What's everyone up to this week?

With this gorgeous weather. I've been working on the chicken chalet, have ordered 10 baby chicks, which will arrive in mid April, gotten the vegetable garden ready to be tilled.

Today I'm doing a water change in the fish pond and getting the filter and waterfall pump ready to be hooked back up this evening. Tore myself to shreds breaking back last year's stems on the monster clump of miscanthus - it looks like I've been in a cat fight.

Some of the daffodils started blooming yesterday, as did the star magnolia. The crocus is all now blooming and the lungwort is beautiful - just covered with blooms. Two of the three hellebores I planted last year are blooming and both are burgundy/red. Looks like the peach and pear trees will be blooming any day now.

This is nice weather even up my way. Computer went down last Thursday evening, so I way out side most of Saturday doing some lite raking and clipping to clean up the flower beds. Sunday went shopping for new computer. That took most of the afternoon, but I'm up and running now.
This a.m. I cleaned out another flower bed before going to work this afternoon. I have been checking on my seeds in the basement, some are doing very well, others are slow.

Have a medical appointment tomarrow in the afternoon, but hope to be out in the garden again!

Too much to do in the garden & too much time at work, so it's getting done in bits & pieces, planted some roses, blackberries, figs, a quince tree. I still need to plant 2 apricots & 2 pluots along a fence, so I'll have to dig holes, lay packing paper down to smother the grass, & try to figure out what I'm going to mulch with.

The thing that keeps me going is walking around in the morning, seeing what's budding/coming up-all of my Japanese maples are in different stages &the one that really thrills me is an aesculus pavia (red buckeye) I planted last spring-it's so gorgeous unfolding! I have several hellebores blooming, too, I have 1 Ivory Prince that is incredible, wish I had the money to buy lots more. I'm also sowing seed, pruning, potting up dahlias & elephant ears, spreading compost & manure...boy, I'm glad my kids have spring break next week & I can work outside all week & get alot done!

I know exactly what you mean, Thistle. These warm days, first thing I do is the morning what's blooming/sprouting/budding walk. LOL

I am sooooooo tired. Really been overdoing it the last few days.

My electric Mantis (mini-tiller) arrived this afternoon! I'm loving it... easy to control, but still is going to build up my biceps! I'm not using it on any area that hasn't been previously tilled and amended (with the clay the builder left us, I need Digger Dick and his tractor to break any new ground for garden beds), and it's more like an electric hoe... but it does more with less effort than I could do with hand tools, so I think it's a winner!

hart, I'm still chuckling over your "chicken chalet" -- I think those will be some pampered poultry!

Hey, if I win the lottery, I'd love to have an 'Egglu' for chickens, but I don't know if they'd be safe-although this is a developed area, we have foxes. I wanted to take a beekeeping class this spring, but the schedulling didn't work out & then my neighbor told me she was highly allergic, & didn't want bees anywhere near their property. Oh well, there's always next year, & plenty of other projects-new & unfinished-to do in the yard. I'd love to have a small pond, but don't think I can talk my husband into it...

I've been weeding of course, perennials are kind of a mess. Bearded iris needing thinning- way too many, I'mm throwing them by the compost. Hope I don't lose all bloom from the clumps I 've been diggging in. Plante d potatos, peas,lettuce, chard,. Redbud getting close to open, but now can tell that a big branch has died from canker. Generally finding sprouts and buds everywhere. Sore muscles but good workout. Trying to get pics for journal to ID some things.
Hart- tiger lilies just coming out. Think they'll travel OK in June with a ball of dirt, or should I get some in a pot now and sink it back in the ground?

You think you have foxes? LOL As long as they're inside at night, foxes won't bother them. I have hawks and neighbors' dogs to worry about during the day, so they will have a nice fenced in and over chicken yard.

Two or three hens don't require a lot of space.

Those Eglus look to me like nothing more than a standard igloo doghouse with a solid door and a plastic pan and grate in the bottom. You can get those for about $40 rather than $600 plus shipping. It wouldn't be hard to make a solid door and you could use wood shavings in the bottom. The little runs that go with them would be a snap to build. Use a hook an eye closure to secure the door.

Chickens are so much fun and the fresh eggs are wonderful. You'll never want to eat another store bought egg. Heck, even the eggs I buy at a local bulk store from supposedly free range local chickens aren't nearly as good as the ones I got from the chickens I used to have.

Critterologist, I want a Mantis in the worst possible way. I actually bought a Toro version years ago and ended up taking it right back to the store because I could not, ever, get the darned thing started. I hope the men who design these pull rope tools have to spend eternity in hell trying to start machines with a pull rope that's too long and too hard to pull for their arms. This is why we need more women engineers. LOL

Oops, see there are more replies here than I thought. Sally, bless you for the tiger lilies! I can't imagine they would need to be potted, would they? I think they're pretty tough and easy to move, like daylilies.

Critter, the chicken chalet isn't all that fancy. Maybe I should add on some Bavarian gingerbread, huh? LOL

This message was edited Mar 27, 2007 10:19 PM

The pull start issue is why I went with an electric one! Plus, I didn't want to mess around with the fuel mix for the 2 cycle engine and having to empty it if it was going to sit longer than 30 days etc. I figured it would be less of a pain to deal with the extension cord. :-) Hey, so far so good -- I haven't run over the cord yet! It may just be a matter of time.... LOL.

If anybody's thinking of getting one, I got a better price from Amazon ($300 with free shipping and no sales tax, rather than $350 from Mantis direct or from my local tractor dealer).

If I make it down to the swap, I will try to make room for the tiller (it's small, but we'll see how many boxes of plants I have looking for homes)... then we can all play with it... I'm sure you must have something that will need tilling or cultivating! ;-)

Some of my gardens, such as the vegetable garden, are over 100 feet from an electrical outlet. Makes it a bit hard to have something with a cord.

I can't afford a Mantis but I really, really lust after one. LOL

I cheated a bit and pruned all my Roses today and threw hand fulls of Epsom Salts around them. Will wait a bit more to fertilize them. I'd like to spray them all with Lime Sulfur soon. Black Spot was bad last Summer.

Yesterday I finally!!! dug up my huge clump of big-leaved Hosta and did my best to divide it. MAN! There was some obscene, solid/white mass underneath all of them! I had to take my hand saw and just cut that all off. Hacked the rest of the clumps with a knife or I just tore them apart as best i could. Lost a lot of roots, but I think they will make it. Gonna take them to work and see if I can find some takers. There are a few people that always take what I have to share.

My plan is to also totally dig up the bed that runs along my shed. it is 12' long and choked-full of Lilies of the Valley and Rudbeckias. GONE! I want them all gone! Then I will amend the bed with a lot of good stuff, put on new landscape timber edging and (here's my "plan") would like to plant a Blueberry or a raspberry bush there and maybe a couple tomatoes. NO tree roots on that side!

You all think I will actually get all this done????? Do ya? Do ya? It wore me out just to do what i did today! Gotta get my endurance back and get that old knee back in shape.
Gonna need some help with those timbers.......I have them bought already (last year) and also all the 6" spikes to nail them together with. That I may not get done all alone!

OH, yeah---weeds.........Never seen so much Chickweed in my lawn and beds. Gotta get some weedkiller and mix up some in my sprayer and go to it. I'd also like to get a small quantity of Preen so I can sprinkle it on my beds to keep all the weeds from sprouting there.

OK! As you can see-I got lots to do.....BESIDES all the planting of flowers coming up.

Gita

Aw, that would be so much fun. I don't think I have that many extension cords, Critter.

I think my cord is 100 feet long, but I just found out I can't reach the outer area (and I want to till to put in some columbines), so I'll be getting another cord, maybe just 25 feet.... we should be able to reach *something* with that, LOL! And if you've got a heavy-duty extension cord (one of the fat orange ones), we'll get further yet...

Gita, be careful! Don't overdo it! I'll bet if you invited anyone here who wanted some to come to your house on a given Saturday with a shovel and dig their own, you'd have that bed emptied in no time. And save a lot of wear and tear on your knee. I'll bet they'd even be willing to put that timber in place for you. You can supervise and hand out the lemonade. LOL

Lilies of the Valley, hmmm? Baltimore isn't so far.... :-)

Critter, you're cracking me up! LOL I can see the headline in the Northern Virginia Daily now - "Mystery Tiller Strikes Fort Valley: Police Following Trail of Extension Cords"

Well, kind of answered a question I thought of asking- can I find a hosta clump and try to divide now, yes. There's a clump of large leaved plain green but has huge white flowers with the most fantastic scent. (it's in a garden that I volunteer to work in, my friend brought this in but didn't know its name) I must have some.
Gita- I could bring you my groundhog to eat your rudbeckias~
crittterologist- you know its spring when you see all the tiller commercials on TV~
Speaking of hard/easy to start, we got a Toro mower walk behind, with electric start last year, it works Great! and price wasn't bad.
hart- on the grass, have you tried using a hedge trimmer to cut them back? I think I did that last year on my black moudry grass. But it did not work on liriope, too dull or liriope too soft.....

Sally,

If your Hosta clump is not too old (congested) here's what you can do.
Dig up the clump and hose off every bit of soil from the roots using one of those skinny, cone shaped attachments that makes a very strong stream. Now you can see all the roots and where they originate. Each growing "pip" has it's own root system and can be teased apart with great patience. This would be the ideal way to divide a Hosta, as all roots on all divisions would be left intact. If your Hosta is old and has made those white, solid rhizome like root masses underneath, this may not work. That's what mine was like....

Re my Rudbeckias---They no longer are thriving anyway. This bed is WET! It is in the way of where all the water runs after a heavy rain. I need to make it a bit higher and add some "good stuff" to all the soil in there. It has been eons since this bed has been dug. Time to start clean.

Sally, The Toro you bought, is it a "Personal Pace" one? I have had mine for several years and love it. No pushing--just walk and guide. Mine starts with a yank, though.

I'll be digging up things as time permits. The LOV are pretty invasive and they are very intertwined. Once you have them--you will always have them! I will be sure to let you all know when I have dug them up. The Rudbeckias I may have to pot up in some way, as they really are not yet showing any growth.
Critter---NO! Baltimore is NOT that far! Would you really want some???

Getting my taxes done today. I hate to see how much I will owe Uncle Sam! Sold all my HD stock last year. That will cost me.....Hope the tax people can figure it all out.

OK! Gotta start the day and stop playing on the computer....

Gita

I really would, Gita.... I've transplanted a few from my mother's yard, but they didn't quite "take"... However, I now have a tilled bed (with soaker hose irrigation) back in the semi-shade (eg, not quite all day sun like the rest of the yard gets, the trees provide a little dappled afternoon shade), and I think I might have a better chance.

Well, phoo, I just looked up your addy, and you couldn't be farther from me and still be in Baltimore! I'll see if I can get things under control enough around here to head up your way... I thought hart had a great idea with that!

If all else fails, maybe you'd be willing to stuff some in a box for me... I could send you some tomato seedlings to put in their place, and I'll bet I could come up with some other goodies as well...

Critter,

My girlfriend, Maggie, is moving from here to Martinsburg end of April. How close/far is that from you? She has had a house built and now makes trips very often to attend to all kinds of things. I am sure, if need be, I could send a box of LOV's up with her and you can pick them up. I will miss her. We have become good friends....But---I will probably go to see her once in a while.

You know, I am a strong person--physically and mentally, it is just that when it comes to gardening, it is hard to do all that has to be done when one is NOT allowed to kneel or to stoop/crouch. What's left? Bending over or sitting on a med. stool to do close-to-ground things. Been managing OK all these years, but it is not always easy.

I live right by White marsh Mall. I am 5 minutes away from I-95--exit 67B. If you think you MIGHT be coming this way sometime, let me know. It would give me a deadline to get some of this done. I am itching to do it. I think it is the next major task on my list to do. Besides, it would be awesome to meet some of the people I chat with all the time.

Best! Gita

I googled and found that Martinsburg is nearly as far south as Leesburg, but if your friend goes through Frederick, almost any road she'd take south from there will bring her very near my place!

Is White Marsh Mall near Ikea? It sounds familiar for some reason... I haven't driven much for the past couple of years (migraines), but I'm getting back in the swing of it (let's hear it for migraines under control!)... I need to get up my nerve at some point to tackle the beltways around DC and Baltimore!

OK, I have a rosebush soaking that needs to go into the ground... and I need to do some tilling along the outside edge of our little orchard area, because a friend is letting me dig DLs she doesn't want anymore, and I think they'd be great there... also, I'm going to see about fitting in a little strawberry patch... I wonder if Southern States has strawberry plants in yet? My list keeps getting longer!

BTW, I should explain that we have about half an acre, not some huge expanse... when I talk about our "orchard," I am talking about a dozen dwarf fruit trees! I was going on about different garden areas recently, and somebody thought I had acres of "estate" LOL.

Hmmm, what have I not done this week? Lemme see, cleaned up all the planters and flower beds, raked and cleaned my stamp sized "lawn" - set up two huge planters/trellises for roses, ordered a bunch of plants. At the same time, getting house ready for complete paint job/carpets all over, fixed the plumbing, ordered furniture, had furniture delivered, spring-cleaned house, and worked on several work projects at the same time! Today I need to get to Lowes/HD, buy the "stuff" I need, gravel, mulch, seeds, weedkiller, fertilizer....then off to Target I go for sheets for new bed we had delivered today that is so danged tall I need a trampoline to get into! Spring is glorious, brings all kinds of good things to my life, flowers, plants, fresh air, exercise - I normally sit on my fat derriere all day working in front of my "puter", but now that spring is here I actually refuse jobs so I can get out of the house and garden instead!

Critter,

Your memory serves you right. Ikea is right outside of White Marsh Mall.

I can't blame you for hating driving on the Beltway. DC's or ours. I think the main thing is to know where you are going, how far you are from the exit you need to get off on and not letting anyone bully you. When in Rome--do as the Romans do! When I first started driving I was petrified of getting off on a wrong exit and NEVER finding my way back.

We'll find some way with the LOV. Not to worry! Even if I have to mail them.

Gita

Gita- thanks for the hosta primer. I think the clumps are just about the right size to divide now, before they get too clumped up, like you said. I'm also going to try some seed that I took in the fall from the hugest -I've-ever seen variegated hosta at my dentist's office building, just for fun. I don't think I could go divide their hosta without a lot of questions.
And yes this Toro is kind of self propelling at your pace by how hard you push on the handle. I think it was around $...well I totally forget, or anyway quite comparable to others and we've been happy.
Today- raspberry pruning/thinning, plant parsley and nasturtiums, more weeding and too much pointless contemplation-what will go here? where will I fit that? when will I start these?

I got the rose planted and sowed my peas (pre-sprouted in a baggie)... decided to wait until tomorrow with the tiller so I don't wear out too much to enjoy this evening's hypertufa class at the extension service office! I did lay out a piece of hose along the edge of an area where I want to kill off the grass around a grouping of shrubs (existing and planned) to make it a continuation of another landscape bed... I'll look at it for another day or two, tweak it a bit, then mark the edge with landscape paint. That edger attachment on the new mini-tiller should work well for this project!

Sally,

This may be a long story, but.....
Las Summer I went to visit my sister in Homer, Alaska. That is the warmer part of that state--being right on the water and the Kenai peninsula being between 2 mountain ranges. A MOST beautiful place to go to if you plan to see AK.
Anyway--she has a fenced in garden (or the yearling moose will eat everything) and at the back of it she has some massive Raspberry beds. Now-------hold this thought for a couple of minutes!.............

Also, there is this MOST amazingly fragrant shrub rose that grows there, called the Sitka Rose. I just fell in love with it! SO! (retrieve your thoughts now), a few days before I knew I was leaving, I took some cuttings of the Rose (from a roadside bush) and dug up some sprouts from her Raspberry bushes. I kept them in water and hand-carried them on all my airplane transfers (NO questions asked!) throughout a total of 7 days of 90*-100* heat (yes! they had it too in AK) through Seattle where I visited my daughter for 3 days (also 99* heat!) and then home, tucked beneath the seat in front of me. Does this tell you how much I wanted these cuttings to "make it"???

Well. I root-toned them and potted them in a container and covered them all loosely with a plastic dome. Kept them in total shade outside. I was soooo caring and kept checking them every day. They never made it anyway. :o( I think it was too many days in the plastic bag in a jar of water all through my trip home.
That's why I want to plant a Raspberry bush in this bed I will dig up, but by now, I am not sure I want to bother. Not sure on the Blueberries either. Is it worth it????? I ask you because you mentioned having Raspberries. To be honest--I would trade "doo-doo berries" for a living plant of the Sitka Rose!!!! God! It was beautiful! Can't even describe the fragrance...... Then--MD is NOT AK!

The Toro "Personal Pace" at HD costs $399 for the electric start and about $369 for the "yank" start. I tell you--now that a new season has begun--I will get out my "dormant" Toro mower and give it ONE yank, and it will start on the first one! A cloud of smoke surrounding the sound--but it WILL start!!!!
Love it!!!!!!

Critter! How on Earth do you fit everything you talk about in a half an acre of land???????????????
Your house is on it too, right? Mine is an "older" development lot (38 years). The whole property measures 65'x100'. Everything else sits on that as well. Home, shed, patio, 2 trees, all my flower beds, driveway, etc.
Not too much left for gardening....That is why I cannot try too many new things. There!!!!!

Love you all! Chatting with you all makes my day!

Gita

Gita, apparently the Sitka rose is nothing more than a pink double rugosa rose. You don't often find those at Lowes or Home Depot, but they're not hard to find. They would certainly grow in Maryland. They're very tough and easy to grow roses.

http://www.amityheritageroses.com/HybridRugosas.html

BTW, most of the antique rose varieties have wonderful scents. Not the tea scent of modern tea roses, but real, strong, heavenly rose scent. The old moss rose I have scents a huge section of the yard when it's in bloom and it is just wonderful.

If you really want to be in heaven, get you a damask rose. They're the ones used to produce attar of roses.

LOL, yes the house sits on the half acre also... and DH even has some lawn left! Actually, soon after we moved in, we did some measuring (and negotiating) and marked off a "designated lawn" area in the back yard, ensuring there will always be a big enough grassy space to play ball, set up a volleyball net, etc... There's some more grass than just that area, but that's the area I've agreed not to plant with anything else.

Mostly, I "fit everything in" by having just a little of this and a little of that, and by doing a lot of designing on graph paper, especially for the initial layout of the bed areas. The shape of the lot helps a great deal, too.

Our home is at the end of a cul-de-sac, so we have an oddly shaped lot, like a lopsided pentagon... this is good, because it puts most of the space in the back yard. I have to be a bit more formal in the front yard (and yes, there's some grass left there too, but only maybe half the area that was "lawn" when we moved in), but the small size makes it easier to "keep up."

Our back yard is wedge-shaped, with 2 sides to the rear property line. Along one edge of the rear line is a thin "fence row" of trees. I think we're about the only folks who haven't mowed down all the brushy stuff under the trees (not coincidentally, we also get a lot more birds and other wildlife in our yard), although we have had to declare chemical warfare on the poison ivy back there. In front of the treeline are my perennial beds, including the new shrubs I was just talking about, which will help connect up beds on either side. The "orchard" occupies about 75' x 27' along the other rear property line, at right angles to the fence row. It contains 8 dwarf fruit trees, 2 semi-dwarf cherry trees, and 2 pecan trees. There's a 50' x 6' veggie bed between the orchard and the yard.

There are also beds on 3 sides of the house (eventually on all 4), and there's an island bed (daffs and daylilies) that curves around and between 3 trees we planted near the deck. There's a side patio that also serves as an extra parking space, with a path leading around a small side landscape bed to the back deck, which connects in turn to a half-circle rear patio.

So that should give you some notion of how I fit everything in! LOL, I really need to update the "master design" with a couple recent changes/additions so I can post a diagram rather than trying to paint a word picture!

Critter,

What really would give me an idea is if you posted pictures of all the areas you just described.

SO! Please DO!!!!!

Gita

LOL... I keep thinking I'll take photos once it looks the way I want it! ;-)

I get so caught up in taking photos of individual flowers or small groups of plants that I tend to forget to take the "bigger picture" so to speak. I'll see what I can do -- but probably not right now, as almost everything is still fairly dormant. I figure I should wait until the plants are more obvious than their metal tags!

Ya'll are too funny and have seriously put me to shame!!! I did manage to clean up my entire (stamp size as well) backyard...seeing some of that variegated honeysuckle from last year coming up...whaaa whoooo!! Front yard I started on - key word "started" - still have lilies from the co-op to plant out front. Need to DO that this weeked so I can remember where all the spring flowers are still...LOL!!! Happy to report my "special buy" Persian Lilac from Walmart last year seems to be budding up...yipeee!!! And of course all the Daffy's are open...tulips making their way up but no buds yet. I've been too busy taking pictures to be productive...so what's new right? LOL

Gita, do you think I'm crazy saying the sitka rose is a rugosa? LOL This is what I found.

http://www.uaf.edu/snras/gbg/pubs/sitkarose.html

http://www.alaskarosesociety.org/documents/Sitka_rose.htm

Critter,

Well! I felt energetic today and also did not want to waste the beautiful weather, so I started digging up my LOV. I only dug in an area about 4' long and got almost half a black trash bag full for you. I did not try to separate most of them, so there are a lot of large clumps. You can do that! ...:o)

There will be more to dig. This is just what I did today.

Now--my girlfriend is not going to Martinsburg again until Friday next week. I should have checked with her, but I did not. She passes through Frederick on I-70 on to Hagerstown. Just in case, what exit off of I-70 are you closest to?
I really don't think that the LOV should sit in a black trash bag for 2 weeks---SO??????? I will keep it in full shade. What are we going to do?

Would you have ANY reason to come this way soon? Anyone you know that works this way? Anyone that drives a truck up and down between Frederick and White Marsh (I-95) ? Put on your thinking cap...........think......think......

OR! Hey! It's an hour and a half to here, right? Just make the trip and come and get them. Never know what else you may go home with......

Let me know! Gita

Think.... think.... think.... I feel like Winnie the Pooh! I will see what I can come up with this week.... In case your friend does head down this way sooner, we're near exit 54... we should Dmail so we can swap addresses etc.

Thanks for saving them for me! We'll figure something out.

I'll go first!

I-95 South to exit 67B (White Marsh Blvd. ). First traffic light (s) turn right on Honeygo Blvd. White Marsh Mall will stay to your left. Ikea is almost visible on your left as you turn right. It is only the next light down to your left.

Go to the 3rd traffic light--Ebenezer Rd. It only comes in on your left and does NOT cross over Honeygo Blvd. There is a left turn island. Go .3 miles (point 3 miles) and my house is on the left-- #4705 (on the curb mailbox). I have a Subaru Outback in the driveway--assuming i am home. It is a split level between 2 Colonials. See! Easy!!! If you go past my house you will be at a high school on your left. Turn around and then I will be the 4th house on your right after the HS.

We could make a day of it. Go out to lunch or something. Chat....Gossip......etc.

Some other plants you MIGHT go home with.....

Spider Plant
Swedish Ivy
A cutting of my Ric Rac cactus--rooted
Maybe a rooted Brugmansia
A rooting Beef Steak Begonia
Seedlings (just coming up) of 4 O'cloks
Sprouting Daturas--dbl. purple/whites and triple yellows

Is this enough incentive? Think....think....think......I think you can!!!!

Gita

*Happy Dance*

I just have to make a quick report... Gita and I did manage to get together, and in fact we spent the whole afternoon visiting! Her lovely garden is just waking up, and I think she and I are both making maximum use of our sunny window space in winter. She loaded me up with Lily of the Valley pips and some Shasta Daisies she said needed thinning, and she gifted me with a couple of other lovelies also. I hope it all grows half as well for me as it has for her.

I was actually far more excited about meeting Gita than I was about picking up plants (and you know how much I love plants, so that says something!). She is a wonderful lady! We had such a fun visit together, first at her house and garden, and then over at Ikea... I don't get to Ikea more than every couple of years, so I managed to pretty well fill my cart as we browsed around. Surprisingly enough, I don't think we bought any plant pots there, although Gita did pick up a couple of trays that she thought would work well under her lights (and after the growing season they can be put to other uses, unlike greenhouse flats).

When we said goodbye, we were already trying to figure out when we could get together again!

:-)

Sounds like you guys had a great visit!-even though I live pretty close to the Woodbridge IKEA, I only end up going when my Mom & sis visit, I usually get kitchen stuff-dishtowels, odd bowls, maybe some rag rugs, last fall-I did manage to get some very nice paphiopedilums there...

I got dishtowels and rag rugs! LOL And potholders, and a big cutting board with a lip (so it stays put on your counter, perfect for rolling dough I think), and even a sooo soft kangaroo with a joey in her pouch (for my mom, since they just returned from their trip Down Under).