WxUSAF Posted Sunday at 03:59 PM Share Posted Sunday at 03:59 PM Just planted a few natives and boy is the soil dry despite rain the last 2 days. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAPE Posted Sunday at 06:48 PM Share Posted Sunday at 06:48 PM Sprinkler is running to substitute for the epic bust of last night lol. No appreciable rain here for weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frd Posted Sunday at 08:09 PM Share Posted Sunday at 08:09 PM Have ordered blight resistant tomatoes arriving in May from Burpee, they did great last year. Less yellowing/curling of the leaves. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAPE Posted 19 hours ago Share Posted 19 hours ago The clover/grass mixture I planted in the Fall is looking quite nice. Lots of watering with the lack of rainfall. Be interesting to see how it does from mid June forward. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlizzardNole Posted 7 hours ago Share Posted 7 hours ago You have a nice setting! We've just moved to a new construction home and there's no topsoil at all - just hard, gravelly sand. Gardening is gonna be tough! Having an April with almost a shutout of rainfall didn't help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eskimo Joe Posted 6 hours ago Share Posted 6 hours ago On 4/26/2026 at 11:59 AM, WxUSAF said: Just planted a few natives and boy is the soil dry despite rain the last 2 days. What did you plant? I'm always looking for good plant ideas. RE: dry soil, I agree. @wxmeddler and I were talking about that earlir this week. Bittinger got almost and inch of rain, but the four inch soil moisture probe barely moved. Must be a combination of hard pan soils and surface vegetation being very thirsty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WxUSAF Posted 6 hours ago Author Share Posted 6 hours ago 48 minutes ago, BlizzardNole said: You have a nice setting! We've just moved to a new construction home and there's no topsoil at all - just hard, gravelly sand. Gardening is gonna be tough! Having an April with almost a shutout of rainfall didn't help It’s crazy how companies strip mine the topsoil of new developments to sell it off and leave the new homeowners with fill dirt and rocks. I’ll just generally encourage you to plant natives, and I’d be happy to offer suggestions if you want them! 5 minutes ago, Eskimo Joe said: What did you plant? I'm always looking for good plant ideas. RE: dry soil, I agree. @wxmeddler and I were talking about that earlir this week. Bittinger got almost and inch of rain, but the four inch soil moisture probe barely moved. Must be a combination of hard pan soils and surface vegetation being very thirsty. I was planting bushy St. John’s wort when I made that post. Have also added a new arrowwood, bluebells, blue mistflower, yarrow, and a “micropond” this year. HoCo and Columbia do lots of native plant giveaways every year so all of those were free. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnEndlessMaze Posted 6 hours ago Share Posted 6 hours ago 1 hour ago, BlizzardNole said: You have a nice setting! We've just moved to a new construction home and there's no topsoil at all - just hard, gravelly sand. Gardening is gonna be tough! Having an April with almost a shutout of rainfall didn't help Had the same issue when I lived there with our new construction: the builder stole everyone's topsoil and sold it, leaving you with unusable subsoil and sand that they just threw sod over (which looked nice for the final walkthrough but quickly died). Wasted years trying to get anything to grow. If you have the time/money, I'd recommend getting the entire yard covered with several inches of topsoil and re-seed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nw baltimore wx Posted 5 hours ago Share Posted 5 hours ago Builders take topsoil??? That should be considered a legitimate crime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eskimo Joe Posted 2 hours ago Share Posted 2 hours ago 2 hours ago, nw baltimore wx said: Builders take topsoil??? That should be considered a legitimate crime. Builders scrape vast quantities of topsoil and then sell it for profit. It's a total scam. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleocene Posted 1 hour ago Share Posted 1 hour ago I've been very pleasantly surprised that some mayapple seeds I planted randomly under some trees in the back of my yard actually grew. Trying to turn my 1/4 acre (the back of it) into the woods, might take 30 years though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WxUSAF Posted 1 hour ago Author Share Posted 1 hour ago 30 minutes ago, Paleocene said: I've been very pleasantly surprised that some mayapple seeds I planted randomly under some trees in the back of my yard actually grew. Trying to turn my 1/4 acre (the back of it) into the woods, might take 30 years though I have a few mayapples! I have an area under some trees that I’m mostly leaving alone and intermittently planting some shade and dry soil tolerant natives. After 3-4 years, my Christmas ferns have started to spread. Dwarf crested iris has really spread and some asters have also spread into the shade a bit. There’s a lot of tree saplings and one sweetgum that volunteered is now like 6-7 feet tall. All that to say it can happen quicker than you might think if you don’t mow. I pull out any invasives that try to grow and any poison ivy (native but not welcome in my yard!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GramaxRefugee Posted 32 minutes ago Share Posted 32 minutes ago 4 hours ago, nw baltimore wx said: Builders take topsoil??? That should be considered a legitimate crime. Every spec requires stripping out the topsoil. It's not acceptable for graded areas. If it was left in, the Geotech would reject it. P.G. Co no longer allows topsoil, seed and mulch. Sod is required. I'm not sure about other jurisdictions. FYI... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnEndlessMaze Posted 14 minutes ago Share Posted 14 minutes ago 15 minutes ago, GramaxRefugee said: Every spec requires stripping out the topsoil. It's not acceptable for graded areas. If it was left in, the Geotech would reject it. P.G. Co no longer allows topsoil, seed and mulch. Sod is required. I'm not sure about other jurisdictions. FYI... They can put it back after the home is completed though? Instead our builder used to sell it off to their landscaping contractor, who then turned around and bilked the HOA at double the market price for landscaping the common areas (of which the builder at the time sat on the HOA board). Ah, the good old days of Calvert… lmao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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