marysue@hpfclk.UUCP (07/14/84)
The latest SCIENCE 84 magazine has an article on farming, and if my memory serves me correctly, it said to tie little handfuls of human hair in balls of cheesecloth and put them up. The smell repels the dear. This might be healthier than chemicals. You can get hair from barbershops or beauty parlours. Mary Sue Rowan hpfcla!marysue
tower@inmet.UUCP (06/11/85)
Re; Lawn Selection
We had a problem like this in a dry sunny area. We've ended up
converting that part of our lawn into a wild flower bed. Last year we
started with some violets. They put on a very fine show of purple
flowers in early spring, and stayed green until the end of August, when
they wilted a little, got mowed, and recovered green and bushy for the
rest of the fall.
Last fall year we sowed the New England wild flower mixture from Park
Seed Co. and have been very pleased with the results so far !!!!
Starting with the violets, we have had a half dozen species bloom so
far, and expect another half dozen by August. The red poppies are
particularly pretty and prolific! We plan to mow again in early
September.
Care is very minimal. Mow once a year. Water the seed in the fall and
during dry spells in the spring. The violets out competed the grass
well. We have also stopped liming the bed, which here in acid-rain New
England has quickly discourage the grass.
Park's had regional mixtures for much of the U.S.
Go for it! Much prettier than a lawn (my lady has taken to calling it:
"My meadow" ).
-len tower UUCP: {bellcore,ima,ihnp4}!inmet!tower
Intermetrics, Inc. INTERNET: ima!inmet!tower@CCA-UNIX.ARPA
USPS: 733 Concord Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
PHONE: +1 (617) 661-1840rodean@hpfclo.UUCP (rodean) (07/16/85)
> This is in answer to rookie gardener Julio. > 2) What is best to kill off weeds from a lawn. > The best way I know of is to plant a good strong healthy lawn. Agreed. > Second choice is "Round- > up" (very expensive) and then "Kleen-up" (very very expensive). Beware that these products kill EVERYTHING!!! They are intended for clearing out a yard completely. They are basically an "Agent Orange" type of product in that no plant (good or bad) will survive. They take about a week to do their thing and then everything turns brown and shrivels up and dies. I believe the more proper product for getting rid of weeds in an existing lawn is "Weed'B'Gone" or equivalent. However it only works on broadleaf weeds like dandelions. But as stated before, the best deterrent against weeds is a healthy lawn. Bruce Rodean {ihnp4|hplabs}!hpfcla!rodean
chan@hpfclp.UUCP (chan) (07/17/85)
> -What is the best way to dig ditches for the piping network ? Rent a trencher. The best way I can describe one is that it's like a big chainsaw on wheels that cuts through dirt. They're pretty easy to use after a few minutes of practice. I would recommend the kind you walk in front of instead of the kind you ride on. > -How deep should I dig ? I'd say 7-12 inches. > -Is there any power tool that I can rent beside using a pick and > dig (the hard way!)? See above. > -Where could I rent such of power tool to make ditches ? Cost ? Most rental places have them. It cost me $60 for four hours -- Well worth it unless your yard is *real* soft. If you're putting the system in an existing yard, you can rent hose pullers that won't muck up your yard as bad as a trencher (1 foot wide path (not the trench, but the dirt piles up pretty badly)). The pullers are harder to run than the trencher. Make sure you fill your trenches carefully or they'll settle badly and you'll have big ruts. I recommend filling them a third of the way, water them and let it settle, and then do that twice more. -- Chan Benson Hewlett-Packard Company Ft. Collins, CO {hplabs !hpfcla!chan Thanks in advance! Sorry about the last posting! Newsgroups: net.garden Distribution: net.garden /* ---------- */
donn@hp-dcd.UUCP (donn) (07/17/85)
Don't rent a trencher, rent a pipe puller! These run about the same as trenchers (if you can find them), and just pull the pipe thru the ground leaving only minor traces (assuming all goes well) and at worst still make less mess of an existing lawn than a trencher. They work with be black "poly pipe", and are capable of pulling at least 100' of pipe from the manifold out to the area to be watered, and are manuverable enough so you can run pipe past all your heads for one circuit in one pull if you're smart. The one I've used is the Case "Mini-sneaker", which is designed to go thru a garden gate. The machine is unbelievable; it just pulls pipe effortlessly in spite of concrete splash (within limits), rocks and 2x4's left by your friendly contractor. There are some tricks (in particular, tape the leading end of the pipe or you'll get (hard to remove) dirt in it). The pipe goes wherever the articulated center joint of the Mini-Sneaker goes. Combine this with saddle tees and the job just got smaller: these clamp around the pipe and then you use a tool to punch a hole into the pipe that you screw the riser directly into. They also work nicely for inserting drains. (What's a little leakage in what amounts to a big leak, anyway?) With this tool set you normally don't have to dig any significant holes other than for a few joints and one at the manifold. A hand trowel works just fine for the the holes for the saddle tees. Donn Terry HP Ft. Collins hplabs!hpfcla!donn
ajs@hpfcla.UUCP (ajs) (07/23/85)
Re: growing grapes
Here in Colorado where the summers are short and the winters cold, many
nice fruits, including various grapes, don't survive. But some, like
Concord, really go to town. Last year I got over 30 pounds of grapes
off only three (3) plants, each about four years old.
>> 1. How best to build a grape arbor? What do they look like, anyway?
Well, in my case one is growing up a two-foot-wide piece of chicken wire
suspended from the eaves in front of the house. The others are on
plastic netting suspended from 2x2s rails across 2x4 poles with treated
bottoms, set into concrete. The netting fence was great for various
climbing annual vegetables; now that it is wearing out, the grapes are
taking over, helping support the netting (and themselves) from the rails.
By running some more 2x2s, and light wood strips or netting, across the
tops between "fences" I could allow the grapes to form a cover if I
wanted to. Strange, but it works.
Alan Silversteindkatz@zaphod.UUCP (Dave Katz) (07/23/85)
In article <43500001@hpfclo.UUCP> rodean@hpfclo.UUCP (rodean) writes: >> This is in answer to rookie gardener Julio. >> 2) What is best to kill off weeds from a lawn. >> The best way I know of is to plant a good strong healthy lawn. > >Agreed. > >> Second choice is "Round- >> up" (very expensive) and then "Kleen-up" (very very expensive). > I disagree with parts of the second choice here. For broadleaf weeds such as dandelions one can use 2,4-D. This chemical is reasonably safe and easy to use and will not kill grassy plants - e.g. crabgrass, couchgrass or your lawn. However, 2,4-D has two forms, an amine and an esther. The esther will spread as a gas thru about a three block range killing peoples flowers, tomatoes, etc. Use it only on very calm days before bedding and vegetable plants go out in the spring or very late in the fall. The amine can be used on calm summer days if applied with a Weed-ex bar, or some other solid form. Don't spray it during the summer either. Some weed killer sprays contain 2,4-D plus a few other chemicals that will be good for creeping charlie, clover, etc. Same rules apply. If you have unwanted grasses, you can apply round-up or others by mixing a small container of STUFF and applying it locally to the plants by painting it on the leaves with a water color type paint brush. You could also use this method with the 2,4-D amine in summer for broadleafs (maybe). If you spray roundup for general coverage, it will completely sterilze the area. Opinion varies on for how long. I have heard anywhere from 10 days (sounds good to me if you are starting a lawn) to 5 years (not so good except on your driveway). G'Luck D.Katz
holt@convexs.UUCP (07/25/85)
it's not a home remedy, but the commercial product ANDRO is extremely
effective at killing fire ants (and thus I presume red ants) here in
Texas. The worker ants take the small granules into the mound where they
are ingested into the food chain of the colony. Several days later all
the ants and the queen are dead.
I don't use this stuff around the garden, for fear of it's lasting effects.
Does anyone know whether its safe to use in a garden setting?
Dave Holt
Convex Computer Corp.
{allegra,ihnp4,uiucdcs,ctvax}!convex!convexs!holtapt@inmet.UUCP (08/12/85)
I know you can boil vinegar and water in a tea kettle to remove the deposits, so I would assume that a similar treatment could be used on clay flower pots. I've cleaned glass tea kettles this way, and they come out beautifully. -=:| Alan Taylor |:=- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ...harpo!inmet!apt ...hplabs!sri-unix!cca!ima!inmet!apt ...yale-comix!ima!inmet!apt
Unknown@brl-tbd (04/29/86)
This message is empty.
jld@ulysses (04/29/86)
> Can anyone recommend some flowers that will > grow well in a shady yard? Lilly of the Valley will thrive in shade, but will tend to grow out of control after a few years.
jpm@calmasd (04/29/86)
In article <123@brl-tbd.ARPA>, kjm@brl-tbd.UUCP writes: > Can anyone recommend some flowers that will > grow well in a shady yard? > > Thanks, > Kelly Benjamin I have a section of my yard that is on the north side of a wooden fence where several myapora trees are growing. Needless to say, this area is very shaded, getting only early morning and late evening sun. I planted azaleas, gardenias, and camelias. All of these do very well in shade or semi-shade. They love acidic soil, though, so be sure to use peat moss and/or Miracid. However, if you live in the northern section of the temperate zone, gardenias and camelias might be difficult for you to grow. Try Rhododenrons and azaleas instead. Here in San Diego, all of these plants will flower almost year-round (azaleas mostly in spring, camelias mostly in fall). In other sections of the country you might only get blooms in the spring. -- John McNally GE/Calma 9805 Scranton Rd. San Diego CA 92121 ...{ucbvax | decvax}!sdcsvax!calmasd!jpm (619)-587-3211
njm@cosivax (04/30/86)
For spring flowers, violets, pansies, primrose and bleeding hearts do well in the shade. Phlox and forget-me-nots flower all summer.
eac@drutx (05/02/86)
Other shade tolerant flowers: Impatiens, vinca, bleeding heart, astilbe. The last three are perennial. All of these do well in the Denver climate zone. Betsy Cvetic
durbin@uiucuxc.CSO.UIUC.EDU (08/15/86)
Sounds like moles. They are very common, and small. A gopher is
very big in comparison (larger and tougher than cats and some small
dogs). From past experience, it takes a good shotgun or rifle to get
rid of "gophers" (groundhogs here) and it may require 2 or 3 shots.
And they can do a lot of damage to a dog, so if you have one, keep it
away. (although the dog will win out, the vet bills can hurt).
On moles, now. Some old tricks are to put human hair in the tunnels
this drives them out because of human scent.
A couple of good cats can do a pretty thorough job, too. The only bad part
of cats is they often just kill them and leave them on the back step.
I've seen mole traps, but never tried one. They might work, but in putting
them in, the human scent is likely to be left on them, and the moles would
aviod the area. Back to the hair trick, it must be placed in several part
s of the tunnels.
--_-stauffer
BLEAH!