outdoor green houses

I continue to work my plants on shelves, picnic table and card table I've gathered to the south side of our white vinal fence so they get full benefit of the reflected sunlight trapped by plastic bags or tarps.
Utah County residents: I will be ready to have a YARD SALE the middle of April, with plants and seeds for your gardens. Get ready for some amazing yard sale deals on plants and seeds. I'm just going to keep on planting, so you will have flowers and vegetables ready to plant in May.

The dirt pile

In January I had about 18 yards of top soil delivered to my home; I needed to level all the holes in the yard from trucks running through it when it was wet. WEll, of course the lawn was snow fillled and wet when the big truck came and he couldn't get through to the back yard so we decided to dump a small amount by the front porch and the rest in the garden. The tracks he made took up a lot of the dirt just to level that part; the part where the dirt was compressed so we had to leave a lot of it there to make it level withthe rest. Of course when he went to dump it, the whole load came loose so 3/4 of it went on the front lawn and about a fourth in the garden. So wheel barrow by wheel barrow my foster son moved the dirt from the front to the back of the house and to the garden and flower beds.

We even used some of it on that city strip I told you about.

Anyway, we celebrated today when he took the last load and raked where the pile had been so the grass showed through and can now green up. OUrs is the earliest and greenest lawn in the area because we put winterizer on it in the late fall and early spring. It needs to be mowed. Any volunteers?

Ouch

My finger tips and bottoms of my feet are very ouchie.
Why, because I get busy in the dirt, and forget my gloves.
I tried to go barefoot, because I love to feel the dirt and grass and water on my feet,
and my shoes get too mudy so I have to take them off,
then I forget what door I came in and left them there.

A good remedy for this is a mixture of an antibiotic cream, hand cream and some of that great pain cream we get for our sore muscles.

The massage itself is beneficial and the ointments all do their jobs and heal the skin.
I looked for a laytex glove to sleep in, but just the ointments worked wonders.

My feet are happy feet because they got to go barefoot and get out in the world after a long winter of boots and socks. But they loved the ointment massage I gave them as a reward for being so brave on these first days of spring.

Fertle Myrtle

I had another idea as I was trimming the Myrtle. I think I know where the old expression "fertile Myrtle" comes from. Come and get some if you want it, I love it, with its little purple flower and dark green waxy leaves.

I am spreading it all over the city rock lot, next to me. Come see on 800 North 1000 East in Orem.

Unique Planters for Your Plants

This a news letter I get every week from my e-friend, Mike McGroaty, gardner. He likes to sell things too, but he lets me read it every week even if I don't buy things from him. He has some good ideas. This week's letter was about squirrels, which we don't have here, but I remember how fun I thought they were in South Carolina.

http://www.freeplants.com/stuff.htmP



Unique Planters for Your Plants One thing that most gardeners have in common is that they can never have too many plants. There's always one more plant in the garden center that catches your eye and begs to come home with you. But that can lead to the problem of where to plant it. If you've run out of space in your flowerbeds and all of your flowerpots are already occupied, think outside the pot and give your plant a fun and unique planter. There are many common household items that can easily be converted into planters with a little imagination and the addition of a drainage hole or two. Old shoes make great planters for small plants. If you're a hiker and you've worn out another pair of hiking boots, don't toss them out. Just drill a couple holes in the soles and fill the boots with potting mix. Leather boots will last for years as planters and give new life to your comfy old boots. Just about any old shoe can be a home for small plants, even baby shoes. Baby shoes are particularly cute when planted with hens n' chicks or some thyme. If you have some old bricks lying around, they can be stacked into a box shape and filled with soil for an instant brick planter. A child's wagon can be a lovely planter for several plants, or fill the basket on an old bicycle with trailing plants and park it in the midst of a flowerbed. Old wheelbarrows, wooden crates, washtubs, and all sorts of baskets make great planters too. It's fun to incorporate something from a favorite hobby or collection as a planter too. If you love to cook, how about using a worn-out pan to plant some culinary herbs. If you work in the medical field, an old bedpan might make a humorous planter and a conversation piece in your garden. Prospective planters that have too many gaps in them, such as a wire egg basket, can be lined with moss before adding soil. Look around your house for interesting objects that can be used as planters for small plants next spring. Flea markets and garage sales are also good places to find treasure that can be converted to planters. With a little imagination, you can have a beautiful and unique garden of potted plants.Have a great week!-Mike McGroarty(more personal stuff about Mike and Pam and picturesof our grandkids)http://www.freeplants.com/stuff.htmP.S. The message board is here:http://www.network54.com/Forum/519353/

City property

Utah County Residents and Businesses: don’t forget the first annual Growing Together YARD SALE in May. Just in time for Mother’s day or Memorial Day, or Cinco de Mayo.Baskets, buckets, tincans and planters full of Orem special blend of garden flowers

I have a strip of 20 feet wide and the depth of my lot that faces 800 North.

The previous owner made deals about it and

the state was going to continue on east of 1000 East

with it's beautiful tall walls and trees,

but it's been a while and it hasn't.

But the city owns it, and it makes my yard look really bad.

The previous owner dumped all the rock and debri from digging the new basement

and the basement to the north.

He was satisfied that a rock berm would help amileorate the noise.

It didn't.

So today I had a streak of blood through my brain

and as I dug up the viscious tiny weed,

and patches of Johnson grass from my flower gardens

I threw the grass out there.

The weed doesn't grow in grass.

I pulled the grass from along the old broken down fence

that the city owns

and rubbed the sead heads together planting the tall wild grass on the rocks.

I felt just like RUTH.

There is dirt inbetween the rocks, but not a lot.

Then I took the cedar berries that we gathered last year to make beeds

and scattered them along where the fence was going to be.

They grow twenty feet tall over a decade or two.

I scattered the sunflower seeds

I gathered last summer from the sunflowers that grew there.

And some of my collected neighborhood seeds that grow well in this climate.

I'm going to have to spray the tiny weed with Round up or something

because it grows overnight, as I said in a previous blog.

But I don't want to spray all of the rocks because then the seeds won't grow.

Someday the city may take their yard seriously.

I love how they've done the sidewalks and trees

and lawn west of here,

but for now,

I'm going to plant all the drought resistant things I can find,

and make the city a little more beautiful (not too hard to do in place of with a pile of rocks).

Mini Green houses to start plants.

I'm making mini green houses. The best way to do this is with old acquariums, upside down on a board frame, or pan, and plant your seeds in the frame or pan. an d put it in the sun.

Gallon, or quart plastic milk bottles work, but I forgot to save any. Who knew it would be spring the day after it snowed

I use any container I can find an fill it with a good potting soil, plant seeds and fill the soil with water. Stick it into a clear plastic trash liner, tie with a baggie tie and put in the sun, inside or out. Things will grow ------ fast/


Gallon ice cream buckits are good, just stick the lid on, fill the soil with water, put in the sun.

I planted some flower seeds in the juffy tralys with the little sacks of potting soil, on Sunday, and they are up, were up by Tuesday. I was dumbfounded.

Viscious weed warning

I am learning to be a hobby gardner.

I was married to a farmer for 17 years and enjoyed gardening;
I learned a lot from him about horticulture,
and if you see him, tell him thank you.

I learn a lot from my children, his children too. Thank you.

I enjoy teaching my grandchildren about worms and growing things.
I love you grand kids.

Some thing you need to know about right now, and do something about, right now is a little weed that is apparantly trying to take over the planet.

It is so tiny and soft and has the most delicate yellow flower that you just want to encourage it to be a ground cover.
D O N ' T DO IT!!!!

It is vicious.
It turns rapidly into a thistle with little
stickery burrs that get in shoes and feet and
are tracked to other places in the yard and quickly grow. I've been pulling the ones I see as I did last summer.

Trouble is I thought I got em all last summer,
just this week I have filled grocery bags full of them.

I like to tie the up and cook them in the gargage can to be sure they are dead.

I don't even want them growing in a land fill.

If you're not sure what I'm talking about they are about thumb nail high, the tiniest fern like leaves that look like microscopic antlers. They shoot up where nothing is growing and take over. You will find them under rocks and in dips where the water tends to pool, and they break up one thistle into about a thousand seeds.

The next day they will flower, the next go to seed as the thistle I mentioned. Make war on them use spray on them, dig them, pull them and lets rid Orem and Utah county of the little beast.