Yardening August 2015

I've seen a snake in my backyard but not this year. A neighbor two doors down found a snake and took it to the park. I would have kept it!

Thanks for the recommendation, GT!

Cam, those traps seem too big for voles.

Nope... they are made for voles and moles. And as long as the prongs are spaced tight enough, can't imagine there is such a thing as too big. Too small, sure, but too big ? the opening between the two edges that get inserted in the ground is wide enough for them to pass thru, then when then push the ground up, the ground triggers the sharp prongs downward and WHAM, dead vermin. If I had watched that video in 2007, I think I would have been successful in killing my voles/moles.

I've tried a trap like that, and it didn't kill any voles, definitely made for moles. Maybe this one is smaller or more easily triggered. You might try putting a baited mousetrap by the hole and put an upturned bucket over it... friend in Oregon does that. Seems the easy pickings are hard to resist, and *snap!*

There are many choices for traps similar to that one. Some are perfectly good for voles, even made for voles. But yes, I imagine a mouse trap placed nest to their front door would do the job.

Let's all go over to SSGs and see who's method kills the most voles ! LOL

I think Moletox sounds like the best bet

Gita, you're lucky! But I also think it helps that you are in the garden a lot , keeping it clean, and don't have a lot of mulch for them to creep under.

After all that Skunk discussion we were having last week. I got a call from my Mom, they have a pair of baby skunks in there yard. LOL Pretty sure they are coming from under the neighbors shed.

Geez, it's a vermin epidemic !

So.... I got a multi-stemmed Magnolia "Jane" via Fedex today. The vendor's website said they were in Nebraska but the poor guy had to endure a 5 day trip from California. The dirt ball was completely dry and I have had it nice and wet since it arrived at 2:30 today.

Question: The foliage is all in various stages of crispiness. I removed the worst of them. Would you remove pretty much every one of them and let it start over again ? I suspect a tree in that condition will expend more energy trying to recover the crispy leaves than it would if it were stripped pretty much bare and putting out new leaves... eventually.

I think the leaves will drop if that's what the tree needs to do. If there's any "life" at all in the leaves, I figure they are doing the tree some good. Hope you let the vendor know right away -- send a photo. Even with the heat, the dirt ball should have been moistened and wrapped well enough for the tree to arrive in better shape that that, IMO.

The leaves that were the driest just fell off when touched but I left the rest on. I have a feeling most are so dried out, they will eventually just fall off and never recover. The limbs are nice and soft so hopefully the root system didn't suffer too much damage.

Yeah, I emailed them about sending a tree coast to coast by surface this time of year but I doubt they'll care. They had the tree in a 3 gallon pot and the pot wrapped tightly in plastic. I assume it was soaked good when it left but five days in hot trucks and warehouses, I'm sure by day two or three that dirt was already bone dry.

When I had that Dogwood shipped from the west coast, I paid to have it shipped via air and had I known this one was coming 3,000 miles, I would have done the same thing.

Maybe I should stop liking trees that are unusual and find ones that I like in local nurseries. :)

I wouldn't think any Magnolia would be rare on the East coast.

http://davesgarden.com/products/ps/search.php?search_text=magnolia+jane+&submit=Search

This message was edited Aug 15, 2015 8:42 PM

Not too rare, Sally. But I called to five nurseries in the area and none had the "Jane" or could get it in for me.

This message was edited Aug 15, 2015 9:47 PM

SSG, what kind of tree was there before the neighbor removed it? Maybe you'll have to get a shrub that doesn't mind being in those types of conditions.

CAM, why did you get a Jane Mag online? If you want I could buy one for you at the local nursery and bring it to the swap. They are super common up here.

Not sure why none of the nurseries around here had any or couldn't get one, three of them even acted like they never heard of it. We have some time, I'll see if this one rebounds well, Jeff. If not, I'll let you know and sure, I'll take you up on the offer to get one and bring it. And if you tell me they are less than $49 I paid online for a 4-5 foot specimen, I just may scream. ;)

Thanks very much for the offer... I'll let you know in the next couple weeks.

Yeah let me know. I'm pretty sure I saw some at the nursery I was at today. It's getting to be late summer so maybe there will be some deals.

Maybe. I think come September, the prices go back up again as people start shopping again for Autumn planting season.

Yeah I saw a new batch of Red Maples out for sale at Home Depot tonight. It looks like they just arrived. The key is to buy one of the new arrivals and not any that have been lying around all summer in a pot getting potbound.

Well, at 0630 this morning, the patient took a turn for the worse. There was no living will prepared so I had no choice but to keep him on life support. I did cut back some limbs under general anesthesia so he can focus his energy on his circulatory and respiratory systems. I put the patient in a nice resting spot and immediately provided plenty of fluids. Hopefully the vital organs are strong and we'll see a slow but steady recovery.

The family requests no visitors until September 19th. Thanks for your consideration.

Haha funny how it's written but sorry for the patient. Shipping anything cross country in the middle of summer can be difficult.

((snort))
Rest and fluids, universal good for what ails ya!!

:)

Yeah, Jeff... when I got the shipping notice and saw it originated out of California, I almost fell off my chair. I think it will pull through, had a well formed root system and there are a good number of small buds on the green branches.

Cam, I'd be tempted to try a drench of Super Thrive on Jane. Was she pot grown or dug up? Her sister Betty sends her love!

I did Wayne a favor by putting my pots of Joe Pye, Red Twig Dogwood. Lobelia. Swamp Milkweed, asst Hydrangeas, and other moisture lovers in kiddie swimming pools and various other storage bin type containers and asked him to keep an inch or two of water in each tub. It can be quite a trick to get a dried out root ball/pot to properly take up water again.

Worked pretty well while I was away. He said I have an awful lot of 'hidden' pots though! Guess I'll find some of them beyond recall later today. Butterfly bushes need drastic dead heading!

coleup, we've had pretty decent rain down here 'by the bay" but things are really ready for a good soaking now.

Coleup, Jane was raised in a pot.

After I planted it this morning, I put some miracle grow all purpose plant food around the perimeter and then gave it a good soaking.

So, using Super Thrive now might be a bit much, right ?

Super Thrive is a very different product from plant food/fertilizer such as Miracle Grow and would be an adjunct rather than redundant. Hear many good things about it. See http://www.superthrive.com/faq.html . Can be found in Frederick at Lowe's, HD, Walmart, Dutch Plant Farm and probably other locations. Good product to have on hand, especially if you buy and transplant shrubs.

Just read nearly every word on that link, David. I've been planting trees, shrubs and flowers for decades. And I've been reading up on gardening for many years. How did I never hear about this stuff?.... sounds fantastic.

Thanks for the link !

Random question here: is Chickweed still growing around here, or is its season over and done with until cool weather resumes? One of my neighbors wants some; it's used in herbal remedies.

This message was edited Aug 16, 2015 6:30 PM

CAM, I hope Jane recovers soon and goes on to enjoy a long and happy life, bringing pleasure to all who are lucky enough to gaze upon her and smell her sweet fragrance : - )

Random question # 2: I posted photos of this volunteer on the Plant ID forum, but perhaps one of you knows what it is?! http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1403567/

I haven't seen any in my yard. Plenty of Clover and Nutsedge grass though...

My front lawn is starting to be covered with crab grass... I meant to spray for it-
but here it is--mid August--and I have not done it yet.

The Weed Killers now all also list "Crab Grass Control. How can it do both???
Weeds are dicytes--Crab Grass is a monocyte. How can one spray kill both
kinds of weeds/grass???
Also--I have not sprayed because of the high temperatures. Most sprays say
not to use them in temps over 85-90 degrees.

Have to kill all this crab grass!!!! it is only on my front lawn--but it will be everywhere next year.
I never had it until my neighbors moved in. She has NO clue what a weed or crabgrass is....

So--the seed went all over my lawn. I tried to find an ONLY Halts product without the
fertilizer--but never made the treck to another town where I could have gotten it.

How do YOU deal with Crabgrass??? G.

Thanks, Muddy... I'm sure she'll recover and end up with a long and healthy life. Not showy this year but next year and all years after.

Gita.... There are some modern sprays that kill crabrass and are safe for your lawn. My dad just used it and it worked well. But yes, don't treat your lawn with it in this heat. Wait until the temps cool down in September. I'm waiting to spray for weeds until then too.

I also would combine that with Scotts with Crabgrass preventer in the Spring, after the second mowing.

CAM, I bought 'Jane' magnolia this spring from Home Depot. They had multi-trunk ones at Lowe's, but I preferred the single-trunk trees at HD. There were numerous 'Jane's at the independent nurseries, as well.

I can't remember what I paid, but I think I had a coupon and got a pretty good deal. It's already over 5 feet tall and looking heathy. The only issue I had with it was that it was burlapped and then containerized, so I had to use a bit of extra care when planting. Here's a post I made about it in the Trees forum. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1391764/

Btw, HD had all of the magnolia containers labeled incorrectly (as a conifer), but the tags on the branches were correct, and it was obviously a 'Jane' magnolia. So if you call them, it may not show up in their computer system as "in stock."

Good info, SSG. Glad yours is doing well. Looking forward to my sickly gal to get healthy next year and start growing and producing some of those beautiful flowers in the years to come.

So does anyone still have Chickweed growing in their yard, or has it died back because of the heat (I read that it's a cool season weed)? My neighbor wants some; is it a waste of time to look for it now?

I don't see any chickweed around now. Late winter and into spring.

What better yardening on a hot summer day than... trimming trees! Mark trimmed some branches of crabapple away from a redbud, then took a big one off a norway maple- one large limb had suddenly lost all leaves, must have a disease, there is a brown stain in the center of the cut end. That one took a slice out of a young dogwood when it fell, which will force me to prune that. The dogwood had really gotten wide, I think I will eventually be glad it will now be pruned for more upright shape. I watered gardens for hours.
I do like limbing up trees in summer, you feel cooler with more space around you for (Imagined) breezes.

Thanks, Sally!

I did quite a lot of watering today, too, and made sure the young trees got good soakings. I sure wish it would rain!

Gita, next spring spread con gluten on your lawn. Do it when forsythia begins to bloom as that is a signal that soil temperature is correct of effectiveness. It will prevent crab grass seeds from germinating if applied at this time, and since corn gluten meal contains 10 percent nitrogen by weight, it greens your lawn up without the disease fostering side effects of popular lawn fertilizers. Has to be applied at the narrow window of when forsythia is breaking bud or you get mainly the nitrogen benefit.

Nice Sally, I too like limbing up trees. In my case though, I usually have to wait many years between trimmings since mine are so young.

I pretty much spent all day watering yesterday. Luckily it was all mechanical and not actually me standing there with the hose. I will have to do some of the latter after work today though. I'm feeling pretty good about this drought so far. Usually I wait until everything is dry to start watering, which doesn't work out very well. This time I've started watering as soon as the 10 day forecast said no rain. It's cool to see the birds enjoying the puddles watering occasionally makes.

David--
You are talking about granules of Corn Gluten--right?
I could swear that HD carried a liquid form of it????? Will check.
If they have liquid--is that as good as granular?

I have NO intention of using any of the Scotts products! They are
so high in "N". and $$$$. I even tell customers to use Milorganite to fertilize their lawns.
Most of them agree to try it. Some come back and buy more.

Where can Corn Gluten be bought? I may have to drive to Belair as that is
where "The Mill" is. This place used to be Southern States.
No biggie....I have been wanting to go there anyway. It is about a half hour drive.

Early spring may be a better time to go there--don't you think?

Will miss you at the swap!!!.....Thanks, Gita

Has anyone here read this article?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2015/08/13/16335590-274a-11e5-b77f-eb13a215f593_story.html

And...has anyone been to this park before? Seems dead center between a whole lot of MidAters, and a place I pass purt near to on my forays up that way.

Seems like I'll have to stop in and check it out.

Thank you John---I read the whole thing...

Forwarded the link to my daughter who recently drove cross country from Seattle
to Rockville (Montgomery County) with her huge dog and 2 cats-in 5 days.

She is also an environmentalist and an huge animal lover. Hope she reads it all
and I hope she goes to see this park. It should not be all that far for her.

Your bottles of wine are still chilling--in case you want to stop by again.
If not--they will be ALL MINE!!!!

My daughter, Benita with her beloved dog--Dublin. With his fur and this
hot weather--he is always panting....