Here is a link that might be useful: Maestro Grow

This summer was so horrifically hot and dry that we really studied our gardens and put in a lot of soakers and drips so that we wouldn't have to be constantly running hoses, and will put in a few more next year. It has saved us countless hours and labor, and instead we are mostly just turning spiggots on and flipping switches.

It was a lot of work and took a lot of thought to set up but sure is worth it! We have an acre of garden so we had to do something serious about watering.

Where we use impulse sprinklers, we have rigged them up with short extenders and quick disconnects so we can attach them to the ends of any handy hose, instead of having to drag the whole thing around.

So far it has worked pretty well. At the end of the season we coil up everything except the permanent hoses (which are brown, and practically invisible) and store them in the shed.

Sandy

Les

There was also a pattern for making planting containers from landscaping fabric but I can't find the thread. Maybe someone else can find it.

Good luck and be sure to post pictures in the Gallery!!! We love pictures.
Anne

Either stand them on the bottom of the pond and roll down the top of the bag to appropriate height OR roll the top of the bag around 2/3 of a pool noodle for a floating pot. Fill with unscented clay kitty litter and fertilizer tabs or your favorite planting medium. If it floats too high in the water, add a rock or two at the bottom.

The kitty litter is made of bentonite, also used for lining natural ponds and is safe for fish and plants--just make sure you get unscented. Special Kitty, the cheapest stuff from Walmart, works fine.

I can't tell you what to do either but I can tell you what I did. I've had an artificial bog for five years now after moving from an area where I used to grow bog plants plunked right in the wet ground. I grow terrestrial orchids and CPs mostly.

I built a small retaining wall with stone so I didn't have to do too much digging. The resulting "hole" ended up being around two feet deep (sorry, I don't usually measure these types of things, coulda been more or less). I lined that with some old thick carpet so tree roots wouldn't be able to get through easily and so the liner wouldn't be otherwise compromised. I lined that with a PVC liner. I then filled the bottom 6"-8" inches (appx., again sorry didn't measure) with foam packing peanuts, this is so there is always water in the bottom but the peat does not rot. I cut just a couple slits around 2" (there I go not measuring again) from the top of the liner. I OVER-filled the rest with 50/50 (again appx., I really hate measuring) peat sand mixture by around 6". Some areas of the top where I wanted calopogon or rose pogonia I topped with additional sand. When I plant certain things (eg. Cypripedium) I might amend the mix to make it drain a little faster/slower. A fairly large area outside the liner also stays wet (amended with the same peat/sand mixture) and I use that to grow additional bog plants and orchids. Most of the surface I "mulch" with long fibered sphagnum each spring. In winter I lay a large burlap "blanket" on top of the whole deal and mulch with leaves. In five years I've lost one beautiful Darlingtonia (I still miss her) and a few thread leaf sundews. I'm in a slightly colder microclimate of zone 7 on the North shore of Long Island and I grow lots of southern CPs that have done real well. I have around 30 CP flowers getting ready to blossom.

Hope this helps some, again sorry for all the approximations.

Most of the stuff they ate, I didn't replace. Some things I really like I got again & put in pots where the critters can't get them. (I think I have more stuff growing in pots now than in the ground.)

If they are living on your property, you may be able to eradicate some of their living quarters to reduce their numbers.

There are many lists of toxic plants. Although they are little rebels, they don't usually eat the stuff on those lists. The leaves have to be toxic, not just the roots or berries or something like that.

1) Milkweeds (Asclepias sp.), all species. The leaves are bitter tasting and poisonous.

2) Dogbanes (Apocynum sp.), all species. The leaves are bitter tasting and poisonous.

3) Lobelias (Lobelia sp.), all species. The leaves are poisonous.

4) Delphiniums (Delphinium sp.), all species. The leaves are poisonous.

5) Ragworts (Senecio sp.), especially Senecio plattensis. The leaves are poisonous.

6) St. John's Wort (Hypericum sp.), most species. The leaves produce a photosensitive reaction when eaten.

7) Native Thistles (Cirsium sp.). The leaves are too spiny.

8) Ironweed (Vernonia sp.) The leaves are too bitter, also the plants grow tall and out of reach of rabbits.

9) Vervains (Verbena sp.) The leaves are too bitter.

10) Native Wild Lettuce (Latuca sp. & Prenanthes sp.) The leaves are too bitter, particularly when mature.

11) Silphium sp. (Rosin Weed, Prairie Dock) The leaves are too sandpapery and coarse.

12) Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium) The leaves are too spiny and coarse, although rabbits may nip off the tips of leaves of young plants.

13) Wild Quinine (Parthenium integrifolium) The leaves are too bitter tasting and coarse.

14) Native Spurges (Euphorbia sp., such as Euphorbia corollata) The white latex is poisonous and highly irritating.

15) Many members of the Mint family, including Bergamots (Monarda sp.), Mountain Mints (Pycnanthemum sp.), native Hyssops (Agastache sp.), Wood Mints (Blephilia sp.), native Sages (Salvia sp.), and the like. Rabbits seems to detest the minty/oregano/anise scent of the leaves in these species. Generally, the more fragrant or bitter the leaves, the better.

16) Wild Indigos (Baptisia sp.) The leaves are poisonous.

17) Goat's Rue (Tephrosia sp.) The leaves and roots are poisonous.

18) Anemones, Thimbleweeds (Anemone sp.) The leaves contain a blistering agent.

19) Buttercups (Ranunculus sp.), many species. The leaves contain a blistering agent.

20) Native onions (Allium sp.) Rabbits seem to detest the onion scent.

21) White Snakeroot (Eupatorium rugosum) The leaves are poisonous.

22) Water Hemlock (Cicuta maculata) The leaves, and especially the roots, are very poisonous.

23) Cowbane (Oxypolis rigidior) The leaves are poisonous.

24) Wild Sages (Artemisia sp., like Artemesia ludoviciana) The leaves are too bitter and their scent is repellent.

25) Ground Cherries (Physalis sp.) The leaves contain solanum, the same poison to be found in the leaves of tomato and potato plants.

26) Sneezeweeds (Helenium sp.) The leaves are bitter and poisonous.

27) Prickly Pear (Opuntia sp.) There are too many spines, at least for the Eastern Cottontail rabbit.

28) Lupines (Lupinus sp.) The leaves are poisonous.

29 Blue Star (Amsonia sp.) The leaves are bitter and poisonous (it's related to the Dogbanes and Milkweeds).

30) Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor, Iris virginica)
The leaves are slightly poisonous and rather coarse. The roots are also poisonous.

Sometimes rabbits will bite off the leaves and stems of some of these plants experimentally, but will decide that they are unpalatable, and leave them lying on the ground. Mature plants are less likely to be attacked in this manner.

You can also raise tall-growing plants (Sunflowers, Joe Pye Weeds, Mallows, Goldenrods, Ironweeds, etc.), which are vulnerable to rabbits primarily during the first year (at which time they can be protected with hot pepper spray, tabasco sauce, black pepper sprinkled on leaves that have been misted, etc.), but later are too tall and coarse to be bothered much by them.

I have an idea for growing carnivorous plants and sphagnum moss in a nutrient-rich marsh - will this likely work?

On top of the mud, pile 6" of peat-moss and sand then plant the carnivorous plants and sphagnum moss. I suppose the roots will penetrate down the 6" of peat moss before hitting the nutrient rich saturated soil; then probably not extend deeper. This would be like a floating-mat is in nature: that you have a mass of slowly decaying wood at the edge of a swamp - the swamp seems to be nutrient-rich, black mud, etc... but the plants are insulated from the nutrients as they are rooted in the mass that towers over the water-level and apparently doesn't readily soak up the nutrients.

So, does this sound like it would work?

Thanks,
Steve

of the 20 i added last spring.. half bloomed.. half didnt.. that is not uncommon for transplants of smaller pieces ....

check the link .. now is the perfect time for lifting.. moving.. dividing ... note that none of those pictured is in any shade ... fan the leaves if you do so ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

tracie

web

I hope this will help. I wish someone with experience would write in. I also found good info by searching this web area.

so PVC will cost me I assume $150 for the two.. then I need glue or something to mend.. or I can heat weld the two..

the EMPD which is twice the thickness I can get for $330.. so its double the cost.. but no hastle with mending two together and its thicker..

So I guess this should be a no brainer ? get the EPMD ?