any gardeners?

“There are quite a few products designed to keep small animals away. Some are based on predator urine compunds, others (like plantskydd, which is very effective) are bases on sterilized pork blood. It worked well, but I couldn't get over the creepy factor. It also drove the cats nuts.”

“try this:

”

“I tilled my garden march 30, which is the earliest ever for me”

“that is great to hear Sass :)


hot feet i am in Southern New York.

oh and can you come over and help me start my garden :)”

“Spent the weekend getting the front gardens cleaned up. The daffodils, iris, day lilies, hostas, peonies, bleeding hearts have all broken ground to various heights from a half to five inches, with two crocuses blooming last Friday. With daytime temps predicted to stay in the 60s all week up here, and nights not getting too cold, I expect a real growth spurt. Divided day lilies yesterday, creating one small new bed and expanding another location away from the gas meter they screen by moving some violets, and moving a couple good clumps out to the right-of-way because I had no more room in the beds at this point. Next task is removing the grass in the pathway around the bed on one side of the yard, making it a true "no mow" zone by filling with pine bark chips like the "patio" space where the bistro table and chairs sit.

On the subject of tomatoes and containers, look for the Patio variety. We have had great success the past two summers with that variety in a raised planter and in containers. Pretty drought tolerant, we discovered, last summer when we had to be out of town for longer than expected and a heat wave hit. Those in the raised planter thrived and the one in a container survived and still produced fruit.

On the subject of critters, the rabbits chewed my two New Jersey Tea bushes to the ground over the winter -- which is not good for a "slow growing" bush. The amount of rabbit droppings around the various bushes and hedges is the highest we've ever had over a winter. They also clipped a main vine on my honeysuckle on the backyard fence and trimmed a fair number of branches out of my alpine currant shrubs.

Good gardening to all.”

“Is it okay to divide my daylilies this time of year??? I thought I should wait until it warms up??? I too was out (in the great northwoods) raking, and edging, and generally enjoying the Spring temps. Maybe we are neighbors!”

“My blog just won me a free copperhead weeder- I have no idea what that is but I wont say no to a free garden tool!”

“whohoo!!! send me a link!”

“Tilling,tilling and more tilling! Man I've got to buy a tractor.”

“graska, you want a link to my blog? I cant share that here, its not BP related AND i talk about ya all on it LOL!
last edited: 4/10/06 9:27:26 PM”

“okay, never mind then... I think I am unsure exactly what a blog is then... is it like a public running commentary, or is it a private thing??? My friend has a blog for her resort, and it's public. Didn't mean to offend... : )”

“LMAo...im just joking...here-


http://www.girlgonegardening.blogspot.com/

It is pretty lame though.
last edited: 4/10/06 9:34:50 PM”

“ya got me! I was thinking, there isn't much that is NOT discussed on here... but as I said, the blog is a pretty new concept, at least for me.”

“I have a technical blog that's aggregated onto a community website with other blogs. I haven't really got the hang of the blogging thing.”

“My wife and I put that split bamboo fencing up over the next-door neighbor's chain link fence this past weekend.

It looks really nice. I can't wait for everything to start growing in front of it.

It went up pretty easily with cable ties every few feet.”

“here in the Great Northwoods I removed all the hay mulch from my gardens to see life pushing through! I then put deer netting around all my gardens so, for the first time, the deer don't get to them before they flower!..I can't remember what should come up, it's been too long since I've seen a spring flower thanks to our local wildlife...”

“You need to get a big dog.

The lady that owned this house before us had a heck of a time with deer. She used that deer netting too. I've only seen deer in our yard once in 1.5 years even though the woods a few hundred feet away are full of deer prints.

I guess they smell the dog?”

“I plant plenty in my garden and see deer very infrequently although there were 8 deer in the garden one morning late last summer.

My grandfather usta say 'Plant one for the weather, one for the bugs, one for the wild animals and one for yourself.'
last edited: 4/11/06 5:49:06 AM”

“graska: from my readings about day lilies, they can be divided most any time and survive, the hardy buggers that they are. However the best times seem to be in the fall before frost and in the spring. In the spring, as long as the ground is thawed and the green spikes are just appearing, it should be ideal.”

“mapleleaf asked about veggie planting dates.

Here is a chart with safe times to plant various veggies: http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/TRA/PLANTS/index.html#http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopExt/TRA/PLANTS/vegpltim.html

NOAA has maps showing length of growing season, last frost and first frost dates. Use the middle one to determine the last frost date for your area: http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/TRA/PLANTS/index.html#http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopExt/TRA/PLANTS/vegpltim.html”

“NOAAs link didn't work Vman.”

“Ooops!

NOAA maps: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/documentlibrary/freezefrost/frostfreemaps.html”

“Thank you.”

“Well I started the second faze of my first ever garden last night: Preparing the area. I read online or in a magazine once that if you put down a tarp on the area you want your garden it will kill the grass so I put one down in January. Last night I pulled it back to take a look at my nice dead grass and it had the exact opposite effect. It worked like a greenhouse! The grass under the tarp was actually in better shape and was greener than the rest of the yard, to which my smart @ss wife replied, "Why don't you just put a tarp over the whole yard?"”

“Thrifty, a better way- lay down thick layers of newspaper (5-6 sheets thick) over the area you want to kill the grass and weeds. Make sure you over lap- Then get some compost or manure, leaves, grass clippings, etc and cover the newspaper. Let it go a season, longer if you have tough perenial weeds, and you can plant right through without having to do any major tilling and grass removal all the while enriching your soil. The good news- all the materials you use can be found around the home/ neighborhood, or gotten fairly cheap. You might also check the book out "Lasania (Sp?) Gardening" from the library.”

“i heard of that method too thanks, i should have used it but i'm as impatient as i am cheap

The good news- all the materials you use can be found around the home/ neighborhood, or gotten fairly cheap.

now you're speaking my language ;)

You might also check the book out "Lasania (Sp?) Gardening" from the library.

i can't go to the library right now...long story short, i'm on their top 10 list”

“Yes - we got asparagus!

At least 10 spears were poking up this morning.

Mmmmmmmm....”

“Wanted by the library?? LMAO! What, do you have like $500 worth of fines or something?

I bet my parents must have asparagus too! They planted a plant last year, but I remember they didn't get any then...I think they said you have to wait one year before you actually get asparagus.”

“anybody every grow their own coffee?

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/coffee.html

kinda seems like a lot of work:

They do best in filtered sunlight, with night temperatures in the lower to mid 60s and day temperatures of 70F or higher. Plant them in any good commercial, fast draining potting soil . The soil should be kept on the moist side, but never soggy.
Coffee plants will produce fruit without any fertilizing whatsoever, but for best results and maximum yield, they should be fed every 2 weeks from March to October, and then monthly from November through February. Use a soluble, all purpose (10-10-10)fertilizer.
last edited: 4/13/06 8:59:29 AM”

“th, I do!!! :)”

“Here we have to wait about three years before we get a decent crop. I have to keep my eyes on the asperagus; Birch has a habbit of snapping it off and eatting it all raw.”

“lyra - my wife and i both keep hoping the library comes out with a Netflix kind of service...we're both horible about taking books back

SC - how does the coffee turn out? do you get enough from one plant?, is it good?”

“my plant is only 2 years old now, so no coffee yet- maybe next year :)”

“3 years, good grief! See, that's why I'm not that into gardening...no instant gratification.

Well thrifty, maybe one day you'll learn that a life of crime doesn't pay.”

“Your parents only planted one plant, lyra? They won't get enough to feed a baby.

I planted three year old roots and waited a year before harvesting (this year is the first harvest). Younger roots need more time to get established. I've got about 40 plants in three varieties.”

“I read that asparagus roots can reach down 10 feet. There's a lot going on down there.”

“Oh well I'm sure they planted more than one then...not 40 though! Maybe like 6, I don't remember.”

“3 years seems short...everything i've read online said 4-6”

“Even 6 isnt enough. V-man- I grew the purple ones from seed one year- in two years I was getting asparagrass, and after that, I always had enough to share with the neighbors lol”

“Didn't your parents buy an Pontiac Aztec, lyra?

Are you sure they planted more than one?”

“FUNNY! They're selling it right now, I'll tell them you want to buy it. ;-) They're getting a Ford Escape hybrid instead...unfortunately it's not as ugly as the Aztec.”

“I hope they drive slow.”

“You gotta check out the "Gardener's Bible." Excellent source of info.

Be ready for insect pests. Do some esearch and you'll find a lot of natural ways of dealing with them. Planting marigolds and nasturtiums help a lot. But I like putting on my head lamp at night and squashing them, ever since i woke one morning to find beetles had eaten my sunflowers.

Plant Lettuce. It may seem kinda silly, but its a great crop. Grows fast, few pests, and is great with every meal. It also continues to produce through a long window, unlike many veggies that will give you one big crop that overwhelms you and your friends and family.

Good luck.”

“


”

“i love daffies and ours look great...the only thing i don't like about them is how short they bloom...is there anything you can do to prolong their bloom, or to make them bloom again?”

“nope :( its a once a year thing. You can however get diffrent viarities that have diffrent bloom times to extend the season a bit.”

“Water them with the blood of a freshly killed goat.”

“i'm all out of goat, will a beagle mix pup work?”

“No more Beagles!!!!!!!”

“A freshly killed goat, ha.

Slow? Whatcha talkin bout Sass?”