Spring/summer Dl Sale

[Rebecca]

Good Morning Everyone!

I really do not want to mess with a yard sale this year, but I do have a ton (seemingly) of daylilies to sell this spring. Prices are low and shipping is reasonable! I am about to be overrun with this year's crop of seedlings and really need all the space I can get.

I have been unsuccessful at getting someone to till the new seedling bed and will have to rent a tiller and do it myself (something I really wanted to avoid, especially since the old arthristis has gotten worse in my hnees).

Anyway, anyone interested in obtaining a text copy of my list, please PM or E-mail me through this site.

Thanks!

Rebecca

[Rebecca]

I'm beginning to get scapes on one and two year old seedlings now and the excitement of the season is starting to build! Of the several seedlings beginning to show scapes I don't know which ones I'm more anxious to see!

Still haven't been able to get the seedling bed re-done and the new seedlings are beginning to whine about needing root room! The clatter they raise is worse than the constant ringing in my ears! Babies can be so demanding! :D

The potted plants in the sales area are also beginning to put up scapes so now is the time to get your orders it!


Rebecca


PS

Most of what I have for sale is older cultivars, and they have all been great performers over the years. But I really need the space for the newer plants and all these seedlings!!!

[Ann B.]

Rebecca,

I adore the old cultivars. When exactly are you going to be shipping them?

Please send me a text list with prices!

Thanks!

:D :D

[Rebecca]

Ann,

You have Mail!


Rebecca

[Dazed_Lily]

Just want y'all(yet to buy) to know that Rebecca's daylilies are absolutely top notch. They are healthy, big, and have great root systems. I couldn't rave enough about how happy I was over them because they were just so healthy. Buy them with confidence. :)

[Rebecca]

THANK YOU!

[vicki]

Rebecca,
Would love a price list of your daylilies. Thank you.:)

[Rebecca]

Vicki,

PM me your e-mail addy and I'll send you an up-dated copy tonight.

Rebecca

[3girls]

Rats--I just had almost all this note written, opened Amazon to check a title, and when I tried to come back, hit the wrong button. I'll try again!

We do NOT rototill. I am 70 now, and don't have the time or energy. We are now in our third year in our garden and have wonderful soil, loaded with earthworms, and growing healthy plants. We mulch in the heat of summer (3-4") and more heavily in late fall (6-8"). By spring there is no evidence of the mulch. We used municipal leaf mulch. The worms have jillions of tunnels that aereate the soil and allow nutrients. They digest the mulch, process it, make little worm castings that are rich in humic acid, etc. We don't even use a trowel to transplant--just pull the soil back, plant, and get out of the way. We weeded thoroughly spring and again in the fall, and with the mulch and NO tilling have very few that dare make an appearance.

I am inspired by two books by Ruth Stout (books out of print; so's she), also Weedless Gardening by Lee Reich. (Amazon)

We fertilize with natural fertilizers using liquid fish and seaweed a lot. Our plants resistance to disease and pests remains high so long as we don't stress the plants with too little water. All those worm tunnels make for great drainage. We are very protective of our worms and wouldn't dream of poisoning them.

If you haven't yet gotten that bed tilled, try just piling on some mulch and plant into it. We make new beds by putting down on the lawn cardboard or 8-10 layers of newspaper and piling on manure and leaf mulch. We plant directly into it the following spring, and prodeed as outlined above. Who needs a plow or tiller? Sell it and buy some manure!

I hope this is not too long or pedantic. Just want to share what works for me. Sandi

[Rebecca]

Sandi,

I would have loved to have not had to till this small area, but it needed to be done when I first put the seedling bed in and now have 3/4 of it turned over in preparation for tilling it this time. After this I hope to never have to till again!

I did not see one earthworm while I was turning over the bed this evening. Did find a lot of broken bricks and rocks, which leads me to think the entire back yard was fill in with some pretty trashy stuff! When it gets dry it's like trying to dig in concrete! The area that was previously planted was very easy to dig, but I am now in an area that has only been grass. It's also where I am finding the most of the bricks and rocks. I had left some pine straw scattered about and have turned it over, along with about a million Maple seeds and who knows how many seeds from the Catalpa tree. I've also been dumping old potting soil onto the bed and several years ago I had mulched heavily with chipped wood. I can get it free for the asking from my Street Department.

The bed will get some pine straw once I get all the seedlings in and I will bed it down for the winter with a thick layer of fresh pine straw.

I do like your way of making new beds and if I had access to good, aged (or even, fresh) manure and the like I would go that route. Of course my neighbors might not appreciate it! Living in town has it's drawbacks! I doubt I will be making any new beds though, I really have run out of room to convert to gardens and my landlord would not appreciate it if I took over any more of the lawn areas!

Thank you for the advise! I will pass it along to others who are planning new beds.

Rebecca

[3girls]

Rebecca, it sounds as bad as my farm in WA state. Glacial clay and rocks. Now that I am away, I can see that I should have built raised beds with 2x12's from the gyppo loggers and filled them with a wonderful mix I could purchase. I spent a lot of money trying to turn the clay/rocks into soil.

Here in PA, we are fortunate to own 2 acres in a suburban setting. The soil is reallly great! Used to be a corn field. Covered in grass/native plants right now, but I am working on that. We have an annually increasing veggie/flower garden, and now are building toward a backyard nursery. Ordered the infrastructure this week.

I have really enjoyed all the messages in the Daylilly forum. I feel like I know everyone personally! The pictures are stunning. We ordered a big bunch of seedlings from Wayside a few years ago. Mistreated them badly, but now have the survivors in a 3' x 40' bed with Asiatics and Orientals. It just knocks your socks off! Bought a Stella last month, divided it into 9 plants, one of which is setting a bloom! My they are tough. I will need to do more about the lilies as I get this operation under way.

Thanks for the input----Sandi

[Dazed_Lily]

Sandi - I'm interested in raised beds and good soil ! I know what you mean about nice rich soil as I used to live in the northeast and I just assumed that soil was that way everywhere ! Ha !
I now live in Kansas and have rock hard clay soil. Funny it's not the red clay of Georgia or Oklahoma--it's kinda gray. Anyway, I do have some beds that were ammended with 'cotton bol' soil- acidifier to break up the clay and I have also brought in, most recently at the end of last summer, 5 tons of bought 'screened sandy loam'(that's what they call it-smelled like barnyard dirt to me but at least it wasn'y clayey). It doesn't take long for 5 tons to diasappear and leave you needing more.
Anyway, I currently have close to 100 dayliliy seedlings with another round of about 100 set to be planted indoors soon. I am planing ahead for their outdoor home. I'd like to do raised beds primarily for drainage and to ensure I'm putting good soil into them. I don't think I'm going to use wood, but was thinking cement/cinder blocks. What do you think would be reasonable dimensions for a raised bed(I know that it depends on the area you have to work with) but I would assume the width should be no wider than a ceratin amount for example. Did you ever get creative and try any tiering or were they 'two' dimensional beds ?
I don't know if that made any sense but I was just excited to see the words 'raised beds' in your post that I thought I'd try to glean anything I can from you about them.
Thanks,Cathy
I am also still chuckling over your reference to the author who is 'out of print' in addition to her book -LOL !

[sue salley]

Cathy, Raised beds are grest for good drainage if you have hard clay (experience speaking). I have some of brick some of concrete blocks. They should be no wider than that you can reach the middle from both sides. Length depends only on your area.

[3girls]

A raised bed can be any dimension you want. Also, one can put sides on them or not. I personally like sides on, so I have something to sit on and it just seems to keep everything contained. Sue is quite right that the bed should be no wider than you can reach the center comfortably. Most are about 3-4 feet wide. Eliot Coleman likes the 3' width because he can leap over them when he needs to go from row to row. In my current garden, the rows will be 4' wide, but not so long as to be a nuisance. We are aiming for a fenced area of apx 35 x 85. The entire perimeter with the exception of the gates will be 6' wide, with a 7' fence running down the middle. There will be 2-3 foot paths quartering the garden. Then each bed will be apx 4 x 11. I am using cement block 4 x 8 x 16, two high, putting hooked bolts thru 2 x 6' lumber for the top and filling some of the holes with concrete. I hope to get started on the perimeter this summer. The blocks are around $1.00 each, and 2x12 lumber is about the same. I like the permanance -- it will be here long after I'm gone. I have not experienced trying for tiers, etc. I'm not sure they would be efficient. However, the beauty of gardening is the limitless paths of creativity that develops. Anything within reason, goes, and there are not "taste police" out there to criticize. If anyone should be so boorish as to do so, give them a shovel (if not a shove) and tell them to get busy.

What is more important is what you put into the beds. A good mixture of screened topsoil, composted manure and sand works with clay. If you put goodies in the soil, the earthworms will come. Then constant replenishment with organic mulch will keep everything in shape. Get Lee Reich's book; it will tell all you ever want to know about Weedless Gardening.

This has worked in one form or another for me over the years, and a reading of the literature will second that. It will be great fun to get busy on this place. There has been a three year delay, so it is so exciting to do this. Sandi

[Dazed_Lily]

Hmmm. ..thanks Sue Salley and Sandi ...food for thought.
All this earthworm talk has reminded me about how last year I noticed that there was alot of earthworms in my pots containing potting soil. I promised myself that I would have earthworm pots just to raise them to put them in the beds. I guess they wander into the pots looking for good soil. It's just hard to imagine all that happening. Rather it looks like they just 'grew' in the pots !
:D

[Rebecca]

I've had several nice responses from the original post. There isn't a lot of variety left, but there are still some very fine plants to be had at bargain prices!

Still have a couple of 'Along the Way', 'Bonnie Barbara Allen', 'Gentle Shepherd', 'White Temptation' and several others. I also still have several of my own crosses left.

PM me with your email addy if you're interested in having the list.

Rebecca


PS

Photos can be seen on the DamselFair's Daylilies site.

[Ann B.]

Rebecca!

All of the daylilies that I bought from you are putting on new growth.

This morning, June Bug has two miniature blooms. My first reaction was to look at some purple (with deeper purple eyes) miniatures that came with the 'hybridized' daylilies to see if any were left in bloom, but there aren't so I will have to wait until next year.

I do have one other similar, slightly larger one that I will try as soon as the pollen gets a little fluffy today.

They are as cute as a June Bug! Appropriately named!

Thanks, so much! What a bargain your daylilies are!!!!!

I sure hope you will have more next year!

:D

[Dazed_Lily]

I second that ! All of Rebecca's plants are thriving both the ones I just bought as well as those planted Fall '03. And to this day, her seeds are by far the best !