Dryad...
i'd like to snag the Echinacea – Coneflower ‘Bravado’
CLOSED: Fall Frenzy Piggy Swap #7
Danita, may I ask for the Agastache foeniculum 'Golden Jubilee' if it's not already gobbled up?
gemini - the flowers you asked about in the photo look like great blue lobelia and the pink looks like a toad flax although I have not seen that color in person before
gardengus, I kept thinking Toad Flax too, but have never seen those colors. I think the blue is the same species too, and I think I can see spurs on all the colors. I didn't think there were blue forms though. I've dmailed bootandall to find out what it is and if they know of seed sources.
Gemini - please share when you find out.......we all want to know!
Star, did you catch my D-mail for one of the Impatiens, either
Impatiens Candy Apple Blossom or Impatiens Candy Lavender
and the Larkspur mixed colors.
tcs, loved the pictures.
Got ya Sharon. : ) Still workign on dmails and emails. I gab to much. Lol Did I really say that? heheheheh I got between the both over 400 today been workign on answering.
Star, OMG, 400!!!!! I would go a little crazy!
Thanks ....
Gardengus, got you down for the Cosmos Double Click!
I have some seeds for these can't remember the name ? They form a bulb, iris like leaves, and smell wonderful , not hardy here? poor mans orchid / but the real name?
Gladiolus callianthus
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/756/
Yes, thank you.
I have never grown these from seeds but I might give it a try , this is the first year they have ever set seed for me ,of course I always plant them late when the bulbs go on sale.
Yes, it's always more fun when you can get them on sale! :)
I just got a bunch of free horse manure for my veggie garden!
Free is good I have horses so I have more than I need . I have gone to goat (have them too) less weeds.
Are many of you going thru your seed boxes and just listing all the seeds you know you dont have room for, or do not have time to sow?
I started flipping thru my seeds this evening, and i'm stunned at all the seeds in there.
I do have a few other seed projects I may do next year, so many of them I may WS.... but there are a lot of others i can probably just get rid of in the swap.
Doing that this evening
I just listed some NEW veggies /herbs and a few more flowers
gardengus may I have pink lily of the valley?
It is yours
Thank you I have been wanting them forever.
tcs may I have Asclepias tuberosa Butterfly Weed please
Gardengus,
Is this the type of "cat whiskers" you have? If so, I'd love try a pack. Thanks!
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2085/
Neal, I thought those "self sown" blooms looked like Linarea (toadflax), so I checked PF for a photo... and found this one... http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/174040/ I suspect the blue might be more of a purple.
:-)
Terese, I'll be going through my seed stash after Thanksgiving weekend... so look for a bunch more seeds on my list the first week in December! LOL I figured we'd have time for a couple "rounds" of trading, so I didn't try to get everything organized and listed all at once.
It's in your trough Sandy.
Yes, I find listing a few new things at a time helps me stay better organized. Plus, I figure that it helps even the chances of everyone getting something. I'm a big ole oinker myself, so I know the danger of listing a lot of goodies at once!!! :)
Danita , Yes that is the cat whiskers I have THey are white and marked for you.
Gone now I only had two packs
Thank you! :)
Terese that's exactly what I did on my last 2 "rounds." I went through my seed stash and listed everything that I know I won't be able to use. I'm finished now and about to pack everything up in preperation of sending them on to Star. I may get a few last minute oinkers, but I think the rush to my trough is about over. LOL.
I liked listing the seeds in stages too. It made it easier for me to stay on top of everything, and like Danita said by spreading them out a bit it kind of evened the playing field so everybody got a shot at a little of everything.
I heard back from bootandall, and gardengus and critter, you were right- they are Toad Flax (Linarea purpurea). She said that the blue is really more purple, the camera made it look blue.
This message was edited Nov 24, 2008 6:33 AM
That's great Neal .... and that was such a great color combination.
hmmmm - wonder if i have room for some Toad Flax.
Star - you are experiencing what Suzy had to deal with. Every now and then we would go down to her office to check to see who wanted a particular pack of seeds (remember, our estimate was she had something like over 3,000 separate seed packs) and her email/dmail was, well....WOW!!
Terese, I think that's what a lot of folks did last year (emptying out our boxes), and then we got the wine box from Weezie and just lost our minds. I wasn't too worried about listing my stuff later than most, as I knew that the piggies would still be oinking :-) I did fret a bit about not getting a few of the seeds I was interested in, but then again - I've got more than I know what to do with! I still have a packet of seeds from LeBug titled "Bottom of the Box" - I'm going to cast it on part of the front yard in spring and see what I get :)
Wow - I have been off line for a couple of days and you guys have been BUSY!! I could barely catch up again - and I didn't even go LOOK at the new listings because I already know I am going to have WAY more seeds than I know what to do with.
That landscaping shot was gorgeous and did anyone know what that annual flower is?? It is beautiful as well.
Some of you mentioned lasange beds and I am wanting to try a really large one, but the one I started in my back yard still has pretty thick paper at the bottom that makes it hard to plant. Isn't is supposed to break down?
I was thinking on my new one that I would put cardboard down first, then cover with a stack of leaves (which I am going to get from a neighbor I hope) and then a layer of newspaper on top?? Does that sound good or does the newspaper need to be under the leaves?? But what do I put on top?? Do i have to cover with mulch? and do I need some manure or something in there?? My husband doesn't believe this system will work - and I am not sure since the bed I did months ago (in a modified format) still has paper I am not sure either. If I do the bed now will it be ready to plant in the spring?? I need some help with this obviously - you can dmail me if you have any suggestions.
Thanks!
Genna
Good Morning All!
I was just telling dryad that it's about time for me to close up shop here. As much fun as I've had playing at the trough I'm afraid I've let everyting else slide terribly around here and I'm going to have to put this project to bed and start playing catch-up. Besides that the inventory is about shot anyway. LOL!
I know that the swap officially extends until the middle of next month, but I'd like to finish up on my end before this weekend. If there is anything else that any of you'd like to have please send me a D-mail within the next couple of days. I will continue to tag things through Wednesday and after that all my left-overs will be sent to Star as "extras."
LaLa... can you toss some of the Pink Profusion Zinnias in my bag.
I know the perfect spot for them.
Hi Genna, there are some threads here on DG about lasagna gardening, but I've found that pretty much anything works if you don't mound it up so high you have a landscape feature of dirt :) I wouldn't worry about the newspaper not breaking down as that will keep the weeds from growing up through your lasagna. I put down a layer of cardboard and then a think layer of mulch - and that's it. I know you're supposed to put dirt or manure or some such stuff in addition to the other, but I flat didn't have it, and had the cardboard and the space in the yard. I put the cardboard and mulch out about this time last year, and when I planted through it this spring the cardboard was still there so I just cut a hole in it to put the plant in. Worked like a charm! Next spring I'll have some compost to use, and will pull up the mulch in the front yard that doesn't have any cardboard underneath it, put down the compost and then the cardboard and then the mulch - I'm trying to make sure the cardboard sticks with me so that I don't have to weed as much!
Genna, kinda depends on your specific needs. My soil is naturally good, so I just lay overlapping cardboard on the sod, and mulch thickly with mulched leaves, straw, grass clippings- whatever I've got. If we get good rainfall, I can usually start planting in 3-6 months. The cardboard is still there, but softened enough to easily dig through.
If you have heavy clay soil, more layers of organic matter would help. If your organic matter isn't composted, you'll need to wait a few months for it to decompose (nitrogen fertilizer speeds up the process). Running the mower over the leaves you're using helps them break down faster too. If you want to plant immediately, thick layers of compost can be used on top of the cardboard with mulch over that. Then you can plant directly in the compost. I did an area like that using all the used potting soil from summer planters- the perennials I planted there look happy. You can make the method suite your specific needs. I'll never go back to double digging! Oh, and I wouldn't recommend putting newspaper on top of the leaves- the paper or cardboard is mostly for smothering the weeds and grass. But if you do have lots of newspapers you'd just like to compost, shredding them helps them break down faster- I've used paper shreds as a layer and that worked fine. You just have to make sure theres plenty of stuff on top so you don't see paper blowing around looking like litter.
Oh, and that lovely annual is Linarea purpurea, a species of Toad Flax.
Thats a good idea Robin- preventing future weeds that way.
You're right Neal - I didn't think of the type of soil...mine is fairly good soil for this area. We usually have some clay, but this had been a lawn for so long that it had improved the soil some.
Another thing with lasagna beds - if you keep the paper or cardboard down it makes the worms REALLY HAPPY as they can't be snagged by passing birds, so you may find an increase in your wiggler population.
I took my first stab and lasagna gardening a few months back...
I had been making some compost in my lil compost drum... and unbeknownst to me, my neighbor had really been 'feeding' it ... and it was just soooooo wet, i couldnt use it [and i had it just perfect over the summer.
So, an area i will be working on next spring... i put down the cardboard boxes [that i used for securing my WS containers] over the weeds, then the too soggy compost on top of that... then some top soil.
I'm hoping by spring i have a decent new bed to work in.
Yeah, i have read a lot of the threads on here about beds, and I have plenty of cardboard and lots of paper. My soil is pretty sandy and needs some improving to hold nutrients - but mainly I am trying to avoid all the tilling and the weeds and grass - since it will be where grass is growing now. Should I roundup the grass in that area before covering? I didn't figure it would do any good since RU is systemic and the grass is pretty much dead (or dormant) for the season....
Do you always finish off the top layer with mulch? I just am not sure how to hold everything in place..... I don't mind the cardboard or paper, but I had a hard time trying to plant thru it. Maybe I need to come up with something to CUT the stuff out of the way instead of trying to dig thru it. The other problem I had was that I seemed to "spill" soil on top of the mulch as I was trying to plant and then the grass or weeds just seemed to "find" it and take off.....
Thanks! I better get this bed done as I should have lots of goodies to go in it come Spring!
Genna
anybody want Nicandra physalodes Variegated Shoe-Fly
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/654/
I'm trying to keep my spreadsheet up to date this year... adding all the new seeds I'm getting in trade, and deleting the ones i no longer have. What a tedious task.
But my "file" is a progressive one... so i can sorta see what i've done each year.... though last year, I lost my detailed data... but i'm trying harder this year.
Terese, I think that will work beautifully.
Robin, I've noticed that too about the earthworms. Lift the cardboard and there are tons of them! I've heard people even use shredded paper to raise earthworms in- they seem to really like it.