[gardeners] In a hurry ;-)

Matt Trahan (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Mon, 03 May 1999 00:29:57 -0400 

Hi Bambi,
 Hope eveything is going ok! We are busy, but nothing worth worrying about.

Hi George, 
 You need to look into 2 part epoxy grout for your countertops. It's twice
as expensive and a real bear to work with (in comparison), but absolute
heaven to live with when it's done.
 We did it when we lived in Hawaii, but not when we resurfaced the counters
in our home here. Wish we had, I never seem to get around to siliconing the
regular sanded grout we have now.
 Who would have thought navy blue grout would get dirty. ;-)



"Rocks"

 Got a chance to work in my yard for 3 hours this evening. Had a *half* a
day off for the first time in 2 weeks since I came back from vacation in
the Shennandoa Valley in Virginia. Got a chance to see the family for 5
days and had a wonderful time. Now back to the grind...  ;-)
 Was able to bring about 600 pounds of 'bluestone' back with me for a short
stepping stone walkway. 600 pounds equals 12 fairly small rocks. :-( Most
of them are pretty flat, too.
 Laid most of them this evening and planted this spring's impulse buys
around and through them. Just a few hostas, some basils, and minor summer
bulbs for the most part. Felt good to get my fingers dirty again. (with
something besides 'bunker C' fuel oil, but that's for another time.) <VBG>


"Coats"

 Who turned off the heat??? I'll take any kind of coat for the past week.
Went from shirt sleeves all the way back to three layers. It's been high
50's and low 60's for the past week, 25-30 MPH winds and rainy, cloudy
skys, bleah! May first windchill is *not* supposed to be below freezing!

 Todays $64,000 questions are...
  a) will this be another dry year? 
  b) a bad hurricane season?
  c) will El nino, La nina and the NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) return
to our regularly scheduled weather?


"Mint and Yarrow"

 I've heard yarrow 'The Pearl' is extremely aggressive. We just have the
generic pink one given to us by a friend. It's a good grower, but easy to
maintain.
 The mints go in above ground 14" clay containers here. They will winter
over fine for us and I don't have to worry about them creeping over the
sides unnoticed. I have one bed left to get the mint out of and one bed
left to get the agapodium out of.
 'Hot Tuna', agapodium, 5 types of mint, vinca minor, variegated creeping
charlie or english ivy anyone?

Have fun,

Matt Trahan  <matttrahan@ecsu.campus.mci.net>
USDA zone 8, AHS heat zone 7, Sunset zone 31, northeastern N.C.