Archive through June 02, 2002
The ClubHouse: Archives: Gardening Tips:
Archive through June 02, 2002
Tess | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 01:41 pm     Wink, that's a much better plan now that we know it's a rental for precisely the reason Grooch mentioned. Topsoil is not expensive if you just need a little. We needed so much it came in a dump truck. The tree is still thriving because we didn't go very deep with the soil it was just a very large area. We also have 4 inches of cedar mulch over that entire garden which then wraps around the corner and across where the rhododendrons are and the hydrangea was. I've found that with the mulch there, certain perennials won't grow and some just thrive. It's been pretty much hit and miss. |
Tess | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 01:52 pm     Grooch, I think it might be okay to have a planter around the base of a tree if you don't go out very far. I'm not sure, but all of our neighbors plant around their trees, some in raised beds, some not. The one thing in common is that none of these plantings go out anywhere near as far as the drip line. We have 10 very large trees in our yard and have only planted under 2 of them so far. There is an area in back yard which had 3 very large pine trees, 2 of which were removed last year as they were dead when we bought the house. That leaves 1 pine tree at the edge of a raised bed which is currently being built. My question here is, how will the fact that this area was under pine trees for well over 40 years, perhaps much longer, affect what can be grown there. We have lots topsoil to put down but I dont' konw if we should do anything else. The people who owned the house before us did NOT care for the yard at all so that area was filled with weeds and scrub bushes. <sigh> |
Wink | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 04:16 pm     Tess I would think the ground under the pines should be fairly rich soil if all those pine needles from 40 years have decomposed in there. Just like the forest floor it's probably pretty good stuff. May just need a little amending. |
Grooch | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 04:18 pm     Also, I think pine needles are acid. So acid loving plants should do well there. |
Grooch | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 04:19 pm     Wink, do you do your own gardening or do you have someone do that for you to? |
Wink | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 04:21 pm      |
Grooch | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 04:23 pm     I hate you, Wink.  |
Wink | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 04:26 pm     Oh stop it. Of course I do it myself. Well not ALL by myself or I'd never get any sleep. It's a co-operative effort here. |
Grooch | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 04:27 pm     Ok, so that person does the grunt work and you do the pointing of what you want where. Right? |
Car54 | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 04:45 pm     Her pool boy, Pierre helps her. He irons too. |
Wink | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 04:49 pm     Just like Martha. I do the planning and the ordering. I plan and plant all the windowboxes and pots . The gardens are basically all perennials and I do the pruning on those but not much new will be added this year and the small amount that is will not be planted by me. I do not do any of the pond stuff. The co-operator does that and cuts the grass. I like to weed so I do that too. And I do a lot of pointing. Some people can't see the forest for the trees. |
Wink | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 04:50 pm     Pierre the pool boy is strictly eye candy. |
Ocean_Islands | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 04:50 pm     Gardening tips? See here: The Garden Web Here you will find answers to gardening's hardest questions. |
Car54 | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 04:51 pm     Hey Wink, how do you manage to post on the board while you are outside gardening? Or do you dictate through the window and Pierre types for you? (Guess he is Pierre the POND boy!) |
Wink | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 04:56 pm     That's part of the reason for the mania this week Car. It has been raining and very cool here this week and I haven't been able to be out communing with nature and frolicking with Peeair. What's the matter OI? Aren't we good enuff? |
Car54 | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 05:01 pm     Ah, cabin fever! I am preparing for a big software change at work, and am doing a bunch of database changes...so every 10 minutes I have to wait while something processes... so I check the board!!!!
|
Riviere | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 05:37 pm     My best flower garden is an approx 6' by 9' oval with a brick border; centerpiece is a white clump birch tree surrounded by daylilies, iris, a mum, balloon flowers, and the rest open for annuals, this year it's a lantana.. Most of these inc the birch are both sun lovers and sponges, necessary in our sloping backyard which retains a ton of water where the bed is! Potting soil was added all around the bed for the flowers, leaving the birch some space.. I've never heard of a plant that will grow under pine trees, the needles are so acidic and generally messy, but good luck if you find something that works! Here's something interesting: most places here won't sell a white paper birch of any kind, due to birch disease.. In '96 when we got this house there was a 18 ft mountain ash dying a cruel death due to the soggy backyard status. I wanted a more ornamental and practical water loving white birch, and my Granny sent me $200 as a housewarming gift if I could find one. Looked everywhere, nurseries simply refused to keep any! Then day before Easter '97 we were driving past a new landscape biz a few miles away and I spotted a few white birch trees lying on the ground, had to stop! The trees had been pulled off a job where a mall was expanding and only the 13' tree's rootball was intact so the owner said I could have it for $90, being the holiday weekend he'd deliver in an hour! Raced home to start digging!!! Today it's disease free and so pretty, 20' tall, might reach 35'.. I guess it's rare to find these, at least near St Louis, how about in your areas? |
Tess | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 07:00 pm     Riviere, we have a white paper birch in the front yard. We love it. There is a large boulder underneath it and in front of the boulder we have a small perennial garden. It's the first thing you see when you get to our house because it's right down by the street by the driveway. I have no idea how many years it has been here but I assume it's at least 35 years old. Now I will have to find out which plants like acidic soil for the large bed out back. I'm assuming it will still be somewhat acidic even after we cover it with several inches of topsoil. |
Dahli | Friday, May 17, 2002 - 08:11 pm     oooh Car!! big software change - that sounds like fun Actually I am a software technician and always wonder what it's like for folk getting ready to cut over. Are you happy about it or dreading it?...to stay on topic I am also preparing my garden... :-)) |
Car54 | Saturday, May 18, 2002 - 04:09 am     Dahli, I have petunias in the garage ready to plant, but it is raining! Our software runs the POS, buying, etc for a chain of stores. We have more stores than our current system can fit, so we are changing. I have done this before and kind of know the drill, but this system is very big and complicated and they are doing a lot of customizing. Everything we work on, we find there was something they did not realize about how we use the system, so it is a long process. I really like the people, but it is very detailed, complicated work that wants a lot of concentration. I know that any work we do to get our data ready will pay us back in how the system works when we install. I am excited, I know it is the right thing to do, but mostly my brain hurts a lot. I am the only person in my company who really understands how big a change this is and what it is going to take. I feel like I have a car full of puppies and I am taking them to the vet! They have no idea what is coming!!! What are you planting in your garden? |
Dahli | Monday, May 27, 2002 - 03:46 pm     CAR - I have to laugh at your question! 'What are you planting in your garden?' My garden this year is taking such a back seat, since we have what feels like a car full of puppies... two anyways - might as well be a car full, they're 7 weeks old & I have never been so busy! We were not prepared and so far 3 hosta, 2 bleeding hearts and a whole pile of lamium have been lost to puppy snacks! Your job sounds very cool - different than anything I've ever heard of but challenging - right? I sell, service and train software programs that the company I work for develops. Many times when I'm on site doing the install cut-over and training, people are so afraid of the change it's an uphill battle and my brain hurts big time! But I hope to get some annuals planted soon, petunias would be great, but our weather has been so bad, last week's snow storm squashed anything that was coming up - so it may be a puppy year only for me |
Car54 | Monday, May 27, 2002 - 03:53 pm     Dahli! Real PUPPIES....yay! Much better than Petunias! What kind? I am going to visit our software provider in a week to see if the custom stuff they developed for us is what we wanted. I have been working with the trainers over the phone...you are right about the fear of change...that is the hardest part! |
Dahli | Monday, May 27, 2002 - 04:19 pm     Ya know - last week I would have agreed with that first statement, but petunias are lookin' better every day....:-)) These little munchkins are Whippets, our second set - but the others we got as adults (the dogs) (well us too) Anyway - I work out of my home and do a lot on line providing tech support and training, and whining puppies in the background do not sound very professional! Now everything I plant or cultivate with bone meal is fair game - YIKES! I'm looking for an alternative that dogs don't like that my plants will??? So, you don't develop the product and it also didn't sound like you were the end user of the product, so if I'm right, you are in quite the spot when any problems come up... |
Car54 | Monday, May 27, 2002 - 04:27 pm     Oh, Whippets...they are so cute! Hang in there, they will grow out of it. I bet there is something organic you can put in the soil that they won't like. Yep, I am the middle guy... try to keep things running here, work with the software and hardware people when things aren't working right...you name it, I am it in my job! Our software provider is doing a lot of custom work and this seems to be kind of new for them... very nice, smart people, but I suspect they underestimated the scope of the project a bit. At work, people think I am stressed, but really I enjoy figuring out how to make things work...this IS the process! You just have to wrangle through and work through the details! |
Tess | Sunday, June 02, 2002 - 02:31 am     I thought it might be fun to post some pictures of what we are doing with our gardens. Mine is a major work in progress but there were some individual blooms which caught my eye the other day. The first 2 are my bleeding hearts. These are the favorites of my perennials since the bunnies ate all my columbine.
 |
|