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Post by sarapen on Aug 3, 2020 12:06:33 GMT -5
It seems we have very similar approaches to gardening, though unfortunately my stupid iphone doesn't seem to want to let me upload pics anywhere. My coneflowers are also looking nice and the roses will continue to bloom with deadheading. I think the only other thing in bloom is the milkweed I bought and both hydrangeas. I guess the hostas are doing their thing. I'm enjoying a nice little harvest of blueberries. My big plans for Fall are dividing a prosperous artemisia to provide more groundcover in the rose bed, dividing and giving away some of my allium bulbs, planting some new bulbs along the neighboring fence line since they've switched out their blue-grey fence for a white one (my all-yellow daffodils really used to pop against the blue, but now I'm going to add deeper colors like tulips in violet and magenta), and building an arbor for one of my clematis that's threatening to take down the garage gutters. I also ordered more irises now that I've found a good spot for them near my native-species bed and some ground covers to try out. Next spring is all about under-planting because I am sick of pulling up violets. My current puzzlements are what to do with my extra lady's mantle and what to plant in a certain container embedded in the rose bed. I have three lady's mantle plants bordering the native-species bed, but they've gotten too big and I want to take two of them out to make room for turtlehead and iris. My original plan was to cut them back and then move them to border the front flowerbed this fall, which has two large spots left in front of the coneflower from hostas I removed because they were scorching. However, I see the lady's mantle leaves also scorch in the summer so I'm wondering if they can handle full sun in a west-facing bed. As for the container: I have a set of three lovely matching planters placed on different sides of the garden. The two smaller ones face each other across the garden in shady spots, so I usually fill them with my favorite white begonias. I want to put something white in the larger pot too - preferably something that blooms in late summer/fall. My first thought was chrysanthemum, but white chrysanthemums are apparently unlucky. Then I tried white marigolds, but they were finicky and didn't bloom. Most recently, I tried white shasta daisies and they didn't take to their container - I probably should have deadheaded sooner. I really want to find something that's as happy in its container as my delphinium, hollyhock, and balloon flower. I now feel better about my bloodroot not taking in the native-species bed. Good luck - it's a beautiful plant! Oh yeah, white chrysanthemums are for funerals, aren't they? I drew a little map of where I'm planning to plant and I think it's workable. I actually want to put more in but there's really not enough space. My end goal is to get the flowers to propagate on their own and I just watch the garden turn into a native meadow in a couple of years. That would be great because then I wouldn't have to do much work in the garden. Anyway, here's hoping. |
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Post by sarapen on Aug 6, 2020 20:32:38 GMT -5
Odd, what's that wee black thing on the milkweed?  Zoom in! Enhance!  Huh, guess that explains all the weird holes on the leaves. A monarch is born! But the milkweed is hardly more than 4 inches tall, with the other plants being smaller. That's probably not enough to eat for a caterpillar. I may need to - ugh - talk to my neighbour down the street and ask if I can transfer the caterpillar to the milkweed plants I see growing every time I pass by on the way to the supermarket. Apparently it takes 10-14 days before a caterpillar will turn into a pupa so I'm going to give it a week to observe if the milkweed can grow faster than it can get eaten. And who knows, maybe this caterpillar will get eaten by something or other before I'm faced with the difficult task of having to introduce myself to a complete stranger. Or I suppose I could buy a potted milkweed plant from the garden centre nearby, it's only like $16 I think. |
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moimoi
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Post by moimoi on Aug 15, 2020 11:22:32 GMT -5
hee hee! I have purloined three cucumbers from my neighbor's vine which grew through the fence! Pappy's eatin' stew tonight!
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Post by ganews on Aug 26, 2020 23:37:24 GMT -5
Busy busy busy:
At long last I am nearing my dream of growing too many eggplants to know what to do with.
All the neighbors are getting okra because I have several gallons in the freezer now and I'm getting tired of chopping it.
Canning has been successful: three quarts of pickled shishito peppers, and twelve 4 oz. jars of Sun Gold tomato paste (made from cooking down 3.3 gallons/21 lbs. of Sun Golds).
The garden is absolutely covered in squash. I bet I have more than ten butternut, six spaghetti, and six acorn out there.
Tomatoes have been above average (and my average is high) if not absolutely the best. Too much rain in early August makes for a lot of splits, but it's okay.
These are the biggest shishito I have ever grown, they look store-bought.
My first time growing field peas at 1.5 rows has taught me never to plant more than that.
Tonight I made perhaps the best pizza I have ever made: not-too-thin crust, Sun Gold paste, mozzarella, tomatoes slices to cover over every speck of cheese, and basil from the side of the house. Tasted like Rome, but better.
One more month to go...
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Post by sarapen on Aug 27, 2020 8:55:39 GMT -5
I'm the exact opposite, I don't really have a lot to do right now. The native wildflowers are all established and they all basically take care of themselves. There are no pesticides or fertilizers I need to apply. I suppose I could apply neem oil or something to get rid of aphids and leaf-miner bugs but the whole reason I'm doing this is to increase local ecological diversity so I do actually want those bugs there. Anyway, all I'm doing is watering the plants when it gets too hot for too long, which is admittedly most of the summer so far.
I'm kind of bored right now. I do need to clear some goldenrod so I can establish a raspberry bush for fall planting, but I pulled my back last weekend turning over the compost pile so that'll have to wait. Immediately after straining myself I was in so much pain I was in a cold sweat, so I expected I'd be laid out for at least a week but I'm actually almost fully recovered now. Just to be safe, I'm taking it easy until next week. I'm just glad pulling my back wasn't as bad as what google said to expect.
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moimoi
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Post by moimoi on Oct 11, 2020 20:39:58 GMT -5
Today was PERFECT gardening weather - 70 degrees and overcast, with a bit of diffused autumn sunlight. After pruning my front rose bushes yesterday, space was cleared for me to extract one of my lady's mantles (planted too close to a hosta and one of its brethren in the backyard 'reading nook'), divide it, and re-plant the two halves under the front bushes. I do believe lady's mantle is one of the most difficult plants I've ever extracted - the only things harder have been an old rose bush and the unkillable invasive burning bush I may have to suffocate with tar. I'm also trying to divide two of my coneflowers, but the ground around them was so hard I decided to leave it for another day, when I can hopefully divide a bunch of artemisia and dig up/plant bulbs.
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Post by ganews on Oct 11, 2020 21:51:31 GMT -5
The vegetable garden is one foot out the door by this point - today I *only* picked peppers, butterbeans, five more butternut squash (bringing the count of butternut/acorn/spaghetti/pumpkin to something like 40), a couple tomatoes, and a pack of eggplants. It has definitely been the the best garden year ever, no doubt due to me spending so much time at the house with no lab work and no ultimate frisbee to occupy me, plus some new experiments in fertilizer and mulching. For the first time, all twenty rows were planted and made a decent yield. Though we effectively abandoned the sesame to the birds. Even with all the winter squash, the eggplants have been the story of the year; I've always wanted too many eggplants to know what to do with, and the plants still have flowers. Japanese eggplants are the way to do it - no salting and leaching, just slice and go.
Remarkably, there is some gardening around the house too. Wifemate's project to remake the backyard into a native plant bird paradise continues. I'm having the tree service come this week to get rid of all the big ugly shrubs, and we've already bought native plants from various nurseries. I'm looking forward to red dogwoods on the either side of the front door. We'll see if my newly-degreed horticulturalist sister actually comes through on my request to root a gardenia cutting off the plant our father rooted from his father's gardenia.
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Post by 🐍 cahusserole 🐍 on Nov 9, 2020 10:18:30 GMT -5
Whoa, this is a remarkably early freeze for us. RIP my remaining tomatoes and peppers. Gonna have to go deal with slime later.
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Post by ganews on Nov 15, 2020 15:46:43 GMT -5
Mid-November of even-numbered years has often been a different harvest for me: candidate support signs on public roads. The aluminum supports make fine trellis for vegetables. I think I have all I need at this point - but I might go pluck a few more anyway.
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Post by Not a real doctor on Nov 25, 2020 22:21:46 GMT -5
We canned the second round of sauerkraut yesterday. With the last of the leeks going in the stuffing tomorrow I think garden season 2020 is officially done.
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Post by 🐍 cahusserole 🐍 on Dec 7, 2020 19:38:46 GMT -5
Does anyone here get the Baker Creek seed catalog in the mail? If so, was yours addressed to the correct person? Terrible Friend and I are now Bront and Dian, respectively.
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Post by 🐍 cahusserole 🐍 on Dec 30, 2020 23:25:25 GMT -5
I'm moving to a smaller patch in the community garden for 2021 since I can't seem to utilize space well. I dug up my iris bulbs and replanted them today. Hopefully they will survive (if not, they're ready for 2022). I'm wondering if garlic would also survive the trip. Like the irises, I've got a bunch of garlic that has already sprouted. Should I attempt to move them or is it a waste of energy?
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Post by ganews on Apr 1, 2021 16:35:44 GMT -5
The various tomato sprouts are barely creeping out of the peat pots, while the eggplants and peppers practically flew up. Very strange.
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Post by WKRP Jimmy Drop on Apr 18, 2021 14:13:12 GMT -5
GUYS how do I get rid of a mole? There’s a huge fuckin speed bump lookin thing in my backyard where the little bastard has been tunneling.
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Post by Superb Owl 🦉 on Apr 29, 2021 18:30:39 GMT -5
Powerthirteen I was having such a shitty week that Owlette felt bad and changed her mind on raspberry (and blueberry) bushes.
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Post by ganews on May 29, 2021 23:24:13 GMT -5
We've been having occasional 90-degree highs in Maryland for weeks, so last Saturday I put all the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants in the ground.
This weekend? Record-setting 50-degree daytime weather.
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Post by 🐍 cahusserole 🐍 on Jun 13, 2021 22:36:05 GMT -5
My first sungold cherry tomatoes have started turning orange. My zucchini plants have only had male flowers so far, but I think I see a nascent lady flower. The largest cucumber plant is almost tall enough to reach the trellis I want it to use. I have dug up a few unimpressive garlic... well, cloves, basically. BUT I have one that is a proper garlic bulb! It is very exciting. I am terribly impatient for things to start.
A squirrel discovered that it liked broad beans, so those all got chomped. I'd be sad but they were random plants I found sprouting all over the garden and transplanted into my plot. They were somewhat akin to favas in appearance? But they were not favas.
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Post by ganews on Jun 14, 2021 9:18:34 GMT -5
We've been having occasional 90-degree highs in Maryland for weeks, so last Saturday I put all the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants in the ground. This weekend? Record-setting 50-degree daytime weather. Ultimately I lost one bell pepper, two eggplants, and no tomatoes, which is an acceptable fraction of my many plants. I think it's going to be another good year, reaffirming my conviction that it's all correlated to how much time I spend at home babying the seedlings. |
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Jun 16, 2021 8:31:00 GMT -5
This year's "hm, what random things do we want to try this year?" garden bed now contains celery, potatoes, and leeks. I'm not unconvinced that I could add some mayo to the water on this bed and just have potato salad grow there.
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Post by ganews on Jul 17, 2021 14:00:59 GMT -5
Garden thread not getting much attention yet this year. After three good weeks my green beans are starting to droop from yellow bugs, which is not a big deal because I've put 4 gallons in the freezer plus there were some left over from last year. New recipe: green bean curry
I've already picked a few eggplants, and the plants themselves are huge and full of flowers. Last year we finally found the key to lots of eggplants, and this year was even more intense. I'll be putting some in Bolognese sauce later today with tomatoes from last year.
The shishito peppers are starting to come in, enough so far to roast and snack on. Bell peppers too. We never even opened the three quarts of pickled pepper from last year; I think all future shishito overflow will be directed to curry.
First butterbeans picked today.
Two tomato plants have pooped out. I'm nervous that it won't be a good year for slicers, but of course the Sun Golds always look good.
The cucumber plants are loaded with flowers and small fruit. I picked the first three today.
What's really important is the field peas. My grandfather always planted field peas which come in many varieties; my father took some of these and planted what we always called "red hull speckled". Dad also saved out weirdo phenotypes and would try to breed them together, though it wasn't exactly organized - less notebook and more written-on-back-of-receipt. After Dad died in 2019 I sorted out what I could from what he called his "bastard peas", and in 2020 I blended two savings from red hull speckled and grew a whole bunch more RHS peas. This year I crossed two "mottled" sub-varieties into a single row (I will never plant more than one row again, they are prolific). And int he first pods picked today, I have successfully produced more mottled peas. Here they are with the source leftover seeds from Dad:
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Post by ganews on Jul 24, 2021 15:31:37 GMT -5
What's really important is the field peas. My grandfather always planted field peas which come in many varieties; my father took some of these and planted what we always called "red hull speckled". Dad also saved out weirdo phenotypes and would try to breed them together, though it wasn't exactly organized - less notebook and more written-on-back-of-receipt. After Dad died in 2019 I sorted out what I could from what he called his "bastard peas", and in 2020 I blended two savings from red hull speckled and grew a whole bunch more RHS peas. This year I crossed two "mottled" sub-varieties into a single row (I will never plant more than one row again, they are prolific). And int he first pods picked today, I have successfully produced more mottled peas. Here they are with the source leftover seeds from Dad: My mottled/mottled cross has also produced another variety, "mottled speckled". Mom remembers these but we didn't have any examples from old seed. When I save these out I'll have all four sub-varieties, including "scarlet" from Dad's old seed. |
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Post by 🐍 cahusserole 🐍 on Jul 25, 2021 12:58:02 GMT -5
I've only gotten cherry tomatoes so far, and not many of them. My Paul Robeson plant put out one fruit that got very nearly ripe, like I was going to pick it the next day, and then it got stolen. I have to assume an animal took it, because what human would go into the community garden, see all these plots that are doing well and are loaded with toms, and decide to take the ONE FRUIT from the plot that looks the worst. Two of my jalapeno plants just decided to die (I have two more, thankfully). My wild fennel (grown for seed, not bulb) died. I have two varieties of zucchini going, and I'm having issues with pollination for the fancy Italian variety. I've tried hand-pollinating, but of the two zukes that succeeded, I'm really just getting a sphere of zucchini with a floppy nipple at the blossom end. Actually all my cucurbits are having pollination issues—just remembered I also have had to hand-pollinate my romanesco zucchini, and while I've gotten a few cucumbers, I have seen way more tiny yellowed flaccid wangs attached to the plants.
I think the location of my new plot is to blame. It seemed perfect when I was choosing it, but I didn't realize that somehow the landscape is configured in such a way that it's basically in a wind tunnel. I think the bees are having a difficult time and go on to easier plots. I would ask if I can put up wind shielding on the outside fence, but our management has been a little weird during the pandemic. Although I guess I could just do it and ask permission later.
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Post by pantsgoblin on Jul 26, 2021 10:53:06 GMT -5
It's been a challenge, but this year I've finally got the correct amount of sunlight on my vegetables for my latitude (New Mexico) and elevation (7200') with an adjustable frame for the shade fabric. So, my zuccs, squash, chard, and scotch bonnet peppers are coming along nicely.
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Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Jul 26, 2021 11:08:37 GMT -5
Well, for the first year ever, I have made it this far without anything dying from lack of sunlight or too much rain or getting eaten up by bugs/animals. My yellow cherry tomato plant has already yielded five incredibly delicious tomatoes and has about a dozen and a half more blossoms in various stages of development, my basil and mint and flat-leaf parsley are growing like mad, and the little patio orange tree seedling my mom bought at a high-school fair has grown five new leaves this week alone. My jalapeño plant wasn't doing so great but perked up when I added more fertilizer last week. I think the regular application of long-acting fertilizer (I like the spikes when I can get them) and inspecting them every day have a lot to do with that. Each year I since I bought it three years ago, I also move my petra croton outside for the summer, and it never fails to grow at least another foot. I swear every time I go out onto the deck, it's got a new leaf.
It probably also helps that the trees we had planted around the deck are now gone, so everything gets a lot of direct and indirect sunlight now. And that I actually bought fertilizer formulated for all these different kinds of plants.
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Jul 26, 2021 12:04:07 GMT -5
I love hearing about everyone's successes and failures here! It's so funny how the disappointments of any one season seem just to fuel the optimism of seasons to come -- either it's like, "Huh, my [whatever] didn't work out this year. Well, next year it'll be better!" or "Dammit, [whatever] was a total fail, so next year I won't bother. I'll just plant much better, more awesome things instead!" I think I love the anticipation of future successes even more than in-the-moment gardening...
...except for my potatoes, which we dug up this past weekend, and which are AMAZING. Not the world's largest haul by any stretch, but still more huge red-skinned potatoes (I forget the variety) than I ever expected to dig out of my own garden soil!
The report from stately Dick n Hisses Farm this year is that we did mostly dahlias and aromatics. So the garlic is done (and wasn't a great crop this year), the onions are out as of two weeks ago (and were fine, but fairly small across the board, and I did a terrible job of getting them cured for storage, so I don't have high hopes for a long winter of my own onions), and the shallots were an unparalleled success. The flowers are so-so -- pretty good sunflower showing so far, zinnias are finally getting riotous, and dahlias are just starting to set a lot of blooms. And the garden's half-empty.
Because of my CSA subscriptions, we're not big into planting for fall crops. I need more fresh leafy greens in October like I need a hole in my head. So we're not generally inclined toward second-wave planting, but with so few long-season things like peppers and tomatoes this year (we have one bed of peppers and one tomato plant), we were distressed to have three out of our eight raised beds empty by mid-July. So this weekend we direct-sowed a second bed of sunflowers, tossed a handful of dill seeds into half of another bed, and, thanks to our shoddy composting practices, had three tomato plants and a tomatillo growing in the spot where we'd mounded the potatoes. So we transplanted those into the other half of the dill bed. And I ordered some parsnip seeds, which Hudson Valley Seed Catalog insists is good for fall planting, but we shall see.
So that's all the news that's fit to print from my garden. No hand-pollinated summer squash or heirloom family-legacy field peas, but at least my shallots are great!
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Post by ganews on Jul 26, 2021 12:28:45 GMT -5
Well, for the first year ever, I have made it this far without anything dying from lack of sunlight or too much rain or getting eaten up by bugs/animals. Too much rain, what a thought! (This year anyway, that was indeed the case in 2018.) |
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Post by ganews on Aug 22, 2021 17:19:44 GMT -5
Mid-August to mid-September is always Peak Garden. So many butterbeans, I'll be shelling for hours tonight. Definitely only planting one row of okra next year.
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Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Oct 13, 2021 11:55:42 GMT -5
My cherry tomato plant is, hilariously, growing about a dozen and a half more of them right now, and the mint plant is more like a bush now because I've used so much in my ice water that it keeps expanding outward and upward. I'm not complaining, though.
I brought my patio orange tree indoors today, because it's supposed to drop into the upper 40s at night this week, and I've nurtured this thing too much (and spent too much money) over the past four months to let it die now. I bought a grow light for it, which is currently doubling as my home office's primary artificial light source, but it should get some natural light in the afternoons as well. Not that I'd know yet, because it's been grey and disgusting for a solid week.
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Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Dec 6, 2021 10:22:16 GMT -5
The patio orange tree has sprouted several new leaves and is in the stages of sprouting a few more. It must really like this grow lamp!
I have my spearmint underneath the light as well, and I water it when needed, but I'm seeing it starting to dry up a bit. I keep the light on for ~12 hours a day, so I'm wondering if that's too much for winter and I'm overdoing the UV. Or is it that mint will go dormant in winter anyway and I should just let it do its thing?
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Post by 🐍 cahusserole 🐍 on Dec 29, 2021 20:11:43 GMT -5
Can anyone help me with identification? I have no idea if these images are going to show up so have also a link.  the flowers on these are a bit more pinky-purpler in real life. I was hoping it was some kinda bee balm, but the leaves don't look right.
and  irises? lilies? |
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