You are in great shape!!! I really like how you put that picture together!
I know I'm boring y'all to tears...
I agree, Root, I love your photos Gretchen and I'm so glad you posted them because I could not figure out what the green ties were because they are so straight, they look like they could be wire. Where did you get the green, natural jute, and do you use the green for a particular reason, I have some natural colored jute and my tree brug is outgrowing it's ties. And, it looks like I'll be buying rebar the next trip I make to Lowe's. Thanks for all the swell info!!!!!!!!!
Thanks you two! Sure beats taking up four posts... Sherry, one thing that several people mentioned on my "updated brug garden pix" thread is that the rebar could attract a lightning strike. We are in a very low lying area and I've done it this way for a while, so I'm not overly concerned, but it has me now rethinking the re-bar. I only use the green because in a few days it fades and is exactly the same color as the foliage when it does. I bought it at the local "Do It Best" hardware store. The natural color works fine.
I re-did the collage with the names if anyone is interested in knowing what these are. They were from the BGI seedbank:
It looks very good Gretchen. With the support, you will have less damage during storms or heavy rains.
Thanks, Monika! I appreciate your good advice! They all look much better today...
Great pictures Gretchen. Wish I lived in zone 8b. I could have a ball. When do you get your first fall frost? Our summer is just way too short up here.
Gretchen,after looking closer at your last picture,I really have to say,They Look Great!!! Nice leaves,good buds,you are doing a great job,very healthy,and you have some good crosses,Gold Traum is one of my FAVs,I want to see those blooms,warm up the camera,it won't be long!
Gretchen,
I sent you an email just now. Doesn't have anything to do with this thread, but figured you were watching this thread and would see this. Please let me know what you think!
Karrie :)
Shirley -- its usually sometime around the end of Novermber. I remember that last year we visited my parents in Florida for the Thanksgiving holidays and when we returned, all the lantana looked like it had been burned, completely blackened from a heavy frost. That was one of the very few we had last year. It was unusually mild.
Thanks Root! I'm hoping to be posting bloom pix by the middle of July :) I too am very anxious to see what this cross produced, and the PB X EP cross.
Karrie: You have mail :)
Wow, that would be great. You can get so many more flushes of flowers than we can up here.
Well we're being inundated with yet another "monsoon" as I write this. I had almost finished mowing when it hit. This weather is just plain weird -- we usually don't get any measurable rainfall from June until the rainy season which is October. Sure wish I'd been keeping track of the amount we've received to date. I have no idea how to set my soaker hose timers when I leave for two weeks...in a normal year, its a no brainer.
Brugie, one big advantage that you have over me is that your days are longer, so your plants get more daily sunlight than mine or someone in my area (the South)...
Wow Gretchen everything looks great. Yep we started getting the monsoon about 2 a.m. and again now. I bet we have gotten 6" so far.
Oh my gosh....you guys have all been getting way too much rain. Too bad it can't be spread out over the summer months when we really need it.
Shirley, it must be raining everywhere. LOL It was so dry here and now that it's starting raining, it won't stop.
It is NOT raining here! and I wish it was!!!
PL, I wish you had some of this. LOL It's so muddy here.
ahelms...I would gladly take some of yours!!! Do you want my address? You could send me some!!!
I'll have to box you up some. LOL
We got 1 3/4" in less than an hour yesterday! I had standing water everywhere again!!!
Gretchen, I think we are getting too much of a good thing. I need to call the water company today to see why we got $160 water bill, when we haven't watered but twice in about 6 months.
Oh Gretchen...I'm really sorry for you...it makes it hard to plant when your plants could end up in water. Do you have heavy clay soil?
Hugs...Margie
Ouch! Sylvia -- that's ridiculous!!!
Margie -- thankfully, its fairly well drained, and we are on a limestone ledge about two feet down in most places. The water is all gone today. The problem here is that it comes down so hard, so fast. It has no where to go, and we never had any standing water in that area before, but with the rocks and raised beds...Its like a heavy fog and you literally have sight distance of about 10'. Within a week if we have no more rain, it'll be dry and cracked...
Gretchen, I have really enjoyed your pictures and all the info in this thread. I have had company or been away from home for most of this week. Our temps have been right at 100 degrees most days. Way too hot, and we could sure usedsome of your rain. I cannot keep my garden moist enough and am spending most of my time irrigating. Send more pictures. My seedlings are very slow for some reason. They grew well in the GH but when i planted them out in the garden they just pretty much sit there. I thought i had the soil in good condition with additives, so don't know what my problem is. Donna
Donna: Thank you for your nice comments! What are you amending your soil with? Have you taken a soil sample? Are your brugs in pots sunk in the ground, or planted directly in the ground? Mine that are still in pots have not grown noticeably since I brought them outside in April, however those planted in the ground have just gone crazy. I never would've guessed there was that much of a difference. I am feeding them a bunch too...
Gretchen, you mentioned brugs in pots, sunk in the ground and someone else, on another thread, mentioned using a doorknob drill to make door sized holes for these pots, black plastic. I know there must be something I'm overlooking, but how would I keep the dirt in the pots, with that sized holes???? TIA!!!
I keep loving your pictures Gretchen - beautiful blooms!...we are getting plenty of rain here too, flood warnings for the past few days - makes me glad that I don't flood here (yet)....
Rain, rain go away. Come back again another day (like a month from now). LOL
Sherry: I did that with the couple I have in the ground in pots. I put the pots in holes in the ground the exact size as the pot, then I drilled probable 25 + holes in the brug pot. After that I potted the brugs. The potting soil stays in because the pot is a snug fit against the sides of the hole you dig. I think it aids in drainage and root growth. Some people use a one gallon inside of a five gallon and dril all the holes in both pots.
Thanks Pam -- I hear ya!
Sylvia -- I'm usually doing the rain dance this time of year, now its the sun dance LOL!
Gretchen and Slyvia, we're in the same boat as you. It's rained for over a week here and it has rained so much the gutters didn't have a chance. We've had severe storms, winds and tornado warnings and they're still calling for it all next week. My poor veggie garden has a river running across it. It has rained so hard it washed my railroad ties to my neighbors yard.
Oh my gosh, Ada! That's awful! You just can't seem to catch a break this Summer, bless your heart, and may God bless you! I sure hope things lighten up for you soon!!!
Holy Cow. It would take a lot of water to float a railroad tie. I hope it quits soon or you will start growing toadstools and all kinds of funny things. Are your plants okay so far? If you need anything when this is all over, let me know and I'll see what I can find around here.
Wowser Ada - how awful for you!...
Shirley, I already have a few toadstools growing out of the holes in some my pots. After all with all the toads/frogs I have, they need a stool. LOL Maybe they'd stay out of my plants. We've really had the rain.
Ada, I've been finding toadstools in my flower beds also, but guess we haven't had as much rain as you yet though. Nothing as heavy as railroad ties have washed away. You better watch out when you go outside, or you might end up on the next block. LOL
Sylvia, I'll be sure to put on my life jacket. LOL I need to try to pick my squash but I need hip boots to get across the garden.
Sherry...after you make the holes in the containers and plant the brugs....you either are suppost to bury them in the ground or place them inside another larger container, filling with soil, between the 2 containers. The idea is that the roots can grow beyond the container...you can water and feed only into the small container...and when the cold comes and you are ready to bring them in...you can trim the roots back to the 'all season container' (the smaller ones with the holes). You never have to remove them from the smaller container....or disturb the roots.
Monika explains it all in her book! A really good resource!
Thanks, Gretchen & Margie!!! I knew there had to be a simple solution - the pot with the door knob sized holes is sorta similar to the rockwool thing, in that both the pot and the rockwool stay with the brug it's entire life. As soon as I can get a door knob drill, I'm going to try it.
Do you know if Monika's book comes in large print or audio??
I am sure sorry for allyou people with too much rain. Here we are in our 5 droughth year and would love some of your moisture. Last evening there was a thunder & Lightning storm west of me for a couple of hours, probably started some more fires.
Gretchen, I added composted steer manure, Planters 2 which is organic trace minerals, Epsom Salts, 9-3-4 organic slow realease fert. They are planted directly into the ground. Every two or three days I water them with Algoflash (sp) and Super Thrive. I have a soaker hose on most of them. I did put 6 , about 2 gal. or a little larger pots, down into the ground in the area in front of my GH, but have found with our hot weather I can't even by watering several times a day keep them wet enough. So last evening after it cooled down some I dug up two of the pots and with difficulty removed the brugs with out too much damage and after amending the soil in the holes replaced them. Those two look good yet this morning, One Species is still loaded with buds, may drop some but okay right now. I did not do a soil analysis, I know my soil is very alkaline. Maybe I should have added some sulfur, I don't remember if Monika said in her bood whether brugs need a somewhat acid soil. Guess i better go study the book some more. Thanks for all your help. Donna
Donna, I loved reading your post, I love reading what others do. I would have thought, since you and Monika are both in zone 5a (isn't she?), that the black, plastic pot, with holes, in the ground would work well for you. I wonder what the difference is - do you know? I am going to do one like that and the double pot thing too. In fact, I was going to do it today, thinking that after 23 hours that we were going to set a two week record of no rain in 24 hours - but not today, a thunder storm blew up and it's now raining cats and dogs. Oh, well...