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)

Skipping 140 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

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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