2007 Gardening Thread

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[link 2007 gardening thread]http://www.ilxor.com:8080/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=40&threadid=48211[link]

http://www.dahlias.com/ProductImages/Dahlias/CORALGYPSY.JPG

So, what's on the gardening agenda, nu-ILXors? Coral Gypsy dahlias?

― Beth Parker, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:14 (eighteen years ago)

beautiful!

I grow nothing except for a few random succulents.

I'd like to do some flowers and basic veggies (tomatoes) But am not sure where. Our dogs tear up so much and I don't think G would like me to dig up grass for a garden.

― Ms Misery, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:17 (eighteen years ago)

I want to grow tomatoes upside-down!!! The jury-rigged bucket planters are not so attractive, I'm not sure my roommates would be into it and it has to go in the living room window to get enough sun, but I'll think of something. Think of it!!!: heavy, juicy tomatoes just hanging around, staying fresh all the times until you want to EATS THEM. Whoah.

― Laurel, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:19 (eighteen years ago)

I love succulents! I have a bunch of creeping sedums in a raised bed—and I plug tender portulaca amongst them every year. Sometimes some verbena. It's my little patch of flowering desert.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:21 (eighteen years ago)

Yes, tomatoes! The smell of the plants alone, even if they never make a single fruit, would be worth it!

― Beth Parker, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:24 (eighteen years ago)

we started seeds last week: lavender, rosemary, thyme, basil, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, cabbage, daisys, pumpkins, morning glories.

waiting for this little cold spell to pass so i can put them outside!

― Ai Lien, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:24 (eighteen years ago)

I've been thinking about what veg to grow this year. I was tentatively thinking of growing peas and spinach.

― treefell, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:25 (eighteen years ago)

It's going down to 17 tomorrow. Grr.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:26 (eighteen years ago)

Is it time to start tomatoes or have I missed the boat? Is there a good basic tomato primer on line?

My aunt might have sold G on extending our rock/succluent farming to a corner of our yard that seems to fight grass like nobody's business. In general I like this b/c I'm not sure how traditional plants/flowers would mix in with what we have going on. (also cacti and the like are perfect for our climate).

But we have some daffodils around the tree in the front, what kind of flowers could I add there? Maybe I could get some pots of flowers just for color.

― Ms Misery, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:28 (eighteen years ago)

I planted a whole load of bulbs last year. The snowdrops are already in bloom, the daffodils and tulips are looking healthy. No signs of the aliums I put in yet, though.

― treefell, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:32 (eighteen years ago)

My herbs are taking FOREVER to sprout up and turn into real plants (as opposed to seedlings). They sit in the sunniest of windows, it's plenty warm in our apt, they are even next to a radiator, and I was careful to pot the Mediterranean ones with Perlite and water sparingingly so they don't get drown-ded. WHAT DO THEY WANT FROM ME??

― Laurel, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:36 (eighteen years ago)

I mentioned on a couple of other threads that I've planted a crazy number of heirloom tomato seeds -- 250 pots of 16 varieties. I was at the 'rents' house the other day and checked out in the greenhouse -- the Brandywines, red and yellow, had all started sprouting by the 7th day. The others are going slower.

I went out to the herb garden yesterday morning to snip some thyme for a batch of tuna salad (what a great flavor pairing, srsly) -- it seems to have had a rough time of it over the winter, but trimming it back and an early spring should help it bounce back.

I'm probably going to hire somebody to cut my lawn this year, especially if my workload balloons like I expect it to.

― Rock Hardy, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:37 (eighteen years ago)

Laurel, sometimes even the sunniest window won't do it. I had a cycad that languished for years, even though it was jammed up against a south-facing french door. As soon as it put out a new frond, an old frond would die. And it only had about three fronds! I finally composted it. Some things need a greenhouse. But maybe your seedlings will get going as the days get longer. That's supposed to be the main trigger (for outdoor growth at least) as opposed to warmth.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 5 March 2007 16:56 (eighteen years ago)

The longer days thing seems critical as far north as I am - I did a growlight for a few hours every night when I was growing rosemary and thyme in kitchen pots and that did the trick. But don't let it get too close! I burned mine up eventually.

Beth, have you done anything with corsican mint as a ground cover? I tried to get some going a few years ago, and it smelled so wonderful but seemed so fragile. Maybe it would work between flagstones or something.

― Jaq, Monday, 5 March 2007 17:04 (eighteen years ago)

A fragile mint! That seems a contradiction in terms! I just looked it up—it's lovely—good for damp places. I would plant it if I was in your area. Here we almost always get a damp cold spring and a droughty summer, so creeping thyme works pretty well between stones, as long as there's plenty of drainage—sand or stone dust under the patio stones. Otherwide it'll rot in the spring.
I want a patio! I've been scavenging slabs of bluestone. Maybe some combo of bluestone, bricks and beach stones. I'm thinking of a raised bed surrounding a patio, with nice wide stones to sit on. Lots of sedums, hens & chicks, etc on the raised bed. Sort of an extension of the raised bed I already have.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 5 March 2007 17:38 (eighteen years ago)

There probably won't be any gardening for us this year since our entire lot is soon to be trampled and upset by large machinery, dumpsters, storage buses, etc.

― Maria :D, Monday, 5 March 2007 17:42 (eighteen years ago)

I planted a bunch of shade plants in my little backyard. I hope they come back in FULL EFFECT this year. The trees around the back yard won't even support grass!

Plz to recommend: herbs for shaded areas!

My chives did well last year, but the basil did not. ;_;

― molly mummenschanz, Monday, 5 March 2007 17:54 (eighteen years ago)

ooh, I could plant something around our patio! as long as the dogs don't get to it. . .

― Ms Misery, Monday, 5 March 2007 18:15 (eighteen years ago)

Chives are pretty indestructable, but basil can be picky. Loves heat and sun, as do most of the herbs. In my years of working as a landscaper and also at garden centers, I can tell you that the most common gardener Quixoticism is trying to grow sun-lovers in the shade! Buy herbs at the store! I do—there's no way I could grow as much rosemary as I plow through in the kitchen. If it wintered over I'd give it a try, but the damp spring kills it. Embrace the fern, the hosta, the impatiens, the lovely woodland tiarellas, heuchera, etc. Walk your neighborhood and see what's working for other people.
I LOVE shade gardening! Hostas! Japanese Painted fern and all its variants, like Ghost, Branford Beauty, and Pewter Lace, are about the most beautiful things you can grow. The new variety of hydrangea called "Lady in Red" supposedly prefers shade. And the "Sun Coleus" available from nurseries in 4" pots, are actually MUCH happier if they get some shade. Magilla Perilla! Variegate liriope!

― Beth Parker, Monday, 5 March 2007 18:25 (eighteen years ago)

I lied up above—I actually do grow basil and thyme in pots on the back deck. I used to grow lots of different herbs when we had a French renter, but now it's just me and my unimaginative cuisine. I could grow thyme in the ground, but there's NO ROOM. ANYWHERE.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 5 March 2007 18:36 (eighteen years ago)

Heat is not a problem in Nashville, it's just the shade that's a bummer. There were a few sad hostas when I moved it, and I planted some Japanese vine plant, which did pretty well before the season ended. I did a lot of pot planting, which had mixed results, due to the limited amount of actual sunlight that hits my steps. I'm also moving out in August, but want to garden, as I have a yard, which is a GIFT among renters. My landlord even hooked up a hose for me over the summer, as he thought it was so great that I was doing something with the tiny wee yard. Thanks for the tips, Beth! I'm going to go and look for those Japanese fern variants! Hooray!

― molly mummenschanz, Monday, 5 March 2007 18:43 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

Hey Beth, have you heard about banana peels as aphid-killers? It seems to work! We have three miniature roses in pots on the back deck, and as soon as the weather warmed up, they were aphid central. My wife read something on the internets about using banana peels and tried it out...next day there were no live aphids and a lot of corpses.

― Rock Hardy, Saturday, 14 April 2007 13:28 (eighteen years ago)

My FIL cleaned our garden and *threw* some grass seeds on it. HURRAH! Finally we'll have a proper garden again. All for Ophelia. Now we only need a sand and waterbox (?) for her.

― nathalie, Saturday, 14 April 2007 14:23 (eighteen years ago)

I've heard that the potassium in banana peels are good for roses, and used to poke them under the mulch at the base of roses with intractable black spot. Didn't work. But maybe it worked for the aphids! Why would that be? How weird.
Did your azaleas weather the cold? They look more gigantic than ever in that picture on the letter thread! We are so far behind you. Daffodils not even out. Still on crocuses, scylla and chionodoxa.

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 15 April 2007 17:10 (eighteen years ago)

IS good.

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 15 April 2007 17:11 (eighteen years ago)

I may give container gardening another go--we have a tiny yard and the soil is absolutely shot through with clay anyway.

― teeny, Sunday, 15 April 2007 17:13 (eighteen years ago)

This is a picture I took in my garden this morning:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/211/459778925_0632644673_m.jpg

― treefell, Sunday, 15 April 2007 17:20 (eighteen years ago)

Oooh! Yummy tulips! Lucky the deer left you some!
Teeny—containers, absolutely! I have a weakness for beautiful pots—giant ones surrounded by smaller ones. Make the whole place into a patio! Whiskey barrels are good, too. I have one in the shade that I fill with New Guinea impatiens and coleus, and at a job I have one in the sun that I plant with tomatoes and basil. I planted my old woodstove, too. It was too heavy to haul away, and was beautiful, besides.

Just have enough lawn for two people to stretch out on and gaze at the sky. An eight-foot square patch. You can stretch out on a chaise-long, but it just isn't the same.

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 15 April 2007 17:29 (eighteen years ago)

I am actually thinking of taking the plunge and hiring a landscaper (very tough for a penny-pincher)--there are a couple of areas which really need rototilled before anything can be done with them. I just want to get some hostas along a border but some shrubs took root there long ago and it's just a mess. I can rationalize the money, I think, since we own the house and it could use a good dose of curb appeal. Any advice?

― teeny, Sunday, 15 April 2007 17:43 (eighteen years ago)

Beware of landscaping companies operating out of garden centers. They have a vested interest in establishing a maintenance account and overplanting your property with their own stock. I'd just hire a handyman-type guy who can rent a tiller.

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 15 April 2007 17:59 (eighteen years ago)

There's a lot of make-work that large crews indulge in, just to keep all the workers working and the checks rolling in. For instance, fall feedings. Enough, already! Big crews here often have a guy following the mower with a small blower, blowing the edges of flowerbeds. Fer chrissakes. I never knew that I was such a lame gardener. I never blow my beds.

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 15 April 2007 18:05 (eighteen years ago)

The azaleas survived the cold just fine, despite lows of 30-26-29 during that front. The blooms are starting to die back already, and the strong thunderstorms we had Friday night really rumpled them.

Our mild winter and early false-spring really busted stuff out. Daffodils came and went weeks ago; purple wisteria have already come and gone; we have a big Confederate Jasmine that's starting to flower at least 2-3 weeks earlier than it did last year. The hostas are about 2 1/2" high now.

I dug up and extended the herb bed yesterday, and took out the sage, which had gotten enormous. It dawned on me that I hardly ever used fresh sage, and I needed that space for tomatoes, so I repotted a chunk of it and J's going to dry the rest.

― Rock Hardy, Sunday, 15 April 2007 18:47 (eighteen years ago)

Sage is an attractive plant, but what does one use it for other than making pork sausage?
OH MY GOD I AM HAVING A VIVID SENSE-MEMORY OF THE SMELL OF FRYING SAUSAGE

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 15 April 2007 19:04 (eighteen years ago)

Sage brown butter, mustard sage sauce, sage and garlic mashed potatoes... those were some tasty looking first hits at Epicurious. Still, the herb seems like a forced fit in a lot of dishes. Yeah, I'll never make that much sage brown butter, so out it came.

I would eat the hell out of a sausage & egg biscuit right now. I think we'll have breakfast for dinner tonight.

― Rock Hardy, Sunday, 15 April 2007 19:23 (eighteen years ago)

Ha, how opportune this should be revived -- just got back from a morning in the garden with my friend Deeps, who is part of our gardening crew now. I concentrated on watering and laying down some mulch while she weeded and ripped out other roots from a spot she's planning on using for flowers. Nice breezy but clear day with a lot of people out in their plots as well.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 15 April 2007 19:40 (eighteen years ago)

I planted twenty pots with Coffea Arabica seeds yesterday! I shall be giving out home-grown coffee plants to people for Christmas :)

― C J, Monday, 16 April 2007 09:08 (eighteen years ago)

My little patch of garden is infested with a whole manner of nasty perennial weeds - dunno whether to just lay a sheet mulch to smother everything out or get busy and start digging. I would like to get rid of the lawn completely and have a couple of raised beds for veg, some borders with pretty flowers and shrubs and chipped slate everywhere else.

― leigh, Monday, 16 April 2007 09:43 (eighteen years ago)

My little patch of garden is infested with a whole manner of nasty perennial weeds

I know the feeling Leigh. I've just taken on an allotment and the whole thing is tussocky grass, dandelions, stinging nettles and brambles. Seems like an enormous plot, it's about 8 metres wide and at least 50 metres long, going up the side of a hill. I've managed to dig four small beds out but the soil is only about six inches deep before you hit chalk and flint so I'm building raised beds to get some depth. This means I need to dig out yet more soil to fill them up with and every spadeload is just chock full of rocks and broken glass and shreds of plastic and bastard frigging evil bramble root. Have made a makeshift sieve out of a big sheet of mesh to try and sort out the nasties, but it's a pig of a job. My thinking is though that if you do a good job the first time round, it'll be easier in the long run. Also, do tiny bits at a time or else it feels hopeless.

In my garden at home cowslips, bluebells, clematis, wallflower and jacob's ladder are all out, there's been this sudden rush of colour and it's just the best thing ever. Honeysuckle is on the cusp of flowering and it feels like summer is just round the corner. Bastard slugs aren't liking the dry weather much so it's giving things a real chance to get going. Greenfly everywhere but the blue tits are keeping numbers in check. Planted a crab apple at the weekend to give the birds some cover and some winter food. A good feeling planting a tree, and have dutifully honoured it with beer.

― NickB, Monday, 16 April 2007 10:35 (eighteen years ago)

I've got couch grass, sticky willies, ground elder, nettles and creeping thistle. My plot is tiny - about 18ft x 10ft and has a privet hedge on 2 sides. It backs out onto a municipal golf course and a whole manner of nasty litter finds its way in. All i've managed to do so far is strim off the worst of the top growth and keep the hedge trimmed. I don't have a shed and live in a second floor flat so i'm kind of limited toolswise to what i can store in the house.

I made the mistake of getting cowboy gardeners in when i first moved who cut it all down and dug up half the garden and promptly buggered off - i'd made the mistake of paying them before the job was complete as they'd seemed to be working so well so my lawn is uneven and i've got a big pile of topsoil in the top corner. Dunno whether to just lay it on top of the lower lying ground to level it out and sheet mulch it with newspaper and loads of organic material which will raise the ground level even more or just bite the bullet and dig. It's times like these that i wish i knew some big strapping chaps with spades.

― leigh, Monday, 16 April 2007 12:42 (eighteen years ago)

Sticky willies are classic for the name alone. Also colloquially known as cleggy meggies amongst other things. Not so great when the seed cases get knotted around yer dog's bum hairs though.

― NickB, Monday, 16 April 2007 13:13 (eighteen years ago)

it's still too cold/wet to actually do anything. for once i'm thankful for my laziness, because if i had put anything out last week it would have been washed away yesterday.

― lauren, Monday, 16 April 2007 14:25 (eighteen years ago)

I finished prepping the ground for tomato plants, hopefully will plant them this afternoon when the soil's warmed up a bit. These nights in the 40s are going to sting their little tootsies, but it can't be helped; they're outgrowing their seedling pots. I've got 33 plants and room to plant maybe 25 of them. Maybe I'll crowd them all in, I dunno...

― Rock Hardy, Monday, 16 April 2007 14:43 (eighteen years ago)

I planted so many 'maters that I don't have room for any basil!

― Rock Hardy, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 02:41 (eighteen years ago)

I brought my coneflower in the house to keep it from a frost and my bozo cats ate the tips off the leaves. ;_;

― molly mummenschanz, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 02:43 (eighteen years ago)

There are volunteer tomato plants next to the compost heap.

― Oilyrags, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 02:54 (eighteen years ago)

All my herbs are coming up on my kitchen windowsill in the bright warm sun. Except my mint, which appears to have decided not to grow at all. The other night I was staring forlornly into the pot and MM asked me if I was sure I had actually put the seeds in.

I'm not, you know.

― accentmonkey, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 09:25 (eighteen years ago)

My cornflowers all came up like a dream - and then half of the seedlings just... died. What on earth? FINALLY the sweet peas are starting to show signs of life. But still no Morning Glories. :-(

Rocket growing like wildfire, as is the basil (I've been keeping it inside on the windowsill this time, which has worked well) and the wysteria is really thriving. I forgot to prune the roses, though, so the bush is growing all lopsided and weird.

I'm wondering about experimenting with tomatoes!

― Masonic Boom, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 09:27 (eighteen years ago)

My tomatoes beds are actually big plastic fish boxes that I pick off the beach in the winter and rinse out. They make great solid grow-bags for tomato plants, and since MM put the trellis in, I'm looking forward to some excellent toms this summer, yum yum.

I never have any luck with basil, though. I think it just doesn't like me.

― accentmonkey, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 09:30 (eighteen years ago)

I've got 40 tomato seedlings. Not my fault they all decided to germinate and I just can't bring myself to bins things. Me and Rock Hardy are going to cause a slump in world tomato prices I fear.

― NickB, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 10:29 (eighteen years ago)

Basil needs a HECK of a lot of water, I've discovered. And it likes to stay warm at night. I can't eat it as fast as it grows.

Should I have planted them already, or is there still time?

― Masonic Boom, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 10:31 (eighteen years ago)

I just direct-seeded basil right into sixpacks at work two days ago. They're in a greenhouse now, but you could put yours on a sunny windowsill, Kate, then put them outside later.

I cleaned out all the beds at one of my jobs yesterday, in the rain. The ground was so sodden, as I was standing on a grassy slope below one of the beds, trying to avoid stepping on the bed itself, the grass under me detached and I slid down the hill. This happened several times.
My foul-weather gear has all manner of leaks, sad to say. By the time I got home I was soaked and cold, and a tree limb had fallen on the power lines down the road so there was no hot water! WAAAAAH!!!

Back to the nursery today.

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 12:25 (eighteen years ago)

Argh, I meant tomatoes - is it too late to plant them?

My basil is doing just fine.

― Masonic Boom, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 12:26 (eighteen years ago)

Tomatoes are such fast growers. Go for it! We haven't even transplanted them into sixpacks yet, as a matter of fact, the tomato seed trays are still under Remay (sp?)—a gauzy cloth we cover the non-germinated trays with so that watering is diffuse and gentle.
You have a comparable growing season, right? Still a risk of frost?

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 23:22 (eighteen years ago)

Whoa, ungrammatical run-on sentence. Beg pardon. Am tired. Need drink. AND FOOD!!!!!

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 23:23 (eighteen years ago)

i planted some orange tulips that have not bloomed yet in flower boxes on porch, heirloom tomatoes ordered still have not arrived, and roses have lots of leaves.

the backyard is going to be a lost cause though. ever since we cleaned it up and mulched, all the cats in the neighborhood have been using it as a litter box. someone leaves all this catfood right outside the gate. i threw down a huge container of cayenne pepper which seemed to help for a couple of days... but man, cat poop, ugh. i just look out the kitchen window every morning to 5 cats popping a squat.

― Yerac, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 23:41 (eighteen years ago)

Kill them.

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 19 April 2007 00:23 (eighteen years ago)

There really is nothing else you can do.

I have all my boxes in the back garden covered with fencing mesh so that the cats can't just use them as giant litter trays. It really pisses them off.

― accentmonkey, Thursday, 19 April 2007 07:08 (eighteen years ago)

That's a good idea. You could skim off the whole top layer of soil and then just cover the whole area with chicken wire except for a sandbox in one corner of the yard for them to shit in. I know it's nuts to maintain a litter box for your neighbor's cats, but it would save the rest of your yard, and it sounds like their habit is entrenched. Once they're reprogrammed you could remove the chicken wire and use a chemical deterrent on your beds. There's a product I use called "Shotgun" that you sprinkle on the beds, but you have to get all the turds out first, hence the top-layer skim. No chemical scent will stop them from shitting if they can smell their own turds there, unfortunately.

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 19 April 2007 14:11 (eighteen years ago)

a bunch of cat repellent products

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 19 April 2007 14:14 (eighteen years ago)

I'm off now to clean out the beds at a multi-cat household. They are good cats, gigantic handsome Maine Coon Cats who NEVER shit in the garden.

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 19 April 2007 14:16 (eighteen years ago)

I was really hoping that was going to be a dog adoption page.

― Oilyrags, Thursday, 19 April 2007 14:16 (eighteen years ago)

And when we're done with the cats, we'll start on the squirrels...

― nickn, Thursday, 19 April 2007 19:13 (eighteen years ago)

I suspect grackles or jays in the great Swede Hill tomato massacre of 2004.

NO MERCY

― Oilyrags, Thursday, 19 April 2007 19:31 (eighteen years ago)

yes i think i'll have to be investing in cat repellant, stupid upstairs cat, grrr.

i haf two yellow tom plants on my kitchen window sill, a little afeared of putting them out just yet, but i think i'll have to pot them up soon as they are just in litle c. 4" pots and they're about 2 foot high now...

also planted:

potatoes in tubs
green beans
borlotti beans
shallots
garlic (too late i think, but we'll see what happens)
carrots
parsnips
beetroot
spring onions
coriander
lettucy stuff

but only like 6' rows of each, this is my first proper attempt at the veg growing and, as you may be able to tell, i got a bit carried away at the garden centre...

― CarsmileSteve, Thursday, 19 April 2007 22:43 (eighteen years ago)

What's been happening in my back yard lately:

30 heirloom tomato plants in 16 varieties. I realized one day that empty cat litter buckets would make perfect tomato pots. The in-ground bed will look better when I put the black edging down. The big green patches in the bed are 3-year-old established patches of thyme and marjoram.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/TomatoPots.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/TomatoBed1.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/TomatoBed2.jpg

What my rosemary plant looks like after it moved from a pot to the ground. Enough rosemary to bake an army of chickens.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/Rosemary.jpg

The old rosemary pot now has all four cherry tomato plants, "blondkopfchen" and "rose quartz". Crowded much? Possibly, but the pot holds almost a wheelbarrow full of soil.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/CherryTomatoesPot.jpg

Hostas gone wild, oregano gone wild, a variegated lantana starting to pop up on the left, and the althea/rose of sharon leafing out on the right.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/HostasEtc.jpg

Two 4" pots of lambs ears, four years later:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/LambsEars.jpg

Three years ago, our neighbor gave us three hen-and-chicks. Those things must fuck like bunnies when we're not looking. I've given a bunch away and there are some more pots full out of the frame.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/HenChicks1.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/HenChicks2.jpg

― Rock Hardy, Monday, 23 April 2007 21:11 (eighteen years ago)

oh also, any londoners wanting seeds from the list above (beans in partic) just shout, i have loads spare and worried they might go to waste

― CarsmileSteve, Monday, 23 April 2007 21:16 (eighteen years ago)

Just lucked into about 100 of these, for free:
http://www.floridata.com/ref/A/aloe_sap.cfm

Sam, if you want some give me a holler.

I've got a spot in the community garden with brandywine tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, 6 different kinds of peppers, lime basil (poor little thing is just hellbent on going to seed), marjoram, wormwood, tricolor pole beans, zucchini (heirloom and regular), pattypan squash, summer squash and canteloupe. All my cucumbers died in the weird sleet storm we had a couple of weeks ago, so I'm going to till that area and put in some more squash and some heirloom watermelons.

I'm also in the process of taming a yard that's been left to the elements for at least a year. Previous owners sodded it with St. Augustine (which is stupid in this part of TX), and it has totally died off. I've been trying to get things going on the slopes so that we don't have to try to mow what's there, plus a bunch of hummingbird and butterfly friendly plants. It's got heavy muddy rocky soil and not a lot of areas get full sun. We'll see which of the TX natives plants I got in over the weekend will thrive/survive.

best plant name so far: tied between Havana Snakeroot and Skeleton Weed.

― patita, Monday, 23 April 2007 21:33 (eighteen years ago)

Rock Hardy, your yard rules! Does your canna overwinter outside?

Patita, you are so lucky to HAVE slopes! We are in the flats. I would love to fool around with alpines stuck in the chinks of retaining walls, and also construct a waterfall. Hmmph. I've thought of changing the front of my back garden into a raised bed and letting the miscanthus and malva seedlings take over behind it. Then I'd be able to have a retaining wall at least. It's not too expensive to buy fieldstone, and probably even cheaper off-island. Here 200 bucks and change gets a pallet dumped in your driveway, and it's a whole lotta flattish stackable rocks. I'm going to do it. Hell, we probably spend that much on wine in two weeks, not to mention the exorbitant Vineyard groceries. And rocks last longer than rock cornish hens...
WHICH ARE IN THE OVEN, OH YEAH!

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 00:26 (eighteen years ago)

The canna do overwinter outside. I don't think I'd be able to kill those things with anything less than a backhoe and a gallon of Roundup. That whole 6' x 6' section, below the surface, is solid canna-root, big chunks that look like fresh ginger. They get about 7' tall right there, and their only competition is a bunch of daffodil bulbs. The canna are already a foot high in the spring before it's good to cut back the daffodil stems, so right about now the whole area looks messy, with chewed-up frostbitten canna tips and died-out daffodil greens. I think if I cleared it all back to ankle-high right now so I could clean it up, the canna would come back fine. I'm tempted to try it.

Something is killing my lawn in the back yard. You can see the dead patches in the first hen-and-chicks picture.

And the alternating oil and soap treatments on the gardenia haven't made a dent on the whiteflies. Unless somebody else has an idea, I'm bringing out the big gun, malathion.

― Rock Hardy, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 00:48 (eighteen years ago)

Your elderly girl-dog might be the culprit. Male dogs like to pee up against something, so you don't see dead spots, but girls just squat any old place, and as they get older they tend to squat closer to the house door. I had to explain this to a gardening client of mine who has an old gal.

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 00:55 (eighteen years ago)

You could try hitting the pee with a hose right away. Or not.

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 00:55 (eighteen years ago)

If you look right behind the lambs ears, you can make out a dead area just on the other side of the walkway -- that's Tracy's pee-spot. As long as she's killing just that one little area, I'm happy to let her have it.

― Rock Hardy, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 01:00 (eighteen years ago)

I see it!
I would just thatch the other problem areas with a metal leaf rake, topdress and seed. Who knows why it's patchy. You may go to your grave without ever unravelling the mystery.
At one of my jobs there's an area that needs to be thatched and over-seeded every year. It's very dank and shady, and moss wants to grow there. When I rake in the spring big scabs of sod peel right off—the grass-roots are about half an inch deep. I used to fixate on solving the problem, but now I say fuckit, just re-seed every year, it's not a big deal.

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 01:33 (eighteen years ago)

Six hours double-digging veg beds on Sunday, boiling my tits off in the sun. Halfway through this session, someone turned up a few plots down, slapped on a mask and spent twenty minutes dumping two big cans of some stinky chemicals all over their plot, then they took their mask off and went home. I spent the next hour coughing my guts up and was totally off my nut for about twenty minutes, didn't have a clue what I was doing. Horrible.

― NickB, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 08:55 (eighteen years ago)

My morning glories are finally peeking their heads above the soil!

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 09:16 (eighteen years ago)

My dahlias that I thought made it through the winter did not. Slimy tubers. That last cold snap did 'em in. Oh well. Guess I'll have to GET ALL NEW COLORS!!!!!!!!!!

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 13:50 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/dirtyhands.jpg

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 22:47 (eighteen years ago)

I raked pine needles in the woods today so I could shore up a hillside terrace with them (over an armature of sticks. I do this every year, creating more and more planting area). I was happy as a pig in shit, deer tick danger be damned. I love massive earth-contouring projects. These people could just hire a big crew to come in with heavy equipment and knock the job off in an afternoon, but they prefer to hire one crazy middle-aged lady.

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 00:59 (eighteen years ago)

have caught 8 cats in 3 days in a cat trap laced with tuna. since animal control and shelters can't take them we have let them go in the more well to do part of town far far away.

― Yerac, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 01:09 (eighteen years ago)

I thought those hands were a hippo's ass

― Latham Green, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 01:39 (eighteen years ago)

Yerac, why won't the shelter take the cats? That's weird.

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 01:52 (eighteen years ago)

it's nyc, there are way too many feral cats.

― Yerac, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 01:54 (eighteen years ago)

Surely there's some crazy cat-collector lady you could give them to. Stake out the pet homeopath's office.

― Beth Parker, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 01:56 (eighteen years ago)

Well, we're down to one big tree on our property. The big oak in front was dead from 20' up, and I had the county extension agent come out and look at it last year. He said the trunk looked healthy enough, and it could be pruned back severely, fed and watered and babied along, and it MIGHT snap back in five or six years. On the other hand, it's probably most of a century old and near the end of its natural life.

So anyway, it was on the street side of the sidewalk, meaning it was the city's headache, not ours. They asked me if I wanted it pruned or cut down, and J and I talked it over and decided to let them cut it. They took the tree down a week ago, and Thursday some dude came out to grind the stump down. He left a mountain of hardwood shavings, so I moved about fifteeen wheelbarrows full of mulch on Friday and Saturday. I'd hoped to use more, but when we got back from some errands today, the city had hoovered it all up and filled the hole in with sand.

We planted two ginkgo trees to take the place of the hickory we lost to Katrina, and we'll probably plant two more in place of the oak. We still have the biggest tree of the three, a beautiful healthy monster of an oak, in our back yard.

― Rock Hardy, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 03:02 (eighteen years ago)

I decided I could not live without tomatoes, and last weekend was *just* in April, so it was time to plant. Ripped out all of the rocket in the big pot (mmmm, tasty weeding! I ated them all) and topped it up with compost and put down tomatoes. We shall see if a damn thing actually grows.

Only 4 of my morning glory seeds actually came up at all. I am trying to nurse them into healthiness.

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 14:20 (eighteen years ago)

Off to check the garden today for the first time in a couple of weeks -- friend Deeps has apparently done wonders in digging out a slew of deep rooted weeds and tubers and the like, so I'm all for that.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 14:22 (eighteen years ago)

My lawn has reached the point where it requires a strimmer. Somebody told me you can get one for £12 these days, so a trip to B&Q is in order. I hope it's lighter than the hedge trimmer, which I have yet to wield this year. The privet is probably my first priority now.

I've pruned my roses and the hydrangea and the fuchsia, though, and my window boxes hardly need any attention because most of the plants have survived being out all winter (in Scotland ffs, global warming ect). Two foxgloves have sprung up and my poppies are all bushy and ready to push up flowers soon, I think. So a bit more hacking back, a good sprinkling of anti-cat smellypowder and all will be well.

― Madchen, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 16:33 (eighteen years ago)

We dug up a 15 square feet of Lily of the Valley. Little bastards. I thought I'd let it take over the shady back of the bed, but noooo, it comes right into the front and infiltrates everything. I HATE YOU LILY OF THE VALLEY!!!!!! Now we have a mountain of uprooted LOV on a tarp, too heavy to move. We need a team of oxen.
I know we didn't get it all. I'll have to keep after it for years, but eventually I WILL WIN.
The really stupid thing is that I PLANTED IT, back when I didn't know any better. I can't even blame my mother-in-law.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 7 May 2007 01:53 (eighteen years ago)

First pea-sized tomatoes sighted. One on a Julia Child and one on a Black Prince, if the labels didn't get switched around on the seedlings in the greenhouse.

I'm seriously considering starting several hundred seedlings next year, putting ads in the local paper and the free weekly shopper, and selling them off my carport around planting time. I planted 250 this year in 90 minutes -- they're no work at all until they go into the ground. We gave away scores of seedlings this year -- why not make a few dollars?

― Rock Hardy, Saturday, 12 May 2007 22:46 (eighteen years ago)

Wait, you planted 250 tomatoes?

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 13 May 2007 00:27 (eighteen years ago)

No, sorry, I started 250 pots of seeds, five trays. I took about 35 plants, my dad planted about 50, and we gave away a whole bunch.

― Rock Hardy, Sunday, 13 May 2007 00:45 (eighteen years ago)

A whole new batch of liy-of-the-valley popped up, from all the little bits of root left behind. I was a woman possessed, digging them out until last light. I woke at 3 in the morning with my shovel-foot throbbing. I think I bruised my instep. God Damn lily-of-the-valley!

I have a rogue patch at a job, too, that I have to eradicate. They keep getting into the hostas, trying to pass themselves off as hosta foliage. I'm going to have to dig up the hostas and pull the LOV roots out of them. Grrr.

The classic mistakes that beginning gardeners ALL make is to plant the following things in or near their flowerbeds:

lily of the valley
strawberries
mint

― Beth Parker, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:36 (eighteen years ago)

MINT IS EVIL! well, it grows evil. you can put it in a bed, it'll run roots across a few yards & pop up a block or two away! no lie!

my squash and pumpkins and tomatoes and herbs are looking good! and strawberries. we've planted them in those old wooden ammo boxes. perfick.

― Ai Lien, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:56 (eighteen years ago)

The classic mistakes that beginning gardeners ALL make is to plant the following things ~~in or near their flowerbeds~~anywhere:

Bamboo

― nickn, Monday, 14 May 2007 20:32 (eighteen years ago)

Going to be a big ol' infrastructure upgrade with our joint garden tomorrow -- will take some photos. In the meantime, lots of stuff is coming in very well...

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 14 May 2007 20:34 (eighteen years ago)

MY BAYBEEZ

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/babies051807no3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/babies051807no1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/babies051807no2.jpg

A watched pot never turns into tomato sauce.

L-R: Julia Child, Black Prince, Brandywine Yellow

― Rock Hardy, Saturday, 19 May 2007 03:03 (eighteen years ago)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/babies051807no4.jpg
Ahem, L-R: Julia Child, Black Prince, Brandywine Yellow

― Rock Hardy, Saturday, 19 May 2007 03:04 (eighteen years ago)

:-)

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 19 May 2007 03:14 (eighteen years ago)

Whoa, beautiful!!!!!!
My sister's here, so she and I will plant annuals in my mother's garden. I worked at the nursery today, but in between tasks I gathered stuff onto a cart. I got cosmos, snaps, zinnias, cleome, trailing verbena, tall verbena, short pink ageratum, tall blue ageratum, supertunias, etc etc.
Also all new dahlias, as I let last year's die in the ground.

For my own garden I got some Agastache "Sonoran Sunset" and some Nepeta "Super Cat."

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 20 May 2007 01:57 (eighteen years ago)

The agastache attracts hummingbirds! Someone posted this on gardenweb.

http://pic14.picturetrail.com/VOL554/969365/8041583/110031620.jpg

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 20 May 2007 02:08 (eighteen years ago)

OH NOES I HAS A FUNGUS.

Just on one plant though, a Pruden's Purple. I did a radical stem-ectomy and got some allegedy superduper fungicide from my dad this afternoon and gave them all a spray. This stretch of cool weather has been great for us, but bad for the maters.

xpost -- oh yeah, our hummers are back! I almost got thrashed by one this afternoon while I was spraying fungicide.

― Rock Hardy, Sunday, 20 May 2007 02:15 (eighteen years ago)

I hate fungus!
Black spot is the scourge of my life.
Why does fungus exist in the world??????????

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 20 May 2007 02:34 (eighteen years ago)

In some places, it evolved into wild mushroom risotto, but no such luck here.

― Rock Hardy, Sunday, 20 May 2007 02:39 (eighteen years ago)

If your tomatoes grow mushrooms all you have to do is add the hamburger. Where is that place? I want to move there.

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 20 May 2007 02:47 (eighteen years ago)

Upper Onionville

― Rock Hardy, Sunday, 20 May 2007 02:55 (eighteen years ago)

House for Sale in Onionville

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 20 May 2007 12:35 (eighteen years ago)

God, I hate my lawnmower. Trying to start it for the first time this year. It's been in the basement, no old gas in it. Do you think it starts? Noooo. A barely audible flub flub flub. I guess I need to snap my shoulder out of socket pulling the damn cord. There has to be an actual injury involved.

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 20 May 2007 13:36 (eighteen years ago)

Okay, now it's raining. Bah. So much to do in my garden and my mother's, and this is my one day to do it.

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 20 May 2007 13:40 (eighteen years ago)

I really am considering buying the villa in Onionville.

"Herault is one of the most attractive and sought after departments of the
Languedoc. It has ready access to miles of unspoilt coastline, it has rolling hillsides
covered in vineyards, it even goes up into very high hills with amazing rock
formations and, of course, it has Montpellier. Montpellier is famous for having the
youngest population of any city in France. Young people flock here for university
and then never leave it. Once you get to know it you will probably feel the same.
The Languedoc is renowned for having more than 300 days of sunshine a year and
when it does get hot in the summer it is good to head down to the beaches of the
Mediterranean for a cooling dip. Apart from miles of long sandy beaches, in the
summer the area around Montpellier transforms itself with luxurious beach clubs
allowing you to enjoy indulgent comfort and exquisite food, whilst dipping your
toes in the blue Mediterranean. Those who prefer the countryside will find that
Herault has it in abundance and throughout the vineyards, tree clad hills and
meadowlands there are interesting villages to wander around, abbeys to visit,
gorges to gaze over and an abundance of top quality restaurants to
enjoy. Montpellier provides everything that city lovers could hope for, top quality
concert and theatre venues, museums, good shopping facilities, lovely parks and a
tramway that enables you to park out of town and whiz above the roof tops, across
the canals, alongside the pavements and straight into the centre of town with no
effort on your part at all."

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 20 May 2007 14:48 (eighteen years ago)

Okay, a break in the rain. Out to battle with the mower again.

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 20 May 2007 14:49 (eighteen years ago)

I hate the mower.

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 20 May 2007 14:54 (eighteen years ago)

Okay, before I go back to mowing (hallelujah!) I will post this pic, taken right before I startled him, of our garden's most popular feature, eater of his own yound and anything else that he can fit in his mouth.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/frog58.jpg

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 20 May 2007 15:48 (eighteen years ago)

his own YOUNG.

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 20 May 2007 15:49 (eighteen years ago)

Awesome, just look at him sitting there waiting for mosquitoes to hatch for his breakfast.

― Rock Hardy, Sunday, 20 May 2007 16:23 (eighteen years ago)

I need suggestions for vegetables that grow well in damp, shady areas.

― Rock Hardy, Sunday, 20 May 2007 17:14 (eighteen years ago)

Watercress? I suppose that likes sun. Hmm. Can you eat skunk cabbage?

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 20 May 2007 17:19 (eighteen years ago)

I know! Ferns! For fiddleheads!

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 20 May 2007 17:20 (eighteen years ago)

I managed to clear a path through 3ft high couch grass, creeping thistle and nettles to my compost bin with my toothless strimmer today, i'll attempt to cut the rest next week.

― leigh, Sunday, 20 May 2007 19:04 (eighteen years ago)

Right, finally some photos to share of the garden -- we were both pruning the rose bushes and putting up new fencing as the day went on (this was Tuesday), thus some of the changes you'll see. (Much as I would love to claim it, the elaborate minivineyard you'll see in some shots does not belong to our plot):

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/208/506536777_402e3d19ec.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/189/506507560_51ecd34b06.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/204/506511686_20ae095e47.jpg

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 20 May 2007 21:49 (eighteen years ago)

Well that's annoying, some of the photos didn't appear. (Then again maybe it's only three at a time now, might have missed something.) To continue:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/193/506543451_2fba3e31c2.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/202/506517304_1b1e3b8b2d.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/212/506524520_92c438c695.jpg

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 20 May 2007 21:51 (eighteen years ago)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/230/506527452_ca1f551d31.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/229/506559051_9e8e74ad56.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/228/506561377_832d295a61.jpg

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 20 May 2007 21:53 (eighteen years ago)

I love your garden, Ned! That rose is beautiful! What is it? It's sort of like a Double Delight, only daintier-colored at the edges.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 21 May 2007 00:03 (eighteen years ago)

I got all the annuals planrted in my mom's garden. My sister and I did it in the rain. And to my surprise about 2/3s of the dahlias I assumed were dead were in fact alive. Global Warming. We shoe-horned their replacements in anyway.

As for my own yardâI mowed the lawn but didn't get that agastache and nepeta Super Cat planted. I never can do all the things I plan to do.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 21 May 2007 00:29 (eighteen years ago)

I love your garden, Ned!

Thanks! But I can't take any credit for what's in it -- that's what my friends provide, and essentially I help out with all kinds of maintenance and watering, and share in the goods if edible. Not sure which rose variety but I can check.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 21 May 2007 00:47 (eighteen years ago)

Maintenance and watering are 9/10ths of the job!

Here are the eight new dahlias I chose. I fear it's somewhat monotonous. I should have chosen a yellow and a burgundy to break it up. But it's gonna be good anywayâesp. when you consider that eight plants of all the same variety would be good!

Neon Splendor
http://www.dahlias.com/ProductImages/Dahlias/sm/NEONSPLENDOR.JPG

― Beth Parker, Monday, 21 May 2007 01:49 (eighteen years ago)

Brookside Cheri
http://www.dahlias.com/ProductImages/Dahlias/sm/BROOKSIDECHERI.JPG

― Beth Parker, Monday, 21 May 2007 01:50 (eighteen years ago)

Robert Lee
http://www.dahlias.com/ProductImages/Dahlias/sm/ROBERTLEE.JPG

― Beth Parker, Monday, 21 May 2007 01:51 (eighteen years ago)

Hy Darcy
http://www.ferncliffgardens.com/Images/HY%20DARCY.JPG

― Beth Parker, Monday, 21 May 2007 01:52 (eighteen years ago)

Chilson's Pride
http://www.dahlias.com/ProductImages/Dahlias/sm/CHILSONSPRIDE.JPG

― Beth Parker, Monday, 21 May 2007 01:53 (eighteen years ago)

Mystique
http://www.dahlias.com/ProductImages/Dahlias/sm/MYSTIQUE.JPG

― Beth Parker, Monday, 21 May 2007 01:53 (eighteen years ago)

Helen Richmond
http://www.dahlias.com/ProductImages/Dahlias/sm/HELENRICHMOND.JPG

― Beth Parker, Monday, 21 May 2007 01:54 (eighteen years ago)

Hee Haugh
http://www.dahlias.com/ProductImages/Dahlias/sm/HEEHAUGH.JPG

― Beth Parker, Monday, 21 May 2007 01:55 (eighteen years ago)

None of them are dinnerplate monsters. They're all B or BB sizeâbetter for cutting. My mom loves pink and I'm a sucker for orange and peach, so there you have it.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 21 May 2007 01:57 (eighteen years ago)

That Helen Richmond is intense!

― Jaq, Monday, 21 May 2007 02:02 (eighteen years ago)

I know! It's like the ultimate girly-girl flower.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 21 May 2007 02:28 (eighteen years ago)

I continue to find bits of Lily-of-The Valley roots in the battle zone. Nonetheless, I have replanted it. As soon as I mulch I will post some photos! I'm so into it. I realized that my garden is like an invented country with different regions—it reminds me of the maps I used to draw of made-up islands when I was a kid.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 28 May 2007 13:58 (eighteen years ago)

Hah! I just talked to one of my gardening customers, who just arrived on-island yesterday. In the past he's complained about the bill, so I'm always nervous, conscious of how much I'm spending on plants, etc, afraid he's going to pull the plug on the garden. But he was totally happy with the garden and to top-off the good vibes, asked me to find him some w33d!!!!!!!!!!!!!

― Beth Parker, Monday, 28 May 2007 15:24 (eighteen years ago)

Proper response to complaining about the bill would be to double it, isn't it?

― Rock Hardy, Monday, 28 May 2007 15:49 (eighteen years ago)

The Brookside Cheri is delicious, esp the zone where it shades from yellow to pink...I like the red/yellow, pink/orange combination in pretty much everything, because somewhere in the middle is the perfect blush....

In other news, rosemary hates me.

― Laurel, Monday, 28 May 2007 16:23 (eighteen years ago)

will post pictures of my parents' garden, which i designed and planted, tomorrow...

also, about mint: if you have a problem with the deer or with rabbits eating your plants, mint is indispensable. they hate that shit, and stay away from any and all plants that are near it.

― the table is the table, Monday, 28 May 2007 19:29 (eighteen years ago)

Aphids on my maters, noooooooo!

― Rock Hardy, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 23:02 (eighteen years ago)

Mater status, June 2.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/tomatoes060207panorama.jpg

Think I'll get a few from this plant?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/blondkopfchenblossoms060207.jpg

Got some reassurance about the aphids from the UC Davis site. They might cause some wilt, but aren't likely to reduce yields at the levels I'm seeing them.

― Rock Hardy, Sunday, 3 June 2007 01:26 (eighteen years ago)

That huge jungle at the right, two Black Prince and three Aunt Ruby's German Green, is about 5 1/2 ft. tall. I was standing on mah bucket to shoot them.

― Rock Hardy, Sunday, 3 June 2007 01:31 (eighteen years ago)

Yeeps, and I thought our tomatoes were going great guns. Still, we are aphidless, so that's nice. Had to chase a rabbit out from the garden today, though, the little punk.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 3 June 2007 01:48 (eighteen years ago)

blimey rock, i got all excited because my windowsill orange pixie had like 1 (one) little flower, look at you with yr world o' tomatoes!

the BASTARD BASTARD snails have had ALL my beans now, the BASTARDS. aliums and beetroots doing ok so far as are my tub potatoes.

i nearly got some slug pellets last week but i have teh PH34R that the cat that lives upstairs will eat them and DIE which is (just) outweighing my need to protect m'beans...

― CarsmileSteve, Sunday, 3 June 2007 12:41 (eighteen years ago)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/209/506561259_b6c012bc57_d.jpg

here's a pic of our rooftop chile farm - we had a storm last week which ruined quite a few of the plants - but i think we have enough :-)

― Jack Battery-Pack, Sunday, 3 June 2007 14:13 (eighteen years ago)

I saw a book the other day called "The $64 Tomato," by some guy who got obsessed with growing tomatoes and bought anything and everything he could find that would increase his yield -- pesticides, fungicides, fertilizers, soil adjuncts, an electric fence, you name it -- and at the end of the book he calculated that he'd spent $64 for every tomato he produced. I don't think I'm going to go off the deep end like that. I just did some quick Jethro-style ciphering and I've spent $140 so far on the whole garden -- $144 if you count the basil plants. Of course I haven't gotten anything but some pretty pictures so far, but if King Harvest comes in the way it seems to be going, I'll spend less per pound than I would going to the store for tomatoes, and for a home-garden dabbler, that's a great benchmark.

I totally just jinxed it, didn't I.

xpost -- wow, those chiles look great.

― Rock Hardy, Sunday, 3 June 2007 14:40 (eighteen years ago)

There's a ghost in the window in that mater pic!!!! Eeeek!

Oh, wait. Maybe not.

― Hey Jude, Sunday, 3 June 2007 23:26 (eighteen years ago)

Flashing back to this, are we?

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 3 June 2007 23:30 (eighteen years ago)

Maybe I shouldn't have sniffed that "Nuclear Fungicide" from the paw-in-law.

― Hey Jude, Sunday, 3 June 2007 23:44 (eighteen years ago)

That reminds me, today is spray-day for that stuff.

― Rock Hardy, Sunday, 3 June 2007 23:50 (eighteen years ago)

No, I don't have an organic garden.

― Rock Hardy, Sunday, 3 June 2007 23:52 (eighteen years ago)

I just took on another job today, so you may be seeing the last of me for a while. Egad. I'm rehabbing and planting a weedy veggie garden for some (very nice!) people who are only here on weekends. I hope I can find some Sungold tomato plants.

Rock Hardy, your tomatoes are amazing! And Jack Battery-Pack, that rooftop garden looks like fun! Don't the little pots dry out quickly? You need whiskey barrels! The whiskey barrels that our local Ace Hardware carries smell like Jack Daniels. I grow tomatoes and basil in one, on a customer's patio, and a friend of mine once grew a lovely crop of carrots in one.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 4 June 2007 01:08 (eighteen years ago)

Rain! Thank you Tropical Storm Barry! Perfect day for weeding that veggie bed, as there are good mulched pathways to kneel in. Pressure's off on my other two jobs today, as one was only a watering stop. We needed this. There's no substitute for real rain. Plants know the difference.

― Beth Parker, Monday, 4 June 2007 12:49 (eighteen years ago)

First harvest today, a couple of cherry tomatoes (Rose Quartz). NOM NOM NOM

― Rock Hardy, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 20:49 (eighteen years ago)

My friends, I think I am due congratulation, for yesterday I cut my lawn for the first time this year! I had to strim twice, then mow, and my hayfever went bonkers (it was literally thigh-high and very polleny) but it was worth it for the peace of mind I'll have knowing my neighbours will now surely sell their flat in nanoseconds.

Today I weeded half the beds and sprinkled the tasty blue pellets for the slugs to have their last picnic, here sluggies! Organic schmorganic. And I also scattered a liberal dose of anti-cat stuff from Poundstretcher on the lawn, but had to shut my windows against the stench shortly afterwards.

― Madchen, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 22:03 (eighteen years ago)

Okay, so that enormous plant in the corner that I had labeled as a Black Prince? Turns out it was a Brandywine Yellow.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/yellowtomato.jpg

We had eaten most of it by the time I remembered to weigh it or get a picture. Probably about 12 oz. And SO FUCKING GOOD.

I'm completely obsessed with the garden all of a sudden. I think I'm getting old.

― Rock Hardy, Monday, 18 June 2007 00:35 (eighteen years ago)

It's all part of the process. I guess. Didn't get a chance to go out this weekend but I'll be there again on Tuesday -- next weekend we should finally be putting in the new walkway paving stones.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 18 June 2007 00:36 (eighteen years ago)

Our yard is a construction site, now with a basement-sized hole, but before we vacated the premises, Rufus planted a sunflower seedling in the one safe place on the lot: between the fence and the phone box. It's growing. My raised beds were razed along with everything else. We lost most of the trees, sadly. It will be fun landscaping though. Completely clean slate to start with.

― Maria :D, Monday, 18 June 2007 01:05 (eighteen years ago)

More photos from today:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1401/573281922_3848978ad8.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1318/573584377_a545b523d9.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1268/573597359_ac638d7b68.jpg

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 June 2007 05:29 (eighteen years ago)

And two more:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1092/573289236_ffbef8fdc8.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1357/573598545_1ac0f79512.jpg

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 June 2007 05:30 (eighteen years ago)

While I was in Paris, everything died except the tomatoes.

I am never going to get flowers. :-(

OK, my orchid has grown another 2 leaves, but won't flower. Don't orchids flower, like, once every 20 years or something?

― Masonic Boom, Wednesday, 20 June 2007 10:34 (eighteen years ago)

We have an orchid that has bloomed three times in the last year, three blossoms each time.

― Rock Hardy, Wednesday, 20 June 2007 12:30 (eighteen years ago)

I thought I had some like Ned's but looking at them now they are different.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1157/581216027_72701c3d3a.jpg

― Ned Trifle II, Thursday, 21 June 2007 15:31 (eighteen years ago)

Costoluto Genovese, 8.4 oz.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/CV1.jpg

BRAAAAAIINNSSSS...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/CV2.jpg

― Rock Hardy, Saturday, 23 June 2007 23:21 (eighteen years ago)

Forgot to take my camera out today but we just put in a new walkway in the garden at last, a massive improvement! Tomatoes are coming in like gangbusters.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 23 June 2007 23:28 (eighteen years ago)

Ned R's are gladiolas, yours are Foxgloves, Ned T.
And Rock Hardy, for that tomato, I have no words.

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 28 June 2007 12:59 (eighteen years ago)

We've had some even better ones since that one. Georgia O'Keefe should have taken a break from lilies and painted tomatoes every now and then.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/costoluto3.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/costoluto2.jpg

― Rock Hardy, Thursday, 28 June 2007 13:48 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/DSC00680rozanne.jpg

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 01:14 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/DSC00710malvaclose.jpg

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 01:14 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/DSC00690carameletc.jpg

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 01:15 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/DSC00676birdbath.jpg

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 01:15 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/DSC00678urn.jpg

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 01:16 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/DSC00706backbed2.jpg

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 01:16 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/DSC00692frontbed.jpg

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 01:17 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/DSC00700peoniesaruncususe-1.jpg

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 01:17 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/DSC00688roz-cimiuse2.jpg

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 01:18 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/DSC00683closedgazanias.jpg

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 01:18 (eighteen years ago)

Whiskey barrel in 4th pic contains our vegetable garden—three tomatoes. Two Sungold and a Sweet 100. I am tending a veggie garden on a job, though, and the people are hardly ever here, so I'm planting things I like, like MUSTARD GREENS!!!!!!!!!!!

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 01:30 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/DSC00707backbedbarberry.jpg

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 01:33 (eighteen years ago)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e391/marthasminions/DSC00679coffeetray.jpg

Gracious living commences NOW.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 01:34 (eighteen years ago)

Beautiful gardens, Beth. I haven't had the interest or patience for any gardens that I can't eat...maybe someday.

― Rock Hardy, Friday, 29 June 2007 12:34 (eighteen years ago)

Good god Beth, your garden looks terrific! It has a forest! I want it.

― Ned Trifle II, Friday, 29 June 2007 12:54 (eighteen years ago)

How long do you spend gardening? After about an hour I get bored. Thus only about 1/4 of our garden ever gets any proper attention although I do mow the lawn.

― Ned Trifle II, Friday, 29 June 2007 12:55 (eighteen years ago)

I spend huge amounts of time. Sunday, my one day off, is entirely devoted to the yard, and I water during the week before I leave for work, too.
In that pic that shows the woods behind the back yard bed you can see where the underbrush hasn't refoliated yet after being denuded by the tent caterpillar/cankerworm invasions. It's normally all green on the on the other side of the stone wall. The oaks are leafing out again but the viburnums are slower. I should clear the crap away from the wall. Dewberry—that prickly ankle-snagging creeping blackberry—is overtaking the myrtle. So evil. One valiant foxglove made its way through the thorny morass.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 13:08 (eighteen years ago)

If you're bored in the garden I recommend ordering a pallet of fieldstone delivered from your local lumberyard/home center. I have lots of rock I can scavenge from the woods, but the storebought stone is all flat. So much fun! Paths, retaining walls, pond edges—you name it.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 13:17 (eighteen years ago)

What is wrong with my roses? Buds don't open, roses don't bloom, closed buds just get bigger and heavier and pull down the branches, then rot.

― aldo, Friday, 29 June 2007 13:38 (eighteen years ago)

I've had that problem, esp. with Austin roses. They must be vulnerable to whatever it is. I will research. Probably some critter inside the stems.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 13:50 (eighteen years ago)

Ta. We have had a few aphids, and something leaving cuckoo spit type deposits, but nothing else noticeable.

― aldo, Friday, 29 June 2007 13:51 (eighteen years ago)

Spittlebugs are harmless. Apparently thrips can cause bud rot, as can botritis mold. I'd cut back the diseased foliage and spray them with a combo insecticide/fungicide. It's bound to kill whatever it is. If the roses continue to have problems I'd replace them. Some rose varieties are too disease-prone to bother with. If you do that, do a soil rehab first. The vaunted experts say that you shouldn't plant roses where sick roses were removed, but I've gotten away with it by digging in huge amounts of composted manure.

I had a botritis mold problem on my peonies—it was blackening whole stems right as the buds formed. It stopped when I stopped feeding them in the spring. Overfeeding (which I'm prone to) encourages fungal growth.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 14:06 (eighteen years ago)

My aphids hit the road as soon as it got really warm. Buncha wimps.

As for the tomatoes, I now have to take an ice cream bucket out with me to bring in the harvest every day. Yellow Brandywines are the big producers, and the Paul Robeson has an amazing, almost-meaty, flavor. I'm going to clip off a sucker and root it so we have a second Robeson for late-season eating. As soon as I figure out where the hell I can put it.

I was thinking about starting a tomato tasting notes thread on I Love Cooking because all these varieties have such different flavors, but I don't really have the vocabulary to describe what I'm tasting. I might anyway.

― Rock Hardy, Friday, 29 June 2007 14:11 (eighteen years ago)

You should have a booth at your local farmers' market! Rock Hardy, Doctor of Tomatology. Which are the most delicious varieties?
So many of the heirloom tomatoes have an unsatisfactory flavor, to me. Those zebra-striped ones just taste sour. I love the Sungolds, though, and I'm growing Brandywines in the work veggie bed.

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 14:15 (eighteen years ago)

I've thought about setting up at the Tupelo Farmer's Market, but I'm too lazy. I'm going to try to keep from letting any of these go to waste by peeling, coring and freezing -- I don't quite have enough coming in yet for canning.

I have a Marvel Stripe on the sill ready to taste. My Black Zebras have a bunch of 1"-2" fruit, but they're not ripe yet.

Most classically tomatoey taste -- Costoluto Genovese. German Green -- tart at the blossom end, kind of bland at the stem end. Robeson -- incredibly rich, bold flavor, but they go from underripe to overripe in 48 hours, must be watched closely. Yellow Brandywine -- very delicate flavor. I made gazpacho with a bunch of them yesterday.

― Rock Hardy, Friday, 29 June 2007 14:30 (eighteen years ago)

Our roses grow like motherfuckers

http://lh6.google.com/trishyb/RoPq7kycPjI/AAAAAAAAAtk/PmYjW4CSAEA/s400/IMG_1410.JPG

and our fuchsias are no slouches either

http://lh4.google.com/trishyb/RoPq_EycPkI/AAAAAAAAAts/cBW5Fyw4tEk/s400/IMG_1411.JPG

But I've just realized that our tomatoes are going to fruit while we're away on holidays and so will probably spoil. I'll have to get our neighbours to pick them.

― accentmonkey, Friday, 29 June 2007 14:51 (eighteen years ago)

That rose is pornographic!

― Beth Parker, Friday, 29 June 2007 23:48 (eighteen years ago)

Late to the game but what wondrous photos! Yay to all of you for late June goodness. :-) I hope to have some more photos up on Tuesday.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 29 June 2007 23:51 (eighteen years ago)

My aphids hit the road as soon as it got really warm. Buncha wimps.

I think our aphids all drowned.

― accentmonkey, Saturday, 30 June 2007 09:41 (eighteen years ago)

From yesterday -- a great shot of the new walkway we have in:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1185/720027768_ed41babaa8.jpg

And a couple of other shots:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1005/719982690_2bb6a73f77.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1331/719112171_9f21631915.jpg

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 4 July 2007 22:46 (eighteen years ago)

Nice! Is it droughty in LA the way it is here? We're actually getting a bit of rain tonight, though, a good thing. Too bad about the 4th of July and all, but the place was like the Gobi.

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 5 July 2007 00:18 (eighteen years ago)

Very droughty, in fact with today being the Fourth there's serious concerns about accidental brush fires. So we're watering out there pretty much every other day at this point, at least when it comes to the plants that aren't providing enough shade yet for the soil.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 5 July 2007 00:24 (eighteen years ago)

I've been watering like crazy to stay ahead of it, because once the soil dries out it's so hard to get the water to penetrate. You have to massage it in with your hands, because otherwise no matter how long you stand there with a hose, all you get is a thin skin of mud over dust. It's weird. Where does all the water go?

My plumber dismisses the idea that you could run your well dry by watering flowerbeds. If it's that bad, all you'll do it run it dry a day or so before it would have run dry anyway.
Our water table is fine—we had lots of early spring rain and the ponds are all high.

That was a nice rain last night, though. More coming, supposedly.

― Beth Parker, Thursday, 5 July 2007 14:43 (eighteen years ago)

And how did my harvesting of tomatoes from the garden go tonight? Well...

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1412/775168850_bf02dce52b.jpg

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 06:37 (eighteen years ago)

Nice. I've discovered this year that that many tomatoes will make about two pints of pizza sauce.

― Rock Hardy, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 13:41 (eighteen years ago)

Wow! Those are beautiful! Gazpacho?

― Beth Parker, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 23:43 (eighteen years ago)

Tempting thought...

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 12 July 2007 04:20 (eighteen years ago)

So, I have problem bamboo at a job. I told the homeowner that she should get some guys with a backhoe to take it out. THEN I read an article about bamboo, where a bamboo grower said that it's shallow-rooted and easy to dig up. She said that you can "peel up" the whole planting.

Oh really?

Not.

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 21 July 2007 01:42 (eighteen years ago)

I apologized for image-bombing this thread, resulting in it taking forever to open now.

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 21 July 2007 01:42 (eighteen years ago)

Ned, what variety is that purple tomato?

― Rock Hardy, Saturday, 21 July 2007 01:53 (eighteen years ago)

It's a Bolognese Blood Blister.

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 21 July 2007 01:56 (eighteen years ago)

I'd like to have a patch of bamboo.

Flimsy wire tomato cages are going under the house after this season; now I know why my dad was happy to let me have theirs. These top-heavy plants are pulling the cages over.

xpost, HAW

― Rock Hardy, Saturday, 21 July 2007 01:59 (eighteen years ago)

Get Fargesia. It's a clumping bamboo species, as opposed to the problematic running types. One of the cultivars has black culms.

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 21 July 2007 02:02 (eighteen years ago)

or so my coworker says. I can't find it.
I don't know whether it would do well in your area, though.

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 21 July 2007 02:09 (eighteen years ago)

Fargesia sources in Mississippi

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 21 July 2007 02:18 (eighteen years ago)

Portulaca was Beverly Sills favorite flower. I know, because I planted and tended it for her.
Portulaca (sp.?) is, like, the best summertime plant ever.
It's a succulent ( I think) so it just grows tendrils and rocks out with lots of tiny blooms.
I love me my hostas, but i do get crazed by the portulaca.

― aimurchie, Saturday, 21 July 2007 03:59 (eighteen years ago)

OK, I posted that little anecdote because all i have is three pots of portulaca that remind me of Bubbles.
No Garden!
I do tend my mothers garden, which includes arguing her out of buying the bright orange mulch, and planting things "not all in a row", which drives her crazy, but ends up looking better.
i need to get more plants into her landscape...she has no astilbe and no butterfly bush. She lives in a slightly seedy (ha ha) part of Springfield, Mass., but i think her(our) efforts make a difference. I bow to her need to have everything all in a row in the front yard, but defy her with my plant placement in the much larger back yard.
I'm talking her in to buying a $500.00 mulching, battery operated lawnmower.
there are some crazy volunteer plants coming out of the compost! Yellow squash, from something that was composted many months ago!

― aimurchie, Saturday, 21 July 2007 13:16 (eighteen years ago)

Re: purple tomato -- the name Beth gave is as good as any. (I'll check into it.)

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 21 July 2007 14:19 (eighteen years ago)

My garden's gone to shit. I really, really need 24 hours without rain so I can cut my lawn and hedge.

― Madchen, Sunday, 22 July 2007 11:40 (eighteen years ago)

I feel that pain. The grass is giggling to itself as it grows, it's going to be murder

― Matt, Sunday, 22 July 2007 21:50 (eighteen years ago)

We have the opposite problem—drought. Ten days of rain in a row were forecast, but we got one. The rest went to you, I guess.
My garden woe—RUST on my hollyhocks and malva! Yech! Is it from wetting the foliage during evening watering, or the evening deer-repellent spraying? Probably neither is good practice. I should do it in the morning only.

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 22 July 2007 22:19 (eighteen years ago)

Alison, I love portulaca too! My latest fave—Lo-Gro Coral! I love all the succulents. They make me feel like I'm someplace else, and that's the whole deal with gardening, right? It jolts you into an Edenic dream-realm. Hence the huge boringness of the "indigenous plants only" fascists.

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 22 July 2007 22:24 (eighteen years ago)

I planted a prickly pear in my bird-bath rock garden! It's got a lot of fruit coming along on it. Does anyone know if you can eat them?

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 22 July 2007 22:37 (eighteen years ago)

More photos from yesterday:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1319/892646074_d4c01e940f.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1391/892650784_8c139da2bf.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1108/891813225_52c4d01c22.jpg

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 20:08 (eighteen years ago)

And more:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1395/891816107_d9ce768c0c.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1236/892670836_66b0278439.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1214/892723288_6849d15dbd.jpg

The heirlooms in the middle shot there, I have found out, are of the Purple Calabash variety.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 20:09 (eighteen years ago)

ILX, I wish you were here to eat all these maters. I don't have time to deal with them, and they're dying on the countertop. I have a gallon bucket full to be thrown out to the birds.

― Rock Hardy, Saturday, 28 July 2007 01:59 (eighteen years ago)

checking out beth parker's garden tonight. smashing!

― scott seward, Saturday, 28 July 2007 02:02 (eighteen years ago)

R. H. I've been creating sauces and things like mad. Sick of that approach, I take it? (I'm actually taking a break tonight.)

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 28 July 2007 02:55 (eighteen years ago)

Not sick of it, just no time. I'm working 16 hour days for the foreseeable future. I don't need to be taking tonight off, but I am anyway.

― Rock Hardy, Saturday, 28 July 2007 03:04 (eighteen years ago)

Clarity. Get some sleep!

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 28 July 2007 03:06 (eighteen years ago)

Re: eating prickly pear fruit

Yes! And they make great jelly and are good for juice too. I don't know exactly how to tell when they are ripe though.

And Ned, thanks for that tomato! It was indeed tasty, and beautiful.

― Jaq, Saturday, 28 July 2007 04:55 (eighteen years ago)

:-)

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 28 July 2007 06:46 (eighteen years ago)

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/ostrich_001/P7221244_edited-1reduced.jpg

Hydrangea "Claudie," a French variety. The ones we got in at the nursery got a bad case of mildew, probably the resulty of stress or overfeeding. Nursery life can be hard on plants, and sometimes things that suffer in a pot do just fine in the garden. Anyway, because they looked so funky my boss GAVE THEM to me! And also, he told me to pick out a whole cartload of perennials because I rehabbed the display beds (at a retail worker's wage rather than a landscaper's wage). So I got a lot of Japanese painted fern, some cimicifuga, a ton of blue hostas and some heucherella. A whole shade garden! We're going to cut down an ailing sycamore and half-dead red cedar that are cluttering up the space within a trio of mature Norway spruce, thus turning dense dead-zone shade into dappled shade-garden shade!

A new planting area! Ohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 28 July 2007 23:33 (eighteen years ago)

That's not my deck—I found the pic online. My Claudies look sick sick sick, but I will heal them!

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 28 July 2007 23:34 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.terranovanurseries.com/wholesale/popups/images/herk1.jpg

Heucherella "Kimono."

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 28 July 2007 23:37 (eighteen years ago)

http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/Justaysam_1020275569_912.jpg

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 28 July 2007 23:39 (eighteen years ago)

That's the Japanese painted fern.

― Beth Parker, Saturday, 28 July 2007 23:42 (eighteen years ago)

Can you eat the bean things that grow out of sweet peas?

I actually had a few bloom, and now they have turned into beans!

Also, my morning glories are out. This makes me the happiest girl ever. And I will have a bumper crop of tomatoes soon, soon, soon! Life is good in the garden. It's all that rain.

― Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 7 August 2007 10:19 (eighteen years ago)

I don't know about eating sweet peas.
We've had some rain, here, too. Finally! Lawns are green again.

I've got some yellow roses that are sickening on a job. I want to rip them out in the worst way, but the customer wants yellows (which are always disease-prone), so I'd have to find yellow replacements. I researched SO carefully before I chose these (Carefree Sunshine). I thought they were THE ONES. But not only are they prone to chlorosis, but I dislike their habit. They send up random long long canes—like one per plant. I chop them off, of course. The leaves, even in spring before the funkiness sets in, are not my cup of tea. Pallid matte green, with no russet tones on the emerging foliage, which is one of my favorite things about roses.

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 12 August 2007 15:32 (eighteen years ago)

I ordered two of these. Wish me luck! I'm going to replace all the soil in the planting site, too.
Morning Has Broken

― Beth Parker, Sunday, 12 August 2007 15:53 (eighteen years ago)

Oh, that's lovely, and fragrant too.

flickr set of my container garden here. The basils are all going great guns - I've made so much pesto lately and it hasn't put a dent in them, and the parsley also abounds. The tomatoes however are all foliage (3 very small fruits, though plenty of flowers) and the tomatillos have masses of blooms, but it's probably too late to expect much else.

― Jaq, Sunday, 12 August 2007 17:01 (eighteen years ago)

I need to get out and cut my hedge, it's terribly overgrown. The gods of telly are smiling as 'the garden with Dan Pearson' is being repeated on uktv gardens although i missed it today as i let my brother watch top gear. I can't believe i willingly passed up several hours of the heavenly Dan P for bloody Clarkson!

― leigh, Sunday, 12 August 2007 18:58 (eighteen years ago)

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