Gardeners unite :)

[Deleted]

I love gardening. We took it up more seriously about 4 years ago and it has proven to be a wonderful constant learning experience for the whole family!

Does anyone else garden? What do you grow?

[steff]

We have a huge garden that I can & freeze veggies from. 

We have:

5 kinds of tomatoes
3 kinds of corn
green beans
sugar snap peas
black eye'd peas
purple hull peas
cucumbers
yellow squash
okra
jalapenos
dragon cayenne
regular cayenne
hot banana peppers
mild banana peppers
carrots
radishes
watermelons
cantalopes
green onions
about a dozen sunflowers w/ big fat seeds to eat

I have basil, tarragon, dill, cilantro, parsley, thyme, chocolate mint & catnip growing.

I also have strawberries & 3 kinds of lettuce growing in bags of gardening soil.  And I have red new potatoes growing in a laundry basket. 

I trade with a neighbor to pick from their peach, pear & apple trees.  Hubby trades with someone at work for fresh blueberries & pecans in the fall.


right now I'm buried in green beans, squash & cukes.  Doing a lot of cooking of veggies each night & freezer bagging them up.  I've already done 25 jars of pickles and 3 small jars of pickled peppers.  I've made pepper vinegar & different pepper oils.  Roasted squash, squash with bacon, onions, & brown sugar, sliced & breaded squash for frying, sugar snap peas sauted with garlic,  green beans with bacon & onions, Chinese green beans, and simple blanched green beans for soups have all gone into the freezer. 

I'm about a week away from a tomato explosion and then it'll be tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, & salsa to be canned/frozen.

[Deleted]

I am not feeling this year. The broccoli was great, but the few peas I planted basically sat there. My early zuch caught something and the others look iffy. I can't even touch a tomato plant any more without breaking out, so I'll have the kids/husband pick them, but I have a few weeks (to use up the rest of last years!). My green beans aren't ready yet either. 

I also have onions, potatos, pumpkin, yellow squash, gourds, spaghetti squash, carrots, about 6 kinds of peppers, cabbage, calendula, chives, dill, basil, oregano, sage, some other herbs.

[Deleted]

Jul 11, 2014 1:15:26 GMT -5 steff said:

We have a huge garden that I can & freeze veggies from. 

We have:

5 kinds of tomatoes
3 kinds of corn
green beans
sugar snap peas
black eye'd peas
purple hull peas
cucumbers
yellow squash
okra
jalapenos
dragon cayenne
regular cayenne
hot banana peppers
mild banana peppers
carrots
radishes
watermelons
cantalopes
green onions
about a dozen sunflowers w/ big fat seeds to eat

I have basil, tarragon, dill, cilantro, parsley, thyme, chocolate mint & catnip growing.

I also have strawberries & 3 kinds of lettuce growing in bags of gardening soil.  And I have red new potatoes growing in a laundry basket. 

I trade with a neighbor to pick from their peach, pear & apple trees.  Hubby trades with someone at work for fresh blueberries & pecans in the fall.


right now I'm buried in green beans, squash & cukes.  Doing a lot of cooking of veggies each night & freezer bagging them up.  I've already done 25 jars of pickles and 3 small jars of pickled peppers.  I've made pepper vinegar & different pepper oils.  Roasted squash, squash with bacon, onions, & brown sugar, sliced & breaded squash for frying, sugar snap peas sauted with garlic,  green beans with bacon & onions, Chinese green beans, and simple blanched green beans for soups have all gone into the freezer. 

I'm about a week away from a tomato explosion and then it'll be tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, & salsa to be canned/frozen.

Wow! That is an impressive list. Is there anything you don't grow?

We have a small veg garden. Beans, tomatoes, peppers, asparagus, herbs, raspberries.

I grow lots of flowers, for some reason they are more fun for me.

[whoisjohngalt]

I think it's only fair that we see pics of  those gardens

[Deleted]

Jul 24, 2014 23:30:13 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

I think it's only fair that we see pics of  those gardens

Always afraid of boring people with flower pics and my photography skills suck also but since you asked , I'll try to post some. The tall grass to the left in the background is the neighbors and our small veg garden is to the right of that.

This one is looking toward the other side of the yard.

This was a couple springs ago when the foxglove went nuts!

A poppy inherited from grandma- not sure if it's legal here but so pretty.

A gooseneck loosestrife, one of my favorites.

An Indigo Bunting fighting with himself in the mirror

Neighbor

[kittensaver]

Oh, xmascookie, these are gorgeous! Thanks so much for sharing! I would love to post a few pic of my community garden plot but don't know how to do it. Anybody know? Do you need a "service" like snapfish or photobucket? I HATE places on the interwebz where I have to sign in *yet again* and get more garbage marketing sent to my inbox . . . anybody wise to a way to do it without a third party website or cloud site?

[busymom]

I don't know how to post pics, either. I'd need DD to help me out.

We grow mostly vegetables.  Because we had such a late Spring here, & a cool Summer, the garden is way behind schedule.  Just now we're getting some ripe raspberries, & we've been enjoying peapods this week, so it's officially stir fry season for us!  We've also got broccoli (which is almost big enough to pick), cauliflower, sweet corn, carrots, radishes (that season is just about done), cucumbers, strawberries, potatoes & pumpkins.  (I think I'm forgetting something...) 

[Deleted]

Jul 25, 2014 13:31:46 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

Oh, xmascookie, these are gorgeous! Thanks so much for sharing! I would love to post a few pic of my community garden plot but don't know how to do it. Anybody know? Do you need a "service" like snapfish or photobucket? I HATE places on the interwebz where I have to sign in *yet again* and get more garbage marketing sent to my inbox . . . anybody wise to a way to do it without a third party website or cloud site?

Thank you! Yes, you need a photobucket or something like it account. I have not gotten any garbage stuff from them yet. Do it. Post some!

[Deleted]

Jul 25, 2014 20:17:28 GMT -5 @patstab said:

That's beautiful, I don't have many flowers. I have a small bed in back but its just some roses and clematis and a lot just planted. The one in front had a butterfly bush that died, so it was planted lightly, I'm also fighting voles out of it. I have landscaping across the front but I'm just mostly grass and then my veggie garden which has lots of weeds right now.

Yours is drop dead gorgeous. I got 1 picture to post and now my other computers are down so can't post pics but I have nothing like that anyway, don't know if I ever will till I stop planting a big veggie garden.

Thank you.

 I could not keep up with it if we had a big veggie garden too.

 DH does most of the vegs and I do the flowers.

He does help me with the heavy lifting and compost making and I have to find a way soon to simplify, getting old.

[Sunnyday]

Jul 25, 2014 13:24:58 GMT -5 @xmascookie said:

Jul 24, 2014 23:30:13 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

I think it's only fair that we see pics of  those gardens

Always afraid of boring people with flower pics and my photography skills suck also but since you asked , I'll try to post some. The tall grass to the left in the background is the neighbors and our small veg garden is to the right of that.

This one is looking toward the other side of the yard.

This was a couple springs ago when the foxglove went nuts!

A poppy inherited from grandma- not sure if it's legal here but so pretty.

A gooseneck loosestrife, one of my favorites.

An Indigo Bunting fighting with himself in the mirror

Neighbor

omg, I love your garden!!! I think that your composition is just perfect. What zone do you garden in?

I garden in zone 4, and I have a couple of trouble spots.

my biggest problem area is the flower bed that borders my entry way. It gets all day sun. I made the very novice gardening mistake of planting for flowers (perennials) instead of foliage. Do you know of any interesting perennials with a dark or variegated foliage that will grow in full sun (sunset to sundown)? all the plants are green, and when they stop blooming. I just have this sea of boring green. I already have one purple palace that I'm trying out. They have a deep purple coloring with a maple leaf shape.

[msventoux]

That is gorgeous!!  I'm so envious.  I've let my yard grow wild, it's mostly clover, moss and weeds and looks horrible even when I try to care for it.  I've never been into gardening but I'm hoping to finish up all the interior stuff I want to change in my house this winter.  Then spring I'll start working hard on the grounds.  I'm not that interested in having a nice grass lawn, so I'm thinking of turning it all into flower beds of various types.  I'll do research this winter and go from there.

[The Captain]

@xmascookie - absolutely stunning!!!

We just moved a month ago so I didn't do any vegetable gardening this year.  At the new house we basically tore out all of the overgrown (40+ years) evergreens so I'm starting with a blank slate.

I've already had DH sod cut a 10X15 plot for my veggie garden.  I'm going to start amending the soil this year for next year's planting.  If it's too small I can always add more.

Your composition is spot on, I agree with Sunnyday on that!  Question - one of your shots shows deer - don't they eat everything in sight (they do in my neck of the woods)??

[Deleted]

Thank you! I had a vision for this yard before we even moved in and it was a large part of buying this house.

I'm in zone 5. Rainy, I can't see why planting flowers in full sun would be a mistake. You just need to stagger the blooms so something is starting as another is finishing. There is so much out there it's not as hard as you would think.

Then maybe an annual that will keep blooming all summer. I can't think of anything  with dark leaves for full sun off hand. I will have to think about that.

Captain, the deer demolish the hostas and anything close to the river. They rarely come up to far into the yard in summer only in the winter.

Can someone tell me how you tag someone in a post?

Thanks.

[The Captain]

Aug 12, 2014 11:46:03 GMT -5 @xmascookie said:

Thank you! I had a vision for this yard before we even moved in and it was a large part of buying this house.

I'm in zone 5. Rainy, I can't see why planting flowers in full sun would be a mistake. You just need to stagger the blooms so something is starting as another is finishing. There is so much out there it's not as hard as you would think.

Then maybe an annual that will keep blooming all summer. I can't think of anything  with dark leaves for full sun off hand. I will have to think about that.

Captain, the deer demolish the hostas and anything close to the river. They rarely come up to far into the yard in summer only in the winter.

Can someone tell me how you tag someone in a post?

Thanks.

In the bar there are several buttons to do certain actions.  Reading from right to left it says "Spoiler" "Quote" "C" and then there is the @ sign with a person next to it.  If you click on that it will prompt you to enter a posters name (like @xmascookie) and will give you choices to click on if there are several which are close.

Click on it and you've tagged someone.  Give it a try!

[Sunnyday]

Aug 12, 2014 11:46:03 GMT -5 @xmascookie said:

Thank you! I had a vision for this yard before we even moved in and it was a large part of buying this house.

I'm in zone 5. Rainy, I can't see why planting flowers in full sun would be a mistake. You just need to stagger the blooms so something is starting as another is finishing. There is so much out there it's not as hard as you would think.

Then maybe an annual that will keep blooming all summer. I can't think of anything  with dark leaves for full sun off hand. I will have to think about that.

Captain, the deer demolish the hostas and anything close to the river. They rarely come up to far into the yard in summer only in the winter.

Can someone tell me how you tag someone in a post?

Thanks.

I don't know if you were trying to tag me, but I read your post. I originally wanted to do a perennial garden, because I thought it would be a waste of money to buy flowers that only last one season. I just wanted to set and forget it, but I surprised myself with the extent that I have fallen in love with gardening. and now I am very enthusiatic about having a good mix of both.

In just one season, I have learned so much. And I found out that I love experimenting and working on the composition. Composition is definately one of the hardest things! I struggle with it while always keeping in mind the blooming times. I have redone my problem areas three times already.

I also noticed that you don't have those black plastic borders! you have a ridge or groove in between the flower bed and grass. I think that try look so much better.

how do you maintain that?

[Deleted]

The Captain

Thanks. I think it worked!

[Deleted]

Aug 12, 2014 13:04:53 GMT -5 Sunnyday said:

Aug 12, 2014 11:46:03 GMT -5 @xmascookie said:

Thank you! I had a vision for this yard before we even moved in and it was a large part of buying this house.

I'm in zone 5. Rainy, I can't see why planting flowers in full sun would be a mistake. You just need to stagger the blooms so something is starting as another is finishing. There is so much out there it's not as hard as you would think.

Then maybe an annual that will keep blooming all summer. I can't think of anything  with dark leaves for full sun off hand. I will have to think about that.

Captain, the deer demolish the hostas and anything close to the river. They rarely come up to far into the yard in summer only in the winter.

Can someone tell me how you tag someone in a post?

Thanks.

I don't know if you were trying to tag me, but I read your post. I originally wanted to do a perennial garden, because I thought it would be a waste of money to buy flowers that only last one season. I just wanted to set and forget it, but I surprised myself with the extent that I have fallen in love with gardening. and now I am very enthusiatic about having a good mix of both.

In just one season, I have learned so much. And I found out that I love experimenting and working on the composition. Composition is definately one of the hardest things! I struggle with it while always keeping in mind the blooming times. I have redone my problem areas three times already.

I also noticed that you don't have those black plastic borders! you have a ridge or groove in between the flower bed and grass. I think that try look so much better.

how do you maintain that?

I'm notorious for moving things if they don't look right. The process as much fun for me as the result so if you are enjoying it it will come together and you will at least be almost satisfied . Don't get to stuck on perfect because the plants will seldom do what the little tag says they will as far as height, even sun requirements.

I like natural edges but don't like the work that comes with it and some seasons I get a little lax and lazy.

A good year in early spring and once mid summer I spade all around the edges, dig real deep, pull all the grass, etc and leave a little gap that gets filled with mulch. This summer the edges look crappy. I didn't do it mid-summer and I have a huge battle with weedy groundcover from the lawn.

I have noticed though if your edges stay neat you can get away with a lot wilder, not so neat behind them and it will still look pretty good.

I plant pretty tight also, usually closer than the tag says. The plants probably don't get as big as they would if they had more room but it saves on weeding.

 That would all depend on the style you like though. We have a lot of really tidy gardeners around here. Plants spaced perfectly, mulched neatly, perfect edges, not a weed in sight. They are really pretty. I admire them but not practical for me. In the front of the house I try to be a little more neat.

My dream is a prairie about 3/4 down the yard to the river with just native grasses and flowers and a path  through it, but I think I'm too tired.

I'm so glad you are enjoying gardening!  What is great and not so great about your zone is you get a long rest season.

I'm ready for it in Oct. but ready for it to be over in Feb. with a long way to go.

Blah, Blah, I can talk about flowers all day long.

Have fun and post some pics!

[The Captain]

Aug 13, 2014 2:32:14 GMT -5 @xmascookie said:

The Captain

Thanks. I think it worked!

@xmascookie

It did!  It did!

[whoisjohngalt]

@xmascookie - I am JUST seeing this now, OMG that looks AMAAAAZING.

So, the obvious question - how long did it take and how much did it cost?

Our property looks like a "white trash ghetto" in the middle of a VERY fancy neighborhood, so we are trying to figure out how to prettyfy it

[Deleted]

Thanks! It's 7 years old. It was really pretty cheap as the owners that bought our last house let me divide things before we left. The 1st year we put those in the ground just to hold them while we put the fences up. The fences, trees and shrubs cost us the most but I didn't keep track of how much. We already had some big old oaks here.

Most gardeners I know are generous with perennials because they will need dividing eventually so most came from friends , co workers and grandma was a great source for my 1st garden.

Neighborhood plant sales great too as you already know they grow well in your location and are usually pretty cheap.

 Start with a small area and expand. In a couple seasons you will have more plants than you know what to do with. Mulch good too for weed control.

 It's easy and fun, don't think about it too much, just dig in.

[Deleted]

Who's growing what this year? Where?

Do you have flowers? What kinds? What colors? Do you worry about clashing colors in your flowers? I don't anymore. I like the riot.

 Do you have a nice tidy garden or a more wild one? Most of mine is on the wild side.

Anything doing particularly great this year? Anything struggling this year? Tomatoes and peppers slow here with not much heat.

Cone flowers re-seeding all over. Rabbits ate to much of my lilies.

Do you mulch? Buy plants, plant by seed? Do you put house plants outside in the summer?

[busymom]

We grow a LOT of different vegetables. We've never had luck growing tomatoes from seed, so we usually buy plants. Most other things we put in seed, however, this year it was so cool late into the Spring that we also bought broccoli & cauliflower plants. The only complete failure so far is the spinach, as it just isn't germinating this year. (We have had several heavy rains, & even 'tho we've replanted, it still isn't coming up.) Everything else is growing nicely. We're growing potatoes, sweet corn, peppers, carrots & radishes, in addition to everything else already mentioned. We also have raspberry bushes, & some strawberry plants on our property.

To help the soil, we throw in grass clippings & leaves throughout the year. The garden soil, after a number of years of doing this, is now a nice looking black. Which, considering the soil here was a silt & gray when we began is pretty good.

[The Captain]

@xmascookie - I neeeeddd you to come help me design my new garden!!!

Whinnneeeee

Thanks for bumping this thread!  I need some inspiration!!!

[Deleted]

Jun 29, 2015 15:00:26 GMT -5 @patstab said:

Worst garden I ever had, been hearing this from the neighbors too. Just to much rain..

The bugs ate up my cabbages so I tilled them under. The weeds are taking over the onions,

I tried to pull them but can't get it done.  I may have to till up other areas and plant the onions

elsewhere.  I will have tomatoes, they are good and cukes,  likely green beans and squash.

Probably water melon and cantaloupe and some herbs plus bell peppers.  I didn't put out a

very big one this year as I still have canned goods from last year.  But still its very disappointing

to see hard work ruined.

Hope next year is better as hubby is supposed to retire and I will be cooking more.

Awe. It does suck when mother nature doesn't appreciate all your hard work.

It seems like we have had a ton of rain too but the weatherman says average.

He never really tells the truth about anything though.

 It sounds like even with the failures you should have plenty of good food .

I think food gardening is much harder than flower gardening. The weeds love all that sun and love to take over .

We have been mulching the veg garden with grass clippings or else just can't keep up with it. I'd like some strawberries, melons, squash still but would have to expand .

[Deleted]

Jun 29, 2015 9:06:19 GMT -5 The Captain said:

@xmascookie - I neeeeddd you to come help me design my new garden!!!

Whinnneeeee

Thanks for bumping this thread!  I need some inspiration!!!

Where are you?

I 'm not sure I'd be helpful with design but maybe could give you a good plant list to get started.

Do you have any garden walks in your area? They have one every year here and there are like 7 or 9 or something yards to walk through.

They give you a great idea of what does grow good in your area and what they will look like in the yard instead of the greenhouse.

 There is everything from the 100k professional garden to the little hidden succulent garden on our tours.

 I like the non-professional gardens the best . The homeowners are usually pretty talkative and will tell you anything you want to know.

[The Captain]

Jun 29, 2015 18:48:00 GMT -5 @xmascookie said:

Jun 29, 2015 9:06:19 GMT -5 The Captain said:

@xmascookie - I neeeeddd you to come help me design my new garden!!!

Whinnneeeee

Thanks for bumping this thread!  I need some inspiration!!!

Where are you?

I 'm not sure I'd be helpful with design but maybe could give you a good plant list to get started.

Do you have any garden walks in your area? They have one every year here and there are like 7 or 9 or something yards to walk through.

They give you a great idea of what does grow good in your area and what they will look like in the yard instead of the greenhouse.

 There is everything from the 100k professional garden to the little hidden succulent garden on our tours.

 I like the non-professional gardens the best . The homeowners are usually pretty talkative and will tell you anything you want to know.

 

I'm about 1 to 1.5 hours south of the Wisconsin border in a far northwest suburb of Chicago. Zone 5a (although I do push zones a lot and pay for it every 7 or so years ).

You're right - I need to look for some garden walks.  Please post more pictures!!!

[Deleted]

You're close . You can grow tons of things!

I will post some more pics soon, but I want to see others!

[busymom]

Ugh! We got hail late yesterday afternoon. (The biggest pieces were a little bigger than a marble.) I was worried about the garden, but after looking at it today, only the cauliflower, broccoli & tomato leaves show some damage.

[Happy prose]

@xmascookie Can you post a picture of that gooseneck plant not close up? I'd like to see how tall it is, and what the leaves look like. It's such a pretty flower! Thanks.