2004
Message 47 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameGreen_Side_Up Sent: 9/6/2004 8:38 AM
Sunday, did some serious weeding & raking. John helped. Turned compost but had to wait til evening becasue so many bees were working on the goldenrod that surrounds the compost bins!

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Recommend Message 48 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameGreen_Side_Up Sent: 9/10/2004 7:09 PM
Friday, turned compost a couple of days late. It still isn't ready. Weeded a little around the lysomachia, pulled out a few more of that new weed that I hadn't seen in there before, the tiny sunflower-ish one. There is some evening primrose in there as well, which I had not seen in previous years.

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Recommend Message 49 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameGreen_Side_Up Sent: 10/8/2004 6:06 PM
Finished harvesting the sweet potatoes and planted 50 bulbs from Johnny's. It's the "organic collection", 10 each of white Silber Dollar tulip; yellow tete a tete narcissus; red Ile de France tulip; yellow yokohana tulip; yellow dutch master narcissus. I mixed them all up & covered with screening so maybe they won't get stolen by squirrels.

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Recommend Message 50 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameGreen_Side_Up Sent: 10/26/2004 10:31 AM
Finally planted the bulbs that were a gift from OES - probably 2 weeks later than I should have. There were some alpine rosy bells which I put in with the yellow bleeding heart; and daffodils, blue grape hyacinth, tulips, jumbo crocus and a few tall dutch iris, all in the shade bed.
Now that the bees are gone and I can get out there, I brought the rest of the Egyptian walking onions out to the front yard - found a huge crop of scallions ready that I would not have noticed (!) and will plant some angelicas in their place. I am also planning to add some activator to the compost today and get it emptied by this weekend.

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The number of members that recommended this message. 0 recommendations Message 51 of 56 in Discussion
Sent: 11/7/2004 9:49 AM
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Recommend Message 52 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameGreen_Side_Up Sent: 11/7/2004 9:58 AM
To buy for next year: anthemis (marguerite daisy) Also pink yarrow. I will want comfrey for the compost heap, sweet cecily for the name garden, more primulas from Hedgehog, and I think I might use some silver mound artemesia.

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The number of members that recommended this message. 0 recommendations Message 53 of 56 in Discussion
Sent: 11/7/2004 9:59 AM
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Recommend Message 54 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameGreen_Side_Up Sent: 11/8/2004 12:42 PM
Monday, relocated the compost bins & started a new one. Instead of doing it as a batch, I'll just keep adding til they're full and go from there.

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Recommend Message 55 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameAdmin_Kathy Sent: 11/25/2004 8:59 AM
I can't believe I still have good scallions. Mostly have just been chopping leaves. Steve had a good idea to make the leaf chopper stationery, so I secured it to a stepladder with bungee cords and now I just rake the leaves into it. Much easier on the forearms and no bending at all.

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Recommend Message 56 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameGreen_Side_Up Sent: 12/13/2004 10:25 AM
The compost is happily cooking away, freezing and thawing and freezing some more... we're praying for more snow to cloak our veggie and flower beds for the long winter's sleep... while visions of seed catalogs dance in our heads! Night Night til 2005!

2004
Sent: 8/4/2004 7:50 PM
Wednesday, turned compost. In the evening I spotted quite a few jap. beetles on my beans and neemed them. I think also that I ought to get some Sluggo for the sweet potatoes. Almost forgot, nasturtiums are blooming. I think I got some Weeds-n-All on some of the annuals when I was doing the driveway cracks because some of them are brown all of a sudden. :(

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Recommend Message 33 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 8/5/2004 9:57 AM
I saw some pictures that look like the mystery plant I brought home from Nancy's. Solomon's Seal.

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Recommend Message 34 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 8/5/2004 4:37 PM
Found some Sluggo at Provencher's and applied it, as well as more neem. I also picked up an iris with beautiful leaves, Pallida Albo Variegata. I decided I want some silver mound artemesia.

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Recommend Message 35 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 8/9/2004 5:11 PM
Saturday, turned compost, mowed the western path and the southern quad. I spotted some sweet peas growing along the side of the house. Forgot I had planted them! Monday, mowed the north quad and pushed a bunch of J-beetles into soapy water. The nana barbata irises came in the mail from South Dakota today. Another Ebay purchase.

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Recommend Message 36 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 8/10/2004 9:58 AM
Tuesday, turned compost. One of the russian sages is starting to bloom. I think along with the winter kill, that's just a horrible flowerbed because the beans in other beds are growing well, but not in that one. I think all of the lavenders did come back after all. Weed i.d. is getting more refined - "dock" is now red sorrel.

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Recommend Message 37 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 8/15/2004 4:30 PM
Saturday, turned compost and tidied up some irises. Sunday I had planned to chop down the Queen Ann'es Lace that have gone by, but there were so many insects working the seed heads, I just didn't have the heart. Now that the remnants of hurricane Charley came through and didn't leave a lot of rain, I have no excuse not to get my nana barbatas and variegatas in.

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Recommend Message 38 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 8/22/2004 10:59 AM
Tuesday and Friday, turned compost. Thursday, did all the mowing but no hand trimming. Sunday, dug up all the plants to the left of the arch and built a new berm there. I dug out a lot of the soil and heaped it on a tarp with the plants and some shock medicine. I did have to clip some roots onm the alchemilla, I hope that won't be a huge setback. I emptied out 8 bags of topsoil plus some shovelfuls of saved turf, which is quite good now. I didn't realize how much I had back there. Then I put the original soil back on top and put everything back in, slightly rearranged: One sweet potato vine, one unidentified vine that has some kind of bean-like buds on it, 3 alchemillas, about a dozen chives, and the small centaurea which has really suffered from what looks like slugs. I also put in the 2 new variegated iris. On the right side of the arch I dumped out a bag of topsoil to extend the rose mound. Near the birdbath, I paured out 2 bags of potting soil onto newspaper and installed the 3 Frontier Marshall Irises I got on Ebay.

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Recommend Message 39 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 8/22/2004 4:12 PM
My neighbor to the east gave me permission to cut down a little maple seedling on his side of the fence. That got me going so I thinned out the one beside the arch. Then I noticed the tomatoes are failing so I fed them with fish emulsion and then used the leftover fertilizer on the bed across the side of the house. Bonehead move! Now I can't open the windows. The neighbor on the West is having a family BBQ so I went over and offered to take pictures just to see if I could smell it over there. I couldn't. I also went and checked the rhody at the Masonic Hall. It looks good! I pulled a few blades of grass, sprinkled some corn gluten but decided to wait a day or two to wet it.

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Recommend Message 40 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 8/25/2004 12:42 PM
Tuesday, turned compost and weeded around the daylilies in the western quad. One of them has a bloom, a pretty orangey-peach color.

I didn't have to wet the corn gluten at the Masonic Hall because it rained Monday night.

Wednesday, went to see Wanda to pick up a Master Gardener assignment for RCAM. Her little square-foot was overgrown because she is recovering from a heart attack. She didn't argue when I offered to weed it. It really only looks weeded because I forgot my sticker so a lot of roots got left behind - and I didn't do the whole plot. So I will try to get over there Friday after I see my RCAM people.

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Recommend Message 41 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 8/27/2004 9:01 PM
Friday, turned compost. Added some confrey that Wanda gave me to encourage microbes. i was at Wanda's becasue she had a heart attack and I wanted to do her weeding, and because she needed a volunteer to do some of her home visits with low-income clients who received seeds to grow their own veggies. A few of them could teach me a lot about gardening, and at least two of them are distant cousins!

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Recommend Message 42 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 8/28/2004 4:15 PM
Saturday, trimmed some centaurea and sluggo'd one patch of sweet potatoes and the primroses that are next to the driveway. Those priroses have awesome foliage, I think I will line the whole section with them next year. Watered beans & tomatoes & slow-watered the forsythia and spiraea. All the plants in the new berm look well except the centaurea. I put some walking onion heads there, I don't know if they will sprout.

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Recommend Message 43 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 8/29/2004 11:13 PM
Sunday, harvested the edamame. I was amazed at the different yields in different beds. Of two bunches a few feet apart in different beds, one was the biggest and the other didn't even survive. The other 2 bunches were in between as far as size and yield. Now that I type, I think I might have missed a 5th bunch. I'll check in the morning. I blanched them for freezing. Not a huge crop so I will do more for next year.

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Recommend Message 44 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 8/30/2004 7:40 PM
Monday, turned compost and weeded the tiger lily bed near the garage.

The edamame were delicious! We steamed them for 5 minutes and squeezed them out of the pods & ate them plain with lunch. Yum!

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Recommend Message 45 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 9/1/2004 7:27 PM
Wednesday, turned compost and snipped out the edamame plants. The goldenrod is quite fragrant.

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Recommend Message 46 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 9/4/2004 7:53 AM
Friday, John re-mowed the Eastern quad. It needed it. I did a little weeding and discovered that the sweet potatoes are in bloom.

2004
Sent: 7/20/2004 11:09 AM
Wednesday, clipped a few docks & built a small lattice cover for the stack of tires where the sweet potatoes are growing. Compost bins 1&2 were warm to the touch but the small one was cold and kind of smelly so I added paper.
72004.jpg

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Recommend Message 18 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/20/2004 8:23 PM
Also Tuesday, replaced mosquito dunks and made a good start at weeding the stone patio. It's the area that used to be the garage floor back in 1930, made of granite pavers. My knee pads are uncomfortable and the stones are too rough to sit comfortably on, so I used the low beach chair, which is a tip I learned at Maine Garden Day. It was quite comfy and I could reach quite a ways all around without my legs going numb! I can see that a person with reduced mobility would probably need one of those garden kneelers with the high sides though, for safer getting up & down.

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Recommend Message 19 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/20/2004 8:24 PM
Oops, I wrote Wednesday on my first entry for today. It's Tuesday.

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Recommend Message 20 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/22/2004 9:52 AM
Thursday, mowed, weeded some, tidied up the irises a bit. Turned compost. We have lots of pretty clarkia, and the yellow bleeding heart made quite a lot of prigress in the last week. It even has a bloom, which I was not expecting til next year.

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Recommend Message 21 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/22/2004 9:54 AM
P.S. quite buggy today but no Jap. beetles yet. Last year I did not see them til the 27th. Also last night I went and dropped mosquito dunks into two small pits created by the crew working on the field across the street. There's water in there that will probably still be there into August.

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Recommend Message 22 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/24/2004 11:25 AM
Friday, replaced slug beer and out down some corn gluten in the southern quad. I also pulled up one row of stepping stones and added more sand under them.

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Recommend Message 23 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/25/2004 11:25 AM
Sunday, turned compost. Saturday and Sunday, planted the rhododendron that I had bought for Bill and Harriet Stretton, to commemmorate his year as Worthy Grand Patron. It's a purple one, part of a whole bunch of nice plants & shrubs that had been loaned to them by Longfellow's for the Grand Chapter Session. I bought the rhody and kept it at home til the chapter was able to get together and do a little ceremony on Thursday. I made a stepping stone to go with it, with the star in the center and his penguin pin, shellacked and embedded in the stone. The Masonic Assn met without Bill and voted to let me plant it. I found a good spot where it will be shaded from southern exposure by a huge evergreen, and it will be sheltered from winds. So yesterday I planted it and today went back to dig a larger perimeter for the guy who does the mowing. I used my upside-down turf method, but this time I went down 3 feet. After it was all finished I found I had about half still left, so I piled it in a corner and I will add it back in as the ground settles. I mulched 4" with chopped leaves. I find that if I soak the leaves for a second in a bucket before applying them, they are not as likely to blow away. It looks very comical next to the giant evergreen.

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The number of members that recommended this message. 0 recommendations Message 24 of 56 in Discussion
Sent: 7/25/2004 1:50 PM
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Recommend Message 25 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/25/2004 1:51 PM
I have been doing a little more research on stunted plants and I am thinking I may have marginal drainage that is being aggravated by the plentiful rain. This is the only way I can explain the edmame behaving differently in different beds. So I'll be piling on the compost this winter and I'll make sure to scratch it in really deep next spring. Probably should have mulched with chopped leaves to smother weeds AND add organic matter for drainage.

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Recommend Message 26 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameGreen_Side_Up Sent: 7/25/2004 4:55 PM
img2543.jpg

Busy gardening day today! I decided to start on what will be Steve's garden in the southern quad. A nice person on GardenWeb suggested barberry for a shrub that birds would like but cats would not, which was a great excuse to liberate that poor purple barberry from under the pine tree. It has a slithery insect which I do not like. I will have to research it. It's in a bed made of layers of newspaper and then bagged topsoil with compost. I added 6 of the white lavender irises I got from a California grower on Ebay. The other 16 I then installed in dry beds on the northern quad. While I was doing that I spotted some of Aunt Rose's stachys which I had thought were gone, struggling among the weeds so I liberated them, probably too late for this year. I moved a mini-petunia from a hidden spot out to the front and I hope I didn't tear the roots too much. I gave it some worm tea. Aunt Rose's hosta is blooming, blue-eyed grass is having a second bloom, cosmos is blooming. Those sweet little purple sages I pulled up 2 years ago have reappeared, I hope they will make a full comeback. I counted 5 today. Goldenrod and sedums are getting ready to bloom.

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Recommend Message 27 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/27/2004 8:54 AM
Monday, filled in a little bit around the rhody at the Masonic Hall. Still not seeing any japanese beetles, but I neemed the big climbing rose and other things that have finished blooming because they are losing a lot of leaf surface to something. Also the rose has a lot of yellowing on old leaves so I will look that up and see what needs to be done. Monday night I noticed that the yews are really closing off the front porch, so Tuesday morning I went out and did another, more severe, pruning. Very buggy.

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Recommend Message 28 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/29/2004 8:51 PM
thursday, picked up a bunch of different plants for Steve's garden: echinacea, stevia, sweet William, red geraniums, an asiatic called "Reinesse", rosemary, some cherry tomatoes " sweet 100" and a purple-leafed herb whose label has disappeared. I will go back to Farmer Whiting's tomorrow and find out what it is. I got the stevia and the lily planted, then spotted something new: lily leaf beetles. I missed the larval stage completely. So I finished planting the lily - 2 in Steve's garden and one in the western "bordello" quad... and then went around and neemed all the asiatics and tiger lilies. I had already done the roses today.
Today I also turned the compost and sowed some grass outside the mulch ring at the masonic hall rhody, and put on some hay that was already there sitting around.

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Recommend Message 29 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/30/2004 8:50 PM
The mystery plant is strobilanthes, Persian Shield. I really like it. I got everything in, then noticed the new garden has a view of my little junkyard behind the garage, so made a start on that. It will save on mosquito dunks to have that area cleaned up anayway, and there's a few things that can go in my mother's yard sale.

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Recommend Message 30 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 8/1/2004 8:45 PM
Saturday, didn't get much done except putting up the screen house. I moved it a few times. Moved a couple of ferns out of it into the dirt area. Sunday, put a tarp floor into the screen house and then dismantled some bifold doors so I could rig up a hanging screen along the edge of the back deck to improve Steve's view. After sunset when it cooled down to about 80 degrees, I went out and dug up some ferns, tiger lilies and the last of the perennial bachelor button out of the western quad and brought them into Steve's garden. I still might bring over the beach rose, I need to make space for the new compost bin anyway. Saw some bats tonight.

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Recommend Message 31 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 8/3/2004 12:00 AM
Monday, did the rest of the mowing. Watered everything. Broke down and used RoundUp on the driveway cracks.

2004
Sent: 6/24/2004 10:15 AM
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 5/30/2004 10:24 AM
I'd rather have rain than this wind! It was like this last year too. The garlics that I planted around Aunt Rose's hostas all snapped off mid-stalk. My zinnias look awful, I hope I can keep them going til they get into the ground. I think 2 more nights and the freeze danger will be over. The basils look blackish, I think they may have frozen anyway. Today I will mow, turn compost & add some activator, put together the 2nd green arch, and pour out bagged soil for sweet potato hills.

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Recommend Delete Message 44 of 57 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 5/31/2004 7:43 PM
Got everrything done except the arch. Today I planted out all the sweet potatoes, a bunch of daylilies that have been sitting in trash bags at my sister's house, sowed six areas of edamame, planted the mini-petunias, zinnias, my hollyhock and angelica seedlings, the orange coleus and the yellow bleeding heart. The bleeding heart is a climber and I had so many choices on where it could go! I finally chose the old basketball pole that already has mesh wrapped around it. But I may have to get some more of those to climb up the stupid maple tree and other structures. I lost one of the three Russian sage. I left it standing to see if the mini-pets would climb it. My mother's daylilies have been blooming for several days, and last year's garlic chives started opening today.

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Recommend Delete Message 45 of 57 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 6/5/2004 9:11 AM
Friday, turned compost and planted out some coleus, hypoesta (polka dot plant) and snapdragons. Very buggy.

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Recommend Delete Message 46 of 57 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 6/8/2004 5:24 PM
Monday, did some mowing and hand trimming and planted out the Oklahoma zinias I had gotten on Friday. Tuesday, the blue-eyed grass and Uncle Marshall's irises are in bloom.


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Recommend Delete Message 47 of 57 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 6/11/2004 8:10 AM
Wednesday, watered, turned compost, weeded in the northwest quad. Surprisingly, no bugs. I gave up on the new arch because I just can't decide where to put it. So I ended up planting the ornamental sweet potatoes on a small grate that's already up along the driveway, and also against a tree near the shade bed. Today I'll put mosquito dunks in the birdbaths.

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Recommend Delete Message 48 of 57 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 6/11/2004 9:11 PM
Friday, John & I went to Farmer Whiting's and got some English Ivy to plant on the arch where my mother's climbing roses are, since I think they are dead. If by some miracle they leaf out in thext couple of years, I'll sacrifice the ivies. I also added topsoil to those areas. Did a little pruning on my rose, the spiraea and the forsythia. The daisies are blooming in the Northeast quad. They have migrated a bit from last year. The clump that bloomed last year is barren now, and then I had waited to mow the lawn because I thought the daffodils were going to come - so that allowed the daisies to spread a ways. It looks good.

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Recommend Delete Message 49 of 57 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 6/12/2004 2:28 PM
Saturday, watered the annuals. My beans are up. Later I will add some activator to the compost bins.

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Recommend Delete Message 50 of 57 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameANNIE24447 Sent: 6/13/2004 5:27 AM
good luck with your beans this season .. remember mine .. only a few pods ! spinach is still growing .. tangelo tree is amass with fruit, and same with lemons . although pruned badly.. the trees are coming on really great.
so is the passonfruit vine .. a few frosts and triggered off some unusual out of season growth .. flowers .. the last of tomatoes now. frosts are killing it off. but perennial stocks have started to flower on bush.
muriel. aka Annie.

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Recommend Delete Message 51 of 57 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 6/14/2004 9:45 AM
Thanks for the update! Those things are all so exotic for us! Sunday, did some landscaping. relocated a soaker hose from an annual bed to the shade bed and covered it with some mulch and topsoil. Hauled some rocks from the pile to make a nice adging, gives the archway a reason for being.


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Recommend Message 2 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 6/24/2004 10:16 AM
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 6/16/2004 11:48 AM
Also turned compost on Sunday. Tuesday I planted a very nice stepping stone that John made. Also weeded in the western quad around the lysomachia and the beach rose. The beach rose is blooming today. I love the maroon foliage on the lyso. I'm looking forward to the yellow flowers. No sign of datura. Winter kill, possibly? Today I am watering the perennials. Here's our stepping stone. The darkish lump is an experiment, a lighthouse made with a candy mold.



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Recommend Delete Message 53 of 57 in Discussion
From: Zinnia Sent: 6/16/2004 11:50 AM



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Recommend Delete Message 55 of 57 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 6/19/2004 8:27 AM
Thursday, turned compost. Friday, mowed grass and cut down some hogweed in the western quad. I forgot to mention, Queen Anne's lace have been blooming for a few days. I think I should not have put the worm bin outdoors. It got very putrid after being in the sun and I think they all must have died.

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Recommend Delete Message 56 of 57 in Discussion
From: Zinnia Sent: 6/20/2004 12:04 PM
Catmint and creeping buttercup have been blooming for at least a few days. The first fleabanes bloomed today. It looks like the biggest of the mystery bulb from Cousin Nancy's bloomed and went by already. I am going to have to do some detective work to identify it Went shopping with Nancy today and picked up 2 more of those orange colues, plus a couple of other bedding annuals. Maybe I'll put them in tonight if the wind dies down.

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Recommend Delete Message 57 of 57 in Discussion
From: Zinnia Sent: 6/23/2004 5:33 PM
First time I have been home all week! Turned compost and planted out the new annuals - 2 more of the sedona colues, and a flat each of nierembergia (cup flower, white with a yellow center) and nemesia, pretty blue and white. While working in the hosta bed I saw some holes in the other coleuses so I put out the rest of the copper. Steve hates the copper because he thinks Carlos tripped on it and cut his paws, but in fact Carlos cuts his paw every summer, even before we had copper. So I may have to take it up and just stick with beer over there - too shady to grow garlic. Today I saw the first blooms of the pink rose, yellow daisy, chickweed and pretty dewcup (alchemilla mollis). Put out some more of my handmade stepping stones - small ones in shapes, made from my paper molds.

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Recommend Message 3 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 6/24/2004 10:17 AM
Today the hydrangea is blooming, and German chamomile.

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Recommend Message 4 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 6/25/2004 10:59 AM
Thursday, weeded a lot in the Western quad and cut down some more pigweed. I think my compost smells a little. Later I will go into my neighbor's yard and see if it can be detected over there, because her lawn swing is not far from it and I know she uses the swing. The lavender that made it through the winter is blooming beautifully. There are also some blooms of evening primrose that seeded over from next door. Thank you Jerry!

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Recommend Message 5 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 6/25/2004 11:00 AM
P.S. the old rose is now in full bloom too.

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Recommend Message 6 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 6/27/2004 12:26 PM
Sunday, turned compost. I couldn't smell it next door, so I guess it's ok. Did all the mowing and most of the hand-trimming. white clover was out-competing Johnny-jump-ups in some spots, so I beat them back a little. Pulled up most of the chickweed because it was taking over. The baby's breath I planted last year did not survive. I still don't see any sign of poppies either. I will need to divide the gaillardia because it's going to crowd out the catmint.

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Recommend Message 7 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameAdmin_Kathy Sent: 6/28/2004 8:50 AM
Last night in the western quad I found blooms of lollypop lily and blue balloon flower.

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Recommend Message 8 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/1/2004 1:07 PM
Wednesday, turned compost and weeded here & there. Thursday, watered perennials and more weeding. The flowerbeds don't require much at all, but the western quad where I am hoping to encourage all the different spreaders, is still quite overrun with oxalis, pigweed and ground ivy. I may just chop up a huge pile of leaves and keep the whole thing mulched over or plant it in annuals while the spreaders do their thing, but I am afraid that may discourage goldenrod, which is seeding quite well at the moment. I think my corn gluten results in that section are not so good. Oxalis is still there but red clover is gone. Tonight I will move the english ivies because it appears my mother's climbing roses will come back after all. Today I spotted some pretty pink yarrow in the western quad, and the beach rose is blooming well. No sign of japanese beetles yet.

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Recommend Message 9 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/3/2004 3:52 PM
Saturday, turned compost and added shredded paper to bin #2. Started on trimming the yew. I may give in and get electric trimmers for that job! I clipped away last year's blooms from the one lavender that did not get trimmed last fall. It's just coming into bloom. The lavender that didn't get trimmed to hard last year is in full bloom. The others will probably survive, but I don't expect any blooms. I was too clip-crazy with them last year. :( Today we also have blooms of gaillardia and tiger lily. So the current cast of characters also includes 3 colors of Johnny jump-up, hydrangea, Queen Anne's lace, pink yarrow, German chamomile, roses, lady's mantle, balloon flower, lollypop lily, white and yellow daisy, tiarella, evening primrose, walking onion, still some garlic chives, red hawkweed (yellow has gone by), fleabane. The Eye of the Tiger iris did not come back, not surprisingly since it is a zone 5. I was taking a chance with it.

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Recommend Message 10 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/6/2004 7:19 PM
Tuesday, turned compost, mowed and finished almost all the hedge trimming. I'll have to break down and get a taller ladder so I can finish. I'll resist the electric clippers just for now. We have blooms of red asiatic lily, zinnia and a few annual bachelor buttons. The asiatics look fantastic near the yellow German chamomile, pink yarrow and white fleabane.

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Recommend Message 11 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/9/2004 7:24 PM
Friday, turned compost. Went to Public Works and picked up the new bin. I wish I had known about it 2 weeks earlier! It was $35.00 as opposed to the $149.00 one I bought in the hardware store! Oh well, This one is better, too, because it sits on the ground so worms and other helpers can get up into it.

Steve has begun referring to the western quad as "The Bordello".




bordello.jpg






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Recommend Message 12 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/12/2004 9:14 AM
The privet is in bloom and the smell is InToXiCaTiNg! Also in bloom are the chives I got from the plant swap - not as pretty as the ones that seeded over from the neighbor's house. And the lilies that came from the trash bag at my sister's house are good old tiger lilies.

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Recommend Message 13 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/13/2004 11:05 AM
Tuesday, turned compost, did the watering. There is a lot of slug damage even where there is copper, so it's possible there are slugs living within the perimeter of the copper. I'll put out some beer. There is a mystery plant growing in the sweet potato patch. At first I thought it was a tomato but it looks like it's going to flower in the center of its leaf whorls so that rules out tomato. I'll let it flower and hope it's not something horrible. It shot up 2 feet over the weekend which does not bode well, but then again the bugs don't seem interested in it.

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Recommend Message 14 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/13/2004 11:17 AM
mystery2.jpg
mystery1.jpg

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Recommend Message 15 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/16/2004 8:54 PM
Friday, did the mowing. Turned compost - it was hot!! :) Dug up a bunch of dandelions from around a couple of the sweet potato hills. Today a woodchuck came out in broad daylight and nibbled at some chives. In bloom: asiatic lily "Connecticut King" and those pretty bluebell things that seeded over from next door. I found out that what I have been calling "pigweed" is actually dock.

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Recommend Message 16 of 56 in Discussion
From: MSN NicknameKathyAnnsCottage Sent: 7/19/2004 7:50 PM
Monday, turned compost. It was back to being cold again. One of the astilbes is blooming, as well as quite a few of the annuals I sowed. Still waiting for most of the cosmos. i amamazed, the butter beans planted in the easterly side of the iris bed are a lot taller than some just a few feet away in the pereskovia and peony areas. The only explanation I can think of is, I don't water the iris beds. ??