Spring Gardening Chores

[Christina]

I thought I already posted this but I must have forgotten to hit submit.

I was out of town for 8 days and then it rained for another 8 days and my garden went from being all caught up to being a mess. I started making a list of things that I have to do and already have all of these things on it and the ground will probably only stay wet for another day or so.

- Pull back a bunch of vinca that's growing into a 25' flower border. This is easiest to do when the ground is wet.
- Rip out some more mint that I missed, and this will be easier in wet ground too. I hate doing this because there's never an end to it.
- Clear out the last vegetable bed on the back hill.
- Haul a load of compost down there to mix into the beds. The compost will be lighter if I let it dry out a bit but it's all downhill so it's no big deal.
- Plant the carrot seeds I forgot about.
- Pull the weeds on the paths down there.
- Weed around the ceanothus that I planted there.
- Transplant about 100 seedlings into little peat pots before they get crowded.
- Clear out the rock garden and figure out what to do with it next. Between a hard frost and some soil erosion it needs a major overhaul.
- Transplant a gardenia.
- Cut back a rock rose and a salvia that are overgrown and crowding each other and everything else in that bed.
- Do a regular round of weeding all of the flower beds.
- Feed everything.
- Move an ornamental grass that is buried somewhere in the alstromeria.
- Prune a miniature tangerine tree.
- Spray all of the roses for mildew.

It's a good thing that I like this stuff and it isn't going to rain for at least a week. What is everyone else behind on?

[Cath B]

My Dad is visiting just now and as I feared is starting to add worrying about my home to worrying about his own.

In particular some ivy which is completely covering the backroom widow on the first floor and starting to block the guttering.

I hadn't got round to sorting it out and have to leave it now until the blackbird's brood has fledged.

There are also some very big trees with branches spreading into the street and roots threatening the stability of the nearby walls.

Other outstanding chores inclde:-

planting parsnip seeds
planting sweet william and wallflower seeds
planrting heartsease seeds
weeding everywhere
digging up an area of grass about 12ft by 6ft
transplanting snowdrops and primroses

Generally I take only a fleeting grasp at the Big Picture before getting stuck into whatever task takes my fancy.

[Josie]

Everything.

I haven't even mowed yet this year, though this is Northern Michigan, so the grass just turned green last week.
The front flower bed needs to be weeded, and gotten ready for some annuals, which can't be planted for a couple more weeks.
I need to go over the yard foot by foot, to look for and pull a nasty weed that has prickly seed heads that get caught in the dogs fur, brought in, and deposited in the carpet. Those mf's hurt, when you step on them.
I have shrubs planted all along the fence line, and I need to weed over 200 ft of the younger plants, so they can grow enough to block out the weeds them selves in a couple more years.
There is a bunch of firewood on the porch that needs to be moved. Some of it we found out was crap wood, that we don't want to burn, so the good wood needs to be separated from the crap, as soon as I decide where I'm going to put it.

That's the must do list. I don't think anything on the wish list is going to get done this year, I'm not going to have the money to buy the plants I want, or to build the raised beds I want to put in.

[Christina]

Before I left I was caught up on things enough to just wander around doing whatever caught my eye, but when I have a lot to do I make a list so that I don't forget things if I can't stop and do them right when I see them. I tend to head out to do one thing and notice a few small things along the way and do them too.

I got the vinca all pulled back and the smaller section of mint done, and deadheaded a Marguerite and pruned a fuchsia along the way The ground is very wet so I think that I can procrastinate doing the rest of it until tomorrow. Clearing out the rock garden sounds like more fun. I noticed that I have to limb up a live oak so that needs to go on the list too.

[Garnet]

The flower bed that I had planned on actually doing something with this year is now a weed bed. I haven't done a blasted thing to it because of knee problems which I had surgery to correct a couple of weeks ago.

However...I went to the doctor today who cleared my to do anything I want as long as it doesn't involve impact to my knees.

So, I can sit on my ass, scooch around and weed the bed that way.

[Christina]

They sell those little garden scooters that are little carts with room to store tools inside and that have wheels and you can sit on them. They're pretty cheap too. This is the first link that I hit. (http://www.nextag.com/garden-scooter/products-html) My mom has knee problems and she uses one all the time and loves it.

I finished clearing the leaves and pine cones out of the rock garden and cut back some things that were overgrown and planted two new plants to replace two that had frozen and died. I'm not sure what else I want to plant in there. I already have a few ferns and a few iris, a hosta, a plant whose name I can't remember but it has beautiful deep purple flowers in fall, a small juniper and a silvery plant that I'm too lazy to look up too. I may just plant a lot of nasturtiums in there because I like having them in salad but they don't particularly go with the more Japanese feel of it.

[Garnet]

Yeah, MT has suggested one of those things for me.

This is really the first time that I can ever recall wanting to spend some time outside. This winter was a little difficult for me. I think weeding that bed would be a good way to start.

[Christina]

Everything....That's the must do list. I don't think anything on the wish list is going to get done this year, I'm not going to have the money to buy the plants I want, or to build the raised beds I want to put in.

You're my kind of gardener : ).

I left out the wood that needs to be moved from the bottom of the hill to the top of the hill but I can procrastinate that for months yet. I think we've burned all of the small brush and burn season is just about over anyway. The dog got his ridiculous dustmop of hair cut off today so hopefully he'll stop picking up every burr and foxtail out there.

None of the poppy or lupin seeds that I tossed out all over the hillside I'm working on are growing taller than an inch because the grass is shading them all out. Hopefully I can get my partner to whack them down this weekend because it's too steep for me to do it. That goes on his list and reminding him goes on mine.

[Notta]

In early winter 2008 I bought a house from a gardener and her mom who never worked for pay, but spent all their free time gardening.

Last year, I was so busy I just let everything bloom and I just barely weeded now and then.

This year, I've spent more than 40 hours weeding, planting, and mulching (since the last snowfall in March) and well over $300 on mulch, vegetable sets, annuals, and gardening supplies.

This is crazy!! I'm ready to buy a goat and let it eat everything! With the exception of my new vegetable garden and my new blueberry bushes, I'd let everything else go and dig it up and plant grass.

Those old ladies were nuts. They planted every flower bed (running along each side of the house to a depth of 4 feet) with a ton of different flowering shrubs, trees, and plants. Each tree in my yard has a 'mulch volcano' at its base, encouraging it to send out shallow roots right at the base. Each flower bed was worked to a depth of at least 10", resulting in the perfect place for weeds to grow. Plus, they function as outdoor potties for my 3 cats.

I see no value in spending so many hours making my flower beds look picture perfect for something you can't even EAT! But we now live in one of 'those' neighborhoods where people are always out taking care of their lawns & shrubbery, and god forbid WE are the sloppy ones on the block. My husband just bought an edger so we can make the edges of the beds nice & sharp.

The only thing I like about it is that I get some outdoor exercise, which I need. And the final result is pretty. It's just not worth it to me.

[Christina]

It's a lot of work to take care of a larger garden so you might as well get used to it. I think that for most gardener's, spending all of those hours at it to get something beautiful to live in is the whole point :).

We bought this place in 2001 and I inherited a wonderful old garden all around a 25' path leading in from the gate. It ranges from 20' deep in some areas to about 5' as it gets closer to the house and I inherited things like ornamental flowering crab apples, a virtual forest of canna lilies that grow to 10' tall, a huge firecracker fuscia, all sorts of perennials and bulbs and a beautiful ground cover of St. John's Wort with yellow flowers. All of it was buried under a decade's worth of weeds and leaves and I didn't know that half of it was there until I started clearing it all out. All of the tenants had gotten rent breaks to keep it alive and that's pretty much all they did. Since then I've put in beds all around the rest of the house, borders all along the rest of the paths, cleared out a 20' by 30' horseshoe shaped area for another garden in there, made another little area in a circle back under the trees, put in a rock garden, and now I'm landscaping a hillside down behind the pool. I have at least 1000 sq. ft. to maintain at this point and a bunch of stuff in pots on the porch and around the pool. Feel better now?

I'm going to update my list in hide tags because it's all here in one place now and easy for me to keep track of but the rest of you will be spared the repeats.


- Pull back a bunch of vinca that's growing into a 25' flower border. This is easiest to do when the ground is wet.
- Rip out some more mint that I missed, and this will be easier in wet ground too. I hate doing this because there's never an end to it.
- Clear out the last vegetable bed on the back hill.
- Haul a load of compost down there to mix into the beds. The compost will be lighter if I let it dry out a bit but it's all downhill so it's no big deal.
- Plant the carrot seeds I forgot about.
- Pull the weeds on the paths down there.
- Weed around the ceanothus that I planted there.
- Transplant about 100 seedlings into little peat pots before they get crowded.
- Clear out the rock garden and figure out what to do with it next. Between a hard frost and some soil erosion it needs a major overhaul.
- Transplant a gardenia.
- Cut back a rock rose and a salvia that are overgrown and crowding each other and everything else in that bed.
- Do a regular round of weeding all of the flower beds.
- Feed everything.
- Move an ornamental grass that is buried somewhere in the alstromeria.
- Prune a miniature tangerine tree.
- Spray all of the roses for mildew.
- Transplant some ivy

[dancer_rnb]

Well, I filled up my flower beds with rocks and rose clippings.
Trying to keep the damn cats from using them as a litter box.
Have to replace some of the plants.

[reddhedd]

Cut the ivy back from the granite rock border... clear the junk out of the herb beds and under the gardenias...sticks, leaves, pine cones and needles, etc.

Figure out what to put in the boggy area of my yard; it's shady and wet...unless we have a drought, and then it becomes hard as concrete! I've thought about hostas, but I already have so many.....

Figure out how to stop the squirrels from digging out my seedlings to eat the seeds underneath...they've eaten my corn and beans and cucumber seeds. little bastards!

Try to make the back yard look like trailer trash doesn't live here. The camper, work trailer, old tires, projects the kid started but didn't finish, a bunch of weights with no bench (DH's project) tarps, leftover concrete blocks from a wall we just built, big logs from a couple of trees that went down....really looks like crap, and the encroaching woods don't help...some of that stuff has trees and bushes growing right up in it!

And pruning...always pruning!

[Christina]

My partner recently moved his shop from the little cabin out back to a much bigger new one way out near the end of the driveway so now instead of having the back of the house look like trailer trash it's almost all hidden away behind the shop. All that's left to end the junkyard ambiance is to get him to write down the year, make and model of the pickup that's been sitting with a blown engine alongside the shop for over 18 months now so that I can try to give it away on Craigslist for free. The body is in good shape.

ETA: And haul the (recently) dead stove to the dump. That's the biggest ugly right now.

[Notta]

Weeds produce blooms, yes? So what's the difference between 'a weed' and 'a perennial'? Seriously. Veggies, I know. Anything other than the most everyday flowers, not so much.

I only found out my largest bed was mostly some sort of flowering weed when the neighbor told me.

[Christina]

To me, weeds are native or naturalized plants that are growing where you don't want them to. Some of them are interesting or pretty so I leave them alone, some of them aren't so I pull them from the beds, some are invasive and they piss me off and it's a challenge to try to get rid of them. It's a ongoing job here to keep the woods from taking over the whole area. The flower beds look much better when you can see the flowers through the tall grass.

[David B]

There is something to be said for doing what Cath does, and devoting a part of a garden to native wild flowers.

On numbers of grounds - to let them seed, and disperse for one, to give a food source to native wildlife, like butterflies and their caterpillars, because some of the plants that produce the flowers will be edible, and some of them nice, and because the flowers are pretty. And it's not going to be too high maintenance.

David

[Christina]

*laughs

I live on 5 acres. The 4 of that aren't made up of the house, pool and gardens are completely untouched and left to bloom and grow as they will. It's more of a matter of how much space I devote to having something other than native vegetation.

[reddhedd]

Well,
I got the ivy trimmed back to its border, the cherry tree pruned, and the lawn mown.
I also think I've found a way to foil the squirrels from digging up corn kernels to eat right after they've sprouted.

[Christina]

That's pretty good. What did you do to stop the squirrels? So far I've been lucky and nothing is eating the lettuce or spinach and I get enough for a salad at least every other day.

I've gotten a lot done too but the list keeps getting longer.

- Pull back a bunch of vinca that's growing into a 25' flower border. This is easiest to do when the ground is wet.
- Rip out some more mint that I missed, and this will be easier in wet ground too. I hate doing this because there's never an end to it.
- Clear out the last vegetable bed on the back hill.
- Haul a load of compost down there to mix into the beds. The compost will be lighter if I let it dry out a bit but it's all downhill so it's no big deal.
- Plant the carrot seeds I forgot about.
- Pull the weeds on the paths down there.
- Weed around the ceanothus that I planted there.
- Transplant about 100 seedlings into little peat pots before they get crowded.
- Clear out the rock garden and figure out what to do with it next. Between a hard frost and some soil erosion it needs a major overhaul.
- Transplant a gardenia.
- Cut back a rock rose and a salvia that are overgrown and crowding each other and everything else in that bed.
- Do a regular round of weeding all of the flower beds.
- Feed everything.
- Move an ornamental grass that is buried somewhere in the alstromeria.
- Prune a miniature tangerine tree.
- Spray all of the roses for mildew.
- Transplant some small ivy to pots
- Prune up a live oak near the Japanese maples
- Prune grapevines
- Transplant nandina
- Find a new home for a climbing wild rose
- Deadhead everything
- Take the rest of the compost and spread it around one of the back flowerbeds and turn the rest and cover it for the season.

I don't know how I ever managed to keep it together when I was working because it takes a at least a few hours a day now. I guess I just did less of everything.

[reddhedd]

I don't have anything eating my salad greens..just the beans, zukes, tomatoes, (all bugs) and corn. I took some fishing line, and coiled it and draped it all over my corn seedlings and the bed. corn can get sunlight and water, has no trouble growing, but they apparently can't see the monofilament; they feel it, and it freaks them out. I've found some pulled out off the bed towards the trees as if it were wrapped around a foot. I just put it back. $6 for 500 yards of 8# line.

I read that some guy did this with heavier line around his garden and it kept deer out; I just adapted it to my local pest.

Looks like you also got a fair amount done...good for you!

[Matty]

we have almost total deck for our back yard but we just opened the pool too so i have that to sort out, we need to move the hot tub so i can re-level the bit of deck its on (or replace with a concrete pad, not decided yet) .

I'm in the process of building a couple of planters, one so we can have a decent sized selection of herbs this summer, and the other for vines or ivy(havent decided, prolly vines cos i can used the leave for cooking) to climb up the wall and out over the hot tub as a sort of pseudo ceiling. Have the frame etc already there just need to get going on the planters.

Oh and i have a wobbly fence that could do with one of the old posts taking out and a new one sinking in. that might well wait though .

we are getting some buds on all the trees etc so it wont be long before the whole yard is lush and green again. Love it.

[Christina]

That's a really great idea reddhead. I'll have to try that next year.

I've been working outside almost all day today so I'm making good progress through my list. I think I finished more things than I'm going to add today.


- Pull back a bunch of vinca that's growing into a 25' flower border. This is easiest to do when the ground is wet.
- Rip out some more mint that I missed, and this will be easier in wet ground too. I hate doing this because there's never an end to it.
- Clear out the last vegetable bed on the back hill.
- Haul a load of compost down there to mix into the beds. The compost will be lighter if I let it dry out a bit but it's all downhill so it's no big deal.
- Plant the carrot seeds I forgot about.
- Pull the weeds on the paths down there.
- Weed around the ceanothus that I planted there.
- Transplant about 100 seedlings into little peat pots before they get crowded.
- Clear out the rock garden and figure out what to do with it next. Between a hard frost and some soil erosion it needs a major overhaul.
- Transplant a gardenia.
- Cut back a rock rose and a salvia that are overgrown and crowding each other and everything else in that bed.
- Do a regular round of weeding all of the flower beds.
- Feed everything.
- Move an ornamental grass that is buried somewhere in the alstromeria.
- Prune a miniature tangerine tree.
- Spray all of the roses for mildew.
- Transplant some small ivy to pots
- Prune up a live oak near the Japanese maples
- Prune grapevines
- Transplant nandina
- Find a new home for a climbing wild rose
- Deadhead everything
- Take the rest of the compost and spread it around one of the back flowerbeds and turn the rest and cover it for the season.
- prune fruit tree suckers
- transplant sunflowers into the ground
- sweep up around the pool


Oh well. I guess I did add more than I finished.

[Notta]

Today I bought something I've never heard of before: Gaillardia ‘Oranges and Lemons’ plants.

Penn State had a master gardener's plant sale, so I went to see what they had. My front flower bed has a young flowering dogwood tree that was surrounded by some bushy red plant that had developed a bad case of fungus. Plus, the grass had started to grow in the bed and dandelions had taken root. I had taken out everything but the dogwood and a couple of tulips, so I had this big bare bed with almost nothing in it.

I planted the Gaillardia in the bed, and decided to spruce it up with some marigolds while waiting for the new perennials to grow.

I also bought some different kinds of chili peppers for my veggie patch (the bunnies ate all the ones my son started indoors -- they were tiny when I planted them), and now I'm DONE PLANTING!!

The mulch is spread, the new annuals & perennials are all in their beds, I've seeded daisies which are just beginning to come up, and I reduced the size of my biggest and most overgrown bed by 1/3.

And it's raining a nice, steady rain. Great for the new plants!

[Christina]

That's great. Mine is ongoing and I'm never done. The list just keeps getting added too but it's not like I'm ever going to (or want to) be finished. something. This is my list. I get this perverse satisfaction from leaving the crossed out things there, but next time I'm starting fresh. Gaillardia are beautiful and they come in so many amazing colors.


- Pull back a bunch of vinca that's growing into a 25' flower border. This is easiest to do when the ground is wet.
- Rip out some more mint that I missed, and this will be easier in wet ground too. I hate doing this because there's never an end to it.
- Clear out the last vegetable bed on the back hill.
- Haul a load of compost down there to mix into the beds. The compost will be lighter if I let it dry out a bit but it's all downhill so it's no big deal.
- Plant the carrot seeds I forgot about.
- Pull the weeds on the paths down there.
- Weed around the ceanothus that I planted there.
- Transplant about 100 seedlings into little peat pots before they get crowded.
- Clear out the rock garden and figure out what to do with it next. Between a hard frost and some soil erosion it needs a major overhaul.
- Cut back a rock rose and a salvia that are overgrown and crowding each other and everything else in that bed.
- Do a regular round of weeding all of the flower beds.
- Feed everything.
- Prune a miniature tangerine tree.
- Spray all of the roses for mildew.
- Prune up a live oak near the Japanese maples
- Prune grapevines
- Deadhead everything
- Put sunflowers, cosmos and nasturtiums into the ground
- Transplant those 2 weird grasses
- Transplant a gardenia.
- Transplant some small ivy into pots
- Move an ornamental grass that is buried somewhere in the alstromeria.
- Transplant nandina
- Find a new home for a climbing wild rose
- Take the rest of the compost and spread it around one of the back flowerbeds and turn the rest and cover it for the season.
- prune fruit tree suckers
- sweep up around the pool
- Plant the sweetpeas
- Cut back the monstrous succulent and transplant some down on the hill

[reddhedd]

I've just put in 18 gerbera daisies, 4 sages, and 6 peppers (hot). Since I bought 56 plants yesterday, I'm not half done!

One of my grape vine sticks is budding/leafing out! I'm so excited!
Found hundreds of tiny cabbage web worms on my brassicas, so I've spent the past several days squishing the damned things. Hard to see when little, but voracious eaters, so I can't wait 'til they are easier to spot. I've gotten most, but everyday, I find a dozen more on my brussels sprouts or broccoli.

I found these great shrubs for my shady-ish boggy spot. I'm gonna plant plumbago there, as well as in a bunch of other spots. (10 for $7.50!) I'm working on turning my front yard into a garden with no grass; each year I rip out some grass and plant herbs, flowers, shrubs, hostas, etc. I've replaced about 1/3 of the lawn now. With my little reel mower, I can cut the grass in 20 minutes. :D
I have a spot in my front garden with two gaura on either end...but the one on the left dies every year. The other one is thriving, and beautiful. My husband says to give up, but I refuse!

And, IMO, ''weeds'' are good. I don't like high maintenance plants; except for veggies, I don't baby my plants. Either they survive on their own, or I replace them. Except that damned gaura...I'm gonna win that one.:D

My favorite flower is a dandelion. no matter what crap people throw on it, poisons, cutting, digging...that baby is coming back! I admire anything, human, animal or plant, that takes a lot of shit and still manages to thrive. Speaks of good character!


Christina, I just looked at your list. You have done SO much! I'm way impressed, and feeling way lazy!

[Goldie]

They sell those little garden scooters that are little carts with room to store tools inside and that have wheels and you can sit on them. They're pretty cheap too. This is the first link that I hit. (http://www.nextag.com/garden-scooter/products-html) My mom has knee problems and she uses one all the time and loves it.

I finished clearing the leaves and pine cones out of the rock garden and cut back some things that were overgrown and planted two new plants to replace two that had frozen and died. I'm not sure what else I want to plant in there. I already have a few ferns and a few iris, a hosta, a plant whose name I can't remember but it has beautiful deep purple flowers in fall, a small juniper and a silvery plant that I'm too lazy to look up too. I may just plant a lot of nasturtiums in there because I like having them in salad but they don't particularly go with the more Japanese feel of it.

Do you plant them from seed? I am planning to plant nasturtiums for the first time, this year... I plan on eating them but thought they'd be pretty meandering throughout the veggies. :)

[Christina]

Christina, I just looked at your list. You have done SO much! I'm way impressed, and feeling way lazy!

Well, keep in mind that I'm retired and have lots of time to get things done. When I was working I was so busy that I didn't get much done besides weeding and watering. My list is getting short at the moment but I add new things all the time. Some things are cyclical. I feed everything every other week and at least once a week I go through and deadhead and weed everything. Those things are never done.

- Find a new home for a climbing wild rose
- Start a pile of compost for potting soil and turn the rest
- Sweep up around the pool
- Weed paths on the hill
- Pull every dandelion and bit of french broom that I can find
- Cut back and transplant huge succulent down on the hill
- Weed more out front
- Divide and plant those little bulbs somwhere
- Make potting soil from compost and sand and whatever else I have around.
- Transplant more strawberries from the ground into pots where the snails and bugs don't get them all.

[Christina]

Do you plant them from seed? I am planning to plant nasturtiums for the first time, this year... I plan on eating them but thought they'd be pretty meandering throughout the veggies. :)

Nasturtiums are one of the easiest and fastest things that I've ever grown from seed. The seeds are big and easy to see so there is no thinning and they germinate fast. They'd be great for Bumpy. I start all of my flower seeds in pots early in the year. I haven't had the greatest luck with sowing them directly into the ground and having them survive the heat and pests when they're that tiny. The only things that I plant directly are row crops like carrots, lettuce, spinach, basil and things like that. I have to admit that my least favorite thing about gardening is thinning seedlings. It's so painstaking and tedious.

[Goldie]

I actually grow a lot from seed. Squash, beans, peas etc... PUMPKINS! :D We tried growing nasturtiums with other seeds indoors and they got too leggy before planting time...so we bought seeds to grow directly into the ground because the nursery didn't have any ponies of them. I REALLY want some so I guess I'll have to see if I can find some in "pony form."
We aren't as hot as you and it just frosted 3 nights ago... I am hoping they'll grow.
I don't mind thinning... and I especially love thinning and eating baby greens. :)

[Christina]

I don't mind thinning larger things and I cut baby greens every day for salad so I grow them closer to each other than recommended. I'm never going to let them get larger and they take much longer to bolt if you keep cutting them down almost all the way. I have enough to rotate through a week and by then the older once are growing new leaves to eat. This time I have to thin carrots and the inch-long greens don't look appetizing.

I threw one of those decorative gourds in the compost 2 years ago and I'm still yanking them up from everywhere that I spread it. I don't think that it's possible to kill a squash unless you never water it.

[Notta]

I bought catnip today to plant for my 3 cats. I'm going to install it in a far corner of the garden near the compost heap.

You can make tea out of the leaves, too, right? It's a mint, so I suspect I can also dry the leaves for tea -- as long as the cats don't find it.

[Christina]

I don't grow it for them because it makes them crazy. Once in a while is funnt to watch but four of them bouncing off the walls, the dog and each other whenever they want to is too much. For me, that is.

I've done all of the watering but that's about it. I'm going down and weed the paths on the hillside and that will take a while.

[reddhedd]

I've planted a dozen things today...plant guy had a sale. :D 4 plumbagos, a dozen mexican petunias (non invasive dwarf), and 3 strawberry plants. Still got another dozen to go....but it started sprinkling.

I also spent almost 2 hours hand picking cabbage worms off my brassicas...and my neighbors, too, since she is heavily infested, our gardens are 20 feet apart and there's no fence.

I'm digging the hummingbirds that have returned. Last year a couple nested nearby, and visited every 20 minutes until junior was big enough to fly, then they brought him by.
SOOO tiny and cute; I thought it was a fast bumble bee at first!

Re: catnip...some cats love it, others can't be bothered. I have 2 cats who love it,
and one who prefers to roll in orange peels and eat tomatoes!

[David B]

Re cabbage white caterpillars.

When I was small one of the few jobs I was encouraged/allowed to do in the garden was to pick caterpillars (and slugs and snails) from the brassicas and deop them in soapy water, and, even more critically, to inspect the undersides of the leaves for the little yellow patches of eggs and crush them.

Getting them at the egg stage, as far as possible, is the way to go.

David

[reddhedd]

Hmm...there must be different kinds? I have no white ones, only fat green ones that match the green leaves, and something that I have tentatively identified as a diamondback caterpillar. I don't know if I've found eggs; I just squish or pluck everything I see....
Little bastards....I get great pleasure in putting them into the killing jar...a mix of water, garlic juice, shredded tobacco, dishwasher soap and some vinegar, plus all the dead bugs that die over the season. Thing REEKS by fall, but it works....:D

[Christina]

I love plumbago. I have one in a half barrel and it gets so huge every year that I have to keep cutting it back. It blooms from June until late September and even if I cut it almost to the bottom it's twice the size the next year.

We have lots of hummingbirds and I've been trying to get a decent picture of them forever. These days they're all over the honeysuckle that's in full bloom but I'm never close enough and they move too fast. So far they've completely ignored my hummingbird feeder.

I got all of the paths weeded and a dozen plants transplanted and now I'm too tired to feel like doing anything else.


- Find a new home for a climbing wild rose
- Start a pile of compost for potting soil and turn the rest
- Sweep up around the pool
- Weed paths on the hill
- Pull every dandelion and bit of french broom that I can find
- Cut back and transplant huge succulent down on the hill
- Weed more out front
- Divide and plant those little bulbs somewhere
- Make potting soil from compost and sand and whatever else I have around.
- Transplant more strawberries from the ground into pots where the snails and bugs don't get them all.
- Dig up as many acanthus as I can and stick them somewhere shady.

[Cath B]

Re cabbage white caterpillars.

When I was small one of the few jobs I was encouraged/allowed to do in the garden was to pick caterpillars (and slugs and snails) from the brassicas and deop them in soapy water, and, even more critically, to inspect the undersides of the leaves for the little yellow patches of eggs and crush them.

Getting them at the egg stage, as far as possible, is the way to go.

David

I remember getting Dad to agree to spare the baby snails from the soapy water.

When I found some in there anyway he said it must have been a mistake. :D

I took them out and tried to revive them.

[reddhedd]

I remember getting Dad to agree to spare the baby snails from the soapy water.

When I found some in there anyway he said it must have been a mistake. :D

I took them out and tried to revive them.

Tell me you didn't use mouth to mouth...or chest compressions?

[Christina]

I hate killing them too so what I do is keep a small roll of wet newspaper in the bed and in the morning there are always some in there as well as earwigs and then I move them to the undeveloped part of the property.

[nygreenguy]

Well, Im starting my garden this summer. Ive never had one before! I thinking about one flower and one food garden. Im so excited!

[Ray Moscow]

Any slugs or snails I find in the garden go to one of my beer-filled slug traps, where at least they'll have a last drink on their way out.

[Cath B]

I remember getting Dad to agree to spare the baby snails from the soapy water.

When I found some in there anyway he said it must have been a mistake. :D

I took them out and tried to revive them.

Tell me you didn't use mouth to mouth...or chest compressions?

lol, no I just put them on a leaf (though not a strawberry leaf) and hoped for the best.

[Cath B]

Any slugs or snails I find in the garden go to one of my beer-filled slug traps, where at least they'll have a last drink on their way out.

Yeah, probably beats washing up liquid.

[Cath B]

Well, Im starting my garden this summer. Ive never had one before! I thinking about one flower and one food garden. Im so excited!

Cool, have you decided on any plants yet?

[Christina]

I've been working my way through my list but I also stop and do all sorts of little things along the way.


- Find a new home for a climbing wild rose
- Start a pile of compost for potting soil and turn the rest
- Sweep up around the pool
- Weed paths on the hill
- Pull every dandelion and bit of french broom that I can find
- Cut back and transplant huge succulent down on the hill
- Weed more out front
- Divide and plant those little bulbs somewhere
- Make potting soil from compost and sand and whatever else I have around.
- Transplant more strawberries from the ground into pots where the snails and bugs don't get them all.
- Dig up as many acanthus as I can and stick them somewhere shady.
- Feed Everything
- Move stray morning glories
- Cut down all of those bulbs
- Break up the wood in the burn tub so that it’s hidden
- Weed out the middle of that other tub
- Divide the bearded iris
- Spray the roses
- Move the acanthus that I missed


It's been a very cold (for us) spring here and things that would normally be in full bloom right now are just starting to open. It doesn't look like it's going to get any warmer next week either. I've only been in the pool once this year so far.

[nygreenguy]

Well, Im starting my garden this summer. Ive never had one before! I thinking about one flower and one food garden. Im so excited!

Cool, have you decided on any plants yet?

Well, not yet. We dont have a long growing season, so I have to see what would be good for a late july planting. I may just end up getting the soil ready and plant next year.

[Cath B]

Well, Im starting my garden this summer. Ive never had one before! I thinking about one flower and one food garden. Im so excited!

Cool, have you decided on any plants yet?

Well, not yet. We dont have a long growing season, so I have to see what would be good for a late july planting. I may just end up getting the soil ready and plant next year.

Hope it works out well :)

[Cath B]

I got back into the garden yesterday after going away last Thursday.

I mowed the lawn and dug up the last of the grass in my "annual weeds of cultivated ground" meadow. The part I dug earlier (most of it) currently has a mass of corn chamomile due to burst into flower over the next few days - all self-seeded.

There should also be corncocke, corn marigold, cornflower and field poppy.

I'm going to sow some annual grass seeds (timothy grass) and some corncockle I collected last year in the bit I just dug.

It's wet today so good for sowing and transplanting.

I hope to:-

sow meadow
sow a row of spinach
transplant the two remaining courgette plants
shift the chives, English mace and primroses which my chickens have been overcropping to the other garde
transplant some lettuce thinnings into places where the lettuce has already been cropped
move a rose bush into a larger container (months later than this should have been done)
plant harebell and heartsease seeds

I doubt I'll get all that done, but I'll see how it goes.

[Cath B]

Forgot to mention transplanting the leeks!

[Notta]

I'm already eating butter crunch lettuce from my garden and I have several small green tomatoes ripening. My new blueberry bushes are growing so fast the green shoots are bending over and there are up to five small berries on one plant.

[Christina]

I've only gotten one thing done in a week because the weather has been crappy and I've been back to doing winter projects instead. My list got longer instead of shorter.

Divide and plant those little bulbs
Transplant strawberries
Move the acanthus I missed
Move morning glories
Cut down all of those bulbs
Break up the wood in the burn tub so that it’s hidden
Weed out the middle of that other tub
Divide the bearded iris
Do the roses
Hoe the paths
Biweekly Feeding
Find a place for the crowded day lily

It's kind of depressing that the growing season is further along in PA than where I am this year.

[Cath B]

I did a pile of weeding this afternoon and put more compost on the currant bushes.

They now look nice and weed free - next job is weeding the asparagus, maybe this evening.

I don't like making long lists as they worry me.

I just think a few tasks ahead and try to shrug my shoulders about what I haven't done.

[Ray Moscow]

We're about ready to harvest some courgettes and strawberries now, and another crop of peas.

[Christina]

The weather was nice in the morning yesterday so I got everything fed. It's supposed to start warming up in the next week or so but my vegetables and fruit trees are about a month behind where they would normally be by now. I still have lots of lettuce which usually would have bolted before the end of May and I get a few strawberries every day but that's about it. My guess is that I won't get much besides some undersized stuff in early Fall. I only remember one year like this in the last 20 years where our growing season was shorter than that in the northeast.

[Ray Moscow]

We got some corgettes (zucchini) from the garden this morning. They are really growing fast now.

[Cath B]

Your courgettes are way ahead of mine!

I don't think I'll have any for another month or so.

[Christina]

I keep doing things but the list never gets any shorter. I guess that's good because I like having things to do out there.

Divide and plant those little bulbs
Transplant strawberries
Move the acanthus I missed
Move morning glories
Cut down all of those bulbs
Break up the wood in the burn tub so that it’s hidden
Weed out the middle of that other tub
Divide the bearded iris
Do the roses
Hoe the paths
Biweekly Feeding
Find a place for the crowded day lily
Cut back the wild rose bush that's taking over


I'm moving into the regular summer schedule of watering and checking the pool every day, deadheading and weeding once a week, feeding everything every two weeks, weed wacking once every 3 or 4 weeks and then doing whatever other projects interest me at the moment.

[Ray Moscow]

We had two meals almost entirely out of our garden today:

Lunch: new potatoes, squash, green beans and peas.

Dinner: salad: rocket, various lettuces, spinach, parsley, etc. (though I added some salmon and a store-bought tomatto, too).

[Christina]

I used up all of the lettuce and spinach that hadn't bolted today and pulled what's left. Now that the normal summer heat is here it's wilted by 9 in the morning. Everything else is loving it after all of the bad weather. Tonight's dinner will use up the last of the pesto and sun dried tomatoes from last year.

[Cath B]

I love picking all the different salad leaves.

Today I've been doing some vigorous tree pruning.

Next jobs:-

Mow the lawn as soon as it's dry enough
Weed the vegetable garden again.
Plant a row of spinach.