This Peony flower is absolutely crazy -- just a single stem with a closed bulb on the end. It bloomed to a large flower in just a couple of hours once the stem was placed in a vase with water -- then kept blooming even larger for a few days, now it's turned from pink to white. I don't care about flowers, and my wife thinks traditional flowers are a waste of money -- but this single stem has us both amazed.
Anyone doing a garden?
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This Peony flower is absolutely crazy -- just a single stem with a closed bulb on the end. It bloomed to a large flower in just a couple of hours once the stem was placed in a vase with water -- then kept blooming even larger for a few days, now it's turned from pink to white. I don't care about flowers, and my wife thinks traditional flowers are a waste of money -- but this single stem has us both amazed.
N0rt0n
Super Member
I rarely get to see mine, the deer like them more along with cone-flower, Iris, Tiger Lillies and Hasta
Yeah, it's absolutely crazy, and not something you can appreciate at all until you've been through it. I don't know if there area is just naturally rocky or if some of the rocks were dumped in our yard 70 years ago when the neighborhood was developed, but it's just a crazy number of rocks. We had some very significant drainage put in the yard a few years ago, and the amount of rock unearthed was crazy -- from 1/2" to 10" -- most of them 3-6" or so. All of it is tan rock that is generally about 1" thick. My brother-in-law wanted the larger rocks for an area of his front yard, so we transferred at least 8,000 lbs of rocks from what came up from digging to his front yard. It was an insane effort, but worth it in the long run.
Never derockified the garden area, and it grew well last year, so I'm curious to see how this year turns out.
I live in a river valley so if I dig down 2" anywhere in my yard its nothing but river rocks. It's a nightmare just driving the 10 rebar stakes in for the hoops for my peppers. I have an old foot long 3/8" drill bit that I pre-drill first into the ground to see if it will be clear of rocks. Move a couple inches over...try again...rinse and repeat until I get a clear path to drive the rebar in.
Peppers are starting their vegetative growth now and since its been cool weather I'm already having to remove flower buds to prevent them from flowering. Really need to get some sun here...going on the second week of nothing but rain and cold.
Rain barrels have been fill many times over. I still need to get a pump set up for that too but a good one that has pressure and a shut off is like $100 or so. Lotta money for just one use. I'm wondering if a cheap pressure washer could be used without a nozzle so I could at least use it for other things.
Nature is amazing. I planted bush beans and pole beans which are both doing well. I sunk thin bamboo poles at the pole beans and it's amazing to see how they have tendrils winding their way up the poles. The radishes, which grow quickly, are ready to be picked.
Yesterday I went over to the "dark side". Yes, it's true. I bought a tomato plant. I've got one seedling that's doing well but the others are lagging so I bought a small but established plant. German Queen variety. I planted both tomato plants deep in their pots after removing about a third of the old soil, removing the bottom sets of leaves on the new plant. As the plants grow I'll be snipping off the bottom leaves and adding soil. This way I should end up with around six more inches of stem in soil from which even more roots will grow.
The first time doing it I've planted some herbs. Chives, basil, spring onions and next parsley. Mainly because these are said to attract pollinators. Here we seem to be in a rainy weather pattern. With a little warmth and sunshine next month things ought to really start moving.
Yesterday I went over to the "dark side". Yes, it's true. I bought a tomato plant. I've got one seedling that's doing well but the others are lagging so I bought a small but established plant. German Queen variety. I planted both tomato plants deep in their pots after removing about a third of the old soil, removing the bottom sets of leaves on the new plant. As the plants grow I'll be snipping off the bottom leaves and adding soil. This way I should end up with around six more inches of stem in soil from which even more roots will grow.
The first time doing it I've planted some herbs. Chives, basil, spring onions and next parsley. Mainly because these are said to attract pollinators. Here we seem to be in a rainy weather pattern. With a little warmth and sunshine next month things ought to really start moving.
I have chives planted in a pot. I do literally nothing to it and it thrives. I leave it outside all winter and it comes back every year.
Tomatoes coming up (Rutgers and Yellowstar), finally in cold zone 4 PA
I know its not fair, but living in zone 8B we get a pretty early start, now those further south are even ahead of us.
A few quik pics from the garden. I am ready to selectively harvest peppers, Mama Giallo, Aconcagua, and Jimmy Nardello are already putting out, sweet cherry and Buffy are catching up.
Some cucs and some zucchini, very happy with how all the spring prep seems to have fixed my growing issues.
My tomatoes in both fabric pots and raised bed are turning into a jungle.
Starting harvesting my early garlic, called Early Portuguese softneck and they look nice. Some Italian softneck are ready is a week or so.
I am pumped so far!!!
A few quik pics from the garden. I am ready to selectively harvest peppers, Mama Giallo, Aconcagua, and Jimmy Nardello are already putting out, sweet cherry and Buffy are catching up.
Some cucs and some zucchini, very happy with how all the spring prep seems to have fixed my growing issues.
My tomatoes in both fabric pots and raised bed are turning into a jungle.
Starting harvesting my early garlic, called Early Portuguese softneck and they look nice. Some Italian softneck are ready is a week or so.
I am pumped so far!!!
A zone 4 in Pa? I guess that could be here in 6B too sometimes...going down to the mid 40's for the next couple nights. I've been plucking 10-15 flowers off the pepper plants as is...this will really trigger them. Oh well.
I've got one pepper plant, Liberty Bell, already fruiting. I haven't even begun hitting it with the bloom booster fertilizer yet. At this point I wonder if plucking the peppers will encourage it to grow bigger or produce more flowers.
From what I've read and experienced myself, plants have two stages. First comes the growth stage in which the plant puts its energy into roots and foliage to mature. Then in the fruiting stage the plant focuses most of its energy into flowering and the fruits. If they dont have that growth and especially lots of leaves to convert energy they will not produce as many and as big of fruits. Plants know their limitations and if it only has enough growth to focus on one fruit making it to seed it will. Also I've the consequences of fewer leaves...lots of sunscald from not having that cover.
I pluck the flowers but usually if left go in these conditions the flowers will drop off on their own anyway. Same as when it starts getting really hot out they will shed flowers. I guess it depends on the type of plant and if its near its mature height and sturdy enough to support heavy fruit. But again...no expert here for sure.
At first I was getting some leaf droop by midday so I draped shade cloth over the raised bed. The result was no drooping leaves. The other day I gave them a deep watering early, didn't over and
the leaves didn't droop even though it was hot and sunny. It seems that unless I see signs of overwatering the peppers along with the tomatoes will get a daily watering.
Speaking of tomatoes When I pottet my one grown from seed and the one I bought I started them in the pots with the soil a little more than halfway filled. As they've grown I've cut off lower branches and added soil to the pots. So far both are showing good growth.
Something I've seen on Youtube is pruning onion plants. Any of the above ground leaves(?) that flop over get cut so as not to stop the bulb growth.
the leaves didn't droop even though it was hot and sunny. It seems that unless I see signs of overwatering the peppers along with the tomatoes will get a daily watering.
Speaking of tomatoes When I pottet my one grown from seed and the one I bought I started them in the pots with the soil a little more than halfway filled. As they've grown I've cut off lower branches and added soil to the pots. So far both are showing good growth.
Something I've seen on Youtube is pruning onion plants. Any of the above ground leaves(?) that flop over get cut so as not to stop the bulb growth.
Same here...my peppers are finally able to take full sun without wilting now. What sucks is the plants act the same with too much or too little water...or too much heat. One thing to watch for is edema like in the pic below. This can happen with too much water but also too much fertilizer...which was the case in this one last year.
Latest pic...I'm debating pruning the taller ones that have reached the top of the cages. They can get unruly to deal with once they hit 3' or so. They have a lot of fruits growing now despite the very cool temps lately. Insects have been really bad this year without a deep freeze last winter to kill some off.
Now, I don't generally like tomatoes, something about the gloopy texture, tho some of the firmer heirlooms are fine. Anyway, we grew tomatoes out doors the first few years we lived here - there were not a lot of back yard sunny spots back then so we were limited WHERE we could grow them. (We lost 3 trees a year back due to a horrific downdraft Emma calls a microBurst, but thats another story). We'd just start getting visible tomatoes when a bluejay or other bird would sample every one of the tomatoes, ruining the plant.
But we've always had 4 flower baskets on Shepherd's crooks by the front door, usually red begonias AT the end of the season a few years ago, when I brought down the baskets, I realized there were tomato plants in one of the baskets, so I trimmed the begonia and brought the plant indoors, in the south-facing front window, and added a grow light and timer once the days got shorter. Emma got cherry tomatoes off that plant from late december through mid-March.
I wanted to do that for Emma again, so I got seeds last winter from a couple online places - Early-girl, and heirloom Cherry tomatoes. I germinated them in my desk drawer in wet paper towel and planted the sprouts in a couple pots in the front window, under a suspended grow light on a timer (and a supplemental Quad-led stalk lamp).
They now have blooms on them and are looking good - maybe harvest some in July?
The orchid was a gift for Emma in 2018, and it was miserable for a few years until I replanted in a bigger pot.
Its been blooming pretty steady since April after I cut off a lot of the upper sucker stalks.
But we've always had 4 flower baskets on Shepherd's crooks by the front door, usually red begonias AT the end of the season a few years ago, when I brought down the baskets, I realized there were tomato plants in one of the baskets, so I trimmed the begonia and brought the plant indoors, in the south-facing front window, and added a grow light and timer once the days got shorter. Emma got cherry tomatoes off that plant from late december through mid-March.
I wanted to do that for Emma again, so I got seeds last winter from a couple online places - Early-girl, and heirloom Cherry tomatoes. I germinated them in my desk drawer in wet paper towel and planted the sprouts in a couple pots in the front window, under a suspended grow light on a timer (and a supplemental Quad-led stalk lamp).
They now have blooms on them and are looking good - maybe harvest some in July?
The orchid was a gift for Emma in 2018, and it was miserable for a few years until I replanted in a bigger pot.
Its been blooming pretty steady since April after I cut off a lot of the upper sucker stalks.
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