goodeats Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 The big sale at the Fairfax Green Plant Park that lperry mentions in earlier pages, I think, will be held on May 19 this year. Has anyone used Gardman products before? I am thinking about buying their containers for gardening, since I'm on a rental property... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodeats Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Friends of the Arboretum sale this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thistle Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 After a few chilly days, I braved the backyard-picked up 2 camellias over the weekend, they're out where they'll be planted, & planted the Thai basil & lemongrass seedlings in the stacks, looking forward to warmer weather... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Horoscope Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 Found French tarragon at Wright's on New Hamsphire Avenue, Colesville, MD. $2.99. Also picked up some purple basil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 A question for the avid gardeners: where should I go to get good prices on landscape plants? Is there any nursery that will offer a quantity discount? I'm going to be buying a very large number of broadleaf evergreens and conifers in the next several months. Thanks for any ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thistle Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 I'm only familiar w/ my local place- Holly,Woods, & VInes-they have an excellent selection, & if you get a 'garden rewards' card for $15., you get 15% off. For straight up quantity, HD or Lowes are your best bet, if you plant & water properly. If you can wait, you can sometimes get better deals in fall, when nurseries are looking to unload stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodeats Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Maybe Meadow Farms? Maryland Native Plant Society has a sales page. The Chesapeake Bay Field office also has a list of nurseries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weezy Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 I would try Meadows Farms as well, especially for a bulk discount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ilaine Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Earth Sangha is having a native plant sale on Sunday, May 6, 2012. http://www.earthsang...pnsale0512.html Rather than go to a big box store for native plants, I recommend Nature by Design. This is a wonderful, ecologically responsible, native plant nursery in Alexandria. The grounds are shady and pleasant, the employees knowlegeable and helpful, and the plants are beautiful. If you go soon you can smell the native azaleas - heavenly. http://www.nature-by-design.com/ I have a butterfly garden, and butterflies really love native plants. So do hummingbirds and bees. If you are growing vegetables that need to be pollinated, say, tomatoes, or fruit, say, blueberries, you will benefit by attracting pollinators. Nature by Design has quite a few suitable cultivars but Earth Sangha may have even more, if only for the one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Horoscope Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 I just set up a new 8' x 8' raised bed in a sunny spot of the yard. Plan to fill it with LeafGro from Rels on Layhill Road. If I get extra LeafGro and spread it around low spots in my yard to help with drainage, will I just be fueling the weeds that grow there? Is it an inefficient use of LeafGro, in other words? Would I be better off just using top soil for the drainage issue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraB Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 I just set up a new 8" x 8" foot raised bed in a sunny spot of the yard. Plan to fill it with LeafGro from Rels on Layhill Road. If I get extra LeafGro and spread it around low spots in my yard to help with drainage, will I just be fueling the weeds that grow there? Is it an inefficient use of LeafGro, in other words? Would I be better off just using top soil for the drainage issue? Leafgro is a fantastic product and I used to use it every year when I had a large yard. I would not waste it on those low spots -- unless you want to encourage the most beautiful weeds you've ever seen, or you want to plant valuable plants there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thistle Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 Leafgro/pine fines/manure, all are wonderful amendments to your soil, but if you're looking strictly at drainage, you need swales & additional topsoil (cheapest you can get), I'd also start composting & using leaf mulch-it hurts to see all your great amendments being washed out of your yard.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Horoscope Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 Thanks! Makes sense about the Leafgro and the soil I need for another purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lperry Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Woot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ilaine Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Woot! Woot, indeed. Beautiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktmoomau Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Just a note to all that the Green Spring Gardens Plant Sale is on May 19th 9-3. And Washington and Lee is having a plant sale this Saturday in Quincy Park that I wish I was around for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodeats Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Compost question: I started a natural, worm-free compost. I see some white mold in it, so I googled about it. Search results yielded that pile is lacking moisture. Does this mean I just pour lots of water or need to drill bigger holes, or just turn my pile over? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktmoomau Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Compost question: I started a natural, worm-free compost. I see some white mold in it, so I googled about it. Search results yielded that pile is lacking moisture. Does this mean I just pour lots of water or need to drill bigger holes, or just turn my pile over? Thanks. What type of container? Where is it located? Does the bottom part seem moist? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodeats Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 What type of container? Where is it located? Does the bottom part seem moist? 8-gallon DIY drilled container located outside. Bottom part seem moist. It seems to be working because I lifted it to shake it up a little and found lots of beetles and grubbers underneath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thistle Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 If it were me, I wouldn't worry about the mold & dump the compost you have already into the garden-but I am a casual composter-started out all gung-ho- bokashi, turning & watering, then slacked off- time is the best composter. I dump my coffee grounds in the yard, & if I wait too long, I see a little mold, but I just spread them out over the beds... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktmoomau Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 8-gallon DIY drilled container located outside. Bottom part seem moist. It seems to be working because I lifted it to shake it up a little and found lots of beetles and grubbers underneath. Turning it may not be a bad idea. I wouldn't drill holes bigger until a last resort as you could get too much rain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thistle Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Anyone else freaked out by the cool spring we're having? True to form, I have lots of seedlings that I've picked up here & there, & cold-hearted gardener that I am, almost all of them have been tossed out to fend for themselves. Unfortunately, it's mostly plants that like warmer weather-tomatoes, basil, lemongrass, coleus...stil working on the yard, hauling mulch, weeding, trying to find a spot for those overgrown tomato plants-Beefmaster & Juliet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lperry Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Last spring I planted garlic cloves for green garlic, then I ended up traveling when most of it was ready. True to form, I didn't divide it in the fall, so this early summer crop is approximately four hundred thousand small heads of garlic. Here it is drying in the oven. (Ignore the filthy pizza stone.) In better news, now that I know how to prune ever-bearing raspberries, the early crop is coming in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Horoscope Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 This hot weather last week has been good news for my garden! Looking forward to next weekend's record setting temperatures. Can't believe my Serrano pepper productivity, nor Korean cucumbers! Beautiful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lperry Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 If you plant only one tomato plant, I would recommend Sun Gold cherry tomatoes for this area. They have been unbelievably productive for me ripening earliest in the season and going well into the fall until the first freeze. During most of the summer I pick a dozen a day from a single plant, so there are enough for both cooking and preserving. I wish the black cherry tomatoes were this prolific! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thistle Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 I'm not sure why I continue to drag around sprinklers-I feel like I'm gently poaching the grass I have left. The sungolds are about the only tomato in the EBs I have any hope for, lots of little green tomatoes...everything else looks like parched earth....maybe a few more peppers.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lperry Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Yellow tomato plants carefully settled into the soil with manure and wood ash, trellised with the Florida weave. Pink beefsteak tomato volunteered and was staked but otherwise ignored. Gardening: the humbling experience. At least there are still tons of green ones on the plants I put in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thistle Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I have already conceded defeat this summer- the Sungolds continue to pop out tomatoes, lots of Thai chiles, herbs are fine, everything else has gone to hell (I take that back, there are still lots of unripe figs on the trees).... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Horoscope Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 We've done pretty well this summer with Korean cucumbers, Marketmore cucumbers, Ichiban eggplant, and tomatoes. Got a batch of San Marzano's ready for sauce making tomorrow. Serrano peppers look really good. Hope I can get pics of plants full of red peppers. Cayennes were enormous. How do you post pictures here? All I can post when I click Image is a URL, and when I did that the picture was enormous, not a thumnail. http://npmusic.org/Serranos1.jpg http://npmusic.org/Serranos2.jpg http://npmusic.org/Serranos3.jpg http://npmusic.org/Cayenne1.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandynva Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Has anyone tried eating the tubers from their ornamental sweet potato vines? some internet sources say they're bitter, but as the vines are essentially selected varieties of the vines used to grow sweet potatoes commerically, it seems like they would be worth trying. On the other hand, i'm wondering why, if they actually are any good, people don't either eat them more or donate them to food shelters, the vines seem to be in half the container gardens/sidewalk plantings i see.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thistle Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 I used to work at HWV,a large garden center, & heard stories about when the guys cleaned out the overhead planters along the fence of the ipomea vines (a miserable job), they tried taking the tubers in the back & roasting them over the barrel fire pit. The report was they weren't worth it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandynva Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 drat. but seriously, can you imagine how much free food people would get if they just planted the regular kind, rather than the ornamental kind (which isn't even that much prettier, imho)? even the greens are tasty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lperry Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 Did anyone else run out last night and this morning to pick all the ripening tomatoes before the rain? I know you're not supposed to be able to dry farm here, but the past few summers have been perfect. I think I can hear the brix dropping on the green ones still out there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lperry Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Year #4 with the Charentais melons, and I finally got it right, picking this big one (about 1.5 kilos) at the peak of ripeness, just as the blossom end started to split. Two more that are the typical smaller size are still on the single vine that made it through the heat and drought. I've had big split ones, tiny non-split ones, but never got things right to have big, ripe, unsplit ones. Well, one, anyway. Cette année, j'ai la main verte. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Blume Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 ^Felicitations! I know only one farmer who grows these around here--always fairly small--and they do have a tendency to split. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lperry Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 The garden doesn't know it's fall. Last weekend I got in the radishes, beets, and turnips, tomorrow will be the lettuce, arugula, mâche, and kale. The weather looks as if it will be cooperating to keep everything from bolting. Now we just need Mother Nature to give us a few months without a freeze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Horoscope Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Remember I planted potatoes in May and rabbits ate 'em all up? (Might have been a groundhog, which I spotted during the summer!) Well, the plants have rebounded. Nice plants about a foot tall. On an off chance, are they producing potatoes? And how would I know if and when they are ready to harvest? Any real hope of that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lperry Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 ^ I think that you are supposed to dig them after the vines start to die. They leave the potatoes for next year's plants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lperry Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 I'm now officially out of space in the cold frame whilst I wait for the heat to show up. If anyone else is interested in scheduling a primal scream to counteract one more ridiculous ten-day forecast, let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thistle Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 I used to love walking around my yard in the spring, seeing things come up-now, my backyard is a wasteland, I don't totally blame the puppies, there's lots of tree roots, but it's compacted mud. I did go out today, & use the yard weasel, to try & break up the hardpan, so I can put down some grass seed ( probably futile), but it's spring, & hope springs eternal.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TedE Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 This will be the 4th summer at our townhouse in the city. We don't have tons of outdoor space but are blessed with a corner lot that gets good southern/southeastern exposure. Each year I've tackled one section: initially it was just getting the space under control and weeded and severely cut back; two years ago it was digging up the east side of the porch and putting in raised beds; last year I put in underground drip irrigation with spray heads for the potted stuff; this year I completely dug up the front side that gets the most sun and amended the soil (very high clay content). Usually we get to late May/early June and I'm just getting around to thinking, "Hmmmm, maybe we should think about getting some tomatoes and eggplant in the ground". But this year I had a plan. A Plan! Direct sow some early growers like radishes, kale, broccoli rabe, spinach and start some tomatoes, peppers, leeks, etc. from seed inside. Once the early crops are ready to harvest we can dig them up and swap in the real summer plants. This is going to be great! The weather hates my ambition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 To benevolent, helpful, tech-savvy gardeners. The Zoo (also known as Home Depot on a spring weekend) ran out of the organic soil I needed. I quickly checked reviews of a competing brand which received an emphatic thumbs down across several gardening forum websites. It will be better to shop elsewhere or wait for a replenished stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 ^uh, I'm afraid to ask, but say what? What is "organic soil"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lperry Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 ^uh, I'm afraid to ask, but say what? What is "organic soil"? Peat? There are histosols, but it could also be regular potting soil with organic fertilizer in it. Something evil ate all my celery and celery root seedlings, but left the tomatoes and peppers alone. Slugs with a taste for bloody marys, no doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Bad planning left me with no choice but to put very young seedlings into the ground Thursday. They got a good watering-in, then were left alone until Monday morning when I got back, and to my delight all survived weather, slugs and rabbits. A bitter spring: endive, radicchio, escarole, mache, lettuce. Also radish, carrot, and potato. Tomato seedlings are struggling; probably it's time to replace the bulb in the grow lamp. Need to start the basil and parsely already. Vegetable gardening is hard for me because I'm always busy with other things when the garden needs the most attention, but usually by May or June I'm very pleased to have perservered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thistle Posted April 18, 2013 Share Posted April 18, 2013 I need to move a fig that has grown quite large & is crowding & shading the windmill palm behind it (I know, poor planning on my part). Whoever said figs need to be babied has not met my thugs, this is Sandy's Strawberry Verte from the the now defunct Paradise Nursery. I know this is not the best time to try this, & I may need an axe to get it out, but It should survive, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine Posted April 18, 2013 Share Posted April 18, 2013 ^this is a more complicated issue than you may expect. First, if the tree has started to leaf out it's really too late. You would probably lose this year's fruit and possibly the tree itself. With a well-established woody plant of any type, the best thing to do is root-prune it well in advance of the move. You can google this for specific instructions. You could start the root pruning now and then move it next autumn after it's gone dormant, or in the spring two weeks or so before it breaks dornamcy. Whenever you move it, try to do in on an overcast, cool day (reduces moisture loss through transpiration). I'm not saying you won't be successful if you do it now, but it's risky. If you have strong helpers dig a big damn root ball to get as many roots as you can. Make sure the new hole is already dug and the soil prepped, and move it fast. I have no experience with growing figs; the above advice is general to trees and shrubs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thistle Posted April 18, 2013 Share Posted April 18, 2013 You are absolutely right, but I've got to move this fig, I don't even care if I lose it. I'll take lots of cuttings (I'll have lots for the picnic, I pruned my Violette de Negronne yesterday, trying to move another plant that was placed badly). I'm going to try & hire some husky HS boys to dig it out, & dig a few more holes for me. I'll root prune the other fig (Conadria) & move it in the fall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smita Nordwall Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 Does anyone grow a pomegranate in No Va? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lperry Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 Does anyone grow a pomegranate in No Va? I've thought about it. Edible landscaping outside of Charlottesville has some that are supposed to grow here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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