Rikki - if you don't know where your lines run, you should definitely call your utility company. They can either send you a form that has your lot and the grid on it or come out and flag.

Most utility lines aren't very deep and would easily be hit by a tiller.

--

Alright, I think I'm going to be building some raised beds. How hard are they to build? I'm thinking of using some concrete builder thingys that I saw at lowes. I think it will just be easier since we don't have a tiller and I need to get the plants in the ground soon.

Also, rather off topic but - the yard has a bunch of sand in it (maybe an inch deep at the most). Do I need to move it out or will the grass grow through it? If not, how do I move sand like that?

As promised, here are some links for gardening with munchkins. I love thinking about gardening this time of year!

Designed for a child care program but has some really nice activities and information: http://horticulture.unh.edu/ggg.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/victorygarde...ids/index.html
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/k...den/kinder.htm
http://betterkidcare.psu.edu/AngelUn...enLessonA.html
http://pss.uvm.edu/ppp/articles/safekids.htm

Lots of links: http://gardentimeonline.com/ChildrensGardening.html
Why we love gardening with children: http://www.naeyc.org/ece/1997/15.asp
for kids: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/firstgarden/


butterflies! http://www.glorious-butterfly.com/li...butterfly.html
and bugs http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/yth...fun/bugfun.htm & http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740

Perfect, Cyndi. Thanks!

Lots of state Extensions offer online resources now. You should be able to find everything you need by googling. I :love: Extension. It's a great resource.

Thanks for all of the links, Cyndi! I can't wait to look throught them! I like the raised bed idea...can I buy it? Or do I have to make it (or rather HAVE someone make it...ha, ha!)

Natalie'sMom - I've been looking at plans for raised beds all morning. It really doesn't look difficult to make. A few pavers, bricks or pieces of wood for the "walls" and some potting soil.

Anybody put that landscaping plastic down before putting the soil in?

Don't buy potting soil - go for black earth or other garden soil and save some bucks.
Put down several layers of newspaper rather than landscape fabric.
Call the utility company before you dig!

Originally Posted by Ruthxxx:
Beachgal, for morning glories and sweet peas, I don't soak them in water. I put them between two layers of damp paper towels, cover with Saran and leave them a day or two. They need to be checked daily and planted as soon as they sprout.

Great! That's really helpful, Ruth! :D So, do you score them (i.e. rub on sandpaper or emery board) first? I should be able to plant them in peat pots, right?

Schmoodle, the manure is a great idea! :devil: Would that be safe for a vegetable garden? :?:

We've had trouble in the past with late tomato blight. I tried moving our tomato-planting location to another part of the patch, but they were still infected. So last year, I only grew a couple of them in pots on the other side of the yard and left the veggie garden patch tomato-free. We were part of a CSA, so we had plenty of tomatoes and it worked fine. But I don't know that we can afford to do the CSA this year. How long do you think I should wait before trying tomatoes again? And is there anything I can do, organically, to get rid of the blight spores in the soil?

Natalie's Mom, you should try Carrots, too. And baby lettuces. The lettuce will grow very quickly, especially if you cut the leaves when they are young and tender, so they can be fascinating for a little one. The carrots will grow quickly, too, and then will need thinning (where you pull out a lot of the plants, leaving just one every inch or more--read the packet to see how much distance they need). When you thin them, you find tiny little carrots...it's darling! Then, when they are ready to come up, they are so much fun and such little miracles! Definitely worth growing. Oh, and check out the book Tops and Bottoms for a great garden-related read for kids that's funny, too!

Laurie, I don't score them - I just soak them between the towels until I see the wee white sprouts. It's too early to start them though unless you have grow lites and loads of space. Wait until April 1 or later and then plant in peat pots to be hardened off and set outside mid-May.

Well rotted manure is good for your veggie garden.

You may be able to avoid blight by layering straw around your plants as the spores seem to come from earth spattering up in the rain.

Ruth - Thanks for the tips on just using black earth. I see ads for it every spring but never have thought to get it.

Also, the newspaper -- just put down layers of it? No popping holes in it or anything?

Personally I'd make sure the newspaper uses vegetable based ink. I think most do now so that shouldn't be a problem.

I'd just put down 5-6 layers and not poke holes. Good point about the ink, Cyndi.

So I was going to start some seedlings this year and was wondering if I should go ahead and buy the peat pellets... saw some for a good price at walmart and was thinking of starting them that way... has anyone had good luck with these? the ones I found were in the little plastic greenhouse too...

I just checked, our newspaper is printed with vegetable ink. Thanks for the heads up, Cyndi. Also, thanks for the tip Ruth! It will save me quite a bit of $$ on the gardening fabric.

hello everyone! I am kinda new at the gardening thing but I had a question. Can I use potting soil to start my tomatoe seeds in the house!

Peat pellets are fine.

Potting soil is good for starting tomato plants indoors.

rdw, I love the peat pellets in the greenhouse! :love: I don't have grow lights or anything, so the greenhouse lid helps keep the heat in when I put the seedlings by the sunny window. They work really well, too, in watering, as they have a little tray underneath to hold the excess water so they aren't sitting in it. I'm a big fan!

Thanks Ruth, for the good ideas. My problem is that the trellis is really far from the planter (just worked out that way), so I need them to grow fairly tall before I can put them outdoors. So maybe I should try for mid-March? :?:

I am going to pick some up today then!!! I also am going to buy a regular light like you would put in the closet or something then buy a grow light to replace the bulb... DM said thats what she did last year for about 9 bucks! Much cheaper than trying to buy a "grow lamp"...

I will definitely buy the one with the greenhouse then! Walmart had the one that will hold 72 plants for 6 bucks! pellets included!

Rikki - Brian and I picked up two cheap light fixtures that clip onto something and put grow lights bulbs in them. We got them at Home Depot and we've been using them for his science experiment. By the way, candles really DO affect the growth of mint plants

I took advantage of this past week's mild weather to clean up a little in the flower beds, and I discovered little green shoots starting to poke up. :carrot: They're the crocus and early mini-daffodils, but to me, that says Spring! :)

** sob ** All my beds are still covered in snow and ice.

We're heading to the "big city" this weekend and I'm thinking of what I need for gardening this year...

I'm considering trying my luck with African violets this year. I know they can be finicky, but my grandmother and mom do great with them, so maybe it's genetic? ;) I need something more colorful and less edible this year! :lol:

Are you planning on growing them indoors or outside, Kim? I can't imagine growing African violets outside, at least around here. I've had great success with my violets by using those special African violet pots, and giving them fertilizer every time I add water to the pots. I keep them on an east-facing windowsill in the kitchen, and they seem to love it there. They're big and healthy with tons of blossoms on them. :)

hmm, I will have to check into those cottage... I am one who doesn't have luck with them! lol. Brown thumb with anything indoors!!! except my Jade plant that looks fabulous! lol... everything else truns brown though!

I'm the same Rikki. I can grow anything outside but unless it can survive with no water and no attention and isn't attractive to cats, it doesn't survive inside!

cyndi- I would totally imagine my 4 cats have something to do with the problem!!! I now have a tropical house plant, one of the tall ones with the fanned out leaves that is one tall thin spike that hasn't fanned out yet because the cats ate the rest of them!!! It really looks rediculous!

I like to think its more them than me anyway!

I am so glad I found this thread while looking around!!! :carrot: LOTS of great info in here...thanks. :)

I haven't done veggies in a few years as I got tired of battling with the crows, critters & bugs. Our growing season is so short too & there are lots of farmer's markets in the summer.

This year I am taking over my Mom's incredibly huge & beautiful heirloom flower gardens. Many of these plants are older than me (that's OLD! ;) ) and some of her rue (ruta) plants are from the ones my grandmother brought from Lithuania. Last year I pretty much let nature take care of it but this year I want to get in there & make sure I keep these plants going. :)

Thanks for the composting info. Mom had one of those plastic composting bins that I was afraid to open last summer for fear of what I might find (ants, hornets, etc.) I'm going to open it this week while things are still frozen in case there are any surprises in there and maybe start using it this spring.

Thanks for all the info & I'll check back here often. :D

Chickies, does anyone have good advice on Japanese Beetle reduction? I read an article in the NYTimes about using beneficial nematodes to kill off Japanese Beetle grubs. Has anyone tried this? Is it worth the time and work? I do a lot of manual removal each year and successfully trap a ton, but I'd love to get 'em from the ground up, as it were, if possible.

Also, I know there's a plant you can grow just to mow it under in order to fertilize the soil. I don't remember what is is, though. Does anyone know? :?:

Beachgal -- A couple years ago, we had a time with Japanese Beetles. I asked an old farmer in dirty overalls how to get rid of them. He thought for a second and said, "Git a chicken." :D

Beachgal, there are a lot of plants that can be grown and then tilled under to enrich the soil. Try Googling "Green Manure". I know buckwheat is one of them and clover is another but I'm sure there are loads more.

Laurie, I'll send Calvin over. He's a whizz with the vacuum cleaner sucking those little buggers up!

Laurie - I hope you aren't buying those Japanese Beetle traps. The teacher in our Master Gardener class actually joked that the best way to get rid of the beetles is to buy the trap for your neighbor. They actually attract them and do more harm than good.

I was thrilled when my neighbor put up a few of those beetle traps, I didn't have any problems with Japanese beetles on my roses at all. :D I hope they put out a few again, this year. ;)

My problem is with aphids, though. I spray for them, but after a few days and a good rain, they're right back and with a vengeance, it seems. :?:

Cottage - you need ladybugs. Do you have anything in or near your garden that attracts beneficial insects? I keel an herb bed with chives, garlic chives, oregano just because the good bugs like their flowers. Anything to keep the lady bugs happy :)

I love Ladybugs!

Yup, I use the Japanese Beetle traps. They catch hundreds of them--I tried going without one year, and I found that I literally couldn't keep up with the beetles on my plants (I hand pick them off and drop them in soapy water) that year, so even though everyone says they just attract more, I find it helps me. :shrug:

Unfortunately, in the past, it was just our roses that they went after, but we now have a very happy, healthy raspberry patch that's right next to the roses, and they started attacking that last year, which means WAR in my book. :rollpin:

Originally Posted by :
A couple years ago, we had a time with Japanese Beetles. I asked an old farmer in dirty overalls how to get rid of them. He thought for a second and said, "Git a chicken."

:lol3: Oh, Chelby, that's awesome! :lol: I wish we could! My SIL has some, but she's in Nashville.

Has anyone ever tried the beneficial nematodes and milky spores? I'm a bit confused after reading about both yesterday--my DH uses chemical fertilizer on the lawns and I think one of them has an anti-grub mix in it. Would that be taking care of the beetle grubs?

Thanks for the great advice, chicks! I may take you up on the offer, Zeff! ;) My hands can only pick so fast!

Does anyone know much about the proper way to deadhead a Shasta Daisy? I bought three plants last year that were beautiful and planted them around the end of June. I know deadheading them is very important, but am not sure where to do it. Do you clip them right under the flower or at the bottom of the stem? When I tried at the bottom of the stem, I felt like I was taking too much off, but when I took off just the flower, it just left a clipped stem. They didn't bloom as long as they should have, and I wasn't sure if that was because this was their first year in the ground, or my lack of knowledge with where to deadhead. Thanks for any advice!!

Originally Posted by beachgal:
Has anyone ever tried the beneficial nematodes and milky spores? I'm a bit confused after reading about both yesterday--my DH uses chemical fertilizer on the lawns and I think one of them has an anti-grub mix in it. Would that be taking care of the beetle grubs?

The stuff I use has Sevin in it which will get rid of the grubs. I don't know if it's that or the fact that I have so many plants that the beetles do not like. Here's a good article I saved that describes these plants and reports on the nematodes & milky spores as well as other things. Good luck on your beetle "war." :)

Originally Posted by MadeleinesMom:
Does anyone know much about the proper way to deadhead a Shasta Daisy?

Shastas can be deadheaded just below the faded bloom & above the 1st set of healthy leaves.

My mom is coming down at the end of March to help plant for the year. I was hoping to have everything in the ground by then, but with the stress of getting everything in the house done -- I doubt I'll have it done.

It will be nice to have the help in the garden AND she pays for everything (even though I've told her not to) so I can usually get more exotic than I usually would.

I have to put my seed order in now if I'm going to have it when she gets here. *pulls out millions of seed catalogs*

[B]Mizski[B]: Thanks so much for the info. I think I was cutting them all over the place last year!