2005 Gardening Thread

I'm going to get some bizzie lizzies and geraniums this weekend for my window boxes and some sweet peas for an empty spot in the border. My Mum's offered to post me some foxglove and lily of the valley seeds later in the year - I think I'll put them around the roses to give variety of height. Slugs and snails everywhere, but an eggshell eggsperiment has kept them off one of my delphiniums so I'll be doing the rest of that border as soon as I've eaten some more eggs.

I was looking at the container garden at Wisley on Saturday and got inspired - I think I might try some lettuces and turnips as well as the usual herbs. I'd love to do potatoes in a binbag, but the neighbours might think I'm a bit loony.

I need some dill. Aphids have been with a spray of washing up liquid.

It said "plant two per hole in case one doesn't thrive" but they're ALL thriving!

The sunflower is doing well, prepared a plot up for some corn, cleared out some mystery plants to get another plot ready. Carrots growing very well, some beets were already in, the basil thriving, the tomatoes well on their way, etc. etc.

What sort of sunlight do you get? That will largely determine what kind of plants will do well for you. Irises are nice, but have a relatively short blooming period; I'd mix them in with some other stuff so that you will have something good looking throughout the growing season (iris foliage is pretty meh--it really is all about the flowers with that plant. Also: I think they smell icky. Others love the smell, of course).

Also: how is the soil where you intend to plant? Good?

My mom gave me this link for fall planting: http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_vegetables/article/0,1785,HGTV_3650_1480718,00.html garlic and spinach, yum. I like flowers just fine too but I'm not particular about what kind of flowers. I do like black-eyed susans! Thanks for the tip about perennial dividing, I may ask on craigslist or maybe hit the farmers market.

After years of trying and failing to grow vegetables (I always lose my motivation when the temps hit the 90s), I'm much happier buying my fresh vegetables from the pros at the farmers markets, and sticking with the herbs at home. It's nice to always be able to go out and get fresh basil, rosemary, thyme (lots of thyme), chives, mint, oregano, marjoram, parsley, dill (until the heat kills it) and sage. Plus the sage, chives, marjoram and oregano will generally come back year after year, and rosemary is woody enough to withstand a hard freeze.

I love irises, lilies & especially poppies but they're all a little on the tall side and don't fill in much at the bottom, so either be okay with that or plant something shorter in front of them for a nice anchor. If you want a big leafy base, try peonies, maybe? Or hostas, if it's at least partly shady where they'll be. Foxglove is nice too but toxic (hel-LO, digitalis) so maybe not if you'll have a tot running around stuffing things into her mouth. Daffodils & tulips are usually around medium height and the leaves DO fill in a little more and make a nice bushy shape, plus tulips are technically edible! Daffodils aren't, though -- high in alkaloids tho I must say all 4 of us grew up outdoors with daffodils AND foxglove AND god knows what else and none of us ever tried to eat any of them.

I don't remember WHERE you are so can't tell about your climate but see what plants do well in your climate zone and your soil quality & pH; I'm only familiar with things you can grow in West Michigan.

yes this is pretty much nonsense from what I can gather. I can give 0 advice about how to grow plants in the northern hemisphere, but I went to a seminar about garden design on the weekend and the presenter reckoned that nostalgia and annuals and naturalising plants - all that high maintenance cottage garden stuff - is back in fashion in European garden shows.

You should plant what you like and what grows well. If there is any information around about what naturally grew where you live then you could plant some of those things, which might be good for butterflies, beetles, etc and will probably require less fertiliser, watering and so forth.

There are just so many interesting perennials. I can't get intersted by impatiens.

So far only one cat, so I guess I'm safe for the time being.

Here's my favorite shade planting (just so you don't think my gardens are nothing but impatiens):

Two or three Hydrangea Paniculata Glandiflora or Tardiva pruned up into tree form, cut back hard every spring.
Clumps of Cimicifuga Ramosa Hillside Black Beauty
Alpenglow Macrophylla Hydrangeas (sorry, Laurel, about that Michigan winter)
Any chartreuse w/ green edge hosta (great expectations, inniswood, bright lights)
Royal Fern
Astilbe (Chinensis or Tacquetti varieties—they have a longer bloom period and the foliage doesn't shit the bed like Arendsii varieties) Vision in Red rules.
Limelight four o'clocks (these will self-seed)
Any dusky burgundy heuchera. Palace Purple is easy to find, Obsidian is the darkest—really stunning. Also, the new chartreuse/peach-leaved heucheras like Creme Brulee and Amber Waves always look so wimpy at the nursery but take off in the ground.
I'm a sucker for chartreuse and burgundy combos, and when you throw the ruby and violet of the IMPATIENS into the mix it CAN'T BE BEAT!!!

Ballerina

Tempest

Coral Gypsy

Fire Magic

Pineland Princess

Neon Splendor

Swan's Gold Medal

I am wondering what to do this year, as I've got only a little tiny patch of courtyard and will have to get planters.

My indoor rose has got some disease of the leaf (little red spots - they might be microscopic aphids) and I fear I shall lose it. Then again, he who gardens at sea must accustom himself to loss (oh, do shut up, Captain Anderson) but my outdoor roses have just decided to bloom AGAIN.

Come on, guys, it's January. Enough with the blooming, I want to prune you.

I can't really repot it just yet - I've already repotted it just last year and don't have any bigger pots at the moment! However, I should clean out all the fallen leaves, as I think that's not good for it. Also, I need to get a mister, as if it's aphids, a quick spray of dishwater will clear it right up - that totally saved my outdoor roses.

I should garden more, with my little courtyard - as I've said on other threads, I want to do it now, before the other people move in, so I can have established a claim to gardening in the courtyard.

I especially want to grow creeping things along the wooden fence. What is that climbing plant with the cascades of beautiful purple flowers? Several people in my neighbourhood have it, and I love it.

We came home from a weekend away to find the tiny evergreen we used as a christmas tree is budding. Or something. Little light green bits all over it.

Little light bits on an evergreen sounds like new growth. Our hedges used to do that in Connecticut and it was the prettiest thing I'd ever seen.

Nice dahlia pictures. I have Ballerina but I want Fire Magic. I am lucky to live in a climate where we get about a week of frost each year. No digging up dahlias for me. But then no lovely peaches, cherries or apricots. And a lot of misguided crocusses who straggle in from late winter to early summer.

Last summer I trained sweet peas and some purple morning glories up part of our wooden fence. I started them too late, so they didn't climb as high as they might have. A nice perennial vine would be beautiful against the wood.

Kate's courtyard next summer.
Isadora, you are so lucky!!!! You can always buy peaches! That's what the STORE is for!
Fruit trees are such a pain, with all the bugs and diseases. You're better off without them, heartbreakingly lovely blossoms notwithstanding.

I'm tempted to get baby fruit trees grown in giant pots, like they sell at Homebase. But if it's going to be something which is going to be a major hassle with insects and all... but then I see all that cherry blossom (though I think I would be more likely to get apples) and think "oooh! I love it! I wants it!"

This morning, there were little green shoots all over it. So we shall see how well it recovers.

But I hope that the little red spots are gone this time.

But then I get to grow lemons and limes outside (not that the bastards are fruiting yet, but they're young).