Gardening

[Lil Bit]

your flowers look beautiful... the peony looks like one I have called Dancing Butterflies it didn't bloom this year , I had to move it.

doxie take an extra smell for me, I love gardenias but they don't like it where I live... we had them at my childhood home and I loved it when they bloomed. We had Mimosa Trees in our yard too and I used to pick a bouquet of blooms and rub them on my face, they were cool to the touch. We used to eat honeysuckle blooms too.

One summer , my mom had me dig up a whole fence row of the old fashioned orange daylilies, I swore that I would never plant any in my yard... well, I have... and she loves to remind me of that pledge I made... Daylilies have really improved since that time. Here are pics of some of my daylilies .

Speaking of Daylilies, you may just be the person to ask. I have some of the yellow Stella D'Oro daylilies and they are getting really thick so I would like to separate them to plant in another flower bed. Any suggestions on how to best do this without doing any damage? I've got a flower bed that I've always planted annuals in, but I'd like to get it started with perennials. I've got some Black-eyed Susans that are spreading all over and I thought I'd maybe move a couple of them too and see if I can't get one of those whatever looks good stays gardens that Queenb mentioned.

[inthegarden]

Speaking of Daylilies, you may just be the person to ask. I have some of the yellow Stella D'Oro daylilies and they are getting really thick so I would like to separate them to plant in another flower bed. Any suggestions on how to best do this without doing any damage? I've got a flower bed that I've always planted annuals in, but I'd like to get it started with perennials. I've got some Black-eyed Susans that are spreading all over and I thought I'd maybe move a couple of them too and see if I can't get one of those whatever looks good stays gardens that Queenb mentioned.

The best time to divide Daylilies is in the early spring or fall, but if you keep them watered you can divided them anytime. If you can't wait and want to divide them now, (like me) wait until a cloudy day or a rainy day to move them.
Go ahead and decide where you want to move the daylilies and predig your hole, that way they can go back into the ground as soon as you divide them.
If the clump isn't too big you can dig the whole clump up, take a sharp straight shovel and slice down the middle or take 2 planting forks and place them both in the middle and pull the forks apart dividing the clump. If the clump is too big to dig up, take your sharp shovel and slice through the center of the clump, remove the portion you want to replant. They can be divided again. just fill the hole back in with dirt. I wouldn't make the new clumps too small and don't plant them too deep. They are very easy to divide and you will probably slice through some of the bulbs, not to worry, they will fill back out. I will sometimes sprinkle powdered lime around them if they look a little weak. you might have some yellowing leaves, just keep them watered and they should do fine. I would cut all the blooms off the transplants.

[Trista]

So why is the other 'good' and the violets 'bad'? Couldn't the violets just be left as ground cover? They are not ugly or anything.

My mum doesn't have a problem with it just being on our pathway (not our main one but the one in the gardens), but it killed a lot of our plants in the flowerbeds and turned our yard into the eyesore of the culdesac. There are good violets, yes, but we only want stuff that we have planted. We try to keep it sustainable, so planting things that look good but also work well with the Northwest climate, but at the same time, anything that was volunteer can go away. We are not neurotic about spacing, especially since we don't do a lot of the little flowers. At the same time though, it is generally expected that it be neat and not overrun with stuff that we didn't plant. An hour a day is a pain in my butt but slowly and surely, I'm getting it all pulled up. I hope to have every last dreg of it up by the end of this month.

[Lil Bit]

Thanks for the help Inthegarden. I am planning on dividing them in the fall. The bed where I plan on putting them is planted now with wildflowers and the daylilies are blooming so beautifully that I don't want to disturb them now.

[Critical]

I'm happy to report that the weather has finally heated up around here and I spied my first tomato last night while I was watering the garden! It's green and tiny - about the size of a pencil eraser - but it's there! I'm way too excited over one puny tomato, but it's the first one I've ever grown!

I'm going back to the nursery to buy another plant variety of tomatoes now that I know that they can get enough sunlight on the porch.

In other news, my spearmint and chocolate mint are now planning world domination.

[coltnlasma]

Congratulations, Critical! I'm working on my first garden, too, so I know just how you feel about discovering tiny little fruits and veggies. I imagine when you finally get to pick and eat that tomato, it will be the best you've ever tasted. Funny about your ambitious mint... I read somewhere recently (maybe here?) that mint and zucchini are the best things for new gardeners because they make you feel so successful at it. I know I was disenchanted early on when some of my seeds didn't germinate, but my zucchini and yellow squash production helped me feel like a real gardener (of course now I'm overrun with them, but still love those plants because they were there in my time of need ).

[inthegarden]

That is great Critical, it is so exciting about seeing your first fruit. Pretty soon you will have fresh home grown tomatoes to eat.

We had a disscusion at the supper table one night on the importance of knowing how to raise your own food. Trying to prove his point, Mr. Ing asked "What would you do if kroger didn't have any food ?
His son replied " Go to Publix".

[Lil Bit]

We never plant zucchini. I have a friend who does and he keeps everyone he knows well supplied.

When I was a teenager I was out helping my dad weed his garden and the neighbor man came over. He looked at the cucumbers and said, "you know, they look just like pickles". This was a full grown man who didn't know that pickles are made out of cukes.

[misskitty]

We need RAIN. Please send RAIN. We are experiencing the worst drought in 40 years!

I've put down new seed on sections of my back and front lawn, as well as that Patch seed in places. And I water all my perrenials and annuals daily. Last fall I put some black wood chips around some of my perrenials, more for frost protection than anything.

Does anyone know if putting the black wood chips helps to keep in moisture at all? I did buy some more but haven't put it around all my plants yet. My water bill is going to be wicked this month!

[Trista]

We never plant zucchini. I have a friend who does and he keeps everyone he knows well supplied.

When I was a teenager I was out helping my dad weed his garden and the neighbor man came over. He looked at the cucumbers and said, "you know, they look just like pickles". This was a full grown man who didn't know that pickles are made out of cukes.

Are you serious? I knew that pickles are glorified cucumbers from a very young age. Heck, for the children's lesson at church awhile back, the pastor used cucumbers and pickles as an analogy.

We always try to plant zucchini, but it fails. We are getting more blooms on the tomatoes in the Topsy Turvy, and our potatoes are doing well also. It's almost to the point where next year we need to use old garbage cans as the planters. I will be so glad to have fresh vegetables...although my parents get annoyed that the tomatoes always disappear because right when they are ripe, I eat them.