D.C. Area Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Gardeners
I am itching to get started with all this spring like weather. My daffodils are budding, I wish that meant I should be planting... What are folks doing this year? Anyone trying something new? Lofty goals?
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| From December 29, 2011 |
Re: Gardeners
I think we might actually try to make a garden in the small amount of actual ground we have on our patio.
We have no idea where to start though! Any recommendations on a book or website that would guide us?
Off to the beach
DS 7/18/2010
Handy 2.0 Due Early August
2011/2012 Races
12/17/2011 Christmas Caper 10K
2/11/2012 Have a Heart 5K
3/17/2012 DC RNR Half Marathon
4/22/2012 10M Parkway Classic
10/28/2012 Marine Corps Marathon
On the lofty goals side, we're going to try to landscape a big portion of the front of the house. Last year we hired the amazing Kastle to draw up plans and we are really excited to start implementing them. DH already made me a beautiful potting bench and he is getting started on the arbors we need to visually transition from front lawn to veggie garden to entertaining spaces to children's play area. I want to expand the veggie garden (again) but to do that we need to move a lot of daffodils, azaleas and other bulbs. In the front we would like to put in the foundation plants.
As to the veggie garden, I really want to make it a goal to have a separate spring and fall garden that is planted fairly intensively. I always have the best of intentions and little follow-through. I saw on one of those online calendar, that it is almost time to seed start. I have to work all this weekend, but I think my goal next week is to get everything ready to do that. Especially the early spring cool weather crops that I would love to get in.
If you have some time, stop by the library and browse their container garden books. That will really give you and idea of how to set up your containers for success.
Are you looking to plant flowers or veggies? The first step for both is to aerate and amend your soil. Dig it, turn it over, take out any noticeable rocks, etc, and then work in about 6 inches of compost and peat moss or coir. That will give you a really fertile base to work with. Depending on your soil and what you are planting, you might have to amend it to make it more basic or acidic. Gardening is about 50% soil prep, 25% correct plant choices and then 25% maintenance.
Our yard flooded badly just before the earthquake last summer. Our 10'x14' shed (filled with lawn/gardening equipment) actually floated across the yard until it got lodged in a tree. My SFG was up against the shed and it is currently standing up in the air at a 45 degree angle. So we have to move the shed back into place somehow and completely re-do the SFG. We're also going to try to re-seed our lawn.
Probably veggies and herbs. Thanks for the info.
I know we're going to have a big problem with squirrels stealing our green veggies though. How do gardeners get around that?
Off to the beach
DS 7/18/2010
Handy 2.0 Due Early August
2011/2012 Races
12/17/2011 Christmas Caper 10K
2/11/2012 Have a Heart 5K
3/17/2012 DC RNR Half Marathon
4/22/2012 10M Parkway Classic
10/28/2012 Marine Corps Marathon
I read somewhere last year that squirrels usually bite veggies because they are thirsty so perhaps having some water out will solve that problem (just change it regularly so it doesn't breed mosquitoes). I know I've read about people having success with putting those plastic clam shells (like the ones berries and grape tomatoes come in) around developing fruit as a barrier. You can also try netting, but unless it's weighted down. the squirrels may get past it.
I have seriously lofty plans this year!
Ornamental- I am *finally* going to plant our backyard (it's basically just a slope side, about 50'x25'!) and our front side yard (about 15' x 60'!) I'm going to start growing some perennials from seed for this endeavor to help cut down costs.
Edible- last year I harvested 70 lb of produce from my garden. Given that my garden doesn't get much sun & the tomatoes were a total bust, that's not too bad. However, this year I'm aiming for 100 lbs. I'm also going to try to grow sweet potatoes which I've never done before. For me, the key is the spring garden (when my space gets a lot of light) and strategically planting the fall garden to take advantage what little light it gets then.
Mrs Handy- you can really grow anything in containers. As a novice, my advice is for herbs to not mix types (so, no rosemary in the same pot as the basil) because of different growing needs (in this case, basil needs more water than rosemary). Yes, sometimes mixing herbs works out but nothing is more disheartening as a beginner is for something to die. Additionally, *always* plant mint by itself. It takes over!
HeyJ- I highly recommend just direct sowing a bunch of stuff for spring/fall. Generally, we get enough rain then so you don't even need to water! This past year I seriously just dumped an entire packet of arugula in one of my raised beds & it just took off w/ almost zero help from me. Granted, I don't recommend doing *exactly* that b/c one can only eat so much arugula!