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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 26, 2024 10:11:27 GMT
Mich, a few weeks back I was watching a programme on Japanese gardens and they had wonderful lawns that were totally moss. Indeed there were gardeners whose job it was to remove any grass!
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Post by Kimby on Feb 26, 2024 15:36:09 GMT
Our front lawn is 95% moss....purty tho.... Our yard is a battleground. Mr. Kimby is fighting a losing battle against moss in our shady lawn. He uses an iron-based moss killer which leaves sparse grass interlaced with dead black moss that needs raking out. But before the grass can regrow, the moss returns. It keeps him out of trouble, though.
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 26, 2024 16:13:07 GMT
If you get sun in the summer the moss should disappear I would have thought.
Talking of lawns, as it was dry and sunny but cold, I mowed the lawns and cut the edges. The front lawn gets winter sun so no moss problem. The back small lawn not so good though.
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Post by Kimby on Feb 26, 2024 16:31:32 GMT
We have lots of shading from 60-foot tall ponderosa pines. Though there’s some sun that hits the grass, it moves off too quickly, I think, as the sun crosses the sky.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 26, 2024 16:32:36 GMT
I'm intrigued by all this talk of moss. In Oaxaca's dry climate, I never saw any. But here, where it's borderline jungle, there is lots of it everywhere.
I always thought that moss was sometimes a sign of dense soil that stayed wet, and that seems to be borne out in my yard. I dug up a little patch out of the turf in the back. It's that kind of wide-leafed grass that grows by runners and had been laid down rather stupidly. Apparently the turf itself came imbedded in dense black clay and a bed was prepared by spreading sand and laying that turf on top.
When I dug out the turf, I endeavored to mix the sand into the black soil, but the native black soil & the clay prevailed. The only things that grew well there were a basil and an epazote, both of which became tree-like. The soil itself remained dense and with patches of moss, surely not a good sign.
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 27, 2024 17:21:45 GMT
Talking of lawns I treated myself to a new pair of edging shears today as they were on special offer. My old ones are so blunt and I don’t have the wherewithal to sharpen them.
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Post by bjd on Feb 27, 2024 19:46:04 GMT
Are those the kind that you use standing up or do you have to be at ground level?
I bought a batter-operated edger a few years ago but since the "blade" is plastic (Lidl garbage) and the edges are metal, the little plastic blades break immediately. So I end up trimming edges with hand scissors and don't do it every time the grass is cut.
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 27, 2024 20:17:39 GMT
Standing up. Where I work there are a lot of edges and a fair few at home.
Hand scissors?? Blimey....
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Post by bjd on Feb 27, 2024 20:44:18 GMT
Hand scissors?? Blimey.... Well, a bit bigger than scissors and specific for gardening, but the end result is the same. That's why I don't edge each time.
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Post by bjd on Mar 6, 2024 15:37:23 GMT
I took advantage of today's sunshine and the fact that the water that stood in the flowerbed yesterday had soaked in to do a bit of gardening. I moved a peony that I planted last year and which was sitting in water. I dug it up and moved it to a drier area.
I also planted some bulbs -- gladioli and a packet of something called anemone blanda or Greek anemones. The problem is that they are little black corms with no little point anywhere so I had no idea which way is up. I just stuck them in the ground and will see what comes up.
Still have some bulbs (lillies, glads, freesias) and a couple of dahlias to plant. I also did something stupid last fall when I was changing things around in a flowerbed under a small tree. I took out the pentstemons because the tree branches were hanging down into them and moved them, cutting them back. They don't seem to have survived the move. One or two have a bit of green but the others look dead. And among my osteospermums, which are supposed to be hardy to -5° and that we didn't have this winter, some have died, others have little leaves growing on the stems and a couple kept their leaves.
My biggest gardening problem is impatience -- I want to see things growing faster.
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Post by mickthecactus on Mar 6, 2024 17:42:29 GMT
What’s sunshine? Today was dull chilly and miserable like yesterday. Tomorrow looks little better. Not exactly inspiring me to garden.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Mar 6, 2024 22:27:01 GMT
We had a clear, sunny day. I was itching to get into the garden but it's still very wet underfoot. I plan to start sowing seeds over the next few days. I had a clearout of very old seeds today....there were seed packets with expiry dates of 2003 in my seed tin! Some old seeds are still viable, but last year lots of the older seeds failed to germinate. I don't use my heated propagator any more because I've nowhere to put it where the seedlings can get enough light. The seeds have to brave the (admittedly bubble wrap insulated) cold greenhouse.
Not sure that I'm going to grow lots of tomatoes this year, they take up too much room! I'd like to use the greenhouse for other things. Cape gooseberries, cucumbers etc. All my dahlia tubers are a little tired, so I'm going to be popping them into shallow trays of compost and taking lots of cuttings...the new plants tend to have more vigour.
I'll be sowing a few annuals, night scented phlox, didiscus blue lace, french marigolds, gazanias and pelargoniums. I need to get to a garden centre soon to buy some new seeds. I'd like to grow mexican sunflowers (tithonia rotundifolia) but they're just too tall for my garden. I grew helichrysm last year and loved them, but need to find a dwarf variety.
It will now snow.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 6, 2024 22:41:32 GMT
I have the opposite problem of you all right now in that I want to put some seeds in the ground but we're having a spate of hot, dry, breezy days.
In trying to extend my vegetable beds I have harvested many, many bricks & there are still more lurking every time I try to stick the spade in the ground.
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Post by fumobici on Mar 7, 2024 15:05:54 GMT
I took advantage of today's sunshine and the fact that the water that stood in the flowerbed yesterday had soaked in to do a bit of gardening. I moved a peony that I planted last year and which was sitting in water. I dug it up and moved it to a drier area. I've been told that peonies absolutely hate being transplanted and will often die as a result. I tried moving one once and it survived, but it took three or four years before it was back to its old self. Hope your luck is better.
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Post by bjd on Mar 7, 2024 15:51:14 GMT
Yes, I have heard that too. I did move a very old peony several times. It was about 50 years old in a garden of an old farmhouse we foolishly bought in eastern France. I dug one up to move to Toulouse where it grew really well and then I moved it again to this garden. I dug up the entire clump and separated it but only one grows well. It is the only one of all my peonies that systematically flowers! And smells nice, unlike most of the newer ones.
As for this one I just moved, it didn't bloom last year anyway so I figure it's no loss if it doesn't bloom this year. Unfortunately for me, peonies like the same kind of clay soil as roses, which is not what I have here but I keep trying.
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Post by mickthecactus on Mar 7, 2024 16:55:49 GMT
The garden where I work has good paeonies with the soil veering between brown glue (as now) or brown concrete with a short window in between when I can tidy the beds up.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Mar 10, 2024 21:20:38 GMT
Yay! It was a miserable, wet day so I spent most of it in the greenhouse. I got soaked pottering from the shed to greenhouse as I gathered pots and trays..but soon dried off. I laid the trays on the path so that the dust was washed off them by the rain I thought that a few of the plants overwintering on the staging had expired, but once I cut away the withered foliage I found green shoots coming up from the base. So I repotted 2 artemesia 'powys castle', a red pelargonium and a nemesia. I made a seed compost by mixing mp compost with lots of perlite, then stood the filled pots in trays of water. Seeds sown so far :- Tagetes Starfire Mix Passionflower Black Eyed Susan Zaluzlanskya (night scented phlox) Coleus Flame Dancer Gazania Tiger Stripes Mixed Didiscus Blue Lace French Marigolds Red Cherry and Red Knight Verbena Intensity Cerinthe Major Agastache Golden Jubilee Cape Gooseberry Cucumber Diva Tomato Shirley Common Thyme Lots more to sow but I think that was enough seeds for one day! Then I potted up 3 zantedeschia 'Bloody Mary' corms to start them off, and potted on some plug plants that I bought from a local garden centre last Friday... Calibrochoa, more Nemesia and pelargoniums. Happy as a happy thing
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Post by mickthecactus on Mar 10, 2024 21:34:00 GMT
Yup. That’s a good day indeed!
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 10, 2024 22:19:46 GMT
Oooooo, Cheery ~~ you are going to outdo even yourself in this year's garden!
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Post by tod2 on Mar 11, 2024 7:59:06 GMT
Cheery, about the Cape Gooseberry. My dad planted some in a large area of my garden because he was making jam at the time and needed fruit not available from grocery stores etc. The result was we had them growing everywhere!! They still come up here and there so I have a poignant reminder of my dear old dad.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Mar 11, 2024 19:28:53 GMT
Tod, I have to grow cape gooseberries in the greenhouse here. I've grown them before years ago and the kids used to pick them before I could gather enough to make jam.
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Post by bjd on Mar 12, 2024 7:39:28 GMT
Cheery, why do you keep artemisia in the greenhouse? That stuff is hardy and tough. It turned out that I cut mine back in late fall because the inside was looking scruffy and it grew back during the winter. I just looked up the USDA hardiness zones and it's 6 to 10, so you should be able to leave it in the ground.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Mar 12, 2024 8:44:18 GMT
The artemesia are cuttings taken last autumn. They're still pretty small so I've kept them in the GH. The mother plant is still outside in a pot in a sheltered spot.
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Post by bjd on Mar 12, 2024 18:49:22 GMT
I took advantage of this afternoon's sunny weather to plant a bunch of bulbs: gladioli mainly. They grow well here and multiply. I also planted a few lillies. I was in Lidl and they had lots of packages of bulbs. Of course, they are cheap and it seemed to be the end of the season because quite a few of the gladioli had roots and were begining to sprout and one package even had a bit of mould on a few bulbs. We'll see what comes up. At least if they don't grow, I don't feel I lost too much.
I have some dahlias to plant still but they are less urgent since they bloom later.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 12, 2024 19:52:34 GMT
I love gladioli. In one way they're so homey, as they're often found in old-fashioned gardens. But in another way they're fancy, with their ladders of blooms in a large variety of colors.
Just now it occurred to me that when I was a child it seemed that gladioli were often used to decorate the church altar. But now it seems that parishioners contract with a florist for the altar flowers, so gone are the days of church ladies generously adorning the altar, probably with more than little bit of friendly rivalry.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Mar 12, 2024 21:51:04 GMT
Every time I see gladioli I think of Dame Edna
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 13, 2024 1:15:51 GMT
Well, that's a type of a religious iconography as well!
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Post by bjd on Mar 13, 2024 7:12:37 GMT
It's true that gladioli are an oold-fashioned sort of flower but they bloom fairly early in the summer and they grow well here. I made a few attempts to plant them in my Toulouse garden and, maybe because the soil was much heavier, they would tip over and never bloom. And despite all the gardening advice about "restricting your colour palette", I end up buying different colours simply because there are so many available.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 13, 2024 15:49:59 GMT
I guess the advice about restricting the color palette makes sense when creating a themed garden in a very small space, but otherwise it just restricts imagination and fun. It's nicer to have a "wrong" but desirable color that can be moved than it is to deliberately stifle our desire for variety. I would love to get my hands on this very old gladiolus. I saw it blooming years ago, but remember it as more purple. Whatever color available would be okay, as it would be nice to have drifts of this here and there: www.gardenia.net/plant/gladiolus-communis-ssp-byzanthinus
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Post by bjd on Mar 13, 2024 16:06:46 GMT
I tend to buy cheap bulbs at Lidl, even though I do go to garden centres too. So choice is often limited but at least I don't mind so much if they don't grow well. So I bought several different colours but do try to put them in several areas of the garden ("drifts here and there") and near plants with matching colours.
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