--------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: E4100000 Date: 03/31/97 From: PAM WEAVER Time: 03:32pm \/To: ALL (Read 3 times) Subj: flowers and stuff I have 2 flower beds in my front yard that I need to plant something in.. but really dont know what I can put out there.. I have ideas. but nothing definite.. it gets shade most of the day.. anyone have any suggestions? any would help.. thanks. lots.. --- T.A.G. 2.7c Standard * Origin: The Wizards Realm BBS 1-713-946-7315 1:106/7315 (1:106/7315) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: E4100001 Date: 03/31/97 From: JANIS FOLEY Time: 12:24pm \/To: MICHELE MAURO (Read 3 times) Subj: Chili Powder > Unfortunately, the fence around my veggies doesn't always keep out the > neighborhood cats... they figure that the nice, soft dirt makes a > great litter box! I'm going to have to get out the chile powder and hope > that keeps them away. Does that really work? How dangerous is it to the cats? How dangerous is it to the plants? I might have to try it... Chat with ya later! Janis :) --- System Support BBS * Origin: System Support BBS (1:202/1609) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: E4100002 Date: 03/31/97 From: BIRDMAN Time: 07:02pm \/To: AMY BALLANTYNE (Read 3 times) Subj: Sod and new lawn. AB> We moved into our house in Feb. of 1996. We went through the summer AB> of '96 without a good lawn in most of our yard. This year my husband AB> has decided is "the year to get a good lawn planted". We are extremely AB> poor so we can't afford to have sod put in, any good tips for people AB> who have NO IDEA what they are doing. First of all, have you actually priced sod? You may find it's much less expensive then you would actually expect. The greatest expense in sod comes from having the supplier lay it. Do it yourself and you will find that you'llsave quite a bit. For example, at another house that my S/O owns, we redid the back yard and needed to resod. We called around for prices and found them all to be very similar. About $100-115 for just the sod and about $500 if we had them install it. Needless to say, we did it ourselves. I'd had a little preious experience laying sod before and was able to teach my S/O to do it in about 5 mins. The two of us did it together - I gave her the smaller portion of the yard to do - and we were done in a little over an hour. One other option you might consider is just doing a small part of it or checkerboardng the sod. Doing a small area now and then another section as you can afford it is a good way to get an area of your lawn looking real nice now and not spending too much. Checkerboarding would be laying the rolls of sod with gaps between that you hope the sod will eventually spread and fill in. It works, but it's a slow process, prone to weeds and the exposed edges of the sod have a tendency to dry and roll up if not kept sufficiently wet. Your final option would be to start a new yard from seed, but you might be surprised at the expense and labor intensive cost of that. You need to till or turn your soil, do a reasonabaly thorough job of freeing it of weeds, spread the seed and then spend the next 4-8 weeks watering intensely, babying it along, keeping animals and others off it and saying daily prayers that it all sprouts and fills in evenly. You also have to hope you got good quality seed with a fairly low percentage of weed seeds in it. (Does it sound like I'm trying to discourage you from using seed? ) Whatever route you choose, good luck with your new home. I know first-hand how expensive new digs can be and how much effort and time it can take. My S/O and I moved to a 18 acre hobby farm last July and it's been a full time job geting all the things we'd like to do done. We've only just started on our list, but we figure we have a long time to get it all done. Byrd Mann ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20 [NR] --- Platinum Xpress/Win/Wildcat5! v2.0 * Origin: The Playhouse TC's Gaming BBS - Powered by WC5 (1:282/4059) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: E4100003 Date: 03/31/97 From: LIZ MORRIS Time: 09:47am \/To: MICHELE MAURO (Read 3 times) Subj: Composting On 03-19-97 09:18, As Michele Mauro passed the soap to Marilyn Boissoneault..... Hello Michele, MM> So far the gopher turtle just watches me water the peas - as far as I MM> can tell he hasn't taken a bite out of them yet! I also found out that MM> if you get too close to a gopher turtle, they hiss at you. Can you tell me what a gopher turtle is? Liz ... A "swift kick in the butt" is no way to get a dragon's attention. ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12 --- QScan/PCB v1.19b / 01-0154 * Origin: MicroLink BBS * Dinuba, CA 209-591-8753 (1:214/80) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: E4100004 Date: 03/31/97 From: LIZ MORRIS Time: 09:47am \/To: ALL (Read 3 times) Subj: Chicks and Clocks Hello Everyone... I am new to this conference.... i just wanted to ask if anyone else thought of the following idea.. Its now chick season. I have some baby ckicks that i am keeping in my back porch where it is warm, and have a light bulb hanging from the top of the cage... they were very noisy the first night i had them.. it seemed that whenever i picked the noisy ones up, they would imediatedly fall asleep in my hand.. i figured maybe they missed their mother... I put a wind-up clock in their cage and they imediately quieted down and went to sleep.. Could the ticking of the clock remind them of their mother's heartbeat? I read somewhere that this is true... anyway, it worked for ME and i finally got some rest... Liz ... Cats aren't clean, they're just covered with cat spit. ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12 --- QScan/PCB v1.19b / 01-0154 * Origin: MicroLink BBS * Dinuba, CA 209-591-8753 (1:214/80) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: E4200000 Date: 04/01/97 From: JOE ZIMMERMAN Time: 06:13am \/To: DEBBIE WE (Read 3 times) Subj: Shade DW> I am back again with another question...The north side of our DW> house we would like to plant some type of flowering plant...but it DW> gets only about an hour at the most sunlight there a day...does any DW> one have any suggestions on what to plant there? I would greatly DW> appreciate it. Right now we are growing a wonderful batch of WEEDS DW> there. 8-( . So far that is all we can get to grow in that area. Help! DW> Debbie Hi Debbie. Where do you live? I live just west of Austin, Tx. I have a slope on the north side of my house and have covered it with "mulch". The community does a collection of the tree and shrub branches each spring. They put the woody material through a shreader and blow it into a dump truck. It ranges from cedar, to oak, to shrubs. A good load will be more cedar and oak. I have put over 10 loads of this mulch on the north side of my house and it provides a nice covering for the ground as well as keeps moisture in under the large oak trees on that side of the house. The mulch is about 3" thick now. It settles each year so I add a new dressing each spring. The amount I spread depends upon the cleanup and the number of other residents who put their name in for loads of mulch. There was no way grass would grow there. Sooo, this has been my answer to the problem. Regards Joe ... Scratch n Sniff ########### Smells like dirty glass, huh? --- Blue Wave/Max v2.30 * Origin: The HUB * Austin TX * Centex PCUG * 512-346-1852 (1:382/1201) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: E4200001 Date: 04/01/97 From: AL ATWELL Time: 07:18am \/To: CRAIG PEASE (Read 3 times) Subj: Conditioner -*> On 26 Mar 97 06:04:18, Craig Pease said this to All CP> Bought a new house and want to get a flower garden started. Planted CP> a few things in the fall and found the soil to be mostly clay. CP> What does anyone recommend I add to this clay type soil in order to CP> break it up and add some much needed nutrients? The best thing I know of is Lawn & Garden Gypsom ... Fido Net: 1:382/1201 or Email: al.atwell@1201.ima.infomail.com --- Blue Wave/Max v2.30 * Origin: The HUB * Austin TX * Centex PCUG * 512-346-1852 (1:382/1201) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: E4200002 Date: 04/01/97 From: PAM WEAVER Time: 01:35pm \/To: PAUL HALSEMA (Read 3 times) Subj: fleas you know what really works on fleas? salt.. table salt regular table salt.. just poor salt on the carpet.. and wait a couple days and vaccuum it up.. this helps real well.. --- T.A.G. 2.7c Standard * Origin: The Wizards Realm BBS 1-713-946-7315 1:106/7315 (1:106/7315) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: E4200003 Date: 03/27/97 From: BILL MADDUX Time: 07:33pm \/To: KATHLEEN WEBER (Read 3 times) Subj: Flower suggestions needed On 03-23-97 KATHLEEN WEBER wrote to ALL... KW> Hi All! KW> KW> Any suggestions on flowering plants I can put in my front yard that KW> can KW> take full sun to full shade. I have a _huge_ Sycamore tree that KW> doesn't KW> fill in until late April (so it gets full sun until then) and then KW> blocks all sunshine until late October (thus the need for the flowers KW> to KW> handle full shade). KW> HI Kathleen, As a lover of Columbines let me suggest you have some of these in your front yard. First I'd rework the bed alittle bit so to make sure it is good soil and has good drainage. There are many, many varieties of Columbines from 1" to 3' tall. I personally prefer the small, alpine varieties. There are several colors to choose from. Right now I'm growing near 20 varieties and have seeds of another 20+ varieties. None of mine are crosses or hybrids. There are many varieties of shade dwelling plants that handle sun and shade. Right now I have Phlox divaricata in bloom, Blood Root, Star-of- Bethlehem, Toothwort, and a couple of different Columbines. These are all under the shadows of a fruitless Mulberry tree. Nearby in the same bed I have wild Ginger, wild wood fern, and some yellow violets that just started blooming. I hope that this will give you ideas. see ya, Bill M. --- * OFFLINE 1.58 * Work is for people that don't know how to garden. --- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 * Origin: Hard Drive Cafe! (1:170/710.0) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 208 HOME & GARDEN Ref: E4200004 Date: 03/27/97 From: BILL MADDUX Time: 07:39pm \/To: LISA PENNER (Read 3 times) Subj: Hi again Hi there Lisa, How are things up there? Spring yet? (You probably wish, huh?) How are your gardens holding up? Planting anything different this year? See ya, Bill M. --- * OFFLINE 1.58 * All the various difficult names - Weeds of Spring. --- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 * Origin: Hard Drive Cafe! (1:170/710.0)