Bath tub empty

Ooooh...Gordon. I like the rooms idea. I may have to plagiarize it a bit!

Why not? I stole it from Heidi, now you steal it from me! Like plant swaps, only in your mind! OOOOOOHHHHH, WEEEEEE OOOOOOOHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Easy Gordon, Remember my dad had the first Rose Bowl. Ha Ha

Thanks for stopping by and bringing the Peliasite (spelling) He perked up, once he cool off.

I like the tub, looks cool. If I run across any furniture for you I'll give you a yell.
^_^

Tills ~ "Rose Bowl?" Hah! I LOVE that? May have to do something with that as well! Sorry you couldn't make it today. Maybe the Lavender Festival?

Sorry Sheri, after working in Sequim for 8.5 years, thats not going to happen LOl
But I am going to Chimcacum on Tue. to see Willieb (Betty) she has a small nursery in her yard. want to go?

Hey, Gordon. I think you should "hang" a window over the pedestal sink in your outdoor bathroom garden. Actually, Heidi's Dave can help you figure out how to rig up a piece of rebar to hold the window up at the bottom. It would be a cool illusion . . .

Tills ~ Sorry, can't make it. I work Tuesdays. But I would like to go by her place sometime. Let me know what kinds of plants she has.

Great idea to have a window. You could nail a window fram to two stout boards and have a window box planter beneath it. Talk about a garden "room". :^)

I think they look cool if you could put a mirror in it. I think we could have a kitchen garden and a privy garden or the loo garden. Too much fun. People will be stopping too look. There is a toilet on a float out on the south end of the island in Puget sound pretty funny. I like it ,why be normal.. Heidi

The Loo Garden - I really like that! Has a nice ring to it. LOL

I have NEVER been called normal. Abnormal by a few, but not normal. I have the old medicine cabinet from last year when I remodeled the loo in the house. It's a wall mount type with lights on the side. Wouln't that be cool to run solar lights up to it and put it on rebar above a sink? I could put root hormone and plant food spikes inside! lol
Okay, I have the plants already for the bowl, but what about the tank? Does anybody know where I could find gas plant?

Okay, well, it's pretty. I wouldn't mind having one in my garden.

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=dictamnus%20fraxinella&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Dictamnus Alba at Wells Medina - gallon size, last week. I think that's plenty of gas...

Tuesday? Same time, same rain gear? What do you say Kayte?

Hey Gordon,
I know a place, down the road from me, called Molly Wards Gardens, its not a nursery, I know the owner Sam. he has a fence made with windows in it, real glass. They cater to outdoor weddings and such.
Also food and herbs, It is really neat to walk around. have been to a few friends weddings there. I'll get some more info. I'ts been a few years since I have seen Sam.

That would be cool. We'll see how mant windows are left after the green house. Might be enough to do a short stretch some where. Never thought of it.

If you are out this way on a Tue of Wed. I will take you over, then you can see my mess. LOL

http://www.mollywardgardens.com/

This message was edited May 18, 2008 11:36 PM

I just sent a Email to Sam

Also forgot to tell you, this was once the Yarn Barn, before Sam bought it, any type of yarn, embroidery tread, and many other type treads where sold there.
A very good friend has the old embroidery stand still full.

This message was edited May 19, 2008 12:36 AM

Pix and Murmur, have you tried leaving the Melianthus Major in the ground and use a bracken covering over it? I overwintered both major and minor this winter that way and they came through beautifully (although we didn't repeatedly get hit with snow after Easter) - but mine are in extremely exposed areas, however, with good drainage. Might be interesting to try. Good use of bracken! has to be good for something.

Heidi, Gordon, Murmer, be careful with all this talk, Dave doesn't like Potty Humor, Jim

Laurie, that sounds worth a try - I was so enamored with the plant and was very disappointed when it passed away.

Jim . . . . you had me going there for a minute . . . I'm a little slow on the uptake.

Laurie - you have bracken fern? Or is this another kind of bracken. I have it coming out my ears (figuratively speaking, of course).

I vote for turning it into a fountain.

Gwen

Hey, Gwen!!! Where have you been? How many jobs are you holding down?

Gordon - I will be at WM tomorrow - but don't know what time yet.
I will call you - most likely I'll plan on getting there at 1:30.
I'll probably be in the tree section.

Love the open outhouse-Loo garden with gas plants. Hysterical!

I have over wintered my melianthus for years. I do cover with ferns or maple leaves. I also plant the rootball deeper like a clematis, It also help to plant it in a winter warm spot. Winter sun or south side of a house tree ect. Heidi

Carole, I am down to one, my morning job with the artist, where I can go in whenever I want. It's usually just a couple hours a day. I don't count The Clyde as a job but I'm still there one night a week and then subbing occasionally in the snack bar. I quit the Big Brothers Big Sisters. They did not appreciate my talents. ;)

Gwen

I'm so glad you've freed up some of your time - you really were working waaaaay too much! Glad your DH likes what he is doing, though.

Gwen's suggestion is great! Must be away of turning the loo into a water feature. Gonna have to think about it. That seriously cuts into the plant $$$, but would be cool!

Hey, Gordon
Got a email back from Mollys, we can tour the gardens anytime at no cost.

Cool! Not sure when I will be up that way but I'll give you plenty of warning!

Cool, you will get alot of neat ideas for your farm projects, LOL

Katie, We have bracken fern - tons of it. One whole section of the middle field gets covered - tried to fight it then decided to treat it as a resource - I go out and harvest it 2 or 3 times each summer and add it to the leaf compost. Breaks down as fast as any of the leaves. We also have large stands of it in the woods, and i bring up several barrow loads in the autumn after we do the end of summer mulch and just cover over a couple of the borderline plants - I pin it in place with a couple of whippy branches bent over. I find its easier to harvest with a hand scythe rather than the weedwhacker. That just seems to turn it into a mess, or gets tangled up in the stems. Besides there is something so nice about a good sharp scythe - fab sound.

Amazing how once you turn something into a resource you can stop fussing about it - I just harvested a big stand of nettle that has been really p+*&ing me off - just sycthed it to the ground. Can hardly wait for it to come up again! (And I got to buy one of those pairs of leather gloves with long gauntlets!)

Katie - I think this is so interesting. Scroll down to the last product in the list - wool and bracken compost. http://www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk/products.htm Interesting story behind this - the woman who owns this company left her day job in the city and relocated to her beloved lakeland district area. The area is famous for its hardwick sheep - much loved of Beatrix Potter, but dying out because they just aren't actually used that much anymore except for grazing the lakeland fells (they are interesting sheep - they have seem to have heritry (spelling?) memory for their grazing area). The fleece is unwearable it is so coarse, and the meat only served as mutton. She set about reinvigorating the need for them: first set up a company making wool thermal house insulation, and then developed the compost (taking care of both the dreaded bracken and the fleeces). In developing this she also found that a couple years of harvesting the bracken actually eradicates it from the fields. Now she is working on getting top chefs reinterested in serving mutton, and I noticed she has gotten it on to the menu of a big charity dinner menu as Lakeland Herdwick Mutton - a must have for the posh diners. Way to go woman!

Sorry about that - I do get going at length sometimes. Way to much info - but hey, I thought it was interesting.

This message was edited May 20, 2008 11:13 AM

This message was edited May 20, 2008 11:14 AM

Laurie ~ That's fascinating! Amazing what one can do when you stop fighting the elements and just go with the flow. You've got me wondering about the nettles. I have a c&*pload of them and want to scream every time I look at them. You harvested them and did what with them? The stands of nettles here get taller than me and do so quite rapidly! I'd love to find a use for them other than destroying my mental health!

If they are in seed, just whack them down and leave them to rot. I've started sycthing off the 12-14" high growth before they blossom and set seed, than raking it up and adding them to the compost (boy that heats the pile). They are incredibly nutritious stuff and should really add value to it. Additionally, One area I harvested, and then dug out the roots (the roots are actually shallow runners and easy to lift) - and I am trying out a new experiment with Bokashi composting: I have a large water butt that I am using as an oversized Bokashi bin laying the roots of pernicious weeds with innoculant bran. I'm going to do a second one with EMA liquid to drown the roots and extract the nutrients. Both systems, fingers crossed on this, should render the roots DEAD and pickled and ready for the compost heap.

If you need anymore info - I'm more than happy to add to this, but I also recc'd glancing through the Bokashi thread over on Soil and Compost. Its fascinating. And I do have to say that I am very very new to this - however, Katie and Katye are older residents on the thread than I am, so we still have a knowledge base here, too. (I do find the compost people extremely helpful - but possibly not quite so funny as we are).

(Or even whack down the tall ones in seed and put them in a bokashi bin - the seeds should pickle)

This message was edited May 20, 2008 2:24 PM

Okay. I'm trying to be more open minded about the darn nettles. Since the property in back of us was clear cut (almost four years ago) the nettles have taken over and of course don't know a thing about property lines. But I get such a bad reaction if my skin does touch them that I can about work myself into a dither over the darn things. I too bought some lovely gauntlet gloves and they help enormously, however, I still seem to manage to touch them somehow.

I am loving your info, Laurie - never stop - you have wonderful stories to share and obviously do a lot of research.

Sheri, "my" nettles are taller than I as well - almost freaks me out! I had to cut some back just so I could get to my bird feeder that's attached to the fence . . . I think what I need is a bee keeper's outfit!!!!!

Nettle tea, Anyone!!!

Stinging nettles pack a load of nitrogen that's as potent as manure, and they give off pest-repelling chemicals, too.
I read this in a book.

Here's how to make it.

1 lb. of nettles
1 gal of water

Put the nettles in a bucket, pour in water, and let the mixture steep for at least a week. Strain out thee leaves, and water your plants with the brew. toss the leaves on the compost pile, or bury them in the garden to give your plants an extra nutrient boost.

Maybe this will help with my weevils.

Mary, thank you - I think I will give that a try . . . can't hurt (unless I touch the darn things, that is!). I have a neighbor whose daughter is a midwife and she (the midwife) swears by the "goodness' of nettle tea. I offered to let her come harvest as much as she wanted, but she hasn't shown up. And that was three or four years ago!

I have found a way to get them with out getting hit. I use a rake to push them over them pull them one by one from ground level, it takes a little more time, but you are safer. I havent been stung in a long time.