Garden Projects #8

Nope, except for the little bit that we rake off incidentally when doing the cleanup of the beds in the fall and again in the spring. I figure the high point of our garden is a 52 feet above sea level so that by the time we are done with our gardening days we will have a better view of the harbor. I suspect too that I will lose a few inches by then so the extra height of the beds will be good!

We just try to incorporate any mulch into the soil as it breaks down along with our home made "gold", or our compost, that we throw on as top dressing as needed as well as the ashes from the wood stove in areas that like wood ash. I wish I could get DH to save the coffee grinds and egg shells too, but he doesn't do that, yet. We use to add yearly sea weed that we gathered after a good winter blow, but haven't done that in for a long time. We still add Vt Moo Doo to some beds each year, so it keeps getting better from the sand that we started out with 31 years ago.

Wha, What do you do with all your mulched beds and what color are you using this year?

We went with a really dark one that came with do crap in it for the first time. On the Island we get what we get, but my new source is way superior to what we have had in the past, plus she gave us a great price and free delivery. See Denise at Island Lumber, but I guess it would be a little inconvenient for most of you. Patti

i changed last year to dark pine mulch - not stained - after speaking with several landscapers - cheaper than hemlock (which is now chipped boards) - and the dark color makes the plants stand out not the mulch.

when i changed i removed a lot of the old hemlock mulch - it really isn't good to have a several inch barrier of mulch which i found in a few spots.

this year i am hoping to get away with 4 yds - do not plan to do the whole yard only the new beds and expansions - i have a large pile left over from last year that i will spread first then eye what else i might need.

Wha, we don't put ours on very thick so I think it breaks down easily. What a lesson in mulch you have just given. Chipped board sounds bad as does dye.
Here are a few shots of mulched garden taken this morning before I came up to Boston. Now I am covered in clay and not dirt. The rest of the garden will be done today with no help from me. Patti

https://picasaweb.google.com/pmc.ack/GARDENALBUMMULCHED1STHALF2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKuim529lfv64gE&feat=directlink

You guys are crazy. Do a ground cover!

looks great patti - love the smell of new mulch and how it looks

i do ground cover over the mulch

Just loved the album....the blooms are awesome, and the house looks just like a Nantucket house should look! Victor, I have to do mulch & ground cover as well.....the groundcover just isn't enough in some places....too much in others!

I hear you. I use mulch - reluctantly.

Beautiful Patti!

Patti, your place is looking great. I love to pack a lot of things into my gardens, too, instead of just having a bunch of specimen plants. It looks sparse and neat and tidy in the spring (now), but soon fills in with barely any soil showing. Helps keep down the weeds. I love mulching, too, but don't have a lot of time. As I've mentioned before, I get a truckload of composted cow manure delivered in the spring, and I put that down as a mulch/fertilizer. I've had great results with it, and it breaks down really well by the following year.

Pam, your place is looking good. I can't remember, did you use weed killer to get rid of the trad, raspberries and such? I have sprayed a large area with Spectracide Kudzu, Posion Ivy/Oak and Other Tough Brush Killer this year. That area is overrun with mint, trad, raspberries, artemsia (I think it's Silver King) and helianthus. There was no way I was going to dig all that out of such a big area. I have more to do, as well. Will also be using that stuff on some poison ivy and green briars in the woods that we cut down, but will inevitably grow back.

Here are some pics of the work I did on that big garden I'm renovating. This was done last Sat. The first pic shows the progress I had made from a couple of other times. Slow going as there's so much to dig out. Then next pic shows what I did that day. Then the next pic shows the outline of the bed in blue, and the plants I put in in white (the peony was already there, as well as the daylily that will be moved to make space to put down stones for my pathway, which will be forking out there. The forth pic is a closer view, and the fifth is from a different angle.

Karen

The first pic in this set shows a rough outline of the garden with a sketch of how the rock pathway will wind through it. I didn't do the greatest job, so please bear with me. The second is more of the same, but from a different view. The third is from the opposite end of the garden. The fourth is what I call the view of the front of the garden, seen at its widest point. It's a long bed, a little bit kidney shaped. In the center I plan to put up a granite post with a raven statue on top, but that won't be right away.

I'm not too happy with my new camera for taking wide angle shots. The pictures come out blurry all around the edges. I don't know if that's normal for that camera or if mine is defective. It seems to take great pics for close ups or any other than wide angle.

Karen

Karen, is it the same camera you had when you visited me? Those pictures were great.
You've been busy! Your project looks huge, and I know what it is to dig out all those roots. Of all of the ones you listed, the trad was the worst for me. It comes back from the tiniest shred, and seemingly overnight. Yes, I used Round-up, and more than once on the most stubborn stands. I try to keep away from chemicals, but there's a limit, and the big messes need a firm hand. Even so, there's a lot of digging.

Patti, your gardens and home are gorgeous, picture perfect.

Now that my garden is starting to fill in I've been mulching less. I gave it a good application of Plantone and Hollytone last fall, and will mulch as I plant this spring, mostly for weed prevention and moisture retention.. The soil was good to start with, and the earthworm population is quite healthy. I use a couple of barrows of home made compost in the newest panting areas, which is all we can generate. I also have a huge pile of garden refuse and clods of soil that have been removed from various places, and can dig out as much as I need to build up a bed from the center of the pile.

I'm relaxing on the couch as I write this. I haven't done any real work yet, but it starts this Sunday when we head up to the house for a few days. I want to work some on edging and cleaning up the beds in the middle lawn and trim the roses. That's probably the better part of a day. I moved practically everything on the upper levels last fall, so I don't have that ahead, but the lower beds need a lot of work. There are the huge daylily clumps to divide, more old roots to dig out, and the big grass clumps need to be re-defined before I can think of planting. And there's a path I want to move, and if I get to it a shrub in the wrong place... The list goes on. But you all know that...

For now, I'm relaxing.

Pam

Wow, Karen...you've been busy...the new bed looks super...and Pam....I'm exhausted just thinking of doing all that....but, I'll be out today as well, digging & weeding!

Lovely as always Patti, you never cease to amaze me. :)
Pam you've done an amazing job!! BRAVO!!!
Wow Karen, you've been hard at it already, making me feel very lazy! Love the look of the new bed. :)

Ridiculously behind this year. Worst ever. Will start cleanup & planting this coming week. Damage from last year includes my large arch arbor fallen over and my large lilac spread way out. Will prune back after bloom, which is just now starting.

Wha or anyone been to Kennedy Landscaping Nursery & Garden Center Contact in Acton Ma? I am suppose to meet a friend there at 9 in the morning to look at a tree she wants. You all know that I am always up for a nursery visit. I will be pretty close to Wha's house and might want to do a quick visit if you are going to be out working in the yard tomorrow around 11?

Victor, get busy, as we will all want to see shots of your garden soon.

Karen, suitably impressed with your computer diagram of what you are doing as well as what you have done so far. Patti

patti if you are in the neighborhood you will definitely want to stop by - i will be in the backyard working my ___ off :)

btw i have never heard of kennedy's

Planted the cold crops today....now all I need is rain.....

Wha, Wonderful, I will haul my --s over to see how hard your --s is really working after I stop in Acton, but we have to be done with there at 10:30 as my friend has a meeting near there at 11:00 so I will wander your way about then. Patti

LOL Patti!!!

We did a major burn of yard waste today. With all the branches from the huricane last fall, it was quite a blaze all day long. We started spreading compost and loam, too. Still a ton more to do.

Pam, I got a new camera in November. The one I came to your house with I still have an may go back to using that one. I think it takes better pics. The new one is an Olympus. They're supposed to be good cameras. I need to look up that model for reviews and see if anyone else is having the same problem.

I would be exhausted working in your yard, Pam, with all those hills. Don't think I would be up for the challenge.

Today I did not work on any beds, but I got a lot of sale perennials from last year repotted, and did some cleaning up of one of my sale display areas. I'm exhausted. So much to do, as always.

Karen

Started a few things today. Planted a pine from the first FW order in a container. Also moved a dwarf dawn redwood into the same pot. Moved my JM Shishio hime to the front walkway corner area. Was getting buried by an oakleaf hydrangea. Started a bit of cutting/cleaning.

Going out now to do a little weeding....

Pam, I agree I love the stone house and everything looks great
Patti, looks great as always, still amazed at all the work you do
Karen, it's gonna look great, love starting new projects


Hubby came in from mowing the back yard(of course Wall-e has just torn it up) and he's says "just plant what you want I'm tired of mowing weeds") but I can't get it in writing, LOL but maybe he's finally realizing the more gardens I have the less he has to mow

Hallelujah moment!

Lightbulb

woo hoo!!

Hahaha, hold his hand while he's asleep and HELP him sign on the dotted line. I hear the chorus singing in the background!!!

Strike now while he may still remember what he said....that usually lasts a day.....

Too exiting for words, except Plants, lots of Plants. Wall-e will like more dirt to dig in too.

Went to a little local nursery in Acton Ma and was impressed with the great selection of trees and shrubs. Nice and knowledgeable owner and staff. My friend is going to get a truck load of trees and shrubs from him next week, so it was fun shopping with her money! Here is their information. Just off route 2 so easy to find. I saw better grown plants and selection here than I have seen at most of the big guys and the prices were competitive. Worth a go see.

Then I went to Wha's Botanical Wonder Garden and was humbled. Not a chance of ever coming even close to his standards! Plus he will be wowing us all with his latest work when he has it all planted. Not quite sure how much space he has left for new beds, but he keeps finding new spots to enhance. Amazing. He even has his massive collection of rocks all segregated by size, form and coloration as if it were a garden unto itself. Cindy came out for part of the tour which was nice as I often don't get to see her. I need to go back and photograph all his maples when they are fully out to just get a catalog of the really special ones now available as I do believe he has them all. I snagged a birdhouse that he made for me some time ago which I love as well as a long promised telescoping sprinkler which we will put to great use.

After my trip to Acton and Pepperell I went back to the studio in Brookline and will stay until tonight as I am unloading a kiln today and finishing up some new work that I did the last couple of days. Fingers crossed about what I have in the kiln as I need something for the show that starts the 26th of April. Great hot day to be outside so I wished I was home today. Patti

Yeah, the thing that amazed me the most at Bill's was that there wasn't a weed ANYWHERE

Sounds like a perfect adventure!!! Shopping with other people/ money, looking at wha's rocks and wonders, and then playing in the dirt(clay)

Can you imagine if any kid messed with Bill's blocks in kindergarten!

hee hee

Bill's place is amazing.....the rocks just really add even more beauty...however, the water snakes do scare me.....

I only saw one snake in the grass when I was there. Patti

I can't imagine where Bill finds all the time to keep his place so immaculate. I have all I can do to keep small sections looking good, and they certainly aren't immaculate. I wish! Oh, to have the time!

I got a lot of work done yesterday, though it was mostly cleanup work. We did some burning. Was surprised out town was allowing it (they didn't allow it today due to hot, windy conditions). My sister and I have cleaned up a very large area of our woods, where our "secret garden" is. I will post pics when I get a chance. We've really opened up the forest canopy in there, and there's much more light coming in. It's still considered shady, but not as much as before. All open shade now. I planted a few things in there yesterday, a turtle head, Cimicifuga 'Hillside Black Beauty', NOID ligularia, Astilbe 'Weisse Gloira' (white), and a dwarf aruncus. I have a bunch of other perennials to put in there, too. Soil stays fairly moist there, so they will all love it.

Today I did a lot more repotting and cleaning up of sales area. Got a ton done!

Karen

thanks for your kind words Patti - i posted a shot of the flowering almond on the new in april thread that was not open on saturday and was completely opened on Sunday afternoon it was a nice surprise. Cindy and I were very happy you could stop by and look forward to seeing you in a couple weeks and thanks for the great handmade pot we will have to find something special to plant in it.