Gardening

[CarverJill]

Some of the cinder block holes have beans, others have pumpkins, cilantro, carrots and something I can't remember. The chicken wire is to prevent my cats from treating the garden like a big outdoor cat box. They really like the soft soil :P

 

[CarverJill]

There are some kind of cool things if you Google cinder block gardening and look at the images . . .

Yes, thats where I got the idea 2 years ago. I have some extra cinder blocks Jenny!

Grass doesn't really grow here in fact the county paid us $8000 to get rid of our lawns and put in drought tolerant plants that need less water. We do have plenty of other types of weeds to pull tough.

 

[bounceswoosh]

Grass doesn't really grow here in fact the county paid us $8000 to get rid of our lawns and put in drought tolerant plants that need less water.

What are your regulations on watering? We have a sprinkler system, which of course means the grass gets plenty of water. We've had restrictions a few summers. I've thought about xeriscaping, but heard it actually reflects heat onto the house and makes it hotter. Also the lawn is just kinda nice to have ...

 

[WaterGirl]

wondering when this thread would restart!
In Coastal So Cal - drought restrictions lifted. I still have "small" front lawn. Small winter raised box has nothing growing in it - it was established this year, I guess will move b/c not enough sun. Will plant spring veggies in other boxes this week, but can grow year round. I do have lime tree which took 7 years to really start producing, now I have too many limes! My butterfly garden is on its second set of Monarch caterpillars and when the rabbits? squirrels are kept at bay have some nice veggies.

So question for those who know... this is a small espalier apple tree that DH "rescued." It was replanted 2+ years ago in our back yard, and then came down with some kind of bark disease. I was almost going to pull it. With all the rain we've had it really started blooming, it still has split bark issues and I don't even know how it produced fruit b/c we never had many low chill nights, but its pretty exciting to see the apples growing.... @Powgirl or any other divas know anything about apple tree split bark disease? Local "expert gardener" wants $250 to come out to look at it!

 

[bounceswoosh]

My butterfly garden

I've never heard of such a thing, but it sounds neat!

On a sort-of related note (bees, butterflies, they're both insects?), @Kimmyt mentioned that wildflower seeds might not germinate for two seasons - is that everyone else's experience? I attempted to plant some Seedles last season in pots, and nothing happened. I wonder if they'll show up this season ... and I have no idea which pots they're in ...

My husband's company also provided us with a pack of Colorado-specific wildflower seeds ... haven't decided what I want to do with them. I do want to support bees! And not in the misguided Cheerios way.

 

[Powgirl]

WaterGirl...bark split is usually caused by winter damage, and most often happens with young trees. The biggest concern is the split makes the tree more vulnerable to disease and pests.

I would get some tree wrap and bandage the splits...fertilize monthly and use this:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bayer-A...ect-Disease-and-Mite-Control-701285/202019105.

I think your tree will make it!!

 

[Christy]

I've never heard of such a thing, but it sounds neat!

On a sort-of related note (bees, butterflies, they're both insects?), @Kimmyt mentioned that wildflower seeds might not germinate for two seasons - is that everyone else's experience? I attempted to plant some Seedles last season in pots, and nothing happened. I wonder if they'll show up this season ... and I have no idea which pots they're in ...

My husband's company also provided us with a pack of Colorado-specific wildflower seeds ... haven't decided what I want to do with them. I do want to support bees! And not in the misguided Cheerios way.

I live in a very different climate than you, but I've NEVER had any luck with flower seeds. Ever, in many yards, trying many times. Nothing happens. Ever. I can get veggie seeds to sprout but not flowers.

 

[WaterGirl]

@Powgirl thanks !
@bounceswoosh - butterfly garden is also humming bird/ bee friendly - a lot of milkweed for the butterflies (which gets stripped down to the stalk and looks ugly but grows back) and lavender, wild sage, etc....

 

[newboots]

The only thing is, I find our grass wants to invade everything, and weeding between rocks or other hard objects (like cinder blocks) is awful! I guess I'll have to resort to pesticides.

Or a barrier under the blocks, like heavy black plastic. You can't put a lot of plastic down, or it messes up drainage. But you surely could under the cinderblocks.

 

[newboots]

@Powgirl thanks !
@bounceswoosh - butterfly garden is also humming bird/ bee friendly - a lot of milkweed for the butterflies (which gets stripped down to the stalk and looks ugly but grows back) and lavender, wild sage, etc....

And anise hyssop and monarda. Easiest care possible, and the bees LOVE it!

 

[CarverJill]

I'd love to plant some milkweed and get monarch caterpillars. Where did you get the seeds?

What are your regulations on watering? We have a sprinkler system, which of course means the grass gets plenty of water. We've had restrictions a few summers. I've thought about xeriscaping, but heard it actually reflects heat onto the house and makes it hotter. Also the lawn is just kinda nice to have ...

The restrictions were lifted with all the rain we got this spring. Last summer it was 7 minutes of watering 2x/week. Our grass mostly died and we had to give all our trees extra water. I like grass and lawns sinve I grew up in NY but I do not like dead lawns that need so much water the bill is $500. Our lawn removal project was costly (more than the $8000 we got from the county) but hopefully will save us money in terms of water, moving and other maintenance. This week we had to weed our decomposed granite since so many weeds grew in it after the rain. Fingers crossed that they won't come back till next year but I think that's pushing it. We have a very complicated sprinkler system but in the past few months I have been trying to make it better and have learned a lot about it. Working on my yard is sort of like a part time for job for me at the moment, it has needed so much work. The garden is so easy compared to the rest of the yard.

 

[bounceswoosh]

Wow! Yeah, at 7 minutes twice a week, there's no point trying to grow grass.

 

[WaterGirl]

RE: the milkweed - apparently I have the "tropical" version that may have come into recent controversy -- it can be found at most so cal nurseries now .....apparently b/c it grows year round it "may" encourage the Monarch to stay rather than continue to mexico -- see: https://monarchbutterflygarden.net/is-tropical-milkweed-killing-monarch-butterflies/

However, I did find this store which seems to have the best selection of native - https://bluemoonnative.com/collections/monarch-habitat-seeds

yesterday afternoon I found this:


This morning it had changed to this:



hard to believe in less than 15 hours .......

 

[CarverJill]

I'd love to see that in my backyard! Thanks for the tips. I'll look for it next time I'm at a gardening store. Will you post updates on the transformation?

 

[Kimmyt]

I'm having an issue with my soil in my garden box, particularly the one closest to the house. My garden boxes are set in a portion of my yard that gets sunlight all day. They are surrounded by light colored river rock, and the heat gets really intense and can reflect off of the house. Usually, this isn't an issue, because my tomatoes love the heat so I have started putting them in the same spot in the box closest to my house where it is the hottest. Problem is that tomatoes are nutrient hogs, and even though the last few years I have put quite a bit of (free from the town) compost in the box, I am having an issue with the soil becoming hygrophobic/unable to take in water. Internet searches have led me to see that this is because the soil needs more nutrients/organic matter and some really, really deep watering.

I have been planning to put in drip irrigation for more watering efficiency (currently using hand watering), but I think I will also build the remaining two boxes I have planned for that area and transfer a bunch of the old soil to the new boxes to mix with some good purchased compost, as maybe the township compost isn't of the highest quality. Then I will top/mix in some additional compost to the current bed that is experiencing soil issues. I also always use straw mulch for water retention, but over the winter the wind tends to blow it off so I think the dry winter this year added to the problem.

Anyway, if I get my additional beds built then I am going to install that drip irrigation system I have been intending to do for years, I think it will really help things out!

Ugh, this is the nitpicky detailed stuff that annoys me about gardening. I just want to plant things in the ground and watch them grow, not have to do daily problem solving.

 

[bounceswoosh]

I'm having an issue with my soil in my garden box, particularly the one closest to the house. My garden boxes are set in a portion of my yard that gets sunlight all day. They are surrounded by light colored river rock, and the heat gets really intense and can reflect off of the house. Usually, this isn't an issue, because my tomatoes love the heat so I have started putting them in the same spot in the box closest to my house where it is the hottest. Problem is that tomatoes are nutrient hogs, and even though the last few years I have put quite a bit of (free from the town) compost in the box, I am having an issue with the soil becoming hygrophobic/unable to take in water. Internet searches have led me to see that this is because the soil needs more nutrients/organic matter and some really, really deep watering.

I have been planning to put in drip irrigation for more watering efficiency (currently using hand watering), but I think I will also build the remaining two boxes I have planned for that area and transfer a bunch of the old soil to the new boxes to mix with some good purchased compost, as maybe the township compost isn't of the highest quality. Then I will top/mix in some additional compost to the current bed that is experiencing soil issues. I also always use straw mulch for water retention, but over the winter the wind tends to blow it off so I think the dry winter this year added to the problem.

Anyway, if I get my additional beds built then I am going to install that drip irrigation system I have been intending to do for years, I think it will really help things out!

Ugh, this is the nitpicky detailed stuff that annoys me about gardening. I just want to plant things in the ground and watch them grow, not have to do daily problem solving.

Can you mix in compost to help? I didn't think the dirt in my boxes last summer was particularly great, but I wasn't in a position to fix it. A few weeks ago, I actually dug out a trash can full of dirt and replaced it with compost. I over-bought, so you can have one of my bags if you don't want to spend $5 or whatever on it ;-)

 

[bounceswoosh]

Question about evergreens:

A friend recently told me that the brown needles on my arbor vitae, caused by dog pee, will never "heal." There will just always be brown on the bottom of the trees. We have a larger arbor vitae that has always had brown at the bottom. I thought it was due to continuous "application," but now I wonder.

Thoughts?

 

[newboots]

Question about evergreens:

A friend recently told me that the brown needles on my arbor vitae, caused by dog pee, will never "heal." There will just always be brown on the bottom of the trees. We have a larger arbor vitae that has always had brown at the bottom. I thought it was due to continuous "application," but now I wonder.

Thoughts?

I don't know, but I do know that the folks at any good garden center just live to answer questions like these. And the website Daves Garden has about a million answered questions and the content is usually high quality. Ymmv, of course.

I'm always shocked by how incredibly helpful the people at the garden center are. We are losing much of that great retail experience with the big box stores. I imagine our parents could get great advice wherever they shopped, back in the day.

 

[bounceswoosh]

I don't know, but I do know that the folks at any good garden center just live to answer questions like these. And the website Daves Garden has about a million answered questions and the content is usually high quality. Ymmv, of course.

I'm always shocked by how incredibly helpful the people at the garden center are. We are losing much of that great retail experience with the big box stores. I imagine our parents could get great advice wherever they shopped, back in the day.

True - I can ask there. I spend a lot of time there, anyway =)

 

[Jenny]

Question about evergreens:

A friend recently told me that the brown needles on my arbor vitae, caused by dog pee, will never "heal." There will just always be brown on the bottom of the trees. We have a larger arbor vitae that has always had brown at the bottom. I thought it was due to continuous "application," but now I wonder.

Thoughts?

I can tell you that we don't have a dog and the bottom of every arbor vitae I've ever had has been brown. I'm probably going to dig the ones we have up, too.