Cheesy FL-Vol
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Post by Cheesy FL-Vol on Mar 16, 2021 7:39:15 GMT -5
We did go to the nursery today, and also to Home Depot. I managed to stay on track at the nursery, thank goodness. If I hadn’t done some research and had specific items on my lists, no telling what I might have come home with, that may not have been good choices. So, I got reblooming Daylilies, Caradonna Sage, and English Lavender. Those were the only 3 I was supposed to buy today, if I bought anything. So, I did good there. Later, at Home Depot, I bought some daffodils on impulse, but at least it was something I recalled is a decent or better option in my area. I have no idea what to do with them though. It looks like this would be a bad time to plant them in the ground, since they’re already growing, no flowers yet though. So just put them in pretty pots? There’s lavender that died sometime last summer still sitting in a terra cotta pot on a table on the deck. Yesterday, DS noticed that there was green lavender growing in the pot. When I looked, I couldn’t believe it! I thought it was dead-dead, so it’s not been watered except for rain (and snow) and it was not protected at all over the winter. How did it sprout new growth? Anyway, I have some stuff to keep me busy for a minute, and I’m happy. If the daffodils are bulbs put them in pots. When they die back, trim off the dead foliage and stick them in your fridge until fall, then pull them out and plant them. They’ll come back and even multiple, they are sturdy lit things. I planted about six different varieties in a bed near my garage door and they all bloom on slightly different schedules, which is nice. Even some pink ones. Don’t fall for the lure of tulips. I planted a bunch once, got one big showy spring out of them, and one measly spring, and nothing since. If there is a trick to use to keep tulips coming back, I’m not aware of it. I found out recently that tulips are a favorite treat of deer. Are they nibbling?
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ken a.k.a OMK
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on Mar 16, 2021 8:42:26 GMT -5
One morning my wife's favorite Tulips started to flower. When we got home from work the deer had eaten every flower.
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happyhoix
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Post by happyhoix on Mar 16, 2021 9:08:28 GMT -5
If the daffodils are bulbs put them in pots. When they die back, trim off the dead foliage and stick them in your fridge until fall, then pull them out and plant them. They’ll come back and even multiple, they are sturdy lit things. I planted about six different varieties in a bed near my garage door and they all bloom on slightly different schedules, which is nice. Even some pink ones. Don’t fall for the lure of tulips. I planted a bunch once, got one big showy spring out of them, and one measly spring, and nothing since. If there is a trick to use to keep tulips coming back, I’m not aware of it. I found out recently that tulips are a favorite treat of deer. Are they nibbling? I would not be surprised. My house butts up to the woods and every domestic and wild animal in the tri state area seems to stop by for snacks. Including the insects.
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Cheesy FL-Vol
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Post by Cheesy FL-Vol on Mar 16, 2021 9:22:09 GMT -5
One morning my wife's favorite Tulips started to flower. When we got home from work the deer had eaten every flower. I put the ones I bought this weekend into front porch balcony boxes. I'd like to see the deer try to get those! ETA: the boxes are about 11 feet up from the ground.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2021 7:05:45 GMT -5
I'm done with rain and clouds and cold. It's okay for the sun to come out now and the temp to rise.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2021 17:04:46 GMT -5
NoNamePerson One more word of wisdom that I was told hundred years ago from nursery man "plant a .50 plant in a $5.00 hole and you will always have beautiful plants! Soil prep!Sounds like good advice. And it leads me to the next thing I’ve been pondering...... Most of my stuff needs well draining soil. I’ve googled what “well draining soil” means and apparently MiracleGro is not a good soil, but it’s all I know and have ever used. What soils do you all prefer, in pots and for gardening soil for raised beds? Please keep in mind that I’m lazy and don’t want to spend a bunch of time adding this or that to improve soil, beyond basic requirements like the flowers that need compost or fertilizer or whatever, if there’s something I can just buy instead. Help, please! Side note, I didn’t realize until I recently started trying to really figure stuff out, that all of my flowerbeds are raised beds. I mention that because when I typed “raised beds” in the prior paragraph, I was kind of happy that I’ve actually been learning stuff and the lingo. Simple pleasures! But I’m also planning to build a smaller raised bed myself in the backyard, so I need to know what kind of soil to use for it too.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2021 17:11:30 GMT -5
Also, I’m kind of worried because the forecast is saying it will get down to 36 degrees in a few nights. I moved everything on the deck up against the house last night because of a severe weather forecast including the potential for flooding and strong winds for today and this evening.
Will the coming cooler nights (mid to upper 30’s for 3 nights, I think) kill or damage my new babies? What, if anything, should I do to protect them?
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Mar 17, 2021 19:41:40 GMT -5
Also, I’m kind of worried because the forecast is saying it will get down to 36 degrees in a few nights. I moved everything on the deck up against the house last night because of a severe weather forecast including the potential for flooding and strong winds for today and this evening. Will the coming cooler nights (mid to upper 30’s for 3 nights, I think) kill or damage my new babies? What, if anything, should I do to protect them? Depending on how much stuff you bought, gently put a blanket over them. If you have a large plastic sheet, put that over them first and then the blanket. Mare sure you take the covering off each morning. Or put them in the garage.
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Mar 17, 2021 19:48:54 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2021 6:49:35 GMT -5
Good morning! The sun isn't and won't be shining today so there won't be any gardening done. I got a "card" in the mail yesterday that turned out to be made from wildflower seeds, and I have just the spot to plant them. All I have to do is soak it for 24 hours. What'll they think of next? Just in case any of you think your kids never listen to a word you say, the card came from DD. When I asked here where on earth she found such a thing, she said she saw an ad on FB. Oy!!!! But nope, she didn't click on it because Mom had warned her to never, ever click on FB ads but to go to the website itself first and look there for something that piqued her interest. That's what she did. Atta girl, DD! She ordered online, it was mailed from the seed/card place, and had our return address on it. Tennesseer , I got an email from the seed store yesterday saying that my globe thistle seeds have been shipped. Thanx for the idea. There's a good spot for those, too. @pinkcshmere Shame on me for not mentioning frost blankets yesterday. Hope your plants fared well. Home Depot has them, called "Planket Frost Protection Cover" and they come in different sizes and are lightweight so won't squish your seedlings. They're not too expensive. 10'x20' costs around $20. ETA: The cosmos seeds I planted on Monday are already sprouting. Woohoo. And the sun I said wouldn't be shining today? There's already a patch of blue that's, as my gramma and Best Aunt would have said, "big enough to make a pair of man's pants." Actually, lots of patches of blue. I checked NOAA, which didn't look hopeful. Then I checked the Weather Channel on my phone, and it looks very hopeful with nothing showing up on radar. Yay. Still too wet to work in the garden, but I'm grateful for the sunshine.
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ken a.k.a OMK
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on Mar 18, 2021 8:34:56 GMT -5
I hope everyone is safe from those storms. Looks like a lot of rain for us the next 2 days as they move East into the Atlantic. Good day to put my garden plans on paper. Plan to plant seed in 4 or 5 weeks. Maybe buy some plants too. Temps should be 47°/68° then.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2021 8:39:43 GMT -5
ken a.k.a OMK Our average last frost is March 23. It looks like we may get frost or near frost in the next few days so I'm gonna wait until next week to plant my seedlings. Once they're in the ground they seem to really take off. At least the ones the squirrels don't dig up take off. The squirrels don't want the seedlings, they just dig up the flower beds for exercise and to spite me.
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ken a.k.a OMK
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on Mar 18, 2021 9:19:31 GMT -5
Squirrels do the same thing here. Dig up plants from pots and throw them on the patio. My wife can save most by putting them back into the pots. The rabbits though eat the tops off and kill them. They ate the Marigolds but left the Vinca alone last year.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2021 16:24:59 GMT -5
NomoreDramaQ1015 Ever since we talked about morning glories I've been inundated with ads for morning glory seeds and articles about how to grow morning glories
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2021 17:23:01 GMT -5
Has anyone ordered plants on ETSY? Local nurseries simply don't have giant liriope which we really want and I see some growers on ETSY.
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Mar 18, 2021 21:26:22 GMT -5
NomoreDramaQ1015 Ever since we talked about morning glories I've been inundated with ads for morning glory seeds and articles about how to grow morning glories Apparently get a seedling tray from Walmart, accidentally add too much water, add a bazillion seeds instead of package recommendations, put next to couch and forget to give them sun for several days before moving them and then forget to water for several more days. Every single one is now sprouting. I'm the antithesis of a gardener but now I have so many sprouts I need to figure out how to safely plant them outside.Probably in my pots so we can drag them inside at night until the frost risk passes. And it's not just morning glories. Everything I randomly planted in those trays has taken off. It's crazy.
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NoNamePerson
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Post by NoNamePerson on Mar 19, 2021 7:45:27 GMT -5
NoNamePerson One more word of wisdom that I was told hundred years ago from nursery man "plant a .50 plant in a $5.00 hole and you will always have beautiful plants! Soil prep!Sounds like good advice. And it leads me to the next thing I’ve been pondering...... Most of my stuff needs well draining soil. I’ve googled what “well draining soil” means and apparently MiracleGro is not a good soil, but it’s all I know and have ever used. What soils do you all prefer, in pots and for gardening soil for raised beds? Please keep in mind that I’m lazy and don’t want to spend a bunch of time adding this or that to improve soil, beyond basic requirements like the flowers that need compost or fertilizer or whatever, if there’s something I can just buy instead. Help, please! Side note, I didn’t realize until I recently started trying to really figure stuff out, that all of my flowerbeds are raised beds. I mention that because when I typed “raised beds” in the prior paragraph, I was kind of happy that I’ve actually been learning stuff and the lingo. Simple pleasures! But I’m also planning to build a smaller raised bed myself in the backyard, so I need to know what kind of soil to use for it too. Hard question to answer without asking more questions!! But for just plain ole flower pots, I use soil in bag from Home Depot - they have an organic that is good if it is the cheapest one I don't do a lot of amending the soil cause I am lazy too.
As for raised bed someone else needs to answer that. My son gets soil for his raised garden beds from local place that "makes" their own soil mix and I "borrow" from him from time to time.
But one thing I do if pots are good size and that is fill the pot half way up with Styrofoam peanuts and then put in soil. Makes drainage pretty good. I do this since I'm the one having to move heavy pots around by myself most of the time.
Oh, and I never plant anything in a pot that does not have lots of drainage holes. You are going to turn into the gardener of your neighborhood I can just tell.
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Post by raeoflyte on Mar 19, 2021 8:44:03 GMT -5
I started my sunflower seeds. I don't have much else that wants to be started inside except veggies so Ill do those tonight and see what else I can find.
I have them in the rabbit hutch we use for baby chicks so they should be safe from the cats and have lots of room to grow.
Dh picked up the grub killer for japanese beetles that we'll put down this weekend, and everyone has been prepped to expect to do yard work. So many projects, we'll never get to them all, but hopefully we can make progress.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2021 8:52:47 GMT -5
It's colder than a banker's heart here and overcast besides. It was so cold this morning that it drove me back inside with my coffee. There won't be anything going on in my garden today even if the sun comes out. We might even get frost tonight and for the next few nights. Ack. Spring is supposed to officially start tomorrow morning
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ken a.k.a OMK
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on Mar 19, 2021 9:14:06 GMT -5
Filling a new raised bed with bagged soil will cost a lot. Best to get a truck load of soil. Or put the cheapest stuff you can find for the bottom few inches. Even leaves and plain dirt will work and eventually compost.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2021 6:43:42 GMT -5
It's going to be a sunny day but too cold to do much of anything in the garden. We're going to have a couple of nights in the next week or so when there might be frost so not a good idea to plant my seedlings yet.
The lawn really wants to be mowed. Maybe this afternoon when it's not quite so cold.
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ken a.k.a OMK
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on Mar 20, 2021 6:58:38 GMT -5
28° now but it is supposed to warm up and be sunny for the next few days. First day of Spring.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2021 16:51:50 GMT -5
I planted the lettuce seedlings in the veggie bed and all the plants in the new pollinator garden. Sprayed weeds in the lawn too. Tomorrow I'll start planting some of my succulent containers and move the little volunteer crape myrtle to a bigger pot since it decided to live through the freeze. I'll make a list of my empty pots by size, style and color so I can go plant shopping again the end of next week maybe, depending on my reaction to the 1st Moderna shot Tuesday. It was good to be outside today, always improves my mood
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oped
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Post by oped on Mar 20, 2021 17:36:45 GMT -5
Has anyone ordered plants on ETSY? Local nurseries simply don't have giant liriope which we really want and I see some growers on ETSY. I’ve ordered seeds in the past. Just ordered some comfrey root today. I’ll let you know.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2021 18:44:20 GMT -5
NoNamePerson One more word of wisdom that I was told hundred years ago from nursery man "plant a .50 plant in a $5.00 hole and you will always have beautiful plants! Soil prep!Sounds like good advice. And it leads me to the next thing I’ve been pondering...... Most of my stuff needs well draining soil. I’ve googled what “well draining soil” means and apparently MiracleGro is not a good soil, but it’s all I know and have ever used. What soils do you all prefer, in pots and for gardening soil for raised beds? Please keep in mind that I’m lazy and don’t want to spend a bunch of time adding this or that to improve soil, beyond basic requirements like the flowers that need compost or fertilizer or whatever, if there’s something I can just buy instead. Help, please! Side note, I didn’t realize until I recently started trying to really figure stuff out, that all of my flowerbeds are raised beds. I mention that because when I typed “raised beds” in the prior paragraph, I was kind of happy that I’ve actually been learning stuff and the lingo. Simple pleasures! But I’m also planning to build a smaller raised bed myself in the backyard, so I need to know what kind of soil to use for it too. Hard question to answer without asking more questions!! But for just plain ole flower pots, I use soil in bag from Home Depot - they have an organic that is good if it is the cheapest one I don't do a lot of amending the soil cause I am lazy too.
As for raised bed someone else needs to answer that. My son gets soil for his raised garden beds from local place that "makes" their own soil mix and I "borrow" from him from time to time.
But one thing I do if pots are good size and that is fill the pot half way up with Styrofoam peanuts and then put in soil. Makes drainage pretty good. I do this since I'm the one having to move heavy pots around by myself most of the time.
Oh, and I never plant anything in a pot that does not have lots of drainage holes. You are going to turn into the gardener of your neighborhood I can just tell.
I am trying to plan well, and choosing plants/flowers that are hardy for my zone. I don’t have even ONE window that gets good sunlight, so I can’t bring them inside during winter. Soooo, as much as I’d like to grow some of them indoors, all my flowers need to be able to survive outside. I only buy pots with drainage holes, just in case I find something to plant int them that will survive. Idk about being the gardener of my neighborhood, since I’m trying to learn how to overcome my black thumb, but I’ve been looking for inspiration every time we the drive through the neighborhood, ever since we moved here, and I’ve only ever seen the standard crape myrtles and scraggly shrubs. Maybe my neighbors do their best work in their back yards.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2021 19:04:31 GMT -5
Filling a new raised bed with bagged soil will cost a lot. Best to get a truck load of soil. Or put the cheapest stuff you can find for the bottom few inches. Even leaves and plain dirt will work and eventually compost. I want to plant lavender, rosemary and sage in my raised beds. They don’t require rich soil, especially lavender, which apparently does well (better?) in poor soil. The biggest, most important thing seems to be soil that drains well. The rosemary may or may not survive in my area, I really want the lavender and sage to thrive. “Well draining” is what I’m having trouble figuring out. After hours of reading, I decided to just go with Miracle Gro because it’s not too expensive, and add perlite to help ensure it drains well enough. If that’s a bad idea, somebody PLEASE tell me before I buy all this soil. I’m only adding 2 4x4 raised beds, I don’t think that’s enough to have soil trucked in. The bed around the mailbox has what I assume is good soil, only because there are a lot of earthworms in it. I’m going to plant some lavender there too (and daylilies and sage (Caradonna) and see what happens. The new raised beds will be the most costly, monetarily and time/effort/labor wise, so I really want to set myself up for success with those, as much as reasonably possible. And on another note, I just went to Home Depot with Mister, he wanted some sand for our new firepit. Some pansies Amy or may not have ended up in the basket. Wtf do I do with pansies? I may be developing a problem since I’m not doing too good sticking to my plan when I go to Home Depot.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2021 19:10:49 GMT -5
We did go to the nursery today, and also to Home Depot. I managed to stay on track at the nursery, thank goodness. If I hadn’t done some research and had specific items on my lists, no telling what I might have come home with, that may not have been good choices. So, I got reblooming Daylilies, Caradonna Sage, and English Lavender. Those were the only 3 I was supposed to buy today, if I bought anything. So, I did good there. Later, at Home Depot, I bought some daffodils on impulse, but at least it was something I recalled is a decent or better option in my area. I have no idea what to do with them though. It looks like this would be a bad time to plant them in the ground, since they’re already growing, no flowers yet though. So just put them in pretty pots? There’s lavender that died sometime last summer still sitting in a terra cotta pot on a table on the deck. Yesterday, DS noticed that there was green lavender growing in the pot. When I looked, I couldn’t believe it! I thought it was dead-dead, so it’s not been watered except for rain (and snow) and it was not protected at all over the winter. How did it sprout new growth? Anyway, I have some stuff to keep me busy for a minute, and I’m happy. If daffodils were a word, it would be "happy". I bought a bunch of mini daffies for my porch balcony box this weekend! So now I have a box full of happy! We now have lots and lots of room for a garden. However, no way in hell am I going to be a slave to weeding (I had my fill of that when we were kids and my parents had a 1/4 acre garden planted with almost anything you can think of) so I found plans this weekend for elevated garden boxes that are sized to fit (4) 5 gallon buckets into. I am debating making one to try out this season. I did pick up some jumbo plastic planters to try my hand at tomatos. My dad was a whiz at those, and they were his pride and joy over everything else except the flowers in the garden. I plan to try and find a place in the yard to plant some of his favorite flowers in his memory. My daffodils have flowers now, and they do make me happy when I look at them, since they’re the only thing that’s blooming so far. I randomly bought a tulip, and it has one bud that looks like it will be a flower soon. I consider the tulip “disposable”, but I’m happy to see a flower on anything that I’ve bought so far. Hopefully it’ll be motivation to be patient until the others bloom. Patience isn’t one of my strong suits.
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ken a.k.a OMK
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on Mar 20, 2021 19:33:49 GMT -5
Miracle Gro and perlite are expensive. Buy cheap garden soil and add a little sand and peat moss.
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Cheesy FL-Vol
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Post by Cheesy FL-Vol on Mar 21, 2021 3:01:33 GMT -5
So I sort of forgot that my new tomato plants weren’t going to survive Friday night’s freeze. They are kind of dead now, along with the small basil plant I popped into my porch rail box. The daffies, two lips, and snarly dragons in my porch rail boxes did just fine though. So, I’ll have to pop into Lowes this morning for tomato and basil replacements when I head to the grocery store this morning. I am anxiously waiting for more variety of flowering baskets for the humming birds. I cannot wait until we get our front porch completely redone and the stairs to the porch relocated. That is going to be a fall project. In the mean time we are going to try to get rid of the yucky (yucca) plants the previous homeowner planted right up against the porch support posts. Once that is all done, I have a 48’ blank slate for flowers and wildflowers! I have no clue what I am doing garden-wise, but there are websites galore and you wonderful people here.
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Post by CCL on Mar 21, 2021 5:21:24 GMT -5
I used to have yuccas out by my swimming pool. I thought they looked great. Then the bees and ants found them. I found out it's not a good idea to have bees buzzing all around your swimming pool, so I had to pull them out.
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