- Highwayman64
- 07-12-2014, 05:13 AM
I grow the basic garden, tomatoes, lettice, peppers etc. Last year the blight killed the tomatoes in August, looked good until that. So far this year all is good!
- Guest011223
- 07-12-2014, 06:39 AM
I've got some herb(s) growing. ;-)
- The Drummer
- 07-14-2014, 12:54 PM
- J.J. Walker
- 07-16-2014, 12:37 AM
- Guest011223
- 07-16-2014, 05:54 AM
- Lexxxy
- 07-21-2014, 07:40 AM
I threw down miracle grow soil, put that gardening cloth down, cut holes where i planted stuff, and put soil on top. I'm super impressed at how well things are going! I haven't been home much at all this summer but my flowers look great despite their neglect. I've only had to weed 3 times and that consists of a quick walk by and pull because the cloth is keeping the weeds from getting solid roots.
My sad limp hasta transplants from last year exploded along the side of my house which shocked me! I'm going to thin them and put the others around a bush stump in the front on my house. For the life of me i can't get rid of this stump so i have given up and will resort to covering it.
My sad limp hasta transplants from last year exploded along the side of my house which shocked me! I'm going to thin them and put the others around a bush stump in the front on my house. For the life of me i can't get rid of this stump so i have given up and will resort to covering it.
- The Drummer
- 07-27-2014, 04:23 PM
I threw down miracle grow soil, put that gardening cloth down, cut holes where i planted stuff, and put soil on top. I'm super impressed at how well things are going! I haven't been home much at all this summer but my flowers look great despite their neglect. I've only had to weed 3 times and that consists of a quick walk by and pull because the cloth is keeping the weeds from getting solid roots.Hey Mama,
My sad limp hasta transplants from last year exploded along the side of my house which shocked me! I'm going to thin them and put the others around a bush stump in the front on my house. For the life of me i can't get rid of this stump so i have given up and will resort to covering it. Originally Posted by Lexxxy
Poor some gasoline closely around that bush stump a few times. It'll kill whatever sucker branches wanna grow and rot out the stump to boot.
When the stumps dead, it's easy to tear it out as it will rot and decay.
I wish I had the time and money to put down that cloth. Then I wouldn't have to weed my vegetable garden as often.
One year I put straw down to surpress weeds. It works great, keeps in moisture
and, for a vegetable garden, looks beautiful!
TD
- JohnnyCap
- 07-27-2014, 06:47 PM
- greenpeace2014
- 07-27-2014, 06:47 PM
Ms.Lexxy.
Depending on what the tree species of the stump was and how old it now is as a stump, you may try to drill in plugs of shiitake and other wood-digesting mushrooms. Fungi Perfecti is one source for plugs. They work best when the stump is fresh. If old, other species of fungi already have taken over and are busy at work digesting the different types of chemicals in the wood, and it is just taking them time, like 4-5 years. Still, you can give it a try. While the stump is 'cooking', perhaps you may wish to plant a Rosa alba, which is once-flowering, sweet smelling, and extremely hardy. There are several varieties, and if you go this route, would be happy to suggest specific types. Several other older roses also are trouble free and can drape over the olde stump. Some are eaten by bugs, some sprawl more than others, BUT if you LOVE the fragrance of roses, then you will go for these. The shade and moisture offered by the foliage will also encourage fungi to eat into the wood more efficiently than a stump sitting out in the open. I take it that the stump is already dead, and there are no sprouts?
Pouring gasoline into the soil might kill kill suckers but the assumption here is that you are dealing with a dead stump. The root system of a plant is a very complex place where many types of fungi, bacteria and other organisms live in a close-knit community. Plants make great effort to establish this root zone ecosystem, expending a massive fraction of their daily income in photosynthates to do so. Hence, disturbing this rhizosphere ecology is not useful if you can avoid such.
The stump comprises some of the most intricate wood structurally and chemically of a tree owing to the stresses placed upon it. Therefore, the strength and the grain is outstanding, as is the composition of the major roots. Sometimes, artisanal woodcrafters will come and remove your stump because they craft things that sell very well. Tree removal people may know of such people. I know an arborist whose wife is an exceptional woodcrafter and makes beautiful things out of specific pieces of wood.
Depending on what the tree species of the stump was and how old it now is as a stump, you may try to drill in plugs of shiitake and other wood-digesting mushrooms. Fungi Perfecti is one source for plugs. They work best when the stump is fresh. If old, other species of fungi already have taken over and are busy at work digesting the different types of chemicals in the wood, and it is just taking them time, like 4-5 years. Still, you can give it a try. While the stump is 'cooking', perhaps you may wish to plant a Rosa alba, which is once-flowering, sweet smelling, and extremely hardy. There are several varieties, and if you go this route, would be happy to suggest specific types. Several other older roses also are trouble free and can drape over the olde stump. Some are eaten by bugs, some sprawl more than others, BUT if you LOVE the fragrance of roses, then you will go for these. The shade and moisture offered by the foliage will also encourage fungi to eat into the wood more efficiently than a stump sitting out in the open. I take it that the stump is already dead, and there are no sprouts?
Pouring gasoline into the soil might kill kill suckers but the assumption here is that you are dealing with a dead stump. The root system of a plant is a very complex place where many types of fungi, bacteria and other organisms live in a close-knit community. Plants make great effort to establish this root zone ecosystem, expending a massive fraction of their daily income in photosynthates to do so. Hence, disturbing this rhizosphere ecology is not useful if you can avoid such.
The stump comprises some of the most intricate wood structurally and chemically of a tree owing to the stresses placed upon it. Therefore, the strength and the grain is outstanding, as is the composition of the major roots. Sometimes, artisanal woodcrafters will come and remove your stump because they craft things that sell very well. Tree removal people may know of such people. I know an arborist whose wife is an exceptional woodcrafter and makes beautiful things out of specific pieces of wood.
- JohnnyCap
- 07-27-2014, 07:09 PM
That was actually a very interesting post.
- Guest020916-3
- 07-27-2014, 09:50 PM
- The Drummer
- 07-28-2014, 10:49 AM
- greenpeace2014
- 07-28-2014, 01:19 PM
Ms. Lexxxy,
There is another alternative which you could consider. The dead stump can be converted to a “planter” and become a focal point, with a display of stunning annuals that change every year. The basic concept is to construct a “drum” of Welded galvanized steel wire of small mesh with the stump at the center. The bottom of the roll of wire securely digs into the soil at the base of the stump, in a perimeter.
The top is supported by two or more cross-arms of pressure-treated lumber, of suitable dimension, 2x4? I would use ¾ inch x 22 inch galvanized steel CARRIAGE BOLTS, and several of them, to bolt the arms to the stump in a radial axis: 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock, 9 to 3, 10-4, 8-2. Same on the bottom but angled into the soil, perhaps?
The top of the cage can overtop the stump and be filled with potting mix, as should the sides of the cage. The cage should be wrapped by woven polypropylene weed barrier, e.g Shawfabrics LUMITE. A double row, strongly secured with appropriate wire or ties and then covered over with hessian or burlap which also is secured with ties to the weed fabric and the welded wire. This will make the weedcloth last a long time, and when the hessian is frayed, you only need to wrap new material around the old from the outside for the planter to look very spruce and new. This hessian is the same thin jute cloth we wrap our conifers in to prevent winter/deer damage.
The growing medium ideally should be PROMIX OUTDOOR GROWING MIX. This is expensive, at around $32/3.8 cu.ft bale. The next in quality is FAFARD Growing Mix, followed by various PEATLITE based growing mixes. Please never use Miracle Gro brand mixes or soil, or anything with the word “soil” in it, or anything with “peat + humic” together. If you should want to economize and go to a fair bit of mess and trouble, or have someone to do this for you, I should be happy to offer my modifications of the Cornell Peatlite mix.
When the cage is prepared, it is useful to use a hot metal rod or tube to melt planting holes . With a light touch, the hessian and weed barriers are weakened just enough that a sharp poke is enough o slip in the plugs of flower seedlings. In this porous medium, watering is easy from the top, and so is fertigation with a coil of soaker hose and a hozon device. In the presence of water and fertilizers, stumps will break down far more rapidly. Your hostas at the base of the stump will od fabulously well, as a result of this cage.
You can grow lots of eyecatching semi- trailing plants, like bold petunias, or mix and match them with an array of summer annuals and perennials now to be easily had from garden centers and from specialists like Bluestone Perennials and http://www.northcreeknurseries.com/
Or, you could find an old or new 45 gallon HDPE [not PVA] trash can, of a nice neutral gray color. Cut off its botton and securely mount it over your stump with the base dug into a perimeter hidden by your hostas. Please make sure it will stay upright. Fill it up with Promix, so that it overtops the top of the stump. Plant trailing petunias which will soon hang over the sides.
There is another alternative which you could consider. The dead stump can be converted to a “planter” and become a focal point, with a display of stunning annuals that change every year. The basic concept is to construct a “drum” of Welded galvanized steel wire of small mesh with the stump at the center. The bottom of the roll of wire securely digs into the soil at the base of the stump, in a perimeter.
The top is supported by two or more cross-arms of pressure-treated lumber, of suitable dimension, 2x4? I would use ¾ inch x 22 inch galvanized steel CARRIAGE BOLTS, and several of them, to bolt the arms to the stump in a radial axis: 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock, 9 to 3, 10-4, 8-2. Same on the bottom but angled into the soil, perhaps?
The top of the cage can overtop the stump and be filled with potting mix, as should the sides of the cage. The cage should be wrapped by woven polypropylene weed barrier, e.g Shawfabrics LUMITE. A double row, strongly secured with appropriate wire or ties and then covered over with hessian or burlap which also is secured with ties to the weed fabric and the welded wire. This will make the weedcloth last a long time, and when the hessian is frayed, you only need to wrap new material around the old from the outside for the planter to look very spruce and new. This hessian is the same thin jute cloth we wrap our conifers in to prevent winter/deer damage.
The growing medium ideally should be PROMIX OUTDOOR GROWING MIX. This is expensive, at around $32/3.8 cu.ft bale. The next in quality is FAFARD Growing Mix, followed by various PEATLITE based growing mixes. Please never use Miracle Gro brand mixes or soil, or anything with the word “soil” in it, or anything with “peat + humic” together. If you should want to economize and go to a fair bit of mess and trouble, or have someone to do this for you, I should be happy to offer my modifications of the Cornell Peatlite mix.
When the cage is prepared, it is useful to use a hot metal rod or tube to melt planting holes . With a light touch, the hessian and weed barriers are weakened just enough that a sharp poke is enough o slip in the plugs of flower seedlings. In this porous medium, watering is easy from the top, and so is fertigation with a coil of soaker hose and a hozon device. In the presence of water and fertilizers, stumps will break down far more rapidly. Your hostas at the base of the stump will od fabulously well, as a result of this cage.
You can grow lots of eyecatching semi- trailing plants, like bold petunias, or mix and match them with an array of summer annuals and perennials now to be easily had from garden centers and from specialists like Bluestone Perennials and http://www.northcreeknurseries.com/
Or, you could find an old or new 45 gallon HDPE [not PVA] trash can, of a nice neutral gray color. Cut off its botton and securely mount it over your stump with the base dug into a perimeter hidden by your hostas. Please make sure it will stay upright. Fill it up with Promix, so that it overtops the top of the stump. Plant trailing petunias which will soon hang over the sides.
- J.J. Walker
- 07-28-2014, 02:12 PM
