Hopleaf

We need to hear more from Skawt. And is that IT in your avatar?

Bulb question: is it too late to plant bulbs? we've had a very mild late autumn thus far (the past two days have been in the 50's) for Chicago at least. The ground isn't frozen at all. It's probably too late. So Maine, eh Nick? My wife and I honeymooned there a few years back. Stayed in Ogunquit, Boothbay Harbor, Bar Harbor and one other place that I forget now. You're a lucky man, what a beautiful state. Especially in the fall.

Just ran across this bit of info that might explain the whole thing (it pertains to Tuscany, but can be basically implied to Italy as a whole considering the vast impact the Estruscans have had on the country): What is surprising about Tuscan cuisine is that its appeal lies not in artistic flourishes but in utter simplicity. During the fifteenth century there were actually Tuscan laws forbidding extravagant dinner parties of more than three courses. In a land where opulence was once a crime, it's understandable that frugality and a dislike for haute cuisine still lingers. Edit: typo

I'm not very much into outward appearances anyway. It's what's inside that really matters.

tomatocastles? in the air? Big Burpee? Can you explain this?

So, I just heard about this Splenda stuff (guess I've been living under a rock or something). Does anyone know what products are using it? I saw it on Food TV's Unwrapped used in an ice cream. And are there any plans for introducing it to soda drinks? I have a strange problem with Nutra-Sweet. I used to drink a lot of Diet Coke (5 or 6 a day) and eventually developed an allergic reaction. My lower lip swelled up so much I could actually see it if I looked down. It made for a great Mick Jagger imitation. The first time it happened was on Easter as we were getting ready to leave for Easter Brunch at Pappadeux. My father-in-law called me Angelina Jolie the whole time and I asked the waitress for an extra seat for my lip. It was really funny, albeit slightly embarrassing. At any rate, I avoid Phenylalinine in all forms and haven't had any problems since. My allergist couldn't test for food-bourne allergies and just said to avoid, avoid, avoid. It would be nice if the major soda producers developed a diet drink with Splenda, the stuff sounds perfect.

With your friend's permission, I hope. "Suvir, what are you...the hell is that, man!?!"

Ahh, yes. Catnip. a must for our garden. thanks for the reminder. The fresh stuff seems to have more effect on them (we once found some wild growing in my sister-in-law's back yard).

Well. Aren't you lucky! Our former owner had passed on and her neice handled the sale. She had been in a nursing home for several years prior (my wife works in a nursing home and says it's quite common that people hang onto their houses with the faint glimmer of hope that they'll return home eventually...isn't that sad?). I'm not sure if anyone was keeping up her garden, but if they were, they weren't doing a very good job. I've my work cut out. So, dumb question of the day, I haven't a clue if they had daffodils anywhere in their landscape. If I buy some from the garden center, would that still give me just as good an idea of when to cut back the hydrangeas? Oooh, I forgot to mention, I found a stone or brick structure in the back, kinda big (about 3 to 4 feet wide) that might be perfect for a compost bin. I think it was used as a fire pit (ashes!! oh yeah!) I just have to poke out a few bricks here and there to increase the air flow. It's in a perfect area that has a mix of direct sunlight and shade through the course of the day.

I was just admiring the library in my new community yesterday as I waited for the bus. I'm gonna try to get there this weekend. As for the hort. society, I'm workin' on it! I did check out the ag extension at UofI but have to return to the site for more digging around. Perennials? All I know for sure right now is a large patch of hydrengas and a few overgrown rose plants that need attention. No one left a map of previous plantings. I'll have to wing it and see what comes up. The roses look to be thriving, but I might cover them anyway. Do you cut those back all the way or what? There's a section on them in my book, so I can look that up. Plus the publisher I work for had a holiday book sale (books for dirt cheap) and I picked up two gardening books. Actually, with El Nino we haven't had much of any snow, though there's still a little on the ground. But the soil is still relatively soft. That book published by the MN hort. society, I'm gonna take a look at it, but at the very least you've just made a great Christmas gift recommendation for my brother in law (he's up in Duluth). Thanks!

Ahh, stellabella, I hear you. a little slice of eden would be nice. Worms, yes. The thing is, all I have in the compost pile (not yet to the bin stage) so far is the gutter stuff and a bunch of grass clippings. We've been having a somewhat mild late autumn here so far, courtesy of El Nino. So, I'm figuring I could probably get something to 'start' the composting going and then toss in some kitchen scraps all winter long. I figured I could probably find some worms at a bait shop (they do ice fish around here, so they have to have some worms, right?). Otherwise, I wonder if worms might be available at a garden center. Worth looking into. Snowangel, you're a wealth of info and your book recommendations are great. I've added both to my amazon wish list. Thing is, the most of the Victory Garden books that came up in my search were listed as either out of stock or in limited availability. Could you specify which book you referred to earlier?

Just an update here: Ok, so it's almost seed ordering time for me (cuz there's nothing else I can do so I might as well get busy on that). BTW, in case anyone's interested, our big move went very smoothly (which I define as nothing broken). Lots of cleaning and the unpacking's just about done (we went to town last weekend!). We're loving the new house. Decorating has been fun, though we have a ton of work ahead of us (fun work at least). So anyway, I was happy to find that the previous owner had left me several garden tools and hoses in very good shape. Since I'm saving on that front, I figure I can go a little nuts ordering seeds. I'm working up a garden plan to have a guide. But I want to do a mix of flowers with my veggies. My organic gardening book has a great section on garden planning (though I do want to get my hands on snowangel's recommendation of The Victory Garden book...first trip to the library). More later.

Has anyone constructed their own greenhouse? If so, how did it go? Easy, difficult? Did you get a kit (I've heard they sell something like a pre-fab kit that you put together). Any pointers? I got a few seed catalogs from my mum over the holiday. Plus she let me borrow a book on organic gardening. We're still in the process of moving (boxes galore) but will be in our new home by Saturday. I've already started developing a plan for the garden. Just tinkering with a few ideas right now. As for the on-going discussion of whether or not to put newspaper down, my brother-in-law (a very successful gardener) says that for my zone it might be too late to put the newspaper down with the hopes of killing the grass. His experience is that since the grass has started to hybernate for the winter, that the energy-core is in the grass's root system. His advice was to just wait until spring to kill it, otherwise, if I do it now, it might not do the trick come spring and by summer I'd have grass coming up. I think I'll still give it a whirl (my thinking is it can't hurt)...the BIL has been known to be wrong in the past. Meanwhile, my mum also gave me a bunch of seeds which I think I'll start tinkering with over the winter. Are there any vegetables that you can't start from seed? She gave me quite the variety, broccoli, radishes, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving.

I am particularly fond of Anchor Steam, despite it being occasionally maligned on these pages. It's a solid, drinkable beer that doesn't make you pay later. That's my vote.

Ok, I think I hit the mother load. This weekend I went over to my new house (which we haven't closed on yet) to clean the gutters before winter really sets in and in the hopes of avoiding any ice-jams on the roof. Well, it turned out to be quite the job as it hadn't been done in what seemed like about 6 or 7 years. There was decomposed leaves at the bottom of each gutter that was one small step from being soil. I collected the entire lot (five and a half garbage can fulls) and reserved them at the back of the yard. The thing is, I dont' know if I can use all this prime compost for my vegetable garden because it has a lot of granules from the shingles (you know the little white pebbles that the shingles have on them). Thing is I have no idea if these granules are synthetic and if they'll leach any toxic materials into my soil. My formidable gut's telling me "when in doubt..." But I really, really want to use the compost. It's so fertile (it smells fantastic). At any rate, I suppose I can use it on my flower beds. BTW, I found out what one of the varieties of flowering shrubs we have are: hydrengas (sp?). A friend of mine who's taking classes toward a landscaping certificate (she's a designer by trade and aspires to be a landscape designer soon) said that you can affect the color that hydrengas flower with by manipulating the ph levels in the soil immediately around the plant's base. Pretty cool. Also, I met one of my soon-to-be neighbors who told me about the former owners. She said the most recent owner was an avid gardner and had a prosperous garden right where I had planned to put mine. Talk about fertile ground! What else? I was packing yesterday and busy all weekend, so I have some catching up to do on this thread. I'll get to reading them today.

Stellabella, I most definitely will get a mulching mower (had planned to). But how does that work if you want to add grass clippings to your compost bins, grab a rake? And I won't bag our leaves. My new community comes by to pick them up curbside, all you have to do is rake them into the street. I figure I can use as much as I want for my garden and if I have too much (there're quite a few trees on our property as well as on neighboring properties) I can always just rake them into the street. About the composting bins, the critters...with a young-un I don't want any rabies (sp?) shots in her future. Wonder if doing something with chicken wire will be enough to keep them there critters at bay? Guess I'll find out. I thought I could create something that might have a door on the top and then just dump my compostable waste (kitchen refuse, grass clippings and leaves) in there. So, what can I start from seed over the winter? Rail Paul mentioned lettuce and tomatoes, but I'm really into the peppers and wonder if I can start those as well?

Dave, don't worry about overwhelming me. I'm soaking it all in and keeping your (and others) input for later reference. About the beds, do you construct them and fill with soil mixture right over the existing grass? I'm assuming that's the case since you suggested it as a good alterntive for first time gardeners. The idea of a raised bed really appeals from an aesthetic standpoint since I could then put down some flagstone in the pathways. Nick, you're saying that it's too late to do the newspaper thing (that is if I go without the raised beds)?

And is that something you can plant in late fall?

Ok, now I'm really chomping at the bit. Maggie, that newspaper trick sounds perfect. One of my concerns was whether or not the soil would be tillable once we actually get there. We're not moving until the first week of December and I figured by then we might already have snow. But, snow or not, I could still do the newspaper thing. Now let's talk mulch. In Park Ridge, there's usually a huge mound of wood chips available for the taking It's just down the street from the Metra station, if you're interested). But DaveFaris' suggestion is to avoid wood mulch. I know that I'll have a bunch of leaves available right when we get in (the house was vacant through the fall so there's some raking to be done). if I lay the newspaper, can I just use the leaves and do I have to grind them up? I could also just go get some mulch from the Home Depot. And I'll check out Planter's Palette. Have you ever gone to Gethsemane? it's on Clark just south of Ridge. Love that place. It's gonna be a haul from the burbs, but well worth it. tsquare, I did NOT know that about oregano. Thanks! Another canidate for a pot indoors. Dave, that's one comprehensive post. Thank you so much. I'm printing this entire thread and keeping it with my garden journal. One question, you mention forsythia blooming? what's forsythia? And does anyone have any stories of starting their own garden that they'd like to regale us with? Things you did right, things you did that were compeletly wrong. Love to hear it.

Well, she's not right off the lake, but close enough to get some lake-effect snow. She's on the western side of town. She's managed to live on both ends, as well as one place in the middle, of I35. Talk about running the gamut of planting zones.

could you explain 'leggy'? do you mean that the plant would develop too many roots? And I knew that about mint, they spread like weeds. I figure that might have to be a potted plant in the kitchen.

snowangel, you read my mind about the composting. My sister has done this for years, she's up in Duluth and they get the best harvests, despite a shorter growing season, mostly because of her exceptional compost. Plus, it cuts down on their garbage. So, I'll be doing that. I wanted to build somthing to contain the compost, something with four posts into the ground, some cross supports and a little chicken wire. The compost has to be touching the ground, right? And I'll look into a horticultural society, there has to be one here. I've just been trying to ramp up via the Internet. I did find gardentoad.com, maybe you've seen it already, if not check it out: Gardentoad.com Thanks

ok, first I should say that I'm just northwest of Chicago. I think that's Zone 5 on the USDA plant hardiness map. It's been a mild fall so far (we've been known to have colder ones) so the ground is still pretty soft. I won't be able to start on the garden until after we move in, which should be early December. So, hopefully the ground will still be soft enough to till some manure in. Speaking of which, when I said 'good old manure' I mean it in the same way as 'good old Bob, he's all right.' WHich begs the question, Mrs. Meadow, what's 'old manure?' is it just stuff that's sat out awhile? My parents live amidst farmland in Western Wisconsin and every year in late fall the local farmers spread manure on their tilled soil. So, I'm thinking you're talking about doing the same. First things first though, I have to plot the garden and remove the grass. Is it possible to just till that under? or will the grass just grow through? Why do you separate an herb garden from the rest of your garden? Rail Paul, you mention the seed catalogues...is that something I can do over the winter, sprout my seeds and grow them indoors and then plant them in the spring? I vaguely recall my mother doing that with tomatoes, but I'm not sure if that works so well with other plants. Thank you both for your input.

Since I'm moving into my new house (yes, finally ditchin' the condo digs) and I'll have an expansive back yard, I plan on starting a garden. After a search, I found there really wasn't a thread devoted to all things garden. There's been a few threads here and there about gardening, mostly related to specific fruits and veggies and how best to grow them. SOOO, what say you all? To start, I'm planning on growing a variety of usefull plants that I can use in the kitchen. Since I'll be moving in early December, I figured that I'd take a break from unpacking by preparing the garden area for the winter. Any tips on what to do now to get it ripe and ready for a spring planting? or am I best off waiting to begin until spring? Guess I'm just chomping at the bit, but I figured it might be a good idea to lay some fertilizer (maybe good old manure if I can get my hands on some, speaking figuratively of course, I'd be sure to use gloves and a shovel!), and then cover with a layer of mulch. what're some good mulches? Also, does anyone have any recommendations as far as what to plant? I'm definitely gonna have some tomatoes, lettuce, herbs, potatoes, onions, and I'd like to start some raspberry brambles. Thanks!

My two older sisters convinced me that grapefruit with Salad Seasoning (anyone remember that stuff?) sprinkled on it was delicious. I tried it, with them watching gleefully, and never let on that it tasted like crap. But I got them both back for that stunt by putting a rubber band around the sprayer so that it shot out at them when they went to do the dishes. Ahhh, childhood.