[oil painter]

Yes Becca move your strawberries just where you said. They will still get light through the trees. If they are not happy you can move them again, until you hit the right combination. I think however under the tree will be good.

That fuzzy stuff on the lawn is slime mold It occurs in hot humid weather after a prolonged wet spell--sound familiar.

Rake the area to get it up and bag it for the trash. No need to do more. It is something like snow mold, not really harmful unless you leave it. Read the link below




http://gardenline.usask.ca/yards/slime2.html

[telecom69]

Hi Ladies, The temperatures are still way up from mid morning onwards,so not much activity in the garden apart from the inevitable weeding and watering, this weather suits some plants but not others, the veg seem to like it because my Runner Beans are now at the top of their 8 ft poles and need the tops pinching out,and I also now have pea sized Tomatos on their plants and Im having to water them twice a day at the moment ...Lettuce however doesn't like it and flops badly when the sun is up,but recovers well enough as the sun passes over it ....

I have some Violas and Pansies in containers they dont seem to like heat either,the Violas especially are a mass of flowers and look great first thing in the morning,but as the sun gets to them they too flop badly and look very sorry for themselves.most of the other summer bedding dont seem to mind it though,just glad we don't get the 100 Deg that some of you talk about, mostly its in the high 70's,even that I find uncomfortable ....

Was wondering about Farmgirl's strawberries perhaps they are not getting enough water ? since they are in baskets,and are looking burnt up, as she puts it,its possible it might be a lack of water,since they are made up of mostly water,its just a thought,Im no strawberry expert ...baskets tend to become just a mass of roots as the season progresses and water just runs straight through them,so wondered whether 3 times daily watering might help ?not on the foliage of course,but around the roots where its needed ....thats what I do, using a very small watering can that only holds about a quart of water,its a lot of work but it does the job well I find ....about the slime on the grass I haven't a clue,never heard of that,Myrna seems to have it covered though....

Two more Roses bloomed yesterday ....

First one is Iceberg,the Tea Rose version of it ....


Shot with DSC-W35 at 2009-06-24

This one Im pretty sure is Superstar,its lost its label somehow ....



Shot with DSC-W35 at 2009-06-24

And last Peace has opened up to this,looks a lot different now to the first photo of it that I posted .....


Shot with DSC-W35 at 2009-06-24

Im aware Im posting a lot of photos recently,especially of the Roses,but it occured to me that not everyone might like this,so if you find it a bit boring,like lot of my rattling on about things just say so, I accept criticism as well as praise , and I will tone things down a bit

[oil painter]

Yes Bob it is lack of water but it's more than that. When you have temperatures like Becca is getting it takes all the moisture away and strawberries like your pansies and violas are cool season plants. Putting the strawberries where they have shade in the heat of the day will lower the temperature by about 10 or 20 degrees.

Even here where we are only getting temperatures in the high 80's-low 90's it saps the strength out of plants. I will water --and when I water I water deeply until I can stick my finger in and feel moisture--by nightfall the ground is bone dry. Some of my newly planted annuals just up and die and they are planted by watering the hole first. others just sit there and don't grow. The garden plants aren't growing either. Thankfully the temperatures are supposed to cool a bit tomorrow and be back to normal by the weekend. They are calling for rain which would be nice.

All I have been doing today is trying to stay cool, so doing anything outside was impossible. Thank goodness it cools off here at night for sleeping.

[telecom69]

Originally Posted by ymfoster

Hi Everyone,

I hope the heat over there doesn't cause too much damage to your plants,

Bob that Peace rose is beautiful, the blooms last so well too.

Penny our problems are mainly the water restrictions, we are only allowed to water two mornings a week from 6 - 8 am ! ..... our government hasn't managed our water storage well enough during the drought & increased immigration & our main dam for Melbourne is less than a quarter full, ..... my brother in law has drilled a bore & has bore water, but we're not so lucky.

Hi Yvonne, I note what you have said about Peace blooms lasting so well, but its a very different looking Rose today as it has opened out a lot,its been so long since Ive grown any Ive forgotten about them,hoping its not going to drop its petals already,

Also wondering whether your water shortage might be eased if your men especially, stopped drinking so much beer ,they do seem to be a thirsty lot hope that you are both keeping well

[ymfoster]

Hi Everyone,

Hope the hot spell doesn't last too long for you all,


Becca,

Hope your strawberries find the shade helps & they stay nice & juicy.

I've always thought of Wells with water sitting in the bottom & a bucket or hand pump, but our Bores go down a hundred feet or more & just get pumped up a pipe, you need to have a water table in the area also, & they have sandy soil closer to the Bay, we are further inland & in a slightly hilly area with heavy clay & shale to go through.


Hi Bob,

More beautiful rose blooms, the Peace usually keep a reasonable form for longer than most of my others, except Just Joey which seems to outdo even Peace.

Yes they do like their beer here & they're also buying much more bottled water these days, Melbourne used to have the purest & softest water, now with fluoride & chlorine it seems to have spoiled it for me at least.

[oil painter]

Hi Yvonne:

The kind of well you describe went out with high button shoes. The only place you would find one is at a pioneer village or if someone had it for decorative purposes. I would think there would be some kind of permit to have one because of the danger of people falling in. You had to have water very close to the surface for these. After these wells they went to a covered well with a hand pump. Probably because it was safer and you could pipe it into the house,

Now wells are like your bores. if you have to go deep you have a large pipe in the ground with a submersable pump. My son has one at his house because they live in the country and there is no sewer and water in that area. They use the well and a field bed. His well is over 200 feet deep.

When we first moved here there was no town water either. The water table starts at 15 feet below our house. We had what they call a point down 35 feet and a pump and holding small holding tank in our basement. 25 years ago our town put in sewer and water so now we are on municiple water and sewer.

I guess there are probably more ways than we know of for people to get water and different countries call the same things by different names, but it is all interesting.

It is a bit cooler today but we never did get any rain so it's continue watering for me.

[eggplant43]

Sorry, been gone for too long.

It has been a very wet, and cold spring for us, so everything is late. Last week was the first time it truly warmed up. I have a raised bed vegetable garden 3' X 3' with 2 tomato plants, 2 peppers, an eggplant, an acorn squash, lemon cucumbers, Armenian cucumbers, scarlet runners, and finally, 3 basil plants. They doubled in size last week as it began to warm, and have doubled again this week.

I also have 5 resin barrels full of flowers, and that is it. I can't see expending all the energy I usually do on someone else's property, unless I know I am going to be here for a very long while, and at this point, I simply don't know. I'm also gardening for an elderly lady, and that keeps me busy.

About wilting plants; I have always gardened organically, which starts with building the soil, incorporating immense amounts of organic material, which holds moisture, no matter what kind of soil you have to work with. Secondly, I water only once a week, slowly, and deeply. This forces the plants to provide deep roots, thus making them a more vibrant, resilient plant that can withstand heat and drought. I simply never have wilting plants with roots in the ground, despite high temperatures, and low humidity. The other trick, lots of mulch which limits evaporation, and moderates soil temperature.

On the other hand, frequent watering insures stunted root growth, and susceptibility to the environment, and over uses water. I think the worst offenders are those with automatic sprinklers that water daily. Now you know my prejudiced view.

BTW The more pictures, the better.

[oil painter]

Hi Eggy:

You've been away for a while so you don't know how our weather has been. Our snow was very slow to go and then we had cold and even snow in May. We still had 3 feet of snow at Easter. I couldn't get my annuals planted because it was still freezing at night and I don't mean by 1 or 2 degrees. Just for the fun of it, I counted my plants last year and I had about 1600 plants in my greenhouse and most of those get planted. It turned nice and I began to plant. I just finished this week. For this week and part of last week it has been scorching hot.

I too water deeply too when I water . I don't usually have to water much at all but these are annuals that I just put in and they haven't had time to set down roots yet so the roots can't go deep.

If you had been here you would have read that I amended the soil in all my beds this spring with compost and composted cow manure and a little peat.

You see it's not my soil or how I water or mulch, it is just too much heat too soon before the plants get established. My perennials are doing great and not wilting at all but then they are established plants

[telecom69]

Hi all, Just testing to see how it looks on site, forgive me ....I won't do it again



Shot at 2009-06-25

[telecom69]

Hi people,

This Rose made its debut today,it bears the name Nicole and is a floribunda, I like the colour,what do you think Nicole ?


Shot with DSC-W35 at 2009-06-25

[Cheeseball81]

Lovely rose, Bob....and an even lovelier name!

[telecom69]

Hi Nicole,the photo doesn't really do it justice,hoping to get better pics in a different light, its a very unique colour,and of course I have to agree about the name...what with you being a Moderator and everything take care Nicole

[telecom69]

Hi all, Didn't do much yesterday,apart from watering of course, I did remove some Ivy from one of my fence panels, it took nearly two hours,I needed to do it to be able to fix some support wires for some climbing Roses ...it was some job,the panel is 6ftx6ft and the Ivy had intertwined in all of the slats,lots of silent swearing to myself of course,but its done now and looks a lot better ....there were quite a few slugs hiding under it,they won't hide any more....the weather was a lot cooler yesterday and heavy rain showers are forecast for 4pm onwards today ...hope they are right ....

Nice to see Bruce back posting again Bruce is back but Penny has dissapeared,she hasn't posted for a few days,can't remember her saying she would be away ....

Take care all,and happy gardening

[ymfoster]

Hi Everyone,

Myrna it sounds like wells & bores are the same thing nowadays, we need a permit to drill one here, I imagine the government needs to control the amount taken from the water tables also.

We try to water deeply, but it's hard when we have to stand & hold the hose for two hours, I find one hour is enough for me doing the back & front.

Hi Bruce,

Good to see you have a few vegies on the go, I agree that you wouldn't be inclined to put too much work into a new garden if you aren't sure how long you'll be there, & it's nice that you can help someone else with their garden.

My neighbour doesn't do much in the garden since her husband died, he was the main gardener, so she lets another neighbour grow & tend his vegie patch there, as he hasn't much room in his yard after installing a pool & outdoor deck.

Bob your roses are just beautiful, & Nicole is lovely also

you can certainly fit in more pics that way, the Clematis are lovely also, ......
Ivy can certainly get away from you if you let it go & it's classed as a weed here & invades the native growth in our forests.

I still have some Proteas, Gordonia, Camellias, Lasiandra, Bougainvillea, Gaillardia, Snowflakes & Begonia in flower in the middle of WInter, will need to prune the roses soon.

[telecom69]

Originally Posted by ymfoster

Bob your roses are just beautiful, & Nicole is lovely also

you can certainly fit in more pics that way, the Clematis are lovely also, ......
Ivy can certainly get away from you if you let it go & it's classed as a weed here & invades the native growth in our forests.

I still have some Proteas, Gordonia, Camellias, Lasiandra, Bougainvillea, Gaillardia, Snowflakes & Begonia in flower in the middle of WInter, will need to prune the roses soon.

Hi Yvonne, I was trying to figure out what Clematis you meant,guess it was the ones in the collage? well I have to tell you that they aren't Clematis at all but they look like they could be I agree,here they are as stand alone photos,will give you another chance to guess before I tell you .....I have to be absolutely honest with you,Im not sure what they are,but I know what Ive always known them as,Ive taken a photo of the leaves but cant upload it at the minute, owing to imageshack not working,hope I can do so before you read this ....


Shot with DSC-W35 at 2009-06-25



Shot with DSC-W35 at 2009-06-25


Done it, here are the leaves ....



Shot with DSC-W35 at 2009-06-26