Gardening

[happyhoix]

Last Feb we had a week of warmer temps and then a few very cold days. My three big (20 plus feet) camellia bushes lost their leaves. (Normally they are evergreen) I hoped they would come back but they were dead dead dead. A tragedy because they were a perfect screen between my screened porch and the neighbors. Plus they were covered with happy red camellias in very early spring.

But someone - Tenn I think- suggested I cut them back but leave ten inches of stump above ground. Amazingly, all 3 of them enthusiastically sprouted new branches from the stumps. They are all about four feet high, with some straggling, drooping branches that are at least six feet if you stretched them straight up. So excited- that was just 1 season, this time next year they should be taller than me.

Thanks Tenn for telling me not to dig them out!!

[Tennesseer]

Dec 26, 2023 15:32:46 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Last Feb we had a week of warmer temps and then a few very cold days. My three big (20 plus feet) camellia bushes lost their leaves. (Normally they are evergreen) I hoped they would come back but they were dead dead dead. A tragedy because they were a perfect screen between my screened porch and the neighbors. Plus they were covered with happy red camellias in very early spring.

But someone - Tenn I think- suggested I cut them back but leave ten inches of stump above ground. Amazingly, all 3 of them enthusiastically sprouted new branches from the stumps. They are all about four feet high, with some straggling, drooping branches that are at least six feet if you stretched them straight up. So excited- that was just 1 season, this time next year they should be taller than me.

Thanks Tenn for telling me not to dig them out!!

It was me. You are welcome and glad you didn't dig them up. Will take a few years to get them back up.

I had to to the cut back on a holly leaf ligustrum (a polite type of privet).

[Tennesseer]

Dec 26, 2023 15:32:46 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Last Feb we had a week of warmer temps and then a few very cold days. My three big (20 plus feet) camellia bushes lost their leaves. (Normally they are evergreen) I hoped they would come back but they were dead dead dead. A tragedy because they were a perfect screen between my screened porch and the neighbors. Plus they were covered with happy red camellias in very early spring.

But someone - Tenn I think- suggested I cut them back but leave ten inches of stump above ground. Amazingly, all 3 of them enthusiastically sprouted new branches from the stumps. They are all about four feet high, with some straggling, drooping branches that are at least six feet if you stretched them straight up. So excited- that was just 1 season, this time next year they should be taller than me.

Thanks Tenn for telling me not to dig them out!!

I also lost three Gardena shrubs last Christmas when morning temps on December 23 were one degree. Coldest temp here since the early 1980s.

I cut them all back to the ground and when spring arrived, two of the three Gardena shrubs sent up new growth from the roots.

[happyhoix]

Dec 27, 2023 17:38:24 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Dec 26, 2023 15:32:46 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Last Feb we had a week of warmer temps and then a few very cold days. My three big (20 plus feet) camellia bushes lost their leaves. (Normally they are evergreen) I hoped they would come back but they were dead dead dead. A tragedy because they were a perfect screen between my screened porch and the neighbors. Plus they were covered with happy red camellias in very early spring.

But someone - Tenn I think- suggested I cut them back but leave ten inches of stump above ground. Amazingly, all 3 of them enthusiastically sprouted new branches from the stumps. They are all about four feet high, with some straggling, drooping branches that are at least six feet if you stretched them straight up. So excited- that was just 1 season, this time next year they should be taller than me.

Thanks Tenn for telling me not to dig them out!!

I also lost three Gardena shrubs last Christmas when morning temps on December 23 were one degree. Coldest temp here since the early 1980s.

I cut them all back to the ground and when spring arrived, two of the three Gardena shrubs sent up new growth from the roots.

Plants are amazing, the way they can sometimes regenerate. After our tornado in 2011, we lost all our mature trees except for four (used to be two acres of woods, except for about .25 acre for the front lawn). The younger trees (samplings) were able to bend with the wind, and gradually stood back up again, but the mature trees mostly snapped like twigs leaving 20 foot high stumps. Except for two tulip populars, who lost almost all their limbs, but kept their trunks. One of them was in our front yard, and it looked like a forty foot tall pipe cleaner - no limbs, just straight up and down. The first year, it put out some leaves along its sides, and some tiny stick branches, which made it look like a cotton swap. The tree guy encouraged us to cut it down, especially after lightening struck it and made a gash along its side. (Of course lightening struck it, it stands out like a 40 foot tall lightening rod). But we figured it survived the tornado, we ought to let it try to recover before we chopped it down. Plus it has an artificial Christina’s tree limb stuck in one side of it (our neighbor’s attic went during the tornado, and it threw their artificial tree’s limbs around like javelins. A second one went through an upstairs bedroom window). 

We gave it a few years, and each year, the tiny side branches got longer. The tree now sports a corona of branches, mostly 10 feet long or so. It still doesn’t look ‘normal’ but it doesn’t draw your attention (look at that pipe cleaner tree!). I had a tree expert look at the lightening gash on the side, to see if it was weakening the tree (don’t want it to fall on the house) and he said no, the tree is strong and healthy, so it’s still there, still with it’s Christmas tree branch stuck on one side. The other tulip poplar lost a lot of limbs, but not all, but it got badly singed when we burned off the fallen wood (got a little out of hand) and I thought it was toast (literally) but it also came back. Plants are tough. 

[happyhoix]

Got the Burpee catalog today!! All the sad listless veggies from last year are forgotten, now I’m dreaming of tomato’s the size of softballs and bouquets of lovely cutting flowers.

I need advice on juicing up my raised beds. I add compost every year - either mushroom or chicken poop - and add veggie fertilizer a few times - but maybe not enough? Is liquid miracle grow every other week better? Maybe I water too much or not enough? I think part of the problem is they are in full sun almost all day - too hot, by August, but not sure how to fix that. Used to be more shade before the tornado. 🙁

[MarionTh230]

January is nearly upon us.  I need to start seeds in January.  I know DH wants veggies, but I want flowers.  All the flowers.  I always want all the flowers!  I'll plan and decide what I want and get my flower seeds started before I ask him what he wants.

[greenthumb59]

Morning Everyone - I am a longtime lurker coming out of the shadows to join you! 

I have a small in-ground garden, a raised cedar bed garden, and many flower beds. I try to stick to native plants to help the birds and pollinators.  I live in zone 7b.  Right now there is not much going on. I did sow some wildflower seeds back in October and those are coming up.  I leave the spent flower stalks out during winter so the birds can eat those seeds.  It's currently a bit of a mess and I will clean it all up once the colder weather ends.

Anyway, I wanted to say 'hi' and I'll be posting here from time to time.

[Pink Cashmere]

Jan 3, 2024 10:43:38 GMT -5 greenthumb59 said:

Morning Everyone - I am a longtime lurker coming out of the shadows to join you! 

I have a small in-ground garden, a raised cedar bed garden, and many flower beds. I try to stick to native plants to help the birds and pollinators.  I live in zone 7b.  Right now there is not much going on. I did sow some wildflower seeds back in October and those are coming up.  I leave the spent flower stalks out during winter so the birds can eat those seeds.  It's currently a bit of a mess and I will clean it all up once the colder weather ends.

Anyway, I wanted to say 'hi' and I'll be posting here from time to time.

Hi!

I’m glad you decided to join us. I look forward to reading your posts and chatting with you!

[greenthumb59]

Thank you Pink!  I'm glad to share whatever I can with y'all!

I forgot to add that we also have a straw bale garden.  This past summer was our second year of this experiment.  If you have not heard of this, do a quick google search for straw bale gardening.  We put cattle panel hoops over six of the eight bales last summer.  I grew green beans, moonflowers, cucumbers and hyacinth bean vines. On the unhooped bales I had hot peppers, dill, squash, and cowpeas. The squash plants grew well, and I managed to stay ahead of the squash bugs this year. But the plants just got too big for the straw bales, so I pulled them fairly early. 

I learn new stuff each year with the gardens.  Future squash plants will be in the ground. No more cowpeas for us.  I love to eat them, but they just attract too many wasps.  We had gem glass corn growing and it was utterly ruined by a rat!  By the time I figured out what bait would lure him into the live trap, he had pretty much destroyed the corn. 

We also grew okra and that was successful.  So successful that I started to dread going out daily to pick it, because there was just so much okra! Same with the cucumbers.  I will only have one plant this year.  My DH and DS2 just won't eat all the fresh veggies.  So I'm cutting back on veggies.

Anyway, we are getting seed catalogs daily and my DH is talking about this and that for the garden.  He does not tend the garden all summer, I do.  So I plant to focus more on the flowers.  I love flowers and want them everywhere lol!

[Pink Cashmere]

Jan 3, 2024 11:10:40 GMT -5 greenthumb59 said:

Thank you Pink!  I'm glad to share whatever I can with y'all!

I forgot to add that we also have a straw bale garden.  This past summer was our second year of this experiment.  If you have not heard of this, do a quick google search for straw bale gardening.  We put cattle panel hoops over six of the eight bales last summer.  I grew green beans, moonflowers, cucumbers and hyacinth bean vines. On the unhooped bales I had hot peppers, dill, squash, and cowpeas. The squash plants grew well, and I managed to stay ahead of the squash bugs this year. But the plants just got too big for the straw bales, so I pulled them fairly early. 

I learn new stuff each year with the gardens.  Future squash plants will be in the ground. No more cowpeas for us.  I love to eat them, but they just attract too many wasps.  We had gem glass corn growing and it was utterly ruined by a rat!  By the time I figured out what bait would lure him into the live trap, he had pretty much destroyed the corn. 

We also grew okra and that was successful.  So successful that I started to dread going out daily to pick it, because there was just so much okra! Same with the cucumbers.  I will only have one plant this year.  My DH and DS2 just won't eat all the fresh veggies.  So I'm cutting back on veggies.

Anyway, we are getting seed catalogs daily and my DH is talking about this and that for the garden.  He does not tend the garden all summer, I do.  So I plant to focus more on the flowers.  I love flowers and want them everywhere lol!

Wait, cowpeas attract a lot of wasps?! So many that a seasoned gardener would rather just not plant them? Oh dear! was planning to grow some cowpeas, already have the seeds. 

[greenthumb59]

Yup - wasps!  My SIL lives a few miles away from us, and she had a huge garden last summer.  She invited us to come and pick purple hull peas before they plowed them under.  Wasps were everywhere - I actually got stung cause I picked one off the vine before I realized it.  These peas were planted way before I had planted mine, so mine weren't blooming yet.  Once mine started blooming the wasps were all over them.  I had also planted dill close to the cowpeas.  I didn't realize a swallowtail butterfly had laid her eggs on the dill.  One day I'm out there and I see these little swallowtail caterpillars. I was so excited.  The next day I went out there to check on them and those damn wasps were eating them! I managed to get one of the caterpillars inside, and it hatched out to a beautiful swallowtail butterfly a few weeks later.

I honestly don't mind wasps - they have their role in the pollinator world too - but I would rather not have so many of them around.  My silly dog also snaps at them.  I can't grow enough cowpeas to have good sized batches more than a couple of times - I just don't have the room.  So yeah I would rather not have them.  So I'll plant some zinnas this year instead!

[ken a.k.a OMK]

I live in 7B on the Eastern shore of Md. The straw bale gardening looks interesting.

[Pink Cashmere]

Jan 3, 2024 13:45:29 GMT -5 greenthumb59 said:

Yup - wasps!  My SIL lives a few miles away from us, and she had a huge garden last summer.  She invited us to come and pick purple hull peas before they plowed them under.  Wasps were everywhere - I actually got stung cause I picked one off the vine before I realized it.  These peas were planted way before I had planted mine, so mine weren't blooming yet.  Once mine started blooming the wasps were all over them.  I had also planted dill close to the cowpeas.  I didn't realize a swallowtail butterfly had laid her eggs on the dill.  One day I'm out there and I see these little swallowtail caterpillars. I was so excited.  The next day I went out there to check on them and those damn wasps were eating them! I managed to get one of the caterpillars inside, and it hatched out to a beautiful swallowtail butterfly a few weeks later.

I honestly don't mind wasps - they have their role in the pollinator world too - but I would rather not have so many of them around.  My silly dog also snaps at them.  I can't grow enough cowpeas to have good sized batches more than a couple of times - I just don't have the room.  So yeah I would rather not have them.  So I'll plant some zinnas this year instead!

Thank you for sharing. I will have to rethink growing cowpeas. I am trying to deal with my very real fear of insects since I really do want to grow vegetables, and dealing with insects is just part of it. After reading about parasitic wasps and such, and their benefits when it comes to gardening, last summer I stopped keeping a can of wasp spray beside me when I sit on the deck, since I can’t tell one kind of wasp from another. I ended up just running from them if they won’t go away, instead of killing them lol. That is at least a little progress.

My dogs also snap at them and try to catch them. I tell them nooooo, LEAVE IT, when I see them do that, because I don’t want them to ever actually catch one in their mouth, or get stung, period.

I don’t think I’d do well at all with tending to and harvesting cowpeas with a lot of wasps flying around the plants. I’m not nearly that brave yet. I have a little time to try to see if I might be able to try to get my nerves together, but I don’t see it happening lol. Even though it wasn’t your original intention and you were just sharing your experiences with different things, I really, really appreciate the warning!

[azucena]

Had to google cowpeas as I'd never heard of then. I know them by another name - the type of peas eaten for new years.

[greenthumb59]

Pink, I did have a few crowder peas growing in one of the straw bales.  These were leftover peas from the prior year's garden.  The wasps weren't bad on those blooms.  These were vining peas.

Still planning this year's garden. So far I'm thinking okra, corn (yes trying it again), a couple of tomato plants, sweet and hot peppers, ONE cucumber plant, maybe squash.  And potatoes.  My bales from this past summer should be a perfect medium for growing potatoes.  My green beans just did not bloom for a long while.  It might have been the variety I grew.  They came on strong starting in August, so we did at least get some of them.  

I don't like all the bugs either, but sometimes you have to be ruthless in the garden.  I managed to stay on top of the squash bugs cause I was out in the garden early each morning, wearing gloves, smashing the little boogers as quick as I could.  I'm glad I didn't encounter any tomato horn worms this year.  Those things genuinely freak me out!

[jerseygirl]

Had a gerbera daisy on deck that bloomed all summer. Took it in and put in front of window with good light. Wondered if I could keep it alive over the winter.
Well it has 5 flower buds coming up!
Christmas cactus has gorgeous fushia blooms and I bought a pretty yellow primrose.
Makes the gloomy winter days a little brighter and happier

[Pink Cashmere]

Jan 3, 2024 17:41:55 GMT -5 azucena said:

Had to google cowpeas as I'd never heard of then. I know them by another name - the type of peas eaten for new years.

I’d never heard of cowpeas before last year either. I love black eye peas, and trying to research growing some was when I discovered the term cowpeas and learned to search that word for info instead lol. The variety of cowpea seeds I bought to try to grow, are “California Black Eye Peas”. 

Apparently they are even really peas either, they are beans, for whatever that’s worth.

It’s funny how I have to write down the important stuff I want to remember when I’m trying to figure out if and how I can grow something, but I easily remember the random stuff I come across.

[Pink Cashmere]

Jan 3, 2024 18:01:56 GMT -5 greenthumb59 said:

Pink, I did have a few crowder peas growing in one of the straw bales.  These were leftover peas from the prior year's garden.  The wasps weren't bad on those blooms.  These were vining peas.

Still planning this year's garden. So far I'm thinking okra, corn (yes trying it again), a couple of tomato plants, sweet and hot peppers, ONE cucumber plant, maybe squash.  And potatoes.  My bales from this past summer should be a perfect medium for growing potatoes.  My green beans just did not bloom for a long while.  It might have been the variety I grew.  They came on strong starting in August, so we did at least get some of them.  

I don't like all the bugs either, but sometimes you have to be ruthless in the garden.  I managed to stay on top of the squash bugs cause I was out in the garden early each morning, wearing gloves, smashing the little boogers as quick as I could.  I'm glad I didn't encounter any tomato horn worms this year.  Those things genuinely freak me out!

I grew green beans for the first time last year, the variety is Cantare or something like that. They produced early and tasted delicious. I will definitely grow them again this year. Now I know I need to plant a lot more of them than I did last year. What variety did you grow?

I am in 7b too. When will you start your potatoes?

[greenthumb59]

Dammit - I'm in zone 7A!!  I must have misread the new USDA zone map.  Oh well - I think we will start the taters in late February or early March.  January and early February are typically the coldest part of winter for us.  I haven't grown potatoes yet, so I'm excited about it!

I was just talking with DH about potatoes this morning.  He suggested I use part of the raised cedar beds for the potatoes.  I am okay with that.  I also want sweet potatoes. Those vine so I'll need to plan for it.

I think the green beans were Blue Lake?  I will look for the Cantare variety next time we hit the seed store.  If I want those tater sets, I'll need to get them pretty soon.  We also buy our straw bales from this seed store.  We will get the bales next month so we can start conditioning them.

We actually have a chance of snow overnight tonight.  Usually it's here for a day or so and then it fades away.

[Pink Cashmere]

Jan 4, 2024 14:14:25 GMT -5 greenthumb59 said:

Dammit - I'm in zone 7A!!  I must have misread the new USDA zone map.  Oh well - I think we will start the taters in late February or early March.  January and early February are typically the coldest part of winter for us.  I haven't grown potatoes yet, so I'm excited about it!

I was just talking with DH about potatoes this morning.  He suggested I use part of the raised cedar beds for the potatoes.  I am okay with that.  I also want sweet potatoes. Those vine so I'll need to plan for it.

I think the green beans were Blue Lake?  I will look for the Cantare variety next time we hit the seed store.  If I want those tater sets, I'll need to get them pretty soon.  We also buy our straw bales from this seed store.  We will get the bales next month so we can start conditioning them.

We actually have a chance of snow overnight tonight.  Usually it's here for a day or so and then it fades away.

I remember seeing the Blue Lake variety mentioned a lot. The Cantare variety I grew are bush beans. I am having enough trouble figuring out sturdy support for tomatoes, I didn’t want to fool with figuring out something for pole beans to grow up. That’s why I chose to try bush beans.

I am leaning toward trying cattle panels for my tomatoes this year. Not only did my tomato cages end up breaking last summer, but I also realized I don’t really like sticking my hand inside the cage to prune or get tomatoes. Yes, I am weird in many ways lol.

I am hoping to grow potatoes too, that’s why I asked when you are starting yours. We go through a lot of potatoes. DS (who doesn’t live with us) also loves potatoes and since he helps a lot with my gardening and stuff when he comes over, I thought it would be nice to grow something he really likes too.

I tried sweet potatoes for the first time last summer too. Let’s just say it was a learning experience and leave it at that.  I got about 10 very small sweet potatoes. I’d like to try those again too.

Another random thing I learned, while researching growing sweet potatoes, was that the leaves on the vine are edible and people say they are very tasty. I think a poster on the boards told me that also. So some people cook and eat some of the leaves that grow on the vines while they are waiting for the magic to happen underground. I had no idea until last year.

I’d also like to grow carrots and onions, even if I have to wait for fall. 

I have broccoli and cabbage seeds, and wanted to maybe grow them in fall, but CCL and people on the Internet made me nervous about it, talking about all the bugs that get in them lol.

I have a 7’ long elevated bed on the deck, where I grew the green beans last year. That bed ended up being perfect as far as harvesting the green beans because I didn’t have to bend over trying to find the beans and pick them. I grew the tomatoes in a 2’ deep container out in the yard. I’ve read that it’s best to not grow the same vegetables in the same spaces every year, so I have to figure that out. I really, really liked the height of the elevated bed for the green beans, but I can’t put another one on the deck, plus it was expensive (to me), at almost $300. And I need somewhere else for the tomatoes this year, plus I want to grow at least 6 tomato plants this year.

I still have 2 unused 10 gallon grow bags left from the first time I grew tomatoes, in grow bags on the deck, in 2022. And I have several unused 20 gallon grow bags that I bought last year and never figured out what to do with. 

Can you tell yet, that I am excited about having somebody that grows vegetables to chat with?

I have nothing against growing flowering plants, I actually like them too (even though they don’t seem to like me lol) and also ask a lot of questions about them lol. I actually need to do something with the flowerbed around our mailbox again (and other places) since during last summer, Mister killed everything I’d planted up there, with herbicide.

I think I was even more upset that he killed the irises up there, than all the stuff I’d planted. The irises were already there when we moved here, and I didn’t even know what an iris looked like or that’s what those flowers were, at first. I just knew I loved those beautiful, delicate looking flowers when they bloomed. I am still upset that he killed them.

[CCL]

Pink, at my old house, I stapled some chicken wire to my wooden mailbox post and let the plants climb right up. If you want to try growing something that climbs, it might be an easy way to try it out. In a sunny location, clematis are a great choice.

[greenthumb59]

I would try to grow potatoes in these grow bags!  I bet it would be easier to harvest your potatoes if they were contained in the bag!  

So Mister used herbicide on your flower bed?  Oh that could be bad.  It may be a while before anything can grow there!  You could try something very easy to grow there for this coming spring/summer, like marigolds.  They aren't fussy.  But the bees  love them, so if you want to keep bees and other bugs away from the mailbox, then maybe we need to think of something else!

My raised cedar bed was expensive as well, but it was a retirement gift I gave to myself.  It is 8'x8', shaped like a U, and about 2' deep.  It was a pain to put together, a pain to fill, but I am enjoying it.  I had tomatoes and sweet peppers in it this past summer.  I am thinking potatoes for this year for at least part of it.  

[Pink Cashmere]

Jan 4, 2024 18:21:46 GMT -5 CCL said:

Pink, at my old house, I stapled some chicken wire to my wooden mailbox post and let the plants climb right up. If you want to try growing something that climbs, it might be an easy way to try it out. In a sunny location, clematis are a great choice.

When I had illusions last year about landscaping and creating another outdoor space for us to sit and relax in, I Rand across clematis as an option for what I was I was imagining.

I am over all of that now, and feel like I will be doing good for now, just trying to grow vegetables. 

I am not over the desire to grow flowers and do some landscaping, it is just that things have changed and I am more interested now in learning to grow stuff that I can eat, just because it’s practical and useful knowledge, if I try try to grow anything at all. 

[Pink Cashmere]

Jan 4, 2024 18:41:31 GMT -5 greenthumb59 said:

I would try to grow potatoes in these grow bags!  I bet it would be easier to harvest your potatoes if they were contained in the bag!  

So Mister used herbicide on your flower bed?  Oh that could be bad.  It may be a while before anything can grow there!  You could try something very easy to grow there for this coming spring/summer, like marigolds.  They aren't fussy.  But the bees  love them, so if you want to keep bees and other bugs away from the mailbox, then maybe we need to think of something else!

My raised cedar bed was expensive as well, but it was a retirement gift I gave to myself.  It is 8'x8', shaped like a U, and about 2' deep.  It was a pain to put together, a pain to fill, but I am enjoying it.  I had tomatoes and sweet peppers in it this past summer.  I am thinking potatoes for this year for at least part of it.  

Yes, he sprayed herbicide on the whole flower bed. At first it was an “accident” and he didn’t mean to kill the irises after I got upset and asked WTF he’d done. Then he intentionally sprayed the whole flower bed and killed everything. I don’t remember what his reason or “excuse” was, I just remember that I was angry when I learned what he’d done.

There were 2 crape Myrtles in that flower bed, and he had been treating them for whatever it is that has become an invasive, common issue for those trees in the south. One of the trees in that bed wasn’t doing well, so after he killed everything else, he paid DS to clear everything out of the bed, including the one sick and ugly crape Myrtle, and just leaving the one crape Myrtle that responded to the treatment. 

But the irises,  . 

That flowerbed, idk the measurements, but it’s not tiny, and it’s not huge.  It is encased in bricks, like the other flowerbeds that were already on the property when we bought it. It has a utility “box” or whatever you call it, in the back of it, and that is where the irises were. Between that, the iris plants, and 2 crape Myrtle trees, I still had plenty of room to plant what I wanted to grow there.

Now it’s all bare except for the one tree still standing, and the landscaping fabric is exposed and visible. I’ve read enough to learn that landscaping fabric can be a devil in many folks’ opinion, so idk whether to just go ahead and remove all of that too, before I start over.

I am open to opinions from posters here, I value those opinions more than I do opinions from random people on the internet.

[CCL]

The one time I used landscape fabric, everything grew right through it and I had a heck of a time pulling it all out.

Irises are generally easy to grow. You could plant a few come spring and they should multiple fairly quickly. Of course, not if someone sprays them with toxic chemicals.

[MarionTh230]

Nice to meet you greenthumb59 !  I love hearing and reading about everyone's gardening exploits.  So much fun stuff everyone has been chatting about!

DH wanted broccoli in his fall bed.  Which was fine with me.  My parent used to grow it.  It was never hard from what I remembered.  Two of the three plants I started from seed survived the squirrels.  One has just barely started making its broccoli head.  The other isn't far behind. 

Winter has been mild so far.  In DH's summer bed he asked me to plant a tomato and a mini bell pepper.  It was so late in the season, I didn't really have high hopes for either of those plants.  But, with the mild temps all our pepper plants - including the two I have in pots - are budding and blossoming and growing all new foliage and fruit.  The tomato he asked for is blooming and currently growing one fruit.  I'm just going to let those plants he chose keep growing until Mother Nature decides otherwise.

Happy gardening!  Happy spring planning!  Happy seed shopping!

[greenthumb59]

Hello MarionTh230! Nice to meet you too!  I have never tried to grow broccoli - it looks good!

We did wake up to large fluffy snowfall this morning.  It snowed for a few hours and everything was so serene and pretty! It's all melted now as it's about 42 degrees!

Pink please tell me more about your mailbox area.  Does it get a lot of sun during the day?  How big is it? 

I have mixed feelings about landscape fabric.  We have used it here and there over the years.  It always fails and it's so hard to pull it up!  In fact I have more I need to dig and get out this spring.  

 

[Pink Cashmere]

Jan 5, 2024 16:16:39 GMT -5 greenthumb59 said:

Hello MarionTh230! Nice to meet you too!  I have never tried to grow broccoli - it looks good!

We did wake up to large fluffy snowfall this morning.  It snowed for a few hours and everything was so serene and pretty! It's all melted now as it's about 42 degrees!

Pink please tell me more about your mailbox area.  Does it get a lot of sun during the day?  How big is it? 

I have mixed feelings about landscape fabric.  We have used it here and there over the years.  It always fails and it's so hard to pull it up!  In fact I have more I need to dig and get out this spring.  

 

The mailbox area is surrounded by bricks, I am terrible at guessing measurements, but maybe 8’x6’? 

The area itself gets full sun all day, but the crape myrtles shade part of it in the afternoon. Well, now there’s only 1 tree and since I was so disgusted, I didn’t pay attention to how the sun hits it now that the other tree is gone.

If I do fool with it this spring/summer, I think I’m going to see if we can get the landscape fabric up.

The trees and irises were already there, toward the “back” of the bed. The part closest to the street was just weeds at first. I planted daylilies and salvia there. I REALLY like salvia.

I went through my pictures trying to find a picture of it, and was reminded that my first couple of springs here, I would have plants from the nursery all over my deck, waiting to go into containers or the ground. I use to get so excited about having flowers in pots on the deck, and trying to add some color to the landscaping.

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I love irises and think about tossing a few in. I know there are irises that like wet feet and I have thought of tossing some in. Since I need to do no spend on extras for a month or so, not sure if I will get anything except perhaps herb plants on sale at the grocery store. 

Philly Flower show is early again although in March not February. I wonder if I can find a way to get there and have someone to go with?
(Biggest and oldest flower show in the US)

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Jan 4, 2024 21:27:02 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

Jan 4, 2024 18:21:46 GMT -5 CCL said:

Pink, at my old house, I stapled some chicken wire to my wooden mailbox post and let the plants climb right up. If you want to try growing something that climbs, it might be an easy way to try it out. In a sunny location, clematis are a great choice.

When I had illusions last year about landscaping and creating another outdoor space for us to sit and relax in, I Rand across clematis as an option for what I was I was imagining.

I am over all of that now, and feel like I will be doing good for now, just trying to grow vegetables. 

I am not over the desire to grow flowers and do some landscaping, it is just that things have changed and I am more interested now in learning to grow stuff that I can eat, just because it’s practical and useful knowledge, if I try try to grow anything at all. 

Flowers feed your soul with their beauty. Some are edible or can be used for teas.