In article >,
"Bob Terwilliger" > wrote:

> modom wrote:

> > Am I alone in my interest in this idea?
>
> I'm *extremely* interested! It's just that I recognize my complete inability
> to keep plants alive.

It's not a complete inability. It's a lack of passion. I'm cursed with
it too. You ought to see my lawn. If I killed the dandelions, I'd have
to reseed and pay attention. Not likely.
I put a tomato plant in my front flower bed this year but neglected to
support it. Well... I supported it with a piece of rock. I got a couple
of tomatoes out of it, but most were beaten to death against the rock
during wind events.
Where I live, I could make a border of rosemary and thyme without
effort. They're perennial in my outside flower pots, so I assume they'd
be perennial otherwise. That'd be a border of rosemary and thyme between
one patch of dandelions sparsely grassed and another.
Say la vee or something like that.

leo

Leonard wrote:

>> I'm *extremely* interested! It's just that I recognize my complete
>> inability
>> to keep plants alive.
>
> It's not a complete inability. It's a lack of passion. I'm cursed with
> it too. You ought to see my lawn. If I killed the dandelions, I'd have
> to reseed and pay attention. Not likely.

It's more than that; it's also a lack of knowledge. See below.


> I put a tomato plant in my front flower bed this year but neglected to
> support it. Well... I supported it with a piece of rock. I got a couple
> of tomatoes out of it, but most were beaten to death against the rock
> during wind events.

I didn't know that tomato plants *needed* to be supported. That's what I
mean by lack of knowledge. I know that plants need water; that's about the
entirety of my gardening knowledge.


> Where I live, I could make a border of rosemary and thyme without
> effort. They're perennial in my outside flower pots, so I assume they'd
> be perennial otherwise. That'd be a border of rosemary and thyme between
> one patch of dandelions sparsely grassed and another.
> Say la vee or something like that.

Rosemary seems to grow easily around here, so I'm thinking of trying to
plant some as ground cover in a side yard. But I don't know how quickly it
would spread. How many plants would I need to start off with? Does the soil
need to be more or less acidic? How often does it need watering, and how
much water should it get when I do water? Really, I know next to nothing
about gardening, and that's why plants die under my care.

Bob

In article >,
"Bob Terwilliger" > wrote:

> It's more than that; it's also a lack of knowledge. See below.

Me too. I lack the knowledge because I don't have the inclination.

> I didn't know that tomato plants *needed* to be supported. That's what I
> mean by lack of knowledge. I know that plants need water; that's about the
> entirety of my gardening knowledge.

Someone told me to support them. If I got ten tomatoes total, I was
lucky in the past. This year, perfect June temperatures produced a
bunch. The bush I was yammering about was an extra that I didn't plant
in a pot. An extra that I didn't know what to do with.
My *real* tomatoes are supported by a wire cone. Nevertheless, I don't
water them enough.

> Rosemary seems to grow easily around here, so I'm thinking of trying to
> plant some as ground cover in a side yard. But I don't know how quickly it
> would spread. How many plants would I need to start off with? Does the soil
> need to be more or less acidic? How often does it need watering, and how
> much water should it get when I do water? Really, I know next to nothing
> about gardening, and that's why plants die under my care.

I don't know if rosemary spreads. I grow it in a pot. It looks sort of
like a tiny pine tree and doesn't seem to spread within the pot. I ought
to google for sure. I know it gets bigger than ground cover. It might
even make a tree if given the chance. Somebody reading this knows.
My thyme seems like good ground cover. It's three years old and about
ten inches tall in the pot. Real gardeners here can tell you if I'm full
of it.
OTOH, plant a cheap tiny container of rosemary somewhere in the sunny
side of your yard and see if it takes or takes over . Then ignore it.
If I can grow it, anyone can. I live in whatever climate Northern Nevada
close to the Sierra is in. Usually not below zero and not above a
hundred, although we broke a hundred and soundly busted a 1919 record,
yesterday.

leo

Leonard wrote:

>> Rosemary seems to grow easily around here, so I'm thinking of trying to
>> plant some as ground cover in a side yard. But I don't know how quickly
>> it would spread. How many plants would I need to start off with? Does the
>> soil need to be more or less acidic? How often does it need watering, and
>> how much water should it get when I do water? Really, I know next to
>> nothing about gardening, and that's why plants die under my care.
>
> I don't know if rosemary spreads. I grow it in a pot. It looks sort of
> like a tiny pine tree and doesn't seem to spread within the pot. I ought
> to google for sure. I know it gets bigger than ground cover. It might even
> make a tree if given the chance. Somebody reading this knows. My thyme
> seems like good ground cover. It's three years old and about ten inches
> tall in the pot. Real gardeners here can tell you if I'm full of it.
> OTOH, plant a cheap tiny container of rosemary somewhere in the sunny
> side of your yard and see if it takes or takes over . Then ignore it.
> If I can grow it, anyone can. I live in whatever climate Northern Nevada
> close to the Sierra is in. Usually not below zero and not above a
> hundred, although we broke a hundred and soundly busted a 1919 record,
> yesterday.

I'm on the other side of the mountains from you, though we routinely break
100 degrees here. This summer has been cooler than usual, for which I am
grateful.

I got the idea that rosemary might be suitable for ground cover because (1)
a local automall uses it for ground cover and (2) the guy who runs my CSA
had rosemary as ground cover in the house he used to occupy. I just don't
know how much trouble it is, and whether it would stay alive under my care.
It's not that I forget to take care of plants, it's just that I go out
there, see that they aren't doing well, and have no idea what I need to do
to make them do better. Watering them often makes things *worse*.

Bob

On Sat, 22 Aug 2009 01:13:12 -0700, "Bob Terwilliger"
> wrote:

>Leonard wrote:
>
>>> Rosemary seems to grow easily around here, so I'm thinking of trying to
>>> plant some as ground cover in a side yard. But I don't know how quickly
>>> it would spread. How many plants would I need to start off with? Does the
>>> soil need to be more or less acidic? How often does it need watering, and
>>> how much water should it get when I do water? Really, I know next to
>>> nothing about gardening, and that's why plants die under my care.
>>
>> I don't know if rosemary spreads. I grow it in a pot. It looks sort of
>> like a tiny pine tree and doesn't seem to spread within the pot. I ought
>> to google for sure. I know it gets bigger than ground cover. It might even
>> make a tree if given the chance. Somebody reading this knows. My thyme
>> seems like good ground cover. It's three years old and about ten inches
>> tall in the pot. Real gardeners here can tell you if I'm full of it.
>> OTOH, plant a cheap tiny container of rosemary somewhere in the sunny
>> side of your yard and see if it takes or takes over . Then ignore it.
>> If I can grow it, anyone can. I live in whatever climate Northern Nevada
>> close to the Sierra is in. Usually not below zero and not above a
>> hundred, although we broke a hundred and soundly busted a 1919 record,
>> yesterday.
>
>I'm on the other side of the mountains from you, though we routinely break
>100 degrees here. This summer has been cooler than usual, for which I am
>grateful.
>
>I got the idea that rosemary might be suitable for ground cover because (1)
>a local automall uses it for ground cover and (2) the guy who runs my CSA
>had rosemary as ground cover in the house he used to occupy. I just don't
>know how much trouble it is, and whether it would stay alive under my care.
>It's not that I forget to take care of plants, it's just that I go out
>there, see that they aren't doing well, and have no idea what I need to do
>to make them do better. Watering them often makes things *worse*.
>
>Bob

I grew rosemary successfully when I was living in Yuma AZ and it got
into the 120*s there. I don't remember it being hard to grow or care
for. Anything I plant is going to have to thrive on loving neglect.

koko
--

There is no love more sincere than the love of food
George Bernard Shaw
www.kokoscorner.typepad.com
updated 08/09

On Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:55:48 -0700, "Bob Terwilliger"
> wrote:

>Leonard wrote:
>
>>> I'm *extremely* interested! It's just that I recognize my complete
>>> inability
>>> to keep plants alive.
>>
>> It's not a complete inability. It's a lack of passion. I'm cursed with
>> it too. You ought to see my lawn. If I killed the dandelions, I'd have
>> to reseed and pay attention. Not likely.
>
>It's more than that; it's also a lack of knowledge. See below.
>
>
>> I put a tomato plant in my front flower bed this year but neglected to
>> support it. Well... I supported it with a piece of rock. I got a couple
>> of tomatoes out of it, but most were beaten to death against the rock
>> during wind events.
>
>I didn't know that tomato plants *needed* to be supported. That's what I
>mean by lack of knowledge. I know that plants need water; that's about the
>entirety of my gardening knowledge.
>
>
>> Where I live, I could make a border of rosemary and thyme without
>> effort. They're perennial in my outside flower pots, so I assume they'd
>> be perennial otherwise. That'd be a border of rosemary and thyme between
>> one patch of dandelions sparsely grassed and another.
>> Say la vee or something like that.
>
>Rosemary seems to grow easily around here, so I'm thinking of trying to
>plant some as ground cover in a side yard. But I don't know how quickly it
>would spread. How many plants would I need to start off with? Does the soil
>need to be more or less acidic? How often does it need watering, and how
>much water should it get when I do water? Really, I know next to nothing
>about gardening, and that's why plants die under my care.
>
>Bob


One of my rosemary plants is about 5 feet tall. There may be some low
growing varieties that you would have to get if you want ground cover.
--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)

Susan wrote:

> One of my rosemary plants is about 5 feet tall. There may be some low
> growing varieties that you would have to get if you want ground cover.

Thanks. Poking around online, I didn't see any rosemary plants which would
be suitable for me to use where I was contemplating using it. But I still
want to plant rosemary; I just won't use it for ground cover.

Bob

Bob Terwilliger wrote:
> Susan wrote:
>
>> One of my rosemary plants is about 5 feet tall. There may be some
>> low growing varieties that you would have to get if you want ground
>> cover.
>
> Thanks. Poking around online, I didn't see any rosemary plants which
> would be suitable for me to use where I was contemplating using it.
> But I still want to plant rosemary; I just won't use it for ground
> cover.

Have you looked at creeping rosemary?

nancy

"Bob Terwilliger" > wrote in message
...
> Susan wrote:
>
>> One of my rosemary plants is about 5 feet tall. There may be some low
>> growing varieties that you would have to get if you want ground cover.
>
> Thanks. Poking around online, I didn't see any rosemary plants which would
> be suitable for me to use where I was contemplating using it. But I still
> want to plant rosemary; I just won't use it for ground cover.
>
> Bob

It depends where you live and how cold it gets in the winter whether
rosemary will live through the winter. Be sure to check for varieties that
have a low temp tolerance (I think max is about 15-20 F). Rosemary doesn't
spread in the sense that I think you mean. It doesn't drop seeds that
become rosemary seedlings. (of course, I live in a zone where rosemary
doesn't last the winter) Rosemary plants will get very big. They can
become a sizeable hedge in time. There are low growing, creeping or draping
varieties of rosemary that might be nice rambling over a rock garden. If it
is an interest, reading seed catalogs in the winter is educational, if
you're not interested, it's a bore.
Janet

"Janet Bostwick" wrote
> "Bob Terwilliger" wrote

>> Thanks. Poking around online, I didn't see any rosemary plants which
>> would be suitable for me to use where I was contemplating using it. But I
>> still want to plant rosemary; I just won't use it for ground cover.

Hi Bob. I'm the 'break even' zone for this.

I have a 3ft or so tall rosemary at the front of the house. Don put it in
the front planter spot by accident but it seemed so happy, we left it there.
Survived the winter last year which suprised me. We give it a regular
haircut when making potatoes and things.

> It depends where you live and how cold it gets in the winter whether
> rosemary will live through the winter. Be sure to check for varieties
> that have a low temp tolerance (I think max is about 15-20 F). Rosemary
> doesn't spread in the sense that I think you mean. It doesn't drop seeds
> that

Yup. Lettuce, now that stuff spreads! It's hilarous but in my back yard,
some of the 'grass' is lettuce. I'm about to replant one bolted container
set now and put in butter lettuce. I don't need to plant more baby lettuce
as it's now growing up around the bricks where the planter was ;-)

Bob Terwilliger wrote:
> Leonard wrote:
>
>>> I'm *extremely* interested! It's just that I recognize my complete
>>> inability
>>> to keep plants alive.
>>
>> It's not a complete inability. It's a lack of passion. I'm cursed with
>> it too. You ought to see my lawn. If I killed the dandelions, I'd have
>> to reseed and pay attention. Not likely.
>
> It's more than that; it's also a lack of knowledge. See below.
>
>
>> I put a tomato plant in my front flower bed this year but neglected to
>> support it. Well... I supported it with a piece of rock. I got a couple
>> of tomatoes out of it, but most were beaten to death against the rock
>> during wind events.
>
> I didn't know that tomato plants *needed* to be supported. That's what I
> mean by lack of knowledge. I know that plants need water; that's about the
> entirety of my gardening knowledge.
>
>
>> Where I live, I could make a border of rosemary and thyme without
>> effort. They're perennial in my outside flower pots, so I assume they'd
>> be perennial otherwise. That'd be a border of rosemary and thyme between
>> one patch of dandelions sparsely grassed and another.
>> Say la vee or something like that.
>
> Rosemary seems to grow easily around here, so I'm thinking of trying to
> plant some as ground cover in a side yard. But I don't know how quickly it
> would spread. How many plants would I need to start off with? Does the soil
> need to be more or less acidic? How often does it need watering, and how
> much water should it get when I do water? Really, I know next to nothing
> about gardening, and that's why plants die under my care.
>
> Bob
Buy a couple of gardening books Bob, they're a great help. Rosemary
grows into a large shrub depending upon your climate. I can plant a very
small potted one in my yard and within two years it is four feet high
and four feet wide. If you want ground cover plant creeping thyme,
smells good when you walk on it and keeps the soil in place.

"Bob Terwilliger" > wrote in message
...
> Leonard wrote:
>
>>> I'm *extremely* interested! It's just that I recognize my complete
>>> inability
>>> to keep plants alive.
>>
>> It's not a complete inability. It's a lack of passion. I'm cursed with
>> it too. You ought to see my lawn. If I killed the dandelions, I'd have
>> to reseed and pay attention. Not likely.
>
> It's more than that; it's also a lack of knowledge. See below.
>
>
>> I put a tomato plant in my front flower bed this year but neglected to
>> support it. Well... I supported it with a piece of rock. I got a couple
>> of tomatoes out of it, but most were beaten to death against the rock
>> during wind events.
>
> I didn't know that tomato plants *needed* to be supported. That's what I
> mean by lack of knowledge.

Tomatoes do not need to be supported, commercial tomato farmers do not
support tomatoes... imagine the price of a bottle of ketchup if millions of
tomato plants needed to be supported, and then the support removed for
mechanical harvest. Commercial tomato varieties support themselves, with
some help from hilling. And commercially grown salad tomatoes are picked
before they ripen, they are so firm they need no support. Only home
gardeners support tomatoes because they typically grow varieties that are
not self supporting, and they don't want to accept the waste of like 10%
rotting from touching the ground.


>> Where I live, I could make a border of rosemary and thyme without
>> effort. They're perennial in my outside flower pots, so I assume they'd
>> be perennial otherwise. That'd be a border of rosemary and thyme between
>> one patch of dandelions sparsely grassed and another.
>> Say la vee or something like that.
>
> Rosemary seems to grow easily around here, so I'm thinking of trying to
> plant some as ground cover in a side yard. But I don't know how quickly it
> would spread. How many plants would I need to start off with? Does the
> soil
> need to be more or less acidic? How often does it need watering, and how
> much water should it get when I do water? Really, I know next to nothing
> about gardening, and that's why plants die under my care.
>
>

Rosemary is an evergreen shrub/bush that grows upright, it wouldn't be used
for ground cover, it's often used for a hedge... you're likely confusing
thyme for rosemary... there are many varieties of creeping thyme that makes
a nice ground cover. Thyme has nice flavor, rosemary smells and tastes like
retsina, blech.

On 2009-09-07, brooklyn1 > wrote:

> not self supporting, and they don't want to accept the waste of like 10%
> rotting from touching the ground.

So, are those upside down tomato thingies a viable alternative?

BTW, shel, howzatbout trimming up you posts and adding some
formatting. Yer starting to come off like an Ital fresh off the boat.

nb

"notbob" > wrote in message
...
> On 2009-09-07, brooklyn1 > wrote:
>
>> not self supporting, and they don't want to accept the waste of like 10%
>> rotting from touching the ground.
>
> So, are those upside down tomato thingies a viable alternative?

That's an entirely different concept, mainly for folks who don't have land
for a garden.

> BTW, shel, howzatbout trimming up you posts and adding some
> formatting. Yer starting to come off like an Ital fresh off the boat.
>
>
I'm beginning to tire of trimming everyone's trash, I especially am tired of
trimming everyone's attributions (see above). And lately I've noticed that
certain people are removig all attribution so there is no way to know who
wrote what.

"brooklyn1" > wrote in message
...
>>
> I'm beginning to tire of trimming everyone's trash, I especially am tired
> of trimming everyone's attributions (see above). And lately I've noticed
> that certain people are removig all attribution so there is no way to know
> who wrote what.
>

not many people ever took the time to learn proper usenet etiquette. i
always trim but i never leave attributes as i am responding primarily to the
direct message i am responding to meant clearly for the responder than the
op.

toodles