high maintenance girlfriend of the garden
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years ago
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3 years ago
sweet_betsy No AL Z7
3 years agoRelated Discussions
High Maintenance House Plant
Comments (35)laura1 -- already done! One of my dh's other interests is fish-keeping. We have a 55 gallon tank, but when he recently went through a depression it became mainly my responsibility. As it is now populated by fish, plants, and other environmental enhancements mainly of my choosing he seems less interested in it. So for his upcoming birthday he has chosen to start a second smaller (10 gallon) tank for a male betta. It's a species he likes and a fairly high maintenance one at that. They get bored easily, so it's advisable to change the layout of the tank when you do the weekly water changes. Like goldfish they can also be trained to do a variety of tricks, and unlike goldfish they like playing with 'toys' such as floating balls. Underwater plants can also require frequent maintenance. After his last bonsai died he also recognized that the clippers needed to go into my care. They are in my tool kit, but he doesn't know that! I think he's mainly looking for a plant that requires frequent enough care that a) it is interesting to him and b) he doesn't forget about it as it becomes just another part of the scenery. What I think he really wants/needs is a garden, but we live in an apartment. Next week we'll be looking at some gardenias at a local garden centre. Maybe two (I don't think we have room for 3, I have too many plants already) will be enough to keep him busy....See MoreAnyone else dreaming of a maintenance-free garden?
Comments (31)SHERRY � Your garden is simply beautiful and is the garden of my dreams. Mine will never look that finished because gardening on four levels with glacier slurry on the house pad level that is deer fenced for the roses is incredibly hard work. My garden is a "young" garden and I think I have dug my last rose hole in rock. I was given over 100 bands as a housewarming gift and had to buy a pallet of soil (and hauled it up from the street level to the house pad level) and find over a hundred large containers and plant them before I could concentrate on putting things away from the move from Socal to Nocal. LAVENDER_LASS � I agree about taking more breaks. I also fix my lunch in the morning so that I will take a lunch break and not be starved for energy. LINDAWISCONSIN � the only reason I mentioned my exercise program was because nothing I had done in my previous life, including all of the gardening chores prepared me to garden on four levels. When I saw what my friend had accomplished on her property, which was purchased at the same time as mine, I decided to make a life-style change. It has made the gardening work easier, but it is still hard work. Yes, I have to split wood and shot put it up from the street level to the house pad level and stack it in the woodshed, but a lot of physical activity stops for months when winter hits. SHERRY � all retirement gave me was more garden projects ! I had more time, sooooooooo, but I also have a young garden. There�s still a lot of hard work to get it even close to what you have accomplished and I am 63. I think I am going to shorten my garden project list for this year. JERI � I am looking for cold hardy succulents for one bed, but I haven�t had time to research them. I have planted lower care plants in the beds around the house so that they are no longer filled with weeds, but you are right, they still need maintenance. HARMONYP � We had three days of rain last week which saved me from worrying about things all being deep watered on all levels .. but I had a fire fuel reduction crew working out here this spring. I spent one whole day working in the drizzle pruning back everything that could possibly go into their last burn pile which was scheduled for Wednesday. I spent half of the last day in pure rain hacking back the ivy hedge that hides the propane tank for the burn pile and came in soaking wet. No joy. BUT the burn crew hauled all of the waste down to the street level and pruned back three large shrubs that I just couldn�t get to before that last burn day while I pruned the one large rose I have on the street level. MENDOCINO_ROSE � I don�t have automatic watering, so that�s what creates my time conflicts on all of the levels. Hauling hoses can be hard work, too. SHERRY � today is my last full day in the garden this spring. After I water in all of the plant food I put down yesterday, mulch and water the street rose and re-build it�s deer cage, I am going to spend some time cleaning house because I have ignored it for the last several weeks. Yes, there is a lot of work I should do before the real heat hits, but I need a break. I am sorry this post is so long, but the most important lessons I have learned about gardening this spring came from my rose friends from another rose group who suggested that I not aim for perfection, take time to take care of myself and especially take time to enjoy what I have accomplished. You have created a beautiful garden that deserves to be enjoyed. Smiles, Lyn...See MoreAre you a 'High Maintenance' woman?
Comments (11)I quit coloring my hair over a year ago but 'touch up' a too obivious gray streak that developed when I was 18. I have a nice hair color, I don't know why I started coloring it in the first place (Someone probably dared me to do it) (Spell pedicure correctly 3 times: pedicure, Pedicure, PEDICURE!) I enjoy the maintenance when I have the time, maybe I'll have more time to pamper myself when all the boys are away at college next fall. I am upping my sunscreen protection and slowing replacing my makeup with products that include it. I can't think of anything I do every month on schedule anymore. When I colored my hair, I would call it "Mom,s Spa Night' While my hair was morphing, I would give myself a facial mask, use the epilady places where I needed to, and soak my nails for a manicure (no polish) Sometime I think just staying clean and trying not to sweat is a major beauty accomplishment for me. When I went through my "big hair' stage back in the 80's, keeping up a perm with bangs was tough. If anything, I'll apply just mascara and moisturiser for a day around the house. Cupajoe, I wonder if I had that kind of money in highschool, if I wouldn't have done the same thing. I was a narcissus little thing back then...had to keep the package looking good......See MoreLawn and Garden Maintenance Schedules
Comments (14)Rains all the time until it stops. Then it doesn't rain all the time until next year. Is that about right? I'm going to suggest that you're watering too frequently when it is not raining. My experience in the desert-adjacent, full sun, 90-degree days, windy part of Texas is that, following the rains we typically get in May, I might not water again until July. If it rains in July, I'll wait weeks until the grass tells me it needs a drink. Last year, a drought year, I watered 5 times (if I remember right). Whereas you water 8 times a month in an area which is much cooler and likely more humid with better soil. Here's what I repeatedly say about watering. Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means 1 inch all at one time, not split into fractions to cover a time period. You can measure 1 inch by placing tuna or cat food cans around the yard and timing how long it takes YOUR sprinkler system to fill all the cans. Remember that time because you'll use that every time you water. Frequency depends on many factors including high temperature, cloud cover, shade, soil, grass type, mowing height, wind, humidity, and maybe some other factors. By far the most important factor is daily high temperature. With temperatures below 70 degrees F (I can convert to C if you like), water deeply once a month. With temps between 70 and 80, water once every 3 weeks. With temps between 80 and 90, water every other week. With temps from 90 to 100, water deeply every week. With temps from 100 to 110, water every 3-4 days. That is a guideline. The main point is that if you water deeply, you, on an island in the cold part of the Pacific, will NEVER need to water twice a week on a schedule. Mowing. Whatever grass you decide on, mulch mow at or near the mower's highest setting. Grass mowed at the highest setting grows deeper roots which can capture water, and nutrients, from much deeper in the soil. Whooo's a gooood dog!!! You might have trouble reestablishing the lawn if the dog is young and playful. The yellow spots in the lawn might be due to her peeing all in one spot. Female dogs are more known for that, so I'm making that assumption. Organic fertilizer, 1 to 3 times per year will help to process the urine so you never see yellow spots again. Morph mentioned using soap on your lawn. Here's some background. Many people think they have compacted soil for some reason. I think they have been told by their parents, neighbors, newspapers, YouTube, and all sorts of sources that you have to core aerate every year. Compaction is caused by squeezing the air out of the soil when the soil is saturated with water. Livestock producers experience compaction when they leave their animals out in a saturated pasture. That is a lesson they learn quickly - designate one pasture to move the animals to when it rains so you don't ruin all your land. When you see animals sunk in the soil around a pond, they are compacting the soil. Homeowners, by and large, don't have that situation. Generally it is poor practice to mow the lawn after it rains, so if you follow that advice, chances are you aren't going to compact your soil. Also don't play games when it's saturated. Still homeowners report compacted soil. I think what they have is hard soil, not compacted. Hard soil is caused by a reduced population of beneficial fungi in the soil. That can be caused by lack of organic fertilizer, lack of water for months at a time, or saturation for months at a time. Core aeration punches hundreds or thousands of holes in the surface. Supposedly those holes will open the soil to allow air in and cure "compaction." The soap approach, specifically a liquid soap like any clear shampoo, takes a biological approach. Shampoo is a surfactant that allows water to infiltrate much deeper into the soil and set up the perfect environment for beneficial soil fungi. The temperatures are moderated by the moist soil, evaporation is reduced, and moisture is better controlled. In that environment the fungi will open up trillions of pores in the soil allowing air and water to pass in and out of the soil. With your situation of continually moist soil, I'd see what it takes to get it to dry out. I'd stop watering once the rain stops and see how long the grass seems good. Never mind how hard or dry the soil seems - just watch the grass. If your roots are shallow, it might only last a week before the grass looks poorly. If you practice deep and infrequent watering, the roots will grow deeper and the grass will go much longer before looking dry. My wife used to want to water every time the soil felt hard. It took me a long time to break that habit. Anyway, the application rate for shampoo is 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet (roughly 100 ml per 100 square meters). It makes no difference if you accidentally double, triple, or quadruple the amount you apply. You can't hurt the grass or soil with soap. I applied baby shampoo in 2012 and when I moved out in 2015, the soil was still great. So it is up to you. Spend 50 cents on shampoo or spend $75 to rent a core aerator. Try the shampoo first....See More
djacob Z6a SE WI
3 years ago
LaLennoxa 6a/b Hamilton ON
3 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years agofelisar (z5)
3 years agoUser
3 years ago
Edie
3 years agoAsiatic lilies have gone from zero maintenance to the highest maintenance plant I have. I garden mostly in pots, and at first I was delighted that the lilies survived the winter in containers. Not many things will do that in this climate. Now the red lily beetles have found me. I tried picking and
squashing the disgusting things and sprayed neem, but they keep coming
back. With a lot of effort, I can have blooming lilies.
If I don't tend them daily I have this.
mxk3 z5b_MI
3 years ago
nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
3 years agodeanna..I have the same answer..macrophylla hydrangeas..I've tried 3 methods..#1..I've surrounded them with garbage bags full of leaves..#2..convinced my husband to build a box (no bottom or top) from scrap wood..then slipped it over the plant and covered with leaves..#3..put them in a pot and overwintered in the shed..all of these methods had a measure of success..but it's NOT worth the trouble..here's last year's one and only pot that I overwintered..a squirrel chewed the rims of the pots all the way around..they look terrible..so Regal Splendor and the hydrangea will be planted before winter comes..
deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
3 years agoThank you for the camaraderie, nicholsworth! Betsy, I second you on the irises too. My first foray into true gardening involved an inherited abandoned garden with a 6 foot diameter patch of irises, along with several smaller patches. With blood, sweat, and tears I was able to divide the smaller patches. The 6 foot patch was beyond my human abilities. When we had someone on the Property with an excavator, I asked him to go excavate that 6 foot patch. That’s the only way I got it out of the ground and divided it. They were nice flowers, but the memories of those concrete centers have put me off them for a while. I’ll try them again when I’m confident that I’ll tend to them before they get that bad.
here’s my ex-boyfriend:
nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
3 years ago
Paul MI
3 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years agoPaul MI
3 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years agoPaul MI
3 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years ago
lkayetwvz5
3 years agoMalva 'Zebrina' - what appeared originally to be a good substitute for hollyhocks which here get rust and die just as the flowers are about to start blooming. However the JBs loved them and turned them into bare brown stalks in the wink of the eye. Okay I pulled them out that fall. But now they are everywhere!!!!! Seed must fly on the wind because I now have them in gardens several hundred feet away. Every bit as bad as morning glories!
PROThe Plant Lady : Native Landscape Design
3 years agodeanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
3 years ago
woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agodeanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
3 years agowoodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
3 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years agodeanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
3 years agodjacob Z6a SE WI
3 years ago
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deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b