2019 Mid Atlantic Lawn, Garden, Pool, etc. Thread

[nw baltimore wx]

2 hours ago, showmethesnow said:

Had the same problem. But not only did I see growth under the feeder we were also seeing plants shooting up 10-15 feet away as the squirrels were stealing the seeds and taking them elsewhere to eat. The other problem with the feeder was the fact that my dogs considered their own personal  buffet with the animals it attracted. Finally took it down after a year's trial.

I always wish that I had a more open and bigger space, but I know I'd still get frustrated.  I'm pretty fortunate that I don't have the battle what I know a lot of you have to because of the size and openness of your domain.  Considering all the varmints that I could have patrolling my yard, I'm fortunate that a few squirrels and rabbits are the worst of it.  There are plenty of cats in the area that keep the mice and mole population in check, and though there are tons of deer very close by, rarely do any come into my neighborhood. We had a family of raccoons try to move in under the back porch once, but a rag soaked in ammonia drove them off quickly and they haven't been seen in a couple years. I always worry about rats because I'm so close to the businesses and their dumpsters on Reisterstown Rd, but, knock on wood, I've never seen any.  Between the cats and the several foxes that patrol the neighborhood, small critters are kept in check.  

But I know what you mean about the squirrels moving seeds all over the yard.  There's a walnut tree close enough to my yard that I am regularly digging up saplings, and they're always in the most inconvenient places with a deep tap root that's never easy to remove.  And don't get me started on the ground ivy that I have to constantly battle on the backyard perimeter...

2 minutes ago, frd said:

Some folks scalp the grass when they cut it , and wonder why it browns and causes stress on the lawn.  I always cut on the highest settings.  

Higher cut turf also cuts down on the opportunity for weed seeds to germinate.

[frd]

On 7/3/2019 at 7:21 AM, mappy said:

yum! i had fresh green peppers, cucumbers and what cherry tomatoes that were ready, in our salads yesterday! 

Many cucumbers this morning in the garden, wow, I guess the rain  maybe, birds after tomatoes though, so I purchased a bird netting because the ribbons and aluminum squares flying in the breeze is not really working at keeping all the various birds away. Its always something ! 

 

Yum, your sald sounds great ! My wifes fav are the cherry tomatoes !!! She told me if the birds eat them I am in the dog house . LOL  ( more like sweat house ) !   

[frd]

3 minutes ago, nw baltimore wx said:

Higher cut turf also cuts down on the opportunity for weed seeds to germinate.

Thanks, that is a great point ! 

I read crab grass sends out some sort of phenol that makes the grass around it not grow as much, but so far crab grass is under control here, with the pre-emergent I but down. 

Seems my biggest issue this year with the lawn will once again be lawn fungus because of this dew point at night deal.   Will reseed in the Fall. but all in all I am happy so far to still have green grass on July 6 th.  

 

 

[nw baltimore wx]

14 minutes ago, frd said:

Thanks, that is a great point ! 

I read crab grass sends out some sort of phenol that makes the grass around it not grow as much, but so far crab grass is under control here, with the pre-emergent I but down. 

Seems my biggest issue this year with the lawn will once again be lawn fungus because of this dew point at night deal.   Will reseed in the Fall. but all in all I am happy so far to still have green grass on July 6 th. 

That's always a problem for me too.  I've used stuff like the Scott's DiseaseEX with success, but I've found it works best as a deterrent rather than a cure.  I haven't put it down yet this year, but probably should.

[frd]

12 minutes ago, nw baltimore wx said:

That's always a problem for me too.  I've used stuff like the Scott's DiseaseEX with success, but I've found it works best as a deterrent rather than a cure.  I haven't put it down yet this year, but probably should.

I might look into that as well, thanks.   

[poolz1]

A bit disappointed after returning home from vacation. Hornworms decimated 6 of our tomato plants....still have 8 healthy plants but the ones that were eaten were full of green tomatoes when we left.

On the menu this evening... potato salad with red and green onions and herbs, green beans sautéed with shallots and a tomato/cucumber salad . All from the garden... chicken on the grill to top it off.

[WVclimo]

Love this time of year.  Today’s haul:

 

[wxdude64]

12 hours ago, poolz1 said:

A bit disappointed after returning home from vacation. Hornworms decimated 6 of our tomato plants....still have 8 healthy plants but the ones that were eaten were full of green tomatoes when we left.

On the menu this evening... potato salad with red and green onions and herbs, green beans sautéed with shallots and a tomato/cucumber salad . All from the garden... chicken on the grill to top it off.

Yep, they are ornery little devils!!!

[showmethesnow]

13 hours ago, poolz1 said:

A bit disappointed after returning home from vacation. Hornworms decimated 6 of our tomato plants....still have 8 healthy plants but the ones that were eaten were full of green tomatoes when we left.

On the menu this evening... potato salad with red and green onions and herbs, green beans sautéed with shallots and a tomato/cucumber salad . All from the garden... chicken on the grill to top it off.

That sucks. Wondering myself what I will have when I get back from vacation next sun/mon. Hopefully it's just a bunch of weeds. That's the only drawback to a summer vacation, wondering if your garden survived without your pampering. 

[mappy]

On 7/5/2019 at 8:36 AM, nw baltimore wx said:

The birds here aren't picky but, out of convenience, in March I picked up a bird seed from a "bird store." Unfortunately, within a few weeks, a bunch of seeds sprouted under the feeder and I thought that's the last time I'll use anything other than the cheap box store seed. But, out of curiosity, I thinned the "weeds" and let them grow to see what they might look like. Now I've got a nice cluster of sunflower stalks growing under my feeder. The squirrels took the tops of a few, but the heads have set on about 10-15 so it should be a good show in a month or so.

hahaha, we have four or five growing under our bird feeder too. we are letting them go, i love sunflowers! 

[Eskimo Joe]

Really excited for this heat coming up.  It should yield some great evening bass fishing up in Carroll County.  Anyone here try the Whopper Plopper?  Looking at getting a few and trying them out this summer.

[nw baltimore wx]

17 minutes ago, Eskimo Joe said:

Really excited for this heat coming up.  It should yield some great evening bass fishing up in Carroll County.  Anyone here try the Whopper Plopper?  Looking at getting a few and trying them out this summer.

I had to look them up but may have to get one or two of those. If you want some company, let me know when and where you're going.

[Eskimo Joe]

Just now, nw baltimore wx said:

I had to look them up but may have to get one or two of those. If you want some company, let me know when and where you're going.

Went to the Beaver Dam Swim club in Cockeysville yesterday.  It's an old marble quarry and a damn shame you can't fish a small portion of it.  Saw a school of about bass about 17" - 20" cruising one section.  Tons of huge panfish too.  

[showmethesnow]

27 minutes ago, Eskimo Joe said:

Went to the Beaver Dam Swim club in Cockeysville yesterday.  It's an old marble quarry and a damn shame you can't fish a small portion of it.  Saw a school of about bass about 17" - 20" cruising one section.  Tons of huge panfish too.  

Beaver dam,that brings back memories. Used to go swimming there as a teenager. 

[nw baltimore wx]

42 minutes ago, showmethesnow said:

Worst thing about a vacation is the trip home. On the last leg with a little over an hour to go. Maine is gorgeous though and the long drive was well worth it. Mohegan Sun poconos casino made out like bandits from our 2 day stop over on the way home. Now I have my fingers crossed that my garden hasn't had any issues from not being tended for 11 days.

I did something different this year in the garden that's really helped keeping the weeds down. My normal routine was to collect all the leaves in the fall, pile them several feet high across the garden, let them compress to a flat slurry-mat over winter, rototill them under  in the early spring, plant, and collect grass clippings throughout the summer and spread them over the garden. The grass clippings helped a lot but I still spent a lot of time over the summer weeding.

The difference this year was that I didn't till under the leaves in March/April and I haven't had to weed at all.  Now I have to decide whether to till before I pile on the leaves this fall. 

Does anyone have strong opinions on the benefits of tilling?

[mappy]

1 hour ago, nw baltimore wx said:

I did something different this year in the garden that's really helped keeping the weeds down. My normal routine was to collect all the leaves in the fall, pile them several feet high across the garden, let them compress to a flat slurry-mat over winter, rototill them under  in the early spring, plant, and collect grass clippings throughout the summer and spread them over the garden. The grass clippings helped a lot but I still spent a lot of time over the summer weeding.

The difference this year was that I didn't till under the leaves in March/April and I haven't had to weed at all.  Now I have to decide whether to till before I pile on the leaves this fall. 

Does anyone have strong opinions on the benefits of tilling?

my veggie garden space acts as a brush pile in the off season, and just before i'm getting ready to plant, we burn all the brush and till it into the soil. its been working out great, my garden grows really nicely. 

we also redid our entire front flower garden space, all of it tilled up and then put mulch down. haven't had any issues (except the flooding, different story). 

i recommend tilling whenever you can! 

[poolz1]

Really excited for this heat coming up.  It should yield some great evening bass fishing up in Carroll County.  Anyone here try the Whopper Plopper?  Looking at getting a few and trying them out this summer.

I use the plopper regularly during the summertime. It has been very successful for both smallmouth bass and largemouth. On Saturday I hit the reservoir that is just north of Cumberland Maryland and was able to snag 8 nice largemouth on the plopper as the sun was coming up. It is definitely my go to lure for early morning and late evening fishing.

[showmethesnow]

1 hour ago, nw baltimore wx said:

I did something different this year in the garden that's really helped keeping the weeds down. My normal routine was to collect all the leaves in the fall, pile them several feet high across the garden, let them compress to a flat slurry-mat over winter, rototill them under  in the early spring, plant, and collect grass clippings throughout the summer and spread them over the garden. The grass clippings helped a lot but I still spent a lot of time over the summer weeding.

The difference this year was that I didn't till under the leaves in March/April and I haven't had to weed at all.  Now I have to decide whether to till before I pile on the leaves this fall. 

Does anyone have strong opinions on the benefits of tilling?

Couple things you can do here to help keep weeds down. 

First off, you really need to keep on top of the weeds throughout the summer. Never let them grow long enough where they flower otherwise they are just going to drop seeds for the coming year. You also want to throw the weeds in the trash and not just throw the pulled weeds back onto the ground in the garden. Just doing this and nothing else and you should see a noticeable reduction year over year.

Second, at the end of the summer clear the garden but don't roto-tiller yet. Put down black tarp or plastic for several weeks as to where hopefully the sun will create enough heat on the surface of the soil to kill any seeds that have been deposited over the summer. If you roto-tiller before hand all you do is push these seeds deeper into the soil where not enough heat can be generated.

Now if you are dealing with an invasive weed that spreads (Such as I have been dealing with a Morning Glory ivy ever since we bought the house) you need to actually spray that with a weed killer instead of pulling it. Spraying it will help kill the root system from which more plants will spring up even after you pull the original weed. I have used this method the last 3 years and it has just about been eradicated after years of it taking over a decent portion of the garden.

One benefit to rotoing in the leafs in the fall is that they will compost quicker in the soil then on the surface. They will also tend to help keep the soil from packing as much over the winter as the leaves will create air pockets as they decompose.

[Eskimo Joe]

22 minutes ago, showmethesnow said:

Couple things you can do here to help keep weeds down. 

First off, you really need to keep on top of the weeds throughout the summer. Never let them grow long enough where they flower otherwise they are just going to drop seeds for the coming year. You also want to throw the weeds in the trash and not just throw the pulled weeds back onto the ground in the garden. Just doing this and nothing else and you should see a noticeable reduction year over year.

Second, at the end of the summer clear the garden but don't roto-tiller yet. Put down black tarp or plastic for several weeks as to where hopefully the sun will create enough heat on the surface of the soil to kill any seeds that have been deposited over the summer. If you roto-tiller before hand all you do is push these seeds deeper into the soil where not enough heat can be generated.

Now if you are dealing with an invasive weed that spreads (Such as I have been dealing with a Morning Glory ivy ever since we bought the house) you need to actually spray that with a weed killer instead of pulling it. Spraying it will help kill the root system from which more plants will spring up even after you pull the original weed. I have used this method the last 3 years and it has just about been eradicated after years of it taking over a decent portion of the garden.

One benefit to rotoing in the leafs in the fall is that they will compost quicker in the soil then on the surface. They will also tend to help keep the soil from packing as much over the winter as the leaves will create air pockets as they decompose.

The old adage is, "One years seeds are three years weeds."

[poolz1]

I have implemented a no till approach to our gardens for the past 3yrs and the health has returned. I think there are pros and cons to tilling. The idea of mimicking large scale farming in home gardens is not necessary, imo. Mappy’s winter time brush pile is the key....if she didn’t till, I would thing she would have same results come summertime. Mimicking the forest floor > mimicking large scale farming.

[showmethesnow]

15 minutes ago, poolz1 said:

I have implemented a no till approach to our gardens for the past 3yrs and the health has returned. I think there are pros and cons to tilling. The idea of mimicking large scale farming in home gardens is not necessary, imo. Mappy’s winter time brush pile is the key....if she didn’t till, I would thing she would have same results come summertime. Mimicking the forest floor > mimicking large scale farming.

The problem with not tilling is that the soil gets compacted over time which hinders good root development on your plants. It also will hinder rainfall penetration into the soil where more of it will run off then in a looser soil. Also the more compacted soil will tend not to retain as much moisture. During the hotter portions of the summer you really want that extra moisture. One option if you don't want to till is to dig a hole and turnover the soil where your plants will actually be. This is what i normally do because unfortunately tilling is not an option at this time due to space constraints. Normally will mix fertilizer and prime top soil in at the same time as well. Typically you want the hole almost as wide as the plant will be above the surface as quite often the root system will match its expanse.

[poolz1]

The problem with not tilling is that the soil gets compacted over time which hinders good root development on your plants. It also will hinder rainfall penetration into the soil where more of it will run off then in a looser soil. Also the more compacted soil will tend not to retain as much moisture. During the hotter portions of the summer you really want that extra moisture. One option if you don't want to till is to dig a hole and turnover the soil where your plants will actually be. This is what i normally do because unfortunately tilling is not an option at this time due to space constraints. Normally will mix fertilizer and prime top soil in at the same time as well. Typically you want the hole almost as wide as the plant will be above the surface as quite often the root system will match its expanse.

I don’t disagree with any of those cons to not tilling. Here is the key, IMO....the constant addition of organic material to a piece of ground will create that “relatively “ loose soil that is optimal for root structure. The maintaining of an organic ground covering prevents scorched earth and promotes a healthy population of earthworms and other insects which further enhances healthy soil and a non compacted soil....not to mention the preservation of the microorganisms by not tilling. Go into a hardwood forest and stick a shovel in the ground...it’s easy digging for the first 10-12” (besides the roots). This takes time to cultivate but a healthy balance can be achieved. I have yet to water any of my gardens this year and the production has been plentiful.

In no way am saying one approach is better than the other. I have just found that the time and elbow grease involved in managing 3 large gardens has been greatly reduced with this method. We have been able to achieve 100% organic by stopping the constant fight against nature....but it has taken time and many fails.

[mappy]

I till the garden one time, just before planting. I don't even till the dead stuff at the end of the growing season, we just add the brush right on top and let it all break down on its own. One the brush is burned to ash, then we till it all in. We have clayey soil below the surface but hard compacted soil right on top, so we've found it best to till just before planting. 

[Eskimo Joe]

Two great, cheap sources of organic matter to loosen tough clay or shale soil are mushroom compost and leaf mold.  You can buy them at a garden store and they come in 2 or 3 ft^3 bags for about $2.50 a bag.  Purchase them in March and fork or till the material in.  If you do this every year or every other year you'll notice that over the course of 2 to 3 years your soil will dramatically improve. 

 

EDIT:  This is the leaf gro.  Amazing stuff:  https://www.lowes.com/pd/Leafgro-40-lb-Compost/3152593

[mappy]

19 hours ago, Eskimo Joe said:

Two great, cheap sources of organic matter to loosen tough clay or shale soil are mushroom compost and leaf mold.  You can buy them at a garden store and they come in 2 or 3 ft^3 bags for about $2.50 a bag.  Purchase them in March and fork or till the material in.  If you do this every year or every other year you'll notice that over the course of 2 to 3 years your soil will dramatically improve. 

nice, thanks!

[Eskimo Joe]

2 hours ago, mappy said:

nice, thanks!

No problem.  Living in NW Baltimore County we also have the clay soil.  Tilling in the stuff that I mentioned above (i edited the post to include a link) will go far.  The best thing is that $40 gets you 8 bags even when it's not on sale.

[nw baltimore wx]

An update photo on the spontaneous sunflowers. Should be peak bloom next week here. Btw, if anyone is in the Poolesville area, I read today on WTOP's site that there's a 30 acre site out that way at full bloom now. 

 

[mappy]

my random sunflowers are starting to bloom too! we have two varieties growing. Cannot wait to see how big the flower in the second pic gets, its stalk is thicc

 

[showmethesnow]

4 hours ago, nw baltimore wx said:

An update photo on the spontaneous sunflowers. Should be peak bloom next week here. Btw, if anyone is in the Poolesville area, I read today on WTOP's site that there's a 30 acre site out that way at full bloom now. 

 

 

1 hour ago, mappy said:

my random sunflowers are starting to bloom too! we have two varieties growing. Cannot wait to see how big the flower in the second pic gets, its stalk is thicc

 

They just don't make sun flowers like they used too. Back in my day sun flower plants were 5+ feet tall with heads a foot across. 

[nw baltimore wx]

2 hours ago, showmethesnow said:

They just don't make sun flowers like they used too. Back in my day sun flower plants were 5+ feet tall with heads a foot across. 

And the occasional brachiosaurus would randomly eat them.