2011 Garden Projects

Patti, I also have a 96 year old nongardening Mom....but she won't travel, insisting 35 years down to FL with my Dad was enough. When I spoke to her today, she was going out to rake leaves....Bill, sorry about the witch hazel......have you tried soap? Victor, you have an amazing imagination!

Oh my, the vision thing is out of control. I need to have the remote in my hands. Keep Victor, far, far away from it.

Wha, sorry about your witch hazel getting eaten. I moved all of mine to behind the deer fence, then discovered that my darling dogs where breaking off branches to chew on. I have caught them both doing it. It must attract them with its scent. They will be fine once they are bigger, I hope.

Had another marathon day in the yard. Very windy this morning so I pruned, but when it backed off, I went back to raking. cleaning and edging. Didn't get close to done, but did do other jobs too. We needed to make a new spot for the big brush compost heap so we can use the old space as a new veggie bed. So DH got out the big guns and cleared a spot along the edge of the property that has a gully. Then I cleaned up the new area and we dug out some shrubs to transplant to hide it better. I think it is a great spot.

I tried to dig out a large ink berry, but couldn't, so DH tied a rope to it and jerked it out with the truck. It may make it as it had a few roots attached. It had to be moved, did the same with a little scrub oak, but it came out with a nice lump of roots. Nothing delicate about it.

Here is my other helper, Nellie. And my new found rocks that where buried. I moved them today to the place we are going to use them or I should say that I put them in the wheel barrel, and DH moved them. Patti

Just have to share.Not gardening but I have been making knobs for my vanity remodel.
https://picasaweb.google.com/jgentle4/KnobJobFinished

Nice knobs, Jo!

Thanx I will attach the hardware tomorrow.

Ge 1836, Brilliant knobs. You are beyond talented. Victor is funny too.

Robindog, nice that your mom still rakes at 96. I can get my mom to do some rock throwing up at her cottage, but mostly she likes to travel, read, and get together with friends, all younger. She likes visiting gardens, but has never had an interest in creating one. She doesn't do house plants either and now has a fake Xmas tree. But she apparently still has her real wreath up on her condo door, inside a hallway, that she got from LL Bean in Dec. She spritzes it with water to keep it fresh. I think it is well past time for it to go, but she will keep it up until it is brown. Too funny. Did I say she was cheap ( A Scot - McLean) Patti

Speaking of deer problems. I have a friend who uses nylon fishing line around her plants/beds. About 3 to 4 feet above the ground. At night they walk into it and can't figure out what the tension is and give up. One would need to use a high test fishing line. I don't have deer problems but I do have groundhogs!!!!!

No deer or groundhog problems, just a hubby with big feet..and yesd victor it is true!

Patti guard your rocks!

great job patti! looking forward to tomorrow lots of melting today

Knobs are done
https://picasaweb.google.com/jgentle4/KnobsOn

Cool, Jo!

they look great!!

I am so glad its finished. Now when the contractor comes and finishes the lights and counter and paint job ,it will be complete.

Can't wait to see the final look, but "when" can be a scary word with a contractor. Hope he/she comes soon. Patti

Still busy trying to finish remodeling the bathroom. Garden project is to build another potting shed. Probably start as soon as mud season is over and ground firms up. Outgrew old potting shed. Need more room.

Thats tatttoed on my forhead.

Bathroom, lets not talk about remolding a bathroom :-/ I gave up on how many weeks its been. 12 ?

Tell me about it Schicken! I have the toilet change scheduled for Thursday. Plumber comes and removes; I lay the underlayment and tile; he returns and places a new toilet. Then my part will be done and DW can finish whatever remains. It's been about 4 weeks now.

The knobs came out great Jo
Frank, that fishing line idea is great idea to keep my stupid dog out of the garden and now hubby won't complain it's ugly

Just received my first delivery!! Three Jm's. Now it's officially spring.

Already? Wow, good thing your snow has melted, Victor. Jo, the knobs are very nice....one of a kind! Patti, great project.....I hear Bill has booked on the ferry already....funny story about your Mom....

Victor, where did they come from? Does that mean I will be getting some soon? Too early to plant outside? Do tell. And which ones?

Robindog, Wha wouldn't think much of our puny pile. He has miles of rock walls. But any rock is precious on this sand pile.

Today I switched sides of the house to work on the west side as I had primula to plant and I needed to do the final raking and cleaning up in those beds as the crocus are starting to bloom. It took longer than I had hoped as part of the wood pile that borders one of the beds needed re-stacking. Then I realized that a new path going down to a new bed, which is not yet dug and for Japanese maples, had lots of Narcissus coming up in the middle of it. I moved a bunch of them. It will be interesting to see if they bloom this year. There are other bulbs coming up that will need moving too, but they are less forgiving than Narcissus, so I will wait on those to bloom.

I will go back to the east side tomorrow and try to finish up that side before digging the new bed. It is already cleared of big stuff, but will need a couple of days of work. The stone stairs going up through it need to be done, but DH will do them with my help once we have all the heavy spring work done. No hurry on them as they actually go to nowhere, but will look great and who knows what I might do someday up on that part of the property. Perhaps a vineyard, orchard, hot tub, or a chicken coop. More likely nothing.

DH decided to tackle an area of property that had massive vines and lots of trash trees and shrubs with the brush cutter and chainsaw. It also contained some lovely huge old high bush blueberries, viburnums, American Holly, pitch pine, cedar and bayberry which he cleaned up and saved. Looks great, but now we have another huge burn pile to deal with next week. Good day of work. Tomorrow is suppose to be nice, but rain on Monday. Patti

FINALLY - it was pick up sticks for most of the day - and trimming bushes and several jm's - really cleaned up the large CQ in the back, took off some large branches and hopefully will be able to see the cool branches all summer - tomorrow is will be raking - the voles have done a number on the lawn with their trails - war has been declared!

i got my first maple too - i will not order a liner maple again - all potted up and now will wait years for a tree- better to get a larger one!

Mine are tree-sized already. You must have gotten the leftovers, Bill.

I read several interesting studies that shows that buying 3 qt larger potted nursery trees don't grow any faster once planted than buying the smaller1 quart ones which catch up to the 3 qt in a year and often surpass the larger trees growth. . But the only way to know is to buy 2, one big and one small and watch the growth pattern.

We can just compare Bill's puny ones to my man-sized ones.

I won't go there, but am laughing. You do have a vivid imagination. Patti

i guess i should not have left the computer unattended - the root ball is about 4" around the same as mr. v's - the lone stem is about 4' tall - would like to have a bit more root to help the tree.

Thanks for discussing size. I believe this also applies not only to trees but other plants.
This is just a personal prefrence on my part but I dont have the ability to nurse small plants and at my age I am not waiting for the things to mature.
There has been some talk about this on the Clem forum.
The discussion boiles down to not which is right or wrong ,but which method suits the individual gardener.
This is just me, others share it and many like the nursing in pots part.

I try to buy and plant as many perennials, and shrubs or trees in the fall as they have a year jump on spring bought ones and do so much better generally, but I am not that organized always and would have nothing to do in Jan and Feb if I didn't buy plants. However now that I know that many larger shrubs and trees in small containers my actually be stunted and grow less well than smaller stock, I may well save some bucks and buy puny top growth for better roots. Puny rules!

I always try to see when buying perennials that they aren't just plugs in big pots with big price tags. That deception makes me spiting mad and is getting to be the norm, as so many nurseries just buys plugs and pot them up and put them on sale the next day at a huge mark up. I tug on them to see if they are actually growing. Patti

OMG I bought some plants like that. I cant remember where but it wasnt online.
Tugging tip is good.

I definitely agree the the tugging. I tend to buy bare root plants and generally have good luck with them. Of course it depends on the nursery they come from and I only buy from the ones I have learned to trust in their handling and shipping. Some I leave in the containers (if I buy them that way) just to see how they react for a few weeks and I often plant bare rooted plants in containers for the same reason; plus it gives me time to decide where I'm going to place them in the landscape/beds.

Going to be interesting to see how Vic's and Bill's JM's do!

As far as perennials go I try to buy locally raised plants if possible.

This message was edited Mar 20, 2011 8:03 AM

Ge1836, Yes, and remember to say very loudly, "Oh My, just a PUNY PLUG!" when anyone is within hearing distance and then say, "Oh, I thought they grew there own. These plugs probably arrived yesterday from GA and will not survive in our northern climate".

Fight back as this is a growing norm that is lousy. A couple of years ago, I paid 14.95 for a plug that I know cost 2.00 bucks a couple and I was madder than your snow drenched wet hen when I got home to plant it. You would know where I bought it on Nantucket. There is nothing wrong with plugs that are grown out by the nursery to a bigger selling size, but plopping them in a big container one day and selling them the next is evil, greedy and needs to be frowned on. I took the plant back and said I was annoyed. But they haven't stopped doing it. Patti

Frank, Cross posted. I wish I could buy more bare root stuff, as you do then know what you are getting. Real roots not just expensive dirt or sand....hate that even more. Patti

I'm on your bandwagon.
The top of my fav sculpture was blown off or nudged off last summer.
I am using it as an ancient ruine to shade my clem roots.

I agree with Jo Ann. No intentions of nursing little plugs here. Time gets shorter and I'm in the mood for lush right now and don't want the waiting anymore.

Brand new plugs in larger pots aren't worth it to me (or anyone else) and it rings of false advertising. I vote for tugging as well. Thanks for the tip, Patti.

Love how you turned lemons into lemonade, Jo Ann!

It just frosted me. I have only had it 2 seasons. I would watch the weather religeously for high wind because the top tas wobbly.
It was only a matter of time.
Next Sculpture will be all in one piece. It might take a while .My purse is ready for spring plant spending.
I do love this womans work and may get something else from her.
Steel would be several Gnotes and its not anything my kids would want.

Patti HD got me a few times with the plug in a big container... pull the plant out and it's all soil... no roots.. learned my lesson to tug as well