Introducing myself to the NE forum

Hmmm "delectable" garden.

Hi Donna! Welcome to the NE Forum!

Harper

Well critter ridder has been spread, but I didn’t get enough, at least it was easy to do. No place I stopped had liquid fence but the guy at Agway recommended fox urine. I think that’s pretty much what critter ridder is but what the heck I’ll add it. It smells great, I'm so happy to hang little bottles of it all over the gardens.
I did come home to a beautiful dark pink rose, and some of the blooming lilies. The neighbor had her boys come and mow. They took down the worst of it and didn’t whack any flowers. For young boys they did a good job and handled the tractor better than I do on the slopes.

I tried fox and coyote urine - they were not effective at all for me. Milorganite and Liquid Fence (or Deer-Off, though it left white spots) have worked reasonably well for me.

something ate my volcano phlox & black eyed susan ... that's what i get for slacking off with the liquid fence

My BES never gets touched. I don't even spray it.

I went to HD and Agway, no liquid fence. Where did you get?

I think a ground hog might be back... but it's strange some of the flower stalks are bent down in half... and the leaves at the bottom were stripped... might have been a deer

funny how the same critters in different areas eat certain plants

I usually buy it online when they have the sales at the end of winter

http://www.liquidfence.com/

I buy it online too. Got it recently for a good price from bestnest.com.

Thanks, I'll take a look

Mine are defiantly ground hog/woodchuck, I still can't tell the difference. They haven't touched the BES or the Shastas and I have hoards of those. Usually if I have a deer come though I can see prints in the mulch. Only thing I've had deer eat are the lily buds and some hosta. I suppose a hungry deer will eat anything..

Thanks, I check on-line, maybe it's not sold in the basic box stores.

I buy it online too and have only seen it at a local nursery garden store.
The white spots are annoying but at least the plants are there.
I have small spots on some of my Hostas ,don't know how to ID slugs oe snail chews so I spread "BUG GETTA" hope it works.

I only have them go after my impatience and they take them down by chewing the base. They look like they were cut off. I just use what ever WM has and it usually takes care of them. I should have treated already, maybe this weekend.

They love impatience here, too. We have to spray liquid fence after every rain or mine would be nubbed off too.

Feeling any better this week, Donna?

I didn't know liquid fence took care of slugs an snails?

Oh, sorry JoAnn, mine are nubbed by deer, not slugs or snails. They'd have to have a huge bite radius to do this damage.

Dr. said the joint is in good shape, I’m free to move around. Just have some angry mussels so I get to enjoy spasms. Still can’t bend down easy of lift anything but it’s so much better than it was.
I got some bug getta on the way home, so I can treat before I have problems.

Donna, are you taking any muscle relaxers or anti-spasm type medication, I hope? (I take lots of drugs.)

My Chiropractor doesn’t give out pills. I had some Rx anti inflammatory and some Hydrocodne left over from the GP. He said I could take those but they didn’t do much. I think the worst is over; I never want to do this again. I did it about 10 years ago, but it was nothing like this time. Then again I was 10 years younger…..

Ohhhhhhh, I get it. Well, please, Donna, NEVER do this again!

I'll be careful, but as soon as I can I'll be out there diggin in the dirt.

Even in a disaster you can still find pretty!

Something’s bloom with no attention!

Ah ha, not to many weeds have gotten here yet.

Looks like my shade garden.
Now I feel better about planting lilies there, it gets afternoon sun.

Beautiful pics. Donna, I take calcium and magnesium. Not only is it good for your bones, but they're a natural muscle relaxer.

I’ve been told you can’t grow them under white pines. But I think you can, they get about 3 hours of sun in the morning. This one is 3 years old about 3 ft high and has lots of babies this year.

Hi Ge, I do take calcium and general vitamins when I remember. I’ll make sure to take them if they help. Much better today, I made the walk out to the street to take the pics, now I get to consider cleaning the house. Still have to stay to light duty but it must be done sure did get messy in here.

My pines are Spruces, any tree with needles is a pine to me, don't make me fall in love w/ conifers I'll never be cured or get controle of my plant passion.
The barely visible lilies in the above picyure are Asiatics Lollypop ,they are in a nursery of "scapes" from a container I have.
I have been to the Lily Forum ,now I can't have enough of them, first it was DL"s then Hosta then asstd. perennials now it's lilies.
I have always liked them but didn't know much about them.
DON'T go to the Lily Forum, you will get hooked and be digging more grdens in full sun in order to plant more.

Boy did I mess up who wrote what, sorry guys. Too late for me with the lilies, I started with them 4 years ago. I don’t know how many I have but it’s the up side of 100. All just run of the mill Asiatic and Orientals. I did put in some tree lilies this year and a few Orienpets. Not many came up but I think that I planted too late. I’ve seen some of the beauties that are on the Lily forum, yeah I want them, but I want everything.

Love the pic of the shade garden; you’ve got lots of goodies in there.

Hi Donna--love your pictures!

Glad to see the lily beetles haven't made their way down to you yet. They are definitely here in northern RI. :(

A product that I've found that works really well at keeping deer away is called Bobbex. It's completely organic and is great at keeping deer away from my tulips. It also lasts and it's not necessary to constantly reapply after a rain. It does stink, but that tends to dissipate after a few hours. I buy the concentrate and then mix my own in a three dollar spray bottle I picked up at Home Depot. I figure the bottle of concentrate I have will last at least a few years, if the product itself doesn't expire before then.

The only place I know of that sells Bobbex is in Attleboro, but if you have any organically-oriented nurseries in your area they might have it. :)

Sorry to hear about your being laid up--hope you are able to get back out in the dirt soon. :)

Thanks Donna
My shade garden
Me Jo Ann
Your four years has me beat.
I planted op's this April and will see them bloom in a coupla days, the May ones maybe not until August.

Hi Niere, Good to meet you. The lily beetle is here, for some strange reason I only found them on the trumpets. I sprayed with Bayer and they died but I’ll be watching for more. This is the first year I’ve had them and didn’t know what they were. I’ll look for Bobbex, do you know if it works for woodchucks?
I’ll be out and around in a couple of weeks, doing much better now thanks.

Jo Ann, you have to post pics when they bloom. I do the same things as you, one year Hosta, one year DL, Lilies, ect. ect. This year I tried to do everything and boy was that a mistake.

Sorry about the month old picture, We havn't had much sun .I do have a series taken at two week intervals to show the changes. Those lilies are in bloom now and if the sun comes out I will photograph that garden.

Donna...So very sorry to hear you've been laid up, so to speak. Back problems are just terrible, since you're so limited in what you can do inside and out. I wish you a speedy recovery.

As to the problem with the gophers (woodchucks?) have you ever tried spreading hair around the flower beds? I've often seen it mentioned as a deer deterrant, but since I don't have that problem (knock on wood), I can't verify that it's effective. Ask a local barber or hairdresser to save you a few bags when they sweep up, and then give it a try. The hair will decompose and add it's nutrients to the soil, too. I imagine dog hair would work just as well. Are there any large dogs in the neighborhood looking like they need a good brushing?

We have a resident gopher and have been trying to catch him using a Havahart Trap, but he's very wary. As soon as he saw the trap (baited with apple slices) near his favorite feeding area, he relocated to my neighbor's yard across the street. Unfortunately, that's the man who lent us his trap! Now we have the trap, and no gopher, and the neighbor has the gopher and no trap. So it goes in the garden of life.

P.S. We did manage to trap one gopher last year using the trap, and we relocated him about five miles away, and far from any homes. My husband wanted to drive him out to the middle of the Pine Barrens (we live on the boundary); but my sensible son pointed out that the gopher would starve out there, as there's only scrub pines and sand, so we relented. Now I'm wondering if gophers have homing instincts?

Rose

OK OK The sun might never come out.
I took a sequence of pics of the shade garden.
This is the part where the baby Lollypops are blooming.
Check out those perky little Asiatics 1 year old.
You bet we mulch- - - -up to the gineeguaz.
And in another photo there is a tomato plant.

Hi Rose, thanks for the tip. I've been considering using dog fur as I have two large ones in need of a brushing. I think I’ll be able to brush them out now and will try the fur in the gardens. It’s free and it won’t hurt the plants so it’s worth a try. Maybe I should just empty the vac bag out there it's full of dog hair! I haven’t seen as many in the garden this week but I’ve been standing guard in the evenings. I did have one run right under my chair last night, little buggers are fast. I'd love to trap and get rid of them but that's not an option right now.

Can I have some of your rain? We haven’t had a drop; all the TS go just above us. The lollipops are adorable I don’t have any of those. I heard they multiply fast so I may get some in the fall. Your garden looks great, mine has too many tree roots and they suck up all the water.