posted
I have an area around my porch that is nothing but compacted gravel. I have work for two years now trying to grow something there but nothing can survive the area. I just put a thick layer of mulch down yesterday hoping to beat the wicked weed that haunts my lawn. I thought about putting lattice up around my porch and just planting some type of climbing - vining flower in containers and letting them take over the area. It would be nice to have a little privacy from the neighbors also.
If I do this what type of containers would be best. It is completely in full sun. We have no trees on out property. I have problems with things drying up so much around here. It could just be the fact that I forget to water them tho - (ssshhh! ) I am going to do better this year tho!
Thanks for any help anyone can give. If anyone has any ideas on the best climbing flowers I am open to that also. I've had pretty good luck with morning glories so I may be leaning towards them.
Plants: 40 | From: Chillicothe, Ohio | Registered: Mar 2007
| Seeded: 76.181.151.134
posted
Hi Crystal, you could look into a Bower Vine as well (jasmine pandorea). It is hardy to USDA zone 9a and I (fool that I am) am actually trying one in zone 8b in a south facing sheltered spot. It is native to Queensland, Aus. and likes full sun. The flower (profuse apparently) is white and if you Google it you will find lots of pictures and descriptions so I am not putting in a link to one particular site. Do let us know what you decide on, and how you fare.
* * * * I am told that one day my brain will grow and grow. I'm looking forward to being a half wit. Plants: 138 | From: Scarborough. U.K. | Registered: Feb 2007
| Seeded: 88.107.36.255
posted
I am in zone 4 or 5. I will look it up - worst case it would be an annual I guess. Will it do okay in a container? I sort of thought about having my husband build me flower boxes close to the ground all the way around the porch. I don't know if it would work or not...
Plants: 40 | From: Chillicothe, Ohio | Registered: Mar 2007
| Seeded: 76.181.151.134
posted
Yep, containers work.. And what type of container works, depends on what you want to grow, and what kind of container you want really..
I grow veggies, and here's one in a big round pop container bucket I get at the Dollar General or Family Dollar or Walmart's for about $6~8 bucks.. put a couple of holes in the bottom and filled with potting soil, garden soil, compost, vermiculite, etc. and grow peas..
but you can have wooden boxes, or grow boxes, or Pots/containers..
And if you have a problem with the containers dryin' out, if the container is plastic, you can always put a diaper in the bottom.. *but make allowance for the diaper to expand really big when water fills up the polymere crystals.., or it will push everything out of the pot when it fills up, if you didn't wet them and let them expand first**
But you can also buy a package of polymere crystals and mix them into the lower 3/4 of the dirt of the container.. ***you don't want the polymere crystals in the top 1/4 part, because they fill with water and you don't want the plants roots to go to the top where they can be too hot and dry out toooo fast....you want them to go to the bottom where they can remain moist and cooler..***
* * * * Weezie
Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. - Bible - Hebrews 13:2
posted
Wow - I never thought about putting a diaper in a container. That is hilarious! The plastic and material won't hurt anything? I guess now I have a use for all the diapers my baby has outgrown Plants: 40 | From: Chillicothe, Ohio | Registered: Mar 2007
| Seeded: 76.181.151.134
posted
I guess now I can understand the commerial for the little swimmers when the baby with a normal diaper dries up the ocean. Thanks for the advice. Maybe my pots stand a chance Plants: 40 | From: Chillicothe, Ohio | Registered: Mar 2007
| Seeded: 76.181.151.134
posted
The only one draw back that I can tell you with the polymere crystals is.. If it's a rainy overcast summer and doesn't get much of a chance to dry out.. Then you have very moist soil, alot...
They do work very good though in hanging baskets, cause either way, it's usually windy and dries out no matter what....
* * * * Weezie
Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. - Bible - Hebrews 13:2
posted
That blue container would be good for vegetables around here. I can't get anything good to come out of this ground. I have some other plastic containers that survived the winter so I will probably use those. The cider blocks would be nice - my husband has a concrete business so we always have those laying around. Maybe all this crappy yard isn't hopeless after all Plants: 40 | From: Chillicothe, Ohio | Registered: Mar 2007
| Seeded: 76.181.151.134
posted
Here's some really BIG containers.. *my raised beds* so, If you can even get your hubby to make something along those lines, that will give you loads of space.. (We made ours out of roughcut lumber.. And do NOT use treated wood for a vegetable bed or anything that would be eaten out of)
* * * * Weezie
Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. - Bible - Hebrews 13:2
posted
I have hard clay ground. I am in zone 4 or 5 - it depends what map I look at. I am in southern Ohio - about an hour or hour and a half north of West Virginia. I think this place used to be a corn field about 12 years ago. I have been adding fertilizers and soil trying to get the clay better. I think I have mixed in sand and I also mixed in stuff from the garden center - he said it was like dry wall packed into fine pellets and it would condition the soil and make it easier to work with. I think it helped - I only used it last year. I wish I could remember what it was so I could get some more. I've been slowly getting it to look a lot better. I was just out digging and it looks like soil now - not just clay.
Plants: 40 | From: Chillicothe, Ohio | Registered: Mar 2007
| Seeded: 76.181.151.134
joclyn
guest
posted
i have clayish soil too. not all clay tho.
at some point in the past, there was a flowerbed in the backyard...i've brought it back and have been steadily extending it each year. i'm finding that they actually had more than one bed...as evidenced by the condition of the 'soil' as i elongated and widened the bed.
all i've been doing is using the mulch (licorice root mulch) each year and then turning it over into the base soil each year in the spring (after it's had a year to break down) and then topping things off with a new batch of the stuff.
after 7 years, i've got really good soil now. others add in manure and sand to provide nutrients and drainage to the clay. if you're really a solid clay, that's what you probably need to do.
also, you can tailor your planting to things that work well with that kind of soil base.
okay. now to the compacted gravel. unless you want to just build raised beds, you'll need to remove that compacted stuff!! even if you do raised beds, it's still going to interfere with drainage...and you don't need water running off into your foundation!! you'd have to make sure that you set the raised beds properly (as in not right against the house) and that they're graded to drain away from the foundation.
get the hubby a nice shiny-new pick axe for fathers day and have him go at the gravel it'll be a great way for him to work off his frustration at getting such a lousy present for fathers day!!
i'm just kidding!!!!
seriously, if you want the compacted gravel taken out - it'll have to be done either by hand with a pick axe, or maybe you could rent a small back hoe from home depot or the like to dig up the stuff.
oh, ask at the garden center again about the stuff you got last year...i'm sure someone there will know what product it was! if you like the way it conditioned the soil, then you should stay with it!
Seeded: 70.20.141.241
posted
To add to what others said...containers are a great way to garden if your yard is not good space-wise or soil-wise.
My first year in this house, I didn't have a garden per se. I had containers!
I have a driveway in the way of where I needed to have my garden. (the only place in the yard that got decent sunshine) Last year, I had my then-future husband cut down the maple tree that blocked the sun, so we could make a "proper" garden. But that first year, my containers were awesome for the amount of food I was growing.
And yes, those ARE tomatoes growing upside down! I don't think I will ever go back to in-ground tomatoes.
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) I am going to do better this year tho!
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great idea weezie, i think i'll use that for some of the areas that burned off. so they don't grow back up.
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get the hubby a nice shiny-new pick axe for fathers day and have him go at the gravel![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
it'll be a great way for him to work off his frustration at getting such a lousy present for fathers day!!![[grin]](graemlins/grinnnn.gif)
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Printer-friendly view of this garden