Thanks Coleup, I think I'm going to cut them back anyway. The plant is way too big and I'd have to divide in the spring to thin it out.
Yardening #4 - July 11, 2014 and beyond
Sally, your raspberry-pruning article from February has been reposted. But isn't this the wrong time of the year?
Um that's a bit awkward...hope somebody can be interested since raspberries are fruiting now.
My Heritage raspberries are fruiting now. The fruit comes first on the tip. You can prune off the tips once they're done to give easier access to the next fruit. You can remove thin scraggly little canes around the base. Remove any canes that are all brown and dry. Watch for wilted tips and prune below those, might be a borer.
I spent a few hours yesterday bringing in succulents and cacti. They're in mostly inorganic soil so I'm not concerned about bugs, but I need to bringing in the other tropicals where little bugs like to hide. I should probably sprinkle a bit of DE around the pots before bringing them in.
The hardier semi-tropicals like Meyer lemon won't be coming inside for awhile. They can handle a light frost easily.
So much yardening left to do!
Yeah for sure, lots of yardening left!! This weekend I'm hoping to get all my rabbit fencing done around smaller shrubs. Those little bastards are already eating my Sophora Davidii, which has tiny thorns so I'm not sure how that works out for them.
Jeff, that reminds me of a hick expression that ended up being one of those funny memories that is retold often. Mike has a lot of expressions that he sometimes uses from growing up in the country that I had never heard before. For years I used one off and on myself "he/she is happier than a mule eating briars". Every time I said it, Mike would correct me and say "it is a smile bigger than a mule eating briars". I would just let it go in one ear and out the other, whatever... Anyway, not so many years ago, after I used the phrase yet again he said "I've told you over and over again that it is a smile bigger than a mule eating briars". I shrugged and said "what's the difference?" He told me that it looks like a big ol' smile because the lips are curled back to keep them from getting pricked by the briars! All this time I thought a mule was happy as can be in a briar patch LOL. Now, I can just picture those wasckly wabbits with their lips curled back eating your plants...
HAHAHA!!! That's really funny! That's probably what they are doing too. Not for long though, they only like the real thin stuff. I hope I catch a bunch of them this winter. As soon as it snows, I'll put out the trap out. It's not too hard to catch the first one but after they smell the blood of the first one, it's tough to catch a second one. It's a no kill trap but it gets blood on it because the silly wabbits must cut their paws trying to get out of the cage. They also cut their nose a little somehow. They're a real pain. What I should do is get Statefarm Insurance and with the money I save buy a falcon.....
Aspen..
i needed the explanation too, so you're not such a dummy!
I have a beef with rabbits (I think, I never caught the rascals in the act): I have one fern that somethings bites off at the base as soon as it grows to be about 8". It leaves the fronds dying on the ground, so they must smell good but taste bad. I tried to save the fronds to ID later, but they wilted on me. My guess is that it might be a Hay-scented fern, but I haven't pulled up photos yet to compare.
I think we've been stood up! 7 pm and not a single trick or treater? I mean, we only usually get fifteen or twenty but whassup?
I had a group of Moms and Dads come by- A long line. Great idea!
They were all from a neighborhood behind me. Lots of cute little ones--
dressed to the hilt. Those were the only T&T'ers I had.
One of the mom's said--"You were the only house with the light on!"..
I think my immediate neighbors have all gotten away from it--as many years
we never see any!
That is sad! The kids were all adorable! One wee one,was dressed as a bumblebee,
and strapped the front of her Mom in a tummy carrier. CUTE!!!!
G.
This is the fifth year we have done a trunk or treat in the church parking lot. From 5- a little after 7 pm. We had 18 cars set up. Lots of cool ideas. We handed out over 300 hot dogs and drinks. One woman who works for a honey place had a set up about the 'Bee-attitudes'. Another had a fruit of the spirit produce stand.
That looks like a good idea, Jan. I think more and more people are steering away from traditional trick-or-treating.
We had a few more trick-or-treaters than normal this year, but they didn't start coming until after 7 p.m., which I thought was odd considering that some of them were 2 years old. It's so much fun to see the little kids I know from around the neighborhood come up to the door.
We haven't had any for awhile, though, so I think I'm going to be o.d.'ing on Dubble Bubble.
Muddy, that sounds like a rabbit. I almost think it's a game for them. They bite it off and leave it. They used to do it to my tulips but they also did it to many other things as well.
We didn't get that many trick or treaters either, probably about 20. That's ok, more candy for me. Big themes this year were fairies and ninjas. I will say though the best costumes of the night were two ~10yo girls; one was peanut butter bread and the other was jelly bread.
Muddy--
One year--bunnies chewed off my neighbor;s Oriental Lilies stems--
and left them laying on the ground. Destroyed the whole clump.
Last year--someone chewed down all her glads stems--and left them on the dirt.
Last year--some bunnies chewed off a bunch of stems, to the ground, of my
N.E. Aster. Never ate any of them. What's this all about???
That is why I have the stupid, green, plastic fencing around plants that you
can see on many of my pictures.
I really have not seen many rabbits this year. There was a mama- and one
small rabbit that lived and hid in all my beds, but never ate anything,
H/she was always running off when i was watering the beds.
Saw ir grow and grow....must be an adult bu now. haven't seen it lately...
all my beds are clear of plants--nowhere to hide now.
This was in September...
G.
I haven't ever seen rabbits in my yard, but I've seen them at the end of the street where the forest begins. I think the foxes get rid of most of them.
I probably have 6 types of ferns, and this is the only one that anything has bothered, so I think in this case some critter likes the smell.
Done with bulb planting! Yay! Jill, thank you again for arranging the group buy, and thanks to Aspen and Donner for your help in sorting them! I can't wait for spring! :)
Now that I'm done with planting, I'm thinking I should have bought some crocus bulbs for the front lawn...
Muddy---
Maybe you can make the smell around that fern more uninviting....
Moth balls...Capsaicin....animal deterrents....etc.
Someone here suggested, a few years ago, that you can shave slivers of
Irish Spring soap and put them around beds to repel rabbits. I used a peeler to do it.
Whether it worked or not--I cannot vouch for.
BUT--this is totally NON-CHEMICAL! I know you care!
SS--
I am sure you can still get bags of Crocus Bulbs anywhere bulbs are sold. I know we still have bulbs at the HD.
Gita
I'm going to try that, Gita. I sprinkle natural repellents like Bonide Repels All around my Clethra and Liatris already, so I'll just make a note to include that fern in my "rounds".
Muddy--
I forgot to also add that rabbits will not cross a line of Dried Blood.
This can get costly...since, if it rains, the blood will just dissolve into the soil and
you would have to repeat...repeat.....
Since dried Blood is pure Nitrogen--your Fern will get a nice dose of fertilizer
each time.
Good luck! Gita
I mis-wrote: It's not my Clethra that gets eaten, it's my Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica 'Henry's Garnet'). They seem to love that....maybe it's sweet : - )
speaking of Clethra, it suckers a lot naturally- I pulled a couple suckers from the woods last week, and potted them.
I don't think I'd recognize Clethra if I stumbled across it in the woods unless it was blooming.
My Clethra alnifolia 'Hummingbird' hasn't suckered yet. It's in a somewhat shady area, so I don't expect it to grow very quickly.
This wild Clethra patch grows as understory in a very wet area. Yeah, it has a 'look' that your can learn with practice, like many things. but the remains from the flowers/seeds are a real nice hint.
Brrr, it's cold and windy today, but I'm going to go outside, toss Holly Tone around most shrubs and make sure everything is well-mulched.
We're at the southern end of a cul-de-sac and so when the North Wind blows, we get a good percentage of our neighbors' leaves. Rather than resent the extra work, I try to look at it as free mulch.
If they're dryish, I suck them up and dump them right under shrubs. If they're so dry that they're almost pulverized in the process, I spread them on perennial beds to blanket them for the winter and enrich the soil at the same time. I mix in a little commercial mulch to prevent matting. It sure beats buying a hundred bags of mulch and hauling them out of the car!
Good deal, Muddy! If I wasnt' working, I'd probably have to be outside for a while but it is it inviting while the clouds roll by and the wind blows.
If it's not busy today, I'll try to convert my extra shift pay into units of caladium or something...maybe I can draft an article. "If I was paid in flowers instead of dollars"
LOL ! That would hit home with a lot of us gardening fanatics.
I have to deliver 364+ newspapers to buy one flat of Milkweed pluga! (not counting 'expenses')
When my dd was young with her own paper route I would often ask her how many papers she needed to deliver to buy whatever her latest wishlist item.
I once was paid with a bushel of oysters and a freezer full of venison. I've worked for peanuts but never considered caladiums!
Prairie Home Companion is having their 'joke show' today, so.
Why must melons get married in a church?
Because they can't elope!
How many librarians does it take to screw in a lite bulb?
Look it up.
hahaha coleup!
I potted the Fish Pepper to bring in, its pretty small but looks cute.
Pulled Amaryllis and found two bulbs looking very good so they're potted to keep green- bloom? who knows.
Smelled Brugs- they are giving their dying breaths in floral scent. Dr Seuss has a six foot wingspan with buds all on the ends...
Brought plants in. They get much bigger inside than they were outside.
Does anyone want 1 or 2 NOID Crape Myrtle seedlings? One's about 12" and the other is 18-24". They're probably either Tuskegee or Natchez because I have one of each. They're not invasive; these are the first volunteers I've had in 20 years!
I want to get them out of the ground so I can winter sow something there, but I'm willing to baby-sit them until the seed swap.
Muddy--
I rake leaves 3 or 4 times--as my two tree drop leaves at different times.
My Silver Maple still has not dropped all her leaves! I am waiting....
I rake them all in big piles--then get my Shredder-vac and suck the all the pilesup.
Takes 2 of the bags-full (that you hang from your shoulder) to fill a 33gal. trash bag.
I sprinkle in something with N. (lawn food) and add a hand-full of Dried Blood and
some water--(unless the leaves are moist) and shake the bag up real good,
tie it shut and put it under some bushes.
In 2 years--I have a wonderful, houmous leaf-compost. Not all soil yet--bug a great
amendment TO soil.
In the spring--when I need to fill up all kinds of pots with good stuff--I get my yard cart.
Dump a BIG bag of "Organic Choice Garden Soil", ($8 at Big Lots) about 1/2 a bag
of the leaf compost, and some still decent, used soil from pots--maybe a hand-full of
Plant Tone---and mix it all up good! Then that becomes my good soil catche.
This year i can also splurge by mixing in some REAL compost from my SEM--which
Sally and I emptied this summer.
I also dig the leaf compost in the beds if I am re-furbishing them,
OR--a shovel-full into individual planting holes to help the plants grow....
I just wish I had more bushes to hide the trash bags under....I don't.
4-5 bags is my absolute limit....I have nowhere else to hide them....booo--Hoooo....:o(
Judy--Good jokes!!!!
My joke. Right on topic....Add your own choice of "nationality" you are making fun of..
Q: Did you hear about the /............../ who died while he was raking leaves?
A: He fell out of the tree.
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Haaaaaaaaaaa.... Gita
Haha...G! That joke didn't make sense to me until I inserted a particular nationality and then it made all the sense and I chuckled...LOL
Well I underestimated the work I needed to do outside today. I had to fence in 21 shrubs....what a long task. I used all of my leftover fencing from last year and I had to buy another 75 feet of new. I also had to drain out all the hose lines because we're in our first freeze warning tonight. Four new bare root Snowberry shrubs came in from Cabin Creek Nursery Friday and I thought it would be best to pot them up rather than plant them and have to fence them so that was completed too. Next weekend all the dahlias will be dug and stored and there are a couple more shrubs to be fenced. I will probably also cut down all the perennials and rip out the annuals. After that I'm finally able to start tackling all the bulbs that need to be planted. Whew!
Are you using this fencing to protect them from wind and snow?
When I first read it, I thought you were talking about a normal fence. What do you use to make the fences? I need to do something to protect a Rhododendron that gets hit with the full force of the North Wind.
Well I use fencing to protect young shrubs from rabbits. Our yard got a lot of new shrubs added this past season. They won't need protection forever, just until they get bigger. I use the 1" chicken wire from Home Depot or Lowes. It's two feet tall and then I use wood stakes to hold it up. I will be protecting two rhodies from the wind and cold this year as they are newbies and only hardy to 6b. I'm going to wrap them with burlap and fill with pine needles. There should be very few rhodies that need protection in your area though.
One less Burford Holly in Maryland now. Mark's truck pulled it PDQ. Now what to do with the found space? Several options, all making use of existing plants. Morning to midday sun, pm shade, no wider then four feet, or easily kept in check. And I mean easily, like a boxwood I have that only needs a quick shear once/year to shape it up. Boxwood is slow growing right? Or just this one since it is only 4 years here?
Boo Sally, you're more creative than a boxwood! Put your mind into it and come up with something cool ;-)
but but but-- I already HAVE the boxwood.
Also deciduous azaleas, 2 choices, no idea on parentage/size
Evergreen azaleas, various young uns
Dismissing - "Leave open for brug' they get too big
If I were you, I'd quickly change that to, "I already HAD a boxwood".... ;-)
I'd probably go with one of the deciduous azaleas.
Sally, I just happened to come across this picture of boxwood this morning.
This is in Baltimore!
http://s1103.photobucket.com/user/canonboy1/media/08-07-12001.jpg.html
Wow! Those are enormous!!