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Thread: 2020 garden plans?

  1. #11
    Senior Member Rogar's Avatar
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    It's still a ways off for definates, but late fall I rototilled several bags of ground leaves into the ground. I'm trying to reduce purchased compost and have a household compost pile that should go into the garden in the spring time, too. My garden is relatively small, so I go for low area space used for high production. Tomatoes are for sure, probably Japanese eggplant, and leaks. I also have a 4x4 raised bed from the square foot gardening style which is will be the same spring greens. A few plantings of spinach and a little chard and kale are the main crop there.

  2. #12
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    I have some roadside wildflower mix I intend to add to the edge of the road along our property. One neighbor has a small bit planted around her mail box. The other has nurtured the heather until it comes in, larger than almost anywhere else, and is gorgeous. We've always had trees, whatever came to grow there and I planted vinca on a hill on one side of the driveway, there are may flowers which have volunteered there too. The wildflower seed is to replace the "whatever comes" under the trees. The neighbor with the bracken is on that side, and if they get a few wildflowers she won't care. It's unlikely they'll take over her bracken plot!

  3. #13
    Senior Member herbgeek's Avatar
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    i am curious about your methodology of creating wildflower plantings. comment if you wish.
    I am expecting some level of weediness, hence the placement at the far edges. There's weeds there now, just not pretty ones. We have lots of birds who like to spread weeds etc. I've cleared out a couple of areas of vegetation, in order to have less competition for new seedlings. Over the winter, I'll be doing some winter sowing again (example: http://wintersown.org/) for some of the plants started early, which I will then transplant.

    The flowers I'm growing in the "meadow" are typically garden plants versus "true wildflowers" for the most part poppies, cosmos, bachelor buttons. Annuals that will self seed- at least that's what I'm hoping for. I also grabbed some echinacea seed from a garden bed and scattered that in the fall and will try to do that with some of my other perennials.

  4. #14
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by herbgeek View Post
    I am expecting some level of weediness, hence the placement at the far edges. There's weeds there now, just not pretty ones. We have lots of birds who like to spread weeds etc. I've cleared out a couple of areas of vegetation, in order to have less competition for new seedlings. Over the winter, I'll be doing some winter sowing again (example: http://wintersown.org/) for some of the plants started early, which I will then transplant.

    The flowers I'm growing in the "meadow" are typically garden plants versus "true wildflowers" for the most part poppies, cosmos, bachelor buttons. Annuals that will self seed- at least that's what I'm hoping for. I also grabbed some echinacea seed from a garden bed and scattered that in the fall and will try to do that with some of my other perennials.
    You might try larkspur in that mix too. Larkspur is my go to annual that seeds itself.

    The orange perennial daylily would be something I’d plant if I wanted to cover a large area wiickly, but those things are invasive and touch to control.

  5. #15
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by herbgeek View Post
    I am expecting some level of weediness, hence the placement at the far edges. There's weeds there now, just not pretty ones. We have lots of birds who like to spread weeds etc. I've cleared out a couple of areas of vegetation, in order to have less competition for new seedlings. Over the winter, I'll be doing some winter sowing again (example: http://wintersown.org/) for some of the plants started early, which I will then transplant.

    The flowers I'm growing in the "meadow" are typically garden plants versus "true wildflowers" for the most part poppies, cosmos, bachelor buttons. Annuals that will self seed- at least that's what I'm hoping for. I also grabbed some echinacea seed from a garden bed and scattered that in the fall and will try to do that with some of my other perennials.
    You might try larkspur in that mix too. Larkspur is my go to annual that seeds itself.

    The orange perennial daylily would be something I’d plant if I wanted to cover a large area quickly, but those things are invasive and tough to control. I am still digging them out of my Hermann garden. Stupid things.

  6. #16
    Senior Member herbgeek's Avatar
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    You might try larkspur in that mix too. Larkspur is my go to annual that seeds itself.
    I love larkspur- I have it readily self seeding in my "real" flower beds, I will add it to the meadow. Thanks for the idea!

    but those things are invasive and tough to control. I am still digging them out of my Hermann garden. Stupid things.
    I learned my lesson about picking up plants at garden clubs. If there's so many of those items, its because they are invasive and people are trying to get rid of them. When I first moved here almost 25 years ago, an elderly neighbor offered me all kinds of things she was trying to get rid of. And now 25 years later, I am trying to get rid of them too. I think I finally got rid of /most/ of the grape vines that came from her. Originally one plant I had out back- but as I was clearing out the vegetation this fall in anticipation of new plantings, I found it had spread /everywhere/. So I'm leaning more towards annuals versus more perennials.

  7. #17
    Senior Member razz's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by catherine View Post
    Yes, that approach (the Enhanced Native from Chicago) would really be ideal. Here's a picture of part of our shoreline--you can see the challenges.

    Attachment 3069
    How much wind impacting the size of waves and erosion? Has the water level remained stable or does it fluctuate from year to year and throughout the seasons?
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  8. #18
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by razz View Post
    How much wind impacting the size of waves and erosion? Has the water level remained stable or does it fluctuate from year to year and throughout the seasons?
    I'm on a bay so there aren't a lot of waves, though.

    But another big challenge is when the lake thaws in the spring it rises significantly and the water covers at least half of the common area, sometimes almost reaching the homes. It usually recedes by late April/early May
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  9. #19
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by catherine View Post
    I'm on a bay so there aren't a lot of waves, though.

    But another big challenge is when the lake thaws in the spring it rises significantly and the water covers at least half of the common area, sometimes almost reaching the homes. It usually recedes by late April/early May
    Oh that is exciting to me. Maybe you could grow some of the boggy iris, the Louisiana irises for instance. They like living in a shoreline where the water comes in and out. Mine limp along here but they’re not entirely happy they would like a whole lot more water than they get.

  10. #20
    Senior Member rosarugosa's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by catherine View Post
    My approach/methodology would be this:

    Go slow... we already have vegetation but it's just random grassy stuff and weeds. One of my neighbors has enlisted me and others to rid the that area of the cockleburs which are all over the place. We removed about 15 contractor bags full last year. But I know my limitations, and so I would ONLY tackle what I KNOW I could follow through on. The worst thing I could do here is try and fail.

    I would probably focus on just one or two things that would add color and some consistency--like milkweed, bergamot, or rudbeckia, along with some native grasses, and again start very small and slow.

    My main sales pitch would be discouraging geese. We do have a geese problem, which my neighbors HATE (so do I)--they drive wooden stakes with string into the ground.

    It would definitely be a trial and error effort, so I'm open for suggestions. In my dreams, our shoreline would eventually look like one of these:

    https://regenlanddesign.wordpress.co...e-waters-edge/
    Catherine: That's a pretty exciting project! On our recent Niagara trip, we enjoyed the naturalistic Olmstead plantings on the American side. There was a lot of rudbeckia, echinacea, joe pye weed, and goldenrod.

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