Anne_in_VA
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Post by Anne_in_VA on Mar 17, 2016 11:48:42 GMT -5
I really need to get going, clean out my flower beds and put out new mulch Our neighbor has pin oak and pine trees and I have leaves and pine needles in all the beds. Now that my Lily's and other flowers are starting to come up I need to get at it.
One neighbor cut down some trees between our properties and what was a very shady part of my back yard is now sunny. I need to plant something back there, just not sure what yet as we need to get the backyard regraded and put up a new shed. Once that's done I'll see how much room is left. Then I want to get a couple of chickens, so I'll need a coop.
Need to to get my seeds started too. Maybe I'll have DGS help me this weekend. At 5 he still loves to help Nana and Granddaddy! The other gK's, not so much.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2016 11:50:17 GMT -5
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ken a.k.a OMK
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on Mar 17, 2016 13:48:53 GMT -5
How about liriope? It's a low growing grass that sends up blue flowers. I run the lawn mower over them early spring before the new shoots come up. A dense plant that spreads.
I put in about 200 border lilies I got from Brecks. Yellow, red and white. They get about 12" high.
All this at our old house. Rabbits and squirrels make gardening difficult here. We also had deer at the old house.
We are going from 70's to 30's this weekend.
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haapai
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Post by haapai on Mar 17, 2016 14:45:48 GMT -5
I think that sedums are your best bets for getting the area covered by June. They're cheap and many varieties will spread rapidly under downright abusive conditions (like being barely pushed into the soil) and some of them can take a lot of foot traffic. Unfortunately, I'm not too sure that they will out-compete grasses that have gotten a foothold in sunny locations. Some varieties thrive in woodchip mulch, others really don't like that much moisture.
I'd be leaning toward broadcasting daisy seeds at the area, if only I knew how to get my hands on the common, roadside form.
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happyhoix
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Post by happyhoix on Mar 17, 2016 15:24:56 GMT -5
The tornado took our trees and left us with a steep slope, too steep to mow, and in danger of washing away.
We planted a low form juniper, blue rug juniper, which is only about four inches tall (but grows wide in a spreading mat) mixed with some grey owl junipers, which are 3-4 feet tall when mature. Initially we had to put pine mulch between them, because you have to plant them about four feet apart and it takes a while for them to grow together to form a solid mat - to get something in between them that will grow together quickly to block most of the weeds, you could try phlox. I have some in some other flower beds and it makes a dense mat (almost evergreen where I live) with a nice coat of pink or purple flowers in the spring. Ours are about four years old and the grey owls are doing really well; the blue rug ones are slower to fill in, probably only about 1/3 of the size they should ultimately be.
Check with the ag department of your nearest university, though. I made the mistake of planting some stuff that didn't do well in a southern yard, and it limped along for a few years before it died. Then I checked the UGA ag website and they provide lists of plants that thrive in our brain baking heat, and those plants (mostly) do well (given that I have kind of a black thumb).
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lexxy703
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Post by lexxy703 on Mar 17, 2016 15:33:07 GMT -5
I like the variegated liriope but the regular is crazy invasive & I can't rip it out. Of course I wasn't trying to fill in a large area quickly.
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haapai
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Post by haapai on Mar 17, 2016 15:40:12 GMT -5
You'd definitely get better advice on what to plant on a suddenly-sunny, steep slope if you mentioned your hardiness zone. Mentioning your budget and timeline wouldn't hurt either. I'm in zone 5, cheap by nature, and have a small yard. I don't think that my point of view is particularly valuable to someone in zone 7 who is willing to drop a couple grand and many hours to stabilize or beatify an area as large as my whole yard.
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on Mar 17, 2016 15:53:50 GMT -5
You'd definitely get better advice on what to plant on a suddenly-sunny, steep slope if you mentioned your hardiness zone. Mentioning your budget and timeline wouldn't hurt either. I'm in zone 5, cheap by nature, and have a small yard. I don't think that my point of view is particularly valuable to someone in zone 7 who is willing to drop a couple grand and many hours to stabilize or beatify an area as large as my whole yard. I mentioned the zone earlier - she's in zone 6.
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Wisconsin Beth
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Mar 17, 2016 16:10:50 GMT -5
I'm also facing YDS's high school graduation in June. Need to get the place spiffy for that. People gave me a pass last year for ODS's graduation. They won't give me a pass 2 years in a row. That's why I've been out like a mad person the past few weeks. We're doing a thing for DD1's First Holy Communion pretty soon. It might be nice enough for our guests to be outside. So, I'd like to tidy up as much as possible. ETA: It's only supposed to be in the lower 40's this weekend. Blergh. I'll have to move fast and wear lots of layers. may 1st for dd here. I'm assuming it's gonna be yucky and not worrying about outside. My focus is indoors.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2016 19:05:22 GMT -5
Different gardening post, but I've been cleaning out pine cones and sticks from my front yard. I've been working on it for a couple of weeks and have bagged up 20+ bags of it. It's not a big deal. I do a huge bag or so a day. If the wind is bad, I have to go back over the previously cleared areas, but I'm getting there. Anyway, someone posted on the FB trading site that she was looking for a teen or someone who does yardwork to do some work for her. I'm assuming that she meant something like I'm doing or spreading mulch or helping her with planting. Looking for the teen part makes me think she isn't looking for a lawn service with equipment, etc. Anyway, this guy posted that she should be certain to be "fair." He said this type of work was worth $20 or more an hour. He wasn't available, but just wanted her to know what the "going" rate was. Really? If I do Saturday School or Homebound or Summer School or anything, I get $30 an hour. They also take taxes and retirement out of it. But someone picking up sticks or planting or spreading mulch is worth $20? I've never had a lawn service price anything for me by anything but the job. I probably did pay my lawn guy that much to rake out the flower beds, do some planting, spread mulch, etc. I'm not saying that I want to underpay. But to quote $20 an hour as the "fair" price? My guy is running a service, not a teen trying to earn some spending money. Does anyone find that as outrageous as I do? At this rate, I have saved several hundred dollars by picking up my own pine cones and sticks.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Mar 17, 2016 19:29:21 GMT -5
Around here pay is $10-15/hour.
I pay DS minimum wage for outdoor labor.
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yogiii
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Post by yogiii on Mar 21, 2016 6:02:12 GMT -5
Ok, sorry this isn't gardening, but we did already talk about it ... I really hope this is my last ride to work for a while where I drive by a bunch of cars spun out on the side of the highway and then just feet away from work the truck in front of me is fishtailing all over the place. Winter, I hate you!
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on Mar 21, 2016 9:48:58 GMT -5
so they just opened up a new Ocean State Job Lot just over the bridge, off Cape. it's HUGE! it takes up about half of a former Walmart building, so there's a ton of space. I need to go back when I have time to wander... anyway, there was a Burpee seeds display for flowers and veggies. everything was 50% off, so I bought a few packets for the veggie garden I'll be building from some old pallets in a few weeks. I think this is everything I picked up - roma tomatoes, radishes, habanero and jalapeno peppers, cukes, kale, cantaloupe, and some herbs. definitely looking forward to this
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2016 10:41:28 GMT -5
Ok, sorry this isn't gardening, but we did already talk about it ... I really hope this is my last ride to work for a while where I drive by a bunch of cars spun out on the side of the highway and then just feet away from work the truck in front of me is fishtailing all over the place. Winter, I hate you! Right there with you. We got snow this weekend and are supposed to get 6 more inches on Wednesday with cold temps following, so it may stick around for awhile.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Mar 21, 2016 11:15:28 GMT -5
Ok, sorry this isn't gardening, but we did already talk about it ... I really hope this is my last ride to work for a while where I drive by a bunch of cars spun out on the side of the highway and then just feet away from work the truck in front of me is fishtailing all over the place. Winter, I hate you! Right there with you. We got snow this weekend and are supposed to get 6 more inches on Wednesday with cold temps following, so it may stick around for awhile. Us too. Well, sort of. No snow this weekend. It looks like we are supposed get the most snow after midnight on Weds to rush hour on Thursday. But, no one agrees on the track of the storm. I'm starting to see flower buds on my daffodils. DH were supposed to have some *alone* time for an afternoon this week, but that may be thwarted too. Damn winter.
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bobosensei
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Post by bobosensei on Mar 21, 2016 11:27:06 GMT -5
We are going to garden this year. My sister already started the seeds in the house and she's going to split them with me. I grew some microgreens inside, but I need a different planter. I also have some kale that my sister didn't want that I will start. We just hit a little cold snap, but in a couple of weeks I'll probably be planting. My sister has a super green thumb (got it from my mom) so she's going to help me. I am really excited about this.
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happyhoix
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Post by happyhoix on Mar 21, 2016 12:50:16 GMT -5
so they just opened up a new Ocean State Job Lot just over the bridge, off Cape. it's HUGE! it takes up about half of a former Walmart building, so there's a ton of space. I need to go back when I have time to wander... anyway, there was a Burpee seeds display for flowers and veggies. everything was 50% off, so I bought a few packets for the veggie garden I'll be building from some old pallets in a few weeks. I think this is everything I picked up - roma tomatoes, radishes, habanero and jalapeno peppers, cukes, kale, cantaloupe, and some herbs. definitely looking forward to this I hope you have better luck with your cukes than I did.
Three years in a row I planted them, they vined up beautifully, put out a bunch of flowers and then all of a sudden, shriveled up almost overnight. Almost like they were sprayed with Round Up. Finally talked to the nursery guy and it's probably squash bugs - they carry a bacteria so that then they bite into the vines, the bacteria gets injected and makes the plant unable to transport fluids anymore. Last year was the last time I'll plant them
Same with pole beans - I would get fabulous pole beans, six plus feet, and they'd get covered with Mexican bean beetle larva. They would eat all the leaves up so they looked like lace. Even if I went out there every other day and squashed the damn things with my fingers they'd be back as strong as ever in a few days time - so - no bean plants and no cukes.
The whole point of growing my own veggies is to not use chemicals on them, so I don't want to spray them. Tried a few 'natural' products that the bugs just laughed at. So now I'm sticking to potatoes, which don't seem to have a bug enemy around here, carrots, lima beans and tomatoes. Oh and peas in the early spring. Although I haven't figured out how to keep the tomatoes from exploding into all foliage, very few tomatoes (I'm not pruning right, I don't think, plus I need to stop fertilizing as much).
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on Mar 21, 2016 13:11:53 GMT -5
ugh, that's a pain! I've never tried to grow cukes, and I'm in a new location, so this whole year's worth of planting is going to be a bit of experimenting. that's pretty much why I only grabbed one packet of seeds for each thing. I have no clue what will take and what won't.
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ken a.k.a OMK
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on Mar 21, 2016 13:54:59 GMT -5
We have had no success growing a Butterfly bush here. Easy at our last house. Birds even started a few for us. We brought one here and it died. Can't find a Black Knight variety locally, So I ordered 1 and a 3-color 1 from Michigan Bulb. At our last house I had a 3-color (OK I know it is 3 root systems in one package, but I had one and it thrived at our last house). I started a cart online and got a $25 off deal on $50. My order was less so I stopped. Next day I get an email telling me my cart was saved and now had a $20 off of $40. Still no deal. Next I get an email of 50% off my cart for 24 hours. I took that deal. In my verification of order email I got a 50% off of anything and free shipping. Such marketing.
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ken a.k.a OMK
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on Mar 21, 2016 13:59:29 GMT -5
I've had trouble growing tomatoes here. This is a big farming area for tomatoes and they used to grow like weeds for me. Here mine get little bite marks and die. I thought maybe squirrels, rabbits (how did they get up there..LOL) or birds. Last year I found the problem. Stink bugs. I know they are around but didn't any damage from them. One bite out of every tomato.
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happyhoix
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Post by happyhoix on Mar 21, 2016 15:57:01 GMT -5
I've had trouble growing tomatoes here. This is a big farming area for tomatoes and they used to grow like weeds for me. Here mine get little bite marks and die. I thought maybe squirrels, rabbits (how did they get up there..LOL) or birds. Last year I found the problem. Stink bugs. I know they are around but didn't any damage from them. One bite out of every tomato. Last year my tomatoes got away from me and became these tomato bushes. I have raised beds, and these things were so outlandish the boughs grew out about four feet from the plant and draped onto the ground. I tried using stakes to hoist the branches up but that didn't work well. the tomatoes close to the ground kept getting eaten - looked like two big teeth chewing out a hole- squirrels or rabbits, but possums and raccoons aren't out of the question.
Every day in the summer I drive home from work and pass this guy's yard with about 20 raised bed gardens and about 1/3 of them have these beautiful tomato plants that have hardly any leaves but are packed with fat tomatoes. They look almost like poles lined with giant tomatoes with just a frond of greenery at the top. I keep thinking some day I'll stop and ask what his secret is.
I know I'm too delicate with the pruning - I feel bad pinching off leaves or shoots. I need to get a backbone, I guess, so I stop having these messy but not very productive plants.
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happyhoix
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Post by happyhoix on Mar 21, 2016 15:59:55 GMT -5
ugh, that's a pain! I've never tried to grow cukes, and I'm in a new location, so this whole year's worth of planting is going to be a bit of experimenting. that's pretty much why I only grabbed one packet of seeds for each thing. I have no clue what will take and what won't. I have a Darwin garden. What doesn't survive doesn't get planted back the next year .
What's weird is the stuff I have trouble growing - like cukes and beans - my BIL can grow with no bugs and no sprays. He's about 45 minutes north of me, but he's on a mountain and I'm in a valley. Maybe all the bugs fall down into the valleys.
He's right next to a state park, though, and he gets whole herds of deer grazing in his garden, so I guess that makes us even.
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yogiii
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Post by yogiii on Mar 22, 2016 5:37:42 GMT -5
We haven't had a problem with cukes, but we get these weird green worms on our tomato plants some years. They attach themselves to the stalk and it's very hard to see them. They start out eating all the leaves and buds, that is how they slowly kill the plant. If you find them right away you can get rid of them but they are hard to find. You have to look for a spot where a few leaves are missing and you'll see them hiding there.
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whoisjohngalt
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Post by whoisjohngalt on Mar 22, 2016 7:19:20 GMT -5
We haven't had a problem with cukes, but we get these weird green worms on our tomato plants some years. They attach themselves to the stalk and it's very hard to see them. They start out eating all the leaves and buds, that is how they slowly kill the plant. If you find them right away you can get rid of them but they are hard to find. You have to look for a spot where a few leaves are missing and you'll see them hiding there. I've had them and I've taken them and put them in a little box for kids to watch. I've thrown a huge tomato in there and they ate it all!!! They are crazy, those worms!
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yogiii
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Post by yogiii on Mar 22, 2016 7:22:39 GMT -5
We haven't had a problem with cukes, but we get these weird green worms on our tomato plants some years. They attach themselves to the stalk and it's very hard to see them. They start out eating all the leaves and buds, that is how they slowly kill the plant. If you find them right away you can get rid of them but they are hard to find. You have to look for a spot where a few leaves are missing and you'll see them hiding there. I've had them and I've taken them and put them in a little box for kids to watch. I've thrown a huge tomato in there and they ate it all!!! They are crazy, those worms! Yes and if you squish them they are all neon green goo inside. Don't let the boys see that!
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happyhoix
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Post by happyhoix on Mar 22, 2016 14:50:26 GMT -5
The Mexican Bean Beetle larvae are bright yellow and fuzzy looking and if you squash them they're bright yellow inside. All my garden gloves have permanently yellow fingers. I hate them. The larvae, not the gloves.
What makes them so insidious is that the adults look like yellowish lady bugs, and since lady bugs are good for your garden, I wasn't squishing them, at least not until the guy at the nursery told me where those yellow larvae were coming from. Then it was a bean beetle holocaust. I probably got some poor lady bugs, too, but that's their fault for looking so much like the enemy.
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Wisconsin Beth
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Mar 22, 2016 15:12:08 GMT -5
We haven't had a problem with cukes, but we get these weird green worms on our tomato plants some years. They attach themselves to the stalk and it's very hard to see them. They start out eating all the leaves and buds, that is how they slowly kill the plant. If you find them right away you can get rid of them but they are hard to find. You have to look for a spot where a few leaves are missing and you'll see them hiding there. DH calls them hornworms. They're supposed to turn into moths or butterflies. He loathes them. I find the big ones just creepy due to size.
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kittensaver
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Post by kittensaver on Mar 22, 2016 16:43:08 GMT -5
Oh oh oh - can I play too, please? I grow veggies in a community garden, and the three of us (me + two other women) share three plots. We produce so much more together than we possibly could each in her own plot. And we're friends/we get along well, so with all the space + cooperation there are almost never any concerns about what and how much and where to plant it. Sharing the watering and weeding is also a tremendous help .
Because I live a mile from the sands of the Left Coast, there are definitely things we can't grow here; mostly things that require a lot of heat. I can't grow a stalk of corn to save my life! And we have to be very selective about the varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and nightshades that we grow - we need varieties that are tolerant of coastal breezes and late night/early morning fog.
About those nasty green hornworms: have you tried attracting their predators to your garden? Every year we grow at least a dozen of those huge top-heavy sunflowers - and we never harvest the seed heads or any of the seeds. We let the birds eat them - and while they swoop down to the sunflowers, they also spot and eliminate all kinds of nasty bugs for us. Over and over I've watched them be attracted to the sunflowers but end up diving into the beds for bugs.
You can also try companion planting your tomatoes with herbs like basil, parsley, fennel, cilantro and dill. Fennel, cilantro and dill seem to flower the fastest, at least around here. These flowering herbs attract a non-stinging parasitic wasp (I forget its name right now ) that is also a hornworm predator.
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kittensaver
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Post by kittensaver on Mar 22, 2016 16:45:05 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2016 15:03:36 GMT -5
I have a question. I have a shed I need /want moved because the peabrains who put it up slapped it right in the middle of a prime piece of sun where I could get an awesome veggie garden in. Anyhoo, I have no idea how I would go about finding someone to move said shed. It's a 20'x15' or so vinyl shed on a base with a plywood floor that will be getting replaced when moved. I have the plywood in the shed ready and waiting. I'd do it myself but it's a tads bit bulky. My BILs were going to do it but the one who was taking charge of it said he needed to look at it again before they moved it and then went home to watch football (last October). Would craigslist be a place to look for able bodies or would a landscaper or perhaps a shed company? I just don't know but I want it moved and soon so I can start prepping the land. And get the rabbit and skunk a new home before it's too late in the season. I'm not on Facebook so that's out. Anybody in Mass. want to make a few bucks and I'll feed and hydrate you as well?
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