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| Author |
Message |
furs
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What are you doing...
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Apr 23 15:30 UTC 1993 |
This is the "What are you doing in your yard these day's" item.
<I just need a place to tell eveyone how hard I've been working
on my hard.>
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| 75 responses total. |
furs
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response 1 of 75:
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Apr 23 15:34 UTC 1993 |
Well, finaly the weather has gotten more consistent so I can
start raking. Yes raking. we just moved in to this place in
Nov, and all the raking didn't get done, and then the weather
was never good enough to do it again. So finally, I'm out here
raking my butt off. I started on wed, and raked the lanscaping and
around the fence area <for about an hour> then yesterday proceeded
with the rest of the yard. I have the side to do today,
and I'll be done with the front. Then there's the back yard
which I'll be working on all weekend <weather permitting, of course>
After I clean up, I think we'll start planning our veggy garden.
We also need to weed and feed, and put some grass seed down in certain
areas.
There's a ton of work, and I'll be gone for about 3 months, so I'm
trying to get alot of it done before I leave so my roomie doesn't
have to do everything.
<I feel MUCH better!>
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danr
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response 2 of 75:
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Apr 24 16:33 UTC 1993 |
I haven't done anything. I am thinking of doing what they're doing
with large tracts in the Arb, i.e. letting it revert to prairie. :)
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furs
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response 3 of 75:
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Apr 25 13:56 UTC 1993 |
heh heh
Well, I'm on day #4 of raking. I finished the front and side yard y
yesterday. Unfortunately, as I type, it's raining, and I can't
work on it today. I've backed a total of 15 bags of leaves.
I'm pooped.
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rcurl
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response 4 of 75:
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Apr 25 16:52 UTC 1993 |
If you leave the leaves on the garden, they will decay and return their
nutrients to the soil. I assiduously practice this philosophy, and never
rake. That conveys some other benefits, too. (If the leaves kill the
grass, then you wont have to mow, either.)
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chelsea
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response 5 of 75:
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Apr 25 18:08 UTC 1993 |
We're in our third spring on Harbrooke now and mostly enjoying
the results of past effort. There will be far less new planting
this year than last as the perennials are pretty much established.
The hosta garden, planted last May, seems to have made it with just
one plant as yet not making an appearance the season. The sunny perennial
garden will need a few replacements though as something has developed
a fondness for miniature daylily roots.
I'm still waiting for the lily-of-the-valley to pop up. I can't
remember when they're supposed to be visible. Along a picket
fence and an arbor, we've planted five different clematises, now in
their third season. All, expect one, are starting to leaf, and
that one is a fall bloomer that typically gets a late start. The
allium and tulips are maybe a week or two from blooming. The
forsythia is a mass of yellow and the lilac bushes covered with
buds. And we're going to have a bumper crop of sunflowers under
the birdfeeder.
Last year I planted annuals in early May, thinking I'd have that much
longer to enjoy them, but instead just ended up fretting over frosts.
So this year I'll wait a bit longer. Maybe.
I'm hoping John will add another rose bush, replacing one that I
can only describe as boring. It was planted by the previous
owners. But roses are John's domain, along with lawn care.
Yes, we had a some raking to be done here, but mostly that was done
by a teenager who needed some extra money to feed his comic book habit.
So that's spring on Harbrooke. So far, so good.
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katie
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response 6 of 75:
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Apr 25 20:00 UTC 1993 |
I've done a lot of raking. I planted many perennials already, and some
hardy annuals. I just planted a pink flowering dogweed tree and am soon
to get a Japanese Redbud. I bought four rose bushes this week (only $7.29
each at Farmer Grant's, and very nice specimens)--a red climber, a yellow
climber, a pink/orange tea rose and a yellow tea rose. I have mixed
feelings about the name of the yellow climber: Golden Showers.
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remmers
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response 7 of 75:
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Apr 25 22:30 UTC 1993 |
True to my lawnal retentive nature, I have inaugurated my spring
lawn care program by spreading a light, refreshing layer of activated
sewage sludge on the grass. This has resulted in a growth spurt
which will necessitate mowing in the next few days, methinks.
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rcurl
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response 8 of 75:
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Apr 26 03:43 UTC 1993 |
Groan. Lawns give me the sludges...:). Well, they hold the mud together,
which suits me, but they should *not* be encouraged to grow. remmers, do
you know that you are also spreading hexavalent chromium, and other nasty
ingredients of activated sewage sludge?
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katie
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response 9 of 75:
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Apr 27 01:45 UTC 1993 |
How much did you grow, John?
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remmers
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response 10 of 75:
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Apr 29 00:25 UTC 1993 |
A small amount of intellectual growth. I now know that there's
something called "hexavalent chromium".
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mcnally
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response 11 of 75:
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Apr 29 01:41 UTC 1993 |
Not that I really have a yard but I'm trying to figure out whether
or not to plant some flowers in the beds by the front door..
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rcurl
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response 12 of 75:
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Apr 29 04:56 UTC 1993 |
Sure, why not? Marigolds.
Re: #10. Hexavalent chromium is a carcinogen that gets into sewage
sludge because small metal plating firms dispose of wastes in the
sanitary sewers. It generally makes dried activated sludge unsuitable
for fertilization for food production. It is being reduced, slowly,
by environmental laws - when the powers-that-be get around to inspecting
(and often closing down) polluting plating firms. Don't breathe your
dried activated sewage sludge.
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danr
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response 13 of 75:
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Apr 29 12:06 UTC 1993 |
re #11,12. Marigolds would be a good choice. All you need to do is
buy a package of seeds and plant 'em. They're pretty low maintenance
and they look nice, imho.
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glenda
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response 14 of 75:
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Apr 29 13:12 UTC 1993 |
And they help to keep mesquitos away.
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remmers
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response 15 of 75:
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Apr 29 23:17 UTC 1993 |
The bag of activated sewage sludge (brand name Milorganite) does carry
a warning not to use it on anything you plan to eat.
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steve
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response 16 of 75:
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Apr 30 01:18 UTC 1993 |
Interesting, and disgusting.
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rcurl
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response 17 of 75:
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Apr 30 05:17 UTC 1993 |
I saw a short article on a suspected effect of estrogen hormones on the
reproduction of fish in stream receiving *treated* sewage treatment plant
outflow. Apparently some birth control pill ingredients make it
through, and can upset the ecosystem. I bet things like that also collect
in activated sewage sludge. Some of these things can be absorbed
through the skin too - so don't walk on your grass barefoot.
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keats
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response 18 of 75:
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May 1 17:18 UTC 1993 |
(this item linked to agora 40 as the link of the month. if you're not
reading this in the nature conference, why don't you join nature and
see what's going on there?)
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remmers
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response 19 of 75:
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May 3 03:47 UTC 1993 |
Today it was supposed to rain, but it didn't, so I got a lot of
lawn care done. Gave the back yard a near-scalping (I always cut
it extra-short for the first mowing of the season) and a light,
refreshing sprinkling of Scotts Turf Builder. The front lawn
lawn, which I'd sewage sludged and turf builded last week, seems
to be growing awfully fast now, so I mowed that too.
If you've got a yard, there's lots to do in the spring, lots to do.
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kentn
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response 20 of 75:
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May 3 04:39 UTC 1993 |
I get it, scalp the lawn first thing and it you probably won't have
to mow it the rest of the summer...it'll take several months to recover?
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rcurl
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response 21 of 75:
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May 3 06:05 UTC 1993 |
Today we went on a geological field trip to just north of Jackson, but
our guide didn't show up at the appointed time and place, so we tried
to see the "prominent ridge capped by Bayport Limestone", but out there
prominent ridges are in the mind of the beholder. So we looked at the
(channelized) Portage River, and Jackson Prison, and were glad we were
in neither.
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shf
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response 22 of 75:
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May 3 09:00 UTC 1993 |
I've not touched my lawn yet, but I plan to rent a large ( 8' blade ) Cat
bulldozer and remove the topsoil before removing 600 yards of the sand
underneath. The bigger the boys the bigger the toys:) whee.
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bap
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response 23 of 75:
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May 3 18:04 UTC 1993 |
rcurl, what is the name of the escarpment that surounds Michigan?
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rcurl
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response 24 of 75:
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May 3 20:56 UTC 1993 |
You may be thinking of the Niagaran Escarpment, resistant outcropping
of Silurian limestones and dolomites. The escarpment (as such) runs
from the Bruce Peninsula (WI), across the center of the UP, across
Ontario (and Niagara Falls) and into New York.
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