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Post by Mary Ann on May 21, 2015 7:45:43 GMT -5
I'd sure like to hear your late spring updates! What's growing? What's flopping? Are you drowning in rain, or baking in the sun? Any new stuff you're looking forward to harvesting this year? Landscaping challenges? Sheryl, I remember your desire to change the entry to your place. How did that go? Veggies, fruits, or flowers, I'd love to hear about it!  |
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Post by Idaho Linda on May 21, 2015 10:12:00 GMT -5
This would be me. It is a strange, strange year. We haven't gotten our spring rains and we didn't get much snow in the winter. Next year we will probably drown to make up for it. We have had lots of the weather we never get--65 to 70 and sun. But the sun is intense and it can really make it feel like it is more like mid 80s I had a lot of problems with my seed starting. I bought some peppers at ACE from a nursery about a hundred miles from here. The plants were absolutely beautiful and in nice, big pots. And, unbelievably inexpensive. The nursery is located on a road I travel to see my folks and family. I think that I will start very few plants next year and take advantage of this nursery. I am finding that I no longer enjoy the mess and time associated with starting my own. I love having my window sills back. Other than that, things are growing well. Oh, new toy to share. Black and Decker makes a mower deck for their 12-inch weedeater (some models.) It turns the weedeater into what looks like a child's lawnmower. I have no idea why this hasn't been done before. It is the guys who come around who really love it. It turns the weedeater into, basically, a vacuum. You just go out and vacuum those spots you know the lawnmower isn't going to be able to hit. Along curbs or whatever, you can just push it right along. It weighs nothing rolling along on its little wheels. You cannot skin up a tree--the body of the deck prevents the string from coming in contact with anything on the front or sides. And, if you want a regular weedeater, just step on the orange lever and it releases the weedeater from the deck. If you had a tiny lawn, you could use it for your mower. Here is the Amazon link: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HH4K6XS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 You can get the weedeater either corded or battery. In a perfect world, this would fit the weedeater you already own. If Amazon really does have the cordless model at $139, I would snatch it up. Earlier, the cordless weedeater and deck were close to $200. You have to buy your own cord for the corded. And the 3-pronged extension cord you already have won't fit into the plug-in protector. So, effectively, you can go cordless for about $40. |
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Post by Mary Ann on May 21, 2015 11:44:51 GMT -5
Sounds like fun, Linda! Sometimes having the right tools makes all the difference between drudgery and something enjoyable. I just recently picked up a battery weed whacker made by Stihl. I'd gotten a little battery chainsaw and loved it so much, I went back for the weed eater and leaf blower. There are places too far from an outlet to use a corded one, and small motors seem to hate me. Plus, since we make our own electricity, it's cheaper than gas models to use. I loff these tools! Garden's off to a nice start, although I think we've ended up with all the rain you were supposed to get. It's been a challenge to get out there enough to keep the weeds down. I'm hoping the potatoes don't just rot in the ground. I started a new seed starting method this year. I bought some heavy duty metal shelves and added six T8 bulbs to each shelf. Then a heat mat underneath, and parked it next to a west window. This year every single thing came up gangbusters. I bought several open pollenated varieties so I can save seed. I know what you mean about having your windows back though; getting this thing torn down for the year was nice! Did you plant anything new or unusual? I decided to put out some lima beans. I don't know why, except that I've never grown them and the picture in the catalog in January looked delicious.  I'm going to dry them to throw into soups and such. It's a chilly morning here; had lows last night in the low 40s. Really weird spring weather for my part of the country. But I don't mind. I put out ten fruit trees a few weeks back that are doing well. I hope I live long enough to harvest something.  |
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Post by Trailpal on May 21, 2015 13:45:40 GMT -5
Last Saturday, I grabbed my friend from practically next door and we went to a nursery/garden center about 10 miles away. Even though we live between Annapolis and Washington DC, there are some nice old roads that go through a wildlife refuge and the USDA experimental farms, so it was like a drive through the country to get there. I mostly bought 2.5" potted herbs - chives, cilantro, parsley, basil, tarragon, thyme, peppermint and spearmint, lemon verbena and a small lavender. I got a couple of larger flowers (annuals) to plant among the elephant ears my sister had sent over the winter. hmm, 4 salvias (two tall, two short) to plant along the side of the house where my clumping grass plants are. And plants for the two big pots in front of the house - tall and short zinnias, along with some prostrate rosemary that should spill over the sides of the pots. Actually, I planted everything in pots or planters - our soil is horrible clay with some patches of sand. It took most of the afternoon, but I got everything planted and watered just in time for the storm rolling through that evening. Next morning I went out and everything looked great, all green and perky, no wilting at all! Only 5 days later, and I can see growth on all the plants We were a little shocked at the prices when we bought our plants and scaled down from what we were planning on, but wow - no losses and immediate growth. It's worth it! My friend got some peonies, a cucumber, some herbs, and a few other things. We got together the next morning to compare notes and while she didn't get everything planted on Saturday, the things she did plant looked great and as if they had never been transplanted. I'll have to get some pictures, I am so tickled to see everything doing well. |
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Post by donna on May 26, 2015 11:45:53 GMT -5
I tried straw bale gardening this year. It has rained 22 out of the past 24 days. This morning I spotted my peas and beans both sprouting. Only problem is the mushrooms and mice have played havoc in my bales so only a few sprouts were left undisturbed. Slugs were having a field day with my peppers, I went to war. coffee grounds, eggshells, little beer swimming pools are helping. My basil froze.
Blane and I are headed out on our first horse camping trip on Thursday. I'm hoping everything dries out while we are gone. I will replant seeds on Monday. My tomatoes and peppers will have a long enough season to produce, everything else will have to grow in a hurry. I have potatoes planted but I'm not sure if they will survive, they may have rotted in place.
Can't believe this is Colorado. Best laid plans... as they say......
The only good thing with all this excess moisture is my lawn looks awesome, my pastures are shin high, and my flower garden looks like a Monet painting. We have Sprouts down the street, if my stuff all rots in place, they have great fresh organic produce.
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Post by kerryc on May 26, 2015 13:31:20 GMT -5
Texas is pretty much under water right now. All the lakes are above capacity. Boat ramps are underwater - heck the parking lots to the lakes are undwer water. The river through Whimberly rose 40 FEET in 1 hour, took homes off their foundations. Trees are starting to fall over because the ground is mush, the roots are holding on to mush and can not stand up when we get thoese 50/60 MPH winds.
I'm really glad my home sits on a slight hill.
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Post by Sheryl on May 29, 2015 9:33:46 GMT -5
I would love to share pix, but they are all from my phone and i usually upload to facebook. Does it work to link to FB pictures or do i need to find another way to upload them? That is one reason these old forums are getting harder, we are used to just going from phone to FB (or whatever social media)!
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Post by Trailpal on May 29, 2015 17:28:04 GMT -5
If you make your FB picture "public", you can post your photos here. Go to your photo in FB - if there is not a little grey globe next to the date, it's probably limited to friends or friends of friends. Click on the grey figure that is there and choose "public". Click on the photo so it's by itself on the screen. In the photo, right-click, and select "Copy Image Location" Then display the pic in your post in the normal way - in the EF Create Post window, click the icon of a landscape (next to the email icon) and past the "Image Location" link into the "Image URL" space. Like so: (my sister's BF in my dad's garden a few years ago) You can check your work by clicking on the "preview" tab found at the bottom of the Create Post window.  |
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Post by Sheryl on Jun 1, 2015 17:38:47 GMT -5
Lets try it.... I will get more pictures this weekend   |
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Post by Sheryl on Jun 1, 2015 17:47:17 GMT -5
This is from a month ago. I have added more since, but no new photos yet.  |
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Post by Marci on Jun 21, 2015 11:58:27 GMT -5
I hope this works, it's my fuchsia I bought on Mothers day on my back patio.  |
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Post by Mary Ann on Jun 24, 2015 7:28:44 GMT -5
*Bwahahahaha!!!* Gotta love the squirrel.  You guys have some beautiful pics! And Kerry, I've been sending prayers down Texas way. This is a terrible streak of bad weather for y'all. Trailpal, even though I never met him, I miss your dad. He was a kindred spirit. |
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I'm going to dry them to throw into soups and such.
