Gardening!

[CestLaVie]

I just finished planting mine this weekend! It was a real bitch.



I put in radishes, yellow squash, spaghetti squash, watermelon, cucumber, zucchini, 2 rows of carrots, green beans, purple beans, peas, and corn on the cob. And he rheubarb is always there. All the fingers crossed that it actually works out this year!!

[olenka]

I pinch the suckers off tomatoes.

I have carrots, cukes, radishes, kohlrabi, potatoes, pumpkins, mixed greens, and dill in the ground. We have a couple tomato plants and need to get a couple more. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and hops are coming in.

I planted a red dye amaranth plant last year and it has self seeded all over the place. So that's fun. :/

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[nuggetrn]

We just went to my in laws to pick up day lillies my MIL split for me and we are driving away with a truck bed FULL of plants!!

I now have hostas, an annabelle, geranium, day lillies, fescue, some stonecrop sedum (sp?) annnnd that night be all? We have doubled our work for the day but I am excited!

[GhoatMonket]

May 29, 2017 8:31:23 GMT -6 pianolove said:

May 29, 2017 7:23:49 GMT -6 GhoatMonket said:

That's a new one! 

We always put blood meal and bone meal in every hole. Bury the bottom 1/3 of the plant (which gets entertaining when you put them in late), hole needs to be twice the width of the current leaf spread (also entertaining when you do them late). 

And that's new to me! Have you seen a difference in your tomatoes since you put blood and bone meal in the holes?

Fwiw there is no difference with or without baby aspirin lol

I have never not done that. My step dad (80 years olf) got that from his parents. Their plants always overflow their 6' cages.

[sunfrogger]

I kill all the things... But I'd love a veggie garden. Where do I start??

[Lord Disick]

I've been watching my garden nervously for the past two weeks and I'm hoping I go home today and shit's actually growing.

[pianolove]

May 29, 2017 9:51:10 GMT -6 GhoatMonket said:

May 29, 2017 8:31:23 GMT -6 pianolove said:

And that's new to me! Have you seen a difference in your tomatoes since you put blood and bone meal in the holes?

Fwiw there is no difference with or without baby aspirin lol

I have never not done that. My step dad (80 years olf) got that from his parents. Their plants always overflow their 6' cages.

That is straight up fascinating.

[CestLaVie]

May 29, 2017 9:56:23 GMT -6 sunfrogger said:

I kill all the things... But I'd love a veggie garden. Where do I start??

zucchini haha. the year I had DD I planted it and then didn't revisit it again until the fall and I still got zuchinni and carrots

[cinnamon]

I think the suckers would depend on whether you had determinate or indeterminate tomatoes?

Anyways, gardening is my favorite hobby. We grow collards, beans, radishes, carrots, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, cucumber, okra, winter squash, basil, oregano, dill, sage, hyssop, chamomile, grapes, blackberry, blueberry, apples, and a variety of flowers. We've had a slow start due to a colder than average spring, but I'm hoping things speed along here soon.

[nuggetrn]

May 29, 2017 10:39:38 GMT -6 AmyG said:

May 29, 2017 7:55:15 GMT -6 nuggetrn said:

We are having a hard time finding dirt to have our raised beds filled. We waited too long it seems. We are about to just scrap the idea and till up the ground, maybe buy a few bags of manure to till in as well.

On one hand I'm like this will save us money anyway! But I like having raised beds and they're already there. Bleh.

How deep are your raised beds? Have you considered filling the bed with straw bales? Then you "dig" a hole in the straw to plant -already started plants in pots are best filling in extra dirt around them and under them. Top the straw with as much dirt/soil/add manure as you can find/afford. The straw will begin to break down to add a lot of organic material to the dirt you have and stretch the dirt to fill the area. Keep adding any dirt soil you can even if it's bags every week or three from Home Depot

This is a good idea! Thank you We ended up getting some dirt from my dad's house. Which I am not thrilled about because he's one of those people who will hold this over my head for the rest of my life because he did some great big nice thing for me. Sigh.

But good for future reference and a reason not to accept his offer of help! Lol

[nuggetrn]

We have been so so busy today. I am going to come back with so many updates and pictures after my phone charges for a while!

[mananana]

I love reading about everyone's gardening projects!
We have our first red strawberry! Guess the kids will have to fight for it if a few more don't follow. 😁

Beans and zucchini are up and I think our lettuce will be ready to eat in a week or so. We buy tomato and pepper plants from the local nursery so those are coming along well. I've never suckered our tomato plants and they've done okay. I knew about doing that for berries but had no idea you should/could for tomatoes.

We're redoing the landscaping around our house too so we just bought hydrangea, astilbe, hostas, geraniums, and lanium today. We also planted raspberries this weekend.

[mananana]

I have a question: we started a pollinator garden last year and added to it this year. Last year we had several monarch caterpillars and some swallowtails. Our neighbor chemically treated her grass this year and our milkweed grows along the chain link fence that separates our yards. Can anyone more knowledgeable tell me if this poses a risk to caterpillars?

[Deleted]

May 29, 2017 13:57:27 GMT -6 mananana said:

I have a question: we started a pollinator garden last year and added to it this year. Last year we had several monarch caterpillars and some swallowtails. Our neighbor chemically treated her grass this year and our milkweed grows along the chain link fence that separates our yards. Can anyone more knowledgeable tell me if this poses a risk to caterpillars?

It could. Depends on the chemical used and how and when it was applied. I'm guessing a broadleaf herbicide to kill weeds in the lawn? In which case, if it didn't kill the milkweed plants they should be fine. If it's some kind of slow release fertilizer I'm not sure.
The Xerces Society is a good resource for info on pollinators!

[plorange]

I prune my tomatoes. Gardening in New England and summer is no where in site (in the 50s today). Our growing season is shorter so we need the fruit to be ready quick. I stick to smaller tomatoes (roma or cherry). Tomatoes also like lots of air, so I don't like the plant to bush out too much or it can get fungus and breed disease. It just doesn't get too hot over here, so that's what i do. Most people here trim back branches from what I see.

[plorange]

I'm still waiting for things to start warming up over here. I've got a new pumpkin garden with corn. I plan on focusing on tomatoes, onions, okra and tomatillos this year. I got some new strawberry plants and cleaned up my old ones last year, so i don't expect much fruit. My spring plants are coming in finally (peas, kale, arugula, carrots). I planted garlic last fall, so I am almost ready to harvest and try out making a garlic braid to hang in the kitchen. My husband started growing potatoes in burlap sacks. That looks interesting. They should be ready in late June. Fingers crossed the woodchuck doesn't get to them.

[poppyc8]

This is our back yard garden the large trees are plum and pear.

So far the peas, sunflower, raspberry, broccoli, garlic, onion, pumpkin, cucumber and kale are doing great.

The blueberry bushes for the 2nd year in a row are not flowering. Grrr. We have 7 of them and nothing.

The beets and carrot are doing average.


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[nuggetrn]

I am exhausted. But immensely pleased with everything we accomplished.

We planted everything from my MIL, she actually came over and basically laid everything out and I just let her. I planted most everything exactly where she told me to. We need mulch but I don't know if we want to spend the money. We shall see.

SPOILER: Click to show

We also got two raised beds going and tilled three other beds. I planted tomatoes, onion sets, sunflowers, watermelon, two types of corn and some transplanted gherkin cucumbers my dad gave me. I still have some cucumbers to transplant but I started them from seed and they are still so little right now.

SPOILER: Click to show

[honeylemon]

nuggetrn I love that bicycle planter!

[nuggetrn]

May 29, 2017 17:33:01 GMT -6 honeylemon said:

nuggetrn I love that bicycle planter!

Thank you!! I can't wait for the petunias to take off! It's so pretty when it is full of flowers.

[misskilljoy]

I have never pruned tomatoes but I grow cherry tomatoes and always have more than I could ever want. I planted a roma plant this year, so maybe I'll do what PP have suggested here.

My garden is fully planted - roma + two varieties of cherry tomatoes, cauliflower, summer squash, bush beans, shallots, onions, beets, carrots, lettuce, spinach, kalettes, potatoes, strawberries, chives, basil, marigolds. Most from seeds, but tomatoes + kalettes from starter plants. I do square foot gardening in a raised bed. Will replant some things as they're used. Trying to grow the cherry tomatoes and squash vertically this year, so we'll see how that goes!

I'm in Canada so there is very little to show for everything so far. Just a lot of plant babies.

[kellykapow]

I have a small raised garden. This year I planted a couple tomato plants, jalapeños, and bell peppers. My MIL bought a Carolina Reaper pepper plant that is still sitting in my windowsill. They are supposed to be super hot, and I'm a little afraid of it. Not sure if I should plant it with the rest of my garden.

I also have a small herb garden in a pot with cilantro, basil, and oregano.

I occasionally pinch off the suckers in my tomato plants, but I'm not consistent with it.

[mananana]

sunfrogger I'm a big fan of raised beds. It's easy to add compost each year and easier to loosen soil from year to year than when I've planted directly into the ground. Also fewer weeds to contend with in my experience.

There are lots of square foot gardening resources online. We started small our first year and are now up to four raised beds. I was afraid of killing all the things at first too, but it's been great!

[cinnamon]

May 29, 2017 14:33:59 GMT -6 poppyc8 said:

This is our back yard garden *snip*
The blueberry bushes for the 2nd year in a row are not flowering. Grrr. We have 7 of them and nothing.

We've had our same 3 blueberries for 6 years and last year was the first we have gotten anything. We had better luck once we started putting used coffee grounds around the base of each bush once a week ☺️

[GhoatMonket]

May 29, 2017 20:24:11 GMT -6 cinnamon said:

May 29, 2017 14:33:59 GMT -6 poppyc8 said:

This is our back yard garden *snip*
The blueberry bushes for the 2nd year in a row are not flowering. Grrr. We have 7 of them and nothing.

We've had our same 3 blueberries for 6 years and last year was the first we have gotten anything. We had better luck once we started putting used coffee grounds around the base of each bush once a week ☺️

Have you checked the soil pH? They like acidic soil. If they aren't flowering at all, this is probably the issue. The coffee grounds can help with that a little, but there is plant food that is made to help make the soil more acidic.


If they flower and don't produce, it's possible they are the wrong species for where you live, or you lack enough bees to pollinate. Other problems can be over or under watering- a layer of mulch can help with that. And it takes time. 3 years isn't unusual for them. They are fickle assholes.

[cinnamon]

May 29, 2017 20:58:23 GMT -6 GhoatMonket said:

May 29, 2017 20:24:11 GMT -6 cinnamon said:

We've had our same 3 blueberries for 6 years and last year was the first we have gotten anything. We had better luck once we started putting used coffee grounds around the base of each bush once a week ☺️

Have you checked the soil pH? They like acidic soil. If they aren't flowering at all, this is probably the issue. The coffee grounds can help with that a little, but there is plant food that is made to help make the soil more acidic.


If they flower and don't produce, it's possible they are the wrong species for where you live, or you lack enough bees to pollinate. Other problems can be over or under watering- a layer of mulch can help with that. And it takes time. 3 years isn't unusual for them. They are fickle assholes.

I guess I should have mentioned that we do use a soil acidifier as it was recommended by the greenhouse who sold it and I assumed this was the practice with most places (more money and all that). The coffee grounds just seemed to help, though it could have been age of the bushes too.

[GhoatMonket]

May 29, 2017 21:53:25 GMT -6 cinnamon said:

May 29, 2017 20:58:23 GMT -6 GhoatMonket said:

Have you checked the soil pH? They like acidic soil. If they aren't flowering at all, this is probably the issue. The coffee grounds can help with that a little, but there is plant food that is made to help make the soil more acidic.


If they flower and don't produce, it's possible they are the wrong species for where you live, or you lack enough bees to pollinate. Other problems can be over or under watering- a layer of mulch can help with that. And it takes time. 3 years isn't unusual for them. They are fickle assholes.

I guess I should have mentioned that we do use a soil acidifier as it was recommended by the greenhouse who sold it and I assumed this was the practice with most places (more money and all that). The coffee grounds just seemed to help, though it could have been age of the bushes too.

Yeah, we were not told that. Our poor bushes had no chance. I tried to save them, but it was too late.

[Lord Disick]

I thinned my starts this evening and it made me sad.

[nuggetrn]

May 29, 2017 22:46:08 GMT -6 Lord Disick said:

I thinned my starts this evening and it made me sad.

I am already not looking forward to this. Lol

And also now I feel kind of behind.

[pearbear]

Yesterday I planted two arborvitaes, a butterfly bush, two hardy hibiscus, 10 day lilies, 6 black eyed Susan's, and an azalea bush. I also spread 10 bags of mulch. Phew! I'm so sore today, but my back yard looks amazing and we are finally done planting for the summer.