The mosquitoes are wicked this year! They've been coming after me in the blazing sun! I tried one of those personal bug repellent clip ons but it ended up falling in the dirt and now it doesn't seem to run too well..
Seed Swap & Chat #60 winding down, preparing for winter
Terese I think I had a few seeds left I'll look this afternoon and see for you.
The weeds here are easy to yank out too Terese I just have so many of them!
My neighbor has these big blue barrels in his back yard three of them they should be full of rain water by now and he never empties them! One is full of crushed cans the other two just sit there not being used he was suppose to get me a couple 2 yrs. ago and never has for rain barrels. How do I ask him to please empty the rain water out that side of the yard has so many mosquitoes I can't even work in my bed hardly!
Yesterday his son walked down to the convenient to get smokes and when he came back he threw his sack in my yard I went over to ask him not to do that and he throws his butts out of the car right into my yard by the mail box there aren't any butts in their yard they are all in mine (he rides on this side of the car) I've been on those people since they moved here about garbage in my yard and the butts, they are nice people but gesh give me a break! I hate to keep complaining...there are leaves at the corner of my mail box I'm afraid later this summer he is going to cause a fire!
So Meredith that mosquitoe clip on thing seems to work? How long is it suppose to work for I've been thinking of trying one of those.
Already I'm seeing evidence of finches on my coneflowers they always get most of my seeds and the flowers haven't even finished yet! Just saw one finch out there flying around, they are so pretty but they are such hogs lol
It's suppose to rain again this afternoon, going to see if my son will cut the grass for me again boy after Father's Day Sunday and Monday was he Birthday and he has discovered the computer since he has been out here so he is on it all of the time he is addicted like I used to be seems funny for him to be on it all the time lol
Gosh I can't believe I have a son that is 39 I'm getting old and have the wrinkles to prove it LOL
I saw another hummer this weekend :) Now I have two :)) Can't wait until the rest of them come back I'm really missing them!
Lea -- i just checked... i have a lot of Zinn seeds, including Red Spider.
Heavens -- i will need to be shot if i do the Swap this fall. i still have WAY too many seeds, and i have found -- I"M OUT OF ROOM for plants. I have a bunch of seedlings i have to get in the ground today or tomorrow... the bugs are biting so bad, I dont want to go back there.
I dont have Hummers here, wish i did. lots in Wisc though. I have one that dominates the area -- but sometimes i'll see 3 sitting the feeders at one time.
Terese get you some of that Avon SSS (Skin So Soft) lotion it really seems to help here I get tired of putting Deep Woods on and it stinks lol I'm going to try one of those clip on mosquitoe things next time I go to Wal Mart that may be today depends on how things go here maybe tomorrow I'll let you know how that works when I do get one maybe Meredith will come back and let us know...
Glad you found some more seeds imagine that LOL Every year I say I'm not doing the swap and every year I do I have so many darn seeds can't even get thru them to sort it takes forever by the time I get them out to plant I have them all mixed up and spend the rest of the summer trying to straighten them out that's one of my proiorities right now to get these seeds sorted so I can make room for more LOL I did good this year though not asking for many every year it gets less and less.
Just one year I would LOVE to have a year to get my beds straightened out instead of worried about watering seedlings and planting them! Who was it that didn't get any seeds planted last year and ONLY have to tweak their beds this year I ENVY you don't think that will ever happen for me LOL LOL
Hi Lea! Last night DG stopped working for me! So weird because that has never happened to me before. I think the clip works, I had it on the back of my jeans because it seems that's their favorite place to bite me. You know when your kneeled down and bent over... where your shirt just rides up enough back there for them to bite you! I also had skintastic bug spray on most of the times I use it. So I was doubled up, but I felt like the clip on, kept them away better. Usually with just bug spray they still hover and land for a second, which still drives me crazy.. I think you'd like that Off Skintastic.. You should try it, it's like a happy medium of Skin so Soft and regular bug spray. It doesn't make you greasy at all. And the smell is somewhat pleasant (after the initial strong smell from spraying dies off)
Had to edit due to some strange thing with my typing ending up in the middle of my already typed paragraph... Something else that is new to me! lol
This message was edited Jun 21, 2011 2:12 PM
I do have SSS 'oil' i think it's a bath oil... i'll try some... i am literally dreading going back out there... the upper80's temps have something to do with that too though...
Meredith did you just get a laptop by any chance I have one and that happens alllll the time so aggravating just right click and hit undo then you can start again with the rest of the paragraph :) If you just have a desk top it will do the same thing it just never did that on a desk top when I had one…
Thanks for the report on the clip :)
Seems like I got some of that Skintastic when it first came out but it didn't work here I have some hard core mosquitoes here lol
I've used the bath oil too Terese when I was in a pinch it works but so messy just use it when I really have to.
Yep it's so humid here and with this storm coming in I would really like to get some plants in the ground but have been deadheading weeds that I can't get to to dig yet too many of them don't want the rain beating them in the ground here grrr! I've been cutting the tops off of them before but it just makes them branch out more double grrr lol
I saw that "personal" bug thing at Sams... it was the unit plus 4 refills -- says each last 12 hrs.
it was 11bucks... i didnt want to spend the money. *sigh*
a big storm must be rolling thru tonight.. only supposed to be 74f tomorrow.
OH, another weather thing says 78 tomorrow... why can't they all give the same forecast for the same town??
either way... cooler than today. Maybe i'll plant tomorrow.
Well, the plants survived! Though that may have been mostly due to the fact that we got rain almost every day I was gone ;-) This is the rainiest, windiest June I can remember having here. Not a ton of rain, but just heavy storms most nights. Interesting, and pretty good from a garden standpoint. The leaves and flowers are a little beat up looking, but at least they're not dried out very often! My lack of staking is presenting a bit of a problem... one of these years I'm going to actually get everything staked that needs it...
Lea, I didn't get any seeds planted this year, but between the volunteers I found and potted up, the cuttings I've taken just for the fun of it, and the plants I managed to buy I'm still behind on planting and have to water tons of little pots!
About the neighbors containers... could you sneak over there with a cordless drill and put a couple of holes in the bottom of it? Or even ask if he minded? If he's just using it to collect cans he shouldn't mind...
$11 dollars is a great deal for all that! I didn't want to spend the money either, but I thought if it worked it would be worth it.. I got mine on sale at Walgreens and it was like $15 for the unit and a seperate refill pack that has 2 or 3 in it. Just so you know I haven't had to change the original cartridge it came with so they seem to last a good while.
Wanted to add that the bug spray I buy cost 7.99, that also seems a bit much, doesn't it!?
This message was edited Jun 22, 2011 10:02 AM
Lea I'm sorry I forgot to answer your question about me having a laptop! Yes I do and I think it's the mouse causing the problem. It's one of those touchpads, that gives me an idea to go in and adjust it's sensitivity... I had to have a new harddrive put in, so the settings are probably back to standard. IT could just be too sensitive and picking up my hovering over it when typing. :)
Kelly The neighbors have a son that stays with school aged children all day so they would know if I drilled holes in the barrels. I'll try and talk to them about it this weekend already I've gone over about the trash that two of the boys pitch in my yard I hate being one of those neighbors but they need to quit all this crap too.He has three of those barrels out back I know one is just empty and one has cans in it have no idea what the other one has in it if anything.
Isn't that a trip Kelly lol You didn't plant any seeds and still have so many seedlings to plant and water you just can't win LOL
Bug Spray yep I'm done with it it's so expensive and doesn't last seems I'm putting it on three times a day but I'm outside all day long until dark! So think the bug clip would be well worth it.
Well the other day I deadheaded weeds so they wouldn't reseed in my beds before it rained and didn't get anything planted and yesterday I worked out in one bed trying to get all the weeds and purple top out of it to plant some annuals close to the porch this is a small bed and it took me all day just when I got done with the weeds and ready to plant we had another storm! Wondering today if it's going to be too wet to plant now I have dahlias with buds on them that I'm really wanting to get in the ground.
Haven't been out yet but some critter tore a coleus up and tried to dig one of my EE's up after planting it a couple of days ago didn't eat them just dug them up! I'm afraid to go out and see what damage he did last night! lol
I've had my laptop for a few years now and always hit something that loses my dmails or whatever sometimes I don't think I'll ever get used to it :)
Hope every one is having a nice fourth of july. My dh is getting the fireworks ready! : )
I worked for the animal rescue lady, really she is fun to work for a real nice lady, then sat out front and watched fireworks later the neighbors were lighting.
I finally had a chance to slip something in about her breading mosquitoes next door I was out looking at her garden with her and we walked past one of her empty barrels with the rain water in it just sitting there leaned over and glanced in it when we walked past it and there were all kinds of larva in there I said oh your breeding mosquitoes and she said what! Then I told her she should get her husband to drill some holes in the barrels by the house that he puts cans in and empty that one, well the barrel is turned over but not so sure he has drilled holes in the can barrels yet I can only hope he did.
Got one of those clips Meredith for the mosquitoes and it didn't work that little white thing in there that keeps the fan on doesn't do what it's suppose to do need to put something over it to keep it going haven't had time to figure out what I'm putting in there maybe a piece of tape I'll check it out in a couple of days it's crazy here trying to keep my little seedling pots watered and back to volunteering too.
Humidity is coming back this weekend it was killer out there today though it was one day I was glad to be at the cat lady's working :)
I'm glad your neighbor knows she's breeding mosquitos! Hopefully they keep those barrels empty now! My dh put the clip together for me. If it was up to me I probably wouldn't have gotten it working right. Make sure the cartridge is the right way. I was going to put it in backwards but dh stopped and did it right. :)
I was thinking someone had brought this clip back the package wasn't sealed and with you saying be sure to put it together right it was already together didn't have to do anything so I'm betting Wal Mart got it back with it not working and put it back in their stock I've gotten several things like that in the past! It's very agravating when I live out in the country and only go there once in two weeks! I try not to even go then.
I bet Walmart is horrible like that!
I don't think this thing works for doing weeds out in the beds maybe if I'm standing still transplanting at a table I still had those little critters on me last night :)
You know I've only seen one monarch this year so far plenty of BST and can't even find any eggs on my milkweeds and they are going to seed too maybe it's a little early for monarchs here I had so many last year I wish I would mark it down when they come!
Meredith did you find your Cinderellas? They are so bushy, mine get around 3' around can't miss those if you have them. I'm kind of disapointed in my red prarie milkweeds they are just stalks with leaves, this is just the second year for them the one plant I had in the back that my nice son cut down for me mowing the hill looked so pretty they sure liked that spot a lot better and it got a lot more shade than where the ones that I planted I just hope they look nicer next year I just went out to heck them and the leaves haven't even started to get that red vein in them yet looks like they should have them by now on their second year.
Terese my orange seedlings are about 6 or 8" tall and blooming :) They look so cute lol AND I'm finally at the point to tell this guy off that bought my field he told me I could still plant it or keep it the same way until I'm gone and he has ruined my virburnum there it was so perfect and beautiful (3' tall and around) but he got too close to it with the mower and half of it is gone! Today he cut my bee balms down that you sent me and they were blooming how did he miss those! I had pop bottles on a stick marking them and they are gone and cut to pieces too! He comes by to talk to me several times a day and he doesn't want to see me today!!!! Oh and I had my oxeyes that I planted from Critter on one side of the bee balms earlier this year and they were blooming and he cut them down!!! I am upset!!!
Lea I have to deal with that kind of stuff from my dh. Last year he hacked down one my small spicebush plants with the weed wacker and I had a 5' tall bamboo stick marking where it was so he wouldn't do that! He's always accidentally running stuff over or something! So the thing with the milkweed is they are in my butterfly garden which has become quite overgrown and if I try to go in there to search for them I will be the mosquitos afternoon snack. That is the only proble with really thick large garden beds. The mosquitos make them home during the day... I can't walk in there without them biting me no matter what I do. I need a bee suit! lol
That's beautiful Meredith! I bet he cuts some down sometimes when he is mowing around it too! That's what happens with my wild bird garden in the field too, my room mate cut one of my Black Adler Hollies down at one end then it was coming up again and Trey (the boy) cut it down again this year! It had a fence around it like my Pecan tree in the back yard I had a fence around it and he just cut it down it was two yrs. old and I was so tickled that the squirrels planted it for me! I have another BAH on the other end of the WBG but one of those wild roses protects it no one will get close to that!
I saw Trey yesterday he stopped by to talk and I told him not to even come around for a few days that he cut one of my plants down again and he asked which one and I told him eventually he would cut them all down or kill them so what did it matter which one I am really upset! He is dying to take a bush hog to my wild bird garden and keeps cutting closer and closer on the sides of it! I have honey suckle blooming It’s head off there (a beautiful orange color) and he still cuts it down (I got starts to it this spring). I had a Baltimore Oreo the other day there and I never see those and have so many Meadow Larks and Grosbeaks because of that wild bird garden!
My side yard looks like that, I only have three Cinderella’s in it but the Queen's Anne Lace makes it so full I was trying to get some of the QAL out the other day because it was shading so much of the shorter plants they are getting way too leggy then one of the pink hibiscus came up from reseeding and I already had one of those and another one plus a big butterfly bush, I transplanted a Jacob Cline this year and stupid me put it by the Inoxia Datura that comes up every year because they are so tall sometimes they need staking figured it would help it stand up not thinking of it shading it too much, had a duh moment lol
My sprinkler in the middle of the bed can't even reach the other plants the QAL is all around it and as tall as it is and really I hate to pull too much of it because I keep getting cats from them it would just kill me if I pulled one that had eggs on it! It's my fault because I keep sprinkling the seeds from the QAL and figured I would clean them out before the butterflies got here well I did that but they just keep germinating with all of this rain LOL
I can't even get in the bed without mashing a plant I have those Malva Zebrinas reseeding everywhere and Scarlet Magic’s can't bring myself to pull them not to mention the purple top verbenas, I did have to get out there and make a path for the water guy to be able to read the meter so this year I put stepping stones for him he has big feet and doesn't care where he puts them LOL Oh and I have Fireworks that reseeded too that is going to be interesting when they get full grown if they get enough sun to because they get about 4' around LOL
Now I see that cleomes have reseeded you know how they reseed and the Pineapple Sages! My poor penstemons, sedums, asters and a few other plants are in for the fight of their life at least the penstemons blooms are starting to wind down but I have an Orange and Lemons gaillardia on the edge of the bed that is just now in full bloom that I thought I had lost he does get the afternoon sun so I'm hoping that he makes it, such a mess but it looks good LOL
All your flowers sound wonderful! Hopefully he stays away from your plants in the future!
One way to deter a Mad Mower is with cinder blocks or paving stones! If each bed has a border around it, it's safe from a lawn mower. A weed wacker is harder to fend off.
I used to live on a corner at the end of a long straightaway. People would get liquored up on weekends, miss the corner, and take out my mailbox plus a swath of lawn.
Eventually I put a very low rock wall there "to help them stop" before they snapped the mailbox off its post yet again. Once I caught a Volkswagon!
Corey
We had a string of rotten teenagers who would go around knocking over mailboxes when I was a kid. My dad got tired of it, and built a 2.5 x 2.5 ft base for the mailbox with brick, and filled it with concrete. Hasn't lost one since :)
Is everyone on here also on Cubits? If not, send me a quick dmail, there's news you need to hear.
NH garden club sent me a Therma=cell mosquito repelling lantern to test. It works. I took it into the raspberry patch and didn't get one bite. Also weeding at dusk. Just put it down and work. Dont move too far away. They will be waiting. No idea on price or refills. Works with butane heating a little patch with repellant. They have a clip-on, too. I don't have stock. Just my experience with it. BTW Their forums cannot compare to Dave's Cecropia moth drying out
Herman
