Spring/Summer/now Fall Projects.....cont'd......

Here's what the bed looks like now.

Wow, Gita, that's a lot of work for one day. No way could I edge my place in less than a weekend and probably not even that would be long enough.

Those rabbits hopped on up to my house. I've had a whole family of them all summer. They've been having a wonderful smorgasbord here. Yesterday I found a dead one in the bed.

If you don't get a response on Craigslist, try listing them on Freecycle.

Gita, well done on a big job!
Stormy, also well done, I got a little of that feeling yesterday, we had 3 redbuds in the garden "temporarily" that Holly had grown from seed. They were 3' tall and needed to be moved. Glad to say that's done. Now as to the matter of moving enough compost to fill 3-3gal holes, kay sara, sara... Ric

This message was edited Sep 19, 2009 10:07 PM

This message was edited Sep 19, 2009 10:08 PM

Stormy--

I can just see the response....

"HUH???? WHAT is a Brugmansia?????" Around here--very few people have heard of them.
It must be my punishment on being a DG member............:o)

One has to be a bit of a serious gardener to know some of these more "exotic" plants.....I sure have my share of them!

G.

Ric and I have just about finished the new bed. It has been completely cleaned out and loads and loads of compost has been moved from the huge compost pile out back and into this bed. There are a good 10 or more loads of this compost in the new bed and then Ric put another 4 or so into the Veggie garden to be turned in later. The old pile has gotten much smaller.

Wow, that's a lot of compost, Holly Wish I could make that much. Are you planting the new bed this fall? Are you talking about the new one in front of the veggie garden?

Here she is new bed in all her glory, well I guess the glory will come next spring. LOL
46ft long 4 ft wide and a real fight to get her cleaned up especially down towards the bottom of the bed were it has been let go wild. The last of my waiting plants went in this bed along with some new ones just picked up last week and some transplanted from other beds. This shot is looking down from the big clipped yew towards the old corral. The path down to the barn and the evergreen grouping that runs along the road are to the right. The garden is to the left.
Gita the hydrangea you gave Ric is along the path planted with the evergreens and sure looks nice there.

Oh Holly, You're going to have a lot of fun finding plants for that.

Yes Stormy it was a huge compost pile. Not that we didn't use some of it but never all and it has been building bigger and bigger each year. Then a couple of years ago we moved a good size dirt pile down there, too. Grass clippings and leaves from the neighbors yard, ours and my parents add up fast. Ric is taking all the good compost this fall and moving all that is left of it into the Veggie Garden. The dirt that was dumped on one side of the pile and the newer grass clippings will be mixed together for next year. Getting the old compost pile under control is a project in its self. Here is the view from the Veggie Garden. I moved some of the day lilies from Ruby and John into the new bed.
I have high hopes for the Veggie garden next year as well. It never did quite get completely cleaned up this year but we should be able to finish the job and have it ready for spring planting. It should be productive and pretty with this new bed running down the side. Well, that is what I am aiming for. LOL

Here is the view looking from the corral up towards the yew. I had Ric cut down the ornamental plum that was growing down at that end. Hated to do it but it was dying and never did do well in my heavy clay soil. I replaced it with a Smoke Tree, I've wanted one for years and it should look really good down there and planted on the north side of the garden won't shade any of the Veggies. I'm going to put the honeysuckle with the bicycle trellis in this bed. I also have been planting daffs in here and should have some crocus later to add to the bed.
We need to edge the front of the bed but probably won't do that until next spring.

I can't wait to see the bicycle trellis all in bloom.

Holly---

Would you like to have some of my Tomato Seeds? I have Cherokee Purple--Mortgage Lifter--and Sun Golds (cherries)....

I have all the Basils that I have now grown from, originally, Jill's seeds.
Thai--Lemon/Lime--and Italian. Sweet basil is not worth starting from seed. You can buy that at HD/Lowes or anywhere--and the seedlings are usually in a clump--so you will get many plants.

I also have Dill seed....an herb I could not live without......You can plant that in-between all your other veggies. IF Ric plans to make my pickles--you will need a lot of Dill....

Gita

Holly, drop me a Dmail and LMK how many crocuses you want (100? 500? 1000?) for that bed.

Same goes for anybody else who's planning to come up for Joyanna's Crocus Shower Planting Party... if you want crocuses at a good price (around $10 per hundred for most of their varieties other than C. vernus), just let me know and I'll add them to my VE order. If you just want to swing by some time for them, that works also... but I'm not offering to do a co-op with reshipping. :-)

Gita, I could use some Italian basil and some dill seed for next year. I lost mine again. Ric

Where is the party at?
bre

Have a few minutes to finally catch up here!

Gita, awesome job with the Clivia :) I have a large pot of Nun's Orchid I need to do the same thing with, it's busting out of its pot! Probably not going to have an opportunity to tackle it this fall though and it will have to wait until spring. Part of the problem is I've run out of room - hard enough to overwinter that one pot and 6-7 pots of it is out of the question! We're actually thinning out what plants we'll be bringing in for the winter and will hopefully find new homes for some of them this weekend at our Open House - a lot of them are just getting too big!

Stormy, I've always wanted some Broom but after seeing how large they grew at a friend's house have resisted. I suspect with your description and photo they probably looked as messy as my friend's! I can't imagine what it looked like before you removed the Broom but your shrub bed looks lovely now AND tidy :)

Holly, the bed looks great - all your hard work has paid off! If I'm looking at your photos in the right direction, the Smokebush is planted at the back end near the fence? If so, it will be spectacular back there and what a pleasant surprise for people traveling down the road when it's in full bloom!

One of Rick's summer projects was completing the new planting in the island in the center of the driveway. I don't have photos yet but happy to report that he finally got it done - just in time for FALL! He made a frantic attempt to get as much planted as possible last week. There were plants lined along the driveway which were intended for that space and when we came home from our first trip to Richmond two weeks ago "someone" hadn't maneuvered the loop in the driveway "properly" and had driven over them! Unfortunately some were fairly expensive plants purchased from Plant Delights and they were squashed :( They don't look real pretty but at least they're in the ground and hopefully the roots will carry them through the winter and they'll be pretty next year! I'll try to get some photos within the next few weeks.

RCN, Yes you are right that is exactly where it is and the road has a slight rise and then a slight curve. So anyone coming over that rise will look right at it, not that we get a lot of traffic back this road only neighbors and their visitors. The other nice thing is that it is very visible from the deck by the pool and the neighbors on the other side of the road have blue spruces that will serve as a back drop from this angle. Ric is spreading grass clipping around it right now, with our evergreens to the one side and the neighbors blue spruces behind, it should look great from here.

RCN You have D-MAIL

Holly, you just love taking photos of that man hard at work!

LOL, You would think I don't do any work here. LOL
I like taking pics of him when he is not working, too. Sigh.......

Holly, Now THAT'S a great photo!

Thanks, RCN. I do have a few small Genista Lydias now in the shrub beds. They get less than 2' tall and still have the same wonderful blooms. Not as spectacular, but still bright vivid yellow and a nice contrast to the Rhodos.

Gita..........Here are the baby cuttings you gave me at the spring Round Up. I moved them inside. The Epiphylum Oxypetalum (one on the left) was begining to pout about being outside.

Here is a better close up.

Oh, my gosh, doc!!!!

What do you do to them????Seriously!!!! They look so lush and healthy!!! Good job!
Do you feed them anything special?

How come your Epi Oxy. has not grown that long, skinny stem? Those are bizarre!
Even my rooted cuttings on the windowsill (yours was one of them) are growing that long stem.

Here is a link of Epiphylums I have had saved in my Bookmarks. The E. Oxy is about 3/4 of the way down.

http://www.ecology.org/ecophoto/articles/Epiphyllum.htm

Gita

First my potting soil is home made and includes lots of living biology to go along with the coir and peat. Compost is in the mix. Each pot had a couple worms. The feeding was mostly fish oil and kelp tea. They were fed very weakly weekly. On one occasion they got some aerobic compost tea. One time they got Bat Guana tea.

It appears to me that both... if pinched properly... will grow 360 degrees around the pots. The Epi Oxy has pretty well set to do that. I might have to explain things to the other. LOL

No matter what tea I make it is very weak. I use no label instructions. My test is holding a clear glass of it up to the sky. When it looks like tea I would drink it is right for the weakly weekly use.

WOW!!!!

You got me, doc! I don't do any of that.
Too many other things going on to start a whole new program of organic feeding, making teas, my own potting soil, and all that. Just do not have the commitment nor the time nor the cash outlay for some of these ingredients....
I'm lucky if I remember to do some MG now and then....I just have too many plants!!!

No wonder yours look shiny and healthy and big....You know what to do and you have the devotion to do it all.

I am a big believer in Kelp Meal. Years ago, I could buy a 40lb. bag and it lasted me for years.
I also used to water everything I planted with "Seaborn Seaweed" liquid. Bought that in a gallon bottle. Cost about $35 back then. Kelp is now available only in 4lb. bags (by Espoma) for some outrageous price.....$13 I think...
The liquid seaweed is no longer sold--at least not where I used to buy it. Fish Emulsion is available and I have some...
They stopped making "Chesapeake Blue" crab compost also. Best thing in the World for tomatoes....

I have a huge FLAW----I do not follow up with all the plants I grow and propagate and start and plant. This includes spraying as needed....feeding as needed.....watering as needed.....etc..etc...etc...

Every year I say: "I need to start simplifying!" But the gardening addiction is BAD! Like all this stuff with my Brugmansias....They are awesome--but also require too much care and get too huge and then I cannot drag them in my basement any more.....That is my dilemma now.
The first couple of years it was so exciting...I was learning something new!!! Shirley Mohr ("bruggie") in IA was my guardian angel. I learned a lot from her! Now I am passing it on to other Brug and Datura Newbies....
What comes around--goes around....:o).

Do you have any wise words for me on growing all my new divisions of the Clivia?
I have read that you must stop watering it through the months of Nov., Dec., and January and keep them cool.
Then--you start watering and feeding them and they are supposed to bounce right back and bloom within weeks.....
Of course--mine will have to fend on less roots since I hacked that whole big plant apart. I am sure you saw my pictures....
I have come up with a plan how I will accomplish both the dry and the cool--and still provide some light.
My resourceful mind seldom fails me. .

Congrats on your beautiful plants, doc! Gita

Doc, Your plants are looking good. I have some Bat Guano that I bought from the Dr. Earth company. I've been trying to decide on the best way to use it and think now that a tea would be good. How much would you mix into 5 gallons of water?

Gita, I buy my Kelp from a Pennsylvania Company called "Organica". They have a whole host of Organic garden products. It comes in a 20lb. bag and I think it costs about $20. My local garden center doesn't always have it so I call ahead when I'm running low and they order it when placing the rest of their Organica order.

Here's their website showing 5 places in Baltimore that carry their product line.

http://organicatechnologies.com/locator.asp

The bat guano I have is a floater when first added to the water. I am guessing light to your question. I would suggest a half cup in five gallons of water. Plan ahead and give it a stir for a couple of days. Check the amber translucent quality of the tea. Adjust by adding water or more fertilizer to learn what your guano strength is. Strength will change from source to source. The use of fillers when packaging, to make it seem, to be less expensive is an old fertilizer trick. You just simply have to play with it to see what you have anytime you change or get new supplies.

I think it is a floater because the bat eats and passes through large numbers of flying insects. When I find it on our cabin's floor the dry form looks in minature a bit corky. When it is wet it is fairly thick, smooth and like a goose or duck dropping. Yet you know all the body casings have to be in the bat guano. Commercial gathering is done by scrape or shovel work on cave floors. If a packager is honest the other content is not worth mentioning.

If I remember correctly it contains 12% N so go light light in your amber blend for weakly weekly teas.

Gita, Bonide also sells liquid kelp in bottles. I bought 6 quarts of it earlier this spring for about $10 a quart. It's called Sea-Green Kelp Extract. They also sell it in gallons, but I find it easier to handle and store in quarts. My local garden center ordered it in for me when I also ordered a lot of the Alaska fish emulsion. The Alaska brand also carries a liquid fish emulsion mixed with liquid sea kelp extract. Cost is about $8 a quart. Also both are available in gallons.

It really pays to develop a good relationship with a small garden center. They get these products delivered with no shipping cost. Often when I want her to order something she's never carried before, she'll split a case with me and try it to see if other customers will buy it. She gives me a much cheaper price in those instances.

The dried kelp from Organica, I mix right in my planting holes. The liquid kelp, I apply to my older plantings in a drench, usually mixed together with some other substances that are applied by drench like the fish emulsion.

Thanks, Stormy---

I quickly scanned through the list for MD. Not too many places near me--but some. Will take more time later.....

It lists "Watson's Garden Center", "Poor Boys" and "Valley View Farms"--all the most expensive Nurseries in this area.
I DON't think they will sell a 20lb. bag for $20! Will call, though.
One place was closer--on Waltham Woods Rd. I have NO idea where this Nursery is--but that road is not far from here....

There was a Tractor Supply place about 1/2hr. drive from here listed.

Thanks! Gita

stormy--

We cross posted.....

The place I was always buying these things from was "Meyer Seed Co. International".

You seldom see any customers in there. I don't like shopping there much any more, as their merchandise has a very slow turn-over because of it. Most of their business is mail-order....
I once bought a bag of some kind of fertilizer--and it was 6yrs. old sell-by date. Took it back.

$10 a quart is expensive to me......I am familiar with the Alaska plus sea weed and have a gallon of it.

My limited familiarity with all this is that I do not venture out to places that might carry this or that. I tend to shop in places close to home--and they may NOT be the best. Thanks for the "nudge"!!!

That Tractor Supply place is the only one I know of in this area. It is near the Aberdeen Military base.
It is not a chain that is around Baltimore....
Gotta run! have a dr. appt. at 10AM.

Gita

Gita, You really should take the time to visit some of those places. My experience is that some places that sell outrageously priced plants often don't overcharge for their nutritional supplies. It could be because they use these products in the nursery and get them cheaper if they buy them by the case and just want to unload the excess.

There is a garden center about 15 miles from here that has a hugh supply of organic garden treatments and things like coir and earthboxes. They are very reasonable on these items, but I can't afford any of their plants. It's worth the drive once or twice a season because they carry items that aren't available elsewhere and I do pass 1 or 2 other nice more reasonably priced nurseries on the way.

Re guano and Chesapeake Blue--My local smalltime guy now has a few bags on the shelf of crushed crab shell. The label says that since crab shell is made of chitin, like insects exoskeletons, that the crab shell helps boost the population of things that get their chitin by eating bad insects--implying or asserting that this helps your natural defense against bad soil bugs I think..(bat guano would have chitin from insect shells) Somebody should check this out and do an article...dibs

Sally, talk about recycling crustacean shells, I bag and freeze them after eating the meat. Then I boil them to make soup stock. After that I put them in a plastic bag and crush them with a rubber mallet and then keep them in one of those large coffee cans to add to my planting dirt. I actually ran out this summer and need to start eating some shell fish for the upcoming soup season. I should think about finding a local restaurant or caterer, to save some for me if only for garden use.

PHEW!! go to a crab house and check out the dumpster- If you can stand the smell! Kudos to you for maximum shellfish shell utilization. a seafood festival would be a good place to ask for shells. Crab waste crunches up surprisingly small when you hack it into the dirt with a spade.

Sally, Crab Houses are rare up here. When we're sailing on the Chesapeake, my elder sailing/gardening buddies scarf up all of the booty. I defer to their age and let them have it all.

I have a buddy in Va. Beach who rounds up a couple gallons and ships it to me to play with. I have an old yard sale food processer that grinds it up to granular. For my small time doings today that supply lasts up to three years. A mao plastic jar serves as a small holding devise.


Actually I have three or four plastic jars in on the patio. After initial planting that is more than enough to do the season. I've been putting off building a display case for them to further amuse my friends. Painted white with a glass door and a big Rx on the glass should do it.