Homeowner Forum / Lawn and Garden / October 2008

Note: I am having problems posting to  (but not reading) usenet groups
at the minute. So if you have specific questions, it may be better to
e-mail me
"FarmI" <ask@itshall be given> wrote:

I'm fairly new to vegetable gardening, having started one year ago.
Now that the growing season is over, I'm thinking of trying the
technique of covering the plot with black plastic sheeting, to kill
off all vegetation, prior to next Spring's planting.

I need some advice can someone tell me how to get rid of these bushes
they just seem to come back apart from using a flame thrower and it's
moving up the list, is there something less dangerous?

So it seems that some plants like to get completely dry, then flooded
and not watered again until dry - but is there an easy way to
determine which will work best for a particular plant or family? I've
been doing the dry/drench on my ficus benjamina and it has been

How likely am I to succeed with fruit trees in clay soil.
Ideally I would like to grow a plum tree - victoria would be nice.
But...
The sunniest spot in the garden gets maybe 6 hours of afternoon sun at the

The catasetums are in bloom.  Ctsm incurvum.  lip starets flat then reflexes
back.  Timing is everything.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kbarrett/2958762861/
K Barrett

Question Hayfever:::
I've just been in the garden and have an allergy to my garden.
Whats the best easy way to avoid it besides not going into the garden.
Its gets worse every year.

Have a couple of dozen fruits on it this year, and some are almost up to a
small egg in size.  If the mild weather persists, I might actually get some
ripe fruit to taste.
I have only had a couple of fruits in one previous year, and they never got

We've just taken delivery of, and planted, a quince tree (Meeches
Prolific) which arrived in a good-sized container (i.e., not
bare-root). The instructions seem a bit unclear on the matter of
pruning: it states that all newly planted trees should be pruned and

Just bought a house in Kent that had an old age couple living in it
the back garden (approx 90 foot by 50 foot) had very rough grass mayb
8-10 inches long - I was told by a neighbour that it was cut by thei
son when he had a chance, but only maybe 6 times a year. The result i

Can someone in NZ tell me the dates of the Ellerslie International Flower
Show this year?  Are we by any change going to be lucky enough to be in the
right place at the right time (early November)?

I'm in the great lakes area - my climate is similar to Detroit, Buffalo,
Cleveland.  Haven't had a frost yet.
Is now a good time, or a bad (ineffective) time to spray my lawn to kill
crane flies?

Due to the layout of the house - I probably need to locate most of my black
plastic compost bins (3/5) to an area of the garden which gets full sun. I
tried it before - but the worms invariably fry during Summer.
But would the composting process still work? (I'll put a bucket of ...

I'm always on the lookout for more Australian garden blogs - Chookie's
is about the only other one I have found so far that is into veggies.
So I was wrapt to find
http://organicveggrowing.blogspot.com/

Tonight, Tony Buckland was using horticultural grit on the top of some pots
of bulbs. What is the difference between this grit and any other
grit/gravel? :)