Apropos of Nothing v.12

Wow, those of you who keep your shotweed under control by mulching or patrolling must have smaller places than I do. There is no way I can control this monster by hand weeding at this point. I should take photos. It's particularly bad this year. I'm wondering if the load of compost I put in last year had seeds in it. Supposed to be organic, cedar grove stuff, but one really never knows, does one? I know there was some giant hogweed seed in it because I pulled a couple of those out. No one else around here has them, so it was likely the compost.

Re the flame weeder, it's the kind that attaches to a propane tank, so it's a little large to bring to the May event. I strap the full sized tank onto the dolly to move it around. Best to use it when the ground is damp, of course. It's actually a bit of a pain to use because if it goes out, I have trouble relighting it as the wand is a bit unwieldy and you have to do two things at the same time, which is difficult when trying to keep a lighter or match lit. I generally call for help to relight, and that interrupts others at their work.

Pony, imagine my surprise when I came home from work today and found the package of dahlia starts! Thanks so much for dropping them by! I have them already potted up. Think I will leave them in pots until they get a little bigger and I can place them. To bad I wasn't home. You definitely would not have left empty handed. My neighbor came over yesterday and she left with about 10 divisions from the garden, and a nice broken crock made in Indiana some time ago. I was gleeful!

Summerkid, I hear that is a very cool place. My daughter and her friends love it. The company plans to open one in downtown Tacoma. They are going to clean up here! We are looking forward to it.

Cedar grove compost most definitely introduced horsetail to my yard last year..... And the delivery truck pretty carelessly nicked a tree and crushed a rhodie.... grrrrrrr......

Pixy, we have several propane tanks - just bring the flamer itself, okay?

I think it was Cedar Grove that tried to introduce Stinging Nettle here, but I think I caught it in time and pulled the seedlings as they came out.

A flame weeder sounds like a good deal, but I'm afraid I would catch the bamboo on fire, (which may not be a bad idea)
Summer-congratulations on your new job...there is nothing better than a job you can love!!
Just had 14 years of moss blown off our roof yesterday YUK!! What a mess, not ot mention the damage to new the annuals I just planted. I seems just when I think I have a handle on stuff some disaster happens!! Not to mention the winds that broke my newly planted Chinese yellow banana.......Arugggg!

Glad I had something to share for a change, Pixy. :) And it's good that I didn't bring anything home, because I have *nowhere* to put anything. heh. I really need to get my patootie in gear and build more beds.

Gonna use the top half of one of those big crates that Tracy cut down for me to make a bed for tomatoes and peppers. I don't have enough soil left to fill it, so I'll be off to the TAGRO place sometime this week most likely. I guess I'll have to pot up all my dahlias too, until I find the right rocks to build beds with. I have to get the brakes fixed on my truck before I haul rocks though... argh.

Can a rhodie do okay in a very large container, or do I have to put it in the ground?

Sort of depends on the size of both, and how big the rhody is destined to get.

Okay, Gwen, I think we can do that. I'll tell Mike.

So, I am completely unimpressed with Cedar Grove now! Talk about the emperor having no clothes!

Hrm- it's a wee thing right now. This is it: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/163494/

Vulcan is a slow grower and will do well in a large pot.

Excellent- because I have no idea where I would put it in the ground right now. hehe. Thanks, Willow. :)

Pony are you and Tracy comming to Montana? Because we have lots of rockshere. Think about it.

No- I posted in the RU thread that we can't make it. We have family obligations that weekend- Father's day and Tracy's son's birthday.

Gee, but that's a nice offer. Steve, can you drop me some of those nice rocks in the mail?

LOL! Yeah! Me too! ;)

No way Hos'e is the simple answer.

Drat.

Pixy - regarding shot weed: I'm on 1 1/2 acres, and Cardamine runs rampant. However, I have made it a practice to start early in the year (Feb), pulling or flaming it whenever possible. The smothering with manure works well - most annual weeds will succumb to a thick blanket of it.
My orchard is the last frontier, so I hope to ensure the demise of Shotweed & Cr. Ranunculus next year.
Vigilance is required, as is true of most weed eradication.
My mantra: "weed early & often".

Cedar Grove: I had 2 large (20+ yds) deliveries years ago, both were frought with problems. One was too sandy & had chunks of glass; the other came with all manner of weeds that I had not encountered prior to the delivery. Unfortunately, one usually doesn't discover the negatives until it's too late. It took several years to amend the soil after spreading the really sandy load. I do feel for folks whose soil is sandy by nature: the water just disappears! Oh, lesson learned on that one.
Perhaps I'm not being fair as these occured many years ago. But, after the 2 experiences, I looked elsewhere for mulch/topsoil/amendments. Something to think about...
If you have access to DeJongs in your area, i would check out their Chicken 'n Chips. Lovely!

I'd never heard of ragweed until I had a local nursery deliver a load of soil back in Illinois ...

do you guys have buckwheat out here?

I'm going to check DeJongs out, thanks Katye... :)

Kur - do check out DeJong. You won't be sorry. In addition to having good products (which are checked regularly for heavy metals), they are the nicest people and they will bend over backwards to help you.

http://www.dejongss.com/whatwehave/

Love their "Garden Blend" soil, ditto on the "chicken n chips" and all the drivers have been very careful.

Pix - re: relighting the flame thrower, oh, sorry, weeder. Have you considered using a candle stub/tealight candle - light candle in a fairly draft free area, preferably on paving - release gas into nozzle, and move nozzle over candle. Should light fairly easily with only one of you.

That's an idea I have not tried, Laurie. Good one! I will give that a go next time.

Hope it works - but I loved your message "an idea I have not tried" and I just had this image of all the acrobatic positures you've tried to reach starter switch and nozzle at the same moment! Yikes - sometimes imagination can be scarey!

Pixy, I got a flame weeder demo today, so if you don't want to schlep yours up here, no worries.

Kathy wrote this back up a ways:

"Hey - for those of you who have been looking for Fuji Waterfall Hydrangea . . . when we were talking about this Hydrangea a year or so ago it was very hard to find. Someone on the Hydrangea thread said that she'd found it at Whole Foods for very little.

There are a lot of places now to find it, but it's not cheap. Molbak's was selling it a couple of months ago for $50 for a gallon pot (or maybe even more!).

So . . . run, don't walk to your nearest QFC. There are lots of these beauties for $19.99 . . ."

So I visited my local QFC. They have one VERY similar called "Shooting Star" - they're on sale, hardy to Z7. Yes, I indulged & brought one home. They also have blues & pinks, but they are mophead.

ooooo I see some blue sky - what a bonus when I get home from work!

That blue sky is deceiving - it's frigid out! I'm wearing a t-shirt, sweatshirt, AND a sweater, inside the house. I almost never can wear this many clothes inside all day. I just cannot get warm. Can't even get up the courage to go get the mail...

And the hot tub is broken. :(

whoo hoo!!!
regarding Hydrangea shooting Star - check it out:
http://www.weekendgardener.net/landscape-plants/hydrangea-macrophylla-shootingstar.htm

so Shooting Star really is Fuji Waterfall. The site above says hardy to Z5 - even better......
Now I have to find a good spot.

Gwen , I haven't gotten up the courage to go outside. Looks cold out & I'm sure it would require sweater & jacket. Bundle myself up & out i go for Poop Patrol. So much fun!

Yes, sorry, Kate - I should have made that clear. Fuji waterfall = Shooting Star. It's another example of "A rose by any other name . . ."

I'm giving mine protection while it transitions to our unusually cold spring. But after this summer I think it'll be as tough as the rest.

I'm glad you got one - what a deal, eh?

I need to find the online photo that first made me want one of these . . .

There is a beautiful rainbow right now by my house. :) Back out to see it again!

Lovely rainbow, Bea. The sky is so dark . . .

Well it is gone. The weather has been so weird today. It was raining and sunny and thus the rainbow. What a sight. The skies were very dark at one side of the rainbow (from front yard )and this pic shows it as a double.

Ooh, and the pot of gold looks so close. We had a lot of rainbows in the summer in Fairbanks when I was growing up. That reminds me that I've always wanted to find the end of one . . .

I have not been able to find that pot of gold either. Sure would come in handy getting my last daughter through college!! I wonder if there are two pots on a double rainbow? She could go to grad school!

It just really seems to me that it ought to be there if you had the time to search. ROFL. Of course, then, there's that pesky Leprechaun. But if your daughter's motivated, she'll think of something to get past him, right?

Look what I found. A list of events up here. There are at least two plant sales locally this weekend. But I'll be in Oregon. Sigh. I guess it's for the best.

http://www.rainyside.com/events/default.asp

Don't know where to post this, but I just saw a recommendation from a "friend" of a "friend" on FaceBooke for lemon juice sprayed on a plant to deter pests. This was in response to someone who has just discovered lily beetles on her lilies . .

Hey I'll be in Oregon too. Where you going to be Katie/Kathy?

I'm going to be in Corvallis. Where are you going to be?

Do flame weeders work on horsetail? Does ANYTHING work on horsetail? Master gardener at Van Dusen plant sale said to sell the house and move.... :-( .... but we don't OWN the house! Waaahhhh... I hate hate hate horsetail!

(Glad I don't have any of that "shot weed")

I'll be in Canby. We were going to take a wine tasting tour and end up in McMinnville for dinner, but my mom is still recovering from her knee replacement surgery and isn't up to it - so we'll be sticking around Canby. There are tons of gorgeous nurseries around there if you want to meet up on your way back north... Ferguson's Fragrant Nursery and Heirloom Roses are two of my favorites (tempting..... tempting....)