What's in the wind this week?

Since a new week has started, I thought we needed a new chatty thread...
For purposes of continuity, we came from here, http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/710847/#new.

If you're new to the forum, please jump right in! This thread is just for sharing thoughts and experiences, for letting everyone know what we're up to this week (in or out of the garden).

I hope nobody got blown away in last night's winds. Looking out the back window, I can see a few plastic pots that I need to chase down and corral... remarkably, the lids seem to have stayed on my wintersowing containers. DH went out at midnight to take the umbrella pole out of the center of the table (even with the umbrella furled, the table will go tumbling in high winds otherwise).

I hope this blustery morning will soon turn to sunny spring weather!

Hi critter and everybody. Good idea, new thread. I couldn't wait to finish bathroom cleaning, spotty as it is LOL, to make the last easter egg sandwich and sit at the 'puter to check Dave's.(hope the eggs aren't too old -ugh)
Since I couldn't play with the real plants yesterday, without scuba gear on, (Holly!) I cleaned up some of my pictures and journal entries. Ladygardener encouraged me to use the journal and I'm liking it. I finally know how many daffodils I have. 12, or was it thirteen, not counting White Lion which I don't think will bloom anymore. Beautiful but dwindled; maybe if I fertilized more it would persist.
New purchases are so easy to add to journal! put the cultivar into Plantfile search, up pops the page, a t the bottom click add to journal-yay.
Dravencat- going through some of the same here, at-home-mom wise. I'm contemplating going part time for the cafeteria monitor at the elem school. I think they would take me couple days a week which is all I want, to stay 'in' and in the future I will have better access to other positions that open up there. Schools have a variety of odd jobs, aides, assistants, etc. My dream would have me end up at the Outdoor Ed center.
This daff is my newest, dug up from the soon to be bulldozed farm behind me. Its the only worthwhile thing I have found! It is the trashiest place you could imagine. It's not like they just left everything. It's as if they have spent the last twenty years just dropping things wherever they felt like it. It's pretty strange. What's a computer monitor in box doing in a shed? Can't even find an old manure pile, now I imagine they never cleaned a stall, maybe the last few years of few horses there just stayed in the field..?

Sally, I was thinking about you this morning. Very glad we have the new Hot Tub cover with good tie down straps. LOL
I'm working inside on my seeds today and just waiting for the winds to die down. I'd like to get out into the yard and work on some things before my surgery on Friday. I have ton's of ditch lilies to get rid of. I can bring them to the swap or send them to anyone that wants them.

Here is an old story from the last big wind storm if anyone is interested. A couple of those pictures will definitely be good for a morning laugh.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/665701/

Let me see, what's in the wind? Well tree branches for one. A very large piece of poplar tree fell across my car. AGAIN. Not as bad as the first time about 11 years ago where the damage was extensive because part of the branch pierced the windshield, went down through the dash, went behind the radio console, and came out by the clutch. Saw some scratches that will hopefully buff out, but dented my husbands new BMW so he's a bit bummed. Also went home last night and to my dissapointment, the wind broke my Helleborus foetidus. Yes, it broke my Stinking Hellebore *sniff*. This is the plant that always got me through the winter, still large and green through the season. I haven't inspected the damage closely yet so I'm not sure if it will come back or if I'll have to replace it. And I was going to try to get some seeds this time, but I'm not sure the blooms were dry enough darn it. *Sigh*

Oh, sorry to hear about the cars -- and about the Hellebore!

I was just wondering if anyone had had damage from this storm. Those winds were fierce! Here, it looks like a couple of smaller branches are down (but no damage done), and of course a bunch of things blew around the yard. I put our Christmas tree behind the trees (fence row) at the back of the yard so it could form the base for another critter-friendly brush pile (and so it could deter the kids from riding their bikes right through that spot and into my garden)... it is now in the middle of the back yard!

Everyone -- please report in!

:-)

Well so far we have lucked out. No snow, some rain but not enough to be a problem and luckly no wind damage yet. Other than it keeps me in the house when I really want to get out in the yard. Such a shame about your flowers and cars Miatablu. Hellebore are on my list for next year a new must have.

Holly- I went back and read- Your phrase 'blind cat and idiot beagle' cracks me up. Reminds you of a fairy tale.
miatablu- Knock on wood !! have never had a tree part come through a car. My condolences. And on losing the special plant and chance for seed that you were planning on.
I've learned , I never realize how much junk I have around until a windstorm, or I take pictures for DG.

miatablue, my brother always said BMW stands for 'break my windshield' or window... a large Oak branch busted his in our driveway years ago, and then several break-ins in L.A. It was nice, a1977 Bavaria. I learned to drive standard shift in that car.
This was 'in the wind' yesterday, I looked out front to see if the mail had come yet and somebody's mini-van was smoldering and quickly caught fire:

We lost a couple of large branches on an old lilac...looking at the bright side it will allow more light to use daylilies in the little area formed by the two lilacs....many other branches down, one tent blown into the woods & missing electricity for about 16 hours....all in all not too bad compared to everything in other places :-)

Now i know i need a list of things to have in case the power goes out!

Miatablu, your hellebore should be fine. All of my perennial books say to cut them back every spring to allow them to grow new foliage anyway.

Our power didn't stay off, but we had umpteem blips where it would go off for a minute and then back on. Thank heavens - I would have had to rig up something to keep the baby chicks warm if it had gone off.

But I was having a devil of a time with my internet service yesterday. Pages wouldn't load, or would take forever to load, email wasn't loading. It seems fine today.

Main things if it looks like power is going out:

Fill water bottles or the bathtub with water if you have a well pump. Don't use milk bottles - they never stop having that funky milk smell and your water will taste weird. Of course you have to do this beforehand.

You can also, if you have a large freezer with space, fill some and keep them in there ahead of time. It helps keep the things in the freezer cold and you have water when you need it.

Camping lanterns. I have several of the flourescent ones from Costco. Much better light than kerosene lanterns or candles.

Some source of heat if the weather is cold - wood stove, kerosene heaters. The wood stove is nice because you can heat water and cook on it in a pinch. Although I've also been known to crank up the grill outside to cook when the power was out. LOL

An old fashioned corded telephone so you have the use of your phone when the power is out.

good suggestions, hart.
I see you in a fishing vest, a chick in each pocket.

We have lots of branches down from the trees, 'natural pruning', even a squirrels nest, but no signs of baby squirrels, the leaves on alot of my Japanese maples look distinctly horizontal!-I pulled my newest JM, 'Tiger Rose' into the garage.

So, after yesterday's gale force winds & the previous day's torrential rains, when they called me from work to see if I wanted to take the day off, what did I do? Go shopping for plants, of course! I added 6 new roses- 3 Rainbow Knockouts (which will be great in front of a fence, near a newly planted quince tree), 2 Silver Star, 1 Cl. Garden Sun & a Strike it Rich (a replacement plant for a boxed rose which is definitely dead). Now, to get these all in the ground, before my DH realizes the influx of roses!...

Hart, glad you and your new chicks are OK... I admit, I ROFLOL'd at Sally's image, because I could just picture it too!

Thistle, your new roses sound lovely! I think Rainbow is supposed to be the Knockout that has a bit of fragrance... ?... you'll have to report back when yours blooms!

Sally, Buddy our Beagle should have been named Odie, after the dumb dog in the Garfield cartoons. I don't think I've ever had a dog this dumb and this lovable. LOL
I know just what you mean about taking pictures for DG. The last couple of years I have been saying that the front of the house needs a new coat of stain. Then I took a picture of a couple of flower beds near the front of the house, to post in DG and WOW all of a sudden I realizied how bad it really is.

I have more roses than I'd like to admit, tucked away here & there, & my boss, (I work in a garden center) keeps asking why I haven't gotten any Knockouts yet-she doesn't really like roses, but she's sold on Knockouts. I have purchased several & given them to my kids' teachers, soccer coaches, & Brownie leaders, but these are the first I've gotten for myself-I'll let you know how they do...

The area where I'm going to plant them is a corner, next to our neighbor's privacy fence & in front of the 5 rail fence to the back yard. I planted a tree there & my husband hates to try & mow around it, so if I plant roses & mulch, he can't complain, right?

Right! :-)

DH says I've put in too many little trees and shrubs to mow around at the back of the yard, so I'm planning to put down cardboard and mulch, make a curved back line to the lawn to connect up my older and newer perennial beds... I don't plan to try to fill it in for a few years, well, not this year anyway (other than moving the last few bushes that the builder gave us in the front foundation bed... healthy, tough little plants, but taking up too much space where I could be growing hostas and coral bells!).

I've got a hose down now to mark the line for the new bed, and I'll keep nudging it around until I like the outline, then I'll mark it off and cut the edge of the "bed."

Critter, Have your husband mow the line before you dig it in. I found out that what I thought was an easy bend was just a little too tight for our mower.

I'm pretty sure he ran the mower along it last weekend... it's a very gradual curve, so it should work fine. BTDT with making the curves too tight for easy mowing and having to dig out the line again! Thanks.

Sally, that's a creative solution. LOL The chicks were so funny last night. They'd be so quiet and then the lights would go off and they were all peep, peep, peeping until the lights came back on.

They didn't seem upset, but they appear to enjoy anything that's new. "What's this?! Hey, this is different. Let's all check it out! Darkness! Wow, that's cool. Light! Oh, we've already seen light."

Howdy all!
Lemme see, what was NOT in the wind this week - not much - I have a deck full of annuals/roses/vines that needs to be planted and quite a few of them went flying - not fun, I am kind of scared of planting anything yet due to erratic weather - but, I guess tomorrow is it! The deck is scheduled for a power-washing/staining and I need to empty everything off the deck before that can take place - and I am in the middle of getting the house redecorated and as much as I would like to ignore all the tidying, sorting, decluttering I should be doing RIGHT now to make room for painters/carpenters/carpet people, I guess I can't put it off much longer! A real spring needs to show up soon!

Is the wind gone? Is spring really on the way? After all this wacky weather I would not be surprised if a swarm of locusts was next. My neighborhood was built in the early 1990's and the builder sure had a thing for Bradford Pears. On Monday morning I could stand in my front yard and see three Bradfords that lost large limbs in the wind storm. I need to develop a replacement strategy for the three Bradfords that are in my yard!

- Brent

Sun! SUN!!! I see sunshine and blue sky out there... I am going to go play in the mud!

... A friend called just now, saying she needed to run up to a local nursery, and did I want to come along and then join her for lunch... oh, twist my arm! LOL OK, I know she is hoping for help loading up some bags of mulch, but that's fine too. Her daughter is all excited this week because somebody gave them a pine seedling. They're going to grow it in a pot this year, and when the Air Force moves them next summer I've promised to give it a home in my yard. My DH says it's fun to see how much more "into" plants my friend has become over the past few years that she's kown me... when they lived down the street, her youngest daughter was my frequent garden buddy... DH called her my "Paduon Learner" (a la Star Wars).

Brent, just hush up about that swarm of locusts (or Japanese beetles?). We've got a pear tree out front too from our builder, not a Bradford but something quite similar. At least they alternated between dogwood, cherry, and pear trees when they decided to add a flowering tree to every front yard. The development my brother lived in previously had a rule that you could plant trees in the strip between the sidewalk and the road -- but only if they were Bradford pears. For some reason, there was a shortage that year, and he searched for months before finding a pair!

gita told me about this forum and thought i would take a look but once i saw critter was here i had to read on. i have had a gas powered mantil for several years now. i think it works great once ou have an established garden but i found i had lots of problems when i we3nt to till a new area that had grass on it. the tiller kept getting clogged and i had to constantly turn it off and clean out the tines. and it does bounce around alot.

the weather here looks a little better than the past two days. we have lots of rain but thankfully, the area where my house is built at one time was a stone quarry or something like that cause there is never any water in our basements. it makes putting in a garden a little tougher but i think the trade off is a good one.

Frank!! I'm glad Gita lured you to this forum... I've been having fun getting to know some of the folks here, and it's nice to get to know some DGers I might actually have a chance to meet... I think that's one of my favorite things about this local forum!

I thought about the gas Mantis, but I decided I'd rather deal with the long extension cord than with the pull cord start and the gas/oil mixture. I really hate pull cord starts... I think I just don't have the upper body strength to make 'em start up with one pull (or even two).

I'm glad you didn't have problems with your house/yard with all the wind & rain!

i bought it for 299.99 and it came with an edger and some other attachements.

That's what I just paid for mine, ordered through Amazon with free shipping... got the edger and a kickstand with it... I think that's about $50 less than I'd have paid ordering through the Mantis web site.

Welcome Herbie/Frank or whoever you are~~

critter- have to ask, 1- did you realize when you made your 'name' that people would call you critter , and 2- do you mind??

I have only used a tiller rarely- this area is so shovel friendly (ducking from the rock-pry-bar-crowd threatening) I must say, check out the Black and Decker line of rechargeable tools. hart mentioned the string trimmer, I think, and it uses the same exact battery pack system as a dustbuster handheld vac and I think they have more. We think its just awesome being interchangeable, and its a good long lasting battery.

Getting brave/impatient and have a tray of plants out to start hardening off in the nice calm cloudy weather.

"Critter" has been my nickname other times/places, so it's fine with me! "Crit" on the other hand always makes me think of medical tests... LOL

That's a good idea... I have some early tomatoes that should go out for a bit of sun this afternoon! I'll plant them out with Wall-o-Waters once they're hardened off... I've got 'Stupice' and 'Jaune Flamme' again this year (both fabulous), and I'm trying another "early" red variety, 'Bradley'.

I put a couple of mid/late season plants out last year in WOWs, just to see, and I don't think they produced tomatoes more than a couple of days before their counterparts set out at the regular time. But it definitely works out for me with the early ones! Yum!

I have the Black and Decker rechargable trimmer and I love it. Got it from Lowes and it came with a xtra battery pack. Loaned it to my neighbor once and she cut off my clematis at the mailbox with it. She probably did me a favor though, because it wasn't doing well and I probably wouldn't have given it the hard prune it needed. It's coming back very well this spring. My neighbor is the kiss of death for all plants.

Sally, they have a rechargable cultivator now too. I saw them at Lowes for $99.

Well, I got me a cultivator the other day thanks to a gift certificate I was given for Lowes. Had to get the Toro because they only carry Toro, Bolen and the B&D rechargable. I didn't think a battery operated one would stand up to our rocks.

I haven't tried it out yet thanks to the lovely weather we've been having. I hope it's not going to be a nightmare to start. If it is, it's going right back.

I love my B&D trimmer too. So easy to use.

Brent, I have a suggestion for replacing your Bradfords. Zelkovas are such pretty trees, very nice shape and tough as nails. If you have to have flowering trees, I think crabapples and flowering cherries are much, much nicer than Bradford pears. The Bradfords are pretty when they're blooming but after that I don't think they have a very pretty shape for a yard tree. Okay for, say, lining a roadway because they're so narrow.

This message was edited Apr 18, 2007 1:49 PM

This message was edited Apr 18, 2007 1:53 PM

Well, Hi all! Sounds like everyone south of me is getting into the cultivating mood, That's great, send some sun and warmth up this way please! I had some fun this last few days, I joined a seed round robin and the package arrived Monday, it was filled to the point of busting at the seams, had fun going through the box and exchanging some seeds that I didn't have and going to try some new ones.

Sally I'll be adding to my seed starting journal with all the new seeds I have. Glad you started your journal, I took a peek at it, nice daf. pictures!
Did you know that if you find your plant first in the Plant files you can directly link it to your journal, that way you can have a link back to plant files to see what other DGers have to say about the plant.

Chris

Chris, my agave leaved eryngium (eryngium agavifolium I think) is sprouting. I'm so tickled. I have never seen seeds or even plants anywhere except the expensive places like Plant Delights.

I got these seeds from one of the overseas swappers in one of Connie's swaps. It sure is fun opening those packages.

Thanks to all the rain, I won't be cultivating anything for a few days. SO did get my vegetable garden tilled for me with the big tiller last weekend before the rain started up, thank goodness. The big tiller pulls me down on my butt, which is pretty hilarious when you're not the person being pulled down on your butt. LOL

Anyway, bless his heart, he spent about 3 solid hours tilling, even when it started misting rain.

Hart, I looked in plant files, get out the heavy gloves for your new babies,ouch! Did it take long to germinate? I planted another verity of sea holly and they are taking forever, or they are goners.

Glad you are getting something done out side, I still have beds to rake out.

sayyg - thanks for the welcome. i am mostly into vegetable gardening but will check this out often. critter - did not have much luck with my stupice a few years ago. i thought they would be bigger than they were.

We don't just do flower gardening, Herbie. If it stands still long enough for us to stick it in the ground we grow it. LOL

Chris, the sea hollies were slow - the last ones to germinate. I planted them March 29 and they just sprouted a couple of days ago. Did you surface sow? I think they might need light for germination. I'll be glad to look it up for you if you're not sure. I don't remember.

I don't think they're any pricklier than any other sea holly. Far less than blue globe thistle I would imagine and I've been growing that for years. I love the way the plant files warn you like the plant is going to jump out of the ground and bite your hand off. Danger?! I don't think so.

(I can't believe the cactus lady is talking about a plant being too prickly! LOLOLOL)

The 'Stupice' fruits are on the small side... but I think they are as flavorful as any of the late season tomatoes, and they are so nice and early! The vines produce all summer for me, too... they slow down a bit during the worst of the heat and blight, but they generally bounce back and keep pumping out tomatoes until frost.

I had one plant 2 years ago that produced significantly larger fruit, and I got all excited... grew out seeds from it, and got a RL plant that was pretty unremarkable ('Stupice' is supposed to be PL, potato leafed). Oh, well!

I have more prickles than I want with the thistles I'm still fighting here... so I don't grow prickly plants on purpose! Hmmm, well, OK, I admit I had some Lion's Ear (annual) last year, and wow were those seedheads sharp! I am so not going barefoot back in that corner where they were growing.

Hart, I sowed the sea holly Feb 19th I refrigerated the seeds first, then sowed, placed on heat mat, I did cover them litely but they have been under lights in basement. The seeds looked a bit tattered, I planted the best looking ones, I haven't given up yet.

Chris

Oh, I'm also pleased to report that the ground here dried out just enough to do some tilling/cultivating late this afternoon! I'm still loving that little electric Mantis, and I managed to cultivate some large areas out in the mini-orchard (mostly tilling up the henbit that took over this winter)... A little work with the dirt rake, and I'll be out sowing seeds like a maniac! I've got major quantities of bachelor button (blue), zinnia, and love-in-a-mist from Fedco, plus I've got a bunch of goodies in my stash that I plan to scatter around.

The original plan was to have a sort of meadow effect, with mostly shorter perennials and reseedling annuals around the little fruit trees... but my wildflowers (from seed) and local volunteers that I liked were gradually crowded out by grasses, and last summer I declared war and just killed it all back (had to spray the Johnson grass -- that stuff is tenacious!). So, this spring we start again with the flower seeds! :-)

Frank,

Glad you hopped over to where all the fun people congregate. Hang around! This will be much more fun that D-mailing.....Check out the many other posts on this Site.

I had to laugh at Sallyg's comment--"Whoever he is...." To ME--it seemed so funny since I really do know you.

Hey all--I went back to work yesterday and sat there bored until 10PM. Since they went to this automated phone system, only a few calls come through, and especially that late at night. Should be busier this weekend. I think Spring will finally be arriving!!!!! YEAH!

Gotta mow my lawn toda.....it is beyond lush!

Gita