It's a new week!! What are you up to?

I hope everyone had a joyous Easter weekend!

Warmer weather is on the way again... big sigh of relief. I've just been leaving everything covered up the last few days, but I may pull off the pots and boxes for a few hours this afternoon so the plants get a little sun... might not even have to cover up again tonight, as it looks like the forecast is for above-freezing temps. But just in case, perhaps I'll leave the sheet over the Butterfly J Maple one more night....

I think this will be a good week for tilling and moving rocks around... There's a nearby construction site that I've made 5 after-hours trips to so far with the CR-V. I'm not making a dent in the piles of rocks there, but I'm getting a lot of lovely stepping stones! I'm hoping the next time they shove the piles around I'll be able to find a bunch of the longer, more narrow rocks I like for building low walls and borders.

I am loving my new little electric Mantis, as I think you all know by now. :-) It's easy to control, but it bounces enough that between using it and moving those rocks around I think I'll be building up my biceps pretty well!

What is everyone else up to this week, either in or out of the garden?

This message was edited Apr 9, 2007 9:11 AM

You're cracking me up with your tiller, Critter. LOL I'm picturing a swath of broken ground everywhere you've been in your wake. LOL I shouldn' laugh - if I had one I'd be doing the same thing.

It costs either $15 or $20, but if you're ever down this way you can get a permit to collect rocks in the GW National Forest. You have to tell them where you want to rock hunt and it will be specific only to those areas. You can't collect in places like the recreation areas. But you can get some really nice rocks, pretty much any size you want. I even got some that had amethysts in them. The permit is good for something like up to 4 tons. Like who hauls home 4 tons of rocks? LOL

I have lots of rocks in the yard but they're all soft limestone so we got the rocks for the water garden in the forest.

I don't think I'll be doing much outside until it gets warmer later this week. Supposed to be in the 60s by Thursday. I need to finish raking where I burned brush in the vegetable bed so it can be tilled with the big tiller this weekend.

I have a fairly largish shrub I'd like to move if I can manage to chisel a hole for it in our rocky yard. And the baby chicks will be arriving later this week, so I have to get everything ready for them. Anybody want a pet rooster? Sounds like they're including lots of "males for comfort and warmth" with my order. What am I going to do with a flock of roosters? LOL

They're still calling for temps in the 20s the next two nights so I'm leaving everything covered until it warms up. So far they've been wrong about the night temps but I'm not taking any chances.

Let's see, what else. I hardly know where to start this time of year.

Hey, Critter, have you seen the new Black and Decker rechargable cultivator? I have the B&D rechargable trimmer, which I love. I'm sure the cultivator won't do nearly what a Mantis or the other bigger ones will do but it might be an option for flower beds. It's only $99 at Lowes.

Hmmm, perhaps we need to get a permit for the swap weekend! I can get some pretty nice rocks around here, but I've been known to drag home rocks from elsewhere (usually small ones, but there have been exceptions!). A lot of the ones I have now bordering my beds came from when a neighbor had a swimming pool put in, and the 3 big boulders around my patio are from when they were still building houses on our street... I slipped our site supervisor a few bills, and he came out on the weekend with the front end loader and patiently nudged them into just the right position!

I haven't seen the B&D cultivator, but I have been using the Mantis more with the tines set up for cultivating than for tilling... 3-4 inches deep is all I need for most areas, to chop up the henbit and other little weeds and to get the soil surface ready for seed sowing. "Rechargable" would mean no cord to worry about -- although I'm pleased to report I still haven't managed to till through my extension cord! It helps that it's orange, LOL, and I've developed the habit of flipping it over my shoulder as I go.

I don't think it will hurt the plants to just stay covered for a few days like this after all, my peonies have been in the garage all this time and they still look fine. Just don't uncover them first thing in the morning on a bright sunny day... any new growth might need a little chance to adjust to the light.

Hi, gals!
critter- I am so into rock collecting, your style, just because I like them. We have them here and there in the flower bed or yard. Here's Bristol TN, there's WV....
Sadly we will also have homes built right behind this year it looks like. I'll be looking forthe perfect rocks. Along with the kids making use of the temporary moonscaape effect.
I don't think I've had any frost damage here.

Oh, the home building right behind us is coming also... if they don't break ground this year, it'll be the year after. We've enjoyed our view while we've had it (across the cornfields, mountains in the distance), but we knew when we moved in that it wouldn't last. We're on a cul-de-sac, but there are a couple of adjacent roads that simply dead-end, so it was pretty clear that they'd be putting those through to somewhere sooner or later.

Ha! I managed to squeeze the rest of the spaghetti sauce into the freezer, which was no mean feat. I think I really do need to get a pressure canner... I have an upright freezer and a mid-sized chest freezer, and both of them are crammed!

I've started making meat sauce in the Nesco roaster, 15 quarts at a time... it doesn't take that much longer than filling the crock pot, and a batch lasts us 3-4 months this way. It's our standard thing to serve the night company arrives, as it's easy and doesn't require a set dinner time, and it's also my standard thing to carry over to a friend or neighbor who needs a break (with a box of pasta, a bag of salad fixings, and a baguette). I used just about the last of the frozen herbs in this batch, so hopefully I'll have plenty of fresh basil, oregano, and thyme by the time we're at the end of it.

Oh I want to be out in my gardens so bad, plant some things, move some things and then plop into a hot tub.
Today was my second day at my part time job. I am working in the garden center at a local HD so I can get out of the house a few days a week and make a little cash doing it. I went in at 9am today and was managerless for about 2 hours so I swept and put plants where their displays were, checked what should be watered before it died, helped some people find things they wanted, pulled dead leaves, had to go and find a trash can, and basically just straightened up as best I could. At about 11 the manager shows up and I ask her whats the job today so I can get started on it, today was moving annuals into the greenhouse so they didnt freeze(not easy, they are all on carts and we have minimal space), water everything in the greenhouse and Oh I had to make my own name tag, LOL. My manage left around 12:30 as her brother was coming in from out of town and she had to meet him at the airport so that left me all by myself again. I work until two but stayed till three because it took me so long to untangle the hose, step around customers and make sure I gave everything a drink while trying not to water the stuff that likes it dry. OMG!!! I am so glad I have an idea of what Im doing, I just wish I was that self motivated at home, HAHA.
After work I came home, emptied the dishwasher and refilled it, vacuumed, heated up some coffee and then came here. I am so tired but had a good day I think and cant wait to fill up the tub, just gotta wait till the kids go to bed tonight so I dont have to worry about getting up till the water cools off.

Good for you with your new job! People are going to be singing your praises when they figure out that somebody at HD actually knows something about plants... sounds like you've already convinced the manager you can handle things!

Dravencat, I'll bet you'll love it, it really grows on you. This is the best time of year to start work in a garden center-it's busy, so you'll catch on fast, you get to see new plants , everyone's happy about spring, so the customers are more congenial than usual :)

I'm still starting seeds, and I still don't have any idea where I'm going to put them. This was my project for this morning. A little hard to see but the grey areas are my rocks. You might be able to read (please ignore my spelling, I'll fix it later) what is up or coming up in the bed now and there will be more. The Wood Hyacinth, Jack in the Pulpit and Violets should be coming up pretty soon. I planted Hardy Cyclamen and Katherine Hodgkins Iris but I havn't seen any signs of them yet.

Holly, I'm glad I'm not the only one still doing layouts on graph paper! I've tried a couple of landscape programs, but somehow I end up going back to my pad of graph paper... I do sometimes use a transparancy overlay (one of those page protectors, and a vis a vis marker) when I'm working out a design so I don't do quite so much erasing.

I like your groupings of azaleas, columbines, etc... can you dig that bed out a little further to make some more room for the seedlings you mentioned? Do you have other areas you're planning/planting thsi spring?

Hi all ! I was at work today but noted the sun came out later in the afternoon, still to cold to do anything outside and the ground is still covered with snow, so I didn't feel so bad being inside.

The fence guy called me at work today he has been shopping around for prices and had little to report, might call me tonight.

Dravencat, good luck on your new job, now don't go spending all you hard earned $$ on plants. Now everyone, should Dravencat just start a new thread..." Look what I brought home from work" LOL

Going to check the other threads, catch you later.

Chris

Oh, I have plenty of room to plant the seedlings just no more room under the lights. I always add some pansies to this flower bed and I have about 50 pansies under the lights right now. Some will go in this bed and some will go in some other beds. This bed is about 21 ft long and 4 to 5 ft wide. It's in front of my house to the left (going in) of my front walk and there is a stone walkway that runs from the front walkway around to the side of the house. The walk way is just a stepping stone path and I want to widen it and fill it in a little to make a more substantial walkway with a more curved line. Then extend the bed just a little more. Or maybe push it out into the front yard beyond the stone walkway.
I've tried a computer program several years ago but I always go back to the graph paper. This is my first draft, as the summer goes by I will add to it then rework it at the end of the summer. I'll should have a pretty good finished draft by then, I like the idea of using the overlays I've never tried that Here is a picture of a small area with Crocus and moss.

LOL Chris, Ive already brought home a decorative pot that I stuffed one of my plants in that was still in a greenhouse planter, the planter at one time had a money tree in it but that disappeared. There is a palm tree with my name on it but I forgot to bring it home tonight as I was anxious to get home. Hopefully its still there tomorrow, got a little frostbit but I can handle ugly for a bit to have a nice Majesty Palm for 2.50.

HollyAnn, I wish I had the patience to put my gardens on graph paper, kudos to you.

I'm recently retired so I have a lot of time. This is something I always wanted to do and now I have the time. Here is a picture of the 2 Azaleas on the far corner. You can see a little of the stepping stones. This was taken last summer and I really need to get some stain on the front of my house this year. I'm so use to seeing it I didn't realize how bad it was till I started to take pictures and then WOW that really does look bad.

I think that's the problem most of us face-either we have plenty of time, but not enough money to do things the way we want or we buy things faster than we can figure out where to plant them (not enough time). I keep saying that when I win the lottery, I'll be golden-plenty of time & plenty of money to lavish on my garden. Until then, I guess I'm still happy w/ my haphazard approach-not enough time OR money, but lots of love...

thistle, your post is so true, I need more time too, but I just plant where I think it needs to be. Not much planing here, Sometimes I'll walk all around the yard with a plant in hand looking for the right spot, or find an empty spot but don't have the right plant.

Holly love those pictures, so springy

Sounds just like the way I plant things.

echoing here- then how about when you go to move one thing, but have to move something else first or after, then that needs a place... and on !

I can sympathize with that- I have 2 small 'White Chocolate' crape myrtles that I have moved probably no less than 5 times-they look terrible, I wish they'd just go ahead & die, so I can chuck them...

Oh, I'm a dump it here until I can deceide what I want to do with it person. That's why I have to do the graphs now. I'm not sure what all I have in some of these beds. I figure if I start now by next year I should have a good idea of everything, where they are and what color they are and when they bloom. Then next year I'll have a better idea of what I neeeeeeeed. Plus you know how Garden Designers tell you to know where you are going to put a plant before you buy it, not me!!! Bring it home and I'll find someplace for it.

Rocks, did someone mention rocks? I'm a rockaholic - LOL Sallyg, I do the same thing - identify them in the house or landscape - these are from Maine, some nice flat smooth ones from Marblehead, Mass, a few from Florida, etc, etc, etc. LOL Used to have a gravel pit where I lived in Maine where I could "pick" to my heart's content - only problem I picked too many and instead of just incorporating them into the gardens - I ended up building rock walls!! This picture is of our front entry with a collection of rocks from the Great Lakes in Michigan. We're in the middle of a major makeover of our front entry which means these all have to be picked up and then laid back down once we incorporate our containers, water feature, etc. Keep in mind that there is a right and a left on the front entry and this is just the left!

These are a few of the "special" ones that I've urethaned which enhances their colors and makes them look wet. So "What are you up to?"....with this nasty weather (cold, brrrrr) I've been busy painting and obviously will have more rocks to urethane :) Had really hoped to have an opportunity over the weekend to get out into the gardens but it was just too darned cold!

Debbie

So, what am I up to? Ha-ha. Please don't laugh. Only yesterday did I receive a tax document that I need in order to file. So, that is on my list for the day. ha-ha I am not usually the sort who waits this late but am not too interested in writing a check to the government quite yet either. I will be surprised if we get money back, but won't balk if we do.

Oh boy, were we spoiled with some really gorgeous weather a week or so ago. But, it turned winter on us again last week and temperatures were too low to get outside and do anything. I was finally able to get some inside lights set up and several different seeds planted. I still lots more seeds to do also, but not sure when.

For the past couple of week I am trying to do a little maintenance on my indoor plants. Doesn't seem quite right to me to leave some of them looking bad and go outside to tend others. I would like to have all indoor plants at top performance before heading outside for a few months. I still have a few that are looking neglected so will try to get to them this week.

I think this is a great topic critter. I love hearing from others. It is helpful also because I am sometimes reminded of things that I had forgotten to do. I have someone coming on Friday to help me continue my ongoing "clean the shed" project. Hubby has set up two vehicles at the entrance to the building. One is for things to go to landfill and the other is for donations. I tend to want to hold on to things and find it difficult getting rid of things. One day last week I was able to get one car load of donation items sent off. Hey, the building doesn't look any different yet, but that one load did help a bit.

Anyway, I am looking forward to continuing to hear about the things that everyone is doing in preparation for the gardening season. All of you folks are the very greatest. I enjoy reading everyone's posts. Have a great day all.

Ruby.

I've been catching up on repotting some indoor plants, rooting cuttings that folks wanted, etc... but the biggest indoor plant job that awaits me is treating all of my african violets for cyclamen mites, and for that I decided to wait until the weather got a bit warmer again... That Avid is nasty stuff, and I'll be taking every recommended precaution with it, but I do not want to work with it inside the house! Meanwhile, I did manage to sort through a rather extensive collection of plants, plantlet, leaf pots, etc.... threw away about 7 full grocery bags, which was a bummer, but no way am I going to treat that many plants! I don't think I'll end up losing many varieties, although a bunch of them will simply be restarted from leaf (best way to go if the parent plant is looking bad I think, plus it's really easy to dip a couple of leaves for treatment).

Ruby, sorry you got that tax doccument so late... makes you more nervous about the deadline than need be. I have a basement that's probably rather like your shed, and I've been working on organizing stuff down there, trying to get rid some things that shouldn't have been kept but just got buried. I should probably be much more ruthless about culling things, but now that we've put up some more shelves, the "junk" has an orderly look to it!

boy. kindred souls here in a couple ways. Can totally sympathize with stuff-sorting, the occasional procrastinated document, and just wanting to play with plants and rocks all day!!!!! I think we will need a show us your rocks thread. at some point. My native rocks here are weird bumpy orange things, not too enticing for building. But with various digs in the yard we uncover old river rocks that were parts of old drainage or whatever and I hoard those. But what to do with? Some are by a downspout as a small dry creek effect. (i'm probably the only one here who realizes thats what it is!)
Houseplants here, some are just hanging on till they can go outside and I know they will get really happy soon after that.
I am thrilled to report that my peruvian daffodils are sprouting in a pot inside- got those last year first time and didn't have bloom yet, but read good positives in PF. And even better, hopefully, the Hosta plantaginea that has no roots bottom is sprouting like crazy. But will it root too? I am ready tp pamper if need be.

I grew Peruvian Daffs one summer at the townhouse without knowing what they were, so I didn't know they were tender *snif* and of course they didn't overwinter. But they were *gorgeous*!!! The blooms will knock your socks off!

The reason I didn't know what they were is that I bought the bulb at a flower show in Maastrich, and communication was limited... but there was a pretty picture above these enormous bulbs (like a sweet potato!), and I had to try them! My then-fiancee was as rule bound then as now, and he made me go through the "something to declare" line in customs. I nearly lost them! Apparantly, bulbs can be brought in, but they must have a phytosanitary sticker of some sort on them, and mine didn't. But I explained where I got it, and somehow they decided I could keep it... they confiscated my orange (which I got on the plane) instead.

that's' funny, took the orange. But I would have been happy with that too! my PD wasn't huge last year but it divided into three. I now swear an oath to fertilize and make sure they bloom and multiply again . I think 'fertilize more' should be my main goal this year.

RCN, I love your rocks and what do you have in that pot? Are they Alpines? so pretty. I have rocks too. I drag them home all the time even in my luggage some times. We should start a Rock thread. I have them in my yard, flowerbeds and sitting all over my deck. For a while I had a pile in the corner of my living room. My son took a couple to give as a wedding present to a friend.
Critter, On the way home from Austria, standing in customs this cute little Beagle with a FDA vest comes over wagging his tail and sits down next to my husband and looks up at him. Ric turns to the handler and says we have a Beagle wonder if he smells him on me. The handler says "NO". Turns out Ric had put an apple in his backpack from his lunch on the plane. So funny we have an international fruit smuggling ring. LOL

Redstone wall

Ooh, nice! Yes, we definitely need a "show us your rocks" thread! Is that some sort of sedum growing in the crevices?

LOL at "international fruit smuggling ring." You know, I would never have packed along fruit that I'd purchased in another country, but somehow fruit served on the plane just didn't raise that red flag for me!

It didn't for Ric either, and we wouldn't have brought fruit back from another country. When they first asked him, he didn't even think about his apple till he dumped out his bag.
I have sedum, hen's & chicks and some type of volunteer fern growing between the rocks and moss and lichen on them. It will look much nicer in a couple of weeks when everything brightens up. The sedum is yellow and really puts on a show when it blooms. The stone wall is the front of a flower bed and really looks nice in the summer when it is planted.

This week I am potting up- so far I've done Daturas, Cosmos, and Tomatoes. Still have to do Cucumbers, Zucchini, and clump plant my Alyssums (which I planted WAY to thickly LOL).
And earlier today I went outside and checked my wintersown seedlings- nothing new germinated though, but I am really going to have to do something about the bachelor buttons- I shoulda planted way less of those LOL.
My two Echinacea from last summer have sprouted quite a few leaves, and I noticed some tiny volunteers from last year's morning glories and coreopsis.
You know, I honestly don't know where I'm gonna put all these vegetable plants (some 80 plus are tomatoes)- I overplanted to ensure that I'd get the ONE or two of each that I wanted for my roof deck. Didn't think the little buggers would give me such good germination rates :-)
Its a beautiful day in the mid 50's here in Philly- you can really feel spring in the air. The house sparrows (which I curse in the summertime for eating the petals off my flowers) are really cute taking dirt baths in my pots and planters from last summer :-)
Samantha

Holly- cute story!
Phlowers- you sure know how to pack it in for a roofdeck garden. It kills me too, to not make room for all the babies. Yard sale or swap, maybe? I was so psyched the one year I sold garden overflow at yard sale. Seemed like really easy money.

Bring your extra tomato plants to the swap in June. I'm sure there will be people who will love to have them. I hope I'll have a few extras. I planted a bunch of heirloom tomato seeds.

Samantha, I'm sure the swap will be too far for you. You might offer the extras in the plant swap forum. Maybe get yourself some nice plants in exchange or you can offer them for postage.

I hope I can make it to the swap (think I can), because I don't know what I was thinking when I sowed and transplanted an entire flat of cherry tomatoes! I had all these different varieties, and rather than deciding on a few to try I sowed 4-6 seeds of each -- and got great germination, LOL. I tilled up some space at the edge of the yard where I think I can fit at least half a dozen plants (easy for the neighborhood kids to find and know they're welcome to pick all they like), and I'm going to see if I can give some others away locally also. But even if everyone I know gets a cherry tomato plant, I think I'll still have extras!

I will need vegetable plants. I didn't start any just for those reasons. I really only need one or two tomato plants. So I fiqured I would just buy vegetable plants. When I deceide what I want to grow.
If you have room to grow them and time to harvest them, the food banks will take them.

"If you have room to grow them...."

That's just the problem -- I don't! As it is, I'm trying to figure out how to work in a row of beans or some cucumber hills between the dwarf fruit trees so I can fit more tomato and pepper plants into the main veggie bed.... :-)

Oh, and when we get closer to the swap date, I'll be sure to post a list of what extras I have so people can put their name on a few that they'd like me to bring... I'll have everything planted out by then, so everything that's left will be available for the asking!

I would suggest that you not do that, Critter. What I'm saying is don't have everything you're bringing already promised to someone. For one thing, you are most likely going to get here and find things you want to swap for. For another, and I went through this at the swap last year, you'll have plants that are promised to people who don't show that others may be interested in and you're stuck all day not knowing whether to go ahead and swap them or wait for the person on your list.

I would strongly urge everyone to just use your haves list mainly for information on what will be available and wants lists as suggestions on what to bring.

Oh, I'm not talking about putting names on *everything* I'm bringing, but I think it can help to have a few things pre-arranged. Not a big deal, either way. The only other swap I've participated in had relatively few people involved, so it was probably easier to figure things out.

If this swap turns out to be a sizable event, I think I've read about other swaps that used a system where people brought X number of plants, put them in a common pool of plants and received X number of chits for them, which they then exchanged for X number of other plants. I know that doesn't really take size/value into (maybe some plants should be worth 2 or 3 chits), but it seemed like an orderly way of doing things.

You've done this before, so you know what's likely to work best -- I'm quite willing to be guided by your suggestions!