2021 Mid-Atlantic Garden, Lawn, and Other Green Stuff Thread

[nw baltimore wx]

2 minutes ago, mattie g said:

Yup - that's them. They'll leave you alone if you don't rile them up, but once they get going they're nasty as hell.

We had a huge nest in a shrub in our front yard a two summers ago, but we had no idea it was there. Our neighbor got stung while mowing the lawn after getting too close to the shrub, but we still didn't see it. A few days later, my wife pushed the mower right up under the shrub and got tagged 4-5 times. Of course, she's (truly) deathly allergic to bee stings and she didn't have an epi-pen on hand, so we had to call 911.

I went out the next day in about five layers of clothes and a makeshift helmet and sprayed the thing with a full can of wasp and hornet killer. Hit it again the day after that. After a few days, there was a pile of a couple hundred dead hornets on the ground, so I carefully removed the nest. Luckily, nothing in that nest was left alive.

Damn. That’s crazy. I’m in the parking lot of target now after getting a can of hornet killer. Scroll up and see my edit regarding my allergic reaction to these f#ckers.

[mattie g]

5 minutes ago, nw baltimore wx said:

Damn. That’s crazy. I’m in the parking lot of target now after getting a can of hornet killer. Scroll up and see my edit regarding my allergic reaction to these f#ckers.

Damn...that's one pillowy hand.

Watch out for those things being super pissed off at you for spraying them. The nest we dealt with was way inside that shrub, and actually incorporated multiple live branches into it, so it was tough to get a good shot at the entrance. I had to get up close to get a good hit on it, which is why I put on so many layers.

Great thing is that it was about 95 degrees and humid the day I did it, so I was about 30 seconds from passing out by the time I was done.

[nw baltimore wx]

4 minutes ago, mattie g said:

Damn...that's one pillowy hand.

Watch out for those things being super pissed off at you for spraying them. The nest we dealt with was way inside that shrub, and actually incorporated multiple live branches into it, so it was tough to get a good shot at the entrance. I had to get up close to get a good hit on it, which is why I put on so many layers.

Great thing is that it was about 95 degrees and humid the day I did it, so I was about 30 seconds from passing out by the time I was done.

I just bundled up and shot up the nest with a whole can. I’ll hit them again tomorrow to be sure. My hand isn’t too bad now, and nothing that this beer won’t cure!

[mattie g]

8 minutes ago, nw baltimore wx said:

I just bundled up and shot up the nest with a whole can. I’ll hit them again tomorrow to be sure. My hand isn’t too bad now, and nothing that this beer won’t cure!

That's the spirit!

(see what I did there?)

[jonjon]

Wow, I should visit this thread more often!  Lots of adventures!

[poolz1]

Found one a few years ago in a large bush beside our walkway to our front door. We walked past that basketball sized nest for weeks and did even notice. Just by chance, the nest was at a perfect height for the hood of my truck!  I popped the hood, gently placed a pole under the hood and stabbed that thing. Cutting the wheels and tearing it apart....all while watching the chaos from the safety of the driver's seat. It was a sight watching them attack the truck.  Maybe beer was involved...lol  

Not the smartest way to handle the situation but hey....not one bee killed and 24 hours later that bush was a hornet ghost town.

[32º]

On 7/29/2021 at 2:55 PM, nw baltimore wx said:

I just bundled up and shot up the nest with a whole can. I’ll hit them again tomorrow to be sure. My hand isn’t too bad now, and nothing that this beer won’t cure!

From my bee keeping past, if one lands on you, simply blow it off. They think it is wind and do not react defensively. Just don't accidentally inhale it in the process.

 

[nw baltimore wx]

1 hour ago, 32º said:

From my bee keeping past, if one lands on you, simply blow it off. They think it is wind and do not react defensively. Just don't accidentally inhale it in the process.

Thanks for the tip. I’ll try to remember that the next time I feel like the top of my hand is on fire and then see a wasp trying to bore a hole through me.

[mattie g]

10 hours ago, nw baltimore wx said:

Thanks for the tip. I’ll try to remember that the next time I feel like the top of my hand is on fire and then see a wasp trying to bore a hole through me.

What’s the status of the nest?

[mattie g]

11 hours ago, 32º said:

From my bee keeping past, if one lands on you, simply blow it off. They think it is wind and do not react defensively. Just don't accidentally inhale it in the process.

 

If a bald-faced hornet lands on you, it’s not to give you a little tickle and say Hello. It’s to sting you. By the time you’ve blown it away, it’s already tagged you multiple times and called its friends over to join in the party.

[nw baltimore wx]

27 minutes ago, mattie g said:

What’s the status of the nest?

Defeated. A few stragglers visiting yesterday, but they seemed to have moved on. The swelling in my wrist and hand has subsided enough this morning that I can see knuckles and almost make a fist. I think I probably can fit in my watch again too. 

[Eskimo Joe]

46 tomatoes and 3 zucchini harvested yesterday. What a haul this year after a slow start in the garden.

[mattie g]

22 hours ago, Eskimo Joe said:

46 tomatoes and 3 zucchini harvested yesterday. What a haul this year after a slow start in the garden.

Nice!

I’ve already got three gallon bags of cored and seeded tomatoes in the freezer, with at least 4x that many on the vine right now. Gonna need to make and can some salsa before too long!

[CAPE]

Started working on lawn repair last weekend. More of the lawn managed to survive the heart of summer than usual, so it will be more of an overseeding than a total redo. Still a lot of relatively small areas that went completely to thatch, so that's what I am picking away at now. Raked out, seeded and fertilized the first area last Sunday. With the warm soil and several bouts of rain this past week, the seedlings were up on Friday.

[frd]

39 minutes ago, CAPE said:

Started working on lawn repair last weekend. More of the lawn managed to survive the heart of summer than usual, so it will be more of an overseeding than a total redo. Still a lot of relatively small areas that went completely to thatch, so that's what I am picking away at now. Raked out, seeded and fertilized the first area last Sunday. With the warm soil and several bouts of rain this past week, the seedlings were up on Friday.

How many days did it take for your seeds to germinate?

[CAPE]

3 minutes ago, frd said:

How many days did it take for your seeds to germinate?

Seedlings were noticeable when I looked after work on Friday. So 5 days or so. Happens pretty quick with the warm soil as long as you keep it wet. I am using the Black Beauty Ultra.

[frd]

42 minutes ago, CAPE said:

Seedlings were noticeable when I looked after work on Friday. So 5 days or so. Happens pretty quick with the warm soil as long as you keep it wet. I am using the Black Beauty Ultra.

I plan to overseed earlier this year.  Sept 1 st versus the 21 st.   Despite having poa trivialis issues.  Will see what happens.  Was thinking of skipping overseed and using just nitrogen every 4 weeks combined with controlled watering.  

 

[KamuSnow]

6 hours ago, CAPE said:

Started working on lawn repair last weekend. More of the lawn managed to survive the heart of summer than usual, so it will be more of an overseeding than a total redo. Still a lot of relatively small areas that went completely to thatch, so that's what I am picking away at now. Raked out, seeded and fertilized the first area last Sunday. With the warm soil and several bouts of rain this past week, the seedlings were up on Friday.

I seeded a small area where we had a tree taken down last year, about the size of an on deck circle. We had seeded it last fall but it came in weak so it didn't survive the summer very well. I hit it with the dethatcher, raked it up, even added a little loose dirt. This was Saturday, July 31st, figured I'd take advantage of the cool week that was coming up.

It came up great, and since its in an area that gets full sun, I even made a shade sail for it out of bamboo and a tarp, to help it survive the heat this past week. It got to about 3/4" tall, then was attacked by some grass eating fungus on Tuesday night. Now there's about 20% of it left, it looks good, except for the large dirt area surrounding it. Oh well, lol. At least it's semi prepped for the next shot, maybe this week.

I've found it hard to get grass to grow when temps are 90 and above. I mean it will come up, but survival is another story, at least where full sun is involved.

[CAPE]

12 minutes ago, KamuSnow said:

I seeded a small area where we had a tree taken down last year, about the size of an on deck circle. We had seeded it last fall but it came in weak so it didn't survive the summer very well. I hit it with the dethatcher, raked it up, even added a little loose dirt. This was Saturday, July 31st, figured I'd take advantage of the cool week that was coming up.

It came up great, and since its in an area that gets full sun, I even made a shade sail for it out of bamboo and a tarp, to help it survive the heat this past week. It got to about 3/4" tall, then was attacked by some grass eating fungus on Tuesday night. Now there's about 20% of it left, it looks good, except for the large dirt area surrounding it. Oh well, lol. At least it's semi prepped for the next shot, maybe this week.

I've found it hard to get grass to grow when temps are 90 and above. I mean it will come up, but survival is another story, at least where full sun is involved.

Yeah its a tad risky getting a cool season tall fescue blend going that early. It's still a bit early now, but I have found around the middle part of August is less of a problem in general. Almost 2 months past the solstice, but the hot and humid weather can still be a problem. I do it in stages and I need to get going early, as I am in the woods and want all the new grass to get well established before the leaves start coming down. With the lower sun angle half my yard is much more shaded now too, so I start with that side first.

[KamuSnow]

18 minutes ago, CAPE said:

Yeah its a tad risky getting a cool season tall fescue blend going that early. It's still a bit early now, but I have found around the middle part of August is less of a problem in general. Almost 2 months past the solstice, but the hot and humid weather can still be a problem. I do it in stages and I need to get going early, as I am in the woods and want all the new grass to get well established before the leaves start coming down. With the lower sun angle half my yard is much more shaded now too, so I start with that side first.

Yeah, I hear you on all counts, and good luck! I've been a fan of KBG, and still am, but it can be high maintenance. I'm looking at some of the newer TTTF cultivars, which are supposed to have some rhizomatous (sp?) qualities, for a mix.

[FXW176]

On 7/12/2021 at 9:30 AM, H2O said:

@FXW176 would be our resident expert.  And he looks like ZZ Top now

Not a good year for the cats imby this year. Only have one in chrys so far. Hoping for an uptick, but meanwhile enjoying my hummers. Thanks to all who helped me with advice a few pages back!

[BlizzardNole]

I've been finding monarch chrysalises on the fence, house siding, potted plants, etc.  I have brought 20 in so far.  I must have low predation this summer because my 60-70 tropical milkweeds have been half stripped in the last week and the cats might run out!  If they do, I can take them over to a meadow nearby that has lots of native swamp milkweeds.  It would be like going from tender baby romaine to kale but they'll live 

[Eskimo Joe]

Zucchini done for the year. Tomatoes starting to fade. Time to get the fall planting prepped...looks like garlic and collards.

[mattie g]

18 minutes ago, Eskimo Joe said:

Zucchini done for the year. Tomatoes starting to fade. Time to get the fall planting prepped...looks like garlic and collards.

I love prepping for fall planting.

I need to get lettuce and spinach seeds in. Been meaning to do it for a couple weeks now. Might be too late for harvest this fall, but I'm going to give it a shot anyway. if nothing else, I can overwinter the spinach. I usually plant garlic during Halloween week.

My tomatoes are insane - might be my best year ever. I stopped pruning them once they reached the top of the 10' posts they're climbing up, and every plant has added another 4-5' of growth, with plenty of new fruit on them. We've probably used 10-15 lbs of tomatoes already and I've got six gallon bags full of cored and seeded tomatoes in the freezer, with another 15 lbs or so of fruit on the vine right now. 

Jalapenos have really produced, as well, and are still going really strong.

I have five cantaloupes on the vine right now. First one should be ready in another week or so.

I've got more basil than I know what to do with. This is the first year in probably 7-8 years that downy mildew hasn't taken over (usually happens by early August), which is certainly helped by the fact that most of my plants are a new mildew-resistant variety.

[Eskimo Joe]

13 minutes ago, mattie g said:

I love prepping for fall planting.

I need to get lettuce and spinach seeds in. Been meaning to do it for a couple weeks now. Might be too late for harvest this fall, but I'm going to give it a shot anyway. if nothing else, I can overwinter the spinach. I usually plant garlic during Halloween week.

My tomatoes are insane - might be my best year ever. I stopped pruning them once they reached the top of the 10' posts they're climbing up, and every plant has added another 4-5' of growth, with plenty of new fruit on them. We've probably used 10-15 lbs of tomatoes already and I've got six gallon bags full of cored and seeded tomatoes in the freezer, with another 15 lbs or so of fruit on the vine right now. 

Jalapenos have really produced, as well, and are still going really strong.

I have five cantaloupes on the vine right now. First one should be ready in another week or so.

I've got more basil than I know what to do with. This is the first year in probably 7-8 years that downy mildew hasn't taken over (usually happens by early August), which is certainly helped by the fact that most of my plants are a new mildew-resistant variety.

At peak, we average 4 dozen tomatoes a day. We've never had success of this magnitude. Raised bed gardening is all I'll ever do from now on.

[dailylurker]

43 minutes ago, Eskimo Joe said:

At peak, we average 4 dozen tomatoes a day. We've never had success of this magnitude. Raised bed gardening is all I'll ever do from now on.

I've harvested over 400 pounds of tomatoes from 24 plants and they're still in good shape. I'll probably get at least another 100 pounds once it cools off. I grow Better Boys and Big Beef. 

[Eskimo Joe]

31 minutes ago, dailylurker said:

I've harvested over 400 pounds of tomatoes from 24 plants and they're still in good shape. I'll probably get at least another 100 pounds once it cools off. I grow Better Boys and Big Beef. 

Rutgers, Yellow Brandywine, and Cherokee Purple. While we love the taste of Cherokee Purple they have thin skin and will split if it suddenly rains hard. One of those tomatoes that you have to eat within a day or two.

[mattie g]

1 hour ago, Eskimo Joe said:

At peak, we average 4 dozen tomatoes a day. We've never had success of this magnitude. Raised bed gardening is all I'll ever do from now on.

Agreed.

I built a couple beds three years ago to replace some half-assed beds I built about ten years ago. My results have been fantastic.

[mattie g]

1 hour ago, dailylurker said:

I've harvested over 400 pounds of tomatoes from 24 plants and they're still in good shape. I'll probably get at least another 100 pounds once it cools off. I grow Better Boys and Big Beef. 

 

27 minutes ago, Eskimo Joe said:

Rutgers, Yellow Brandywine, and Cherokee Purple. While we love the taste of Cherokee Purple they have thin skin and will split if it suddenly rains hard. One of those tomatoes that you have to eat within a day or two.

My tomatoes are San Marzano Gigante, Jerey Devil, Cuore di Bue, and Pomodoro Squisito, along with Orange Paruche cherries - two plants each of the first four and one of the cherry.

I definitely have a preference for paste types. SMG has a tendency to look like they're not ready for harvest because they have very green shoulders (Jersey Devil are similar), but they generally do fine for at least a few days on the shelf.

[Eskimo Joe]

4 minutes ago, mattie g said:

Agreed.

I built a couple beds three years ago to replace some half-assed beds I built about ten years ago. My results have been fantastic.

Prior to this, we had direct planted into the ground. This resulted in so many problems, mainly because our soil goes to heavy clay about a foot down. Our beds are 8 inches raised, plus the 10 to 12 inches of modified existing soil has created a reliable profile for the next couple of years. I went further and got a container of fishing worms for each bed and scattered them on the top one evening to let them work in. Hopefully these efforts pay off.