Anyone doing a garden?

[RickeyM]

Like I said I've got backup started indoors so we'll see which is doing what in 6-8 weeks. I checked my journal from last year and I'm about a month earlier starting sweet peppers and tomatoes. Two weeks ahead of the onion starts of last year but I'm sowing onion seeds this time.

 

[orsen]

no food,but a few hundred flowers for the back yard.
i have never done this, all seed are harvested from my yard, perennials and annuals.

 

[LHorn]

Here goes the turmeric experiment. Store bought (package says from Fiji) so I have no idea if its been treated or irradiated to stop growth. It seems impossible to find a source of rhizomes to grow...they all cut off the eyes so they wont grow. The few that do sell them have very bad reviews.

 

[RickeyM]

I've got Bell pepper seeds sprouting after nine days These seeds are all from store bought peppers. Now to keep them alive and growing to transplants.

 

[RickeyM]

Thirty four pepper seedlings culled down to fifteen. The rest were given to my neighbor down the street who said his seeds were taking their own sweet time germinating/sprouting.
The Romaine starts I planted are doing fine. New leaves and nothing is leaning over.
The radish seeds I planted among the lettuce have sprouted and are growing well.
The carrot seeds have just about all sprouted and need to be thinned before they really get going.
The onion seeds have me worried. So far only one green shoot has poked up through the soil. To reseed or go with onion starts

 

[CT Jim]

All my peppers and tomatoes are in, as well as cucs, melons, onion starts,etc.
Carrots, wtf, why do I bother I planted 3 short rows all different, of course one did nothing, and the other two are spotty.
I think I’ll just concentrate on my 10 diff peppers, chilis, some bell, Italian Long’s, etc.
My lettuce bed is outstanding this year. I’ll put a shade cover on the hoops soon to keep the temps down.

 

[RickeyM]

I harvested some Romaine for a salad yesterday.I've had to spray some insecticide soap because something munched on the radishes leaves. Something nibbled on lower leaves on the lettuce too. Something knocked over one of the lettuce plants. Clean off right at the soil level. Maybe something didn't like the insecticide soap? I'll just put some Romaine seeds there and see what happens. The carrot seeds have sprouted. My pepper seedlings are coming along but I managed to kill my tomato seedlings so I bought a couple of replacements.

 

[rxonmymind]

Woohoo. It's time.
Trinidad, Scotch bonnet, habanero, Thai and your usual tomatoes ans one tomatoe that's labeled "blue berries". That one should be interesting.

 

[LHorn]

Well the turmeric experiment was a bust...not even one tiny root started.

The peppers have been lagging too. My starter soil didnt get here by the time my seeds germinated so I had to sterilize some of last years soil to get the seeds planted. They didnt seem to like that or I had the lights on too high at first. A lot of them had the leaves turn purple/black...but when I transplanted them to the solo cups yesterday even the smallest plants had some nice roots. So we'll see...got another month before they can go outside.

 

[Doghouse]

The effort some put in is very impressive. Makes me feel quite tired.

I designed a labour saving garden nearly forty years ago.
No veg, no annuals, no hanging baskets.
Little changes from year to year. Stuff grows and has to be pruned, but that's about it. Very occasional additions to replace losses.

It's early yet, and stuff is only just beginning to come out.
The twelve roses on this patio are doing well.



As are our two acer palmatums. The biggest job this year was re-turfing the area under this one. Two rolls did it, two weeks ago and it's doing well. I need to keep the "skirt" this short, so the area under it gets more sun this year.



A few of our seven wisterias are just about out.



These bricks along the main border and around feature beds, means no "edging" of the lawn is required. A job well saved.

The first of our many azaleas are out.




With a lot of rhodos to follow.

The lawn will need mowing some time over the holiday, then I can relax on the veranda of our summerhouse with a beer.




and play a few records. The beer fridge is on castors so I can roll it out.




"Gardening's all go, innit?"

 

[Doghouse]

One of my labour-saving, I won't say "initiatives" as someone else on a gardening message board gave me the idea.

We've a lot of Apta glazed pots, (mostly for roses), which are quite heavy. Including three of the largest size.

One of these is screwed to the side of the step in front of our front door.
Throughout the year, we ring the changes of what we put in it.
I grow different plants in plastic pots, that live for much of the year in different locations in the back garden.
When their time comes round, it's easy to just swop them over.
Saves humping big glazed pots around.

This heather, which I put here a few months ago, was beginning to fade.



So yesterday I replace it with this azalea.



There's a couple of roses which will become available later in the year.

 

[orsen]

another couple weeks to be safely frost free.
moving stuff in and out to harden off
there are 6 more trays in another room, pansy,phlox,petunia.
you can put 2 putunia seed on the head of a pin!

 

[orsen]

i have 2 plots of perennials will be adding delphinium and wallflowers to that this year.
this will be the big vine yr, virginia creeper, moonflowers and morning glory.
i hated putting out too much money every yr for instant satisfaction and then throwing it away at the end of the yr.
this year hundreds of flowers will have cost under $200 canuck bucs

 

[Doghouse]

The azalea in the pot by the front door, I mentioned earlier, is now in full bloom.



Well worth the £18 I paid for it in B&Q in March.

 

[2N697]

Here in SW MO the weather is beginning to change after what has been a fairly cool spring.


Getting a fair amount of Asparagus as long as I keep it watered.


Irises are in bloom.

Time to harvest the greens before they turn bitter.
I really love seeing all the photos posted here and sharing what is happening at all these different locations and climates.

 

[RickeyM]

My Romaine is growing like gangbusters. My strawberries are producing nicely too. That includes the little Alpine strawberries I started four years ago and neglected since last Fall. The tomatoes I planted deep in their pots are several inches above the rim of their pots. One even has some buds on it. The peppers are in but they really don't get going until June. To attract some pollinators I'm growing Borage, Snapdragons, with some Dill and Bee Balm volunteers that sprung up in one of the raised beds. I put the Dill plants over in the flower bed and the Bee Balm into some pots. In the vacated raised bed I sowed some African Daisy seeds but at least three different variety of seedlings have sprung up and I have no idea what is what yet

 

[RickeyM]

The city opened up sections of the sidewalk out front to plant trees and they became a magnet for trash and cigarette butts. Taking matters into my own hands I sowed wildflower seeds there last year. Here's some perennials that came back from last year and some annuals that self seeded themselves.

 

[CT Jim]

The start of the season! The first pepper of the year, a Jimmy Nardello showing good size. Most of the other peppers are showing both fruit and flowers!!
Happy Gardening to all!!

 

[rxonmymind]

Made my first 4x2 planter box. Made a few mistakes but felt good about the end result. Going to plant mint, basil and cilantro. Cost was $45 and the 2x4 were naked untreated pine given to me free. Everything is pine. It's a one off for the season and will be replaced with something more robust if we like it.
Oh and picked up a portable Ridged table saw for $80 to help with the project. Might be cool to make a 2x2 planter box next for individual plants.
Edit: Additional photos from the garden.

 

[Bogframe]

The new house came with a small plot in the front where the builders wanted to plant some scrubby-assed bushes. I told them no thanks and The Lovely Blanche put down a border of flowers. I have a row of basil, a row of assorted peppers and a row of assorted tomatoes. I have to get some more mulch down to smother the weeds, but everything seems to be doing alright in this Illinois clay! I also got a Chicago Hardy Fig tree for the front yard. Although we had a balcony container garden in Brooklyn, this is the first time I've had plants in the actual ground since the late 80s. It was a lot easier in my 20s than it is in my 60s!