Thank you Amanda! Looks like you are getting things done. I need to build some raised beds but I can't seem to get anyone to stay home long enough to work on it. Oh well, maybe by the time the weather settles down, We will get to start on it. Every time I go out to work in the yard something starts falling from the sky. Be it rain, snow, or tree limbs, my outdoor projects seem to get interrupted. But I haven't given up... sooner or later we will have some warm, dry, days. Today wasn't too bad, 54* and breezy. Tomorrow should be warmer and sunny. Gonna plant some snap dragons I bought at Lowes, they can stand a little cold temps without suffering too much. I had some that lived over last year. Not a chance this year!
SPRING WEATHER IN YOUR GARDEN
Nanny23, good to see you!! The flowers are beautiful.
Badcat, at least someone is in charge from what I can see. LOL!
We are going up to about 57°f today. I am going to do a little clean up this morning. Expecting rain tomorrow. Temps this week will start out in the upper forties and rise gradually. They are showing a 65°f towards the end of the week. Daffodils have buds on them.
Today is the first day that I have been able to clean up my little daylily beds. I always leave the foliage on them in the fall as a mulch. So, I raked off the dead foliage and see all sorts of little green fans coming up. I am happy to report that there was not a single mortality. Yay!!!
Nanny- Let the air out of their tires and hide the air compressor ;). I had to go to lowes today for stuff, I couldnt hardly get back to the fence panels without looking at all the perennials they had out! Ill have to go back soon, they had so many coral bells I wanted! LOL After the mess in the yard is cleaned up, we'll do some raised beds for the veg. Want me to send him up when Im done?
Mike- The little human was one of our stupivisors, he kept us all in check. hahah..at least until Mom made him take a nap. ;)
Rain next 2 days :(, the back is done and I have quite a mess. Ground is so soft right now I have big ruts from the trucks.
Pic 1- Bush I had a grudge against, resulted in a new garden area :)
2- Back fence, bigger yard
3- About where the veg garden is going :)
Wow! That's a lot of work, badcat! Good job!!!
We actually ended up having a fairly nice sunny weekend. Today is cloudy but very calm out. No wind for a change.
LOL remember when I said my plant beds were ready? Im retracting that statement. This girls got a lot more work in store! My edging has been torn out, clay mixed in with my rock, had to dig up my rosebush (they decided it didnt need to be dug up in the end). God love em, its been raining all morning.
Cat- TY!
Hem- Think this rain will be there tomorrow :( Sorry!
TP is coming up today. A cadillac popped up in my front yard. My dad dissappeared. I think they are related. Rain stopped, thankfully, my TP plants dont appreciate it. Theyre growing around the cadillac atm.
Oh, your being a badcat today. lol
It's been raining here all day.
Thankfully we survived! Our town was very hard hit on early Friday morning. One of the local schools (thankfully not the one I live by) had about 60K in damage done, and several houses in town had trees slice thru the middle of them. Some had multiple trees in their houses..... The road into my plant on friday morning looked like a war zone with lots and lots of trees across the road. It was not actually a tornado (all the trees are facing the same way) but straightline winds that some estimate around 80 - 90 mph. Huge trees were not taken down, and numberous trees were snapped off as well. I work at a power plant and even IT lost power! The entire town, the county and parts of 5 counties were without power. We got power back at my home around 4:30 friday afternoon, but lost it again around 9pm. Got it back again on Saturday around 1:30. I was in town this evening at a pizza buffet and they were swamped because a large portion of the town lost power again late this afternoon. But, hopefully they were just swapping some lines around and they will get it back soon. There is so much damage - the red cross and the salvation army are both in town. It is amazing that no one was killed. In a small town about 20 miles up the road where I graduated from HS, a family's mobile home caught fire as they lost power. I am not sure if it was struck by lightening or what, but they lost their two young son's in the fire. Ages 3 and 4 I believe. They and their 13 yr old daughter managed to get out of the trailer, but the trailer and their vehicle were total losses. It was a tragic situation but the only deaths in the state that I heard of .......... there was one 1500 sq ft house here in town that had 6 people in it - and they said probably 75% of the house was affected because a tree split it right down the middle and the limbs did extensive damage to the other rooms. Miraculously they all 6 got out unharmed!! There are so many huge trees down...... the community lost a LOT of very old trees in this storm and a lot of houses but it could have been a lot worse. There were even train cars blown over on their side..... someone said that took a minimum of a 90mph wind, but I am not sure where they got that info! :)
On a brighter note, my DLs seem to be growing by leaps and bounds. Haven't done an inventory yet to see if they all survived, but at least it looks like the majority did. Now I have some little varmint digging around in my beds and leaving nasty holes. Trying to decide if it is armadillos, or if the gophers have been in the bed and the heavy rains collapsed the holes. Either way.... sure left a mess in my beds!
badcat, looks like you had a productive weekend. It rained hard here all day yesterday but today things got a little reprieve.
Genna
Gen, I was beginning to wonder about you! Im glad your ok!
Glad you're OK gen2026. Straight line winds can he almost as damaging as tornadoes.
Now that our snow has melted and my daylilies are up, I am going out to check on them (compulsively) throughout the day. I'm not sure what I expect to find, other than another 1/2 inch of growth. LOL! It is still too wet to do any work in the beds. Maybe the OCD-type behavior has more to do with the sunshine and warm temperatures! After such a horrid winter, I'm just like a new flower turning toward the sun.
Gen2026, Glad to hear you are OK. Springtime is my favorite time of the year except for the storms, we had heavy rain and high winds, but no serious damage here. Take care!
cataddict, I felt the same way! I just had to get out in the sunshine! But be careful- I over did it a bit and have a sunburned face to prove it. Don't forget the suncreen! lol btw the red face was worth it!
Badcat, things are coming along nicely. Hard work always pays off.
Genna, glad to hear that you are ok. Hopefully everyone with property damage was covered by their insurance.
I hope they had insurance as well! I think the area has been declared a state disaster area too which I know can provide assistance for some things. They have a huge mess to clean up - but at least no one was even injuried in town as far as I have heard.
I was able to clean a little more in my bed last night - the ground was wet, but my ground is very sandy so it was workable. We are supposed to get more rain this afternoon so I probably won't have a chance to do anything today. It is supposed to be pretty cool tomorrow morning, low 40s I think but then we are supposed to have sunshine and weather in the 70s I think for the rest of the week!!
I love spring as well..... but man I sure hate tornadoes and storms........
Genna, Glad you and your family are safe. That is scary stuff!
Nanny23: OMG! It is so good to "see" you again. You may remember me as sybiltwo on DG from a number of years go. I seem to recall that you started buying those 'Westbourne' daylilies. LOL!! Am I correct? (Or did you get some of my seeds? Or both?) Anyway it is certainly good to find you!
FENCE IS DONE!!!! =D Started burning stuff today. Yard looks cleaner, need grass seed and dirt. Think Ill go get some Thurs. Last load of fence will be gone tomorrow and Ill finish burning. SO much more yard, Im ecstatic!!! :D I also see a couple of new beds for flowers in the future :) Got a lot of putting beds back together this week. ill do the "not so fun" work first, then start on the fun stuff!
Badcat, I see lots of potential for the garden expansion. The fence look nice.
64°f today and sunny. Will be taking some stuff to the compost site this morning.
It was 37 here this morning with frost! And I just bought some tomato plants last night at HD and some pepper plants.........thankfully, they were up under the edge of my porch! I think it is supposed to get to 70 today and probably for the rest of the week. If the thunder indicator is correct, we have a frost coming on the 28th.... I sure hope I remember that before hand and cover stuff accordingly........
Does anyone know if you can just get bark from a lumber mill to use as mulch or if it has to be dry first - dry as in not green wood chips -..... I am trying hard to come up with a much less expensive way to get my mulch......... i need so much of it that it gets expensive.
Genna, Don't use fresh cut lumber shavings as mulch. It will not be good. Do you have pine trees anyplace around you. You could collect pine needles to use as mulch. You can use grass clippings. Decomposing leaf matter makes a good mulch. Newspaper is a great weed blocker. If you put newspaper down you could lay mulch a lot thinner and save money. I'm sure there are other options I'm not thinking of. I'm sure others will have more great options for you to consider.
If I think of anything else I'll let you know.
I always put down cardboard in the large areas, then cover with layers of newspaper and then mulch, but it seems I am constantly needing to add to it and I have such large beds. Last year while doing that foundation bed I spent a small fortune on mulch and got it at half price!
I have used grass clippings at times but often feel like the weeds grow more out of it - but not really sure because they germinate on top of the mulch as well. :( I have a lot of open field around me and the weed seeds blow into my yard and beds freely.
We do have some pine trees - I have considered trying that but they are "out in the woods" and prone to have ticks and snakes in them.....so not sure how much i want to be handling it.
LOL.
Genna, I understand the weed seeds from fields. I have the same problem. I wouldn't mess with the pine needles if you'll bring tick's home to you and your dog. Not worth the trouble. Do any cemetery's around you have pine trees? Here pine trees are plentiful in cemetery's. They will sometimes agree to let you rake up some of their pine needles.
County extension offices have mulch they offer for free sometimes. You might try calling to see if yours offers anything.
I'll think on this and get back with you.
I got a bed planted yesterday! Got my mulch down, replanted the rosebush, finished another bed, loaded last of wood, and made smores with my little guys :)
78 Today, rain next 2 days. Probably oughta get some grass seed down so mother nature can water it for me :) Monarda has doubled this year, hoping for more than 1 flower this year. Hoping to get bushes trimmed up. Try to do as much as I can today before the rain, then Ill do housework haha
1-rosebush back, got my plant hangers up, area to the left is the "little desert". Always dryer than a popcorn fart. Planted Blue Sedum, Hummingbird Mint, Orange Butterfly flower, Cherry Sparkler Fountain Grass, and 2 Show Winner DL.
2-Mulched the trees, lovely bare spots from moles last year lol
3- Got a little wall going between the mulch and rocks. Need to straighten it up a bit.
HD has landscaping timber on sale .99/ 8 ft section. I need a bunch, great deal.
You've been a busycat! Good Job! Looking Good! I have to ask. How dry is a popcorn fart? Lol
I have been fixing chipdevil damage in my garden's. The one that became hawk dinner made a mess this winter. He got rid of things I wanted, and left behind everything I didn't want. Lol I had to go to Lowe's for more compost and topsoil to fix the damage laid upon my garden. You know they had a few flowers that needed me to take them home. Me and my son bought some Darling Daisy Shasta's and some pink spiderwort to go with my Sweet Kate spiderwort by my pond. Going back tonight to get a few more later after dinner. Lol Be back later to confess more. Lol
Hope everybody is having a beautiful day!
Today has been the BEST DAY EVER!!!!! =D
Didnt start out very steller! But Boy did it end amazing!!!! :D After cutting bushes and shrubs all morn, laying down grass seed, doing a bunch of stuff I really didnt want to do lol It all changed! hehe. Husband got a pallet of landscaping timber for raised beds. He even got 2 done! :D My plant partners box showed up this afternoon, she sent me some AWESOME plants! So excited for this summer!! =D
Daylilies:
Spellbinder
Salmon Sunrise
Little Wart (hahaha love the name!!!)
Pastures of Pleasure
Spiritual Corridor (Think these last 2 need to be planted next to each other for giggles ;)
Camelot Hybrid Asiatic
Royal Trinity Asiatic
Marvelous Marble Heuchera
Then I talked to a DG gf ..ahem wont mention names lol.. who told me about Lowes clearance plants, which there was 1 I couldnt live w/o. So off to Lowes we go after dinner. Just so you know Iv been searching for a "Northstar Cherry" tree for awhile now. They had all there fruit trees out front, so I figured couldnt hurt to look again. THEY HAD ONE!!!! hahahaha A good one too! So I ran my happy hiny home and planted that sucker at 8 tonight in the dark. Im a happy camper!!! :)
Well, Amanda, you sure have had a BIG day! Sounds like everyone has been busy out in the yard, weather permitting. I have been trying to clean out all the beds and get the dead leaves of plants in the greenhouse. Got a new screen door made to let in the fresh air and keep the critters out. It was a lot bigger production than I had anticipated. But it turned out OK.
Here is the "Before" and "After"
Wow Nanny you been busy too! The new door looks great!!! Bet itll be handy too :) Did you let that critter out before he got locked in? lol
TD- How many days has it been since your last confession?
Nice greenhouse, Nanny. Has it stood up well to wind? I've been considering one but we get so much wind here sometimes.
Nanny, Great Job! Your doors look great! Your helper sure is cute.
BadCat, I'm not sure! I can confess my spending at Lowe's yesterday. Lol I bought some Darling Daisy Shasta's and some pink spiderwort and Brown Sugar coral bells. They didn't have much to tempt me with. Lol
I have been good with the LA. It's been several days since my last oops. Lol
Yes I did let the "critter" out, but that isn't what I am trying to keep out. That is Rags, one of our rescue dogs and my greenhouse buddy. He goes with me almost every time I go out there, unless he is hot on the trail of a mole or a bird, or a squirrel...you get the picture?
I have not had too many problems with wind damage. A few panels got pushed in on one end, but only because of a loose bolt. And we had some fierce wind that night. Haven't had to retrieve it from the neighbor's pool yet. I lost one roof vent because the automatic closer bracket popped off. But I am going on my 3rd season with it, so far, so good.
And it is always windy here! I just have to make sure everything is secure, before that wind cranks up. I have seen a few storms that I thought would take it down for sure! But it is mounted to a 12'x30' solid wood deck and has hurricane straps over both ends, so if it ever does go it is going to get ugly!
I have read posts about peoples greenhouses that are always losing panels, this particular brand does not seem to have that problem.
Sounds good. What brand is it?
Palram/Polytex Snap&Grow Greenhouse 8'x 24'
Thanks.
Nanny, that's a nice greenhouse. the door project look better than the original.
When I grow up I want a greenhouse. LOL!!
Badcat, my DW thought I was the only nut out at night with a flashlight and camera. LOL!!
Like TD, I want to know "how dry is a Popcorn fart?" You never answered this rattling question. We want to know!!!!! Pastures Of Pleasure is a nice little plant. May all your cherries be sweet as long as you can get to them before the squirrels. The projects are coming along nicely. Your DH is a keeper for sure. We hope that he was well rewarded for his hard work!!!! You know, something cook with all those spices and seasonings that you are good at. LOLLLLLLL!!!
Yesterday was a weird one. We went into the store at about sixty plus degrees and came out to temps in the forties. We were not in the store long. Later on it went back into the sixties. Today they are talking about snow. Yikes!! Dropping into the twenties overnight.
Mike, You can assure your DW that there are many nuts with flashlights out in their gardens at night. Lol We're every where!
Amen to that! lol.
Strange weather everywhere it seems! We got more rain followed by a cool front and they are calling for 33 tonight! I undercovered some very tender vegetation on my hardy hibiscus yesterday that I will have to cover tonight, and i have iris blooming or with buds that i hope to figure out a way to cover WITHOUT knocking off the buds! Lost two this weekend - one by me, and one by my helper (the dog) and i was frustrated with both! I took them both in and put them in a vase but doubt they bloom! :(
Love the greenhouse! that is nice! Wish I had a small one, but it is down the list quite a ways.....
Haven't planted my tomatoes or peppers yet - guess its a good thing with possible freezing temps!
nanny- hes cute I was just joking about the "critter" part, I call the kids and dogs critters. Love them, but they get into all kinds of stuff! LOL
Mike- I made Herbed Balsamic Chicken on the grill w/ corn on the cob Sat, Pork Chops, stuffing and ranch pasta salad Sunday. Hes not starving..PROMISE haha. Supposed to get snow here tonight too :(. Not sure what to do with everything potted up atm. Or my peonies.
Genna- Sorry to hear that :( real bummer. Yucky weather all over atm. Cant wait to get my maters and peppers outside, hopefully after this week.
Since it seems Im offended people on DG with my "Penis on the Peonies" Forum, the offensive frog I made yesterday lol, why stop now...
PopCorn Farts 101....
First off everything must be super dry!!!! Ever had a fart so dry that is just sounds like a "poof"? Thats popcorn dry. If it makes a sound, or sounds juicy (PS you need TP), Its not a popcorn fart. It ranks right up there with a SBD ( Silent but deadly) but no smell. If it sounds like a breath, its a popcorn. If not, its some other species. A small area of my dirt is popcorn fart dry. Hope Iv explained that satisfactorily.
xx Badcat
What do you have in pots? Your peonies will be fine. They are made for the cold. Daylilies and Coral Bells in pots will be fine as well. Put tender things like Dahlia in your garage.