Hi I have been lurking and decided it was time!!
My name is Brenda I live in Detroit Mich where the weather has turned
off just great.
I need to ask a question here...
ok here goes...... all this summer I have made flower beds (wow broke my
back on this stuff) had such beautiful results... but every so often my
husband decides the plants need to breathe and digs up all around my
plants which messes up my beds..Now I have been a florist for thirty
years.. and have never heard of this..
I have such common plants..mums..
marigolds..nothing to be really worried about the care of...
Am I mistaken that this action Doesn't have to happen... the plants are
well watered and in good light and doing great!! is there such a need
as to let them breathe and dig the soil up around them..
couldn`t this disturb the roots...
just wanting to know....lol
a very nice group you have here... didn`t mean just to jump in with
questions... but I have to know before I take my stand :-)

~Bren

Brenda,

I'm going out on a limb here (no pun intended), but is your husband by any
chance retired, with too much time on his hands?

To the best of my knowledge, weeding is good, a bit of light cultivating is
good, but plants don't really need to "breathe"!!! (Actually, whenever I
feel that I may have been a bit too enthusiastic with my efforts in using a
hoe around plants, I make sure to spend extra time watering them.)

If you have the room -- or maybe even if you don't!!! -- you might might
think about "His & Hers" flower beds.

Let's see, it's mid-September, so we all will be knee-deep in gardening
catalogs soon -- the major difference is that you in Michigan will have
some time for leisurely perusal of said catalogs before you get geared up
again for Spring, unlike those of us here in the triangle.gardens
(Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC) where Fall is a *blessing* (for me at
least, but I'm a woman "of a certain age" in the sandy part of the
riangle -- if I feel like using the garden tiller on New Year's Day, I
pity the fool who'd tell me not to!)

Sorry, sorry, back to the topic at hand: As I see it, you have two major
options -- either lock up the garden tools (but he could go buy more,
which you might be able to turn to your advantage) or let hubby work on his
own plants. (If you really want to keep him occupied, you might suggest
that he build raised beds & experiment with his own "soil-less mix"!)

Good luck to you! And remember, when you envy us when we're talking about
gardening in February, we'll be envying you in July (actually, this group
can be pretty vocal in July, because some of us can't stand to be outside
very long gardening in July).

Anne Lurie
Raleigh, NC



"dixie dumplin" wrote in message
...
Hi I have been lurking and decided it was time!!
My name is Brenda I live in Detroit Mich where the weather has turned
off just great.
I need to ask a question here...
ok here goes...... all this summer I have made flower beds (wow broke my
back on this stuff) had such beautiful results... but every so often my
husband decides the plants need to breathe and digs up all around my
plants which messes up my beds..Now I have been a florist for thirty
years.. and have never heard of this..
I have such common plants..mums..
marigolds..nothing to be really worried about the care of...
Am I mistaken that this action Doesn't have to happen... the plants are
well watered and in good light and doing great!! is there such a need
as to let them breathe and dig the soil up around them..
couldn`t this disturb the roots...
just wanting to know....lol
a very nice group you have here... didn`t mean just to jump in with
questions... but I have to know before I take my stand :-)

~Bren

You're husband has the right idea if you have hard clay soil and you feel
the roots are not getting enough oxygen or the soil is not draining
properly. Otherwise, he shouldn't have to do this. Each season when
planting new flowers, add a little compost and composted manure to your beds
and you should have no problems with nutrition, air circulation for the
roots and drainage. You can mix in a couple of bags of each and turn it
over to make sure it's mixed well.

I own a flower planting business in Raleigh, NC and plant flowers for
residential customers every spring and fall. Once you get the soil in good
condition, you should be able to plant the flowers, side dress with
fertilizer and mulch the beds. You shouldn't have to touch them again until
the next season. Of course, weeding and watering is a must. You can also
boost them once or twice a month with a liquid fertilizer to give them their
maximum color and growth.

Hope this helps.

Good luck.

Penny
Zone 7b - North Carolina (waiting for Hurricane Isabel)
"dixie dumplin" wrote in message
...
Hi I have been lurking and decided it was time!!
My name is Brenda I live in Detroit Mich where the weather has turned
off just great.
I need to ask a question here...
ok here goes...... all this summer I have made flower beds (wow broke my
back on this stuff) had such beautiful results... but every so often my
husband decides the plants need to breathe and digs up all around my
plants which messes up my beds..Now I have been a florist for thirty
years.. and have never heard of this..
I have such common plants..mums..
marigolds..nothing to be really worried about the care of...
Am I mistaken that this action Doesn't have to happen... the plants are
well watered and in good light and doing great!! is there such a need
as to let them breathe and dig the soil up around them..
couldn`t this disturb the roots...
just wanting to know....lol
a very nice group you have here... didn`t mean just to jump in with
questions... but I have to know before I take my stand :-)

~Bren

Personally, I would do this only if I had mulch around the plants that
had become compacted and that therefore was inhibiting water from
getting to the plant roots. I've noticed that happening with hardwood
mulch. I'll be watering plants with a hose and then I poke around in
the mulch and find that only the top quarter inch or so is wet. If I
loosen the mulch a bit, the water penetrates better.

But I don't think this is necessary in order to allow plants to
breathe (unless you have a heck of a thick layer of mulch around
them), so I'd tell your husband (from a safe distance) to go aerate
his brain cells. ;-)

JK



On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 19:48:27 -0400 (EDT),
(dixie dumplin) wrote:

Hi I have been lurking and decided it was time!!
My name is Brenda I live in Detroit Mich where the weather has turned
off just great.
I need to ask a question here...
ok here goes...... all this summer I have made flower beds (wow broke my
back on this stuff) had such beautiful results... but every so often my
husband decides the plants need to breathe and digs up all around my
plants which messes up my beds..Now I have been a florist for thirty
years.. and have never heard of this..
I have such common plants..mums..
marigolds..nothing to be really worried about the care of...
Am I mistaken that this action Doesn't have to happen... the plants are
well watered and in good light and doing great!! is there such a need
as to let them breathe and dig the soil up around them..
couldn`t this disturb the roots...
just wanting to know....lol
a very nice group you have here... didn`t mean just to jump in with
questions... but I have to know before I take my stand :-)

~Bren

In article , dixie dumplin wrote:
Hi I have been lurking and decided it was time!!
My name is Brenda I live in Detroit Mich where the weather has turned
off just great.
I need to ask a question here...
ok here goes...... all this summer I have made flower beds (wow broke my
back on this stuff) had such beautiful results... but every so often my
husband decides the plants need to breathe and digs up all around my
plants which messes up my beds..Now I have been a florist for thirty
years.. and have never heard of this..
I have such common plants..mums..
marigolds..nothing to be really worried about the care of...
Am I mistaken that this action Doesn't have to happen... the plants are
well watered and in good light and doing great!! is there such a need
as to let them breathe and dig the soil up around them..
couldn`t this disturb the roots...
just wanting to know....lol
a very nice group you have here... didn`t mean just to jump in with
questions... but I have to know before I take my stand :-)

~Bren


He's full of it. If it is fixed don't break it. No weeds, plants
healthy, then leave it alone.


--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

spam@www.spam.com is a garbage address.

Wes is correct.
If he wants to keep busy, try sending him on the worm hunt my grandmother
used to send my grandfather on.
It would keep him happy digging for hours somewhere else
She told him that she needed them to help the plants.



--
REMOVE PANTS WHEN REPLYING
wrote in message
. ..
In article ,
dixie dumplin wrote:
Hi I have been lurking and decided it was time!!
My name is Brenda I live in Detroit Mich where the weather has turned
off just great.
I need to ask a question here...
ok here goes...... all this summer I have made flower beds (wow broke my
back on this stuff) had such beautiful results... but every so often my
husband decides the plants need to breathe and digs up all around my
plants which messes up my beds..Now I have been a florist for thirty
years.. and have never heard of this..
I have such common plants..mums..
marigolds..nothing to be really worried about the care of...
Am I mistaken that this action Doesn't have to happen... the plants are
well watered and in good light and doing great!! is there such a need
as to let them breathe and dig the soil up around them..
couldn`t this disturb the roots...
just wanting to know....lol
a very nice group you have here... didn`t mean just to jump in with
questions... but I have to know before I take my stand :-)

~Bren


He's full of it. If it is fixed don't break it. No weeds, plants
healthy, then leave it alone.


--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

spam@www.spam.com is a garbage address.