when does your "Spring Cleaning" start?
11 years ago
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- 11 years ago
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Spring Cleaning.. lost alot of my poppies to spring cleaning..
Comments (2)They say...if it does not pull out easily, it is a weed. If it pulls easily, it is a keeper...guess you gotta get the feel of it. How sad you cleaned a lot of your poppies...one of my very favorites. Hopefully you will have some left to enjoy. If I am in doubt about a plant, I leave it, and if it is a weed, I soon discover that it looks like tons of others on the property. Sue...See MoreSpring Clean Up and Time to Start New Plants
Comments (22)Temps here last week were in the 80s, so everything started really popping up and blooms pooping open. Very nice today too. Worked in the garden this morning wearing shorts and a tank top and my favorite flip-flops. So nice. I let My Girls out for an hour this morning to scratch around and eat bugs and grass. They have begun to lay eggs again and need the new grass to stimulate their egg production. They followed me around, clucking happily and singing their little sighing songs. So cute! The Jane Magnolia tree's flower buds have suddenly begun to swell and there are three flowers beginning to open. I sniffed one and oh, that sweet, one-of-a-kind fragrance! The honeybees and Hummingbird moths are out in droves today supping nectar from the purple Henbit flowers in the grass and visiting all the flowering shrubs. I've even seen butterflies for the past two weeks. Tulips preparing to bloom and hundreds of yellow jonquils, daffodils and purple Muscari Grape Hyacinths are blooming. Hostas and Peonies are poking their noses up through the soft earth and looking good. I could go on and on... The weather radio report yesterday predicts there will be lows in the mid-thirties in the next few days, dropping down into the low-20s on Friday night. Ain't that just DUCKY! If that happens, even if it is just for one night or one hour, I will surely bid a fond but sad farewell to most, if not all, of this year's spring flowers. .I can just kiss the Apricots goodbye...again...for a second year. It will spoil all the new tender growth on the roses and send all the little seedlings popping up in the garden to coldest Purgatory, Glad I didn't set out the Cole crops and onion sets. Unreal...See MoreWhen does one start spraying for insects before bringing in?
Comments (4)This is the answer and help I got from a very knowledgable member..Hope this helps..:-) Posted by tapla z5b-6a MI (My Page) on Tue, Sep 1, 09 at 14:36 I usually treat prophylactically with neem oil on Labor Day weekend, then follow up with another treatment either two weeks later or the day before I bring plants in. I don't often have a problem indoors, but when one develops (scale usually, or very occasionally mites, are my only issues, so far), I've been treating scale on a per plant basis with Marathon, which is a soil systemic with Imidacloprid (I think that's spelled right. Not to be used on plants, the fruits from which might be eaten). If I DO see mite symptoms toward winter's end, I keep them in check with an alcohol/water spritz with either neem oil or insecticidal soap added. Al...See MoreSpring is almost here! Need your spring cleaning routine!
Comments (3)We live in Northern Virginia (7b) and leave our pond (900 g) going all year long. The pond covers the width of the backyard of a townhome overlooking a golf course. We use a pump to move the water from the pond to the top water fall where it spills into a bifurcated stream that then meets in a small ponding area and drops from another waterfall into the large pond. So, for maintenance in the spring and fall we check to make sure vegetation hasn't started growing into the pond. From time to time, tree roots will try to invade by growing along side the liner and then into the stream. We clean the settled leaves from the bottom of the pond with a skimmer, the excess mud out of the stream and then with a scrub brush clean the filter on the end of the pump. I also thin out the irises that grow in the ponding area as they can completely take over. This takes about a half day in spring and again in the fall. Once or twice a month I check the vegetation and check for algae growth. Weekly I check the water levels and the PH once or twice in the summer. This weekend it was in the 60s so I did all of this in a Sunday afternoon. In winter, the water movement keeps the pond from completely freezing over. It may look frozen on top but the water continues to move underneath. Often an ice layer forms over the pond but there's a cushion of air between the pond water and ice layer so it stays insulated, it doesn't get cold enough for the pond to freeze completely over. Over the years we've used a pond heater, an air exchanger and bubblers which helps keep the pond from freezing over and also helps to aerate the pond. I find that the bubblers proved to be one of our best assets and we now keep them going all year long. Hard to believe they have lasted so many years in all kinds of weather. We also put a mesh screen across the pond in the fall to capture the leaves; it also helps to keep critters out during especially cold winters. Raccoons are crafty, they devastated our pond one year when we weren't careful about how we laid down the screen. We didn't want it to get all caught up with the ice that formed along the waterfall. That was a mistake! Let me know if you have any other questions. Am glad to help! It's really such a wonderful addition to our life and has been fairly easy to maintain. It's a natural part of the landscape and has worked out so well for us. FYI, keep koi, fantail goldfish, shubunkins, tadpoles/frogs, snails and other aquatic plants so that there is a natural balance. The pond has attracted a significant amount of wildlife from visiting turtles, birds, skinks, and the occasional snake and/or raptor (the small birds seem to attract the winter raptors). Since water flows regularly we've never had problems with mosquitoes though we did also purchase mosquito fish just in case....See More- 11 years ago
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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7