I used to keep a journal, but then I underestimated how many of my experiments would bite the dust and die. When I re-read my journal, so many of the plants had passed on that it was no longer relavant. Especially the tea roses that I tried in my raised beds.
Although I am a list-maker and...
Reinbeau, what a gorgeous photo ! ! !
The only native things growing on my property are bearberry, beach plum, pitch pine, scrub oak, bayberry and asclepsis. Pure sand.
Hencackle, I had never heard of biobynamics until I saw it referred to in a seed catalog. I looked it up, but frankly, the meaning and practice still eludes me. Can anybody put it in a nutshell? (Or does any theory that can be summarized in a nutshell, belong there?)
Jacie, how old are those plants? If 3 years old or younger, I would clean up the dead leaves (trying not to upset or damage the crown), and fertilize when the crown starts to show new growth.
If older than 3 years, consider all new plants?
Hencackle, garlic is usually planted in the fall because it needs a good 9 months in the ground to do its thing. If you plant them in spring, maybe you could get some small cloves out of it?...
Edited to add: we grow our garlic in raised beds. We have to because our yard is 99% sand.
Hey, that dendrobium I mentioned (of the two that I have) has actually put out three flower buds that have not shriveled up and fallen off in the past 4 weeks! I've got my fingers crossed. It must like my office, although I don't share the sentiment. I certainly don't bloom there!
When my DH built our raised bed(s), we left one corner with only about 5" of soil in it and walled it off from the surrounding soil with bricks. Then we put an old window (frame with glass) over the top (level with the surrounding soil and raised bed frame). So it was sort of an in-ground...
After September 11, 2001, I thought about it a lot. About dependancy on oil for heat & electricity for our all-important computers, and availability of gas for trucks to deliver food to grocery stores...
But since then, I've read enough about achieving near self-sufficiency, to know that I'm...
Tuesday, Jan 22
Sorry Mothergoat, I checked through all my saved articles and didn't find espalier stuff. Maybe I threw it out a while ago thinking it was a dream that I'd ever try it...
Mothergoat, I've collected a bunch of articles on espaliering. When I get home tonight, I'll see if any of them mention recommended apples.
More tomorrow.
Okay Rocket Digits - I'm confusing ammonium sulfate with aluminum sulfate (which I give to our hydrangeas to make them blue). (Or am I dreaming up the aluminum part?)
I'd be happy to send wood shavings to Nifty if he gives me chicken poo... hmm... I should rephrase that.
Well, yeah, but my limit of smartiness was met on this particular thread. By the way, did you answer my question about alum. sulfate making the pile acid? Or should I actually do the work myself and get out of this thread and go all the way over to the Composting one and find out myself. Is...
AND, stuff starts sprouting up and demanding attention right at the time my DH puts the boat in the water! Last spring, I was racing home from work, splashing water at the sowed seeds, stuffing things into pots and in the ground, and dashing out to meet him at the mooring field to try (but...
DigitS, we're going to have to ask you to leave. You know too much, and this forum is called The EASY Garden, not the let's-sit down-to-horticultural-rocket-science university. Do you give remedial classes to the losers who didn't pay attention in high school chem class?
Thank you Digits - from what others had said about compost, I know I need more nitrogen, but didn't know where to get it without throwing in green stuff.
Besides using the Bio-Excelerator, what if I threw in some Aluminum Sulfate? Would that make the whole compost pile go acid?
Reinbeau...