gardenchat@hort.net
- Subject: Re: I feel good
- From: B* <b*@comcast.net>
- Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:52:52 +0000 (UTC)
There is one at the University and one done by the City of Riverside as a model for good looking landscaping with lower water needs. ETN Zone 7 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cyndi D Civ USAF AFMC 95 CS/SCOSI Johnson" <cyndi.johnson@edwards.af.mil> To: gardenchat@hort.net Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 10:48:42 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: RE: [CHAT] I feel good Riverside? Is it at University of CA Riverside? I haven't been to that one but I'm not aware of any other so I'd be interested to know the name. There's one near San Diego I'd like to visit too. We used to own a rental house where the caliche layer was about 18" down in one corner of the property. We were attempting to put in a fence around the backyard. What a PITA! We had a powered auger to dig the postholes but it was hand-held. The two of us had that thing on max power with our full weight on it, but finally gave up on the last two holes, it's just like cutting through rock. I don't remember what we ended up doing to secure the posts. Cyndi -----Original Message----- From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On Behalf Of BONNIE_HOLMES Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 4:18 PM To: gardenchat@hort.net Subject: Re: [CHAT] I feel good No, the hard clay isn't as bad as caliche, which we also have in this area but I don't have it. It is almost impossible to get that soil improved even though we have lots of moisture . Around here we use that type of soil for pond liners. I have visited some native gardens in your area, definitely arid. But, occasionally you can see beautiful gardens made of native plants. Riverside has a nice one. ETN Zone 7 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cyndi D Civ USAF AFMC 95 CS/SCOSI Johnson" <cyndi.johnson@edwards.af.mil> To: gardenchat@hort.net Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 6:44:17 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: RE: [CHAT] I feel good They call that layer "caliche" here. It's common in the desert, but if we have it, it's pretty far down, we've had to dig some trenches for electrical and plumbing and haven't run into it. I'm in the Antelope Valley in southern California - high desert. It's dry. Cyndi -----Original Message----- From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On Behalf Of BONNIE_HOLMES Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 3:06 PM To: gardenchat@hort.net Subject: Re: [CHAT] I feel good Could it be that you have strips of hardpan underneath? My soil greatly varies. In some spots, it is pretty good, others a light clay and ok, and in a few spots hard clay. When I prepared beds in the hard clay, I would dig down as deep as the shovel and bury kitchen mulch. In a year, the soil would be pretty good. Where are you? ETN Zone 7 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cyndi D Civ USAF AFMC 95 CS/SCOSI Johnson" <cyndi.johnson@edwards.af.mil> To: gardenchat@hort.net Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 5:01:49 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: RE: [CHAT] I feel good Hmmm all good points. I didn't rototill last year at all and I don't remember doing much the year before that either. I wish I had seen more of a gradation between the mulch level and the soil, it just didn't look like much of the mulch was migrating downward. Things just do not rot here without mega-gallons of water. If I put cardboard on the ground right now with grass clippings on top, and we got our normal expected rainfall, next summer I would see a layer of mostly withered grass with perfectly usable cardboard underneath it. On the plus side since all that veg garden mulch is sopping wet now, it may actually start to break down. Woohoo! Maybe I'll just bury the irrigation farther down this summer. That would get water down past the mulch into the root zone and avoid stirring up weed seeds. Although the wind we get during the year does a really good job of spreading stuff around so it's not like there will be any shortage of weeds anyway. Oh well every place has its challenges. Cyndi -----Original Message----- From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On Behalf Of BONNIE_HOLMES Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 12:30 PM To: gardenchat@hort.net Subject: Re: [CHAT] I feel good Not only do you do that but you also expose lots of buried weed seed to light which makes weeding much more difficult. The last class I attended recommended that you cut off the plants at the point where no growth can occur and allow the remaining with roots become part of the soil. I use newspaper, straw and have even used cardboard. It is great to keep down winter opportunist weed when you have large pieces of it. By spring it has disintegrated. ETN Zone 7 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tricia" <pdickson@sbcglobal.net> To: gardenchat@hort.net Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 3:15:54 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [CHAT] I feel good Cyndi, I am not big on rototilling because of a talk I heard once by a soil conservationist. He talked about how if you rototill or plow to the same depth all the time you make a hard pan that the moisture and roots can not penetrate. I am a big mulcher with newspapers and straw or grass clippings is my favorite. The worms come and work the soil for you. Just my 2 cents! Tricia ----- Original Message ----- From: "Johnson, Cyndi D Civ USAF AFMC 95 CS/SCOSI" <cyndi.johnson@edwards.af.mil> To: <gardenchat@hort.net> Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 10:00 AM Subject: RE: [CHAT] I feel good > The friend I go hiking with was in a car accident Saturday after she hit > some black ice on a canyon road. Fractured a vertebrae, not good. So my > weekend wasn't as happy as it could have been, but I did enjoy grubbing > in the dirt both days. It was a great weekend weatherwise. No wind plus > sunshine, t-shirt weather! I worked outside clearing what was left of > old tomato and basil plants in the vegetable garden and cutting back > rabbitbrush in the dry garden. Husband dug up some old non-productive > grapevines, they were some kind of wine grape, and we bought new > Thompson Seedless and Flame to replace them. I looked for bare-root > fruit trees but the local selection was pathetic. We've been checking > since New Year's but I guess the home centers just don't get enough > demand for them. I did buy a Tilton apricot and I'll call the only real > nursery in town today to see if they have anything. Otherwise I'll have > to mail-order a pomegranate, a couple peach trees, and maybe a pear. > I pruned my dwarf nectarine and some rosebushes too, but being as I was > too lazy to go get my gloves I am all scabbed up, you'd think I'd learn. > > While digging in the veg garden I was noticing the soil. I have been > dumping spoiled hay and sheep manure in there for years. We received > about 4" of rain over the last few days. I dug down about 18" and the > top few inches, all mulch, is sopping wet. The rest of the soil is dry. > Not summer dry but not real moist either. In the "unimproved" areas like > where I planted the fruit tree, the water penetrated way down, farther > than I could dig. Hmmm, I'm thinking more rototilling is in my future. > > Cyndi > > > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On > Behalf Of Kitty > Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2010 12:59 PM > To: gardenchat@hort.net > Subject: [CHAT] I feel good > > Fifty two lovely degrees today and the sun even came out for a few > minutes. > I washed the car, checked on some plants, generally puttered around > outside > in just a sweatshirt. Feels good to get outside. > High tomorrow will be 33 > > Kitty > neIN, Zone 5 > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the > message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the > message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT --------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT --------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT --------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT --------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT --------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT --------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT --------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT --------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
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