Shes about too... #47

taters, what happened to your Mustang? What is it covered with, looks like it is in the garage and if so, can't be frost....can it? Hope your day will be good.
Faye

I wish we had a garage. Yes it is that nasty F word! LOL!
Our temp this morning was 27, one degree lower than the old low record of 28, way back on 1945. It has been a long time since we have seen temps this cold, so early in the year! Brrrrrr.
Time for more hot coffee.
LK

LOL, glad it is frost. That much of any other cover may be hard to remove.

oh my I just can't believe you guys have that coldness and whitestuffs! Sun shining here today but still cold enuff to freeze the birdbath.

Cold and raining here.

Snowing to beat the devil here and has been since about 7AM. Fortunately it is still above freezing, but it is dark now so that will change. They are saying 3 -5 inches. YUCK!

poor you, juanita.. i guess ours is going to be here next week. was hoping it would hhold off until christmas eve, but oh well, I am used to snow..



DH just told me snow tommorrow.. Great!

That snow scene is beautiful and I would enjoy it, but from inside the house. Winter is finally coming here, really cold out (well for us Ca. people) and hopng for some rain. I just hope the temps don't drop too low as they did one year and I lost a few plants. Must remember to get out and provide cover for them if that happens again.

I keep all my old sheets and table cloths and blankets just for covering up plants and tenders in the spring if a late freeze is forecast. it works for me.. been drizzeling sleet all day today. yuk.

I want you all to know again how much I appreciate the ornaments from last year. They are all on the tree and just make me smile when I think of how much fun we had making them, and sharing with others. I also love the fact that most are marked "hottie", hahaha! Although we can't say that anymore here, we know we are.... Deb, yes my address is just the same :)

oh good! Today was move things around to make room for a christmas tree day. I also made some doggie biscuits and some pnut butter cookies. I let out some lady bugs down in the basement garden, and they were going to town when I went down there to turn off the lights.
I too love my ornaments from last year.

This message was edited Dec 6, 2009 10:17 PM

Debra please explain about the ladybugs. I've been thinking about doing that, but wasn't sure if it would be feasible or not.

Thanks,
Juanita

You can go to your local feedstore, and ask them for a bag of lady bugs. They are like $10.00 for a thousand here. Then just release them near your plants. They will keep the spidermites, and other nasty bugs down to a minimum.

Karen, me too! I loved the ornament swap last year and I truly treasure mine.
taters, if i turn loose lady bugs in my sun room, will they go all over the house? With all the brug cuttings, and remembering the insect trouble I had last winter, I'm dreading the plant cuttings over winter.
Debbie reading about your sheets and blankets reminded me of my yard two Easters ago. It had turned real cold with frost warnings, so I took sheets and covered the small (about 4 1/2 ft.) trees in the front yard.
The thing is, my sheets were not the same color. they were all colors so I just told everyone the Easter Bunny just left large Easter Eggs. Even with the fun, I was glad to get those sheets out of my yard. Very colorful but not outside pretty.

You may have a few go through the house, but they usually stay on the plants.

Thanks, I may just have to try that. I wouldn't mind Lady Bugs in the house as long as I wouldn't pick up a dead one in the vacuum. I have heard that they really smell bad and the odor never gets out of the vacuum.

Thanks LK. I would have to order them online. We don't have a feed store here anymore. This whole county went upscale a few years back and the farming community were the ones to suffer. I may look into that though. Lost my whole inside lettuce crop a few weeks ago to aphids.

Sorry to hear you lost your lettuce, that must have been real disappointing for you.
Hope you find the ladybugs.

http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&safe=off&rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7DKUS&resnum=0&q=ladybugs&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wf

LK

LK how do you find these thing? :0)) Thanks for the link. I can see it now when I release them. I don't think I'll tell DH. See if he notices. Hee Hee..

Juanita

Just do a google search for anything you want.

yup that is what I do too.. google is my main way of finding pictures of things too..
lady bugs never make it upstairs so far, sometimes they do land on the floor ( tile) upside down and If I don't rescue them they die, but I just use a broom down there.. I do know that if you have used insecticide they will munch for a bit and then die from the poison.. they drink the droplets of water from misting.. I let a few out a week, to replace the ones that die.. no one has even noticed them. Except me, I love to watch them munch on bugs that hurt things.. storm coming in tonight.. ugh..
Faye, got your box mailman handed it to me so it didn't get cold. I am working on seed bags for xmas this evening while we watch a movie, impossible to do anything here while college girl is home.

Debra I just found a place to get the ladies and they are saying that they can be kept in the fridge and released a few at a time. I think I am going to try this because I am already seeing aphids on some of the brug cuttings as well as the new lettuce starts. They may also work on the mealy bugs that still remain in the coleus farm in the garage. Gonna give it a try. What the heck! Thanks for pioneering an idea I wouldn't have thought of.

Juanita

I keep mine in the garage since it is so cold, they are in a little canvass bag in some kind of grassy stuff and a little medium with food they send them in.. they just go to sleep in the cold i guess.. I let them crawl out and onto some braches, and then shake the rest down, since they all awake to light it can get kind of out of hand LOL

I have ladybugs overwinter in my garden room every year, but honest they don't seem to help me with bugs. I don't know if the room is not warm enough, but they seem to spend most of their time on the windows.

Lots of snow at my house today probably 5 inches or so, if it starts blowing I will have a real problem getting home. Sure is pretty right now when I left home for work. There isn't any snow down where I work which is good I hate messing with the traffic.

I have my ornaments in the garden room on a tree I keep up all year....LOL I can look out the bedroom window and see my little tree glowing in the dark.

John F Kennedy is such a beautiful rose.

Well the ladybugs are on the way to me so we will see what happens. I'll try anything once. :0)

Good luck with them.

Let me know how they work for you. Sure can't lose anything by trying. I keep the garden room pretty cool because I heat with propane ($$$$$) so maybe the little jewels don't get warm enough to need to eat. Kind of like the fish in the watergarden during the winter.

This message was edited Dec 8, 2009 8:28 AM

I'll keep you all posted. The "little buggers" are on the way. DH is going to stroke out. He hasn't recovered from the worms in the garage in the composting bin. This is the third year and he still keeps hoping they will croak. :0)

Oh I want to do compost worms......one of the Master Gardners has those and it seems like a great idea to me. Do you think it is great?

Should of ask Santa for one......maybe if I have been really good......LOL

Joyce I can tell you all about the worms. In fact I need to harvest poo, but I've been putting it off. Takes a while to sort the worms from the compost. Honestly though I've been doing it for I guess 3 years now. I truly can't see a huge difference in plants that I use the worm poo on. I've made tea with it and mixed it in and all kinds of things, but I haven't seen this awesome effect that most people swear by. I can send you some out of this next batch if you want to try it on some things over the winter. Once you get them set up they kind of mind themselves. I've never had a lot of trouble with the bins like some people do. I guess they thrive on neglect. :)) I started out with a homemade Rubbermaid bin set up. That was kind of iffy. Then I got a Worm Condo thing and that is good. Doesn't take up a lot of room and is easy to do. Never had any odor issues.

you guys, I just put the worms in the flower pots and planters, the poo comes out the bottom, i just scoop it up and put it back in the top.. they keep the soil areated in those big pots and the little ones too. I swear i HAVE WORMS IN EVERYTHING THAT IS BIGGER THAN A CUP lol oops caps lock.. any way, saw my lady bugs eating aphids on one of my hibs so I am pleased, another couple eating little webby bugs off the top of Chrissy brug.. sheesh it is almost below 0 here tonight. see ya all laters.. hug and stuff..

Morning everyone. Just thought I would pop in to show you my blooms. I cut all my brugs back a week or so ago, and some had buds. Now they are trying to bloom!

Hope your all doing well, and not too cold. It is 55 here now.

Oh goodness Linda, what will you do with all those cuttings? Are they all separated by name?

Most of them are NOIDs, and some I just recieved from other fellow DG members, with names, So if you want some of what I cut, please send me a dmail with your name and address, I will get them out to you!
What I had bloom here this yera, was a huge white one, and nice yellow one, that started out a light yellow, but turned to a dark yellow. And I also had a pretty pink one bloom.
Let me know if any of you want them.
Some have already ask for them, and they will be going out soon!

Thank you Linda, but I too have more than I know what to do with. Have sent to anyone that wanted them and still have what looks like a trillion left. I'm refusing to toss them, so I'm potting them and will see how many live to see the good old Summer time.

I have lost alot, for some reason or another, but I still have some really healthy ones going.. I will take inventory one of these nights, since they are all over the place.. it is about 21 degrees here..
here is southern belle..

That crazy Naughty Nick brug is making me crazy. I bought one already rooted in a coop and managed to kill it. I was lucky enough to receive one from a DG'er (start) and it isn't doing anything. They sent me two and one looks like it is already dead and the other started a leaf and then the leaf dried up, now it is just sitting there! Joeswife, do you suppose are really cold temps are too dry for the brug starts?

Naughty Nick sounds like one I would love to try. If anyone has an extra. happ, are your cutting inside? I have mine in the garage now but after I take the Christmas Tree down, they will go in the sun room. I will keep them damp, not wet, and hope they make it.

This message was edited Dec 16, 2009 5:40 PM

I have all my cuttings in large bowls full of moss, and water. Once they root, I will place them in small pots of soil.
Then there are some, no matter what you do, they will not survive!

This message was edited Dec 16, 2009 1:04 PM

I figure Naughty Nick is my brug test...LOL and so far I am a miserable failure....sob sob...LOL
I still have one I think is still a live.
I have my cuttings in the house, on the second floor. Our house is solar gain and the second floor and 3 huge windows and is the warmest cause heat rises. Afraid to leave them in the solar room cause they will get lost among the other plants. I have several brug starts on the second floor and they are all doing fine except for.....Nick.