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Accessible Gardening: ...so what are you up to?, 3 by seacanepain

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In reply to: ...so what are you up to?

Forum: Accessible Gardening

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seacanepain wrote:
Happy Anniversary! Hope you had a fun and romantic day!
Fingers crossed I am able to finish this post. I think this is about the seventh time I\'ve sat down at the computer to chat with you all. Something always happens before I can click \"Submit Post\". Kay\'s computer bit the dust and we are sharing mine. About the time I got our programs to merge without interfering with one another, Windows did an update. (eye roll) There is always an adjustment period while programs figure out how to interface. Sometimes, you have to wait for the programmers to create a patch.
There isn\'t much activity in the garden. I had time to do the final demolition making room for the new, enlarged bathroom. . A closet in the center of the space that once housed the central AC unit had me so frustrated I considered taking a sledge hammer to it. lol. It must have been the sturdiest built thing in the whole place. It\'s finally gone and I didn\'t go caveman on it. . . much.
I did some demolition in the garden too. Took down a Chinese privet hedge. The plants were variegated when I bought them, but reverted to straight green in only a few years. I should have done the research before purchase. It is a common complaint with variegated Chinese privet according to the web. Think I can talk them into installing Y5 at the nursery so I can Google plants before making an impulse buy? :-)
I took on our immortal calorie pear while I had the electric chainsaw out. I\'ve been trying to kill that thing for years. No luck yet. It must have been the rootstock of a Bradford pear or an edible pear. I manage to keep it from producing seed by cutting it down every year about this time, but it lives on despite the fact that I burn the debris atop the roots.
Carrie, I have winter sowing forums on my \"watch\" list on several gardening websites. It has long been something I wanted to learn more about. I never get around to actually reading the threads, however. I plant seed at the dates recommended by the state agricultural service for the coastal part of the state, but I think it is too hot for good germination. Kay goes by what flowers and native plants are in bloom. She just planted her carrots in the CanDo Container Garden because she waits until the cotton rose (Hibiscus mutabalis) blooms. That means she will not be harvesting until mid-November at the earliest. That sounds late since we usually have frost by the last of Oct. or the first part of Nov. She says the plants know better than the Ag Service. We will see.
Once upon a time, before Nadi became Queen of the Kitchen, I started plants in the kitchen window. Growing plants are banned from the kitchen under her dictatorship. She says the flats take up too much of HER counter space and the hanging pots \"pee\" on the clean counters when watered. lol.
I\'ve been thinking that winter sowing might be the way to go with some butterfly weed seeds. I know they are considered good candidates for the method. I guess it is time to actually read some of the forums. Winter sowing sounds simple enough even for me.
Pix: Spider lily (Lycoris radiata) gone native, but looking good. #1 & #2.
Cotton Rose (Hibiscus mutalis) Some critter is using the flowers, but it doesn\'t look like whiteflies. They are the only destructive pest of hibiscus mutabalis and H. syricus (Rose of Sharon) I am aware of. Don\'t want to declare war on the pesky little guys until I positively ID them. I would not want to destroy lace wings or some other gardener\'s friend. I can\'t see any damage to the plant. They just hang out in the flowers in disturbing numbers.