Spring 2007 Gardening
 

It's supposed to be spring so let's get started either doing or dreaming. What's happening in your garden? Brags, comments and questions welcome here.

Me? I have just crocus and snowdrops bloomage and plus tulips and daffies up but not budded.

A week ago I was saying things were ahead but I jumped the gun. I just checked last year's garden log and found "Wet and cold with a bit of snow until the 9th" which is exactly what the forecast states!

What a fickle old broad Mother Nature can be! I think she's in bed with Jack Frost.

I put in a veggie garden this yr. for the first time. My potatoes, peas, green beans, squash, corn, onions and bell peppers are all planted. Now it's turned cold again and I had to cover some of my plants. It is very exciting to see that my veggies have little stems showing through the ground now.

I also planted 9 hedges along the front of my house and have bought a bunch of marigolds to plant in my flower beds.

Also am going to plant strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. Will plant okra, cantaloupe and watermelon when it gets warmer.

We've put off planting our vegetable garden until we get into the new house. It just didn't seem worth it to plant here and then have to leave it all behind and then transplant later.

Our veggie garden has doubled in size from last year to 200 sq feet and I'm also putting in a raised bed herb garden. (We don't ever get fresh herbs at the grocery store.)

There are existing rose bushes at the house we're hoping to get, but I honestly believe I'll be pulling those out next year so that I can plant some native flowering plants. I'm not sure what yet, that's still in the research phase!

I have one crocuses that has bloomed but that is it so far. Friends of ours are thinking about putting in a community veggie garden, I believe we will be getting in on the one.

My crocus are finished blooming, but I have plenty of daffodils, grape hyacinths and primrose putting on quite a show.

My daffodils and hyacinths came into a beautiful bloom than Jack Frost hit them and they fell over :mad:

hi garden chicks...i've been at it abit..mostly buying them
 

I love Japanese maples but we are just at the edge of the hardiness range. I try more tender plants but am frequently disappointed. My holly,for example, is half dead and will need to be cut back drastically.

At the moment, my gardening must be indoors. :( I am really enjoying my orchid plant which I bought for the wedding I did back in March. It looks just gorgeous in my diningroom in front of the (dirty) window.

I was just out cleaning out my blackberry bushes, they grow wild. I am thinking about adding some strawberry plants in the same area.

What kind of blackberries, Little Chick? I have some "Black Caps" that just want to take over my raspberry patch. I think they have a non-suckering kind which might work.

Originally Posted by Ruthxxx:
What a fickle old broad Mother Nature can be! I think she's in bed with Jack Frost.

:lol3: You're not kidding, Ruth! We had SNOW on EASTER...snow on the ground!!! Yikes!!! :p Your orchid is gorgeous, hon! I spent a fortune on one and killed it in two weeks. :lol: Guess my green thumb does not extend to orchids!!!

I found a snowdrop in the corner of my lawn yesterday. :) Didn't even know we had any! Our crocuses have been up and gone. The tulips are poking their heads up. We have no daffies as the darned squirrels at all 50 I planted. :mad: But others have them up in their yard. We have buds on the dafs, but not on the tulips, and nothing's opened. The trees with the yellow balls on them are blooming and the weeping willows are 'greening' (my word...not sure what to call it!). Robins everywhere...Spring is here! The Scilla are up here and there, and I'm hoping I'll be in time to see one of my favorite houses. It's a yellow farmhouse set far back from the road with an entire yard of scilla...looks like a carpet of blue against the pale yellow house...SO gorgeous!!! :love:

I've got my morning glory and sweetpea seeds started and have several seedlings reaching toward the sun. I have our seeds for our garden ready to go, but wasn't able to find seeds for the haricots verts we planted last year (bush bean 'Opera')...the seed store was out of them. Have to figure out if it's worth the shipping to buy them somewhere else... :chin:

This year we're skipping cucumbers and radishes, adding back in the pumpkins (we missed them!) and are going to try two winter crops of broccoli and cabbage. We're doing the same herbs, tomatoes, mesclun mix, green beans, zucchini, and bell peppers as last year, and are going to add three raspberry bushes and one tiny blueberry bush (that will be in a pot). I'm excited! :D

Kimstar, our house came with two rows of miniature pink roses in the front. After two years of fussing with them, we tore 'em out and planted them around the back garden, here and there, and then put in a new walkway. Surprisingly, most of them made it! You might try transplanting them...or giving them to friends. :D

Choices, I agree about the renewal and rebirth. Have you ever heard Nichole Nordeman's song about the seasons? It's wonderful. :goodvibes: I can post the lyrics if no one's heard it. I love lobelia and hardly anyone uses it around here. My mom always had sweet alyssum and lobelia in her garden. Such wonderful plants.

What's doing in your garden?

I was just outside and the earth is frozen solid once again! I wondered why the Girls didn't come in with muddy paws! Snow predicted tomorrow and into the weekend. :(

Alright, Beach Gardeners, what's going on in your garden??? :listen:

Hey, Beachgal, I was just thinking about reviving this thread earlier today, thanks!
I usually wait until after the 15th to plant annuals, but I'm eager to get started! The garden centers are overflowing with some tempting flowers that are begging me to take them home. :) We just expanded our bed out front, and are filling it in with perrenials. Since our house has red trim and shutters, I want to keep the same color theme in the garden. So far we put in several red azaleas and yellow Stella d'Oro lillies, and I'm not sure if I want to add a bit of blue or white to the color scheme. I'll need something that blooms throughout the summer to add color. Any ideas?

Hey, Cottage! Great minds think alike! :idea: I did a red, white, and blue theme this year even though our house is grey and it doesn't really go with our shocking pink azaleas! :o :lol: Oh well! :shrug:

Anyways, for the red, I did a combo of verbena and salvia, and for the blue I used Lobelia (sp???) in a dark blue (but it also comes in purple and sky blue) while for the white I used sweet alyssum. Both Lobelia and Alyssum will bloom continuously all summer as long as you keep them well watered. :) They also have a creeping habit and in areas like Barb and Schatzi's, I imagine they last all year and become almost like ground cover--that's what they used to do in CA when I lived there. :D

I've got almost all my purchases from the garden center in the ground--didn't buy too many new plants other than the annuals for the front, but did get a silver mist for the front corner of my corner garden--that front plant dies every year! I also divided and transplanted some of the hostas in the yard...we'll see how that works out! I gave some to a friend as well. :) I'm hoping she'll give me some lillies in return--she has these amazing ones that first bloom as yellow lillies then rebloom as red ones! Wow! Can't wait to have some. My former coworker is bringing over a money plant today (so if anyone wants me to grow them some money on my tree, I'd be glad to! ;) )...my grandmother had one and showed me how to get the seeds when I was tiny. It's a nostalgic plant for me and I haven't seen one in years. I'm so glad she had an extra one to spare! :hyper:

What's doing in your garden? Here are some pics of mine:

Here's the front of the house with the red, white and blue (hard to tell now that they're so small!):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...pring07014.jpg

This is a close up of some of the flowers and the happy azaleas:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...pring07018.jpg

This is the corner garden I was talking about...the silver mist plant is in the front. I've always killed them before...let's hope it works out here!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...pring07013.jpg

Beachgal, could you grow a little money for me, I'm broke after spending all my money at the garden center! :) I love your house, would you believe it looks a lot like mine? Great minds DO think alike! Lobelia is one of my favorites, I especially like the dark, dark blue, and I usually use white sweet alyssum for my edging. I'm looking for red, white and blue perrenials right now. I took out the Stella d'Oro daylillies to go elsewhere, and instead planted some blue veronica, white salvias, red bachelor's buttons and red penstemon. I still have to fill in some bare spaces, but as the nursery puts out their summer blooming perrenials, I'll have a better selection to choose from. I finally got all my impatiens planted this afternoon, and hope to get all my planters finished tomorrow or Saturday so things will look pretty for Memorial Day.

Those lillies that change from yellow to red sound intriguing! I've never heard of them but now I'm curious. ;)

I got outside and took a few shots early this morning..
here's my garden(s)
http://www.kodakgallery.com/femmecreole

Your garden is breathtaking, femmecreole! Thanks for sharing your pictures with us. One of these days I'm going to sit down and figure out how to post some of my pictures.

Originally Posted by cottagebythesea:
Thanks for sharing your pictures with us.

My husband I both LOVE working out there. We have had to redo everything since Katrina. The storm pretty much wiped out everything we had spent a couple of years working on. This is what it looked like the afternoon after the storm passed. It was months before we could have that huge tree removed. All the people that you see in the house waiting out the storm are my husband's relatives. None of them knew for several days after this that they had all lost their homes.

Wow! Lovely gardens, Chickas! I wish I could visit them IRL.

I still have some late tulips, masses of lily-of-the-valley, white, mauve and deep purple violets and wonderful lilacs! The picture is of a very special one - Krasavitsa Moscovy or Beauty of Moscow. The buds really are pink and it opens to a lovely creamy white with a heavenly scent. Worth searching for if you are a northern gardener. (Lilacs need cold winters to bloom well.)

The asparagus is growing fast and it's actually dangerous to go into the patch. :lol: The rhubarb isn't far behind and is waiting for picking. Freezing it will be on my task list as soon as I get a kitchen sink.

I have tomatoes, cucumber and eggplant seedlings waiting to be planted and lots of seeds to get in but things are looking good.

Isn't it great to get earth under your fingernails? I've been doing this since I was three years old when my Daddy let me plant the big seeds!

Your gardens and homes are just wonderful..
 

I have a tree peony - a pink one. It's going to bloom soon and I adore it. I bought it years ago for $12,98 but they are out of sight now! I have tons of regular peonies, some of them are ones my great-great grandma brought from Ireland in the 1950's.

Gardening is so good for the soul - and the body!

I have a pink tree peony, too, but I don't remember how much I paid for it, since I've had it a long time. It couldn't have been too much, though, or I would have never bought it. When it's in bloom, the flowers are just gorgeous! I spent the morning filling my planters and flower beds full of dahlias, snapdragons, verbena, lobelia, geraniums, marigolds, dusty miller, tuberous begonias, New Guinea impatiens, Gerbera daisies, and a really pretty new petunia I found called "Raspberry Blast." I definitely have dirt under my fingernails, but I was in my glory! There's nothing I love to do more than play in the dirt. :)
Your lilac is beautiful, Ruth! I just have the common purple lilacs, but I love them and really enjoy the fragrance. Several years ago I had a yellow lilac, but it never did very well and we had to dig it out.

Oooh thanks for sharing all the pics gals! This year I will have to live vicariously through all you Ms Green Jeans!

Originally Posted by choices:
Do any of you do roses? I am getting hammered with aphids..they are on my honeysuckle climer,as well as the roses..I try not to spray anything bad for the enviorment..but washing with soapy water is just too time consuming..any advice?

I really like to go organic too, but living in S. Louisiana (land of bugs and humidity) I have to call in the big guns on my roses. For aphids, I use Gordon's systemic rose, flower and shrub care. You sprinkle the granules around the base of the plants and it fertilizes and controls insects. I use it on my roses and on my crepe myrtles and cannas. It works for about 6 weeks. I spray them weekly with Bayer Advanced All-In-One Rose & Flower Care to control black spot and other diseases. Both work very well for me.
If you can't find either of those (Lowes carries the bayer stuff), check with your local feed store for something similar.

Wow...Cat, your garden is phenomenal!!! :love: I adore all the statues and the roses and callas...I miss that kind of gardening (where plants are there year round!). I'm so sorry about Katrina...what a terrible time that must have been (and I'm sure, continues to be...). How are your relatives doing now? Did your birthday banana make it after all? You really treasure the things that survive...we had a horrible earthquake when I lived in CA...and the little things that made it made such a difference for us. My dad and I ran out during a lull in aftershocks and moved the block wall off my mom's roses...they made it and it made such a difference to us all to see them alive. :cry:

Cotttage, I'm sure your garden looks AMAZING!!!!!! I've never seen white salvia or red bachelor's buttons! Wow!!! I know I got a red version of a daisy-ish flower that shows up near the end of summer, but I've forgotten what it is. :?: :chin: Do you know how to get your pictures on your computer from the camera? If so, try uploading them using www.photobucket.com That's what I use...it's SUPER easy, because under each picture is the HTML code for putting it on here...it's the third one down (or the bottom link).

Ruth, love the story about your dad and the "big seeds" :lol: :hug: That's lovely!!! I used to garden with my mom. Earth beneath your toes and fingernails is wonderful!!! :cloud9: Your lilacs amaze me! I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't think violets are a weed. I love them! :love: I got a rhubarb plant at the nursery but it's still a baby...do you think it'll make rhubarb this year or will it take too long to make the season? Also, we planted bare root raspberry bushes this week--do you think we'll get berries this year or that we'll have to wait for next year?

Finished putting in our veggie garden this weekend--we have:

• tomatoes (sweet 100, big boy, yellow ones, roma)
• peppers (green/red bell, sweet banana)
• zucchini
• pumpkins
• green beans (bush and filet)
• herbs (cilantro, basil, dill)
• perennial herbs (parsley, pineapple sage, orange thyme, oregano)
• mesclun mix and lettuce
• carrots
• corn
• raspberries, blueberries, strawberries (most of them in pots)
• rhubarb

It's a big variety this year...looking forward to it! :love: :cloud9:

Some more...

Ahhh, I love hearing your garden stories, Schatzi...but I understand why it's too much this year. :hug: *sniff* I hope that you'll have lots of stories next year! The comic was fantastic!!! :lol: :rofl:

Choices, have you thought about ladybugs? There's nothing better for aphids...they think they are gourmet eating! :T Talk to a nursery about the best way to attract them. :chin:

I've never had a peony, but I'd love them. Choices, I found a lot of cheap perennials at the end of the season last year. That's a great way to get them...plus planting in the fall is a great thing to do! :idea:

Hey, do you guys count gardening as exercise? :chin:

I am completely organic in my veggie garden but find I cannot grow roses without chemicals so..... Spraying damned aphids with rubbing alcohol works but sure is time consuming!

Every spring I seem to buy a new toy that is supposed to make life easier and my garden perfect. :lol:

I just got a B&D Garden CUltivator and am looking forward to using it. It was listed at around $100 but my neighbour who works at B&D got it for me for $53.

What's your favourite garden toy? And does anyone have one of these gadgets?

I wanted to rework my yard this year - I had moved into this home about 3 years ago and the owner had a lot of lovely hedges and plants way way way in the back and I want to move them around. Is it too late - should I wait until fall? Also have some peonies that are about to bloom - I am thinking I should wait until after they bloom then cut them down and move them.

I also have some hedges but I tried to transplant one and even with root tone its not doing well. Any tips?

Planted some annuals and herbs that look nice as well as some cantelope. Not sure how that will fare.

We've been trimming up our trees and mulching. Need to do some major clipping this week. Who needs the tredmill!

Enjoy....Sue

Good morning, Sue. It's nice to see you here and finding your way around the Beach.

Peonies are best moved in late August or early September in your Garden area. As to the hedges, it depends on the type. If it's a well established planting, moving won't be too successfull. The same for the other plants in that area although they can be moved. The general rule is move spring flowering plants in the late summer and summer flowering plants in the Spring.

The wild honeysuckle has just come into bloom and smells wonderful this morning!

Also, Sue, when you transplant something, try to dig up as much of the root ball as possible, with a lot of soil attached. The less you disturb the roots, the better. And water, water, water, until your plant is established in it's new location.

My favorite garden toy is a Garden Weazle. It makes quick work of tilling up the soil, just like your new Cultivator does, Ruth, except that mine was free, a gift from my son.

Cottage, I have one but, with my clay soil, it's quite a struggle! It works fine just after a rain though.

Thanks ladies. I'll have some time in early September when the kids are in school to try that. They will have to work their kickball game around it in the meantime.

Sue

Hi Ruth- I moved my question over here.

Can you freeze herb or dry them out for the winter. I so new at the garden thing.

Little Chick - some freeze, some dry and some are preserved in oil. Let me know what herbs and I'll tell you my method.

I have orengno(?), lavender, mint,spearmint, chives, garlic chives and tyme. Not to many just wanted to see if I could do it.

They can all be dried. Here's an article that has suggestions.