Top, what about that heavy soil fork you bought? Are you using it?

I'm going to have a hard time when we go back to the office. My commute is at least one hour each way.

I had about 2-3 hours of commute everyday, that's one main reason why my husband and I decided to retire 5 years ago.

Mieko2 said:Top, what about that heavy soil fork you bought? Are you using it?

I'm going to have a hard time when we go back to the office. My commute is at least one hour each way.

I have been using it quite a lot. My entire 'garden' last year was right here and I effectively doubled it's size starting with the broadfork. I break up / loosen the soil and let it set for 7-14 days (depends on the rain, really) and then flip all of the green stuff to the bottom of the hole.

Anyhow, there 3 more big beds flipped and another that I just started - the broadfork is the first step in all of them. It really makes the clay closer to tolerable. I also think that just loosening the soil a bit with the fork will keep those areas fairly friendly to plants in the future - so hopefully I've done the hardwork and just need to maintain it.

And yeah, I got in my car this morning and had to go into town. It made me think about that daily commute and how much I don't want to do it.

Top

Thanks Top! I'm glad it has been useful.

Hello?! Nice to hear about everyone's commutes, but can we get back on topic....ideal peony spacing, or is there such a thing? How many feet do you space yours?

Plenty of flower farmers run at 2' spacing. I've seen videos where you honestly can't tell where the plants actually are. Probably close to half of the stems are coming down as they harvest and they probably cut them back once the harvests are done. Appearance, in this case, isn't a concern.

I am growing for flowers, but at the moment I am planting at a 3' (herbaceous) and 4' (itohs) distance between peonies. The herbaceous peonies I will divide every 2 years until I have enough peonies. When I am done with the division phase, I will probably reduce the distance between plants. As it was mentioned here, the distance makes it easier to harvest the roots. (The itohs are on their own time-table - I will divide them one time once they seem solid.)

Top

Mieko2 said:Wow Liz I had no idea they had gotten so large.

Several of the roots had gotten large enough to be a pain to get apart but not that many of the plants above ground reflected that size. I finally got those beds completely emptied of the weed cloth and drip lines yesterday, dug up another 25 or so peonies that had started growing there after I THOUGHT I'd removed all of the roots last fall. Quite a few were probably adventitious roots but not sure why there were so many. Wonder if some were less robust and were growing again once the competition was removed....

I have 3 feet between peonies and yesterday I found a tiny shoot right in between 2 of them. I suppose it is from an adventitious root of either Diana Parks of Old Faithful. I am surprised because I've read that in clay soil adventitious roots don't produce growth.

That's very interesting, Liz. Good theory.

I did not know about Old Faithful. I moved mine last Fall. I will watch the empty spot to see if I get another plant growing there.

I make notes if a variety grows adventitious roots. Both Diana Parks and Old Faithful can have them. So curious which one grew this small shoot.