Landscaping and Stuff

[mashburned]

What's shaking in your yards? Big plans? Any pergolas going up?

I got two big beds I'm prepping fixing to bring in the dirt to fill em up and get em ready for fall planting.

My lil lime hydrangeas were messed up this year. Blooms curled up and weird.

My pachysandra is killing it.

Got a lot of tree pruning stuff to do, has anybody used one of those big manual pole saws? Are they worth it? I mean, is a cheapish $100 dollar worth it?

Something like this...

 

[Hank Camacho]

My tomatoes are starting to come in and the daisies and lupines I planted out front as a lark are taking hold. Had no luck with poppies, however.

Also, I've got more green beans than I can eat.

 

[BBdK]

Jacked UP for our tomatoes. Starting to turn as well...I've had enough Zucchini and Squash to last a lifetime, I believe.

 

[mashburned]

Are you growing heroin?

I don't grow any food, but I want to grow berries next year.

 

[-Mav-]

What's shaking in your yards?

 

[BBdK]

Also, have about 200 'hot banana peppers', which aren't hot at all. Pretty disappointing, guess they need some spicy pickling or something to shine, or I got a bad batch?

They look great, but blind taste test & they're just small yellow bell peppers, but even more bland.

Scared to mess w/ our Ghost just yet.

-Lass is the flower lady, but I'm slowly learning. Don't want to learn too much b/c then I'll bare some of the responsibility, of which I currently have zero. She needs a hobby while I golf, so I'm very cognizant of not getting "too close".

I do secretly enjoy & pay attention, though.

 

[Hank Camacho]

Also, have about 200 'hot banana peppers', which aren't hot at all. Pretty disappointing, guess they need some spicy pickling or something to shine, or I got a bad batch?

They look great, but blind taste test & they're just small yellow bell peppers, but even more bland.

Scared to mess w/ our Ghost just yet.

There is a sweet banana pepper that looks basically identical and the seeds often get mixed up.

I prefer Anaheim peppers. Basically jalapenos but easier to grow here in my experience and a little smaller.

 

[Hank Camacho]

Are you growing heroin?

Not yet.

 

[mashburned]

I just don't believe all these people growing tomatoes actually eat the things. Like what are you gonna do with your 200 banana peppers? Take them to farmers market?

 

[Hank Camacho]

I don't grow any food, but I want to grow berries next year.

Then you probably should have started last year.

 

[UKserialkiller]

I just puked my guts out


I'm living in an apartment at the moment. The complex has Hispanics doing the landscaping.

 

[cole854]

New hardscape steps off the deck completed, new black iron fence installed, and fall bulb planting in a couple of months.

 

[rudd1]

-haven't done a veggie garden in years. Current abode is mainly shady...would encroach on much of the lawn in my small downtown lot. Kids are getting older...maybe start small next year.

- as my lawn is very shady we are partial to hostas/ pachysandra/bleeding heart/solomans seal/Lily if the valley and such. Wife put out a note on social media 2 months ago about needing shade-loving plants...and we got about a bunch of free plants from a few older folks that needed to thin their gardens...saved hundreds and got to chat with old smart people.

-wife is a hydrangeaphile so those anchor out front with some boxwoods.

-love perennials...hate annuals. Wife handles the "flowers" I handle trees and shrubs.

 

[rudd1]

-canning/freezing and storing excess produce is the most rewarding part of veg gardening for me.

 

[Col. Angus]

Made some homemade weed killer because I'm tired of buying it and sick of weed eating. Family member emailed me the recipe: 2 gallons of hot water, mix in a box of canning salt, cup of dish washing soap, and gallon of white vinegar. To spice it up I also mixed in a quarter gallon of gasoline. Sprayed it last night. We'll see what happens.

 

[BlueVelvetFog]

black

Racist

 

[mashburned]

Stupid neighbor helper cut down allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll my clematis vines on the fence. which were absolutely loving life to the fullest. House is for sale and they (for the first time ever) wanted to clean up the fence line. Wouldn't minding torching their entire stupid yard. Would be doing them a favor.

 

[UKGrad93]

Worst thing I ever did in my yard was build a big planting bed around our giant patio. It's a pita to keep it weeded. I'd rather just have grass that I could push the mower over. Stupid thing cost me $500 every mothers day when the wife wants to re-plant a bunch of stuff.

 

[Rebelfreedomeagle]

Also, have about 200 'hot banana peppers', which aren't hot at all. Pretty disappointing, guess they need some spicy pickling or something to shine, or I got a bad batch?

They look great, but blind taste test & they're just small yellow bell peppers, but even more bland.

I bought some of those as plants at a small feed store last year. They were the first time I ever did container gardening and they were so damned hot they were inedible. Looked like banana peppers, tasted like Satan's bunghole. You got lucky.

 

[anon_aawvduncd4ay0]

Had this pergola constructed earlier this year. Recently wrapped up staining the deck/pergola, will be the first Summer/Fall with some good covered outdoor space.

 

[Get Buckets]

Violets and a mole are effing my yard up at the moment.

 

[-Mav-]

Violets and a mole are effing my yard up at the moment.

YWIA

 

[Kooky Kats]

I need some gazing balls... not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[Kooky Kats]

Had this pergola constructed earlier this year. Recently wrapped up staining the deck/pergola, will be the first Summer/Fall with some good covered outdoor space.

That's a shed, not a pergola.

 

[anon_aawvduncd4ay0]

That's a shed, not a pergola.

Well, I am obviously a poor. Best we could do. Show me how it's done. Your back yard? Looking for pointers to improve it.

 

[MegaBlue05]

I always liked doughts because not mowing from May to October was awesome. I hear those are bad for everything, tho. Who knew?

 

[shockdaddy19]

I have some coneflowers that are just growing like crazy. First year planting them in a spot that just gets blistered with sun. They've done great. Sophia from Lowe's on Hurtsbourne came through with that recommendation.

Have a very nice pergola that the previous owners put on the house. (Been there just over 3 years). Pergolas look nice but have no functionality. Would like to cover it.

To the OP, have used one of the saws you asked about it. Easy to use for small dead limbs but anything that is still alive and of decent size, it's problematic.

Just finished staining my back fence and what a pain. Want to be a bad neighbor? Grow a trumpet vine and just let it grow. Otherwise, I'm just enjoying watching my neighbor let his wisteria grow up the side of his house. Will damn near have it covered. Covers up his non-power washed siding nicely. Dude is a cardiologist, spend some money.

 

[Kooky Kats]

Well, I am obviously a poor. Best we could do. Show me how it's done. Your back yard? Looking for pointers to improve it.

I like what you did, but there's a roof on it.

Calm down, pardner.

I'll share my deck pics when done (I said deck).

 

[mashburned]

That's a shed, not a pergola.

Don't listen to this Yankee, he eats clam pizza. Probably has one of them white pergolas that you can't sit under when it rains, has no overhead fan, etc etc.

 

[mashburned]

Confeflowers are great.

My favorite new plant is my lil bobo hydrangea. It blooms like crazy, sits in a pot on my porch. Older buds about to turn salmon.

 

[JamesIII]

I've been in the process of putting in a "butterfly garden" and have been trying to find the various feeder plants for caterpillars and adults. It's a new project, but I've got a few books on how to design them where the flowers bloom almost year round.

 

[Kooky Kats]

Don't listen to this Yankee, he eats clam pizza. Probably has one of them white pergolas that you can't sit under when it rains, has no overhead fan, etc etc.

Exposed conduit FTW.

 

[Kooky Kats]

Confeflowers are great.

My favorite new plant is my lil bobo hydrangea. It blooms like crazy, sits in a pot on my porch. Older buds about to turn salmon.

Isn't it true that the hydrangea's bloom has all to do with the chemical makeup of the soil it sets in, right?

The ones we have are deep pink. Awesome.

 

[rudd1]

-not completely...but the ph level will alter color.

 

[Kooky Kats]

Well, I am obviously a poor. Best we could do. Show me how it's done. Your back yard? Looking for pointers to improve it.

One more thing. By making this a solid, impervious roof - you've essentially attached a sail to the top of those 2x2 sleepers. I'd make sure you have either some hurricane tie-down straps or screwed the bejesus down of the sheathing, or the uplift forces during a significant windstorm will blow that thing onto your neighbors bbcourt...

Something to look into with your structural engineer

 

[Hank Camacho]

-not completely...but the ph level will alter color.

Mine seem to change colors every year. Maybe I have transgender hydrangeas or something. I have no idea what does it.

 

[mashburned]

It's the little macra...somethingornother type that change colors. You'll see them at lowes all blue or pink, just make the soil more acidic for blue blooms. Most other hydrangeas - paniculata types which is what you mostly see - naturally fade from white to lime to salmon or ruby red as the blooms age.

That roof is not going to blow off. Holy cow. No room for architects in the garden, imo.

 

[BBdK]

We planted some Azaleas on the tee we sponsor last night off back yard, kinda pumped about that.

Lady told her they bloom 4 times per year, we'll see.

 

[PuffyNips]

HOA approved my pergola. Materials arrive today. Probably won't be installed this week, though. Ended up wussing out like a poor and am just building a 12x10 instead of the 14x28 custom job that would've covered the stone patio.

Gonna go with some sort of retractable sun shade system under the roof.

Put up a couple of trellises and planted some clematis over the weekend.

Everything is being decimated by the deer. They wiped out the water lilies and hyacinths in my pond the night of a big rain that apparently washed away the deer repellant.

My magnolias have severe scale and I'm letting it go this time. I've wasted enough money fighting it the past 3 years. Probably replace them with a lilac and a few hibiscus next year.

Put in a couple of red maples this spring (about 10' tall) and the leaves always look wilted. Where I planted them is ****** soil (clay). Anything I can do at this point to help them along?

 

[PuffyNips]

We planted some Azaleas on the tee we sponsor last night off back yard, kinda pumped about that.

Lady told her they bloom 4 times per year, we'll see.

I have 3 azaleas near my front porch. Beautiful. Ours only bloom 1-2x per year, though.