The 2019 Gardening Thread.

When I had the basement full of dead and dying Yellow Jackets Willow would go down and watch they flopping around in the floor but she never touched them, smart girl.

I am not allergic to any kind of bee or wasp sting and have been stung four or five times. Ants and flies are an entirely different story and have sent me to the hospital with swelling from bites.

rubysmama said:

I swatted it with a magazine and, well, squished it. I tore a page out of the magazine to "dispose" of it, and it STUNG me

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When I killed a hornet last summer, I had to whack it 15 times!

maggiedemi said:

When I killed a hornet last summer, I had to whack it 15 times!

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Yikes. Must have been the T̶e̶r̶m̶i̶n̶ Hornet-ator.

susanm9006 said:

I am not allergic to any kind of bee or wasp sting and have been stung four or five times. Ants and flies are an entirely different story and have sent me to the hospital with swelling from bites.

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You can develop the allergy at any time, and the more you're stung, the more likely it is.

DH and the neighbor filled that nest with gas and lit it. My Dad said to do the same thing. He said to be careful though because one time he ended up pulling fire control because fire was shooting out of so many holes! He lives on several acres in a rural area and it was in his open field area; so he was a good distance from other people. But still!!

The house we are living in now had been empty for 7 or 8 years before we bought it. When we first moved in there were Susumebachi, Asian Hornets, nesting in the walls.



They're so aggressive! I tried to section off the the wall they were getting in through to keep the cats away, but the hornets used to chase them and sting them anyway. The exterminator had to drill holes into the wall and squirt the bug killer in. He said black bear and boar often break open the hornets nests to get to the larvae, so they go after anything black.

I wear a lot of black, I have a lot of black or black and white cats. We all got stung several times that first week.

Bees and smaller wasps are welcome, they help pollinate. Not hornets though.

Well I finished my tire garden.

I have an area that is very wet and untillable. I found 4 free tires, bought some cheap crappy soil and good soil, pulled up all the ferns and junk growing here, placed tires down, figured out the size of soil pad underneath, layered the old dirt out of my pota from last year and then layed tire on top then filled the tire with cheap garden soil, the opening I used mid grade gardening potting mix for container gardening, then got 2 six packs of pumpkins and ornamental squash and planted 3 plants in each tire....we shall see how it comes out.



I also went to the flea market an hour away and found some planter pots, the big ceramic ones,, some white fencing, pitch fork, weeding finger thingy, books of course, and some other stuff..oh tomato cages but Jon says I already have some behind the shed. Opps!




I will spray paint them yellow...anyways I managed to dump out all old dirt from last year's flower pots, i don't dump in the trash, I sprinkle it in the gardens to amend the soil after I pulled out all the roots and garbage from prior plants...i still didn't get those baby plants transferred into larger pots yet because it was too hot and windy. Plus I had to redo the rain barrel. It wasn't emptying very well so bought those huge patio bricks that are 24 inches by 24 inches, layered 2 of them under the barrel to bring it up so the hose will actually let water out of it.


Tonight we are getting rain so tomorrow afternoon I will transfer them.

I found out that this flea market we went to has a free weekend to set up once a year so going to go there next weekend or the one after to sell the plants. Hopefully by then they will be filled out with flowers.



I filled all the new pots I bought, went to buy dirt, picked up tires, rolled tires down hill to where they are, haul dirt down hill to where the tires are, sweat like crazy, sunburnt but it was a productive weekend.

foxxycat said:

Well I finished my tire garden.

I have an area that is very wet and untillable. I found 4 free tires, bought some cheap crappy soil and good soil, pulled up all the ferns and junk growing here, placed tires down, figured out the size of soil pad underneath, layered the old dirt out of my pota from last year and then layed tire on top then filled the tire with cheap garden soil, the opening I used mid grade gardening potting mix for container gardening, then got 2 six packs of pumpkins and ornamental squash and planted 3 plants in each tire....we shall see how it comes out.

View attachment 286514

I also went to the flea market an hour away and found some planter pots, the big ceramic ones,, some white fencing, pitch fork, weeding finger thingy, books of course, and some other stuff..oh tomato cages but Jon says I already have some behind the shed. Opps!




I will spray paint them yellow...anyways I managed to dump out all old dirt from last year's flower pots, i don't dump in the trash, I sprinkle it in the gardens to amend the soil after I pulled out all the roots and garbage from prior plants...i still didn't get those baby plants transferred into larger pots yet because it was too hot and windy. Plus I had to redo the rain barrel. It wasn't emptying very well so bought those huge patio bricks that are 24 inches by 24 inches, layered 2 of them under the barrel to bring it up so the hose will actually let water out of it.


Tonight we are getting rain so tomorrow afternoon I will transfer them.

I found out that this flea market we went to has a free weekend to set up once a year so going to go there next weekend or the one after to sell the plants. Hopefully by then they will be filled out with flowers.

View attachment 286515

I filled all the new pots I bought, went to buy dirt, picked up tires, rolled tires down hill to where they are, haul dirt down hill to where the tires are, sweat like crazy, sunburnt but it was a productive weekend.

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Can’t wait to see these tire gardens in late summer!

Years ago, after working up our garden we would roll out heavy black plastic where the tomatoes were to be planted, then my father would cut an 'x' for each plant and use a tire to keep the flaps folded back. It kept the soil warm, moist, and weed-free. We used to plant 4 rows of Morton hybrids in our 30' by 60' garden.

susanm9006 said:

Can’t wait to see these tire gardens in late summer!

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Me too. Fingers crossed the pumpkins and squash can outgrow the ferns and weeds.

Speaking of ferns, I have a few in my garden and plan to move them to another spot today, as I am rearranging my garden plan. Again.

rubysmama said:

Me too. Fingers crossed the pumpkins and squash can outgrow the ferns and weeds.

Speaking of ferns, I have a few in my garden and plan to move them to another spot today, as I am rearranging my garden plan. Again.

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Watch out for those @#%&♤☆#!## ferns! We had some that a neighbor gave us, and they started to take over the place with those underground runners, so I dug them up about 3 years ago, but I'm still getting new eruptions of the buggers.

Yes the ferns are a B to get rid of. Someone planted some in front of my front door and always pulling up the knot of plants. I have to water the pumpkins if wr don't get enough rain so I can use the pitch fork and try to remove some of the crap down there.

I found more tomatoes yesterday!! Nothing ripe of course; but they are starting to grow!

Just an update on how our garden is progressing: This is the mongo host a. For reference, the grasshopper is about 30" tall. And this is one of the Dianthus- 'Rockin' Red' And this is one of the Aquilegia ' Winky'.

MoochNNoodles said:

I found more tomatoes yesterday!! Nothing ripe of course; but they are starting to grow!

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Envy here. I was excited last week because my tulips finally bloomed. It is a very very late spring.

foxxycat said:

Yes the ferns are a B to get rid of. Someone planted some in front of my front door and always pulling up the knot of plants. I have to water the pumpkins if wr don't get enough rain so I can use the pitch fork and try to remove some of the crap down there.

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Like digging into concrete to get those ferns up and tougher than zombies to kill. My first house had a massive fern garden which was tore up and buried under three or more feet of dirt when I had a new garage built. It took them maybe three years but they came back.

Does anyone have problems with squirrels? I've never been able to plant anything because the squirrels seem to love to dig things up just for fun.

They are extremely presistent in ruining everything that's in the ground and digging lots of holes in my yard. There are patches of bare dirt just from tree rats digging.

Don't get me wrong, I love them but this is too much. I wanted to plant milk weed this year.

Graceful-Lily said:

Does anyone have problems with squirrels? I've never been able to plant anything because the squirrels seem to love to dig things up just for fun.

They are extremely presistent in ruining everything that's in the ground and digging lots of holes in my yard. There are patches of bare dirt just from tree rats digging.

Don't get me wrong, I love them but this is too much. I wanted to plant milk weed this year.

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Squirrels are a large PITA here, eating blooms, bulbs, and anything else they can get their little paws on. Also living in a city, we can't do anything to put a dent in the population, so we are up to our armpits in them. All they are is rats with a good PR firm behind them.

Yeah, the squirrels dig up my yard pretty good. Natural aeration I guess. I have tried growing tomatoes, pumpkins and squash but they all get eaten or just chewed on. Not sure whether it is raccoons, squirrels, opossums or rabbits though.

The babies are especially curious and nosy. The chew through the chicken wire some how and bounce around when they get noticed because they forgot how they got in in the first place.

Plants still get ruined. It's been years since we've had a decent vegetable garden and I wanted to get into flowers this year. I also have so many indoor plants that do much better outside but I can't leave them outside so they end up staying inside year round - and they are doing poorly.

Would a squirrel feeder help?