LadyG, hope you have a great weekend.
Hanging in there. Part 3
Oh boy, I got behind! I've been trying to walk every morning and like to get out early to do it, so I have to leave with unread posts. By the time I get cleaned up at night I'm tired and just want to veg in front of the TV.
Stormy, I sure feel the pain of no rain. It gets depressing for me. You still managed to get a LOT accomplished. If you have one gloriosa, you will have many!
Luvs, that does seem like alot of eggs. I've had three babies before, but no more that I know of. I hope they all make it. I'd love to see a picture! Is the nest in the open as opposed to in a house?
Ruby, it's always nice to get to know new people or meet up with old friends on a thread!
Luvs, flanne;s is right! I was wearing a flannel shirt in the morning this past week. 60° is a shock, but it made for a nice week of working weather. We're back to hot, with a slight chance of rain on the 4th. Wow, what a great flag picture!
Holly, your plate is full! Glad your Dad is OK!
Ric, get better!!
LadyG, I sure hope you're better by now. I've lost track of the treatments, but I hope there are no more extra virus or colds to contend with. Miss you and hope to hear from you soon! I don't even have any good pictures to post.
Prayers for all!
LadyG, Hope you are feeling better today. May you be comforted that so many people care about you so much.
It was fun to read how everyone is doing. The grass is absolutely crunchy here. Even the weeds seem to be struggling, but still required mowing. Isn't that ironic? Gosh we need a nice soaking rain. Good wishes to all for a safe and happy July 4th.
Pam
Don't worry Sally/Billy, I think we are all behind this year. Holly, hope your dad is doing better.
What a beautiful day yesterday was. No humidity and relatively cool, mid to high 80's, but with a nice breeze. I went to a really nice picnic and it was the perfect day for it, sitting in shade under a giant Sycamore. Couldn't have been nicer, although, the later the day went on, the warmer it got, right into the evening. Still no rain, but at least I'm encouraged to see the 10 day forecast is showing some next Saturday and the following Monday. I've been having to water the pots 3 times a day, and the newly planted at least twice.
There's still no humidity here, but it is 95, but breezy. Sprinklers have been running again all day. Will have to hose a few beds later this evening when the sun wanes. Without a soaking since May, some of the newly mulched beds, it seems the mulch might be holding all of the moisture and not letting any through to the plants. Noticed a few shrubs really wiltiing. Upon examination, it seemed the hosing had washed away the soil and exposed roots. Put new soil down around them.
Been busy deadheading, weeding and caring for the pots and repotting seedlings and plugs. Lots of dead foliage to cut away. Hopefully, if we get some rain, some of the perennials will replenish themselves without all of the weight of that dead foliage.
Chris, I used a very scientific method for sowing and growing the tomatoes this year. Last year I had 23 varieities thanks to some I bought and largely to Critter & Nisi. You know that I grow all of my 'maters in pots. Last summer I joked with Critter and told her that I was going to throw all of the bad tomatoes back into their pots as I picked them and see if any came up. I planned to cover the posts in clear plastic in January. Well as there was at least 2 feet of snow on the ground from midJanuary to April, I never got the covers on the pots and didn't expect anything. By mid May I had over 100 tomato plants. 5 varieties did not come up. But the other 18 are growing very well. I gave quite a few plants away. Almost all of them have fruit now, but none ripe so far. If everything goes well the rest of the season, I think I'll continue with this labor and cost free method indefinitely!!!! I did thin them, transplant some and replenished the top 10 inches of soil. I fed them really well too. I might also try throwing some of the bad tomatoes into milk jugs this year, so that I get some earlier yield.
Chris, I know how much you love your lilies. this one is either Touch or Shocking. Hope you had a nice relaxing holiday weekend, and am looking forward to catching up with you whenever you feel up to it. Praying that will be sometime soon!!
Yes, He is home and feeling better. We have had a round of parties and picnics this holiday weekend. Tomorrow will be a day down at Josh's place at the river, should be another good day. Hope you are all enjoying your weekend. Ladyg, I can see you out on the lakes drifting on a boat with your daughter. Hope you are feeling stronger soon and can enjoy some lake time. Holly
Stormy---
You said you fertilized the Tomatoes "really well"......WHAT do you (or anyone else) use to fertilize Tomatoes??
I read once in Carolyn's articles that one never needs to fertilize Tomatoes. Well??????
At HD in the garden--I am often faced with advising people whether to fertilize tomatoes--or not???
I usually say that--IF you have planted them in fertile soil and amended it with some humus and manure--there is NO need to fertilize them.
Is this correct advice---or not????
My Tomatoes are not growing all that well this year.....Kind of lagging behind in growth.....a bit "puny".....especially the "Sun Gold" which has always been so prolific. I don't know what is wrong--I added compost (from my S.E.M. which I emptied this Spring) and all that---and yet they are lagging.....
Perhaps I have been growing them too many years in the same, small bed......???
I mulched them with straw this year--that is new.....but that should not matter.....
All input is welcome.... Thanks, Gita
I think it's *seedlings* that Carolyn doesn't fertilize, not tomatoes once planted out in the garden. I think you're generally right, if they're in good soil, they don't need fertilizing. If you do fertilize, make sure you're not adding too much nitrogen, or you'll get huge plants and no tomatoes. 10-10-10 is generally a good ratio for veggies. I sprinkle a little time release 10-10-10 when I plant out tomatoes & peppers but generally don't spray with miracle gro or similar during the season.
My tomatoes are lagging, too. In part, I'm sure it's because my garden is overtaken with weeds, and I didn't manage to mulch as I usually do... but also consider that we've been having horrendously hot weather, and tomatoes often don't bloom or set fruit in this kind of heat. I'm hoping they're just resting and storing up energy for a great late season crop!
Gita & Jill, I plant them in very humus rich soil mixed with organic fertilizer with Myco, Kelp, Alfalfa, coffee grounds & and then water them in with with Biotone & Organica plant boost beneficial microbes. I grow them in pots, so there is more nutrient and mineral loss. I add minerals to the soil and fertilize bi-weekly with 5-5-5 and some fish emulsion or liquid kelp. They have a lot of blossums right now and most have some fruit. They are a good bit smaller than last year but then, they self started later. Last year I had ripe tomatoes by the second week in June. I used the wall -o-waters and cold frames for them and had sturdy 1 foot tall plants by the beginning of April. I took this photo at the beginning of last week.
I definitely need to get out my WOWs next year and try them again... when did you plant yours out? actually in March?? Bold. :-)
Critter, No, I had them in small pots and kept them all in a low sided crate. During the day I would put the crate into the cold frame. I would bring them into the house at night. On April 3rd, they were too tall to put back into the cold frame without risking breaking the tops of the plants, so I transferred them to large pots and set up the WOW's.
I hadn't planned on doing that so early, but the plants really grew fast once I started putting them outside in the cold frame. I was nervous about doing that because when you use a WOW around a pot, it does not form the teepee shape. Rather, it stays as a large open topped cylinder I had to fill the water tubes up almost to the top and replenished the water regularly. But I figured that if Chris could grow them outside in Erie in the WOW's, that they should be safe down here, even with the tops open.
Actually at the end of March, I met a man at the Burpee store here who told me that he had put his maters outside in the WOW's in early March and did that every year. He actually lived about an hour Northwest of me. So I took the chance. The ones that you and Nisi gave me at the swap went directly into their destination pots as that was the middle of May and both of you had told me they were already hardened off and I had no more WOW's.
Chris, I hope that you enjoy my tomato saga as it was you who inspired me to use those WOW's. With your meticulous seed starting methods, you probably wouldn't approve of my self seeding method, but heck, what a time & energy saver!! No damping off either.
I'm still waiting on tomatoes too. I'm glad I don't have a garden this year. It would have been a waste of time.
I woke up to the sound of pouring rain. Believe it or not, we were dry up here in my end of town. I had astilbes with curling leaves that needed water, so I'm saved from the mosquito patch again. We had 6/10 the other day and that again this morning. There are so many mosquitos now that a few more won't matter. There is a price to pay for getting enough rain.
I should have mowed yesterday, but it was hot and humid and I don't do hot and humid anymore, LOL! I'll most likely mow tomorrow. We get the Grandkids tomorrow too, and don't take them home till Monday. DD is showing her Boer meat show goats. It's going to be a long few days being cooped up inside.
My Oriental lilies are starting to bloom and I can't smell them. That was on the agenda this year. Move them around the house near windows. Maybe this fall I'll get it done.
Chris, hoping you feel good and are busy catching up on the things you want to do! Take care! (((HUGS)))
LadyG, hope you are staying cool. It is beastly here. Praying for good days.
Jan, Do you have any humidity on your side of the river? We still don't. It was 22% humidity here today, 103 degrees with 15 mph winds. I swear I think I have been transported to Texas.
Except for the stuff in pots, I went on strike with the watering today. I have had it with my feet hurting from 3 to 4 hours of hose watering a day and continuously moving the sprinklers, and will be broke this month when the water, sewer and a/c bills come in. Normally I lug the dish and buckets of rain water all over the yard, but there's been no rain water to carry since early May.
I've had what blinds are in my house drawn everyday and the central a/c set at 68. It's been running continuously all month, even on those cooler days. The temp inside of the house has never fallen below 76 and today was 79. I also have fans running in 5 rooms. I keep checking the township website, but they have posted nothing about watering restrictions.
Even though the sprinklers ran continuously for 12 hours on Monday and 10 hours yesterday, when I went to tour the gardens at 4 today, my OT lilies were bent over from the middle of their once thick stems with the beautiful blooms touching the ground. The Oriental lilies were laying flat on the ground, bent right over from the bulb base. My Hugh hostas were completely flat and the giant leaves were jumbled masses laying flat on the ground. All of the different varieties of Ligularia 's giant leaves had separated and were laying flat on the ground. My roadside bed Iris foliage is burnt to a crisp and completely withered.
There's not an inch of moss lichen or algae anywhere. The side of the house is as clean as it was on the day that I cleaned it in early May. I can't even begin to tell you what my various Hydrangea look like. I lost Endless Summer last month. Today the Oakleaf died. Pinky Winky died last week. Pee Gee lost all of it's leaves today. Even my Daphne Mezereum has lost half of it's leaves. It's pretty darn bad when the Montauk Daisies wilt.
So, I put the hose down and got out my camera and followed the most beautiful butterfly around the yard. I took some photos of plants, but they were so depressing I deleted them all. The butterfly however was having the time of his life flitting from the Agastaches to the lilies and actually giving me great photo ops as long as I didn't get too close.
When he got to the Phlox, boy did his actions change. It was as if he'd discovered the motherload of Methedrine. He fluttered so fast and erratically all over those phlox blooms that he was but a blur through my lens. Whatever he did, wilted all of the Phlox blooms immediately. He was in a totally frenzied state. I got within a foot of him and he would not move away from the Phlox. He was completely oblivious to me as he gorged himself. It was unbelievable.
I wanted to post a few of the flutterby photos here, but my new computer that they are on had an abrupt encounter with a glass of water. Right now it's the only thing around here that needs to dry out. This computer is full and can't hold any more images. My scandisks are all full too. So maybe tomorrow, I can post some wonderful pix!! When DSO came over and saw my expression, he went outside and hose watered the recently planted for me and then took me out for some ice cream. Gotta love a guy like that!!!!!
I had no idea how devastating the lack of humidity could be on plants. I always knew that humidity was good for our skin and other parts of our bodies, but never had any idea how devastating it's prolonged absence could be. Whenever I've been in the Rockies, or Himalayas, my eyes, throat and lungs would hurt from the dryness. My allergies have been particularly bad. I've been attributing it to the dust. I'm beginning to feel like an Oakie in the dust bowl.
It is now one month since we had a rain here except for a 15 minute light shower two weeks ago. The winds have not settled down since March, except for one still morning. I have stopped picking up the tree branches.
This message was edited Jul 8, 2010 1:54 AM
Hi Chris, hope you are well and you were able to celebrtae the "Fouth of July" maybe even see some fireworks!
We had a nice week in the Poconos, just as hot and dry there as everywhere it seems! A bit cooler at night though. The doctors office called and rescheduled my epidural until next week, seems the doc was on vacation, the nerve of him☺ so we kept our granddaughters for a few days and my son and DIL went home...OMG what was I thinking! LOL Trying to entertain a 3 and 4 1/2 year old for 4 days was tough! I thought the sciatica was hard to deal with LOL! It was really fun to spend time with them and they had a ball, they are actually better without their parents...no buttons to push! It is always nice to be home though. Hope everyone had a nice 4th!
The sky is clouding up, and we might get rain! I'm not turning off the sprinkler on the daylily bed just yet, though, LOL.
Chris, I hope the heat lets up enough that you can get an occasional breath of fresh air!
Our area is desperate for rain too. Sure would be nice to have a few days of a soft and gentle rain to restore the earth. The high temperatures are stifling. I am spending most of the time indoors. Some evenings I go out and mess around with plants for an hour or so.
Our veggie garden has produced a good crop of both yellow and zucchini squash. I have been making some really yummy casseroles. Today I will try my hand at zucchini bread. Our tomatoes are doing about the same as everyone elses are doing.....not much.
There is a chance of rain here later tonight and tomorrow. It sure would be nice and certainly welcomed to have some. I enjoyed reading all the posts and it pretty much sounds as though we are all experiencing the same sort of weather issues, wherever we happen to live.
I hope that everyone will have a good and fruitful weekend. Take good care all.
Ruby
Hey we got rain last night. Surprise, Surprise. Hope some of it has blessed you too. The grass looks a lot better and I won't have to water this morning. Take care Ladyg, you are much in my thoughts. Holly
I am happy that you all had rain Holly. Our decks were slightly wet this morning, so we had a little bit of something. Forecast says some scattered showers today and tomorrow and I say....bring it on. Have a good weekend everyone.
Ruby
Chris, if get well wishes were horses, you'd be knee deep in horse manure in your front yard. :>)
LOL.. for gardeners, knee deep in horse manure might be a good thing!
Yay for horse manure.
Have a good weekend, LadyG.
We just got a 5 minute sprinkle, and that's exactly what is was a sprinkle. Sun came right back out. Wunderground says 70% chance of showers through 5am tomorrow. I sure hope they are right.!! Drats, just remembered I'm on the wrong PC for photo posting. Urg.. Be Back later.
This message was edited Jul 9, 2010 2:45 PM
Oh Stormy, I am so so sad over your lack of rain. We had it that bad once, and it was so depressing watching the lightning off in the distance. I'm wishing hard that it will rain for you, and everyone else who needs it. That poor butterfly sounds starved and you were the only oasis around. I'll bet you looked as sad and beat, as your plants to SO. He is a great guy!
Luvs, postponements, aarrggg! Laughing, I have ''soon to be'' 6 and 4 year old boys this week. I thought they would be here till Momday, it's now till Sunday afternoon. Actually it's gone pretty fast. We take them home each after noon so DH can do the chores for DD. He chores and I get in the pool with them.
Ruby, I love zucchini bread!
Hart, LOL! will that work for gardens too?
Here's a repeat from Weather, so I don't have to re-type the whole thing.
We took the boys out to swim in their pool while DH did chores for DD. I dug out the old, old, bikini and got in the pool too. Heck, we're in the middle of no-where out there. Who's to see? I joked to the boys, "Look at my fat belly sticking up there." A few minutes later the oldest jumped on me with his inner tube. He said he needed some dry land. He's 6.
LadyG, I hope that gave you a chuckle!
The culprit got a snootful!
It gave me a chuckle!! LOL
Hope all is well Chris, sending all my healing thoughts to you♥♥♥
LOL Those boys!!!!
We have some rain today ;}
It was raining here most of the night--(I think). Still is....Calling for more today as well as some T-showers...
The "bummer" is that today was scheduled the yearly Perry Hall (my area) Town Fair. They plan for this for a long time...Booths and vendors and politicians....singers and performers and stuff for the kids to do...Food booths, etc....
Not sure they still are having it....I could go look--it is only 10 min. walk from my house...
BUT! i will take the rain!!!!! Gita
So glad to hear that some if us are having rain. It is truly need in this region of the country.
Billy, the zucchini bread turned out delicious. This recipe called for adding coconut and I love coconut, so I doubly thrilled. I hadn't made it for many years, so it too hit the spot.
I hope that everyone is enjoying their rain. Gita, I too prefer the rain over the festival, but maybe there will be some dry times and folks can enjoy themselves then. A town nearby here is having their Summer Extravaganza today which is a big carnival type event too. I am not the least bit tempted to go because I have a lot to do around the house today.
Everyone take good care.
Ruby
Chris, looking forward to your smiling face one of these days will be our lucky day when you pop in again! if wishes (for you feeling well) were horses we'd be knee deep in the good stuff for the gardens. (I borrowed / stole that from somebody!)
Gita, glad you have the rain but a real bummer about the town fair.
Ruby, I love coconut! I'll bet it was good!
Sallyg, ROTFL!!
Chris, hope you're up to looking at the pictures :o)
We took the boys to the Riverfront Park yesterday. It's improved much since I was a kid. We used to put the boat in and go for a ride, or, go to the grandparents ''cabin'' on the breaks. That was a long ride when you were excited to get there, so sometimes we opted to ride with Mom in the car.
The boys had a blast running thru the fairly cold water.
The jets come on about every 15 minutes and don't run too long. It sure is pretty when all of them are on.
Oh Billy that looks like so much fun!
We had a nice steady rain yesterday I swear I could here my plants drinking up! It's a beautiful morning but I can feel the heat coming back.
Chris hope you are able to keep up with all our chit-chat and it brings you some smiles. Sending all my healing thoughts to you♥
Some of Bill's caladiums, one of the few things liking all this heat!
That does look like fun, Billy.
We were trying to find some watering hole we can go to without going down the the shore....too crowded for us on weekends...of course my son comes down with a stomach ache and now we're not going anywhere
Chris hope you can pop in here soon.
Hi Everybody! Chris, i kept coming over here several times this weekend but kept getting myself all confused! So what else is new, right???
I've been trying to transition all of my non work stuff over to another computer and every time I came over here I was on the wrong computer to post recent photos. Some of my photos are on one computer, others on another computer. To make matters even more confusing, the new computer is a MAC and I can't figure out how to copy & paste on it. So sometimes I have both computers open and keep switching the mouse from one to another. Talk about getting all turned around!!!
Billyp, I kept expecting when i'd open those photos that one of them was going to be your bikini shot!! LOL The kids look like they really had fun, I know I would have.
Chris, big news!! I have two ripe tomatoes. I'm so excited. Going to sample them today and see how they taste.. My grand experiment has been worth waiting for, at least so far.
Ronnie, I finally found a couple of Caladiums had emerged in the garden yesterday. Hip Hip Hooray!! All of mine are bulbs that I saved from last year and I was soooo late in getting them planted. So what else is new...eh?
Ok, don't everybody laugh at once, but I have never in my life eaten an onion fresh from a garden. My neighbor stopped by and brought me a bunch, so I'm going to try them along with the tomatoes. She also brought me some green beans from her garden, so I'm anxious to try those too.
Billy, my neighbor also has some peas that she'll be harvesting next week, so I can have some them. I don't know what has happened to all of the fresh peas in south eastern, Pa, but there have been none to be found anywhere.
We finally got about two hours of a soft rain on Saturday. It was a perfect rain, no run off. Just wish it could have continued for 3 days. But I'm grateful for what we got as I didn't have to water anything on Saturday and only had to do the pots yesterday. LOL and the HUMIDITY finally returned and with a vengence!! The skeeters are alive and biting. There's more rain on the forecast for Wed, Thurs, and Fri., so I really hope it does materialize.
Finally got all of the front and the house beds weeded and mulched and now have to start some work on the big ones. There is deadheading galore waiting for me out there in the Daylilies. Still fighting the black spot on the roses, can't figure out why it's so persistent this year.
Planted the Lorraine Sunshine 16" tall Heliopsis seedlings yesterday. I was very disappointed in them so far. Over half of them came out all green and not variegated.
Sally, your Cardinal Climber vine is doing great on my trellis. I really like the interesting leaf shape.
Gita, were you able to get the Marmaduke Begonia cuttings that I gave you to root and prosper? So far I've only heard of Sally having any success with them. I actually got up way too early this AM (at 3:30) & feel like I need to go back to bed. LOL I actually beat RCN up online today!! And that was 2 days in a row. What's wrong with me???
Gita, my orange Clivia which bloomed in March, is actually blooming again from some of the other plantlets in the same pot. And now it is also growing seeds too. No blooms so far on the yellow one.
Well, here's the best shot I could get of that butterfly's full wing spread.
Here's his under side wing pattern.
And Chris, here's another new lily that just opened for you. It's called Super Nova. Sure hope it brings a smile to your face. Can't wait to have a chance to catch up with you. Storm
stormy---
I am sad to say NO--to having the Marmaduke begonia surviving....
NOT your fault---i am super negligent once i pot something up--and then following through with it.....Totally--my bad!
I think they died from lack of watering.......;o((
My 360 Begonia is growing well.
Glad to hear your orange Clivias bloomed twice!
Of all the 12 divisions that I got from "butchering" my Clivia gift plant--3 of them bloomed this Spring.
Just ONE stem each--but they bloomed....I am trying to take good care of all the others and hope to sell them next year.....
At Bec's Plant Swap--someone made a humongous effort to stop by to buy 2 of the Clivias from me. We had communicated through D-mails....She was SOOOO happy to find some--as she said she had been searching for a Clivia for 5 months with no success.....
I am hoping next Spring will have many more of these blooming.....
Gita
Gita, If none of yours make seeds, let me know and I'll send you some. I think I'd better check on the one in my office. I haven't watered it in a while. It's up on a file cabinet and I keep forgetting about it. I have some Gloxina at work that are 15 years old and bloom 3 or 4 times a year. I threw out all of the plant food at work, because it doesn't get used enough and was years old. So I gave everything some coffee grounds and they are all looking better. I may give them some used tea bags too. LOL, I'd hate to have to start a compost pile at work. I'll be looking through everyone's lunch scraps. LOL
Luvs, caladiums are so pretty! I wish I had gotten them instead of the calla lilies. I only have so much room to store bulbs :o(
Flowerjen, I hope your son has nothing serious. I don't like crowded places either. It really makes it hard to keep an eye on kids.
Stormy, ROTFL! I can barely operate one computer and an external drive. I am so clumsy doing things like that! Another ROTFL!! NO ONE will see any sort of shot like that! I was behind the camera and then the camera was in. the. truck!
I just got my bulbs planted a couple of weeks ago and they are just starting to come up. We sound more alike all the time! I won't laugh, but I'll say yum to the garden food!! Our neighbor offered us corn last night. It was so good! My peas are done. I can't believe it isn't too hot for your area to grow them now. As soon as it heats up here, they are done. I didn';t have enough to freeze. We just eat them up like we do the asparagus.
I'm glad you finally got rain. It takes rain to make rain so maybe you'll be lucky. Preen has really kept any new weeds from growing. I am so happy! Especially with all the rain we've had. It should be nothing BUT weeds! I've managed to start collecting seed. I sowed everything old last year and not much came up. That's ok. I'm changing the bed I put most of it in anyway.
Gorgeous tiger!! I don't have too many new butterflies yet. I haven't been able to walk the beds for a couple of days now. Neat shot of the underside! Oohhh, I love Supernova! I'll bet it smells so good! My flowers got so tall that my lilies got buried. I was trying to wave some scent to my nose the other day, LOL! I'm not getting in skeeter territory!
Gita, isn't it nice to have someone really want something and you have it? I really like Cliva, but it would be an annual for me. It is a lot of color.
I mowed almost the whole yard before it rained yesterday afternoon. I have the small back yard left to do. Did I say rain? It POURED! We have another 2 2/10''. Amazing!
Chris, I hope you are having rain. I hope you aren't sick again. I hope this is all over with soon! (((BIG HUGS))) and best wishes! I wore my FLAG pin to the Dr. yesterday and left it pinned to the shirt. I'll wear it again to get groceries Thursday. GET WELL!!!!
This is Garden Phlox that re-seeds into any color, with Balloon Flower and a Daylily.
Stormy, ROTFL over the compost pile at work!
Thanks Billy, he's fine, just too much junk food during VBS last week.