With the world awash in stress and anxiety, nature can be the perfect spring antidote.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) April 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM
At the moment, my garden ambitions don’t stretch as far as a potted plant… but I regret missing this Spring’s forsythias and daffodils.
For those of you in a better, if more backbreaking place: What’s going on in your gardens, this week?
Geo Wilcox
Yesterday I pulled all the weeds out of the beds and next week we get more dirt to fill up the beds. Not going to do tons of veggies this year and half the beds will be planted in perennials instead of annuals.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
They Call Me Noni
@Geo Wilcox: Except for my stargazer daylilies the bulbs have done their thing for the year. The peonies have tons of buds and I just love them. I’ll put them in vases throughout the house and they smell absolutely divine. I don’t plant any vegetables, not even tomatoes. I used to but then they would do their tomato thing and I’d have tons of them to figure out what to do with.
NotMax
A topical time-out.
Hobbyist horticulture to da max.
:)
AM in NC
This is our first spring in our house, and I have been moving ornamentals around our front garden and starting/transplanting veggies. The previous owners planted everything too close together and not always in spots that worked, but they left me with some nice plants to work with. I wish more of them were natives, but they’re not invasive plants, so for now, I’m keeping them.
My goal is to have a pretty much all-native garden, except for edible plants (fig tree is not going anywhere). My tomatoes, peppers, and herbs are intermixed with the ornamentals, because it’s the sunniest spot, and I haven’t been able to install raised beds yet for more growing room. I’m also concerned an out planting into the ground in the back because the amount of glass and other debris we have been digging out is horrifying to me. We moved from a suburban neighborhood that used to be a farm way back in the day to a city neighborhood where our part of our yard and the yards of our immediate neighbors were apparently used as a dumping ground.
I LOVE being out in the yard every day! It has been my solace during these dark times, 100%.
Planetjanet
Foray to Merrifield garden center yesterday. I replaced a hydrangea that did not survive the winter. Just for giggles, I planted a peony as well. It’s my favorite flower. I have usually put snapdragons in the windowbox on my deck. They often survive winter, but not this year. Last year I tried to put some dahlias in the side yard, but the rabbits ate them. So I put a few in the windowbox for now. Need to add something around them later. Also picked up a couple of cherry tomatoes for containers.
MagdaInBlack
ALL the violets on the other side of the back fence at work are in full bloom. Purple ones, white ones, purple speckled ones. I love violets and I’m pleased to have discovered this colony.
The huge old flowering crab at work is in full glory too. The 2 yellow magnolias on my daily commute were looking fine on Friday. I check for them every year.
Here, I may move Ruby the Giant Geranium and all her offspring out to the balcony today. Or not.
My garden update.
Good Morning
RileysEnabler
Does anyone have any experience in stopping the spread of holly? My lovely neighbors have an old holly tree that is sending endless runners under the fence and into my beds. I rip, cut, and swear as much as possible but the runners are winning this spring. I am thinking of tearing that bed out and building a catio in the area but need to put something down to stifle the holly. Any ideas?
stinger
So far I’ve planted a peach tree, a bush rose, and a climbing rose, and and am prepping to plant the other roses that have arrived and are in the garage — embarrassed to say how many, but rose catalogues were what got me through the winter. And a few more roses yet to be delivered!
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
Bought a small hydroponic LetPot garden for the new apartment. Planted the tomato, pepper and a few herbs seeds back in March. The tomatoes have gone nuts! I have dozens of blossoms and at least four baby tomatoes! I got separate actual potted tiny rosemary, thyme , basil and oregano from a local nursery. Everything is happy and growing! I used to be bad at this and it makes me so happy to see my happy indoor garden. Might get some flowers for the little balcony.
AM in NC
@NotMax: Very cool, but not a lot of actual horticulture in most of those gardens!
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@RileysEnabler: I don’t have any personal advice but, depending on your state you can often write or email your local college cooperative extension office for gardening advice. For instance in NY state where I am, the Cornell University Agricultural school is a great place to start and NY state has county extension offices:
College and state extension offices
NotMax
@AM in NC
Originally wrote “Gardening to da max” but have a weakness for alliteration.
;)
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@They Call Me Noni: I miss the peonies, lilies and daffodils I grew when we had a house… I hope the new owners like them. They reminded me of my mom and the daffodils came from her old house.
BenInNM
Happy to start my Sunday with Garden Chat – thank you Anne Laurie and hope you continue to heal! As far as my garden is concerned, today is continuing to redo a strip along a wall. I’m replacing various plants that have died with cacti and other plants that can better handle the heat and the dryness. The reason for the mass die off is that a few years ago I had to have the sewer line replaced which runs near the area. While I’m happy to have a functioning sewer, I didn’t realize how much these plants were depending on that sweet nectar
mrmoshpotato
@stinger:
Did you recently move to the country?
CCL
Oh AL, so happy to see your gardening post. Glad that you are feeling well enough to do so.
Bought too many plants; started too many seeds.
Saw an old fashioned bird bath – but aqua blue – at the discount store, and Cupid/ Eros shot an arrow through my heart. And filled with lust, I brought it home with me.
O. Felix Culpa
Glad you’re doing the Garden Chat again, AL! I hope your recovery is continuing apace.
I was pleased to see that most of my native perennials survived the winter, and some are already blooming or fixing to bloom shortly. We’re closing on our house next month, so I’m not doing much gardening as we prepare to move. Just a bit of weeding and watering to keep the plants alive for the incoming owners.
MagdaInBlack
@mrmoshpotato: ..throw away your papers, blow up your TV ? 😊
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Joe Falco
I pruned my mother’s purple azalea bush back after missing my chance last year to do it. I had meant to take some of the cuttings and try to propagate them, but an emergency happened yesterday that took my attention away from it. The bush itself grew from a cutting that I successfully propitiated from my grandmother’s azalea bush before it died about fifteen years ago.
Rose Judson
I am slowly dismantling pallets to make raised beds with (a la this dude on YouTube – jump to 5:00 or so to see what my plan is). The wisteria is just starting to bloom, and with projected highs in the 70s this week here in Britain, it should soon be filling the whole yard with its fragrance.
MagdaInBlack
I am pleased to see your garden chat posts again, AL. It’s a good sign and I hope you are feeling more fit every day.
satby
Good morning all, and glad to see Anne Laurie recovered enough for a garden thread. It’s going to be nice later today (38° now) and I have some raised bed prep to do. But before that, I have to mow, all the rain has some parts of the yard already at mower-bogging heights. I try not to mow early, but if I let it go I ‘ll have to hire a commercial service later ☹️
CaseyL
AL, it is so good to see these Garden posts again! And it’s better than terrific that you feel up to doing them again.
@NotMax: Lovely! I miss those kinds of TV programs, sweet low key shows highlighting local achievements, people, eccentricities. No one did it better than the Brits, but the US had a few now and then, too.
My deck container garden now includes tomato, broccoli and shelling pea plants.
The tomatoes are still coming inside at night (it still gets chilly at night here) but during the day they’re happy to soak up the sun. Sometime in May they’ll go into their permanent pots and get caged.
Everyone else is busily growing to meet the capacity of the container they’re in. I love watching the pea plants head for the lattice to grow up it – to my surprise, they don’t need much coaxing to head for the high ground!
JeanneT
It’s tulip time in west Michigan. I keep finding new plants in places I did not put them. Do squirrels dig up and replant tulip bulbs?
Rose Judson
@JeanneT: I have this problem in the UK! People seem to think they wouldn’t do that, but I have no other way of explaining how my tulips wind up in weird places.
CCL
@JeanneT:
@Rose Judson:
Squirrels do that with my crocus here, but I haven’t noticed the same thing with tulips.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Good morning!
Glad to see you’re feeling well enough to be doing more posts again lately, Anne. Hope you continue to feel better every day
jimmiraybob
@RileysEnabler: “…building a catio in the area …”
I assume that this is a patio for cats.
I have built several dogios over the years.
Over the last dozen years or so, I’ve been replacing my grass-scape with native MO plants to attract butterflies and bees and the rest of the ecocriters. This summer I will start a backyard potato patch. Doing the research I am surprised at the variety.
RevRick
Our tulips, various shades of reds and oranges are in full bloom, and our purple irises are coming into their glory. Meanwhile, our peonies are shooting up like bamboo, and our azalea bush is being crowned in red.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@rikyrah:
@Baud:
Good morning
stinger
@mrmoshpotato:
Oh, no — I’ve lived here on what was once my grandparents’ farm for nearly forty years. Soon began planting apples and cherries and apricots. As the climate has gradually warmed, I thought I’d give peaches a try, and put in one two years ago and three more last year. There’s still plenty of room, but I believe I’ve planted my last fruit tree now. Who knows if I’ll be here long enough to enjoy the fruit! But someone will.
stinger
@MagdaInBlack: Hmm, sounds as if I’ve missed a reference!
Tazj
What’s going on in my garden? Nothing right now unfortunately. I cleaned up most of the front yard a few weeks ago but it’s been so rainy and sometimes cold that I haven’t been inspired to do much but I better get with it.
Every spring I’m tempted to get another flowering tree. My pink flowering crabapple didn’t last long. I’d like a red bud. I think my husband would hate another tree. At least I can enjoy all my neighbors trees on the street. They are beautiful right now.
Kristine
@JeanneT: I think so. That’s the only explanation I can think of for the apparent mobility of my crocuses.
All the daffodils have opened and wow I have a lot of them. Some lungwort I added to the shade garden will also be blooming soon. I’ve spent some time this past week weeding, and last evening I mowed the front for the first time—the lawn is at that weird spring stage where parts are still dormant and others are 6 inches tall.
The forsythia! Wow, that yellow!
The volunteer spring beauty patch that’s been popping up beside the driveway for the last decade or more is blooming once again. A true sign of spring.
Lots of weeding, raking, and mulching in the plans. And there are a couple of native plant sales next month that I need to hit.
Great to see you back, AL.
Nancy
I’m not gardening this year. Recovering well and quickly from hip replacement but digging is probably too much right now and forget weeding.
However forsythia and daffodils are still blooming where I live.
Anne Laurie, come visit the areas south of Lake Ontario for that slower spring beauty, maybe next year, after you recover. Not that it will take that long for you to be back in action, but the flowers move on quickly.
Hildebrand
We have our doors wide open to the garden here in York – it’s going to hit 70 – it is glorious.
Earlier today we went to the St. George’s parade – and the best part was that one of the marching bands played the theme from Wallace and Grommit.
Nancy
@JeanneT:
Squirrels have planted oak trees in my flower beds.
They Call Me Noni
@AM in NC: You have a fig tree? I am soooo envious!
Trivia Man
Last fall i put in hyacinth, about half came up and bloomed. Spectacular scent, i brought several inside. Tulips are swelling, not open yet.
RileysEnabler
@jimmiraybob: yes, an enclosed structure for cats so they can be outside safely. But I’ve got to murder all the dang holly runners first!
RileysEnabler
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone: thank you, that’s an excellent idea!
Scout211
Good morning all!
Great to see a post on Sunday morning from you, AL! Here’s hoping you gain strength and mobility every day.
Seconded. It really helps.
And getting on my mower and cutting back all the grasses and weeds in preparation for fire season is very zen-like for me. All those passes, all those rows, all that focus. A nice distraction.
My summer veggie garden has been planted in my raised beds and the blueberry bushes are past the blossom stage and are now forming berries. There are still a few oranges left on my three orange trees as the blossoms now are appearing for next year’s crop. I love that fragrance.
Have a good Sunday, everyone. 😊
Trivia Man
From my comment last night, a rabbit saga is unfolding. I have my most aggressive garden plan ever, somethings started indoors have been moved outside already, some seeds outside, and many more either inside starting or not yet-but-soon.
Then i discovered a rabbit nest. As a comment last night said: rabbits love lettuce, monsters hate bunnies. Dilemma!
I have fences but even a rookie like me doesn’t expect to stop a determined horde.
Someone mentioned distracting with clover, im looking in to that.
mvr
Trying to decide whether it is too risky to plant some starts. In the old days the guideline was May 15. But these aren’t the old days and I have some Bride Eggplant starts that are really healthy that I got over a month ago and had to transplant to larger cups to keep them OK. Would like to get them out of the cups and into the soil where they’ll live for the season. They’re a favorite variety and harder and harder to find reliably. So often have to mail order and this time there was only one option which got them here early.
Also pulling dandelions and throwing down grass seed where it is needed. There’s not a ton of lawn but it is very shaded. And throwing native wildflower mixes along the alley neighbor’s fence so that we can look at them and get some pollinators and maybe a hummingbird or two over the summer.
Jeffg166
I have been finding out just how much the drought Philadelphia has been in has killed a lot of the major scrubs and small trees. I am almost back to a blank canvas with nowhere near the time I would need to get something back to where things have been for decades. I have described it as my garden of decline. It reflex my own physical decline.
Jeffro
We don’t have much of a garden, but we have been getting out quite a bit for hikes this spring.
Saw our first box turtle last week!
And a skunk wandered out of the forest and into our backyard a couple weeks ago(!) First time I’d ever seen a live one in the wild.
brendancalling
I’ve been too busy to garden. It’s all weeds right now—but the kind of weeds that early pollinators love. Lots of dead nettle, specifically. I generally don’t pull it out until I get sick of looking at it, and even then I leave a little for my big friends.
My compost is going well. I got a container late last summer, and it’s been growing all year. I also probably need to buy some lumber (hopefully before the stupid tariffs kick in, because I need new raised beds. My housemate allowed his to rot away.
In my figurative garden, it’s busier. Lots of gigs this week and next, podcasts to record, etc.
Scout211
@Trivia Man: Have you tried a no climb fence or a deer rabbit fence? The no climb fence is the most effective but that kind of fencing wire can be pricey. I have deer rabbit fencing around my garden enclosure and it has kept out the rabbits for more than 15 years.
They Call Me Noni
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone: Behind our house is all woods. Several years ago I bought a few supersaks of daffodil bulbs and planted them in patches at the edge of the woods and in the spring they are just beautiful. All that glorious yellow against the bareness of the trees. Bulbs are just the gift that keep on giving.
mvr
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone:
A plant from your mom must be easy to miss.
I see @Joe Falco: still has a bush of that sort.
We have a hanging indoor plant that was started from a cutting from one of my mom’s indoor plants (original plant went to my sister when Mom before mom died 25 yrs or so ago) that she started from a cutting off of her mom’s plant in Europe likely in the 1940s. It blooms around once a year. Nice to have.
Trivia Man
@Nancy: I miss april in New Jersey. Spectacular color every direction you look. Random dumpy houses explode in beauty for a few weeks every year.
SkyBluePink
So good to see your posts, Anne Laurie. Hope the rest of the recovery is as fast and painless as possible.
Azaleas leaving bloom, picked up some annuals for color until the perennials start. Hoping the deer don’t eat the Asiatic lily buds like last year. Tomatoes in grow bags are the extent of my non flowering gardening. Well, hostas and ferns too.
Trivia Man
@Scout211: ill look, i was just resigned to submitting in advance i just used fencing i already had around. Some chicken wire, plastic fence on a roll, sone wire with bigger holes im using as scaffolding.
Area is only about 3m by 5m and 2 sides are chain link fence butting on sidewalk and driveway.
MagdaInBlack
@stinger: John Prine song: “Spanish Pipedream” =-)
“Blow up your TV, throw away your paper
Go to the country, build you a home
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches
Try an find Jesus, on your own”
JeanneT
@Nancy: I’m sure my squirrels plant walnut trees, but I’ve never found an oak seedling!
mvr
@Nancy: Apparently blue jays are mostly responsible for the spread of oaks over long distances. But yeah, the squirrels try to do their part! I don’t so much mind the acorns but they dig up other things to plant them.
I don’t know whether it is true that they prefer to bury things away from the source but it seems like ever since we started feeding birds and generating fat squirrels as a side effect, they don’t dig in our yard as much. And we have more squirrels than ever despite the best efforts of the local foxes that range through our relatively urban neighborhood.
HinTN
What’s going on is the Rose Breasted Grosbeak migration is here in full force. There were about twenty males ageing up the black oil sunflower seeds earlier.
Nukular Biskits
Good mornin’, y’all.
I’ll have to take some pics and put them on Bluesky but, so far, everything is looking great in my flower beds and my little home-built container garden (tomatoes and squash).
Roses in one bed out front. Lantana in another. Salvia by the garage.
And beds out back … can’t remember what I planted there.
I’m very pleased and a little surprised, given the clobbering they took back in January (?) when the Gulf Coast saw up to 8 inches of snow and several days of sub-freezing temps.
MazeDancer
Anne Laurie posting a Garden Chat is so uplifting to see. Very happy you are well enough to do it, AL.
Creeping Charlie, despite my constant pulling, is taking over the lawn. Any tips on pet and people safe removal appreciated.
OT: Found out last night there is new season of Top Chef. Excellent distraction watching.
frosty
Nothing’s going on in my garden. But I have plans! For next week, it was supposed to be this week but you all know how that goes.
– Buy some conduit for a support and build a new net over Ms F’s little pond. A heron ate her goldfish when she first stocked it so it has to be covered.
– Finish raking leaves on the patio, weed-whack the dandelions etc growing up between the bricks. In fact, weed-whack a lot of stuff.
– Plant more ferns in the shady spot next to the garage. The ones from last year came back!
– Buy some lettuce seeds for the 4×4 vegetable garden and figure out what else I want to plant.
– Buy the materials to build a better compost bin.
That’s a lot. I’d better rest up today in order to prepare!
Good to see you back on the Sunday morning shift, AL.
MagdaInBlack
@MazeDancer: I am one of those who loves the smell of fresh mown “Creeping Charlie.”
Salty Sam
Our Star Jasmine is blooming nicely, and the scent when I walk out the front door is heavenly!
stinger
@MagdaInBlack: Thanks!
CCL
@mvr: check the soil temperature.
Sometimes when I rush getting my tomatoes etc. into the garden, I take old pots and cover the tomato plants at night. If it’s a chilly day, I sometimes leave the pots on all day.
mvr
@CCL: Thanks! Soil temp is getting there, I think. It must be above 55 degrees or so because it is officially morel season around here. In fact we picked a few about 40 miles away from here (and North of here) a few days ago.
sab
@MazeDancer: If it grows and is short and stays green in summer then almost any plant is welcome in my lawn.
I need to check out back to be sure the poison ivy I painted with Roundup stayed dead. Roundup scares me but so does poison ivy.
No One of Consequence
@MazeDancer: At my old house, I had some success controlling Creeping Charlie with spraying a solution of Borax on it. You can use a spray bottle, better if you have a pump sprayer, and pro tip, warm water dissolves the detergent better. It may take repeated applications, but you should see some obvious browning of the Creeping Charlie leaves a day or two after first application. Don’t make it too strong, but if it doesn’t appear to be working up your concentration a bit on the next application.
Hope this helps.
-NOoC
StringOnAStick
@CCL: Wall O Water units help protect and warm the soil. We live in a place with an average 90 day growing season, so I lot an insane amount of season extension on the spring side.
I finished building raised beds from real 2” by 8” lumber from a local custom sawmill, planted the cold season veg in one of the 3 beds and then put netting on all of it due to the damned squirrels thinking they are good digging areas. Yesterday I wrapped up all the projects, cleaned out the shed and sat down and realized this is the first time in 4 years I no longer had a major garden hardscaping or building project going, and felt a little adrift. Then I see this morning where someone driving off the edge of our driveway has broken a sprinkler pipe, so I have a project today; yay I guess?
No One of Consequence
@sab: If glyphosate (sp?) has a bit of time (hour or two) on a leaf, the plant will take in the toxin, and distribute it throughout that plant (eventually). Some rhizome-like plants may also kill some satellites, but that is more of a dice roll in my experience.
Roundup shouldn’t be used if you can avoid it, but if/when you do, I don’t suggest aerating it via a spray (it is a known carcinogen), instead use hardy rubber gloves and a cotton swab. Any plant you touch with that swab will die, so be careful obvs.
This advice is in my experience, as there are far more veteran (and intelligent) jackals herebouts.
-NOoC
Scout211
Me too, both. But don’t try to take it out the plants manually. I tried that last month for some poison oak. I protected myself with gloves but somehow I must have made a big mistake before I jumped in the shower. I think my clothing must have brushed my skin where it made contact with the leaves of the poison oak and I was clueless to that possibility.
I am highly allergic and almost three weeks of misery ensued. A visit to urgent care and prescription meds helped but it still lasted almost three weeks.
There were a few more poison oak plants on the property and I drowned them in Roundup after I gloved up and masked up. No more natural removal for me.
No One of Consequence
I forgot to thank AL for posting. Glad to see you, and hope you are doing well.
This year I decided to join you all. Bought 4 3×3 galvanized raised beds. Ordered 3 tons of garden mix from a landscaper (60% topsoil, 20%c compost, 20% sand) and moved it all by me and my wheelbarrow. Felt that.
Beds are in, had about a spare yard of material left. Planted most of two of them. Mix of crops, but the BokChoi and TatSoi are coming up, as well as the broccoli. I’ll chime in here with sprouting success and failures next time. Intent is to have one of the beds growing sweet potatoes so my wife will be able to use the greens. I’m most interested in the spinach and green onions.
Good sprouting and favorable weather to all you toilers in soil.
-NOoC
sab
@No One of Consequence: That is how I treated it. Rubber gloves and a tiny brush that I then disposed of.
I don’t know what else to use against poison ivy. I am very sensitive to it. I break out in a rash just thinking about it. One year my neighbor hired someone to clear his yard. They weed whacked their poison ivy and I broke out every time I went on that side of my yard for five years.
CCL
@StringOnAStick: Thanks for the info on the wall of water – always wondered about them.
Projects: Similar here – but then, there’s always cobble walkways to extend – or installation of impulse buy bird baths!
sab
@Scout211: James Fallows the reporter is also highly sensitive. He recommends Tecnu, so I coat myself in that every time I have been in the yard near the poison ivy.
Also too, per Notmax, I boycott cashews. Same toxin in them and people in SE Asia are exposed when they pick and shell th nuts. The rashes are horrifying.
ETA In Ohio I can find Tecnu in every Walgreens and CVS.
oldgold
The glechoma hederacea is blooming across my lawn. Giving it a wondrous purple haze. ‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky.
Of course, even during this halcyon season, there is a lawn problem. Along the fence lines, the neighbors paid for, there are a few spears of Kentucky blue grass. Thankfully, I am Roundup ready. Soon, these sparse spare spears of bourgeoisie sentimentalism won’t know if it is tomorrow, or just the end of time.
sab
@Scout211: When I cleared my side yard after the Roundup I pulled one long root, and twenty feet later sure enough there were poison ivy leaves on the other end.
Fortunately, I had Tecnu. That stuff works.
Nukular Biskits
@sab:
Cashews have the same toxin as does poison ivy/oak/sumac? I assume you mean the other parts of the plant, not the nut itself. I’m highly allergic to poison ivy/oak/sumac but can eat cashews all day long.
No One of Consequence
@sab: In my experience, people have a range of reactions to ‘poison’ flora. I have a buddy that can damn near eat poison ivy and is unaffected. Myself and most of my family are indeed susceptible to the ivy at least.
Best home remedy cure I have tested is soaking recycled brown paper (think cut up strips of old grocery bags before the plastic ones) soaking those in apple cider vinegar, and laying them over the affected area to air dry. The acetic acid helps break down the oil and that is absorbed into the paper. Multiple applications will be required, but I have found it quite efficacious when I get exposed. Ymmv, of course.
-NOoC
p.s. Don’t mess around with any of the poison flora. If you have to use heavy duty stuff to tackle it, I don’t blame anyone at all. If you have access to a goat, I have heard those little bastards love the stuff.
Scout211
@sab: Yes! TechNu is awesome! I used the itch spray but was too late for the cleanser by the time the rash appeared.
No One of Consequence
@sab: Holy crap, that is sensitive. But, that oil in question is no joke, and remarkably resilient. Letting fly with a string trimmer on poison ivy is bush league for any yard worker. They themselves probably regretted that one later.
-NOoC
(saw the pun, was an accident, decided to leaf it in)
JaySinWa
@Rose Judson: The raised bed design seems okay, but from experience screwing into the end grain of the boards leads to splitting and weak joins. I would place the top end reinforcement parallel to the inside or outside of the beds, using 2×4’s and maybe a 1×3’s (or maybe some of the recycled pallet wood) screwed into that to make a cap over the top,
Kristine
@HinTN: Looking forward to their arrival in NE Illinois. I usually get 3-4 pairs hanging around the feeders.
Cowgirl in the Sandi
Spring flowering is about done here in the North Bay. Flowering trees were lovely and my lilacs were outstanding – I wish they would last longer but the fragrance was divine.
Glad to see Anne Laurie back and I hope you feel better each day.
Scout211
That’s my husband. He dug up a “nice looking bush” that he found on our property and repotted it in a nursery pot and set it on our patio. You guessed it. It was a large poison oak plant and I nearly had a panic attack. He handled that thing throughout the whole process and never had even an itch. He can also pull out stinging nettle with his bare hands and it has no effect. If I even barely brush up against a stinging nettle, it STINGS.
Gvg
@RileysEnabler: you need a barrier. Dig down and see how deep that kind of holly is sending its runners. If it’s not too deep you can try and put in a barrier that can hold back future runners. Then when you dig or kill the runners, you can win. The real problem is if you have a nice tree with big roots that you want to keep in the vicinity that complicates barrier setting up. I know putting in a barrier will be a lot of work. I have bamboo for a neighbor and there are trees so I haven’t done it, but I have been thinking out how. The digging chore seems daunting. But so does fighting the bamboo when I am older than now when it’s already hard.
I think I may do a barrier except where the tree roots are and then the bamboo will come in there, but not elsewhere, and I can keep watch on fewer spots. An improvement, but not perfect. Only big tree roots, little ones I will cut. Hopefully the tree will just send roots deeper than the bamboo.
for Holly, something like a 10 or 12 inch metal continuous edging you can dig in. I have seen them at Home Depot and Amazon. Not too cheap but that should last and not have to be redone.
Gvg
@Trivia Man: do not use the small square plastic fencing with 1 inch or 1/2 inch squares. Often called bird netting, it can catch snakes and they can’t back out because of their scales pointing backwards, if they misjudge their own thickness. They can die, hung up in that kind of netting. My mom is not a snake “fan” but she was distressed by harming them also. The netting is supposed to be used up in the air to cover fruiting plants when berries are ripe. Even then be careful of that kind of netting.
JaySinWa
I pulled the weeds out of two raised beds yesterday, added some compost to refill them. We planted some store potatoes that had spouted in one of them. Doing pretty minimal gardening this year.
sab
@No One of Consequence: Goats do. We rented a herd one year and they cleaned it out. Chomp chomp chomp. Gone in a day. The problem was getting a human to fence them in where there was poison ivy. The human had issues, the goats had none.
oldgold
@Scout211: . “He handled that thing throughout the whole process and never had even an itch. He can also pull out stinging nettle with his bare hands and it has no effect.”
Of course, should he get near kryptonite – Watchout!
Ceci n est pas mon nym
What’s doing in my “garden”?
I am historically not a very successful gardener, but I keep trying. So here’s what’s doing. (I’m in southeast PA; last frost date is around Apr 10-15)
1. Over the winter I found an old packet of tomato seeds. Put 12 in the dirt indoors around Mar 15. Was very excited to get 7 viable plants that I have to move outside sooner or later but I’m terrified to kill them in the process or have them eaten by deer or something.
2. Every year I try sunflowers. Have had success maybe twice. Trying again, put the seeds in yesterday.
3. There’s one side of our house I call “the jungle”. It is overgrown with ivy and killer thornbushes that always make me think of Sleeping Beauty, the old Grimm version where unsuccessful princes would get their eyes scratched out by the thorns. I’m trying to clear that area out and I’d love to fill it with some sort of attractive low maintenance plant. Bought some wildflower and lavender seeds over the weekend and might throw them in the ground just to see what happens.
Gvg
@No One of Consequence: people become more sensitive with more exposure. Those who show off how immune they are, are wasting an advantage that can wear off. They can become allergic to it later if they are exposed to it often enough.
I had a neighbor who was so sensitive she was also allergic to Virginia creeper, a normally not a problem relative that is everywhere and looks similar. She did not outdoor activities in the spring. She became allergic by pulling out a whole bunch around her house for a few seasons.
StringOnAStick
@No One of Consequence: Tecnu works, but so does a grease cutting dish soap like Dawn; the thing we are allergic to is carried in the oil poison ivy, oak, sumac have on their leaves. Tecnu works the best though, but if you don’t have it, use Dawn.
Wall O Water’s are a lifesaver here because we can get frosts as late as the end of May, but have plenty of warm days to lure you into planting starting in early April. I use them to prewarm the soil where I will be planting things like green beans, and I keep them on the peppers and tomatoes until they get too big to stay inside anymore. We get a lot of radiant heat loss at night here, year round. I noticed that the cucumbers that had grown into the thornless blackberry made a lot more cucumbers, so I am going to try something to reduce the radiant heat loss above the cukes this summer. I had nearly given up bothering to grow them here but now I have a hint that I can get some if I’m willing to get creative.
sab
@Gvg: So true. My husband thinks he is immune. I won’t let him test it. I get my exposure from the dogs rubbing up to it in the Metroparks. Poison ivy is rampant there. I think they use it to keep us on the paths and out of the plants and shrubbery.
Rose Judson
@JaySinWa: Thank you for this advice! I’m still fairly new to this type of thing, but even I was wondering about that. Basically I want flower beds that’ll last me about five years – I should be able to plan and save up to have someone come do brick ones for me by then.
StringOnAStick
@Gvg: I’m horribly allergic to landscape junipers now, all due to too much exposure since they are so common in the west and I was in them all the time as a landscaper. Tecnu helps on that, but I avoid even the slightest touch because it’s the pollen, not the oils like poison ivy. There was a juniper essence in a hotel-provided shampoo, and it made the previously impacted areas mildly break out. Native juniper trees are no problem, it’s just the ones used in landscaping, and they are everywhere in the west since they are tough and cheap to buy.
Alce _e_ardillo
Asparagus is just starting
just planted carrots and onions
the goal is to try to nativist my yard with native plants and pollinators.
will it work? Time will tell.
sab
@Nukular Biskits: There is a reason that we never get cashews in the shell. The shell is the problem.
How are you with mangos? I only eat them in winter. I break out from the peels. In summer I have enough exposure from elsewhere that mango peels take me over the edge.
StringOnAStick
@JaySinWa: Even with 2” by 8” wood, I used bracing inside the corners but screwed into it from the outside. I also used interior cross bracing for the beds that were longer than 6’; one is 8’ and another is 11’, and interior bracing to keep the upper board as parallel as possible to the lower board. I made mine 16” tall (two I boards high) and filled almost the entire bottom half with straw, wood, and leaves according to Huegelkulture methodology. The soil here is volcanic sand essentially and desperately needs organic matter. Once you get it right though, sandy loam is a pleasure to work in!
Scout211
FYI, if you are building new raised beds, don’t forget to lay wire under the beds to keep out the burrowing rodents. I use either 1/2” wire or gopher wire. My daughter and SIL forgot to do that when they built their raised beds and they had to remove all the soil and lay the wire then refill the beds with soil. It was a big task.
Also, it’s not recommended to use treated wood. It is thought that the chemicals can leach into the soil and are not healthy for the plants. But there are some disagreements on that. You can purchase natural preservatives, which I did for several of my beds made of wood. I have a some beds made of wood, some of recycled materials and one galvanized. There are plusses and minuses for all of them.
No One of Consequence
@Gvg: Did not know this. Interesting, and thank you. Plants are weird. Humans are weirder. I offer as evidence, our current political situation.
-NOoC
MazeDancer
@No One of Consequence: Thanks. Not sure Borax is a good idea around pets. And birds.
But might try it in a small, secluded area.
dnfree
@sab: We have a grandchild who is allergic to cashews, mangoes, and pistachios. Not sure how those are related.
JaySinWa
@StringOnAStick: The youtube design has a number of weak points, but might be functional. It could certainly be improved, but screwing into the end grain was a no go for me. Been there and done that.
No One of Consequence
@MazeDancer: At the time, it was a fenced-in back yard occupied by the best rescue dog that ever adopted me where the Creeping Charlie was. I sprayed probably a 25-30 sq ft. area approx. I didn’t notice any irritation on her paws from running around in it, and she didn’t eat any (that I know of). Birds I don’t have any good feel for, but there weren’t any corpses lying around near it as I recall.
Why I wouldn’t want to drink Borax, I don’t think it is that nasty of a substance. I could be blissfully unaware, of course. (this happens with some regularity)
Good luck to you either way though,
-NOoC
wmd
I’ve had rain here the past couple of days – enough to soften the ground. I’ll be mining chicken manure and then working it and compost into beds. Bedding plant starts are coming along, peas have germinated. I may buy some bedding plants – actually already did some at Costco – 3 individual chile peppers (Anaheim, Poblano and Serrano) and 3 Italian sweet peppers. Thinking about getting a 6 pack of celosia and of cucumbers planting them, along with some flower seed once the soil conditioning is worked in.