Yardening continuation May 2014

I have collected a large pile of cardboard I was going to use for a lasagna patch, but it tends to blow around -- I need to add more mulch. And it doesn't work on a slope. Newspaper sounds like a great idea.

I read the paper online, so I never have any newspaper to use as mulch. I actually like that cardboard takes awhile to decompose. Zoysia grass stays green underneath the cardboard for *months*!

Happy--

Get a box of the wire "pins" (look like lg. hair pins) and stick them through
the cardboard to hold them down.

These are sold near where weed block is sold at HD. Cheap!

G.

Catmint: Remember a couple weeks ago I asked you about your Vernonia? Well now that mine has grown some more, my 'vernonia' is actually my liatris. I kept thinking...wow this really looks like liatris but what do I know? It was only until I saw the vernonia sprouting did I realize. The vernonia was partially hidden by nearby daffs.

Gita: That's a great idea -- and I have a box of "pins" left over from my "rock and roll" hill project (aptly named by you), where the Chrysanthemum (Ajana) pacificum looks gorgeous right now -- very lush growth.

Happy---

You can root cuttings of the C.Pacificum very easily.
Like any Mum--pinch the tops off (3"-4") and just stick them in soil. They root quickly.

The Mama plant will bush out nicely for you. Otherwise--they can grow a bit leggy.

This way, you can spread them around some.

G.

LOL Seq glad to hear both the ironweed and the liatris are accounted for! :-)

I just drop a few med size rocks around the edges of the cardboard to keep it in place for a few months.

I used bricks on mine. So pleased with my garden expansion. Planning another for next year! :-)

I used cardboard two years ago that had tape on some seams- STILL pulling plastic tape strips up as they surface out of the old mulch and weeds...
}:^(

LOL yes the catkins seem exactly like the sphagnum I pulled out of an orchid yesterday

I've been following the weather forecast & the knuckleheads have promised rain twice now! Nothing! It's looking like we'll have to turn sprinklers on every day instead of every other day...how's it looking for y'all? I just checked the Almanac & as I feared, they're predicting a 'hotter (& drier) than average' summer...they were spot on about last winter, I'm sure they'll be just as correct about the summer! I'm not supposed to be out in the sun & heat too much...this is so uncool!
Mini-rant over! :-)
Everything, minus the lawn, is growing like gangbusters - I just started fertilizing with fish emulsion & I swear it's helping already...tho my flower beds smell like Eau de Fish for a few days :-) I found homes for the thuggish Gauras, that ended up growing at least 2 feet taller than my research - I have a plant crazy neighbor & she'll come dig them up! This means more space to plant!

Gaura are thuggish for you Becky? I've tried growing them here and for some reason they just didn't seem to want to come back. I had them at the top of a little incline.. wonder if they just didn't get enough water to suit them? Maybe I didn't amend the soil there deeply enough with compost.. ?? I dunno, but I sure do love those things.

Expected storms with rain yesterday and the day before... got a bit on Monday, but nothing at all yesterday. Disappointing. Supposed to get poured on today.. now that I'm off work today and have errands to run it probably will do what is predicted. =/

I'm gonna need about a million support hoops for my Irises, they all just keep falling over, the blooms are soooo numerous and huge. I never did cut back the foliage over-winter 'cause, even as cold as it was, it simply stayed green! Might that be why? Or, at least part of the reason why? I've not fed them this season either, maybe they need a little something?

We have ALWAYS got cardboard of some sort around this house, and I've been contemplating where I could put a new bed... I think I like the idea of putting down the cardboard, then compost on top, to start the new bed. I've got access to tens of thousands of landscape pins at work to hold the cardboard down. Thank you guys for the idea/info! :)

Becky, I really love fish emulsion. I actually spray it on the citrus. It supposedly deters sucking insects like mites.

Speedie, I think they're expecting buckets of rain tomorrow/Friday, not today, so hopefully you can get some work done. And I don't use landscaping pins to hold down the cardboard. Wet mulch is usually enough to prevent it from blowing away, but I don't think it works as well in steep hills like at Happy's.

I had to transplant a 2-year-old oakleaf hydrangea yesterday (long story, no choice) and it looks dead. :( I couldn't get a lot of the roots out so it's probably dying of thirst. It's from Jan's garden and I really really hope it survives.

Oh man, I sure hope your Hydrangea does ok in its new home! With the involuntary root-pruning it got, did you also prune back some of the top? Just make sure it gets water, and feed it a bit (maybe some of that wonderful fish emulsion?) and pray for the best. We yardeners have loads of patience, right? =)

Oh goodie, glad to hear I was wrong about the rain today. Thank you! :)

Hmmm, if I wet down compost and mulch on top of the cardboard that should do it then. Heck, I can water down the cardboard too, for that matter. Heh heh, I can see a neighbor strolling by, "whatcha doin'?" "Watering my cardboard". HA!

Ha! The other day, I realized I was "that woman" in the neighborhood.

I was on the front "lawn," digging out dandelions with my trusty horihori knife. I know I looked ridiculous in my gardening outfit, neon colored gloves, floppy hat, and a large knife. There was a mom with a baby in a stroller walking by and actually crossed the street to avoid me. :O

Oh, and they actually recommend that you wet down the cardboard first!

Speedie, I seem to have trouble getting my Gaura to return, too.
Our Garden club plant sale is this Sat and set up is Friday not sure what they will do as they are calling for serious rain on Friday.

Gita: I've been very successful with expanding the Pacificum you gave me with just those tricks!

Cat and Holly: Sounds like a plan!

We had a pink/red gaura be a no show this spring but it had come back each year before that. It was 3 years old. I have another one that is white and that one has come back each year so far. It was one of the earliest things to pop its head out of the soil this year and it's about a foot tall so far. I love to watch the bees land on the flowers because they end up falling down when they are on it...Lol

Ooooh a garden club sale! I went to one last Saturday and got some goodies. Where is yours at Holly? I'm pretty busy Saturday. Do you have a sneak preview of what you might have?

ssg--LOL! . Now when someone crosses the street to e Near you, thats our new friend! I really want to talk to the guy down the street who moved in last year and immediately planted redbud in the front yard. Now I see another of his new things is a fringetree!!!!

Hey ssg-- maybe trim down the hydrangea to the minimum leaf. I nearly killed the one I got from Jan but given a chance it rebounded well. Crossing my fingers for you,
and not the street..

Yes, the Gauras are thuggish! At least the white ones, the pink ones are nicely behaved & 'the right size' - but the white ones just keep blooming & growing taller! Apparently they like my not-so-good-yet soil, it's heavy clay with 3" of miracle grow soil mixed in! Like I said earlier, I lost very few during the cold weather here & it DID get cold here this winter, for several days & weeks - the plants that died were planted in the front of the beds...maybe the added soil wasn't thick enough! When we (Greg) planted them a handful of organic fertilizer was thrown in each hole & everything bloomed last year as well - even if everything was planted in mid June! I know I lost 1 Butterfly Bush, all the Fox gloves but one...the plan is to cut everything back in late fall, add more soil & then heavy mulch! Getting rid of the Gauras will free up some space for several fig trees that are currently in pots & growing nicely - I'm also digging up 2 Gardenias, while they're still 'with us' they don't look so good right now - I'm heading out to give them a good drench with Epsom salts to see if they'll pick up, if they do - they'll stay, if not...byebye

I don't understand what makes the Gauras thugs. I have a white one and it's really well behaved in our garden. I planted it spring of '12 from a 1/4 sized pot and it's about 8" in diameter now.

Jeff, It is in York City at the stadium. Starts at 8 AM come in Rt 30 and turn left onto N. George St it is just after you go under Interstate 83. The stadium is on the left just before you cross the creek and RR tracks.
Last year was my first year to attend and it was pretty much the basic dug out of our yards plants. I don't remember anything very special but I did find a few things to bring home. Got a couple of very nice used pots.

Might be the Zone difference between Bec and us. Bec are you really Zone 7 I would think it would be higher.

It says Zone 7b, but I'm thinking more an 8 if anything...I have no idea why the white Gauras are growing so big & tall - the pink ones are perfect! According to Santa Rosa they are supposed to be the same size - but the pink ones bloom on short stems, the white ones are about 3-4 feet tall...& here comes the rain! Yay!

I'd really like to come Holly but I'm not sure if I'll have time. Is there a nice variety of plants? Or is it just daylily, hosta, etc..?

Better variety than Daylily and Hosta but last year I didn't see anything that really jumped out and grabbed me. I do remember that last year I got something that I had been looking for at a good price. They also get annuals and veggies some from vendors that give us a good discount but by the time we sell them you could have gone to Lowes and gotten the same thing at the same price. If you lived closer I would say come and if you had a pretty empty day and just wanted to get out a bit I would say come. But to take time on a busy day and drive that far I'm not sure it would be worth it. We do have several members with native plant gardens and I am sure they will bring some of their natives. We are to set up on Friday and with the rain they are projecting I wonder what kind of mess that might turn into.

If I do come I'd like to be there at 8. Is there a fee for parking? Also, are all the plants usually ready to go at 8? Lol...and finally I was at a garden club sale last weekend and all the plants were less than 5 bucks...is this similar? Sorry for the 50 questions...I'm just trying to weigh my options ;)

No fee for parking, don't really remember the pricing I do remember that a few I looked at were bargains compared to buying them at a retail shop or nursery.

Did you see this: http://www.foe.org/news/archives/gardeners-beware

Apparently half of the plants sold at Home Depot and Lowes are already laden with residues of pesticides that are toxic to bees, even if we don't add any at home.

Wow....good thing I don't buy plants from either. Makes me wonder about the plants I get at the nursery I frequent though.

I know. So obvious, with the benefit of hindsight; but it had never occurred to me as an issue.

It can't be just HD & Lowes - garden centers in general get their plants from pretty much the same suppliers...:-(

Wow, that's really scary Happy! We sell quite a few items from that list of pesticides at our store.. I think I'm gonna have to talk with the Bossman about that. I can say, though, that we get 75% of our plants from local growers, many of whom I've visited recently, and they don't use anything like that on their stock. Thank God! (can't say though about the grower of tropicals we get from Florida...) Thank you very much for that info, Happy, I will surely be much more vigilant when ordering stuff.

I use about 8 sheets of newspaper with at least enough dirt and mulch on top to hold it down when I want to make new beds. It usually works really well, although I just found out that actively growing, healthy grass can break through.

SSG, your Zoysia grass story reminded of the variegated Vinca I tried to kill. Last fall, I covered it with lots of newspaper and at least 6 inches of ground tree trunk. I thought it would be dead by spring. Nope - I dug up healthy Vinca from 6" down.

Muddy, I had the same issue with violets. I like them in the yard but not my flower beds. But they seem to survive layers of cardboard and half a foot of mulch!

we're at 235 already- didn't I just do a new thread?? You Chatty Cathys... and Carls...

I got you Muddy, I misunderstood.

Pretty crazy that vinca was still alive after all that. Pretty tenacious stuff!

What should elephant ears look/feel like when you take them out of dormant storage?

How long until you get new green growth?

Haven't taken mine out yet this year, thanks for the reminder. They should be firm, like a potato. Mine has some dead layers from last year's stem, but I leave it. Takes forever to get new growth. Last spring, I was sure mine were dead, started to dig them out and then *oops* there's little red eyes poking out of the bottom growing roots!

I definitely killed my Diamondhead EE this year, though. It was completely dust inside. Sad story. I should have allowed it to go dormant in the pot. Lesson learned!