The devastating Texas floods…
8 months ago
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Tales of devastion and restoration . . .
Comments (13)Ginger: Thanks for the props. Since the garden was one of the selling points of the house, I rushed out to nurseries over a couple of weekends the following February and bought bullet-proof, everyday (for NoCal) plants to help cover the bare spots and contribute to the subtropical look of the garden like fatsia, viburnum, and euryops. I went back this past Thanksgiving to check the garden out over the fence and many of the freeze-damaged plants (like the giant bird of paradise I mentioned in the "Genesis" thread) are 10' tall. The only plants that moved with us were in containers. The answer to your last question is an emphatic yes. Since she's from the tropics, I have a harder time trying to keep her temperate plant wants (like, yechhhhh, roses) in check. The only plant she's still not keen on are bananas because the leaves get shredded. It's much like Roberto Burle Marx who didn't discover the floral treasures his native South America produced until he saw them in a German greenhouse. spectre...See MoreBER devastating tomatoes
Comments (11)I would tend to keep off any form of lime if I were you-especially when dealing with tomatoes, as Lime tends to alter the PH of the compost too much and upsets the natural balance-especially in any form of containers.and should only be used if the compost is very acid like pure peat or ground up bracken ferns-but then most people would not use this on tomatoes anyway, especially in containers. On the other hand at the fear of sounding contradictory -if you are using a balanced container mix straight out of the bag of compost, I don't suppose that adding a little amount of pure Dolomite lime to the mix at the time it is used to fill the containers , would hurt- and perhaps benefit the tomatoes as they grow with no BER manifesting itself later-but on elongated tomato varieties -you will always be taking a chance, in trying to grow them in containers. The only and best form of lime to use -if you can get it -is Dolomite lime but not all garden centers and supplies keep it, they usually only stock the more common form of lime in bags,Dolomite lime contains just the right amounts of Magnesium and other elements to make the conditions in your soil just right, in clay type soil another important element to add is Gypsum which makes a whole lot of difference to clay soils and makes it more friable and manageable. With container mixes if you add a small quantity of Calcium Nitrate to the container mix before using it in the containers it will mostly eliminate the problem from starting in the first place, but if you forgot until BER showed on the first truss-you can add it by watering it in from then on in weekly doses and it will stop it in it's tracks by the time the second and third truss has formed, despite what some sceptics are saying. It is always much harder to stop BER in any type of elongated tomato as they seem to be a BER magnet for the complaint, so this type of tomato must be treated early in order to deal with it. Round tomatoes and Beefsteak tomatoes will also get it too, but are much more easily treated and stopped than the elongated type, cherry tomatoes on the other hand never seem to get it at all- I have yet to see any cherry toms with any form of BER whatsoever....See MoreDevastated by my garden “Oops”
Comments (32)My garden oops was this past weekend. I had a potted clematis that I put next to a bush, thinking that it will climb up into the bush and become a bush-covered clematis flower-thing. Well, it never did, so this year, I thought I would re-locate the pot. I felt empowered that I was doing the right thing, so I pulled the clematis away from the bush, carefully unwinding what I could to save what recent spring growth that I could. Finally, I got it...but wait, there was still some clematis vines on the bush. Oh well, I think I saved most of it, right? Surely it was just a missing small segment from a branching here and there, and was a reasonable loss to accept. I relocated the pot but that vine nagged at me. I finally went to look. As I finally untangled it from the bush, it turns out there were 2 additional vines of growth that I had somehow torn loose from the pot. These vines were over 4-feet each. I am not sure how I tore them away from the pot or when, but now I have a big regret of losing these two stems, which if I had just carefully unpryed them like I was doing right now, could have still been saved and been a part of the pot transfer....See MoreI'm devastated! Need help right away to redesign front garden
Comments (19)"I thought a small brick wall around the new smaller garden beds with low growing plants may be eye pleasing." I'm going to disagree with you here. If the intention of this small "wall" is that it appear like a curb, but it is not actually back-filled to its top height, then it ends up looking like a fraud -- insomuch as its top edge is exposed. Either have a real curb that is back-filled to the top. Or don't have the bed raised at all ... where the drive edge meets the bed, flush. Either of those ways will look fine and non-fraudulent. The things that end up looking bad in landscape are the things that look like they really don't, or can't, work, or are just flat out fake simulations. Before you start considering what plants you should have and how you should have them (except in the most general way) you should resolve ALL the details of the hardscape. You say there is going to be a retaining wall at the left corner of the house. Describe this in detail or show a plan/sketch of it. If it is not yet planned, we should know that as well. In each of your pictures, we can see a snippet of something that needs attention and are able to report that back to you. But it is frustrating to piecemeal the response in this way. What you need to show us is the complete front, square on, in one fell swoop, and not from too far away, i.e., THE COMPLETE SCENE (including some surroundings beyond the house ends also showing within the scene.) Given that the landscape area right of the garage is separated from the rest of the foundation planting area by an expanse of paving, we'll probably need a separate picture of what's over there later. But for starters, you need to show the main foundation planting area as it sits in front of the house. To do this. take the camera to the side of the drive opposite the front door, and be in line with the front door. In the camera viewfinder, can you see the top of the roof and at least half the width of the driveway. If you can't move a little farther away. (In some cases, it is easier simply to hold the camera vertically so that these things show up. Once you are the right distance away and lined up with the front door, stay at that spot for all pictures. Then take a series of slightly overlapping photos that pan from left to right, showing the entire front of the house, including surrounding background space beyond each end, Post these pictures and we'll be able to see your complete house front. You cannot change the camera position between photos. The camera merely pivots. I caution you against having a VERY low (4" or less) step between drive and walk. It will be a trip hazard. If a step is required (too much elevation change for a ramp) then it is better to have a stoop. A 6" stoop is a good step. Too high or too low can be awkward and misleading....See More- 8 months ago
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