***What's growing? The official garden thread***

frozenwithsalt

RKCNDY said:

I'm building my planter box rack, should be done tonight. Will grow organic herbs in there. Then this weekend, will build the larger planter box for the larger veggies.
Everything is already blooming (the tulips are 2 weeks early), so I'm not sure if I want to get seeds for starts, or buy them at the farmers market-the starts there are all organic/heirloom.

Have you tried pallets? I'm a Pinterest lover and I tried pallets for small veggies and herbs and it worked great.

This year I'm keeping it simple. Onions, jalapeños, bell peppers, tomatoes and cilantro because I like to make home made salsa. My boys usually try their hand with strawberries and we have a giant peach tree that must have had 200-300 peaches last year.

RKCNDY

frozenwithsalt said:

RKCNDY said:

I'm building my planter box rack, should be done tonight. Will grow organic herbs in there. Then this weekend, will build the larger planter box for the larger veggies.
Everything is already blooming (the tulips are 2 weeks early), so I'm not sure if I want to get seeds for starts, or buy them at the farmers market-the starts there are all organic/heirloom.

Have you tried pallets? I'm a Pinterest lover and I tried pallets for small veggies and herbs and it worked great.

This year I'm keeping it simple. Onions, jalapeños, bell peppers, tomatoes and cilantro because I like to make home made salsa. My boys usually try their hand with strawberries and we have a giant peach tree that must have had 200-300 peaches last year.

Oh, I'm practically done with my rack (I don't even know where to get pallets)...I'll post a pic when I'm done with it. We don't have a lot of room, so everything has to be small. There are lots of urban gardeners...our neighbors even have chickens. I kinda want to get a duck so she can eat all the slugs...and give me eggs.

Leezestarr313 said:

We had great experiences with the starters last year, we might stock up a bit if the seeds don't behave as they should

I'm thinking I'm a little late for certain plants...I was reading the seed catalog, and it says 'start seeds 12 weeks before transplanting'...so, "oopsie"

Leezestarr313

Yeah, about the starting time... Oh well. I always just get started at one point and then go from there. Something always grows and I have some fun Now that this thread is deactivated and we are having temps above freezing point, I feel the urge to dig my hands in soil. I might just get some spoil at one point this week and get the seeds going.

deadendp

Who Princess said:

shortstack said:

can anyone recommend a good organic/heirloom seed supplier?

I know this is an old post but I get catalogs from 2 suppliers of heirloom seeds: Seeds of Change and Select Seeds. Seeds of Change is mostly vegetables and Select Seeds is mostly flowers but they both have a good selection. I've bought seeds from both places. I mostly grow flowers and Select Seeds is just about my fave.

Baker Creek Seeds is where I buy my seeds. Wonderful people. No GMOs. No frankenfoods. NO Monsanto!

No growing here yet. I haven't seen my lawn since right after Christmas. We're on a slow thaw right now. Just this evening, we went on a walk. Most sidewalks were clear. Still, I'll get to planting tomatoes, peppers and flowers in my garden window in a few weeks.

QuarterToTen

Happy Almost Spring! I am just like a little kid at Christmas with anticipation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_ERbQ1p2Ic

RKCNDY

I already bought a vase of forced tulip bulbs. They lasted a week, now I'm waiting for the foliage to die back and then I'll store them until November and see if I can force them again next spring.

Stupid dahlias, I bought 12 tubers last spring, planted them and I only got 3 little puffballs-they were supposed to be dinner plates. I was gonna move them, but when I started digging around, I only found one.

Leezestarr313

My grandparents have sent me bulbs from Germany. Last year, we didn't have a lot of time for the front yard, but this year, we're gonna do a little more there. We have some outgrown roses that we will probably move, and trim of course, and then want to go with some wildflower seeds mixed with the bulbs. I don't want a circled accurate garden, but a nice mix of wilderness, flowers and some kind of order.

My seeds have been sitting in their greenhouses since last week now and I can see the first sprouts. Kohlrabi, basil and thyme are out

frozenwithsalt

We've had a quite a bit of rain, more than usual in fact. I'm considering throwing out some bluebonnet seeds. I love blue flowers.

Who Princess

frozenwithsalt said:

We've had a quite a bit of rain, more than usual in fact. I'm considering throwing out some bluebonnet seeds. I love blue flowers.

Fellow Texan, bluebonnet seed must be planted in September or October. After the first fall rains. Save your seed until then.

Who Princess

Leezestarr313 said:

My grandparents have sent me bulbs from Germany. Last year, we didn't have a lot of time for the front yard, but this year, we're gonna do a little more there. We have some outgrown roses that we will probably move, and trim of course, and then want to go with some wildflower seeds mixed with the bulbs. I don't want a circled accurate garden, but a nice mix of wilderness, flowers and some kind of order.

This is what old ladies like me call a cottage garden. That's what I have in front of my house and I love it.

Leezestarr313

I also want a magnolia tree in front of the house. We didn't manage to get one last year, but this year, I'll be after it. My parents have one in their backyrd and when it blooms it looks amazing. We will get a small one and let it grow though, so the blooms might take a while...

Leezestarr313

WhoPrincess, I like that term, cottage garden! I cannot wait to get my hands dirty outside. Come on, weather!

Who Princess

Leezestarr313 said:

WhoPrincess, I like that term, cottage garden! I cannot wait to get my hands dirty outside. Come on, weather!

When I was a kid, it seemed like every neighborhood had a little old lady with a cottage garden. I eventually decided that some day I'd be one of those little old ladies. I picture myself looking something like this:

Leezestarr313

Love it We talk about it a bit every day and are starting to gather ideas. We have a large rectangle backyard lined with trees and we get afternoon sun. There is lawn there now, but we are thinking of creating little "islands" with pathways. And knickknacks like bird houses and old stones or statues, stuff like that. It will be fabulous!
I have also read up a little bit about how to attract birds. Right now, we only got a little bird house there, for the entertainment of the cat (and me haha). I found some cool stuff online yesterday and think we will be doing something like that... There are so many cool birds here, I love watching them

Who Princess

Those are some really pretty feeders!

I love attracting birds! It's easier than I realized. We have feeders but we also have 2 birdbaths. I've planted a lot of native trees and shrubs and that attracts birds too. It's just about time for me to put out my hummingbird feeders. They are probably my favorite birds of all.

Only problem with feeding the birds is the squirrels raiding the feeders. I always want to throw things at them.

We often have screech owls come to our birdbath at dusk. Last year we put up a nest box for owls but they didn't use it. I was kind of bummed but someone told me that they had theirs up for about 3 years before the owls starting using it.

This was at our birdbath several years ago:

Leezestarr313

Wow, super cool!!!
We have loads of squirrels in the yard too. Since I am not used to seeing that many from Germany, I still enjoy them. And they don't seem to care about the bird feeder. So far. Yes, we also want to put up bird baths and such. At the old place, we had a couple of cardinals coming to the feeder. I loved watching them, they are so pretty. Then we had red and yellow finches, and the occasional chickadee and blue birds. My mom in law lives a bit more in the sticks and she has a veritable bird paradise in her backyard. I love sitting on her deck with binoculars watching the birds. She has orioles, hummingbirds, Blue Jays and woodpeckers there. And chipmunks! None of these I have ever seen in Germany. I love that the birds are so colourful here I am not sure if hummingbirds would make it here, but I will also put up a feeder for them. They are so amazing!
We are also thinking about adding a bat house because the mosquitoes are getting rough when it becomes warmer. I know there are owls in our area too, but I have never seen one.

RKCNDY

Anybody grow climbing peas? What type of trellis do you use? Cotton string or chicken wire?

Leezestarr313

I am planning on some beans and I will use string as trellis, I think.

PJSiren

I don't grow anything because I kill cacti...yes, I have killed 3 catus in my life...I do not have a green thumb....

oftenreading

I am ambitiously growing a lemon tree in a pot here in Victoria. This is really stretching the bounds of it's range but there is a guy out on the Saanich peninsula who successfully grows and sells all sorts of citrus. The lemons and limes can be grown outdoors (in exactly the right spot, mind you) but the oranges and grapefruit need to be in a greenhouse. I bought my little lemon tree last spring and had it in a really warm corner; it did fantastic and set a lot of fruit. Getting it to live over the winter was quite a production - we had to move the pot under cover, string it with old fashioned Christmas tree lights (the kind that emit heat), build a wire cage around it and swaddle that in an agricultural fabric, all in order to avoid it getting frozen or drowned in our rain. It was touch and go but it survived and the lemons are starting to yellow so I'm pretty excited. Another couple of weeks and we'll move it back to its happy spot near the rock walls.