Toughest challenge for gardeners in the NE?

Thanks...they are my nieces - I borrow them when I need a kid fix...

I got a few you can borrow... you may never speak to me again...

Maria - take a look at the winter moth thread. You might have them if you are suffering from defoliation. Then again, it might just be squirrels....

stbgardener- The only thing that I am sure of with our weather is that by 10 o'clock in the morning it will have changed completely from whatever it was. I use the 10 o'clock rule when taking my daughter to the park, so I don't get stuck in bad weather. I will either try to be home by ten, or don't leave till after ten.

I think that is what it was, a moth, Ivy, evreyone had it around here, just could not see anything,

My biggest challenge is the short growing season, wildlife and the rocks.
The past couple of years I haven't been able to put my plants out till the first week of June and by the mid or end of Sept I start bringing them back inside.
I can't tell you how many lawnmowers and rototillers we have gone through up here. Every spring it seems that the frost heaves send up a new cropping of rocks throughout the yard and gardens.
Dave I still remember those Guilford rocks. That used to be my hometown before I moved up here about 25 years ago.
Corn is impossible to grow here. As soon as it is about ready to pick either the coons or the bear decide they want it for a late night snack.

Snow, I have a sister in Claremont about 50 miles south of you. I offered her some blackberry plants a few years ago and her husband said a big NO. "They attract bears."
I had forgotten about them, living down south here in the city, LOL. No bears here in eastern MA.
Andy P

Come springtime I can send you down a few Andy.
Right now they are sleeping and dreaming about all the veggie gardens they will raid this spring. LOL

Wow. That is some cute little balck bear, snowhermit! And I complain about squirrels.....

Wow. That is some cute little black bear, snowhermit! And I complain about squirrels.....

cute...yeah, until you get between it and lunch! I've heard of people not even being safe in the house when these guys want to get at something!!! I think I'd have a heart attack if I walked into one of those in my backyard!!!

Snowhermit,
Welcome! You have my sympathy gardening in zone 4. That is a really short season.
You are the second exGuilford resident I've met on DG.
I've been here about 9-10 years, but I've almost always lived nearby. Want any of your old rocks back? I won't take the bear in trade though.

Ivy, I've double posted before but never with spell-check. Cool feature!

If it's not rocks (or better yet, ledge), it's clay! I can't even use the tomato cages half the time cause I can't find enough spots in the garden where I can sink them in enough. There seems to be a new crop of rocks each year too --- as they say, it's New England's number one crop!

As far as the bugs go, I've been on the warpath against those rotten striped cucumber beetles for years now. Unfortunately, I think they're winning. Lily beetles showed up two years ago and now I get to battle those too. I'm a firm believer in organic gardening, so my weapons are somewhat limited.

LOL. McCool, have been gardening here for 58 years, I think some one could have built a whole village of huge stone houses from the rocks and boulders I dug up and to end up with only clay

And to think in some places in the south they actually buy rocks for their garden decos.
Thanks for your kind offer Dave but I think I've got plenty of rocks for now. They don't call this the Granite State for nothing. LOL

funny Dave - I didn't notice the spelling correction!

Good morning Anita. Coffee is ready.

Thanks honey.. sleep well?

edited,

it was posted twice,, wonder why it has to be previed before it is posted?

This message was edited Feb 1, 2006 8:57 AM

Honey?? good morning to all of you in the honey category, any body have frost last night? We did !

Frost? We had an inch of snow. Sure was pretty this AM.
Don't walk under the trees, it's raining there with the snow melt.
Andy P

no snow here, Andy, to think you live so close near by , guess we are closer to the water

no snow here, Andy, to think you live so close near by , guess we are closer to the water

am having trouble posting have to use preview before it is sent, then it comes up double, something wrong some where

It came down pretty hard for an hour around sunset.
Andy P

We actually had sunshine today!!! I so felt like playing hookey from work!!!!

Ivy1 - your comment about 10 AM strikes an interesting chord - I spend part of my summers in Ontario, on the shore (within 10 miles) of Lake Huron and in an area that is nothing but lakes. Our weather pattern is the same, dominated by the Great Lakes weather patterns, We never assume what the day's weeather will be until 10 or 10:30, and the day can start out grey and you can set your watch to the moment it suddenly burns off into a crystal clear, blue-sky day. With you being on the coast, I wonder,... same thing?
Sarah

Sunshine here today too. I don't love winter but I'll take cold & sunny overmild but rainy this time of year.

Am with you, Dave, don't like wet, rainy, warmish weather this time of tyear, give me a brisk, cold and sunny day any time

Me too. I don't even mind the winter that we've been having. It's been averaging in the 40's

Sarah, I think you hit the nail on the head. We are right on the coast here. When we drive back from further inland, a lot of the time you can see a huge cloud just sitting over our area.

Dave47- I only wish I could re-post like that to correct all the boo=boos I've made on DG!

Rocks, clay and rocks. Did I mention rocks?

No you didn't art - what did you have a problem with?? clay?

Rocks, You want to talk about rocks?
I've been gardening since I was a kid. I got a bit more serious after I built this house in 1986.
This place was built on what used to be a Sand & Gravel yard.
Rocks? I have 2 boulders the size of Volkswagens buried in the back yard.
New beds require so much effort that I take a 2 year break between each.
There is great drainage though, LOL.
Andy P

you want to see rocks, here is one like all the rest around my yard

Maria, That is a mighty fine looking rock you got there, whats your secret?
Could it be the long hours spent talking to it? The many aplications of Miricle Grow? All the fine compost?
Dave 47 claims to grow some nice rocks too.
Dena

Very pretty. Mine are always harvested before the snow comes.

those aren't rocks....they are sleeping giants! That's why they respond to all the TLC

LOL, Dave, what you see is just the tip of a mountain!! the smaller ones were dug up and not by me lol, now I have a stone wall with huge single rocks lined up along the side of the house. will send some pictures later.

Hi, Greenthumbs, lots of rocks here in Rehoboth, you do live not far from here, almost around the corner,

Anita, you are so right, it is a sleeping giant, my Golden climbs it to see what is going on in his territory

Well, those big guys are tough and I have 1 or 2 of them. But most impressive to me is how I can till my garden, "harvest" all my rocks, and the next time I till there is a whole new crop. I don't even sow rock seeds!
Do you think I have a rock thumb? It would match my head....

lol, Dave, I have a rock thumb too and it DOES match my head at times