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Garden Geeks thread

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Re: Garden Geeks thread

Beautiful warm weather - daffodils, red tulips, magnolia, primrose and bluebells (!!!) all blooming. Rain the next few days, then warm again, so the purple tulips and lilacs should be ready shortly.

I could use some later-blooming flowers. Seems like most of mine are early. I have some peonies that are later, but that's about it.

I divided hostas this weekend and felt very accomplished. :) I put them under the magnolia - we'll see what happens. I figured if they die, I didn't spend any money on them.
 
Re: Garden Geeks thread

Had an exciting day of sod removal yesterday. Ready to put in compost/soil/whatever this weekend. Short of making my own compost - does anyone have recommendations on what I should use? And what ratio? Obviously some of the topsoil was gone once the sod was removed, so I need to add some back, right?
 
Re: Garden Geeks thread

I usually just buy those cubic foot bags of dirt if it's for the lawn. If you are gardening there I would use a higher quality dirt. The bags tend to be a more sandy than garden soil.

Edit: this of course depends on how much we're talking about. If it's a small area, I'd do the bags. If it's a larger area, look at having it delivered. Again, a delivery will generally be higher quality.
 
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Re: Garden Geeks thread

My problem is that my front yard was never prepared when the house was built. It's solid clay and on a slope. Very difficult to take care of. I'm actually debating hiring someone to take off 4-5 inches of clay and back filling with quality black soil. I'd have them till it in as well. The back yard is OK but it has other issues.

Don't have time to do it myself unfortunately. Figured I would need 25-35 yards of dirt to get 4" of quality soil. Would probably have them put in a sprinkler system while they were at it.
 
Re: Garden Geeks thread

jen said:
Had an exciting day of sod removal yesterday. Ready to put in compost/soil/whatever this weekend. Short of making my own compost - does anyone have recommendations on what I should use? And what ratio? Obviously some of the topsoil was gone once the sod was removed, so I need to add some back, right?
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Depending upon the size of the job, it might actually be worth considering the use of a landscaping service, as long as they are reputable and you spell out your contractual concerns clearly regarding quality of soil and sod/seed. Usually we do all our own work but we did hire a landscaper once to coordinate soil delivery and replanting, and were quite pleased with the results. We also had a bad experience with a different service where they cut corners and did a terrible job. If someone lays sod, they really should roll it afterward. These guys didn't and I was really annoyed, even more annoyed when the grass grew in lumpy instead of smooth, as it would have if they had rolled properly.

Nowadays, they even have a spray-on seeding system that covers the ground with a mix of seed, nutrients, and weed killer that is much cheaper than sod and equally effective if you are able to water it properly for the first few weeks.
 
Re: Garden Geeks thread

This is what I'm doing - 3 posts down from today's -

jen said:
made plans yesterday for what to plant in my new bed spaces - bee balm in the sunnier spots. For shade, Japanese painted burgundy fern, hardy cyclamen, Appalachian blue violets, several different hosta (including blue mouse ears - my new favorite), white bellflower, two types of columbine, frosted coral bells, two types of phlox and some purple dead nettle. gonna be pricey, but pretty.
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Re: Garden Geeks thread

dxmnkd316 said:
My problem is that my front yard was never prepared when the house was built. It's solid clay and on a slope. Very difficult to take care of. I'm actually debating hiring someone to take off 4-5 inches of clay and back filling with quality black soil. I'd have them till it in as well. The back yard is OK but it has other issues.

Don't have time to do it myself unfortunately. Figured I would need 25-35 yards of dirt to get 4" of quality soil. Would probably have them put in a sprinkler system while they were at it.
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We had the clay issue. Loooootsa of Gypsum and peat moss mixed with some dirt.
 
Re: Garden Geeks thread

cannot wait to get home and get dirty. (no not THAT Dirty) my third year with a vegetable garden. each year it gets a little bit larger. I didn't think I could grow anything because we live in the woods and I thought the wildlife would eat it. so far, so good. maybe because its close to the house and driveway?
 
Re: Garden Geeks thread

huskyfan said:
cannot wait to get home and get dirty. (no not THAT Dirty) my third year with a vegetable garden. each year it gets a little bit larger. I didn't think I could grow anything because we live in the woods and I thought the wildlife would eat it. so far, so good. maybe because its close to the house and driveway?
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HA! that doesn't work for me at all The critters eat everything nt behind a fence
 
Re: Garden Geeks thread

leswp1 said:
yup.we went through bags of [gypsum] but it did amazing things. Don't see much about it in the magazines but old books always recommend it.
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any idea whether old wallboard with the paper backing removed and then crushed up would work the same way?

I get tired of dragging it to the transfer station every time we remodel....
 
Re: Garden Geeks thread

I did some research and I'm finding most extension websites are very much against Gypsum unless you have your soil analyzed. Additionally they say it is only effective if you have clay and a specific subset of conditions.
 
Re: Garden Geeks thread

dxmnkd316 said:
I did some research and I'm finding most extension websites are very much against Gypsum unless you have your soil analyzed. Additionally they say it is only effective if you have clay and a specific subset of conditions.
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Extension websites would be against throwing anything into soil without having it tested first.
 
Re: Garden Geeks thread

Not really. They freely advocate various pest control, weed control, and lawn amendments. Almost all of them were pretty clear when they said don't use gypsum because it has limited benefit. Rather, addition of organic mulch over many years is the best bet. Or till it up and replace the top x".
 
Re: Garden Geeks thread

dxmnkd316 said:
Not really. They freely advocate various pest control, weed control, and lawn amendments. Almost all of them were pretty clear when they said don't use gypsum because it has limited benefit. Rather, addition of organic mulch over many years is the best bet. Or till it up and replace the top x".
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I was talking about garden soil, I doubt they would say to add anything to garden soils without a soil test. The stuff I read says the same thing you read. Add organic matter, Gypsum will do little for a home garden. I've never heard of adding Gypsum, must be a regional thing
 
Re: Garden Geeks thread

dxmnkd316 said:
Not really. They freely advocate various pest control, weed control, and lawn amendments. Almost all of them were pretty clear when they said don't use gypsum because it has limited benefit. Rather, addition of organic mulch over many years is the best bet. Or till it up and replace the top x".
Click to expand...

walrus said:
I was talking about garden soil, I doubt they would say to add anything to garden soils without a soil test. The stuff I read says the same thing you read. Add organic matter, Gypsum will do little for a home garden. I've never heard of adding Gypsum, must be a regional thing
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We had clay that you could make bricks out of . added a ton of gypsum as well as peat, compost, and some other stuff I can't remember after researching in the library. This was awhile ago. :o maybe 15-20 yrs ago. It worked pretty well.
 
Re: Garden Geeks thread

Yeah two years ago I was trying to patch some thin spots and couldn't even get the rake into the ground. Brutal.
 
Re: Garden Geeks thread

Anybody know what the gypsum actually does, or if there are any bad effects?

I have heavy clay if I go down more than a few inches, which I'm gradually working on when I put in plants by digging holes much deeper than I need to and adding organic stuff, but that's a really slow process.

A side benefit would be that dry wall is a pain to get rid of. My transfer station won't take it (oddly enough, won't take non-PT wood either).
 
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