Idaho Gardening Forum (Challis, Hope, Clayton: house, landscaping, living)

[shades_of_idaho]

I was looking around on the net tonight for landscaping ideas for our new. yard. I came across this forum for Idaho Gardeners. It looks to be a little slow but might have some interesting information for some interested in gadrening.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...328245.html?35 (broken link)

Chris

[DESERTRYDER]

After seeing pictures of your other home I am sure your new yard will be wonderfully beautiful by next summer.
Great link..

Unfortunately my gardening is done with a John Deere mower and a splash of roundup..

[Sage of Sagle]

Sites like that are a great resource. Planting in this climate zone can be a tricky task...

[shades_of_idaho]

Thanks Desertryder. I hope to make our new yard pretty someday. I am having a vision of what I would like to see. Just need to get it down on paper and try to stick to the plan. I would like this yard big inpact low care. Throw in a little insanity. Heheeh got it made. I am restricting myself from the yard other than to water what I brought until I get my cemetery job done. Couple more days and I will be done then I can feel good about playing in the dirt.

I did some reading on the Idaho Gardening forum and there is not much action as far as posts. Hope it picks back up again.There is some good information.

Yes gardening in Idaho can be tricky. So many micro climates. I find it interesting some of the things I brought to Idaho from Calif 22 years ago (TODAY!!!! WOW Time flies) are still with me in containers and growing. I keep digging them up and moving them along to the next new place. Leaving my mark behind. Seems so odd many California things will grow here even with the extream cold temps we can get. Especially considering they survived over in Clayton and Challis for 8 years.

Lunch time is over back to work.

Chris

[Greensleeves]

Thank you SO MUCH for the link!
I moved from Western Washington, which is a gardener's paradise, and have found myself becoming more and more depressed as the summer wears on.
I have yet to find any actual soil here. All we have is rocks. I got a bulb catalog in the mail today and was despairing over the gorgeous peonies, fairy roses and fruit trees that I left behind.
By the time I got all the way through the catalog, I had decided it's time to build some planter boxes and find some soil somewhere, because I simply cannot live this way.
So....where would one find soil and have it delivered in the Challis area?

[shades_of_idaho]

Greensleeves you are in Challis now??

I am not there any more but when we were there I gathered all the leaves and grass clippings I could. Go to the ranchers and clean out some of their calving pens mix with leaves and grass and let sit in huge pile over winter. Shovel into your planters and top off with potting soil.

If you are in that kind of cold you need to mulch your planters heavy or better yet hire a backhoe and dig big holes clearing the rocks and fill with your mulch soil mixture and plant away.

I understand leaving the peonies part. So sad I had so many of them at our last house .So pretty.

I am doing the planter thing here too even though we do have some pretty good soil and not so much the usual clay that is in the area. Since we were river bottom we have more small gravel sand loam soil. Hubby drove a 10 foot eucher (SP??) rod, for electric ground, into the ground and it went right down. Took about two minutes so we must not have very big rocks even deep. I will be finding out tonight as I start to plant the 15 trees I bought for the place.

I am going to go over to that site and see if I can stir up interest again after dinner.

Chris

[Trace_Rinaldi]

The link doesnt seem to work for me.. Is there a site that shows what fruit and nut tree's grow in North Idaho? Does anyone have any info on that? I really want to get into gardening up there, but it will be a while before I have time. I would like to get some tree's growing ASAP though. TIA;-)

[Greensleeves]

Yes, I am in Challis.
I spent all evening drawing up plans for a rock garden. If there's one thing I've got plenty of, it's rocks. And a huge open space with sunshine all day.
I've also got tons of horse manure! Today I'm scouting out a location for some compost bins.

[Greensleeves]

Originally Posted by Trace_Rinaldi

The link doesnt seem to work for me.. Is there a site that shows what fruit and nut tree's grow in North Idaho? Does anyone have any info on that? I really want to get into gardening up there, but it will be a while before I have time. I would like to get some tree's growing ASAP though. TIA;-)

I have found that if you contact a nursery close to where you live, they have already researched the varieties suited for the climate and that's what they sell.
I have a glorious crabapple tree down by the barn, so I'm pretty sure this is a friendly place for crabapples.

[shades_of_idaho]

Greensleeves. I miss living over there. WE lived on Warmsprings Road and then down the river towards Ellis back behind what used to be Brunos and also up the East Fork.

Rock gardens are great in Challis. I also did really well with flax. It takes a year to bloom but after that is seeds itself down year after year. It looks so fragile and pretty but thrives over there. Would be nice in a rock garden. If Harriet M is still over there go to her. She is so great at gardening. I think she lived on Challis Creek. Built a house there. Brain foggy as to exactly where. Could drive to it but it has been 14 years since we have been there. I MUST give her a call soon.

Tip go to health food store and by the flax seeds. Not in seed packets. Too expensive that way. If you want some fast I will send you some. DM me your address. I know how shopping is over there. I have about 4 pounds of them because I cook with them too. If you get them started ASAP you will have flowers next year.I must do that myself here.

There is also a white daisey and I do not know the name of it, that did really well for me up on the East Fork where we built our house. OH and Cosmos thrives and reseeds. Lives in icky soil. Harriett gave me Dames Rocket when we lived over there and I am still growing it from seeds. It is very invasive but smells so good.


Just in from working on digging holes for the pine trees. Going to be a long process. Might be able to put in a post fast but digging a good planting hole is a whole nother story. UGH Back to work.

Chris