Celeste - what was your experience with the compost tumbler?? Don't remember if you talked about it.
End of season report card
I like it, but can't really say I got a great load of compost in 6-8 weeks. It's not very fast really, unless you buy the compost eccelerator. I didn't so that is why it takes longer than 6-8 weeks here.
I used to have a membership at sam's and I bought a thing of aluminum foil at least 5 years ago. The funny thing is I just finished off that box a couple days ago. LOL
Thanks, Celeste. I never believed that claim anyway. You can use beer as an accelerator. I had the same experience with aluminum foil from Costco. It's been years since I bought it and it's still going!
Oh good at least I'm not the only one : )
Does beer work on a regular compost pile too?
Yes.
I like this thread. I do a year end review in my garden journal every year. I keep waiting for the year when I have more successes than disappointments and this year was no exception. lol I was disappointed with a lot. Here is one thing I was very happy with and one disappointment.
I found a Plum Crazy Hibiscus for sale last fall and it bloomed this summer. Just one stalk with quite a few buds on it. I didn't realize it would need staking and next year I will make sure I do that early, but what an amazing bloom it has on it! Before getting this one, the only other hardy Hibiscus I had was just a pink hardy hibiscus started from seed. Now I am spoiled rotten.
I have stayed away from roses for many years, because I didn't want to fuss over plants and I anticipated that would be the case. We were redoing a full sun bed and I broke down and bought three new rose bushes, trying to get varieties that were disease resistant etc. What a disappointment they were. The time that they were in bloom and looking gorgeous was so brief in comparison to the time they looked awful for one reason or another. I was so disgusted I decided to pull them out and toss them. I usually don't have this problem with plants. But before pulling them, I decided to cut them back to the ground, mid to late summer and my curiosity got the better of me and I waited to see what they would do after that treatment? Then I planted around them, closer than I had intended when I thought they were staying, and surprise, surprise, they came back with spotless foliage and even had a few blooms on them in late fall. So, now I've decided to give them a reprieve and try them another summer, but they are not going to be the main show and I am still not giving them any more care than I give other plants. If they look awful again after blooming, I am going to cut them right back to the ground again and let the other plants around them fill in around them and ignore them.
I had more notes but I will come back another day and post more. Let someone else share... :-)
What kind of roses, Lis?
One was a White Meidland that went into Powdery Mildew early. One was a David Austin called 'Golden Celebration' and the other was 'Rhapsody in Blue'. RiB and the DA I believe had a case of thripes having a field day with the foliage early in the season. I grow organically, so I don't use sprays. I do have one Knock Out Rose in the back garden that is only in part sun and that was carefree but I was just pining for more of a rose blossom and fragrance.
Here is that Plum Crazy blossom....
Nice. I never tried them, but rugosas are supposed to be easy. And a bit shade-tolerant. I tried the Oso Easy ones this year and they performed well.
Well, yesterday I got some work done in my garden, about 3 hours. I did more work on one of the beds I was renovating/expanding this year. Got some DL's transplanted and put in 4 new ones. the new ones had gotten pretty dried out after sitting in my enclosed porch for some time, so I soaked them a couple of hours. The roots looked good on all but one, which was SPACECOAST SWEETEYE. I hope they make it through the winter. I'm almost done with that bed, and then all I'll have to do is mulch it. It's really looking good, and I can't wait to see how it does next summer.
Karen
I wish I could get some gardening done during the week. Unfortunately, there's not enough daylight in the morning before I leave for work and it is dark when I get home!
As for my thoughts on my garden...
☼ I'm in love with my Knockout Rose. I planted it in a container where it did fabulously, but I think I might transplant it into the garden next year. I'm worried it might get stressed being in a confined space.
☼ I need to pay attention to what bulbs come up and where the blank spots are for early spring ordering again.
☼ I wanted to transplant some white tall phlox as it is lost and unappreciated where I have it planted right now.
☼ the right side of my privet hedge was failing [it is over 60 years old!] so I babied it and since it was thinning, I planted several clematis at the base. My thought was that the clematis would fill in the bald spots. It seems that the hedge is making a comeback... Now I wondering if I have to rethink the clematis.
A happy little plant here is the dwarf aruncus--it is in partial shade. The regular one in another bed blooms every yr--over 5 feet tall. Morning shade & afternoon sun, it doesn't seem to mind that sun.
Well, Anita, there is only one day during the week that I can get any work done in the yard, and that's Monday, as it's one of my days off. I have Sat. and Mon. off. It's light out when I go to work in the a.m., but dark when I return. I work odd hours. 5 hours Tues., 8 hrs. Wed., 10 hrs. Thurs. and Fri. and 7 hrs. Sunday, then do an asleep overnight PCA job for 12 hours Sunday night. Doesn't leave a lot of time for gardening except in the summer, when the days are longer.
I hope you have better luck with Clematis than I do. I get too much Clematis wilt. A couple of years they've done great, but most years they've done lousy. I find the species varieties are much better, though unfortunately not as showy as the large flowered ones.
Karen
Very interesting thread. I always like to here how things do in actal gardens. Most of the new things from spring did well in their first year. Old stand bys mostly. Phlox,delphs and the new echinaceas 'Hope', 'Purity,'Merlot', and 'Fatal Attraction' all did well. Even the PDD echi did well but it is still small so I will watch for the flop next year. Most shrubs are doing well too even with our summer drought. A blue spruce may not make though, bummer. I am going to have to move the yarrow 'Terra Cotta' further back in the bed because it got much taller than I expected so I will swap places with three columbine that will work better up front.
Are those three new echies first or second year, Pat?
They are all first season but were large plants from GC. except the PDD. I also got a 'Green Envy' and 'Prima Donna' I think is the names, late in the season which were doing well until a new ground hog moved in. They were still alive after the chew fest but don't know if they will make it through the winter. I will give a report next spring on what ones return.
I still didn't get around to planting my tulips.
i have bags of them to plant. hoping it is not tooooooo cold ths weekend. i use a 6 ft' metal pry bar to make the holes so as long as the ground is not frozen solid i should be ok.
I saw some men planting tulips today at a nursing home. They were planting great numbers of them. Should look great next spring.
Karen
I saw some men scraping ice today wearing parkas, touques and mittens. I was going to take some winter interest pics but my camera iced up from my breath. Interesting I have some stored dahlias that have grown 3 inch roots. Obviously the mischevious summer fairys are hibernating in my cold room sigh and need to be ousted. ONLY 18 DAYS TIL SPRING WHOOOO HOOO!!!!! Back to topic: I'm still eating sage from my herb garden. Crispy but tasty. Unfortunately I missed some seed that bursted before I collected sigh. My report: all steady as she goes in the time of the cold and the dark. Babies are mulched and I'm working my magic with my 2009 garden budget.
18 days until spring???
December 21st: the sun comes back ^_^ Sorry Victor. I searched Lower Hudson Valley NY and googleguy has no sun reports for you so maybe your sun doesn't come back :(
Mine never left. Saw it a few hours ago!
it's goooooooooooin Victor. Every day it spends more time with the upside down people. It seems to like the upside down people this time of year. Have you stocked up on flashlights? I'm concerned for you. What is your nearest community? googleguy might know that. Peekskill looks rather central lower valley. Google guy says rain tomorrow but no info on winter solstice for Peekskill. (ps sometimes I think googleguy is a little overrated; a bit of dolt about pretty simple things like geography and winter solstice geesh. pss. Sorry googleguy, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.)
Wish it was only 18 days left until spring!
Karen
Ah Karen ye of little faith. Don't you celebrate solistice????
Actually, no, I never have. I'm always thrilled when the sun starts coming back though.
Karen
We need to talk ^_^. I celebrate with great feasting and dances of joy and begin to prepare for seeding and the annual 'Wakening of the Dahlias'. You need to be careful to ensure that you take the daily requirements from the chocolate food group to build up energy for the festivities otherwise you can get very tired. My DH finds it a very tiresome time.
" daily requirements from the chocolate food group" does M & M's count? I'm on my 2nd bag..not the little ones either! lol
While I can celebrate anything with chocolate I'd like to know the heavy cream season, dahlianut. Would it be the start of summer so we can enjoy it with strawberries or maybe blueberry season? Or even peach time or peaches and raspberries? In desperation, of course, there's banana cream pie - good any day of the year as a pick me up but only with real heavy cream whipped into a frenzy. I bet Victor would like that!
Oooohhhh, that sounds good! I always like when I can eat chocolate! I Especially like Raisinets. Lots of antioxidants, so I don't feel like I'm being so bad!
Karen
Always appreciate a good whipping.
I'll bet you do, Victor!
Karen
Pirl heavy cream is a staple IMHO. I use it in sauces and dressings in the time of the cold and dark and as you note fruit grows with a tag that says 'serve with heavy cream'. Well at least my fruits do. M&Ms count pixie. I have discovered the horror of the lack of Smarties in the US. I am bringing Smarties to NM and AZ this winter so you need to keep on the look out for them as they spread across the country. I will be removing the red ones (dye allergies) and the blue ones (cuz blue candy is just plain wrong IMHO).
It's a staple IMH (InMyHome), too.
dahlianut....it's the red dye your allergic to? So is DD boyfriend!!
He used to play sports and coach would give him a gator aid.....it was all over if he handed him the red gator aid!
I believe raisinetts are like the Zone Diet which balances carbs and protine.
Eat both in proper proportion in the same meal and they cancel each other out as far as fat on your body goes.
Raisinetts raisin center is a good carb and cancells out the chocolate outer layer which contains milk, so there's your carb and protine.
So neat when things work out like that.
A group of women here celebrate solstice with an afternoon tea, its a great gathering with a reading of poetry and celebrates the real pre christian season which was pretty bloody in ancient times.