Re: soggy tropicals

To: g*@hort.net
Subject: Re: [CHAT] soggy tropicals
From: james singer i*@verizon.net
Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 10:33:33 -0400
In-reply-to: 410-22005862013423296@usit.net
References: 410-22005862013423296@usit.net

Interesting. On another list, a guy said he collects 100 pounds of coffee grounds a week from a Starbuck's near his house. He uses them to acidify his soil for tropicals. He also said the residual caffeine in the grounds kills snails and slugs.

On Aug 20, 2005, at 9:04 AM, Bonnie Holmes wrote:

If you are friends with an establishment that makes a lot of coffee, you
could offer to provide a small waste container and collect the coffee
grounds each day. Earthworms love it and it could make your bed progress
more quickly.
Bonnie ETN Zone7

[Original Message]
From: Pam Evans <gardenqueen@gmail.com>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Date: 8/19/2005 10:05:43 PM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] soggy tropicals

Wow - and I've been putting my kitchen scraps in the compost piles.
Didn't know I could put them right in the beds!

On 8/19/05, hodgesaa@earthlink.net <hodgesaa@earthlink.net> wrote:

I read a novel by a gardener once where the main character did that. She
would select a planting site months in advance and bury her kitchen

waste.

By the time she was ready to plant, ta-da! Beautiful soil.



Andrea H
Beaufort, SC
[Original Message]
From: Bonnie Holmes <holmesbm@usit.net>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Date: 8/19/2005 8:18:00 PM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] soggy tropicals

Kitchen mulch is collecting all non-diary, non-meat, non-cooked plant
material from your meal makings, such as coffee grounds, melon rinds,
tomato heads, parts of lettuce that don't look nice and are usually

thrown

away, washed out egg shells. I put mine into a large cat food bucket

that

has a snap-on lid.  When it is full, I dig a hole in the bed I am

making

or
improving, put in the "kitchen mulch" and cover it over with dirt. I
might
put a shovel full of bark mulch on top if it is the growing season.

The

kitchen mulch attracts earthworms and helps to break up the clay.

Bonnie ETN Zone 7

[Original Message]
From: kmrsy <kmrsy@netzero.net>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Date: 8/19/2005 10:06:02 AM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] soggy tropicals

What is kitchen mulch?

Kitty
neIN, Z5
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bonnie Holmes" <holmesbm@usit.net>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2005 7:15 AM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] soggy tropicals

One method I have used for working with clay is to bury kitchen

mulch

in

the place I want to make into a new bed.  I do this for months and

cover

the gradually developing bed with mulch to keep down weeds.  The

bed

soon

has earthworms and better soil.  The Trail Gardens at Knoxville

UT has

problems with clay in spots.  On other method they use is to

develop

raised

beds of good soil.  With raised beds, the plants have good

drainage

and

can

be better seen.  If I want a good deep bed, I start with the mulch

method

and add top soil on top to have a raised area.

Bonnie ETN Zone 7

[Original Message]
From: David Franzman <dfranzma@pacbell.net>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Date: 8/18/2005 1:39:26 AM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] soggy tropicals

Hi Cathy

When I first landscaped my yard I took a suggestion from Marge

and

dug a

hole in my clay and filled it with water.  The water stayed in

the

hole

for

three days before it finally was absorbed.  I gave in and

bought 50

yards

of

top soil and covered the clay two feet deep.  Bananas, like many

tropicals,

like plenty of water but they want it to drain out and not sit

in

soaking

soil.

David
http://www.atouchofthetropics.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cathy Carpenter" <cathy.c@insightbb.com>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 2:06 PM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Starting a nursery/David!

Drainage may be a good part of the problem, as we have heavy

clay

here. All were on a slope, though, and I guess I thought that
slope=drainage. The one that survived was in the most

protected

spot,

next to the koi pond, but it was the most abused, losing the

growing

plant that I received (something broke it off at soil level)

and

having to produce a new keiki that first year. Go figure.

Cathy, west central IL, z5b

On Aug 17, 2005, at 12:13 AM, David Franzman wrote:

Hi Cathy

That's odd because they are 20' tall here.  I have three

groves

of

them.  I can understand them freezing but if they survived

the

winter I don't know why they wouldn't grow.  Does your soil

drain

well?

David
http://www.atouchofthetropics.net
----- Original Message ----- From: "Cathy Carpenter"
<cathy.c@insightbb.com>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 7:23 PM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Starting a nursery/David!

Tried them here. Of three, one made it through the winter

(with

protection). The sprout from that plant has not gotten

taller

than

3", thought it appears healthy. Thind I will dig it up, put

it

in

pot, and bring it in for the winter.

Cathy, west central IL, z5b

On Aug 16, 2005, at 8:56 PM, David Franzman wrote:

Hey Holli, I told you on the phone about Musa basjoo.

Hardy to

or 20 below freezing.  There seems to be a difference of

opinion

on

that.  The fruit is not edible and the bananas are about

the

size

of my ring finger. But the pod and subsequent hanging

fruit is

very

cool.  Ok, that's just a start.

Did you get those hibs repotted?

David
http://www.atouchofthetropics.net
----- Original Message ----- From: <Hollikft@aol.com>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 6:11 PM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Starting a nursery/David!

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--
Pam Evans
Kemp TX
zone 8A

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Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4 W
Hardiness Zone 10
Heat Zone 10
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
Maximum 100 F [38 C]

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References:
- Re: soggy tropicals
  - From: "B* H*"

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