Garden stuff

[velvetpage]

sassy_fae and I took a look at my back garden. The prevalence of moss and the lines of the massive old tree in a neighbour's yard convinced both of us that only deep-shade plants will manage there. However, there is a hosta there that migrated from the backyard next door, set up shop, and is now (according to Jenn) reading to be divided into six or seven smaller hostas. Can anyone tell me if I should do that now, or wait until fall, or at some other time? I'm thinking a bag or two of topsoil, a few hours with a shovel, and the expertise of a friend, and I should have an entire row of pretty green hostas in my backyard.

There's also enough sun along the edge of the garage, at least in the spring before the tree fills out, to plant a strip of spring bulbs. I desperately want some spring bulbs next year - maybe even enough to get me off my duff in October to plant the darn things. :) I want daffodils and hyacinths and crocuses. I've already got lilies - they're growing along the back fence, untouched and loving it for as long as we've been here. I've also got a good-looking Rose of Sharon that just needs some pruning. Again, advice - do I prune it now, or wait until fall?

My composter needs some attention. I've never turned compost before, and don't really know how to go about it, but there's probably some black gold at the bottom of it from all the grass clippings Piet's put in there over the years. The top layer is corn husks from last summer. What do I do with this stuff?

Comments

In case you didn't notice...

[catsarah.livejournal.com]

...it's not just my thumbs that are green ;3

Don't wait til the leaves open, you'll damage the plants less if you divide before they open. Make sure each clump has 3 or 4 good well rooted shoots per division. sometimes they have side shoots that have no roots and those won't take as well. I could either continue to explain how to do this, or I could come over one afternoon and help you do it. I may even be able to donate some Hostas to your collection (I have some smaller variety white and green).

Prune the Rose of Sharon now before most of the buds come out. I can show you how or prune yours for you, I have two (well one and a half now) really nice R of S in my yard backyard.

http://catsphotogallery.infohost.no-ip.org/DouglasGardenPics/ You can have a peek through that folder...I'll see if I can find some R of S pics and some hosta pics to throw in there too. I have (had? might have been lost in one of several hard drive crashes) pics of before and after pruning.

You can do a couple things, depending on what kind of composter you have. If it's movable, you can move the composter over one width and open the top and ford the compost back into it and when you get to the good stuff at the bottom you can put it in a container/bag or spread now. Or, if you want to leave the composter in the same place, get a tarp, scrape off the stuff that's not rotted, and once you get out the good compost, put the old stuff back in. (clear as mud?)

Hope that helped. Let me know if you want me and my clippers to come down and help. I work for tea and cookies :D

[urban-homestead.livejournal.com]

I hack my hostas with a shovel, and so far, they've always forgiven me. As everyone else has said, get them early, before the leaves unfurl.

The easiest way to turn compost is to have two composters. Then you just shovel the contents of one composter into the other composter. But if you just have one, open up the bottom door, and shovel the half-composted stuff from there into the top of the composter until you've gone full circle and you see stuff coming out the bottom that you know you've already turned. Then water it and put the lid on. If you do this every weekend, you'll have usable compost every month.

If there is a clear bifurcation in your compost layers, it's better to get all the compost out, stir everything together, and then fork it back in. A single type of input does not compost very well - the more combined it is, the faster it breaks down, so long as you get a good carbon: nitrogen ratio.