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debbie_n_ontario

Need a Garden Buddy from Northern Ontario.....June

Debbie_N_Ontario
18 years ago

Gee whiz.......I just went to the May thread and realized this is June! Ekkkk Duh! LOL So sorry I'm so late getting this new thread started.

I planted up some tomatoes, lettuce and onions yesterday. I didn't get them all done as the wind started to pick up and they were calling for thunderstorms and I didn't want to plant anymore in case we got hail or high winds.

I still have about 17 trays of plants to get into the ground and I said I was going to cut down this year,,,,,yeah right! *L*

Son came over tonight and moved all the peatmoss, manure and dirt to the side of the house so that I now can get close enough to the hosta beds to see what is going on. They all seem to be ok. I think I have only lost one hosta this year my Lakeside Black Satin. *sigh* I'm just hoping it is late coming up. I was planning on moving it to a new bed this spring too.

I also have the clubhouse bed to dig up and ttransplant where they can have more space and then fill it up and plant other hostas in it. These are smaller hostas so they should be ok in this bed for quite a while, I hope. *S*

It is very hot and humid here today and we still don't have the a/cs in so I'm suffering a bit. There are so many black flies outside that they are driving me inside as nothing seems to work against them. I have tried Pic and the OFF lantern and they just keep coming after me. The mosquitoes are now out so we are getting bombarded with critters.

My rubbermaid tote that I was using for a pond finally cracked and I just didn't want to be bothered with buying another one so I donated it along with some hostas to our horticultural plant sale.

Son came over and put the water lily and fountain in the front pond and put another two fish in there. The big white fish I caught and put in the tub on the patio died. *sigh* Poor thing. I've had that one since 1997, don't know what happened to him.

I potted up my fushia last night and found out they have white fly, so I hope the white fly is not all over my other plants on the plant stand. I usually see them but this year I didn't. I used some spray on them so I hope that takes care of them.

Danni, I don't know where the time goes. It seems to have just flown by, heck I didn't even remember this was June. *LOL*

How is everyone else's garden doing?

Take care

Debbie :-)

PS: Here are a couple of my hostas unfurling {{gwi:2100281}}

Comments (13)

  • dannie
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I love the way my garden is growing. The only complaint is the shoots that are growing through the beds from the decorative plum tree in the backyard. The three Japanese Painted Ferns I thought had died have shown up and I even think the Hart's Tongue fern may have survived...at least there is something green growing where it was last year.

    We got the front flower bed in. It was rather hilarious as the neighbours were wondering and watching us do this bed via lasagna gardening. Even hubby was pretty skeptic but I told him it worked under the Flowering Crab so it will work in the lawn. I had to run to my school to get newspapers as hubby had gotten rid of all of ours through recycling. So far so good as the bed looks really nice with all the perennials in it. It sure breaks up the expanse of lawn even though the front yard isn't very big. When I get a chance, I will take pictures and post them.

    Yippee...everything is now planted... well for now. I just bought a new wooden planter from Regal... little wagon wheels with two rectangular planters. Now I have to go out and buy new annuals or I just might do cuttings from the plants I already have. Here's to happy growing to all of you!

    Danni

  • peatpod
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi everyone .. well, I just spent the last week amending the soil at my mother's house in Sudbury .. I cant believe how dry and crappy her soil is. Does anyone else from Northern Ontario have difficulty keeping their soil good and healthy?? I dont think it would have held any water and that is only a two year old bed!! I was wondering what ammendments help with the soil up there?? Also where to get it .. there are so few garden places up there and many have no clue what they are talking about when it comes to soil. I think I dumped over 60 bags of soil and 60 bags of manure into her garden beds. I keep telling her to use compost but we did that last year and half of the bed looked really crappy where as the other side looked wonderful. I figured you guys were the ones to ask as you fight with similar types of soil .. in Burlington I have to deal with clay and I think I am the one who lucked out. My mom's soil was like dust .. gray dust .. void of anything!!! I will keep adding to her soil as the year goes by but there is only so much I can do. I would really appreciate any advise and names of good places to purchace good quality compost.

    Take care and thank you

    Laura

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I can't help you, Laura - we're on clay here too. Maybe raised beds (lasagna ones, too) are the answer, and buying black dirt. It took us about twenty years to get our garden soil just right, and then we decided to move the bed! LOL We did use a lot of the same soil, though, so it isn't that bad. We've added, over the years, sandy loam, compost, wood chips, peat moss, black earth. The crowning touch was the peaty black earth dh dug out of our property north of here. Once that was tilled in, the soil was great! I'm using a lot of that now for the flower beds and things are looking really good.

    Here, it has been raining for days, and there are days more of it forecast. With the rain, and with June being such a busy month, i'm not getting a lot done. Yesterday and today were so cold, too - i just couldn't face doing anything outside. It's supposed to warm up, though, so i'll just have to get wet! Too much stuff to do!

    Debbie, i was wondering if you had gotten lost in your garden and didn't know it was June already! LOL I don't have a white fly problem - mine is aphids. My poor petunias and impatiens had them really bad this year. But they all seem to be okay now that they're outside. I've been spraying with insecticidal soap, too.

    Danni, have you been doing cuttings? I have quite a few of them, and most have done well. Some rotted, though. I bought some petunias, verbena and million bells on the weekend and started taking cuttings right away (just the million bells and verbena, actually). Oh, and heliotrope too. Here are a few pictures i took in the rain.

    Gotta go - i'm whipped tonight, and i haven't even done anything! LOL

    Marcia,
    praying for some sun!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures in the rain

  • Debbie_N_Ontario
    Original Author
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi
    It went down to 4C last night so I had to cover up the plants I have outside. Luckily we didn't get frost. It is suppose to go up to 24C Thursday.

    My lilacs are blooming and my irises have buds on them and I'm just waiting to see what colour they are going to be.

    I went to Walmart yesterday but they didn't have much in the garden center. I did see some hostas that had Hosta Virus X. I spoke to the assistant manager about this virus and that the hostas should be pulled from the shelves and destroyed but he said he'd have to talk to head office first. He was polite but I don't think he took me too seriously.

    Here is one of the letters I gave him, I got it from the Hosta Library.

    WARNING - HOSTA VIRUS X
    Spring 2005 Update
    Many plants are turning up all over the world that are infected with a virus called Hosta Virus X (HVX). The most commonly seen ones are plants of 'Gold Standard' and 'Sum and Substance', but other common varieties are also turning up in large numbers. Tests done on material from batches of these plants has shown that not only the ones showing symptoms are infected. Others from batches that included obviously symptomatic plants are also testing positive. All plants in a batch that has plants showing symptoms should be destroyed.
    If you are a gardener, do not buy plants from batches that show even the slightest markings on even one plant. If you have these plants from batches that show symptoms at your home, dispose of them immediately. If you are a retail grower, learn what the signs are and contact the supplier if you see them in your stock. This virus is widely spread at this time in the above plants and others and the source nurseries are still learning about the problem as of 5/05. It appears that large numbers of these infected plants are currently being sold.
    This virus is transmitted primarily through cutting the plants. Contact of the infected plant's sap with sap of a healthy plant will infect the new plant. This can happen whenever cuts are made and the instruments or hands are not disinfected afterwards. Dividing hostas, removing bloom scapes, removing leaves, stepping on them, even accidentally running the lawnmower over them can and will spread this virus. It survives only in living plant tissue and dies without a host. Plants in pots may be simply disposed of or burned. Plants in the ground should be dug carefully as to get as many roots as possible, and the spot should not be replanted until any remaining roots have died and rotted away.
    ***********

    Danni, I have heard that people use copper bands to stop tree roots from growing into hostas. I'm glad your ferns have come back! That is great!

    I haven't really tried lasagna beds. I have thrown newspapers, peatmoss, compost and dirt in the raised beds to fill them, so I guess that is sort of lasagna beds, but haven't used it to kill grass and build a bed that way. I know that people say it works well and I'm glad it is working good for you. Did u try your library to get old papers? We get newspapers from ours.

    Hi peatpod *waving* I know that Sudbury has acid rain, do u think that could be part of the soils problem? I would also do what Danni and Marcia suggested, doing a lasagna type of bed. I don't know if u are doing veggies or trying to fix beds around existing perennials. Is there a White Rose garden center in Sudbury? About the compost perhaps call the City of Sudbury, they might have a public compost pile that u could go and pick up wood chips or compost.
    I also have clay soil so most of my beds are raised beds so I can dump soil in the beds that I want. Last year I redid my rose gardens all with raised beds.
    {{gwi:2100282}}

    Marcia, I really had forgotten it was June. *LOL* I couldn't believe it!
    I thought u had a ton of wave petunias and gave a lot away? Now u had to buy more? uh oh. LOL

    Your gardens look nice. Love those blue poppies! The colour of them is just gorgeous! Did they spread at all this year?

    Son is coming over tomorrow to help me with some work in the yard. I'm getting too old and my poor old back just doesn't want to bend like it use to. so I need his help. Or actually once it bends it doesn't want to straighten up and it is embarrassing to walk around the garden stuck in the bent position. Danni u think your neighbours talk about u? U should see what mine say about me. *LOL*

    Take care everyone
    Debbie :-)

  • dannie
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi all

    Debbie, copper bands wouldn't work since the bed is right around that particular tree and the bed is 12 feet deep. As for newspapers, I am the Vice Principal at a school and we get delivery of 50 or so newspapers daily. Teachers use them for various things from art to meeting curriculum expectations. I knew we had a stack of them in the staff room and I just ran there on Saturday to pick them up. It worked out well because it cleaned up the staff room and I got what I needed.

    Yesterday it was freezing so I wore a long jean skirt and a sweater... well wouldn't you know it, we had a beautiful day here today! It went up to above 24C. It was a good thing I brought a change of clothing to go to the retirement dinner or I would have overheated.

    Danni

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Debbie, i had a lot of petunias from saved seed. They turned out quite nice - a pretty magenta colour. I've got three baskets of them outside now. But i wanted to the purple and silver wave combination again in one large container, so that's why i bought those. I also have some Easy Wave Reds that i started from seed and some of them are blooming now.

    We finally had a decent day today. Yesterday evening was okay too but it rained again overnight. I planted my Jackmanii clematis and put a Gentiana andrewsii in front of it, and some rudbeckia around that. I've ended up with so many rudbeckias now - i'm going to have to build a rudbeckia bed! LOL This evening i planted three containers - one of my red-and-white ones (O Canada!), and i put some amarathus in two other large containers. I know they turn out to be fairly big plants but they're tiny now, so i hope i didn't put too many into the containers!

    The local nursery has brought in the rose Blanc Double de Coubert for me, so i'm going in tomorrow to pick it up. They had Morden Snowbeauty for white, but i wanted a larger one, and BDdC can get fairly big - 6 feet, i think.

    Yes, it looks as if there are new shoots around the blue poppy, and i may end up with three plants out of it. :) It's so gorgeous - it would be great to have several of them blooming at once!

    Your raised beds are really pretty, Debbie. I think you had posted pics before, but they weren't filled it then. These look really nice. I like the fence too! I don't have a fence here - no need for one, but i keep thinking i'd like to have one somewhere, even if it's just a decorative one. Oh well, we'll see.

    Not much else. Happy gardening, everyone!

    Marcia

  • peatpod
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi again everyone :o) The garden bed at my mom's is only a few years old. Last year we went to and got compost from the dump .. not a good idea to do in the Sudbury Region I might add :op The compost was so crappy and full of weeds .. now my mom wont let me put any compost on it unless it comes out of a bag :o) In the fall my dad will actually drive down here to get compost as the compost in Burlington is excellent and free .. I keep thinking if they add some clay to their soil it would be sooooooo much better. My mother seems to think that the soil under the garden is clay but when I dug a new bed at that back of the house it was a nice mix of soil .. sand and clay. I guess I rasied bed wasnt the way to go up there. I hope she follows my advice and puts her grass clippings and leaves on it thoughout the season. As for acid rain .. I dont think that is the issue .. one side of the garden is growing like gang busters .. the other side is creeping along at a snails pace .. its all the same soil .. so who knows what is going on there.

    Thanks again for your advise .. I will keep checking to see if anyone has anymore ideas

    Laura

  • Debbie_N_Ontario
    Original Author
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Everyone,
    A nice hot busy day here. *S* I finally got around to putting the filter and hose on the pump on the patio. I also see that my arrowhead plant may be coming back, either that it is a weed that is growing. It is very tiny. It had dried out over the winter in the cellar and I thought I had lost it.

    Hubs helped me move some pots out of the garage and I started planting those up. I did about 10 pots and got all my tomatoes planted, thank goodness. Then I fertilized them, a rose and irises that have been in bud for over a week now, but not opening up. I hope this shot of fertilzier will get them to flower. I also threw some alfalfa cubes in a big rainbarrel and filled it with water and will be feeding my hostas with that tomorrow. They grow better with alfalfa for some strange reason.

    I still have lots of trays to get planted and I will pot up some more at the back of the house tomorrow. I planted about 3 tray full today.

    Had a nice chat with my neighbour tonight. It is so nice to have nice neighbours and ones that like to garden too! *S* She bought some beautiful tree roses, she knows they won't winter over, but they are gorgeous! She is just learning about gardening so she asks me questions and I try and help her. I mentioned tonight that maybe a pond would be nice in her front yard. They own a bed and breakfast and she liked that idea. I told her not to tell her hubby that I mentioned it, to tell him it was HER idea. *LOL*

    Danni, sounds like u have a source of newspapers to do lots of lasanga beds. *S* Are u retiring or another person?

    Marcia, this year was the first year I have grown the Silver wave petunias. I don't even know what the colour is exactly have never seen them but they sounded kewl. *G* I have never heard of Easy Wave Reds before either, they sound nice. My neighbour has a nice big hanging basket of a sort of coral colour million bells and are they ever pretty! I love them and wish they would grow from seeds.

    I love rudbeckia, but mine never winter over. I have to grow them as annauls here. Does Blanc Double de Coubert have a nice scent to it?

    Marcia, the pic of my raised bed I posted was from late last year. I just posted it to show peatpod how well things can grow in a raised bed.
    (My hostas haven't finished unfurling yet in the new beds, they seem to be taking their time. That is why I want to give them some fertilizer to hurry them up. *S* I will take a new pic of the beds once things start to grow better.)

    Peatpod, maybe if your mom put down a couple of sheets of newspaper first, then put grass clippings on top of the paper to help hold it down it would help keep the weeds down. I have done that too and it works out well.

    Take care
    Debbie :-)

  • Debbie_N_Ontario
    Original Author
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi
    Guess everyone is busy in the yard. *S* It has been wet here the past few days but today I was finally able to get outside and get some more planting done and some pots moved around.

    Planted up the last 2 pots and window box on the patio, put the water hyacynth in the patio pond too. Got the tote on the patio to store all the sheers in case of frost.

    The mountain ash tree in the back looks so pitiful, I don't know whether to get son to prune the dead part away or wait and see if it will come back. Half of the tree looks dead.

    I have to get outside with roundup now that the rain is over, I'm just waiting for the winds to stop. We have had strong winds here the past few days and tornado watches.

    I planted up 8 pots in the front yard, and I still have tons of flowers left over. *LOL* I don't know what I'm going to do with them all.

    My hanging pots with the fushias in them don't look nice at all and I'm thinking I might dump them out and plant some petunias in their place.

    We had so much rain that the pond was almost over the brim. I'm hoping the sun comes out tomorrow so it will go down a bit.

    A few of my roses are blooming and I was able to take a couple of pics of them.

    This is Hazeldean, only blooms once a year. {{gwi:2100283}}

    Winnipeg Parks, it only had one bloom when I took this but has quite a few now, {{gwi:2100284}}

    Take care
    Debbie :-)

  • dannie
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Debbie, yes the source is from our school. The local newspaper provides all the schools with a stack of daily newspapers for curriculum purposes. I believe that someone sponsors this for the schools.

    As to me retiring, that won't be for several years. I was attending the retirement dinner for this year's retiring teachers. One of them was on our staff.

    Danni

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Just posting this month's pictures. I'm whipped! Actually had two days to spend in the garden with no other commitments! June is always so busy, but that's winding down, thank goodness. I have to go somewhere tomorrow after work, dentist appointment on Tuesday, Canada Day stuff to do, and that's it. Yay! Work is over on Thursday.

    Boy, this has been a month of different weather, hasn't it? First it was rainy and cold, and then hot, hot, hot, and now kind of inbetween. And we had a huge storm on Thursday, with trees down all over, shingles off roofs, my daughter's storm door blown to smithereens, transformers exploding, power lines on fire, and power out in many places. I think it isn't back yet on in some places. We didn't have any damage and our power stayed on. Some trees did go down, but they were more in the bush and didn't hurt anything (except themselves!).

    The mosquitoes are really bad too, but they were actually not so bad today, earlier today anyway. If i went back out now, i'd get carried away, i'm sure. And i do have to go out and do a couple of things quick. Bite time!

    I've finally gotten my new roses planted - Henry Kelsey and Blanc Double de Coubert (heretofore to be known as Henry and Blanche!). All roses are starting to bloom now. I've also been planting out a lot of the winter sown stuff, but i've barely put a dent in it. Remind me not to go so nuts next year, okay? LOL I have nowhere to put it all!

    Well, i hear dh finishing up what he was doing outside, so he'll becoming in for supper pretty soon, so i'll have to sign off. Hope you're all doing fine and that your gardens are lovely!

    Marcia

    Here is a link that might be useful: More June garden pictures

  • Debbie_N_Ontario
    Original Author
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi everyone,

    It was a nice day here today so I was out working in the yard. The weather sure has been bouncing around alot. Yesterday it was cool and I had to wear jeans, today shorts.

    Yesterday son came over for bbq and tried to fix my soaker hose under the crabapple tree, it is spraying water instead of sweating it out, but he couldn't fix it, so looks like I will need a new one. He also helped move another hosta up against the house and fill in a raised bed, so I can get the hostas planted in it from my trade. I put some landscaping fabric on a bed that I'm not using right now just to keep the weeds down. It is a 8' x 4' bed and I'm not sure what I want to plant in it.

    Today I tried to use up more plants on the patio as I stil have 3 trays of stuff out there. I planted up another window box and a pot.
    I also had to cut up the remains of the dwarf cranberry bush and get that out to the street.

    I had put soaker hoseas in the new raised beds in the front yard but when I went to hook them up to the 4 way brass connector thingy the off/on switch went flying thru the air, luckily I was able to find it, so that will have to go back to Walmart as it was defective. LOL So tonight I spent a couple of hours watering those beds.

    We have goldfinches nesting in the backyard and I can hear the baby birds calling for their mom. I hope they are eating lots of bugs.

    I came face to face with our chipmunk last night when I was planting some petunias in the front garden beds. He poked his head up and squeaked as he got scared as much as I did. *LOL* I still have 2 trays of flowers in the front yard that I'm trying to find spaces for.

    Marcia, I will tell u not to plant so many next year, if u tell me not to plant as many either LOL I have used up the nice pots and have a few more pots waaaaayyyyy in the back of the garage, which would mean me climbing over stuff like wood, siding to get at it. I don't want to break the siding though. So I don't know what to do with these petunias.

    Things have taken off in the pond too. The 3 fish that are in there are having trouble finding a place to swim, the water lily is taking up a lot of space. It's not flowering but it's growing wide.

    My Alexander McKenzie rose has gotten one bud on it, so that is nice finally seeing it bloom again, after I hacked it down last year. It was the last rose to receover from the hacking, so all my roses have bloomed or are now blooming which makes me happy.

    I can't believe that it's almost July, didn't realize until Marcia mentioned she was going to be on holidays on Thursday! My garden is not flowering as well as I'd like it too. I haven't been able to find a hose end sprayer so that I can start fertilzing everything and to do it by watering can just takes to much work and kills my back.

    Marcia, sorry to hear about the bad winds u guys have had and u losing some of your trees. Glad they were no where near the house though. We had bad storms here too with the winds and were under tornado watch? I didn't know until it was voer though, thank goodness. I am very scared of wind storms.

    How are the renovations coming along? Haven't heard anything about them lately are u finished them now?

    Loved your garden pics! The one with the silver wave in it, how many silver waves and purple waves did u put in that pot. I just planted up some pots of those two after u mentioned how much u liked yours. This is the first year I have tried the silver wave.

    Is that a new bed that was recently made where Henry is planted? How high is the bed?

    I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes tonight too and I even had the OFF Lantern going and they just didn't care, they really chewed me up.

    When did u make the Big New Bed? It looks great! I see u have lots of lilies in it, what are the red and yellow flowers? Are those geraniums? It's kind of hard to tell. They are nice and bright whatever they are!

    Hope everyone else's gardens are doing well.

    Take care
    Debbie :-)

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    18 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Debbie! To answer some of your questions...

    Renovations came to a screeching halt after the floor was done. The trim still isn't back up. How many months, do you think? It's already been four. I'm still hoping we can get the kitchen floor done this summer. I saved some of my income tax money to pay for it.

    The pot with the silver waves is about 18 inches square, and i think i crammed in 3 silver waves and two purple waves. There are also some purple-ish million bells in there, a pale lilac verbena, and two or three osteospermums that aren't blooming yet. I did another basket in pinks, but it's not as nice as that one.

    Henry Kelsey is planted in the new bed along the southwest side of the porch. I raised that corner because dh had put some styrofoam around the porch before he backfilled it and i forgot to take it out before i made the bed! The corner is raised maybe about 18 inches altogether.

    The "Big New Bed" is actually about four years old now. It's about 12-15 feet long on the straight side and then sort of rounded or curved on the other. It's shaped roughly like a D. There are rock paths through it on the inside. Yes, lots of lilies in that one area, and a few near the back (or the top of the D). One can never have too many lilies! (Have i said that before?? LOL) The orange and yellow flowers at the back are begonias in containers. They're just on the edge of one path. And yes, there are two kinds of geraniums there, sort of in behind the lilies - the darker one is phaeum and the blue is platypetalum. To the left of the lilies, on the bottom corner of the D, is the dendranthemum, that shrubby looking plant with all the red flowers in fall.

    We don't have soaker hoses, but dh has a big 250 gallon tank mounted on the back of an old truck and he attached a pump to it so i can use that to water. It still means lugging hoses around, though, but i guess that's better than constantly refilling a watering can! We don't have an outside tap, and in any case, watering from the well means running the pump in the house for too long a time at once.

    I bought an Off Lantern too, and it seems to work okay. I did get some weeding done on Saturday using it. I was hoping the weather would dry out a bit to help cut down on the mosquitoes but rain is predicted off and on for the next week.

    We keep hearing of more and more damage due to that storm. Some people had trees down all over their houses, and others had them fall on sheds or camper trailers. Someone who lives on a lake had all the windows in their sunporch blown out. There are still hydro lines down in places, and some people only finally got their power back last night.

    My son's girlfriend lives in one of the harder-hit areas, so he brought her and her son to his place - and they haven't left! I guess she's moving in. LOL Her son is 14 years old, so not quite as loveable as the first little grandguy, but he's a nice boy, and i like her too. I really hope this works out for him, but i don't know how much fun he'll have helping to raise a teenager. Payback!! I just remembered that once i "cursed" him and said that all his kids should be born teenagers. Hee hee - maybe i'm psychic!

    Well, i'm off to bed because i'm going in to work really early in order to get out early!

    Talk to you all later!
    Marcia