right now. This is the busy window sill and counter staging area. This is what my fridge looks like this evening. I'll be canning tomorrow and again on Saturday. A few jars here, a few jars there, and it adds up. I didn't go out and pick again this evening, but there were quite a few, so I expect another gallon at least by noon. I pick a couple of times a day, they ripen so fast. I bring them in when they start turning pink to beat some of the birds and other predators. They'll be fully ripe out there in the morning so I hope I don't have an overnight attack. I put BT on the corn and tomatoes and eggplant after the sun went down, that should help. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Jul 09 - 11:16 AM Grrrrr. Got into the poison ivy when picking grapes. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 13 Jul 09 - 05:54 AM Thanks, Kat. It was. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: katlaughing Date: 12 Jul 09 - 11:26 PM Happy Anniversary, maeve and Truelove!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 12 Jul 09 - 02:10 PM My Truelove and I celebrated our wedding anniversary today by cleaning up the mess that was our farm stand, rebuilding it with reinforcement and wind-stability in mind, and changing around the layout of the plant benches. I brought out several new flats of herb and lettuce seedlings as well as the rest of the potted perennials I had ready for sale. I'll be re-potting the dumped plants for the next few days. One benefit of being out at the stand for so many hours this morning is that several people stopped, and I do now have some bulk orders for some roses and bee balm, and a neighbor will be returning for a couple of apple trees. Of all the gardens we have tended during the course of our lives, the most beautiful and strong is the garden of our marriage. We are thankful. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 11 Jul 09 - 07:03 PM The spinach is up, the second plantings of peas and beans are sprouting, and the farm stand dumped completely over with all the little pots of perennials out of their pots. Happy gardening! maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Jul 09 - 01:15 PM I've reached a critical mass--all of my large Tupperware bowls are in the fridge, heaped with ripe tomatoes. There are tomatoes in little bowls also and tucked into nooks and crannies. It is time to do some canning. I also went out this morning and picked 2/3 bucket of this year's mustang grape crop hanging on the trees in the woods across the road. I am debating whether to juice them now to see how they look, or go ahead and freeze them and use them in a steam juicer later. Right now I don't have room in the fridge for them, hence the need to can tomatoes. I think you could call this an 'embarrassment of riches' though in fact it is what I was aiming for--enough stuff to preserve for the rest of the year. I'm having a BLT for lunch today, then I'll get to the canning. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 11 Jul 09 - 08:53 AM The motion detector animal deterrant seems to be working to some degree. I have them set up in places where the neighbor's dogs used to run into my yard. Not as many piles of poop in those spots, but still finding them in back where people walk their dogs down the alley and let them "go" in my lawn. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 11 Jul 09 - 08:01 AM Well, seems that with the very few customers that the P-Vine is getting at the garden center that she is buying (at cost plus 5%) plants here and threre for our gardens... Yesterday she rescued a hybrid mountain laural leaving just one left for sale... Plus two ferns... This is just like when she worked for Merrifield Garden Center when her pay checks came home with root balls and pots... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Sooz Date: 11 Jul 09 - 03:41 AM We've just returned from holiday and it took some hard work to find the garden! I carried armfuls of 3ft lettuce and spinach plus a bucketful of sugarsnap peas over to the lady across the road for her free ranging chickens! They are having a big feast. The salad crops I sowed before we went away are all ready to eat, though and the raspberries and blackcurrants are croping well. For the first time we have tried pink fir apple potatoes which are amazing. I've never seen such big potato plants and the crop is pretty heavy as well. Scrummy. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 11 Jul 09 - 02:41 AM The white yarrow tends to wander freely, much more than the other colors. All are great for beneficial insects. I think your beautiful yellow will be fine. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: katlaughing Date: 11 Jul 09 - 12:52 AM Hmmm...I haven't had any problem with it, Alice. That tall one is actually two plants and they have stayed exactly where I planted them for the past 4-5 years. Likewaise the other two at the end of the plant bed. I'd love it if they did take over most of the front yard as I would prefer a yard of flowers to grass...they take less water and are prettier!*bg* Thanks for the warning, though. I will keep an eye on them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 10 Jul 09 - 07:35 PM I had some white yarrow seed in a wildflower mix about 18 years ago that I scattered in one flower bed. Unfortunately, yarrow takes over and spreads, killing out everything around it. I have huge areas of my lawn that yarrow has taken over. Hope you can keep it corralled, Kat. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: katlaughing Date: 10 Jul 09 - 07:04 PM Oh! I wnat an Aloha rose, now, too! That's gorgeous and I love that you said it has a strong scent. I don't why they even have roses that don't smell much, but i have noticed a lot of them that way. Thank, SRS and maeve. If either of you have any uses for yarrow I would be happy to cut some and send it on. It grows along roads here, even and is one plant, along with Russian Sage, which is used for ubiquitous landscaping around banks and other office buildings because they take such little care and are so well-suited for the high desert climate. I have a Russian Sage out back. I'll get a picture of it soon. This is the tallest the yarrow has ever grown and I've had it about 4-5 years now. It is at least six feet as I am 5.2 and it is definitely taller than I! At the other end of the perennial patch are yellow and red yarrows. They get more sunshine and, until this year, didn't grow very well. This year, they have sprouted up to about 3-4 feet and look much better. Not as full, but beautiful in their own effort. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 10 Jul 09 - 06:37 PM Janie- I was admiring some Aloha roses at the feedstore the other day. I want some, are you surprised? Kat- What a pretty and healthy yarrow! It's early to bed for me tonight. We've been going since 4 this morning. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 Jul 09 - 05:20 PM Beautiful, Kat! And that is a lovely rose, Janie. I've been picking produce several times a day. I'm bringing in a couple of quarts of tomatoes a day. Peppers are still producing, though not as fast. The beans seem to have pooped out. I'm going to bring in some carrots soon (I've been eating them gradually as I thin them). The cosmos I planted from seed are just now beginning to open. The Texas star hibiscus are lovely, several blooms on each of the plants, and the cannas that were transplanted a year ago are almost 8 feet tall back in their corner. They seem very happy--they only grew to about 4 feet in the original location. I've picked my first couple of eggplants. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: katlaughing Date: 10 Jul 09 - 01:17 PM I have had a lot of trouble with annuals, of all things, this year. Some got too wet, others too dry, and several were in soil that should never have been sold it was bad. My fault for rushing and trying to use it anyway. Anywho, I have had some success with new perennials, most of which were planted last fall when they were on sale and have taken some pix: CLick Here. They are not the best, but at least you can see some of their beauty. Anyone who would like yarrow seeds, let me know. I also have a really pretty red one. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 09 Jul 09 - 04:38 PM Truelove planted more gladiolus bulbs. Folks around here seem to think there's no point in trying to have vegetable gardens this year with all the rain. We just keep poking in seeds and such and they all grow. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 07 Jul 09 - 10:59 PM Smokers tend to kill roses. They don't like the nicotine on your hands, so that's the mystery of it for some gardeners. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 07 Jul 09 - 10:43 PM Ain't got no cukes, but the tomatoes in pots are doing well enough to convince me that I can plant a small veggie garden next year, if I can find the time, energy and $$ for materials to get the raised beds in by fall. I'm pretty sure there is enough sun, if I encroach a little on the town right-of-way, for two 3' or 4' x 10' and possibly another 3'x 6' bed running beside them but perpendicular to them in orientation. My struggle is going to be with deciding whether to put it all in veggies, or use some of the space to plant some roses or full-sun perennials. I love roses, maeve, though in this region they all look awful from black spot by mid-summer. I don't have the time to stay on top of the spraying needed - and that is whether or not one uses organic methods. We bought our old bungalow in Hillsborough from the son of the folks who had built it in 1914. (actually bought it from the lady of the house, but she was in a nursing home in PA by then, so we never met her.) She and her husband were both textile mill workers and people who loved to garden. We bought it in August and moved into it in November. The gardens had been severely neglected for a number of years, and we had no idea of what was there. In the spring, several old, neglected roses began to send out sporatic blooms, and I fell in love. (and earlier, heirloom daffodil, narcissus and hyacinth began to bloom in the midst of grass and weeds, then some hardy carnations and pinks, and the stray crocus) Worked hard to restore and renew them all, but especially the roses. My favorites were a polyanthus rose that the daughter-in-law told me the Missus had brought from Benson when the family moved here in 1914, and which sports different colors ranging from pink, to coral, to orange to red quite freely, and an old rose that was somewhat desease resistant that I dubbed the Thelma Neighbors rose after the Missus because I could not identify it. I saw it growing in a few other yards throughout the old mill village district of Hillsborough. It propogates very easily by cutting a semi-hard cane, sticking it in the ground, and firming the soil around it. I made up a story in my head about one of the millworker ladies getting the rose for a Mother's Day or birthday gift, then passing along cuttings to friends and co-workers at the mill, Flint Fabrics (now closed.) It is a a wonderfully fragrant rose, and the color varies with temperatures from clear, pale, pink to a deeper pink with a tinge of coral. The blooms were the densely double of old garden roses, but the shape and the repeat bloom suggested a hybrid tea. It was more desease resistant than most hybrid teas, but still suffered significantly from black spot unless treated with dormant oil in winter and sprayed weekly with neem oil during summer. I propogated it and passed it on to a number of fellow gardeners who admired it over the years. About 3 weeks before I moved, one of those gardeners finally keyed it out. It is an early hybrid tea, introduced somewhere around 1925, if my memory serves me, and is called Aloha. As I got more and more involved with gardening, I had less and less time to tend to my darlin' roses. I finally reached a point where I fertilized them well in late winter or early spring, pruned them in January, loved their glorious blooms in mid-spring before black spot defoliated them, and viewed them as trap crops for japanese beetles come June. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 07 Jul 09 - 08:52 PM We have started Diva and Lemon Cucumbers, Bobert. It's been too cold and wet before. Other years we had good luck with one of the Marketmore strains. Roses aren't for everyone, but I do love them, wild or cultivated. These have really been happy after last year's generous doses of manure compost, alfalfa pellets, and fish emulsion. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 07 Jul 09 - 08:20 PM Oh, the guilt... I just trashed a mamouth wild rose bush with my tractor... lool... Actually, I have the deepest respect for anyone who is willing to grow roses... We bought several from Jackson and Perkins a couple three years ago but gave them away after discovering that we really didn't have the DNA for grwing and appreciating them... So, my hat is off to you, maeve... With the deer moving in around the house every night we are in full-speed-ahead on the next (and last) deer fence project... I pulled down some very old fence tonight with my tractor and Thursday my backhoe buddy is going to push over the last 6 "paradise tree" and some old fence posts to get ready for new fence posts which will hold the deer fence... Seems that this project is going to take a couple weeks but when it is done, we will indeed have peace from these creatures... BTW, what kinda cukes is everyone growin'??? B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 07 Jul 09 - 07:46 PM With the torrential rains from which we appear to be emerging, we'll forgo planting a second block of corn, and tuck in a few more tomatoes, beets, lettuce, kale, chard, beans, peas (snow, snap, and shelling), carrots, basil, and onions. I added the shelling peas to the perimeter of the corn block for added nitrogen and to help anchor the corn roots if we get another big summer wind. Roses in bloom include Maiden's Blush, Dark Lady, Iceberg, an old double red nameless, William Baffin, New Dawn, Red Grootendorst, Topaz Jewel, Bonica, Fair Bianca, Sea Foam, Carefree Beauty, Schneekopf... several more here and there and some not yet in bloom. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 06 Jul 09 - 08:54 PM Just sprayed molasses on the lawn to feed the worms and microbes, and the lightening started as I finished... then began a real gullywasher with hail. We've had one of the wettest springs in a long time, finally helping to end years of drought. Our climate is arid here anyway, so drought on top of being a dry high country climate makes it pretty hard to garden. RE: harvesting.... I hope to have some green beans before it snows this fall!! I have about 4 leaves on the little bush green beans that have sprouted. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 06 Jul 09 - 08:13 PM Notes from the Virginia Blue Ridge: First of all, Alice, great to have you back in yer gardens... Heals lots of stuff that nuthin' else can heal... But Zone 4??? That is brutal!!! We're 6B and that is cold enough, thank you... We are finally eating yellow squash and zucinni out of the garden... The P-Vine fried up some tonight... It was extra yummy seein' as it's been since last year since we've had it... We have decided to "deer fence" another 2-3 acres that will include our pond field and our house and the planting around it... I realize that it will be another big project but once done there won't be much left that the sumabiches can eat... Last night they came right up to the house and mowed down several hostas... I mean, down to the ground... That was it... We finally have realized that we will have no peace until we can keep the deer away from all of our gardens... That's it fir now... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 06 Jul 09 - 01:05 PM If you've ever wondered if Bacillus thuringensis (BT) really works, I had an excellent demonstration today. I've been using it every week to ten days, as a drench over my garden crop plants and onto the ground around them. This weekend I have been watering some untreated potted plants from my next door neighbor's back yard. She toted them around to the side in front so I can get to them without having to unlock her gate. Yesterday I killed one hornworm on a hanging plant, and this morning was astonished to find five of them on the skeletal remains of one of her other pots that was resting on the ground. Four were full-sized, one was about half that. I've had hornworm problems in previous years, but was too frugal with the BT. This year I want to keep my plants going. I'm not spraying, I don't want to harm butterflies, but I do want to keep these garden bulldozers out of my solanaceae plants that they favor (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potatoes). These are about 15 feet away from my lush tomato plants. I'm planning to give her some of my overage--it's funny, because she's the one that turned me on to organic gardening. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 06 Jul 09 - 11:51 AM That tree info is really helpful. When the two groves of aspens were planted, the landscape designer put down a weed barrier cloth that is probably now too tight around the base of the trunks, so I need to cut that back more. The organic amendment product on the dirt doctor site look really interesting. I've used garlic and fish emulsion on the trees before, but not vinegar, cornmeal, etc. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 06 Jul 09 - 10:01 AM Nice gentle soaking rain last night. Wonderful! Found a toad in the dogs' pool again, but this guy was alive and well and treading water. I forgot to carry the bricks over to the new location (it's a child's wading pool the pit bull uses to cool off and they both drink out of it). I move it around the yard to keep the grass alive under it. Picked a few more bagworms off of the juniper this morning, and I haven't finished digging out the extra dirt around the roots. Once it can breathe more easily I'll do the sick tree treatment. http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/2840/ SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 06 Jul 09 - 06:12 AM Welcome back to gardening, Alice. I appreciate your delight in reclaiming your gardens. I've had similar issues with more recent injuries. Janie- Mail order; what a kind thought. I'll let your know, thanks. We are in USDA 5a, and we plant for zone 4 whenever possible. We do have the long daylight this time of year, and the short day and long darktime of the winter, though the contrast is not as extreme as it is in Scotland, say, or Alaska. We're in Midcoast Maine, and have some of the few gardens that were not washed away by the rains of the last couple of months. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 06 Jul 09 - 12:17 AM My kitchen window is packed as full of ripening tomatoes as it can be, and an entire shelf in the fridge is filled with bowls of ripe fruit. Gotta blanch and freeze or can starting tomorrow. I had intended to do some today, but I had other chores that needed doing first. Jury duty on Tuesday (hopefully only one day, but who knows?) so I probably need to get this finished tomorrow. Things are kind of collapsing under the weight of fruit. Tomatoes have toppled over in their cages all over the garden. Peppers look like they're decorated for christmas. The largest eggplant has several fruits, one almost ready to pick. When I first few them I remember watching it grow and wondering when to pick it. Now it's second nature, as is spotting and destroying pests at their first appearance, not after they've been around for a while. Now I weed, water, and poke around looking for fruits, keeping in mind that this is a region with a wide variety of biting critters. Reaching down into plants is best done slowly. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 06 Jul 09 - 12:05 AM Here's a magazine published in my town... "Zone 4 Magazine, Living in the High Country West". http://www.zone4magazine.com/index.php |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 05 Jul 09 - 11:55 PM I was injured badly from a fall in Dec. of 2006, could not use my right arm much, and then from a dislocation of my atlas from that fall, developed Trigeminal Neuraligia. Eventually someone x-rayed last year and found why I had the TN and put the atlas back in place. With all that pain, I've barely been able to handle getting through the work of my job, so yard work had to wait a few years. This is the first time in 3 years I've been able to do gardening. Alice |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 05 Jul 09 - 11:52 PM Well, every year is a bit different, but this year we've had more rain and cool weather so it's late spring feeling now. Most things, except for bedding plants from the nursery, are not yet in a blooming stage let alone anywhere near harvesting. My raspberries today have both flowers and just the beginning of tiny green berries. I'm at about 5,000 ft. above sea level in a large valley in the Rockies in western Montana. The latitude is 45 degrees north. The USDA hardiness zone is 4 We have summer usually in August unless July is summer and August start feeling like fall, or it's one of those years when it can snow any time. ;-) The winter is deep snow and at least 2 weeks of below zero temps. Because of that, we really appreciate summer. Alice |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 05 Jul 09 - 11:22 PM Alice, you may have said earlier and I have forgotten, but are you in the process of restoring and renovating a garden you installed years ago that got ahead of you as life made other demands? Whether or not that is the case, sounds like you are doing a lot of hard work. I bet it will feel very satisfying after the bones and muscles stop hurting:>) Not just your climate, but your ecosystem is so very different from mine, and I really enjoy reading about the work you are doing. maeve, let me know if you get to a place where you are interested and able to do a bit of mail order of plants. maeve and Alice, what USDA zone are you in? And to help me understand further what that means, in terms of plant growth and harvest time of things like tomatoes and snap beans, do you consider it to be mid or late spring, or early summer? It is interesting to me to think about what it means for gardening in different places. Bobert is only about 5 hours north of me, but is at a much higher elevation. We are one zone apart. Normally he is a couple of weeks behind me, and as he has noted, is getting a late start this year because of wet weather. However, because he doesn't get the intense and long summer heat that we get here on the Piedmont, the delay doesn't mean he has missed his shot at most cool weather crops. Maggie is significantly further south than am I, but we are closer in elevation, and both of us get intense summer heat. I'm in zone 7a, but most gardeners in this area agree that we are closer to zone 7b, and many plants that are classified as cold hardy to zone 8 can be grown here with just a little winter mulch protection. I have also grown perennials supposedly only hardy to zone 9 with heavy mulch protection. (of course, there is always the risk of a lengthy and really cold snap that will kill them off, even with protection, but we haven't had many intensely cold snaps in a number of years, and have not had a lengthy intensely cold period for 15 years. I remember that because the last one was the winter my son was born.) Maggie's season is a few weeks earlier than mine, but both of us are limited by long, hot summers in terms of both early and late season crops. However, she is far enough south that she gets more day length early spring and late fall, which has an effect on those early and late season cool weather crops. maeve, I think in Maine, you get significantly longer day length in summer than do Bobert, Maggie or I. Not sure about you Alice. I think you are much higher in elevation, but don't know how much further north you are. I know we can all do succession planting, but heat and day length probably play nearly as big a role as last and first frost date. We may not have frost here until late October, but tomato production falls off sharply due to shorter days well before lower temperatures are a significant factor. I can sow kale or turnips in very late summer and get a small fall harvest, but most of the harvest from fall sowings will come the following spring. Because of late heat and high soil temperatures, it is very hard to get a fall crop of lettuce in before frost. I can get a small crop of baby salad greens, but even under cold frames, day length comes into play for successful fall and winter salad crops. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 05 Jul 09 - 05:09 PM AAhhhhhh finished with the front aspen grove/nanking cherry and the flower bed beneath it. What a battle. I had to get help from my neighbor with a chainsaw to take out one of the young aspens that was riddled with borers that had been missed when the arbor guy worked there in June. I kept thinking, " I AM a Green Coalition Logger!" I found the oregano and lemon balm... they had reseeded themsleves to new spots. I uncovered a rose, many sages (herb) and daylilies and found some columbine and daisies. Also, some cotoneaster, lily of the valley, and currant. It's been a neglected jungle in there for years, and now it is all pruned to get better light, dead stuff taken out, and thistles and invasive grasses whacked down. Now I have only one neglected flower bed left to fix. It's long and wide, full of weeds, invasive grass, stuff I want to keep like tulips and poppies and iris and columbines mixed in with the stuff I need to clean out. It's against the front of the house, the aspen grove not quite hiding it now from the street. It needs major remediation, as it is part of the front facing landscape. All in all, a very satisfying gardening weekend. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Jul 09 - 03:24 PM I'm watering my next door neighbor's potted plants for a few days while they're out of town. One of her tomatoes had shrunk considerably overnight, and I easily found the tobacco hornworm--I've gotten to where I do a running battle with those guys every summer. I squashed this one, though I often toss them in the woods across the road. They become the sphinx moth which is a good pollinator, but kids are a real challenge. I've decided to make more use of the BT this summer. I'm very careful where I use it, and I don't spray it, but I've used it in a drench over and around my tomatoes. Fingers crossed this will keep the hornworms out. I'm also an old hand at spotting the damage of lacebugs on my eggplants, and have removed several little clusters already. This year I am breaking off the leaves they attack and tossing them into a layer in the compost. If I miss a few with my masking tape removal method when they're aphid-sized, or don't get all of the eggs, they can grow and do more mischief. More surgery, fewer bandaids this year. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 04 Jul 09 - 11:47 PM Getting too dark, so I had to finally stop pruning and come inside. Now a little ibuprofen for the aching back.... It has been over 3 years since I worked in that apsen grove. I did put weed mat down when I created it about 18 years ago, so at least that will help in cleaning out the grass and weeds that spread in the flower bed under the aspens. I did find all the groups of daylilies that were planted there and started to clean out the sage that had died back. Good thing it's a 3 day weekend, there's so much more to do in the yard. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Jul 09 - 11:34 PM Here's a link. We're bringing in several pounds of tomatoes a day, so just in time for the produce preservation season I finished defrosting my big freezer. I will freeze some and can the rest. And people who know about my garden tomatoes (my daughter and her boyfriend) sometimes drop by for BLTs. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 04 Jul 09 - 02:23 PM See the thread with that title, Bobert. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 04 Jul 09 - 02:20 PM Green Coalition of Gay Loggers for Jesus??? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 04 Jul 09 - 01:41 PM All done marching with the Green Coalition of Gay Loggers for Jesus, led the singing for God Bless America, now back home and will finish planting the rock garden. Ten plants that will fill it out nicely! The bush beans are coming up, the perennial native sweet peas are thriving. I still need to clear out my front grove of aspens and the Nanking cherry.... years of stuff grew up underneath the branches, so I need to get in there and thin out the herb sage and select the baby aspens that need to be encouraged. I think my oregano and lemon balm were crowded out under the canopy. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 04 Jul 09 - 01:20 PM I spent an hour in the veggie garden this mornin' wedding and mulching the okra... Seems that we have been too buzy with the deer fence and runnimng the garden center that our usually good veggie garden habits have taken a back seat and now we are playing catch-up... Only a few more areas around the lower row of tomatoes to weeda dn mulch and we'll be caught up.. The P-Vine has decided that running this garden center is going to be a one year deal and that if she wants to run a garden center next year that we'll set up our own... Yeah, for the time she puts in there for the little compensation she's workin' for about minimum wage... Meanwhile the folks at the Co-op anin't all that "co-op"erative in helping to keep stuff watered and the manager all but refuses to do any advertising... He's a farmer and thinks like a farmer and not like a businessman... Oh well... We certainly know how to do it if we want to and I own the perfect little piece of ground for a garden center... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Jul 09 - 12:11 PM So tell us about Burdock? Yesterday I took a close look at an ornamental juniper tree beside the garden. It has been looking particularly ratty, and it turns out it was covered with bag worms. Ugg. I filled about 1/3 of a bucket with the things, which were wiggling away and starting to drag their bags out of the bucket. I poured them all into one of the plastic sleeves the newspaper comes in, tied off the top, and let them cook in the sun. It's now in the trash. Howard Garrett (the Dirt Doctor) says that when a plant is attacked like this that it is in stress and makes it a target for insects and disease. I look and found that this tree is buried too deep. Not a surprise--most of my trees are. I planted them in 2002 at the level of the dirt in the pot, maybe even a little deeper, before I started listening to Garrett on the radio and before he discovered this problem. Nurseries plant trees in a few inches of dirt in a pot and then before shipping they dump in several more inches of dirt so the plant looks more established, whatever. If you don't take that dirt off the plant can actually slowly suffocate. They clearly fail to thrive. The swell at the bottom of the tree needs to be exposed and then the tree will be much healthier. So I watered and scratched off several inches, and I'll water and scratch off some more today. BT on the plant to kill any more worms still crawling around, another pass to remove bags I missed, and some good fertilizer and the "sick tree treatment" (see Dirt Doctor). Bag worms are best removed with dormant oil application in winter, I think, but I can go a long way to making them scarce by working on the ground around it now. Tomatoes are coming in at the rate of a couple of quarts a day. I'm going to be defrosting my big freezer today and I'm also going to be doing some canning this weekend. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 04 Jul 09 - 08:25 AM I'm going to order one, fir sure... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 03 Jul 09 - 10:10 PM The local nursery had everything small 1/2 price today! I still had to fill out the rock garden I created next to the juniper that I pruned last month into a bonsai shape.... so I was able to load up on a lot of 4" pots of perennials for the rock garden for only $2 each. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 03 Jul 09 - 10:09 PM You did well getting it at that price, Alice. Unfortunately that's the total farm stand income for June, thanks to the rain all month. I'll keep watching yard sales. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 03 Jul 09 - 10:05 PM Maeve, I bought my Grandpa's Weeder from the tv shopping channel. It was a lot cheaper than the web site I linked to. It's on Amazon.com for $21.59. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 03 Jul 09 - 09:57 PM I like that tool, Alice. It would be good working weeds out beside tree roots. If I ever see one at a yard sale I'll snag it. Reminds me of a bulb planter I want. We enjoyed our first lettuce of the year. We're picking from self- seeded plants; some romaine and some Jericho lettuce. We had close to three hours of sunshine today! maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 03 Jul 09 - 09:45 PM Actually, Bobert, it is best for tap root weeds. I've used it on tall thistles and more, pulling them out along with their tap root. Give us a review once you've bought one and tried it out. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 03 Jul 09 - 08:24 PM That's a purdy cool weeder, too, Alice and will get most of them... But it won't get burdock which has a major tap root which is up to 10 inches long... But I might get one of grandpa's for other weeds... As for beets, this was not a good year for them... I planted at least 30 and we may get a dozen... That is flat out bad... But we got a bumper crop of spionich which we have now harvested and in vacuum paked bags in the freezer... Our cucumber plant is now pumpin' them out at a reat of 3 per day, as is the yellow squash... The P-Vine is so in love with the deer fence that we put up that she is going to make (have) me put up another 750 feet around our pond field... That will be good because of the light and all we will be able to plant that field in azaleas... We now have over a thousand of them in heeling beds, pts, etc... It would be worth it to just get them in one place where they are happy and the deer can't get to them... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 03 Jul 09 - 12:54 PM Speaking of weeding tools.... I have the BEST I've ever found. Grandpa's Weeder. http://www.garrettwade.com/grandpas-weeder/p/65P01.01/ I've replaced the handle on it once. You just push the gripping spikes into the heart of the weed and lean the lever against the ground, the grips close and grab the weed and you lever it out of the dirt, root and all... no stooping. It's the BEST if you're trying to get the roots out. Alice |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 03 Jul 09 - 09:40 AM Huzzah, gnu! You did all the work. Your success makes my day. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: gnu Date: 03 Jul 09 - 09:27 AM I planted beets on May 12. I planted beets on May 28. No beets. I asked maeve what I should do.... could put down newspaper to control weeds and then 3 to 4" of compost. I put down 4" of compost and planted beets on Sunday, June 28 at noon. I went to water the plot this moring. I got beets up the wazoo! Thanks maeve! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 03 Jul 09 - 08:30 AM Bobert, If you're serious about finding a use for your burdock, you may be able to sell the roots (first year plants, I think) to an organic/whole foods store in your area. They are said to be tasty. I'll aim for some better posts in the future, fellow gardeners. I'm too tired to do much now. I'm enjoying reading others' writing. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Pierre Le Chapeau Date: 03 Jul 09 - 08:21 AM Hi folks. I used a product called Bug Clear. Lupins regenerating well just had a great downpour and thunder storm so the grounds had a great watering and it cleared the Air much fresher outside . good growing weather Pierre.. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 03 Jul 09 - 07:40 AM Dry here on the Virgina Blue Ridge... Been running the oscillator all day... Nice to be sitting over some monsterous cavern filled with water... Thinking about harvesting my burdock root... I bougth the coolest weeder at Plow and Hearth... It is a shovel that is "T" shaped so that only a long skinny blade goes into the ground... That's all one needs to get Mr. Burdock root and all... Great tool!!! Anyone need any burdock root??? B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 03 Jul 09 - 01:44 AM Here on the Peidmont of North Carolina we are on the cusp of high summer. It is getting dry, which always happens, even in good years, because throughout high summer nearly all rain is from hit or miss thunderstorms that quickly run off before penetrating our heavy clay soil. A cicada, the first I have seen this season, was clinging to a window screen this morning. They, and other insects are starting ttheir imperative search for mates. Tonight is the first night I have really noted the beginning of the high summer chorus as assorted insects in the trees begin their sedcuctive "singing" to attract their mates. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 03 Jul 09 - 01:02 AM Rats. I just lost a multi-topiced post. Not sure if it was me or mudcat that was the problem. Oh well. Won't try to replicate it, but will share what it started with, a recipe that includes stinging nettles that I particularly like. We used to fix this on a grate over a wood coals or on one of those cooking grills on posts common at picnic tables in state parks and forests. It would work fine in the oven or a dutch oven also. My early dates with my ex were usually foraging hikes in local state forests, or weekend camping trips in the mountains. When we expected to find stinging nettles, we'd bring along a cooler with a couple of chicken breast halves in a cooler, season them with wild onion and/or wild garlic, wrap them in stinging nettle leaves, then seal them in foil wrap and cook them on the grate until tender. Add a good bottle of wine, a loaf of sourdough, and a wild greens salad, and it makes a meal fit for a queen! PLC, keep us posted regarding how the whitefly issue develops (or hopefully does not develop) with the regrowth of your lupines. What product did you use? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Dorothy Parshall Date: 02 Jul 09 - 11:52 PM Horse tail is pre-historic and a great source of silica for those who need it. I never tried the sword fern but the children said it helped them? Haven't tried horsetail either though there is tons here. Avoidance and licking my wounds works for me. One of the best uses of burdock is the exercise one gets digging it out!! It occurs to me, I could just get rid of my - boxes and boxes of - books and just google everything. Wean myself from books??? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Jul 09 - 11:19 PM There's no liquid to speak of in sword fern. The nearby plant that is supposed to help with stinging nettles (as opposed to "dry nettles" that look similar but don't sting) is Equisetum, or horse tail (also called scouring rush). A very ancient plant. If you want a good source of nitrogen in your diet, you can eat the nettles, but you have to boil them in water, drain it, and boil again. Much like the instructions you get for cooking skunk cabbage. Personally I can't say I'm tempted to try either. (For more of this information, look up the slim book on Ethnobotany by Erna Gunther). SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Pierre Le Chapeau Date: 02 Jul 09 - 08:35 PM Asad day for my Lupins. Hi folks due to the Whitefly attack on my Lupins I had no choice but to cut all the Lupins off at Ground level and place the plants in the trash. I found a earth friendly Whitefly killer spray and finished off the whitefly on the base plants and flooded the soil to kill off the rest. That was two days ago. Sucess I have not seen a single Whitefly since and my Lupins are already starting to resprout. They regenerate so quickly it amazing.I hope to have a second more sucessful batch of Lupins and flowers without Whitefly before the summer is over. Mother Nature works wonders. Best Regards to all Pierre. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 02 Jul 09 - 06:52 PM Alternative medicine uses for Burdock Brandeis info one more Bobert, here are three sample links to sites that may satisfy some of you curiosity. I am not formally trained as an herbalist. Some of my best herb books note that a decoction of burdock is good for healing deep wounds, whereas comfrey is effective for skin damage. Thanks for the jewelweed recipe, Janie. I have plenty of the same medicinals available, but right now I am driven to clean up and recover the gardens that have been ignored due to my forced absence from garden chores. Another week of rain in the forecast. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 02 Jul 09 - 05:51 PM So what medicina; qualities does burdock have, maeve??? I got a bumper crop this year... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Dorothy Parshall Date: 02 Jul 09 - 05:28 PM I believe Euell Gibbons was a proponent of eating poison ivy. I think it is in one of his books. A lecturer at the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station (1958) suggested drinking the milk of goats grazing on poison ivy. Hey, if everyone knew these things, the drug companies would go bust. And that would be wonderful, imo. Jewel weed is known as a preventive. It usually grows nearby and can simply be rubbed on skin after exposure to prevent or relieve effects. Stinging nettles are monsters here in the NW. I was informed recently that a sword fern leaf rubbed on will alleviate the pain. I found just licking it, if reachable, or using spit if not, helps amazingly. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Jul 09 - 01:53 PM I watered the corn again with BT. Those worms keep coming back, but I'm gradually getting some stalks. They're not quite waist high yet. What is the thing about mineral oil and the corn silk or ears, Janie? SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Jul 09 - 12:13 AM I figured that remark was misplaced, but I posted a response so if he/she came back they would realize we do read each post, not just gloss over them. He should do the same. That poison ivy approach sounds too radical. I got it so bad a few years ago I had to take the steroids for weeks. I'm going to spray the sprouts coming up around the mustang grapes, and after a week or so I'll go mow over there with the weed whacker (and long pants and sleeves!) I have cosmos in a bed that is partial shade. I've never grown them before, but the plant and leaves are coming up nicely and I think this will be a pleasant discovery. These were planted from seed. A friend in the area said they're very nice flowers in this area. Good! I also have lots of portulaca coming up in pots. They are so beautiful and so wonderfully tolerant of the heat. My beans aren't getting pollinated much so I put a pot and seeded it with portulaca nearby. Hopefully anything attracted to the flowers might then investigate the beans. I actually left some tomatoes out there this evening that I normally would bring in. My hands were full. I'll pick them in the morning. My windowsill is full of tomatoes and I have several bowls in the fridge. I may can a few jars this weekend just to get started on that enterprise. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 01 Jul 09 - 11:58 PM Reading maeve's description from several days ago about her pink roses in combination with blues and lavenders (if I remember correctly), I found myself thinking about all the happy accidents of color and form I have stumbled upon in my gardens over the years. One spring my sister was visiting and we were looking at a large bed with "Cerise Queen" yarrow, interplanted with red opium poppies, pink, white and blue larkspur and a touch of coreopsis grandiflora. It had started out as a yarrow bed, and the rest had self-sown from other near- by beds. Or in some rash and unthinking moment I had scattered seeds while deadheading the year before. Annie commented on how stunning it all looked together. We both laughed when I agreed, adding that I wish I had thought of it. it was pure accident. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 01 Jul 09 - 11:48 PM maeve, are you aware that young jewelweed shoots are a very tasty edible? Preparation and taste are similar to young snap beans. On Jewelweed and Poison Ivy Jewelweed is a very, very effective preventative for poison ivy. (I have often wondered if the common bedding impatiens is also, but have no idea.) Make a very strong decoction of the entire green plant- stems and leaves. Fill a large pot with the plants, cover with cold water and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30-45 minutes. Strain, squeezing as much liquid as you can out of the plants before discarding. Cool and refrigerate in a spray bottle (can also be frozen and thawed, though will begin to lose efficicacy if frozen more than a few months.) Either spray well with it before going out into the woods and weeds, reapplying every few hours, or spray and wipe down with it very thoroughly within 2 hours of exposure. It really works well, and is one of my ex's biggest sellers at the Farmer's Market. He also wholesales it to the local food coop and the local branch of Whole Foods Market. For the brave of heart, you can also innoculate yourself from poison ivy reactions - same principal as allergy shots. But do be very careful. I In very early spring, when the leaves first emerge and are tiny, start eating one tiny leaf a day. You may get a few blisters in your mouth, but the toxin is very weak at that stage. Keep eating a leaf or two daily as the plant grows for the next month or so. You will want to stop before the plants reach full potency. As you continue to eat the leaf, your immunity will build. As noted before, you may get a mild reaction in your mouth at first, but this is unlikely when the leaves are just emerging and very, very small. As you gradually increase the amount you eat (it will never be more than one or two leaves, and never full size leaves) or as the plants become more potent as they grow, stop for a few days until the rash is gone, then resume at a slightly smaller dose than what caused the rash. (Sometimes people will also get a rash around the rectum, especially if taking in too much, or increasing the dose too quickly. Do the same as for a mouth rash.) If you are extremely allergic (i.e. can get it from smoke or wind or petting the dog,) be sure you start absolutely as soon as the first leaves peek out, and take only a tiny bite. Do not continue if you get more than a very mild reaction to those first leaves. This is a pretty radical approach and is not without it's dangers, but my ex and my son are both pretty allergic, but are constantly working in the woods and meadows, digging sassafras or slippery elm, or wild yam roots, etc, and getting into poison ivy roots in the process, which are even more potent than the leaves. It has worked very, very well for them. Over time, the immunity builds up to the point that you need less of it and for a shorter period of time each spring. I can't remember when we started this with my son. We didn't feel comfortable trying it with him as a toddler, but I know we started him on this regime sometime between the ages of 4 1/2 and 5 1/2, and only after we knew he was pretty sensitive to poison ivy. (I rarely react to poison ivy - only when I really wallow in thick patches of it when the dew is heavy or it is wet from rain, or if I have been doing a lot of digging and had contact with the roots. We waited to see if Sum Yung Sun had inherited my relative immunity.) My ex learned about this approach from an old herb doctor he studied with in WV, "Catfish" Grey. He tried it out of desparation. Some of you know Mr Ex is an herbalist and wildcrafter. You can't do that and not get into poison ivy, and he was quite sensitive to it. One year, early on after he started wildcrafting, he was digging sassafras roots in wet weather and got into a large mass of poison ivy roots. He got it so badly that it entered his bloodstream and he nearly lost a leg. He knew he had to do something, so the following spring started eating it. It worked. He still uses jewelweed after coming in from working in places where it is thick, or if he has been digging where he is likely to have come in contact with roots. I miss my old garden roses, maeve. I bet your roses are lovely. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 01 Jul 09 - 10:11 PM Just found the correct home for that puzzling post at 06:52, SRS. The poster replicated his/her post in its intended thread, so the mistake can safely be removed. I suggest that we ask for the 06:52 post-by-error to be removed along with this one so as to avoid confusion. Thanks to whatever Moderator-type happens to amble along this way and feels moved to assist. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 01 Jul 09 - 10:01 PM SRS, I suspect that s&r is even now wondering where on earth his/her post went. Just a mistake, I think. Digging 3-5" burdocks out today, along with other medicinals in weed form; jewel weed, colts foot, mint, and the like. In so doing, I uncovered one of my rose beds I haven't been able to tend for a year or more. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 01 Jul 09 - 09:15 PM First cuke... Hooray... 'Maters ain't too far behind... Cut down three paradise trees and the deer are on them like ugly on a gorilla... If I wanted to fill my freezer with venison, I could do it in an hour... That includees the butcherin'... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 01 Jul 09 - 08:49 PM Sooooo cool, the glad and dahlia bulbs survived overwintering in pots, which I did not expect, and are now coming up among the petunias and marigolds that I planted in the pots this spring. I am so far north of most of you, just the idea of having anything to harvest makes me think of August. The buds on my raspberries are not even all blooming yet. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Jul 09 - 08:15 PM And this has WHAT to do with GARDENING? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: s&r Date: 01 Jul 09 - 06:52 PM I see that there are plans to rebroadcast the interview with MJ and Martin Bashir. I hope the family fight this: my view of the broadcast is that it shoved a naive immature person being pictured in a poor light by a publicity seeking journalistic machine. I thought it indefensible and heavily polarised towards the scandalous view. Stu |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Jul 09 - 06:51 PM Tomatoes tomatoes tomatoes. Picking them several times a day, a couple of handfuls each trip. I'll be doing some canning this weekend, to get a little practice and start the process of preserving next fall and winter's food. I love it! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 30 Jun 09 - 08:58 PM The mustang grapes are still quite green, but in a couple of weeks they'll be going full tilt in the tree across the road. I'm thinking about using a deer stand to reach some of them. I found a place to maybe get my hands on one. . . There is a lot of poison ivy coming up, so as much as I had herbicides, I hate poison ivy more, so I'm going to spritz the sprouts coming up in the grass. The ones that are away from the tree but that we would brush against coming and going. I'll also hit it with the weed whacker later, but for now, I'd like to kill that stuff. I lopped off some of the big vines that were growing up into this tree last year, so hopefully there won't be quite so much, though I'm sure it made a comeback this spring. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 30 Jun 09 - 08:51 PM Seems that we are sharing our berries (black raspberries and goose(wine)berries) with the crows... Not the best year for berries... Last year I had twice as many black raspberries... Maybe needs some manure for next year... May not have enough to make jam... That would be a bad thing 'cause that jam lasts all year... But we still have a couple weeks before they give out... Meanwhile the goose(wine)berries are startin' to come in... We've never made jam from them but maybe this year will the first... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maire-aine Date: 30 Jun 09 - 08:00 PM Got a birthday present from Mother Nature today: my black raspberries started to ripen. I found (and ate) about 8 of them this afternoon. There are more that are close, but I'll wait until tomorrow. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 30 Jun 09 - 04:38 PM I miss having a dog around... Sniff... Back in Wes Ginny, Janie, I had a 300 gallong rain barrel under my rear deck and had two downspouts going directly into it with an overflow... I mounted a 110 volt pump to it and tied it in with an underground hose that went back to the veggie garden... Then all I had to do was hit a switch and the there was enough pressure from that pump to work and air-rator sprinkler... Purdy cool... As for here, we have about 15 5 gallon buckets and one 40 gallon plastic trash can under the eve of one of the barns... About an inch of rain will fill 'um... But the plants shi nuff like rain water better than well water... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 30 Jun 09 - 03:34 PM We had a stray puppy in the yard last night for a few hours. He bonded with my dogs, and I went so far as to give him a quick bath to remove some of the seeds (burs) and fleas and let him in the dash around the back yard for a few minutes. Cinnamon loved it, Poppy was jealous. She chased also, but Cinnamon kept her away, and if I caught Cinnamon, Poppy barked at him, telling him to "bugger off" in so many barks. :) He was about 3 - 4 months old, a pit bull (American Staffordshire Terrier, like Cinnamon). They're real athletes, even that young, and those two tore around like a little canine tornado. I thought I'd try him in the back, and if both dogs were nice to him he could stay for a while until owners turned up. Since Poppy was rude I brought him out again. After I then he was at the side porch and kept walking in the oregano and bumping into pots. He chewed up some cheap nursery pots and tumbled over a couple of small plants. He's not there today so I assume he probably followed someone walking a dog this morning (probably the blonde lab who lives up the street). He's smart and sweet, but I don't need another dog. If he turns up again I'll see about taking him to the Humane Society and maybe his owners will look for him there. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maire-aine Date: 30 Jun 09 - 02:59 PM I can't run the lawn mower until a week from Friday, but if it gets to shaggy, I'll pay a neighbor kid to mow it. I deadheaded everything, and took the shears to my winter heaths. They were crowding out the summer heathers. maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 30 Jun 09 - 01:08 AM Oh My, maeve. That is a lot of rain at what I imagine is a critical time of year in Maine, when you want enough rain, but still need to work the soil. The hot temperatures here are starting to take their toil. We had some good rain this spring, and the water tables are replenished, but have had heat and no significant rain for the last two weeks, and the clay soil is starting to crack and dry out. I'm wondering just how many rain barrels it would take to adequately meet irrigation needs for a relatively small garden here during the heat and dryness of summer. Also wondering what would be involved in terms of labor, design and cost of materials to use rain barrels for drip irrigation. Watering by hand sufficiently takes much more time than I have available. It also seems like it would take significant storage capacity when the rains come (hopefully in winter and spring) to store enough rain water from roof run off to use that as a primary irrigation source during our hot, and usually dry summers. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 29 Jun 09 - 06:18 PM There is a chance of rain, but it is getting bright out there after an overcast afternoon, so I think our chance just evaporated. I've lost one tomato plant pretty much completely to mites, I think this is a spot in the garden where I need to do some work on the drainage. I'll make mounded rows next year. The fruits are still ripening, but it won't set any more. Once they have about finish I'll pull that out, do something about the contour, and put in a tomato for fall. Only about 95 today, nice out. I'll mow this evening. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 29 Jun 09 - 10:48 AM Mulch (and cleaning out affected leaves) controls the Early Blight by stopping the fungus spores from splashing up from the soil. We like pine needles (pine straw) best of all for tomatoes and strawberries. Late blight apparently isn't so easily controlled. I wish we could buy straw for mulching, but we usually can't even afford hay. I use whatever I can, including pulled weeds on top of newspaper, old natural fiber rugs, and wood shavings from a boat building school in the paths. We are using our own potatoes for seed potatoes too, as well as having lots of potatoes that overwintered to use for early potatoes. Some of our tomatoes are from seed, some from cuttings, and some we bought at several different places. We hand pick Striped Cucumber beetles (bad this year), Colorado Potato Beetles, and the Red Lily Beetles. The State Horticulturalist who approves our certification mentioned an appropriate organic insecticide for the lily beetles. I'll have to look it up. I hope that the steady rain has at least drowned most of the Japanese Beetle larva as it did a couple of years ago. If not, we'll hand pick them a few times a day as well; the chickens will gorge themselves and my hands will smell of roses. I'm already watching for the Tomato Hornworm. I've opened up the farmstand as we seem to be between showers. maeve Today's rain makes it 18 days of rain in the last 28 days. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 29 Jun 09 - 09:53 AM Well, we've used last years potatoes as seed potatoes so I think we're okay and we grow all our tomatoes from seed so I hope that we're okay there, as well... Last year we had fungus on our tomatoes and had to remove alot of lower leaves... If I remmeber correctly, one of the reeasons was that we had not sufficeintly mulched but I'm not sure on that... Anyway, we have a good 6 inches of straw under them this year and so far, so good... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 29 Jun 09 - 07:32 AM Late Blight warning (Potato Famine disease) maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 29 Jun 09 - 12:41 AM I think we've discussed "Bob's your uncle" in various contexts. Here. It's one of those idiomatic sayings that if you hear it often enough it begins to make sense. Wearing my gentle perfume of fish oil and BT this evening. I mixed up several gallons and did a drench around all of the tomatoes, eggplants, and corn. These are things I have have seen worms in or know them to attack. Here's hoping the huge holes in the tomatoes stop. I found one caterpillar in action and dropped it on the concrete and squashed it. My daughter commented a couple of minutes later that it was already completely dried up. It's so hot, and those are 99% liquid (tomato juice, in this case!) that they are gone in a flash. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Pierre Le Chapeau Date: 28 Jun 09 - 11:49 PM Re the above spread of blight. That is exactly how the Japanese Red beatle spread across England. They came in with a Batch of Asiatic Lillys has a consignment for a large well know Garden Centre were consquently sold nationwide through thousands of outlets and there you go "Bobs your Uncle" Nationwide infeatation. Regards Pierre. Ps."Bobs your uncle" is a very old saying in England genually used to make a point. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 28 Jun 09 - 09:11 PM We're being warned about late blight on tomatoes and potatoes. Apparently some of the box stores have sold infested tomato plants, and the spores are causing the disease to spread across the country (US). No sign of it here yet. In the morning I'll see what information I can find to confirm. The solution is to pull and bag up the plants to halt the spread of the spores. Rain again today. I weeded the basket willows. The Maiden's Blush roses are beginning to open exquisite pale pink blossoms, deeper pink toward the center. The fragrance should be wonderful this year, as I've planted some in the front hedgerow and have others along the chicken shed border- hope the rain doesn't spoil all the buds. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 28 Jun 09 - 01:20 PM I have to get my huge spruce tree in the back yard sprayed with B.T. PRONTO!! I found spruce bud worm hatching on the tips last night, right before sundown. My hose applicator won't reach the top, so I emailed my tree care guy last night and he will spray B.T. on it this afternoon, even though it is Sunday. If they killed that tree, my back yard would be bare and ugly and lose a lot of privacy, not to mention a beautiful piece of bird habitat and all the other wonderful things about a mature spruce tree. The trees in our area are being attacked by both spruce bud worm and pine beetle. There is a campaign by the city and university campus to try to save as many as possible with B.T. and beetle pheromones and removing host trees and infested firewood. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Pierre Le Chapeau Date: 28 Jun 09 - 12:37 PM My large back garden backs on to a railway tracks and I get Foxes in my garden all the time. They are used to me for I pay them no attention. They often arrange themselves on my bench and laze out in the sun behaving has if they own the place, On my large pond is a model of the R.m.s. Titanic anchored securely to the bottom and a large Iceberg fashioned from polystyrene close by all layered in Boat Varnish both stand up to the elements very well but I do remove them in winter. Well the Frogs and Toads play havov with the model often turning it over in there vain attempts to jump aboard which menas poor me has to put on the welly boots and wade out and Raise Titanioc from the depths of the pond. Moast of the small articles of the model have long since broken away and become lost but the hulk of Titanic still remains floating on my pond with the frogs and the toads making Mischief. My neighbours think Im Mad. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 28 Jun 09 - 08:30 AM Seems that our worst pests this year are the four legged variety... Mr Raccon sin't even waiting until it get fully dark before coming around to dig around anything that has been planted recently... We've had to start puting rocks all around newly planted stuff to keep his little mischievious self from digging them up... Then yesterday morning there we two young foxes right in the yard... With cats around I had to chase them off for fear of one hurting or killing one of our cats... The deer have decided that if we're going to keep them out of our woods gardens then that means that stuff right next to the house is fair game... Well, for this morning, a little more weeding, then mulching, in the veggie garden and then a arae afternoon off... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 28 Jun 09 - 06:38 AM I had to google the red lily beetle as I had never heard of it. Fortunately, it has not made an appearance in these parts. Hope it stays that way. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Pierre Le Chapeau Date: 28 Jun 09 - 01:03 AM Hi Folks I like Red Hot Pokers if you remove the flowers at the right time you get a endless supply all summer long. A generous pinch of Fish bone and blood mixed with a pinch of Phosphate of Ammoania and a good watering brings out the most gorgouse Olive Green leaves I have ever seen. ( a very Good watering or you will burn the Plant) place round base of plant. Despite terrible White Fly Problems Thankfully I do not have Slug and Snail Problems due to my large pond and its large family of Frogs and Toads who eat slugs and snails has a main diet. My Asiatic Lillys are lovely but once again these were prone to pests in the shape of a Bright Red Square shaped beatle called The Japanese lilly beatle and this thing just devastated the leaves of the plant. These are not a plant found in a typical Cottage Garden. But they are stunning plants with great flowers. But come often with a pest in the shape of a Red Beatle Square in body and very tough in respects that they are immune to almost everything one can spray at them. I have now got rid of the pest simple by looking out for the beatle while Im in the garden. They are quite active during the Day if I see one i pick it off the plant with a pair of tweezers and throw it in the fish pond where my fish then have a meal. I have caught so many in this fashion I have now killed off all the mating pairs so I think Im Japanese red beatle free. I have dug up around the base of the lillys in order to kill off any Eggs that may have been laid early this year. This process of drowning the Japanese Red Beatle is the only effective way I have found of erradicating the pest from my lovely Lillys . if anyone on this thread have problems with this pest but dont have a Fishpond a bucket of water without fish is just has effective for these insects are helpless in water. Tweezers are the best way of picking these creatures up for if you drop them they fall to the ground belly up and you cant find them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 Jun 09 - 12:23 AM Thrips do have some predators, as discussed above. If you use beneficial nematodes that should help break the cycle. Read more about the organic approach here. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: peregrina Date: 27 Jun 09 - 06:37 PM new anti-snail and slug measure (the critters have been on the binge again despite free beer): two large roof tiles blocking off the route from their hideout in the honeysuckle. Probably they'll just climb over and I'll need to add copper tape. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 27 Jun 09 - 06:21 PM The butterfly pea that grows wild on the dry bank along one side of my property is blooming. They don't put out a lot of blooms, but are stunning, nontheless. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 27 Jun 09 - 06:09 PM I didn't take a lot of time with the research, but it does sound like there are several species of other insects that prey on whiteflies. Ladybugs apparently are a predator, though a fairly insignificant one. Not knowing which of these species bugs might be indigenous to Pierre's area, and being somewhat hesitant about introduced insect species, I didn't mention them. Perhaps, Pierre, you could research beneficial insects that prey on whitefly larva and nymphs, and then plant flowers that would attract the beneficials? While I don't think the evidence is that beneficials are sufficient control, they will help. And from what I understand, you need all the help you can get with whiteflies. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 27 Jun 09 - 05:57 PM Not too sure, Pierre, if you can buy lady bugs but they are very good little workers that eat lots of pests... Some places sell them and ship them to you... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 27 Jun 09 - 05:52 PM Dadgum, another post that didn't "take"! So I'll try again. It is not too hot for either. I see a lot of red-hot poker in gardens here so it apparently does fine. I'm not asthetically drawn to it, so have never grown it myself. The issue with lavender where I live on the northeast Piedmont is not the heat, it is our clay soil. I've grown lavender successfully in raised beds filled with purchased sandy loam. It did well, but was short-lived, and had to be replaced every 2-4 years. I have an acquaintance north of town who commercially specializes in lavender. She has heavily amended her fields to promote good drainage, and also finds the plants are not long-lived, though "Spanish" lavender appears to do better than "English" varieties. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Pierre Le Chapeau Date: 27 Jun 09 - 05:19 PM Hi Jeanie I mean the Trash, if I cut them off at ground level, New stems will sprout. I have looked up the internet and indeed it is Thrips. There are Numourous remedies on the ineternet and E.Bay. Question. Is it to hot In North Carolina to grow Lavender and Red Hot Pokers? Im a Woodie Guthrie Fan and play his music do you live in the Dust Bowl? Have you heard of Skunk Cabbage. I brought some for the out regions of my pond and I now know whwre the name come from? Good Health Pierre. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 27 Jun 09 - 04:42 PM If by bin, you mean compost them, I wouldn't. They will have eggs and nymphs which are quite likely to survive composting. Or in the UK does "to bin" refer to putting them in the trash to be hauled away? If ever I get to Maine, I want it to be when the lupines are blooming wild in the meadows there. It is too hot here to have much success with lupines. I planted them once but they didn't make it in the heat and drought of a North Carolina summer. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Pierre Le Chapeau Date: 27 Jun 09 - 03:51 PM Thanks Janie. These Whitefly ,Thrips Aphids, what ever they are just go for the lupin. I must look up the three names above on the internet to find out exactly what I have got then maybe I can deal with them effectively. I live in Southean England 10 miles from London where the Climite is mild and sunny but winters can be cold. (Nothing in comparission to what you folk get across the pond.in REGARDS TO WINTER.) I have no privets myself but the neighbourhood is covered in them. If I cut the plants down at soli level they will grow again and it will be easy to tackle the blighters. I wont burn the cutting I will bin them . Thanks Pierre. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 27 Jun 09 - 03:03 PM Hi Pierre, Where are you located? Do you know if you have other host plants for whitefly? There are a number of different species. Some of them are partial to particular plants. Where I live, in the southeast USA, privets are the most common host plant. I had privet hedges all around my old house, and had a large cottage garden that sounds similar to yours. I didn't grow lupines, and mostly found the whiteflies bothered lilies and echinacea, though they didn't swarm them as badly as you describe. In reading, it sounds like lupines are very vulnerable to aphids, thrips and whitefly. I used a combination of yellow sticky traps, insecticidal soap, and simply hosing them off the plants to control them, but it probably would have taken removing the privets all together to really control them. The problem is they breed so quickly. Hosing probably worked as well as anything, but I would have to do it twice a day. I think it's really important to get after them as soon as they appear, and that is why the sticky traps are useful. The insecticidal soap is a contact killer and is effective on adults. However, it may require spraying every 2-3 ays for a couple of weeks and every one or two weeks after that. I'd be concerned about burning the plants with that kind of schedule. I dug up and brought some of my lilies with me when I moved last year, and in doing so, inadvertently also brought whitefly. However, there are no privets here and it appears I have eliminated them. I think it unlikely you can eliminate them from your lupine, which is apparently a significant host plant. Probably the most realistic goal is to control them enough that they do not absolutely weaken and marr the plant and blooms. You will probably need to plan on dealing with them at least daily during the peak of the whitefly season. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,Pierre Le Chapeau. Date: 27 Jun 09 - 02:16 PM Hi Folks I am a keen Gardener and over the last 5 years I have tranformed my garden into a Cottage Garden whereby all the Flowers planted are common in what is known has a English country Garden. Everything from Lavender to Hollyhocks, Red Hot Pokers, to Lupins. among many others. Lupins are my problem not from slugs or Snails I am fortunate that I do not get many slugs and snailS because i have a large fish pond and that houses hundreds of Frogs and Toads who eat the snails and slugs before they can eat my plants. Can you help? The problem with my Lupins is that dreadful Aphid the Whitefly. it smothers the flower heads and the leaves and devaststates the plant. Please dont suggest washing up liquid it does not work. Old wives Tale. If you pour washing up liquid on my Lupins The Whitefly simply take a shower. What I plan to do is cut the plant down to just above ground level and burn the infested plants. Lupins being very hardy will start to grow all over again and this time I will be ready for the White fly. The trouble is what is effective again,st these pests and Earth friendly to? What do you folk suggest. Thanks very much kindest Regards to all Pierre. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 27 Jun 09 - 12:56 PM I'm finding that the newer potting mix formulations designed for improved water retention really are much better, even than last year. Pots are not drying out nearly as quickly as in years past. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 Jun 09 - 11:23 AM Tomatoes are piling up on the window sill. I've finished with the onions and they're in cardboard trays on a thing in the hall, drying out some and the box of oddball ones (the small, the odd-shaped, etc.) are first up for use. Time to think about defrosting the freezer. Getting ready for this year's crop. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 27 Jun 09 - 10:35 AM Well, verse, yeah, if the hybrids become the only plants left but that isn't the case... Hyrids are just extras... That's kinda the beauty of gardening... When it comes down to it bees are hybridizers... They will take polen from one azalea, for instance, to another and thus, a new azalea... So all hybridizers do, in most cases, is just fill in as bees... It used to be that camellias wouldn't grow north of Richmond, Va. but Dr Ackerman found that some were more cold hardy than others so he hybridized cold hardiness into several hybrids and now folks as far north as New York can enjoy them... Eventually bees might have down the same thing but why wait... Men are part of God's creatures, too... Well, biggest concert of the year was last night in town so today is a fee day for me so think I'll go out and do a little gardeing today... No, make that alot... The P-Vine gave me a list... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 Jun 09 - 09:21 AM Maryanne, I've been learning to do the canning over the last year. A friend helps me with jelly from local grape I can can my tomatoes and products from my garden. The mites are as suspected-- I think the soil is too wet in that area. I need to be disciplined and run the soaker hose less often and water deeper, to let the soil drain. And before planting again I'll contour a little and add some more gravel to help (decomposed granite, etc.) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 27 Jun 09 - 08:19 AM Glad the surgery went well! Now you will see the beauty of your garden so much more clearly! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maire-aine Date: 27 Jun 09 - 07:50 AM Last night, my friend & I went to see the new documentary movie Food, Inc. . It's enough to make you want to run right out and buy canning jars to preserve your own food. It started me thinking about what we ate when I was a kid: a roast on Sunday & leftovers during the week, dessert also was a Sunday-only thing (not at every meal). I was already making plans to can my grandmother's chili sauce recipe. Now I think I'll do up some tomatoes & peaches too. We're fortunate to have several excellent farmers' markets nearby. Maryanne PS: Eye doctor said all is well, and I've been cleared to drive (after cataract surgery Thurs). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: WalkaboutsVerse Date: 27 Jun 09 - 04:19 AM If there's one vegetable/fruit that's worth growing yourself, SRS, it would have to be the tomatoe, yes?...in stores they are generally bland (although the vine tomatoes are not too bad). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Jun 09 - 08:26 PM Firefox is a great program. Chrome has rearranged things, so I don't use it as often. IE stinks right now. Geez, but it's hot out there. 103 today. The corn is looking much better, so for now I seem to have killed off that batch of destroyers, whatever their make and model. Big tomatoes are beginning to ripen. I'm trying to water often enough to keep it alive without keeping it soggy (I use a soaker hose most of the time so I tend to run it for short times more often, but should probably switch to longer times less often. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 26 Jun 09 - 12:54 PM Well if there are no ears yet, they sure aren't earworms. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: WalkaboutsVerse Date: 26 Jun 09 - 11:59 AM Thanks for that list, Bobert - not a bad palette, I think...but doesn't hybridizing plants make them less attractive to native insects, etc., by breeding out the nectar in favour of the colours that please us humans..? (SRS - if you'll pardon the poetry, I'm making do, with a Pentium 2, by using Google Chrome...could be worth a try..?) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Jun 09 - 11:39 AM Grrrr. Looks like mites. It's too hot for neem. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Jun 09 - 12:24 AM Janie, I'll open this in FireFox later and take a look at your links. IE is a piece of shit as a browser lately, won't open links very easily, if at all. The corn is small, no ears yet, but I've heard it is fussy. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 25 Jun 09 - 11:02 PM Are they corn ear borers Maggie? Around these parts, spraying with BT, combined with applying mineral oil to the top of the ear with an eye dropper are necessary to control corn borers. Successful organic corn is pretty labor intensive because it requires so much vigilance and spraying. I've not tried to grow corn since I moved to NC because I know I don't have the time to spray as often as needed, and certainly not enough time to treat each ear with mineral oil. More here. and here. Not everyone agrees that organic corn is that hard. See this. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 25 Jun 09 - 10:27 PM Two little cherry tomatoes on the first cluster are starting to pink up. The basil and a container of fresh mozzerella eagerly await their ripening. Oh Joy! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 25 Jun 09 - 06:57 PM Oh, all kinds of stuff, Verse... Black kohosh, twin-leaf, trilliam, May-apple, tooth wart, mint, all kinds of grasses, native azaleas, lady slippers, a dozen or so ferns, black rasberries, gooseberries, mosses, goat's beard, noney suckle, Virgina Creeper, roses, laurel, oaks, walnuts, hickories, maples, sycamores, cedars, pines, dogwoods, etc, etc... And we do incorporate natives with hybrids... That the fun of gardening... There's nuthin' wrong with hybridizing... It's fun and, hey, sometimes you get something really, really neat... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: WalkaboutsVerse Date: 25 Jun 09 - 01:03 PM But what's native to your part of the world, Bobert? I swear to God, leaning that way IS better for your native fauna. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Jun 09 - 11:12 AM maeve, your yard sounds lovely. Chances are the birds will build another nest and try again. My front yard is looking good but sounds awful--we're at the bottom end of a block where the street is being torn up and the sewers replaced. The rest of the summer is going to be dusty and noisy. There are worms in the corn. I need to research further. I sprayed BT yesterday and it didn't slow them down. This morning I manually removed or squashed all worms I could see. The corn is over knee-high now, and they're eating the center out. The first year I grow a crop is when I learn how to grow it, I don't necessarily expect to get much food. That may be the case for corn this year. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 25 Jun 09 - 10:20 AM We have sun for the first time in a couple of weeks. My Truelove pointed out to me that my grand scheme for the cinnamon rose by the front door is finally being realized. Picture if you will a pink cinnamon rose, blooming once in the spring. Branching throughout are the intense blue blossoms of a tall cranesbill, and a pale pink clematis with dusky rose petal stripes is finally making its way up through the rosebush. It's lovely! We've had so much rain (with other parts of the country in drought) that we've been worried about the nesting songbirds. Yesterday we found a soaking wet little grass nest with 2 tiny speckled eggs hidden under a brush pile. It had been ruined by rain and abandoned; the nestlings never had a chance to develop. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 25 Jun 09 - 07:25 AM Camellias are a fovorite of ours, as well... Problem is that about 99% of folks have been told they aren't hardy in Zone 6B... That is not at all correct... While the more southern hybrids aren't, Dr. Charles Ackerman of Maryland has made it his life's work to hybridize cold hardy camellias and we have living proff that they will florish... The main thing with them is not to put them where they will get morning sun... The sun melts the protective ice on the buds from the even coler ambiant temperatures... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: WalkaboutsVerse Date: 25 Jun 09 - 05:15 AM Poem 9 of 230: THE CAMELLIA GARDENS In Sydney's Sutherland Shire, There's a relaxing place to see: It's called the Camellia Gardens, And one can wander round for free. Down and along an escarpment Meanders a thin stony path; Beside which grow the camellias - Beaut. autumn-blooms the aftermath. With the evergreen-camellias Are a range of native species; And, atop the leafy hillside, A shop sells snacks, coffees and teas. Plus, down below, there is parkland, Where couples rest as children play; And they walkabout the fish ponds, Or the shoreline of Yowie Bay. (But, regarding plant selection, With more knowledge, over the years, On flora, fauna and their links, I'd say - natives not camellias.) From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll) Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maire-aine Date: 25 Jun 09 - 12:09 AM I'm in the Great Lakes area, in a northern suburb of Detroit. My black raspberries are loaded, but I think they're running late because of the cool spring we had. They usually ripen over 4th of July weekend, but I think they'll be a little late this year. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 24 Jun 09 - 08:35 PM Pholx needs to be treated for mildew before it starts... Horticultural oil, baking soda and insecticidal soap mixed with water early in the game and no mildew... 24 houes after deer fence... Walked the entire perimeter and no breaches... Lotta deer poop just below the fence so seems the have figured out that is the new way thru the woods... And yeah, Maggie... I loved watching that deer yesterday getting bounced back into the drive way... There is a part of me that is vengefull and I hate them critters so it delights me to see them stressed out... So they came up into the yard last night and ate a houkara (Sp)... I think before this is over we'll probably have to fence in the yard, too which is only 150 X 150 or so... Maybe next year... Black raspberries coming in by the gallons... Goose(Wine)berries soon... 1st Cuke by Sunday... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 24 Jun 09 - 07:56 PM Errrr, this! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 24 Jun 09 - 07:55 PM http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/IPM/images/tomatoes/insects/tomato_stink-bug5_zoom.jpg |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 24 Jun 09 - 07:49 PM That link didn't work, and I didn't find the exact description of damage by stink bugs. But I did find this page: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/publications/tomatoproblemsolver/ripe/ to get in the general ballpark of tomato problems. Good site. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 24 Jun 09 - 07:41 PM maire-aine, Where are you? I stopped growning garden phlox because of it's propensity for powdery mildew, which is a major problem here in the humid South. The phlox inevitably spread it to other plants that are not quite so vulnerable otherwise. It is a beautiful summer plant, however, and has such a long season that it kept color in the garden during the heat doldrums of July, before the dahlias really took off, and after many other things in the garden stopped blooming until cooler temps in fall returned. After doing some searching of images, I think maeve nailed it. I'm pretty sure it is slug damage. I mulched the pots with shredded leaves, and think I am realizing that they harbored small slugs or even slug eggs. When I dumped out some of the pots with cool season veggies that I had also mulched with leaves, I found slugs clinging to the sides of the pots beneath the soil line. While researching the tomato damage, I solved a mystery. For years, I had thought often mottled tomatoes with white corky spots in the flesh were an indication of weather conditions. Turns out the culprit was stink bugs, which I often saw in my veggie garden, but didn't think they caused problems. Stinkbug damaged tomatoes I'm also wondering if it is time to cut hydrangea blooms to dry. Never done it. The websites all give descriptors of what the blooms will look like, and say "late summer." I've never figured out when "late summer" is here, compared to what most plant descriptions say. So many flowering plants that are said to be mid-summer bloomers bloom here in mid-May to to mid-June, before summer is even officially here. "Late summer" bloomers are usually finished by the 2nd or 3rd week of July. Asiatic lilies finished here 2 weeks ago, and the orientals are starting to bloom. Echinacea is past it's first prime, and late daylilies are blooming. Gonna miss my sun loving dahlias and tall salvias, and the tithonia. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 24 Jun 09 - 07:08 PM Janie, all of my big tomatoes seem to have a hole of some kind. Small, but there. I trim it out. Cherry tomatoes are okay so far. The corn has been visited by something that eats leaves and the tender growing shoots. I used a mix of BT and fertilizer for a foliar feeding the other day, we'll see if that helps. And I'll use some BT on the tomatoes as well. Not broadcast--it clobbers butterflies, I just want to kill the caterpillars that are damaging my food plants. Creative watering as it goes over 100. Keeping things alive, not over watering, not using so much water my bill goes through the roof. Mostly I use soaker hoses. One I have to replace, it is leaking out the patch at the end. Corriander is coming up, but I have trouble getting plants to grow in pots here. It's so hot they just cook. Bobert, we've never met, but I could still imagine your total glee at running that deer into the fence to give it a good test. I bet you weren't driving silently, you were whooping up a storm! :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maire-aine Date: 24 Jun 09 - 06:12 PM I've got powdery mildew on my phlox plant, so I'm going to try Maggie's 3% peroxide solution & hope it works. It finally got over 90F (32C). Bought 2 perennial foxgloves this afternoon, so I planted them and watered them good. Lots of blossoms on my tomato plants, but I don't see any tomatoes yet. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 24 Jun 09 - 08:14 AM Sounds like an animal to me, Janie... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 24 Jun 09 - 05:51 AM Sounds like a slug, Janie. Give it a good rinse and chow down; the tomato, that is. :) And yes; with Truelove still out of commission my days are long and full of things that needed to be done a month ago. My wrist doesn't seem to appreciate the heavy work. By evening I can't walk. Thank you for thinking of me. Things will ease up as TL recovers and as the farm stand begins pulling in income. For now, the rains continue and many area vegetable gardens have flooded out. I'm thinking our hanging baskets of vegetables are going to be in demand. We're growing enough veggies for ourselves, the stand, and the local food bank. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 23 Jun 09 - 10:38 PM maeve, Our early and mid summer is your mid-spring. I think you must be frantically busy right now, but just wanted to let you know I'm thinking of you as you plant, weed, pot up, divide, mulch, etc. etc. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 23 Jun 09 - 10:25 PM No eggs or larva inside the tomato, but a long rasping gash on the underside with three deeper holes. I don't see any Hornworms on the plant. Would slugs do that? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 23 Jun 09 - 10:14 PM Waugh!!!! picked my tomato and some insect has bored into it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 23 Jun 09 - 09:06 PM Oh, it was so gratifying to see that deer just bouce off the fencing... I mean, I was lovin' every minute of it... Guess that we have laid down the new law and that means that our garden is ***our*** garden... Poor Bambi won't starve... It just won't be eatin' our ornimental plants down to the ground... FREEDOM!!! B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 23 Jun 09 - 09:00 PM What an opportunity to run a test! Perfect! (But PETA had better not get wind about you depriving those poor creatures of precious food in your garden.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 23 Jun 09 - 05:51 PM Well, well, well... Right on schedule and on budget... The project ended up at 1320 feet of fence and here's the best part... I came up one pole short this mornin' so I drove to town to get one and upon returning there was a deer in the driveway... Now I could stopped and it would have gone down into a grassy field but I kinda pushed it toward the deer fence and then... BINGO!!! I had the truck behind it and the only way for it to go was up the driveway with the deer fence to one side and a board fence on the other... Of course it couldn't see the deer fence so it tried several times to run beteween the poles and bounced off the fencing at least 6 times... Oh, I'm sure it was bewildered and terrified... Ask me how much I care... Music to my eyes to see that deer repelled!!! Now I guess I can get back to, ahhhhhh, gardening... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 23 Jun 09 - 03:27 PM A beer garden party is a wonderful way to make those snails feel so welcome! I've |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 23 Jun 09 - 08:30 AM Weeded for a hald an hour this mornuin' in the veggie garden... Got our fist cucumber makin'... Hooray!!! Other than lettuce, spinich, asperagus, onions and a few beets we ain't had much edible... Today is the day the P-Vine has been waiting for... The Acme Deer Fence Co. will have finished stringing 1400 feet of deer fence around 2 'er 3 acres and there will be peace in the holler... Fir now, that is??? B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: peregrina Date: 23 Jun 09 - 08:26 AM Today I will plant beans again to replace the ones that were--not decimated, but totalled--by slugs. The young plants are larger and stronger than the eaten ones were. Meanwhile: slug happy hour: drink all you like, have a swim, and don't worry about dinner. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 22 Jun 09 - 11:02 PM My pot of coriander is sprouting. Just this weekend my daughter, Moonglow is her Mudcat name, was down and commented that she hates buying a bunch of coriander, using a few sprigs, and the rest rotting in the bag in the fridge. I walked her over and pointed at the little leaves appearing in a pot. I have a trick, though, that keeps it from drying and shifting it's flavor. I pull off most of the stems so I have just a pie pan filled with leaves, then I pour boiling water over it, shallow, so they are just covered when they wilt. I pop that in the freezer so it becomes a frozen ice disk of coriander. I crack this thing into fragments so when I need some of the leaves I can usually drop the equivalent of an ice cube or two into the dish (usually beans, but sometimes I thaw it and squeeze them out for guacamole). Works very well. I had a large tomato ripen last week, and I picked another one today that was fairly orange when I found it. So far the bugs have beaten me, I haven't had a perfect one yet, though the cherry tomatoes (4 so far, on the window sill) are good. I usually pick them once they have the orange tint on the bottom so I know they'll ripen, but the bugs and birds are just too efficient around here. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 22 Jun 09 - 08:33 PM Yeah... Seven bucks for a pack of sweet slice cucumbers??? You can keep 'um... You woulda thought that the seed companies would have been real competetive this year with so many folks planting gardens but it's like they are in cohoots... I'm with Janie... I'll keep a few seed back at the end of the season, thank you... Imean, one could spend 50 bucks just on seeds... That is rediculous... b~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 22 Jun 09 - 07:57 PM My first tomato is turning pink! Almost picked it to ripen on the sill, but think I would like to let it stay another day or so and hope a bird doesn't peck it in the meantime. The Curly Parsley has shot up a flower stalk. That surprised me. I bought it this spring, but it must have been started late last fall or early winter to be flowering. With the cost of seeds these days, especially organic seeds, I think I'll let it go and harvest seeds. They will be nigh as good as organic after spending the spring and summer in my garden. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 22 Jun 09 - 04:57 PM I'm green with envy, Maggie... Our pole beans and lima bean that I planted lasy week have just poked up... We still have the pole (romas) frozen from last year so they are not a major deal but no limas left... Don't think we'll have tomatoes until ealy August... That about right for these parts... We are at 1700 feet above sea level here so that kinda keeps us behind the folks down in Luray... Got about 60% of the deer fenxe strung today... Finish it tomorrow and then I'll have to build the two gates but I'll tack up some fence where the gates will go and we'll just have to climb under it and hold it down with rocks until I have the gates built... Of course, the P-Vine has to try to butt in and micromanage the job so we have had several disagreements over how to best build 1400 feet of deer fence... Next time I'll just let her do it... lol... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 22 Jun 09 - 04:37 PM Oops. I got distracted by Little Hawk and forgot where I was. Left a MOAB post here. Oh, well, most of you have gone slumming over there so got the references. Hot hot hot. 100 this week. I brought in more of the onions, deciding I'll use the space for more of something else. I did leave a few where they are kind of shaded by a tomato and can be used as green onions if I need any. I finished digging out an old compost heap in the back and spread it over the onion area and will plant something soon. Like I said, probably carrots and more onions, but who knows, I may decide on something else. I ate my first bush beans last night--very tasty! I handful a day and I have enough to eat after a few days, and in theory they'll produce more as they get larger. The outer bushes seems to have had the best pollination. I'm going to put some white flowers in near the rest of them and see if that doesn't help. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 22 Jun 09 - 08:08 AM Well, we planted a head lettuce this year and... ...never again... They all came in together and now we have 20-some heads of lettuce on our hands and with the heat a'comin' that mean eat it all fast or watch it go to seed... Oh well, could be worse... Did get my first beat tops last night for supper... Yummy... Hate the beats but love their greenish purple leaves... The Acme Tree Company and the Acme Fence Company (i.e. my construction crew) will be tackling the deer fence project today... We've got at least 5 more poles to set down in the woods where the decent hardwoods aren't close enough for spanning the fence... Plus we have 4 dead trees hung in live ones that we're going to have to pull out with the tractor and a couple more dead 'un's that need to come down now before the fence is up... My band had rehefrsal yesterday and the harp player's girlfriend saw how well our loropetulum are doing on one of our fences... Just so happens that the P-Vine has several at the garden center that need homes... So she left us a check for 4 of them!!! That's a good thing... Well, gotta go... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 22 Jun 09 - 12:07 AM Sorry about the apostrophe.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 21 Jun 09 - 11:13 PM We stopped at Princeton, WV and Wytheville, VA today on the way back down to NC. They are fairly high and there was a cool wind blowing and the humidity was low. Oh to live back in those old, low mountains in summer! Now I'm back down on the muggy Piedmont, but at least I missed the mini-heat spell with temps in the upper 90's. Must have been some rain here over the weekend. I was pleased that none of the pots dried out. My single apricot mums died in the pot over the winter. I thought to get some divisions from my parent's, but Dad got carried away with weeding and pruning, and managed to kill nearly all of his off this spring. Fortunately, several of my gardening Bud's down here have them, and I'm confident they will give me divisions. Think I'll wait until fall, though. It is really late to be transplanting anything here now. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Jun 09 - 07:25 PM Nothing like that solid plonk of a cruciferous vegetable to chase off the enemy. It's hot out, MOM, but I turned over and put compost in a couple of spots where I took out onions. I'll put in more onions and some carrots. Tomorrow. I'm not finished cooling off yet today. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Little Hawk Date: 21 Jun 09 - 06:16 PM The fool! They make excellent ammunition if you run out of the conventional kind. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: The Sandman Date: 21 Jun 09 - 05:38 PM according to Captain Wayne Keble of the Royal Navy,Brussel sprouts are the devils vegetable,he has banned them from HMS Bulwark. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Jun 09 - 04:30 PM I planted some carrots around the tomatoes, but the cages have been sagging sideways and most of my carrots are hidden from view. They're tough, we'll see what makes it through the summer later on. I found a little four-sized silly ornamental wire fence to put beside the garden to collect the trimmings and weeds. Its a target to aim at, mostly. And I picked up a piece of 1/2 inch hardware cloth, so I can make a friend a compost sieve like mine (that I made many years ago and is still going strong). SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: The Sandman Date: 21 Jun 09 - 12:55 PM companion planting,I find useful,Ihave planted tomatoes amongst brassicas to keep off the cabbage white butterfly. I dont think tomatoes are native to Ireland ,which disproves WAVS theory. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Jun 09 - 11:51 AM I brought in all of the onions that had no tops, but left those that look like they'll grow some more. These will keep me supplied for a while. My daughter was down this weekend and remarked on all of the onions just scattered around the garden--if you're only used to the grocery store, I suppose a garden can seem like a foreign place, but even for a kid who grew up with a garden, it is such a nice discovery to see such great stuff just lying around! She promptly made a shopping list of all of the garden stuff she wanted for a batch of beans she is making: green bell pepper, onion, garlic, freshly dried oregano. Tomatoes aren't ready yet, so she'll have to make due with canned. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Jun 09 - 11:12 AM Does he have a moon suit to wear when handling that stuff? Bobert, I don't have anything under my compost, and yes, roots do get into it at times. It's near trees, so that's bound to happen. I wonder what I'd end up with under the board if I put one down? I was so tired from yesterday's yard work (mowed the front and the back--I often time stagger that job between a couple of days so spread out my exercise) I crashed early. Slept great, woke early. Should have walked the dogs, but didn't, so we'll do that this evening instead. I need to harvest some onions today and make way for something else to go in there, after I put down more of my compost. Carrots and more onions, I think. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,Janie Date: 21 Jun 09 - 10:24 AM Mom and Dad put in several "Knockout Roses" this spring and the first thing Dad asked as my feet hit the driveway, was to figure out what was eating them up. It appears they bought roses with rose slugs - the larva of a sawfly. I'd never heard of them and have never had problems with them. Dad is a "better garden through chemicals" kind of guy. He agreed to wait until I leave to apply it, but he is going to treat them with malathion (spelling?) Nasty stuff. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 20 Jun 09 - 08:04 PM Maggie, Do you have anything under yer compost pile??? Like a sheet of T-111 (pressure treated) or at the very least, some plastic??? I folunf back ion Wes Ginny that if you don't do that that roots from nearby trees will find yer compost and send up roots into it an suck out the good un's... That is a bad thing if yer gonna use the compost elsewhere... We have a Mantis two chambered tumbler which, I'll admit, we don't use to full advantage but it will make about a half a yard of compost a month if one is dillegent... We aren't but we have good intentions... We used it alot in Wes Ginny but there we only had about an acre of gardens to keep up... Here??? It's like 2 1/2 acres and we just don't pay enough attention to our tumbler... May we need to move it closer to the house... We do have a compost pile and it's okay but the roots do get in it an' rob us of the good 'un's... No gardening here today... Just mowing after the rain stopped... Everything looks real purdy... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 20 Jun 09 - 07:54 PM Walkabouts, go preach someplace else. You are practicing zealotry, not good gardening. I've been out baking slowly and de-cluttering an old compost pile. I usually have a new pile each year and they go back for at least three years, then no matter how slow they're working, by the third year it is usable. I'm working on this year's a little more intently, it hasn't been steaming (too hot to see any steam!) but to let it cook a little better. The first part of fixing that heap was to pull out all of the wood. Also, I've added bagged lawn clippings I collect when neighbors leave them by the curb on trash day (I use a mulching mower so I don't have any). I have this habit of dropping trimmed branches on the compost so when the leaves dry and drop off they end up in the compost. But if I drop on more branches before removing the first batch, I end up with wood and more air pockets than make the compost work well. That was the problem with a second pile that was right up against a hackberry tree in the middle of the yard. Since my yard is so long that the far end constitutes a "view," it was a messy view in the middle of the back. I've spent a couple of weekends lopping and bundling old limbs and leaving them at the curb. The trick is to not overdo, so they think you mistook your turn for putting out bulky waste and say something about it. So, I've pretty much finished removing "undigestables" from the compost. There was a layer of Dacron batting that had come out of demolished dog beds a couple of years ago. I found that it doesn't break down, just hangs around in the dirt. I have a shower on the back porch, and later in the summer when the water coming out of the tap is quite warm it's wonderfully decadent to shower on the back porch with all of the lights off. That keeps the mosquitoes away a little better and feels more private, though no one can see into the yard except the coyotes beyond the back gate. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 20 Jun 09 - 09:46 AM Up early this morning and the P-Vine and I have been neglecting parts of the veggie garden 'cuase we were late planting some stuff and so we took a 10 X 15 portion around the yellow squash and weeded it and then put down 6 inches of straw... Took about an hour... Then the P-Vine had to go down to the garden center just as it started to rain... Feels and looks like a tropical storm here with swirling wind and thick clouds... Harvested three beets and so I know what I'll be eatin' for supper tonight: beet tops!!! I love 'um... And they are good fir ya', as well... Looks as if Acme Deer Fence Company will start hanging deer fence on Tuesday... Acme Tree Service worked all day yesterday trying to get all the dead trees inside the fenced area at least felled but a couple got hung in other trees which will involve some engineerin', a snapjackle, the tractor, the chainsaw and a large dose of silliness... So Monday will be eaten up trying to get dead trees seperated from live 'un's... B |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: WalkaboutsVerse Date: 19 Jun 09 - 04:21 PM Just a reminder that, as I've suggested in verse, apart from veggies and other consumables (to limit food miles, etc.), we should only plant the NATIVES with which our native fauna have evolved. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 19 Jun 09 - 07:39 AM Wierd... Ran into a grey fox last night while walking in my woods... As for yer plants drying out, Janie, if you have plastic milk jugs you can put a couple pin holes in the bottom, fill them up and they will water yer plants for a couple days... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 19 Jun 09 - 02:19 AM Headed up the Turnpike to West Virginia tomorrow night. It is going to be really hot here tomorrow and Saturday (near 100F,) and I'm concerned my tomatoes, kale and basil will dry out. I'm starting to get to know the near neighbors, but not well enough to ask them to water them for me. I'm wondering if they might fare better if I moved them to the shade of the carport. I watered them tonight, and will water them again before I leave for work in the morning. SumYung Sun can water them tomorrow afternoon before I get home to grab him at 5:30. That will make them a bit overwatered on the front end. For those that have saucers, I can also leave water in the saucers to wick up (and breed mosquitoes.) We'll be back late Sunday evening. Wish me live plants when I return. It is way too late for me to be up, but because I am, I've been watching a grey fox for the last 15 minutes in the front yard, and listening to screech owls call to one another. I haven't seen a fox here before, and was a bit surprised, since I live in town. However, it is quite a small town, I live on the edge of the "townified" part. There are fields and small stands of woods very near, and farms start within just a few blocks. At first glance I assumed it was one of the cats, then quickly realized what it was. The wind was still so none of the dogs around realized it was in the area. About 5 minutes ago a little bit of a breeze kicked up, and several dogs downwind began to bark and bay. The fox moved on then. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 18 Jun 09 - 08:10 PM Picked a gallon of black raspberries today... We have them growing between to sections of fencing so you can get to them from both sides... The deer fence project is consuming alot of time and energy... Weatehr permitting we'll be done by the end of next week... Lotta work... Hard work... Everything that can hurt, hurts... Planted a couple of magnolas today that we saved from a certain death from the garden center when we started there... One will make it and ther other is still 50/50.... But they are out of those dreadfull pots they have been in for years... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 Jun 09 - 02:26 PM We're to the time of year when stepping into the garden involves carrying along a bucket and clippers. Brought in a few onions that were crowded or the tops had been knocked off. Tomatoes are getting big, only one on the window sill now, but soon there will be many. Lots of peppers and chard. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 17 Jun 09 - 08:53 AM Holes, ya' say??? Yup, sounds like snails to me... Rain here today... Looks as if it will be with us all day, too... Not complaining, mind you... I can't remember so much rain over a two month period... The P-Vine is getting interviewed today for an article for the local newspaper about here work at the garden center... That's purdy cool and maybe get her some more business... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 17 Jun 09 - 02:21 AM I've been studying up on earwigs. I apparently have the perfect habitat for them. Shady. Damp (this year anyway.) Mulch. The conditions that slugs love are also beloved of earwigs. When I go out on the carport to dump water out of the plant saucers, I always find a "herd" of earwigs and slugs under the saucers. It would seem that I am simply going to have to find a way to live with them. (They may help control aphids - one plus.) The organic controls all suggest not mulching, but that is simply not an option here in these hot summers. Wish they liked beer. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: peregrina Date: 17 Jun 09 - 02:06 AM thanks for the answers. I looked closely and found slug/snail slime; there were earwigs under some old logs I moved near the side that got eaten too. It's going to be free drinks at the slug happy hour tonight. I won't plant the new beans till I've made a fortification with holly leaves and other anti-stuff. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 Jun 09 - 12:30 AM My snails were remarkably efficient and very thorough--they literally followed the bean sprouts down into the ground to the roots, devouring the entire tender plant. Took one day to clobber most of them. They had quite a party that night, beer was served; alas, most of the partiers died by self-marination. ;-D |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 17 Jun 09 - 12:17 AM If it started with holes, I would doubt rabbits - though it could also be rabbits in addition to smaller critters. Suggest you go out with a flashlight at night to inspect the plants. I suspect slugs - possibly earwigs, though they won't usually end up chomping the entire leaf. (slugs sure can, though.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 16 Jun 09 - 07:47 AM Sounds like Mr. Rabbit to me... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: peregrina Date: 16 Jun 09 - 01:58 AM Janie-answering--the leaves were bitten off, with round holes; it happened over several nights. And then there were no leaves left and it looked as if the top of the stem had been bitten, but I'm not sure if it had. The pest seems to be associated with the honeysuckle bush because only the beans on that side were attacked... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Jun 09 - 11:18 PM I put several shallow bowls of beer out in the yard to attract all of the snails in the area, when they mowed down all of my beans the first time, and then when I was getting ready to put in more beans, I again put out the beer to keep them away. I have a few I started in little pots and I'll put them in a different part of the garden (I've already put out beer there to clear out the troops). This morning I put side dressing down; compost from the back yard dropped in around the base of the bush bean plants that are now producing flowers and beans. I have a printout from some state's ag department that suggests this is a good way to keep them making beans. Putting on a fertilizer proper (especially one with high nitrogen) would only inspire leaf growth, not beans. We shall see. This morning I picked my first five beans, and that many will be ready again tomorrow. This means that in a couple more days I'll have enough for a single serving. :) I made pizza tomoight, a nice dough recipe I found in Martha Stewart Living. I've been making a recipe that was okay, but was a modified bread loaf dough. I tried this one to see if the chemistry of the different amounts of flour/salt/oil would be more restaurant like, and it is. But it's a lot of dough, and after making a small pizza for each of us and making a spare small crust to freeze (we just thaw, add toppings, and bake), I decided the remainder, enough for a couple more personal pizzas, should go into an experimental bread. I've never made focaccia before, but I had a little mozzarella, a little Parmesan, and I went out to the garden and picked some fresh oregano and basil and cut up and sprinkled on top of olive oil and salt and garlic powder. I haven't tried it, we were full from our pizza. But I may take it in to work tomorrow for a morning snack in the office. My pizza tonight was topped with peppers and onions from the garden. This is such a great time of year, when we can start eating this stuff! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 15 Jun 09 - 10:48 PM were the stems bitten off, or did insects destroy the leaves? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: peregrina Date: 15 Jun 09 - 02:14 PM Alas, five out of nine runner beans have been decimated by unknown pests (I think not slugs), nothing left but stems and they had not had even time to grow up the poles. 3 plants on the far side (farther from the pests) are still okay. I have a few more bean plants in plastic pots--how large do I have to let them get to withstand attack? Should I set them in separate pots near the bean poles instead of planting them in the ground? Any advice welcome! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 15 Jun 09 - 01:05 PM I'd call them "pretty" |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Jun 09 - 12:48 PM My daylilies are kind of "Hobson's choice" -- they were given to me by the next door neighbor when she thinned out the lilies in her back yard last year. I had been wanting to fill in a bed in front but didn't have the cash to spend to buy more, so I was working on the soil and placement to let them expand into the place I wanted them. When this bag of plants came my way I poked them in that space so it is a mix of what I had and what she had and it is always a lovely surprise to see what is sprouting each day. The ones I bought look like the kind of flower you would see in a Renaissance Italian painting, very rich and old-fashioned looking. They're kind of sprinkled around and I'll probably move some of them closer together. Don't know what they're called. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 15 Jun 09 - 12:10 PM Had my first daylily blooms over the weekend - more are sending up scapes. I am now wishing I paid more attention to what I planted wehre last summer. I bought some from a local specialty nursery - and was given another (because I was raving about the one I had from the same hybridizer) - but I don't think I even have the "wish list" I went to the nursery with. The one that is blooming is the sibling of the freebie I was given. It is one of the earliest bloomers I have (THE earliest this year) and usually is one of the longest blooming as well. Have hopes the sib is going to be as good. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Leadfingers Date: 15 Jun 09 - 12:05 PM 600 from a NON Gardener ! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 15 Jun 09 - 09:59 AM Finished mulching one side of the drive this weekend; planted the wegeilia that I've been using in a floral display on my desk; planted the two azaleas and two rhodies my B-i-l pickecd up at cost from a local grower.... I'm hoping the last couple plants I mail ordered arrive before I leave on my cruise...I got the shipping notice firday so they should. Going to try some qazalea cuttings myself this year - |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 15 Jun 09 - 01:02 AM Oh Stilly! Had I known, I would have saved the Avocado Green sink I had taken out to bring down to you some time. The two sinks together would be quite trendily retro;^) Our houses must be contemporaneous. Unfortunately, my counter tops and stove are still avocado green. And coleus seed. I am going to let the late flowers on the Kong coleus go to seed and save them also. I never stay on top of coleus that I root from pinchings well enough through the winter. I'm gonna have to set my grow-light shelving unit up in the back spare bedroom this winter. That means I need to figure out how to best protect the hardwood floor which I had refinished before I moved in last summer. I know from experience that potting soil and water are gonna get spilled and the area will be somewhat messy. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Jun 09 - 11:49 PM Alice, you can do that. Or make garlic pepper tea for repelling various bugs on plants. The difference between sprinkling the dried garlic and the mess of spraying liquefied garlic is up to each gardener. You yourself will smell like garlic for a while after you handle that much (I learned that the hard way). Pulverizing garlic is messy and when you get around that much it's really "hot" (spicy). I meant to mention earlier--that today I cleared out an enclosed little yard beside the garage. It had all sorts of gardening things stored in there--including the proverbial kitchen sink! I have a Harvest Gold sink that came of this house when I moved in, it's stored on a dolly to keep it off of the ground and easy to move around. I'm planning to build myself a potting bench one of these years and put that sink in it, built so I can put boards over the top for flat workspace, or to have the sinks and fit drains in so I can mix potting soil or drop trimmings or whatever and when I'm finished, push it through the drain into a bucket. It'll have wheels for moving around, and I'll work in a few hooks or a couple of shelves to make it as versatile as possible. A neighbor had one he built with cedar furring strips that I could duplicate and it would look great. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 14 Jun 09 - 10:19 PM I'm trying to upload some photos to my webshots page, but it is slow loading. I read the Dirt Dr. site.... looks like I could just put some garlic in the blender then spray the liquid with the hose applicator. I did that years ago, hoping it would deter some other stuff. If I can get these photos to upload, I'll post a link. It is raining right now, so I took a couple of shots from the front door looking down at the newly cleaned up entry flower bed. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Jun 09 - 09:36 PM Alice, get yourself as big a container of granulated garlic as you can find and sprinkle it around the outside of the house to repel mosquitoes. Right now on the front page of the Dirt Doctor site he is in a little video clip from a demo he did on a local TV station showing his method. I haven't found that size container yet, but I get inexpensive garlic from the Big Lots and Dollar store and sprinkle it and it does help. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 14 Jun 09 - 08:51 PM Alice, got pictures? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 14 Jun 09 - 08:40 PM Finally got a flower bed patch by the front door that had gone mostly to weeds into top shape again, weed mat down with cedar chips over it (should have done that years ago) and the iris, day lilies and columbines all neat and tidy without the weeds covering them. I also planted bush green beans and put up another hummingbird feeder in a new location, just outside the bay window. The mosquitoes are so bad when I try to work in the garden, I installed a citronella torch in the flower bed where I was working. The native perennial sweet peas are coming up nicely. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 14 Jun 09 - 08:33 PM I had a bad case of the "Well, I ought toos" this weekend, and didn't do much of anything. Also didn't enjoy not doing much of anything. Some weekends are just like that, I guess. Took two days to get an already neat house dusted and swept. (and the kitchen sink still isn't scoured, nor the kitchen floor mopped, but I will do that-well, probably-, just before I go to bed tonight. Some of the trees that have been cut down here are still coppicing. I thought about going out and cutting them back to the trunk. It's the thought that counts. Right? I did get the birdfeeders topped off and the pots watered. Both of the potted tomatoes are doing well. One is a "Better Girl" and the other a "Sweet 100" cherry tomato. None of the fruits are starting to lighten yet, so it will be a while before I have tomatoes also. They are apparently getting enough sun to make it worth planting in a raised bed next year, which is good to know. And if they are getting enough sun, bush beans should also. The kale is doing much better in pots than I thought it would. I notice it is doing extremely well in the deeper pots. The big oak on the northwest corner of the property is, as it happens, the power company's responsibility and they are sending someone out to evaluate it. If they don't take it down, my neighbor and I will. When it comes down, I think that might open up another spot with enough sun to plant summer veggies on the opposite side of the yard. I might eventually end up with a decent 2 person veggie garden after all! I think I am going to gather heuchera and daylily seeds this year, and probably Japanese anemone seeds too. Bobert, those two azalea seedlings are just in 4 inch pots. Aside from the fact that I still don't know where I want them, I'm much more likely to tend to them, and the local loose dog is much less likely to burn them up if I grow them on in pots until fall, or even next spring. Should they be rootbound before I move them up? Can I go to a gallon pot, or should I move them to a six inch, and gradually increase the pot size? I spotted several baby toads (1 1/2 inch long) concentrated around my garden shed in the back yard. Do toads eat slugs? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 14 Jun 09 - 07:28 PM Hey, what can ya' say, Magz??? Fine lookin' tomaters ya' got there... We won't get any until August 'cause we have been late gettin' everyhting in... Still have yellow squash seed to plant and that's it... Not too good to get them in too early here 'cause of the life cycle of the squash bugs... They are generally done by mid June... The P-Vine planted around 15 palnts in her new raised bed shady garden... Looks real good All I did today was mow and then it was time for band rehersal... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Jun 09 - 06:52 PM Mudcat fashion statement: The Home Depot apron worn backwards, draped low off of hips. This, after the guy behind me at the returns register leaned forward and said "M'am, your trousers are ripped." Big long rip, not just a little "L" shaped tear, whatever. I've been in the yard pulling sticks out of the compost and must have snagged at some point and not realized it. And stubborn enough to want to finish what I was there for, I draped by pack over my butt until I found a spare nail apron as part of a display at the service desk. Tied it on, found the hose clamp I'd come in for, and headed home. I'll have to find another pair of ratty long pants for the weed eater days (I end up with too many dings and cuts if I don't wear long pants). SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Jun 09 - 01:51 PM In the house to cool off. Finished mowing the front. Neighbor came by with daughter-in-law and asked if I was still giving away chard--yes! I sent with two good-sized (greens) plastic bags, and also a little sprout and a couple of the pods of seeds from a datura. They are prolific--I hope she knows what she's getting into! I pull them up all over the yard now, but the ones I let grow are so beautiful. This is the time of year when I can really appreciate the planning that has gone into this yard. I haven't had great luck getting the tree in the back to grow, but those in the front have flourished and provide nice shade for the house without being right up against it. Today they offered a nice place to pause during mowing. Fished a toad out of a stacked collection of nursery pots. Seems to have gotten in and couldn't get back out. The ground is pretty hot out there so I turned on the soaker hose for a little so he/she has a little time to find someplace dark and cool. Lace bugs started up on the eggplant today. I rolled them off with my masking tape, and when it is cooler I'll spray with some orange oil and garlic pepper tea. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Jun 09 - 11:43 AM My basil is coming along. Any good recipes? I will be picking some onions soon, they're getting to a good size now. I'll plan to put more onions and some carrots in the same spot. Tomatoes are coming along like gangbusters, I'm keeping my eye out for that tinge of red on the bottom of the globe; after that the birds and squirrels will try to beat me to them. My window sill fills up when the tomatoes are nearly ready. I bought bacon the other day and I'll keep a good head of romaine handy for the first BLT of the season. This is my summer ceremony--to have the kids gather round and we all have BLTs. :) Here is my old broken spade fork back at work. This is part of my much better tomato crop this year. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Jun 09 - 05:51 PM I have some beautiful bush beans out there, too small yet, but soon. Tomatoes all over, onions all looking about big enough, and I've picked and dried a lot of oregano. I think I'll be making some pizza crusts this summer and putting on homemade tomato sauce and lots of onions and peppers as toppings. I love that kind of pizza! (A little Italian sausage sprinkled on makes them just about perfect). And the basil, it's looking good--a friend took me out for a pesto pizza last month--it was wonderful! Topped with cheese and chicken. Mmmmmmm! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 13 Jun 09 - 08:18 AM Well, well, well... I got paroled from Mudcat purgatory... No, Janie, don't repot the azaleas... Just plant them where ever you want them to grow old... If you don't have a spot then, yeah, you can graduate them to larger pots but they really would rather be planted in the ground... If you have "Pine Fines" or can get a bag, 1/3 Pine Fines and 2/3s of what ever comes out of the hole is the best planting medium for them... I little Holly Tone in the fall sprinkled around the base of the plant will also make them happy... Not alot, mind you... Half a cup is plenty for them at this stage... I finally got my lima beans in but couldn't find the romas... So the P-Vine remembered giving them to Mr. Clifford last year and, sho nuff, he still has some 20 beans left... Guess I'll round them up and get them in later today... Had a buddy come up here with his back hoe the last couple days... He worked on a section of my long driveway where the rain couldn't get to the ditches... More importantly, he dug out 8 locust stumps which were growing hundreds of nasty, spiny locust sprouts... Now they are in a big pile waiting for a nice winter bon fire... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 13 Jun 09 - 07:09 AM I meant to say lace bug. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Jun 09 - 12:45 AM My pest isn't a lace wing (here, those are considered beneficial, and their eggs are recognizable because they are stuck to the underside of leaves by a little stem of sorts). It is the lace bug. My source of information is the Texas Bug Book by Howard Garrett, but there are some good web sources for insect information around the country. Try this one, the BugGuide.net. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 13 Jun 09 - 12:17 AM I'm just not sure, Maggie. The black spots and curled leaf tips are consistent with your photos and what I have read and seen on the web, so I am fairly confident there are lace bugs involved However, there may another insect, and I do not know if it is damaging or not. It does not look like the photos of adult azalea lace wings that I have looked at. It is about 1/8th inch. red head, black wings. At rest fanned more than a beetle type insect, but not fly or moth-like either. Haven't seen one with wings spread, but with wings folded does not look lacy or lace-patterned. Still, I suspect a lace wing, even if not an azalea lace wing.. Also seeing some interesting looking insects on the native hydrangeas. don't know that they are causing any damage. Most of the leaf damage I see is consistent with earwigs (with which I have big problems), and slugs. When I went out to my car this morning the windshield had a plethora of earwigs. When I lift pots and saucers to empty run-off from the saucers, I find clusters of earwigs. I haven't really tried to do anything about either the earwigs or the slugs, but am going to have to do something. The slugs have found their way into the post of kale and basil, and I keep stepping on them barefoot (yuck!) on my carport after rains. I'm generally pretty successful at keying out insects and figuring out the major culprits with insect damage. I don;t have that much time to observe and to research, right now. I also don't have the diverse plantings (don't have much planted at all) that tend to keep nature in balance among predators and prey in the insect world. Balance. We wants balance. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Jun 09 - 11:27 PM Janie, if these are the same lace bugs, then you might want to look at my entry in a local organic gardening blog. You can look at the photos and see if it is the same bug. Scroll down to the photos with the tape and bugs circled on the leaf. Simply physically removing them is sometimes easiest. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 12 Jun 09 - 09:09 PM Bobert, The azalea seedlings P-vine and you brought me are doing right well. I'm wondering when I should pot them up to a bigger pot. Should they be root-bound, or simply have a nice network of roots that lifts the rootball fairly intact from the pot? Also, when I do pot them up to a bigger pot, should I take it slow and do graduated pots, or go ahead and put them in a standard azalea pot? Insecticidal soap is controlling the lace bugs well enough on the Kohmo Shekebu, tho' that azalea appears to be a little sensitive to the insecticidal soap. The lace bugs had also just started on the two seedlings. I treated them also, at the first sign of trouble. Neither of them seem to be as sensitive to leaf burn from the soap as the KS. I may go ahead and use pyrethrum (spelling?) on the KS, and try to eliminate them all together. I also bought some "all-season" organic dormant oil spray, as I read somewhere that a combination of insecticidal soap and summer dormant oil is an effective control. However, I find myself uncertain about using it. I've only used dormant oil in late winter on roses. Any one have any thoughts or experience with the use of dormant oil once shrubs are fully leafed? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Jun 09 - 07:45 PM I was going to mow at least the front yard this evening after work, but like clockwork, it is heavily overcast, 120% humidity, and I can hear thunder in the distance. My tomatoes are so big and there are so many fruits that one toppled over onto a little patch of carrots. I decided after examining several loose but sundry objects in my garage that it is a good thing after all that I didn't take that old broken spade fork with three tines down to the curb. I just massaged the handle up through a gap in the tomato cage and between some branches and then was able to sink the fork into the soil to hold this cage and plant up. I wouldn't have minded just the carrots, but there are also some really beautiful green tomatoes that were resting on the ground. It's feast or famine gardening around here. No tomatoes last year. This year, nothing but tomatoes. . . I hit the garden with neem yesterday to try to keep some of the pests away. With all of this rain, and the suggestion that I wait seven days between applications, it may be like I didn't spray at all. (I'm also using the neem to try to slow some early yellow blight that is creeping up a couple of plants. And one is showing signs of a curly leaf problem that I read about for the first time recently). SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Jun 09 - 01:24 PM Do you keep your soil on your floor? I tend to keep mine outside in the garden. Try that--the cleanup is a lot easier. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 12 Jun 09 - 12:37 PM Heavy rain last night - woke up to about half the floor flooded....but the soil needed it! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 11 Jun 09 - 09:27 PM YES!!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 11 Jun 09 - 08:51 PM Just imagine, once that fence is up, what it will be like when you plant and tend things and wake up mornings to find they are still there. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 11 Jun 09 - 08:04 PM Gardening??? Wahtz that??? Oh yeah, gettin' yer hands in the dirt and groovin' on plants... Forget it... That may be me latter this year or maybe next year... Right now, it's major construction with the deer fence... Even when I get a few minutes to do what the P-Vine asks me around the garden, I just don't have time to enjoy any of it... Grrrrrrr!!! Got my umbrella pine planted... Got some tillin' done in the veggie garden where we are going to plant limas and romas... But... ...back to the construction... Mr. Garnett brought his bulldozer up and put me in a nice road back down the hill behind the P-Vine's 500 foot long ornimental gardens... This will allow me to get into the woods with my tractor to get dead wood out and good stuff in... I picked up the fence today... 1400 feet plus 250 landscape staples (10 inches long) to hold the fence down between posts (or trees)... Man, what have I gotten myself into here???? Happy gardenin' for all my gardenin' buds... I'll get my better attitude back someday... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Jun 09 - 12:52 PM Heavy rains this week. Fingers crossed that nothing starts to rot in the ground. One tomato plant has a tendency to tip over, but has been propped with an extra tomato cage. I've been picking oregano because it's too big and though it has gone to flower I cut off the flower end of the branch and dry the rest of the leaves. There are onions to be thinned that are plenty big enough to eat like regular onions now. (It's nice to sometimes play lady bountiful, when someone visiting admires the garden, to reach in and pull out a beautiful onion to send them home with. Or something equally fresh and beautiful.) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 10 Jun 09 - 10:20 PM Thank you, Janie. We are looking at things in that very way, though Truelove is better at it than I am. We worked together in the house today, except for a couple of hours I spent in the greenhouse planting hanging baskets, mixing a fresh lot of potting soil, and preparing seed flats. I walked out to the garden in the rain, smelling lilacs and iris as I walked. The fresh green pea sprouts were rising up into the silver light and soft rain like tendrils of living green silk. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 10 Jun 09 - 08:58 PM maeve, I wish I could come up and help you. I hope true-love is mending. Pneumonia takes so long to recover from, but you can not do the work of two, and it sounds like ya'll have more than the work of two laid out for you. Don't forget to try and pace yourself. What gets done, gets done. What doesn't get done, doesn't. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 10 Jun 09 - 08:52 PM Slow and steady wins the race, Mario....except if you are racing weeds. Mary, A second planting of tomatoes or beans, though it might get too hot for the beans to bear well. (sez one who does not like okra, but isn't eating out of your garden, either.) Or a second planting of squash or cukes? You are a bit further north but I don't think your climate is that much different from mine. Down here, tomatoes, cukes and squash tend to succomb to disease long before the growing season is over and a lot of people start a second planting in early summer to harvest later in the season. Talked to my neighbor about that Oak that straddles the property line. She noticed the holes when mowing last night and is also concerned. We have agreed to split the cost of having it taken down if the power company is not responsible. I e-mailed the power company tonight to ask them to come take a look. Crossing my fingers that they will take care of it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 10 Jun 09 - 12:14 PM Without mulch I don't have soil - just a substance remarkably similar to concrete. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 10 Jun 09 - 09:48 AM I don't think I'll get time to mulch, but nevermind, the garden has taken off like nobody's business. I'll post pics when I get a chance. I've already harvested some beautiful squash and it looks like there will be a bumper crop. Lots and lots of tomatoes on the vine, cucumbers that will be ready by the weekend probably, some of the okra is still scraggely but coming along. Eggplant and peppers flourising, lots of blooms on the melons and the pumpkins are amazing! We've had plenty of sun alternated by drenching rains and the stuff is growing so fast I think if you sat out and watched it you could almost see it happening. The lettuce has mostly bolted with the heat, and will be bitter. Also I'm going to harvest the rest of the peas this weekend. Now, when I remove the lettuce and the peas I'll have some extra space. What kind of hot weather veggies could I plant in order to utilize that space? I was thinking of more okra, because I know it likes hot weather... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 10 Jun 09 - 08:26 AM I like to take some cooked white beans - saute quickly in either olive oil or bacon grease; with garlic and some italian spices (a little basil, a little rosemary and oregano) then stir in mass factors of arugala - as soon as the arugala wilts down it's ready to serve. I've managed to mulch about halfway down one side of one drive - my back only lets me cart about 3 wheelbarrow loads in the evening after a day at work.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 10 Jun 09 - 08:06 AM TIA- Arugula greens are delicious prepared as Janie suggested, as well as in soups and salads. Chop them and use in quiche or lasagna. You can also lightly steam them, freeze in portions on an oiled pan, then bag and store in the freezer for winter meals. Dry Maine finally has a few days of rain, so my task is to continue poking seeds in as fast as I can manage, whether in the vegetable gardens between showers or in the greenhouse. We're growing a succession of veggie and flower seedlings to plant as earlier crops are harvested. I'd been thinking the drought would inhibit the earlier plantings from sprouting in the clay, but last year's brutal months of carting compost (horse manure and wood shavings) paid off. My various pea seedlings were breaking ground 4 days after planting the soaked seed. I ran out of daylight trying to get the 7 potato varieties in, so this year I just forked over the ground and put the spud on the surface, mulching thickly with old hay. I've found a source for seaweed, so I hope to pile that on top at least once; otherwise, more hay as the sprouts grow. The pre-soaked sweet corn and pole beans I didn't manage to plant before dark I've just sprinkled on a flat full of potting mix, covering lightly. I'll plant the sprouted seed in the garden once the soil can be worked again. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 09 Jun 09 - 11:53 PM Saute them alone, or with other greens and onions in butter, olive oil and lots of garlic. Toss with linguini or angel hair pasta and grated cheese. bon apetite! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: TIA Date: 09 Jun 09 - 11:27 PM Anybody have a good recipe for sumthin to do with arugula greens? They are taking over everything, and really spicey this year for some reason. Way to many for just garnish. Gotta make a meal of 'em somehow. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 09 Jun 09 - 11:11 PM More rain. We are having April in June. That really is ok. We haven't had April showers in a number of years. Even with all the rain, I have no muddy places. These trees go "Slurrrpppp, slurp, slurp. Yumyumyum." The "Sweet 100" tomato has set first fruit. Finaly got Epsom Salts and drenched the tomatoes with them. We'll see if that helps the yellowing lower leaves on the "Better Girl." From what I am seeing on these two potted tomatoes, I think there is sufficient sun to supply fresh tomatoes. Gonna start collecting materials for a couple of raised beds out by the road for a small veggie garden. In the fwiw department, I notice that the kale I planted in pots is all doing ok, but the kale in the tallest pot is doing extremely well. I planted a curly leafed Siberian green variety that is compact. My favorite kale is Red Russian. it is not compact and I don't know how well it might do in pots. I'll order seeds and try it out this fall. Since the raised bed space is going to be small, I figure I should grow stuff in pots that I can and conserve space in the garden bed for bush beans, zuccini, cukes, tomatoes, etc. Probably won't have the beds in by Fall to plant them, but I'm starting to daydream about lilies. Saw a lovely combo of Lady fern and Casa Blanca lilies in the White Flower Farm catalog a couple of years ago that I am wondering about. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 08 Jun 09 - 10:59 AM Beautiful day today. Too bad I have to work inside. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 07 Jun 09 - 11:18 PM The rear property line is overgrown with things like privet, tree saplings, honeysuckle, english Ivy, Ligustrum, etc. Way back in the thick of the thicket, so to speak, was what I think of as a garden midden, where old water hoses, wire edging, discarded hanging pots, etc, had been tossed. Got out there today and started clearing, and think I have cleaned out the midden. Still a lot of work to be done, but it definitely opens up things a bit back there. Also washed, rinsed and organized a pile of garden related stuff of my own that had been piled out there since I moved. It is coming up on a year, and I am still moving in. Discovered the big oak that is right at the rear corner appears to be at least partly hollow, and has yellow jackets living in the base. Most of that oak is on my rear neighbor's property, but the trunk does straddle the line slightly over onto my side. There is also a power line that runs the length of the rear that feeds power to my side neighbor's house. I'm wondering if the power company has a right-of-way through there. If so, they might be responsible for taking down that tree. Gonna talk to the rear neighbor, hopefully tomorrow to see how she would feel about the tree coming down as it is a significant hazard to my house, which is sited in that rear corner of the property. My bedroom is less than 20' from that tree. Other than damage from slugs and earwigs, everything is looking pretty good. We have had more rain this spring than we have had in a long time. It is good to see the natural world thriving with enough moisture. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 07 Jun 09 - 10:56 PM Oh, my aching bones, but I got a lot done around here. I have some dirt in front of the front porch that is full of stuff that washed off the roof before it was replaced, and I put down deep layers of newspaper then covered it with several inches of topsoil, sand, and decomposed granite, mulch around the outer edges, and put some decorative stepping stones on top. While I was moving stuff around out there I moved the concrete thing at the bottom of the drain spout and found the biggest toad I've ever seen in my yard. She has a muddy tunnel for crawling in and out, and is very calm, considering that I've lifted that cover three times now (first time when I found her, then later to take a photo, and this evening to show my son.) It was a good weekend for gardening, partly because I took off Friday (use or lose time will result in long weekends all summer, but they're better when I can actually use the time for stuff like yard work). SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 07 Jun 09 - 01:15 PM I collected some wild seeds in the prairie across the road while out walking the dogs this morning. I'll use them in the farthest back part of the yard, see what happens. Yucca and milkweed. I'd love to attract butterflies back there, and have the evergreen bases of the yucca. I needed to do some surgical spraying of BT this morning (trying to avoid butterflies) because the cannas have begun to look like a Havana cigar factory with all of those fat rolled up leaves. I've pulled them apart several times, but today I pulled apart and I went through the stand with a folliar feeding mix that included some BT. I also sprayed around the tomatoes; I'd love to head off the tobacco horn worms. They're like the John Deere clearing bug of the garden (and there is a reason why the competition is named Caterpillar, perhaps?) Janie, I'll let you know in a couple of days if I was successful in planting beans from the starter tray. I'll put out bowls of beer tonight to round up the snails and clear the way for planting the next day. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 07 Jun 09 - 10:57 AM I was afraid of that (the bus). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 07 Jun 09 - 08:07 AM Thanks, maeve... Yup, that's it... Unlike other varieties of lirope this one flat out will not spread so it's hard to get a couple plants and after a few years have about as many as you can use... Yeah, Janie, I like those coleas with the large leaves... We also have (and sell at the garden center) elephant ears that are maroon that grow some very large leaves and make great container plants... Still wondering why the white coleas are so hard to find??? You see them now and then so someone is growing them??? Well, today is gardening and maintenance day... The P-Vine's community choir has a performance at 3:30 but she says I can come home at intermission and get back at it... Says the second half of the program ain't all that difficult??? Think by the end of the day we will have our veggie garden "officailly" in for the season... Gonna make for a bunch of happy seeding's that have been patiently waiting... Deer fence will be in on Monday or Tuesday... Hooray!!! BTW, Maggie... When we moved I had to leave the double decker bus back in Wes Ginny... It was firmly attached to it's own foundation and had a front porch built onto it so, sniff, it ain't gonna be makin' no 'rounds pickin' up garden helpers... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 07 Jun 09 - 05:09 AM This one, Bobert? "Liriope muscari 'Okina' Frosted Monkey Grass, Lilyturf zones 5-10 Description: An unusual variety with a neat compact habit. In spring, the top of each leaf is pure white. As the plant matures, the white becomes speckled with green flecks, eventually changing to all green by fall. In late summer, the clumps are topped with lilac purple flowers. Found here: maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 06 Jun 09 - 09:36 PM What I like about the Kong coleus, Bobert, are their huge leaves - very showy and dramatic in pots on a shaded porch where it is otherwise hard to get color. I'd like them white and green too, with those large, showy leaves. That is what I like about caladiums also. I've got "Little Miss Muffet" caladiums and white impatiens in pots on cast iron stands in the garden. As the hydrangea is turning increasingly blue, I was struck today with how nice the colors of that caladium and the hydrangea complement each other. I'd like to find a large caladium with similar foliage to plant in the ground on either side of thise hydrangea for next year. I like extremes in pots. Either very subtle or very dramatic. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 06 Jun 09 - 08:59 PM I like coleas as well, Janie, but I like the white with the light green veins... But I have a hard time finding it... Speaking of white, there was a white liripe that came out about 10 years ago... I think it came from Andrea Viette but not sure... It turns green as the season progresses... Can't find it either... Has anyone seen it for sale??? No gardening got done today with the exception of buiding as makeshift cover for the blueberries... Other than that, nada... Tomorrow will be better... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 06 Jun 09 - 07:54 PM I'm waiting for genetically modified mulch that spreads itself! Wandered into Wally World late this afternoon and rescued 4 gorgeous Kong Coleus. I've had them in years past, but had given up on finding them this year. Kong Mosiac Kong Red And to find them at Walmart, of all places. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 06 Jun 09 - 01:55 PM So far today I've managed to turn on the hose and move it a few times. And plant a spent lily and a perrennial Ipicked up while grocery shopping. The mulch sits there, waiting to be spread. The weeds are laughing at me. The soil is dry dry dry dry dry. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 06 Jun 09 - 01:00 PM Hot one out there today. I'm pacing myself, in order to get the back yard mowed. I have some laundry to hang but don't want to put it out until after I finish mowing. (Hanging laundry is always rather cool on a hot day, as the evaporating garments cool the air immediately under the lines themselves. Good essay material. . . ) Accidentally pulled a smallish onion. I have a couple on the counter now that have tops good for cooking, so I think I'll make a potato salad (I always add a little green onion) or stir fry. Interesting how garden mishaps can suggest menu items. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 06 Jun 09 - 11:42 AM Last night I looked around to see how many bits from my garden I could include with dinner. I had a steak from the freezer (I have to buy, not grow, my own meat, zoning and yard size come into play here) but I had a lovely little white onion I sliced to saute with it, and I had a side of Swiss chard and a handful of baby carrots that I thinned from the carrot patch. It took me a while to learn that when thinning you need to do it by taking the largest of the particular plant, leaving the smaller ones to grow and fill the space. When you take the large carrot you have something there to eat, while if you take the small carrot you just have a skinny orange root. Onions you can eat just about any time, and this one I knocked over in the path a couple of week ago and was letting it dry out a little. This white one is one of many I planted last summer or fall to use as green onions, but I didn't use them all. This year they're growing the fat bulb and taste marvelous, once you knock off the part that grows up to the flower. You guys all probably knew this, but in the past I haven't grown that many things that needed thinning, or had so few survive that thinning never came up. And I'm teaching my son about this stuff, even though he isn't incredibly interested right now. On a completely different subject, I've been researching the aggregate feed question and why my gardening landscaping blog made it into a site unnamed and unlinked. I guess to keep this from happening again I must give myself a by-line and a link at the top of my entry even if it is clearly posted on my page. I'll write one with similar tags and do it this way later and see if that works. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 06 Jun 09 - 08:49 AM Something magical this morning, that I don't know if I can rightly describe. The low angle of the morning sun is showing long, glinting lines of spiderweb all across the backyard, some running for 30-40 feet. Then, I thought I was seeing very small flying insects light enough to kind of drift with the light breeze. Suddenly, I realized I was seeing hundreds of tiny spiders allowing the wind to carry them - just like in Charlotte's Web. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Jun 09 - 04:24 PM DE is very safe, but you want to get the kind for gardening, not the kind used in pool filters. That is a problem variety. There is a brand that comes in a bottle with a long straw you poke into the end (kind of looks like a huge hypodermic) and puff it onto the plants. Soil Mender crawling insect killer is the brand and type. This type of DE is commonly used in animal feed. You just don't want to go inhaling a huge gob of it. (You don't want to inhale a gob of ANY powder, though!) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: katlaughing Date: 05 Jun 09 - 03:58 PM Cutter bee, that's right, thanks maeve for the links. It has been breezy here today so no sight of her. I jiggled the tree yesterday and she left, so I figure I need to hook up a motor that keeps it in constant motion or hire Morgan 24/7 to stand there and shake it.**bg** I hope I can get Rog to build a frame this time for the cheesecloth. I thought about the diatemacious(sp) earth, but I don't like using it when I read all of the caveats. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Jun 09 - 12:26 PM With that passage open now your yard will feel a lot larger! It's probably better for the house also. Plants up against it make it to easy for bugs to crawl into the siding materials. Hot out, but I've been working in the house. My son has a guest over. As soon as they're fed, I'm heading outdoors with my tankard of ice water strategically located for frequent drinks. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 05 Jun 09 - 11:42 AM I had a row of overgrown junipers removed from the north side of my house this week. These prickly shrubs were so huge they grew from the side of my house to the property line, with no room left to walk along that side of the house. They needed to be removed so I could reach the house to paint it and reclaim that part of the yard. I kept one juniper there next to the deck steps, a nice mature Japanese bonsai shape. Around it I put Siberian iris and a dry creek bed arrangement of river rock, repeating what is by my pond. Still planting to do, and more pruning. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Jun 09 - 11:10 AM Bobert, if you'll fix up that double decker bus with a few comfy passenger seats and the rest with sleeping berths, a bathroom and kitchenette, the Mudcat Gardener's not-so-Express can hit the road. Roving gypsy gardeners running up and down the east coast helping out in various yards and gardens along the way. :) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 05 Jun 09 - 07:27 AM Boy. oh, boy... That reminds me that I need to go down and get something over my blueberrues 'er the birds will wipe them out... More rain here today... Gonne be real late veggie garden 'cause the peppers some of the tomato plants we have grown from seed aren't in yet... Maybe Sunday... The poor P-Vine has hours posted at the gerden center and has to be there but with the rain there probably won't be any customers to speak of... How do you spell boring??? Ordered 1400 feet of heavy duty deer fence yesterday... Oh, boy... That's gonna be alot of fun down in the woods... Gonna take all summer to finish this project 'casue there are downed old pine trees down there that I'll have to cut up and get out of the way in order to string the fencing from good health hardwood to the next good health hardwood... But it's a mess down there right now... I could use a little help with that, too, Janie (wink)... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 05 Jun 09 - 06:56 AM Janie- "do we need to come up there and help you out so you have time to take care of yourself?" Yes, please. :> You have rain, rain, rain. I have gotta do, gotta do, gotta do. My Truelove is still down with pneumonia and now back pain. So, I "Gotta do" to get the veggies in and house mucked out, and so on. Thanks for the laugh! maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 05 Jun 09 - 06:51 AM maeve, Do we need to tell you to take good care of yourself, or do we need to come up there and help you out so you have time to ake care of yourself? Rain, rain, and then more rain. Stalled front. Ground saturated and flash flood watches everywhere. (I'm not in a flood plain.) No gardening for me this weekend. Old-fashion orange daylilies are blooming. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 05 Jun 09 - 06:39 AM "short time" Sorry- sore hands don't type well. Tired eyes don't proofread well. Kat, I see you said you plan to use cheesecloth. that sounds fine. m |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 05 Jun 09 - 06:33 AM Leaf Cutter Bee The redbud cookie cutter leaves I'd suggest using a barrier cloth, Kat. What about some net curtains; would that be enough for a shirt time? Otherwise, just use compost and regular watering to help your little redbud cope with a need for increased leaf production. We need all the pollenators we can get! maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Jun 09 - 12:33 AM I tried looking up that bee (is it a true bee?) but can't find anything. Do you have more information to go on? Diatomaceous earth might be better than baby powder. There could be other things, depending on killing or repelling. More later. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: katlaughing Date: 04 Jun 09 - 11:50 PM I thought the eastern redbud tree we planted last year had escaped the baby quilt-making bee this year. It has been all leafed-out and so pretty, growing well. Well, guess what? She's b-a-c-k! Quite facsinating to watch, she does a very thrifty C-shaped edging, then flies away to tuck it in a hole of her hive. She is also very fast and greedy. We will have to build a frame for cheesecloth over it by the weekend or she will mar each leaf! My brother said he'd kill her, but I just can't do that. Anyone know if dusting it with baby powder would repel her like it does ants? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Jun 09 - 10:44 AM Leo may be onto the answer--this hay doesn't have seed or heads. It's not as tough and flat as straw, it's softer for the dogs, that's how I got started using it. Okay, I just called the feed store to ask about this. The hay I use is a coastal Bermuda, and it isn't grown from seed. To grow this hay they plant root sprigs, and when it is mowed there aren't seed heads in the picture. I don't know that it means this hay produces no seed, but the reproduction used commercially is by planting sprigs. Of course, now that I've looked into it, I can see I'll probably make a switch for some of my use. Here is an Ag Extension PDF the describes how to start it. Lots of chemicals. I found that link from here. Ironic that I battle the Bermuda in my turf all year (it gets into the gardens like nobody's business) and then I would use a close relative in the garden. :-/ It does work, though, to grind it back in and I don't get it growing in the garden, so it doesn't seem to bring along any seeding or sprig parts in the bale. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 04 Jun 09 - 09:35 AM The truck farm I worked at during my HS and collega years - we mulched about two acres every year with "salt hay" - which isn't truly salty, nor is it hay....mostly. the tidal marshes are filled with what we call "marsh grass" - but I think it is actually some type of sedge....over the winter the long stems break off and the wind and tides pile it in deep layers around the edges of the marshes. So Every spring we would load the truck up multiple times.(with pitchforks) and spread it on the fields (again, with pitchforks) The asparagus beds; the raspberry beds and most of the vine crops would all get a nice 6 inch layer. (That;s the cukes, the zuchinni and summer squash, the ornamental gourds) Some years the field tomatoes got mulched as well - though not the winter squash or the trellissed tomatoes. The boss always had us spread a truckload in the greenhouse as well. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 04 Jun 09 - 08:21 AM Yes, leaves are great source of mulch... You'll need to use lime on yer garden with them becasue they are also somewaht acidic... We use them under acid loving shrubs and any shady woodland plants... The P-Vine, bless her heart, has a 30 year old shreader we bought for a hundred buck and it works great... Instant mulch.... Glorious gentle rain here for the next two day's... Gald I got my posts set before it... I got a message from my brother that a tornado touched down in Stanley (that's the closest town to us) so I'm kinda looking forward to stopping in the local general store to get my newspapaer this morning which also serves as to get the poop on it... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 03 Jun 09 - 11:29 PM I just use shredded leaves. Now I have them in super abundance, but even at the old place, there were plenty. Everyone raked or blew their leaves to the curb for the town to vacuum up every fall, so I'd go grab them before the town got to them. I shred them by putting the bagger on the mower. Wash out the city provided wheeled garbage can to drag along with me, and dump the bag into that until full. Then go pile them where ever I want them. Great soil amendment as they break down and the worms work them into the soil. But slugs and earwigs also find leaf mulch quite wonderful shelter. Whatever you use, Mary, mulch, and mulch well. Conserves water, suppresses weeds, keeps roots cool in the withering heat of summer, and adds organic matter to the soil as it breaks down. Without a tractor or substantial tiller, straw is hard to work back into the soil as it has so much cellulose in it that it doesn't chop easily. But it is cheap and effective, doesn't break down as quickly as leaves, and therefore functions longer as mulch, and will eventually break down on it's own for the worms to till into the soil as they see fit. Leaves are free, but pretty labor intensive to shred and then move to where you want them. And you do not want to mulch plants with unshredded leaves - they are big enough that rain can run off of them and not reach the soil as well as it needs to. I had a neighbor who every couple of years talks the street department, at leaf vacuuming time, to blow a truckload of the leaves they had just vacuumed and shredded into a huge pile next to his garden, which was fairly close to the street. Your garden looks like it is coming along quite nicely. From the pictures it looks like you have sandy soil, and not clay. Is that right? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 03 Jun 09 - 07:58 PM Maryrrf, Yeah, greatest mulch for a veggie garden out there... Gotta put it on deep... Minimum of 6 inches... You will be amazed at how it will do exactly what it is supposed to do in keeping the weeds down and moisture in... Plus... ...in the late fall when winter is comin' you can just till it into yer soil and it will act as humus in the soil and next years soil will be better than ever... We are lucky enough to have a tractor and plow which we use to turn everything under and then come spring when we till out soil is very happy... And so are out plants... I don't know anything about coastal hay that maggie is talking about... Hay generally has the tops in it which is almost all seed and produces grass but maybe in Texas it ain't got not tops... Straw is readially available in the Richond area fir $4.00 a bale... Look like about 5 bales will do yer garden right nicely... BTW, you ever go to Glen Allen to the "Little Five Azalea Farm"... It's off Rt. 1 about a mile north of Parham... Great plants for cheap... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Jun 09 - 07:15 PM I buy bales of coastal hay for about $10 a bale and spread it around (I also use this for cushioning in the dog houses). You could probably buy a few bales and take care of your entire garden, but start with one or two and see how far they go. I found bagged decomposed granite at Home Depot last weekend, and today I opened it up to take a look at it. (About 40 pounds, measured it is .5 cubic foot of crushed stone, cost about $4.50) My organic guru recommends it as part of the mix when you're making potting soil or improving the garden soil. I sprinkled it around my gardens sparsely, just to get the feel for handling it, and this will work it's way down through the mulch during the season. I regularly use lava sand and green sand as amendments. This is a little different, it is for consistency, not minerals, as far as I know. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 03 Jun 09 - 12:00 PM Hi Bobert - hadn't thought about straw but maybe I'll try it. Thanks for the suggestion! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Jun 09 - 11:01 AM Yesterday morning we had a heavy thunderstorm pass over the area at school time so I drove my son to school. An even heavier storm rolled over the top of us starting at about 1am--the kind that feels more like an artillery bombardment, with rapid-fire lightning, continual thunder, and heavy rain. The kind of storm that has you wandering carefully into the yard the next morning to see what fell over, broke, or got knocked down. Yesterday morning's storm tipped over (gently) a large tomato plant that I was able to reposition with no harm done. The veggies survived last night's storm, but the creek rose over the bridge and dropped debris and mud in the street at the bottom of the hill. The yard will be way-too muddy for mowing for a couple of days at least and it will be a longer wait for any more digging. Later I'll walk out back and see how the trees are doing. A couple of years ago one of mine dropped a very large limb in the neighbor's shade garden, and barely missed taking out their garden shed. They have a tree that is most potentially a fence or shed-breaker at the far back part of the yard, it's a huge and rotted hackberry. Let's hope these storms pace themselves. Problem with rain in this climate is that most of it comes all in a few days and runs off before it can be useful. Seattle doesn't get much more rain than North Texas, it just gets it in a gentle form and paced out to get the optimum watering use out of it. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 02 Jun 09 - 07:41 PM BTW, I gave in and took my employee, who is an animal, off the hotel renovation today and together we finished with the posts!!! Plus he finished painted the outside of the P-Vine garden house while I weeded and mulched the veggie garden... All in all, a good day... Back to the hotel tomorrow but, hey, it's sposed to rain anyway and we're almost caught up... The P-Vine needs to get the pepper seedlings in tomorrow before the rain but that oughhta give us some breathing room for a day ot two... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 02 Jun 09 - 05:39 PM Maryrrf, May I offer a suggestion??? Seein' as you have worked hard at keeping the weeds down yer garden will do better and require less maintenance if you mulch it now with about 6 inches of loose straw... This will keep the moisture in and the weeds down... Yer veggies will love you... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maire-aine Date: 02 Jun 09 - 03:16 PM The landscapers arrived this morning, and they've been working all day. They've already hauled away a truck-ful of branches and weeds. I'm just watching from the window, but it looks better already. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Jun 09 - 01:27 PM Thank you Janie--I'd found those suckers in that position but wasn't sure how far back to go, I was looking at the branch ends and wondering how far back one started. I have some big bushes now so won't try to do much to those but on the smaller ones I'll give this a try. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 02 Jun 09 - 11:23 AM Well things are coming along nicely. Here are the latest pics: Mary's Garden Pics June 1, 2009 |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 02 Jun 09 - 08:19 AM Better post than mine, Janie... Kinda hard to expalin suckerin' without piccures... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 02 Jun 09 - 07:32 AM Walked out to poppies in bloom this lovely morning! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 02 Jun 09 - 05:39 AM Maggie, I am using wooden stakes this year, and will use whatever I have on hand to tie the plants up as they grow. In other years we've used cages and we've let them all sprawl, but I want good air circulation and I hate having to damage plants and fruit pushing my way between plants when we harvest, so it's stakes this year. I'm planting my salad crops under and between the tomatoes for the most part. I also prefer to pinch out the suckers as Bobert and Janie describe. They are little stems, by the way. Lots of sucker pictures for you! Janie- Yes, those first sweet roses made the whole difficult day worthwhile. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Liz the Squeak Date: 02 Jun 09 - 03:02 AM People came last night.. my garden was admired, my arums were commented upon, I am, happy.. but I never did get to the garden centre to get the basket filler plants! LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 01 Jun 09 - 10:58 PM I'm not just doubly redundant, I'm triplely redundant. Bet ya'll love me anyways.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 01 Jun 09 - 10:56 PM uhmmm.....fruits will not be as large as they otherwise would be. ie, you get more tomatoes but smaller tomatoes. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 01 Jun 09 - 10:44 PM Stilly, look at the main stem or main two stems of your tomato plants. Follow the line of that (or those) two stems. There will be short branches off of the main stems. In the axil between the main stem and the short branch will be another branch. This is what is called a sucker. Many people choose to pinch off those suckers to allow the main branches to bear larger tomatoes. The suckers will also bear, but what can happen is that the plant will develop so much fruit that the fruits will be as large as they otherwise would be. If you do not sucker tomatoes you get more fruit, but smaller fruit. More recent research has indicated that you will probably get the same over-all yield in poundage whether you pinch off the suckers or not. One advantage of pinching off suckers is better airflow and possibly less desease as the result. If you are wanting big slicing tomatoes or to impress the neighbors with the size of your tomatoes, sucker them. Or if diseases related to poor airflow are a major problem, sucker your tomatoes. (they are also easier to stake and keep off the ground, or to keep from tobbling over cages or stakes if you sucker them. You will get more tomatoes but smaller tomatoes if you do not sucker, and the vines will probably succomb more quickly to disease or fungus if you do not sucker. But where I live, the heat and humidity of full summer are going to result in disease no matter what. I'm better off starting a second planting about 4-6 weeks after the first if I want tomatoes up to first frost in October. I may sucker tomatoes early in the season, for no good reason, but have not routinely suckered them for a number of years. If I lived in a cooler climate with a shorter growing season and fewer disease problems that could be effectively controlled by attending to air circulation, I might be more inclined to go out weekly and pinch out the suckers. Where there is a long growing season and high humidity, such as you and I have, and where disease is likely to limit tomato production late in the season (that is an issue here, and I'm guessing where you are in Texas,) you can also root some of the early suckers, using rooting hormone and vermiculite and/or perlite, and plant them early to mid summer to bear in late summer through fall, and take out the early tomatoes when disease begins to seriously reduce production, or to limit the spread of disease. Rooting the suckers is faster and less labor intensive than starting seeds to plant mid-season. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Jun 09 - 09:49 PM But are you taking off branches or simply leaves at the growing in batches of three at the end of the branches? I have a few strange tomatoes this year, the plants are almost curled up on themselves. I bought two or three varieties, and on all of them any of those groups of three seem to have minute flowers forming. Are you saying these flowers won't be viable or won't respond to pollination? Or should I go further down the branch and trim out some of the beefier branches? Or is this something you do when the plant is still very small and near the ground? Sorry to be so dense, but I can't really see where it is you take out this middle plant digit, so to speak. The first eggplant flower has appeared and is in full bloom. The tomatoes are covered with blooms. The oregano is blooming big time. The beans are blooming and the vitex in my front yard is spectacular in the sweet smell and blue color. When the plumber was here and had to feel for the hot water at the overflow valve, I told him to be careful, and as he started into the garden, "you're standing on an onion." "Oh!" was the answer, and tells me this guy doesn't garden or he'd have easily recognized the magnificence of these plantings. He managed to check out the spout without knocking down my Texas star hibiscus along the wall. I think. Sometimes they're pretty fussy and will fall down a while later if they decide they've been insulted in some way. Then the continue to grow, from that prostrate position, sending all new branches up from the recumbent stem. They can take up a lot of space if they do that. They're considered native, people are pretty sure about it, and they're different enough from the ones they sell that I think this is true. A few of these dinner plate-sized flowers really brighten up the yard! I one time counted 19 open simultaneously on one plant. I had to move that plant and it didn't survive, it was my best bloomer, but these others have gotten more established now, so I hope for a good year. Each flower is only open for 1 day. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 01 Jun 09 - 08:30 PM Indeed, hurray for you Bobert! Don't know what happened to my last post - maybe I forgot to hit submit and wandered off and then refreshed. Anyways, it was thread drift related to roadkill. Hubby and I used to make and sell drums. We collected hides from taxadermists and local hunting clubs, soaked them in big trash barrels with a lye solution made from wood ashes and water, then scraped and dehaired them. Both of us nearly lost fingers from infections incurred doing that work. The good doctors knew what to do about the cellulitus (cellulitis?) but none of them were accustomed to dealing with the germs we acquired. We were infectious novelties that all the medical residents got brought into see on the several occasions over the course of several years that we showed up in the ER. (Not sorry I lived that life, but wouldn't do it again.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 01 Jun 09 - 07:45 PM It's called "suckering", Maggie... Think of... No, hold up three fingers... The tomato plant will have lots of these where there is the middle of those three fingers (quit laughin', this is serious stuff here...") What you have to do is take out the middle finger becaquse it will no flower nor bear fruit... All it will do is take away strength from the plant... It's kinda like pinching out the middle of, oh, a mum so that it will branch out wide and not get leggy... You'll find lots of these in tomato plants if you look inside them as they grow... They are all worthless... Just pinch or cut them out with sizzors... Makes for better fruit... Well, hoorya for me... I actually did some gardening today... Planted 4 azalaeas, one camilla where another wasn't doing too well and moved that one into the healing bed... Weeded hald the veggie garden and helped the P-Vine plant her new raised bed with 3 other azaleas, a huckera, a couple ferns, a white lirope and a few other "ditzy plants" (my mom's term for small plants)... Didn't get any more poles set cause they are extremely tiring... Maybe tomorrow after work I'll get another 5 ot so set... That's 'bout it for today other than the some of the azaleas that are in bloom now are gortgeous... "Neptune" is a dark purplish/lavender and absolutely glows.... It is so hot!!! B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Jun 09 - 07:00 PM Janie, I skinned out one also, one I picked up in the Smokeys one year. I didn't keep that collection, after time they kind of crumbled, but I had a variety of animals I used in interpretive programs, picked up on our nation's highways (only if they were very very fresh). I stopped doing it when I learned about some of the really horrible diseases some of these critters can transmit to humans. How are you staking your tomatoes, maeve? with tall bamboo poles or something? Twine? Some kind of cord? How will it make a difference? I have most of mine in cages, but this year I just left a few to grow on the ground to see what happens. Bobert has a method of thinning the tomatoes that he described last year and I'm still not quite sure I understand. Something about taking out every other branch? Are you doing it again this year, Bobert? SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 01 Jun 09 - 06:51 PM Ain't that first rose a blessing to see, maeve? The first animal I ever skinned was a groundhog. (roadkill.) The first wild game I ever ate was groundhog. (Killed but not mauled by the dog. Their hides make great drumheads, Barry. But the biggest groundhog ever was would still be too small for a bodhran frame. (And they are the hardest animal I've ever skinned. They like to hang onto their hide, even in death.) I kinda like groundhogs that are not anywhere near a garden. Really smart and courageous animals. They won't pick a fight, but, as maeve noticed, if they can't avoid it they are fierce. We had groundhogs down along the creek at the old house. The young ones were pretty easy to trap in the box traps - unless they had seen another one caught in a box trap. Then they wouldn't go near it. If you do not get the adults out of there, there will be a new litter every spring to contend with. Cement in the hole may not work. Like I said, they are fabulous diggers and will simply dig out somewhere else. I suspect you have one den. They always have at least 2 entrances to their burrows. They are also territorial and are not likely to nest closely together. If, on the otherhand, you have gophers - I haven't a clue. Never seen one up close and in person. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 01 Jun 09 - 06:00 PM I got half of the tomatoes planted and rebuilt several raised beds. I'm staking most of them this year, rather than using wire cages. The big news is...(Hran roll, please)**************************** The first rose is in bloom. Its a fragrant, blushing pink single shrub rose in our hedgerow. The wonderful scent made it worthwhile to weed out the witchgrass from beneath it! It's the first time it bloomed so early. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Jun 09 - 01:46 PM Wow! I complain about snails taking out a row of beans in a day, but a groundhog is major devastation! Dogs are still a pretty good answer. Either scare them away or confront them. The plumber is here replacing the thermostats and top valve on the water heater. It has been dribbling scalding water out in the side of the house, and I realized the moisture wasn't the typical amount from my condensation pump from the heat pump on that side of the house. The ground is really wet and very hot because the thermostat wouldn't turn off. It probably came close to cooking my Texas star hibiscus, we'll have to see how they do this summer. Anyway, the job is about finished and we'll have reasonable water temperature in the house now. The way it was, it was like having a 50 gallon insta-hot tank. The cost of replacing these is about half of replacing the entire tank, and I'm taking the gamble that the tank will last a few more years and make this repair worthwhile. It's such an annoyance, when I'm struggling to make an efficient water delivery system for the yard, which is a big draw as the season progresses, only to realize that elsewhere it has been just running out at will, and I've been paying to superheat it to boot. Water and Electric bills next month will be high. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 01 Jun 09 - 11:50 AM Let's see... 9 more posts set this morning + 5 yesterday = 14 posts... 37 minus 14 is, ahhhhhh, 23 posts to go + 4 twelve foot gate posts = 27 posts to go... Hmmmmmm??? This project is going to take awhile... But this afternoon I'm going to actually do a little, yes, gardening!!! Going to plant my seigie azalea and plant all the seedlings in the veggie garden and hopefully get it mulched... And maybe get the maure on the asparagus patch... Nice to take a day off... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 01 Jun 09 - 08:12 AM As Janie suggeste a large box trap is the best answer... Now here's the tricky part... What to do with Mr. G-hog once you have him trapped??? Hefre in Virginia it is against the law to take him off and release him... But that what I do anyway with racoons and groundhogs... I just make sure that I put trap and all in the back of my Toyota station wagon so that the cops don't see me transporting said animal in the back of the pickup truck which has no tailgate.... Shy of that, the .22 is next best and fast... But a groundhog in yer veggie garden even for one night means an entire 30 foot row of beet demolished... These animals will go thru yer veggie garden like Grant thru Richmond... Si I trap them... My trap is about 4 feet long with a 18"X18" opening... That's the size you need... Animal shelters will sometimes lend them out to you... Apples, peaches and just about anything that has a sweet odor will work as bait... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 01 Jun 09 - 07:46 AM Barry, check your PMs. Woodchucks/groundhogs are very aggressive when cornered. We have dealt with them effectively without fences or guns, but it takes some planning. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Liz the Squeak Date: 01 Jun 09 - 02:56 AM Humph... you spend hours getting the garden to look nice for company, and when they come over, they say it's too hot to go outside! Ah well. Next door over the back fence have been pruning. They replaced the rest of their fence (my back fence is their side fence) over the weekend and have taken out a lot of big shrubs that blocked the light. They have also pruned my trees that overhang the fence, which I'm having mixed feelings about. Firstly, they should have asked me if I minded and secondly I'm pretty sure it will improve my light more than theirs... But I did manage to get my hanging baskets up (swallow nest variety) and now I'm off to the garden centre to find liners and plants to put in them. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Jun 09 - 01:13 AM My dogs would love to take on gophers or a ground hog. Not that I encourage it, but they're outdoor dogs who patrol the grounds, and if something like that turns up, they make sure it stays away or they kill it. This evening I finished the work on the newest bit of the veggie garden. I put my soaker hoses on a Siamese fitting to split the water two directions for good coverage. I repaired the longest piece of a soaker hose (hit with the mower a couple of years ago--I kept the parts for just this kind of use) and arranged it around the new area in a way that the curls in the hose won't kink. I ended up with a good arrangement and I tossed coastal hay over the top for the time being just to make it look finished. I'll pull it back and put in seeds this week. I'm planning more onions, some leeks, and probably come cucubits that I'll let grow out over the lawn to get a larger growing area (and kill some grass while they're at it. Good!) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST Date: 31 May 09 - 11:13 PM Thanks Janie I'm not about to go through all that fence stuff & digging. I might just wait till they go to bed then pour cement down their door I ain't feeding anyone or thing that didn't come in the house across the welcome mat. Barry, on another computer |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 31 May 09 - 10:46 PM We don't have gophers around here. I googled them and could not determine if you are likely to have them in New England or not, but I tend to think of them as midwestern and western animals. Big holes suggest groundhogs to me, but google images of groundhogs and see what you think. They are not generally aggressive toward humans, but have vicious bite - don't go sticking your hand in a groundhog hole. If they are groundhogs, you might try box traps baited with apples. They are pretty smart and can be hard to trap. They can also get into about any garden unless you go to a lot of trouble to bury metal chickenwire or turkey fence. You have to dig down about a foot and bend the bottom of the fence into an L shape, facing outward. The flat part underground will need to extend outward from the fence line at least 2 feet, and 3 feet is better. As you can tell from the burrows, they are fabulous diggers. Hate to say it, but a .22 bullet through the head is the only sure control. If you have fenced backyard and a decent dog that has the run of the yard, that may help deter them or encourage them to move on if the dog can't actually catch them. Lastly, groundhogs will occasionally turn up with rabies. I don't know how common rabies is where you are, but it is quite common here. They are not often carriers, but it can happen. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Barry Finn Date: 31 May 09 - 10:05 PM Janie, Bobert, they could be groundhogs. Are they just as bad? I don't own a gun Barry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 31 May 09 - 08:49 PM Bobert- Besides what I freeze or dry for winter, we sell veggies, veggie seedlings, perennials, sustainably-grown wildflowers, spring bulbs, herbs, and home-grafted fruit trees at our farm stand. Down the road is a food pantry, up the road t'other way are neighbors who could use help with food. I reckon 30 will be enough for now. m |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 31 May 09 - 08:19 PM Janie, Have you considered acubas... I think they will flourish where yer new house is... A little morning sun or late afternoon sun and they are good to go... The gold dust is real nice and need almost no direct sinlight at all to thrive... Barry, Get the gun... Groundhogs are vegetarians and will eat anything and everything that is green... But they are aslo very smart and know when yer out to get them... maeve, 30 tomato plants, pray tell??? Whatja gonna do with 'um??? Too mnay to eat and too many to can unless you can day and night... Everyone, Never got the asparagun fewrtilized 'cuase of a blasted party we had to go to... Politics... Did get the first 5 of the 37 posts set before the party... Gonna use up a couple hundred rocks before this little part of the adventure is over settin' the posts... Ya' know that I been so busy of late that I haven't gotten the first cannibus seedling started... Better get on that, too... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 31 May 09 - 06:04 PM Are they gophers or are they groundhogs, aka woodchucks? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Barry Finn Date: 31 May 09 - 05:52 PM Do I need to be fearful of Gophers? I got at least 2 "BIG" gophers living out back in a deep hole that looks like a cave when I peer into it. They're even set up with a TV, shower, recliner the whole works. They seem to like the neighbors yard better though. They go to where he had his trees cut down & they seem to love where they grinded the stumps & left all the waste-wood. I don't know if I have to now fence the garden off? Barry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maire-aine Date: 31 May 09 - 04:47 PM Hi. I mentioned this in the declutter thread, but not here. I decided this year that I'd have a local nursery come in and fix up my yard once and for a while. It had gotten too far out of control for me to clean it up by myself, but hopefully I'll be able to manage it after they're done. The crew is supposed to arrive on Tuesday (altho it's supposed to rain), and they'll start in the back. Lots of "weed" bushes and grapevines. The grapevines never have produced any grapes, so they're just a nuisance. And so many ferns that it looks like Jurasic Park. They are also going to build me a raised flowerbed along the sunny side of the house. This afternoon I surveyed the garden to identify the plants that I want to keep, so we can dig them up and set them aside, then I'll replant them later. I dug up several poppy plants (they're done flowering) and some red beebalm. Got a few more things to dig up tomorrow, if it doesn't rain. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 31 May 09 - 04:02 PM The shrubs are all out. I left the azaleas and two of the boxwoods, at least for the time being. Have no clue what I will eventually do along the front of the house, but it looks better bare than with things as they were. It is a marvelously beautiful day here. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 31 May 09 - 02:19 PM The bush beans are beginning to flower. Some tomato fruits are beginning to grow. When I thin carrots now I have some big enough to eat. I have to trim the oregano back and dry some, it's spreading out. I'm still working on the drainage arrangement with the soaker hoses, but it's getting better. I'm out of the amendments I use (lava sand, green sand, etc.) so I'll pick some up today. I have a couple of vitex branches growing into the path that I have to prune--I know there are preferred season for pruning, but this thing grows so fast and it gets in the way in a couple of areas, so I'll prune it back. I'll bring in a few blooms for a vase in the house--it smells wonderful. Yesterday I read an article about potting soil. The material used in the pot isn't what my Dirt Doctor guru recommends, but the discussion of how to use a wick to get the water to stay put better or drain better was interesting. I always seem to have to struggle, it's always too dry or too wet. I'll report back if I manage to conduct any research. I had a love/hate relationship with cannas that were along my front porch when I moved in here. They shaded the porch, which was kind of good, but I couldn't put pots out there, not enough light. And they got clobbered every time it rained. I finally dug them all out, dug a new bed beside the house where the soaker hose runs and where I do a couple of loops through that bed. I put the cannas out there, used amendments and fertilizer, and they are as happy as I've ever seen them. This year they're even bigger, up to 6 feet. It's just a garden variety red flower, but with enough of them going and the plants healthy, it is a really lovely stand of green stuff out there in what was once a rather unattractive portion of the yard. The cosmos are starting to sprout. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 31 May 09 - 01:25 PM I can't sleep and don't care to eat. Got some of the veggies in early this foggy morning: 2 kinds of sugar snaps, snow peas, shell peas, broadbeans, leeks, pok choy, 4 kinds of eggplant, moved overwintered potatoes to a different bed, moved volunteer lettuce (Jerico and oakleaf) to a bed. Tomatoes are in the greenhouse in gallon pots. If the storm doesn't hit before suppertime I may chunk thirty or so into the garden. Got to cut the seed potatoes and plant them this week. We'll have just one corn patch and keep it small enough to fence. Fog has given way to sun and hot wind. m |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 31 May 09 - 12:50 PM And I have been a slugabed this beautiful morning. Slept until after 12:00, which I haven't done in years. It was not wasted time though. I feel rested for once. Gonna hit the yeard and do the housework later. While digging out the shrubs yesterday, the ground is soft and too wet to work, but not soggy like I thought it would be. I'm getting a clearer and clearer idea of just how much water all these trees do suck up. Somewhere way up thread Bobert had commented on how much cooler this house will be from all the shade. I'm finding that to be remarkably true, and loving it. I also love the tranquil quality of light of all the shade and the green grass, and the contrast of light and shadow on the lawn. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 31 May 09 - 12:11 PM Comfy here... Just came in from weeding the asparagus bed and taking a break... Lotta weeds in there... Gonna put down some horse manure on it later today... We have several cannas... The one that the P-Vine seels at the garden center has moroon leaves... Not too sure of the bloom as yet.. Lots of sun fir them fellers... I have my own canna in my little shabby back of the farm garden in front of my old Spatan trailer muics studio and I abuse the heck out of it but its coming back... The P-Vine digs here's up and store the roots in peat moss in the winter... I donno??? B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 31 May 09 - 11:36 AM I picked up a pretty dwarf tropical canna for a couple of bucks recently. I don't know if it will be happy where I put it, but I think it has the best chance of getting the most water where the water drains off of the roof and where the soaker hose runs each summer. My son is in Dallas but I've arranged to have his father pick him up this afternoon so I have the day for working around here. It's going to be hot, but I'll work on the shady side of the house. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 31 May 09 - 08:28 AM Didja check out Home Depot's left over plants, Maggie??? Spometimes ya can luck into something interesting and cheap at the box stores this time of year... Rained cats and dogs over night here... Must have been an inch... Oh my gost... All the holes I dug yesterday are gonna be mud pits for a couple days... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 30 May 09 - 11:21 PM Janie, I know that sensation of wasting time like that--other stuff intervenes, or not, but you don't end up doing the thing you planned to do. If you discover an exercise to get past those doldrums, let me know! I ran around on behalf of the garden today. Home Depot for various things, including some of the seeds we've written about here. I'll be putting some in pots and some in the ground. I picked up some hose repair kits and will use some of the shorter sections of old broken soaker hoses to make new loops and sections to put in the new garden. I use hoses and Siamese fittings and such to distribute the water as efficiently as possible. Sometimes the hose is coiled in large concentric watering loops, other times it will be partly looped and partly stretched out. Not sure what it will look like yet. Depends on how much hose I have to work with, for starters. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 30 May 09 - 08:33 PM Well, Janie, one thing is fir sure... You ***have*** taken mental posession of the new digs... When you bend up yer glasses that puts you right in there with the garden "true believers"... Now if we could only figure out what to do with the neighbor's cats then all would be wondeerfull... Yeah, Maggie... When we moved here (like Janie) we knew what we knew and we tried to bring as much with us that we could that was familiar... We moved around 550 shade plants and we created a very long bed that was somewhat similar to what we had... And then we built on it... Then we discovered that the house itself was on about a 1/2 acre lot if you take the fence around it and so we first planted trees that will provide shade... Now we are kinda fine tuning it... We allready have figured everything out 360 degrees around the house and that's all okay but the yard??? Not okay, but getting there... I guess we've always known that there were possibilities but until just recently we haven't been able to take on the no-man's-land of the yard... But gardening is always evolutional... It's never completed... That's a good think B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 30 May 09 - 08:20 PM I have no clue what it is I do when digging that ruins glasses, but I just came in from digging out shrubs, and my glasses, which were dangling from a cord around my neck, were bent at about a 60 degree angle. I've gotten them straightened out as best I can, but am getting a terrific headache right now, either from the way they are pinching my nose or because the lenses are not lined up correctly in front of my eyes. Dug out 3 forsythia and three boxwoods, and whacked a bunch of other stuff to the ground that I hope to dig out tomorrow. There are nandina growing right up against the foundation. I'm afraid to try to dig them out as they may have roots that penetrate any underground cracks in the foundation. Guess I'll just keep cutting sprouts until they give up and die. One of the container planted tomatoes has set it's first fruit. Bottom leaves are yellowing on it. Guess I'll try some epsom salts as the plant otherwise looks quite healthy. A few years ago I would spend every spare minute working in the yard and garden. I still have the same enthusiam, but not the energy. After working 50-55 hours a week between my job and private practice, I often find myself, when I do have time, just sitting and doing nothing in particular. I ended up not doing a thing inside the house today, but still didn't go to work outside until 4:00. And it is not that I was enjoying myself sitting around. It was simply wasted time. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 30 May 09 - 06:57 PM When I was a kid I think we had the garden as a supplement to what we could afford to buy, but even if not, it set such a great example. My mother spent many years on a farm, so it came naturally in our large yard in Seattle. For me now, I find it in some ways convenient--what are we eating? Something that uses garlic, onions, herbs, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, chard, whatever. :) If I'm cooking and find I'm out of peppers or carrots or green onions, etc, I head out the side door. If I wanted to eat less expensively I probably wouldn't have a garden, I could use all of this time for a part time job that pays and could buy the fresh produce at a farmer's market. It's the magic of watching a garden grow and bringing in the food and cooking it and serving it that keeps me gardening. There's also something else, something I don't hear often, but it is more of the magic. When we moved in here, the yard was weeds and bermuda, the hedge was ugly. I planted a few trees, cut down the hedge, and I put in a veggie garden at the side of the house. At the front end of it, and in the front yard, I dug a couple of areas and I planted seeds for bunches of state fair zinnias (big, multicolored, bloom all season as long as they get water). They were magnificent, and people would remark on them, but the one that really was nice was the woman from two doors up the street that intersects my street. Her mother was barely ambulatory in her last year or two, but she would sit in the driveway looking out at the neighborhood, and her daughter told me a couple of years later that her mother loved watching this yard evolve, and really enjoyed watching those zinnias take hold and present such a wall of color. That is so nice to know! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Liz the Squeak Date: 30 May 09 - 06:19 PM It is lovely, and it will be brighter soon, but I can't help feeling a little twitchy now... why won't that corner grow anything (fertilized with the crap of a dozen cats is probably why), why won't my fountain work properly (pump fouled with duckweed, impossible to remove, have to wait til it rots out), why is there hardly anything in my garden to eat.... I can sit back and feel smug that I'm done, but mine is a pleasure garden and I am very aware that some here rely on their little plot for life and livelihood... I know how hard that is to do, having been brought up on home grown fresh veggies in season. I do think of you all often and wish I could help you out somehow... if good thoughts will make your water butts fill and your beans sprout, then you should be in for a bumper harvest all of you! Thank you, for the success stories and the not so successful stories - they're all part of the gardeners' year, without which, we would have fewer potatoes in the world. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 30 May 09 - 06:04 PM Bobert, I have laid out the yard so that not only it looks nice from the street but so that it is interesting from the house. The back yard bed outside my bedroom window was trampled by the dogs, there is a flowering shrub there now, but the rest of them still have flowers, trees, and shrubs that give a pretty landscape from each room. My office window on the front of the house looks out into the limbs of the vitex planted in the middle of the yard, and between the street and the vitex is a bed of iris and daffodils. Close to the house and tall enough to be seen from the window are several colors of Swiss chard. There are areas of turf in between these things. There are shrubs down at the curb that will bloom most of the summer (salvia gregii). SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 30 May 09 - 04:45 PM Well, more about protecting our gardens: rented a Bobcat with an auger today and dug 37 nice holes for the fence posts that are going to get deer fencing... I have them every 17 feet coming up the driveway and 3 or 4 back to the woods where we have enough existing decent trees to attach the fence back in the woods... Me thinks this is going to take a while... The P-Vine is going to plant a nice 30 long raised bed I made her tomorrow... It's between a creape myrtl and an dog wood... There is also a large maple between it and the afternoon sun and... ...best of all it is right outside our bedroom so we'll be able to enjoy it from the house... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 30 May 09 - 01:50 PM It does indeed sound lovely, Liz. Had to work this morning and am just home. After several days of rain the ground is way too wet to work, but it is sunny and warm. After the inside chores are done I'm going to take advantage of the softened ground ot try to dig out some shrubs. Gonna start all over here on the foundation plantings. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 30 May 09 - 11:26 AM Congratulations, Liz. It sounds perfect; enjoy the fruits of your hard work. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Liz the Squeak Date: 30 May 09 - 10:45 AM Well, that's it... all the annuals planted, and most are picking up after a day in the sun and a long water Friday night. The path is cleared and swept, the pots are filled with flowers, my pyrocantha is a sea of blossom; the roses are tighly wrapped buds like pink lips, waiting to kiss the sun; the arums are unfurled and glow in the twilight like they were lit from inside; talking of which, my two new lights are perfect. Just ordinary deck lights, solar powered, one in the circle under the trees and one on the table... they shine quite brightly in the evenings, and create the most amazing shadows and glowing pools like ice... very pretty. All I need do now is keep watering the thing, evict the odd snail that gets too cheeky and watch it all burst into bloom in a couple of weeks. Can't wait! LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 29 May 09 - 01:17 PM I recently found a $5 garden book treasure at a local library book sale. It's "Know It and Grow It II: A Guide to the Identification and Use of Landscape Plants" by Dr. Carl E. Whitcomb, 740 pages of clear information on a multitude of trees, shrubs, vines, and groundcovers. It's a perfect choice for this cold and rainy day. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work Date: 29 May 09 - 11:48 AM I have a deep magenta red snapdragon that has self seeded for the last 4-5 years and this year I just finished planting a whole batch of orange ones... I hope they'll self seed too, so I won't have to buy any next year! I've always loved snapdragons, used to grow them every year at home. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 29 May 09 - 08:40 AM Discovered a seedling peony while weeding the garden last night. It's right where a seedhead from either a tree peony OR an herbaceous could have falledn - so it may be either or a natural hybrid. The leaf looks about halfway between the two types - so will fun to see what this turns out to be.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 29 May 09 - 08:31 AM Janie, we love the Rocket snapdragons, especially the red. Sometimes they self-seed for us. I should talk with you about the cut flower trade sometime. In the last week I've potted up: a few dozen lupine seedlings, 5 kinds of hosta, 7 varieties of tomatoes into gallon pots, red elder, bloodroot, pulmonaria, polemonium, cranesbills, several kinds of sedum, full size and dwarf bearded iris, both white and blue crested iris, Diablo ninebark seedlings,and twenty grafted apple trees into 3 gallon pots. In bloom: late tulips, poeticus daffodils, late apples, crabapples, cherries,forget-me-nots, lupine, 4 kinds of trillium, starflower, bunchberry, pink ladyslipper, lilacs galore, bearded iris (Immortality rebloomer was first), dwarf bearded iris, polemonium, Quaker Maids, allium, wild and tame strawberries, Ragged Robin, Honesty, ... and many others. I've weeded the lupine/New England aster bed and cut back the asters. The trimmings go right down on the garden bed as mulch. I need to dig and split many others this week, and will be sheet composting along the hedgerow, and over the invasive gooseneck loosestrife. We're enjoying unlimited rhubarb in 13 varieties and asparagus. We thought the purple tree peony had died, but see numerous shoots emerging from the ground. I assume it's the rootstock regenerating rather than the graft, but it will be interesting to see what sort of bloom we get in a year or so. The other tree and herbaceous peonies are budded and will soon delight us. Glads are sprouting, overwintered potatoes are showing above ground, and we have plenty to do in the next two weeks if we're to have enough seedlings, veggies, and plants for the farm stand. I wonder why my wrist hurts. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 29 May 09 - 07:31 AM Lots and lots of rain, and more on the way. It will be awhile before this red clay dries up enough to work. The mophead is not sure if it wants to be blue or pink in this new location. Right now the blooms are at my favorite stage - big and flat, before curling under to form a big ball, not so heavy that the stems flop onto the ground, and mottled white and blue (and a bloom or two mottled pink.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 28 May 09 - 07:28 PM For some reason, snapdragons do not sell well as cut flowers, at least in these parts, although they do OK if included in mixed bouquets. Had a number of conversations with other local market growers, back in the day, and none of us ever understood why. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 28 May 09 - 06:56 PM Took a slightly different route home through town this evening. Some one a few blocks from here has got a glorious bed chock full of Rocket snapdragons. Hardly ever see anyone plant nice, tall snapdragons anymore. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Liz the Squeak Date: 28 May 09 - 06:45 PM Garden is now all finished and clear... it hasn't looked this good for a couple of years now.... all I need is for the flowers to start blooming. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 May 09 - 01:48 PM It seems my garden goes from zero to sixty every spring. For so long I'm struggling to prepare the soil and the plants are so small, but they skyrocket and now I have large tomato plants (with green fruit) and the oregano needs to be cut back, the rosemary needs to be cut way back, I'm eating a steady diet of chard and keeping a couple of other folks supplied. The eggplant are finally growing, and I have a space about double the size of my dining room table that I finished digging last week and need to amend and then plant. Janie, that vitex/purple chaste is native here and does very well. I've cut off a lot of branches or it would be even wider, and I need to trim off the ones that are again leaning onto the roof line and are drooping into the path I use for walking the dogs out of the yard (with Invisible Fence we use the same one entry point all of the time.) Snails this year have been a problem, you've heard about them already. I have replanted rows of beans, and I replanted some basil last week. I see the little sprouts are being knocked off again. I don't see the snails there now, so I'll put out more beer this evening. There is the most gorgeous salad in this month's Martha Stewart Living if you flip through the magazine back to the stiff page with a perforated page of four recipes. It's a plated of cut up heirloom tomatoes. For a dressing she warms some garlic in olive oil then lets it cool and then sprinkles chives and basil and this garlic oil over the top. I'm sure it will work equally well with my super fantastic and large cherry tomatoes. It's time to set up some of my tape and handy sprays, as it gets warmer plants get stressed and bugs come calling. And I forgot to spray my beneficial nematodes. It'll be too warm soon, but if I do it one evening or early morning they'll get into the environment. Time to do some weeding and transplanting some seedlings. I bought a tall colorful red salvia last year that I loved so I bought two more this year, only to find that it apparently seeded itself last year so I may move around some of those seedlings and have them in more places. I took the pit bull to the vet for a sore foot (she has been licking it a lot). Turns out to be the dog version of a hangnail. :-/ Anyway, he trimmed it and gave me an oily ointment to put a drop on my finger to rub on the toe, then not let her lick it for 10 minutes. I commented that since I'd be putting it on my finger I'd be treating myself also. He said he uses this stuff all the time on himself. I may try it on some of the sore spots on my callouses, see if it helps! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: katlaughing Date: 28 May 09 - 01:31 PM Thanks, gals.:-) I will call the Extension office and see what they recommend. I know our county has a composting facility where we could get some inexpensive good stuff to use. We don't have salamanders, slugs, or toads or frogs, not here in town at least. The only things really buggy are the earwigs and a mostly outdoor-near-water huge roach, I think they call Japanese roaches. I remember a year or two ago, one of you, Janie?, recommended the nighttime catching of earwigs, then dumping them in water. At the moment, I don't feel fit enough to do that, but will keep it in mind for later this summer. I'll get my brother or Rog to do the compost-spreading. My little perennials are looking really good; one of the carnations' blooms just opened. I'll try to get some pix later today. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 28 May 09 - 01:07 PM *grin* spring hill had potted coneflowrs on sale - so I bought some; and some hellebore; and some iris.... DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! of course it turned out they are out of spring stock on some of the stuff so about half my order won't ship until fall - but at least I have my self-birthday present already ordered. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 28 May 09 - 11:40 AM Kat, While I have problems with earwigs, I don't find the problems any worse when I use newspaper or cardboard than just using a good layer of mulch. The cardboard/newspaper will decompose, but will have seriously smothered a lot of unwanted plants in the garden in the meantime. I bet chickens are a darn good control for both them and the slugs. In small beds, I lay down a board. The earwigs gather underneath it during the day, and I then pick it up and knock them off into a bucket of soapy water. I've had a fair amount of success bringing the population down to a tolerable level in the past, but only in small beds. I just live with them and complain in the bigger beds. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 28 May 09 - 11:04 AM The Big Sky series of echinacea are yummy, MMario. My favorite is "Harvest Moon." |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 28 May 09 - 10:06 AM I should have taken photos of the tree peonies last week - the rains have not done them much good. I'm thinking about getting some coneflowers - especially the newer colours.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 28 May 09 - 06:34 AM sawdust mulch & other sheet mulching techniques From that site (not updated, but full of useful tips) this caught my eyes, Kat: "Sawdust, toads, frogs and birds protect from slugs, snails, wood lice and earwigs." I have found that to be true for our gardens here. The compost we use is horse manure and pine shavings, composted yet with the sawdust and shavings still somewhat present. I'm now using free mixed-wood shavings from a nearby boat building school for the paths, and I love it! When we first started working the ground here there were so many slugs they would be all over our shoe tops as we walked around in the grass. I still find them from time to time, but so few even our lettuce is usually untouched. The kind of mulch we use, the hand picking, and the frogs, salamanders, toads, birds and our bantams have dramatically reduced slug, snail, and earwig populations. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 28 May 09 - 05:36 AM Kat- Sorry, I intended to respond to your cardboard question. I use newspaper as a weed barrior, covered with compost for mulch. I do not find any particular increase in earwigs, etc. as long as I also make sure there is good air circulation within the garden. Cardboard can been used in a similar way. In our case, the voles love to make their runways under cardboard so we don't use it. Voles are responsible for a great deal of plant damage in this part of Maine. When I have used woodchips as mulch I have seen an increase in slugs, snails, and earwigs. A lot depends upon the local soil, moisture, and so on. Have you contacted the Cooperative Extension in your area? They should have sound advice for you. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Liz the Squeak Date: 28 May 09 - 02:19 AM Kat - get a hedgehog. Best ever at removing snails, slugs and little bugs.. trouble is, they do for worms too... Surrounding seedlings/tender plants with sand or small gravel helps, snails don't like it and it won't harm your pets. Planting in those 'snailproof' containers (large overhanging lip around the top) is pointless, the little buggers in my garden would give Spiderman a run for his money. Did my annual planting of lobelia last night. Have added purple verbena and orange snapdragons this year, so it's going to be an interesting display if they survive. I like planting things at night, when you can't quite see where you've put stuff... makes a nice surprise 3 weeks later when you get a flower where you least expected it. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: katlaughing Date: 28 May 09 - 12:58 AM 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? Anyone? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 27 May 09 - 11:09 PM I'm a long way from photgraphs to post. This place is still a bit of a shambles. By the way, that series of photographs of your place over time is quite marvelous. The chaste tree is amazing. I think of them as being very slow growing, but your's has become glorious in what? 7 years? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 27 May 09 - 10:50 PM I've never had much luck transplanting bean seedlings. Keep us posted. Alice, are you saying it is finally spring there:>) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 May 09 - 10:33 PM Some extra been seedlings are coming up. I'll let them get a little established then put then in the garden, hoping to do an end run around the snails this time. Lovely day today. Lots of sweet smelling things are in bloom. Does anyone have any photos to post over on the google group? SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 May 09 - 10:49 AM We had more thunderstorms last night. I'm going to have to contour the new garden to create stepping areas that are above the level of the rest of the garden, and create a little drainage or I'll have some unhappy soggy roots in a couple of spots. My rain barrel is collecting rain with a very simple system that can be improved upon so it fills with a single rainfall. I simply have to make sure that it is something that will stay in place and let the overflow drain harmlessly away and not splash back onto the house. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 May 09 - 11:31 AM Out to the back of the back yard, that is. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 May 09 - 11:11 AM Janie, that's the great thing about these yards in the neighborhood. There are streetlights, but the yards all have large trees and a wide and deep lots, so if you peer out the the back of the back yard under all of the trees and around the gardens under the big oaks, they're just sparking away (isn't that old-fashioned romantic?) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 26 May 09 - 10:50 AM I have a south facing wall at the entrance of my house where there was an apricot tree, too close to the foundation, which I had removed earlier this spring. The flower bed there had gone half to weeds, so now it is all dug out and refurbished and a layer of weed mat down with cedar bark nuggets over it. I'm going to put in a mix of bulbs and other flowers with bush green beans mixed in. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 26 May 09 - 10:03 AM Barry - we were lucky last week and did not get frosted, though people a mile away in any direction did...(two nights last week!) My columbines have started blooming; I have some that are more or less natives - and then occasionally plug in a garden variety - until most of the seedlings are looking like natives again. This year have some large red; some small red, some wine-ish; deep blue (almost black) blue, light blue, in two or three different bloom shapes and orientations. Love what you get when your flowers are promiscuous! I think I have a yellow one about to bloom. When it opens then I can look and see what if anything I can buy at the mursery to shake things up some more. Yellow peony bloomed over the weekend. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 26 May 09 - 07:01 AM All the artificial light at night makes it more difficult for the males and females to find each other, is what I read. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 May 09 - 01:07 AM I saw my first firefly in the neighborhood last week, and the first one in my yard this evening. I spent all day outside, pacing myself and moving to cooler or shadier locations as needed. I have all but about 2 square feet of the new vegetable bed dug, but it was dark enough that I couldn't see what I was doing. I have to hand dig the first time around, it's all Bermuda here and a tiller would turn a new garden into Bermuda-Hell. I worked through dusk, hoping to finish, but you reach a point where it is foolish to try to continue. I'm going to ache tomorrow. . . I dug a new section of another bed (in a cooler shady area when I worked on it) and we'll see if delphiniums really like partial sun. That's what this is--glaring sun in the morning and mid-day, but none in the afternoon and evening. Also stuck some cosmos in. I've never grown either of these, but seeds are cheap. It's a small bed, near the driveway. This morning in my email was a message from Photobucket that I can now track back and see who is viewing my photos. This is free even for those of us who don't pay for premium features. I thought "what the heck" and went to the page where I post the photos for my blog. I discovered that there is a link from a site in Indiana that has looked at my photos a lot. Now I didn't just fall off of the turnip truck, so I let my curiosity lead me to his site. He has lifted one of my blog entries completely and posted it at his site, with no attribution or link back to my blog! But the scum bag is cheap and didn't save my photos to his site to host there, he linked back to my photobucket images that I used on the blog (this way he doesn't use HIS bandwidth. This is considered bad manners in web design circles). I sent him a comment (the only way to reach this guy--prolific poster--clearly none are his) and it hasn't been posted. But I fixed his wagon. I made a Photoshop jpg with text that states that the content is mine and is under copyright. I saved it a couple of ways on my computer, then I renamed one of the photos in that blog so I could save my copyright message as one of the existing blog photos that he did link to. Get what's going on? Now in the middle of his page of lifted content is my photo, linked like he set it up, but the message is there. This is the guy. I'm new to blogging, but I'm not new to the Internet, to web pages, to links, or to copyright. Let's see if he leaves this up. You have to scroll down to the entry "A House with a Yard" that is currently on his page two. As time passes, it might require going further back to find the page he lifted on May 21, 2009. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: katlaughing Date: 26 May 09 - 12:42 AM Poor fireflies...made redundant. I hear they are really lighting up the unemployment lines.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Barry Finn Date: 25 May 09 - 09:10 PM The light is blinding them??? Barry |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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~ |
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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 |
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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. |
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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. |
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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 |
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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~ |
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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. |
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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 |
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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! |
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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 |
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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. |
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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~ |
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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 |
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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. |
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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 |
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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 |
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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:/) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: gnu Date: 24 May 09 - 09:23 AM Great info.... thanks all! |
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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~ |
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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 |
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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? |
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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 |
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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. |
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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 |
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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. |
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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~ |
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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 |
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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? |
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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. |
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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? |
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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 - |
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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. |
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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. |
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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~ |
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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. |
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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 |
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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. |
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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~ |
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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. |
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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. |
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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! |
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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 |
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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 |
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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. |
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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? |
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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! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 20 May 09 - 11:26 PM maeve, Are you anywhere near the same neck of woods as Johnny's Selected Seeds? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 20 May 09 - 10:31 PM My earliest day lily has sent up scapes, tho' will be a while before bloom time. I hope I brought at least one of each of my day lilies from the old place. Guess I'll find out as they come into bloom. I may have already said this down thread, but I'm really regretting that I didn't have the time to dig up at least one specimen of each of my peonies. Most of them were pretty common varieties, but there was one heirloom that an old lady had passed on to me from her garden before she died. They'll do ok in part sun. The new office manager at one of the clinics in which I work is a gardener and has been bringing in vases full of different peonies for the last three weeks. I'm just realizing that I either did not bring any of the single apricot chrysanthemum, or it was one that I lost over the winter. I knew I lost a couple of the Big Sky series echinacea but there were 4 pots that nothing came back in this spring, and I couldn't remember for sure what I had other than the echinacea that was missing. Fortunately, I passed some of that on to my sister so she can give me divisions when I'm ready for them. The fields and roadsides are bright now with ox-eye daisies, coreopsis, red clover and batchelor's buttons, and in moist shady ditches along the edge of road and woods out in the country I'm seeing golden ragwort, poison hemlock and fool's parsley, hairy vetch and the like. After several years of very dry, hot springs, this rather cool spring with adequate rain is wonderful. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: katlaughing Date: 20 May 09 - 09:58 PM That is WONDERFUL, maeve!!! Congratulations to you both!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: gnu Date: 20 May 09 - 05:56 PM maeve... "Gratitude is too mild an adverb to describe my feelings and sense of relief.? Gratitude yourselves! BRAVO! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 20 May 09 - 04:46 PM Well done, maeve! May you both continue to heal and may you both, as well as the land and the critters that dwell therein, enjoy the fruits of all your labors. Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 20 May 09 - 04:40 PM I am happy beyond all expectations on this otherwise dismal day. Not only have we received our renewed license to sell nursery stock, today was our Department of Agriculture inspection. We passed easily without problems, and with a notation that our plants all are healthy. Not too shabby for a two person operation, one of whom has pneumonia and the other is recovering from a broken wrist! He was especially taken with all the environmentally sound improvements and plantings, the beds of native wildflowers, the young orchards, and use of recycled materials for mulch. His highest praise was on behalf of my Truelove's many young home-grafted fruit trees for this year and next year's sales. Now we are free to open our farm stand and start the flow of income again. I had been feeling the pressure of all the delayed work that all should have been done two months ago. Recent visitors had added to the dismay by seeing none of the accomplishments and all of the unfinished work and piles of downed firewood, greenhouse materials, etc. The inspector not only conducted the inspection in a professional and informative way, he took the time on his busy day to encourage our efforts and applaud our accomplishments over the last long and difficult year. Gratitude is too mild an adverb to describe my feelings and sense of relief. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 20 May 09 - 12:07 PM David, go peddle it someplace else, please. You have a dedicated thread to your web site, go play there. Don't start lecturing us without reading all of our gardening threads or you'd see that we're well up on organic, green, native, xeriscape, and food miles. Cordially, SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 20 May 09 - 10:32 AM Got home last night to find one of the (potted) azeleas almost completly wilted - I *KNEW* I should have watered it yesterday morning. So I put it to soak in a tub of water - this morning you couldn't tell it had been dry. EVERY blossom came back! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 20 May 09 - 10:30 AM Looks like I might get some tomatoes after all. as the angle of the sun has changed the 'maters are getting just a wee bit more light and while not prolific, there are enough blooms to matter. Hurrah! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: WalkaboutsVerse Date: 20 May 09 - 10:22 AM I don't presently have access to garden space (I just grow English ivy in a couple of indoor pots, to which a native grass, a fern, and moss have also colonised, by chance), but I remain interested and sure that native gardening is a good green way-forward... Green/eco-friendly gardening is native gardening, and vegetables, plus other consumables, should be the only exotic-flora we plant - as doing so can help limit food-miles, etc. By filling our other garden spaces with natives, we use less water and other resources, whilst aiding the native-fauna that, over the centuries, evolved with them. (Even high-nectar exotics, such as Buddleia, that are very attractive to SOME native-fauna, should be avoided, because they upset nature's/God's balance – God created evolution, too, that is.) Our green gardens, with their vegies and natives, can be made still greener by the addition of compost heaps/bins; a wildlife pond – for native frogs, newts, and so on, rather than exotic goldfish; bee- and bird-boxes, plus carefully-selected feeders; rain- and grey-water vats; by growing everything organically - including thrifty home-propagation plus species-swapping; and by leaving some lush untidy patches, decaying branches, etc. (from here). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 19 May 09 - 04:02 PM Your own little bit of the arctic tundra right there in New York State. I have to start the pest control in ernest. Too many little holes in tender leaves for a couple of these plants to make it. Some I'll start over, some I'll treat and see what happens. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 19 May 09 - 10:33 AM Did I mention the local Rhodie Society had a sale going on last weekend while I was on Cape Cod? So I drove back to NY with most of my back seat leafy and green. Planted one of them last night, hope to get the other in tonight - and then need to plant the two azaleas that have been "decorating" the porch, as well. I was lucky to find varieties that will take my zone 4 since the Cape is zone 7. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 May 09 - 12:45 PM That part of the yard smells just like an Italian restaurant, Bobert. Janie, it has been difficult to get going this year, I don't think it is just age, I think there is the combination of false starts with the weather (here) and a bit of cultural malaise for so many other things that weigh down my spirit. But once I get out there I usually perk up. I'm doing some work in a little while--my 'lunch hour' will be spent digging and hauling mulch. Yesterday I went past a neighbor's house where they had family visiting and were all out in the driveway talking. But I've been trying to catch him at home and outside for ages, so my dogs and I strolled over and ended up heading down into the yard to look at the garden. After surveying the stuff in there so far, I went back up to the group and asked him a few questions about what he's planning, then headed out again. I suspect that as the family of an ardent gardener, all of the rest of them understood its kind of an addiction. :-) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 18 May 09 - 12:24 PM We'll have a freeze here tonight, too; time to haul in wood for the stove. Truelove is outside cutting some now, despite his pneumonia. He'd rather be breathless than cold, and I can't argue with that. Yesterday I dug several perennials destined for potting and the farm stand, weeded in the big veggie garden, sorted a few hundred pots to be disinfected, and added mulch to one of the flower beds. Later in the early evening I weeded most of the asparagus bed. I'm working in the kitchen and root cellar today. In a little while though, I'll go cut some of that tasty asparagus for tonight's supper. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 18 May 09 - 10:50 AM Yes it's going to be very chilly here tonight too - down in the 40's. I HOPE we don't get a freeze. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 18 May 09 - 10:48 AM We're suppossed to get a freeze tonight. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 18 May 09 - 07:20 AM Easy to find, Maryrrf... just east of 295 off Mechanicsville Pike... take left @ IHOP then 2nd left which is only 50 feet past the 1st left... then 1/2 mile to Sandy's... Nice variety and big danged nusery... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 17 May 09 - 09:06 PM Bobert, I ended up getting most of my stuff at a place in Old Church called Crowder's Plants - near where my mom lives. They were a lot cheaper than the big box stores. Sometime I'll have a look at Sandy's, that's not far from where I live. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 17 May 09 - 09:05 PM I simply blew this whole weekend. I was home by 2:30 or 3:00 yesterday, and it didn't start raining until after 1:00 today, but I didn't do a thing until after three today, and was simply to half-heartedly clean house. I could have at least moved the ginger lilies and the day lilies. They are all still in the ground where I heeled them in last summer when I moved. I think I would be feeling much better physically and mentally now if I had at least done a little something in the yard or garden. The old gray mare ain't what she used to be. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 17 May 09 - 08:52 PM Bottle it up and send us some, Magz... Ummmmm, I could use some nice herb smells.... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 17 May 09 - 08:51 PM slugs and earwigs are about to do my basil in, along with a few other plants. Earwigs are not supposed to be a big problem, but around here they are awful. Had the same problem at my other house. It seems that using shredded leaves for mulch is increasing the problem with both critters. Wish earwings liked beer. Then I could get a twofer. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 May 09 - 08:20 PM I have a corner of the garden planted in basil this year. One row of seed seems to have washed away so I'll reseed it. A couple of others are coming up. This is the same garden with the oregano, onion, garlic, and peppers. It smells wonderful out there at all times! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 17 May 09 - 08:14 PM Oh, yeah... Basil, tomato and mozzarella... Little balsomic vineger and yer in basil heaven... Basil is a must in any garden... Yo, maryrrf... You have a couple of realy nice nurseries in the Richmond area that also sell retail... One is Sandy's in Mechanicsville and the other is Colesville which is just north of Ashland off Rt. 1... If you haven't checked them out you need too... There's also a great place to buy Japanese maples out Rt. 33 in Montpieler, Acer Acres, that sells over 100 cultivars of Japanese Maples cheap... Well, I'm not too sure what the retail prices are but we're paying $30 for a 3 gallon acer... That is dirt cheap... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Alice Date: 17 May 09 - 08:12 PM The gardening axiom here is - don't plant until June because it will snow for sure off and on through May. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 17 May 09 - 08:06 PM Yes Basil is great. I have some now in the garden that I've been harvesting, and I still have leftover pesto that I made from last year's crop. I froze it in an ice cube tray so when I want to use it I just take a few cubes and add to my soup or pasta. Nothing like the taste of fresh basil though - and you are right, with a home grown tomato and mozzarella - heaven on a plate. Especially with a drizzle of nice olive oil. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 17 May 09 - 07:01 PM Uhmmmm, Basil. I love to take a fresh cherry tomato, pinch off a piece of fresh mozzarella, wrap a basil leaf around them, and pop it all in my mouth! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Jeri Date: 17 May 09 - 06:00 PM My main thing is basil. I have two different kinds planted in half-barrels, a big planter and some in the flower garden just for grins. I LOVE pesto. Made a ton of it just from the one pot/planter. The summer batch was much better than the fall batch. OK, it's an herb, not a vegateble, but I eat a lot of it and it goes well with vegetables. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 17 May 09 - 05:53 PM We are not having as much sun as usual. In fact, it has been a cool and rainy spring in Virginia. My garden this time last year was a bit farther along, I think. For some reason, the pumpkins have really taken off. I saw a baby pumpkin today! I only planted them May 1st! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 17 May 09 - 05:36 PM Our veggies are pouting... Usually it's in the low 80's by this time in May with nights in the mid to high 50's... Today it never got to 60 and it's sposed to go down to 37 tonight... We could us a little global warming here in Pine Grove Holler...lol... Well, at least the spinich is happy... As fir them critters on yer azalea, Janie, it is a new place for you and the ecological balance (or inbalance) is going to be different... Some critters you didn't use to have yer gonna have plenty of and vice versa... Slugs love shade so be prepared to do battle with them... By the end of yer 1st year there you'll be a pro at shade gardening... And, think... ...moss... Makes great paths and requires no maintenance... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 17 May 09 - 02:32 PM I'm jealous of your sunshine, Mary. Looks like an excellent start on your kitchen garden. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 17 May 09 - 02:27 PM excellent photo, Stilly. I think the problem is azalea leaf miners. On very close inspection, I see some similar damage on the mature azaleas here. I think this plant is so affected simply because it is so small. There may be a few lace bugs in the mix. Either way, it looks like a couple of applications of insecticidal soap will control them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 May 09 - 10:45 AM Janie, if it is lace bugs look carefully at the leaves and see if you find the various stages. life stages photo of lacebug as I photographed them on an eggplant leaf last year. Is this what you're talking aobut, Bobert? I use masking or painters tape and simply roll them off when I find them. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 17 May 09 - 09:24 AM Sounds like lace bugs to me, Janie but if you cut off a small portion and take to one of the better garden centers, they should be able to identify the pest and reccommend the proper treatment... I also pm'd you about pedal blight... More on that later... Yeah, we are definately going to do the deer fence... I was thinking more about it last night and decided that we might as well take it at least a 100-150 feet back into down into the woods and that way if I have to take down any dead trees I'll have alot more room to fell them... Plus I can enclose my woods roads so I can get my tractor around the fenced area... That alone is enough reason to fence what will probably be a couple acres... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 17 May 09 - 08:52 AM I'm just outside of Richmond, Virginia |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Guy Wolff Date: 17 May 09 - 07:17 AM Yesterday was the opening show of the gardening season here in the northeast . The show is called "Trade Secrets"" and is the brain child of Bonnie Williams . Lots of garden antiques but the early buyers ($100.00 a ticket ) come for plants like wild orchids from the Himalayas . The plantsmen are so wonderful . Ken Solody of Atlock farm from Somerset NJ is a great topiary man. Amazing to see plants as sculpture . Andrew Beckman, David Burdock and Rob of Glenwood flowers were all a hit . My daughter got to reacquaint herself with Martha's French bulldogs who watched from outside the gates to the show . Everyone is talking vegetables in big pots this year . Funny, PBS was shooting a show on what the rich are doing this year . Well they are buying less pottery at any rate . We did have a beautiful day and saw lots of old friends . Hello to all here , Guy |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 May 09 - 02:50 AM Where are you, Maryrrf? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 16 May 09 - 09:18 PM Here are some pics of my garden. Everything is doing fine except the okra. The birds keep pecking at it. Mary's Garden Pics |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 May 09 - 08:45 PM Rain overnight, rain this morning, into the afternoon. It's still a bit drippy and overcast. What does this mean to a gardener? Time to pull weeds! I've been out there for the last hour since it has let up some. I'll go out again in a few minutes. I have to run to the store and get some more beer. I'm seeing a huge population of snails this year, and they eat everything. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 16 May 09 - 05:14 PM Well, other than threatening clouds off and on all day, high humidity, and few sprinkles, no rain. I couldashouldawoulda worked in the yard. But I'm simply too tired. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 16 May 09 - 03:06 PM It may be azalea leaf miners. Still trying to figure it out. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 16 May 09 - 02:56 PM I think Shenandoah is a national park instead of national forest, Bobert. Hunting is allowed in national forests but not in national parks. Deer fence is probably the only real defence you have against the creatures there. bobert, can I use insecticidal soap on your azaleas? Something is damaging the Kohmo Shekebu. I thought there was maybe a problem last fall and early this spring, and now can see definite insect damage. Leaves folded under at the tip and held together by a sticky, somewhat spiderweb like substance with a tiny black creature enclosed. Can't find my magnifying glass right now to get a good look at it. Also, brown patches on the leaves where it looks like something has either chewed or sucked almost, but not quite through the leaf. In otherwords, no hole in the leaves, but the leaf is much thinner where it is brown. Does not look fungal or diseased. May be that whatever layed the egg fed first. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 16 May 09 - 01:11 PM Nah, Maggie, that ain't it... The Umbrella Pine is shaped alot like a white pine except its needles are very thick and waxy... Kinda like the needles on a Plum Yew but alot longer... Definately a specimen tree... You don't want or need more than one as they can get to be 50 feet tall... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 May 09 - 11:45 AM Bobert, would that "umbrella" pine also be called the Italian stone pine? I linked to a blog that has some discussion, there are other better photos out there, but these will work. I have several in the yard, in spread out places. Rain overnight. There was lightning at 3am when I shouted at the dogs to quiet down, and now they probably haven't been out for hours (they come and go at will). Darn. I have to take them to local annual shot clinic at the fire hall. We need to go for a rainy walk so they'll take care of business, then I need to put wet dogs that need baths in the pickup truck with me and drive down there. Good thing it's only six blocks and I'll keep the windows open. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 16 May 09 - 08:17 AM Well, well, well... Finally a day off from my 2 full time jobs!!! So, glory be... I'll try to move a few things today before the rain that have been begging to be be moved and maybe plant an umbrella pine that we bought at a great wholesale nursery outside of Richmond called Acer Acres... BTW, Acer Acres is growing over a 100 cultivars of Japanese maples... 3 gallon plants are $30 wholesale for any of them... They also sell the unbrella pines for $35 in 3 gallon pots... They are in the 3-4 foot range... Love them... Also maybe get in some mulch refreshing... We have decided that seein' as the P-Vine is earning money at the plant center that we're going to use a bunch of it to enclose our main garden which is roughly 450 feet long and 100 feet deep into the woods... Yeah, I know it will be a major project but when one lives adjacent to the largest game refuge on the east coast (The Shenandoah Nation Forest) there really isn't any other choice... We have used every product and trick in the book but the deer are the enemy... The fence works!!! We have it around our veggie garden and no deer... Well, better get at it before the rains get here... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 May 09 - 02:10 AM I took a "starter bag" of iris rhizomes to a co-worker, who doesn't have any in his yard yet. It sounds familiar--he described a lot of beds he's working on. Sounds like the classic "work in progress" yard (like mine.) I shared with him the basics of irises (like "they'll still be alive and ready to go, along with cockroaches, at the site of the next A-bomb.") He was so glad to get them. I had enough in this delivery to plant a bed approx. the size of the desktop he was working at. "It'll be a little skimpy looking for the first year, but they'll fill in, and then thin them about every two years." Or never. You know how it is with irises. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 15 May 09 - 11:07 PM Well, the weather doesn't look good for working in the dirt this weekend. But that is ok. We certainly need rain to build up the water tables. Although we have been mostly having a cool May, and next week is also going to be cool, with hights in the mid to upper 60's, it is getting late to transplant in these parts. I hope to leisurely (meaning as I have an extra half hour to spare) work on digging beds and building soil this summer and fall, and to do some planting and transplanting in the fall, which is really the best time to do so here. The problem being that many nurseries, including mail order nurseries, have sold out of what I am interested in by fall. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 May 09 - 12:04 PM How do you think the lemon balm got onto the brick patio to begin with? In a pot. This might work if you never ever let it go to seed. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,Jim Martin Date: 15 May 09 - 11:54 AM With the "mint taking over the world" problem, you have to plant it in its pot in the ground to stop the roots spreading. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,Jim Martin Date: 15 May 09 - 11:51 AM I've been trying this & it's the first success I've had with any slug killer (& it's safe)!: http://www.theonlinegardener.com/product.asp?prod=1007848 |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 May 09 - 12:30 AM A few days ago I replanted the beans. Last night I put out bowls of beer and drowned a couple dozen more snails. The sprouts are pushing out now. I went out with the flashlight and found one big honker snail oozing that direction and an insidious but just as destructive little snail on the move. I'm afraid there is an uphill battle to get something tough enough over there to resist the snails. I am going to start some in the house and transplant them when they're bigger. Keep a succession of beans going out there. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 13 May 09 - 10:19 AM I've beaten the lemon balm into submission, it's the peppermint that is trying to rule the roost. I wiah my wine-coloured myrtle was as aggressive! or the creeping phlox. or the irish moss. or the black clover. mmario |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 May 09 - 10:15 AM In my yard it is the lemon balm (mint family) trying to take over). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 13 May 09 - 09:44 AM mint is trying to take over the world. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 May 09 - 11:41 PM I ate some of my onions tonight, not as the big sweet ones we'll have later, but I needed some green ones for a lo mein stir fry, so I stepped outside and thinned them a little. :) I put in more carrot seeds over the weekend. And replanted the beans. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 12 May 09 - 10:51 PM Well, the idea of a market garden is to make money, and the idea of being a landscaping business is to make money, so either one works - as long as you end up making money. My 3 year stint as a commercial cut flower grower taught me two things. How to grow and care for organically grown cut flowers, and how to lose money irrigating with city water. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 12 May 09 - 09:33 PM Market garden is definately on hold, Janie... Looks as if we have become a landscape and design company by default and doing well with it??? Yeah, bummer to not have the time to put into our own gardens right now... That *will* change... Put in some more lettuce and beets this evening... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 12 May 09 - 09:12 PM Sorry you don't have the time to work on your own place, Bobert. That must be where you long to be. Tell P-vine that the fall garden season belongs to your own little patch of ground. Last year you were contemplating putting in a market garden. Have you had to put that on hold? Maeve, sounds like you and your mate have your hands full. Laying by time will come soon enough. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 12 May 09 - 08:07 PM There are, Bobert, but I don't have that kind of time or the planful personality to arrange my time and schedule to do it. I need something I can run out the back door and tend as I have a minute here and there. A lot of my gardening these last two years has happened by headlamp and moonlight when the rest of the world is in bed. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 12 May 09 - 07:57 PM Aren't there any community gardens, Janie, where you can get a 10 X 20 plot??? Things are still very cool here on the Blue Ridge so the tomato seedlings are still inside... I use the 55 rule when it comes to them... The nights gotta be 55 or more before I put them out... We're still seeing 40's... No good... Stunts their growth when ya put them in too soon, or that's the latest theory... Wporking like a crazy man on the large landscape job at the Luray train station... It's beginning to take shape... The town folks are so axious to have it finished that they have assitgned me two inmates to help... I'm wearing them out but I buy them a pack of cigarettes everyday so they are happy... The P-Vine's garden center is doing purdy well... Our gardens are, ahhhhhhh, suffering from a lack of time to weed and plant... We have about 35 pots of stuff we have collected since last season that need planting and attention... After the train depot job, thank you... We are also seriously considering using the money that the P-Vine is amking to buy about a thousand feet of deer fencing to surround our 400 foot long ornimental garden... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 May 09 - 11:16 PM But my tomatoes are coming along nicely--most of them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 May 09 - 11:15 PM Sunshine is not lacking here. I'm still working on shade. I drives me NUTS when you two talk about all of those beautiful understory plants. All you need to do is start naming little forest orchids and I'll go round the bend. . . I grew up in green, moist, temperate Washington, remember? Calypso orchids, pipsissewa, Indian pipe, trillium, ginger root. . . . |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 11 May 09 - 10:01 PM Yeh, but the potted tomatoes ain't doin' sh*t so far, and no hope of a mess of snap beans. Oh, the tomatoes look real healthy, but they are not getting enough sun to bloom. I'm going to move them around a bit to try to get a little more sun - I'm not trying for enough tomatoes to preserve and it won't take many for this household of 1 1/2 to have fresh tomatoes for the summer. But I'm not sure I am even going to manage that. Don't get me wrong. I'm going to enjoy learning about shade gardening, appreciate the benefits of shade to comfort and frugal utility bills in our hot summers, and love the calm, cool, green-ness of these tall trees. But I also think being able to grow food is important. Both me and my nearest neighbors would have to cut down most of our trees for me to get 6 hours of sun on any patch of ground. Not quite true. I could probably take out an additional two big, healthy oaks on the north property boundary as well as a few dogwoods and choke cherries on the property line and get a small veggie garden space. If Sister Annie ever makes it down to cut down one big but diseased dogwood, that would help some, though until it comes down, I can't really tell if it would let in enough light for a small summer veggie garden for fresh eating or not. And I don't want to sacrifice trees for a small garden plot that probably wouldn't supply all my fresh veggie needs for the summer and would definitely not supply any preserved veggies for the winter months. The over-all environmental cost/benefit ratio doesn't justify it, even if I were to consider only my own immediate self-interests and not the over-all environmental impact. This is not a whine, by the way. It is simply me talking out loud as I think through and come to terms with a number of realities. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 11 May 09 - 08:42 PM Janie, Welcome to shade gardening... Lots of stuff will grown much better where you are now than where you were... Solomon's Seal is one of those plants that will not only thrive but spread... And spread... And spread... Ferns will love it there, too... Cone flower will love it... Hellibores of all varietie4s will thrive... Keep away fro Euphorbia because it will love it so mush that it will become invasive... For real... Pulminaria will spread, too, but it's a lot nicer than euphorbia... Plus, it flowers... Mahonias will grow, too... Every wild flower in the North Carolina Wild Flower book will also do nicely... Do you have any pines??? I know you have oaks which is "oak-kay" but pines are wonderfull to plant under... But back to the oaks... Beach trees grown well under them and then you have their golden leaves all winter to look at... Very nice understory tree... Hollies will grow under oaks, too...... Rhodos, too... And, of course, azaleas... They'd rather grown under a pine but an oak will do just fine... Back to the hockey game... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 11 May 09 - 08:30 PM Donuel, Are you looking for annuals or perennials, and how much watering and/or deadheading are you willing to do? Also, formal? Informal? Cottage gardenish? Insect/bird/small mammal habitat? How large is the area? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 11 May 09 - 08:26 PM Bobert, the Solomon's Seal you gave me looks to be much happier where I have it planted here than it ever was in Hillsborough. The only shade I had there was very deep, year round shade under an old gigantic Burford Holly. Here it gets a little morning sun, and then is in bright shade the rest of the day. I can already tell I planted the Japanese Painted Fern too close the the hellebores. I really don't have the hellebores where I want them they would probably do better where they get winter sun or a little morning sun. I didn't want to keep them pots any longer though, and haven't otherwise figured out where to put them, much less prepare a bed. UNC-Chapel Hill has a small and absolutely delightful arboretum along one side of the main campus. In a large raised bed, they have a mass planting of white hellebores under a high canapy of trees that is wonderful year round. (Haven't looked up close in a long time so don't know what species or cultivar they might be.) If they weren't so expensive so that buying a bunch of them wasn't prohibitive, and so slow to grow from seed, I would like to do the same here. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 11 May 09 - 08:02 PM As for a source of Ebony Spleenwort we have found it growing in potted nursery plants... Seems that some nursermen are growing their stuff in very moist environments and the stuff can frequently be found in their pots under the plant that you are purchasing... So if ya' want the precious little plant ya' gotta look inunder the plants at yer local nursery... Then ya' gotta be real kind to it and duplicate where is is happy... Ol' me has spent the entire day laying out plants where they I will plant them at the Luray Train Depot... Arms a re tired from carryin' them around... Looks like not quite 200 3 gallon pots but I lost count... We're having to have the police department to keep an eye on them tonight and the next few nights as just about anything not nailed down is getting stolen these days... 16.9% unemployment in the county has brought out the worst in some folks... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 11 May 09 - 07:49 PM Maggie, the other glove, and it is my slight favorite, is Boss Guard. I said it was synthetic, but the palm is pigskin. They wash well. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 May 09 - 10:55 AM I have a friend in high desert in West Texas who has had to build a double-wire fencing barrier to keep deer from eating his iris. What's amazing is that those iris came out of my yard (elevation about 600, prairie soil and climate) and they're doing just as well at 7,000 in a dry high desert thin volcanic soil. They even bloom at the same time as mine down here. This morning I evicted a few snails from the beans again. I think I'll have to start any more in the house and once they're big enough to be tough then I'll put them out. This seeding them directly outside just provides a snail banquet. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Donuel Date: 11 May 09 - 10:00 AM I am looking for dynamic blue and white summer blooming plants. The spot is 8 hrs full sun and dry. I think iris is my only good choice. Of the 20 iris roots I planted I only got half of them to survive. I guess the deer ate them. I have since put in an invisible deer fence (thin black nylon 2 inch mesh. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 May 09 - 12:51 AM Ebony spleenwort is a pretty little fern! I envy you the climate and shade where ferns can grow. My house, as I've mentioned many times before, had an ugly hedge along the front and nothing but Bermuda grass all around when I moved in. On one side, near where the garage is now, the woman who rented this house with her family for 10 years had put in a few iris. Yellow bearded, a few blue bearded, and some of the Louisiana varieties. That was it. (In homage to that attempt at adding something to the yard, I've divided and planted those same iris all around the yard, and they're the best thing going for this yard in the early spring.) The rest was grass, dead fruit trees, one vicious wild rose (I didn't do a good job and it died after transplanting), and tons of hackberries. I'm working on layers of shade and open area in the front, and will do the same in the back soon. I need to think about putting a wall back there, so haven't done much. Anyway, I'll know I've established some good micro-zones when I can put in a few ferns under some of the (finally) more established trees and in areas that are now heavily shaded enough for things like Oregon grape, etc. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 10 May 09 - 11:46 PM One of the two is "Firm Grip" All Purpose gloves. Lowes and Home Depot both usually carry them. I'll have to fetch a pair of the other brand out of the shed during daylight hours, I can't remember the brand of them right now. Neither are leather - they are synthetics - but both are machine washable and priced right. I find them pretty easy to work in. I don't find the cotton work gloves very useful for most gardening tasks. I've spoted a few ferns that are just kind of hanging on up close the foundation in the rear of the house. I think they might be ebony spleenwort. Possibly Christmas fern that is doing extremely poorly, but right now my money is on the former. I hope to dig them up and relocate them to a better site sometime this week. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 May 09 - 11:29 PM Janie, let me know the brand. I have a variety of gloves around here for various tasks. A bunch of soft brown cotton ones for simple protection, but if there is something leather that will fit close enough so I can get a grip when I'm weeding, it would be worth the price. My hands are a mess right now, especially the insides of my thumbs. I'm making progress in the garden. I'm finding things that need transplanting because they came back in the wrong place. The veggie bed isn't to the full extension yet, as I planned it, but the existing portion is being filled in and mulched as I get it dug and amended. The front yard is mowed and trimmed, and tomorrow I'll mow the back. The trichogramma wasps have been put out and I'll spray beneficial nematodes this week. I picked up both of these a few weeks ago and they've been in my fridge since. I haven't have the occasion to put them out because the weather has been unusual this year, or at least, the timing on the calendar hasn't let me get out and work. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 10 May 09 - 08:43 PM A few years ago I finally started working mostly with garden gloves because the hands were getting so beat up it was interfering with me being able to garden. I finally found a couple of good brands that are tough and fit well enough to work in that my local hardware store carries. They aren't real expensive, which is good because I go through several pairs a season. They not only protect the skin, but also seem to offer some protection for my joints. I also notice that my hands don't get as tired with them. The hydrangea buds get larger by the day, and the little culinary herb garden is doing well. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 10 May 09 - 07:51 PM The iris cannot be killed... You don't have to plant them... You can dig them up and throw them on the compost pile or out in the street and they will thrive in either place... I think that these medical researchers outta check out the DNA in them things and maybe extract some of that DNA to put in sick humans... Serious... Keep on working, Maggie, until ya; get them callouses so tough that you can't even cut thru them with a chainsaw... We're way behind in our ornimental gardening... The P-Vine taking on the job running the palnt center at the local coop has definately taken it's toll on our gardens... Then drafting me to install plants has given me a 2nd full time job... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 May 09 - 06:49 PM I had a bunch of iris roots that had little green leaves (some as little as a quarter or half inch) in a bag over the winter. Back in about February I decided I didn't want them to die, but it was late, so I had a bed that I simply poked them in and figured I'd have pretty leaves this year. Darned if they haven't started to bloom! They're a bunch of the beautiful blue ones my neighbor gave me. My hands look like a war zone. What do some of you do for those callouses that aren't quite callouses? The ones that bleed a little and accumulate dirt when you work? I won't be modeling rings for Tiffany or Zales or even Walmart any time soon! :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 10 May 09 - 10:20 AM Our Purple Gem rhododendrons are glorious with Purple Prince tulips nearby, and besides the many other mid-spring daffodils, my favorite Thalia and Nearly Rose are in full bloom across from one another. I have to decide which of the 2 thousand bulbs I've been cooling down cellar can still be forced in time to sell on the farm stand when we set it up, and which I should just plant in a nursery bed or in one of the flower gardens. All of them should have been potted up a couple of months ago and on the stand now. Aglo rhody is just coming into bloom, and the cheerful Quail daffodills nearby will still be pretty in early June. Lots of work to do when a gardener is playing catch-up. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 10 May 09 - 07:10 AM Our treasured double bloodroot is in bloom, a week after the singles have begun to make pearly white seeds in long,green pods. Plum blossoms are a fragrant cloud of white beside the new shed, with Yakima the only variety that has not yet bloomed. Pears are about to bloom, and the 2 huge bouquets of apple blossoms from our pruning are poised on the brink of opening to perfume the kitchen doorstep. Red, pink and blue violets mingle in the bright green grass while Canada violets blush with plum on the petal backs, and slender yellow violets linger by the toad trillium. My dad's miniature hostas, species tulips, and other treasures nestle beside the warm pink blooms of fringed bleeding heart. It's a day to rejoice and to mourn those who have left this life. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 05 May 09 - 07:35 PM Acubas can grow with partital sun, Janie... There are alot of varieties... Check out a few... There are not like boxwood however in that they have big leaves and not as disciplined... Now the azeala can be pruned into whatever you wnat them to look like... There are quite a few cutlivars that the box stores carry that are cheap... The Encore will give you two to three bloom cycles per season... The fall blooming camellias (sassanqua) can do with partial shade... Some pulmanarias bloom well into deep summer but not fall... Good woodsy plant... Foam flower... Kohosh... JoPie are summer/fall bloomers... There isn't much that is going to give you alot of color... Actually, impatients will bloom in semi shade right up until the first frost... The New Gueni is purdy nice and if you dig it up, bring it in, you can over winter them in the house... The hydrangeas will also blooom im partial sun... Endless Summer is kinda common but Pia is also a nice plant and well disciplined and not too big... B |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 May 09 - 06:11 PM I took out at least a couple dozen snails overnight. I didn't dump the beer out yet, though it doesn't usually work more than one night. We've had a small toad on the porch, learning the trick of catching June bugs that have bounced into the house after being attracted by the porch light. They're huge bugs this year, almost too big for that little toad. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 May 09 - 01:48 AM Not native, but certainly thrives there: kudzu. :) I saw several snails dipping their toes in the brew when I took the trash (and a flashlight) out this evening. Yes! Self marination! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 05 May 09 - 12:17 AM Native to the southeast USA. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 May 09 - 12:10 AM Native to North Carolina? Virginia? Where are you, exactly? Mountain laurel grows back there. Vitex grows here in Texas. Rhododendrons grow in Washington state. You'll have to go cruise yards in your county and buttonhole gardeners. All it takes is driving by slowly, seeing the gardener in their yard, and complimenting them on their work. Guaranteed you'll have a conversation and tips in no time flat. Well, my beans were coming up and the snails discovered a taste for bean sprouts. They even bored down into the ground beside them and left pencil-sized holes where most of the sprouts had been! I had two short rows and have only about three plants left! I caught several of them red stomach-footed, and those suckers are smashed in the driveway. The rest, well, they're in for a little beer party tonight. And I'll replant that bed in a day or two, and keep more beer handy for when they sprout. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 04 May 09 - 11:32 PM Oh yeh. Regarding the shrubs - and are preferably native. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 04 May 09 - 11:19 PM I love the azalea, Bobert! The Kohmo Shekebu looks much happier in the ground. In fact, so far it seems to be thrilled with the place where I planted it. Finally, rain that has been promised for the past 4 days. And so far, a nice, gentle, soaking rain and not the hard thunderstorms we were supposed to get - though they could still materialize tonight or tomorrow. The poppies are in bloom at the old house. Here, they are still seedling size. They went in so late that I may only get tiny little short flowers. But as long as I get seed pods, I can sow more in the fall. The shrubbery in front of the house is a mess and makes the place look bad. The plantings were poorly laid out to begin with, and all are in bad shape, or way too tall and lanky. Mostly boxwoods, with some forcythia that doesn't get nearly enough sun, fuchsia azaleas that are too dark, and old nandinas hugging the foundation that I may break down and use round-up on. I'm afraid they may have penetrated the foundation so don't want to try to dig them out - plus, they are too old and big to dig. (There is a dead stump of one growing up between two bricks on the front stoop, which is a good 5 feet above ground level.) I'm trying to decide whether to dispose of everything and start over, or to heavily prune the boxwoods, slice around them now to stimulate new root growth, and then try to dig them up in the fall and incorporate them into an entirely redone border. It would be the least work to simply cut them down to the ground, but would save a lot of money if I could use at least some of them in a redesigned garden. I dug out two small boxwoods on either side of the driveway a few weeks ago. They weren't that hard to dig out, but I wasn't strong enough to get them out with the root systems sufficiently intact to consider transplanting. Somebody name some shrubs with a neat growth habit that like shade that bloom in summer and fall, or that have really nice evergreen foliage and that don't get big real fast. I've never acquired a taste for cannas. Maybe because I have rarely seen them well-grown. (Not that I have the right conditions for them here.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 04 May 09 - 04:13 PM We brought our cannas outta the barn before last week... We just keep them in decorative containers... That way we can ove them around... That is what we are doing with hostas as well... The voles have become such a problem that that is about the only way to have them without them getting eaten from uderneath... The metal hardward cloth/mesh work but makes dividing them a nighgmare... BTW, we are home from the azalea convention... The car is still packed to the gills as we bought as many plants as we could possibly stuff in the poor thing... Still raining here with no end in sight... I can live with that... Irises can be expensive but there are som many reasonably priced full-sized and dwarfs that unless you are a hyridizer there's no reason to spend alot on $$$ on them... We bought a native iris crestada for the plant sale at the convention but found one that has a sport... Guess where that one is??? Yup, we have it and we'll see... Maybe something special... It does happen occasionally when the DNA get's a little mixed up... BTW, I met Buddy Lee, the guy who hybridized the Encore Azalea, at the convention... He's alot younger than I thought but super nice guy... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 May 09 - 10:42 AM Last year a co-worker gave me her old catalog from a company in Oregon, I think, that sells some of these. They can be $40 or $50 for a single plant! You don't want to lose track of that one out in the iris bed! I found a gorgeous dwarf canna yesterday, the last of it's kind (at least, at that Home Depot) and no price in sight. The clerk accommodatingly searched screen after screen of red colored cannas in their computer and found one that rings up at $2.99 and put that SKU on the pot. Works for me! It'll start a new bright corner of cannas. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: pdq Date: 04 May 09 - 10:31 AM For M.Mario (et al) who are fans of the bearded iris... Hillside Iris Most of his business is done by mail. Note: the newest varieties cost more than the older ones, which has little to do with their beauty. This is a one-man operation but he still can supply an amazing number of named varieties. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,Bobert escaping purgatory... Date: 04 May 09 - 09:50 AM Yeah, that is it... Not much flower but a real nice specimen plant... I saw one on the tour that was 6 feet tall and stunning!!! Well, gotta pack the car 'cause as much fun as this has been home seems a lot more funner... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bonzo3legs Date: 04 May 09 - 07:10 AM My gardener will transform my garden! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 04 May 09 - 07:04 AM This one, Bobert? Also known as spider azalea maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 04 May 09 - 06:51 AM Seigai, I believe. Sounds like a very nice azalea. Janie, we have many garden photos, but our connection makes it difficult to post them. Our little farm is a work in progress and has many rough spots, but you hit it on the nail. We are aiming for a functional garden of Eden. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,Bobert, one day to freedom Date: 03 May 09 - 08:38 PM Janie, Try "siegai", "seigai"... Lotta nice azaleas here... We sold about 25 of them at auction tonight after the farwell banquet... Also sold a (big) dwarf weeping acer (Japenese maple)... I should have bought it but seein' as I was the actioneer that wouldn't have looked right... Nice tree... Well, I am sneaking out of a boring speech so better get my butt back inthere before the truent office come fir me... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 May 09 - 12:59 PM So much rain overnight, more for today. Here's hoping my new garden doesn't rot in the ground. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 May 09 - 01:22 AM Six hours later I finally turn on the computer after several heavy bands of storms have passed over. Another one is forming to the west and they say will be here by daybreak. Trouble with the way we get rain here, we get more than we need a few times a year, and then are parched much of the rest of the time. We need to put photos up on the Google group (Mudcat Gardeners). Janie, why don't you call Howard Garrett in the morning and describe the problem and ask for his opinion? I'm not sure if the national broadcast is all three hours, but you can stream online, look for the "listen live" button. Here is a link to that page at his site: http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/content/code/radio/ 1-866-444-3478 Dial carefully--there is an X-rated business if you get the prefix wrong on this number. I think you should call. He gets calls from all over the U.S. and borers are something that an arborist in Texas can discuss even if they're on the East Coast. The program plays from 8 to 11 Central Time and some rebroadcast stations only play the first two hours, if you hear it via broadcast. If you listen streaming online you would hear the entire program. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 02 May 09 - 07:21 PM maeve, do you have photos up on flickr or elsewhere of your place? Sounds like a lovely, functional, garden of eden. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 02 May 09 - 06:52 PM Yesterday we brought home our coop trees; one each Galaxy and Northstar cherries, a Redhaven peach and a stunning little crabapple called Liset. We potted them up right away to keep them happy until we get them in the ground. I cut the long green-grey willow weavers this morning, then sorted and graded them for size before tying them into 6 bundles of 20 each, with most 6' long. I kept a few pieces to start some more plants. In between I potted up bleeding heart and violets that bloom in a beetroot color, then potted 6 hanging baskets with Seascape strawberries, and finally potted a couple of Regale lilies. We were given the wonderful gift of Flicker nestboxes, and hope to hang them tomorrow. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 02 May 09 - 06:38 PM Our 30-40% doesn't look likely to materialize, Probably happening here and there around us. There is still plenty of moisture in the top four inches from the last good rains, but we are still teetering on the edge of drought, and instead of a bunch of showers in April, we had one weekend of soaking rain. So I'd like to see some more - get the water tables built up good. That oak with the borers has more holes, and sawdust all over one side of the base and on the ground. As soon as I can afford it I have got to get an arborist out here. Don't think the tree can be saved, but would like to have some idea if I can safely let it stand while I save some money to have it taken down. Then, I wonder if taking it down will drive the borers out and onto other trees. Do you know, Maggie? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 May 09 - 06:20 PM Change of plans--the 30 and 40 percent rain chances we've had all week ganged up today, so we have about 160% today meaning several really nasty storms are taking their turns rolling over the top of us. Ironic, then, that today I would be out shopping for hoses and soaker hoses. :-/ I found a lovely canna that I'm going to use to start a new patch. The ones I have a (pardon the pun) "garden variety red" and this is a super-charged shot of orange red. Last one apparently, couldn't find a price, so the clerk obligingly found the least expensive dwarf red canna and put that SKU on the pot. :) Whoa--thunder galore. Time to turn off the ocmputer. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 02 May 09 - 05:44 PM Not coming up with anything, Bobert, other than Dr. Sergei with Azalea Orthopedics. Heck, we'll give it our name! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,Bobert, 3 garden tours later Date: 02 May 09 - 05:38 PM Janie, Google Images: Sergie??? Sergia??? Sergai??? Pronounced "sir-guy".... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 02 May 09 - 03:23 PM My lettuce and spinach are starting to bolt as the result of last weekend's hot temps (I think.) 300. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 02 May 09 - 03:02 PM Victory is mine! I found garlic chives this morning at the local co-op. Just popped 'em in the ground. Now my tiny little herb garden is full. Grow on, children. Grow on. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Guy Wolff Date: 02 May 09 - 08:34 AM Everything is coming along well here in Erica's, my wife's garden . An old friend is coming out to do a photo shoot on the pottery this week ( also possible that she may bring a tv crew as well ) but I think she will have a pic or two of the garden . To bad, I think the tulips will be just passing. I have flat rocks and a wonderful cut bit of round live rock ( from cutting a hole for our electric line pole) that I use as a pedestal center piece for a larger pot all the rest for placing the smaller pots around the big one . So I will as Martha if she wants to do a shoot on placing those bigger pots and planting them . The timing for that is perfect . Our garden is a showplace for the pots we sell so a little of our advertising budget can go into it . Wish me luck on making the property look ok for a national magazine and tv visit . AHHHHH . Yours Guy |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,Bobert, Day 3 of Purgatory Date: 02 May 09 - 07:46 AM Well, it's not all that bad... Today is the first of two days of garden tours... The premiere garden is that of Don Hyatt... His gardens are renouned... If you Google up Don Hyatt there are pics on his website... Fotunately for us the convention got over booked and so we are going to be driving our own car as opposed to being on the bus... That gives us more freedom and less cahnces of being introduced to flu bugs... Janie, I still haven't gotten the name of the azalea I'm going to grow for you but am in hot pursuit... Well, gotta go... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 May 09 - 04:37 PM Get some BT and carefully apply it to the bush. You don't want to harm future butterflies, just the critters on this bush. If you have a black light you might creep out at night to see if you can find the culprits. They sometimes fluoresce under black light. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Liz the Squeak Date: 01 May 09 - 03:41 PM I just watered my garden... the lettuces are doing well in one part but have been scratched up in the back bit... the rocket is going like the proverbial and so is the lemon balm. The mint is making its presence known and the wallflower is still in bloom. The pyrocantha is budding like mad, all ready to explode into blossom. Some little bastard cattlepiddler has eaten my rose bush. Every single leaf has been nibbled to a nubbin and there are hardly any buds left. The ivy behind is untouched as is the larger and less delicate rose to the right of this bush... bloody cattlepiddlers. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 May 09 - 03:07 PM I enjoyed that program also, Don. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 01 May 09 - 01:43 PM Just meant - here you are reproducing with the plant, and you don't know .... Never Mind - I am sure you'll do right by the shrub. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST Date: 01 May 09 - 01:39 PM Now don't be like that, MMario... I got the plant and I'll by-golly have a name fir it before messing with it... Ah-hem, my mamma raised me up right when it comes to this kinda stuff... Sorry to have missed Diane Rheme's show... She is a sweetie... Now back to the fun... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Donuel Date: 01 May 09 - 10:33 AM yesterday the 30th of April, Diane Reems had a perfectly wonderful show on gardening. Look for it on the npr website. The author of the gardening history book was great. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 01 May 09 - 08:57 AM tsk tsk, bobert! A true gentlemen would never take a cutting prior to discovering the name. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST Date: 01 May 09 - 08:31 AM Good advice, Janie... Raining here today but 'sposed to be in the 70's... The plant sale is in the covered parking deck of the hotel... We were abgle to secure 80 trillium which will go quickly... I only have one yellow at home so I hope to glam one of them... But we have the white and the more common maroon, as well... Some lady from Tennessee sent 100 native deciduous azaleas grown from seed... They are about 18" tall and only $10 so I'm gonna get one of them as well... Then there is a table of dwarf iris which are all white blloms 'cept one has a sport with some purple in with the white so we'll try to hide that one as well... As for shady stuff... Like maeve, we have lots of the pulmanaria... Great woodsy plant that spreads nicely... We also have patches of blood root which is abot to give out in terms of the bloom... The black kohosh is coming up all over the woods... As for today, the P-Vine has a 2 hour board (bored) meeting at 2:00 so I'm gonne get away and find me a geetar shop to check out... I knopw of one down in Falls Church but that's a haul from here (45 minutes) but if I can't find nuthin' closer I may have to do that... BTW, Janie, I gotta an azalea that I'll grow you a cutting vfrom this year that will knock yer socks off... I'm gonna find out it's name today... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 30 Apr 09 - 09:43 PM Now Beaubear, just pick up the phone, call room service, and drown your sorrows.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 30 Apr 09 - 09:42 PM Wow, maeve - sounds breathtaking! If I were near, I'd certainly come looking for plants. It isn't easy to find interesting cultivars of aquilegia around here. The garden centers and nurseries mostly sell newer, compact, very cultivated appearing varieties. They are pretty, but I like the big, tall, graceful, leggy columbines. Granny's Bonnet is indeed a great common name for them. A fine, old-fashion name for for a fine old-fashioned flower. I hope to eventually develop natural woodland edge beds under the trees here. I picture native columbine canadensis, and perhaps some the native western species scattered here and there. It will take some time to build up the soil, which I intend to do by piling leaves in place in fall for a few years, and covering them to rot. I don't want to develop a garden that will require, once established, routine supplemental watering, so that is going to limit either what I plant, or how big an area I try this with. I have to keep reminding myself that although there are lots of trees here, this is not a little bottom along a creek. I get all excited and think goldenseal, black cohosh, blue cohosh, ginseng, bloodroot, toothwort, mayapple, white snakeroot, wood anemone, celandine poppies, galax, native vibirnums, etc. Then I think about self-will run riot and look at the redbuds and native dogwoods struggling to survive in the absence of irrigation. I had some bloodroot planted in a medicinal display garden at the old house, maeve. The flowers are so lovely. Do you make a tincture of it? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 30 Apr 09 - 08:52 PM I cut the glowing yellow basket willows today, bundled them by size, and tucked them into an airy shed to dry. The elegant, long, and limber Italian willow weavers will have to wait for another day. We've emptied pots of winter-killed perennials, and have a few hundred in the sun, beginning their spring growth spurt in readiness for spring sales. In bloom now: Many kinds of daffodils- large, small, and tiny, and all combinations of yellow, orange, cream, peach, and white. I'll still have Quail daffs blooming in June, maybe July. Tahiti will be followed by South Seas daylily. Bloodroot- a few hundred spreading in several patches via seed and root cuttings. Hepatica- violet, pink, and perhaps white. Pulmonaria (lungwort)- in the common pink/blue, cobalt blue, white, and deep coral. Violets - in pink. red-violet, deep blue, purple, white with red-violet centers, white with dark plum centers, with pale blue, yellow, tiny white, and big Canada violets soon to follow. Primulas- all sorts from cowslips to mahogany/yellow to magenta, and not forgetting various forced primroses from garden centers that are hale and hearty after several years in the ground. Star magnolia, with a carpet of hyacinths, violets, scilla, and such underneath. The pears, apples, plums, cherries, and single peach trees are nearly ready to burst forth in bloom along with shadbush, red elder, and black elder. Several viburnum , azalea, rhododendron, and mountain laurel shrubs will join in, except the very young or winter-stressed individuals. Liz- I always liked the nickname "Granny's Bonnet" for aquilegia. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,Bobert in Purgatory... Date: 30 Apr 09 - 08:05 PM Well, the national azalea convention is finally here and I'm stuck in a fancy hotel in NoVa... Lotta nice plants (other than azalaes) in the plant sale which begins at 4:00 tomorrow afternoon... The P-Vine has her eye on a couple... I'm just wishing I were back home but, hey... ... a man has gotta do what a man's is ordered, ahhhhhhhh, strike that, what a man has to do... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 30 Apr 09 - 11:17 AM I need to get some Iris. My B-i-l has this thing against Bearded Iris - though he likes Siberian iris. I prefer the Bearded. But I need more anyway.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 30 Apr 09 - 10:18 AM Lots of colors of salvia coming out in the yard, still quite a few iris blooming, and the daylillies are starting to open. The datura has been going for a few weeks now, and I'm pulling up its seedlings daily. I only need so much of that each year. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 30 Apr 09 - 06:48 AM The ginger lilies are starting to emerge! I was beginning to worry a little bit that I had lost them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 29 Apr 09 - 07:30 PM Liz, did you mean Aquilegia? If so, we call them Columbines here. Never heard them called Granny's Bonnet's, but that is an apt description. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Liz the Squeak Date: 29 Apr 09 - 04:33 PM Got home today to find bluebells, aquilleigia (granny bonnets), wallflower and violets in bloom in the garden, along with the pittisporum tree which is scenting up a storm - perfume out of all proportion to its bloom! The lettuces are still there, some a little less there than I would like, but otherwise it all looks fine. One more little stone at the 'cemetery' end now... I shall have to find something suitable to put there one day, for my dear departed kitties. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 29 Apr 09 - 04:22 PM More rain is forecast, with sprinkles and drizzle today so far. The tomatoes are loving it, several of the plants have doubled in size in the last week. It may still be too wet on the weekend to finish digging this bed, but I have time. It's a long growing season--but I do want to finish some of the really heavy work before it gets too hot. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 Apr 09 - 11:42 PM You Betcha! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 28 Apr 09 - 09:56 PM Ah, Maggie. No matter what else it brings our way, when we can look out on a garden, don't we know that life is good? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 Apr 09 - 09:51 PM My brain is fuzzy--something is in bloom or in evidence (mold? mildew?) and my allergies are real miserable right now. Proof-reading is one of the first skills to go, especially when you're dyslexic already. I have a smallish pan of green beans cooking. The fresh beans came from the grocery, but I had a spare big green onion from the yard that I cut up and dropped in for flavor. It smells wonderful. As I prepared the beans to cook I stood looking out the kitchen window at that side garden I started last year. I realized it was so different this year because there is a lot of stuff around the edge that came through the winter and I'm just filling in the middle. Next year the new bed, on the other side of the driveway, might have a similar collection of cold-weather plants finishing up as I get ready to plant for spring. This looks okay now, but who knows what typos I'll see next time back to this thread. :-/ SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 28 Apr 09 - 09:44 PM In my impoverished old age (and I don't think I'll much mind it,) I can see myself buying an acre of old tobbacco or cornfield out in the county, putting an old Airstream on it and a latrine, getting the neighboring farmer to plow most of it up, and planting seeds and tough perennials known to naturalize haphazardly everywhere. I'd let it grow up into a jungle of flowers, watch out for black snakes that I don't scare them and copperheads that they don't do me in, and then get interested in identifying all the insects and different species of mice that eventually come to inhabit the place. The wildflower, bird, tree and insect fieldguides will live permanently on the corner of the sofa by the door. One hot August day I'll be out rooting around in the midst of it, hair a stringy gray and blond mess. I'll be wearing an old canvas hat, an oversized and garden stained v-neck tee-shirt, a pair of red nylon gym shorts with the rear seam ripped out, cheap Walmart earthshoe clogs and pink bobbysocks. I'll be happy as a two year-old playing in a mudpuddle, thinking that when I die and go to heaven, I hope it is just like this. I'll drop dead out in the middle of all that glorious life. They'll know from the smile on my face that I had found heaven on earth, whether it exists anywhere else or not. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 28 Apr 09 - 09:18 PM Had to drop some things off for my son this evening. The roses are starting to bloom at the old place. Several different irises that I had divided and moved two years ago are blooming for the first time since the move. They look glorious. My favorites were these great, tall white ones. I saw dutch iris blooming as well, though obscured from view by the weeds that have grown up. Where he didn't mow it down, the dame's rocket is blooming and the poppies are starting to uncurl their buds. The gardens themselves are well-overgrown or mown over, but there are many, many of those lovely and tough plants coming up, budding, growing. It i very bittersweet to go by there now. Creation and I have definitely left our marks. 50 years from now there is going to be some future generation of something that I planted and nurtured there spring up to surprise whoever is in that place then. Perhaps the children and grandchildren of old neighbors will tell about remembering the big Victorian cottage garden and the lady that they often saw out in it, dirt and sweat running down her face. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 28 Apr 09 - 07:46 PM I was wondering about that;>) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 Apr 09 - 05:46 PM That should have said "I missed the early season." |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 Apr 09 - 08:55 PM I missed a few seasons here already. The beans I planted are pretty good in heat, but the snow peas wouldn't thrive. Lettuce--well, I dunno. I'm going to try some. I haven't put in all of my eggplant, and I have things I'll be planting in stages. A month ago I put in some carrots and they're up a couple of inches now. Time for another couple of small rows. Have you read Under the Tuscan Sun? The movie is cute, but the book, it is way better. And after reading it you want to go wallow in the garden. With a glass of wine and a ripe pear. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 27 Apr 09 - 08:49 PM Can you mulch them good, Leo, and throw plastic over the beds if a hard frost is predicted? I'm really enjoying the salad greens I planted in the pots. With just me one week, and just me and my son the other week, I am going to get a lot more mileage out of them than I thought I might. 2 advantages I had not thought of, are not having to bend so low to harvest baby greens, and NO SLUGS! I agree Maggie, that growing yer own is worth the pleasure of doing it, the increased freshness and flavorfulness, even if it does cost more. Even produce bought at the local farmer's market is never quite as good as what you eat 15 minutes out of the garden. And around here, we have some serious organic truck farmers who harvet throughout the week. Still a lot fresher than stuff trucked in from Florida, California or Mexico - but not as good as literally just picked. I've got one pot of lettuce in bright shade and am wondering if I might be able to harvest lettuce a bit longer than is typical here, since they are protected somewhat from the heat. I also wonder what it would be like to live where you can grow lettuce all season. Here, by the time the cukes and tomatoes are ready to start harvesting, lettuce and salad greens season is way past. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Sorcha Date: 27 Apr 09 - 05:22 PM We've had some lovely weather but not much. Still trying to snow off and on, so no bedding plants yet. A few marigold and wildflower seeds are in but I still haven't had a chance to KILL the damn Queen Annes Lace/wild carrot that is RAMPANT! I HATE that stuff. I hate 'campanula' too! Arrrrggggghhhhh! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 27 Apr 09 - 10:26 AM For a change, spring is rather advanced here; and thanks to two days in the high 80's we have colour showing on the pjm rhodie and on the magnolias. Forsythia in full bloom - the best we've had in years. The daffies are at their peak; and the primroses are going nutso. Several have bloom heads that have c ompletly covered their leaves. Had good overwintering on the tree peonies that my B-i-l ordered last year; remarkable considering that they were long delayed in being planted....(because I bunged up my leg last spring ) The temptation to hit the nurseries for bedding plants is high...but knowing how often we have had frosts right up until Memorial Day.... Do I risk it? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 27 Apr 09 - 07:50 AM Hot as a three dollar pistol here, as well... Gonna be 90 today... The landscape job I am doing in for the Town of Luray... They are renovation their old train depot to the tune of $2M... Yes, that's 2 million bucks... The P-Vine and I bid the job and won (haha) it... 237 plants... Most of them are going to be half and hour installs but the "bones" are major plantings... The largest are 3 creape myrtls that were field grown and dug with a 36 inch hydrolic spade and they are somewhat planted... Well, lets say they are in the holes that were dug with a backhoe and at the correct heights and the holes half filled with combination of Pine Fines, clay and top soil... I used up an entire pickup truck worth of top soil on them allready and need another to finish them... As fir the mushrooms??? Yeah, I think I know who got 'um and he's a buddy of mine so I ain't gonna say nuthin' 'cause maybe last year I got to the patch before him... The problm right now is that the trees have all leafed out and it's harder to distiguish poplar forests and that's where they live... As fir gardening??? Got our palms outta the barn where they winter under grow lights and the mandovia out where it winters in the mud room... We are going to Maryland tomorrow to buy azaleas for the garden center... This guy, Mike White, propagates alot of really nice cultivars... Haven't looed in the veg garden since we panted it... Reckon the spinich and lettuce will be up this week... Gotta go... Oh yeah, cats??? Gonna get me a Super Soaker today... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Apr 09 - 11:42 PM I have some great garlic here, but it is kind of all over the place. I once had a vegetable garden in the back near where the clothes line is now. I stopped gardening there when the dogs arrived, but every year I have garlic pop up on both ends of the old bed, and I simply mow around it until it's time for harvest. There is also some back in a couple of locations where I had compost piles. Must have been on the edges and not composted. A neighbor of mine has a boxwood hedge that for some reason has a healthy crop of garlic under it. I think she planted some years ago and just because she put in a hedge later, that's no reason for the garlic to quit! I dug up my first batch of it wild in the woods across the road, that's what went in the various beds around the yard. Everyone around here has the same type, I think, that they found wild. Maybe it was originally someone's crop, but we all acquired it in the woods. :) Eggplant, more tomatoes, green bell peppers, bush beans, basil, and a few annual flowers went in today. As I get farther along in my new bed I'll put down a soaker hose, loops and zigzags to catch everything, and once it is in place I'll put some onions and carrots along on either side of the hose in bare areas. The new stuff will take a while to get established, but I had oregano, onions, and chard winter beautifully, so I've been eating out of this kitchen door garden steadily since I planted it last spring. Oh--there is also a huge rosemary shrub. Wonderful seasoning! The new bed is on the other side of the driveway. Both are away from the dog traffic. I still can't quantify for anyone who might ask if it is cheaper to plant my own garden. I suspect not. But the pleasure factor from eating out of the yard just goes way beyond price, doesn't it? SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 26 Apr 09 - 11:02 PM Record breaking high temps here this week end. Hope it's a fluke. Planted two tomatoes in containers out by the road. A Sweet-100 cherry and some patio tomato - I forget what it was. As the trees have leafed out, I'm increasingly doubtful they will have much of a chance - but we shall see. Also popped a few basil plants in the herb garden, planted a ghost fern and a japanese painted fern, and got a bunch of stuff mulched with chopped leaves I had piled up in a corner last fall. I've spread the rest of the leaves out over roughly an area where I eventually want to put a flowerbed and unrolled a length of chicken wire over it so the cats don't use it as a litter box. I'll start dumping coffee grounds out there also. If the earthworms will do their thing and I am patient, I'll end up with a rich, loamy bed with minimal effort. That digging of new beds is hard work, Maggie! I'm finding the soil quite variable here. In places there is 6-8 inches of good top soil over red clay. In others, nothing but red clay that will take a lot of work and amending. I think building up is going to be the only viable thing to do here. I need to figure out a place to put wire bins for leaves next fall - loard knows I will have plenty. Also put up a humming bird feeder. I'm wondering how long before a hummer might discover it. I saw one hummer a week ago checking out a red azalea, but don't have anything planted right now to draw them in. I bet when the red poppies bloom they will come check things out again. Haven't been able to find garlic chives, and my son keeps forgetting to dig up some from the old place to bring to me. Maybe some one at the farmer's market will have them. I wanted to check on Saturday, but we slept in. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Apr 09 - 02:02 PM I'm still hand-digging a new bed, slowly but surely expanding it down the side of the yard. I'm laying down thick layers of newspaper and mulch on top to give me an edge to it for now. And as I dig I've have a few bright ideas. But before I go too far I need to make a map of this bed--I think I almost weeded out some tiny basil (from seeds) this morning in the upper end I dug and planted a few weeks ago. The only mushroom I have nearby is this really bizarre looking thing that comes up near the house every year and looks like of like a trimmed down pineapple top, but it's whitish. I leave it alone, it dies off, and goes away 'til next year. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 26 Apr 09 - 12:32 AM Know what you mean, Bobert, though I haven't experienced to the degree that you are in the midst of. A couple of years ago I spent one spring doing a lot of garden work for other people to pick up some much needed extra cash. It wasn't nearly as much fun as working in my own yard for the love of it, didn't leave much time for my own garden, and then when I had a little time, the last thing I wanted to do was go out and work in the yard. There are lots of woods up there. Go find another morel spot. Then you'll always have a back-up! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Apr 09 - 12:17 AM What a betrayal--your mushrooms abducted! Any idea who got there first? (Do you suppose they had the same feeling last year, when you beat them to the 'shrooms?) Have you mentioned this spot? (Is it like a fisherman never mentioning a good fishing hole, or is there some wiggle room for telling a few folks about the general area?) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 25 Apr 09 - 08:31 PM Wow, Janie... I'm glad that you've spent a life time working with nutballs (lol) 'cause you go messin' with folks cats and yer gonna need all that experience... I'd say "trap the owners" while yer at it and get them sent off as well...lol... Well, ol' bobert went back to his mushroom honeyhole to discover that someone got there before me... I found several stalks that were cleanly cut and enough foot-prints to let me know that I been had... Oh, this is a gerdening thread... Wish I had more to report but seems that for the forseeable future I'm is the landscape business and it sucks... I don't know how I get myself into such pickels but I'm in one now... I don't even want to talk about it... I think that gardening will never be the same... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Apr 09 - 08:13 PM I dig another several feet of my garden, I cleaned up, and I went over to see my guy The Dirt Doctor. It was interesting, and his demonstration was excellent--he had a few 5 gallon trees from nurseries, and pulled them out of the pots and demonstrated how trees grown this way really need to have all of the dirt knocked off, the root soaked, and then stretched out and planted with trenches radiating out for longer roots, if needed. I have a couple of trees that have failed to thrive since I planted them, and they probably were root bound like those. It's tempting to cut them down and start again, after several years they still don't look like much. I got a bit sunburned digging this morning, and dehydrated in the park. That can really take it out of you. I should have been drinking more water all day. Tomorrow I'll do better. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 25 Apr 09 - 03:44 AM If anyone comes around to inquire about their cats, it will be the first time they have come around for any reason, Maggie. I have come to accept that there is no way for me to deal with the cat issue that will be satisfactory for me and that will not result in hostility from my neighbors. I simply operate out of a different paradigm than do they. What really troubles me is the concern that these cats could end up being euthanized if their owners do not check with the animal shelter. I don't think most of them have tags on their collars, or have been licensed. I'm goin to put up handbills tomorrow to say that I will be working with animal control to trap and remove the cats, and people should contact the shelter if their cat disappears. I have no doubt, however, that I am going to be the bitch of neighborhood. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Apr 09 - 12:42 AM Escalation can result. Be careful--and you might not mention those traps to anyone who comes around asking if you've seen a certain tabby or other. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 24 Apr 09 - 11:41 PM High of 87 today. Same expected for the weekend. I considered those squirter thingies, Bobert, but I have too many cats and too much yard. It ain't just the birds that are the issue. They are knocking over planters, crapping in garden beds, tearing up seedlings, lounging on my porch cushions, etc., etc. I have water wigglers in the birdbaths to discourage mesquitos from laying eggs. They are jumping in the birdbaths and knocking them over. Animal control is coming Monday or Tuesday to set box traps. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 24 Apr 09 - 08:03 PM That's what is missing... Wild flowers... Usually be now I've wandered back in the woods and found a little of this and that of wild flowers... Two years ago I found and brought hom a nicde white trillium... Don't know how it got where I was but there it was... Also lotta maiden hair ferns back there as dutchman's britches... Our larkspur got eaten by deer when they poked up so we put pots over them to give them a chance to get soem size and then we'll spray nasty stuff (Liquid Fence) on 'um and hopefully have them to enjoy... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 24 Apr 09 - 07:35 PM Tomorrow is also when I'm going to get a good run at the garden. Expanding a new bed, replacing some stuff, planting some new stuff, and really piling on the mulch in places. And I'll spend some of the afternoon looking at wildflowers and visiting various eco-stalls in the park. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 24 Apr 09 - 07:23 PM This will nake yer day, Janie... I haven't had time to go to the local Walmart (yuck( yet but there's a squitrt gub called a super soaker that shoots up to 30 feet... Get my drift here... I have a sneaky almost adukt yer still kittenish cat who thinks that hiding behind one of my boxwoods and attacking squirrels is his duty... Wait until I get my super soaker tomorrow... This is gonna be fun... As fir gardening??? The P-Vine and I haven't really had much opportunity to do much of it... She's at the garden center and I spent the entire day planting OPs (other peoples)... I don't even want to discuss that 'cept I am very tired and everything hurts... But, tomorrow it's gonna be warm and I have my first festival gig at 11:00 and so I reckon that by 3:00 I'll be up in the mountain hunting mushrooms... I'm feeling real good about them being up this time... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 24 Apr 09 - 12:14 PM When the mice did that to our chinese paperbark it (luckily) sprouted from below the girdle and created a beautiful multi-trunked. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,HiLo Date: 24 Apr 09 - 12:07 PM The dam squirrels have eaten the bark of one of my ornamental maples..is there ANYTHING I can do to save the tree ?. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 23 Apr 09 - 08:07 PM Grrrrr....I mulched my new herb garden with shredded leaves - and the cats think it is a litter box. I keep putting off calling animal control 'cuz I know I'm only gonna piss off the neighbors - but better them p.o'd than me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 23 Apr 09 - 07:53 PM Yeah, the oaks are putting out the lots of pollen this time of year... Seein' as we were late planting I don't expect any salad until the 3rd week of May... Tomato seedlings are up... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 23 Apr 09 - 06:37 AM The hydrangeas are starting to grow little flower buds. Looks like everything transplanted nicely. The maples are pretty much fully leafed out an the oaks are blooming. Yellow pollen and people sneezing, coughing and hacking everywhere. Fortunately, it is the early trees - pines mostly - that I am allergic to. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 23 Apr 09 - 01:11 AM I cooked up a big pot of Swiss chard this evening. There is a lot more out there for tomorrow. I think I'll have to give away an armful. This weekend my organic gardening guru is at an event in a park in town. I'm going to go over and say hello! How exciting! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 20 Apr 09 - 09:15 PM Harvested my first salad greens tonight. A mix of assorted leaf lettuces, mesclun mix, curly and Italian parsley, green onions, chives, viola flowers, chickweed and violet leaves. Yum! Just remembered that I want to plant some garlic chives. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 20 Apr 09 - 03:50 PM I need to replace some of the tomatoes that got a little too cold a couple of weeks ago. They're languishing, not growing. Time to be ruthless and replace stuff that isn't growing. I wish I could get a little more time out in the garden. I may take a half-day this week. I'm going to have some use or lose time this year anyway, so I might as well put it in the garden now. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 19 Apr 09 - 10:17 PM We are enjoying a lovely spring, which we haven't had in several years. Actually getting April showers, and temperatures for the most part moderate with daytime temps ranging from- upper 60's to the mid 70's and night time temps ranging from the high 30's to mid-50's. I love it! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 19 Apr 09 - 07:51 PM Your asparagus bed has me salivating. One of these years I'm gonna plant asparagus, and One of these years I'm gonna grow a few potatoes. Never have planted either. Next weekend I hope to wrestle a big Iron kettle out to the edge of the road where there might be enough sun, and plant a tomato in it. If it does OK, next year I'm gonna buy a new contraption from Gardeners Supply that will let you hang 4 tomato plants, and set it up by the road. I'll probably use 5 gallon buckets instead of the do-whoppies they sell to grow the tomatoes in. Not real elegant, but cheap and functional. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 19 Apr 09 - 06:53 PM Glucosimine, Janie... My back is protesting as well... Dug 105 feet of potato mounds today... 70 feet for Yukons and 35 for red... The veggie garden is in for now... It was sprinkling on us the entire day but not enough to get us to quit... Looks like yer gonna get some rain from the same system... They are callin' for about an inch ove5r the next couple days... We'll take it... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 19 Apr 09 - 05:22 PM Well, I guess I've done all the damage I have the time and energy to do for now. Everything I brought with me from the other house is now in the ground, though probably not where it will stay. I managed to move around and more or less place most of the pedestals, birdbaths and garden statuary - good enogh for now, anyway, and better than just sitting in a hodgepodge in the back yard. The yard and garden don't look great, but it is a big improvement. I have degenerative disk disease and fairly significant joint problems, especially in my finders. Right now the ol' vertebrae are displeased. I'm feeling increased numbness, but the only pain is muscle aches. This work will strengthen my back and abdominal muscles again and should eventually reduce the back problems. My knuckles, however, really give me fits when I am doing gripping work. I have no grip left, which is really why I stopped, and when I try to clinch my fists, the knuckles lock in place and I have to use the opposite hand to straighten the fingers. I'm not complaining - it is what it is - and there are only a few weeks of the kind of garden work that does this to me. Now, come on rain and help these plants settle into their new home! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 19 Apr 09 - 09:02 AM Busted shovels is a music to my ears...Yeah, I hate it that it means another $10 to the local farm center but it also means that that the therapy session has begun... The P-Vine had to go down to NoVa yesterday for an azalea convention meeting, which BTW is in 2 weeks (more about that later), and so I spent 5 hours in the garden center... Stayed purdy busy and looks as if I have landed yet another landscape job with one of the wealthiest old ladies in town... Just what I need!?!?!... My 2 Kohmo Shekebus were badly damaged by the stupid deer this winter so I probably won't get any blooms... I do, however have three ot 4 of them that I've grown from cuttings and they are in bloom... I went mushroom hunting after working at the garden center with this ol' boy and his lady... They took me to their honey-spot way back in some holler that I didn't even know about... Gotta be a danged goat to get up there... No mushrooms to be found yet... Reckon it's just been too cold at night for them... We hope to get our veggie garden going today after church becasue they are calling for rain tonight and tomorrow... We'll try to get on our taters, pole beans, limas, beets, spinich, onions and lettuce... We have aspargus to cut, too... Yummy... Nuthin' like freshly cut asparagus... Well, lemme get ready fir church... I generally don't go because there are some real buttheads there who have conspired to run the minister off and finally succeeded as this is his last day... I like hime a bunch so I'm going... I ran into him acouple days ago and I told him to "stick it to them in todays sermon"... He laughed... Very gracious man... Too good for the likes of those evil people... Opps... Thread drift... Sorry... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 19 Apr 09 - 12:12 AM There is some good soil here. A fair amount of clay loam, and when I dig in the existing beds - neglected after the elderly woman got to feeble to garden- it is clear she paid attention to the dirt and amended it. It was wetter than it should have been for digging today, Maggie, but drier than it has been for weeks. Plus, I had the time, so I went for it. I was able to break up most of the clods sufficiently with my hands, and added a good amount of compost. I think it will be OK. Time will tell. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Apr 09 - 11:39 PM Good for you, Janie! It isn't just gardening, it's therapy, and cheap at the price (even with new digging and prying implements thrown in!) I tried digging more on my veggie garden today, but it's still too wet. I'll try again tomorrow. We had heavy rain showers on Friday and with the clay in this soil, there is a sweet spot a few days out from a heavy rain when digging is perfect. It lasts for a few days, then it's rock hard again. My rosemary has "pegged" itself without my help. I thought I had just three plants out in one bed and was planning to move a couple, but last time I looked, several limbs on the ground had sprouted roots. Pegging is a good way to get the wild grapes growing here, and is something I've been planning to try on a vine on my far-back fence. It doesn't get enough sun to do much were it is, but if I can just get a sprig long enough to peg a few feet over, I think I'll be able to get some fruit in the yard. Right now I get my wild grapes from the trees across the road. I'd like something like that in my yard. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 18 Apr 09 - 11:24 PM What a wonderful and tiring day! Not gonna be able to move on Monday - it has been more than a year since I did heavy gardening work, and I spent about 8 hours out in the yard today. Assembled my new lawn mower and cut grass, picked up tree limbs and sticks, raked leaves that had accumulated in low spots, fertilized the lawn, dug out 2 boxwoods, breaking a shovel in the process. (Finally ran out to Lowes and bought one of those long, heavy, pry bars, as well as a new shovel and garden fork.) One of the boxwoods was planted in the sunniest little patch of the yard, at the end of the driveway. I double dug a small rectangular bed there and moved all my herbs from pots into that bed. After it was all done, I realized it is just the shape and size of a small grave! Got the Kohmo Shekebu in the ground, as well as a mophead hydrangea and the Japanese anenome. Pruned the dwarf flowering almond, cut the bridal wreath spirea to the ground to rejunvenate it, and whacked off a forsythia which is growing where it doesn't get enough sun. Hope to dig it out. Also dug out some sweet autumn clematis because there is no good site for it. I don't know how much digging my back is going to be able to stand tomorrow, but I hope to redo one of the existing beds - dig out the variegated liarope and all the oak seedlings, shift the edges of the bed a bit, and then redistribute the daylilies I heeled in there last August. The ginger lilys were heeled into that same bed, and have not yet emerged, and I think I lost the Harvest Moon and Sundowner echinacea I stuck in there. I don't have a good site for the ginger lilies prepared, and am not sure just what I am going to do with them. I tried digging a little in the front yard under the tree canapy. There are tree roots everywhere. I don't have the money right now to buy a dump truck of soil and the materials to make raised beds. I also don't want to invest a lot in hardscaping until I decide if I am going to stay here. But I'll figure something out. Supposed to rain tomorrow night and Monday, so I hope to have strength tomorrow to get beds prepared for the rest of the plants in pots. Damn, it feels good to be back out doing serious garden work! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 17 Apr 09 - 08:27 AM We are lucky in that a local mursery gives us a lot of their discards - success rate is often low; and sometimes it takes a couple years to get a good display - but what do you want for nothing? We have a beautiful magnolia that the dear ate the leader shoot; and the six foot tree became a foot high stub; now, is is a gorgeous multi trunked tree well over our roofline. The draiveway is lined with "freebie" rhodies; and my wine coloured periweinkle was in the pot of a fir that didn't make it....but the periwinkle did! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 17 Apr 09 - 07:31 AM You can get lucky sometimes at the box stores... We found Mount St. Helen's decidiuos azalea at Lowe's last year for less than 10 bucks... Seems that every year they have somethin' come in that is a good find... Alot of their stuff, however, is last year's leftovers that naurseries have doctored up, sometimes repoted and/or over fertilized to force blooms... Yeah, they look good at the box store but are high maintenance the 1st year to get them to thrive... We bought a couple rhodos from Lowes last year and had to water them constatntly becuase the root systems had been compromised from having to grow too long in the size pot it was in... Watered 'um every 3 days all summer... We're going to put in our early veggie stuff Sunday afternoon... Still thinking about the plan... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 16 Apr 09 - 09:55 PM Yeh, Bobert, that's called pegging. I find it pretty simple, and don't have a pot to tend to all summer as the "mother" plant sustains the branch and the new roots. Then, in the fall, there is usually a nice root mass and I can cut the branch loose from the original plant and directly transplant the new bush into the ground. I didn't know if azaleas could be propogated like that or not. It is easy as pie to do hydrangeas and roses that way. Which reminds me, I stuck a brick on a branch of an unusual, deep purple hydrangea over at Dani's 6 or 8 weeks ago. I better e-mail her and make sure the girls haven't knocked the brick loose when mowing. Bought a couple of Mexican Mint Marigolds this evening at Home Depot. Was surprised to see them carry it. Tarragon is hard to get to thrive here, so that is what I had at the old house. I was kicking myself for not digging some of it up when I moved, because it used to be hard to find. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 16 Apr 09 - 08:12 PM Hear, hear, Janie... Screw house work... It ain't goin' anywhere... It's time for gettin' into the dirt and getting our little green buddies goin'... The housework will wait... Our house is a wreck... Who cares... What's pegging??? Is that where you put a rock on a lower branch??? If so, yeah, it will make a new plant... Easier to grow 'um from cuttings... Or not??? We have Virginia Blue Bells that have come up here and there all over the woods... The self seeded and the best thing is that the deer won't eat them... We had two large decorate pots with hostas in them that had been sprayed with Liquid Fence but the deer sampled one so we brought them up to the house... I hate deer... Hate 'um...They are the most useless creatures on the planet... BTW, Janie... New mowers ain't got no oil in 'um so be sure to put oil in it... We found the last 10 pounds of Yukon Gold seed taters in the county so we're good for Sunday... The P-Vine has an azalea society meeting on Saturday so I am the "plant specialist" at the Co-op... Fun fun, fun... I'll bedaxxle 'um with my gift of BS... Might even sell some plants, as well... LOL... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 15 Apr 09 - 10:29 PM Yer gonna wow 'em, I'm sure. Can I peg azaleas to propagate them like I do hydrangeas? Brought home a new lawn mower, a spreader, and two large bags of organic lawn fertilizer this evening. It is supposed to dry out a bit over the next few days. I'm gonna say to hell with the house work and spend all that time in the yard. Not good for the budget, but this is a rare weekend when I don't have clients to see in my private practice, and this is Sum Yung Sun's week with his dad. Yard and garden, here I come! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 15 Apr 09 - 08:30 PM I'm with Janie... We didn't ask for no nerdy MITers help, thank you... People garden 'cause they enjoy it... What next??? MITers gonna come up with a robot to make love with yer spouse fir ya'??? 'Er play yer geetar fir ya'??? Tell MIT to plant the robot where the sun don't shine... Two days of glorious rain here... Greened up anything that lived thru the winter... Callin' fir several days of warm and sunny beginning tomorrow... (Hmmmmmmm??? When was the last time you had the riding mowers runnin'??? Yer gonna be a buzy boy, Boberdz...) Well, the P-Vine has to go off for the last pre-convention meeting of the Azalea Society on Saturday so I'm gonna have to fill inat the garden center as the plant specialist... Ahhhhh, green side up... lol... No, I can hold my own as long as I don't get soem PHD horticulturist coming in and then I'm toast... Two weeks to the National Azalaea Society Convention... Seems like we have about 150 folks gonna be here... We were expectin' 125... Oh well??? B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 15 Apr 09 - 07:58 PM I suppose intended for those enamored of the product but not the process.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Amos Date: 15 Apr 09 - 04:32 PM Help is on the way: MIT has developed robotic gardners for your tomato plants. Link includes a video of the little darlings at work. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Tinker Date: 15 Apr 09 - 11:21 AM Sputter Sputter.. I've got icy hail falling today around my poor daffodils... Bobert, I can't place it, but I don't know the shore very well.... and it's very developed at this point. New Jersey Greensand is a gardners delight...there is a free download with all you'd want to know about Green Sand from our local Agricultural department. It's part of why New Jersey was the Garden State for the neighboring cities of NYC and Philly for a very long time... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 15 Apr 09 - 08:05 AM There you have it, Maggie... I reckon if I had a short growing season I would sprout them, too... Our season is so long that by the middle of August the taters are ready... Some folks around here think that you gotta plant them on St. Parick's Day??? It's a German thing... The Almanac has a different idea baed on lunar cycles... I donno... I plant 'um when the garden is dry enough to pull up the mounds and I have the time... Must work 'cause we still eating nice Yukon's from last August's haul... BTW, Tinker... One more day of this and Jersey will see lots of sunshine and warmth... Hey, I remember when I was a teenager and hitch hiking was a safe mode of transportation hitch hiking from the Greyhounf bus station in Philly to Surf City (Long Beach Island) where I was going to spend the summer with frineds... I'm not sure where this was but the route took me thru this area that looked a little bit like a desert... Do you know what I am talking about??? I think that green sand comes from that area??? No??? B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 15 Apr 09 - 07:49 AM While not required for growing potatoes, sprouting will increase yield and make good use of a short growing season. Here's one of the better explanations from a gifted Maine gardener & writer, Jean English: Why sprout potatoes? maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 15 Apr 09 - 07:17 AM Now, don't get me wrong, Maggie 'cause I ain't a seed potato-ologist (lol) but seed potatoes, as far as I know, are just ordinary taters that have been chosen because they do not exhibit any abnormalities that might indicate any kinds of viruses or deseases... And, no, they don't have to be sprouted... You can just cut them into quarters and stick them in the mounded soil and they will grow just fine... BTW, if you use my meathod of pulling up mounded rows, don't make the mistake of planting them too deep... 4 to 5 inches is about how deep I plant mine... Now blooming, inspite of the cold: PJM Azaleas, a few Japonica azaeleas, pulminaria, bleeding heart, tooth wart, daffoldis and not much else... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Apr 09 - 10:26 PM The wisteria was lovely here a few weeks ago. Not as big as some years, but lovely, as always. Bobert, I know that my nursery sells see potatoes. What makes them seed potatoes? If I leave them out on the counter to start sprouting, does that count? My onions are perking along, and the first of the carrot seeds are coming up. Time pretty soon to put in a few more rows, and do it every few weeks for a while. Tomatoes are finally kind of getting bigger. The peppers don't look particularly impressed with spring so far. They look the same. The chard is huge and happy. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 14 Apr 09 - 08:35 PM In some places along the roadsides, the edge of the woods are a solid wall of lavendar wisteria. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Tinker Date: 14 Apr 09 - 08:26 PM Wait a minute Janie... I am way too jealous reading this. It has been unseasonably cold and rainy here in New Jersey. I just saw the first sprouts of Solomon's seal.... you've got blossoms !! I thnk I'll go pout for a week or two..... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 14 Apr 09 - 07:42 PM Wahhhhh!!!! The weed eater won't start either. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 14 Apr 09 - 05:54 PM Kohmo Shekebu is my favorite azalea... Very different flower from all the rest... Back to taters... There are enough eyes on the seed taters to make plants... I just quarter them and plant them about every 18 inches... I think that pulled the soil up into mounds keeps it loose and allows the taters more room and less resistence... Problem is that the Coop has sold out of the Yukon Golds starters taters and is trying to find more but we may have to do some searchin' elesewhere.... Got our onion sets today... Maybe by Sunday things will have dried out enough to lay off everything and start getting the early stuff in... Got two more trucks in today at the Coop... The garden center is lookin' real good and we're selling stuff... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Apr 09 - 09:52 AM I'm cutting and eating chard regularly. I have several colors, it all tastes the same, but I can go for striking effects if I want. Red, pink, orange, yellow, green, and white stalks all make my early garden a very striking place. And I'm cutting it and taking it in to work already. I've cultivated a new chard eater, but if I take too much I might inspire the gag reflex, so I think I'll be looking around for preservation methods or more folks to give it to. These are out of two pots of mixed colors I bought from Home Depot last fall. Bobert, your potatoes have eyes before you put them in your garden, don't they? And how far apart do you place each potato? I have a neighbor who grows them, I need to go visit his garden and take a look. He got a couple of bushels last year, he said. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 14 Apr 09 - 09:15 AM Thanks Bobert. It's the "Kohmo Shekebu." |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 14 Apr 09 - 08:16 AM Well, Janie, if it's the one we just gave you last month it's "El Freda"... If it's the one I gave you a while back it's "Kohmo Shekebu"... The "El Freda" is an old azalea that the P-Vine's mentor, Barbara Alexander, who lives in Charlotte has in her garden... It was grown from a cutting of a cutting... Who hybridized it is unknown but it goes back some 40 years... Yes, it is a Japonica... As for taters, I just cut 'um up and grow them in mounded rows... I don't plant 'um from the top... Once I pull up the mounts I the dirt is loose and I just stick 'um in the sides of the mounds and that's it other than straw mulch to each side of the mound to keep in moisture and keep out weeds... We grew two 35 foot rows last year and got about 200 pounds of taters from them... Very good year... Reckong we'll have to wait until after the rains to put in our spinich, lettuce and beet seeds... Asparagus is coming up nicely... Maybe we'll get a few searvings out of it this year... Last year was it's first year and we got only one good serving outta it... Well, off to the salt mine... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 13 Apr 09 - 10:22 PM Your azalea is blooming Bobert! The blooms are so delicate and unusual. I love it! I have lost the tag with the name. Can you tell me the name again? (It is a japanese azalea.) The solomon's seal is also blooming. I have got to find time to get all these plants and shrubs I brought with me in the ground before the weather gets too warm, even it they go into a temporary bed. I'm just not home enough to keep the pots watered daily once the heat and drought hit this summer. I DO have poppies! I tried to sow the different colors in separate sections of the one little bed that was here, and assuming no seeds drifted, it looks like at least a few of the double apricots germinated, in spite of the seeds being 2 years old. Sunday week I transplanted some of the kale, lettuce and spinach seedlings out of the original pots I sowed into additonal pots, and thinned the remaining seedlings. Not sure how many kale or spinach I can grow in one pot. I decided to try three and feed them heavily. I can always pull two out if it looks like one plant is all a pot will support. The little pot of mesclun mix is about ready for a first harvest, and I've got green onions galore that I planted in an old oblong wrought iron planter that my grandmother used to plant geraniums on her front porch. Sum Yung Sun was home on spring break last week. I left him a note telling him to cut grass and to use the gas can on the carport. He completely skipped that part and used the gas can with the gas/oil mix for the weedeater. Then wondered why the mower wouldn't start. I've got to ask a neighbor for a recommendation on where to take the mower here to have it serviced, and hope I can get it somewhere next weekend. In the meantime, the grass and weeds at the berm is 12 inches high and growing every day in all this rain. Oh well. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Apr 09 - 10:06 PM Bobert, do you use grocery store potatoes, let them sprout, then plant them? Janie, I lived in western Kentucky for a couple of years back in the early 1980s. I worked one summer in the Great Smokys (Sugarlands) and had an apartment still in Kentucky where my husband was working (Mammoth Cave). So I went back and forth on weekends. Not as far east as you're talking about, but still, very beautiful. Some of the stuff out there is growing, some of it seems to be standing there thinking about it. Feet are a little cold yet, apparently. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 13 Apr 09 - 08:24 PM I'd love to get back in there with you, Janie... My kinda people and my kinda piece of God's good earth... I can almost see what it's like... Undisturbed... Wild flowers of every kind just doin' what they have done forever... Somethin' very comfortin' about wild flowers... They are the earliest of spring's offerings and they all seem to shout, "We made it thru another winter"... I went mushroom huntin' last evening... Yeah, I know it's too cold yet and maybe next weekend will be better but I just had to get back where the wildflowers bloom... Still a tad early for them, too... Dug a Christmas fern even tho we have dug lots of them and stuck them here and there in the woods but, hey... Couldn't come empty handed... Spent the entire day installing a boxwood garden that the P-Vine roped me into... Oh well, paid well... The people are happy and we made some money for the Coop so, hey.... The tillerman tilled out the veggie garden today so we can finally get our early colder stuff in this weekend... Late on the taters... Don't much matter no matter what the old folks say... Last year I planted them the wrong tiome accordin' to the almanac and we had the best crop ever... Yukon Gold is all we are going to plant from here out 'casue the ones we planted last year are still looking fresh and the Russert's are shriveled a tad... Tired of cold... 40's the next 2 days... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 12 Apr 09 - 11:58 PM I have heard of "Bountiful, Maggie, but never read or watched it. Now I'll have to! I never expected to enjoy this trip as much as I did. My sister has been doing genealogical research, and hooked up with with a distant cousin through her research who still lives in the area. She offered her mother and her to act as guides. Her mother, Lexie, is my grandmother's 1st cousin, though 20 some years younger. Lexie's mother's sister was my grandfather's mother, so they are related on both sides of my paternal family. They lived just over the ridge from one another. Lexie has lived in those remote hollows all her life. She's 87, deaf as a board, has to use a walker because her knees are shot, and absolutely sharp as a tack. She and her daughter, Carol, were absolutely delightful. As an added bonus, they are both big gardeners. Lexie has Wake Robin's blooming beside her house right now. A creek runs through her property, and there were all kinds of wildflowers coming up along the damp banks. It was she who grabbed a small shovel as we headed out the door to lay across the bars of the walker, saying that I might want to dig a few flowers from the graveyard on the Ross family homeplace as a remembrance. She talked at length about roaming the woods, ridges and hollers as a child, as did her daughter. They talked about a little valley covered with white trilliums, ginseng on hillsides, etc. There were a couple of key cemeteries and my paternal great grandparent's farm that are going to require four wheel drive, drier weather, a guide who is not in a walker, and good hiking shoes to reach. Lexie and Carol have already arranged for the guides. My sister and I will go back this summer sans the elderly and infirm folks who would have to wait in the car so that we can explore these inaccessible places. As an added bonus, we got Lexie's recipe for dried apple stack cake, which is probably the same one used by my grandmother. (Nannie was a wonderful cook and housekeeper who apparently resented every minute of it. Somewhere in her 70's she decided to retire from cooking, since Papaw got to retire from the railroad. When she did, she destroyed or tossed every single one of her recipes!) The area of eastern Kentucky where we were is beautiful. Lots of creeks with good, broad bottom land, and low, steep mountains covered in hemlock and rhodedendron, with lots of cliffs and stony outcrops. The topsoil looks rich in the plowed fields, and bottoms, and the farms looked very well tended, with garden spots bright green with cover crops, and pasture rotated so that the cows haven't grazed and worn it down to nubbins. Unlike in southern West Virginia, where the hollers are much narrower, the steep sides of the mountains are not generally cleared for cattle to graze, but are apparently managed for timber. The Ross family homeplace was a land-grant to my 3x great grandfather for military service. (I think the War of 1812.) When he died, it was divided among his sons, and when they died, it was further divided between their sons. Lexie says the arrangement was always that the boys got the land, and the girls got the timber. All of it has now been sold off and no Rosses own any of the original land-grant. Lexie was the last girl to have timber rights. The people who bought the part that has the original homesite keep the brambles and bushes knocked back in the cemetery well enough to insure the headstones can be found. Lexie was apparently able to garden until just a couple of years ago. Her place was functional and pretty. A little orchard with apple and pear trees, a big spot that looked like it was probably last in corn, a section near the creek with rhubarb, horseradish and other perennial veggies, a patch of gooseberries, a few blueberries, and several small beds with herbs, peonies perennials. (And a pot on the front porch with artificial flowers stuck in the dirt. Lexie said Carol wouldn't let her stick artificial flowers in the garden beds:>) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Apr 09 - 09:14 PM The branches and limbs from that nearly-dead redbud are cut up and down at the curb. I don't have a chipper so I'll send them to the landfill. At least they'll eventually break down and do the landfill some good. I didn't take out the stump, it's about 16" high. I think I'll level it and put a plank on it. It might as well make itself useful as a prop for garden stuff or a sprinkler or for a pot or something. There was heart rot all through the tree, so I don't think the stump will last a long time, and if it sends out suckers I'll trim them. Janie, I would have responded to your description of your trip to eastern Kentucky over on the MOAB thread except it would get lost so quickly. Sounded wonderful, and like the trip of a lifetime for your father. Have you ever seen the movie or play The Trip to Bountiful? The play is by the late Horton Foote, and is wonderful. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Apr 09 - 01:52 PM Another rainy day. Gentle, soaking rain. I picked up a lot of topsoil to put on top of my berm, and maybe some of it will go into the new beds to raise them up a little. The bags are on sale this week. It isn't great stuff, but I can improve it a lot by mixing in compost, manure, etc. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 12 Apr 09 - 08:38 AM 2/10's of an inch here... But that is a good thing that it weren't more 'cause... ... ol' Jmaes Dovel ain't made it back here in the holler to till up everyone's gardens and yesterday I learned that he was waitin' on Ron Wilson to get his ready so I called 'ol Ron last night and he said there musta been a communication breakdown as he is ready so James will be back here tommorrow to get us all tilled... Then we can handle some heavier rains... No matter, we're all gonna be a tad late getting taters and early stuff in... But as cool as things are we'll prolly be okay... I'm gonna go up into the mountain this afternoon and see if any mushrooms are up... We went over the Blue Ridge on Friday an' lotta cars and trucks parked on the side of Rt. 33... That means that folks are allready huntin' 'um so maybe I'll find a few... Hope so... I got a hankerin' for a pan of mergals... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Tim Leaning Date: 12 Apr 09 - 08:38 AM Got an apple tree with two kinds of apple on it (in theory) Shoved it in abig tub and planted strawberrys round the bottom. SOund familiar? Yup Gardeners world strikes again. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Apr 09 - 02:55 AM I replaced some tomatoes today, and added a couple more in the front yard. We've had a gentle rain so far, tomorrow is supposed to be heavier. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 11 Apr 09 - 08:23 AM That is what I've been told also, Maggie... We've always used the 55 degree rule of thumb... That means that once it warms up to where the evening temps are 55 degrees then all will be well... Now Mr. Clifford doesn't belive that but then again we have much better success with ours than he does with his... But he doesn't mulch either... We mulch heavily with straw... This keeps the moisture in the ground, cuts down on weeds and also holds heat... Back to the redbud... I learned about their roots the hard way... We planted one that we dug up and it had only been in a few years when we decided that we'd rather have that space for other stuff... It had grown to big to dig up so I tied a 1/2 rope around the poor thing and pulled it out with my 4WD truck... When I did that I also rolled up a 30 foot wide swath of grass... Heck of a mess... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 Apr 09 - 11:08 PM I've encountered some of those redbud roots. This tree isn't that big or old, but it was whipped around badly in a wind storm a few years ago. I should probably have removed it at the time. What do you know about tomatoes being exposed to temperatures under 40 degrees? A friend said he's been told that even if they don't freeze, if they get the dose of cold their output will be stunted during the growing season. Can you confirm this, or add any information? SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 10 Apr 09 - 09:15 PM I'm in the wilds of eastern Kentucky, visiting family homeplaces and graveyards with family. From the family cemetary where my great, great and great grandparents are buried, .I dug up a couple of irises with the encouragement of my great, great aunt, whose mother planted them there originally. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 10 Apr 09 - 07:20 AM Eowwwwwww.... That's what I'm talkin' about!!! lol... Yo, Maggie... I have some bad news for ya' about yer red bud... Well, maybe not as bad as it could be but... ... Mr. Redbud is famous for his hoggish fiberous root system... A 10 foot tree will commonly have a root system that spreads to 30 or more feet... That means that yer new garden is gonna have quit a few nasty redbud roots you have to contend with... Speaking of redbuds, however, we are off to Minerial, Va. to pick up one "Heart of Gold" Redbud that got left out of our large order for the landscaping job we have at the old Luray train depot... Yeah, it's a shame to have to drive 2 hours for one danged tree but stuff happens... But, we'll make3 the best of it seein' as since we'll be in Mineral we might as well pop over to Acer Acres and pick up a few Japanese maples for the garden center... And they also sell 3-4' umbrella pines for a mere $45 so might as well pick up one or two of them, too... Great tree!!! B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 09 Apr 09 - 11:25 PM We're due a heavy rain on Sunday. Before then I'm going to take out a redbud that is all but dead and it will make room in the new bed that is beside it by the driveway. I've set up that area under the tree as a no-till bed, and I'll dig down and plant a few things under what would have been shade, had this tree leafed out like it should have by now. Bobert, I don't think you mind the "undergardener" position. (Thinking Lady Chatterley). ;-D SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 09 Apr 09 - 07:40 PM Another exciting day... I planyed about an acre of clover to try to keep the deer outta our gardens and the P-Vine and I wend down there and checked it out and it's coming up!!! Other than that, ol' hillbilly spent all morning removing grass with a shovel as the first step toward creating a new planting bed for a job the P-Vine sucked me into... Oh well, it's like a paycheck... Took my laborer from my hotel renovation project to help... After and hour he said, "Man, I didn't know that I even had these muscles 'casue everything hurts"... Guess I must be using those muscle groups 'casue I was doin' fine... (You are the P-Vine's undergardener, Boberdz...) So I am... No wonder nuthin' hurt on me... She is a slave driver... LOL... One more week to "mergals" (morelles)... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 08 Apr 09 - 07:50 PM Yeah, lettuce is tough but 3 weeks without water is kinda pushin'... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 08 Apr 09 - 10:49 AM Why? Will you be out of town? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work Date: 08 Apr 09 - 07:50 AM 200!! Lettuce survived the attentions of the cats over night.. just have to hope someone will water them in the next 3 weeks. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 08 Apr 09 - 07:48 AM Spell check??? Hmmmmmm??? What is it??? How do you get it??? Ahhhhh, almost forgot to report on our own garden... Larkspur, Bleeding Hearts and Peonies all poking up... We dodged the bullet this morning... Only 32.4 degrees... Whew... That was close... Today oughtta be a complete zoo... At 9:00 this morning I'll have both a Bobcat loader and a small backhoe at the old train depot, plus two "stripers" (inmate laborers) and by the end of the day, with any luck, I'll have the final grading completed and the three creape mrytls in... They are monsters... B&B'd... 36", 300 pound root balls... Fun... Cultivar "Catawba"... Rather have this day over... Well, happy gardening... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 07 Apr 09 - 08:57 PM I'm also dyslexic, and I have the spell check installed on my Google toolbar for just that reason. :) Cold air did in some tomatoes, left others alone. I'll replace the damaged ones later in the week. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 07 Apr 09 - 07:54 PM Sorry, Maggie, but typin' and spellin' ain't my long suit... Throw im serious lexdexia and no matter what I type, or try to typ, looks right half the time even if it ain't... I really do the best that I can do... True story... I couldn't read a lick until I was about 13 years old... Like I said, some of the hillbilly stuff is intended but the rest ain't all that controlable... No, ain't got any new pics to speak of... The miscantis (grass) grows to 7 feet in late summer... I have several beds of it coming up the driveway... It is almost impossible to divide... You need a serious saw to quarter it... The P-Vine hates it but when you garden on such a lrage ***scale***, you need lots of big plants... Mr. Doval will be up next week to till up the veggie garden... The P-Vine just planted our veggie plant seed today... Yeah, we a re a couple weeks behind but she picked up a couple of tomato plants to stick in the garden so we'll ahve tomatoes in July from them... Mr. Clifford will have 'um a couple weeks before us and will bring us some the middle of July... Blew snow off and on all day today even though the temps were low 40s... 'Sposed to go to 60's by Friday... We're off to Montpelier, Va. to buy some Japanese Maples for the Coop... I used to live outside Montpeiler in the 60's on a farm so it's kinda cool going back there... Still the same as it was back then... Rural... Landed a nice little landscape job today... 18 Green Pillows and 1 Dee Runk boxwoods with lirope and hachnachola edgin'... 22 feet by 9 feet... Well known people in Luray... I was the thrid designer to come in and draw up my ideas and, frankly, the most expensive becasue of the plants I've selected but, hey, got the job... The people didn't show us the other designs so I don't know what the other folks had proposed but I'm real happy to have this job... BTW, hachnachlia (badly mis-spelled) is the plant of the year among nurseryman... Nice stuff... We have used it going back 6 'er 7 years but it is now in favor... The enounymous (sp) green spier has sold completely out the the Coop... That is another of my favorites... Nice vertical qualities... Does well with morning sun... Not too good if you have deer... Gotta spray fir scale 2X a year... But nice plant... Well, love talkin' plants and stuff but I've got only 2 weeks before my 1st festival so that means that I gotta get in a little music work... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Liz the Squeak Date: 07 Apr 09 - 06:47 PM Planted my rocket and lettuce although I don't expect to see any of them when I get back... the wall flower and the aquilegia stand a better chance, but I'm not holding my breath... LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 06 Apr 09 - 07:26 PM Loos like at least 3 of the dogwoods have Dogwood Anthracnose. One of them I was planning on cutting down. It seems to take a good bit of work to try to control this disease and keep the trees healthy. Since none of the dogwoods here are sterling specimans, I may take them all out and replace them with a resistant hybrid, or something else entirely. Most of them are too shaded to do very well, and can't compete with the big trees for water. This world of trees and shade is a whole new realm. Pretty steep learning curve, but that's OK. Can't ever learn enough about plants and growing things. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 06 Apr 09 - 06:31 PM Looks like we will have a freeze warning for tomorrow night. I moved the hydrangeas onto the carport, against the wall, and will probably do the same with a few other things. Pretty as the azaleas are, I am not about to try to cover all of them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 06 Apr 09 - 06:24 PM Bobert, if you would enter the name without typos it would be a little easier to look them up. Miscanthus Do you have any more photos? We can put them up on the Google groups page again. Freeze warning again tonight. I'll wait it out. I left some bedding plants next to the house. Tomatoes are fine but the eggplant look unhappy. Plants in the ground look about the same as they did before. Go figure. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 06 Apr 09 - 07:58 AM Thanks, Mag... Yeah, I always plant my stuff high enough to allow for settling... This poor thing has been moved 3 times now... The funny thing is that the needles look just like an umbrella pine... When we bought it it was with about 10 others which were also about 3 feet tall... The plant did not have a tag... I asked the saleperson iof it was an umbrella and he said "yes"... The nursery is a couple hundred miles from here so we haven't been back to inquire about the cultivar, if they even remember... The way I look at it is that even if I had known that it was a dwarf "somethin'-r-another" I still would have wanted it as a specimem plant... Gonna be cold this week here in central Virginny... Brrrrr... Gonna probably push back mushroom huntin' until closer to the 3rd week of the month... Grrrrrrrr... Have me a hankerin' fir some "mergals" (morelles)... Just looked out the great room window and discovered one miscanhtis that escaped the chain saw... Danged!!! The P-Vine sold about $1500 at the garden center this weekend... Not bad fir a Carolina gal... (lol)... (Watch it, Boberdz...) Okay, better get ready to go to work before I get in any serious trouble...) B;~) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Apr 09 - 11:39 PM Bobert, make sure that pine wasn't buried too deep in the pot. That will slow down any tree. The butt swell should show at the surface. Scrape out all of the extra dirt, down to the real roots (not the adventitious sort that sprout when the tree is too deep). I've had to take dirt away from the bases of several trees here and it has helped. The nursery pots look like they must be okay, so you plant them level, or maybe a little low in the ground, but that isn't good for the tree, and nurseries usually shovel extra dirt on top of the real roots because folks will think there isn't enough root to fool with. You should actually shake off all of the dirt and plant it like it was a bare root tree. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 05 Apr 09 - 08:43 PM I worked on taxes. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 05 Apr 09 - 08:15 PM I really am beat... But a good beat... Today was in the mid 70s and so I worked all day on the various beds... Cut down the miscanthis... That is always a biggie... I tie last years grass up real tight and cut it with a chain saw... makes a 2 hour job a 15 minute job... Three years ago we bought what we thought was an umbrella pine... Problem is that it turned out to be, ahhhh, some dwarf umbrella pine of yew of some kind... Just doesn't seem to grow much... Healthy but slow... So it's been takin' up prime real estate in a container that I have buried in the ground... No more!!! Today I ooved it into a similar container (above ground) and have it next to the Thunderhead Pine... Looks real good and in the in-ground container I planted a small "black bamboo" that I ordered from Oregon three weeks ago... I think once it gets up to about 7 feet that I'll prune it and keep it there... Can't wait... Also dug up a rose bush that was planted in the wrongest spot it could have been... Dug holes for, but didn't plant, mugo pine (5'H-8-W), boxwood vestigiata, 2 Alaskan Pines... Oh yeah, got the fountain cleaned up and runnning for the season... Doesn't sound like much but it was... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Liz the Squeak Date: 05 Apr 09 - 07:25 PM Hopefully a bit of planting tomorrow, if I can summon the energy... today was a lovely day but a washout as far as doing anything constructive went. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Apr 09 - 12:37 PM Frost/freeze warning tonight. Gotta go out and cover the tomatoes. Some stuff is in pots still and I'll move it in. I also have straw that I can pile up around stuff and spread it around in a day or two. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Apr 09 - 11:12 PM I'm tired, after finishing that work with the mulch. I picked up another large load this afternoon, so I'm set for finishing another bed out front. This no-till bed is one of those things that looks so dopey until you finish and can't see the edges of the newspaper or the scalped dirt any more. I have some bedding plants and seeds both to put in tomorrow. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 04 Apr 09 - 08:42 PM Between basketball games....there is something that looks interesting beginning to emerge over on the east side of a tree where there are also some lilies coming up. The leaf looks vaguely familiar, but I can't yet place it. Some other interesting plants with flower stalks coming up from a rosette of hairy, somewhat warty, oval shaped leaves with red veins that I think may be some kind of terrestrial orchid. Will have to wait until it blooms to know. It is not the native rattlesnake plaintain. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Apr 09 - 11:43 AM I used the sick tree treatment on my injured redbud several years ago and it came back like gangbusters, but there still seems to be damage it hasn't completely healed. I have been working around that tree this week and it isn't doing well. I'll try a surgical approach to remove the damaged part and see if the rest can fill in. That was the case with a tree at my last house, it came back full strength. Meanwhile, I'm putting down a no-till ground cover (scalped the turf with the weedeater, wetted it, put down layers of newspaper and mulch on top). If the tree goes, I'll use this area to plant other things. I'd still like a small tree here, but I know my neighbors are concerned that it might be close to their sewer line. Trees only bother sewer lines if they're already broken, and I think theirs is fine, but if I put in a new tree I'll move it over a couple of more feet. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 04 Apr 09 - 07:25 AM The back is protesting a little this morning... (Yer only as young as yer back, Bobz...) Nevermind, I'll be okay... As for large oaks... Once you see that they are sick they are sick... Small plants are alot more treatable than towering ones... The problem with dense woods is that with the draught there isn't enough water to support all the trees... There might be enough to support half of them but not all... I have about 4 acreas like that and I have slowly been thinning it out... It will still be woods but I'm taking the weedier of the trees out, like the locusts and maples and poplars and persimmon... I'm going to have to take out a couple oaks as well because they are competing with others... Fortunately for me, I have a good hillbilly buddy who was born with a chainsaw in his little hands and he sells firewood so he's taking them out (with my help) for free... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 03 Apr 09 - 08:52 PM Maggie, I see why you like the Dirt Doctor. I book marked the site a long time ago when you first referenced it, but had not ever gotten around to actually going to it. I'm going to look for an organic arborist to see what needs done to mitigate against the damage already done, and then try, at least in part, Dirt Doctor's sick tree treatment. My yard is big and there are so many trees that I don't know if I can afford to treat the whole place. I'll have to price the materials. But it doesn't look like it makes sense to not treat the whole yard. Maybe the arborist will suggest a somewhat different mix suitable to this region. It would make me very happy to have an arborist tell me the big trees do not have so much damage that they have to come down. How's yer back, Bobert? Glad you are getting some paid work, but that be hard work! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 03 Apr 09 - 05:40 PM Yeah, Janie, the drought has taken a toll on alot of the older established hardwoods from Georgia north to Maryland... The trees are definately stressed out and that is why every time we get a somewhat normal t-storm, trees come down... And the bugs are loving all of this... But some good news... Seein' as I really don't get paid for the work I do on my old hotel it's nice that the P-Vine sold a small job to someone who came to the center last weekend and so tomorrow I'm off in the truck to plant 5 five foot cryptomeria yoshinas for one of her customers and am going get actaully get paid for doing it... Hooray!!! B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Apr 09 - 01:30 PM I took today off, and it's gorgeous. I'm headed out to the garden this afternoon. I did some garage sales this morning, and at the last one I talked at length with the guy who in the two years he has been here has done great things with his yard. He's across the creek from me and up a ways, I can't see his place from here, but he provided treat inspiration to keep working in my yard. I would love, over time, to have the back planted all the way back with interesting plants and patches of turf so that when I finally get around to replacing the fence with a wrought iron-style fence to see through that it looks like a vista into a secret garden, all the way down to the creek. :) Dream on. Maybe I'll win the lotto. But anyway, it was a nice morning. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Liz the Squeak Date: 03 Apr 09 - 09:36 AM Well, I finally did it. For 4 years now I've been saying I'll cut the buddliea down to size.. I'm just now in from doing that. What was a 15ft, lopsided and top heavy bush is now a 5ft trunk with lots of side shoots to flower this year. I'm pleased with the resulting light, the fence is still intact, it needed to be done for the good of the bush (snow broke a branch off) and the rest of the garden, but I feel a complete cad because I discovered in it, 2 tit nests I hadn't previously seen and made a lime hawk moth caterpillar temporarily homeless. I'm leaving the cuttings to wilt down a bit, give the other creepies a chance to find a new home in the ivy, before dragging them through the house to be taken to the tip over the Easter break. I'm off to the garden centre later this afternoon to see about some bedding plants. My primroses were decimated by cats digging, and I just buried my little blue bulbs (possibly scillia but I can't remember) under buddliea cuttings. On the plus side, my tulips (which I don't remember buying) are in bud, with the merest hint of colour around their lips... yellow in this case... having survived the snow and cat maulings. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Apr 09 - 11:19 PM Janie, Go look through the Dirt Doctor site. He is here in Texas but he gets questions from all over the place, and I think you'll find some useful information. One of the things that has come to light lately is that if trees are planted too deep in the ground, so the butt swell is under dirt instead of showing, that the tree is already compromised. You can wash or brush dirt away from that area and see a significant difference. (Nurseries tend to dump more dirt on top of the roots when trees are in pots if it looks like the trees don't have enough roots. But you're better off shaking off all of that pot dirt and treating them like bare root trees). There are good natural fertilizers, there is the sick tree treatment, a mix of fertilizer and aeration and foliar feeding. I had a redbud that was looking awful a couple of years after I planted it, but I did the sick tree treatment and it came back like gangbusters. You need some sun for planting other stuff, but this is getting it the hard way, losing trees to disease. Maybe a good arborist can help you select which ones to rescue and which to take out. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 02 Apr 09 - 09:49 PM Sorry about the redundancy in that last post. I thought I had edited the first part out. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 02 Apr 09 - 09:47 PM Both black cohosh and blue cohosh are on my list, once I ever get beds and soil prepared. Think I'll also try some goldenseal, and maybe even a little ginseng. Was looking around the web today for sources to buy thinks like cut leaf toothwort, carolina spring beauties, wood anemones, etc. Some things, like bloodroot, trilliums and trout lilies are pretty easy to come by. Others are not. I don't like to dig plants in the wild around here, being as how there isn't really a whole lot of wild here. It looks like my first priority, however, is going to be to figure out what to do to try to take care of the trees. It is looking like those with significant borer damage are going to have to come down. I took a sickly hickory out last fall that was hollow and full of sawdust, and am realizing that squirrels were not the culprits late last summer and early fall when numerous twigs and branch tips littered the ground for several weeks. The long and severe drought really stressed a lot of trees in this area and that has apparently made them very vulnerable. From what I've so far, insects like the red oak borer don't usually do too much harm, unless trees are already seriously stressed. Arkansas is experiencing significant problems with oak decline in forests since about 2000 because drought has made the trees much more vulnerable. I don't know a thing about trees, and have only recently started researching and studying about signs of problems, prompted by my concern about the big oak. I'm recognizing some things as indications of insect problems with hindsight. Late last summer and early fall, the ground under this oak and another was littered with the broken tips of branches and twigs. I thought the squirrels were doing it. Now I think they were breaking off as insect larva hatched and ate their way out. I'm hoping to get an e-mail response soon from the county extension agent to let me know if he will come have a look-see. I'm afraid the trees may turn into a budget breaker. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 02 Apr 09 - 07:47 PM Still chilly here in Virginia... Spent the entire day moving plants around and setting up the P-Vine's garden center... I must say that I did a fine job of organizing it so that it looks like a real garden center... We bought alot of somewhat unusual stuff for this area... The other 2 garden centers in the county carry the same boring stuff that landscapers use in every boring landscape design... The P-Vine has mirrored our own gardens in plant selection with lots of different ferns, sarcacoka, pulmaneria, acuba (3 varieties), pieres (3 varieties), camellias, hydradgas (2 varieties), etc. We have also introduced green spiril euronomous (great plant) and long needle pine (which Jnaie knows all about) and crytomeria yoshina which folks around here know nothing about... We have sold over 50 of the crytomeria to one customer to use as a screen at her farmette... We also found "Catawba" creape mrytyl on our trip.... Big... 9 foot... and cheap... $70 dug with a hydrolic spade (36 inch ball) and have sold them to the Town of Luray for landscaping project we are doing at the old train depot... Gonna cost 'um... Oh, my poor ol' back... Too wet to plow here and too wet to even get more chicken maure on the veggie garden before the tiller man comes... Right now the plan is to let it dry out a couple days after tomorrow's rain and then hope for no rain for another couple days so that we can get everything tilled in.... Geeze... Just another 12 days until the morell mushrooms oughtta be up... Yummmmeeeeeeee!!! Oh yeah, we also bought a few pots (10) of black kohosh for the gerden center... Yeah, I know that you can go back in the woods and dig it up but townies ain't into that and for $4 a pot, hey, we just bought 10 pots of it, too... 'Bout it for now... I am beat... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Apr 09 - 12:29 AM Sick Tree Treatment from Howard Garrett, the Dirt Doctor. It works very well. I took the dogs for a walk this evening and stopped to talk with a neighbor who is working on a milkweed bed to attract butterflies. She asked if I could identify a volunteer tree in her back yard (all I could tell her is that it's in the dogwood family. It's a shrub that grows in the woods around here). While back there, my dogs were so excited. She has a swimming pool, and even the catahoula (who hates our little wading pool or the sprinkler) was all animated. The pit bull actually ended up in the water up to her front shoulders before I hauled her out, but that's because she wanted to chase the floating rubber duck (with a thermometer built in its tummmy, apparently). She was a stray, so we don't know her early history, and it may include swimming pools. Regardless, it isn't swimming pool weather yet, but she's fearless. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 01 Apr 09 - 09:10 PM Home all day with a bulging lumbar disc, loaded on flexeril. Did some research on what might be killing one of my largest oaks. I'm afraid it might be infested with Red Oak borers. Have e-mailed the county extension agent in the hope he will come have a look before I spring for an arborist. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 01 Apr 09 - 07:45 PM Right now, I'm sick of plants!!! Just returned from two days of drivin' a 26 foot box with a cab and steering wheel in the front and a trailer in the back from one wholesale nursery to another... I personally loaded, tied down and brought some 400 potted and B&B'd plants here to Page County, Va.... And I'm beat!!! But nevermind that... I'll get over it... Not much happenin' here yet... PJM in bloom but not much else... Peonies pokin' up... Slow going and no real "warmth" expected for several days... Could be a late spring here in central Virginny... Gonna try to get another couple inches of chicken manure down on the veggie garden tomorrow or the next day 'cause the tiller man comes down the holler the first week of April... Bobert |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 01 Apr 09 - 12:13 PM The dogwoods are blooming, though it will still be several days before they peak. Azaleas starting to bloom. Looks like most of them are pink, with a few reds. There are also a few that have not yet revealed their color. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 01 Apr 09 - 10:58 AM Tulips blooming. There is a little skirt of yellow and red darwin hybrids that was planted around one tree in the back yard. There are patches of bluets springing up all over the front yard. There is a cat asleep under one of the bird feeders:( |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 31 Mar 09 - 05:47 PM A couple of weeks ago I cut and took a bag full of chard in to the office. I had extra, and thought I'd see if there were any takers. Most of them looked at me like I had two heads, but one woman took all of the leaves. I had several colors. I told her several ways to use it. I paused in her office door today to ask if she'd had an occasion to try the chard. Her face broke into a huge smile. "We'd never eaten chard before, but I steamed it in a pan with a little water and put lemon juice on it and WE LOVE IT! It's so much better than spinach!" I often steam it, but I prefer it with vinegar. Enthusiasm for a new food is always nice. :) And the fact that chard is easy to grow is good news for her--I'll take some more in tomorrow, but I'm willing to bet she'll get some bedding plants or seed. I cooked up a big pan of it last night and have it as leftovers for a couple of days. (One of my favorite recipes: I cut up lamb into bite-sized pieces and brown it in olive oil, add garlic, some herb and allspice, add pine nuts and when it's cooked, put a big heap of cut up chard and cover it with a lid until it's wilted and give it a good stir to combine the flavors. Serve this over rice with big dollops of good yogurt.) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 30 Mar 09 - 10:45 PM I drove past the small but quite wonderful arboretum on the UNC campus Sunday, which I haven't visited in years. Didn't have time to stop, and was peering over low stone walls from the driver's seat of the car. Nonetheless, I felt the stirrings of inspiration. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 30 Mar 09 - 12:43 PM It was trying to be Spring out this weekend; the tree peonies are leafing out - but today we have snow. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 Mar 09 - 12:15 AM At the price of copper to keep snails away, I could go buy all my veggies instead of growing them! After a little while we'll run short of snails. It happens every year. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: The Sandman Date: 27 Mar 09 - 07:52 PM beer traps,yes I tried that,it kills them,but just attracts more,copper is better,and you can save the beer for yourself |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: The Sandman Date: 27 Mar 09 - 07:49 PM slugs,and presumably other Gastropods,do not like copper,if youlay copper pipes around your plants it keeps the slugs away. they dont like it up em |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 27 Mar 09 - 07:47 PM Calmari!!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 27 Mar 09 - 07:04 PM lol! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 Mar 09 - 06:46 PM Hic! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 27 Mar 09 - 06:30 PM Hurray, Sins! Two days of rain, and a third one on the way. Won't be gardening any this weekend. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: SINSULL Date: 27 Mar 09 - 02:10 PM The tulips are poking through the ground where the snow used to be. There is hope... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Mar 09 - 11:28 PM My son bent over the garden and was poking around the onions while I unlocked the side door this evening. "Wow! Look at all of those snails!" They were all over, so I got a beer and put a couple of bowls out. And I removed and stomped probably 30 of the buggers. Beer trap. The snails didn't get all of it. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Mar 09 - 11:39 AM I've grown dahlias only once, and they came up and were pretty, but I didn't know much about gardening back then and the pests got them (including one small child with no adult supervision as a pest). I dug up a large spiderwort in the woods across the road from here when I first moved into the house. I put it in a garden and for several years it was swamped by weeds but kept coming back. I was afraid I'd done it in last summer when I dug up that bed, but I knew where it was and I kept the roots in place. And voila, it is coming up again this spring, unfettered by all of the weeds! This is so nice! I wish there was more than one. My across the street neighbor had one, but I think he finally killed it off. This is when I need to go poke around in the woods (that are left after the development was put in) and see if there are any more. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 25 Mar 09 - 10:29 PM If I cut down a dogwood and put a raised bed on the town right-of-way right by the road, I think I might can get one spot that gets pretty darn close to 6 hours of sun a day. Not big - maybe a 10 or 12'x3' bed. If so, that would be the one place I might be able to grow tomatoes and/or dahlias. (Gawd, I love dahlias, hard as they are to keep sufficiently fed and watered.) This year, I'm going to grow a couple of tomatoes in containers in that spot and see how they do. If they do well, then dahlias would also do well. It occurs to me that tomatoes and dahlias have similar water and fertilization needs, and I'm wondering what it would look like to alternate tomato vines with large dahlias, especially varieties with those lovely dark red leaves. Either really good or really-ahem- "interesting." What do ya'll think? I'm not sure if they are susceptible to similar deseases and pests. Never had much problem with disease with the dahlias, but earwigs were pretty hard on the blooms. Have had nothing but problems with disease and pests in the tomato department. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 25 Mar 09 - 07:50 PM Yeah, Maggie, like in a fish... What ya do is plant the tomato right over Mr. Blue Gill and that fish will feed it for the best part of the season... Honest... It works.... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Liz the Squeak Date: 25 Mar 09 - 07:20 PM Found my periwinkle in flower today, the clematis is indeed flourishing, with buds on and everything, the violets have survived living under a pile of rubble for 3 months and the bay tree is in full bloom... Still no daffodil flowers though... strange that. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Mar 09 - 04:36 PM Blue gill as in fish? We're getting our rain. It's coming down inside a drum, based on the racket outside from the thunderstorm overhead. Of course my irises are now out and get tested by the wind and pelting rain. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 25 Mar 09 - 04:13 PM We don't have nettles but we have plenty of blue gill and one of them under a tomato plant is like the real deal... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: The Sandman Date: 25 Mar 09 - 02:15 PM carrots like leaf lettuce and chives,when you have harvested your carrot,do not store them near apples. tomatoes are aided by stinging nettles |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Mar 09 - 10:35 AM I poked carrot seeds in near my new tomato plants yesterday, and I'll plan to put a few more in every few weeks. I put my few pepper plants in, and have some seeds to try out this year (Hatch chiles, mild). We're still waiting on that rain. There's a mama mallard out in the yard again this morning, I think she's looking for a nesting spot. Two years ago she set up house in ornamental grasses next door in the corner of a garden. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 25 Mar 09 - 08:02 AM Hmmmm, super dirt??? Okay, Donuel, I'll bite.... As for the acid soils, gypsum works well... And it's cheap... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: The Sandman Date: 25 Mar 09 - 07:29 AM I am going to try burning half the saw dust[I have a cheap supply],and mixing it with sawdust to reduce acidity.,and then using it as a fertiliser. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Mar 09 - 12:32 AM I hate to ask. "Super dirt?" SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Donuel Date: 24 Mar 09 - 11:54 PM I am really excited about making the super dirt for our fertile garden that will last for decades without fertilizer. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 24 Mar 09 - 11:14 PM This morning my first yellow iris was open, and this afternoon another half-dozen had followed suit. I expect an explosion of iris this week, and this is always when I mow the lawn, trim, and then take photos of the yard and house. It's the best it will look all year, for sheer flower power. I have some blue iris this year, given by my next door neighbor. And she had a bag with a bunch of yellow ones "and there is this big glorious fancy one in there, but I couldn't tell which it was when I dug all of these up." So if I want to find it I have to plant all of them and wait till next year. I don't think I got that bag planted last fall. I have two boxes and another bag of sprouts so I'll put in a new bed out front. And hope no one out walking picks this one if it comes up down by the street. Janie can tell you stories about yard flower poachers. So far I've been lucky and they've avoided me. There were some folks who got all of my next door neighbor's fancy pots on her front porch a few years back. We're a little gun shy about putting the dollars in pots and plants out again where someone might decide to do the five finger discount some day when no one is home. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 24 Mar 09 - 08:01 PM Well, I'm about sick of plants today... Our first shipment came in at the garden ceneter and it took 7 of us an hour to unload it... Pricing is next and then I guess that the P-Vine will have me out putting the artosts touch to the arrnaging of the center... But not was all bad... The nurseery sticks a few "sample" plants on the truck and one was a deciduos azalea that the P-Vine had never heard of (wonders!!!) and was budded nicely and about 3 feet tall and it was $12 so we took it... Of the 34 camelias we bought we have now sold all but 14... All if the fall bloominf sasanqua have been sold... I sowed the clover seed in the acre that I just disced for the deer... PJM (PMJ?) azalea is trying to open... Bleeding hearts are pokin' up... Gosh, 3 weeks and it will be morell (mergals) mushroom time??? Oh yeah, we got 20 Encore azaleas from the NC nursery... Then I come home and check my email and there's an email from the hybridizer, Buddy Lee, to9 the P-Vine about azalea stuff... Small world... Well, I'm about beat... Happy gardenin' everyone and keep them rambles comin', Janie... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Sooz Date: 24 Mar 09 - 01:19 PM Picked the first rhubarb on Sunday. Beautiful display of daffodils in a carpet of violets at the moment.The first salad crops are just showing and potatoes went in today, |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 24 Mar 09 - 12:26 PM But I want my eggplants! I'll be doing some companion planting. The rain appears to have missed us. A band was headed this way but petered out before it got here. All we got was a little extra humidity. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: The Sandman Date: 24 Mar 09 - 11:27 AM eggplants can be used to plant near potatoes to catch colorado beetles,the beetles prefer eggplants. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: The Sandman Date: 24 Mar 09 - 11:13 AM early potatoes grow wellwith cabbage peas sweet corn and beans,plant a double rowalternating with peas the peas produce Nitrogen for the spuds.potatoe grow well after a rye crop. nasturtiums help potatoes.potatoes and sunflower stunt each other. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 24 Mar 09 - 10:27 AM Oh, I forgot to add a link. I don't have a mattock, but for years I used pulaskis when I worked for the Forest Service. I use Ben Meadows to get some of my tools that the local garden shops don't carry. Like my Swedish brush ax. Take a look through this site to see if you can find a replacement handle for your spade fork. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 24 Mar 09 - 10:21 AM I was driving home from dropping my son at the school bus and passed a neighbor out walking. I rolled down my window and asked Jeff how his garden is doing. He beamed! It's like being asked about your only child, to ask a hard-core gardener about their garden. :) He has onions in now, as do I, and he has potatoes in. I'll go look at his. I'd like to grow some, but never have before. He said he got about a bushel last year. His wife thins his onions for him by pulling every other one when she needs green onions for cooking. I have a bunching (green) onion ready to bloom (I left a few in last fall) and I'll let it. They were good so I'll collect the seed. Neither of us had good tomatoes last year. He likes eggplant. We need to find a food bank that might appreciate the extra. Those were topic highlights. Janie, alas, I never worked out a bed with the exposure and bare soil you described for those poppies. But I am still going to try putting some in along side my veggie garden, I'll have a spot. We have such a long growing season, you never know what can grow here and you'd be surprised at that second season we get in the fall. It sounds like you have a lot of activity going on in that new yard. And I completely understand the difficulty of looking at the old yard and the lack of care. My ex has the house where I put in gardens and trees. It has become beds of Asian jasmine (I had veggies and flowers at one time) and the trees are getting big. Baldcypress, sweet gum, dwarf yaupon, Afghan pines. I wish I could have taken my trees with me. :-/ Back to the new house: My neighbor and I are both hoping the rain predicted today comes. With the damp earth he'll re-till his garden and do the rest of the planting--and I'll dig a bunch more of the bed I started over the weekend. When I went out to get my newspaper this morning I walked sedately in order to not startle the mallard pair who were waddling around the garden. I hope they're sticking to snails and slugs. They walked across the road and onto my neighbor's lawn. They're usually out back in the creek, so I wonder if they're looking for a nesting site? A pair nested in the ornamental grass in a corner of my next door neighbor's garden a couple of years ago. I wonder if this is the same duo? Lots of nests this time of year, and it is time to put out the purple martin house for the younger birds who are returning now and don't have nesting sites yet. A web site from a local garden center said it should be up about a month after the first start returning, and this is the right time. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 24 Mar 09 - 09:22 AM wood ash is alkaline, and provides other nutrients, but it takes more of it than lime, and can damage seedlings. From http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/envirohort/426-313/426-313.html "You can use wood ashes as a soil amendment. They contain potash (potassium), phosphate, boron, and other elements. Wood ashes also raise the soil pH; but you must use twice as much ash as limestone for the same effect. Ashes should not come into contact with germinating seedlings or plant roots as they may cause root burn. Spread in a thin layer over the winter, and incorporate it into the soil; check the pH yearly if you use wood ashes. Never use coal ashes or large amounts of wood ash (no more than 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet), as toxicity problems may occur. " Haven't grown potatoes, but googled the question and found many suggestions. Since they are also a nightshade, keep them away from tomatoes and egg-plant. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: The Sandman Date: 24 Mar 09 - 08:46 AM apart, from using lime,isthere another cheap way of reducing the acidity of soils. what companion plants do potatoes like ,and which have an adverse effect. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 24 Mar 09 - 12:24 AM I LOVE my garden fork. It is a good one with a great grip that fits my arthritic hands perfectly, and has the sturdiest of tines. It snapped flush with the top of the metal sleeve that the handle slides into that holds the tines on. (I think I had probably cracked it previously right along the top of the metal sleeve.) I don't see how to release the business end from the broken handle so I can replace it. Anybody know how to do this? I also bent the slicing end of a fairly heavy mattock last fall, prying rocks and tree roots out of the ground to level a place for the shed Sister and I built. Guess I need to buy one of those tall, heavy, iron thingies that you can use to jab or pry with, or slice ground to plant bunches and bunches of tree seedlings, and or a crowbar, (but they often aren't long enough to get the leverage needed to get deep-rooted shrubs or tree roots out.) I've broken several otherwise good garden tools in the past, using them as a substitute for a pry bar. Maggie, did you sow the poppy seeds? I'm about to decide that whatever is sprouting where I sowed mine are not poppies. The true leaves are just now starting to show as tiny little blips, but they are too dark a green, and my memory is the cotyledon leaves strongly resemble the first true leaves, which these don't. (You'd think I would know for sure, as long as I have been growing them! Old-timer's disease, I guess.) I haven't given up all hope - like larkspur, poppies take at least 30 days to germinate - but I should see signs very soon, or write them off. I've never waited so late to sow them before. My neighbors must find me a strange sight, bending over that bed every morning and evening, peering closely at the ground. Bobert, that hellebore you gave me is the loveliest, creamy white, with no trace of green. I have another species with pink flowers of a slightly different form that is also doing well. I'm eager to figure out where to plant them and get them at home in the ground. I also brought the solomon's seal with me that you gave me a few years ago. They are starting to emerge. I have 3 or 4 pots that I couldn't remember what was in them, and suspected that whatever was in them had died. A lily is starting to break through in one of those pots. I have no idea which of the lilies from the old garden I may have dug. I had a bunch of them, and thought I had run out of time and had not dug any of them. I also notice a few lilies emerging under trees here. They look pretty spindly and probably have not been fed or tended for a long time. Judging from the foliage, they are probably asiatic, or possibly tiger lilies. I'll probably dig them up, put them in good deep beds, feed them, and see what happens over the next few years. I'm realizing that asiatic, tiger, and species lilies might do quite well along the borders of the property where they would get some morning sun. Maybe mixed in with lady fern? I had also forgotten that I had dug a few species tulips, and they are well up, but don't look like they are going to bloom in the pot. They were in heavy shade and were hidden behind other pots, and I just noticed them this weekend when I was moving stuff around. The rabbits have done some nibbling. I'm sure they are Tulipa humilis, but they were dormant when I dug them, so I don't know if they are Persian Pearl or Eastern Star. Guess I'll plant them and find out next year. Found a tiny little patch of bluets in the front yard! And black oil sunflowers sprouting under the bird feeders. They'll peter out as soon as the trees leaf out. With the time change, it is now daylight when I pick up my son on alternate weeks. I sit in the car on the street and look at the remnants of the garden I left behind with mixed feelings. Here by the road is the mixed patch of reticulated and crested irises, over there, the pheasant-eye daffodils that didn't bloom for years is covered with bloom. Here and there, the wonderful species Red Ridinghood tulips are in full bloom. In another spot, the lace-cap hydrangeas that I didn't have time to dig (and they were only 2 years old), look to be surviving. The bleeding heart and trout lilies are visible from the road, as are the hundreds and hundreds of daffodils and heirloom hyacinths. All neglected, (and by me for the last 18 months I lived there,) and some simply run over by ex-hubby's truck or lawnmower. Sad, to see the neglect, even recognizing that if I still lived there, I no longer have the time, nor the energy, to keep that garden up. It was not a low-maintenance garden, either in size or in the nature of the plantings. At the same time, it is gratifying to realize that as long as he doesn't simply mow everything down, (and even if he does), that garden was and that soil was attended to sufficiently that many plants will remain, especially the natives, and the good soil that I both brought in and built will still be there, and irises and bulbs, and self-sowing native plants that feed the birds and shelter the rabbits will be there for generations to come. Some day, a young couple will buy that house in winter or mid-summer, and marvel at what pops up in the oddest places come spring, just as I did my first spring and summer at that house. I love these gardening threads and having the opportunity to share and read about the rest of you who love gardening. As many of you know, the last few years have been tough, personally and professionally, and I was beginning to think I had lost the energy and the will to start anew. I have no plans or clues right now, and no money to spend on mulch or hardscaping, edging, or anything else. But as spring marches forward, and I get out out there and play in the dirt, marvel at the miracle of emergence, get a sore back and dirt under my nails, and learn what you kindred gardening spirits are up to - listen to your enthusiam - my spirit is renewed and I accept that my cup runneth over, even when I don't see it. Thanks. Thanks for letting me ramble. Especially, thanks for sharing your own love and experience of the renewal found in fostering the natural world. Thanks and hugs to you |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 23 Mar 09 - 10:16 PM Seventy percent chance of rain tomorrow. It would be nice, another good soaking before I make the next pass and dig more of the new bed. I'm about 1/3 of the way into it now. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 23 Mar 09 - 08:26 AM That time of year, SRS... Spring will wear you out no matter the size of the project... Yeah, there's always ten things to do before you can do what you planned to do... Just 'cause I have a farm tractor don't mean that I'm exempt from the same pressures of broken stuff and a list of things to do that is all screaming for me to do them... After work today I have to cut back all my pampas grasses... I really don't like that job but it has to be done... 2 weeks before the tiller man and I still need another load of chicken manure... Oh well, it will get done... Hey, ya'll... Go easy on them garden forks... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 22 Mar 09 - 11:55 PM I operate on a scale that is wheelbarrow and spade fork sized, not like Bobert's tractor and tiller operation. This I posted over in MOAB and I'm tired so I'm not retyping it: This was one of those days in the garden when every time I wanted to start one task I realized I had to back up and do something else first. As a result, I have cleared up an old compost pile by adding it, sans sticks, to my new compost pile (the sticks in the old one meant it didn't break down like it should have), I cut up and stacked at the curb several large tree limbs that I took down last summer, I dug a new bed (the sod from that generated the compost pile work) and made a run to Home Depot for manure and ran past the park site for free compost (lots of wood chunks in it, I use it more like a mulch around the edge of the garden and to mark the path where I can step in the garden). I planted some tomatoes, and as a bonus, fixed a bicycle for some kids who were kind of far from home, it was dusk, and they thought they just needed a hammer to pound the handlebar into place. It needed a hammer and an Allen wrench, and after that little break, I finished planting and mulching tomatoes. Peppers tomorrow. MOM, I'm bushed. I knew I had to keep moving until I finished everything (including fixing dinner) because once I sat down (now) I probably wouldn't want to get up again. And I don't. Janie, I'm on my third spade fork in this house, and it is just seven years. A friend gave me the wheelbarrow, and last fall I put on one of those tires on it that never goes flat (cost as much as the darned wheelbarrow probably cost, but what a luxury to not pull out the compressor every time I want to use it!) I bought cheap cotton gloves at Home Depot (something like a dozen pair for $4.99) and I go through those fairly fast. I'm to the point of having to take out things I put in a few years ago because they're too crowded or I've changed my mind. I hate cutting stuff down, I transplant when I can, but the yard is taking shape. I'm finally creating some shade. Unlike you, I had none until fairly recently. Now I have a couple of spots for tender plants that don't like full sun. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 22 Mar 09 - 06:11 PM But ain't it fun, Janie??? Look at it this way... You have nowhere but up to go... Right??? You should have seen this hog farm when we bought it... The P-Vine and just went on a sightin' walk... We have one extra Mugo Pine (6'H 10'W) that we found a spot for... 2 Festigiate Boxwood and False Cypress we found homes for... And the last or my $2 Akaskan Oine we found homes for... One Smoke Bush is still a head scratcher... BTW, breakin' tools is God's way of telling ya' that it's beer-o'clock... LOL B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 22 Mar 09 - 05:58 PM Potted up the violas yesterday. Also bought chives, parsley, rosemary and greek oregano, and got them put in pretty pots today. Trouble is, there is no landscaping, or arranging. The few garden beds there are here are not well placed. They are also planted with stuff I don't want. I've got pedestals, pillars, statues, assorted birdbathes, etc. All bought for my old Victorian era house and garden, and just sort of dropped anywhere out of the way when I moved last summer. Now I'm accumulating pots of plants that are being dropped anywhere there is sun. It sure looks like a hillbilly lives here right now. Makes sense, I guess, since I are one;>) The soil is too wet to work in right now, but it is perfect for digging out unwanted stuff. I dug out a bunch of nandina that were right up against the foundation, a few azaleas that were poorly placed and in ill health - probably from old age. Also a truckload of variegated lirope, which I do not care for, and still have heaps more to dig. And I snapped the handle on my garden fork, which was a good excuse to quit for the night. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 22 Mar 09 - 04:46 PM Ended up about 67 degrees today... Stray Dafodils in the woods bloomed today... The hybrids are a tad behind... Survived the discing... Cpouple scarey parts but tractors and hills make for those... The disc discovered and enearthed a number of large field rocks (approx. 100 pounds each) which I kept having to stop for and load into the bucket... Ended up with about 20 of them and allready incorprated them into the hardscape... The P-Vine has been cutting back lirope all afternoon... We have several large pampus grasses that need it also... I found that easiest way to cut it back is to take twine and tie it into a tight bundle and then cut it with the chainsaw... Goes very quickly that way as opposed to other methods I've used over the years... Well, that's about it fir now... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 22 Mar 09 - 09:36 AM It's been a tad chilly here so we don't have anything in bloom as yet... Well, I forgot the Lenten Rose hellebores which have been in bloom for the last 3 weeks... But today is going to 62 and looks as if things are warming up slowly so this week oughtta be more interesting... Shoot, 3 weeks until morell mushrooms will be up... Yummy... Well, today is going to be another tractor day... There is an area behind the field I disced yesterday that never got cleaned up of the junk that the hog farmer who used to live here left... Yesterday I started pushing old sheet metal roofing that he had kept into a pile and now the tirck is getting the pile pushed up the hill where we can load it to take to the recyclers... Reckong its gonna be a couple ot tons... Well, gotta get after it... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Liz the Squeak Date: 22 Mar 09 - 05:01 AM Daffodils have failed to flower. Lots of leaves but no flower buds. The hyacinth flowered, but before the stem had formed so that was a bit of a let down. The snowdrop also failed to flower, as did the majority of the crocuses. I do have roses in bud, just showing colour and the violets have been doing their thing under a pile of twigs and rubble. The bay tree is in blossom (pretty little lime green, looks stunning against the dark green glossy leaves) the clematis is positively swelling and the tits are loving the insects. Saw my first wasp last week, a queen looking for a suitable nest spot.. hope she doesn't choose anywhere near here... Still haven't managed to cut down the buddliea bush that needs to be trimmed before anything starts nesting in it - which is what has happened for the last 3 years! Hopefully they'll all think it too open after the snow brought down a large branch of it. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Mar 09 - 05:05 PM Have you been following the news of the Obama garden at the White House? This is such great news! link to map. Seems like an awful lot of spinach, though. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 21 Mar 09 - 02:33 PM Found violas! Off to plant the strawberry pots. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 21 Mar 09 - 12:33 PM I just came in from discing a one acre field where we are going sow clover in the hopes of keeping deer over there and not in our ornimental gardens... Gonna let it dry a little and disc it once more this afternoon... One more trip to Tony Weakleys chicken farm for manure and the veggie garden will be ready for James, the tiller-man... He has a 6 foot tiller on the back of his Ford tractor and tills up everyone's gardens in the spring... $35... That's cheap considerin' that his tiller is probably about a $3000 machine... This is the P-Vine's 2nd Saturday at the Page Coop Garden Center... Hope she doesn't bring home anymore work for the poor hillbilly... Last week she met this guy and sold him some cryptomeria yoshinas... He's a city boy and don't know about shovels so she hired me out to do the planting... Okay, I'll make some beer money but... We also potted up 15 boxwood festigiata yesterday that we bought when we were in NC... They were field grown and came home in in my trailer in plastic trash bags... 30" plants and some of the root balls took up most of a 5 gallon pot... Took 6 down to the coop this morning... Half the camellias have been sold... Better than half of the hellebore Lenten Roses have been sold... Our biggie shipment from Raliegh will be here Monday... Yeah, I guess it is spring, ain't it... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 Mar 09 - 12:04 PM Let the gardening begin! Spring is here, it's a nice day, several days ago we had enough rain to soften up the turf and it's still good digging. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Kent Davis Date: 15 Mar 09 - 11:13 PM Here in the hills of SE Ohio we're enjoying our first harvests of 2009. On Friday, the eldest dug about 90 walking onions (aka Egyptian onions) for the Farmer's Market. Several people asked if we grew them in a greenhouse. We didn't. We planted some 2 years ago and, every spring, more and more of them come up. Yesterday, the youngest & I dug up the last of last year's parsnips. I had only eaten them cooked, but she thought they might be good raw. She was right; they were sweet and crunchy like a carrot, but with a distinctive taste and aroma of their own. Kent |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 15 Mar 09 - 12:12 PM No, sniff, I didn't... It would have been virtually impossible to have moved it yet again... I left it on the block foundation I built for it and with the covered front porch built onto it... I did, however, bring my 1953 30 foot Spartanette trailer which is set up at the back of the farm with "real" electricity, heat, air conditioning and indoor plumbing... It acts as my music studio and a 2nd guest house... Tad on the primitive side for adults, however... But I like it... But I miss that ol' double decker bus... Sho nuff do... I have had ideas of trying to work a deal with the guy who bought the house (with bus) but those thoughts never last too long... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Mar 09 - 11:59 AM Sounds like a good offer, for a short visit! Did you move that double decker bus down there to use as your guest house? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 15 Mar 09 - 11:50 AM On a more serious side, we have had two days of beautiful saoking rain... Thank God!!! The P-Vine get 34 camellias in at the plant center on Friday and 10 sold as of yesterday afternoon... That's great because most people around here really are clueless about them because most folks don't realize that there are new cultivars which are zone 6 hardy... We also bought 63 Lenten Rose hellibores on out trip to N.C. and about 15 of them have sold... Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Boberdz has gotten himself into a real pickle... Seems that the P-Vine has been awarded the contract to furnish 230 plants for landscaping of the soon-to-be renovated train depot and she threw poor ol' me into the proposal as the installer!?!?!... 230 plants X one hole per plant = 230 holes to dig!!!! My back hurts just thinking about that... Plus she has me going off this afternoon to look at another potential customer's house to work up and draw out a design... Meanwhile poor ol' Boberdz has his regular job of renovating an old hotel, plus occasional performances, a concert series to run and getting in out large veggie garden and cleaning up all the gardens from winter... I need help... Any volunteers out there.... Comfy guest accomodations and very yummy country cooked meals available... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 15 Mar 09 - 08:59 AM I rest my case... :~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 14 Mar 09 - 10:15 PM P-Vine's logic makes perfect sense to me:^) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 14 Mar 09 - 09:05 PM Different story, SRS... The P-Vine has taken a job running the garden center at the local farm coop... She may actaully make some money... Nah... That won't happen... We agreed that this spring we weren't gonna spend any money on the gardens... But then there is woman thinkin' that goes something like this: "Well, it was money we wouldn't have if I weren't workin' at the garden center..." (???) Well, I know that women know about this thinkin' but it's like Greek to me... I'm thinkin', "Geeze, if yer making this money then why not bring it home as monet rather than a bunch more plants"... But this is men thinkin' and as much as I also enjoy messing around the gardens I don't understand this thinkin'... I mean, we have close to a 1000 azaleas in various stages that need to be moved... We also have greenspire eronyomous and boxwwod that we have propagated that need new homes... What we don't need is more plants... (Shut up, Boberdz... This is a gardening thread...) Geeze... B;~) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Mar 09 - 08:39 PM So you went to this nursery to look? Went for the free food at the open house? :D |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 14 Mar 09 - 07:14 PM We ain't buying nuthin' this year, SRS... Other than "Sweet Slice" cukes, which we'll get some seeds off Mr. Clifford, we have seed for everything else... Even have Celebrity tomato seeds... And the chicken manure is free... Life is good... Reckon we gonna have to start our seed in a week or two... May 15th is about as early as you can transplant them 'round these parts... Seems that transplanting too early stunts their growth... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 Mar 09 - 07:05 PM I didn't pick up the great volumes of materials Bobert will be buying, but I found my favorite variety of tomato today (super fantastic). And a few others things I have room to put in new. The tomatoes will have to bide their time until that bed is ready, and maybe next year I'll order the seeds online. No one ever carries those seeds here. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 14 Mar 09 - 02:13 PM Cannibus - picturing an old, rusted out school bus in some one's back yard, sans engine, hood up, with canna's growing out of the engine compartment;>) Oh, no...that would be a cannabus. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 14 Mar 09 - 01:45 PM Cannibus??? Jus' kiddin'... B;~) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 14 Mar 09 - 01:23 PM Hurray! The papaver somniferum seeds have sprouted. I sowed them very late, so I was concerned. Two years ago I got some seeds of lovely double apricot plants from a friend for whom I was doing some garden work that I didn't sow at the time because I was scared I would be moving before they would bloom and form seed heads. Not sure how long the seeds remain viable, so am really hoping they are among those that germinated. Waited too late to look for flats of violas, and they are all gone now. What am I gonna plant in my strawberry pots now? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 13 Mar 09 - 08:47 PM Well, great news, maryrrf... Sandy's is both wholesale and retail... We loved it and I'm sure you will, too... It's off Mechnicsville Pike... One block east of 295 take left at IHOP then take first left and then 1/2 mile... Great nursey... Glad to hear yer veggies survived the cold... The seads can do that okay... Once they sprout is when they have the greatest chance of getting killed back... Put a little straw and maybe a little freeze cloth over 'um and you might just get 'um tp produce for ya'/// Yeah, Janie... You and the P-Vine is kindred spirits... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 12 Mar 09 - 09:16 PM Hey Bobert I know where Sandy's Plants is - It's a wholesale place, isn't it? I'll be at work so can't go by and say hello but enjoy your trip to beautiful Mechanicsville. Now this is thrilling news - the PEAS that I planted on February 15th have sprouted - at least some of them have! Now it's supposed to snow a little bit tonight, but theoretically they can stand a frost. We'll see. The plants must be really confused, a couple of weeks ago it was 12 degrees and then temperatures shot back up to the low eighties. They're calling for rain/snow (wintery mix) but it's only supposed to go down to 35. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 12 Mar 09 - 07:53 PM Ditto here, Maryrrf - at least what seeds the juncos didn't eat. ain't it excitin'! Glad you are getting rain, Maggie. Your no till suggestion might be useful to put a veggie or two just in the small spots in the yard that get more sun. Bobert, the little azaleas are doing fine. Thanks so much to you and P-Vine for them. P-Vine is definitely a kindred spirit! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 12 Mar 09 - 06:40 PM We spent a couple hours yesterday on chicken manure for the veggie garden... A buddy brought over his trailer and I met him at Tony Weakleys chicken farm with the Kubota and loaded it up and then went back and spread it... It's about an inch thick over the entire garden area (90X35)... I'll try to repeat it before the tiller-man comes with the big tiller (5 foot) mext month... BTW, Maryrrf, we'll be in yer area tomorrow... Sandy's Plants (wholesaler) in Mechanicsville is having their spring open house (with lunch) so we'll be there unless it snows to deep to get over the mountain in the morning... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Mar 09 - 12:55 PM My onions are very happy in our rain, pushing up green after partial concealment in the hay mulch for a few days. The chard is crisp and beautiful. I have to get the rest of this bed laid out and planted this weekend. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 12 Mar 09 - 11:59 AM Well, that lettuce that I planted on February 15th is coming up! The mesclun mix, the Grand Rapids and the Romaine have all pushed up through the ground, despite the fact that a few weeks ago it was 12 degrees and the ground was covered with snow. Yay! Of all the things I enjoyed about my garden, the fresh salads were possibly my favorite. Can't wait till I can start harvesting. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Mar 09 - 11:23 AM Still raining. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Mar 09 - 12:53 PM Rain today! All day! The creek is up! The yard is getting a good long soak. Maybe some good digging conditions next weekend. :) Hey, Janie, on my Dirt Doctor site I was reading a request from a person in this area for advice about how to put in a veggie garden in his yard that is full of trees. He has a spot where he has the light but the tree roots run through it. He doesn't want to damage the trees by cutting roots. The response that he seems to like best is the response to put in a no-till garden. Pile dirt and compost on top of the area he wants to garden and use that as the growing layer, don't try to dig down. Is there any way advice like this would broaden your options for putting in a garden? SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 09 Mar 09 - 11:38 PM We're in a drought, but there was a little rain in the forecast. I think it missed us. Darn. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 09 Mar 09 - 01:04 AM I have had a couple of photos on my fridge that I pulled out of magazines with gardens that I'd like mine to look like. Don't know if I'll get there. Ideas will occur to you. I see garlic coming up in the newest bed (the one I used for the first time last summer). I poked a whole bunch of those dried little corm things in to see if they'd sprout. Looks like they will! I love using my own garlic when I cook. That bed is going to be my kitchen garden--in that when I'm cooking I can go pull something out of it to use right now. It isn't going to be stuff that will be ready to use later. At least, not much of it, and not stuff that takes up a lot of space. I'm evicting the tomatoes to a different bed this year. The eggplant can stay. They were big, but wonderful. 100 SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 08 Mar 09 - 10:58 PM A gardener could build a whole garden around Mr. Wolff's pots. I'd surely enjoy trying. What a treat to stop by tonight and see your post. Janie, you'll figure it out. For now, just do what gives you pleasure. maeve, with a riverbank full of clay but no wheel. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Guy Wolff Date: 08 Mar 09 - 10:20 PM I am glad to hear so much talk hear on vegtable growing in flowerpots.. I just got Smith & Hawken to go for making less expensive Large Tara Rose pots from a Dutch pottery friend in Ixing .. I remember Steve Jobs getting large pots from me to put tomatos in along his walk-ways years ago . Cool idea ! I had the fun of demonstrating flowerpot making at the Phili Flower show today . The last day of the show and still wall to wall humans . Sorry to hear the Boston show died this year .. With the lack of money in the world it is great to see how many people are growing things !! Very inspiring .. All my best to all here .. Yours Guy |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 08 Mar 09 - 07:19 PM uhmm...visualize. I seem to be forgetting to type the suffix on an awful lot of words lately. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 08 Mar 09 - 06:32 PM I just can't seem to visual what I want to do here that is within my budget (time, as well as money,) and my physical capabilities. So I worked on taking apart a rock pile today and whacking back ugly shrubbery. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 08 Mar 09 - 12:58 PM I bet that's in honor of tits being out in your yard, eh? A place for them to perch and preen. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Liz the Squeak Date: 08 Mar 09 - 04:15 AM 2 crocus blossomed, the 'tete a tete' daffodil (singluar) in the front is blooming, there's a suspicion of colour in the clemetis and the primroses are still flowering... otherwise, it's still all ivy and garbage. But the fence is still erect! LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 07 Mar 09 - 07:10 AM Onions are breaking through. The kale seeds have sprouted. Gonna re-sow lettuce and spinach today and cover the pots with chicken wire to keep the Junco's out. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 06 Mar 09 - 08:16 PM That sounds delish, Leo. I'll definitely try preparing them that way. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 06 Mar 09 - 10:04 AM We do beans almost the same way , with the folllowing differences. No butter - start the beans in about a tablesppon of olive oil; and once the onion and garlic start to soften toss in a tablesooiin or so of soy; cover briefly to take advantage of the steam from the soy boiling off. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 05 Mar 09 - 09:40 PM I'm lazy - I like stringless beans. I know many say that pole beans have a better flavor and yield better, but I have never had much luck with them. Probably because disease becomes a big problem in the hot and extremely humid summers we have here, and I can't grow them under row cover to keep out disease-spreading insects. My favorite snap bean recipe: About a lb. of whole, young, tender beans, tips removed. 2 tbsp. sesame seeds 1 to 2 tblsp. softened butter 1 clove garlic 2-3 tbsp. finely chopped or minced onion Fresh tarragon or Mexican Mint Marigold Any combination of the following fresh herbs: Parsley, oregano, summer savory, marjoram) mash the garlic and herbs into the butter with a fork. Set aside for 20-30 minutes to allow the flavors to blend. Toast the sesame seed in a dry skillet. Remove. Add 1/4" to 3/8 " water to the skillet, cover, and bring to a boil. Add the beans and onion. Boil over medium high heat, uncovered, until the water is evaporated, but absolutely no longer than 5 minutes. Reduce heat and shake the beans in the skillet briefly over the burner until the skillet is dry. Add the sesame seeds and herb butter. Toss until butter is melted. Yum! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 05 Mar 09 - 08:01 PM Well, its not the only way to have 'um, SRS, but they sho nuff good that way... But we use 'um in soups and casseroles, too... We grow a 35 foot row on a sections of 5 foot fence and we get about 50 pounds outta that little amount of space... If ya' compare it to lima beans they are real prolific... We might get 10 pounds of limas for the same amount of garden space... But they is yummy, too... Actually, I love limas... Especially when they are fresh... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Mar 09 - 07:32 PM sautee. Mmmmmm! Sounds good! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 05 Mar 09 - 02:34 PM We grow a flat pole bean (smeraldo) that grows to about 8 inches long... You cut them up into 1 1/2 lengths, blanch them, vaccum pack 'um and put 'um in the freezer until time to eat 'um... The P-Vine sauteas (sp?) 'um in a pan with a little garlic and olive oil and yummy... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 05 Mar 09 - 12:58 PM pollen allergies both me no more in the garden than anywhere else - (Or maybe they bother me just as much out of the garden as in the garden?) The exception is grass mowing. It not only stirs of respiratory stuff, but my skin breaks out in a rash and I start itching, so I always have to mow with long pants, long sleeves and a dust mask. Maggie, you were asking about beans - I like Provider and Jade bush beans. My favorite french filet bean is Tavera. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 05 Mar 09 - 12:27 PM Malabar spinach isn't spinach - I think it's an Indonesian vine of some sort, and doesn't really taste like spinach, at least to me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Mar 09 - 10:09 AM You'd think with all of the time I spend in the garden that I'd have built up various immunities to pollen that drifts through the area. But here I am again, another spring, another series of sinus headaches and starting down the path of Allegra + decongestant + motrin + neti pot. Does anyone else on this thread suffer for their gardening? SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Mar 09 - 10:11 AM I have Swiss chard in a couple of beds, and it does very well through the summer here. Anything you can make with spinach, you can make with chard, and chard in a lot of ways is more flexible and tastes better. I hate scarlet runners. My mom grew them all of the time when I was a kid, I didn't like the smell when they cooked. Maybe after 40 years I ought to give them another try? But you'll never ever get me to grow Lima beans. . . SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 04 Mar 09 - 08:50 AM Got any place for pole beans? Or Scarlet Runners? They go well in a stir fry and tend to like the heat. Have you ever grown Malabar spinach? If I recall that's a heat lover as well; and likewise good in stir fry. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Mar 09 - 12:31 AM Bobert, I'm going to go see what they have at the garden center. I love snow peas, but they only grow here in the spring, it's too hot after about May. I'll look also for something in addition that likes more heat. Do you have any recommendations? Green beans/blue lake, etc.? Something to steam, stir fry, drop into soup? Freezes well? I'll probably start them from seed. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 03 Mar 09 - 08:16 PM On the other hand. I've had peas and lettuce do just fine under similar conditions. Wait and see. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 03 Mar 09 - 08:03 PM Sorry, Mary, but ya' can't trick nature... Didja get an almanac??? The plant times are right in there and they are based on real lunar cycle stuff... The better farmers around here swear by it... It will tell ya' the best times to plant based on the moon... No, I don't get it but I do know that it seems to work??? BTW, we're goin' be in yer neigborhood next Friday... No, not this one but next... Sandy's Nursery is having an open house with food and we are going to be buying a,lot of stuff from them so... why not??? Plus, any chance I get to go back to Richmond, I'll take... Got a lot of history there... B~ p.s. Cheer up... It will be 65 on Saturday... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 03 Mar 09 - 07:42 PM Well I guess I did jump the gun on the peas and lettuce, considering that now they are covered with eight inches of snow and it's 12 degrees outside. Shucks! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 03 Mar 09 - 06:30 PM What variety of beans, SRS??? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Mar 09 - 06:08 PM Onion sets are in, and a new little bed in a sunny corner next to a fence where I'll staple on some chicken wire for climbing is set for beans. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Feb 09 - 11:24 PM I've started a sort of impromptu blog on an organic gardening site out of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I've been a member for a while, and have dabbled in the forum, but there is a category for member blogs, so I thought "what the heck." I described my yard, the process I used to find it and what I was looking for in a yard (space and good soil! sunlight, water, and shade!), and I've posted some of my photos of insects (in the first instance, the tobacco hornworm caterpillar and pupa stages). The guy who owns the site likes the photos and asked to move them into the library on his site. This is only the beginning--he hasn't been aware of my penchant to photograph everything going on out there, with perspective but also as close as I can reasonably get. :) It would be nice to be able to provide photos for his site or even books. We'll see what happens. I wonder if they'll smile at the photo of the vulture hanging out on my next door neighbor's TV antenna? Or of the big black and white bug rolling a nugget of dog poop? Time will tell! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 26 Feb 09 - 06:15 PM Well, seein' as it was a warm day today I took off work and stayed home and did a little early spring clean up... There was a nasty Paradise Tree on the east side of the veggie garden that I cut down a couple weeks ago so the garden would get better morning sun and half of it is still laying in the veggie garden but I got the other half cut up and outta there... Arranged to get a nice load of chicken manure and weather permitting should have it down and the other half of the nasty Paradise Tree gone within a couple of weeks... We have had our eyes on some fine looking blackberry canes growing on the side of the driveway and plan on digging them up and planting them on the fence line of the veggie garden... The ones we put in year before last gave us one heck of alot of blackberries... The poor P-Vine is a mental case trying to get her orders in with all the wholesale growers in NC and Virginia and we are still trying to plan our trip for next weekend... Seems that every day there are new variables... One plant that we love is the long needle pine and no-one other than us uses them in their landscaped around here but that is going to change as we're going to buy 10 of them for the garden center... The problem now is figuring out just which trailer and tow vehicle to take to bring home plants... The Honda CRV has a 4X6 covered tariler which is only about 4 feet high and gets 25 mpg... The Chevy truck has a 7X10 trailer and is about 6 feet high inside but get about 14 mpg... We'll know in a couple days... Meanwhile, Janie and Dani, hang in there... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 23 Feb 09 - 12:05 PM I have a bag in the laundry room with a type of narcissus I haven't seen before. It doesn't match what I have in the yard, but I'll find someplace new to tuck them in and see how they do. This is a "gift" from my ex with the not-so-green thumb (the stuff still growing in his yard is the stuff I planted there years ago when I still lived there). A co-worked dug out extras and gave him some, and he figures they'll die at his house. Probably not. I offered to send back one of the bag (of bags and bags) of root stuff that I have sprouting in the garage and beside the house. I could spend all of my time trying to find someplace for all of these iris and daffodils. I'm guess I'm going to have to put a bunch in behind the back fence, where they can look wild. It's a place where I haven't planted any of my extra stuff yet. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,MAG Date: 22 Feb 09 - 08:43 PM hmmm, I'm dialing in from home, and I see I show up as guest. Guess I'd better go reset my cookie. Or maybe my 'puter knocked it out and that'swhy I can connect ... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 22 Feb 09 - 08:42 PM Well, Janie, the nice thing about gardeners is that there really aren't too many rules... Yeah, once you get it then you always kinda know what a plant needs to be happy but that's the extent of it... We make the decisions as to what we want given our planting conditions... When we left our West Virginia gardens we thought that that we'd never again be so blessed to have what we had there... But then we started looking at this spot or that spot and next thing ya' know it, we figured some of it out... But, as you know, gardening is the journey, not the destination... We do it because it feels good to create... BTW, we have the opposite from you... Our West Virginia garden was created in what you have now and our Virginia garden is what you left behind... We are just getting out "sun legs" under us... Wish we could bottle some of it up and send it to you... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 22 Feb 09 - 08:22 PM The plastic containers, etc., work fine if you have enough light, have enough time to tend them carefully, and/or you are starting plants that sprout quickly and are ready to set out within 6-8 weeks of germination, and/or you are not growing large quantities of plants from seed. I was working full-time, plus growing flowers, veggies and plants for market, plus maintaining a large perennial garden just for the fun of it. I needed a system that worked well if I neglected the seedlings. If you have large flowerbeds to fill it is much less expensive to grow them from seed. You can also get exactly the varieties you want. The range of perennial plant varieties available at most garden centers is extremely limited. Sometimes you want to be very sure of your color or shade of color. For example, I love yarrow "Colorado Mix" because of some unusual shades of cream to apricot that it produces. When those creams and apricots are sufficient the mix is stunning in a big sunny bed. However, it tends to produce high numbers of pink, burgandy and white plants and many fewer of the cream to apricot shades, which are also not as vigorous and easily crowded out after a couple of years by the burgundies and pinks. So I started them from seed every few years, planted them out in a nursery bed until they flowered, and transplanted the desired colors into the yarrow bed out front. When I was selling at the farmer's market, I potted up the other colors and sold them there. Once I stopped doing the market, I'd send out an e-mail to the two garden clubs in Hillsborough as well as pass the word to people who worked in my building when I was getting ready to dispose of plants I didn't want or was getting ready to divide perennials. I'd also put a sign up by the street that said "free perennials to good homes." Then I'd just dump the bare-root plants by the curb, sprinkle a little dirt or leaf litter over them and then water the mess a bit to delay the drying out. The majority of the plants usually got taken and the street department would pick up what was left as yard waste. Also, once I stopped doing the market, I'd take leftover flower and veggie seedlings that I didn't need for my gardens, as well as excess produce from the garden to church and set up a table with a basket for money on the sidewalk. People would take what they wanted, toss money in the basket, and the proceeds went to the Rector's Discretionary fund which was generally used to help with things like eviction notices and utility cut-offs for folks in the community who weren't eligible for emergency funds from DSS. Soon, other people were bringing eggs from their chickens, bouquets from their gardens, etc., and putting them out also. Even if I had the sun, I don't have the time anymore to do those sorts of things (and probably not the energy.) But I am grateful for having had that time and that opportunity in my life. For all the time, effort and money it took to garden as I did, I got back much more than I put out. It fed my soul. I won't say that I don't look at photos of my old garden with sadness and grief at leaving them behind, but the truth is I had neglected the garden terribly the last two years before I moved and that neglect showed. I am beginning to understand that it was a once in a lifetime experience for me that I got to participate in for more than 10 years before age and life-changes made it impossible to continue on that scale. What a blessing to have had that opportunity. Sorry for the ramble, but thanks for listening. Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: robomatic Date: 22 Feb 09 - 07:25 PM We don't put things outside until there is no more chance of evening frost, and that is Memorial Day! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 22 Feb 09 - 06:18 PM I have lots of iris and daffodils coming up, and this is the time I need to transplant those that decided to volunteer in the middle of the turf, or that stubbornly remain in an area where I no longer want to maintain a bed. It happens every year. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,MAG Date: 22 Feb 09 - 03:59 PM All my bulbs are up, thanks to the warming we usually get in February. Every year I tell them: no, not yet, not yet ... I think I'll spend the summer digging out bramble roots and trying to take better care of my roses. And tomatoes, of course. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: paula t Date: 22 Feb 09 - 02:18 PM I have experimented with growing seeds in half a plastic drainpipe. It makes transplanting a doddle. All you do is thin the seedlings to the distance apart you want ,then dig a shallow trench and slide the whole contents of the pipe into it.Less root disturbance and the plants can be left a little later before planting out if frost threatens. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 22 Feb 09 - 01:33 PM Good point. I tend to keep larger yogurt plastic containers because quite often someone will be here I and want to transplant some small plant for them to take home. Those are handy for transfer and storage of plants and various garden items. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 22 Feb 09 - 01:22 PM The buds on the dogwoods have swollen significantly over the past week, and are starting to redden. Flower buds are just beginning to emerge on the one redbud in the yard. A few flowers have opened on a flowering almond, the earliest of daffodils are blooming and the tulips are about 5 inches high. There is a puny forcythia out front that has a few flowers opened. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 22 Feb 09 - 01:05 PM We hate throwing plastic away even if it does supposedly get recycled so we keep alot of clear plastic containers that food comes in... Costco sells wondefull organic spinich in one that is about 8" tall, 8" wide and maybe 14" long... This container makes for a wonderfull seed starter and keeping the the top closed also acts as a little hot house... I'd bet that most everyone just throws these away or in the recycling bin... No need to spend extra dough if ya have these... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 22 Feb 09 - 12:01 PM What Maggie says is true, especially if you have time to carefully monitor. It made sense for me to invest in seed-starting because I did it extensively and for so long. But if you just want to grow one flat of plants, or are not sure how much you want to get into it, those $2.00 trays at Dollar General or Wally World are the way to go. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 22 Feb 09 - 11:56 AM Mary, If you just set out a few of any particular veggie and are happy with the varieties commonly offered at garden centers, it probably is more cost-efficient to buy seedlings. If you want to plant a bunch of anything, starting your own plants ffrom seeds is more cost efficient. If you like to try different varieties, are interested in heirlooms, or have a preference for varieties that are not commonly available at garden centers, seeds are the way to go. I would do it without a grow light ONLY if you have a sunny, southfacing window where you can place the seed-starting tray and can control somewhat for temperature. If the window is sunny but cool because of cold outside temps, things like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, which require warm soil temperatures to germinate and thrive won't do well. You will need to turn the tray 1/4 turn daily. Without sufficient light, seedlings are weak and leggy. Overhead lights are entirely insufficient, regardless of the type of light bulb or tube you use. Grow lights usually are height-adjustable and should be positioned just a couple of inches above the plants to provide sufficient light. In addition, incandescent lights do not have a sufficient spectrum. Although you can buy special spectrum lights for grow-light systems, regular florescent lights work plenty well enough, and are a little less expensive. If you are going to buy a seed starting kit, I would suggest you consider Gardener's Supply APS system. The up-front cost is a little higher, but the cells and trays are extremely durable and last for years. I've been using this system for 10 years and have never had to buy any replacement cells or trays. I don't fool with their seed-starting mix. It's nice, but not necessary. Any good quality potting soil will work just fine. Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 22 Feb 09 - 11:38 AM You can find plant trays like that for a couple of bucks each at the local Dollar General store (here in Texas). Putting some cellophane over the top would take care of the clear cover. But it looks like a tidy arrangement if you don't want to work out the setup yourself. We have a warmer day today, without the wind of yesterday. My garden is calling. . . SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 22 Feb 09 - 11:14 AM OK here's a question. My brother wants to go in together and buy the Burpee Ultimate Growing System so we can start our own tomato, squash, okra, cucumber, etc. plants. Last year I bought the little plants at the local garden center and they did great. I could put the system in a room upstairs, but would I need to rig up lights to shine directly on the plantlings, or would just the overhead lights in the room do if I left them on for several hours a day? Advice from other gardeners much appreciated. I've got a feeling Bobert was right that I planted the peas and lettuce too early. We had some majorly cold weather after that brief warm spell that inspired me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 21 Feb 09 - 08:40 PM Lowe's has primroses in. I've never had enough shade to grow them before. It seems a bit early to plant them out, so I didn't buy any, but think I'll grab some in another week to try in pots. I wasn't situated in the fall to plant violas, and am eagerly keeping my eyes open to snatch some when they are in the garden centers. Violas are about my favorite annual. I love the look of them tumbling out of the side holes of strawberry pots. Joybell, what do you plant in the fall? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 21 Feb 09 - 08:34 PM Oops. One of these days I'll start using preview. What I was trying to say is even if I took down all the trees on the front of my lot (and nearly all of lot is front yard), the tall and dense stands of trees immediately to my east, south and west would still limit the amount of sun. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 21 Feb 09 - 08:31 PM I'm not sure I could get enough sun, Maggie, unless nearly all of the trees were taken down. There are thick stands of tall trees immediately to the east, south and west of my lot, which is about 110 feet wide. Even if I took down every tree in the front and on the east, those stands would still limit the sun to the minimal amount needed for a veggie garden to do well. The lot behind my house is clear, and I only have 3 large trees behind the house, but two of them are split by the property line. It is also north of all the other trees and the house. This house is oddly situated on the rear northwest corner of the property and there isn't much space behind the house. It is all front yard, which faces and slopes south. These were not trees that were planted. Rather, the lots on my street were woods, and the trees were thinned. They are very, very tall with narrow canopies as they have had to compete with one another to reach for the sun, as happens in woods and forest. If I cut everything down, it would still just be a small clearing and only the very center of the clearing would get 5-6 hours of sun. My sister and I have taken out a bunch of small trees and gobs of saplings. I do have one rather large oak that I am going to have to have an arborist take a look at as I am noticing a big chunk of bark right at the base appears to have loosened from the wood itself and in the crack around the margins it looks like the cambium layer may be dead underneath. There are also a couple of holes through the bark near the base that look like boring insect holes. Given the evidence of older trees taken down with hollow centers, and one sickly hickory that was no more than 9-12 inches at the base that Sis and I took down and which proved to be hollow at the base and filled with "sawdust" (but no bugs in obvious evidence), I'm concerned. If it were to fall it could take most of the house with it. If it needs to come down it is much, much too big for my sister and I to do it, and will probably cost 2000-2500 to have taken down. Having said all that, there is one area of the rear side yard on the east that gets 4-5 hours of mostly morning sun in the summer, and if I take out a dogwood to the west of that area I may get enough sun to make a go of a small summer veggie garden. There is only me and my son on alternate weeks, so I don't really need for tomatos, cukes, squash, etc. to bear heavily to meet our needs for fresh produce, and no longer have a freezer or the time to do canning. It just occurred to me that I could stick with shade ornamentals and subscribe to one of the several CSA's in the area. Still, there is nothing so satisfying as getting home from work and going out to the garden to harvest most of what will be on the table for supper. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 20 Feb 09 - 10:15 AM But if she wants vegetables, Bobert, she'll need some sunlight. I'm not proposing a clear cut, just a partial cut, thinning where needed. :) Starlings may be annoying little birds, but they have a memory. And if you go out and bang a trash can or something else noisy enough to startle them a few times, they'll stay out of the trees in the yard for the rest of the season "perching in large numbers in urban trees season." SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 20 Feb 09 - 08:02 AM Fried junko... Yeah, they are small but about 4 of the little guys will fill ya' up... Awww, jus' funnin'... I loves all the birdies... (Starlings too, Boberdz???) Well, okay, not "all"... As fir oak trees... Our shade gardens are under oak trees and they do fine... It's all in soil prep... So put that chain saw down, Janie.... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 20 Feb 09 - 07:07 AM Walked out the door this morning to discover the juncos polishing off the last of the lettuce seeds I had pressed into the soil in those pots! It's off to Southern States for a bit of chicken wire to lid the pots with before I replant. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 19 Feb 09 - 10:13 PM Seriously. If the trees are an impediment to what you REALLY want to do in your yard, then modify the yard so you can do what you want. Most people struggle to get some kind of tree cover over their houses, but you've moved into a place where not only are the trees well-established, they've excluded all other activities. It's time to decide what you want to do, and where the best place is to do it. Then take out the trees that are in the way. Pull up your socks, Janie. Tell those trees who is boss! :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 19 Feb 09 - 10:34 AM Oaks are not friendly to things in their understory.....not friendly at all. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 19 Feb 09 - 10:26 AM You know, Janie, despite the rhetoric to the contrary, trees aren't sacred. I grew up in logging country, I know. You could cut a couple down. Strategic logging. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 19 Feb 09 - 07:32 AM Sounds like raised beds and soaker hoses for you, Janie... That will do the trick... Also somewhat easier that having to dig... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Beer Date: 19 Feb 09 - 12:29 AM I must remember to get my "grass" seeds. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Feb 09 - 10:55 PM That's good--I wondered if you had a horrible plan for native ungulates in your area. ;) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 18 Feb 09 - 09:08 PM That would be "deeper" foundations. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 18 Feb 09 - 09:07 PM Watering the foundation, interesting notion that I have never heard of! I wonder if it would be effective on non-slab-built houses with deeer foundations, or if it would take too much water? The house I bought had to have significant foundation work done before I purchased it, the result of the 3 year extreme drought that sort of ended this past summer. ( Happened with lots of houses that had stood 40 years or more with no problem. The water tables dropped so low, and the clay dried out so deep that pockets of space developed in the subsoil below foundations and houses settled, sometimes rather severely. Daffodils are beginning to bloom here also. I'm noticing some tulips emerging. Doesn't look like there are a lot of bulbs that were planted on this property, but it is fun to discover what there is. Bradford Pear buds are swollen and turning the branches hazy green. There are some very early ornamental cherries blooming on UNC's campus. I expect frost will get them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Feb 09 - 08:51 PM Down here in Texas everyone "waters the foundation," runs soaker hoses about 18 inches out from the house, to keep the slap from heaving or cracking in the really dry and hot season. I plant the things that need more continual watering around the foundation where they get that extra water. Some iris, some native hibiscus, and the cannas that I evicted from by the front porch. I put them in at the side of the house and they get enough sun and regular rain. They'll have been in that spot for almost a year now, so this year they should be spectacular. Last year they looked better than they ever had before. Since they weren't in my way I treated them with more respect. :) I weeded today in an iris and daffodil bed I put in last fall. Mostly creeping Charlie (in the mint family) and a winter grass. Easy to pull. The daffodils are beginning to bloom, and the irises are putting on foliage. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 18 Feb 09 - 08:38 PM My parents planted a couple of catawba rhodies 20 + years ago against the back and side of the house. They are both now taller than the 2 story house and darn near as wide. In full bloom in late spring they are absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. I've got the part shade and the acid soil they need, but all these oak trees suck up rain water as fast as it falls. Given our hot summers, I think they would require too much supplemental watering to thrive over time, and a non-thriving rhodie is a squirrelly thing to behold. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Feb 09 - 11:54 AM My mother took peonies from her yard in Everett to her new yard in Seattle when she moved, it was a favorite variety of hers. And I have friends who have transplanted their rhododendrons and azaleas when they move, even writing it into the sales contracts. Some of those rhodies can get very large, like the size of a small house. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 18 Feb 09 - 08:24 AM Mary, herbaceous peonies will thrive here in Maine with very little care. Soil preparation and sun exposure are important, and autumn is the preferred time to divide and transplant for our region. If any peonies you buy or are given have 4-5 eyes (the growing buds at ground level when dormant) they should bloom the next spring after fall planting. Fewer eyes simply means the plant will need time to grow before bloom is possible. The main mistake people make in our region is to plant the "eyes" more than 1-2" deep, or they dump compost or manure over the eyes year after year; effectively burying the very part that needs to be near the surface. There are beautiful old peony varieties that have weak stems and flop their pretty blossoms into the mud the first time it rains. Other varieties are strong-stemmed and can withstand quite a bit of wind and rain. Talk to me about what you want and I'll see if I can help. I also may have a lead on rhody starts. You will want to do a fair amount of soil preparation before you get any new shrubs. maeve maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bryn Pugh Date: 18 Feb 09 - 07:57 AM Peonies can indeed be divided at the root to propagate, but don't expect flower in the first 12 - 18 months after this. My experience with peonies is that they sulk, if moved or divided :-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 18 Feb 09 - 07:49 AM Yup... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Feb 09 - 01:19 AM Azaleas and rhodys are ridiculously easy to grow--if you live in the Puget Sound area. They're native, or so close to native as to blend with the native varieties of things. Everywhere else, just duplicate the moist acid soil with good drainage and lots of rain of the Pacific Northwest. . . SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: SINSULL Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:38 PM I have found the ultimate indestructible plant - hens and chickens. I got some in small pots from Maeve two years ago. This is their second winter on the back porch under several feet of snow and ice and still they not only live but grow. Go figure. I bet when I finally plant them, they will die lol |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 17 Feb 09 - 07:34 PM Yeah, Mark... Don't wear sandals... lol... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,MarkS (on the road) Date: 17 Feb 09 - 06:52 PM Put in a garlic patch last fall and kept it under straw mulch all winter - the shoots are not starting to poke up. Also - got a bunch of parts for the drip irrigator we used last year. It is sturdy but the header pipe will not stand up to being run over by the tiller. Thinking about using a Garden Dragon (flame weeder) this year. Anybody have any experience with them? Mark |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 17 Feb 09 - 06:21 PM Rhodos are very tricky, Sins... I will have the P-Vine talk about how it is done tomorrow... She has choir prectitice tonight... Peonies, to the best of my knowledge, cannot be grown from cuttings but can be divided at the root... Well, we have just made a deal with a guy who we are lettin' take down some sickly locust trees for firewood to use his trailer to get us a load of chicken litter (manuer) so hopefully we'll have the veggie garden ready for the tiller man... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 Feb 09 - 11:46 AM Trees are on 70% off sale right now. I'm going to get a couple of fruit trees, take all of the dirt off and plant them like bare-root trees. It's better for them, it turns out, than planting them in the dirt in their bucket and ending up with them root bound or planted too deep. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 Feb 09 - 10:23 AM Leo, this is a northerner amazed at the length of the growing season. But actually, it is a bifurcated season--March, April, May, maybe June, are okay, but then July and August are "keep it wet, try to shade it, cross your fingers it stays alive till fall" months. Growth resumes in September and October. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: SINSULL Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:47 AM How about peonies? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: SINSULL Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:46 AM Thanks Bobert. Will the same procedure work for rhododendrons? My property is bare because every time I think I can buy plants, something else breaks. Free works for me. Mary |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:37 AM Y'know - by the time spring hits my area I'm exhausted from reading what you southerners have been doing for months. That's my new excuse for this year. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:11 AM SRS has brought up another thing that I have noticed... The big box stores, such as Home Depot and Lowes, buy alot of product from various nurseries and if ya' know yer plants you can and will find bargains at those stores... Especially as the various seasons wind down... Exmaples: Alaskian Pines- 16" plants, nice, $2.00 each at Lowes in December Mount St Helens Native Azalea- $9.95 at Lowes in season!!! This is a $20-$25 plant anywhere else... Arborvite- 5 foot plants $10 at Walmart the end of June... So, my fellow gardeners, the deals are out there so don't be afraid of the box stores... Just be sure to replant those plants quickly and water them alot for the first year 'cause alot of them are grown in too much bark mulch... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 Feb 09 - 10:13 PM Last fall at Home Depot I bought two 1 gallon containers with several Swiss Chard each, I think they totalled $8. The contents were well over 12" tall, so were well established, and were much better looking than the bedding plants that my local nursery has ever offered. This delightful vegetable was being sold as "winter color" so they had some red, yellow, white, and green stems all in each pot. I put the contents of each pot in a different area of the yard; the chard out front is a little happier now but for most of the winter the bed near the kitchen door was doing best. I teased them apart and planted each color several inches from the next. They're so beautiful to cook with! I've been eating chard all winter, putting it in soup, in quesadillas (shredded and steamed first and added to meat and or cheese). Tonight I ate it like spinach, steamed and served with some vinegar. These plants will keep producing for at least two or three years, if treated right. And they will taste great. This is the kind of home growing and cooking that appeals to me! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 Feb 09 - 11:56 AM It depends on what you're growing from seed. Each little lettuce they start for you adds up, but if you're buying something like a tomato or eggplant, you get a lot more fruit for the cost of the starter plant, that was my point. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: pdq Date: 16 Feb 09 - 11:18 AM In warmer areas of the US, the South through California, mid February is the last chance to prune fruit trees. Immediatly after pruning, use a dormant spray that such as Kocide (copper-based) to stop peach leaf curl and other bacterial and fungal diseases. Volk oil is also called a dormant spray, but it is used to kill (by suffocation) the eggs of aphids, scale insects and mites. It is organic, as far as environmental terms. It does not have any affect on peach leaf curl or other microbial dieseses |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bryn Pugh Date: 16 Feb 09 - 10:17 AM Dear Janie, Try this site : www.nsalg.org.uk. NSALG is the (UK) National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners Ltd. Regards, Bryn |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 16 Feb 09 - 10:01 AM Yes, the gardening book said "as soon as the soil can be worked" so I figured what the heck. Last year I put in the lettuce in mid March and it did fine. This year I'm keeping a record of what I plant and when, and I'll note down when and if it germinates, etc. I will probably buy the small tomato, squash and pepper plants and put them in around May 1st. That's what I did last year and it worked out. I don't really want to get into starting the seeds indoors and the plants aren't expensive in the nursery. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 16 Feb 09 - 12:24 AM Mary, I went ahead and seeded my pots with lettuce, kale, spinach and mesclun mix this weekend, (and onion sets in a long planter for green onions,) and know I am pushing the envelop a bit. But like you said, seeds are cheap, and there are more of them in the envelops! I've never tried veggie container gardening before. There is only me to feed, and every other week my son, so I don't need to produce much from a salad garden. I'll be curious to see how it goes. Mid-February is when I usually have usually seeded most of what I seeded in pots this weekend, but it was always in a cold-frame or tunnels. Maybe I should cover the pots with seran wrap? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 Feb 09 - 12:21 AM I usually buy the coastal hay in woven bags stuffed full. I paid for two today, but when they brought them out I sent one back, then got a refund. It wasn't full, it was puny, and they didn't have any others back there. I'll probably clear room in the garage for a bale and simply buy the larger, cheaper version next time. Heck, I've been taking the bags in every so often and just giving them back, but today he said how much they cost each ($1.09) and I could have gotten a couple of bales of hay for those bags. No more Ms nice guy! We'll trade! :) I use coastal hay in the dogs' houses and enclosure in the garage. Every couple of months I clear it all out, sweep the area, then refill their houses with hay. And the hay that they trampled down goes into the garden as mulch. It may not last as long out there after the dogs have trampled and slept on it, but that's okay. I enjoy getting a couple of distinct uses out of it. And the dogs are soooo funny--when I put the new hay in their houses they just love to get in and curl up and roll around in it. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 15 Feb 09 - 09:16 PM Yer in Texas, SRS, so you're way ahead of us folks back east... Actually, onion sets can go in here real soon but that's about it... But I'd cover 'um with a few inches of straw... BTW, straw is the greatest mulch for the veggie garden... Little or no weeds and keeps the rain water where it belongs: In the soil... But if yer gonna mulch with it mulch at least 4 inches and better at 6 inches... Man, gotta get some chicken litter (manuer) quick... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Feb 09 - 08:11 PM I finished turning over the garden beside the back door, and hauled out the soaker hose I'll run through it. I plan to do some more contouring of the bed this year, and not plant things so close together. It made it too hard to move around and pick stuff. I have the luxury of enough space, other places to put beds (not like Bobert, but then, I don't know anyone else who gardens on the scale that Bobert does!) Onion sets and some seeds go in this week. Beans, herbs, etc. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 15 Feb 09 - 07:06 PM Yeah... There isn't quite enough heat in the ground fir those cold plants to get going but, hey, the seeds are cheap... About April 1st for those... But get an almanac for excat dates for planting becuase lunar cycles have alot to do with the the success of crops... BTW, theres a great nursey in Mechanicsville... It's called Sandy's and is on, ahhhh, Sandy's Lane... Not to far off 64... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 15 Feb 09 - 06:04 PM Yes, Mechanicsville - a little east of Richmond. Do you think I should have waited a few weeks? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 15 Feb 09 - 05:48 PM Where do you live, Maryrrf??? Isn't it Richmond??? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Maryrrf Date: 15 Feb 09 - 05:33 PM I have a garden patch that's 28 x 16. Yesterday I dug it all out and culitivated it, breaking up the dirt and getting it ready. Today I planted a row of English peas and assorted lettuce. It might be too early but the packets of seeds were only a few dollars - we'll see! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 15 Feb 09 - 02:19 PM Janie and Dani, I'll PM you with our itinerary when it finalized... We are meeting other people from our azalaea chapter so I'm probably not going to have much say in anything... Normal... Sins, Azaleas are fairly easy to propagate... You want to take new growth in July... All ya' have to do is snip off about 4 inches which, BTW can be accomplished withoout leaving any real evidence... Of course, they won't be in bloom so you have to make yer notes in May and June when they are in bloom as to whos azalea'd you like and ask permission to come back to get cuttings... It doesn't hurt the parent plant one bit... Okay, don't let that cutting dry out... Put it in a baggie and store in the refrigerator up to a week if you don't have time to plant it immediately... Plant in 4" pots filled with potting soil and a little vermiculite... How to plant: Take cutting and put them in water for a few minutes, remove the largest leaves on the stem leaving only two or three sets of leaves at the top... Now seperate what you think is the top set of two leaves and you'll find a tiny set of leaves which you pinch out... Cut the stem at an angle, dip it in root tone (with anti-fungicide) and plant it about an inch deep in moist but not wet potting soil... Now take what you have and put the pot with cutting in a baggie and close it and twist tie it... If you have a room or garage where there is no heat, great... Buy a cheapie florescent light and put the cutting under the light... The light needs to stay on 24 hours a day... If you don't have such a space then leave them next to the north side of yer house in a protected area from deer and wind and varments... They will root in about 6 weeks and when you see new growth you can open the baggies and lightly water... Then in October they can be moved into a 6 inch pots which will need to be over wintered in some place that you can put a small portable heater that keeps them 40 degrees or better... Water every couple weeks as needed... Never over water... In the spring they are ready to go outside... Most azaleas are hardy and if you get cutting off local azaleais then they will do fine.... From cutting to good sized plant is two to three years... Some of the cuttings will bloom in the pots... That's okay... Any questions??? B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,Dani Date: 15 Feb 09 - 12:36 PM I second the invite, Bobert! Do be our guests. If you don't have time to get booked at the Bayou, at least make sure you're in town long enough for us all to catch a show there! http://bluebayouclub.com/index.htm Dani |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: pdq Date: 15 Feb 09 - 11:24 AM A few years back I was remodeling an small Victorian house. The "claw foot" bathtub was cute, but too small for me. Anyway, I love showers. The damn tub was so heavy, three of us got it ouside and just past the patio when we took a break. The tub stayed right there for years. I put a screen over the drain hole, placed a few rocks to hold down the screen, then filled the tub a little over halfway with a quality mix of sifted dirt and "mushroom compost", available as a byproduct of the mushroom industry. I took a bag of "red potatoes" that had started to developed "eyes" and cut them out, dipping fresh-cut edges with Rootone. Planted them about 3 days later, perhaps an inch deep. Grew the best potatoes I have ever had. Secrets are: good choice of potato variety, good drainage, regular wattering, fertile soil and the ability to raise the soil level when the potatoes start showing above it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: SINSULL Date: 15 Feb 09 - 10:57 AM Like Dani, I kill everything I plant usually with love. But I have a shamrock and a spider plant that have been resurrected numerous times. Poor shamrock died right back to the dirt when I forgot to water it. A liitle plane food and water and it is back - I have had it for about six years. A record. Bobert, Finances are tight and I would love to know how to grow azaleas from cuttings to fill out the bare spots. Any fairly simple advice? Mary |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 15 Feb 09 - 10:52 AM Bobert, you will be driving right by Dani and I on your trip to three of the best nurseries ever was. Would love to offer a place to stay or to have you over for supper. PM if you are interested. If you have time, you might think about contacting the Blue Bayou and to see if you might book yourself a gig there on the 6th. You would be a real hit. The Hellebore is doing well and has several lovely, creamy white blooms that are nearly fully opened right now. I was very pleased and surprised to see it bloom so well. I dug it up last July to bring with me, and it is still in the pot. I potted up the azalea you brought me at the Getaway, and it is doing fine also. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: paula t Date: 15 Feb 09 - 10:39 AM My garden is still covered by snow. It makes it look much more tidy! I garden organically, so try to encourage the natural predators of garden pests. I therefore leave as much of the leaf litter etc on the soil as I can.I also leave the herbaceous plants alone in the Autumn. By this time of year I am gritting my teeth because it all looks so unkempt. Whenever I am tempted to cut everything back to ground level and clear away the leaves , I look back to February a few years ago.The garden was looking neglected so I began to cut back the herbaceous plants and tidy the soil. I had been working for about 10 minutes when I disturbed a huge number of ladybirds nestling in the "rubbish" around the plants. Suitably ashamed at my impatience, I covered them back up again and put the tools back in the shed. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Liz the Squeak Date: 15 Feb 09 - 09:47 AM My primroses/polyanthus are in bloom, the violets are showing new green, the buddliea has been denuded of the broken branches and I filled the bird feeders up. The new fence is still up and the birds are liking it. It's confused the hell out of the cats because it has an arched trellis top and they can't walk along it. It's looking good on the bulb front, I can identify snowdrop, crocus, daffodil and hyacinth/bluebell, with a couple of early tulips that might not survive. Some of them may even flower this year, due to the major pruning the shrubbery got in December and the extra light that is letting in. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 15 Feb 09 - 09:03 AM Well, the P-Vine and I are slammed... Our chapetr of the Azalea Society of America is holding the national convention in NoVa the first weekend in May so we are busy with those details... 17 of us met yesterday to iron out stuff... Plus, the P-Vine will be managing the garden center at the Page Co. Coop... Needless to say, the next couple months will occupied in getting plants purchased form the various wholesalers... We will be in N.C. on March 6 & 7 picking up stuff in a trailer from Plant Delights (Raleigh), Big Bloomers Flower Farm (Sanford) and Niche Gardens (Chapel Hill) and catch Pine Knot Farms in Clarksville, Va. on the way home... As for our own gardens... Weather permitting I'm going to try to get a load of chicken litter down on the veggie garden before the "tiller man" makes his appearance... He has a 6 foot tiller on the back of his Ford tractor and tills everyone up in the spring... Our veggie garden is 90 feet by 40 feet and he casn till it in about 15 minutes... We also have about 600 azaleas we have grown from cuttings and hope to get about jhald of them in this season and leave the rest in beds for future plantings.... Janie, Do you still have Lenten Rose hellebore??? That plant will grow well in yer new environemnt... Ferns will, too... Pulmanaria should do well... Remember strawberry begonia... There's something very similar that is hardy and will grow and spread in the shade... Heck, it might even be starwberry begonia... And moss will be very happy if you have a source for getting it... We grab a handfull now and then and have it growing here and there... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,Dani Date: 15 Feb 09 - 08:49 AM I pulled the dead leaves off the hyacinths nubbins the other day. Does that count? Also, I went to Home Depot and sentenced a palm tree to death. Once a houseplant comes to live with me, it doesn't have long on this earth, but I wanted it so much, and it might be happier here in its short life than it was at the store? Dani |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maire-aine Date: 15 Feb 09 - 08:38 AM We had a few days when the snow was out of the yard, and it got me thinking about garden plans. Then it snowed again yesterday, so I put the plans to the back burner. But I took some pictures of the garden last fall, so I can make a list of what needs to be done. This is the first year that I've been retired, so I'll be able to (I hope) keep ahead of the weeds. Maryanne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: bobad Date: 15 Feb 09 - 06:49 AM Ordered my seeds yesterday. Will be starting the plants indoors soon. Thus begins another cycle. "To everything there is a season." |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: My guru always said Date: 15 Feb 09 - 05:23 AM I'm not much of a gardener (yet) but I do a lot of 'tidying up' possibly at the wrong time of year for all I know! The last couple of days I've been cutting our Old Roses back to good buds which I'm sure is right. While stuff isn't in growth I'm also trying to reconstruct/straighten path & driveway edges that have expanded over the years of neglect here. We're now able to position our caravan along the small driveway which used to be too overgrown, thus giving us more space on our main driveway. We've an avenue of Yew trees along the drive from the road and lost one of the large branches to the weight of snow recently. Richard happily got his chainsaw out to take it off properly behind the break & we had a bonfire of most of the branch the other day. I went through it and salvaged some smaller, straighter branches first though! Also trying to reclaim some lawn areas (I need them so more people can put up tents at our Easter party) which Japanese Anemones & Primroses have overtaken. I'm potting the stuff I take out so that I can either replant them in other areas of the garden next year, or pass them on to friends. Last year Richard managed to clear a large area of garden that had overgrown & lawn-seeded it in October. It's looking good & there's space for 2 more medium tents or 4 people *grin* I'm out there every day we're at home & it's not actually raining. Who knows, over time I may start to learn a bit about actual gardening *grin* |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Tangledwood Date: 15 Feb 09 - 04:12 AM Janie, I'm not much of a gardener, and from your reference to oaks, probably on the other side of the world. However, I do know that some gardeners here have success raising sub-tropical plants in temperate areas by planting them on the sunny side of sheltered brick walls. Similarly, if they are planted amongst large rocks, the rocks work as heat banks. Mal |
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Subject: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 15 Feb 09 - 01:02 AM Well, I'm still observing and thinking, and other than to find places to put the plants in the ground that I brought with me from my old place last July, I don't expect to do a lot of gardening this spring. Even those, I will probably not site permanently for the most part, but they will do better in the ground and require less maintenance than if I leave them in pots. I'm having a hard time accepting that I don't have the time, the energy, or the money for major landscaping at the present time. I did fill some large pots today with potting soil and fertilizer and am going to plant them with assorted salad greens, kale, green onions and the like. I figure there will be sufficient sun before the oaks leaf out to do that, and I can start moving the pots around to sunnier spots a bit later as needed. There is absolutely no where with enough sun for a summer garden, but I may try a tomato in a pot out by the road, where it probably gets 5 hours of summer sun. Should get at least a couple of tomatoes from that. It's late to being doing this, but I broadcast some "bread" poppy seeds in a little existing bed that I added a little dirt and compost to last fall. Was gonna use that little space for my salad garden, but unless I raise the bed and put a cold frame over it, or a little fence, the rabbits would just eat the greens. They won't bother the poppy plants. I'm eager to hear about your gardens, plans, ideas and experiences, especially since most of my own gardening pleasure will be vicarious this season. Janie |
