SSG, I recall you said the zoysia invades your garden beds too. According to this site, you'd have to create a barrier that goes 6" underground and 6" above ground to keep it from invading. What a pain!
http://kentcoopextension.blogspot.com/2008/02/turf-controlling-zoysiagrass-in-cool.html
Yes, you may say you hate zoysia grass as many times as you like! I'm glad I don't have it and also that I don't have an adjoining neighbor who does. Zoysia looks fine, but not mixed with other grasses.
Yardening 8 April 2014 "Better late than never"
WOW, you guys have been busy little bees, huh?
Gita, I can sooooooo relate to that work busy-ness, we were SWAMPED on Saturday, it was GREAT!! < =D So nice to have more in the greenhouse now to direct people to! In just a couple weeks the side of the greenhouse will have a door, so people will no longer have to go INTO the store and through the breezeway to get into the greenhouse - MUCH more user-friendly, and I can't wait!!
Got the seeds and bulbs in the mail from Happy the other day (thank you ALL for your gifts!!!), and now I shall be able to get outside and play with them on Wednesday. ... long story short, I dropped the math class I was taking because I could not stand the requirement of the computer program to take it - very inconsistent and just totally RIDICULOUS!! I've a replacement class lined up with another professor who does it ALL old-school; real life BOOKS, hard-copy on-paper HOMEWORK where he requires you to "Show Your Work" (I excel at Showing My Work!), and real PAPER exams that he makes up himself!! NO COMPUTER CRAP AT ALL, I really look forward to it!!! So... this means that I will have more time to play outside (and to work) through the rest of the Spring and Summer, YIPPEEE!!! Work today and tomorrow, but Weds, DARNIT, I shall be outside playing! Finally a chance to take a proper roll-call! < =D (what a great phrase, I love it!!)
Muddy, thank you for your inspiration!! I've been contemplating ripping out the Homestead Purple Verbena for a year now, and now you have inspired me to Just Do It! < =D I've oodles of things in mind that could, and SHOULD, take their place, and this year it will happen, WOOHOOEEEE!!!!!!
Time to hit the shower now. Have a BLESSED day y'all!! =)
Speedie, when Gita was talking about her busy day, I was wondering how yours had gone!! Glad to hear it was fun though busy. And so glad to hear you were able to change to a class you like better! :-) Math can be hard enough as is without having to deal with a class platform that doesn't work for you!
Catmint, zoysia is a spreading turf grass that loves my sunny backyard. My hands are still aching from pulling out all that grass. Thank you all for the moral support. :)
(Oops, pressed "send" too early)
I stopped by HD to pick up a couple of pieces of that edger to try them out. I love how heavy they are! I'm going to get more next time I get a HD coupon.
This message was edited Apr 7, 2014 7:41 AM
Two of my folk's neighbors had a turf war many years ago. One had zoysia grass. Needless to say it crept into other neighbor's yard. Don't remember exactly what the outcome was, but I know there was a trench dug and some sort of barrier put in. Can you say Hatfield and McCoy?
Better access to the greenhouse sounds great, speedie!
speedy it must have been wonderful having all those customers see your hard work.
Arggh- about the computer crap. I totally get that. I consider (ed) myself pretty facile with computers but this spring am taking a 'class' for certification with Library. We have a class website/wiki thing and another site for the online session, and then the presenter last week wanted us to open more sites and try to answer a few quick questions during class. ARGGH.
I fumbled at the very beginning, just 'getting' the function of the two class sites...just too much stuff thrown at me all at once with no time to practice. It makes sense now but I had to endure my struggles for a few weeks while still keeping up with class, very frustrating.
sssg zoysia is so tough and thick. Mom's yard had it, it tried to swallow up 15 inch square pavers. I reset them once then gave up!
My neighbors are having to see some of my ground covers going their way..while I am getting one of theirs. I'm trying to keep a "DMZ" along that fence (DWZ?) but it'll take regular maintenance. The other neighbor dumps all his wood stove ashes on my Vinca.
Ran out to try to get a shot of my back-yard's neighbor (Donald) whose
lawn has been invaded over the years by Zoysa grass from the neighbor to the right.
Until the Z. greens up--you always get this blotchy look. UGH!
SO nasty out there today!!!! Cold and drizzly.....seems we get one GOOD day--
and then one BAD day! Hope it settles down soon.....
G.
SSG, I had a thought: If you can't kill it all, would it be possible to kill the zoysia in isolated areas of your lawn and replace it with fescue or another grass? By isolated, I mean an area that is separated from the zoysia enough so that they can't be seen at the same time. For example, a front yard all zoysia, and behind a gate all fescue.
I actually don't mind the *look* of the zoysia. My regular fescue grass is mostly brown anyway, so the two brown grasses look fine together. ;)
The problem is that it spreads so aggressively, and once it's in the beds, there's nothing you can do but to pull them out by hand. And it definitely outcompetes the fescue, at least in full sun. Zoysia just gobbles up everything in its path.
Sally, my neighbor's Lily of the Valley invades my property, but I don't mind it so much. It smell wonderful in the spring when her patch of LOV are in full bloom. Hm... it's almost LOV season...
A few weeks till LOV... I have some
also
Trying something...to see if I can get a photo from my Dropbox and show it. Coleus cuttings
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/88w7shusai6c9a6/rVHovMhJmN
Well it was simple enough. Can you also open it, somebody? I could open it.
This message was edited Apr 7, 2014 8:17 PM
SSG, I was thinking that you might want to replace it with fescue where it is growing up against your beds; i.e. leave it where it isn't a problem and replace it where it's a pain.
Your hyperlink worked for me, Sally. Lots of cuttings, all looking very healthy.
Sally, the link works for me.
Muddy. the entire backyard is zoysia, so I would need a ring of fescue around the beds with the zoysia in the middle. I don't think that would work, since the zoysia in the middle would eat up the fescue on the edges. Ideally I would have no grass at all!
thanks guys- testing my technology know how. Yeah the tray of cutting s looked pretty much just like typwc's when she showed hers. LOTS of mocha velvet this year.
Sally, I agree, wonderful looking cuttings and I can see them just fine, the link works! =)
As icky as the weather was yesterday, we were BUSY! Egads, WHAT are people thinking coming in, in the pouring rain, buying shrubs and bulk rock/mulch/SOIL!?!?! It went back and forth between raining and pouring, and the customers still poured in as well, it was crazy! Oh well, while I only got a couple steps closer to the annual/perennial orders I need to place, at least we had a brisk business, and I did get to put my FairyLand together!! WooHoo!!!
Just a couple of shots... NEED MORE COLOURFUL STUFF FOR IT!! < =D
What a cute fairyland, Speedie! :-) Looks like fun. I guess all those customers were inspired by Sunday's beautiful weather! Hopefully we'll have another weekend day like that soon...
Thank you, and I sure hope we do! Today was REALLY busy; LOVED it! I even got ordering done today, Wheee!!! Tomorrow is road-trip day - gonna go visit some of our growers in person tomorrow; I think the meet-in-person and all the visuals of all the stuff they have and how much of it will really help me a LOT in the ordering process. I look forward to it! =)
Speedie, have they officially made you a manager or a "greenhouse supervisor" or something along those lines that reflects all your new responsibilities? Looks better on a resume!
Love the Fairyland.. just like a miniature retail nursery, with display gardens surrounded by shelves of "goods" for creating your own. :-)
I'm going to go out back for roll call and get some daff photos... the "island" bed is blooming. Hellooo, Spring!
I don't think any of us really have any "official" titles there, other than the owner (can't hide the fact that he owns the place, HA!)... but, I suppose I am pretty much the "official" ordering person. When we need stuff, others come to me to tell me and I get it done, so I guess that's my main responsibility now.... along with "sales" (running around in the yard and helping people and answering questions), and running the register, and setting up deliveries... ;)
I have officially confirmed that Ms. Paeony out front has at least 2 big red eyes happily intact this Spring, YAY!! < =D Also, the weeds are already present and accounted for, SIR!
it's great to hear how well things are going Speedie!
Holy cow, I could easily name some of my beds Deadnettle Acres, and Veronica Valley
http://www.msuturfweeds.net/details/_/creeping_speedwell_2/
Man Speedie, you have my dream job!! My day job is a purchasing manager but I buy boring stuff, not super fun stuff like plants!
What kinda stuff do you get to buy Jeff?
Yesterday was so incredibly wonderful! Had no idea that the plan was for it to be a one-woman-show, LOL!! Boss was gonna have me take a company truck, but by the time I got there all the trucks were spoken for and gone, so he covered my gas bill and I hit the road in my own little baby truck. Visited 4 places, and they ALL were wonderful!!! I sure was pooped when I got home though, and it wasn't even 200 miles. ... musta been all that walking. ;) heehee
HAPPY THURSDAY EVERYONE!! =)
P.S. Sally, I'll check out your link when I get home, need to get ready for work now. < =/
wow, that does sound like fun, Speedie! :-)
Speedie, I purchase hydraulic components for distribution and our manufacturing division. Not glamorous but it supplies the $$ for the plant habit...err I mean 'hobby'
I had such a long list of what i "may" accomplish today--but it ended up
being just one BIG chore---didn't want to put this off any more...It HAD TO BE DONE!
Trimming back my two Juniper shrubs...No small task---
I did not do it last year--so this year it was harder yet.
Used my small, electric hedge trimmer. That helped a lot--but there were many
stems too fat for my trimmer (1/2") to cut through--so I still had to do a lot of
hand-pruning...OUCH!!! I probably overdid it--now all my fingers are numb!
Trying to get all th major "must do's" out of the way before next Thursday.
having carpal tunnel surgery--right hand. bummer!
BUT--it is DONE! No matter what.....took me 5 hours! One major task off my list...
Just FYI--these Junipers came with the house--in 1969. Not bad--keeping them
sort of contained all these years by trimming them every 2 years.
SO--here are some pictures (of course! we share everything!)
1--One shrub done--one bigger one to go. This one was much harder than the 1st one..
It is bigger and, in the past, I have not tried to make the two "match"--like today.
2--Here they are--both trimmed and the pile of trimmings...4 big trash bags full!
3--Mess all cleaned up---Ahhh.....lots of bend and lift....bend and lift....
4--While i was at it--trimmed my Yew as well. The pointy shrub is a Hemlock.
I trimmed those earlier this year.
5--All pretty and done....I did not plant to do this--but amazingly, the shrubs
are now even with the house overhang. Looks neat and tidy! I hurt--but i'm happy.
Gita
It looks great, Gita! Open any containers you use regularly before your surgery (jars, cans, especially those wine bottles, etc.); it's hard to open things with your non-dominant hand when you don't have full use of your dominant hand.
muddy--
I AM trying to think ahead....and will just have to deal with the unexpected
the best I can.
The biggest thing is all these garden chores,,,lots of digging! I guess i can't do that...
The restriction is 2 weeks of not lifting anything heavier than 2lbs.
That may be 5lbs--but the Doc said 2lbs. Doctors don't always know those details...
Opening a wine bottle? I buy the Carlo Rossi jugs. They are screw caps...
Left hand can handle that...
This time of year--even 2 weeks is a big glitch in spring gardening...
Thanks for your advice...Gita
ouch, trimming junipers is a chore and a half! I fought with a couple of them at the townhouse & said never again... first week we were here, I popped out the creeping junipers the developer had plated in front of our house. i have a hard enough time keeping our one yew in bounds that's by the front porch.
My gardening will need to be done in tiny bits this spring, but at least I think I'll be able to do a little if I'm careful, in contrast to last fall when it came to a screeching halt for a while.
I puttered around outside this afternoon, uncovering sprouting plants and putting a little mulch around them (I was using a 2 gallon pot to carry the mulch, not too heavy!), taking some photos, trying to figure out where new shrubs, trees, etc. will be placed. I'm happy to have a couple of teens I can hire to dig holes! Hopefully I'll be able to plant small things myself (trade gallons & smaller) and do potting-up tasks. If not, I'll be having a "fire sale" LOL.
Jill--
This is a good time for me to show you some pictures i took--just for YOU!
After the talk about roots everywhere--and you suggesting I enlarge my beds--
here is why it cannot be done....in technicolor.
All these are in various areas of my back lawn and near beds as you can see....
Enjoy!
And here is the gully between the "doomed bed" and the neighbor's fence
where you suggested i could put an edging.......???
I cannot even fit my foot behind there....
And--just WHY do I want to shovel the soil out of this bed?
Because it is very good soil in there--and I could spread it over
areas of my YUK bed...right next to it...
It would be pretty easy to do it at this time, as the soil is so nicely moist...
but--it ain't going to happen because of my upcoming carpal tunnel surgery next week.
It WILL get done sooner or later....G.
Good luck with your surgery next week, Gita.
Wowee WOW Gita, the Junipers and Yew out front look fabulous!!!!!! You did a beautiful job!!
Muddy, that was some brilliant thinking, loosening/opening those hard-to-open jars and bottles before Gitas surgery! It's those little things that mean soooo much, and we just don't think of them until it's too late. BRAVO to you!!
Gita, I know those last pics were mostly for Jill's benefit, but I peeked anyway. ;) Now I see what you mean.. the space is big enough to be pesky, but not big enough to actually "do" anything with... and that horizontal railing across the middle there is just perfectly placed to be PERFECTLY in the way of even trying to put containers back there... even if they could fit! (which, they can't). My goodness, that is an annoying void, huh? The vertical posts 'force' you to start your bed OUT from the slats of the fence... creating that void, and unless you re-built the bed to conform to that shape, it looks as though there's not much you could do about it. NO, I am NOT suggesting you re-build, goodness nooo!!! Sticky wicket indeed.
When I got home from work yesterday, I got down on my knees and pushed a weed aside to look at Ms. Paeony... her new nickname is "Four-Eyes"! < =D She's got 2 eyes that are about 2-3 inches tall and starting to look like scrunched-up leaves wanting to spring open, and 2 teeny baby eyes, YIPPEEE!!! I didn't get a pic as I was trying to figure out how I was gonna get UP. ;) heeheeheee (long, hard day at work). I will get a pic today to share... please don't mind the weeds, I'll have to get out there to them this weekend.
FULL day ahead today, but I'm off work, so the time-crunch is less tight. (yay!)
hi, Speedie. Glad to hear about the peony eyes! I'm getting some of those, too--nice to see!
It sure is a happy and exciting site to see, huh? Which ones do you have? All I can remember about mine is that she will have red blooms... I think. < =/ (have to look at the tag again). Sheeesh, I'm such a bad Mamma!
Geez Gita, I'd say you got to the 'root' of the problem in regards to not expanding....LOL sorry I had to :)
So here's something new and interesting for you DC Gardeners:
http://dcgardens.com/
At the bottom of the first page there is a short slideshow of pictures from the National Arboretum in April. If you haven't been there, you are seriously missing out!
speedie---
This bed was there long before the fence went up--which was, maybe, two years ago.
That is when my Pakistani neighbor decided to put it up all around her yard.
Seems that is how they garden back in their country.
Since the fence had to go on the property line--it ended up being smack against
MY property line--all along the ome side of my YUK bed.
Some time in the early 70's, he put a telephone pole edging all along that sides
of my YUK bed. It is still there-- just pretty rotted by now--falling apart is more like it..
He akso installed a split rail fence was along the perimeter of the whole YUK bed.
When my husband (then), who was an engineer, built all the bed borders around the beds
he allowed 10" easement on my neighbor's side. I guess that is a common thing.???.
Back then--"openness" between neighbors was IT. I love split rail fences--b/c it defines
one's boundaries without making it look like a barrier.
Some of the supports of my neighbor's 6' fence sit tightly adjacent to the split rail
fencing -posts. See pic. 2 above.
The "doomed bed" started out as 2 wood whiskey barrels sitting side by side.
They sat right on the ground...with pretty flowers planted i them.
I was not all that gardening-smart back then yet...putting these on the ground????
After one year--the Maple's thin feeder roots were already inside these barrels.
By year 2--I could not even stick a shovel in it...Not sure how long I put up with this--
must have been a few years....as when the stays on thew barrels sagged and
the slats started rotting out, I asked my DH to take apart the rotting barrels
and build a bed around the mounds of soil left standing. He did--and edged this bed
with landscape timbers 3-high. Could not plant much of anything in there anyway,
as now this whole bed started filling up with serious roots. YUMM! fresh soil!!!
This is the bed my Northern Sea oats lived in for a few years--as they grow anywhere--
until their seeds started growing everywhere in my YUK bed. It took years to eliminate
the Oats as well as the roots of them in this bed. That is whenn it became a "doomed bed"...
I wanted to save the Gooseberry bush--so I dig that out this spring.
I just went out and looked--and the 3-high edging of these ties in the back side
of this bed look pretty good--at least from the outside.. Stuck my camera down
there and snapped a picture... Hmmmm....a new kink!
IF the ties are still solid--I may just dig down to their level and put some new edging in
the front--remove as much soil as needed, and then level it out and put the pavers on top.
What now surrounds this "doomed bed" are the remnants of landscape timbers
that i want to remove and take to the land fill. I have already removed some of the
front ones as they are so rotten they are crumbling apart.
Gonna go outside and see if i can take some pictures of some of this...so you can visualize it.
Everyone else--if you are bored reading all this--just move on.....
1--Old Telephone pole edging along W. side of my YUK bed. There is one on the
other side as well. The split rail fencing poles sit right against the pole-edging--and the neighbor's fence poles sit right against my fencing poles...
2--The other side of my YUK bed and how badly these Poles are rotting.
They are, literally, hollow. Gotta watch my step there...DL coming up nicely!
3--Rotting remaining landscape ties in front of the DB (new acronym)-for "doomed bed"...
4--Blind shot of the back edge showing 3-high landscape ties that appear OK???
5--Ties i have already removed...have to wait till I do something with the soil in
the DB before I remove the rest of them. Also--they are still held together with
long spikes, which make it a bit difficult...
Don't things look just "lovely"???? UGH! G.
Gita, thank you VERY much for the explanation and photos, NOW I totally "get it"... how there was the split-rail fence first, then the other fencing built right up against it! It's rather sad, really, I like the look (and feel) of the split-rail fencing much better!
Goodness, some of those timbers really are ready for the trip to the landfill, huh? Be careful out there!! And, you did a GREAT job with that "blind shot" of the back edge of the ties!! They look pretty darned ok to me! =)
Your Daililies look so happy, and I love your bird bath! =)
What a gorgoeus morning.
I planted Paul's Baby- (deciduous azalea that didn't come with a name that I recall, so this is its name now and forever) over on the side with the Mahonia. The Mahonia smelled wonderful. Should I have scolded all the honeybees that were on it? Didn't they know they should not patronize potential invasives? (wink)
I moved two roses.
I solved the burning week-old mystery of "Where the *&^% did I put those hostas?" I put them out front when I redid that area. They are just emerging barely.
Dug more Blue Spruce sedum.
Planted RaspberryRipple sedum from Karen- no really what was it, Raspberry Splash? I found two or three other small sedums have survived but I need the names again. Ogon, John Creech?
Found something plectranthusy, furry and minty/musky. it must have been sizeable, it had made runners and there were several new sprouts. Cannot for the life of me remember. Another mystery!! Overwintered in my sunny bed.
Potted up a white lilac sucker and a piece of bottlebrush buckeye. Theres a good sized BB in a pot already for happy.
Said sayonara to an azalea that has been unhappy for a couple years, and two wild hollies that I should not have bothered with last fall.
Found a forgotten fern from Holly. Right next to piece of Endless Summer Hydrangea from Gita looking super.
More weeding of course. There' s so much shrub trimming needed.
Now I have some room in front that I'll have to decide what goes in. Morning shade, dry soil due to overhang, not too bulky because I don't like blocking windows. There are several things in pots around that will want a home already. And I should probably use some annuals for summer color.
Bumped up our SWAP list so you can look while you are working in the garden, think of goodies to share.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1347379/