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

1679111230

Comments

  • ldent42ldent42 Posts: 7,859

    How much Rosemary and Thyme do you use? Maybe also add some parsley, chives, chervil or tarragon? For everyday use like the basil and cilantro... I also always have some cress going.

    I'm a big fan of Rosemary. My mom suggested Thyme when I asked her if she'd be okay with it. I don't really use parsley or chives ever and I have no idea what cress or chervil is. Tarragon is something to consider because she always wants me to use it on fish.
    NYC 06/24/08-Auckland 11/27/09-Chch 11/29/09-Newark 05/18/10-Atlanta 09/22/12-Chicago 07/19/13-Brooklyn 10/18/13 & 10/19/13-Hartford 10/25/13-Baltimore 10/27/13-Auckland 1/17/14-GC 1/19/14-Melbourne 1/24/14-Sydney 1/26/14-Amsterdam 6/16/14 & 6/17/14-Milan 6/20/14-Berlin 6/26/14-Leeds 7/8/14-Milton Keynes 7/11/14-St. Louis 10/3/14-NYC 9/26/15
    LIVEFOOTSTEPS.ORG/USER/?USR=435
  • brianlux said:

    We're going to try another "surprise garden" this year. How does it work? Section off a little portion of your garden, mix in a couple inches on compost with the soil, cover with a little mulch, water occasionally and wait a while and pretty soon "things start jumpin' up from the ground" ( a line from Neil Young's, "Home Grown"). Last year we got some flowers, a few different types of melons, a number of different tomato plants that ripened at different times and some very cool unidentified pioneer plants. It was a lot of fun!

    That is awesome! We have a veggie section, but also lots of lawn that we still want to turn into a big bird and butterfly paradise. We started last year already, but there is still lots of room. I want a mulberry tree this year, and maybe for the front a peach and a pear tree and maybe an apple.

    Ident, yeah, I would suggest to put them in the window. Hm, so maybe your potted option works a little better. The plants do need a certain amount of sunlight tow grow.
  • ldent42ldent42 Posts: 7,859

    brianlux said:

    We're going to try another "surprise garden" this year. How does it work? Section off a little portion of your garden, mix in a couple inches on compost with the soil, cover with a little mulch, water occasionally and wait a while and pretty soon "things start jumpin' up from the ground" ( a line from Neil Young's, "Home Grown"). Last year we got some flowers, a few different types of melons, a number of different tomato plants that ripened at different times and some very cool unidentified pioneer plants. It was a lot of fun!

    That is awesome! We have a veggie section, but also lots of lawn that we still want to turn into a big bird and butterfly paradise. We started last year already, but there is still lots of room. I want a mulberry tree this year, and maybe for the front a peach and a pear tree and maybe an apple.

    Ident, yeah, I would suggest to put them in the window. Hm, so maybe your potted option works a little better. The plants do need a certain amount of sunlight tow grow.
    i mean if I could hang it somehow I would. I just dont see it working. Especially since it's plastic when the heat comes up it'll end up melting if I leave it on the windowsill.
    NYC 06/24/08-Auckland 11/27/09-Chch 11/29/09-Newark 05/18/10-Atlanta 09/22/12-Chicago 07/19/13-Brooklyn 10/18/13 & 10/19/13-Hartford 10/25/13-Baltimore 10/27/13-Auckland 1/17/14-GC 1/19/14-Melbourne 1/24/14-Sydney 1/26/14-Amsterdam 6/16/14 & 6/17/14-Milan 6/20/14-Berlin 6/26/14-Leeds 7/8/14-Milton Keynes 7/11/14-St. Louis 10/3/14-NYC 9/26/15
    LIVEFOOTSTEPS.ORG/USER/?USR=435
  • rgambsrgambs Posts: 13,576
    edited February 2016

    brianlux said:

    We're going to try another "surprise garden" this year. How does it work? Section off a little portion of your garden, mix in a couple inches on compost with the soil, cover with a little mulch, water occasionally and wait a while and pretty soon "things start jumpin' up from the ground" ( a line from Neil Young's, "Home Grown"). Last year we got some flowers, a few different types of melons, a number of different tomato plants that ripened at different times and some very cool unidentified pioneer plants. It was a lot of fun!

    That is awesome! We have a veggie section, but also lots of lawn that we still want to turn into a big bird and butterfly paradise. We started last year already, but there is still lots of room. I want a mulberry tree this year, and maybe for the front a peach and a pear tree and maybe an apple.

    Ident, yeah, I would suggest to put them in the window. Hm, so maybe your potted option works a little better. The plants do need a certain amount of sunlight tow grow.
    Blueberries will produce an easier to harvest crop, but they won't give shade. Have you ever seen any articles on pruning fruit trees to be miniaturized? Dwarf root stock isn't as strong as full sized and they still grow huge, so you take a regular Apple tree and prune it to stay small. It's pretty cool!
    Don't forget that you will get a very poor fruit set if you don't have another variety nearby, or graft some branches from another variety onto your tree. The same principle applies to most peaches and pears as well.
    Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
  • We have two cherry trees already. We also have blueberries, but we only planted them last year and the squirrels and the groundhog made short process with them... I will look into the pruning, thanks for the tip :)
  • rgambsrgambs Posts: 13,576

    We have two cherry trees already. We also have blueberries, but we only planted them last year and the squirrels and the groundhog made short process with them... I will look into the pruning, thanks for the tip :)

    Mother Earth News had an article recently, I am putting in a few apples next year.
    Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
  • RKCNDYRKCNDY Posts: 31,013
    For those of you that start seeds indoors, what do you start your seeds in?
    Plastic seedling trays, peat pots, plastic cups, DIY paper pots?
    If you use plastic pots, do you re-use year after year?

    I used peat pots and they worked well. I attempted at folding my own newspaper pots, but they fell apart when I added soil. Peat pots can get expensive, and I'm trying to be resourseful so I'm thinking of using a pot press:

    image

    I found a site where I can make them from PVC pipe cheaper than buying one.
    Anybody ever use one? How did it go?

    Thank you, I'm hoping to start seeds this week.
    The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.

    - Christopher McCandless
  • RKCNDYRKCNDY Posts: 31,013
    Soil blocks...I think I'm going to use / make those instead.
    The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.

    - Christopher McCandless
  • rgambsrgambs Posts: 13,576
    I use saved sour cream, cool whip, and cottage cheese containers. I reuse them year to year. Last year I tried some where I cut the bottom off and put them on cardboard with wax paper, it made transplanting a cinch, I just pushed the sets out from the bottom like a pushpop. I'm probably doing that for all of them next year. I like big containers, I have room in my basement to spread out, and the plants get off to a very strong start without getting rootbound.
    This year I am buying plants from a greenhouse because I don't have anyone to take care of them when I go see PJ.
    Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
  • deadendpdeadendp Posts: 10,434
    RK, I use a lil window greenhouse with a seedling mat underneath. I have a garden window, so it hangs out. I block the cat out with lil tension rods. I just the refill the plastic trays each year with soil. Once the seedlings get large enough, I transplant them into translucent plastic cups that I reuse for several years or recycle.
    2014: Cincinnati
    2016: Lexington and Wrigley 1
  • I have used gallon water bottles cut in half, and also egg cartons.
  • shortstackshortstack Posts: 2,339
    edited January 2018
    .
    Post edited by shortstack on
    did you see me? i saw you.
  • SPEEDY MCCREADYSPEEDY MCCREADY Posts: 25,588
    I'm waiting a week to plant.
    Not sure what I am going to plant.

    Decisions
    Take me piece by piece.....
    Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
  • Leezestarr313Leezestarr313 Posts: 14,352
    I dug up two parts of the garden this week. Tough job, and there is still tons left, ack! I have potato seedlings, red squash, cucumbers, herbs, beets, chard, carrots and all kinds of other stuff, all seeds. We will go to the plant market after Toronto as well and then things will hopefully get in motion. I cannot wait to garden again! Since we have a pair of bluebirds nesting in our backyard (YAY!!! First time ever and we have a nestbox camera, so we can see what is going on in the box), i am not too much in a rush to get busy though. Mama bird is incubating and we don't want to disturb her too much. I hope they stick around for another brood and get down on the insects in the garden once it is growing.
  • rick1zoo2rick1zoo2 Posts: 12,632
    all we have is weeds...
  • rgambsrgambs Posts: 13,576
    We have eaten 2 bushels of spinach so far and it just keeps coming. Beets are almost ready too, I love me some beets.
    Peas are sporting lovely flowers right now so I will begin munching those next week, yay!

    The summer garden is behind schedule, but I have 50 tomatoes, 50 peppers, and untold legions of squash going in the ground tomorrow!
    Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
  • Leezestarr313Leezestarr313 Posts: 14,352
    edited June 2016
    Nice! Our garden is set up now as well. We got tomatoes, four kinds of potatoes, which are starting to come out, three kinds of radishes, carrots, brussels sprout, broccoli (first time, let's see how it goes), kohlrabi, cucumbers, squashes, peas, beans, chickory/ endives (trying again this year), arugula, chard, celery, herbs, melons and a pepper plant. We put it all in on my birthday weekend, and it looks great so far :)

    The first brood of Bluebirds has fledged, all five happy and healthy, and mom is already building another nest. I hope they like our garden bugs.
    Post edited by Leezestarr313 on
  • rgambsrgambs Posts: 13,576
    Apepper plant???

    Blasphemy!
    How do you make spicy food without peppers??? Don't tell me you don't like chili, fajitas, stuffed peppers, or salsa???
    Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
  • eddieceddiec Posts: 3,880
    I hate slugs. I am in the middle of a slug war. I refuse to be defeated but in Ireland it is wet. We have millions of slugs. Probably thousands in my garden alone. I've got beer traps set up because I don't want to use chemicals. They seem to love my string bean plants the most. It's amazing how much damage those gelatinous little suckers can do.
  • northerndragonnortherndragon Posts: 9,851
    eddiec said:

    I hate slugs. I am in the middle of a slug war. I refuse to be defeated but in Ireland it is wet. We have millions of slugs. Probably thousands in my garden alone. I've got beer traps set up because I don't want to use chemicals. They seem to love my string bean plants the most. It's amazing how much damage those gelatinous little suckers can do.

    Try putting a ring of crushed eggshells around your garden. Slices them up and they don't like crawling over them apparently. Crushed seashells should work as well.
    Anything you lose from being honest
    You never really had to begin with.


    Sometimes it's not the song that makes you emotional it's the people and things that come to your mind when you hear it.
  • rgambsrgambs Posts: 13,576
    eddiec said:

    I hate slugs. I am in the middle of a slug war. I refuse to be defeated but in Ireland it is wet. We have millions of slugs. Probably thousands in my garden alone. I've got beer traps set up because I don't want to use chemicals. They seem to love my string bean plants the most. It's amazing how much damage those gelatinous little suckers can do.

    Maybe try to find someone who has a hen that isn't laying much anymore, buy or borrow it and turn it loose a couple times a day!
    Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
  • RKCNDYRKCNDY Posts: 31,013
    I already have strawberries. Planted everything else. Some of my starts didn't look so good, guess I'll see how they do.
    The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.

    - Christopher McCandless
  • Leezestarr313Leezestarr313 Posts: 14,352
    edited June 2016
    There are ducks who love slugs! I recently saw an article about a vineyard that has cohorts of them going through there daily eating all the slugs. (Looked it up, here it is!http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/this-vineyard-puts-800-happy-ducks-work-every-day) And rgambs, it's actually a bell pepper haha We don't eat that spicy. I prefer herbs, garlic onions and horseradish for flavours. Which we have growing as well.
    Post edited by Leezestarr313 on
  • wasa1971wasa1971 Posts: 2,144
    Wanted to bump this one!
    I’ve been constructing a new garden the last six week as this is our first full summer in this house.
    I’m very excited to see how things go! I started most things inside from seed. Peas, carrots, lettuce, Swiss chard, Brussels sprout, asparagus,
    turnip and onion. What are you planting?
  • oftenreadingoftenreading Posts: 12,845
    wasa1971 said:
    Wanted to bump this one!
    I’ve been constructing a new garden the last six week as this is our first full summer in this house.
    I’m very excited to see how things go! I started most things inside from seed. Peas, carrots, lettuce, Swiss chard, Brussels sprout, asparagus,
    turnip and onion. What are you planting?
    Your raised beds look amazing! Congratulations on your garden. I only have a patio and planters but have new strawberry plants in. 
    my small self... like a book amongst the many on a shelf
  • wasa1971wasa1971 Posts: 2,144
    Thank you!
    Strawberries are yummy  :)
  • oftenreadingoftenreading Posts: 12,845
    wasa1971 said:
    Thank you!
    Strawberries are yummy  :)
    This variety is called Framberry. It’s supposed to taste like raspberries. I have no idea why but thought it sounded fun. 
    my small self... like a book amongst the many on a shelf
  • PJPOWERPJPOWER Posts: 6,499
    How’s everyone’s tomatoes doing?  We are canning them out the wazoo this year!!!  Getting this many daily now!
  • rgambsrgambs Posts: 13,576

    Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
  • rgambsrgambs Posts: 13,576

    Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
Sign In or Register to comment.