Garden Projects #14

Last of the after shots. You can see more needs to be done. Weeding and mulching with my composted cow manure mulch. Will work on that tomorrow.

Karen

You got a lot done, Karen! I'm just thinking about cleaning out the back beds......

oohhh I am broken... too much weeding already

:(

Me, too! I came in to feed the dog, but need to get back outside to dig more invasive grass!

moved close to 15 yards of the dirt/compost - and transplanted numerous bushes and planted most of the new jm's - ripped out the invasive speria and replaces with another hopefully non-invasive type.

wha, too much work! what is a speria ?

I am too tired to do more weeding and planting so I am done for the day. Glorious out but my old bones have had it. I did a lot of transplanting and dividing as I planted a few new gems as I weeded and raked each bed that I planted in for yet another time. I thought I was done when I left 2 weeks ago, but I should have known better. I have a couple more days of this final spring cleaning to do. I thought I would plant lilies today, but am holding off until the weeding is done. DH worked on the endless stream as he is sure we have a leak. He drained it and dug up a bunch of it, but I was afraid to get involved with "his project". Too many cooks in the kitchen. Patti

today's new plants
Caryopteris incana Sunshine Blue narrow bed east end
Heuchera Fire Alarm Jmaple bed west
Veronicastrum virginicum Apollo long bed east end
Baptisia Decadence Lemon Meringue peach bed
Lavandula stoechas Madrid Blue ac bed
3 Salvia pratensis Swan Lake slacker bed
3 Aster novi-belgii Bonnie Blue narrow bed east end/ narrow bed west end/ peach bed
Hydrangea quercifolia Little Honey chocolate bed
Cornus alternifolia Golden Shadows shed bed
Dianthus allwoodii Helen peach bed
Salvia guaranitica Argentine Skies old beach plum bed

nice stuff!!!

looks great, Patti

Hubby mulched the edge in the backyard yesterday, I used the leftover for the berm today, but I need more

You have all that stuff moved already, PLUS planting bunches, wha? Do you ever sleep when you get that delivery? YOWSZERS!!! I am such a slacker!

Got more work done on that bed I cleaned out yesterday. Trying to get invasive grass out of there, like you, Marilyn. Used my cultivator to loosen up parts of it. Didn't want to disturb most of the plants in there. I have daffs, peonies, bearded iris, daylilies and Lysamachia "Alexander". I divided some daff clumps and moved some daylilies around. This bed has been needing some revamping for some time now. I think I renovated it about eight years ago. Finally getting around to it.

I get tired just hearing about all the work Bill and Patti get accomplished on a regular basis. Wish I had that kind of energy.

Karen

Eye candy
http://player.vimeo.com/video/27920977?title=0&%3bbyline=0&%3bportrait=0href=

Patti: I see you buy plants from Bluestone.How do those coir pots work for you?
I cut mine open and pull some of the sides away unless I can get the plant out completely.
I had many losses when I planted the whole pot.even remembering to cover the entire pot with soil.

This message was edited Apr 22, 2013 3:32 AM

Thank you, Jo, I love eye candy in the morning!!

I just noticed. Patti has a "slacker bed." LOL

I did too and chuckled to myself.

RosemaryK. You are so right about our slacker bed. It was in an uncleared area of our property which took me about 3 years to finally get dug out to even begin to plant. I was a sorry slacker and it looked horrible for so long, just big piles of brambles, grass and most of the unwanted native shrubs. Actually I began the project about the same time I joined Dave's in 2006 and remember posting the name as a joke as to my latest project that seemed to be going no where. I was sort of embarrassed by especially people on this forum to get it done.

I posted this in July 2008

More weeding, dividing, moving, edging, raking and planting. It is suppose to rain tomorrow, but I could really use the day to continue through all the rest of the beds so maybe I will get lucky. I figure I must have another 150 lilies to plant. What was I thinking? Patti

Todays planting
Exochorda Snow Day Blizzard east yard
Dendranthema Hannah Lloyd ack Hannah's Garden inkberry bed
3 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids Yellow Cocotte upper herb bed
8 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids Tiny Pradhye inkberry bed
4 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids Tango Passion Ladylike lower herb bed
10 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids Tiny Sensation terrace bed
15 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids Tiny Sensation RR bed
Clematis alpina Stolwijk Gold old beach plum bed
10 Phlox Blue Paradise inkberry bed
moved Cornus alternifolia Golden Shadows shed bed
moved Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum Lanarth peach bed

I'm just exhausted reading about these projects! I worked for about an hour on the grass & Virginia creeper & blackberry problem in the long bed......will be out longer tomorrow....also planted 2 clems, one is blooming & looks lovely.....early primrose is also blooming.....the deer/rabbits are eating my DLs....never had that problem before!

Wow! I thought the beds Patti posted look great! I'm curious how "Lanarth" came about. Last year when I was buying that type of viburnum, Lanarth was not on the market that I could find, so I got Shasta instead based upon recommendations. Dirr's viburnum book had a photo of Lanarth to die for.

Here's the result of my weekend. Our young Cherokee Princess Cornus florida. May not look like much, but we had to cut down the dead tree, then I dug out about three feet deep of rocks and mixed in better soil and manure before planting. The mulch on top is our own making from years of bark piles and decay where DH ran the tractor last week.

looks good rosemary, the tree will grow - I have learnt the dogwoods like some fertilizer to provide more flowers here, have what looks like a nice supply of blooms this year - btw - I had to empty 4 wheel barrels full of rock on two beds I expanded here - had to use the rototiller to get them out and crawling around on my knees sifting through the dirt not to miss too many.

The things we do because of rocks! Don't they hit the blades on the rototiller? One reason I have to dig deep is because there are old rock foundations buried in some places. Sometimes I find pockets of coal or just trash buried underground but I think I've found all of that now.

Thanks for the reminder about fertilizer. Hope it lives long enough. This tree was extremely root bound, so much so that DH wouldn't watch me attacking it. If it dies because I can't keep watering it enough, at least the ground is prepared.

Patti, I have plenty of "slacker" beds at my house, too!

Marilyn, I always seem to get my DLs munched on in the spring. All they munch is the tops of the foliage. I don't know if it's deer or rabbits.

Nice looking tree, Rosemary. Hope it survives for you.

I got more work done on that bed I've been working on this past weekend. Got more daylilies moved around, divided more daffs. Got out a small stump, and dug out a lot of grass. Also got a baptisia planted that I had gotten a few years ago. Even though temp was around 50 today, it was mostly cloudy, and the wind was raw. When the sun shone through every now and then, it really felt good. Will post pics from my phone of the work done today.

Karen

I had 5 I want to upload, but 3 were vertical, and I couldn't figure out how to rotate them on my phone. A smart phone is only as smart as the person using it.

Karen

Call in the kids for that....my GKs know how to use all that technology....me, not at all......I have started digging my veggie garden with a shovel.....gave both my tiller & truck to son....son sold truck, cannot get tiller to my garden....or so he says! Oh, well, maybe I'll lose a pound or two.....

RosemaryK, love the look of all your work and your new Cornus. I sure keep thinking of adding one to our property so I will be keeping an eye on yours.

Wha, where or where are you finding room to expand your beds. More rocks means more walls. My back hurts from just spring weeding, poor you. I am going to fertilize our Cornus kousa var. chinensis or at least ask DH to do it soon. Thanks.

Karen, I had to move all our DL some years ago from any beds not behind a deer fence due to constant damage. They are now going after the Iris too. grrrrrrr. If you look at the damage on your DL's you should be able to figure out the culprit. Ragged edges mean deer as they rip and grind while rabbits bit more cleanly making cuts at a 45-degree angle. But it doesn't really make a difference as they are both bad new.

Raining so I am spared of more weeding today. Body is happy for a break, but I swear I can hear the weeds growing outside. Patti

i had to sacrifice more grass and expanded a bed in back by the garden to the left and built a new one in front of the real pond and then made a larger expansion behind the fire pit, will also make one on the slope where the stream is. with 15 new jm's this needed to happen.

Gee, Bill....where do you get your energy? I'm exhausted just reading about what you're doing......Thanks for the heads up on the type of damage, Patti....this looks to be rabbit, although it might be turkeys as well.......

I see you include the word "needed" as I do when I have accidentally "ordered" a zillion more plants than there is physically room for in the garden just because I 'Needed" them. Then what to do? It is obvious that all the grass will eventually be just turned into paths between the ever expanding beds. I will be curious to see when you just start planting in the wooded lot next to your drive. I know my ever increasing age will put a stop to my foolishness before I really run out of turf, but you are way younger with way more energy. I am glad to hear about the bed in front of your real pond which I think will be a spectacular spot. But nowhere in your garden is less so. Patti

Karen, Turkey's ? OMG, I never thought about them as we don't have them in Nantucket, though I hear rumors of some fool introducing some here recently to hunt. . I will ring the idiots neck personally if turkeys become an Island nuisance. We have many in Vt, but I have only seen them in the woods by our house, never in our yard. But I know their population is growing at a tremendous rate. Patti

My neighbor's house is empty, but she didn't mow the back in many years, so the wildlife have taken over...that's where the turkeys roost......then they hit my garden for tasty tidbits.....last year, it was my coral bells...this year, my chionodoxa.....

Wow never had to consider turkey control, did see them once in my yard but Wall-e chased them away

So weird. Odd selection or do you think they were finding some type of critter on those plants or just liked the color. Patti

The new growth was tender...that's what they ate....

"very" "funny" with the quotes patti :)

in the bed in front side is a new rock platform with a rock seat and behind that the bed - in it are 3 red licorice fothergilla to screen the seat and behind those to the side are two blue shadow fothergella, in the middle is a small red jm that will grow to 9' and behind that a spice bush - will fill with either geranium or sedum, maybe some aster - should have some good fall color in time there.

I'm eager to see "pictures" :)

Do you live on vitamin water or energy drinks, Bill???

Hubby asks me this morning if I'm going to play in the garden today....I asked him if he was giving me the day off of work....supposed to be beautiful, I def will go to the public gardens in town to see how many tulips they have, past few years I always missed them

Maybe I'll do some invoicing first and then go play

I finally got my garden soil and some aged manure, hope to be a good start to my veggie garden

everything in that bed is small right now, hopefully now they are out of the containers they grow fast!

Thanks for that info, Patti. We do have Turkeys around, but I don't know if there chowing down on the DLs or not. Haven't had any damage lately.

Bill's place will look look my back area soon, except without all the weeds.

Karen

flowAjen, aged manure sounds like the best thing I should be trying to get for the garden. We do buy MooDoo, but I have been eying a sign in Northfield Mass for Lama poop. Exotics__t for our garden but not sure how much they want for their leftovers.

Today was a very productive day. First I weeded and divided a mess of plants in what we call the Peach bed due to the fact that it is anchored with a Peach Tree. Then DH and I tried to dig up to transplant about 50 tulips in that bed that were totally the wrong color for that spot. We had great difficulty digging them up without break off the flower. DH replanted them in a bed without any tulips so we will see if they make it back next year. It was just bugging me. I planted them, but the color was not what I expected.

Then we planted a bunch of new lilies and a few other plants and then we moved some shrubs. Busy Day. More to do tomorrow to finish up planting the rest of the current batch of received plants plus more weeding and dividing. And of course lots more raking. Burn pile is huge, but we are going to fire it up this weekend. Patti

3 Lily Div4 1 Asiatic Hybrids Spice Islands ac bed
5 Lily Div. 8 Other Hybrids Salmon Classic ac bed
1 Lily Div. 9 Species pardalium ac bed
3 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids Whistler chocolate bed
4 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids double Tiny Double You hot bed middle
1 Lily Div. 8 Other Hybrids Gloriana hot bed middle
3 Lily Div. 8 Other Hybrids Methone hot bed middle
1 Lily Div. 7 Oriental Hybrids Tomar hot bed north end
3 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids Choco hot bed south end
10 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids Orange Matrix hot bed south end
3 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids double Double Sphinx hot bed south end
1 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids lankogense Angela North long bed east end
1 Lily Div. 6 Trumpet hybrids Midnight long bed east end
1 Lily Div. 7 Oriental Hybrids LeVern Friemann aka Miss Freya long bed east end
2 Lily Div. 7 Oriental Hybrids double Double Magic Star long bed east end
2 Lily Div. 6 Trumpet hybrids Louis XIV long bed middle
2 Lily Div. 8 Other Hybrids Telesto long bed middle
1 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids lankongense Eurydice middle perenial bed
4 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids Tango Passion Push Off middle perennial bed
3 Lily Div. 7 Oriental Hybrids Hotline aka Purple Fountain middle perennial bed
3 Lily Div. 7 Oriental Hybrids After Eight narrow bed east end
2 Lily Div. 7 Oriental Hybrids Playtime narrow bed east end
2 Lily Div. 7 Oriental Hybrids The Edge narrow bed east end
2 Lily Div. 7 Oriental Hybrids double Double Rose Lily Fabiola narrow bed east end
1 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids lankongense Ariadne narrow bed middle
1 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids Peach Lace old beach plum bed
15 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids Tiny Nanny old beach plum bed
1 Lily Div. 7 Oriental Hybrids Firebolt old beach plum bed
3 Lily Div. 7 Oriental Hybrids Sunny Borneo old beach plum bed
3 Lily Div. 7 Oriental Hybrids Sunny Mesdag old beach plum bed
1 Lily Div. 8 Other Hybrids Wassail old beach plum bed
2 Geranium sanguineum Elke peach bed
4 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids Tango Passion Ladylike peach bed
2 Lily Div. 7 Oriental Hybrids Circus peach bed
3 Lily Div. 7 Oriental Hybrids Salmon Star peach bed
2 Lily Div. 7 Oriental Hybrids double Double Sweet Rosy peach bed
1 Lily Div. 8 Other Hybrids On Stage peach bed
2 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids Pieton terrace bed
2 Geranium Havana Blue wallichianum well bed
10 Lily Div. 1 Asiatic Hybrids Tiny Nanny well bed