May 14, 2010

Where are you Spring?


I have been making the most silly progress on my brick path today. From the back yard i load up and carry as many bricks as i can and head to the front yard where i dump them. Then i sit down on the porch to cool off. Then about 10 minutes later i lay those 8 or 9 bricks, then inside for a bit. This is ridiculous i know. But it is so hot out there today. Like in the 90's. And i am not ready for it. I want to know what happened to spring. The last frost generally isn't even until tomorrow?








12 comments:

JessicaLeighLaLou said...

Oh I feel your pain on both things... my mom always makes me lug stones around for our garden, and in Texas it's waaay too hot already. sigh.

Kate said...

Eek! It's been freezing here! Too bad neither of us can find a happy medium.

folk city said...

Chrisi,
I agree, it's been a very strange and frustrating spring as far as temperature ups and downs go.
I recently found a nice little glass and metal container that must have been an aquarium or terrarium in a previous life. It's kind of old and rusty in some spots... I like the patina. I have no experience with moss terrariums and wondered if you would recommend some varieties and sources of moss or similar things that would grow well in this environment?
Here's a photo of it...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/folkcity/4611220687/

Thanks,
Heidi

The Oak Leaves said...

Heidi,
Viola Valley Wild FLowers in a good company, run out of Ohio. They sell plants for pretty cheap. Some of my very favorites from them are rattlesnake plantain (I think they call it Orchid not plantain) and partridge berry. The latter is a wonderful woodland ground cover than blooms in the spring and is followed by little red berries. Its also evergreen and both plants are native to our area... Periwinkle will also do well if its in such a large terrarium. Moss acres is a good source for the right type of moss (cushion moss) but they may only sell in larger quantities, i'm not positive.

The most important thing you can do is use and organic soil and bake in a foil covered pan at 200 degrees for a bout 3 hours to kill any pests and their eggs. And add plenty of activated charcoal. Then use only rain water to moisten...

If you have any other questions or would like more detailed directions (i don't know how much you already know) just ask!

Everyone else,
Lets all wish for better weather here shortly!

folk city said...

Thanks for the advice! I'll look into Viola Valley Wild Flowers as soon as I get a chance. I also noticed that Roxbury Farm & Garden has cushion moss in their 'Stepables' plant collection.

Enjoy this cool spring rain!
-Heidi

The Oak Leaves said...

Heidi,
Just double check at roxbury that The cushion moss isnt just a misnomer. Usually the mosses that steppables carries are either sagina subulata or irish moss. These two do terribly in humid conditions. The plants from viola valley are around .20 cents each usually so very cheap...

I hope you'll show us when your all done!

The Oak Leaves said...

I looked through the site, if this is what you've found: Scleranthus Gnarled cushion, sorry but that one will not do well either. We sell these where I work at meadows farms, and over the years through trial and error ive tested a great many plants for my terrarium business. Unfortunately this one failed the test.

The Oak Leaves said...

Sorry for commenting so much, i just keep remembering things i should have mentioned to you... Spleenwort fern is also excellent in such a large terrarium. THese are available for quite cheap at viola valley as well.

folk city said...

Thank you so much for your help! As I mentioned in my blog on this subject, the only other terrarium I've ever made was a gift for my mom— in elementary school, involving layers of colored sand... very 70's and not what I have in mind for this project!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sowing Clover (Emily) said...

And this is why I should come and wwoof for you.

The Oak Leaves said...

Haha, yes Emily, come and we will make terrariums together!!!!!!!!1