Puny butterfly bush!

I put a couple of boiled eggs in my tuna salad yesterday but those shells are gone also. I gave up smoking and caffine about ten years ago. And I don't think I want to invest in any testing. I already know this is crap soil! I think any affects of the concrete has dissipated in the past 25-30 since the patio was poured.

I use to have a lot of flowers on my patio when I lived in an appartment too......I know where you coming from.
Even had tomato plants and joked about planting corn ^_^

From past experience with butterfly bushes I found out that they take a couple of years to really establish them selves in the landscape. Just add liquid miricle grow a couple times in summer, cut way back in fall and be patient it will be worth the wait.

Kassy, I posted my flower list over on Wilty's thread. I don't have any corn but I have a neighbor that has ONE stalk about 3' tall. LOL

LOL.........Tell them ONE stalk isn't enough...........LOL

Venice you can get some coffee grounds free from Starbucks.

Really? I have one just a block away!

I think they even bag them for people, some of them have a container outside labelled for your garden or something like that...I drink a LOT of coffee and like you crashbandiscoot I eat a lot of eggs, so I don't frequent Starbucks. I'm leaf poor though :(

Ok, I will have a couple of eggs tomorrow for breakfast. I also have a couple of boiled eggs in the fridge so I could do deviled eggs. Then I will give Starbucks a call just to be sure they do that. Didn't have time to plant today so that worked out well.

By the way, I picked up some Bishop's Ground Cover/ Snow on Mountain from someone on Freecycle tonight. It looks horrible, like it was sprayed with weed killer or something. Anyway the roots look good and there a few pieces that look good. Should I cut it all off and just plant the roots? I am not sure what to do with it. I could put it on the other side of the fence. Or I could put it in a long planter until next year or would it die in a planter. Since it is so invasive, I want to be careful where I put it.

Venice, I don't thing the lime ever quits leaching out of concrete. Always had problems with the azalas around my house. Next time you have powdery mildew, mix a coupe of tablespoons of soda in a gallon of water and add some ivory liquid and spray heck out of the plant. This works as good or better than anything I've tried. I have a running rose that is really susceptible to it. Main thing is to keep a sharp eye and catch it before it gets bad.

Venice I 've never used eggshell, but I have read that you have to wash the shells before you put them out there...so they don't smell & attract bugs or raccoons or whatever...someone will have more knowledge of that than I do & come along & tell you how to use the eggshells.

I was gonna suggest the very same thing Jim41 did with the spraying, I am getting it too.
'tis the season.

Maybe egg shells are not a good idea for my garden. Kitty probably will smell it and dig them up! There are other things I can't use because of her.

Venice, soak them in a little water with dish soap for a few minutes and then rinse them. Crush them up and kitty probably won't even notice them after you work them in the soil.

Good idea! I guess it is eggs for lunch!

I tried using bonemeal once and there she was digging around in the soil. I had to give the rest away because even the bag made her crazy!

Ok, my egg shells are clean and I have a bag of coffee grounds. What porportion do I want for the grounds? One-third? One-fourth? Less?

I'd say no more than a cup per plant well mixed in the soil. When you are through re-working your buddlejia, you can take the remainder of the grounds and distribute them over the soil of the rest of your beds. It will make everybody happy.

Venice you have just crossed the line from 'beginner gardener' to 'I know a little something' :)

And I know I'm supposed to be doing yard work but holy cow it's hot & humid out there! I needed a water break.

Lynnie -- You are absolutely right!!!! LOL Well, you are in my zone but where do you live?

Moon -- One cup per plant? That's all? And I just put the rest on the top of the soil and that is good enough? No digging or working it into the soil? Which I wouldn't do anyway if you said that is what I need to do! But I do want to make everybody happy!!! Some of them are not happy because they have that powdery mildew. I just wish you could put something on it to make it go away.

Hey, I could have been saving my egg shells and getting coffee grounds for years instead of working so hard and not getting anywhere!

Jim -- I do want you to know that I copy all of this good info into a file, like your mixture for the powder mildew, etc.

The grass in our apartment complex really needs thatching. On a cool day, I could rake up some dead grass. I wonder if that is worth the effort.

One cup into the soil mix. You can scratch it into the soil over the rest of the garden if you desire for "looks". When you water it will wash the grounds into the soil. You can add more periodically to the garden beds and your potted plants. Coffee grounds are a source of nitrogen, egg shells add calcium, which tomatoes need to prevent blossom end rot.

Jim's remedy should help send the powdery mildew packing.

Dead grass won't hurt a thing and can be beneficial. The question is, Do you feel like doing it?

NO

Good answer. And very honest....grin

Saying that dead grass won't hurt a thing sounds like it wouldn't do too much. So I won't do that much either! lol I will be mixing soil in the morning if it doesn't rain, which it probably won't do. One great thing, Fri. Sat. Sun. it will be in the mid 70's! And no rain. Hurrah!!!!

Great weather...I am jealous....we will be in low 90's all week with 60% chance of rain

Yuck!

that's our weather! it was 99 today.

You probably were sun struck...LOL

Lynnie, where do you live that you have such wonderful weather!!! NOT

I live in MA....I kept going out there, trying to weed...got a LITTLE bit done, but not much. Three were a lot of bees, too, I hate when they buzz my head.

You must live along the coast, right?

no, the western part of the state I'm actually not far from CT. Grew up mostly in Boston though.

Maybe I should tell you that we are at 74 degrees here ^_^

Ok, the states are so close together on the zone map I have I couldn't tell. I just thought it was strange that you were in the same zone I was but you are so much further north!

It figures. I lived in Madison for a while and you are further north yet.

PHBBBBBT. (raspberry sound) Rub it in Kassy.....I'll send you pictures of my 70 degree Christmas barbeque.....grin

we're jealous Kassy! it's supposed to break this weekend or tomorrow, or Thursday, i forget... brain's fried today!

Hot and humid here to Lynnie. The heat I can take but if you exert a little in this humidity you can't breathe. We got 2 inchs of rain while I was gone today and probably twice that about two miles from me. Has a regular cloud burst.

Stick with my remedy for the powdery mildew and you will get it. Might take more than one application.

By the way, congratulations on being a gardener that knows something. No matter how good you get there is always something else to learn.

Obviously I don't know the scientific names of most, if not all plants. However, butterfly bush is Buddleia davidii!!! I know one something now!

Since I don't have a good memory, I have to file all these tidbits everyone gives me. Thank goodness for computers!