cmartin, we do have a gardening thread going. I'll bump it up so you can find it in case you have other questions.

If you poke around online, you'll find information on how to see the difference between female and male flowers. If you have female flowers, they have a small fruit (zucchini) at the base of the flower, before the stalk. If you don't have any of these, you won't get any fruit. If you do have some, but they aren't growing, you might not be getting enough pollinators (bees, etc.) to make them fertilized. You can, however, fertilize them yourself (look online for instructions). Hope that helps!

chicks! The flowers give me so much pleasure!

Love the soil bag trick Andrea! Sounds awesome!

I miss the CA weather, Gypsy Rose. Enjoy!

So, I'm currently focusing on weed removal. I have two types that are the bane of my existence right now...

I did some digging (NPI) online to figure them out and thought I'd share in case you're dealing with them too.

Culprit #1: Creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea )
This is taking over our lawn, though it's in all sorts of other places throughout the lawn. It's awful stuff.

Culprit #2: Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus replens)

Here's what it looks like before it spreads and flowers (hint: kill it when it's like this!!!):



This one showed up after we had a particularlyl wet summer several years ago. It spreads by runners and is beyond invasive. The only thing worse in my garden is the bindweed. The Creeping Buttercup has these ginormous taproots, plus runners, so it's nearly impossible to extirpate. Ugggh!

Anyone have any good tips on removing either? I'm going to try Borax on the Charlie and then smothering in an area where it's literally killed the lawn. I'm digging the rest up of both kinds. Watch out weeds!

I have 3 stawberry plants I bought from Home Depot and only one is producing fruit, the other two are huge and beautiful but no blooms

this is my first garden and I am learning as I go

Cmartin, give them time. Patience is essential for gardeners. Sometimes you don't get fruit from plants the first year. Are you keeping a garden log? I have for years and it's a great reference. For example, I know that my peony tree bloomed nine days earlier than in 2008 and has more blooms.

Beachgal, I have a weed torch which would take care of those buttercups really fast. It's not the weed dragon which is a torch that takes a BBQ sized propane cylinder but a smaller one. It works really well on weeds in the patio stones but does take a longer time for weeds with taproots like the buttercup one. Dandelions take two or three blasts before they croak.

As to Creeping Charlie, I have given up. My side lawn is Charlie, violets, sweet clover and wild strawberries - looks pretty, stays green, does not grow tall and even smells nice when you walk on it.

Ruth, I love your description of your side lawn! I bet it does smell good when you walk on it! I mowed our lawn for the first time (DH usually does it) this weekend and got to experience the yummy smell of freshly-mown Charlie myself. DH, however, is adamant about getting this lawn to be grass-only!

Tell me more about this torch...when you say 2-3 blasts, is that over a series of days or one after the other at the same time? Does it damage brick?

I've heard that you can remove weeds using really strong vinegar (20% ascetic acid). Does anyone know where I can get it? Maybe a feed store?

We got some of that "able to grow on a brick" grass seed yesterday at Lowe's. We need to fill in some puppy-pee spots on the lawn and have one section which will not grow. We'll see if it'll work!

Just thought I would share my garden is growing pics with you guys! I am sooo excited this is the first garden we've ever tried to have and its going good!

Rikki, it looks awesome!!! What is the bright neon green strip in the middle? Did you ever figure out your caterpillar problem? I've got some big holes in the middle of my raspberry leaves, but can't figure out what's eating them...

CMartin, how are your zukes?

The bright green is lettuce- and my wormies are gone... they were gone probably a week or so after I noticed them... from what I can figure its something I should be taking care of in the fall... I don't recall what kind of worms they are but if I get a few apples off the tree I am fine with them eating some of the leaves :P

I was worried about my garden because we had some hail storms while I was away, but everything looks good! My tomatoes look great and are finally getting some flowers. The zukes look great too, but something is eating the flowers before they can turn into zukes. DH maintained that it was a wasted effort to put in those raised beds, so he slapped some of my extra plants in where we used to plant (where they never did very well) and declared it a contest. I'm happy to say I'm winning. His are puny and are getting buried in weeds. When he's done playing there I'm going to make a lasagna garden (thanks to Cyndi) to try and improve the soil, and maybe I can use it for lettuces or something that doesn't need quite as much sun next year.

Rikki, your garden looks great!
Ruth, I've got to get DH one of those torches - he would love burning those buggers up. I guess he could use his blowtorch though.
Andrea, I read that soil bag trick too, I thought it sounded like a great idea.

I hope I have time and weather to get out there in the yard this weekend. My garlic spray came in (thank you Cat), and I'd like to get it applied, if we are going to have a little dry spell.

Schmoo, what was the garlic spray for?

Our garden is coming in well, though only half the beans came up, and the squash didn't come up at all. I'm going to have to replant those two.

Some photos to share:

Does anyone have any idea what these plants are? They look like an azalea, but the flowers come out around a central stem like a rhododendron and it has these long stamens (pistils? never was good in botany) that I didn't think were common in either. It blooms after the azaleas but before the rhodes. The buds have these ridges along them that are very sticky. The plants are the red-flowered bushes in the photo below.

We have two of these bushes--came with the house.

See how the flowers bloom from a central stem?

Close-up of the flowers. Any guesses what this may be?



Finally, here's a shot of our garden, taken earlier this week. Most of the rows are coming up nicely.



Anybody have good tips for things to do with oregano? Our two oregano bushes are HUGE!

Laurie, they are a variation of rhododendren. I don't remember the name of them, but I have them, too, and have lost the tags. Yours are gorgeous! Mine are no where near that large yet.
You can freeze your excess oregano. Just wash the leaves and let them dry completely, then pack in freezer bags. I use it in tomato sauces and on pizza.

Ruthxxx, I haven't forgotten about comparing our peonies; mine just haven't bloomed yet. But lots of big fat round buds.

Vermont Mom, mine are behind yours. There are lots of buds but just one or two are showing colour. They bloom late and I sometimes am still picking on July 4th. IMHO they have the best scent of all my peonies.


Hey! It's summer so I will close this and start a new thread!
I'll include the link to this one for reference.