Coming out of the corner...

23 Jan '06 3:52 am

I haven't been contributing much to the forum since I joined, so I must apologize. I didn't join to sit in the corner... Very Happy

This time of year there's nothing growing in my garden except snowdrifts, but I can share some pictures of last season...

This is the small raised bed on the East side of our garage. Our garage in off of the alley behind our house and guests frequently park in the back, so I wanted to make it a nice entry to the garden.

Its also one of the few shady areas in my garden, so I planted some of my favorite Hostas here.

This photo was taken about mid-July (last year)so some of the Hostas had began to bloom, and some had not.

29 Jan '06 10:14 pm

Lovely hostas - did you manage to keep them slug free? You keep a very tidy border Smile

I often look wistfully thru my summer garden pictures, to help me get thru these winter months! Nothing as exciting as snow here, just cold. Tho the skies have been brilliant blue over the last few weekends, which helps to keep the vitamin D (?) levels up Cool

30 Jan '06 6:34 am

Bex - Thank you for the nice comments. Smile

Hostas were one of the first plants I ever bought and I have had them in every garden since. Thankfully, I have never had a slug in my garden (knock on wood). I think I'd faint if I so much as saw one! LOL. I don't know for certain, but I think we just don't have alot of slugs in this part of the country. And it may have something to do with the mulch that I use. I'm a huge fan of shredded cedar and shredded cypress mulch. Both help ward of pests of all kinds.

I am down right a freak about my boarders! Embarassed

I am one of those possessed gardeners that will sit for hours with a handtrowel and dig every tiny weed, every blade of grass from the edges. LOL. I rarely use chemicals of any kind in the garden so the only other option is to do it by hand.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of a Hosta bloom last year. It was planted on the East side of the deck along with several others. It turned out to be one of those it-sounded-better-than-it-worked-in-practice things. I had counted on the tilt of the sun and the shade from the deck and the house to protect the hostas from the summer sun.... I counted wrong. All of the hostas had to be moved last fall. Awwww.... Live and learn.

30 Jan '06 8:00 am

Hi, I was interested in your using cedar and cypress mulch -the bark shavings. I have heard that the conifer needles can be harmful to the other plants.Is that true? I have endless barrowloads of needles falling from cedar, and am a bit concerned about using it in the compost bin. Thanks.
Dixie.

30 Jan '06 12:29 pm

The mulch I use is actually the wood from the trees, not the bark. Its shredded from scraps.

I know alot of people who use pine needles as mulch because thats what they have available. I'm no expert on pine mulch, so I did some checking online. Here are a couple of links for you to check out. Hope they help!

http://www.recycleutah.org/composting/mulches.htm

http://forestry.about.com/od/pinestraw/

I don't think that I'd try putting needles into the compost pile because they take so darn long to break down. But it probably wouldn't hurt to "age" them before using them as mulch.

Coming out of the corner...

Coming out of the corner...

Memories of summer

question about cedar