Garden 2023

[larry_stewart]

Do you think your chives might die off because of winter, or are they root bound? They might not have enough dirt and nutrients to grow well.

I don't think so. They've been in the same spot for a decade. Always made it through the winters with no problems at all. They're directly in the ground, so root space shouldn't be an issue, and I do feed them as I do the rest of the garden. Whats. there is healthy, just about 1/4 the size of what it once was. I have about 10 flowers that are about to bloom. I'll let most seed themselves, hoping to crow the clump, but I'll also collect some seeds to save and replant. It's one of my most reliable, predictable crops. I'd hate to see it completely die off.

 

[taxlady]

When I grew parsley, I think I started with a few seedlings that I bought. The next year, they were back, albeit the second year version, which is also usable. The third year I got mostly the first year version and a few of the second year version. They had spread nicely. That kept going on for a few years, probably about 10 in total. By then, the lamium plants were crowding them out.

 

[rodentraiser]

I finally got my arbor up and the morning glory seeds planted next to it. I worked on my rock garden, which is about a foot wide and goes 30 feet from one side of the arbor and 20 feet down the other side of the arbor. I poured new topsoil in and then replaced any rocks (that make up the border) that had fallen out or disappeared (or that I'd thrown at cats).

Tomorrow I need to get chicken wire! After I put in the topsoil, I noticed the cats (not scared of rocks), the birds, the squirrels, and the raccoons - all the little rototillers - love my garden. So I guess if I want anything to grow, I have to put a cage over everything for a while.

I filled the big pot with soil and I was going to put giant sunflowers in it, but I found a package of Burpee's Triple Crown white sweet corn. It looks pure white on the package and I'm curious as to how it tastes. So I may plant that in the big planter instead. I can only plant 4 seeds, but each seed should give me two ears and that will be enough this year.

I found some parsley seed I bought and planted that. Everything is growing like weeds and the blue tulips have two buds already. Of course, we've had 80 degree temps for two days and that ends tomorrow and then it will be two weeks till we break over 60 again. This weather sucks lemons.

Meantime, I thought I bought daffodils and ended up with dahlias (don't ask) that look just like daffodils. So tomorrow I'm just going to throw those out next to the single iris that came up and they can take their chances. I also want to plant the rest of my seeds in the rock garden: golden alyssum (maybe it'll grow this year har har),snapdragons, two packages of wild flowers, mixed colors of poppies, and pink baby's breath.

I saw a beautiful picture of a dark purple pampas plant and I'm going to try and get one of those, too. My two pink ones don't seem to have died after all and the smoke bush is putting out leaves. The climbing rose is growing and the only things still looking dead are the wisteria and the bleeding hearts.

Now if I could just be allowed to shoot Bambi and Company...

 

[Marlingardener]

Our gardening season is in full swing with sugar peas, lettuce, and spinach coming up. We were planning what to plant and where, so we called the local food pantry to see if they could still accept home grown vegetables. They can, so we will be planting extras.
The flowers are beginning with West Texas mallow, transcadentia, and roses. We started cuttings of salvia greggii, and two more basils (I am a glutton for punishment!).

West Texas mallow

Transcadentia, commonly called Snake Root. (Don't know why)

 

[dragnlaw]

That gorgeous bloom, known here as spiderwort, bluejacket and officially (I think!) Tradescantia ohiensis. Didn't know they went as far as West Texas, sneaky little guys.

Marlin, do they stain your fingers there too?

My mother used to call a certain plant Snake Root - but I don't remember what it looked like - don't think it was that one, for some reason I remember it as yellow or maybe white-ish?

 

[blissful]

@rodentraiser if you use chicken wire fencing, I'm sure that will work. We also use netting to deter animals especially when sprouting. It's less expensive, can be used a couple of years in a row, and does annoy animals enough to stop them. We used to have a terrible time with bean sprouting, they were eating off multiple times. Now we cover the ground in netting until they are big enough to not be such a tender delicious thing for the rabbits.
https://goodsstores.com/products/mesh-nylon-netting or any fabric store will have it. We buy it by the bolt.

 

[pepperhead212]

I planted my tomatoes today - not a great day, but the only rain was spotted, and not enough to wet anything, and it got to about 60°. Right now it's getting brighter out. I planted 29 tomatoes, and only one Sunsugar (which I planted 2 extras of!) broke a stem, and I have 17 extra plants, in case anything else dies, before it strengthens (a friend will take the rest of them!). Only one I planted 3 of - that Oaxacan Jewel that grew so well least season. I originally had space for 2 Pink Boar Salad seedlings, but they were smaller than any other seedlings, especially one of them, so one of those spots was filled with that Oaxacan Jewel.

After eating a small snack, I'm going out now to plant the few flowers I have - zinnias and Mexican Sunflowers.

Another 2 days or so before I can put out the eggplants, but they are hardening off well. At least 10 days until peppers.

 

[rodentraiser]

Blissful, I was actually thinking of hardware cloth. I thought I would bend the edges and make sort of a standing cage, but when I saw the price, I just said no. So I'm still trying to figure out what to do, although I like that netting in your picture.

If I have any kind of wire directly on the ground, the birds can still peck between the openings and eat the seed and the plants. If I put netting on it, the cats sit on the netting and crush the small plants. I was originally going to put netting around the whole thing like a fence but only on one side on account of the deer. But maybe if I get some more netting and fence it in on both sides, that would keep everything out. Maybe.

Anyway, I've solved the problem of the corn and the sunflowers. The cat (not my cat) sat on the wisteria branch and broke it off. So even though I think that's dead, I dug the roots out and replanted it in a much smaller container. Then the corn went into the wisteria barrel and the sunflower seeds went into the big container at the end of my rock garden. And I still haven't planted any other seeds or the dahlias yet. Maybe tomorrow.

 

[GotGarlic]

Lost the sage, thought I saw a leaf or two but the cold/rain knocked it right out. Next year I'll cover it. Difficult for me as my sage in Quebec was huge! So I'm surprised it didn't survive here in a slightly warmer environment.

My bay and rosemary did NOT like being brought in the house and promptly died. But I harvested the leaves from the bay and rubbed the rosemary blades off to keep.

Did you scrape the stems? Sometimes the leaves die off, but the plant itself is still alive. If the stems under the top layer are still green.

For seven years in a row, I thought my bay tree was tropical and had to be brought inside for the winter, even here in zone 8b (this was long before I became a master gardener). And every year it lost all its leaves and I thought it had died. So I went to the herb center sale AGAIN and bought a new one until one year I wised up and asked one of the master gardeners running the sale about it. And I learned that this is normal behavior and it's best to leave it outside. Now, I have more bay leaves than I and my friends and neighbors can ever use. Send me a SESA... LOL

 

[GotGarlic]

I don't think so. They've been in the same spot for a decade. Always made it through the winters with no problems at all. They're directly in the ground, so root space shouldn't be an issue, and I do feed them as I do the rest of the garden. Whats. there is healthy, just about 1/4 the size of what it once was. I have about 10 flowers that are about to bloom. I'll let most seed themselves, hoping to crow the clump, but I'll also collect some seeds to save and replant. It's one of my most reliable, predictable crops. I'd hate to see it completely die off.

Onions are a bulb, like daffodils. I have found that they do get sort of bulb-bound. After a few years, they produce less and less. If I pull, divide and replant, the way blissful described, they do a lot better.

You might want to experiment - divide a section of the bed by planting some baby clumps somewhere else and then compare.

 

[larry_stewart]

Onions are a bulb, like daffodils. I have found that they do get sort of bulb-bound. After a few years, they produce less and less. If I pull, divide and replant, the way blissful described, they do a lot better.

You might want to experiment - divide a section of the bed by planting some baby clumps somewhere else and then compare.

I may give it aa shot, as long as I have enough of a clump to divide.

I planted my tomatoes today - not a great day, but the only rain was spotted, and not enough to wet anything, and it got to about 60°. Right now it's getting brighter out. I planted 29 tomatoes, and only one Sunsugar (which I planted 2 extras of!) broke a stem, and I have 17 extra plants, in case anything else dies, before it strengthens (a friend will take the rest of them!).

I do the same thing. I start of planting double what I need, just incase one fails ( during hardening, shock of replanting or something else). But when I plant, my thumbs must be too big, cause usually more than one seed is planted per cell, so I get doubles or triples per cell. When they ge big enough, as they did 2 weeks ago, I separate and replant them. I now have a least 60 tomato plants , and I need less than half of that . I told everyone at work no tto buy tomatoes plants, but, I wont part with them until I know the ones I need are doing well after being outside.

I will start harding my tomatoes this weekend, as it will be upper 60's , maybe low 70's. I'll start outside in the shade during they day, and inside in the garage at night for a few days. I may leave one of the trays out over night as guinea pigs to see how they do.

I have a few peppers and eggplants inside, which I may wait another week or two, and some other tropical things.

Still waiting for the string beans, peanuts, okra and squash to germinate. They are currently indoors in a warm room with lights. They still have a few weeks yet.

 

[Kathleen]

Instead of planting thorny bushes, I have decided to plant sunflowers, okra, string beans, and squash along the wall. I've always wanted more space to plant things, so am giving it a try.

I've placed my tomato seedlings in the ground along with the eggplant and pepper seedlings. The cucumbers are thriving. Garlic seems to have some leaves that are starting to yellow. (Not much, but a tinge.) I purchased some onion sets locally that seem to be doing well, but the Walla Walla onion sets that I bought in Washington state are barely alive. Lettuce is going okay. Beets are doing so-so. I think the cabbage plants I bought are actually broccoli. My potatoes that I planted in straw seem to be thriving wonderfully! I also planted a raspberry bush and a blackberry bush and found a "patio fig." No idea whether it will do anything or not. But...I am very excited to see what I get this year!

I also planted some "pollinator-attracting" perennials.

 

[pepperhead212]

Everything is taking well, with no problems on any of the tomatoes or flowers. Today I took my last tray out of the kitchen (finally) - the one with the pellets I have been putting sprouted asparagus seeds in. I pulled all my asparagus out of that row last fall, because I gave up on those things. They were over 4 years old, planted from bulbs, which were supposed to be almost all male, but whatever they were, they never improved - the sprouts that would come up in spring would flower (or whatever you call that) before they could be used at all. But I decided to buy some purple asparagus seeds, when Pinetree had their sale a couple weeks ago. The package said 25 seeds, but it had 31, and I got 26 to sprout. And just yesterday, some started sprouting in the pellets, so today, I 'tilled, and planted them. Now I'll have to wait a couple of years to see if this variety does any better.

 

[larry_stewart]

Everything is taking well, with no problems on any of the tomatoes or flowers. Today I took my last tray out of the kitchen (finally) - the one with the pellets I have been putting sprouted asparagus seeds in. I pulled all my asparagus out of that row last fall, because I gave up on those things. They were over 4 years old, planted from bulbs, which were supposed to be almost all male, but whatever they were, they never improved - the sprouts that would come up in spring would flower (or whatever you call that) before they could be used at all. But I decided to buy some purple asparagus seeds, when Pinetree had their sale a couple weeks ago. The package said 25 seeds, but it had 31, and I got 26 to sprout. And just yesterday, some started sprouting in the pellets, so today, I 'tilled, and planted them. Now I'll have to wait a couple of years to see if this variety does any better.

Good luck with the asparagus. I ripped mine up too due to lack of performance. There are still a few that evaded me, so occasionally Ill get one or two popping up in random spots.

Just put my tomatoes outside in the shade. Supposed to be nice all week, so Im hoping too get them in in a week or so.

My indoor plant room is starting to empty out, which is a good thing. It's hard taking care of that many seedlings at once. especially as they grow and need the water more frequently.

Just have to make note to start a few things a little later and also no be paranoid that my tomatoes wont germinate by planting too many. My tomato germination rate is close to %100, which means every extra one I plant, is one that I dont need.

 

[KatyCooks]

I have planted out 3 tomato "plugs" in a pot yesterday. Also, some Maris Piper and Charlotte potato tubers in two potato sacks.

Flower wise, I have put in a number of geraniums into patio pots and have some Petunias on the go to put into hanging baskets. There is still a danger of morning frosts here, so I am fretting!

In Hampshire (in the south of England) everything is turning green and very beautiful and it is inspiring me to get out and deal with the giant weeds and and make sure I have a lovely spot to sit out in over the summer (note the optimism about summer being warm enough to sit out in!)

By the way, do any of you use weed burners to remove weeds between patio slabs/path edges? I have an electric one which I get great satisfaction from, (die weeds!! Die!!) ahem... but which produces a lot of smoke as the weeds burn. (I am a very considerate neighbour and would never use it if neighbours had washing on their lines.) I have only been using it for a year, so not sure if it is killing weeds to the root or not. Anyone got any experience of them longer term?

 

[dragnlaw]

I've never heard of an electric weed burner! Is it plugged in on a long cord like an electric mower (which I've also never had). Is it an instant zap or do you stand there and cackle while burning the dastardly weed.

 

[KatyCooks]

Um... I don't actually cackle out loud... that would be mad... but inwardly I can't deny the satisfaction of watching them shrivel and die.... bwahahhahaa!! Oh dear...

Okay, to answer your question Dragon, it is a plug in device. I attach it to an extension cord and away I go!

It has a metal cup at the end and a stick that I hold onto. The cup heats up to a very high heat and you set it over a weed that is sitting (evilly) between your patio slabs - which shrivels and DIES!!!!

It is possible I like it too much....

 

[dragnlaw]

sounds great! will have to look around for them here.
I could put up with a few brown spots in the middle of the lawn til it grows over - IF it also gets the roots!

 

[Marlingardener]

Katy, here in Texas many folks (not us) use propane tanks, the small ones for grills, with an attachment to kill weeds. There have been many grass fires started by this practice.

 

[dragnlaw]

Yes, many grass fires are started by people - Unfortunately - you can't fix stupid.