Gardening 2013

Thread created March 28th -- slow year for digging and growing?

Thrived outside over the winter -- chives in a big pot, flat and curly parsley in a raised bed, 3 kinds of mint on the west side of the carport. Sage thrived too, but we never use it, so we pulled it out to make room for something else.

Seedlings started: four kinds of tomatoes, 2 kinds of cucumbers, groundcherries, thyme, basil.

In the ground a couple of weeks ago: regular green peas and sugarsnaps -- they seem to have handled the recent freezes ok.

Quite likely that last night was the last freeze of the winter here, so it's "start your engines" time.

Also, I stuck half a horseradish root into a pot with a big slug of worm compost and worm tea when I saw that it was sprouting even though it was shrinkwrapped, and it's coming up fast.

Anybody else growing stuff this year?

A slow year indeed, our team has shrunk a bit, but this Saturday we're going to kick in with weeding and planting. Not doing as much from seed this year. Hope to have more photos over the weekend!

Well, video actually

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7ay0Y93-Hk

The raised bed is covered in hairy bitter cress in the places where we have grown rocket. Celandine is starting to appear. There are over-wintered broad beans - they've survived but are tiny still. I've got a few bits and bobs on the windowsills ready for when it warms up. Trying to grow globe artichokes - have tried the last five years without success.

ilx gardeners! i need your help!
well, i am going to need your help soon. right now i am wondering specifically what kind of edible flowers i could plant in a windowbox resting on little supports like these

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8387/8676389208_6c415e6762_m.jpg

ps i know nothing about gardening

also i think the area will get more sun -- that was a rainy day

Nasturtiums, maybe? Chive flowers are really pretty and even more strongly oniony than the stems, imo. I would plant basil and thyme even though they aren't really known for their flowers, but that's just me -- I'm ruled by my stomach.

Hm. Chammomile is prob too tall. Violets don't like that much sunlight, I don't think? Nasturtiums and roses are kinda the famous ones, maybe there's a low-growing heritage rose type?

but that's just me -- I'm ruled by my stomach
http://images.tastespotting.com/uploads/thumbnail/582844.jpg

was thinking of adding some herbs if the space is larger than i imagine it to be.
i'll have to consult my "cooking with flowers" book too.
i will probably wind up failing a bunch before i am able to grow anything edible. but when i do? look out.

What direction does that window face?

lemme think...
south. definitely faces south.

nasturtiums would work really well, but they can take over the space depending on what variety you sow. the whole plant is edible btw, you can use the leaves as well as the flowers for salads. calendula would be another good choice and obv it's got medical uses too.

ok now we're talking
question: where should i buy seeds? is there a particular place you prefer or recommend? i live in a city btw.

actually, should i buy seeds or seedlings?

both calendula and nasturtium are really easy to grow from seed, but you might have to start them off in pots on yr window sill first. would just order a couple of packets off the internet. with nasturtiums, yr main basic choice is either to go for a dwarf variety that would be pretty well behaved, they get about 10 or 12 inches big at best i think, but you could go for a monster trailing variety instead, in which case it would take over the entire box eventually and would dangle right down below too (might be a bit difficult to pick though).

violets would be a good call too for the minute while the weather is still on the cooler side, but they would just be a temporary space filler cos they will fry come the summer. would but a tray of small plants for those, but it might possible be getting a bit late in the season to pick those up

oops not violets, i meant VIOLAS

It's been so cold this year I haven't even done any gardening until this past Monday. My flowers are all perennials so I'm not really focused on doing any flower planting, except for planting some sunflowers with my daughter -- they've been growing some seedlings in kindergarten and she's become really interested in gardening this year. It's a fun thing to do together.

I have a nice garden bed for vegetables, but I'm really torn on what to grow because last year was such a disaster and the weather has been so unseasonably cold. I have my herbs growing already, but I'm not even sure if its worth growing tomatoes this year given how bad last year was. At least the wild raspberries growing by the side of the garage were fab.

Favorite place to order seeds: Baker Creek Unabashed Hippies and Anti-GMO Emporium
http://www.rareseeds.com/

thaaaaank you everyone -- this is just what i needed. if there are other easily understood sources of info for noobs please direct me so you don't become exasperated with my questions :)

These, maybe?

http://higgledygarden.com/products-page/product-category/edible-flower-collection-under-construction/

More and more often we are seeing the mainstream use of edible flowers in the dishes of top chefs in restaurants, on the telly and in the glossy Sunday magazines, yet they are still incredibly hard to get hold of. The answer to this dilema is obviously to cut out the middle man and to grow your own edible flowers.

Here are six of the best for you naughty people.

*Sunflower. 'Vanilla Ice'.

*Calendula. 'Art Shades'.

*Cornflower. 'Blue Boy' & 'Black Ball'.

*Climbing Nasturtium.

*Borage.

The collection has fewer seeds in each packet than compared to a standard Higgledy packet...this is reflected in the cost.

There is a £2 p&p charge on seeds which is waived when you spend just ten pounds or more. :)
Quantity
Product in stock

Price: £6.00

Need to post some recent photos here, was just out there for the first time in three weeks thanks to my schedule. Now since slowed down a LOT.

My local garden center has gotten in a ton of different wonderful heirloom tomato plants and I want to buy them all. It's crazy, because even if I plan on canning some I don't need that many. But they all look so good.

I started an organic gardening course last month and have some kind of chinese leaf/cabbage selection growuing in a planter on the sill of my french window. Think they're coming along ok, but haven't really checked them in the last couple of days.

Still have a money tree growing o9n the windowsill in my bedroom that I was given about 10 years ago and have tended to neglect. Wondering if I should take that and put it outside on the french window sill where it can get more direct sunlight at certain points and will get watered by the rain whenever that happens, which is pretty frequent. Could be it might need to be repotted too.

Also noticed that loads of the daffodils planted around town have died because the year's been cold & wet so far. The flower itself has just shriveled leaving healthy looking green leaves in a lot of cases. Not having grown flowers before I don't know if taht has any longer term effect tahn there being no flowers this year. Do people tend to have to reseed annually anyway or does that take care of itself once you have a plant established there.

Daffs grow from bulbs so they flower again the next spring, you don't have to replant. Did they bloom at all this year? The flowers don't last that long once they do....

I put assorted astilbe bulbs in my...I have to think of something to call the little bed by our gate...and potted two leetle boxwood hedges with a trailer of vinca underneath them for the patio. Also I have a blush and yellow begonia on my fire escape b/c it needs 4-6 hours of sun a day. :( Excited about plants!

That sounds lovely even though I have no mostly no idea what you're talking about, begonias aside. As soon as I get my kitchen in working order, and my father in law visits to give me irl gardening advice, and the semester is over, I am so on this. I also have three smallish (but taller than me) hedges in my backyard that I am itching to give a funny haircut. Summer of topiary?!

This is sort of a strange question, but does anyone have trouble with cats being attracted to their gardens? The past week or so, I've had cats having sex/fighting in my front garden early in the morning. And I have lavender planted there, which they are supposed to dislike. I haven't had a chance to look for some coleus canina yet, so I was wondering if anyone else knew of other things that might work.

my grandmother used to put cloudy ammonia in baby food jars and sink them into the garden beds up to the rim - and I have a vague memory of her putting mothballs in the garden beds also?

idk if those things still work or are advised, but I remember them working pretty well for my grandma

obv if you have other pets or children around those methods are not advisable :)

I have both, so I'm trying to look into things I could plant or other things I could do first. I appreciate your help, though!

The first morning it was kind of funny, but by now I am tired of this cat assholery.

We get cats, possums, raccoons, possibly other critters. I want one of these motion activated squirters.

Worst thing about cats in your garden is inadvertently putting your hand in catshit while your doing some weeding.

you're obv

I like the idea of a motion activated sprinkler! That might work.

a crazy woman I used to work with said she buried plastic forks in her garden with the tines sticking up. O_o

Forksclovekitties

I really must update with new photos/video, hopefully tonight.

My pinks have made tiny little sprouty vine things! I planted a couple of seeds every 8" or so down a 15' bed and so far only hmm 8 of those? seem to be coming up, but I'm happy to see them. I can't wait until I can train them onto the fence!!

Looks like I'm going to have to plant at least some of the organic seedlings into non-organic potting compost since I didn't have enough for the trough I boughty yesterday. Didn't want to mix that with the organic potting compost I was given this week. Seemed like it would defeat the point, but since I hd already used that stuff for a couple of pots there just wasn't enough. So stuck 3 of these things, oriental salad leaf stuff in one pot I bought yesterday.
Went back today bough this non-organoc multi purpose compost stuff and may buy other pots and plants from here on. Just worried about neglecting them since other plants died on me before. I think I'd had ythem for a couple of years though and just wound up in a place where the best place for them was less accessible.
Looks like neglecting the money tree is actually what it expects. Little water, & little sunlight.

Wondering what the best medium for growing things in containers on a balcony would be. I've started off the first load of stuff mainly in a plain multi-purpose compost and other stuff in an organic potting compost I was given a little of.

Reading Alan Titchmarsh he seems to be saying the best stuff to pot in is John Innes compost. Are there any reasons not to use this stuff for any ecological reason. I'm just thinking that I've started growing things cos this organic gardening course came up but I don't have easy access to a lot of what's involved. Organic compost etc
& do have access to a garden centre taht isn't organic. & also strikes me taht this John iNnes stuff is possibly anathema to organic.

I'm also wondering if I have any use for earth which is currently in piles on the other side of the park after a roadway into what is going to be a school next year is being built. It is earth that has been sitting dug up for a few days. But is likely to simply be dumped somewhere when they go to tidy up the location. Has had grass and some plants of kinds growing either in it or very close to, so am assuming it is somewhat fertile.
I only have this balcony that's a triangle with sides of possibly 15 feet and tends to get a bit windy without a great deal of protection from the outside. Has a wall to one side where the top of the stairs is and a french window with walls at the ends on one side. Nothing underneath it, & metal mesh on the bottom.
So wondering if i should grabsome of this earth in tubs/bags etc before it disappears and the opportunity is gone.

I cannot answer your question, but I trimmed my hedges this weekend and 1) it was so fun 2) not that difficult and 3) they look great. I felt like e scissorhands.

Silly q about flower boxes: do I need to line them with anything before adding soil & plants?

It's so fun being outside and having something to do. I was outside at 7am today like a crazy person with my shears.

Will it be okay if water etc runs down whatever is underneath them?

Man I keep being slack on posting. The garden last Tuesday!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5ULHxceZq0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nedraggett/sets/72157633481980799/

Will it be okay if water etc runs down whatever is underneath them?
Yep, it's over the hedges in the front. I have some other ones, but I think I'm going to put them in the backyard.

No need to line them then. You could put some coir or broken up styrofoam or twigs in the bottoms for good drainage without the weight of pebbles/broken pots.

Ned, I'm envious of your artichokes!

ok! sounds good! i can't wait to get this show on the road.

xpost -- One of our crazy success stories! They have off years sometimes but this year's been nuts.

I bought a house recently and have been spending way too much of my time in the backyard. I'm trying to maintain what's already there, which got a little wild while I was in escrow. So much fun!

Now that the nights are warm, we're finally starting to see a little action, especially in things we started from seed. Lots of thyme, basil and dill coming along. Planted four tomatoes today, picked the first small bowl full of peas.

low of 46 tonight and for next two nights, after highs near 90 in the past week. how dangerous are cold snaps? all the tomato plants have already been moved outside :-/

If they've been in the ground a while, they should handle mid-40s OK. They won't be happy, but they've probably hardened enough to tough it out.

Viciously pruned the azaleas this morning -- they're going to look like hell for 2-3 weeks, but should shape up nicely after that.

The alliums I bought never did bloom and have now died in the pot. My block had its annual clean-up day this morning, motivating me to re-weed my tree well and I'm about to bike over to the garden lot and find something else colorful to put with the hostas, which apparently refuse to bloom. Do they need to be fertilized to flower? My mother's hostas always bloom and I don't think she did anything special to them.

After the daffodils and spring bloomers have died and the foliage starts to go yellow, can I cut it off and clean it up? It's looking a bit sad.

Re: daffodils, yeah -- once the greenery starts to die back, it's packed as much energy into the bulb for next year's blooming as it's going to, and can be cut back to ground level.

Yeah I need to cut my flowers to smithereens. They're toast.

Okay finally an update here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1HziTV3DbA

Plus more photos on the Flickr set.

New videos? Why sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrZewrSXICM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j60WRP46EVo

Cucumbers ("Tendergreen" burpless) rolling in, enough for a couple of jars of pickles so far. Tomatoes doing OK I guess -- not exactly launching themselves out of the ground or anything, but they have fruit on them. I think they're just not getting enough nutrition, so I weeded them and mulched them heavily with good worm compost this morning. Every time they get watered they'll get a drink of worm tea.

4' x 4' area of basil plants, the really good hardy stuff from Baker Creek that self-seeded each of the past 3 years. Lots of pesto in the forecast. Some dill in the other half of the raised bed, but dill doesn't do well around here. Lots of pots of thyme.

Got three good pickings of sweet peas, both shellers and edible pods. Sticking with all sugar snaps from now on -- you just get more edible product for your buck.

Not much activity in my worm bin -- the adults seem to have deceased, but there are a fair number of microscopic babies when I turn the pile and watch carefully.

No real time for photos/video in the garden today but the harvest was good...

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2873/9253608978_c21f58e05f_z.jpg

Could do with getting some greens/cabbages out of the garden before they're completely caterpillared. Any thoughts on "preserving"? Is blanching then freezing the best bet?

Any good recipes for a lettuce and chard glut?

Pickle the brassicas!

Really?

Sure thing - shred then layer with pickling salt, a few teaspoons per pound. Add some spices in there if you like (juniper? caraway?). You need a non-metallic container big enough to hold everything plus some additional brine (4 tsp salt to quart of water - enough to cover the shreds) plus a weight on top (a plate held down by a plastic bag of brine, something like that). Let it sit in a cool dark place for a few weeks, then package and freeze. Or can it, but freezing works well for me.

No idea what to do with lettuces though except eat them. They get manky if you freeze them.

Thanks. Does that work with "new leaf", um, leaves?

I have been levelling my front garden today, at it since 9 this morning. Not strictly gardening and more like basic groundwork. Spending a Sunday toiling away with a bumpy on-the-piss garden, listening to test cricket, buzzing bees and slowly watching my plan unfold. This is better than any drugs I ever took.

djh, I've done it with cabbage (sauerkraut!), brussel sprouts, kale, and carrots. I think it would work for chard and probably broccoli too.

There's a thread somewhere on I love cooking about making sauerkraut - I'll see if I can find it. Helpful info on how to tell when it's done, normal things that happen during fermentation, when to abandon a batch, etc.

Sauerkraut!

Out at the garden yesterday...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfzDobPomg0

Cut off at the end, alas! Huge tomato haul yesterday.

Collected some seeds from the Tendergreen cukes that worked out so well this year. Put them in a small jar with water to ferment for a few days, the standard seed-saving procedure, put the jar in the storage room where the water heater lives...then forgot about it for a week. Now that was a horrifying smell!

Still getting a few puny tomatoes, some basil, lemon thyme, not much else.

I'm recontextualising my garden as a Butterfly Garden, in which case it is a success.

Well, for Cabbage Whites anyway ...

Blossom rot on about half my tomatoes this year, but at least we got a few. Making an apple crisp with backyard fruit tonight.

1) If tomato leaves are suddenly turning black ... is that blight?
2) What are you supposed to do with strawberry plants over the winter?

(UK)

I started excavating my side garden this weekend. It is a bumpy slanted garden that my lab has dug lots of holes in and has needed corrective work for a long time. It is hard work, have been battling with layers of rubble and two unearthed skeletal doggy remains from the top of the incline. I phoned a friend for advice about the doggy remains and he said "sling them in the fucking bin!". When you live in a council house you don't find roman coins beneath your garden, just dead dogs. I feel so queasy about the idea of bagging up dog remains and putting them out like rubbish. Closed site early today so I could have a think about it.

I have a balcony full of plants some of which have yet to fully bloom. Sunflowers are just forming heads etc Not sure if they will now, think the weather may be going. Not sure what to do about some of the more exotic plants that I have out there, pomegranates and things.
Also if temperature is dropping and rain increasing, how long things will last out there anyway.
But since this is the first year I've done things, hopefully will know better about growing seasons next year and try to have things planted a couple months earlier at least. Though my planting was influenced more by when seeds were available in LIDL etc after having done the organic gardening course earlier in the year.

finally got some wooden planks to build box planters! but now it's getting colder. :\

I think it will come down to working out what to do with things between this season and the next one.
I think balcony is too open to leave things out there. Likely to wind up with plastic pots being thrown around quite a bit. So need to work out where to put them and get rid of all compost etc inside, but not sure when this season is actually going to end. May still be some weeks yet.

How/why do I acquire so many seeds? And how bored was I to compile a list of seeds by month of planting?

January
Mizuna (i), Pepper – Rubens, Tomato – Red Cherry,

February
Artichoke – Globe, Chard – Rhubarb, Chicory – Rossa, Chilli – Cayenne, French Marigold, Mizuna (i), Pepper – Rubens, Tomato – Gardener’s Delight, Tomato – Maskotka, Tomato – Red Cherry, Tomato – Tigerella, Turnip – Bianca,

March
Angelica, Artichoke – Globe, Beetroot – Detroit, Carrot – Autumn King, Carrot – Early Nantes, Catnep, Celeriac, Chard – Rhubarb, Chicory – Rossa, Chilli – Cayenne, Dwarf French Bean – Purple Teepee, Dwarf French Bean – Sungold, French Marigold, Leaf Beet, Leaf Chicory, Mixed Cut Flowers, Mizuna (i), Pepper – Rubens, Sorrel, Spinach, Spring Onion – Lisbon, Spring Onion – White Bunching, Texel Green, Thyme, Tomato – Dolmio, Tomato – Gardener’s Delight, Tomato – Maskotka, Tomato – Red Cherry, Tomato – Tigerella, Turnip – Bianca, Wild Rocket,

April
Agapanthus – Blue, Angelica, “Bee Friendly Mix”, Beetroot – Detroit, Carrot – Autumn King, Carrot – Early Nantes, Catnep, Celeriac, Chard – Rhubarb, Chicory – Rossa, Chilli – Cayenne, Chinese Kale, Dwarf French Bean – Purple Teepee, Dwarf French Bean – Sungold, Echinops, French Marigold, Good King Henry, Leaf Beet, Leaf Chicory, Mixed Cut Flowers, Mizuna (i), Pepper – Rubens, Pumpkin – Hooligan, Pumpkin – Hundredweight, Radish – Munchen Bier, Salad Leaves – Mixed, Salsify, Sorrel, Spinach, Spring Onion – Lisbon, Spring Onion – White Bunching, Sprouting Turnip Top, Texel Green, Thyme, Tomato – Dolmio, Tomato – Gardener’s Delight, Tomato – Maskotka, Tomato – Red Cherry, Turnip – Bianca, Wild Rocket,

May
Agapanthus – Blue, “Bee Friendly Mix”, Beetroot – Detroit, Carrot – Autumn King, Chard – Rhubarb, Chicory – Rossa, Chinese Kale, Dwarf French Bean – Purple Teepee, Dwarf French Bean – Sungold, Echinops, French Marigold, Good King Henry, Hops, Leaf Beet, Leaf Chicory, Mixed Cut Flowers, Mizuna (o), Pumpkin – Hooligan, Pumpkin – Hundredweight, Radish – Munchen Bier, Salad Leaves – Mixed, Salsify, Sorrel, Spinach, Spring Onion – Lisbon, Spring Onion – White Bunching, Sprouting Turnip Top, Texel Green, Thyme, Tomato – Dolmio, Turnip – Bianca, Wild Rocket,

June
Carrot – Autumn King, Chard – Rhubarb, Chicory – Rossa, Chinese Kale, Dwarf French Bean – Purple Teepee, Dwarf French Bean – Sungold, Echinops, Hops, Leaf Chicory, Mizuna (o), Radish Mooli, Radish – Munchen Bier, Salad Leaves – Mixed, Spring Onion – White Bunching, Sprouting Turnip Top, Texel Green, Turnip – Bianca, Wild Rocket,

July
Carrot – Autumn King, Chard – Rhubarb, Chicory – Rossa, Chinese Kale, Hops, Leaf Chicory, Mizuna (o), Radish Mooli, Salad Leaves – Mixed, Spring Onion – White Bunching, Sprouting Turnip Top, Turnip – Bianca, Wild Rocket,

August
Angelica, Chicory – Rossa, Chinese Kale, Leaf Chicory, Mizuna (o), Radish Mooli, Salad Leaves – Mixed, Spinach, Turnip – Bianca, Wild Rocket,

September
Chinese Kale, Leaf Chicory, Mizuna (o), Radish Mooli, Salad Leaves – Mixed, Spinach, Turnip – Bianca, Wild Rocket,

October
Mizuna (i),

November
Mizuna (i),

December
Mizuna (i),

Not known
Cauliflower – Romanesco, Coriander, Dill, Pea – Dorian, Salad Onion, Sorrel – Red Veined, Spinach – New Zealand

some nice choices in there. is the nz spinach tetragonia tetragonioides? we found some growing in the wild within metres of the sea when doing some native revegetation up along the otago coast a few years ago.

nearly finished constructing my first commissioned food garden for someone based on a design i did for them which is very satisfying. now planning on turning a lawn area with some established fruit trees into a food forest (goodbye lawn).

I'm not honestly sure. All the information I have is "Spinach New Zealand. Not a true spinach. Has a dwarf and trailing habit. Pinch out the growing point to encourage bushiness."

Like the idea of a food forest.

Itching for it to be spring. Not really had winter, though.

hoping to do some container gardening on the balcony.

On the window sill today: artichoke (two different brands, although seemingly the same type), sorrel, marigold, tomato (tigerella).

Do we have a 2014 Gardening thread yet?

Just spend the morning planting HERITAGE APPLE TREES on the common. It was AWESOME. I planted two whole trees and shall now forever think of them as MINE.

I like chasing about the common with pitchforks and stakes. I like digging and removing turf. I don't like whacking in stakes so much, that was all a bit neubauten with the clanging and stuff.

I may go back to learn how to be an APPLE WARDEN. That would be awesome. Heritage apple varieties and rootstocks have the best names ever.

Do we have a 2014 Gardening thread yet?

We don't! And we should! So if you'll allow me...

Done. And I'm copying/pasting your post just now, Bramwell, to kick things off.