Homeowner Forum / Lawn and Garden / August 2008

A newbie gardener need to take care of an almost 60x40 lawn (with
somewhat crooked shape), and two 15x10 gardens in the front. At present
we cannot install an underground watering system etc, so a few basic
questions about hoses and sprinklers:

We have a large cymbidium.  full 12" pot.  about 10 bulbs over 2" in
dia.  4 or 5 dead 2" bulbs near center.  2-3' foliage.  we've owned
and grown this plant for 3-4 years.  we grow it in summer on our south
deck in wash dc. foliage looks super healthy.

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Old Dying Physicists want to go out with a BIG BANG

Mary, you promised to tell all over the garden fence about THE
holiday.
Judith

I've been harvesting my basil leaves and have made a couple of basil
dishes with them.  I made Chicken Basil (Thai) and Shrimp Basil
Pasta.  Sooo good.
I read that I need to keep picking off the flowers to keep them

In Ohio, where I live, we have a program called the Master Gardener
Program, which consists of 10 weeks of classes, and then some volunteer
work. Apparently the training is pretty extensive, and there are never
enough seats to go around, so they interview everyone to determine ...

I was told recently that I should not put lawn clippings on the soil
since they 'take away the nitrogen'. I can't see why and I would have
thought any greenstuff put back into the soil is a good thing. Any
comments?

I have grown some lovely minature sunnies this year and was hoping to save
some seeds to grow some more next year.  I have had a look around the web
but cant find anything telling you when i best to harvest the seeds.  The
main heads are now dropping and lost all their petals.  ...

My fuschia has two deep red seed pods on it.  Can I collect the seeds to
grow my own plants next year?
Thank you
Donna

I'm about to plant a cherry tree and apparently they hate heavy soil..
I will buy the tree this weekend as they're having a bare-root sale at
the nursery I'm going to.
I'm planting it in a raised bed, so I can make the soil be as good as

Please be careful when dealing with sureguard.  We purchased a S10
energiser and it does not do what it is claimed to do on the Sure
gaurd website.  The battery went flat on the first cloudy day.  We
sent it back within a few weeks to be checked out and they said that

I hae been told that it helps to remove harmful organisms from the
soil.  I am dubious.  Have you had real-word experience with it?

Not really a garden story unless you are like me and treat rats as
PART of the garden process.  Well, we have a herd back there now.
Prime season for them.  Rescued two babies from the pool the other
night and today I rescued one out who was doing the "fly."  Anyway,

Of the four tomato plants we have, one is being attacked by an unknown
animal. It only eats the tomatoes themselves but takes rather large
bites out of them. My wife (the gardener) says the bites may be caused
by a hornworm (?) except there are no other signs of hornworms so she

Has anyone done this to make it safer? My friend is always ending up
with thorns in her skin, so I wondered if I could use an electric
razor on it to help protect her.
Thanks.