All Yardening chat
Photo of lilies from yehudith's
Yardening July 2015
Who recalls the noid in cups at Muddy that may be a tall rudbeckia? I cannot remember who brought them. Mine is now three feet and has these big lobed leaves. I'd there a Rudbeckia triloba?
Other two pics are aster I suspect from David that I once again have lost tag
Sorry that flower pic is not focused. Iay have to get a better one.
Sally, pics 3&4 are Campanula americana, Tall Bellflower, a native biennial, probably from me.
https://www.google.com/search?q=campanula+americana&biw=1600&bih=784&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=RZCUVcvmBImZNoHYuagG&ved=0CHsQiR4
So I have a skunk foraging in my hard a few nights/mornings every week.
I could spray my beds where the stinky guy is digging the most but he'll just go to other beds, I'm sure. Sure can't trap him, I'm not walking up on a trapped skunk.
I'm worried one of these mornings I won't see him and will startle him and will end up being a smelly social outcast. :)
Thinking of hiring an expert to come get him. Thoughts ?
The skunk is after grubs and such in your beds and lawn, any vegetative damage is collateral. Spraying beds it is digging in may surfice, since that is where it is finding food. Other beds may not have much on the menu,
A small Have-A-Heart trap may work since it needs room to raise its tail to spray.
Thanks, maybe I'll spray the 5 or 6 beds I've seen him foraging and digging in and see if he goes elsewhere.
Thanks Savid! Sounds familiar
Cam--
If you are not averse to some 'chemical sprays"---there is "Grub Ex" available
in HD, etc. It is a granular product and comes in a bag. Look where all the other
insect and disease products are. It is a red and brown bag and, most likely,
is displayed on the floor under the racks.
"Grub Ex" is supposed to take care of BOTH the early generation (ones emerging NOW)
as well as the fall generation--the newly hatched tiny grubs from the Japanese beetle's eggs.
These tiny grubs will grow and grow as they tunnel down in the soil, for up to 2' deep, to spend
the winter. As spring arrives, they will make their way back up to the surface, feeding on
tree and plant roots. Then--they will emerge as J.B.'s around this time of year.
This is the crop a lot of critters like to munch on. Nice and fat.....lots of calories....
Gita
I've used Grub Ex for years, Gita, very familiar with it. Hadn't used it at this new home yet but I will. I remember there is a best time of year to use it and I think that has probably passed, I will check it out though. Thanks.
Okay, it can be applied thru July for best results, just not when temps are above 90 (not on distressed lawn). So it should be fine now, my lawn is green and healthy. Appears safe to use in flower beds too. I never used it there before but I need to now. Just can't use it in edible gardens.
Sally, I got a NOID plant at the swap that greenthumb thought might be Ratibida pinnata, Gray-headed Coneflower. I think you also took one of those plants, so perhaps that's what your mystery plant is.
As my plant matured I believe I changed my choice of ID to Rudbeckia laciniata - Green-headed Coneflower. Either way, very tall, very yellow.
thanks, will keep watching.
Good luck with your skunk problem Cam. We had a bad skunk problem this time last year. They would dig up freshly installed plants and let them lay to die of dehydration. Finally the issue stopped. We got a new neighbor a couple houses away who would sit up on his porch at dusk and shoot at them with a bb gun. He got two. Around the same time, two were hit with cars about a week apart from each other on the main road by our house. That seemed to take care of the problem.
Some 7 or 8 years ago we had a skunk problem. Installed several inches of compost in the island bed in our driveway. In the morning we would find the mulch dug up, especially around the edge near the pavement. Compost was thrown back onto the pavement in fair quantity and had to be swept back. After a few weeks the digging abated. Skunk is still around and probably lives in an Azalea thicket at the lower end of the island as we detect odor in the vicinity. Was awake around 5AM this morning and smelled Eau d' Skunk while laying in bed. Something had disturbed our resident Pepe le Pew, but fortunately not our cat Boris, who was out at the time.
Thanks, Jeff... yeah, I might need to invest in a BB gun. Not to kill him, just something to dissuade him from coming around my yard and maybe hang out in some of the neighbor's yards where there isn't a stinging sensation in his ass when he's dining.
In case shooting BB guns is illegal where you live (it would be on my property, for example), you could try sprinkling liberal amounts of granular animal repellent for awhile and see if they steer clear of your property....or one of these types of automatic sprayers: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Havahart-Spray-Away-Motion-Activated-Sprinkler-Animal-Repellent-5266/203281169
I've used these sprayers before, and they work, though I have to admit I soaked myself more than once!
So apparently they work as a gardener deterrent.
Okay... so maybe a three-pronged attack will be in order.
Grub Ex to take away the food supply (would apply it soon anyway)
Motion detecting spray and noise deterrent
BB gun just in case (my Dad still has my Red Ryder from when I was a kid, skunk would probably smile and think he's getting a massage)
Skunks seem fairly undeterred by animal repellent. I was using Repels All and that did nothing. I even urinated in a bottle (inside) and sprinkled it about in the garden and that did nothing. Finally I out smarted that bugger. I planted a bunch of plants where he was digging, then put large rocks out between the plants and that was the end of him digging there.
Nah, greenthumb, what gardener worth his/her salt can't use a cooling rinse-off once in a while?
Fortunately, no one's ever caught me in the act; now that would be really embarrassing!!
Took advantage of the cooler weather the past few days to install a 6' x 8' rigid pond to create our shady bog area. All the rain softened the soil, but not the numerous rocks and tree roots. Still managed to break the handle on our pickax, as well as my back.
Have to let rains settle the ground in and around it before final grading and planting.
Ouch! I hope your back feels better soon.
Got the Grub Ex1 down yesterday afternoon. Perfect timing.... got about an inch of rain so far today and that of the nice, soaking variety.
I have two Scarecrow motion detector sprinklers arriving by Tuesday.
We'll see of Mr. Skunk is deterred.
Hope they work, CAM. Something has been digging in our moss recently. Keep us posted.
David repaired the leak in our 2-level pond where 3 frogs have been living. He went out when the rain let up a bit ago and found a box turtle swimming in it!
Will do, Pat.
Ha, it's like you and David live on a nature reserve there. :)
Don't shoot the skunk! Mad/scared skunk = smelly yard. Mom & I successfully chased one out of the yard with ammonia (put out in a couple of shallow pans for a couple of nights).
...or scatter Ammonia-soaked rags in the area.
This works (usually) for areas where dogs and cats decide to do
their business...
Have any of you tried scattering Milorganite granules around these areas?
Totally harmless--and also a gentle fertilizer...
YES! I am still "pushing" this product. g.
Not going to do any shooting, Jill. Yeah, I don't want to kill it and I don't want to make it angry, that's for sure. :)
If the combination of Grub Ex and motion detecting water sprinklers don't work, yeah, ammonia is the next option to try.
Thanks EVERYone for your ideas.
Wow GT excited to see how that big garden turns out. If it works out nice I might try one myself some day. What type of soil did you use for it?
I saw this butterfly yesterday. Anyone know what it is? I was thinking it was a Red Admiral.
Jeff - I just put most of the excavated soil back along with leaf litter, then a few inches of old leaf compost that had broken down to soil plus a bale of peat moss. Mixed up the top portion.
Your butterfly is indeed a Red Admiral.
Cam, any chance you could find a Penelope La Pew and lure Pepe away from your place with her? ;) heeheeheee
David and Pat, I'm with Seq, REALLY looking forward to watching how your bog garden progresses!
Gita, I am also always pushing Milorganite at work; I seem to have about a 75% or so track record when I start talking about it with customers.
David, what was the composition of the excavated soil? Thanks for the confirmation o the butterfly.
Jeff, just our crappy sandy, silty clay with lots of rounded stream gravel and cobbles of various sizes.
Greenthumb, if I recall my semester of Soils, then sand-silt-clay pretty much says all you can say, about ANY soil, lol !
a refresher for the rest of us
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/gardennotes/214.html
Maybe mine leans to silty loam more than I've considered. It is prone to compaction and density, even while it is easy to force a shovel into.
Well that soil doesn't sound too bad GT.
Yeah, I realize that most any soil is a mixture of all three components and have plotted compositions on the soil texture diagram while in school. I guess my main point is that the soil is very low in apparent organic matter, having a yellowish clay color. Probably would class as a "C" horizon of essentially unaltered old stream deposits. A and B horizons were probably displaced in grading and little has developed in the interim.
Loudoun County requires septic tanks to be pumped every so many years and sent us a notice that it was time. The contractor had to locate the tank and dig down about four feet to accomplish the task. Afterward they installed an access tube so that exscavation would not be requires in the future, but the whole process left an unsightly mess in a very prominent part of the yard. I shortened the tube, back-filled the excavation, and placed a large decorative stone directly over the access tube to clearly mark its location.
After grading the work site we installed an iron butterfly pot holder nearby and planted some Hellebores, Dicentras, Astilbes, and a few other items. Now the site looks better and will improve as the plantings are added to and mature. Future shady bog can be seen in the background behind the chairs.
Looks nice!
We have a four foot deep tank, too, and a big access cover flush with the lawn. Out in the lawn where I do NOT want to just throw in a seating area...
Enjoying the yard, now that everyone has done mowing for the week, temp is very nice and a little breeze, too!
Maybe a bit off-topic---but still "connected" in a way. Bear with me, please!
Most homes here have a Sewer "clean out"-- 4", PVC pipe sticking up somewhere--
on the front lawn. You see it on many lawns...except mine!
Many years ago--I learned that one can call "The County"-once a year--and ask
that they come and clean/ream out the sewer pipe from the clean-out--to
as far underground...under the road as it takes to the main Sewer Pipe.
SO--I called them and they came--but we could not find where the clean-out
pipe was. It was lost under years of soft grass on my lawn.
I had a vague idea of where it was and soon--they found it.
Dug the turf off of it and proceeded to run a major pipe reamed down and down--about 40'--
When done--the worker put a small, PVC pipe to his ear and told me to go and
flush the lowest level toilet in my house. I did.
He listened through the pipe, heard the water freely flushing and said it was all OK.
They bitched about it being "lost"--but went and got an 5" PVC extension pipe
and screwed it on top of the opening of this cleaned out pipe.
Slowly...over the years--this extension too was gobbled up by my lush lawn.
OR--is it possible hat my front lawn is sinking?????????
Again--I would like to call them to come out and clean out the sewer pipe once more--
but