maeve
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Post by maeve on Apr 23, 2023 18:23:35 GMT
Oh that's not at all helpful! Such a burden to place on the tenants' shoulders! I will hope your fertile mind can work out a cooperative solution with others there...thinking of you, Megan.
I am covering our very hilly front lawn with wood chips because it becomes too much for us to keep it trimmed in summer. Mulch and spring bulbs and groundcovers is my best solution for it.
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ragdall
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Post by ragdall on Apr 24, 2023 8:27:52 GMT
Maeve, I get dizzy reading about how much you accomplish every day and how many projects you have on the go at one time. I was particularly impressed by the patience involved in growing a native lily from seed to blooms. Thank you for posting and keeping this site lively. Megan, That is nasty of your housing association arbitrarily deciding to stop the grass cutting service. I wonder if they stopped because it is difficult to find people willing to cut it? 20 pounds per cut is highway robbery, unless you have a massive property. I understand that sheep make great pets and are also excellent gardeners. They will cut and fertilize a lawn at the same time. Perhaps some of your neighbours will be interested in sharing one with you? The back lawn (south facing side) is snow free, but the snow in the shade of the front of the house is still melting slowly. As I will be having knee replacement surgery soon, I think will have to try to hire someone to cut my lawns too, this summer, Megan. I'm hoping if I don't fertilize or water this year, there won't be much grass to cut and people will think I'm very conservation minded.
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maeve
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Post by maeve on Apr 24, 2023 20:26:30 GMT
rags- Oh, best wishes for your upcoming surgery. So far, every person I know who had knees "done" has wished they had them done sooner. Preparation and follow-up therapy seems to make the biggest difference in producng a favourable outcome. In my humble opinion as a daughter, I am always so happy when my mother tells me something she needs done that she cannot. Let your son be helpful. (Mentioned in another discussion too, just in case you have time for one but not both!)
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maeve
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Post by maeve on Apr 30, 2023 18:33:18 GMT
Driving rain, strong winds today, through tonight and at least into tomorrow morning. Everything outside is battened down where possible, including the little plastic greenhouse full of seedlings and young perennials. Wet, wet, wet. I am officially off duty!
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maeve
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Post by maeve on May 8, 2023 18:38:42 GMT
Planting trees and shrubs. First day was the Prairifire crabapple and it took most of the day. still needs mulch. Next was the Redfree apple to replace one the deer murdered. It also needs mulch.
To plant Redfree I moved 6-7 heirloom roses from their temporary holding ground, moving them to the old blueberry bed where they are heeled in for now. On Friday I planted a beautiful native Muntain Laurel- Keepsake is the name. It went in front of a mediocre drystone wall resulting from a shambles of a wall building workshop. On Saturday we concluded more Mountain laurel was called for the rest of the wall, and finally, after days of building up a new bed all along the wall, I have planted and mulched four additional laurels. I have a Purple Gem rhody/azalea to move, so it will join the laurels, along with my stockpile of groundcovers like bearberry, wintergreen, European and Canada ginger, etc. and later in autumn, some little bulbs will be tucked in if funds, time, and my aching body permit it.
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maeve
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Post by maeve on May 9, 2023 18:51:09 GMT
Jobs for the morning: gave the wildflower nursery, grape arbor garden, roses, clematis etc. a nice top dressing of compost, watered it in, potted up New Jersey Tea shrubs x 12, the 3 little Czechmark Trilogy reblooming weigelas, a pink Reminiscent rose, peachy colored agastache x 6, 13 pots Liatris spicata bulbs, 5 large pots of different lily varieties with x 5 each, pruned roses, planted a short honeysuckle vine Peaches And Cream, dug out a sedum Autumn Joy to move elsewhere, planted sweet pea seedlings- Turquoise and Oban Bay. Six more roses just arrived, so are soaking for an hour or so to rehydrate- 3 Oscar Peterson, William's Yellow, 2 Ramblin' Red climbers.
I wonder where all the bags of potting mix and bagged compost went! Frost tonight- better go cover a few tenderish plants.
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maeve
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Post by maeve on May 18, 2023 21:21:17 GMT
It was a hard frost, SOme fruit trees and flowering things not happy.
Today I used the last of my potting mix to pot up a couple hundred little seedlings. They've been stalled for a week or three, waiting for me to finish installing a new shade bed with Mountain laurel, and planting two apple/crab trees. Only 3-4 hundred seedlings to go, and more seeds needing to be planted.
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maeve
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Post by maeve on May 23, 2023 14:54:59 GMT
An unexpected frost again last night. Seedling trays (about 3 dozen) were up off the ground and seem OK. We'll see if any fruit trees have the gumption and ability to make fruit.
Edited to add: When a bought plant in a pot fails to grow and thrive, as long as there is no disease I use the soil and dead plant to top up the edges of my hugel bed gardens. Last year I ordered some peonies that never sprouted, so that's where they went- in the front corner of my wildflower and rose bed. When I was watering in some additions to the bed just now I realized there was a peony rooted in and grown to the corner of the bed. It is now in a large pot while I figure out who it is and where it can go.
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ragdall
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Post by ragdall on Jun 14, 2023 23:36:47 GMT
Maeve, The weather has been crazy and unpredictable this spring. I hope that the frost didn't do much permanent damage to your plants. What a wonderful surprise to have a peony survive against all odds.
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maeve
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Post by maeve on Jun 15, 2023 1:00:28 GMT
It was a good surprise, as was your post!
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ragdall
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Post by ragdall on Jul 5, 2023 8:30:03 GMT
I've been getting around a little better and am starting to get out into my yard to resume some of my chores. I was able to mow my back lawn on Saturday. I'm hoping that doing things that are a challenge will make the leg muscles stronger.
My teacher son promised that after school closed for the summer, June 30th, he would help me with yard tasks that are too difficult for me. We've (he has) been getting a lot done. I mostly supervise and do small tasks. We celebrated Canada Day (July 1st) by digging out two sections of a flowerbed that was overgrown with Creeping Bellflower. I introduced him to my hand rototiller called "the claw". He dug out all the weeds with it, After he went home I spent several hours breaking up the clumps and trying to remove all the Bellflower and running grass roots. I know it is a losing battle, but I hope that it will be a couple of years before Bellflower and grass take it over again.
I was hoping to top up that bed with compost that hadn't been removed last summer from the bin it was in, but when my son started to dig it out today, it clearly needed that year out of the bin to finish processing. I'm looking forward to being able to use it next year.
I made a long list of tasks to do, there are still enough left to keep us busy. Even though he is doing all the heavy work, I find it tiring working out in the heat all day. My son is giving me a day off to recover, then he will come back on Thursday.
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maeve
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Post by maeve on Jul 5, 2023 13:25:23 GMT
Rags, I am delighted you have such good help along with the treasure of this time with your son. The bellflower battle is ongoing here as well, and I found the goutweed juice is solar reactive on my hands- huge lesions comparable to second degree burns that take weeks to resolve and heal.
Still, as yu know, all progress is appreciated and good.
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maeve
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Post by maeve on Jul 18, 2023 13:16:37 GMT
Wearing a filter mask today while planting perennials and annuals along the hedgerow and roadside gardens. Smoke alert here, so I'll see what is possible in an hour or so, then work inside for the rest of the day. I did plant the remaining shrubs into the hedgerow yesterday. Time will indicate if I need to change species arrangements or spacing but I think the evolving result will be interesting and beautiful.
Edited to add: I planted several dozen seedlings in the long bed beside the road: Ragged Robin and various cosmos, and together, a pot of Oriental poppy (Princess Victoria Louise) and drumstick allium. Too hot, humid, and smoky for further work outside, but that's a good start.
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maeve
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Post by maeve on Jul 23, 2023 19:02:59 GMT
I couldn't coppice my basket willows at the best time, in late winter. Today I decided to get it done since we've had so much rain and lately, sun, they are still likely to regrow and harden off before winter. I cut three stumps of the slender purply-green withe variety, then started on the biggest stump of the longer, stronger golden kind. The stump itself is two feet across. It took two hours, and there is a massive pile of one to two inch diameter branches piled to start drying. Only six more stumps to go.
Did some summer pruning on the Hidden Rose apple, then limbed up the volunteer Brown ash and young Black cherry volunteers, too. Prunings all get cut smaller and used as mulch. After all that work, my ten foot long hedge of good Winterberry holly has the sunlight back again. I plan to add an equal row of a dwarf variety of Arctic willow grown from cuttings (I cut mine every two years), then a row of beautiful gold and red Arctic Sun® - Dogwood - Cornus sanguinea. I have several of each plant variety potted up and ready to go, just need to prepare the beds.
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maeve
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Post by maeve on Sept 19, 2023 19:26:18 GMT
Dug out the thicket of Mock Orange from the south end of the evolving hedgerow. I'll replace them with a trio of 3" x 3" Coralberry, another native the birds will appreciate. I should have them by the end of the month. The ground is all ready for them.
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