Garden Projects #11

Wow, How idyllic is that spot? Patti

Very pretty spot!

Thanks Jo, Patti and Marilyn. I'm posting more pics of my back sales area, a before and after shot this time.

We can have open burn piles from Jan. 15 to May 1 here, and we also need a permit, but in the summer we can burn in a contained burn pit, campfire type burning, no bonfires. We just call the fire dept. the day we want to burn and they will let us know if we can. We always have it bigger than it should be.

Mittsy, you're past peak? How? Looks like there are lots of leaves to turn yet. Are you talking about the maples?

Nice pics, Patti. I have never seen that orange plant, either. Very nice.

I am so ADD about yard work (I actually do have ADD). I get so overwhelmed with all that needs to be done. Some areas look really nice, and many more areas do not. I wish I could just concentrate on getting everything weeded, then have a crew come in and spread mulch on all the weeded beds. That would stop all the weeding for a good long time. Then once everything's weeded and mulched, I can concentrate on shifting plants around, putting in new ones, etc. Today I worked at cleaning up a sales area, and it took me longer than I thought it would. I didn't set out to do it initially. I had worked on that area yesterday, and figured it was done enough. Well, I got to looking at it, and got anal about it, and wanted to do more. Now I have to finish up the rest so all of it will look good. Basically I have weed block down there under the potted plants. I had gotten all the pots weeded out and spent time yesterday hosing off the weed block. Then today I decided I really needed to move the pots and hose off under them as well. I think next year I'm just putting wood chips under the weed block. It will be so much simpler.

Another thing I did was work on cleaning up a bed that was next to that sales area. I should have just concentrated on that, but I decided one of the daylilies in that bed needed to come out and be potted up to sell. Then I decided PRIMAL SCREAM needed to be put in the spot that I just dug the other one up out of. That made me decide I needed to move around some other daylilies, so I concentrated on taking non-pink daylilies out of the bed that I've been converting into an all pink bed for the last couple of years, and switching them with pink ones from other beds. Ugh! Then, of course, they all needed watering, and the beds were not all close together, so I did a lot of dragging the hose around. Oh, and i dug up a peony that will be potted to sell, and I need to dig up more of it to move to a different spot, cause it's a red one, and it's in the pink bed. I need to put a pink peony there, or just more pink daylilies. Don't know which I'll do yet. I'm thinking I'd like another peony there. I have 2 that are not doing so hot in a shady bed. They would be much happier if I move them to the pink bed in the sun. But where to put the big, red one? Decisions, decisions...

Oh, and I got some of my new daylilies planted. I have many more still to plant. They're soaking in buckets of water. Not too much water, and not at the crowns. They're fine, though I did have a few get crown rot and die. They were all bonus plants from Blueridge. Bummer. The buckets had filled up too much when we got a lot of rain. Usually I try and keep an eye on that and dump out the excess water. One of the ones I lost was SEMINOLE WIND. Might have to see if I can get it again. That looked like a really nice one.

Here are before and after shots of my back sales area. The third shot is a before pic of the bed I started cleaning up today. This weekend I'll get it finished and post an after pic.

Karen

Looking good Karen

reading that i can smell the gears burning...:)

I'd be a little overwhelmed too with all that work to do

You made a great start, Karen! Wish I could say the same!

I haven't been on this thread for a great time so sort of lost it & have been catching up on my reading. from Aug. until now took awhile. You all do a great amount of work. Project here mainly involve weeding although DH planted a few irises which had been sitting around in pots since spring.

Do you grow all varieties of iris?

IrisMA, Nice to see you here.

Karen, you have gotten a lot of work done. Congrats. Today's weather isn't helping your efforts, but you needed a day off.

A thought. I saw a sales area in front of a home garden nursery while driving through upstate New York that had all their pots sitting on discarded wooden pallets that were sitting on black weed block that had cardboard under it, a Lasagna bed with wooden pallets. There was not a weed in sight. I don't know how it works in the winter and I failed to ask. Nice folks, but I didn't buy anything as we were on our way to Canada. We had pulled off the New York State Thruway to run the dogs when I spied this little place. They had a nice collection of perennials and a few shrubs and some roses. Perhaps they mulch around the pots with leaves or straw for the winter or take the pots off and leave them on the ground or just leave them on the pallets, but it was so neat and plus the plants raised a bit it was easier to see them. I guess I am getting old and bending over is getting tougher!

Today I worked on cleaning up the greenhouse to get it ready for moving all the plants back inside in the week or so. Ugh. Big chore.

We fired up the wood stove today as it is cold and rainy. I cooked a big pot of lamb shanks and veggies from the garden last night, so tonight we will have the left overs made into a soup as it is a soup night for sure.

Anybody know what this plant is? I planted it a few years ago and it is a very nice late flowering plant, but I can't find it in my journal. Leaves are thin and stiff. Thanks,
Patti

Patti, Is it a hardy gazania?
mittsy

I can walk to the thruway Patti, next time I'll wave at you!

RD We grow mainly bearded irises, the smaller medians rather than the talls. We have a few species, arilbred & siberian irises. Have to cut the foliage on the siberians this fall, 'cause if you wait until spring, there is a mess. Not working in drizzly weather, however. I don't have any tender plants outside, so don't have those to deal with.

Yes, lots of work getting done here, but lots more to do, and I've only done maybe and average of 3 hours each day from Sat.-Mon. Not enough, but I'm slow getting started in the mornings. I got up late both days over the weekend, and Mon. too. Then didn't get out into the gardens until 1 or later. Sat. night I went out for dinner, then Sun. we had Dad over for dinner, and I went to pick him up around 5. So both days I really didn't do much more than 2 hours of work each day. Then Mon. I got maybe 4 or 5 hours done. More like 4, as I took a long break to eat something.

Anyhow, today I had to work, and had friends over for dinner afterwards, so no work got done after work today. I had wanted to, but don't get to see these friends much, so I needed to take time for them. We did not get a lot of rain here today. Hardly any, in fact. If I hadn't been working, I would have worked in the yard.

Patti, I have weed block on that sales area in the back, but no cardboard underneath. It's worked out well for the past 2 years, but I may have to replace it next year or the year after. Or, like I said, maybe just put wood chips over it. That other sales bed has wood chips down on it, with no weed block underneath. I initially put them down pretty thick, and they've worked out really well. Some weeds come through, but few.

That lamb sounds awesome! I have not had lamb in awhile, and I can just imagine that wonderful aroma permeating the house. Mmmmm!!!!

Karen

Mittsy, that was a possible good guess, but after more research I think it is Helianthus angustifolius 'Low Down' but for some reason I never listed it in my journal. I will go look up mypaper invoices from Avant and Lazy S, who I order from and who both sell it. I will get the bottom of this as it is a very nice fall plant. Patti

Patti: You were in upstate New York?
Debbi and I will wave next time.

Have to make sure DH cuts down the peony foliage, it is getting yellow. I have trouble doing it, not like siberian irises where I can use my rice cutting knife. There is not the room to work that way on the 'Sarah Bernhardt' peonies in front of the house. they came from my Dad's house in Wisconsin. I wish now that we had brought the red ones East as well. People dug them up & put in folundation evergreens. Our daughters refered to those as 'burglar bushes'.

love lamb shanks:)

had traders joe's lamb last night.

Since I'm still suffering from a nasty cold, & it's raw & drizzling outside, I will be knitting instead of cleaning up the gardens today! Thanks for reminding me about the sib & peony foliage, that's the job I will tackle tomorrow if I'm feeling better...

I just shopped at T J's its having its grand opening here.

One job at a time, RD.

Is that a nursery, Jo? And if so, where is it....Laurie & I may get there!

Not a nursery Marilyn.Its a food store
Trader Joe's.

Oh, OK...my SIL brought me some olives from there on Sunday.....I think there's one near the NY border, by Danbury.....

They are few and far between. It will take me several trips befor I see all that the store has to offer.
One wall in the back with a huge selection of nuts and dries fruit.
Bananas for .19 per pound wasnt bad either.

I'm still a Wegmans girl!

I was mistaken about the price of bananas.They wee .19 each but the 6 I bought were a bit less than they were at Wegs. I agree Wegmans prepared foods bar is non paralleled.
TJ's is all their own brand and very reasonable.
My experience with Wegmans brand is the quality just isnt there.
They have great produce and bakery.

Hm, i haven't had a bad experience with Wegmans brand, but maybe I don't use their brand that much.

I like TJ's, but haven't been there in a long time. I get overwhelmed in there and want to buy everything in sight.

Karen

try the rack of lamb at tj's - the best

Love rack of lamb!

That sounds great, Bill. I may just have to go there and get some, among other things.

Karen

Gorgeous day to be out in the garden

Cut out all the Coleus that turned to mush
Split up 2 HUGE clumps of Sibs, now I have to find people to take them
Planted 5 plants and staked out the my blue yellow and white garden expansion

I got nothing done today, and I wish I had. You're right, Jen, it was beautiful today.

Karen

I am going to clean containers today.

Started some cleaning yesterday, hope to do a little more tomorrow.....all my salvia, except for one plant, is gone....dahlias need to be dug....once more, I'll try to save some....ever the optimist!

Spent the last three days bringing in all the container plants back into the greenhouse for the winter. It is an exhausting job, but the space is so special in the winter that it is worth the heavy lifting. It is almost like a tropical escape now though I can hardly move. Tomorrow I will go back to cutting back the beds. We have so many roses still blooming that it seems too early to be putting the beds to bed. DH abandoned me to work alone today as he went diving for scallops. I ate well tonight. No complaints. Patti

I can see I just dont live right !

ge1836, No, you live right, just not in the land of sea candy. Out to start whacking back more of the beds, after I have a cup of coffee in the now finished GH. We take care of a few big plants for friends for the winter and their garden just showed up with them, so everything is now all buttoned up in the GH.!!! Yippee. Let the snow fly......just kidding. Patti

Oddly enough I look forward to the first snow.Its the 21st snow thats no big news.
I hope this album works
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