Yardening Summer 2013

You're welcome -- I haven't used it myself -- I'll be interested to hear the quality of their response....

@Donner: We got a new October Blaze (I think?) a couple of years back; quite big, as we were replacing an old monster that had to come down. My arborist insisted I keep the thing practically soaked the first summer and really water deeply for a couple of years after. It has done fine (he asks me every time I see him). Was yours large when you put it in?

As to what I have done: After returning fro Ireland, I reweeded the beds I had done before we left. :-)

However, I have moved on and recovered a bed I more or less abandoned last year. I'm feeling a bit guilty, as I started using a powerful pre-emergent last Spring. I don't like to use any strong chemicals, but it is proving to be a lifesaver. Since husband quit caring about the lawn, there are so many weeds trying to get into my beds that I just had to avail myself of the extra help.

Still have lots of serious weeding out, edging, mulching, pruning, etc to get up to speed. (Oh, heas, and taking out that opportunistic pear tree.) At this point, the only new thing I have put in is a lovely hydrangea. That might be it other than containers for this year.

Sissy, thank you for the info. My tree was about 8' tall when it was planted a year ago. It did fine last year although the summer was terribly hot and the winter wasn't particular mild. I didn't water it this year because the spring wasn't very dry. The tree leafed out fully, and the leaves suddenly turned brown. Very weird.

I will see if I can get an answer from University of Maryland. Will keep you all posted.

All of my plants are going into pots because I am moving. It will take me a while to figure out where to put them and dig the holes. The new place even has a shed for my gardening tools. I'll be wheeling them around with carts and battling rocks and tree roots for a while. I am moving nearby to an adorable little house in a more rural setting. I suspect I may have trouble with deer. I took a book out of the library about gardening and deer. I plan to hang soap near the most suspectible plants and spray them with pepper or egg and pepper. I already make pepper spray to keep the bunnies from dining on my dahlias. I may have to find a Norwegian Elkhound to keep Winston the pug company. I would prefer deer to my current crazy neighbors and their junkyard dogs!

My friend had trouble with a groundhog digging near his house. He finally got rid of it by peeing repeatedly in its burrow and refilling the hole. I have terrible aim, hope I don't have any groundhog problems.

So nice to hear you are moving. I remember how bad your neighbors are. It will be a nice new start.

We spent a good part of the day yardening at my in-laws, as they get older I worry about them doing the yard work. Since we retired we pretty much do all their gardening too. They really enjoy their yard and it's easy for us. Holly was just saying we did their whole yard in the time it took to redo one of our beds, so I don't expect us to quite keep up with ours in another 20-25 years. Maybe we can just tell everyone that we are studying the ecology of old field succession. LOL

Lol you ric!
I suspect you will gradually reduce the high energy annuals with perennials or ground covers. Etc.
GQ Looking forwward to pics of the new place. Congrats.
:-)

Hahaha, GQ, bad aim!!! I busted up laughing with that mental visual.

Ric, That is why I am trying to transition to shrubs, etc. I have trouble keeping up now.

I know there are places in our yard where we put huge hostas years ago (they weren't huge then, but were the type that get huge -- Frances Williams, Elegans, etc.), and now that they are full grown we have essentially zero weeds in that area....

HollyAnn, would you believe that the new neighbors are worse than the old ones? I didn't believe it was possible. One family redefines white trash. I can't think of a politically correct way to describe these people. They scream the most terrible things at their daughters. I can't imagine growing up with such terrible mental abuse. I had enough trouble coming to terms with my less than perfect childhood. I don't need to witness theirs.

Two neighbors in a row have brown labs that run out the back doors off their leashes to do their thing. The neighbors eventually open the door and bellow for the dogs to come back inside. Winston the pug gets more exercise than these poor labs. Their idea od "picking up" is either flinging the waste over the fence into the graveyard or putting it in a stolen post office bin and leaving it in the yard. My back yard smells like a barn, a really nasty barn. Horse flies are becoming a problem. Wonder why.

The FBI kicked down one person's door - an alleged peodophile. The state police kicked down another door - not sure if it was for drugs or prostitution, neither would surprise me.

I can't wait to leave. I will miss some of my neighbors, but my friends have my email.

If I get my act together, maybe I'll host a get together and swap in the late summer/early fall at the new place.

Hope the new place is a peaceful retreat.

Ditto!

Hi Coleup and everyone. I have not decided where to plant the climbing Hydrangea yet. I am trying to figure out if I did it on a tree, which one would be the best.Putting it where hubby wants it would be more work. When he says " we will keep it trimmed" he means Marie will keep it trimmed...lol

I am pretty much done with planting. I made the mistake of putting in a few annuals last year before everything really leaved out. Well the annuals got covered up with all the new growth. So this year I am waiting , or just not planting as much. I still need more mulch down in places. I am hoping I get some nice weather next week while I am on vacation to get some of these things done.
I have a question. Can I trim the top of a over grown Rhododendron? I know now is the time, right after blooming, but how much can I take off a 6-8 ft bush?

I've trimmed our biggest rhododendron many times, but I didn't top I -- instead I cut back the longest branches quite dramatically. It has done fine.

marie, your right, now is the time, and you can trim it well back. I need to do my FILs this year. Since they are showing new lateral growth now also you should be able to keep a nice shape to it as well as see where the new growth will fill in. I did some drastic cut back on a friends' a couple of years ago (like 3-4',they were up to the roof eaves). Those took about 2 years to reshape but did come out nicely.

I have cut the side branches before, but not the top. It is just getting too tall. If the previous owners had planted it 2 feet farther out from the house it would not be so bad, but they put it close to the house and now it leans forward to get out from under the eave of the house and it is too tall now.
Thanks Ric, That will be one of my many projects this week.

We had a good slow soaking from the storm but probably only got 1-1&1/2", areas to the east and south did much better. While pruning our mounding/spreading juniper on the patio I found 5 nice branches with roots and potted them up. I'll move these to the GH for the summer for shade and H2O. I think this one was Prince of Wales. Hopefully we can finish weeding our perennial beds and plant the few color accents we use. It's fairly cool and the weeds almost jump from the softened soil.

According to one rain gauge we got 4 inches in 2 days, but that doesn't seem right. We probably had closer to 3 inches. We're expecting more rain in a couple of days, so it'll probably be another week until I can dig again. The best thing about this rain is that it makes weeding so easy. :)

The rain garden did its job! No pooling water anywhere.

I've fallen out of love with yarrow, and the foxgloves are browning pretty bad (mildew?) so they're all coming out next week.

I CANNOT BELIEVE IT THAT I NEVER "FOUND" THIS THREAD!!!!!!

Here it is--59 posts--and no one even wondered where i was...as I, usually, post pretty
regular on out Threads.

Just read the whole thing----nothing much to contribute---OR--i don't know where to start...
Been really busy trying to get all my beds planted.
Today--I started to tackle my "Stump Bed"--a small, round bed with a decaying stump in the middle.
The stump is all that is left from an old (25 years) River Birch.

On top of it--bolstered up with bricks so it will nor cave in--I always have a big pot with pretty flowers in it.
Not doing anything great yet....but it will be spilling over soon.

I had to dig up the bed--down to the clay--to keep it the size for my black, rubber edging to fit around.
Well--this turned out to be a big project--as there were many large chunks of decayed tree roots
Of course--everything is soaked. That equals===HEAVY.

Will continue Monday. Tomorrow is "Garden day" for me at the HD.

--I can show you a pic. I took--with all the clay and clumps dug up.
--Here it is, kind of, rough-raked and the edging put around.
--The black soil on top is just a small layer of "Leaf Gro"--. Under that--i sprinkled some Plant Tone.

Next step will be to combine the two--and rake it down again.
Then i can plant my plants in it....hopefully on Monday.....

Who thinks that one can just dig a small hole and plant a plant??? NOT here!
All my efforts take at least half a day. Or more--in this case.....I DO just wear out.....

edited to add that--before anything--I had to rip out lots and lots of spreading Euphorbias.
You can see the Mama plant in the last picture. Not sure what to do with it??????
Maybe we need another "Digging party"......It is now spreading incessantly..

This message was edited Jun 8, 2013 7:26 PM

And--here is hoe it happens.....

Looks good Gita.
Ric did a great job in the back flower beds. He edged them and weeded them. I finished up the Sunshine bed doesn't look like much right now mostly just green but all the beautiful Daylilies that John and Ruby gave me will be blooming soon. Then I moved out back with Ric and did some planting.
Here is the Sunshine Bed all nice and weed free.

Mowing again done, edged and mulched all the beds I weeded earlier. Set up more of Holly's water garden. Still need to run the trimmer around, I swear it never ends. I plan to do the in-laws Thursday, come home and take a nap to go to Sally's.

With two yards to do, it DOES never end!

I'm so glad I don't have any lawn to mow.

For me mowing is time consuming but also a chance to relax and look around while riding instead of walking. My DH usually does it because I find so many other things that need to be done.

Teri your lawn is so long I'm surprised Bob doesn't nod off on the return trip. LOL I know what you mean about relaxing though, Holly tells me to rest and I tell her, I'll just ride the tractor for a while. I think all the trimming and weeding is a pain.

My feelings, exactly. I do most of the weeding to protect my plants from my DH. I just throw the weeds out onto the lawn and then he comes with the sweeper to pick them up. He never says a word to complain about this arrangement. Wonder why?

ROTFL I always get a kick out of seeing the guy on the tractor and the lady pushing the trim mower. Most people don't know she wants to do the trimming 'cause she don't trust him anywhere near the beds.

haha!

The yard is starting to look so nice the mulching Ric did sure makes everything look so nice.

I still have so much to do. All this rain has really slowed me down. But the weeds are growing faster than I can keep them pulled..lol

I "thought" I was almost done--but then I went and bought several pots of some plants.
Couldn't resist the Buy one--get one free at Md. "Flower and Foliage."
Still going on....amazing plants still left--all over the G-H. Lots of Lg. Hibiscus bushes.
Got 6-5" pots of huge NG Impatiens. Will plant those around...

I DO need to fill in some spots--as most of my seed grown Zinnias are pooping out.
They all came up and grew OK--but just did not take to being planted outside...
I believe the Slugs did some harm to them.
I had collected seed from all the tall pretties last year...some will make it--I think.

Note to self---"Don't bother next year".

The Snapdragons (from seed from "birder") are doing OK.
My WS Columbines never got out of the "skinny like Threads" stage and are all giving up.
They are still in cell packs.

Still have to dig up the two big clumps of daffs. Will have bulbs at the Fall Swap.
Waiting for the Foliage to die off....

Still have to plant a couple Hostas left over from Jan's Swap. need to dig up a small area of lawn
under my Lilac bush to do that.

And so it goes............ G.

I don't know Sally, if all Marks' gardening efforts turn out as green as his lawn, you may have another gardener in the house. Gita even complimented him on his actions and choice of materials. LOL

This is going to be a stupendous, at least in terms of the weather!

Seriously eyeing the wintercreeper out front and will start to reduce it. Fall might see major shrub renovation.

Gita, thank you for doing the shopping on those great hostas! I got 2 of each... will keep one and give the other to my MIL when they come up over the 4th. I even found some pretty containers for them, on sale at Meadow Farms. :-) That purple euphorbia is such a pretty color... I have a couple euphorbias from Santa Rosa to plant out with it, too.

You're welcome, Jill....Shopping is one chore I don't mind--at all!!!...:o)

If you want more of the dark Euphorbias--I can always zip over there and pick up a couple more.
It is only 3+ miles from my house....
They would not be hard to care for until the Swap. WHOOOOOO iss doing it?

Is it SallyGee again? C'mon Sal-ole-Gal! You are an old hand at this by now....
And--you seem to be so "central" for everyone--distance wise.
I would love to just have to drive 28 miles to a swap....again...

I can always come early and help you set up--or whatever...

Tell Mark that the directions he gave me are exactly the same as all the detour before.
Everything much better with no downpours and a certain familiarity by now.

I had no problems--but I should have chosen the I-95 tunnel--as the #895 was 2-way traffic--
with all the accompanying delays and traffic cones all over. Don't know what was wrong.....
G.

Gita, if you hosted the fall swap, you would have NO drive at all!

:-)

I think I'm good with the one purple Euphorbia, thanks! I went to HD today to pick up a few things, and of course I had to browse the garden area... found the same $2.50 hosta sale, marked "while supplies last," so it might be worthwhile for others to check their stores if they happen to be going by. They had a good number of them left, but only two varieties -- 'June', and 'Lakeside Cupcake'. I picked up 3 of each -- one for me, one for my MIL, and one for Happy!

Jeeze spent couple hours on that twenty year old patch of wintercreeper and made a little dent. But enough to put caladiums and coleus by the sidewalk under the magnolia.