47 new of 60 responses total.
Do you grow any fruits or vegetables?
This year was less successful than last year in the veg department. We grew some green "zebra" tomatoes that tasted good once they were ripe but it took me a while to get the hang of telling when that was. My daughter planted a nice row of lettuce. I failed to thin out the carrots so they weren't useable. I don't think the peppers even germinated. I grew an experimental crop of potatoes and I enjoyed those so I'll probably plant more of them next year. The vegetable plot has been cleared and forked over for the winter but the Zucchini (planted elsewhere in the garden) keep on coming.
Did you plant the peppers in little pots to transplant later? They need warm soil to germinate. Tomatoes are often ripe when they fall off the vine.
I've been out digging. It's good exercise and it helps get the soil ready. The area where the Spruce trees were is ready for planting. I've been told to grass some of it over but that looks like a costly proposition, what with grass seed, straw matting and a spreader. I may visit the local nursery in search of that Viburnum, too.
Why waste potential garden space on grass? We have spent the last few days removing grass and sifting compost to make new garden space. If you do plant grass, it supposedly does better in August or September. You can spread seed by hand, and cover the seed with plain straw also spread by hand.
Mostly because I've been told to. That said, we'll have some ornamental stuff at one end and I'll plant a few vegetables at the other end this year. I try to move the veg around a bit. Waiting until the fall appeals to me but I may not have that option.
Well, that's a new ornamental bed dug out and mostly planted. We had to bring in some topsoil. We planted through weed membrane and spread a bit of mulch on top. I should probably take a picture tomorrow if the sun's out.
The flower bed by the back door was a success. I can't
remember the names of all the flowers we put in but I think
all but one of them thrived. In the middle is a Buddleia
that the butterflies love. That's open and airy enough that
the shorter flowers planted underneath still get enough rain
and sunlight to do well.
Lots of zucchini and cucumbers this year along with a
modest crop of tomatoes and a surprise eggplant. I should
have planted spuds again. I still don't have that Viburnum.
Do your tomatoes get fungus diseases? Ours got them bad this year due to the cool nights, with condensation.
Thankfully I haven't seen that yet. I should probably start thinking about what to plant in the Spring.
Yesterday I planted a tomato plant, some cucumber and a watermelon plant. We have more things in pots waiting to be planted when weather and time permits.
This week I planted the last of 79 tomato plants, 8 peanut seedlings, 26 tiny pepper seedlings, and half the lentil seedlings, which leaves agretti and miltomate when they get big enough.
That's a lot of tomatoes and peppers!
This weekend I am planting 60' of pole beans. It was supposed to rain last night and all morning but did not. Dry spring.
It has been raining here all day. Couldn't do any planting.
It's raining again today but yesterday was nice so I got a few veggies in and Mrs. ball planted/re-potted some flowers. I also got a bit of weeding done and started a new compost heap.
Managed to do some more weeding today, mostly around the potato plants. Next year I should probably try some mulch to keep the pokeweed and crabgrass down.
my orane and lime dwarves are coming along nicely in pots
No potatos this year sadly. Still, the tomatoes look as though they're coming along nicely.
My potatoes are loaded with purple and white flowers, and small green fruits. I will save the seeds. Fruits on many of the tomatoes, green.
We've been so busy with the baby that the garden's gone
to hell this year. We've given up trying to control weeds
that grew up between the pavers in the courtyard and in the
flower bed where the Mulberry tree used to be, so we've just
had the whole area turned into a concrete slab.
I have a short fence to build and perhaps some planters
for flowers and a few herbs in the Spring.
Still haven't built that fence, partly because I don't have a hammer action drill to attach a baton to the wall. A very small flower bed is planned but I haven't planted any- thing there yet. Hopefully I'll get some time to browse this evening for some things to plant there.
Bought a picket fence panel and got it home courtesy of
a couple in a pick-up truck who saw me wrestling it in the
wind. Bought a cheap hammer-action drill but need better
screws to attach the post bases to the concrete slab.
I'm seeing some seedlings in the experimental tiny
vegetable plot: I think runner beans, corn and perhaps some
radishes. The tomato plant is just about still alive, though
I wouldn't describe it as "thriving" exactly.
Next up: weeding the overrun buddleia bed and planting
some pumpkin seeds there.
The tomato plant has perked up a bit and I see some flowers on it so perhaps we'll get some fruit. The peas look promising so I've given them some pea sticks to climb up. I've got three corn stalks though two of them are too close together so I'm tempted to risk surgically separating them.
The first few tomatoes are beginning to ripen and some peas are growing in their pods. I gave most of the radishes to the squirrels.
Last year the butterfly garden was overrun by weeds. I started today to clear that out, testing my new scuffle hoe and sifting topsoil through a riddle. Only got a small corner of it done but it's a start.
Life returns to the garden!
Apparently my efforts have inspired some local wildlife to join in. Whenever I get home from work, the top layer of soil from much of this bed has been scrabbled out over the sidewalk and patio area. Yesterday I laughed and brushed it back in, only to find that it had been excavated again an hour or two later. I may need to invest in some netting, especially once it's planted.
The animal probably thinks, "Why does the stupid humon keep putting the dirt back where I dug it out? I may need to invest in some netting ...." ;)
"I will find the yum yums that silly creature has buried"
Plenty of tomatoes and cucumbers this year. The corn did not germinate, likely because the birds or squirrels ate it right out of the ground. There was a huge cornstalk where the groundhog sat last year though, so he had more luck with corn planting than I did. Perhaps I can recruit him to sow next year's crop.
I am so desperate for BackTalk action that I will even read and respond to posts in Better Houseplants and Gardens. ;)
resp:44 And congratulations on the tomatoes and cucumbers. I come from a long line of gardeners, but have never had the space or much will since I left home. One attempt to grow basil in a pot "did not germinate", as the experts say. ;)
I'm told it's never too late to start!
The back yard needs mowing and there are plants that need pulling up and composting. Cold rain though, so all I can do is sit here and look at it, perhaps think about what I'm going to plant in the Spring.
Mowing lawn in late October? That's a long season. Are you in the vicinity of Ann Arbor, MI?
Ah no, I'm a bit further South.
I'm not surprised.
Our last lawn mowing occurred Nov. 9, but that was mostly to mulch up fallen leaves. Grass was not growing much at all at that point. Last grass mowing was about 2 weeks earlier. We live about 30 miles north of Ann Arbor.
I should probably have mown the leaves this morning. It has rained for much of this afternoon and this evening so it'll be too damp for mowing tomorrow.
Started the mower today for the first time this year and mowed some of the back garden. I'm glad it still works!
Way to go! I've yet to fire mine up. Hope it works.
Re. #55: Good luck!
About a month ago I spent a Sunday afternoon digging up a 0.5 sq. m bed in the 20-years-neglected yard of our condominium and planted coriander, basil, and dill. So far, coriander is coming up nicely and a few sprouts of dill. SOMETHING is coming up where I planted basil, but I am unsure whether it's the desired herb or weeds.
Got my old law tractor going and mowed the lawn. Mainly I use it for towing around a garden trailer for hauling sticks and branches to the brush pile. Now I need to put some new blades on my zero turn.
resp:57 Last week I took enough cilantro from my patch for cilantro rice, Thai rolls, and garnishing fajitas, and it's come back so quickly I'll harvest some more for a salad today. Clipped enough dill on Sunday to season cucumber and onion salad. Not many dill plants are coming up, though, so I reseeded the empty patches this morning. The plants that look like basil are growing well, but their lack of aroma and flavor has me wondering. Mom told me to wait until the plants mature a little more, but some of them are starting to flower, so ...?
Congrats on the bountiful herb garden! I used to grow basil and remember reading that it loses flavour once it starts to flower. I always tried to prune it / pick leaves before it got to that state. This also has the advantage that your basil plant becomes a bit bushier and gives you better yield :-)
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