Todays Project.

What's on your agenda? Did you get your hands dirty?
My project today was to set up a new strawberry bed. The first real digging of the season.
I turned over a 10 X 10 area with a spading fork, removed all the weeds and crab/witch grass. Screened and spread 3 wheelbarrows of compost and threw down some slow release 10-10-10 and lime.
Tomorrow I will turn it over again, screen another bunch of compost, dig up 20 new runners from last years 'nursery' patch and plant.
I started the nursery patch last spring because I was tired of ordering Tristar 'Day Neutral' strawberries and getting something else. I was able to find a dozen young runners from the 3rd planting of my original Tristars I got almost 20 years ago. That bed was really old at 6 years.
I have some nice June bearers that will get a new bed soon as well. Their nursery bed is overflowing with runners, too.
I also have a ton of work to do in the main perennial bed which I intended to do last spring, lol. Then there is.... Oh, it's never done, is it.

As much as I'd like to I am resisting the urge. The ground is still frozen solid and they're calling for snow tonight...

**sigh**

It was pretty cold with the wind off the Atlantic but the sun was bright. The ground has thawed, the worms are up.
I neglected my gardens last year, everything was on Auto Pilot. I would sit on the patio with the laptop and think about what should be done.
Perennials are a priority, my hostas, iris and day lilies must be dealt with before they wake up.
I pruned and sprayed all the fruits last weekend. It hurts to cut away 80% of the grape vine, lol.
Andy P

Iris society meeting was today, so nothing here was done, even not with DH who is our real gardener, but not interested in the computer, although he will look at the bird forum when I am viewing the pictures.

I went to the local Garden Expo yesterday. I bought 40 pound bags of composted cow manure from a local Boy Scout troop for $12 each and they will deliver it to my house! The arborist who is there every year gave me TWO bottles of compost tea and I watched a booth for a woman who makes very upper end beaded necklaces (my favorite is $1400!) while she got come compost tea and a necklace sold while I was there! Today's project assuming it is warm enough is to pull out the oriental poppies that are crowding out the daffodils! I will try potting some and I have someone who will take the others. Yes, I know they might not make it because they don't transplant well - especially in the Spring - but they have to go!

Got rid of the poppies and moved daffofils into the holes. The container planted grapes and goumi shared the compost tea with the garlic. Got to chat with two of my young neighbors that I hadn't seen all winter and one of them grew taller! Cussed at the 5' hig mountain of tree chippings that is probably suffocating my horesradish - get a move on - I told it. Finished my income tax and now after feeding cast (again) I'm off to check my seeds and order what ever I don't already have and want.

Yep, got dirty for a few hours. Dividing some 'Stella d'oro' and some liriope

I need to get started on building some raised bed for my veggies...yeah yeah I should have done it last year to have it ready for this year but I was working on my shade garden last year.

My main project for this first week of spring was to get down and dirty yesterday to scrape up many mercifully still smallish weeds in my perennial beds--have no idea what they are; no doubt something that self-sowed with abandon, but it was so good to be back in the dirt.

NOw I need to be strong and do SOMETHING with my oriental and asiatic lilies--maybe dig them up. I love them, but the lily leaf beetle is firmly entrenched in my garden and I do the organic thing and the beetles don't seem to notice!

I didn't get the strawberries moved as planned. It was cloudy, windy and cold. Poooo.
The bed is way out in the yard requiring a long garden hose to water. The night time temps are still below freezing, draining 100 feet of hose after each use is a pain.
We have not had appreciable rain/snow in 2 weeks, I can't plant without a good soaking. Maybe Wednesday when it warms up again.
So I cleaned up the long line of clematis vines growing on the dog fence and assisted my neighbor pruning a bunch of butterfly bushes I gave him last spring. He's timid at pruning, I'm not, lol.
Andy P

CCG, those red beetles are nasty.
I spray the lilies with the leftover fruit tree insecticide if there is any left. Otherwise it's hand picking and squishing every day. Be sure to get the eggs, too.
Andy P

The only thing you can do is catch & sqash early on. Wipe the bottom of the leaf with cotton balls with alcohol. I have been told by a correspondent in Denmark that they eat a lot of plants but only lay their eggs on lillies & fritilaries. So I don't plant any of the frits. I tried lillies again last year & the beetles came, even though no one near us seems to grow them. I do think the thing to do is try some other flower.

I'm not giving up on my Asiatics.

Great picture--I won't tell the beetles where you are.

Early on I go into the gardens with strips of duct tape stuck to my clothes (partly to entertain my neighbors). When I spot a dreaded Lily bug, I catch it with the sticky side - fold over some of the tape - instant coffin Works great and no squishing! :)

that's pretty good!

Another use for duct tape!

My wife has had real good luck with blueberries but not so much with the strawberries. Is there a good trick to getting good, sweet strawberries?

Greg

I like the duct tape idea, lol.
Greg. First you need good plants. I have a devil of a time getting what I ordered. The last Tristar order came with tags and looked good. They grew larger than expected but it wasn't until the next season when they started producing that I noticed they were too big to be Tristars. They tasted fine but half would rot before ripening, very frustrating. I yanked them all up that autumn. The order before turned out to be June bearers, OK but that's not what I ordered.
The key may be to prepare the bed very well with lots of compost.
Space the new plants 18 - 24 inches apart depending on variety.
Water well and often for the first month, they expect wet spring conditions.
Pinch off the flower buds for the first 6 - 8 weeks after planting.
Don't let the bed get over crowded with runners.
Add a generous layer of compost every spring after cleaning and thinning.
Start a new bed every 3rd spring with last seasons runners. Old plants don't produce much or send out many runners.
I occasionally have to use bird netting to get the first berries. Later ones are ignored because the birds flock to a nearby Mulberry tree and my blackberries.
Andy P

It's the larvae disguising themselves under there poop which gets to me; not that I like things being chewed. Project wrapping GD birthday presents & sending to MN. Can't believe that she will be 15. Her younger brother likes gardens.

Have those beetles too! Was good to read about them. They devastated the tiger lilies ( from my Mom). Will definitely try to get rid of them.
Too cold to work outside, the crocus didn't even open. Did transplant some MG to bigger pots, and marigolds (kept seed from last year, they bloomed til Oct. did better than mums). Plan to start tomatoes today in house...it is starting to get busy and am antsy like all of you to get out there in the sun!

Hi Andy! It's nice to see you again. ^_^
I've got MG's started too, and viola's,ect...lol! Have a box of new lilies from one of the co-ops, some are sprouting so I guess i'll be potting them up today.

I heard about the snow on the Cape, lol.
BTW, that big cluster of Asiatics started with one bulb 5 years earlier. I now have four clusters. I got a Turks Lily at the Round up 2 years ago which I almost lost to the beetles last spring. It flourished and bloomed well after some daily monitoring.
Hi, Pixie. I need a break from my on-line gift store and my photo site now and then so I visit DG.
Todays project was brief with the cold. I moved a brush pile. I have a quick drop off spot just outside the dog fence for woody, viney and thorny trimmings that don't go to the compost pile. Thirty minutes, twice a year keeps it open.
I found my seed starter flats, starter soil and seeds. That will get done in the next few days.
I hope tomorrow is warm enough to deal with the strawberries.
Andy P

Got nothing done today due to having to work (gotta make money somehow to support my gardening addiction, he, heeee!). But this past weekend I got a lot accomplished.

Saturday I worked on an area on one of our woodland paths. My sister is calling it her secret garden, and last weekend she made great strides in getting it all cleared out, and she is planning on putting in a 'garden room', a sitting area with a big home-made arbor, made from choke cherry trunks she will cut down. The Rosa multiflora she cut way back will have something decent to climb now, instead of getting up into my beauty bush and red bud. So I did a lot of cleaning up the leaves and twigs from that area Sat. I also had very large clumps of daffs growing on the other side of the path, so I decided they needed dividing. I planted some in new beds in the secret garden.

I also moved and divided some still dormant astilbe plants that had been growing in a shade garden in the front garden where the soil is too dry for their liking. Those got moved to the secret garden area. Then I moved some primroses and some variegated Solomon's Seal. I bordered the garden with logs. I was thrilled with the way it turned out, and I can't wait for the plants to fill it in!

Sunday I did some burning and cleaning up of beds. I also tackled a huge clump of old fashion rambler roses that I've been meaning to move for a few years now. What a big project that was! I moved them to an arbor where I had red climbing roses the past few years, and every year they look awful from black spot and they were half dead. So now I have something there that doesn't get diseased. Had to cut the canes way back, as it was too hard to handle with them full size. They had gotten really long!!!!

Yesterday, in spite of the really cold weather, I did more clean-up work. I got a lot of gardens raked out in an area that's been neglected for a long time. I uncovered many daylilies that my mother planted back in 1993. I had known they were there, but they didn't get much attention. Many had the name tags still on them, too, so I know which ones they are. Most are Gilbert H. Wild cultivars, and probably many I won't keep due to the fact I'm culling out the ones I don't want to use in my hybridizing efforts.

Whew! I got a lot accomplished this past weekend, and I'm thrilled with all my progress. You know, even though there is not much in bloom now and very little green, this time of year is great too. When I clean out my beds they look great, cause there are not weeds all overgrown everywhere!!!! Everything looks nice and clean! Once summer gets here it will looks chaotic again. Oh well!

Karen

Sarahskeeper, did you cut the butterfly bushes way back to within 12" of the ground? That's what I do. If you did, he must have had a heart attack, thinking you butchered them! LOL! Even cut back that far, they still grow huge!

Karen

I get tired just reading your activities. I see you were not far enough south to get the snow.

I use Sevin on the lily beetles. Works great! But I use chemical pesticides very sparingly. I have only been using it on the lily beetles and little green caterpillars that eat my heurcheras and roses and a few other things. I also used it last year on a creepy caterpillar that was eating my mhugo pine. Oh, and on the sawfly larvae that eat the foliage of my one and only hibiscus. This year I plan to use an organic pesticide that contains Spinosad. Anyone know about it? It's supposed to be like BT but better, and it's supposed to work on caterpillars, beetles and other things. Some kind of bacterial control that kills the creepy crawlies.

Sarahskeeper, I won't give up on my Asiatics or Orientals yet either. I love them too much. Oh, did you hear about the Round Up I'm having at my place this July 19th? I have a thread about it in the Northwest Gardening forum (I just bumped that one up to the top) and the Round Up forum. You're so close to me, maybe you could come. I would love to have you! Boojum is having one at her place in Western MA in June, too, for peak Siberian Iris bloom. Mine is during peak daylily bloom.

Karen

Iris, more like not far enough east, I should think. They got it on the Cape, but not here.

Karen

Whats my goal today? I should start cleaning the GH as time is a ticking. I need to Clorox the weed mat as water ran in and has left some moldy/mossy stuff. That cant stay in there.

Hi Andy - love Sarah's stamp! http://www.zazzle.com/regular_dog_stamp_postage-172314850882361213

I haven't been visiting the NE forum much - y'all are just too much to keep up with! LOL Saw the recent post and had to visit and say hello :) I've been busy with my first project of the spring - still haven't finished projects from last year but what the heck! This is something I've been wanting to do for two years and I finally accomplished it :) Wish I had taken "before" photos so you could have seen this Weeping Spruce hanging down into the path. This would have been the year we would have had to cut it back because by the end of the summer we would have been tripping over it. Finally found a reasonably priced arbor and got it installed last week. At the rate this Spruce is growing in a couple of years it will cascade down the other side!

From the other side, you can see where the path follows the edge of what "used" to be our pond. The liner developed a leak and I'm hoping to plant this end of it as more of a bog garden with plants that love the shady moist conditions. Played around a little this week with Photoshop and this is what I would love to have the planting look like :) A girl can dream, right? LOL

If the patio/building got sun some clemantis would be a choice. I think I am getting addicted to them.

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(¯´·.¸(¯´·.¸I gotta get out of here or wont get nothing done(¯´·.¸(¯´·.¸
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DH raked the leaves off a couple of beds. I fought with gift wrap on birthday presents for GD in MN. He does the outside box, I do the fancy gift wrap inside, although today I need an extra hand to hold down the end of the paper.

I'll give you a hand! (clap, clap, clap, clap!) There, did that help a little?

You can't clap & hold the paper down tight at the same time. Anyway, the post office has it now.

Yes you can clap but: they know every-breath you take.

Karen, you've been busy! ! ! You're right that this is a great time to get things done. Most plants are still dormant, you don't sweat much and it's darn nice to get something done in the yard.
I was shocked when my neighbor (Mr D) started pruning his butterfly bushes. I gave him one 6 or 8 years ago which he only trims. We have debated this issue for years, lol. He started cutting them back hard like I do. Not the original plant, some 2 year olds. He's gotten hooked on butterfly bushes.
LOL, Nancy. I was wondering why Sarah's stamp was getting extra hits, thanks for the link.
The arbor should work well. I love what you did with the garden in PaintShop.
Schick, I like clematis too.
Todays project. I finally finished the new strawberry bed. No matter how often I dig, there are always new rocks to deal with. I think they grow.
Thank you all for joining in. Big and small projects are welcome. It's motivational.
Andy P

Just planted butterfly bushes last year, when do I trim them? How high should they be? Want the plant to eventually be 4-5 ft high. My sisters is over 6 ft and butterflies and flowers galore in the summer, trims it only enough to keep off path.