Gardening Forum Topics at GardenTenders.com

Planting strawberry plants

nate22 — Mon, 20 May 2013 23:37:15 GMT

I just bought my strawberry plants today. Is there certent ways I need to plant them or not. I read something where you shouldn’t plant them where you have had tomatoes. Is that true or not. Any advice would be helpful.
Thanks

pill bugs

turnip — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:26:49 GMT

How do you get rid of pill bugs under mulch. They come out at night. Eating seed pods

I have questions about rain barrels...

Cindy — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:48:59 GMT

My little brain has kicked into squirrel mode, and I have some ideas to toss around. I hope there are rain barrel users here!

I have a mobile home that has the dinky good-for-nothing gutters, so I don’t use a rain barrel. (btw, the quote I got a few weeks ago to convert my gutters to “real” ones was over $1700. Crazy!)

Anyhow, this is where my thinking is going…it all started with my coworker in my department – she and her husband just got a rain barrel. She was explaining to me the workings of diverters, etc.

So today is one of my water change days for my aquariums. I have several freshwater aquariums; two 30 gallon, a 40 gallon, a 55 gallon, and a 125 gallon. When I do a water change, I pour the old water into my watering can for the outdoor plants in containers – they dry out so fast – and proceed to this as many times as it takes to water the pots. So if I do one water change per tank per week, I go through (throw away and then replace) a minimum of 100 gallons. And to be honest, I should to two water changes per tank per week. More often than not, I get lazy and don’t. After I water the flower pots the rest of the old tank water goes down one of the bathtubs as waste. I should mention that old aquarium water is super rich in nutrients, and very good for plants. As a matter of fact I have all planted tanks, which means they are full of live aquatic plants and have soil-based substrates. Underwater gardening, lol. The aquariums are chemical free (unless on a rare occasion when fish meds are required for an out break of something – but I’ve only had to do that twice in ten years. Hope I didn’t just jinx myself!)

So, instead of throwing away a minimum of 100 gallons of nutrient dense water per week, what if I bought a rain barrel or two and poured my old tank water into the down spout access? Then I don’t have to use 100 gallons of NEW water from the garden hose to water my plants during dry spells. Since the old tank water is chemical free I can even use it on my edible veggie plants – think fish-based hydroponics, a common aquaculture method (even used by some of my aquarium buddies online). I could put the barrels on my elevated front & back porches so I’d have excellent water pressure, and I can just walk a few steps out the door to pour the water in the barrel. There is even one seller- can’t remember which Big Box store it is – that sells rain barrels made out of food quality materials.

So my questions are, do you think I’m crazy? lol And do you think the barrels would have to be made out of the food quality materials to be used on my veggie garden? (better safe than sorry, I guess. It’s not that much more expensive).

What do you think? Do-able? I hope to hear some opinions of my crazy scheme!

Angel Wing Begonias

Trumpetvine — Fri, 17 May 2013 01:59:12 GMT

I just received several pots of Angel Wing Begonias. The tags on the pots gives the names Lana & My Special Angel. I have never had much luck with any kind of begonia, but since my son & daughter in law gave them to me for Mother’s Day I would really like for them to be a success. Can anyone give me some direction on the care of these beautiful plants? Thanks!

Whistling Gardens, Wilsonville Ontario

MsDebbieP — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:30:00 GMT

May 16/13

My grandson and I headed to Whistling Gardens again today. Darren (owner) has developed an amazing botanical gardens in the past few years. The tulips were still in bloom and today some thousand flowers (annuals?) arrived for planting.

We also saw the two swans that recently arrived. They are currently penned, getting used to their new “friends” and home.

A question about lawn enhancement

Oldtool — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:56:52 GMT

My wife wants to put what I would call “an island of flowers or plants” in our front yard. Living in a housing plan, our front yard is bordered by our driveway on one side, and the neighbor’s driveway on the other side.
My wife would like to put some sort of growth – for lack of a better word, in the corner where the neighbor’s driveway & the street form a corner of our yard. In doing so, I want to make something permanent, easy to mow and trim around, with a little wall or fence around it, so that it’ll be there after the winter, where she can again plant something. I’d prefer materials that won’t decay over the winter, like bricks, cinder blocks, short plastic fence, etc., that is also attractive. All I am familiar with is what I see at the big box store.
I did a quick review of this site, didn’t find what I imagine what I’m looking for, so I thought I ask the experts.

So, what would you recommend for a permanent planter box – for lack of a better word, in this location?
I’m looking for suggestions that will add a good visual appeal to the yard, haven’t a clue where to start.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

need advice on new tree location...

Cindy — Sat, 11 May 2013 16:34:21 GMT

So a local mom & pop tree grower was giving out 100 free pink dogwoods today. I went to get one and was pleasantly surprised – I expected a 6” sprout because they advertised saplings. In fact they were 3’ tall. Apparently they do this every year – this is my first year.

So I have such a small yard! Where to plant it? Here’s my long-winded dilemma, and then pics to follow;

I live on a narrow mobile home lot. I planted a crabapple 15 years ago for shade. It shades the kitchen so well I planted another 3 yrs ago to shade the living room. Knowing full well what I might be getting into, I still planted the new crabapple 22” from the corner of my front porch. Had to since the lot is so narrow to keep it from intruding on the neighbor’s lot when mature. So now the two trees are in a straight line. They are both super healthy. I waited 3 yrs to prune the young crabapple so it would have lots of leaves to “feed” itself – this winter I will prune it for the first time. I bought it because it was UGLY! It has no branches on one side. This made it perfect for me, because then I wouldn’t be stressing it out pruning the branches off of the porch side. So I hope it will become a tree that provides shade, has no branches to obstruct my comings and goings on the porch, and gets tall enough that I can easily walk under the remaining canopy (like it’s sister tree in the yard). Oh, to have shade! It gets hotter that Hell in my trailer in the summer…

Then I get this dogwood.

From my reading, the pink dogwood will grow to the same mature size as the crabapple. Birds love it – as they do the crabapples. I am considering moving the little crabapple to accommodate the dogwood.

Pros = I love pink dogwoods and would like to be able to see two different trees from my living room windows. It may attract different birds to my camera I use from my living room. Later bloom time from the crabapple – double the living room interest.

Cons = I don’t know how hardy/disease resistant pink dogwoods are. From my reading it sounds like they can be fragile. I don’t want to move a perfectly good crabapple just to plant a tree that might fail. The dogwood is lighter and airier than a crabapple – will it provide good shade? And most importantly, how shrubby vs tree-like are dogwoods – will it crowd my porch unlike the bare-sided crabapple?

So my second option is to plant one or the other tree in the back/side yard. It’s under perpetual construction too, haha! I would be planting (probably the dogwood) within 10 to 12 feet of the back fence and it’s pine trees. More suited to a dogwood I think. But will it cast too much shade on my viburnum, or is the dogwood airy enough to not hinder the viburnum? I am trying to plant more for the birds and bees, so I don’t need this back area for anything else. It used to be my veggie garden but now I have a new spot. I still have some daylilies, iris, bulbs, and a peony in the corner closest to the patio. I don’t think a dogwood would interfere with them much because of the direction the sun comes from. For that matter, it probably won’t hurt the viburnum either considering the sun’s direction as long as they can take some dappled light. Does anyone know?

So here are the pics to help me explain…some pics may look odd because of the wide angle lens.

From the front door, the crabapples are 20’ apart (from the trunks)

This shows the line to the back yard. From the tree trunk to the fence is 30’.

How narrow the lot is (because it’s all taken up in garden – lol). This side is about 20’ wide. You might be able to distinguish the little crabapple, it’s lighter in color and directly centered to the big tree.

Another pic showing how close either young tree has to be to the porch (22”) so when mature the branches don’t encroach the neighbor’s yard.

Finally, the back area. I’m still putting up the fencing, but one more panel towards the back and it will enclose a 17’ square bed. If I plant the dogwood towards the back – within 10’ of the fence/pines, will it cast too much shade on the viburnum, and also will it mature tall enough that I can prune it to walk under it along the fence?

Thanks!

Effective small animal control

USCJeff — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:44:49 GMT

I’m a long standing member on the sister site, Lumberjocks, but haven’t posted to GardenTenders until now. I’m having a small animal problem with my vegetable garden. I like the aesthetics of my garden as I put some time into designing trellises and and beds and such. The bed with the issue borders the rear of my property. It backs up to a fence with 5/8” spaced wooden slats and wetlands behind that. I began to notice plants being eaten to the stem in one area. I have now been able to spot at least two small animals (between a large mouse and small rabbit) in the bed that quickly disappear when I try to approach to ID them.

In short, I’d prefer not to use garden fencing as protection unless essential. The fencing within the budget I’d be willing to spend isn’t much more attractive than chicken wire. Obviously, keeping the plants from being eaten trumps aesthetics, but I’m hoping for both.

What success has anyone had with the granules that let off scents that deter animals? I just spread a decent barrier of it around the bed. Do these work well? I’d prefer not to harm the animals or use traps if I can avoid it. In the short run I’ve covered the plants with mosquito netting but that won’t last. The animal also appears picky about what it eats. There are many vegetables growing, but it is only eating pole beans, cantaloupe, and cucumber plants (no veggies on plants yet, just eating the leaves). There are many more types just as close to the eaten ones that get passed over. Does that help in guessing the ID of the animal?

Looking for a cheap fix that won’t take away from the appearance. Cheap in my mind would be less than $50 or so. That seems to be the cost of fencing for the length I’d need.

Dahlia tubers

maxyck — Fri, 10 May 2013 01:21:15 GMT

I received some dahlia tubers today. The Bishop of Llandaff had broken tubers, but the stem and two or three small tubers were intact. No eyes had started to sprout. I put three of the broken tubers in one pot and the stem and small attached tubers in another pot. The Garnet Quartz tuber has a shoot about six inches long. Should I cut it back before planting into a pot or leave it and pinch it later. I was planning to cut it back about three inches. Any suggestion appreciated. Maxyck Newfoundland

How to transplant lilac bushes

nate22 — Tue, 07 May 2013 11:14:40 GMT

To transplant lilac bushes should I just pull them and replant them or should I dig them up. The person that gave me the ones I have now he just pulled up some starters that were growing out of the ground from the main bush. We’re I planted them I planted them to close to my house. So how should I do it?