Your Neck of the Woods Chat- Memorial Day 2012

Hope everyone is enjoying this Memorial Day and has taken a moment or two to reflect on the contributions of all veterans ,those living and those gone before us, each one a story, a legacy of which we are the beneficiaries.

Meant to start a new chat thread at dawn's first light but intead enjoyed the coolness after thunder showers here last night.

Didn't have to water things today which made this a truer 'holiday' for me. And to properly celebrate, Wayne is grilling and I turned on my ac.

Hey. we can all hold each others hands as we step into the unknown of another Mid Atlantic summer and we all can now officially wear white!!!

Jan, tell us about 'plant triage' and Jen will you be offering muddy pink echinacias at fall swap?

Nice article today Diana on ladybugs.



We came from here http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1250500/#new

Yay!! I can wear white!!! I cheated and wore white slacks to church yesterday. My bad!!

I forget who mentioned plant triage here before I did...brain drain. Anywho, I figure it is just a collection area for the plants to see who gets planted and in what order. Heehee. At least that is my interpretation. I am trying to keep them watered and healthy before being planted.

I spent this morning watering since we have NOT gotten any of the wet stuff that you all are getting. If I planted my sweet gifties now, they would all fry and I don't want to be accused of plantslaughter.

My husband and I spent the last hour pulling poison ivy from the corners of our lot. He is now showering to get rid of any lingers poison ivy urushiol. I am responsible for running our clothes through the wash. Then I'll shower. It's gratifying to get rid of it -- but I'd rather be moving forward that avoiding moving too much further backwords! And I can only just pray that the dogs didn't get into it.

We have very little poison ivy now compared to when we first moved in. Then we had substantial shrubs of it. But it still reseeds hither and yon, so every year we have to ferret it out. This year we noticed it on a neighbor's lot and so crossed over the line to pull hers as well -- so it won't reseed back into our yard!

Good luck happy, I sure hope you guys don't break out.
Will wear white shorts tomorrow!

Thanks, Sally -- we've scrubbed ourselves clean and our clothes are in the washer, so I hope we don't get the rash. I am really susceptible.

me too!

Apparently I am also. Don't know if y'all noticed the remnants of it on my arm. I now have Tecnu to clean with following possible exposure.

So, a reminder to all us ivy pullers or sprayers to please be sure to somehow clean any residue from shoes as well as clothing and tools, even wheel barrow handles, etc. I wear a pair of disposable gloves inside a totally dedicated pair of leather garden gloves which I keep inside a ziploc baggie. Wayne says he doesn't get poison ivy but I don't believe him!

Growing up as a kid almost every waking hour from sun up to sunset was spent outsidein our woods or the woods across the road. The summer I was 7 I was waiting in a stand of mayapples to see if they were really "umbrella plants" as we called them, when I needed to go to the bathroom. I didn't want to miss the coming rain shower by going all the way back home to use the facilities and decided that I could poop in the woods right where I was! Being somewhat compliant to social customs back then, I chose several soft green leaves to wipe myself with just as the shower began.

Let me tell you "there" is not a place to get poison ivy! Should have chosen those brown crunchy oak leves instead.

Now if I do get a small outbreak I split a piece of aloe vera and wrap it on . Aloe seems to take the itch and thus spread away for me. Calamine works, too but isn't my color especially now that we can wear our whites again!

Jan23: I have had great luck (knock on wood) using a kitchen scrubbie -- one of the green rectangular ones -- and whatever dish soap we have around, and scrubbing my arms or whatever has been exposed as soon as possible, and then taking a bath/shower as soon as possible. I get it really badly -- many trips to the dermatologist, etc.

Oh Coleup, I feel your pain even now. I'm so sorry. Ouch. Itch. Ugh.

We always washed with Fels Naptha soap.

My pulling p ivy days are behind me. Finally most of my yard is ivy free. Sat am I did my usual yearly spraying of any new ivy leaves I see with weed killer specifically for ivy, the kind that foams so I can see if I have missed a leaf.. I have learned to look a gift horse in the mouth by not getting the free mulch our county makes from yard waste because I have seen what some people put out for collection. Same with wood chips from utility company, etc trimmings.

Leaves of three, let them be.

What's too painful to remember, we simply choose to forget. Curiously I remember much about mayapples but have forgotten the itch and thankfully have learned my lesson, young lady!

Hubby now weed wacks with hip waders, LOL after getting PI down his boots, he was a mess for awhile after that

That round up poison ivy killer works real well, dead the day after I sprayed everything down.


I'm thinking that mud pink echi will be available sooner than the next swap ☺

We try to avoid chemicals, so we pull pull pull the poison ivy. In today's 90 degree heat, you really have to wonder how crazy we must be!

When it comes to PI, I'll use whatever it takes to kill it, I'm not going near the stuff, I'd have to be in a haz mat suit

I know what you mean!

Lathering up with soap and let it dry on your arms before you start.

That's a great idea! But for us, we don't usually plan the poison ivy encounters -- we just suddenly realize we are neck deep in them.

I get poison ivy once in a while, but it is usually just a few annoying spots - not the horrible breakouts and allergic reactions that others seem to get, guess I'm lucky. I've got two little spots on my left arm right now, but it hasn't spread and it is not itching anymore.

I've only had it bad twice. Once when I was in third grade I was in an area where construction workers were burning debris from the new houses being built in the neighborhood. I ended up in the hospital with breathing issues. The other time, it was poison sumac - I was sitting on the stoop at the townhouse, and plucked this funny smelling weed. I was talking to the neighbor, and absent mindedly kept waving it about my face, smelling the unusual scent - never realizing what it was. Woke up the next morning with my eyes swollen shut, eyelids about 5 times their normal size - yuck - major dose of steroids for a couple of days to get it under control.

Ugh Terry - now THAT sounds just frightening!!! One of the few times I'm grateful for by bitty townhouse yard.

Lady who owns the farmer's market down the road was telling a story about a lady that came back from the pick your own fields with vines wrapped around her, asking "how much do you want for this wonderful vine?" Mrs Russo replies you can have all that you can pick, free! "really?" the lady asks.
"You just might want to stop off at the hospital on the way home" Why? "Cause that's poison ivy!"

'there' is feeling kinda itchy right now. Thank you very much!!! Heehee

Beastly, beastly hot and muggy already.

too hot and humid

Chantell, that poison sumac incident was when I lived in a town house. The front yard was 15' wide and about 6' to the sidewalk, with said stoop in the middle. Just had small foundation beds on either side of the stoop, and never expected to see anything like poison sumac or ivy - my BAD, and to think I kept waving it around my face while I was talking - I couldn't just pluck it and throw it away. I can't seem to help the waving hands when I talk - constantly knocking drinks over, and in this case, repeatedly smelling that funny smelling weed LOL!

Now that we can finally wear our whites again we can turn our attention to other things.

Is everyone ready for National Deviled Egg Day tomorrow?

Jan, you sure are having a hard time of it with the spotty rainfall continually missing you. We all may be in the same boat if weather/rainfall repeats last year or the year before. I think this area is down way less than half annual rainfall this year and the water table hasn't fully been restored from previous short falls.

Hot and humid while I do my afternoon paper route means I wear as much newsprint as I deliver! And. lol, my whites don't stay purdy very long I'm like the Charlie Brown Peanuts character PigPen: dirt just finds me! Never did learn the secrets to staying clean like my cousins who weren't allowed to play in the dirt. Anyone care to share getting gardening nails and hands ready for company?

PS edited to add that Teri I'm a hand talker, too! And something else we have in common is getting too "up close and personal" with the wrong sort of plants. That lady at Jen's farmers market is probably a kindred spirit!

Stay cool all.

Judy

This message was edited May 29, 2012 10:30 AM

Ooohhh, I like deviled eggs. Off to boil me some eggs. Hmmm...should I put on some white while they boil?

LOL on presentable nails!!! Don't have an answer for that

coleup----

How do you come up with all these things????????

Deviled egg day?????? I ate a bunch yesterday--at my HD's cook out.
And a guy in lumber made them! YUMMMY! Man can cook too....

I brought a huge amount of my home-made Garlic/Dill pickles. Always a hit!

You know--I have NOT been outside in my garden all day! Feeling guilty...May need to go and, at least,
water some stuff. Was going to plant some more annuals......just do not want to get all sweaty again.

G.

Big Thunderstorm blowing over right now. I did get out earlier and stained some fence boards. Boy the new fence is looking good, those that were at our swap know how bad the old one was. Broken lattice with wire and board and anything that would cover the holes. I got a few more plants in the ground everything is looking good. Ric got all the Glads planted that go down the walk to the GH. He also did some work in the Veggie Garden. Boy it sure is something out there right now heading to the porch so I can take it all in.

Holly -- Is it a good time to take photos? We'd love to see!

I wish we were getting some of your rain. I don't feel like watering all day tomorrow....

I didn't even notice the fence, so all is good.

Ditto, to both things happy said

No apparent damage here, but 3"s of rain in about 1 1/2 hours. Looks like I was timely in putting my rain water hose to the pool. It is filling nicely without using the well or Met Ed and the rain is much warmer than the well water. LOL Ric

It appears I'm going to get my wish for rain -- we went from little chance of rain to a 90% chance of severe thunderstorms (at 9pm) in a blink. Gotta be careful what you wish for!

I just want it to cool off!

Spent more than 20 hours in the garden this past weekend. Got a lot done, but there is at least another 2 weekends worth of hard work before the garden is ready for mulching :-(. Can anybody tell me if a garden is ever perfect like those we see on TV and in magazines? My garden is in a constant state of disorder. Some parts of it are always new and bare while other parts are overgrown and need redone.

The weather was HOT, no matter now much white I was wearing. LOL. Here is a prayer from a devoted gardener for a better weather:

"O Lord, grant that in some way it may rain every day, say from about midnight until three o'clock in the morning, but, you see, it must be gentle and warm so that it can soak in, grant that at the same time it would not rain on campion, alyssum, helianthemum, lavender, and the others which you in your infinite wisdom know are drought-loving plants - I will write their names on a bit of paper if you like - and grant that the sun may shine the whole day long, but not everywhere (not, for instance, on spiraea, or on gentian, plantain lily, and rhododendron), and not too much; that there may be plenty of dew and little wind, enough worms, no plant-lice and snails, no mildew, and there once a week thin liquid manure and guano may fall from heaven. Amen."

--- Karel Capex

This message was edited May 29, 2012 8:15 PM

Love it!

LOL,

Amen!

That is perfect!! Heehee

The rain we got last night was not enough to wet the deck under the tree. Bummer!

Holly - ditto to other's sentiments - your place is a haven....I love it 'as is!'

Going down for a long weekend with sis to folks place in Myrtle Beach and last night was my last night to get whatever was going IN the ground before leaving Friday. Needless to say - I was loving life seeing that storm approaching knowing everything would get a good watering. Put the last plant (that was going in the ground) at about 9:30 (God only knows if it ended up in the 'right' place). Came in literally soaking...LOL...I love it!!!

donner, that prayer is hysterically funny, thx!

I love my daughter's mothering with nature approach to what to do with a fussy one year old on a warm rain, rainy day! He was out in it for almost two hours and each time she brought him in he would immediately crawl back out! God bless them.