Re: Today in the garden

Much depends on how soon you want to use your compost. If it's out in the open w lots of sun and moisture it breaks down more quickly. Mine is on the north side of my house behind a 4ft brick wall; it can't be seen. But it gets little sun and it is half overhung by roof eaves, so not a lot of moisture either. Breaks down slowly. 

Kitty
neIN, Zone 5
----- Original Message ----- From: "Eva Tompkins Labonte" <evatesq@gmail.com> 
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2007 10:08 AM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Today in the garden



Donna,

Would it help to have it in an enclosure? My neighbors are close
together in a suburban neighborhood. I have my compost pile in a dark
green Rubbermaid compost enclosure. My neighbors don't even know what it
is. They probably think it is for storage. It has a lid so that they
can't see what is inside.


Maybe something like that would help.

Eva
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: Donna <gossiper@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 08:00:27
To:gardenchat@hort.net
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Today in the garden

not big at all..... It was a fight just to have enough season to season.

I moved to a small town in the country.... ie new subdivsion type thing.
Seems those that moved here didn't want the country life, so I have
neighbors with lawns and a couple evergreens planted too close to their
homes. They use lawn services to ensure it is fertalized, cut, and what
ever needs to be done.


Of course, then there is me.... not much lawn, a zillions trees, flower
beds everywhere, a pond, a soon to be garden railroad, veggie gardens,
etc.... although I was here before all of them, somehow I don't fit into
this area.
I was told to remove the pile of dirt as it was unsightly... they don't even know what a compost pile is... sigh. 

Donna


----- Original Message ----
From: Eva Tompkins Labonte <evatesq@gmail.com>
To: gardenchat@hort.net
Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2007 9:47:25 AM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Today in the garden


Donna, how big was the pile that the neighbors complained about?

Just curious.

Eva

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: Donna <gossiper@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 06:25:58
To:gardenchat@hort.net
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Today in the garden

Sounds like you did accomplish something tho! Seems the older I get, the
longer it takes to do 'stuff'. I am wondering if it is due to moving
slower or taking more time thinking about design or doing more pre work
before actually planting something.


In my continuing saga of neighbors - I had to reduce the pile of my
compost to keep the complaints down- ok read get rid of it! So now I am
hurting for compost alternatives. I thought they sold something bagged,
but when I looked for it, only found cow manure and mushroom compost.
Thoughts on either of these bagged items or alternate items I buy/could
use?


My goal for this weekend was to work on the garden railroad.... but ma
nature isn't allowing that. It has been raining since Friday here. A few
good storms, but for the most part raining just enough to keep me
inside. The weather map tells me today for the most part isn't going to
work either. We needed the rain, and I am sure the weeds will love it :(


Donna




----- Original Message ----
From: Chris Petersen <chris@widom-assoc.com>
To: gardenchat@hort.net
Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2007 11:10:14 PM
Subject: [CHAT] Today in the garden


It's 11 PM and I just got out of the shower after a very long day in the
garden. The strangest thing happened.  My left thumb cramped and locked
itself against my palm! I frequently get cramps in my toes and calves, but
this is my very first thumb cramp!  I had to literally pry it away from my
palm! While I was performing the unclamping, I noticed that I forgot to wash 
my feet!  Due to the extreme heat, I left my socks and gardening shoes in
the house and wore an old pair of sandals.  Talk about dirt- I had to use
the ultimate nail brush that I got from last year's daylily convention. It 
worked like a charm!
Well, back to gardening- my goal for today was to fill my patio containers. 
I do at least twenty 20" containers and about the same amount of smaller
ones! I must be out of my mind! I've been doing more and more containers
every year.  Most years, no one sees them besides family.  But, I really
enjoy the riot of color that they provide and I get to try out all sorts of 
unusual annuals.

Anyway, about mid-afternoon my husband replied that the nursery of plants
didn't look like it had a dent in it! The only way that I can do my
containers is to arrange all my plant material by color; then, I make
choices that I hope will be pleasing. Some of the plants are cuttings that
I've wintered over, so they are still small. The containers look out of
proportion to the plantings for a few weeks!

It takes me so much longer than I think because I have to dig out the
zillions of seedlings in the pots before I decide whether to discard or
reuse some of the soil. Today, I potted up flats of 2" and 3" pots of
agastache. I also repotted some of the houseplants that are coming outside
for the summer. My indoor jungle is slowly disappearing, so I'll have to
dismantle the temporary shelving and move the furniture around to fill the
empty spaces that held hibiscus, geraniums and containers that I brought
inside for the winter!

Tomorrow there are more containers to plant and annuals to add here and
there to the garden beds. Then, I have to take cuttings from the coleus
plants that are looking straggly after spending the winter indoors. There
are perennials to plant, grasses to cut back (I didn't get to all of them
yet), the 200' of hedges need clipping, leaves are smothering a couple of
shade gardens, etc. I have soooo many perennials that need to be thinned
out!  There will be lots of things to pot up to give to gardening friends!
Oh yeah, I'll have to drag the hose around to the places in the garden that 
get no irrigation (how do you get those sprinkler people to answer your
calls or actually come to the house?)
The columbines are glorious right now. The azaleas are still beautiful. Some of the clematis are blooming profusely. The only daylily that's blooming is H. middendorffii. H. dumortieri should be in bloom soon. I'll have to check 
my other EE's for scapes.

Chris Petersen
Northport, Long Island, New York
Zone 7a (Average min temp 50 - 00)

chris@widom-assoc.com
My garden: http://photos.yahoo.com/chrispnpt

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