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.