The garden's starting to come alive!

As usual, I'm trying to figure out where I'll put all the 'stuff' I ordered for the garden. I have a climbing rose coming next month, some sweet potatoes, and other flowering plants (ordered them, forgot what they are) :rolleyes: :D

Got some Kale and Chicory seeds today, and black radishes. Guess some of those can go in the big veggie garden, and the others in the herb garden.
 
I know the feeling, Anne. I must confess that I have let some poor plants die because circumstance wouldn't let me get around to giving them a proper planting. Good intentions gone wrong..,
 
This year l'm planting more seeds instead of buying plants. I should have started them in pots earlier, but I confess to being lazy. They're going straight into the ground and hope at least some will come up. I have so many seeds I don't know where I'll possibly put them all. I spent the afternoon rotoilling up more space yesterday. I'm concentrating mostly on perennials, so maybe eventually I won't have to keep doing this.
 
. . . then ya gotta prune them perennials... There just ain't no way around it, Ozarkgal. Good luck with your seeds. Hope a majority of them sprout...
 
That Guy said:
. . . then ya gotta prune them perennials... There just ain't no way around it, Ozarkgal. Good luck with your seeds. Hope a majority of them sprout...
Click to expand...


Ain't it the truth..today, as I was rototilling yet another spot for all those seeds, digging out rocks and lugging bags of humus, and likely undoing the medial branch rhizotomy procedure I had done on my back two short weeks ago, I asked myself why can't I take up less brutal on the body hobbies, such as watercolors or writing short stories...first it was horses for 40 years, and now gardening...doubt this will last 40 years though.

Also, I have never mastered the fine art of moderation..if one plant is nice, four are better...kind of like filling your plate when you're hungry..eyes bigger than stomach thing....gotta have plants, worry later where to put them and whether the old back will withstand the torment.

That Guy, I had to chuckle when you mentioned moving rocks in an earlier post. I have moved literally tons of rocks around here making retaining walls and tree and garden edging. I have an endless supply on the creek and in the cleared area. I go out in the morning sometimes and I have a new crop popping up in the yard.....I am first and foremost a rock farmer!:rolleyes:
 
We love our rocks! I have actually pulled over to the side of the road to collect a nice stone.

Please, please take care of your back.
 
AAARRRRRGGGGGG!!!!! Just noticed around 11 PM that we're having a frost warning tonight. I was already snuggled up in my jammies, but we decided we should cover up the newly planted peppers and some of the flowers that are just beginning to peek up. Put my clothes back on, grabbed my bag of old sheets I use for dust covers and headed out to cover plants.

WHAT THE HECK IS UP WITH THIS WEATHER??? BRRRR..it's cold out there!
 
The weather guessers said we'd get to 37 this morning so I didn't cover anything. Brooke had just put her Sweet Bay tree outside too. I sure hope we didn't get frost.
 
rkunsaw...Did you get frost on the pumpking last night? I'm glad we covered up the important things last night, since we woke up to frost this morning. I would have been sick if I had lost the plants I worked so hard getting in. I noticed the other day that my newly planted crepe myrtle tree got frost bitten during the last frost.:( Hope it makes it.
 
They say it only got to 36 here, but my sweet potatoes don't look too good. Everything else seems to be okay. I sure hope everything makes it. A lot of work for nuthin if we lose what we plant.

Last year the drought ruined a lot of my garden. Mother nature can be mean.
 
I planted about 60 sunflower seeds in peat pots for replanting later. They are currently about 6" tall and starting to fall over, so my gardening friends, my question is "do they need to be tied to a stake to keep them straight when they get replanted into the ground?"
 
I planted a row of sunflower, just seeds in the ground. They are all sprouting up now and will soon have to be divided. That's the problem with planting seeds, you don't know how many you're actually going to get then more bending over to divide.

Yesterday, I had a productive garden day. I dug some ferns up that grow wild up the road and transplanted them to my shade garden, and found a nice mossy rock to add. Then I dug a pit for my compost pile and set my little Rubbermaid house over it. This is one of my several attempts to compost, just never seem to be able to stick with it. I also got a bunch more seeds planted and this morning it is raining. I hope it will be just enough to get the ground good and wet and not a gully washer that spreads them to kingdom come.
 
rkunsaw said:
They say it only got to 36 here, but my sweet potatoes don't look too good. Everything else seems to be okay. I sure hope everything makes it. A lot of work for nuthin if we lose what we plant.

Last year the drought ruined a lot of my garden. Mother nature can be mean.
Click to expand...

I think I lost my crepe myrtle this go around. It got pretty damaged in the last frost, and now after yesterday, it's really looking sick.

Next year if I decide to garden, I'm doing this differently. Every thing will get started in pots, and plants I do buy will not get set out until May. I'm tired of trying to out guess Mother Nature who seems bent on playing havoc with my gardening efforts. This is too back breaking for me to invest so much time, not to mention $$ into it to have it all wiped out overnight. I'm starting to seriously rethink this gardening thing and let nature have it's way around here.

Call me discouraged!!
 
TICA said:
I planted about 60 sunflower seeds in peat pots for replanting later. They are currently about 6" tall and starting to fall over, so my gardening friends, my question is "do they need to be tied to a stake to keep them straight when they get replanted into the ground?"
Click to expand...

Always have come across the same problem. Yeah, a little stick to keep 'em standing 'til they're strong enough to do it on their own will help. It's pretty easy to just plop the pot in the ground with a stick . . . well, in this case, 60 times. When they grow up, it'll be beautiful!
 
I found with a lot of plants, that planting them deeper will work, too. They root more on the stem then, and have a stronger root system. Not sure if this would work with sunflowers, but I don't see why not.
 
We had sunflowers at our last place, some over 12 feet tall, and they didn't have any support.We put the seeds directly in the ground.

Thursday morning I tilled the last part of the big garden and planted the corn. That afternoon I got a load of horse manure and started spreading it on the lawn. Yesterday morning we finished spreading the manure just before the rain started. It rained off and on most of the day and night and is doing the same this morning.

Everything is now planted except for some pepper seedlings that aren't big enough yet. Now I just have to wait and see what mother nature does with it.
 
I recall reading that the wind moving a plant around actually helps strengthen the stem. Those little cells get some exercise and flex their muscles.

Sunflowers and sweet peas I got into the ground are doing fine with no hungry vistors. Was going to water this morning but the ground is damp around them so holding off. Watering is my favorite chore in the garden and have to be careful not to drown everything.

Got some cactus (cacti . . . if goose are geese and mice are meese, then cactus should be cacteese . . . ). So, gonna enjoy adding them to the rock garden today.
 
Well, out of the 60 sunflowers I started, a total of about 10 made it into the ground. Most of them broke getting them out of the plastic container and those that almost made it, were run over by the dogs and broke as well. I'm not giving up though!! I planted a bunch more in square peat pots that say you plant the whole works into the ground. I'll have sunflowers this summer if it kills me doing it!!
 
I share your experience with sunflowers 100%. The peat pots are a great solution and keeping the dogs away . . . well, sometimes a small fence can help. I'm callin' 10 outta 60 a pretty good beginning.
 
Have always wanted to build a greenhouse. Maybe someday. Before Santa Clara Valley degraded into Silicon Gulch, the flower growers had greenhouses everywhere. Those and the orchards were a beautiful sight . . . Blossom Hill is now just suburbia.

So, the infamous "harmless" spittle bugs have made their appearance once again. Don't know how they could be harmless when they're sucking juice outta the plants and will eventually become the dreaded leaf hoppers. Supposedly, a jet of water from the hose will knock 'em off but it's a constant battle and I'm now on the hunt every morning. If it gets bad, gonna have to break out the ol' insecticidal soap.

Made insecticide from cigarette butts and a little detergent once. Darned stuff got on my hands while spraying aphids and had me dizzier than a 10 year-old sneaking his first smoke. Gone with the commercial safer stuff ever since.

Happy bug killing, everyone!
 
TICA said:
Well, out of the 60 sunflowers I started, a total of about 10 made it into the ground. Most of them broke getting them out of the plastic container and those that almost made it, were run over by the dogs and broke as well. I'm not giving up though!! I planted a bunch more in square peat pots that say you plant the whole works into the ground. I'll have sunflowers this summer if it kills me doing it!!
Click to expand...

TICA...The same thing happened to me last year, my first year of trying sunflowers. I found out they are very delicate and I lost most of them trying to transplant them. This year I planted seeds straight into the ground from heads I saved from last year. I didn't have much hope they would grow, but the good news is that every seed I planted seems to have sprouted. The bad news is now I have to thin them. I laid some chicken wire over them until they get big enough to not be damaged by the Gangstas and cats. The animals don't like walking on the wire.
 
I planted tons of flower seeds, and still have more that need to go somewhere. Some I saved from last year and some I bought both last year and this year. I have things popping up everywhere. I can't tell weeds from flowers yet, but if even half of them are flowers and they make it, it's going to be colorful. I am not a disciplined gardener and tend to get impatient and just throw seeds down, cover them and hope for the best, then forget what I planted where. I call it my garden surprises.
garden-013.gif
garderner-011.gif
 
Ozarkgal said:
TICA...The same thing happened to me last year, my first year of trying sunflowers. I found out they are very delicate and I lost most of them trying to transplant them. This year I planted seeds straight into the ground from heads I saved from last year. I didn't have much hope they would grow, but the good news is that every seed I planted seems to have sprouted. The bad news is now I have to thin them. I laid some chicken wire over them until they get big enough to not be damaged by the Gangstas and cats. The animals don't like walking on the wire.
Click to expand...

I'm on to the second round of the sunflower drama. The seeds in the peat pots are starting to sprout. It's still quite cold at night here, but slowly warming up during the days so I'll probably wait at least another week before putting them outside. So far, 3 sprouts are up from the new batch. I'm making it my mission to have sunflowers this year!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top