Any gardeners out there?

by Banshee 39 Replies latest social physical

• 

  Banshee

  fairchild: Wow! Thanks a lot for the tips. Hubby & I have gotten a lot of practical tips like that (re: pests, esp.) from Organic Gardening magazine, too. Sounds like you are a busy bee with all you've got going there!

  Kenneson: I most certainly love growing and caring for my flowers. The sad thing is that I can't keep flowers in the house because my cats have a tendency to chew on any plants I bring in...even cut flowers they try to mess with!However, I really love my cats so I just work around this problem. I just got a couple of new rosebushes...A miniature rose with orange blooms and a full size that is supposed to have scarlet blooms (we'll see when it blooms, huh?). I'm putting some French marigolds, Shasta daisies, poppies, and various colored zinnias into my flowerbed, this year. I think it's great to have certain plants that are just there to be beautiful.

  P.S. Okay, I think I get the hint...*writing note to self, "Do NOT plant mint!"*
• 

  Purza

  Don't plant the same item in the same spot every year.

  Interesting. I did not know that. When we started gardening we had the WORST soil in the world. Heavy clay that would not even come off the shovel. We compost in the winter and add amendments to the garden boxes every year (its been 2 years).

  Unless you live in a very dry area, NEVER water your plants

  I am not so sure about this. We get hot sun, but we don't live in a very dry area, and sometimes the plants are downright wilting until they get a bit of water and they perk up almost immediately.

  Purza
• 

  ballistic

  ballistic: I don't think that loving gardening is an "old people" thing. After all, I am only 30 years old. And my brother, who is just a few yrs. older than me, loves gardening, too. Don't worry, some female will come along who appreciates your agricultural tendencies

  Sounds good, but all those people that keep telling me over the last ten years "dont look for a woman - she will come along" have to bear in mind I'm now 34.
• 

  fairchild

  Unless you live in a very dry area, NEVER water your plants

  I am not so sure about this. We get hot sun, but we don't live in a very dry area, and sometimes the plants are downright wilting until they get a bit of water and they perk up almost immediately.

  Yes, the hot sun will cause wilting. You do need to water when you have hot sun, I should have specified. I live in a rather cold area where 90 degrees is rather an exception.

  As for compost, I go into the woods and dig under dead tree boles. The soil is pitch black there. Then I mix it with the compost I have made from grass clippings, table scraps etc... good stuff! I also mulch my leaves in fall and go around the woods with a bucket to scoop up the deer poop. Everything gets mixed together and it makes some real good soil. It's a lot of work though, especially in a commercial garden.
• 

  Carmel

  Yep! Too busy dead heading to elaborate!

  carmel of the "move that one over to there, honey" class
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  jgnat

  Mine is all flowers except for some herbs and one pot of radishes. I have a tiny yard, facing north. So I pick what grows.

  I like resurrecting my potted greenhouse flowers. Last year the slugs ATE my mum. So this years, the mum goes in the flower box.

  I've moved some perrenials to make room for our new fence, and the rest is seeds. Mostly sweet peas in back, nasturtiums in front, and violas in front.

  Now I wait and see.

  For EASY herbs, plant some chives. I use them all year in my eggs and sauces.
• 

  Banshee

  Cool--we've got a nice discussion going on here.

  Purza: Our soil here was quite sandy, so we decided to make our own soil. I dug a 4'x4'x3' pit for composting and used leaves, grass clippings & food garbage in it and then we brought in a couple of loads of horse manure. We mixed the compost, manure & proper amounts of blood & bone meal and put it into raised beds that we made. The soil is great and I just keep adding compost to keep it great. It was a lot of work to set up but worth it, in the long run.

  ballistic: All I can say is this: Better to wait for the right one to come along than to get with a bunch of wrong 'uns.

  fairchild: I live in a cool climate, too, so I hear you about overwatering. Oh, BTW--I told my hubby about your organic farm and he thought that was fantastic...I saw the gleam in his eye, so I know he was dreaming about doing that in future. Good thing I have several pairs of work overalls.

  *waves at Carmel*

  (((jgant))): Long time since we chatted on here. Hope things are going well for you & yours. It's somehow not surprising to me that you are of the "green thumb" variety, as well. How tiny is tiny on the yard? French intensive method is the best to grow a lot in a small space...if you are interested in being able to grow more stuff, that is. Take care, jgnat. Hope we can chat again soon.
• 

  jgnat

  Right back atcha, Banshee.

  French intensive won't work in a shady yard. We're talking brave, unkillable, tolerant plants, here. In the shadiest spots I have hostas and ferns. And a sturdy Rhubarb. After much experimentation, I am finally appreciating variegated foilage and white flowers. They do look best in front of a dark backdrop.

  This year, I am working in pots and lots of verticals.

  As for size, it must be 24 feet by 26 feet. Small.
• 

  Purza

  Yes, the hot sun will cause wilting. You do need to water when you have hot sun, I should have specified. I live in a rather cold area where 90 degrees is rather an exception.

  Thanks for the clarification. I am still pretty new at gardening and I tend to overwater.

  We have about one bag of garbage a week and that is because we recycle and compost everything else. I particuarly like to put the eggshells around some of the "tastier" plants to help keep the slugs away.

  Purza (who is enjoying learning about new gardening tips)
• 

  Frannie Banannie

  Here's a gardening tip that most ppl don't know......use Epsom Salts to "fertilize" yer plants.

  The reason? My dad was raised on a farm. When I was 12-yrs-old, he planted a tiny twig-twig-of-a-tree near the back fence in his yard. When I was 19, I happened to be visiting my Dad, when I glanced out the dining room window into the back yard and was amazed to see an enormous monstrosity of a Chinese Tallow tree (china berry tree). It was as large as an oak tree.....and it's branches reached from one side of the yard to the other (about 50 ft.) and were hanging all the way down to the ground!! I asked him where it had come from. My Dad said asked me if I remembered standing by him when he had planted that little twig in the back yard. I said that it couldn't be the same tree, because we had had China Berry trees in our (my Mom and Stepdad's) back yard as I was growing up and they weren't NEAR that large. My Dad laughed and told me it was the same tree. What he had done differently was to poke holes angling down towards the root sack when he planted the twig.....and filled the holes with Epsom Salts....then he drizzled water (so the force of the water wouldn't cause the salts to exit the holes) from the hose down the holes to dissolve the Epsom Salts.

  I decided to use Epsom Salts on my house plants (ivies, etc.) and rose bushes.....the result was astounding......my ivies flourished prolifically.....and rose bushes that had hardly been bearing roses and were scraggly with wild runners...became lush and covered with blooms in just a matter of weeks!! I also discovered that Miracle Grow (you know...that expensive shtuff they sell to guppies as plant food) is 99% Epsom Salts!!!

  Hope this helps.

  Frannie