I've already admitted to one of my weird doings in the compost corner, but thought it a good one to start the confessions off with. We call it the 'compost calypso' because I save eggshells right in the paper carton. Then they are stomped and tromped on, before being tossing onto the heap. The shells break down faster that way. Otherwise they remain as 'whole-halves' in the borders. The pulpy cartons are a carbon source (used to be trees) that melts completely away and the eggshells are thought to contain those mysterious trace minerals and more.

I used to bring home the floor sweepings from Rhonda's hair shop. Great source of nitrogen, but Larry just couldn't take it - and asked me not to use any more body parts.

If I can admit to that, you guys can now fess up too!

Well, the two things you mentioned...The crushed egg shells are a source of minerals for the birds also. You might mix some in your bird feeder.
The hair is suppose to attract slugs. The slugs (so I am told) swallow the hair, they can not digest it and DIE.....I just thought this might help you with Larry.....

All my crushed egg shells go around the base of my hostas. Between that and the pecan shell mulch, the slugs can't get to the plant. Love it!

Good ideas guys. And you're right David, Larry might tolerate the hair better in light of the slug defense application! Do you think stuff from the dog brushes serve the same? I just toss it in the sink collecter when no one is looking. hehe. Now I'll try it in the slug-ie beds. As large and hairy as your two dogs are, you probably don't even have to lift the hair shop's sweepings for slug defense ;-).

I had given up on hostas completely Gail. Must have another go with your tried and true tactics.

I need to know. from Gail, a little more about the pecan mulch she uses. How can I get in touch with her via email. Bob Kimbro orbmik@tyler.nat

Hello Bob, Gail has her own thread right here. Just hit 'Topics' on the nav bar and scroll down to her 'Organic Guide' posting page.
I have used the pecan shells on our beds before. They are so nice and light to work with, look good and become soil quite fast, but are murder on bare feet!

Here's another compost tidbit. Fortunately, my family enjoys fresh artichokes for a meal as much as the compost. The cooking water with bits of celery, garlic and lemons; the leaf remnants, the chokes, the lemon skins, all make for a huge fresh load for the pile.

Maggie, I always wondered who ate those things??(artichokes)....Sum and Substance Hosta has been in my flower beds for 2 years and I have had not a problem at all with Slugs....I read it is SLUG-PROOF Hosta and one of the largest leafed one s too......
Bob,baged Pecan shells are sold at Redenta's Nurserys...there are three area locations....

Bob, you can also get them even cheaper at Clear Fork Materials in Aledo...if you go on Sunday, one of the owners is very partial to home gardeners and will give you a discount if you ask nicely! I've gotten an entire pick up bed of compost for less than $40....just smile pretty!

Or save up the family's pecan shells this winter when making all those pies for Thanksgiving....

Dave ... garlic, lemon and butter makes anything taste good - right? Even slugs in shells! Too bad ours aren't the right variety for escargot ;-).
Where did you get your Sum and Substance?

It takes several cubic yards of pecans dumped on the driveway to cover all my beds - cheapest that way. But it doesn't last long enough for the effort. Now I just mulch one sunny bed at time as each is worked up. Our own wood trimmings mulched in the chipper last up to 6 months. I put several sheets of newspaper on damp, freshly composted soil first. When we run short of trimmings, I sometimes buy native cypress bark which lasts the longest, and is prettier than homemade shreddings. I was desperate last month and used oak leaves over the paper until we get some mulching done. They rot slowly for leaves, are free and are light weight to work with. Still, I hope to put wood on top of them soon. I think East Texas pine needles make the prettiest mulch!

That brings up another confession. I love to top dress ugly mulch such as grass clippings etc., with the rusty autumn Bald Cypress leaves. I have been known to wait till a neighbor gets his all raked and bagged up before collecting them. Wouldn't it be nice if I offered to help him?

Yes,Maggie it would be "NICE" if you helped your poor neighbor bag up there cypress leaves, but what fun is that?? You have to sneak over when no one is looking and liberate the leaves....It will make you feel like you have taken something that you should not have taken? That is FUN??
Like the Nursery pots, left out at the curb for the trash men to haul off, I liberate all I can..

I've got three girlfriends that continue to bag their leaves and they call me to come do my thing with them....one finally got wise enough to ask me last fall what I do with them...I told her quietly that I put them in my compost pile or on top of my flower beds to mulch down naturally...she was silent for a moment and then said..."so I rake them up from my flower beds and you take them and spread them out in yours?" She didn't take the next step...which means figuring out why...I figure when she does I'll lose one of my sources...of course, when my friends bag their leaves, it only confirms they don't read my organic column or calendar!! But the silver lining(s)(i.e. bagged leaves) are allllllll mine! And no, I don't offer to help bag 'em either, Maggie!

Yes, Gail your friends must not read your column or read your calendar!!!! Which I might add are the best and most professional Organic source for information in your area!!!!Hey, maybe you can help out with our web-site???
Leaves, I hate to see them at any ones curb to be taken to the land fill......They are such a resource to any home gardener! But Gail and Maggie we would not have, half as many leaves if our friends and neighbors didn't bag them up just for US......

Aren't we lucky to have Gail with us!! All the To-Dos, right at our mouse tips!

David writes for the Greater Arlington Organic Garden Club and their new site is being created by Angie Brown, who began the Lady bugs topic last week. Post your site HERE guys. I'll add it to our new links page, now you are up and running.

About the Bags,,,, I will even tolerate being known as the neighborhood 'Baglady'. Anyone with teenagers will understand why I have to do the deed in the dead of night - for their sake. They think I have no pride, but I am very proud to contribute efforts to lessen the landfill burden.
I realized in the early 80's that the worst threat I could use on the first teenager - worse than grounding, worse than weeding, worse than allowance deprivation - was a threat to pick up curbside bags with HER IN THE CAR! And it still wields the most potent threat on the second born! hehe

Maggie, my training from the TNRCC (Texas Natural Resource Concervation Commission) where I received my Master Composting Certificate, I was informed that any animal parts including egg shells in the compost bed would draw flies therefore creating a maggot situation. I am glad to hear that it may not be a problem because eggshells could really contribute to the compost pile. However, I live in a high humidity area in East Texas and maybe thats why I was cautioned about the eggshells. My best to you and Larry!

David, as weird as it may seem....I've never had flies hovering over my LARGE compost pile right next to my patio -- great location, uh? Anyway, if I add veggie or other foods, I always take out a shovel of compost and pile it over the scraps to kill any smell that would entice critters. Of course, you may be on to something about the humidity although this week seems we are at a 100% out there! Not that I'm going to complain about rain. We need more before they start rationing and all my young babies in the garden wilt away. Nice to have you join us.

david, I can not see how humidity would make a compost pile draw flies? If Silver Creek Materials(they make Compost) can compost two died cows in under 4 days with nothing left off the carcass...I believe it is all in how HOT your compost pile is? If it is hot, no fly in the world would land on they baby..

Me too Gail... delighted to see David H join us here! I first saw him interviewed on an HGTV Gar Journal, then recognized him from that, at an East Texas plant festival. We have vended along side him several times since - great guy. David is an herb grower and marketer - very knowledgeable. Let's all gang up on him, to get him to join us at the plant swap this month!

About the eggshells, I've been adding them to the compost for years w/o a problem. Thought it might be because I let them dry out under the sink before I get around to hauling them down for a calypso. Maybe non-dried wet 'whites' is appealing to flies - hence the TNRCC info and humidity idea. Thanks for the input, DH.

Which brings me to another confession of weird doings for the sake of the pile. My family just loves it when the cartons get all backed up under the sink - cabinet avalanche when they open the doors!

Anyway, I too bury any newly added kitchen scraps like Gail, to seal it up, in hopes of it discouraging critters. But no, except for the hair - I don't add 'fleshy' body parts animal nor human ;-).Whole cows?? Oh my gosh, I don't even want to know what they died of. I don't want dead animal bits strewn in the beds, especially if whatever killed them made the meat so unsuitable for human consumption that they were flogged for compost. Whole cows in 4 days?!?! ..sounds like a Stephen King composting plot !

I do admire Gail and David B for their ability to apply eggshells / hair to individual plants for slug defense. I have always just added it to the pile. With this many beds and plants I have always reasoned that eventually, each plant will get some of everything from the compost tossings. Really must have a go at the individual applications on the slug's favorites tho.

Wait, wait...Maggie, you're giving me toooo much credit...energy....I only have one bed with the hostas and other slug favorites so it's really EASY for me to put them under the few plants they love....believe me, if I had a garden the size of your garden, individual plants wouldn't get special attention...as a matter of fact, I'd probably be dead....ah, but dying while gardening is the way I want to go when I go...anyway, I don't know how you do it all and have time for Larry....wait, I'm losing focus...plants....focus...plants

Yep, I expect them to find me (myself) composting away out there one day. You're right Gail,,, it's the only way to go! And about the other thing, we gardeners don't get headaches, right? We're lucky if we can just make it back to the house unaided.

Hey, you ladies don't have to worry...I will make sure to compost your bodies a quick as possible....I think TWO days if the pile is HOT enough......I know I am a true friend....I agree with Gail, If I had as many flower beds as Maggie does, I would have a headache 24 hours a day....

Wait..I think I gave the wrong impression. Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to have ALL of Maggie's flower beds...I'm just saying if I did, I'd be dead. Unless...I could not work a regular 8-5 but only garden all day...hmmmm, anyone need a full time gardener?!? I would do it at my house, but Sonny hasn't offered to pay me...which means I couldn't buy any garden goodies...hmmm, no point in dreaming I suppose...but still....

Yep, this is too many beds for even one full time gardener to keep it the way I'd like to. But if there was another out there with me, I prob wouldn't let him get in the beds anyway. But I could do with an aupaire aupare guy if I could figure out how to spell it. Pref with a French accent, great cooking skills, valid drivers license and a house cleaning compulsion. Or a shushi chef with all of the above. Then I'd never have to leave the garden! Well, almost. Almost heaven !

We gardeners hoard rainwater and soak transplants in containters where they wait to be planted. Then distractions happen and stuff turns to muck. Let's all fess up to standing water that sometimes turns stinky, or the kitchen scraps that gets put on the porch until 'someone' takes it down to the pile. I KNOW I'm not the only one! But here's a clue.... when ya get the smelly yuck on your hands, it is such a hassle to go in the house right away, to give them a good scrubbing. So, I grow a lavender near the heap, esp for fixing nasty stuff on hands. Just rub hands around in the foliage - it is instantly gone! We know 'lavender' is derived from the Latin 'lath' - lather - bathe - and this is why!

Great idea, Maggie...but Sonny will still accuse me of growing "experiments"....such as the allium you gave me last weekend that I plopped into a shallow dish of water...and there they soak...still...maybe this weekend...especially since I spent my lunch hour yesterday at the Fairmont plant sale! A box of babies await planting...now...where do I squeeze them in...hmmmmmmm...

I know, we as 'Gardeners' have all done this once. At least I hope just once? You go out and buy some plants and then your job the kids or something comes up....and you know what happens to your newly aquired plants?......Yes, you guessed it they DIED....There is nothing in this world as depressing as losing PLANTS...I know it is all my fault..
So to not have this happen, I will not buy more plants than I can plant on any givin Sunday....Yes, Maggie I still have plants from Mondays plant sale to plant and that will happen Sunday.....

Well, if it makes you feel better David, I couldn't get all mine planted this week either, thanks to the rain. Can't complain about that short lived phenomena around here tho. And I dare you to try not buying more than can be planted on a Sun - HA ... not me!!

Despite the wet weather, we've had 3 sets of folks touring the garden this week - two had toddlers with them - always a treat for me. I get to watch them tripping off on bugs and blooms and feel satisfied that another generation is getting the seed sown early! The roses, peonies, iris and clematis are in prime right now. Bet they'll all be gone by the swap date - and the garden will look yucky. On well,,, it served its duty well this week on the new inductees!

Maggie, Just as long as the poppies are doing there best in time for the swap! If not, I need a personal tour again, early...

By the way, any history on the Marie Pave that's blooming white AND red velvet?

Think I have a good guess Gail, but bring me a bloom. I'll start a rose topic on the forum to post an image of your mysteryrose for stabs at an ID. It is certainly the root stock coming through and I know just who to hollar at for naming it. Are you there TXRoselady? :-)

Where do those tiny gnats come from that like to hang around the sink container of compost goodies? Think they are the same things that show up in damp houseplant's soil and my guess is that they come in with fresh fruit from the grocery store. So the confession here is once again, letting the compost stash in the kitchen sink get too ripe! Am I the only compost slob ?!

EVERYONE surely has those gnats at some point! When I water my houseplants toooo much, they pay me a visit. But I don't have any confessions to kitchen scrap piles since I don't remember where our kitchen even is....

oh,,,, :-0 ,,, that's right, I keep forgetting. I guess asking you to bring some goodies or herbal tea for the swap is out then, huh?
Have been threating to have my kitchen removed, but it sometimes comes in handy for plant-works.

I can bring something store bought...does that thrill ya'?

As long as it keeps us outta 'that room' Gail. I think all of us gardeners need an old-fashioned housewife to take care of the indoors food and dirt, while we deal with them outside!

About the gnats, I'm going to start a critter topic to show you my newest defense - its very earth-friendly.

When I picked up Nigel at the dog groomers today, I was eyeing their floor sweepings. Just thought I'd mention it - not going to admit to anything tho, cause all these confessions are starting to make me feel very self conscience.
So, just thought I'd mention it as a source for others to consider ;-)

Funny you mention that Maggie..My wife and I groom our two ChowChow's on our back deck. So when we dry them there under coat flys out every where...I have never noticed any sluges or snails in the back yard....We pick up most of the fur, but you cannot get all of it??? my be I should start grooming the dogs on my side yards that really have slugs and snails??

Glad to hear someone else fess up to weird doings for the garden David ! Now, everyone stop and think about what fills up their vacuum bags.

well folks, dog hair is also excellent for spinning but it won't help in the compost, but you can use it as ties, then compost it...I came accross an ab fab bargin of red wiggler worms. Can I add them to by big bin - the first one, ya' know where you dump everything for all year and then figure out who is going to turn it? I compost and live near Fort Smith AR. Thanks- Margota

Does that mean that you can weave the dog hair into fabric, then make a necktie with it and then the recipient composts it for you out of gratitude for such a nice gift !?!
Sounds like a great source of nitrogen to me :-0
And they say organic gardening is labor intensive. You take that accusation to an entirely new level Margo ;-)

I think the red wigglies would love the first bin and that they would stay there a long time if someone doesn't get around to turning it, to get it cooking hot fast. I've been waiting for that someone to turn mine all spring. Its the same someone that is supposed to take the sink bucket to the compost bin too, right?
I'd put some of them in all the beds too - worms, not the 'someones'. ;-)

Thanks for the advice - I'll call the worm farmer and he promised to deliver a pound of worms to the house. all sorts of images, poetic and otherwise come to mind, eh? margot

I'm back! I have a question about a "good" bug...I'm not sure where to put it??
At my place, it's been a great year for monarda/bee balm: we have an insect that look like a hummingbird, except it has 6 legs and a curled up probiscus/tougue like a butterfly. Does anyone know it kind of insect or it name???? gracias! Margot

Margot, Could it be a hummingbird moth? Here's a photo I got from the web,

Margota? Did I get your name wrong? I'm sorry! Your May message is from margotmundy, but your June message is from margota mundy.

I'm not blaming the crazy colors - I'm blaming my cockeyed vision.

You can blame the neon bar all you like Sus - drives me nuts!
Welcome back Margo,ta!
Larry gets me back for calling him Lars, by calling me Margo. But I like it so much more than 'Maggie'
We have had an exceptional lot of those critters this year. Their lava is so neat - it looks like it has a jug handle on one end, which is actually where the proboscis is contained.
There are two kinds - the caterpillars are known as the tobacco and the tomato hornworm. You know those great big fat green things that devour the 'mater plants. I had one strip an entire Datura in two days once. Then it moved on to some Boston Ivy. But the moths are harmless, just supping nectar from the flowers. ,,,as fun to watch as hummingbirds. Love that pic Sus, thanks.

Photo by Mark Cassino. I cropped the image to reduce its size and inadvertently cut off the photographer's name. His web page has fantastic photos.

Gosh, I have never seen such detail come thru on net pics. He really has it all figured out - and shares his how-to so generously. Awesome stuff. Thanks for his link Sus.

Yes and thanks from me too Susan, he is one smart photographer. If I had photographed that Jay, I could die a happy man.

well folks, i think i saw that beastie named as "sphinx moth".
Now: I'd thought that the tomato monster hornworm/catopiller grew into the "Luna moth" - a semi-endangered sort of family - but at the rate the catopillars eat it's hard to forgive them. The picture is as i remember the moth but perhaps less spotted?
I also heard, years ago when my grandfather was still farming, that the tomato h.w. will easily eat grape leaves and to transfer them...(sigh)It's hard to forgive all that eating and uhhhhh refuse that they leave. Adios amigos companeros- i actually am at work and should do something, Margota

I see several of them in this garden each evening Margota and have noticed that their markings vary a lot. Also, I now know what happens to all the nicotiana plants that used to reseed themselves too generously. Lotsa sphinx moths and no nico seedlings
Terry, before you check out for good, bring your camera to Tex - we have lots of Jays

Maggie!! do they stand still till you can get within six inches of them??

Only if we borrow Caro's shot gun first, Terry ;-)
Altho, she's probably using it right now on her current grasshopper plague. She sent me the most amazing pic of it - a buddleia striped of leaves and covered with the beasts. Ack

Here's the pic of the grasshoppers on the buddleia. Wish I'd gotten a shot of the plant before the attack when it was lush and in full bloom. Who knew???

how is it that Fort Smith AR is so close to y'all and we are not so plagued by those (salamontes) hoppers (in spanish, they are jump-over-the-mountainers). A philosophical question and not needing an answer actually. Thanks y'all for helping a secretary's day go by with e-plants to take away the boredom...

I hope they don't jump over our hills to my mesa Margota ;-) - 'bout an hour away from Caro's swarm!
Wish there had been cyber gardens to escape to when I spent my days in an office - Wish there'd a been computers, for that matter!!! And cell phones - raising kids while working away from the house w/o cell phones seems like the dark ages now! Then I'm thinking about the lux of email in business - we struggled with telexing overseas communications. Now that is vintage! Course its a good thing I didn't have access to web gardening in the office - wouldn't have lasted long when they discoverd I wasn't getting anything else done ;)
So glad you can join us in our gardens Mar

hi y'all - am back off vacations - and watering 3 times/day. Am i paranoidic or has every county in USA got rain except for Fort Smith AR...please dance, meditate, pray, etc for us!! Margo

Sounds like Ft. Smith and Ft. Worth have a lot in common Mar!
There is the slightest chance of us getting some wet stuff this weekend. Let's hope you do too.
The garden pops up beautifully after a summer shower, even if it is just a quick one. What with all the ions in the air and good stuff in the rain, the plants respond to it so much better than our city tap water, which has pH over 8. Nasty stuff compared to folks near here with lake or well water. Their summer gardens do so much better for it.

We got an inch of rain this afternoon. Yea! I don't have to water tomorrow. Unfortunately, I did water this morning.

A whole inch in July !!! a TX gardeners dream come true.
We missed getting any so far, but the scattered clouds are almost as good. It doesn't hurt as much to walk out there when there's some white stuff shading the flames.

The only problem with getting the rain was the resultant sauna effect. Help me! I'm melting!!!

Funny you should say that - this week's column opened with 'if we must suffer the TX weather, we might as well have some jungle blooms' !
Bet you thought you were back in Fla

Believe it or not, it was really nice in Florida. Everywhere I was, it was close to the ocean, and there was a constant ocean breeze. I didn't notice the humidity or heat at all. I thought it was quite pleasant.

And about those jungle blooms....well, Maggie....I'd be happy just to see some leaves.

Did you see a couple of days ago on the news where the G-word had stripped all the coastal bermuda from the pastures, and ranchers were already having to hay their cattle? My cattle are all fat, so I suppose either they are eating weeds or all the G-word are in my garden.

Maybe your cows are eating the hoppers - ACK
Wish I had seen the news coverage - am wondering what all they had to say about it. Where is Tx A&M when ya need them. ;-)
Hope you got a fill of jungle blooms in Florida - or enough to hold you over till next year. Surely the plague won't be a continuous thing. If it were, I'd move

I would think that your problem must be self resolving Carolyn, can't be much left for them to eat now, or do they turn into carnivores when all the green stuff has gone?