Garden thread
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I love gardening. Have lots of plants, mostly orchids. A few fruit trees that i started from seed and a some herbs and a bell pepper. I am looking into starting a raised bed and growing some more veggies. I live in the Tampa Bay. What recommendations or tips would you give a not so new newbie?
There is a great YouTube channel all about gardening in raised beds called Epic Gardening. I would start with his videos "Raised Bed Gardens for Beginners" and "9 Beginner Raised Bed Gardening Mistakes to Avoid
https://youtube.com/watch?v=j5vdLac1fW8://
https://youtube.com/watch?v=uCM0Tvp6Dko&t=604s Other good ones he has discusses different types of2 -
I love gardening. Have lots of plants, mostly orchids. A few fruit trees that i started from seed and a some herbs and a bell pepper. I am looking into starting a raised bed and growing some more veggies. I live in the Tampa Bay. What recommendations or tips would you give a not so new newbie?
One problem I had when gardening when I lived in FL is that a LOT more watering was required than what I was used to in MA.
I suggest joining a local FB gardening group. Mine is super helpful to newbies. (I am back in MA again.) We established gardeners give away a lot of plants to other gardeners. I was giving away lemon balm and got eggs and a cherry tomato plant in exchange, even though exchanging was not a requirement for the lemon balm.
We had a fabulous plant swap last May which we did not have this year
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kshama2001 wrote: »
I have way too much mint as is. One reason I need to start making lots of mint tea!0 -
my seeds are starting to sprout. under a week
i really really want all the irises and bleeding hearts. must not buy all the bulbs and plants
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I love gardening. Have lots of plants, mostly orchids. A few fruit trees that i started from seed and a some herbs and a bell pepper. I am looking into starting a raised bed and growing some more veggies. I live in the Tampa Bay. What recommendations or tips would you give a not so new newbie?
There is a great YouTube channel all about gardening in raised beds called Epic Gardening. I would start with his videos "Raised Bed Gardens for Beginners" and "9 Beginner Raised Bed Gardening Mistakes to Avoid
https://youtube.com/watch?v=j5vdLac1fW8://
https://youtube.com/watch?v=uCM0Tvp6Dko&t=604s Other good ones he has discusses different types of
I keep meaning to watch that, as well as the Michigan Gardener one you (I think?) recommended.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »I love gardening. Have lots of plants, mostly orchids. A few fruit trees that i started from seed and a some herbs and a bell pepper. I am looking into starting a raised bed and growing some more veggies. I live in the Tampa Bay. What recommendations or tips would you give a not so new newbie?
One problem I had when gardening when I lived in FL is that a LOT more watering was required than what I was used to in MA.
The first of the gardening Zoom events I attended had a number of newbie to intermediate gardeners and then one guy who was from back East (I think he said MA, but am not positive), who said he was an experienced gardener, but didn't understand how to garden in the climate here, especially with how wet the spring was. Last year, of course, was crazy wet in the midwest. The person leading the class said sometimes years here just are like that and that hopefully it would be better this year. Based on my plants it has been, but we have gotten a great deal of rain again, and it's been cold (although not the past few days). I'm curious how he is doing and if he made adjustments.0 -
moonangel12 wrote: »How have I never heard of mini hostas? Maybe I have seen them and just not realized what they were...
Reviving this old sub-thread, and begging your collective indulgence, because hostas really are not food.
Why revive? Because I couldn't find photos when the subject came up, but the the minis are nearing their regular mature size, so I took some photos to share now. (I still don't remember the variety names; they're lost somewhere in my planting records). I have a few others, but this is a sample. If you want minis, and look at the tags on smaller-looking plants at bigger, more diverse nurseries to find the full-grown size designations, you can find some. The strappy-leaved one, I admit, is a little borderline for mini status, but it's still not big, plus kind of interestingly grass-like for a hosta (I have a sedge that looks remarkably similar . . . until they flower, of course ). I particularly like the little green-edged one with white central splashes; it grows in nice little bunchy clusters. (The pinkish splorches here and there on all of them are fallen double cherry blossoms.)
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I love gardening. Have lots of plants, mostly orchids. A few fruit trees that i started from seed and a some herbs and a bell pepper. I am looking into starting a raised bed and growing some more veggies. I live in the Tampa Bay. What recommendations or tips would you give a not so new newbie?
This just popped up in my YouTube recommendations and I thought of you right away:
Before You Build Raised Beds Watch This Video https://youtube.com/watch?v=fKwarC63GpU
This is MIGardener. He made this video a month ago and I love his intro. It shows how we in the frozen north just live for the first warm days of spring.2 -
moonangel12 wrote: »How have I never heard of mini hostas? Maybe I have seen them and just not realized what they were...
Reviving this old sub-thread, and begging your collective indulgence, because hostas really are not food.
Why revive? Because I couldn't find photos when the subject came up, but the the minis are nearing their regular mature size, so I took some photos to share now. (I still don't remember the variety names; they're lost somewhere in my planting records). I have a few others, but this is a sample. If you want minis, and look at the tags on smaller-looking plants at bigger, more diverse nurseries to find the full-grown size designations, you can find some. The strappy-leaved one, I admit, is a little borderline for mini status, but it's still not big, plus kind of interestingly grass-like for a hosta (I have a sedge that looks remarkably similar . . . until they flower, of course ). I particularly like the little green-edged one with white central splashes; it grows in nice little bunchy clusters. (The pinkish splorches here and there on all of them are fallen double cherry blossoms.)
A couple of days ago I found a database of all known hosta varieties and you could filter by size. Of course, I cleared my cookies so now I can't find it any more. I was surprised at how many there are in the micro mini and mini size.
Since we are sharing mini hosta photos, here is my 3 year old Blue Mouse Ear hosta:
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My gardening center is doing a video on tomatoes. Fun.3
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Thank you @AnnPT77 for reviving, and the added pic @earlnabby! Those are so fun!! I love anything variegated so those white centered ones would definitely come home with me if I found them somewhere!moonangel12 wrote: »How have I never heard of mini hostas? Maybe I have seen them and just not realized what they were...
Reviving this old sub-thread, and begging your collective indulgence, because hostas really are not food.
Why revive? Because I couldn't find photos when the subject came up, but the the minis are nearing their regular mature size, so I took some photos to share now. (I still don't remember the variety names; they're lost somewhere in my planting records). I have a few others, but this is a sample. If you want minis, and look at the tags on smaller-looking plants at bigger, more diverse nurseries to find the full-grown size designations, you can find some. The strappy-leaved one, I admit, is a little borderline for mini status, but it's still not big, plus kind of interestingly grass-like for a hosta (I have a sedge that looks remarkably similar . . . until they flower, of course ). I particularly like the little green-edged one with white central splashes; it grows in nice little bunchy clusters. (The pinkish splorches here and there on all of them are fallen double cherry blossoms.)
I have never had shade to grow in so this is my first time with hostas (ones the previous owners had planted)... I have several colors, and one that even makes it in the full sun! I dug some of the roots out this winter because the pot was getting too crowded, tossed them under a bush to replant “later” and forgot about them until I was mowing earlier this spring - the bare root balls were growing! I gave my father in law a chink of them last year because he was talking about wanting hostas in this one area but they always die because of too much sun (central N.C.) - the ones I gave him came back this year! He was excited 😊
I probably need to thin some out later on, they are starting to crowd out other plants in the beds...4 -
Took a pic of my front garden. It is meant to remind me of Hawaii with the plumerias and hibiscus. Don’t mind all the crazy metal animals. Lol
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My garden isn't nearly as pretty; I don't have an eye for landscaping, I'm afraid, but I still love to plant!
Since winter FINALLY decided to go away, I was able to get my plants out - I grew broccoli, brussel sprouts, egg plants, various squashes, cabbages, and peppers from seed, along with tomatoes for my mother. The squashes didn't do well - except for my one lone heirloom banana squash (thank goodness!) and the argonaut butternut squash plants. I've tried for several years to grow butternuts and never got anything as the plants would just sit, so I'm very happy with how quickly this kind is growing. I can grow about any other kind of squash, and I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get the butternuts to grow; hopefully this year, I'll have them! And the banana squash; that sucker you only need one plant because the squash that it produces is the size of a good sized seeded watermelon; and it lasted clear to March before I finally cut it and roasted it and ended up with like 14 cups of roasted squash!
I'm especially thrilled that my six egg plants look fantastic. I grew eggplant in 2018 and loved the homegrown flavor, but my plants in 2019 took too long and were spindly, so I didn't get any last year. This year's plants are healthy and full, so I think I'll get all the eggplant I want and then some this year!
Last year I learned a hard lesson - I used the Black Cow compost from Lowe's to top off my garden boxes, and everything was spindly and small and just didn't do well. This year, a farmer near my brother was giving away the seasoned manure from his horse barn, and my brother got there late so he actually got the well seasoned stuff from last year (even better). I got 5 buckets from my brother to top off my garden boxes, so I'm hoping this will boost my plants this year. I also have fertilizer to build into the soil as well.
The only thing I haven't planted yet besides my herbs is my parsnips. I found last year that I had to pre-germinate them to get them to grow, but all I had was last year's seed and I've heard that parsnips seed doesn't do well when its more than a year old, but I put my old seed in wet paper towels in a bowl anyway to see what I could get, and I'm very pleased to find that I already have a few starting to germinate. The only problem is I'm going on vacation next week and won't be back until Saturday, so I don't know whether to go ahead and put my seed in and hope for the best, or wait until I get back!1 -
i'm not a huge fan of hostas but do like the mouse ears and fire and ice varieties
goings on in my yard
naughty creatures pulled up some of my seeds
new lighter cordless trimmer. excited to be able to trim without fighting with a cord. my property is 7k sq ft
might not be able to do the whole thing if i let it go too long but mostly it should do
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@AnnPT77 there is a phone app called plant net, its free, but you snap a photo of the plant, be it leafs/flowers etc, and it looks globally for them and identifies them
I used it this weekend on one of my shrubs and found out its actually super invasive lol!
The hostas with the white are super hardy- the survive in our zone 2 area. I cant remember what they are, but this app should find it for you. If it comes to me Ill let you know- I actually want to buy two so if you havent found out by this coming weekend I will let you know!
@la_nanita I love your front flower bed !
@mbaker566 - can you let me know how you like the trimmer? We are looking into that one for our massive hedge.1 -
We bought a kobalt battery trimmer 2 years ago and have been pleased with it! It gets the job done on our half acre lot. Wouldn’t have enough oomph for acreage, but it’s good enough for now. Bonus that it’s quiet, no fumes, no cords, and light weight enough my children can use it!
We also have the mower and leaf blower. Leaf blower is pretty weak compared to gas, but the mower does decent enough.2 -
i like it. i charged it last night and got about 30 min out of it. but i did not get the whole yard done. but i let it go pretty wild. got about 3/4s done. but it charges in an hour. so do some, take a break, go again.
not super powerful but for basic urban trimming it's not bad. they had more powerful trimmers but this was about 70 dollars or so and all i really needed. good reviews. decent company. easy to assemble.
bought at home depot here
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Surprise! Found this guy tucked away under some irises - Far cry from the huge mounds of hostas everywhere else!
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i'm not a huge fan of hostas but do like the mouse ears and fire and ice varieties
It is funny because I am not a fan of hosta either. Many years ago I spent the day with my hiking club walking the Chicago Botanical Gardens. We timed it so we could finish up at a cooking demo and, when walking into the demo area, I saw this tiny plant and immediately fell in love. I had no idea it was a hosta until I looked at the ID sign. One of the docents said it was a brand new variety called Mouse Ears so this must have been 2008 or so which is when it first became available. BTW, the demo was for a tomato dish and we were all given a tomato plant as we left.
Fast forward 9 years and I moved into my condo with a small garden space and the first thing I bought to plant was 2 of the Mouse Ear hostas. I have no other hosta and don't plan on adding any.
The honeysuckle is just on the verge of blooming. Honeysuckle is an interesting plant. It grows with slightly elongated leaves, then when it is going to bloom, it has this pair of lily pad looking leaves just before the blossom cluster. I have lots of clusters all over it. This is its 3rd summer so it will be blooming like crazy for many years to come. I had no blooms the first year, a few last year, and now it is mature enough to go nuts.
My Forget Me Nots are the first thing to bloom in spring and the last to bloom in fall. They are my favorite flower and fit perfectly in the 8" strip between the A/C and the sidewalk.
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Thank you @mbaker566 and @moonangel12 , we will look into that one. We have a "privacy hedge" that needs to be taken down and re trained.1
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I love forget-me-nots! And bleeding hearts. Both come very well where I've got them planted.0
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i've got a catawba grape again. planted him 3 years ago. last year, had no leaves, this year it's making an effort
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I just got my first clematis bloom. This is its second year so I expect some blooms, but more growth. Next summer should be the first big blooming year. Planting perennials is teaching me patience.
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@ReenieHJ @earlnabby I've discovered why forget me nots are called such. The seeds have coarse hairs on them and stick to you like burrs. Reminding you to not forget those flowers!1
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carakirkey wrote: »@ReenieHJ @earlnabby I've discovered why forget me nots are called such. The seeds have coarse hairs on them and stick to you like burrs. Reminding you to not forget those flowers!
Do you have a microscope with high enough power to see the hairs? I never looked at them that close. When I first seeded these, I needed a magnifying glass just to see the seeds since they are so tiny.0 -
We have a three-pronged approach going here. Our daughter, in lockdown with us, has started an outdoor garden and an in-home container garden (using soil/traditional methods). I am making use of a small Aerogarden hydroponics unit that I got for Christmas, and didn't initiate until lockdown. We started the indoor containers from seed and the Aerogarden on the same day.
Pic 1. Two weeks ago, approx. We're using "spare" light from the AG on the indoor sprouts intended for containers. They had been sprouting in our sunroom, but the extra "boost" from the AG lights seemed to make them a bit more robust. The AG has cherry tomatoes on the left, and two pods of basil on right.
Pic 2. Today. A month-plus-a-day on the AG. Time to flush and refresh the whole water, and to first-prune some of the basil to keep them shorter so as to not cause me to raise the AG lightbar beyond what the tomatoes would like. Good root development, I guess.
Pic 3. Some basil for tonight's lockdown homemade pizza night. Smells great; sampled a leaf, tastes great.
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My corner is growing well. The clematis is in its second year and the honeysuckle in its third. If all goes well in another year or two the doors will be completely hidden behind the plants. I changed the trellis the honeysuckle was on last spring so it has that big clump in the middle. Soon the space in the center of the "V" should fill in. My new honeysuckle is growing on the other side of the windows. I plan to anchor the trellis with chains also, then run more chain between them so maybe my windows will be completely framed by honeysuckle.
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Earlnabby, that's really pretty!
Anyone have advice for prompting more growth in cucumbers? Everything's growing nicely except those little blasted things. We had a few warm days but other than that, it's been 60ish. So maybe just patience and more heat? It seems like I usually have to replant cucumbers more than anything else.:(
Thanks to all the gardening experts here!!!0 -
lots of work this weekend.
ramps(bulb) and ginger in the weird place behind the shed
drove 2 hours and picked up free irises. the car smelled wonderful-lemons and grapes. the white ones have a scent i can't quite put my finger on it. got them in yesterday. will cut them down today and mulch later.
peas have a branch to grow on.
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