any gardeners?

“It takes a couple of years for any bulb to get established.”

“I've always had them bloom the first year.....”

“me too. But they are just starting to bloom now, you may have a few weeks to go SG. Do you have foliage?”

“Yep, tall and green. They did get snowed on, so I wondered if that stopped them from blooming. I don't see any sign of flower buds, but I'll keep checking!”

“sg, some bloom later. My poets daffy's are all leaves now and are jsut now starting to send up buds. Some are later season bloomers. Maybe you have that kind?”

“Perhaps. I have no idea! My sister works at a nursery, and gave me a bag of bulbs. I didn't look at them too carefully.”

“cool, can your sister get me some toad lilies??? ;)”

“If you like the look of the gray pavers, you might be better off with them because the colors of the others will fade over time anyway.”

“They're dyed through I believe. Good point though.
I don't care for the grey. The pink is kinda yucky, the tan looks the most natural for this area I think. None are really exciting yet. Maybe I'll get a photo snapped and posted and do a more official vote. I can't find an online photo anywhere.

Thanks for your help all!”

“Ok, another garden question:

We've got some bee-like bugs hanging around the soil on the sunny side. What are they and how do I get rid of them?”

“bee like???

Leave them be, we need all the polinators we can get.”

“Yea, they look like they have stingers, and they're kinda fat.

I'd leave them, but they're at our patio, which I plan to use excessively this summer. I'd like to not get stung.”

“Aren't you in an area with relatively cheap bluestone (flagstone) Sass? That would be my choice.

We used pavers at our last house and I was sorry after about five years. They got real dull.”

“smiley, are you allergic to bees, or are they actually stinging people then I would get rid of them, if not, leave em. But thats just me------
last edited: 4/24/07 8:33:58 PM”

“Some types of hornets and wasps (think yellowjackets) nest in the ground. If they get aggressive when you approach, bomb the nest. If they don't care that anyone is around leave them there. They need to be observed before you just get rid of them. It kind of sounds like some sort of predatory wasp which is great to have. I had something similar in FLorida and do here too. They just buzz around us and go about their business.”

“Here is a place that can help you identify your bugs & bees.

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/index.html
last edited: 4/25/07 2:21:15 AM”

“Violin, flags run about $225-250/ton and we need 4 tons. I thought they were relatively cheap but Birch does not agree. Sitting here and thinking about it, seems to me that they are almost the same price (circles run $4ea and 60 to a palet). I believe I'm going to have to do some calculating today, square footage wise.”

“I'm going to plant about a dozen tomato plants this year. If I had more room I'd plant more things, but I don't.”

“Cool RichB. If you like basil plant it around the tomatoes. They love it.”

“Good idea, I'll get a few basil plants when I pick up my tomato plants.”

“A dozen plants will get you like 10 trillion tomatoes.”

“http://www.frontgate.com/jump.jsp?itemID=9289&itemType=PRODUCT

I want a bunch of these for the koi pond! LOL!”

“Those are great! That frontgate catalogue has some interesting stuff.”

“tb have you seen those floating solar balls? I think they would be great in a koi pond.

RichB...prepare to be givin a way A TON of maters LOL

Every year I plant way to many maters....this eyar I've only planted 2....so far.”

“Or prepare to can them!”

“Yeah I've seen those.

There's a catalog I get that hos glowing glass spheres that are very spacy looking. Every time I see them I think of you, SC. :D”

“I expect to give some away and always did each year I had a garden. That's why I plant more than enough. I dry some too.”

“anybody check out the bug site?”

“Pamela, There's a thread with that bug site that was posted sometime ago. We've seen it before, although it is very cool.

Hey SC, I picked up some old tires yesterday to grow potatoes in. I thought I'd have a hard time getting someone to give them to me but got four bald tires at the local tire shop. He seemed excited to get rid of them and told me to come back for more anytime. I think their disposal fee is pretty high.

More rain today. The flower seeds I dropped two days ago are sprouted and the leaves and ferns and baby berries are growing super fast now that they've had a drink. I have raspberry and strawberry flowers already! Cherry tree is getting ready to bloom too. Hope we don't freeze again. The weather report looks good thus far.
last edited: 4/27/07 7:16:07 AM”

“Sass, tell me about the potatoes and the tires. How's it work? I have more damn tires than I can shake a stick at (and I have a lot of sticks).”

“Well, the idea is to plant seed potatoes and add a tire and fill with dirt each time the potato plant grows above the top of the tire. Come harvest time each tire should be full of potatoes. I'll find a how-to online for you. And any old potato that has sprouting eyes will work. Some will sprout from the supermarket, but most are treated with an agent that prevents that.”

“That makes sense, Sass. I'd be a little concerned about chemical contact and leaching though.”

“Here ya go!
http://www.humeseeds.com/potato.htm

I think I got the idea from "Mother Earth News" a few years ago.

This one has even more ideas for old tires:
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/sanders98.html
last edited: 4/27/07 8:09:21 AM”

“man we just barely have buds on the trees here...my daffodils are finally coming up, but nothing else yet.

After many years of not having a garden, the grandkids want one, so we started some seeds last weekend. Last year Ana came home from school with a marigold, and that got them both interested in plants.

Should be fun!”

“Treebait, It's pretty much just rubber, a natural componant. There are some heavy metals but according to several articles I've read they are imbedded in the rubber and will not escape. Some zinc is present but that's a beneficial element for plants. Organic gardening says thay're okay to use.

Twigeatter, sunflower houses are lots of fun. And if you want to you can start huge pumpkin seeds now, along with sweet peas, sugar snap peas, lettuces and radishes.”

“Sass, that's some great info. Thanks! That may be the only garden I have. I plowed a 35 x 35 piece last weekend, but still don't have the fence up. Haven't bought seeds either. A garden would be great, but there's sooo much to do:)”

“Nimble, you of all people should bookmark that backwoods home magazine site. It's fun and informative.”

“I looked up sunflower houses and those are cool! We have started a bunch of sunflower seeds too, the kids asked for them specifically.
The kids use the cedar shrubs out front as their playhouse. It's perfect, since I let the trees WAY overgrow and then trimmed them WAY back last year, LOL.

It's too cold here to plant outside just yet. I'll start peas and corn next weekend, but everything else is in the house for a few more weeks. My father gets early peas by planting in the fall and they come up in the spring.

I used to can and pickle (even made ketchup once) so I can't wait to teach the kids.”

“I bookmarked 'em both. Do they ever have any info on homemade beer or the drying of special leaves?”

“I don't know, don't recall much about either, ever.”

“I don't know about that tire thing.

"They" once said DDT was safe, too.

Anyaways, the people that owned the house behind us went belly up a few months back (one of many around me). I talked to the bank guy a couple of days ago about taking some of the stones and stuff from around the pond, and he said "go for it". Tons o'lillies, some Rose of Sharon, patio blocks, various "styles" of rocks and such; today will be a busy one.

We'll get some good weather this weekend, so I'll be able to get all of my boxes expanded, tilled and "stuff" installed. This year we are reserving a big grow box for some experimental archaeology. We will be trying to grow various veggies that were popular during North America's Archaic period, using some similar grow methods. It's a little area of interest I have gotten my oldest son into.”

“Sort of reminds me of when I landscaped at Colonial Williamsburg. Everything had to be true to that era.”

“"Sort of reminds me of when I landscaped at Colonial Williamsburg. Everything had to be true to that era."

Yeah, but we're working toward a little more accuracy then Williamsburg. ;)

Ah, my inner grumpy Museum Studies student comes alive Moooooohaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Fortunately, Q, no one says you have to use tires in your garden. =)
You must have awesome drainage in your garden to be able to 'til after three days of rain! Did you add sand or something?”

“Q - you're right, they had quite a few waivers for different things when it was convenient. I do believe the Christmas decorations were accurate to the period, however. I enjoyed working there, getting into lots of trouble in my first post retirement sort-of-a-job.”

“"You must have awesome drainage in your garden to be able to 'til after three days of rain! Did you add sand or something?"

Nope. The fill I got some years ago might have been a shade more of a sandy loam, but I didn't add it. I did add some peat and cow crap when I first put it in. I allow it to overgrow, with adds nutrients (and sucks up a lot of water) when I till in the Spring. I gain about 2 inches above my original horizon (because of the raised beds), which is composed of about 4-5 inches of decent "dirt" on top of about what seems like copious amounts of clay.

"Q - you're right, they had quite a few waivers for different things when it was convenient. I do believe the Christmas decorations were accurate to the period, however. I enjoyed working there, getting into lots of trouble in my first post retirement sort-of-a-job.”
Nimblefoot"

I won't slam them too much. That place, along with our local "The Henry Ford" as it's called now, were the subject of great scrutiny in my class. The subject matter supported mostly what I have thought about those places for years.”

“Which was...?”

“I haven't been to THE Henry Ford since I was a kid. THe only two memories that stick with me were some horse hair covered chairs and how cool they felt in the hot summer, and the blacksmith's work.

Q, I have a book of all the claptrap ol' Henry wrote in to some newspaper or magazine.”

“"Which was...?"

Edu-Tainment. They both present an interpretation that is not contextual; although I will say that Williamsburg supposedly has gotten "better" about context over the years. Geared more toward tourists who, if not educated about the period presented, might (and some do) take was is presented as a factual representation of the period presented.

Example. A friend of mine and I got into a conversation about the place one time. He started off by say how it would have been great to live in the towns and cities as presented at the Henry Ford. About a five beers later, he finally understood how out of context that place was, along with the bias.”

“Pretty much as I thought, same with CW. I could tell you some funny stories.”