Re: Re: Rebloom:

----- Original Message -----
From: <Ranchiris@aol.com>


> Wow - great idea!  Anybody have an idea how to accomplish this???  I
haven't
> figured out any way to do this yet.  My husband nixed the idea of a
portable
> swamp cooler to blow on my iris beds.  It's 108 outside right now - I
could
> sure use some ideas!!

Kathy,

I can empathize with you. We've finally dropped back into the 80s after
nothing but hot & windy conditions. With barely over 9" of moisture for the
year and nothing in sight, I've been experimenting......

In trying to keep the moisture in some plastic lined beds I put in for LAs
and such I thought I'd try wool. (We're short on compost, wood chips, and
anything else that might normally be used for mulch that would still let
moisture in if it ever does rain. We *do* have a barn full of sheep's wool
that I'll never manage to spin by myself.)

A nice bonus is that the yolk in the raw wool seems to act like plant food.
The irises in the lined beds turned the most beautiful dark green and kicked
into high gear almost overnight. The wool keeps the soil cool and has cut
the need to water by at least half.

It's worked so well that I'm using a wool mulch on a newly planted bed of
daylilies. I think it's probably the only reason they're alive and blooming.

Christy Hensler
Newport, WA

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