Garden thread
Replies
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I planted ON Mothers Day last year and it was a little late I felt like. I didn't get tomatoes until later than most people did it seemed like. So I did it a little earlier this year (last weekend). I'm in Kansas City (6a)
It's been raining like crazy all week and my plants seem like they are really happy. One of my plants was super droopy the first day or two and then after we got a good rain, he perked right up.2 -
I've been offering my neighbors plants for their garden bed, which I can see out my kitchen door and when I am in my driveway and front yard. They kept saying they needed to clean the weeds out the bed. Last weekend, I offered to do that as well. (If I was going to find a home for my excess bee balm, it needed to be immediately, and I could tell gardening is not their thing.)
Here's what I've put in so far:
When the soil warms up to 60 degrees I will plant dahlia, and when it is 65 degrees, portulaca.2 -
I planted ON Mothers Day last year and it was a little late I felt like. I didn't get tomatoes until later than most people did it seemed like. So I did it a little earlier this year (last weekend). I'm in Kansas City (6a)
It's been raining like crazy all week and my plants seem like they are really happy. One of my plants was super droopy the first day or two and then after we got a good rain, he perked right up.
It's been really good planting weather here - lots of clouds and some rain. If it is a really sunny day I wait until the late afternoon to plant. Otherwise, they do indeed get droopy.
Good garden centers don't rush the season much and I know I can plant whatever they have out in April after I "harden them off" for a few days. I'm prepared to cover certain plants if we get an unexpectedly cold night.
Big box stores like Walmart and Home Depot will sell plants like basil WAY too early and I laugh when I see them.0 -
Here are a few pics I took yesterday...some of the things I’ve been planting in pots (why yes those ARE two dead Christmas trees and three pink flamingos in the background DON’T JUDGE
), rhubarb and garlic coming along and mulched with our first grass cutting, one of my cold frames, some scandalously unpruned fruit trees, and a small harvest of some Jerusalem artichokes, and onions and leeks to accompany.
ETA: Photos added in
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kshama2001 wrote: »I've been offering my neighbors plants for their garden bed, which I can see out my kitchen door and when I am in my driveway and front yard. They kept saying they needed to clean the weeds out the bed. Last weekend, I offered to do that as well. (If I was going to find a home for my excess bee balm, it needed to be immediately, and I could tell gardening is not their thing.)
[clip]
When the soil warms up to 60 degrees I will plant dahlia, and when it is 65 degrees, portulaca.
I really love how you have expanded your fiefdom! I wonder if my neighbor would mind if I took over his front yard for a vegetable garden (and by vegetable garden, I mean something stuffed so full of "temporary" perennial flowers that veg has a hard time growing there).
I once gave a bunch of hostas to another neighbor whose thing also wasn't gardening, and she got them put in the bed...later in the summer she complained about how they were shriveling up and looking so bad whereas mine were lush and green...turns out she wasn't watering them at all through a long, sustained drought. "But I thought they were supposed to be tough!" Not THAT tough, LOL!
I've been leaving my dahlias that I am trying to regrow from their tubers outside in the colder weather...based on your note above, I am thinking I should probably move them back down to the root cellar in their pots.
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We are autumn going into winter here and the plan is to rebuild our veg patch this winter. It is about 20m by 10m. We have it covered by bird netting and the netting has stretched and now is too low and the outside wire etc has not been done as well (we rush put it up a few years ago). The spring summer just been we did minimum veg as I was pregnant and had a baby a few weeks ago. So it's a little overgrown with self seeded brassica and silver beet. We still got more tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, capsican, lettuce than we could eat and a self seeded pumpkin from the compost has gone nuts.
We had a terrible late spring early summer it was cold and wet so our corn and melons turned into nothing.
We are growing Christmas trees to sell and planting the first 1000 last year but because of the unusual rain lost about 250 as it flooded longer than usual in some areas. This year we are planting in a higher spot.
We built a new cutting/propagation area in spring but its gotten a little neglected the last few months so that's another winter task.
We are always planting trees and expanding and mulching more garden. Mulching has re duced the work load so much! Our biggest issue are pukekos pulling out new plants or taking the tops off them. The population has boomed this year so we need to do some puke control.0 -
I planted ON Mothers Day last year and it was a little late I felt like. I didn't get tomatoes until later than most people did it seemed like. So I did it a little earlier this year (last weekend). I'm in Kansas City (6a)
It's been raining like crazy all week and my plants seem like they are really happy. One of my plants was super droopy the first day or two and then after we got a good rain, he perked right up.
If you are in 6a, you could probably go much earlier; I am in 6b/5a (climate is shifting) and probably put really tender things in the week after Mother's Day, but that was always a rule of thumb for Zone 5 I thought (where you are definitely safe). Different tomato varieties, cultivation techniques and microclimates make a big difference in fruit production too. How many and what do you have planted?0 -
meganpettigrew86 wrote: »We are autumn going into winter here and the plan is to rebuild our veg patch this winter. It is about 20m by 10m. We have it covered by bird netting and the netting has stretched and now is too low and the outside wire etc has not been done as well (we rush put it up a few years ago). The spring summer just been we did minimum veg as I was pregnant and had a baby a few weeks ago. So it's a little overgrown with self seeded brassica and silver beet. We still got more tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, capsican, lettuce than we could eat and a self seeded pumpkin from the compost has gone nuts.
We had a terrible late spring early summer it was cold and wet so our corn and melons turned into nothing.
We are growing Christmas trees to sell and planting the first 1000 last year but because of the unusual rain lost about 250 as it flooded longer than usual in some areas. This year we are planting in a higher spot.
We built a new cutting/propagation area in spring but its gotten a little neglected the last few months so that's another winter task.
We are always planting trees and expanding and mulching more garden. Mulching has re duced the work load so much! Our biggest issue are pukekos pulling out new plants or taking the tops off them. The population has boomed this year so we need to do some puke control.
Whoa, that's a good sized garden, 1800 square feet. Is the bird netting stretched over the whole garden, or would it work to have a floating row cover over the individual rows? That might be easier than trying to stretch over such a large area. Plus dealing with larger netting just pissed me off, but a finer floating row cover you can fold like a sheet and it doens't tangle and tear on everything. I agree with you on mulching, especially for a garden of that size. At our old community garden (about twice the size of your garden) I would use a combination of broken-down cardboard boxes and straw as good, cheap, water-retaining mulch. It was amazing how well the cardboard would last from year to year, kind of slowly going away, whereas the straw was half-gone by the following spring and completely gone by the 2nd year.0 -
I love gardening. We also had snow in WI on Saturday. I'm in zone 5 as well. I normally don't plant early except for kale, spinach or lettuce but decided to do early planting of marigolds and bees friend. I covered up the seedlings with a blanket when we got the snow and they are luckily still living. Now, with the crazy weather we have had I am going to wait until mid to end of May to plant the rest.
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French_Peasant wrote: »meganpettigrew86 wrote: »We are autumn going into winter here and the plan is to rebuild our veg patch this winter. It is about 20m by 10m. We have it covered by bird netting and the netting has stretched and now is too low and the outside wire etc has not been done as well (we rush put it up a few years ago). The spring summer just been we did minimum veg as I was pregnant and had a baby a few weeks ago. So it's a little overgrown with self seeded brassica and silver beet. We still got more tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, capsican, lettuce than we could eat and a self seeded pumpkin from the compost has gone nuts.
We had a terrible late spring early summer it was cold and wet so our corn and melons turned into nothing.
We are growing Christmas trees to sell and planting the first 1000 last year but because of the unusual rain lost about 250 as it flooded longer than usual in some areas. This year we are planting in a higher spot.
We built a new cutting/propagation area in spring but its gotten a little neglected the last few months so that's another winter task.
We are always planting trees and expanding and mulching more garden. Mulching has re duced the work load so much! Our biggest issue are pukekos pulling out new plants or taking the tops off them. The population has boomed this year so we need to do some puke control.
Whoa, that's a good sized garden, 1800 square feet. Is the bird netting stretched over the whole garden, or would it work to have a floating row cover over the individual rows? That might be easier than trying to stretch over such a large area. Plus dealing with larger netting just pissed me off, but a finer floating row cover you can fold like a sheet and it doens't tangle and tear on everything. I agree with you on mulching, especially for a garden of that size. At our old community garden (about twice the size of your garden) I would use a combination of broken-down cardboard boxes and straw as good, cheap, water-retaining mulch. It was amazing how well the cardboard would last from year to year, kind of slowly going away, whereas the straw was half-gone by the following spring and completely gone by the 2nd year.
It's stretched over whole garden so we can walk under it etc. The structure holding it was a quick fix when we first developed it. We get netting from the vineyards second hand so it's very wide and long so can cover the space easily. We just patch the occasional hole with cable ties.
Yea we are in the process of mulching the orchard, natives, and shelter belt trees its very good exercise as we do it by barrow load.2 -
kshama2001 wrote: »I planted violas (little pansies) two days ago and yesterday transplanted bee balm roots into the mess out back behind my fence - the city removed some dead trees that were on their property up against our fence. They said they'd be taking out a strip of 10 feet in order to do this, but it ended up being more like 30. There was a line of trees up against the fence and the middle was lots of multi-flora roses and stuff like that. Trying to decide what to do. There's a ground hog under the shed so I planted some clumps of sod with clover for her. Hoping to keep her back there instead of my yard. So far she's ignored my veggies, maybe due to the marigolds I plant with the kale, but if she ever gets in there she will wipe out my kale in no time. I have a little fence around the veggies, which has been keeping out the rabbits, but will not stop a determined wood chuck.
It's pretty wet in places out back and the middle spots in the picture tend to have standing water, so I planted some phragmites there to soak it up. I am aware that phragmites is generally considered an invasive pest, but there's no where for it to go, and may not even be consistently wet enough for it to take.
There are tons of daffodils out there. My OH's parents have been dumping Easter flowers out there for years, covering them with grass clippings, and apparently the daffodils took and got spread around by the city's tree clearing machine.
There's one common day lily. I may move some more from the side of the house that I never see and my OH doesn't like to mow near them anyway, and in fact weed-whacked half of them last year.
I have some packets of wildflower seeds that are old but I will try sprinkling them around and see what happens.
Suggestions welcome!
You have an awesome opportunity with this blank slate. I would transition this into a prairie type garden. I would equip it with fantastic milk weed, wild flowers, grasses, natives to your state. All the stuff that attracts butterflies, bees, humming birds, birds, beneficial insects, etc. You have a nice start with what you pointed out on the pic. You can mulch a path winding through it. You can even, in the low areas, create a small scale rain garden.
It's easy to get stuff for free by posting ads on Craigslist or even just looking at the free section of Craigslist. I know this is MFP, but I have several packets of Blue Asters and a few other packets you can have. I can mail them to a PO Box for anonymity as well.
Have fun with that space. Plus, any work you do on it will burn calories. Double benefit.1 -
JohnnytotheB wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »I planted violas (little pansies) two days ago and yesterday transplanted bee balm roots into the mess out back behind my fence - the city removed some dead trees that were on their property up against our fence. They said they'd be taking out a strip of 10 feet in order to do this, but it ended up being more like 30. There was a line of trees up against the fence and the middle was lots of multi-flora roses and stuff like that. Trying to decide what to do. There's a ground hog under the shed so I planted some clumps of sod with clover for her. Hoping to keep her back there instead of my yard. So far she's ignored my veggies, maybe due to the marigolds I plant with the kale, but if she ever gets in there she will wipe out my kale in no time. I have a little fence around the veggies, which has been keeping out the rabbits, but will not stop a determined wood chuck.
It's pretty wet in places out back and the middle spots in the picture tend to have standing water, so I planted some phragmites there to soak it up. I am aware that phragmites is generally considered an invasive pest, but there's no where for it to go, and may not even be consistently wet enough for it to take.
There are tons of daffodils out there. My OH's parents have been dumping Easter flowers out there for years, covering them with grass clippings, and apparently the daffodils took and got spread around by the city's tree clearing machine.
There's one common day lily. I may move some more from the side of the house that I never see and my OH doesn't like to mow near them anyway, and in fact weed-whacked half of them last year.
I have some packets of wildflower seeds that are old but I will try sprinkling them around and see what happens.
Suggestions welcome!
You have an awesome opportunity with this blank slate. I would transition this into a prairie type garden. I would equip it with fantastic milk weed, wild flowers, grasses, natives to your state. All the stuff that attracts butterflies, bees, humming birds, birds, beneficial insects, etc. You have a nice start with what you pointed out on the pic. You can mulch a path winding through it. You can even, in the low areas, create a small scale rain garden.
It's easy to get stuff for free by posting ads on Craigslist or even just looking at the free section of Craigslist. I know this is MFP, but I have several packets of Blue Asters and a few other packets you can have. I can mail them to a PO Box for anonymity as well.
Have fun with that space. Plus, any work you do on it will burn calories. Double benefit.
Oh my goodness, I love this idea so much!
@kshama2001 My aunt recently started a nursery business based on native locally-adapted phenotype perennials, and in support of her I have been getting hands-on experience with cool plants like penstemons, rattlesnake master, false indigo, etc. If it's not the native version, I would replace the phragmites with milkweeds and native irises (or even Siberian iris, which is not a native, but also fairly well-behaved). Our house is 120 years old, and I am having to deal every year with poor decisions made in previous generations.
Piet Oudolf, and gardens influenced by him like Chicago's Lurie Gardens or NYC High Line would be a great inspiration for this space.
In the short term you could also fill the area with sunflowers. Think of how happy the birds would be, and how many wonderful bouquets you would have! Although it might be a challenge with that chuck.0 -
JohnnytotheB wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »I planted violas (little pansies) two days ago and yesterday transplanted bee balm roots into the mess out back behind my fence - the city removed some dead trees that were on their property up against our fence. They said they'd be taking out a strip of 10 feet in order to do this, but it ended up being more like 30. There was a line of trees up against the fence and the middle was lots of multi-flora roses and stuff like that. Trying to decide what to do. There's a ground hog under the shed so I planted some clumps of sod with clover for her. Hoping to keep her back there instead of my yard. So far she's ignored my veggies, maybe due to the marigolds I plant with the kale, but if she ever gets in there she will wipe out my kale in no time. I have a little fence around the veggies, which has been keeping out the rabbits, but will not stop a determined wood chuck.
It's pretty wet in places out back and the middle spots in the picture tend to have standing water, so I planted some phragmites there to soak it up. I am aware that phragmites is generally considered an invasive pest, but there's no where for it to go, and may not even be consistently wet enough for it to take.
There are tons of daffodils out there. My OH's parents have been dumping Easter flowers out there for years, covering them with grass clippings, and apparently the daffodils took and got spread around by the city's tree clearing machine.
There's one common day lily. I may move some more from the side of the house that I never see and my OH doesn't like to mow near them anyway, and in fact weed-whacked half of them last year.
I have some packets of wildflower seeds that are old but I will try sprinkling them around and see what happens.
Suggestions welcome!
You have an awesome opportunity with this blank slate. I would transition this into a prairie type garden. I would equip it with fantastic milk weed, wild flowers, grasses, natives to your state. All the stuff that attracts butterflies, bees, humming birds, birds, beneficial insects, etc. You have a nice start with what you pointed out on the pic. You can mulch a path winding through it. You can even, in the low areas, create a small scale rain garden.
It's easy to get stuff for free by posting ads on Craigslist or even just looking at the free section of Craigslist. I know this is MFP, but I have several packets of Blue Asters and a few other packets you can have. I can mail them to a PO Box for anonymity as well.
Have fun with that space. Plus, any work you do on it will burn calories. Double benefit.French_Peasant wrote: »Oh my goodness, I love this idea so much!
@kshama2001 My aunt recently started a nursery business based on native locally-adapted phenotype perennials, and in support of her I have been getting hands-on experience with cool plants like penstemons, rattlesnake master, false indigo, etc. If it's not the native version, I would replace the phragmites with milkweeds and native irises (or even Siberian iris, which is not a native, but also fairly well-behaved). Our house is 120 years old, and I am having to deal every year with poor decisions made in previous generations.
Piet Oudolf, and gardens influenced by him like Chicago's Lurie Gardens or NYC High Line would be a great inspiration for this space.
In the short term you could also fill the area with sunflowers. Think of how happy the birds would be, and how many wonderful bouquets you would have! Although it might be a challenge with that chuck.
Great ideas - thanks so much! I'll have to post a more recent picture. So far, seems like everything I transplanted has taken. The bee balm will indeed attract hummingbirds. I had two old packets of bee and butterfly attractor seeds that I made level terraces for, but we had really heavy rains and I'm not sure how they fared, plus the seeds were from 2016 and 2017. I have two more packets I can try. It was really hard work prepping those beds - yay gardening calories!
I did move some Siberian iris from my regular yard to back there, and was going to get more from Mom's, but discovered that someone had dumped a few shovelfulls at the end of the street, so scooped those up and planted them. These are tough plants that will spread and spread, plus I love the flowers.
I planted mint at my other neighbor's last year. She didn't harvest it and it flowered, and the bees went nuts for it. I've planted some mint out back. There's always more where that came from, lol.
I'll get some milkweed from Mom's.
I love the idea of sunflowers - I don't have room in my yard so that would be nice out back. One of my favorite memories is driving by fields of sunflowers in California.1 -
French_Peasant wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »I've been offering my neighbors plants for their garden bed, which I can see out my kitchen door and when I am in my driveway and front yard. They kept saying they needed to clean the weeds out the bed. Last weekend, I offered to do that as well. (If I was going to find a home for my excess bee balm, it needed to be immediately, and I could tell gardening is not their thing.)
[clip]
When the soil warms up to 60 degrees I will plant dahlia, and when it is 65 degrees, portulaca.
I really love how you have expanded your fiefdom! I wonder if my neighbor would mind if I took over his front yard for a vegetable garden (and by vegetable garden, I mean something stuffed so full of "temporary" perennial flowers that veg has a hard time growing there).
I once gave a bunch of hostas to another neighbor whose thing also wasn't gardening, and she got them put in the bed...later in the summer she complained about how they were shriveling up and looking so bad whereas mine were lush and green...turns out she wasn't watering them at all through a long, sustained drought. "But I thought they were supposed to be tough!" Not THAT tough, LOL!
I've been leaving my dahlias that I am trying to regrow from their tubers outside in the colder weather...based on your note above, I am thinking I should probably move them back down to the root cellar in their pots.
If your neighbor is like mine they will think you are odd but go along with it
My fiefdom previously expanded to the neighbor on the right as well. She gives me permission and I do the rest. A few weeks ago, we were looking at her bed and I was telling her what all was in there. She said she didn't realize she had tulips. I planted those last fall and didn't bother asking about those. I think I bought a bag of 50 bulbs and put some in my yard, some across the street, some to the right, and some on my Dad's grave.
My fiefdom was across the street as well, which worked out great for both of us, as he wasn't into it, and his yard is my view from my home office. Sadly, he passed away, and the house is in the process of being sold. Until they close, I'm still treating the beds as my responsibility.3 -
Okay, did some weeding of our common space (which is in front of my place and my neighbor's, but city owned), and then planted some green beans and kale. I have more waiting to be planted (seeds sprouted indoors), but am having a raised bed constructed. If it won't be finished by the weekend I'll plant more during the week. I have perennials and some flowers out front and herbs and (indoors) sprouts.
(The sprouts are delicious, I've been eating them, and I plan to start using the herbs on Monday.)4 -
Okay, did some weeding of our common space (which is in front of my place and my neighbor's, but city owned), and then planted some green beans and kale. I have more waiting to be planted (seeds sprouted indoors), but am having a raised bed constructed. If it won't be finished by the weekend I'll plant more during the week. I have perennials and some flowers out front and herbs and (indoors) sprouts.
(The sprouts are delicious, I've been eating them, and I plan to start using the herbs on Monday.)
That's awesome!!!!!!0 -
Well, I spent 12 hours in the garden over the weekend, and I can't exactly remember what I accomplished, other than digging up a patch of sunchokes (jerusalem artichokes) (fartichokes) that was getting onto my neighbor's side of the fence. I roasted a couple and had them along with parsnips, but I can't say they are my favorite vegetable; however I like to keep a patch going (not that you could ever stop one once you plant them) because they will stand me in good stead come the Zombie Apocalypse.
Anyways, I was doing a lot of reading on them, because I wanted to pass them out to brave fellow gardeners who would be interested in growing them (with all due warnings on the impact they can have on the digestive system and tiny delicate gardens, for the uninitiated), and I learned a lot of interesting things.
--They were diet staples for many tribes living on the plains and prairies. The plants had to be tough to compete against the prairie grasses. The tubers can be dug all year round if the ground is not frozen, so it would be like having a lot of calories in the bank.
(This article has a recipe: https://www.toledoblade.com/Food/2017/10/09/The-Sioux-Chef-New-cookbook-by-Sean-Sherman-shares-traditional-Native-American-dishes.html)
--One great way to clean out a patch of sunchokes is to run a feeder pig or two on it; also the cut foliage makes fine maintenance-level cattle feed although "the forage does not ensile well" according to Purdue. Ensile. That's a good word, much fancier than "sticking it in the hay mow."
--The sunchoke is becoming highly regarded for its nutrients, including higher amounts of potassium and iron, and particularly for its inulin, a digestion-resistant fiber and prebiotic. Here is some light reading on fiber and prebiotics: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3705355/
"Although all prebiotics are fiber, not all fiber is prebiotic. Classification of a food ingredient as a prebiotic requires scientific demonstration that the ingredient [2]:
- Resists gastric acidity, hydrolysis by mammalian enzymes, and absorption in the upper gastrointestinal tract;
- Is fermented by the intestinal microflora;
- Selectively stimulates the growth and/or activity of intestinal bacteria potentially associated with health and well-being."
So, this topic manages to combine various sorts of peasant activities, indigenous cookery, and the microbiome all in one fell swoop.
Plus you get sunflowers!
I couldn't think of anyone who would appreciate the treasure-trove of interesting information I was accumulating, but I though you guys would appreciate it.
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Okay, did some weeding of our common space (which is in front of my place and my neighbor's, but city owned), and then planted some green beans and kale. I have more waiting to be planted (seeds sprouted indoors), but am having a raised bed constructed. If it won't be finished by the weekend I'll plant more during the week. I have perennials and some flowers out front and herbs and (indoors) sprouts.
(The sprouts are delicious, I've been eating them, and I plan to start using the herbs on Monday.)
@lemurcat2 IK thought of you this weekend, as I was taking stock of what lived and died over the hard winter. My losses included my beloved peach tree, most of my sage and thyme plants, and possibly a couple of fig trees. But guess what survived, an herb I planted for the first time last year, French Tarragon! I haven't had much success with fennel yet, but I keep dancing around it, giving it a try.2 -
French_Peasant wrote: »Well, I spent 12 hours in the garden over the weekend, and I can't exactly remember what I accomplished, other than digging up a patch of sunchokes (jerusalem artichokes) (fartichokes) that was getting onto my neighbor's side of the fence. I roasted a couple and had them along with parsnips, but I can't say they are my favorite vegetable; however I like to keep a patch going (not that you could ever stop one once you plant them) because they will stand me in good stead come the Zombie Apocalypse.
Anyways, I was doing a lot of reading on them, because I wanted to pass them out to brave fellow gardeners who would be interested in growing them (with all due warnings on the impact they can have on the digestive system and tiny delicate gardens, for the uninitiated), and I learned a lot of interesting things.
--They were diet staples for many tribes living on the plains and prairies. The plants had to be tough to compete against the prairie grasses. The tubers can be dug all year round if the ground is not frozen, so it would be like having a lot of calories in the bank.
(This article has a recipe: https://www.toledoblade.com/Food/2017/10/09/The-Sioux-Chef-New-cookbook-by-Sean-Sherman-shares-traditional-Native-American-dishes.html)
--One great way to clean out a patch of sunchokes is to run a feeder pig or two on it; also the cut foliage makes fine maintenance-level cattle feed although "the forage does not ensile well" according to Purdue. Ensile. That's a good word, much fancier than "sticking it in the hay mow."
--The sunchoke is becoming highly regarded for its nutrients, including higher amounts of potassium and iron, and particularly for its inulin, a digestion-resistant fiber and prebiotic. Here is some light reading on fiber and prebiotics: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3705355/
"Although all prebiotics are fiber, not all fiber is prebiotic. Classification of a food ingredient as a prebiotic requires scientific demonstration that the ingredient [2]:
- Resists gastric acidity, hydrolysis by mammalian enzymes, and absorption in the upper gastrointestinal tract;
- Is fermented by the intestinal microflora;
- Selectively stimulates the growth and/or activity of intestinal bacteria potentially associated with health and well-being."
So, this topic manages to combine various sorts of peasant activities, indigenous cookery, and the microbiome all in one fell swoop. Plus you get sunflowers!
I couldn't think of anyone who would appreciate the treasure-trove of interesting information I was accumulating, but I though you guys would appreciate it.
Ooo! If my mom has failed to eradicate her Jerusalem artichokes I'll grab some for out back. I love these in the late summer. Being perennial and not picky about soil they are much easier to grow than real sunflowers, to put it mildly, lol.
I'll make it blunter for the novice gardener - while they are lovely, they are EXTREMELY INVASIVE.
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Okay, did some weeding of our common space (which is in front of my place and my neighbor's, but city owned), and then planted some green beans and kale. I have more waiting to be planted (seeds sprouted indoors), but am having a raised bed constructed. If it won't be finished by the weekend I'll plant more during the week. I have perennials and some flowers out front and herbs and (indoors) sprouts.
(The sprouts are delicious, I've been eating them, and I plan to start using the herbs on Monday.)
@lemurcat2 what kind of dirt are you putting in your raised bed? I'm pretty much using Mel's mix http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/mels-mix/ and it is amazing how much moister my soil is than in my neighbor's bed, which seems like pure topsoil, not improved at all.0 -
My Swiss chard is very happy in the new bed. Planted mint in front of it to deter the groundhog, but I have seen no signs of her this year.
There is kale under the cloche on the left and bok choy under the one on the right. This helps keep cabbage moths from laying eggs that turn into cabbage worms.
I have various herbs around the left and front bed.
There are pole beans in the far cage and peas and hyacinth bean in the closer cage.
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Love the rainbow Chard! Those are some nice looking garden beds!
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@kshama2001 That chard is gorgeous! I just got my chard seeds planted a couple of days ago, and still have a lot of plants in flats, looking somewhat disgruntled. Ugh! We just hosted an overnight with 8 13-year-old girls at my MIL's lake cottage, which was a blast, BUT--I was not in my garden while preparing for and facilitating the festivities!
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My husband built me a new trellis, it’s huge lol
I really need to put some mulch down, weeds are going crazy4 -
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kshama2001 wrote: »
Thank you! I used leaves last year but didn't do a very good job because they all blew away lol. I guess I should mulch them up first. I think I'll probably use grass clippings because my leaves are all stuffed into my compost with rotting food on top of them and I'm not going there.
I have a little surprise tomato plant that sprouted in my garden a little too close to the zucchini... For some reason I'm really excited about him, I think I'm going to try and move him to a safer location.2 -
WOW, everyone's beds look super!!!
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Sharing pics of my community garden plot from May. The spinach overwintered from a fall planting and is HUGE! 2 leaves and I have a salad.
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Great looking!!!!!!1
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carakirkey wrote: »Sharing pics of my community garden plot from May. The spinach overwintered from a fall planting and is HUGE! 2 leaves and I have a salad.
Wow, what a gorgeous plot, @carakirkey! How big is your plot, and how is your community garden organized? It looks like it's a pretty big operation.2
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