Mumsy's Romantic Garden Advice

[MumsyII]

I have been reading this thread for a little while now and am really enjoying it! Thank you for the wealth of information! I love gardening and have moved onto 5 acres this December and I am excited, but overwhelmed with the space. I have no desire to create large gardens, but rather enjoy the timber and natural prairies on most of the property. I do have a nice size vegetable garden, three fruit trees and a few small ornamental trees (ornamental pear and mimosa) along with some roses and very small lilacs. Since moving, I have planted a narrow bed across the front of the house and around one side with perennial and a few annuals. I have also put in, my largest ever, vegetable garden. However, my soil is horrible, heavy, hard clay. I added some compost and peat moss, but not nearly enough, so my harvest has been very disappointing. My neighbor is filling a trailer with horse manure and old straw for me to compost. I am thinking of piling it on top of my garden in the fall and working it in. I also have my own kitchen and chicken compost I will add to it, along with any leaf litter I can gather up. I have also been doing some research on biochar and am thinking of working that in to soften the soil. Has anyone tried biochar or even heard of it?
I do have a few suggestions for some of the conversation further up on the thread. Here in NW Missouri, we suffer from very high humidity this time of year, if that is coupled with frequent thunderstorms, my tomatoes almost always end up with blight. I have mixed cornmeal into my soil around my tomatoes and splashed them with a cornmeal water mixture. Keeping the unhealthy parts of the vine trimmed and keeping the weeds away has also helped. This solution was passed down to me from my great grandmother, and it seems crazy, but it really does help.
Also, if you are looking for coffee grounds, but don't drink coffee, you can ask your local coffee shop or diner to save them for you.

Hello Mrs. Rebecca. Welcome to the conversation! I was just getting ready to retire for the evening and came on briefly to read your post. I can almost picture your property from the words painted as you wrote.

Getting the trailer of horse manure and old straw to compost is brilliant. Heat it up good in the compost and it will kill the grass and weed seed that may be lurking in the manure undigested. Adding leaf litter and any thing else of an organic material is going to help.

I have not heard of biochar. Guess what I want to research when I get up tomorrow morning? Hah!

It's interesting what you suggest with the cornmeal water mixture. Humidity or water on the leaves is definitely how blight can spread quickly from plant to plant. It reproduces by spore. Good air circulation around plants by removing leaves and keeping weeds down is key. I would love to try the cornmeal water mixture if the need ever arises. Thank you for sharing it.

Good suggestion about collecting spent coffee grounds from coffee shops. Coffee grounds are wonderful for throwing on acid loving plants like Blue flowered Hydrangea, Blueberry, and Rhododendrons. But also excellent food for worm bins for those that raise their own.

 

[Alibabe]

I finally got down to the nursery for some plants and we spent the whole of Sunday in the garden - what a joy.

I have wooden fencing around the back of our property so we bought a red climbing rose called Dublin Bay which we hope will cover a large section of bare fence. We also got a honeysuckle and a red honeysuckle variety. I kept the tag aside to post the name of the red honeysuckle but I cannot find it at the moment. Hopefully these climbers will cover large portions of the bare fence and add some much needed colour to the garden.

We managed to move 3 medium sized shrubs that were orginially planted against the house, not a good spot as they grow to the height of the gutters, to the front of our property and we are hoping that they spread and provide some privacy from the road. So far they look alright from being moved; I really hope they take off.

I finally filled out the 1 bed where I have tried to grow things before but the girls love that flower bed and are constantly in it scratching away. The good thing is they have turned the soil into a rich lovely black soil where it was mainly clay before. We planted 2 roses (Frymincot or Sweet Dream and 1 other) and a type of lavender together with what are left of my st joseph's lillies and it is going to look and smell wonderful as it matures. We have put up chicken wire all around the flower bed much to the girls disgust to protect the new plants until they are big and established enough to withstand chickens.

We were so lucky that my husband was offered some pallets at work and we now have 29. We are going to use the wood to make some raised beds for our veg and herbs etc. Our veg patch this year was partially successful but we need deeper beds for the root vegetables so hopefully with the help of the pallets, we will soon have some nice beds to work with.

Mumsy - I discovered that our nursery sells the cloth that you use to cover your hoops by the meter. It is 2 meters in width and you purchase however many meters you want, like you would buy fabric for sewing. We are definitely going to get some once all our beds are made and ready for planting.

Sue: Sorry about your Mom,

 

[Kassaundra]

Mumsy that is a very generous offer of sharing seeds

 

[armorfirelady]

I'm going to collect a lot of seed from my garden this year and portion it out in envelopes. Mixed Calendulas, Welsh Poppies, Bread Seed Poppies, Nasturtiums, Marigolds, and Sweet Peas for sure. I will also try to save seeds from all of my heritage vegetables. There should be plenty to share with every person that has subscribed to this thread. When it gets closer to the end of October, I'll bring it up again and get addresses by pm from anyone that's interested. Sharing seeds by mail is one of the most enjoyable ways I know of spreading the wealth. All it takes is a stamp.

Mumsy that is so thoughtful of you. I would be happy to send you seeds in return. We could all have a small Mumsy garden of our own

I have questions about your potatoes. What variety did you plant. Are they recommended for your area? Do they get full morning sun to dry the dew? Do you overhead sprinkle or drip irrigate? Do you mulch the potato growing area with straw or loose litter so that spores are not splashed up onto foliage? Is there good air circulation around the potato green tops?
-The varieties I got were Red & White. They did not have a name other than that on the tags at the feed store where I purchased them.
-They get full sun from sun up till mid afternoon when the sun is blocked by trees as it sets.
- I water them from overhead via a sprinkler.
-This year the ground is a marvelous (to me) mix of soil & compost. It crumbles beautifully in your hand and is easy to dig thru. Years of dumping leaves, compost, manure & peat moss has finally given me beautiful soil instead of the clay I have everywhere.
-As for the air circulation it was very good. I followed the directions I had to the word with depth, spacing, hilling, etc. But then the pumpkins started to grow and as they got larger they covered the potatoes leaves. But this occurred very close to the 100 days of when the info I found online said they would be ready to harvest. Before then the potato leaves were exposed to sun & water.

My potatoes got blight last year same as my tomatoes because of lack of sun and wet leaves all day. I think. This year I moved them all into full sun.
In years past my tomatoes were close together. This year with enlarging the garden they have ample spacing between them. I did put some shaving over the ground around all the plants to try & keep the weeds down & help retain moisture. I tend to water in the evening most nights. I've read watering early or late helps the water absorb into the ground & that watering during the heat of the day causes most of it to evaporate. I never realized that watering in the evening causing the leaves to be damp could cause blight. I also read that encourages squash bugs as well. So I need to change my watering to the am to see if that helps prevent both.

Try the LAB. If it helps at all, it will be an awesome finding.
I plan on it. It certainly cant hurt

 

[BlueMouse]

such a generous offer of seeds! That's very exciting! I would be happy to send you some of ours if we have varieties that you don't

I have had good luck with the lab against powdery mildew on my climbing rose. I had to spray pretty regularly but it did get rid of it. so no harm in trying it on blight! So interesting about the cornmeal! I'm going to have to try that if I see blight again!

Here's the stump in the yard. It gets afternoon sun and some morning shade.


it's currently covered with this noxious weed which I keep pulling up pretty much everywhere and keeps coming back. I'm adding "weed stump" to my list of things to do while the kids play outside today or tomorrow....

 

[armorfirelady]

such a generous offer of seeds! That's very exciting! I would be happy to send you some of ours if we have varieties that you don't

I have had good luck with the lab against powdery mildew on my climbing rose. I had to spray pretty regularly but it did get rid of it. so no harm in trying it on blight! So interesting about the cornmeal! I'm going to have to try that if I see blight again!

it's currently covered with this noxious weed which I keep pulling up pretty much everywhere and keeps coming back. I'm adding "weed stump" to my list of things to do while the kids play outside today or tomorrow....

Thanks for the info on the lab with powdery mildew. I have something like that on my lilacs and peonies so I will try it on them as well. Tonight after work I plan on heading out to the garden to spray away. I am thinking of trying the corn meal as well.

If you want to try and kill that weed I am guessing straight vinegar would work. I use it for weeds in my walk ways and such since I dont want to use chemicals because the dogs have access to the area. Within 24 hours the leaves are brown and easy to pull

 

[MumsyII]

such a generous offer of seeds! That's very exciting! I would be happy to send you some of ours if we have varieties that you don't

I have had good luck with the lab against powdery mildew on my climbing rose. I had to spray pretty regularly but it did get rid of it. so no harm in trying it on blight! So interesting about the cornmeal! I'm going to have to try that if I see blight again!

Here's the stump in the yard. It gets afternoon sun and some morning shade.


it's currently covered with this noxious weed which I keep pulling up pretty much everywhere and keeps coming back. I'm adding "weed stump" to my list of things to do while the kids play outside today or tomorrow....

I'm going outside today to collect seeds of the Bread Poppy (all pinks through lavender shades) Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium, and Euphorbia the Mole plant. I'm going to wander around the place and see what's out there. The way I save is by taking brown paper grocery bags and pulling up dried annual or bi-annual plants with seed heads intact and up ending them in the bags. Then they go into the garage to finish drying. I take a sharpie and mark date of collection and name of plant on each bag. It would thrill me no end to get seeds back! Doesn't matter if I have it already or not. It is so fun when stuff comes up and I can know where it came from in the world! It never gets old for me. Tucking little bits of seed from a friend, into nooks or crannies is a true joy.

This plant reminds me of a ground cover called Dead nettle (Lamium maculatum) The flower isn't quite the same so I'm not positive. If you have the time and don't want to use white vinegar, you could cover it with black heavy mil plastic and weight or stake the edges down. This will take a couple weeks but will kill the plant with heat build up and suffocate the roots by disallowing photosynthesis.

 

[armorfirelady]

I'm going outside today to collect seeds of the Bread Poppy (all pinks through lavender shades) Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium, and Euphorbia the Mole plant. I'm going to wander around the place and see what's out there. The way I save is by taking brown paper grocery bags and pulling up dried annual or bi-annual plants with seed heads intact and up ending them in the bags. Then they go into the garage to finish drying. I take a sharpie and mark date of collection and name of plant on each bag. It would thrill me no end to get seeds back! Doesn't matter if I have it already or not. It is so fun when stuff comes up and I can know where it came from in the world! It never gets old for me. Tucking little bits of seed from a friend, into nooks or crannies is a true joy.

Beautiful plants Mumsy. Thank goodness for google & cut & paste to see what the plants look like.

I will collect seeds as well. Honestly the only ones I know that leave seeds are my Lupines & Rose of Sharon's. I'm really unfamiliar if the others do being they are perennials?

Also how long do you think seeds that have been in sealed containers in the basement would last? I found some the other day on a shelf that I put up there years ago. I totally forgot they were there.

 

[MumsyII]

Beautiful plants Mumsy. Thank goodness for google & cut & paste to see what the plants look like.

I will collect seeds as well. Honestly the only ones I know that leave seeds are my Lupines & Rose of Sharon's. I'm really unfamiliar if the others do being they are perennials?

Also how long do you think seeds that have been in sealed containers in the basement would last? I found some the other day on a shelf that I put up there years ago. I totally forgot they were there.

I don't have any Lupins and I love love love them! I also don't have perennial Rose of Sharon. I have a small tree.

The way I test seed that's been in storage is to see if they will germinate. Take a paper towel. Place a dozen seeds on it without the seeds touching each other. Fold them all up twice and dampen the towel with seeds. Place in a zip lock sandwich bag left open for air. Place in a warm place. On top of a refrigerator used to be the way I did it my modern ones are so well insulated these days, that is not longer working for me. Depending on the variety you are trying to germinate, they should in a week or so. Some seeds like larkspur and Delphinium need a freeze period. Called Stratification http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratification_(botany)

If you have a high percentage of seeds germinate, they are good. If a low number germinate or none, they have gone stale. I save seeds in an air tight bag in my freezer from year to year to keep them viable.

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote: Great info & I will def save you some seeds of both plants. I have rose of sharon growing like weeds in the bed they are in. I def don't need any seeds from them anytime soon