Upper Midwest Coffee Break #24

Here's where we came from http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/735414/

Geeez, I was watching the radar and saw this big red blob coming our way and it just disapeared as it came thru sunshine. I was so mad I hopped on my lawn tractor and raced around the yard...just had to vent...lol.

I was supposed to be at one of the community gardens I volunteer with at 8:30 this morning, but it was overcast and had already rained a bit here. I decided not to go (probably wouldn't have many, if any, show up) and at 8:45 the sun started to come out. Now I feel like a slacker!

Le,
Hate when that happens, especially when you need rain. I'm doing a rain dance for our area. We really need to also.

Jody,
How are you supposed to know what the weather is gonna do? Don't feel like a slacker.

Any body want to come over and finish wrapping my hair in perm rods? It's a pain in the rear to do it myself. I have 2/3 done and had to take a break. I will supply beverages of the adult kind if there are any takers,,,lol

Kelly, I'd come help if you were about two hours closer. ☺

Kelly,

Next time come here and I will help.

Thanks for starting this new thread.

When I got up this morning the ground was wet so we did get some rain. The prediction was for rain all day. So far just clouds. Last night early on we had so much lightening and thunder and beautiful thunder clouds, but no rain. The sun setting on the clouds was spectacular.

Okay, I need the steps to the rain dance...The only kind I know is to turn on the sprinkler and try to avoid getting wet! I use to do the hula about where I was born and raised and the chorus was all about the gentle rain that came every morning..The last time I did that hula it rained on my son's wedding...LOL.

I need a perm!!! When I got sick I had to cut my okole(Hawaiian for butt) length hair and in two years it has only grown about a inch. I have such thick, straight hair I look like a wild woman...

Thanks for the offers ladies. Finally just bit the bullet and got it done, even got it cut but don't ask me if it's even. The way I wear my hair you can't tell anyway,,,,,lol

Jasmerr!!! Yes it is good luck, but, it was really hard of the decorations on his car...they didn't fly in the wind.

we've had thunder most of the day, even when it was sunny - no clouds in the sky.
now it's cloudy, with thunder, and still no rain.... we did get some over night - but it didnt wake me even with all the windows open.... so there probably wasnt much.

I found some Lamium (dead nettle) Anne Greenway 50% off at wally world... so i got those planted today... hope they help with erosion control.... but they are pretty non the less. other than that.. i took a nap since something up here triggers my alergies, and i've been miserable for about a month.

tcs...I have dead nettle, white nancy and it's growing like crazy. I have been cutting the tops and sticking them in the ground. It surprised me how fast they grow.

Loren,

i too have a bit of White Nancy here... it isnt doing much... but i dont know how old it is.

finally gettin some rain.... if you see the radar, most of southern Wi is getting some, and hopefully into the chicago area tonight... but i think we are on the northern edge of the front.... as it is just clipping this corner of Sauk county.

Terese

Hi Terese: I have been watching it too, the last finger fizzled out and we had about 2 drops...lol...hope this big one stays together enough to soak things. looks like alot of thunder in there...XXXing my fingers

Anybody interested, I posted a bunch of pictures in this thread.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/737801/
You need to go towards the end.
Bernie

P.S. I hope I can keep the weeds in check until Sept. Round Up. LOL!

Very nice, Bernie!

Just got home about an hour ago. DD and her friend sang (open mic night) at a nearby coffee shop. The owner asked them to come back for an hour and a half set (making tips). Their both pretty excited.

Bernie, That is what a country house should look like. What a beautiful cut flower garden. I want to see if I can swing things to get to the round up. My Dh works two jobs the second one is every other weekend. So if it is a weekend off we always go to our cabin.

Maybe you will have to talk to his boss to make sure he works that weekend. Of course you can always bring him along. At Iowa this spring there were lots of couples. Even kids!

Raining real nice here this morning. Everything looks so fresh.

Will be picking for tomorrows market. We had to quit early yesterday, because the tornado sirens went off.
Bad weather was nearly 20 miles away & no even close to a tornado.

The weather service is getting to jumpy getting warnings out. Not many paid any attention to the sirens. Stores & streets were still packed as any normal day.
Bernie

Bernie,
What are you picking?

Saw the pics on the other thread Bernie. I'm still jealous. Jealous of all the land NOT the work it entails. I bet its beautiful once EVERYTHING is in bloom. Wish I lived closer too maybe I could taste some homegrown veggies instead of the store-bought kind.

If any of you plan on being in the Twin Cities in the next week Gertens is having DYI seminars from June 22 - July 3rd.
Here is the web site:

http://www.gertens.com/learn/upcommingevents/2007/06/gertensdoityourselflandscapeexpo

Arlene, it's about you name it, we pick it. Lots of things ready.
Bernie

Bernie,
the only vegies I have is 40 different tomato plants and green beans. The Plant Skydd Ron sold me at round-up is keeping the rabbits away from the green beans. Tomatoes are doing good and so are the weeds. The rain and the heat here is making everything pop.

4/10ths of an inch yesterday and it is supposed to rain again today. That rain and sun combination is great. This may be the first year we get good tomatoes in a long time. We are still down about 2" for rainfall here.

Morning everyone..... slow weekend on Daves...

Had a nice weekend, though i don't remember much. Went back to the Flea Market in Adams yesterday -- DH i search of tools. Though i did buy some New Guinea Impatiens for pots I had vacant in the back. There were some other perennials i was looking at too... but i thought they were kinda high on price. I also bought a "bamboo wind chime".

Al -- that "nursery" you had mentioned in Montello... He sets up there every week.

It was warm there and not a lot of shade....but heck -- the heat is on the way!!

yesterday i woke up to fog.... today is quite humid, as when i put on my sandals to walk the pooch, they were actually damp.

no plans for today.... but looking forward to getting home for a few days...i have a lot of stuff to take care of... though i certainly enjoy life up here in the woods. [aside from my alergies..... today i notices i didnt sneeze yesterday YAY]

Sure has been a slow weekend on DG...weather was beautiful, so everyone was probably out gardening. I spent most of my weekend in a chair or lounging on the sofa. Some kind of virus has me sleepy and lethargic. I hope it will be gone soon - this is week two.

DH (with help) has been busy building boulder walls for a new patio off the kitchen; now all we need is the French doors. The doors will have to wait until we actually have money. Too bad he can't build them too.

Morning everyone, The humidity and temp is about the same here 70+. Just got back from getting more compost/manure. Son doesn't work till this afternoon so I am using him as my workhorse. He got himself tomato and watermelon plants, hope they live...lol.

Jas hope you feel better soon. I think I had that bug when I was up there camping, all I did was sit back and feel miserable.

Loren

Lots of people at work are feeling under the weather. I wonder if it's one of those
things that goes around. Hope it goes away quickly and you feel better soon.

The weather was so nice, and the soil was still moist after the last rain so no watering!
Plants are pushing up and are looking stronger by day. I found the camera and the
cable to hook it to the computer, now I just need to find the charger since the battery
is dead to finally take pictures.

Saturday I did spend an hour or so on working on my swale in the shade project.
I'd like to have the two upper tire swales done before fall and rains. All I managed to do
was move probably 1 cubic yard of soil just a couple of steps down the hill, but it felt like
much more work than it looked. Then later I did plant out the two of my indoor bamboos
out in the garden for the summer. I did not do it last year and killed one of them as
nothing gets watered regularly in the house once summer is here. I need to come up with
a designated area for this.
Sun we all went biking. Madison has some nice trails now right in the city.
Once my son can actually hold the balance we'll get onto the big ones.

This message was edited Jun 25, 2007 10:33 AM

We had a very nice week-end but no rain. Things are still doing ok.

Forgot to let you all the exciting news. I and Victor just let our first Monarch butterfly out!
It came out this morning. It was one the most exciting projects I had in years to watch
the transformation from the caterpillar to pupa to butterfly. We sure want to do it again
with Victor.

Also our neighbourhood is hit heavily by the gypsy moth this year. The city stopped
straying the entire city, which I am glad about, but did not send out fliers to let people
know what to do. Is anybody else dealing with this problem?

just checking in~~very rainy cool weekend here - maybe 4" of rain. Cleared up Sunday afternoonish so I had a date with that creep Charlie.

Am just coming in after weeding, trimming etc since 7:30 - foggy and very humid but the intolerable heat is on the way this week.

not a lot blooming right now (grape poppies, astilbe, clematis, coreopsis, cones, yarrow, the last of the delphs and a few jb'd roses); my summer garden should pop in the next week: phlox, rudbeckia, monarda, hibiscus, second rose flush, astilbe, hostas, the lone lily...). Everything is about 2 weeks ahead of schedule and I suspect that August will be a bit bare in the garden.

hope everyone stays cool!

Catherine

Saturday was Farmers Market, very busy for this time of year. We are also couple weeks ahead.
Sunday, I had to go measure a house for cabinets in the morning. Also picked up needed items, so that meant many stops to get everything.
After a late lunch of pizza, and a nice nap, I got ambitious & planted this area. Also laid the cobblestone path. I still have a bunch of annuals to plant somewhere. One new bed has lots of weeds, but will hold lots of plants.
This morning I weeded a row & ½ of beets. Rows are 170 ft long.
Bernie

Other end.

Glad everyone had a good weekend. I mostly sat on my bum. I did go out yesterday and weed part of the garden, but was so hot, it took me forever. Had to keep taking breaks. Today I'm working inside on laundry and the bathroom upstairs. Gotta get that cleaned and all the laundry done and put away. I'm so not looking forward to it.

enya -- the gypsy moth is pretty bad up here too.

since i really didnt know much about them, i googled it and the wisc dnr has great info on them and how to deal with them.

I have A LOT (ok, maybe 10) big cats on the oak tree right at my back door. they dont seem to be doing any damage, so i havent done anything with them, as they are still "food" for predators.... I'll see if i can locate that site again.

**edited to add link
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/forestry/fh/GM/index.htm

though if you google "gypsy moth" many other informative sites come up

This message was edited Jun 25, 2007 1:31 PM

Did the 'copter ride....here's a separate thread.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/739387/

Flowers don't show up hardly at all, more's the pity.

Bernie,
What a nice shady spot. 170ft long rows don't sound like fun to weed. Do you weed
with a tool? I can't imagine weeding that much by hand.

Therese,
Thanks for the link. http://www.uwex.edu/ces/gypsymoth/homeowners.cfm
sounds like smth I can still do, though a bit late for that. I don't see too much
damage to the canopies of my oaks and black cherry. I did google but I did not
get the dates on when to do what. I don't want chemo applications of any sort
on my land.

I'm still here bouncing in and out. Bouncing back and forth between my dad's house and this house. I'm trying to get dad's house ready to be invaded by mid-July if possible since I need to register Jenna the first week of August because she has to change schools. Ever try to clean out old "storage" rooms and get them ready for a child to move into, paint them, put in new carpet, etc..all to the child's preferences, WITHOUT letting the child know she will soon be living in that room? I'm trying to keep everything as "normal" for her as I can for now, mainly because I know how devastating this will be for her and I'm too chicken to want to deal with the fallout before I HAVE to. The biggest thing I am dreading.

I have also quietly been collecting gallon pots from local nurseries and hoarding them in dad's garage. I will need around 150 to move my plants. I know that sounds like alot, but most of you have FAR bigger gardens that I do, go out and count how many plants you would have to move, lol. Now count your blessings! I still have to convince my dad that my hostas are really important to me and his ugly overgrown bushes that are next to the driveway really should be cut down so I can make a new hosta glade. I managed to get rid of the two flanking the front door, but that took me a year to convince him it was his idea. I don't have that kind of time now, lol.

I'm more upset at having to move my plants than I am my furniture, now that's pathetic! Everything we brought home from the RU is just heeled in so it will be easier to move. It doesn't seem to be bothering anything, knock on wood!

Anyway, that's why I haven't been on very much. But I do thank you for the Dmails and well wishes. Divorce is never easy, is it?

mg

Hang in there kiddo, been there, done that, used the Tshirt for a contest.

I'm with you mg.....and wishing us both the best in the near future. At least I'm not moving.

If you don't get enough nursery pots together to make the move, try thick black garbage bags. I was digging up some huge hostas for my parents and didn't have anything big enough to put them in......so I used garbage bags. After all, aren't then just 'thinner' than pots? The hostas are tough and lived for a couple of weeks in the bags. I just sort of scrunched up the bag at the soil line and tied it to keep in place. You could probably use plastic grocery bags as well.