2022 Mid-Atlantic Garden, Lawn, and Other Green Stuff Thread

[WxUSAF]

Plants in the ground 

[IronTy]

Hello Clarice!   Deaths head hawkmoths.  They're quite unlike any moth I've ever reared, and I've reared thousands.  Like furry tarantulas with wings.  And they squeak really loud when you touch them.  

 

 

[Eskimo Joe]

Had a Sphinx Moth hovering over our planter the other evening.

[nw baltimore wx]

Awhile back I had said that aerating holes were good for seed germination, got some doubt comment from someone I can’t recall, and said I would post photos later. Since then I cut the grass short, aerated, seeded, and let nature take its course. I should have gotten photos sooner, but yesterday was the first I’ve mowed since seeding and though the aerating holes are indiscernible, you can see how the new grass is growing in clumps. That’s where the holes were. Seeds got in the holes and presto.

Also harvested our sugar pumpkins yesterday from the back 100 (square feet).

[mattie g]

I feel like I've underseeded in the past - just reluctant to lay down much seed, especially in obviously thinner locations. For some reason, I just have a poor record with growing new sections of grass or filling in thin patches despite my general success with gardening.

My garden is still humming along...if getting a little ragged. I topped my tomatoes last weekend and still have lots of tomatoes on the vines. Jalapenos are still doing fine, as well! That lack of a recent freeze has prolonged my season for at least a couple more weeks. As soon as the tomatoes come down, I'll get my garlic in.

[GramaxRefugee]

5 hours ago, nw baltimore wx said:

Awhile back I had said that aerating holes were good for seed germination, got some doubt comment from someone I can’t recall, and said I would post photos later. Since then I cut the grass short, aerated, seeded, and let nature take its course. I should have gotten photos sooner, but yesterday was the first I’ve mowed since seeding and though the aerating holes are indiscernible, you can see how the new grass is growing in clumps. That’s where the holes were. Seeds got in the holes and presto.

 

I've always thought (rightly or wrongly), that it also cuts down on seed being eaten by those pesky birds. 

Looks good.

[Kay]

6 hours ago, nw baltimore wx said:

Awhile back I had said that aerating holes were good for seed germination, got some doubt comment from someone I can’t recall, and said I would post photos later. Since then I cut the grass short, aerated, seeded, and let nature take its course. I should have gotten photos sooner, but yesterday was the first I’ve mowed since seeding and though the aerating holes are indiscernible, you can see how the new grass is growing in clumps. That’s where the holes were. Seeds got in the holes and presto.

Also harvested our sugar pumpkins yesterday from the back 100 (square feet).

very pretty pumpkins A+

[Kay]

I'm mostly glad the 'growing season' is intact for a bit because my zinnias and mexican sunflowers are covered in buds Some nights I've worried about the latter but they've been champs. Hummingbirds long gone, bees still enjoying. I will leave some of this standing over the winter for bird seed.

[mattie g]

Pulled the tomato plants yesterday in advance of last night's freeze. Harvested about 8 lbs of tomatoes, maybe 1/3 of which had no blush of color at all. Definitely the best harvest of the season.  In their place, I planted 15 cloves of locally grown Music garlic.

I've had decent luck with Music in the past, but I've generally bought seed garlic online every other year or two, so it' not locally grown except for when I use my own bulbs as seed. Hoping that the local nature of this stuff will lead to slight more robust growth next spring than normal. Either way...can't be worse than this year's crop , which was almost a complete bust.

[aldie 22]

How many more mows left?

[Eskimo Joe]

20 minutes ago, leesburg 04 said:

How many more mows left?

Definitely 1 more for us. Probably the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

[mattie g]

22 minutes ago, leesburg 04 said:

How many more mows left?

I haven't mowed since September. We live so far north that it's not needed.

[WxUSAF]

38 minutes ago, leesburg 04 said:

How many more mows left?

With several hard freezes in the next week, growing season is over. I’ll mow once more to mulch leaves and cut the grass low so our dustings look nicer.

[Eskimo Joe]

1 hour ago, WxUSAF said:

With several hard freezes in the next week, growing season is over. I’ll mow once more to mulch leaves and cut the grass low so our dustings look nicer.

If you mow early, you won't have grass sticking out of the snow.

[mattie g]

23 hours ago, WxUSAF said:

With several hard freezes in the next week, growing season is over. I’ll mow once more to mulch leaves and cut the grass low so our dustings look nicer.

I have a decent pile of leaves against one of our fences in the backyard. I'll probably pick them up this weekend and mow to mulch. Then I'll probably do one more quick mulch mow in the first week of December to catch any stragglers blowing from neighbors' yards.

[WxUSAF]

I drag most of my leaves back to my fence line under our pine trees. They break down and it’s better ecologically. I can’t quite get to “leave the leaves” entirely, but I try to bag as little as I can. I mulch a lot of the rest.

[mattie g]

2 hours ago, WxUSAF said:

I drag most of my leaves back to my fence line under our pine trees. They break down and it’s better ecologically. I can’t quite get to “leave the leaves” entirely, but I try to bag as little as I can. I mulch a lot of the rest.

I don't really have a good place to do that or else I would. When you have 0.2 acres, 50% of which is taken up by the house's footprint, you don't have much room left!

Agreed, though, that it would be good to leave some of them.

[nw baltimore wx]

2 hours ago, WxUSAF said:

I drag most of my leaves back to my fence line under our pine trees. They break down and it’s better ecologically. I can’t quite get to “leave the leaves” entirely, but I try to bag as little as I can. I mulch a lot of the rest.

All my leaves go in the garden.  I try to mow them up as much as possible so they take up less space, but there are years when I have 3+ feet of leaves.  By spring, they are condensed to a mushy mat.