Hey Everyone. I finally got off my butt and got 1/2 of my front garden in. Talk about excersize. I figured I'ld start a Garden Thread to share our experiences, joy, failures and successes of the season.
3 of my rosebushes didn't make it. I planted them at the end of last season and they were coming in well, but this has been a really weird spring in UT. In the last month we've gone from winter to summer weather daily(sometimes 3 times within a day). About the 5th time they started budding only to get hit by 2 inches of snow the next day they gave up. When I pulled them though, I saw there was still a little life below the mulch. I'll try potting them for now so I can protect them and see how it goes.(Any reccommendations would be appreciated)
Happy news though!!! I found two more Rainbow's End Mini Roses and a French Prefume full size. OMG the smell of the Frenchie is intoxicating. It totally sucked having to cut back the blooms to give the roots the benefit, but when they come back, HOLY MOLY!!! I already have one Rainbow and it totally amazes my neighbors with it's color change. Someone even thought I was replanting the spot with a new bush once a month. Don't think so. Not with my job. I'm pretty much the "It makes it or it dies" type. That's why I mostly do bulbs and roses with a few annuals.
So, tell us, Mary. How does your garden grow? I'll get some pictures in a little later when things are a bit further along.
im a very young gardener... but i love it, it relaxes me like crazy
I have some lovely beanstalks almost ready to put into my newly dug vegetable patch... ive grown them from beans and feel very proud.. my grandmother taught me how to grow them when i was a kid and its my first time trying by myself...
ive dug my front garden... and planted lavender bushes which seem to be taking pretty well... fingers crossed! they were mail order and looked pretty bad when they arrived!
ive also just got fiance to build the gorgeous new plant stand i bought and put it outside today planted with garden mint, thyme and greek basil... i want to make it my herb garden...
next on the list is a little more landscaping in the back garden and working on the lawn as its full of dandelions and clover the house we are in has never had the garden tended to so its a big job but itll be worth it!
I've got two garden boxes planted. I have two cucumber plants I started from seeds and I've harvested one cucumber so far with several little ones coming along. I've got two tomato plants with one 1 1/2 inch green tomato and several flowers. The other box has herbs (chives, basil [from seed], mint and parsley) on one end and pepper plants on the other end. I've picked on pepper and have a second just a couple days from ripe. While we'll enjoy the produce, the real benefit is that it gets me outside everyday to water it. It's so hot and the plants have gotten so big, I have to refill the reservoir daily.
I planted marigolds around the mailbox two or three weeks ago and they're doing very well. I need to trim back the poinsettias I planted after Christmas 2006. And there's tons of weeding to do around the trees in the front yard.
Our weather was so wonderful in April that I got an early start on a few things. I moved berry bushes (boysenberry) from one part of the yard to another. I added more raspberry canes to the bed I prepared last fall. Oh, and yesterday I started scrubbing the patio and was getting pots ready to plant. That's 36 pots ready and waiting... and I didn't finish (yikes).
Unfortunately our weather has cooled off a bit and I think there's a full moon in a little over a week (traditionally if we're going to get it, that's when) so I've decided to try and be patient and not plant stuff out yet. I'll restrain myself and just work on getting the rest of the pots prepared so that once we're in the latter part of May I can plant things quickly.
i've planted two tomoatoes, two pepper bushes, an eggplant, and several cuke plants. In a seperate area i have a nice little herb garden going. So far the veggies are looking good. I think i have at least 60 more days until my first crop. I've been good too about water. Here in atlanta due to draught we have water restriction..so in name of mother earth, i collect the water from my shower (before it gets hot) and use that to water my bushes daily. Also, once we get the new gutters up...we'll be getting a rain barrel for my plants. So far so good...been on the look out for yuckie bugs that want to eat my delicious crop. I hope they grow nicely and i have some yummie veggies this summer.
I'm behind on my gardening. I live in a townhouse and have the front area and a small patch in back for my own for a garden.
In front, the lavener and rosemary have come back amazingly this spring. It's beautifully fragrant out there and the lavender is getting ready to bloom like mad. My front rose is doing well also - covered with dark red blooms. I want to plant basil and thyme this year and I was thinkng about adding a hydrangea to the right side of the lot.
IN back, I finally got round to prepping the bed for tomatoes and peppers. The back rose hasn't bloomed yet but is *covered* in buds, and this one is my scent rose, so I can't wait for it to bloom like crazy.
Next weekend I get tomatoes and peppers for the bed and a few things for the containers. I can't wait!
Well, I did get my roses in yesterday, so ofcourse it SNOWED last night while I was at work. Fortunately, I think it only rained in the valley. It looks like everything did fine. I'm kinda jealous of y'all down south. But, then I think about your insects and I feel better. Last time I had to wrestle a cockroach was when I visited my sis in Houston. And, the thing about whooped my butt. At least the Rocky Mtn. winter is darned good at killing off the bugs. Or maybe they just head south with the birds.
Hey, great idea for a thread. Thanks for starting it Operator!
I'm a gardener too and am planning on planting my flowers either this weekend or next. I've gotten impatient b/4 and ended up planting stuff too early only to have it frost and the plants didn't do well.
Over the past 9 yrs or so we've landscaped around our whole house. We've learned along the way (apparently Japense maples don't like our soil) and tweak things all the time. I'm always surprised at people who plant an entire garden overnight then are surprised when a couple of years down the road their garden is overcroweded and too hard to manage because they overplanted to have a 'full' garden right away. We've watched neighbors do this and decided to take our time.
Just over the past 6 wks or so we've transplanted 5 summersweets (they were in the ground for 8 yrs) to different parts of the yard and are in the process of planting 9 arborvitaes in their place. All but two are in. What a workout digging through clay and rocks! Rainy, windy weather halted our progress but the last two w/be in by the end of the week. We also dug up two yews that needed to go so we could redirect a walkway (due to the arbs going in).
We have mostly perennials in our garden and I fill in w/annuals and do annuals on the front porch in black iron hanging baskets and lovely pots. I even trashed picked some resin types pots from our neighbors a few years back (I needed them to save some butterfly bushes), painted them a colonial red (to match our front door) and put them at the end of the driveway w/geraniums in the summer and mums in the fall.
I HATE japanese beetles. No matter what we do they descend upon our stuff and just gorge themselves. We put down grub kill stuff to stop them b/4 they emerge, we spray (very reluctant to do this but do not know what else to do) and they still just are everywhere. Any suggestions?
We've got aphids on two burning bushes that we are treating. The girl at the nursery said it may be a bad year for bugs as our winter was fairly mild.
After our arbs are in we're going to try our hand at staining our concrete patio (its showing wear) and building a stone island for the grill.
What are your favorite flowers to plant? I love pincushions cause they're perennials but bloom all summer. Also yarrow, daylilys, geraniums (blood red and one or two white) and impatiens (the JBs LOVE these! grrr! ) LOVE snaps too. Ooo and clematis. We have 3 so far and are planning on doing some trellis/privacy lattice on a front section of the fence (just for a little privacy) and w/put another one there as well.
Ah, I've rambled on so! Just love the outdoor stuff I guess!
so far my garden is looking ok. All the veggies i planted are sprouting new leaves and the one tomato bush already has flowers..however after some reading (lots of info on the internet), i learned you should "pop off" the first few flowers to stimulate good growth of the plant...but everything is looking good. I'm a newbie with veggies too..however, I have done lots of internet reasearch that has helped me figure my garden out. My herbs are doing great..in fact i used some fresh basil and oregano last night in our spaghetti sauce...yum. We will eventually planting bushes but we have to clear out our year first.
Great going Y'all! Spring is so exciting. I've been on graves and just not able to get the rest of my plants in yet, but they're doing OK in the flats. It snowed up at work for about 3 min. last night. At least the cool is giving them a break this week. I have 3 more shifts, then it's back to work where I love it.
I think this will be the last year I have to deep mix my front garden. I went really deep with the amendments. I've been supplimenting for the last 3 yrs. This house wasn't really being cared for before I got it in 2004 as it was a rental. But now, once I get this year's in, I'm going to the landfill to get some compost and put an inch of it on top of everything. Then at the end of the year, I'll put down another inch and till it in. After that I think I can get most of the perenials in and just be able to top feed.
Good Luck everyone. It sounds like we're all doing wonderful work.
3FC Garden Club
OMG the smell of the Frenchie is intoxicating. 
It totally sucked having to cut back the blooms to give the roots the benefit, but when they come back, HOLY MOLY!!! I already have one Rainbow and it totally amazes my neighbors with it's color change. Someone even thought I was replanting the spot with a new bush once a month. Don't think so. Not with my job. I'm pretty much the "It makes it or it dies" type. That's why I mostly do bulbs and roses with a few annuals.
