Re: Bed preparation/Doug Ruhren

Hi Lynn,
I'll take a brief respite from day 2 of the back to school nuttiness and add my two cents worth!

I dig the bed and remove the grass and beat the grass over a quarter inch screen to release as much soil as possible and toss the remains into the pile for the compost heap. I also try to screen all the soil as I double dig - not always an option, but I do it when I can. Then I add peat, compost, manures - whatever organics I can get my mitts on, and dig that in. Labor intensive, but I try to only add small amounts to my existing beds now. And yes - all my beds are hand dug - I killed a large tiller hitting a rock. (I'll tell some of my silly garden stories over the winter.)

Make to the circus - the children are mooing and I'd better find out why!
Cheryl



Marge...I KNOW!!  When I went to his 'Plants for Winter Interest' the first
year he was here, he showed 113 slides of plants and when he talked I was
entranced.  He was wonderful!  Then and there I decided to make him my
friend.  I have given him heirloom rose clippings to root and this summer he
came to my house to dig heirloom iris rhizomes for the garden.  He is so
personable and a vertible 'walking encyclopedia' (his nickname among the
staff at Stowe Garden).  I was absolutely thrilled to 'sit at his feet', so
to say.  On Sept. 7th. he is giving a workshop on shade gardening and I am
taking that.  You should come, Marge!
     Thank you to all who have responded about killing the grass off first.
In the past we have actually just tilled the grass alive for beds
(impatient, I know), but then have to pull grass for months--bummer.
Lynn

 Boy did you do some great enticing.  Douglas Ruhren used to be at
 Montrose Nursery as well as J. C. Raulston Arboretum....a real
 plantsman!  That must have been a marvelous couple of hours.

 Sounds like you're gonna have some fun, Lynn!

 Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
 mtalt@hort.net
 Editor:  Gardening in Shade
 -----------------------------------------------
 Current Article: Planting Basics
 http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/shade_gardening
 ------------------------------------------------
 Complete Index of Articles by Category and Date
 http://mtalt.hort.net/article-index.html
 ------------------------------------------------
 All Suite101.com garden topics :
 http://www.suite101.com/topics.cfm/635



 ----------
 > From: Lynn Lamb <lynnlamb@carolina.rr.com>
 >
 > Hello all,
 >      We have enjoyed many days of coolness and rain, so naturally
 my mind has
 > been working overtime thinking about and planning an enlarged
 perennial bed.
 > What I would like to know from you--do you always kill the grass
 first before
 > tilling the soil?  What is the general thinking about this?  Any
 good websites
 > you know of?  I am adverse to using chemicals, but husband thinks
 we should
 > kill grass first with Round-Up.  Marge, I am printing out your
 articles on
 > Planting Basics now...have not read them yet.  I was fortunate
 enough to
 > entice the Head Gardener of Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, Douglas
 Ruhren, to
 > let me buy his dinner if he would give me advice for my garden.
 So, for 2 1/2
 > hrs. he and I discussed and came up with a rough plan to improve
 and enlarge
 > what I already have.  Hubby and I went out and marked it off with
 neon orange
 > paint this afternoon.  I will be using alot more shade plants than
 I have in
 > the past and am excited about the posssiblity of growing plants

 > that are new
 > > to me.  So, please give me some advice about the Round-Up.   Thanks
 > in
 > > advance.
 > > Lynn Lamb
 > > NC Zone 7b
 > >
 > >
 > ---------------------------------------------------------------------

 > To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
 > message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the

 > message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS


--
Cheryl Isaak
Londonderry, NH
AHS Region 4, USDA Zone 4B/5A
growing, stitching and reading in NH

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index