I'm always looking for lotions and potions to help me grow healthy plants, especially my tomatoes. According to Lee Fryer, author of "The Bio-Gardener's Bible: How to Build a Super-Fertile Garden," the following recipe for Liquid Sunshine can be used to increase the production and flavor of tomatoes. . .
It has been frustrating to me over the years when I have tried to use logic to help homeowners understand the importance of cutting their lawn at least at 2 inches high. Still, 80 percent of Americans cut their lawn shorter than 2 inches. I think I have come up with a better approach. I can show you how cutting your lawn short can cost you more money than if you followed my suggestion. . . .
It was Memorial Day weekend, which is the weekend we Americans remember those that have gone to war and we American women put our men, who are not currently at war, to work on the ever growing honeydew list. So this weekend I set my husband (and father-in-law) to removing a few oversized weeds. Namely one. ..
reBlogged
to trees
on May 27, 2008, 9:00AM
Posted by Hanna Reblogged by Old Roses to trees on 2008-05-28, 07:19:11
Kalmia latifolia, or Mountain Laurel, is wonderful evergreen shrub native to the Eastern United States. The growth is fairly slow but some varieties can get to over 10ft tall.In recent years new cultivars have given us blooms that range from white to red, banded, and even some that start deep red when closed and turn white as they open. They make a great companion to rhododendrons or azaleas.
reBlogged
to shrubs
on May 24, 2008, 1:00AM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to shrubs on 2008-05-28, 07:18:08
The Mosquito Vacuum™ creates a powerful bio-signature to attract hungry biting mosquitoes and insects. Mosquitoes lured to the scent are vacuumed into an inescapable bug basket where they dehydrate and die in just a few hours. The Mosquito Vacuum™ starts working instantly to attract and kill mosquitoes and in just 30 days you can see a noticeable reduction ...
reBlogged
to pests tools
on May 27, 2008, 1:00AM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to pests, tools on 2008-05-28, 07:17:49
The bluebird carries the sky on his back. Henry David Thoreau ~ 1852
Romie and I saw our first bluebird last spring. We were working in the garden, near an ornamental birdhouse, and I saw a flash of brilliant blue out of the corner of my eye. I looked up and saw the bluebird perched atop the birdhouse. I whispered to Romie, "Look!"
We stood for a moment, in awe of the beauty of this rufous-chested bird and we knew we were in the presence of something special. Neither of us had ever seen one before. It took a look into the small hole of the birdhouse, and then it flew away. . . .
reBlogged
to books
Posted by Kylee Reblogged by Old Roses to books on 2008-05-28, 07:17:12
It was a lightly foggy morning and as I descended my mountain top driveway this wild flaming azalea screamed out for attention. So I whipped out my camera and shot it!
reBlogged
to azaleas
on May 27, 2008, 3:15PM
Posted by Marie Freeman Reblogged by Old Roses to azaleas on 2008-05-28, 07:16:49
Washington Gardener Magazine subscribers are invited to an open garden this Saturday, 5/31 from 11am-5pm at David Hockstein's home in Colesville, MD. For directions and to RSVP, please contact David directly at 301.622.2883 or dhockstein@earthlink.net. David wrote about his "American Garden in the Japanese-Style" in our March/April 2008 issue. The photos in that story were taken in the autumn, so will be interesting to contrast what spring-time there looks like.
After three years what is left of Linda's peony has decided to bloom for the first time. She sent me such a large division but it wasn't happy in the location I planted it and soon I only had a bit of the root left. I was thrilled to see it sprout a leaf last year after I replanted it. This year it has bloomed even after being knocked down by a groundhog. Now I have a cage around it....the peony.
I've several peas growing this year - the very tall Ne Plus Ultra, the very short Norli and Taiwan Sugar (pictured) which is already about 4 foot tall even though I've seen it described as a very short dwarf variety.
And it was from the last two that we had our first harvest of peas over the weekend. They'd been sown in gutters, overwintered in the green house and were planted out in February. . .
reBlogged
to peas
Posted by John Curtin Reblogged by Old Roses to peas on 2008-05-28, 07:13:42
Open any book on container gardening, and you'll soon come across a stern admonition about always adding a layer of old crocks to the bottom of your containers to assist drainage. If not, the received wisdom goes, the drainage holes in the container will get blocked by soil, the soil itself will get waterlogged and your plants will die. . . .
reBlogged
to containers
Posted by Sue Swift Reblogged by Old Roses to containers on 2008-05-28, 07:13:11
Mr Brown Thumb: "Spring sprung without me" announces that Mr. Brown Thumb is back and filling us in on his life during the blogging absence. I was so happy to read a post by him- he is one of my personal favorites in garden blogging. I hope he thrives and prospers! (and survives those helpful "garden coaches"). Prayers for his mother, too.
Carol of May Dreams is a garden blogger I follow on Twitter. I can hardly keep up with it- the energy that woman has!!! She has gardens, and veggies, and those lawns have to be the best mown on the block ;) I envy those raised beds in her vegetable garden, lovely!
Technorati Tags: ,
reBlogged
to blogs
Posted by Ilona Reblogged by Old Roses to blogs on 2008-05-28, 07:11:00
I just got back from a quick check of my community plot. LOTS of flea beetles on the potatoes! I didn't notice them yesterday. They have chewed lots of tiny holes in the potato leaves making them look like fine lace.
It seems the recommended organic control for flea beetles is to either use row cover before the pests emerge (too late for this) or companion plant with marigolds and beans. This I can do. It will look pretty!
reBlogged
to pests
Posted by kathy Reblogged by Old Roses to pests on 2008-05-28, 07:10:39
The pea pods are beginning to swell with their precious pearl-shaped orbs inside. I don't have many pea plants this year -- only about 7 or 8 plants grew from an older packet of Little Marvel peas I found in my seed stash. Numbers-wise, it's a less than marvelous crop. We'll most certainly have fewer peas than last year, hardly enough for a meal, but we'll at least have a few token ones to taste. . . .
reBlogged
to vegetables
Posted by Christa Reblogged by Old Roses to vegetables on 2008-05-28, 07:00:47
I saw this video about a magic compost bin on GroovyGreen today and I'm not quite sure how to describe it. I'll just let these lyrics speak for themselves.
When Granddad died from drinking gin, We put him in my compost bin. I can compost anything, In my Mama's compost bin.
reBlogged
to compost whimsy
Posted by Anthony Reblogged by Old Roses to compost, whimsy on 2008-05-28, 07:00:12
We have been getting weather that plants love. Hot for a few days and then a major downpour. I have only had to water my garden once this year. Everything keeps doubling in size in a matter of days!
reBlogged
to plants
on May 27, 2008, 9:26PM
Posted by sandy Reblogged by Old Roses to plants on 2008-05-28, 06:59:02
Realization of the Day: I need to get my original garden blog attitude - and pronto.
Back in the spring of 2006, I started this blog with a simple goal - to help me keep better records of what goes on each year in my Missouri kitchen garden. I made it a separate entity from Farmgirl Fare, my main food and farm blog, so I wouldn't bore non-gardeners with obsessive ramblings about sheep manure, seedling woes, the joys of growing 19 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, and the unbelievable destruction wreaked by blister beetles. . ..
reBlogged
to blogs
Posted by Farmgirl Susan Reblogged by Old Roses to blogs on 2008-05-28, 06:58:36
Potpourri has always been synonymous with moth balls, smelling salts and basically anything 'grandmotherly'. You could open any drawer in the guest bedroom and guarantee a small spray of the stuff. And if that wasn't enough it was common to find a small glass jar on the bedside table with freshly scented petals wafting through the room. . . .
My rhododendron has just started to flower. Only a few buds are showing the first few red petals, but soon all of the petals will emerge and those buds will open. Each bud will have multiple flowers all bunched together. . .
reBlogged
to rhododendron
on May 28, 2008, 12:26AM
Posted by Tricia Reblogged by Old Roses to rhododendron on 2008-05-28, 06:56:06
I had a hard time this week trying to choose something to post. Nothing in bloom, and my garden needs to be cut and weeded, so many of my plants are not in photo-ready condition. I didn't want to resort to tiny plants grown from seed, but I may just have to feature one of those next week if this continues.
I have a relatively large Euphorbia stenoclada that is about three feet tall, but this is a smaller one that has rooted into the ground - only about a foot tall now. I expect it to grow more quickly now, and already the change in the type of growth is evident. The original weaker growth can be seen in the lower right corner of the photo, and the difference is clear.
Euphorbia stenoclada
reBlogged
to euphorbia
Posted by Jade Reblogged by Old Roses to euphorbia on 2008-05-28, 06:55:40
This year the Hollyhocks rewarded me with four different type of flowers. You all know my obsession with Hollyhocks and how I go around picking up pods of seeds whenever I see a plant. I like to be surprised, so place all the seeds I collect in a jar and WALA. Sometimes my tactic doesn’t work like last year, all my plants turned out to have white flowers. . . .
My new home is very close to where I find my paying job is, so I am usually able to walk. The fact that I have to walk through the Oshawa Botanical Gardens is also no hardship for me -- tee hee hee!
reBlogged
to botanical_garden
Posted by Kati Reblogged by Old Roses to botanical_garden on 2008-05-28, 06:54:30
When I saw that this month's Garden Design Workshop topic was about using stone in the garden, I knew that I would have to post because there is a lot of stone in our garden. In fact, I often wonder if I've overdone it. I think the hardscape aspects of the garden are just as important as the plant material and stone has to be one of the most popular features. . . .
reBlogged
to design
Posted by Phillip Reblogged by Old Roses to design on 2008-05-28, 06:53:59
I wasn't sure whether to do pretty pictures or meaningful words for this post, but in the end I went with the pictures. First of all, I have new photos of the frog. The frog is moving closer to the house, and made its way up onto the porch, where I had stored a plastic watering can. When I went to grab the can to water my containers, I noticed this:
via Garden Detective on 1969-12-31, 19:00:00
