just saying hello

Oh it is such a bad feeling when you open up the home page on Dave's Garden and you don't have any private messages or there is no activity on the forums you are watching. Oh! Woe is me. ha-ha No, but truthfully, I have been so involved in so many topics that it was very unusual for me to find my mail box empty this morning.

I am guessing that everyone is busy gardening or doing something else garden related. It has been cooler for the past couple of days here, so my watering is caught up for a bit. I sit here feeling a bit lost without having that to do. There are things that I could be doing, but am just not in the mood.

John is off to a Day Lily Festival at Viette's Nursery today. I couldn't go and am not quite as "in to" the day lilies as he is anyway. He left early and when he returns home he plans to continue working on the walkway that we have had planned for three years now, and are finally getting started with now. About 8 to 10 feet of the "fill" rock has been laid and cemented in. He works a little bit on it each day and is making some progress. I am not sure what kind of time limit he has on the project, but hopefully it will be done at least by next growing season. Due to ditches being dug and dirt piles all around, I haven't been able to tend to my major flower bed this summer.

I am the same sort of gardener that I heard Happy McComb describe herself as being. I purchase mainly perennials and get a bang for my buck because every thing comes back. It is very rarely that I buy an annual. If I do happen to purchase an annual, I try to collect seed to start the next year, or buy self seeding annuals.

The way I figure it, we ought to have all of our yarden projects completed by the time we reach our early 80's. ha-ha That will be about 30 years down the road. Seriously, it is coming along, slowly but surely.

I hope that everyone is having a good weekend. Take care.

Ruby

Ruby, you have mail :)

Mornin' Miss Ruby! :D I hope you get to feelin' better.
BTW how's the weather at you house? Have you gotten any of that glorious rain? We got 2" on Wed. into Thur. mornin' with a really nice cooling trend. But I've been told that things will heat up after the "chill" is over (actually it's very nice ~ w/ amornin' temp of 55*). Supposed to get hotter than usual, course it' always gets really hot about now.
Have a Great Day!
Joey

Hi There Sweetie - Shoot, we have been missing any of the rain. Just a few drops about mid-week here. I have been watering as usual. Gonna head out shortly to do so. Been planting a few things here and there and all beds are looking pretty well. I did have some problems with Gladiolus this year. They would grow and when they would begin to bloom, it semed as though they would start decaying even before the blossom burst open. Glads are my favorite blooming plant and I was really disappointed. Does anyone reading this know what might have happened?
I will also ask in Glad forum shortly.

Over all it seemed that most every thing bloomed earlier this year than the past few years. Not definite, but I think they were early. Our little hill side is covered with Day Lilies. Along with the Day Lilies came deer this year too. We have never had that problem in the past. My jusband John is the one who invested all of the time and energy building the Lily gardens and I felt really bad for him. The first morning that he inspected and found deer damage he was so angry. After that, he just sort of sighed. Has anyone found good ways to prevent deer from eating plants.

He tired the yucky spray mixture of egg, garlic and a few other ingredients but had difficulty with it squirting out of of bottle. Maybe he should have tried in the larger sprayer. We have heard people speak of planting deer resistant plants along side of them and try that next year.

Another new thing to our garden this year was the dreaded Japanese Beetle. Before we bought something to control them, they made a lot of damage. I guess that we have just been lucky in the past three or so years that we have been gardening in terms of pests. This has definitely been the worst so far.

Oh well, thanks for the reply Joey. I hope that you will have a good day and good rest of the week also. Laterm my friend.

Ruby

Ruby, I have a thought on the deer problem....my dad used to hang Zest soap bars on twine (soap-on-a-rope) on wooden stakes around his garden. It worked rather well, but that was for a veggie garden. I'm not sure if it would be enough to discourage them from getting at the Lilies.
I have also heard that you can use the scented dryer sheets around the yard to deter them, but you'll need to change them often as they lose their scent. (the soap lasts longer)
Another idea....Jack (my poochie) keeps them out of my garden. He's very territorial! And I think that he knows I love my flowers. :D He always lays down beside where I'm working in the garden.
Hope you get some rain soon...

TaTa for now!
Joey

Ruby, when I first planted my daylily bed, I tried everything. I mean everything. I had the same problem with the mix your own spray. I tried the commercial sprays, soap, human hair, having the dog and even a male human who prefers to remain anonymous apply (ahem) supposedly repellent liquids. LOL You name it and I tried it. Nothing worked for long. The deer repeatedly chewed my daylilies right down to bare dirt.

The sprays would work for a couple of weeks or until the first rain, whichever came first. The other stuff didn't do anything.

Here's what did work.

1. Repellex tablets. Work for about 6 weeks. They're systemic and you push one tablet into the soil at the roots of each plant. For this reason, they're very expensive.

2. Plastic deer fencing, which you can get for under $12 a roll at Lowes. Use the inexpensive metal fence stakes (works the best) or wooden stakes with staples to put it up. Make sure you leave about a foot draped on the ground around the fence. This works more because the deer are terrified of getting tangled in it than as a physical barrier they can't cross. The best solution is if you can find where the deer are entering your property and put the deer fencing across there. If not, make a fence around the daylilies.

I've been told stringing fishing line serves the same purpose. Like the deer fence, they can't really see it and they can get tangled in it.

3. I also went to Costco and got one of the big bags of garlic, broke them up into cloves and interplanted them all around and next to the daylilies. That didn't do much the first year but I have never harvested the garlic, just left it to grow, and I think it is now helping to keep the deer out.

Once they learn you have that scary plastic netting in places where they want to go, they seem to learn to stay away and to find another route that keeps them out of your yard. Early this spring, a storm blew off one side of the deer fencing. I've left it down by way of an experiment and so far not one single daylily has gotten nibbled.

Last summer, Joyce was having the same problem with deer eating her roses. We could easily see where they were entering her yard. I put up the deer fencing across that area at the back of her yard. Not around the entire yard, just across the back.

Sometime during the winter, someone pulled down the deer fence. We think it was probably kids from the private military school behind her. At any rate, she hasn't had a single instance of deer damage this year. I assume it's because we managed to get them to change their route and go around her yard.

Thank both of you deer, oops I mean dears - Some great ideas from both of you. John thinks that he will be trying a remedy that he heard from a couple other people. They have told him to plant Marigolds and Castor Beans. Both supposedly work to deter/ This means that we wll have to start both of those plants very early next year.

I will report back next year, especially if this doesn't work because he will be so mad!!! Again thank you both for the ideas.

Ruby

Oh Ruby, tell John I know exactly how he feels - except it's our Hostas the deer have destroyed this year. Oddly enough they haven't touched the Daylilies but I guess there are so many Hostas they got their bellies full on those. This is also the first year we've seen destruction like this and I blame alot of it on the fact that we don't have a dog around, well that may be changing soon :) I was going to get some pictures yesterday for you to show to John so he wouldn't feel so bad but got distracted taking pictures in other areas. Not only have they eaten all the leaves of the Hostas, they snacked on a few of my new roses and another flowering shrub - flowers no more! I don't know what's worse, rabbits eating the plants down to the ground or looking at all the stalks of the Hosta without leaves that the deer have left behind. With all the pest problems we've had this year - deer, rabbits, chipmunks (had no idea they tunnel through the gardens!), groundhogs and now the Japanese Beetles - would have to agree with you, this is the worst year so far, they're hungry little critters! I actually bought Deer Off and it has worked but a little too late. Picked it up at Lowe's, $18 a bottle and it didn't last long enough to make it through the first two beds :( We found the concentrate at the local Farmer's Co-Op and that's a little less costly. There are alot of products out there and basically they all do the same thing and even though this one has worked for me, you have to be diligent and reapply every 3 weeks. The Hostas are beginning to send up new leaves but I definitely won't have that lush look I was striving for in one of my newer gardens I planted last fall :( I'm with you, there's always next year!

Debbie

Ugh, sorry to hear about the deer problems. My parents have all but given up on gardening because they have HERDS of deer that come through each night... they've seen 20 or more come through the yard, one group after another. The deer netting does help, and they use it to protect shrubs during the winter (starving deer will browse anything).]

Can you believe my DH is the one who told me about the Daylily Festival? I don't know if I was more startled to learn that he'd become a regular listener of a garden show or to hear that he thought it would be a fun summer daytrip to go to the festival next year. His contribution to the yard and garden generally consists of mowing the lawn and digging an occasional hole for a shrub or tree (especially when there's new ground to break for the hole).

We did "puttery" projects this afternoon. I weeded the pavers and swept the back patio, then trimmed back the thyme and phlox growing around the edge... I placed the trimmings in a bed with soaker hoses and scattered potting mix on top to encourage layering, hoping to have lots of groundcover to plant around next spring. Jim made wood block "feet" under the legs of the canopy on the deck. Now it's high enough that he doesn't have to duck to get under it, and the leg in the corner by the grill is now nailed to the railing, so we can attach the other shelf to his shiny new grill that barely fits in its nook!

I'm usually in bed before midnight these days, but I got rolling on a project that kept me up until past 1, and now it seems I have a "second wind" that's keeping me awake! Tomorrow should be interesting, LOL....

LOL critter, "tomorrow" is already here!

It ain't "tomorrow" until I've had some sleep!

And why are you up so late, young lady??

Menopausal women always get up "early" LOL

Or get no sleep at all! :D

Can't believe that it took me this many days to get here. I have gotten a bit lax about reading the boards. Yea, you folks are talking about 4 AM and that is usually the time I am on posting. So, I guess that I need to research menopause and sleep interuption. I have had some really bad sleep habits for about year and never knew about the connection.

Critter, I am so sorry that your folks had to give up gardening. I would really hate to have to go that far, because I am fairly new at it and I derive so much pleasure from the gardens. Maybe this year will be a fluke. A girl can hope, can't she?

Debbie, I hope that things will be better for you next year too. Must be a bit scary when some of your livelihood comes from gardening. John is just complaining about all of the time and energy that has gone in to making a bed, just to have it destroyed. Oh well, there is next year.

Thank you both for checking in and giving your thoughts on this. I remember last year reading a lot of messages about people having problems with wild life eating their gardens. I was glad it wasn't me, but daggone it, this year it is me.

Take care.

Ruby

Well, Mom says she gardened for a lot of years (and loved it), so she doesn't mind letting it go now. They've been doing a lot of traveling, also, so it's easier not to have new plants etc. to worry about.

Dang groundhog pruned back my cucumber vines again, and it looks like maybe he ate the tops off the green beans (I thought they'd be too tall for that by now!)... if he keeps eating the buds, we won't get any to pick! Sheesh. Going to move the trap and bait it with a fresh banana.

Rain!! We finally got some. Actually, we got a lot -- the first hour of the thunderstorm was really impressive -- and it doesn't look like it's quite done yet. I don't have to tell you all how welcome it is!

When did it rain? Is it raining now? Which direction was the rain headed? Our ground is parched. It is really bad here. Basically, all that we have had this summer are several little 30 minute long sprinkles.
I sure hope that we get some rain soon!!!

Ruby

Rain, what's that?? LOL I can't believe how dry it has been - 0.6 inches so far this month!! At least that's what the local weather site says, I'm thinking we've received even less - just rains in pockets around us and we never get it. Just when the sky threatens and I think we actually might be blessed, it rains hard for maybe 5 min and the sun comes back out to dry it up :( Sounds like we did have a nice shower last night but will have to wait until daylight out to check the gauges. At this point we'd need a week of rain to catch up - I think I read somewhere that we're 6" below normal rainfall this year. I had been doing pretty good with the hoses to irrigate some of the newer beds, but we're starting to see damage to trees that have been planted for 5 years or more!

I hear that! John said that our years old Azaleas are beginning to suffer also. Scary!!! We did get a good rain for a couple of hours last evening. It is still overcast and damp out this morning. Maybe this will help a bit here. We need it desperately.

Ruby.

Hi Ruby!

I went past Crozet, VA on Friday and on a return trip Sunday and sent out a hello! to you. We had a family reunion up in Gettysburg, PA and I just couldn't bring myself to travel up route 95 so we went North 29 to 64west to 81 north.

I saw the sign on 64 west for Crozet and told my husband and nieces I had a wonderful friend living there! I think my husband was impressed but for sure my 9 year old nieces weren't, lol! They were to busy asking how much longer it would be and picking at each other. I had forgotten how much talking little girls can do!
The plants you sent me are doing well, and the garden is looking lovely. I hope the ones that "disappeared" will come back next spring!

Thank you once again and I hope you feel better soon! Have you tried taking melatonin for the sleeping problems? I use it occasionally when the hot flashes wake me at 2am and it relaxes me enough to get back to sleep with no grogginess in the mornings..

Take care,
terri

Hey There - I bought a bottle of the melatonin about two or three months ago. I haven't started it because it says to ask doctor before taking it. I am on a lot of medication and I need to see if there will be an interaction. Thank you for mentioning it. I will try calling the doctors office soon and see if I can add it to the other stuff that I take.

Thanks for thinking of me as you rode by Crozet. I am probably about three miles from the exit ramp on I64. Next time, allow yourself time to stop and visit my gardens. I can probably fix you up with a bunch of plants to be planted this fall.

Do you know about the Mid Atlantic Gardeners group here that is holding a Plant Swap on September 8? That would be a good time for you to get your hands on some things too if you are still interested in getting some things.

Do you plan on planting anything this fall? Do you need plants? I am over run again with several things that I plan to divide up at some point. I would be glad to offer you more things if you'd like me to. Just let me know.

And seriously, ask your hubby if he would mind driving you here or come here with you one day and get a car load of stuff. I would love to meet you. There were some husbands who brought their wives to the plant swap that we held in June, who stuck around for the day and found out that they had a great time.

My husband has gotten in to gardening this year too. In the past he wasn't too involved. This summer he has definitely done a lot more than I have. I have had medical and dental issues going on, plus he has the area in front of my main bed torn up for construction of a walkway. It has not been a safe place for me to be. Hopefully he will finish the walkway before next spring.

Thank you for checking in. Cool about seeing the Crozet signs. Have a great week.

Ruby

Ruby,

We won't be able to travel for a while, at least not for long periods of time. We have my nieces until at least mid August, maybe longer. Their parents are selling the house in NY but haven't even decided on where they are going to live in Durham, NC so we will have them until school starts probably- in NY that's after Labor day but in NC it's sometime around mid August.

The top of my head is ready to blow off!

I imagine!!! Whenever I see a hurried mother, I thank my lucky stars that is no longer me. Remember to take some time to yourself. As care givers, we tend to forget our own needs. I am big on taking care of oneself. I have found myself ill one too many times, to not stop when I feel myself getting stressed. When I realize that I am becoming stressed, I have to make sure that I get some balance in my life. If you are not accustomed to having a house full, I know that it is stressful. Please listen to the point I am trying to get across. Take some leisure and quiet time for Terri, or you will become Terri the Terrible.

Remember, that this too shall pass. Holler any time that you need a shoulder or just a place to vent.

Ruby