I am actually getting rid of fabric!
talley_sue_nyc
18 years ago
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cupofkindness
18 years agoJulie_MI_Z5
18 years agoRelated Discussions
Side note to getting rid of bermuda-How do you get rid of Oxalis?
Comments (9)The common yellow oxalis we have here has tiny "bulbules" (sp?), which lurk 12 -18 inches under the ground. You can easily pull up the plants, of course, but those tiny bulb things stay under the soil, and up it comes again. I once had a gardener who decided to eradicate it from a flower bed which is about 12 feet long and 6 feet wide. He actually dug up the top 2 feet of soil, and sifted it by hand to get all of the tiny bulbs out. That worked for the first year, but by 2-3 years after he did that, back the oxalis came. So, being lazy, what I do is just admire it in the Spring, except where it is trying to smother other plants. Then just pull it out around those plants. By late Spring here it has died down, and I pretend it is gone. Of course, it comes up again the next Spring. It is one of our first blooming plants to bloom (starts Jan/Feb), so I just regard it as such and let it be mostly. One of my cats likes to eat it (we used to eat it as children - we called it "sour grass"). Jackie...See MoreAm getting rid of my front lawn - landscaping ideas from you?
Comments (12)Gorgeous pics, PK! Lauren, I'm just southeast of you In Waxahachie. I have full southwestern sun in front & part shade in back & on one side. The other side is "ungardenable". Just a narrow strip between the house & the neighbor's wood fence, it's just a walkway for me & a nursery for poison ivy & trumpet vine! I started along the sidewalk & expanded from there; seems like it keeps me from straying too far, messing up proportions, & having to undo & re-do. I put a rosemary on each side of the sidewalk close to the front door; it's evergreen & it smells like Christmas when I get the mail! There are nandinas at the corner of the house, softening the sharp corner, & right now they're at their best, still green & loaded with red berries. Along the side next to the neighbor I put 3 Lady Banks roses, as a hedge of flowering shrubs. They do get sparse in the winter but they never have gone totally bald. There's a Martha Gonzales rose on each side of the sidewalk where it intersects with the public sidewalk that defines the "hellstrip". They're compact, pretty much evergreen, & they have gorgeous blue-green foliage & burgundy stems, & the flowers are a bright cheery red. I widened the beds on the front & side of the house, & they have salvias, mums, flame acanthus, lemon mint (I love it for the "makes you smile" fragrance, but it does spread!), old irises, mistflower, a couple of crinums for proportion, & a lot of "tote & plop" plants, the ones you can't resist bringing home, & then you have to tote them around until you spy a bit of earth where you can plop them! Along the sidewalk leading to the Marthas, there are dusty miller, obedient plant, datura for proportion/contrast, & a few dwarf cannas that I may move this spring...it seems like they're more backyard flowers than front yard. Along the hellstrip on the northeast, I have roses, crinums, tons of irises, & some tall Mexican petunias that have to be watched lest they take over the universe but which bloom in the summer when everything else suffers in the heat. In the shadier areas, there are cast iron plant, Jewel of Opar, pigeonberry, & probably some other stuff that I can't remember right now! Although my little plastic wading pools are no comparison to PK's (I pile up mulch around them & pretend I can't see the blue plastic), I have 2 of them in the back, one for bog plants & one for water garden plants. At the corner, on the small wedge-shaped area defined by 2 streets & the intersection of the 2 sidewalks, there are red yucca, salvia, a four o'clock, & a big group of irises, Scattered throughout the whole place are paperwhites, narcissus, lycoris radiate, etc. Between all of this, I'm working diligently to replace the huge brittle old hackberries with juniper, olive, gingko, crepe myrtle, & loquat, & to lay down brick pathways. The things I've learned about cottage gardens & other lawn-less gardens are: If you possibly can, draw your lot on paper, sketching in the house, fences, sidewalks, utility areas (I keep the compost pile & the trash can in the narrow strip by the neighbor!). Draw in pathways where you generally walk, & keep those areas clear. You will get tired of walking around a planting area to take out the trash! I just happen to know this. Make a list of some things you like, & color code the list for the environments those things need, such as shade or sun, & their mature size (do as I say, not as I did: I'm the person who once planted a Mermaid rose beneath the eaves!). This will also keep you from planting bur oaks beneath electric lines. I haven't done that one, but it broke my heart to see the electric company's "trimmers" mutilating 100-year-old oak trees in my neighborhood, cutting big "V"s in the middle... Pencil in some things, such as rosemary by the front door, lemon mint by the back gate, bird feeders where you can see them from the window you use most-such as over the kitchen sink or in front of the computer desk. Pick long-lived plants, or plants that self-seed, when you can. Plant irises where they can be mulchless, & where the neighbor's magnificent century-old oak tree won't shower them with bushels of leaves every autumn. Plant the things that need more attention close to where you will see them every day. Make room for a sitting/tea-drinking/visiting area, including a table & enough space to scoot your chair back without bumping a flowerbed or smacking the edging. Enjoy your garden, engage with it, play with it, have fun!...See MorePlease help ID a plant I am getting rid of
Comments (4)Thank you. Actually sounds like the kind of plant I would have planted and completely forgot about. May try to find a better spot for it instead of passing it along. Has anyone used it medicinally (and how)?...See MoreSeal granite & quartzite? I am getting mixed answers from fabricators.
Comments (9)Regarding the Absolute Black granite, the answer is do not seal. I repeat, do not. Different granites have different densities or "absorption rates". If a stone has a high absorption rate, that means it absorbs things readily, and needs to be sealed to prevent that absorption of things you might spill that would stain. However, Absolute Black is the most dense granite there is, with an extremely low absorption rate. That means that if you apply sealer, the stone is too dense to absorb it. The sealer would just sit on the surface of the stone. That leads to hazing, which is a cloudy haze appearance on the stone from sealer not being absorbed. The haze can only be removed by removing the sealer with acetone. As I said, do not apply sealer to Absolute Black. BTW, Absolute Black isn't the only granite that doesn't need sealer. There are quite a few different granites that are dense. My granite counters are 12 years old, have never been sealed, and look like the day they were installed. Unfortunately there are a lot of bad counter fabricators who have not bothered to learn which granites need to be sealed and which don't. They just apply sealer to everything. Absolute Black's appearance would be marred by sealer. Regarding your comment about etching - AB won't etch. If a stone is going to etch, like marble does for example, no sealer will stop that. Sealer is to prevent stains, not etching. Regarding your quartzite, I don't know if it needs sealer or not. There have been a number of threads on this forum that talk about it, and you should look for those....See Moremarie26
18 years agotalley_sue_nyc
18 years agoJulie_MI_Z5
18 years agocupofkindness
18 years agotalley_sue_nyc
18 years agomarie26
18 years agoquiltglo
18 years agotalley_sue_nyc
18 years agomaggie_berry
18 years agoalisande
18 years agoJulie_MI_Z5
18 years ago
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