Bamie, I do love you...you just crack me up with your names for things!
My neighbors have a dark green, 2 ft high cage around their 'pennies'. They put it around when the plant starts growing in the spring and by the time it blooms the cage doesn't even show anymore, but it definitely keeps the blooms upright.
When they just start to sprout through the ground, place a tomato cage around it. This will allow the plant to grow up through the support of the cage and it will support those lovely blooms. My neighbor does this and it works great. She leaves the cage in place during the winter to "mark" where the peony will be.
Oh you cut them back? I have never cut mine back I don't think?????
Laurie....There I thought I reinvented the wheel with my cage idea! lol Just kidding. I would use green as well so it will not really show.
Now if only I had a way to keep my stalk lillies (don't know their real name like the one in my avatar) from falling over. Maybe when they come up I should hook 'em to a dowl rod or something. Who knows?
Ellis...Maybe yours just have not bloomed yet. Hopefully they didn't forget to come out and play! haha
Bamie, around here, things die in the winter, so we usually cut the dead stuff off. I think that's what she meant. There, they may not die, so you may never have to cut them back, but you could check a gardening book to be sure.
I'm not sure what your lily is...Ruth and Sil, is that a daylily of some kind?
Thought the newbies might like to know this is out here.
We have been eating yummy yellow cherry tomatoes for about 2-3 weeks now and last night hubby brought in the first early girl big red one. Our pepper plants have little bitty peppers on them and the cucumber plant has started blooming. Didn't get the squash to grow from seeds this year (think the birds got the seeds) so we are going to try them from plants next year.
We planted peatunias in our flower boxes and even with the 100 degree tempatures we have been having they are just doing great. We also planted 2 peonies this year and they are doing really good. Hostas have finally bloomed and are just gorgeous.
My garden is a disaster with weeds higher than the plants in the veggie plot! I have been eating beefsteak tomatoes for the past week and another crop of beans will be along shortly. Lettuces are done but I do have more spinach coming on. My pink lilies are absolutely fabulous this year.
Ruth and Ellis, I know you both have your hands full at the moment, but if you do get a chance to help me with this I'd be very grateful
I have two bay trees, each is about 3 feet (1 metre) high. I have them in big pots, either side of the garage door. One of them is lovely and bushy, deep green leaves, with little shoots coming off it. The other looks small, and a lot of the leaves are brown and falling off. Now it does have some new shoots, but it sure does not look healthy.
They were quite expensive and I'd hate to see either of them die - I know nothing about gardening and chose them because the man at the centre said they were easy to care for
So, any idea why one is healthy and obviously thriving, and yet the other is looking pathetic and really struggling?
'm sorry I dont know the correct Latin name for the plants, I'm sure I can find out if you need it, but they are the same trees you get bay leaves from to make a bouquet garni with, if that helps!
Artemis, I'm not sure why that might be, but since they were expensive, you might want to take a picture and some of the leaves to the same garden center from which you purchased them and ask for help. I believe the common name is "Bay Laurel", but I don't know the latin name either. Sorry!
My garden is going well. I've been able to work more on it with the weather being colder and with more time on the weekends. Next week is my last one of practicum, and just in time, because the veggie garden looks like it's going to start producing a lot of yummy things very soon!
Things to check are:
Too much water (roots are rotting).
Not enough water (roots are drying out).
Roots are too tight together~Is there a way to take a look at the roots of the one tree that is turning brown. It might be that the roots are "girdling" around in a circle and not spreading out. This will prevent the tree from getting moisture and oxygen, eventually strangeling the tree.
For the first time in my adult life (30 plus years) my summer garden failed miserable, too much rain. I know that sounds strange after summers of draught sp.
Anyway I thought I would try a late summer and fall garden, is it too late for beans and tomatoes in SC?
Sorry!
