lavender

If anyone recognizes that peach colored one let me know. It came without a name.

Everyone of the peonies bloomed this year and I think I got pictures of all of them. Despite all of the rain they managed to keep it all together.

I've done that too. Ammonia doesn't seem to kill grass or anything else. It probably lasts a bit longer on a cloth. I don't think I've ever seen it recommended anywhere I just made it up out of pure desperation. Animals have very sensitive noses and ammonia is awful.

The only way to really keep rabbits out is to bury fencing 6 inches to a foot deep around the garden. They apparently won't dig deeper than that. It isn't very practical if you have a large garden. We have had some success with ammonia. Tying saturated cloths at nose level will over ride the scent of that yummy lettuce and beans. It works for coons and corn too but it has to be renewed frequently. Anything that confuses an animal's ability to scent food works. They rely on their noses.

Steelnut, put in new trees! We are ancient and just put in a bunch. Get the semi-dwart. Hanzley's says they will be producing in a few years. If you aren't there to pick the deer and your neighbors will love you. You are never too old to plant a tree. Some things hate my yard too. Mostly it is poor drainage. We live with it.

Building on Sanibel's idea there are all sorts of azaleas. Some are evergreen and some are deciduous. These varieties are native to different climates and have different degrees of cold tolerance and heat tolerance. Then there are the hybrids so it is difficult to know how hardy an azalea actually is unless you bought it with a tag. It is entirely possible that you hit close to the tolerance range of your azalea. Bon's suggestions are good ones and hopefully it will pull through. All of my azaleas have survived the past winters except one miniature one. I recently picked up one on sale at Loew's but should have known better. It looked as though the frost had hit it. When I started to plant it I looked at the tag and it is only hardy to zone 6. I'm not expecting it to survive for many years. Maybe I'll get lucky and the roots will make it through.

Lettuce is huge this year. We are getting "volunteers" that start very early and are much bigger than the planted rows. No bolting yet. The spinach has bolted though. Kale is doing nicely. The red Russian variety stays tender all summer and can be used in salads.

Pine needles are excellent but they will take some time to break down. A bucket of Miracid or something similar would be a quick fix if your soil is too alkaline or the plant needs some nitrogen. The mulch will take longer to fix the problem. . Also, if you moved the plant into soil that doesn't drain very well the roots might not be getting the air they need.

Azaleas need special fertilizers formulated for acid loving plants. You could try mulching with wood chips and pruning after it blooms. Like many plants azaleas deteriorate with age. I have a yellow one that is probably 25 years old and it isn't what it once was. I keep trying to bring it back but I don't think that it is going to happen.

The dreaded cabbage worm strikes again. Soon there will be little white butterflies everywhere. Nothing really works permanently, for me anyway. You kill off the current batch and another generation follows. Soaking the broccoli in salt water before you cook it gets rid of them before you put it on the table. Still it helps to watch what you put in your mouth. PS Great looking garden. Tell us how you keep the weeds out? I've kind of given up on ever killing them all off.

Groundhogs yes. Chipmunks are too teeny. Or is that what hubby refers to as "snakeshot?"

Mine looks ok so far despite the fact that we planted in mud. This wet weather is encouraging the growth of all sorts of fungus, bacteria and virus. My spiderwort is turning black and dying off and I suspect a virus. The snails and slugs are also encouraged by the rain. I think cutworms only go after plants that they can cut off at the ground. I don't think that they climb very well. Maybe slugs or snails. Regular insecticides don't kill them. Chipmunks and mice have their own agendas. The birds have only gotten my corn never the peppers .They also have been known to nip the tops out of the pea plants. I finished planting today. There were sections of the garden that were so wet you couldn't walk on them. What grows remains to be seen.

Tried to plant today and got my boot stuck. Went in up to my ankle. Thought it was going to require the tractor to pull me out.

Around the soil near the plant and scratch it in.

I sprinkle as per grandpa's instructions.

Try here http://www.insectidentification.org/butterflies-and-moths.asp

Mourning cloak?

The 22 works but a groundhog hating dog works better. Dang groundhogs come out at dawn and dinner time. Not the most convenient to go stalking. They will dig under the fence unless you sink it. They can also climb. Saw one up a tree a couple of times. First time I thought I was hallucinating. If the fence will hold them they will climb it.

No, you don't start beans in the house!They go from seed to bean in such a short time that you can often get two crops. Stuff that needs a longer growing season like tomatoes is started indoors. I only start the squash and cucumbers indoors because something keeps eating the seeds.

Onions, lettuce, spinach, kale and leeks are in. Last of he seeds in pots (various squash and cucumbers) are just germinating. As gator says the big garden will have to await until the onion snow comes and is gone.

Forty plants! Sounds spectacular. Post pictures.

I'm with soaking them. I wasn't going to grow any but I found a pack of the African Sunset and they are soaking now. I'll share if I get more than a half dozen. There weren't that many seeds in the pack. They can take 21 days to germinate. The last time I grew them the seeds stayed in the console of the truck overwinter and they still germinated.

I like justjoe's mixture. Peat moss is naturally sterile and keeps down disease. It also holds water. Compost adds some nutrients and improves the texture of the soil. Vermiculite helps with drainage. The horse manure adds vital nitrogen. Both composted material and leaf mold are low in nitrogen. Peat moss has a very low pH and leaf mold is also fairly low so you will want to monitor the pH of the soil. Compost is more neutral. Veggies like a slightly acid soil 7 is neutral so 5.5-7 covers most things. Lime will increase the pH if it is too low. If you are starting from scratch you might as well use what is easy to work with and there is no reason that veggies won't grow in that mix. But..............sometimes there is magic in soil. Maybe just a couple of scoops to cover all your bases. You need to reach an ecological balance in your planting medium and some of the microorganisms in soil might help that. You can use amended top soil from your yard or in bags. Add some peat moss to improve texture and maybe some sand to improve drainage. Veggies will grow in that as well but it will be harder to work with. There is no "correct" recipe. Some people use what they have and some go for scientific mixtures. All's good.

San Marzano is an open pollinated tomato so while you get a similar tomato each year they may not be exactly the same. The nice thing about open pollinated veggies is that they adapt to your growing conditions eventually. The bad part is that the fruit may not be identical each year. I think that I will start saving seed from my biggest and best San Marzano. Although to get straight San Marzano i should hand pollinate and cover the flowers so I don't get cross pollination. I grow different types so goodness knows what I'd get. I guess that is why I buy the seeds each year.

Thanks! I'll let you know how it goes. My garden hasn't done particularly well the last few years. Too dry, too wet, not hot enough, too cold at the wrong time. Good thing we have a supermarket.