#7 Before and After

Some of you know what #7 is at my house. It's that bed before you get up to the house. Well, it's always a mess. Weeds, weeds, and more weeds. It's always last priority, since I feel I need to take care of the house beds first. Also, when I first made it, I had a border of monkey grass. It was pretty at first, but just too much sun, I guess. Anyway, the weeds and grass took it over as seen in the first pic.

Most of the plants there are RU gifts, so thank-you very much.

And a big special thank you to Maddy and Austin for helping me put the new border in Monday (DH's idea). What a labor of love it was for them. No pay except gratitude and the good time we had.

The next time they come, we're gonna give those horses fits out on the trail, instead of shoveling rocks. lol

WOW! That looks awesome! Y'all did a great job.

Beautiful bed Sybil, I see you have been working hard.
It will be great to see how it develops.

Thanks to you both, Stephanie and Josephine. I'm still battling nutsedge in there, but it's somewhat more subdued from years past. I've been using Image on it instead of trying to dig it out. It just takes sooooo long.

I'm anxious to see how this bed looks after it reseeds. I expect it will be a lot fuller then. I'll post "before and after" pics next year, too. These will be the "before" shots.

What is planted there? It really is a pretty shape.

Well, Newt, I had to go find my "key paper" to answer your question. I always make a diagram of my beds when I replant them.

I think of that big Mexican Mint in sort of the mid point of the bed as it's anchor plant. I love that stuff! I cut it back to the ground every year, and it comes back all green and healthy. It's the only plalnt I know of that takes absolutely no care. Nada. There are two Texas Sage toward the small end of the bed and then a Botle Brush shrub almost at the far small end. Everything else is from DG: red husker, cone flower, mealy blue sage, penstimon, mex. petunia, scarlet sage, frostweed, salvia coccinea, heath aster, carolina phlox, and lire leaf sage. There are also a couple of mystery plants plus a couple that didn't make it.

Oh, and a few lantana scattered throughout.

It's going to be so pretty in full bloom!

It will be lovely. What is mex. mint?

Sybram, you guys really worked hard!!! And what a great show you have for your work. That is a lovely bed.

Thanks, Steady. Yes, I'm really grateful that I got to finish it. Now to focus on maintaining, right?



Well, Newt, for the longest time I thought that plant was some other herb, but Frostweed told me it is Mexican Mint. I love it! It smells like licorice, and you just rub your hand over the top of it to release the smell. You don't have to crush a leaf--just touch it. It's one of the first things to come up in the spring.

It is Mexican Mint Marigold a lovely herb
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/318/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagetes_lucida

Yes I know that plant but don't have one myself. For some reason I thought it was much larger than the plant files profile. I often see it for sale at the big box stores in their veggie and herb areas. When does it bloom and how big does it actually get? Of course now I would want to buy one, sigh.
C

This message was edited Aug 1, 2013 8:01 AM

It only blooms in the late fall and it sometimes is not perennial. It produces A LOT of seed though and you get lots of volunteers. I had one last year in my front flower bed from a plant that I'd grown 3 years prior. I hadn't had one in that 3 yr time span.

Hmmm, I'm wondering if my plant is the same, or maybe an offshoot? Mine is very compact, not scrubby looking like the ones shown in the above links. I never have trimmed it. It has never failed to come back. I assumed it was a perennial, because it comes back in the same place every year, not seemingly from seeds dropped here and there.

Seems like it blooms late summer or in the fall. Can't really remember, but it's beautiful when it does. Little yellow flowers all over it.

Newt, I haven't noticed any little sprouts around it, but I'll be glad to check and see if I can find any for you.

I have my MMM in a pot so no volunteers except in the pot. The flowers are yellow with four petals and it does not bloom well in the shade and Ive found that in a pot, it needs a good bit of water. I'll pot some up for you Cheryl if you like for the fall RU. As stated above, it blooms in the fall. Isn't this one the southern hot weather substitute for French tarragon which we cant grow here?

My Mex Mint Marigold in my backyard comes back faithfully every year. It's also very compact and not leggy looking.

Just beautiful! Nice job everyone.

Thank you, Morganc. No rest for the wicked, though. Can you believe there's already weeds in there. Some not big enough to pull yet, but some are. My house beds are awful again. It's such a vicious cycle, I just don't know why I love it so much. Too many passions--that's my prob. I worked with my Fancy (newest horse) two mornings this week, and about 15 minutes tonight as it was getting dark (after the hand watering was done). That's about 3-4 hours of cool that I could have been weeding. Grrr. I'm always torn. My answer to just about every problem is to get up earlier. hahaha, so I guess I'll try 4:30 for a while.

I know what you mean. We had a bed that we did over and even enlarged it, and already I found nut grass in it. What did you use on yours? I never heard of nut grass until we moved to Texas. And pulling it doesn't work.....grrrrrr.

My hand watering is down.....thank God......thanks to my very industrious DH he has most of the potted plants by the pool set up with a drip system. But I do the porches because I didn't want the drip lines going across the porch. Only 20 pots.

You get up earlier......I go to bed later......LOL.

Super job! Sounds like you have a lot more going on than the pictures show. Is the rock formation a fountain or going to be? I look forward to seeing how it looks in full bloom next year.

It's nut sedge. You can kill it with Image, but it will try your patience. You have to do it over and over, and it looks ugly while you're waiting for it to die. You definately can dig it out, but you have to be diligent about getting the little nuts out. They string from one nut to another, just like paper dolls. lol That's what it reminds me of.

My porch plants take a lot of watering time, too. No pool. I really would go bonkers with another something to keep up. Do you use your pool a lot? I use to lease residential pools to teach swimming lessons. Many of the pool owners leased out their pool to me to help justify the cost of maintaining it, since they didn't use it any more. I guess most people get them for the kids and grands, and then they move out. I've never had a pool, but have always thought they were so restful , peaceful to look at, whether you are in it or not.

Hi Sheila, and thanks. The rock pile has been there for probably 8-10 years, ever since I built the bed. I've always had in mind to fix it with a little falls. I still have two stations left on my sprinkler system, so I think I can do it. I don't really want a "falls," just a few dripping rivelets, with pot-like thingies for flowers built into it. I'll put the stones together with morter. I don't want an exposed pool around it, because we have so much dirt that blows down our lane right to that area, plus it's surrounded by oak trees/leaves. It would be a booger to keep cleaned out. I know nothing about this, but I'm hoping I can put the reservoir underneath the pile of rocks. Those stones are a combination of stuff we had left over from our fireplace wall and sandstone dug up out here (probably from when they made the pad for our house. I'll go to Whiz Q (love that place!!) to get one or two big sort of flat stones to add to it, so I'll have a shelf like place to sit a pot or two also. My DH isn't interested, so if God wants me to have it, he'll provide the $ and the manpower. lol

Just going on the assumption that God DOES want me to have it, I'd love to hear you guys' thoughts on my ideas. Tell me what you think will work and what won't. I've done absolutely no research on this, so it just might not be at all doable.

I wouldn't think you would want one with a pond, but a pondless waterfall would be great to have. One would be easy made by Austin and Madie in one day. Especially since you have the rocks already. I do love Whiz-Q-Stone too, they are who we bought all of our landscaping materials from to build our pond and the flowerbed stones too. Very knowledgeable folks.

I will check out the Image for the nut sedge.......How long does it take to get rid of?

We LOVE our pool and use it every chance we get. This is the first pool we have ever owned, but it was so hot here we thought it would be more used....and we were right.

If you do the "pondless" waterfall, just make sure no mosquitoes can breed around it.

Good ideas all. Good point about the mesquitoes, too. I'll keep that in mind.

Sheila, I'd love to come see your pond sometimes and pick your brain about what you guys learned from building it.

Come anytime, and bring the DH, Austin and Maddy too. My yard is looking pretty ragged now, but I would still love to show it to you. We have pictures of our installation that we can show you also. Then explain how you could build a pond-less waterfall.

Thanks, Sheila. I wouldn't have been so bold, except you've invited me to come before. hahaha. I'll get back to you about a date.

Beautiful flowerbed. Hmmmm Austin and Maddy do this edging for fun?

Nut sedge I get all I can when I dig the beds out in the winter. Little black nut about 6 to 8 inches down with strings connecting to the next nut or plant.

Hahaha, yeah, Gypsi, fun with their GRAN. Soon we're going to have a breadhead day, when we'll have all kinds of bread going at one time. Maddy and her sister, Meagan, especially like the chocolate sourdough. It has chocolate chips in it, but is really a pretty lean bread. It's a two day bake, meaning you have to start the levain the night before.............well, it's actually three days, because after it rises about four hours and you get it shaped or panned, you retard it overnight in the fridge and then bake the next day. We'll also make my favorite sd sandwich bread, which takes three days, also. I'll have to get everything started before they come, I guess.

Our plan is to take to the trail with those horses as soon as we can, but these 104/106 degree days are the pits. I'm looking forward to a cold front coming in where maybe the high will just be 99 or so. lol.

I think I've tried EVERYTHING to deal with nutsedge. I have two raised beds that I dig it out of, because when I clean them out, I fork all the dirt over, exposing the nuts and making them so much easier to find. They're just 4X8 each, and contained, so they're easy to deal with. I've tried digging it in the bigger house beds and #7, and it's true that you can get a lot of them up, but sadly, not all. Therein lies the problem, since they just keep spreading. What I'm doing now is just spraying with Image every six weeks-two months. It seems to take forever to die (NOT what it says on the container), but it WILL die if you're persistent. Also, every time you spray, you'll get some new sprouts. I've just about gotten rid of it on the south and west side of my house.

I don't worry about perfection, I just dig as convenient, and pluck in between times. Over time I've beat back a yard full of Dallis Grass (only took 11 years). Nut sedge in the yard I really don't care. In the flowerbeds and garden, every year I get a bit more out, and if I pull when I am watering it doesn't thicken. But my edging doesn't look nearly as good as yours. My worst weed is bermuda grass. I had sheet metal cut in 12 inch wide strips and buried it half way, eventually I will remove all of the bermuda from the lot except maybe the road front strip where there is grade. Then no more spread.

But I just take YEARS to do this stuff. Nice and easy when I have time, with my spade. Occasionally I let the hens help.

Sounds like you have a plan, Gypsi. That bermuda is a mess, isn't it. It's my toughest thing to dig out, and we have an abundance of it. We built our house out in the middle of a bermuda meadow. So we have bermuda and St. Augustine in the yard, and they both just love to jump the flower bed edging.

That is a lovely garden! A bubble fountain would look very nice there. My DH and I built one in a day a few years back. I could probably dig up some pictures and tell you how we did it if you're interested. I think we did the whole thing for under $40. We've since redone it, so it's now a small pond with a waterfall.

Forty bucks! Wow! I would love to see your specs on that. And explanations.

Me too!

And the new pond and waterfall!

Always interested in DIY projects!

sybram, if you need to water your pretty plants, you are also giving your nutsedge exactly what it needs. It thrives in moisture. If you have a patch of it, let's say 20 plants, mechanical treatment (hand pulling) is best. But it will come back in moist ground. Sounds like you already suffer the frustration of hand pulling, so you know what I'm talking about.

If your problem is bigger than a few plants, I strongly recommend Sedgehammer. I had nutsedge growing thru monkey grass and it was absolutely hideous. Pulling out was out of the question b/c I would also pull my monkey grass. I tried Image and it damaged my MG--not impressed with it at all. With Sedgehammer, you water as instructed and in two weeks it turns yellow. then just disappears. In seriously affected areas, you might need a 2nd treatment, but IME, I've not had to do it a 2nd time. I haven't changed my watering b/c I have nice plants that need it but the sedge is either extremely weakened or it doesn't come back. I LOVE SEDGEHAMMER.

The only CON, and it is a big one, it is expensive so you need to have a big problem to justify its cost of about $12 an envelope, which makes one gal, and doesn't keep so you'd better have a big patch. Golf courses use it to keep their grass looking like carpet. I only found it at a better nursery in my area but too far so I just buy online.

http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/sedgehammer-herbicide-p-1348.html?gclid=CPLW5cfZorkCFcuf4AodKBMAKw&sub_id=1340

WOW, 12 bucks a gallon is expensive alright. The (next) important detail is does it damage other plants. Sounds like one treatment will do the trick, so I would fork out the $12 in a heartbeat if I didn't fear for my other plants.

absolutely no damage but always recommended to read instructions. I bet data sheet can be found online somewhere

This message was edited Aug 29, 2013 11:13 AM

http://www.sedgehammer.com/docs/Sedgehammerpluse.pdf

We have patches now and again and Image works somewhat but not completely sold on it. I need to try the Sedgehammer next year.