Heck Holly, it looks a LOT better than "Pretty Good". Wish mine looked like that. Will have to try "digging in" my borders, thank you! :)
I meant to add (up above) -- YES, what Gita said, Leaf Gro!! Awesome stuff, that is exactly what my beds are amended with. Of course, I get it at work so I get to enjoy my discount, but if you find it at HD, GRAB LOTS OF IT!! =) It's wonderful as a mulch too. And makes a yummy compost tea as well. (for the plants). ;)
Yardening Summer 2013 Part 2
I wish I could find somewhere down here to buy pine fines... reasonably priced.
cat--
If your Boxwoods are the English ones ("real" Boxwoods)-and if
they are healthy--you may be able to sell them, or give them away free,
to someone if they come and dig them up.
Healthy, old Boxwoods are valuable--but you do need care in digging them up.
I am friends with a couple who, years ago, bought a house on a property
that used to be a Boxwood Farm. They were EVERYWHERE~~~~
All around the house and all throughout the woods. Left to grow on their own.
They advertised--and sold many of them.
The larger ones were dug up by a professional landscaper using a back hoe. Crated in special crates, put on a truck, and taken from Fallston to
somewhere in Anne Arundel Co. to be planted on an Estate.
I think my friend sold these for $2000 each.
My friends made thousands of $$$ over the years of selling the Boxwoods.
I was at their house many times--and it was so neat seeing all these
Boxwoods scattered all throughout their wooded property.
You can contact a few landscapers and see if anyone is interested...
Or--maybe inquire at a large Nursery....
Good luck! Gita
speedie--
I can get 2 cf bags of Fine Pines from a local Nursery for $4.99 a bag.
If you like--and IF I have room in my car--I could bring you a
couple bags to the swap. Or--IF you come this way--for a visit--
It would be easier....
They do not advertise these for sale--as they use them in planting trees
and shrubs--but they know me and i can go and buy a few bags if i want..
I used to face-paint for them at their Annual Fall Festival for 17 years...
We are on good terms...
Gita
Speedie I have several other beds that need to have their edges dug. Ric was doing some earlier this spring. That bed is part of an area where we had several small bushes planted. All pretty small and far apart. Ric would mow around each one of them. Last year I tossed down some cardboard around and between the bushes, tossed down some mulch and dug in an edge around the whole mess. This year I dug thru what was left of the cardboard and planted some lilies and annuals. I also started to cardboard the next group of bushes. Since it is a back bed and not in public view I haven't been very worried about getting it mulched right away. I tossed a few small rocks down to keep the cardboard in place and Ric has been piling grass clippings on it. So I expect to get it edged and mulched sometime this fall and will get a few plants in there as well. I use cardboard instead of landscape fabric quite often now and find it works very well for my needs. Here are a few pictures from the whole area you can see both the new area being worked on and the old finished area from last year.
Meadows Farms has excellent pine bark fines for $3.99 a bag if you are near one of their stores -- Kamlar is the manufacturer and the name is Kambark Pine Bark Mulch -- http://www.kamlar.com/KamPBmulch.html . It works beautifully as a soil conditioner.
Holly -- I have a question about using cardboard -- it would seem to me that if you have thirsty plants, it would (at least in the beginning) reduce the moisture that gets to the roots when it rains. Did you do anything to address that?
I bought some Delosperma cooperi for my awful front hill because it is drought tolerant. I haven't planted it. I've never grown it before. But now I read it needs excellent drainage -- in fact, it really needs sandy soil. Have any of you grown it? Is it short-lived? Does it really need sand?
Holly, that looks FANTASTIC, and it's funny, but even in the "during" phase with the cardboard, it doesn't look nearly as bad as one might think. Thank you a ton! You have no idea how much cardboard we go through here, but do I ever think to use it in the garden!? Noooo, OFF to the recycling bin it goes! ACK!! No More!
Gita, I will respectfully decline your generous offer, thank you, only because Happy just mentioned that Meadow Farms carries it and I have one of those near me! Thank you Happy, Wheeee!!!!!!! That is one of the few places I had not checked -- silly me. < =/
No Happy I don't, it pretty much just seeps thru most of the cardboard. There are some types of boxes that have a more finished material our TV box was like that and it did repel water a bit and take a little longer to deteriorate.
The layers of cardboard and mulch will compost into the top of the soil and you can do more of the Lasagna method to give it even more, especially if you want to build up a bed.Only thing I wasn't sure about this method is you don't treat the whole bed with compost rototilled in. With our horrible clay we use to dig up the grass rototill the whole area and load in the compost and rototill it in. Sure makes a nice bed but sure is a lot of work. This way I just dig a few holes here and there maybe drop in a bit of compost into the holes but there is still the clay beyond those holes. But I will say that the beds look great and the plants are flourishing even without all that work and you really can't tell the difference between the old dug in beds and the new method beds.
Holly, I'm not following you. You wrote: "Sure makes a nice bed but sure is a lot of work. This way I just dig a few holes here and there maybe drop in a bit of compost into the holes but there is still the clay beyond those holes." Are those holes for the plants? And then you surround them with cardboard and pile compost on top?
If anyone who lives near me or it going to Sally's swap wants to buy anything from Santa Rosa -- https://www.santarosagardens.com/ -- let me know. I have just a few things I need, and would like to split the $7 shipping if anyone else is in the same boat.
I meant that digging up the sod and rototilling in compost makes a nice bed but it is a lot of work.
When I use the cardboard method I just lay down the cardboard over an area, wait for a while for the grass to die back then dig a few holes right thru the cardboard. Sometimes depending on the size of the plant usually small shrubs. I may dig a hole for the plant and then place the cardboard around it. Here where the nandina hedge is I had them in place and then just cut cardboard to fit around the bushes. The marigolds Ric planted in there this year are so big they are overweening the nanadinas.
That's very interesting. I've read a lot about this method, but was a bit dubious that it would work long-term.
Happy, the cardboard method is how I made most of my beds. There's a huge difference between the non-cardboard beds and the cardboard ones.
I'd read somewhere that the cardboard wasn't necessary so I omitted it in some areas. In those spots, I have violets and/or zoysia grass and/or bindweed growing straight through the thick mulch, but no weeds have penetrated through the cardboard.
But it looked terrible for half a year!
Holly--
IF there is something else below the soil--such as bulbs-
what would happen when the bulbs sprout in early spring?
Would they grow right through the now rotten cardboard?
G.
I'm catching up on some threads from the weekend.
Catmint, I read somewhere that you can pinch fall blooming sedums like Autumn Joy so that they bloom later, and to prevent flopping. Almost everything flops in my soil, so I need to keep their height in check. I have native asters that get 8-9 feet tall if left alone, so they get pinched at least twice in June and July. Same thing for Autumn Joy type of sedums. They're only just now showing signs of buds and probably won't open fully until September. Yours are really pretty pink! I think mine are more red.
Gita, I don't put it in areas where there are any bulbs. This is used for areas where there are no existing beds. So unless you have bulbs growing in the grass it wouldn't be an issue. The cardboard does break down over time so I would think that bulbs might grow up thru it eventually. There is also a layer of mulch on top of the cardboard and I usually mulch it pretty heavy so those bulbs would have a heavy layer of mulch as well as the cardboard. I have found that even a year later there is still some sign of the cardboard when I plant thru it.
I have planted some azaleas in the far back of my yard that are struggling -- I'm thinking of putting soaker hoses down first plus maybe some moisture crystals, then the cardboard and mulch -- what do you think? The azaleas are in need of more water than I am giving them.
Only place I have ever used moisture crystals in the ground is at my parents house. They have a small strip bed between the walk and the house. There is an overhang that pretty much keeps all the rain off of it. The crystals really helped that bed. I wouldn't think you would need both soaker hose and water crystals but someone more knowable about that might speak up.
Happy, would something like Turface be useful in that situation?
Holly, thanks so much for the info about the cardboard method! So if I'm following this correctly, I put cardboard over the spots where I want to build new beds, then put down soil, mulching, etc., then seed plants directly into that. Over time, the cardboard deteriorates and the dead grass decomposes and voila a nice new soil bed! Is that right? If so, it sounds much easier than digging out the grass with a shovel! (Despite Speedie's wonderful and humorous image of attacking the juniper with battle cries--LOL)
Happy, I have two Delosperma cooperi that I planted early this summer. One has done well and the other has not. Since I've gotten to know the beds better, I realize that, although I thought I was planting them in equally sunny spots, I was not, and the one that is doing better is in the sunnier spot. I didn't do anything special to the soil--they are both in the same area of the back garden bed, so they have the same type of soil--and I have not given either any extra water beyond what the rain provides--it's just that one spot gets more sun. So, I would say it likes very sunny and dry. Here are photos of the two plants--can you guess which one is growing in the sunnier spot? ;-)
PS on the Delosperma--If I took the time to deadhead it, I'm sure it would be in fuller bloom right now, but the heads are so tiny and the blossoms so numerous that I lost patience with trying to deadhead it; it blooms anyway and is pretty. Let me know if you would like some of it. I have Ribbon Pink (the one that's in the sunnier spot and doing well) and Tiffindell. Actually, I should put the Tiffindell on my 'have' list--it would probably thrive if someone took it and gave it a sunny spot.
Gita, that is interesting about the boxwoods. I am not sure whether it is American boxwood, English boxwood or what, so I'm attaching a couple photos of one of the boxwood hedges (there is a 2nd similar clump), plus a close-up.
This message was edited Aug 5, 2013 5:35 PM
Catmint: That's very helpful re the Delosperma-- thanks! So it sounds as if I don't need to dump tons of sand first. I already have the plants, so I don't need yours, but thank you.
Catmint, Yes it is pretty easy. I usually just do the cardboard maybe a few grass clippings and then mulch but a true Lasagna Bed is a beautiful thing. Here is a nice article all about them.
http://organicgardening.about.com/od/startinganorganicgarden/a/lasagnagarden.htm
Happy, I wouldn't do the sand. I think as long as it's in a very sunny, dry spot it should be fine.
Holly, thanks for the link about the 'lasagna method'. I am definitely going to try that to create some new beds!! Enough of that lawn hogging all the prime sunny spots in my backyard!! :-)
Catmint, when you come visit, you'll see the results of the lasagna method after 1-2 years.
I learned to do it at my first Mid-at swap. I was complaining about my horrible soil, and Greenthumb (David) told me to try it. And it worked!
cat--
Your first picture "looks like" a real Boxwood.
One way you can tell if it is the Real Boxwood is to go outside
(especially after a rain), crunch up a bunch of branches in your hands
and smell the shrub.
Real Boxwoods smell vaguely like cat urine. All the others do not.
This may help too.... Gita
http://www.ehow.com/how_8735231_identify-boxwoods.html
and this too---- http://www.usna.usda.gov/Gardens/faqs/boxwoodfaq2.html
Happy, I've got an order coming from Santa Rosa in a couple of weeks (I had a couple of plants on backorder, which of course gave me an excuse to add some of those tempting sale-priced plants!). LMK what you want to get.
I've had no luck overwintering Delosperma. I've got a couple of plants in pots this year, and I'll see if those fare better, tucked into a sheltered spot of course.
Thanks for the info about the Delosperma, Critter. I didn't realize they had trouble overwintering in this area! I am fond of my pink one; I guess I should take some measures to protect it this winter if I want to keep it.
Absolutely wonderful info about the more useful .. uuhh... usage of all my cardboard boxes that I usually haul off to the recycle bin. Time to create a new bed out front and get rid of even more lawn. ... wonder if DH will notice?? < =D
Thanks, Critter!
It looks like we've moved onto part 3 of summer yardening:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1328338/
I learned here about putting the cardboard down then dumping soil over it to make beds here in the "slate belt" area of Pennsylvania. We have clay and slate for soil. It all works out very well and the gardens are still producing after 8 years.
Every year I buy more delosperma seeds from: http://www.outsidepride.com/seed/ground-cover-seed/ice-plant/ice-plant-groundcover-seed.html.....and sprinkle them in the ground and in pots so that I always have an abundance of plants outside and take the ones in pots in the house. Very easy to grow.
Roses: I'm responding to you over on the continuation thread, which is at:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1328338/