any gardeners?

“1.37 inches of rain today, which both gave a good soaking to all the new plants and gave me a day off from working in the yard. By the end of a long day Saturday, I got two flower beds merged into one, adding more dahlias and dianthums and some Dalmatian bell flowers. I wish I had a magic wand that would make sod disappear without cutting it and hauling it off in a wheelbarrow. OTOH, looking out the front window provides a nice reward, even if it is temporarily lopsided vis a vis maturation.”

“both my thumbs are green

they smell green too”

“All this rain mught have takne a toll on the old garden.

I think I have a couple of Cucc's plants water logged, along with some onion. I hope I don't loose any more, if they are gone that is.

I bought some rejects at Home Depot today. The homeless included two hot pepper plants, and a couple of herbs. I figured I'd give'em a shot.

Also, I got some geraniums today for .79 per...I bought 12.

and to round out the day, I bought seeds, in the form of:

Salvia (Blue Bedder - Sage)

Lupine - Mixed Colors

Carnation - Mixed Colors

And one of my very Favorites -

Jacob's Ladder.”

“jacobs ladder

the clouds prepare for battle in the dark and brooding silence
bruised and sullen storm clouds have the light of day obscured...”

“Looming low and ominous
In twilight premature
Thunder heads are rumbling
In a distant overture...

All at once, the clouds are parted
Light streams down in bright unbroken beams...

Follow men's eyes as they look to the skies
The shifting shafts of shining weave the fabric of their dreams...”

“what a great song

permanent waves is a great album”

“Here's what I've got planted;

Zucchini
Yellow Squash
Pink Banana Squash
Black Eggplant
White Eggplant
Pole Beans
Bell Peppers
Sweet Italian Peppers
Cucumbers
Two Varieties Kale
Spinach
Bush Beans
Beets
Turnips
Tomatoes;
Early Girl
Plum
Beefsteak
Grape
Cherry
Tiny Tim

Herbs coming up this week!”

“Capn bobo, early girl toms are a must have in our garden!They are wonderful”

“420 - I agree.


I've lost a couple of plants that I can tell, both Cucc's and I think I have at least one squash gone too.

This rain is nice and all, but c'mon!

Tomorrow, I try and get the boxes in that I've been flappin` about and finish up with some of the second sowing. I'm including a bunch of Sun Flower (Max's project) in this sow.

The back yard "project" has taken on a life of it's own. One thing leads to another, to another, to another....!

not like I'm complaining!”

“Q, plant those flowers in a circle and leave a door opening. Max'll get a sunflower fort if the squirrels don't take out the plants first.

More rain tomorrow.”

“Blooming now in the side yard -- lots of violets (they've been going strong for two week actually, but continue to swell) and the lilacs have begun cracking open. If we can get a little sun today, I expect some fragrance in the air. Counted 13 flower buds developing on the peony on that side. The ants are already on the two or three largest buds.”

“my garden is LOVING the rain. Everything is growing wildly with no sign of slowing down. I swear...I have lettuce thats nearly as big as I am....not to mention radishes the size of basket balls.....I guess my organic growing is paying off :)”

“Well, dang. This is the first time I've grown cucumbers at this house and I already have cucumber beetles. I picked as many as I could find off of the 4 plants, and sprayed the plants down with neem oil. I don't know if this will work, but now the plants smell pretty. Laurel's looking at the jar of bugs, saying "squash bugs! Squash bugs!"”

“It's time for this year's....

Bunny Relocation Program!

That little critter is cute, but I caught him once in the garden and one of my eggplant leaves has been nibbled on.

The Have-a-Hart trap is set with kale, apples, and alittle vanilla extract....
- come here you wascly wabbit!

Can you say Billy Murray and Caddyshack?”

“I started the weed eradication program last night. STill need to find a tiller but the garden is too wet to till just yet. It was 35 when I looked this morning and I'm sure we had frost yet last night.

I know sooner or later I'll want to get a greenhouse so I can stretch out my growing season but for now it's short season crops and mostly flowers.”

“rabbits ate my sunflowers :(”

“Have you seen the commercial with Tiger Woods as the Bill Murray character?”

“Nope, but I watch so little network TV I should get some sort of Cable Ace award.”

“Kill da wabbit Kill da Wabbit!!!!!

Got 5 strawberries tonite,first of the season. I need to find a use for my radishes. We have buckets!”

“Help, someone stop me...more sod removed, two more flower beds. Oh my back hurts. Then this evening, my wife walks out the front door and says, hey, look, a rabbit. Now I'll lay awake tonight wondering if some bunny will nibble away all my work. Do rabbits like dahlias? Those are just coming up and would be pretty tender. I'll presume it was a bunny that got some shoots from some inherited bulbs that popped up first thing this spring. Those are still struggling.

Added a couple spiderworts and some sea pinks in the new beds, along with more salvia and dalmation bellflowers. Another half dozen sea pinks to go in tomorrow. Hope neither of the new species is a bunny delicacy. The salvia at least are considered deer resistant. No deer have made it into my immediate vicinity, but they are quite capable of crossing the busy street that stands between us and easy deer access areas.

On the big plus side, though, I did locate a nice metal folding table and chair set to put out front and create a little garden bistro corner.”

“Birch I hear you about the buckets of radishes.... Had harvested strawberries a couple weeks ago and my plants havent seemed to put on any more fruit. Too rainy maybe?”

“Might not be everbearing plants Free. If not they'll only bear fruit once, maybe twice. If they are everbearing you'll get fruit consistantly through the spring.”

“The tomatoes and basil are finally in. We are going to have the latest tomatoes in the state, but will they ever taste great!
Flowers galore.”

“from the Holy Grail..

"It's a big nasty creature. With FANGS!"

"That? Why that's just a cute little bunny rabbit"

Later...

"Though shalt pull the pin on the Holy Hand Grenade..."


I'm with the Monty Python crew on this one. Rabbits are big nasty things (with fangs!) are best controlled with hand grenades. There's plenty enough green in this world for them to eat, besides my garden, that is.

Ordin”

“TREEBEARD!!!”

“Following a forum on the status of women in the Wisconsin economy, the last of a dozen conducted across the state, reino and I hosted a reception for the Lt. Governor at our house this evening. The first thing her honor said to me after coming inside was how impressed she was with the garden out front. A nice payoff after busting my a$$ the past few days to get it mostly done. Thank goodness for a nice sunny day today...and for the astroturf that I put under the patio furniture we set out front to cover where we ground out the stump of the maple and had not finished repairing, lol.”

“Rats, a frost advisory for tonight here in the North Woods and the Upper Peninsula. Time to get out the old sheets and save some of the about to be discarded pots from the trash. Particularly don't want the dahlias, which got nipped once already, to suffer another setback. They are just starting to make a good push.”

“I hope everything works out, pekka.

Good going on yer feedback!

I've been hard at work here. Yesterday, I finally got the second box in. Had to go with a different design than the other one. My wife left the camera at her mom's. I'll have to see if I can get it; we finally have a Sunny day today!

One of the things that made this project kinda cool was that when building the boxes (and the whole garden for that matter), I limited myself to materials that were found around the house. We have had many projects over the years and have a decent leftover pile. Also, there where some materials (wood) left over from when they built my house, some 70 years ago. An example: an old run of wood flooring, a run of some old notty pine from my "coal room" enclosure in my basement. Some of it looks hodge podge; I take a look at it like "Urban Pioneering" by "harvasting" only the things around the "area". While doing this, a new idea for a TV show popped into my head.

Everything you'll see was either left over from an older project, or found on site. Almost zero "new dollars" were spent, structure wise.


Also, for next year I planted some asparagus and three Black Rasberry bushes. Onions for this year went in as well.

By next year, I would like the garden to be able to provide a goot, well rounded fair.”

“Armadillos. I can't say enough how much I hate the little #&%!$ers. They must die after what they did to my yard and garden.”

“What a bummer, treebait. The only thing poking through my garden so far are birds looking for worms and bugs. The bunny hasn't come back since a very early spring visit. Nothing squirrelicious out there either. Maybe having our cat slip out and wander around the yard yesterday, hopefully leaving lots of scent, will discourage nibbling pests.

After a morning of off and on light rain, the sun is starting to peak through. Going for a high of low 60s before things chill out overnight. The timing for the frost advisory is 3 a.m. to 7 a.m.”

“The armadillos come out late at night. There's a very preggers one who's dug a burrow under the steps of my back porch. I'd always wondered what a preggers 'dillo looks like. It's a double-wide. She has to go.”

“Finally came home to a very pissy pole bean munchin' eggplant-leaf chompin' wascley wabbit in the Havahart trap. He had been going in the trap the last two days only far enough to grap a couple peices of apple and kale and wasn't tripping the plate.

Today he got greedy...

Took him for a fifteen minute ride up to the park and set him free in some high grass next to a stream.

OK, breathe easy and plant more beans!”

“Well, just got all the garden covered in preparation for the expected frost late tonight/early morning. I think the only damage I caused in putting the tarps, etc. over the flower beds was accidently pinching off one beautiful budding head on a spiderwort.

The plus side of the day was realizing that yesterday's sunshine apparently was what the varigated iris was waiting for -- it had shot out three flower shafts overnight. Amazing how fast they grow when conditions are right.”

“I want to thank everyone for sending Seattle rain! Woohoo. The climbing roses (red) on the arch are in bloom now. I saw the first iris blooms today.”

“I know I'm late but at least I'm gardening this year. Didn't do much at all last year and had no vegetable garden.

Last night I roto tiilled the veggie garden and I'll build raised beds and plant this weekend. While I was at it I dug 2 new borders as well. It's going to be a fun weekend in my garden!

Anyone have suggestions for digging new beds in the front under a couple of silver maples (aka surface root spreading, crap dropping trash trees). I don't want to risk the roto tiller on all the roots. Is my only option to build up?”

“dhutch, are you thinking of building a raised bed right around the trunks? Some trees don't do well if the roots get buried too deep. Worth double checking the needs of silver maples, although I sounds like you wish they would die and go away.

We just took out a 20' maple that the previous owners had planted too close to the front of the house; it only took us 9 1/2 years to get around to it, and that meant that the roots were pretty major. Not to mention that the prior owners had dumped marble gravel around the tree inside a circular rubber border and it had all sunk into the soil. The stump grinder guy had to quit half way because the gravel was hurting his machine and was kicking up, nearly breaking windows. So I had to use an ax on the remainder to get it below surface enough to cover with new soil. I'm going to create a circular raised bed over the spot just to make it useable. It's a good sunny location next to the front stoop, so we're going to do an herb garden that we can access by just stepping out the door.”

“A beautiful sunny day for the first time in a week, with two more allegedly to follow. The only downside to clear skies -- a late night frost advisory for tonight. Have to cover the tenderest stuff.

The biggest development is the appearance of flower buds on two of the irises that sirpete sent my way. I was sure that the transplant experience would delay their flowering until next year. Woohoo!

However, no garden work for me at the moment since I strained my back again and I'm trying to be good about truly resting it. We'll see how it is tomorrow...I really want to get back in the dirt.”

“I took 16 cuttings from my favorite blueberry bushes to take to the new homestead. I hope I get at least a few of them to take. If all 16 do, I’ll have some to spread around. I’ve had them about 8 years and the tags are long gone so I have no idea what variety they are. I have 5 different varieties and these have been prolific producers.”

“Geez, wish I had blueberry plants. (can't get myself to say bush)

After one year of gardening I've learned that snapdragons and Shasta daisies are a good return for the money. Chrysanthymums are not.”

“Yes, USA. I used snaps mostly in the front house beds. One year, I bought some small snaps and they lasted until Nov! Better yet, they now grow "wild) every year since. I just saw a bunch starting up last night.

I bought two trelles's and a small oblesik last night. My climing roses are growing too fast and need the support .The oblesik will be for growing some Roma tomatos. I also had to plant some other stuff, as I have lost another few plants. Next year, I think I need to sow much more than I did this time around.


Today is gonna be a great day weather wise. Picture day!”

“My mother in law just gave us a huge stack of brick pavers! Went and picked them up last night. So many I thought I was going to break the springs on my truck.

I'm going to use at least part of them for a small brick patio in front of my gardening shed. The area always gets tramped down and muddy anyway.

Later I plan to make a brick path that meanders from the shed to the house and then landscape alongside it.”

“Excellent!

I love it when something like that happens!”

“I just looked at my hyacinth bean vines. Darn things are already 10 feet tall.”

“BTW, I've been meaning to ask my fellow gardeners about finding hidden treasure. When I was digging out the expanded front yard perennial bed, I unearthed a 1938 French 1-franc coin. Anyone else ever turn up something interesting while gardening?”

“Pekka,

My wife and I were gardening in our front yard when we lived in Evansville, IN and found a fast food bag with a plastic bag inside under the porch when we removed some lattice work. We were about to throw it away, but noticed that it felt kinda heavy. Upon examination we found a pocket knife, wrist watch, the title to a Ford Explorer and a set of car keys.

We turned them over to the police and it turns out they were stashed there a couple years before by a guy who was now in jail for theft. He had never diclosed the location of the stolen items or the vehicle. Don't know if they ever found the vehicle.

I also don't know how they got under our porch cause the guy had never lived at that address.

Other than that, mostly Indian arrow heads etc. that turn up fairly often here in the Midwest.”

“Indiana John, wow, actual loot!”

“Haven't found anything that spectacular.

Does anyone have any experience starting mulberry trees? I bought 3 bareroot trees from Lawlers Nursery here in Montana 3 years ago. I just dug the 2 up that survived and moved them to my new house. Trouble I'm having is that the tips die off and they are continually branching from the bottom. I want a tree not a bush. Any suggestions? I know they grow in south dakota cuz my grandmother has several trees in her yard and their winters are more severe than here.”

“Our lot was once the locaation of a small illegal dump and a nursery. I'm always finding broken glass floating up in the backyard. Steel straps of some sort, when I buried Maow the other week a good bit of chain about 1.5 feet down. Nothing really interesting.”

“Picked up a flat of bugleweed yesterday afternoon to plant under the two big cedars out front, and will look for some lungwort, lily of the valley, and ferns to also use there in a couple mini shade gardens.

Also need to find some replacement annuals for the impatiens my wife put in -- they've taken a beating from weather and just don't seem like they'll make it in their current locations. Probably go with petunias, pansies or marigolds, unless I find an appropriate sized perennial for those sites.

The biggest event, though, is that our first two day lily blossoms are about to open. Literally dozens of flower stalks on each of the mature plantings, and each stalk holding four or five buds. This will be a major display. The weather is looking good, too, with a nice week of 70s ahead and just a little rain forecast.”