Gardening for Old Folks (Adaptative)

[Searsmom]

So we have this small hill near the house, with lots of young trees growing on it and lush grass, wildflowers (weeds) and moss growing underneath. It was my oldest daughter's "fairy woods" and now same for my youngest. The trees have lots of branches at eye height though so I thought I'd trim those off and make it fun to actually walk up there instead of braving facial scratches to reach this magical place. Lil one helped too because after all that chopping, my back said, "nope, done."

 

[Searsmom]

Our zone shows we are in the 5b-6a region but I've learned that I darn well better think about 5b propagation when it comes to planting because we can have late springs and freezes till late April in spite of what the maps say. Winters can also dip down to the -15 range in temps like it did last winter. It's hard on the perennials that we have planted like our Triple Crown Blackberries. We lost about 3/4s of this years producing canes again due to the brutal winter we had. Third year in a row. DH is going to hook up the brush mower and mow them to the ground and let them regenerate from the roots. We may get enough blackberries for our own use but the vineyard that is nearby that has offered to buy my berry crop is SOL again and so are we.

Not much a body can do about it. Like trying to control the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. You just can't control the weather.

Oh that's a shame, I'm sorry to hear that. So much of local food depends on weather, I guess that's why they started trucking food in to grocery stores.
Our wild blackberries spread like crazy, but the ones I plant never last beyond 3 years and never produce very much.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Does anyone else have their old people crank come out when people talk about planting stuff to overwinter in zone 7? I'm in zone 7, can't plant any of the stuff they say I can because we get weeks of solid below freezing temps and it's not uncommon to dip into the 4's (farenheit) periodically. What act of congress does it take to let us enter the zone we want to plant stuff in, instead of the zone they think we should be.

Ok, rant over

I am in zone 7A. Howdy neighbor!

 

[cavemanrich]

Does anyone else have their old people crank come out when people talk about planting stuff to overwinter in zone 7? I'm in zone 7, can't plant any of the stuff they say I can because we get weeks of solid below freezing temps and it's not uncommon to dip into the 4's (farenheit) periodically. What act of congress does it take to let us enter the zone we want to plant stuff in, instead of the zone they think we should be.

Ok, rant over

One way to overcome some of this is to have a greenhouse.

So we have this small hill near the house, with lots of young trees growing on it and lush grass, wildflowers (weeds) and moss growing underneath. It was my oldest daughter's "fairy woods" and now same for my youngest. The trees have lots of branches at eye height though so I thought I'd trim those off and make it fun to actually walk up there instead of braving facial scratches to reach this magical place. Lil one helped too because after all that chopping, my back said, "nope, done."

Beautiful lil hillside. If that was my property, I would cut walking trails thru it, rather than cutting most or all of those small trees.

 

[Searsmom]

I am in zone 7A. Howdy neighbor!

One way to overcome some of this is to have a greenhouse.


Beautiful lil hillside. If that was my property, I would cut walking trails thru it, rather than cutting most or all of those small trees.

We get too much flooding for a greenhouse.
Those trees aren't coming down, the branches at eye level and below were trimmed so my youngest doesn't get branches in her eyes when she plays on the hill, it's only about 30 ft side to side. Just enough for play. The one side that would be good for a path will be covered with brambles. We're thinking of building a couple of steps on the other side.

Edit: brambles = blackberries in June

 

[sharron]

right now we're in the panhandle of florida, been playing while down here, have tomato plants started and some blooming(container tomatoes) and my igloo lettuce is ready for the second cutting for salads, the yellow flowers are road weeds i pulled to try to start up north, will try for seeds to restart every year. the little iris bulbs i found on the side of the road in yard trash someone had dumped two years ago and this is the first bloom for me. i've enjoyed playing with seeds while down here, leaving fri morning going back north

along with my goodies

 

[Searsmom]

So I've an old ikea bed, sans hardware up in the attic, that hasn't seen use in 15 years, since the step up was broken. It doesn't really look like a bed, it looks like a white rectangular box. But I'm toying with the idea of adding paint and nailing it together for a raised bed. Anybody know the composition? Think it will leach stuff into the soil?

 

[cavemanrich]

So I've an old ikea bed, sans hardware up in the attic, that hasn't seen use in 15 years, since the step up was broken. It doesn't really look like a bed, it looks like a white rectangular box. But I'm toying with the idea of adding paint and nailing it together for a raised bed. Anybody know the composition? Think it will leach stuff into the soil?

I know what you have. There is nothing of concern of leaching into the soil, to my knowledge,,,,,,,, but here is my opinion.
It is made of particle board. Being outdoor, and subject to rain and moisture, the boards will swell and bend,,,,,,(no practical way to avoid that) and eventually break/crack. That translates to a short lived raised bed. OSB plywood, sometimes called waferboard by some is intended to be outdoors. It is made from scrap shreds of wood, (not sawdust). The main difference is the outdoor grade glue used in that. I had some outdoor items made from OSB, and painted. They did last a considerable time.

 

[NewBoots]

OSB plywood, sometimes called waferboard by some is intended to be outdoors. It is made from scrap shreds of wood, (not sawdust). The main difference is the outdoor grade glue used in that. I had some outdoor items made from OSB, and painted. They did last a considerable time.

Building the raised beds will be my first project at the new place so this interests me. 5 years or less would you say?

 

[bruceha2000]

If the IKEA stuff is as @cavemanrich described, I wouldn't give it one year. Save yourself the trouble of rebuilding it soon by building it with real wood the first time.