planting season is nigh

Spot said:
that is just....absurd.
what happens if you get busted growing veggies?
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A nasty letter or two followed by a theoretical fine and lein against the property.

It may seem fucked up, but you should see what some people have tried to get away with here. I think it has only come down to legal action on 3 occasions in the 17 years of the neighborhoods existence... certainly not for veggies. It was for things like someone running an automotive garage out of his basement side and leaving a dozen stripped vehicles rotting in the street and on his yard... big stuff.

Gardens of a vegetable nature are verboten not because they are concerned about a few plants... but someone out there is going to try to backhoe their entire backyard one day and try to plant 400 stalks of corn or something. Its just a little caveat in the homeowners bylaws allowing for a quicker legal rectification in case someone goes apeshit. By and large, its really laid back here. So long as you don't stick out like a sore thumb to the point of making people complain... little stuff is cool.
 
The in-laws live in one of those life controlling developments like this. They can tell you what color you are allowed to paint your house, where you can plant trees and where you can't, stuff like that.

I ridicule them at every opportunity.

That just ain't the life for me. Our nearest neighbors are the very definition of redneck eyesores. Demolition derby cars (yes folks that is plural...cars) and old junky trailers abound. Piles of cast off junk, the whole works. I have a simple solution: Plant trees, block it from view, and go on with my life. The day some asshole walks in my yard and tries to tell me what I can and cannot plant, or paint, or whatever, is thelast time he'll ever walk anywhere. Ol' buddy 12 guage and I will make sure of it.

Other folk would prefer the developments, and that's fine for them, but it ain't for me. I like more than 6 feet between me and the next guy's house so I can't hear him fart after supper. Sue me.
 
SouthernN'Proud said:
The in-laws live in one of those life controlling developments like this. They can tell you what color you are allowed to paint your house, where you can plant trees and where you can't, stuff like that.

I ridicule them at every opportunity.
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Pretty much agree. I've been known to laugh a bit at Unc for that reason. We do have homeowners covenants in my 'hood, but they're unenforceable. Shit like your neighbor's doing is against local statute, though. Different deal.
 
I can understand some of it. I wouldn't wanna pay 130K for a house and have the one next door get painted Eggplant or something. Or a working meth lab on the front porch. But some of these things get ridiculous. If I want me a t'mater plant I'll jolly well have me a t'mater plant and the neighbor can kiss my rosy red ass if he don't like it.

I guess the difference is what your money will buy you, and what you value. The in-laws place so much importance on the fact they THEY live in (fill in the blank name of development). Means Jack Shit to me. A subdivision is a subdivision. 130K might get you a decent mini-ranch house with a privacy fence there. Here, it'd get you two of what we got...a 75 year old farmhouse on 3 1/2 acres with a mountain view that postcards dream of bearing, plenty of elbow room, no real need for a privacy fence 'cuz ain't nobody close enough to matter, outbuildings...and we paid a spot over 70K for it. No, I can't run around and brag about living in Fox Trot Acres or whatever, but then again...I don't have nobody telling me what I can or cannot do in my own yard. I can't call the neighborhood council and complain about a dog in my yard, but I can take measures to correct the problem on my own (lock and load if need be). I'll take the tradeoff.

For those who value such things as the sense of belonging in these neighborhoods, more power to ya. Have at it. It just ain't for me. Fact is, we got a fairly wealthy feller out here who owns every available acre for miles. He buys it to make sure none of these little developments come out here. Like me, he don't want it around, and if he owns everything it won't be out here. I like him a lot. Anonymous Hills can go find somewhere else to sell its gated community mentality...as long as this guy is around I ain't gotta worry about it moving in on top of me.
 
Yeah, my mother's in the same situation as you. 15 acres to the nearest neighbor, and she buys up adjacent parcels the moment they hit the market, for the same reasons as your buddy.

That just isn't practical in the city, and I can't maintain the same lifestyle where Mom is without a 2 hour commute. No thanks. I might do it if I were on my own, but not with a wife and kid.
 
Ah yes...the commute.

I moved back here from Nashvegas. Took a pay cut of about $8500.00 a year, gave up a damn good job at a company that 1. Loved me and 2. Was growing. Readjusted my priorities a bit. Took that long hard look in the mirror many times. Decided what was really important to me. Concluded that those things were not attainable with money. Took a deep deep breath. Called U-Haul. Ain't regretted it since.

Now instead of 75 minutes each way to work, I slog through a 22 minute commute. The down side is, to get pretty much anything you want (a Big Mac, say), you have to drive that 22 minutes back to town. If what you want (Olive Garden, say) is not in the small town of Greeneville TN, then you're looking at an hour to the nearest thing to a city around here. I'll still take it...I know how to cook spaghetti.

Just a matter of priority for me. I traded convenience, accessibility, crime rate, noise, hustle/bustle, and "status" for isolation, privacy, peace, quiet, relaxed lifestyle, and self reliance. All the demons of Hell wouldn't get me to go back for a week.
 
As I said, on my own I might consider it. My wife would hate it, and that's that. Like you said, priorities.
 
Completely understand. Me first wife made the move with me. Three months later, she went back. She thought she wanted to live here; she was wrong.

Got me a good'un now. Makes a world of difference. It ain't an easy life by any means, just different problems to deal with than in a city.
 
tonksy said:
it's a little tricky but the bad part of the slope is already covered by juniper. we have juniper everywhere but one bald hill section next to the backstairway where it won't grow (that's where most of the periwinkle will go).
the part that is getting perwinkle on the front hill is where juniper won't grow . the liatris will be where the boxwoods are and the rest on the flat level of the house.
i'm being ambitious planting calla lilies in the front corner and i will have to baby them with water so i'll be out there anyway :shrug:
but we did purchase a good bit more soil to lay down.
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Juniper is pretty hardy so if it won't grow there, you might not be able to get anything else to grow there, you know?

I love callas, they're beautiful. I considered them too but they have such a short blooming cycle, I decided against it.
 
we got a fairly wealthy feller out here who owns every available acre for miles. He buys it to make sure none of these little developments come out here
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oh how i wish i could afford to do that. there is a 5 acre lot next to us that has recently sprouted a whole bunch of pink surveyor ribbons. i dont know when the digging/blasting will commence, but i imagine it is soon.

75 year old farmhouse on 3 1/2 acres with a mountain view that postcards dream of bearing, plenty of elbow room, no real need for a privacy fence 'cuz ain't nobody close enough to matter, outbuildings...and we paid a spot over 70K for it.
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:eyepop: that'd fetch millions up this way
 
It's a Bob Vila Special, but what they hey...I got the rest of my life to make it ready for Southern Living's photoshoot, right?
 
greenfreak said:
Juniper is pretty hardy so if it won't grow there, you might not be able to get anything else to grow there, you know?

I love callas, they're beautiful. I considered them too but they have such a short blooming cycle, I decided against it.
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i think it's a shade issue :shrug: i hope it's a shade issue anyway....and periwinkles a cheap try...not to mention invasive as hell to cover the spot. dead periwinkle may look better than nothing...i hope.

short blloming cycle? i could swear the ones i bought porported to bloom jun-jul...which usually means a bit longer for higher zone numbers...
 
Two months wouldn't be bad, I heard it was less. I thought I heard 3-4 weeks. But i'm in zone 7, a full zone higher than the rest of my area because I'm on a small island so I have a lot of sand in my yard and get milder temps.

The only things I really plant with less than 1 month bloom are spring bulbs. And they are so worth it after a long winter. :)
 
Just found this...


Most calla lilies bloom in 8 to 10 weeks from the planted rhizomes. Some may need two years of culture to produce their first flowers. The blooms and foliage usually declines by early summer. Keep the rhizomes in their containers and on the dry side until ready to grow again during the fall and winter months.
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hmm...the more i think on it the more i want to plant them directly into pots. it would be easier than digging them up again.
have you ever heard of pink fairy lilies, GF? i kinda bought tham as anuals, they were 50 for $5...it says to dig them up afterwards...but i dunno...i may take my chances and leave them in the dirt...$5 isn't much of an investment.
 
I hadn't heard of them but I just looked them up and it says they're in the amaryllis family. It also says if you're zone 7 or higher, you don't need to dig them up. What zone are you in?

Digging up rhizomes is what's prevented me from growing Dahlias in sucessive years. I usually just let them perish outside over the winter. I can't imagine having hundreds of them and digging them up, labelling them, and storing them in sawdust/newspaper every year.
 
greenfreak said:
I hadn't heard of them but I just looked them up and it says they're in the amaryllis family. It also says if you're zone 7 or higher, you don't need to dig them up. What zone are you in?

Digging up rhizomes is what's prevented me from growing Dahlias in sucessive years. I usually just let them perish outside over the winter. I can't imagine having hundreds of them and digging them up, labelling them, and storing them in sawdust/newspaper every year.
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i am in zone 8 by some standards and 7 by others. i'll leave them in then.
i'm used to zone 10 and i guess i'm a wee paranoid.
have you had any experience will cannas up there? i'm trying some dwarf cannas here, they seem a little hardier than the large ones. maybe they'll survive the winter, it says zone 7-11 but...i'm nervous.
 
Don't be nervous. Just mulch them heavily and they'll be fine. I'm not supposed to be able to leave my tulips in containers out of the ground over the winter but I just put them up against the foundation of the house for warmth and mulch them like hell. They're already breaking ground so I know it worked.

Besides, I think the zone recommendations have a 1-zone buffer built in to them.
 
greenfreak said:
Don't be nervous. Just mulch them heavily and they'll be fine. I'm not supposed to be able to leave my tulips in containers out of the ground over the winter but I just put them up against the foundation of the house for warmth and mulch them like hell. They're already breaking ground so I know it worked.

Besides, I think the zone recommendations have a 1-zone buffer built in to them.
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really? how relieving! i still think i may put the callas in pots. heck, i may put the pot on top of the spot i wanted to plant them in!
 
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