The Yard 'n Garden

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

Any green thumbs here? Whether it's a farm, a window box, or a sunny window, tell us about it.

Too early, you say? Not really, the seed catalogs hit the mail next week.

And of course, it's summer in the southern hemisphere.

To quote Thomas Jefferson, "I am an old man, but I am a young gardener."

[Barbarossa 51]

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  Edited September 7, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[Easy Bakes 253]

I thinkmy Apartment complex would be upset if i started  digging up the landscaping

to grow vegies.

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

Originally posted by: Barbarossa I have a black thumb... I can kill a cactus without an effort.  Does that make me some kind of superhero?

Barbarossaquote>

I'll bet the Park Service would like your services for those illicit gardens in the Nat'l Parks.

Originally posted by: Easy Bakes I thinkmy Apartment complex would be upset if i started  digging up the landscaping

to grow vegies.

quote>

I probably don't have to show you, of all people, one of these!

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: manticorefan

Originally posted by: Barbarossa I have a black thumb... I can kill a cactus without an effort.  Does that make me some kind of superhero?

Barbarossaquote>

I'll bet the Park Service would like your services for those illicit gardens in the Nat'l Parks.

Originally posted by: Easy Bakes I thinkmy Apartment complex would be upset if i started  digging up the landscaping

to grow vegies.

quote>

I probably don't have to show you, of all people, one of these!quote>

 

Hmmm.

Not big enough really, i eat a lot of tomaotes.

I was thinking about a large outside planter with 5-6 plants in it. my balcony faces to the north so it gets a lot of shade, but some direct lighting as well for  a few hours a day. Probably good for tomatoes here which would get too much light/heat if in an open yard.

Have to see what pottery barn has. something like this, mabey 2 of them

[hummer0328 6]

I've been growing a Bamboo (names Li) plant for about 3 years now, and an Aloe (names Lawrence) plant for a year, and a Ficus (names Mike, Mike the Fike) for a year. Yeah, I name my plants lol. And that's about it.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: hummer0328

Yeah, I name my plants lol.quote>

Neat. I have a pillow named Mr. Fluffy.

</obscure reference>

[Duke of York 23]

I usually start planting a few Tamatoe plants and flowers aroun this time....

[Sam 163]

I love gardening and Easter is a great time to be planting here, as its Autumn its just starting to get cool enough to start the winter plants. Rainfall is usually good, but the last few years I haven't been able to plant anything because the weather has been so erratic (drought, hot winters etc).

I usually put in peas, brassicas, lettuce, tomatoes, violas and other spring flowers. One of my favourite plants this time of year is viola tricolor

[Jezus53 18]

I love gradening and taking care of plants, but I hate having to de-weed my (well my parents I guess) outside gardens. "Then grow things inside!" Well, I forget very easily so I would forget to water them. If I could some how solve the weed problem, then bam! I would do stuff, but it's not worth it for me.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: Jezus53

I love gradening and taking care of plants, but I hate having to de-weed my (well my parents I guess) outside gardens. "Then grow things inside!" Well, I forget very easily so I would forget to water them. If I could some how solve the weed problem, then bam! I would do stuff, but it's not worth it for me.quote>

Theres also the polination problem inside. no bees flitting around means no tomatos.

[your_adress_here 11]

Morning glory, anyone?

Not for planting, of course.

[Jezus53 18]

Originally posted by: Easy Bakes

Originally posted by: Jezus53

I love gradening and taking care of plants, but I hate having to de-weed my (well my parents I guess) outside gardens. "Then grow things inside!" Well, I forget very easily so I would forget to water them. If I could some how solve the weed problem, then bam! I would do stuff, but it's not worth it for me.quote>

Theres also the polination problem inside. no bees flitting around means no tomatos.

quote>

Very true, but I wouldn't have to worry about that. I can not stand tomatoes. They make me want to throw up. I'm more of the gardener that grows non food plants. Flowers, small bushes, shrubbery. I like that kind of stuff.

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

Glad to see this thread revived.

It's getting warm enough now for peas, lettuce, carrots, and spinach. They get planted as soon as I get a chance. The legacy bulbs are in bloom, although the crocuses are feeding our voracious rabbit population more than blooming. The daffodils are spectacular, and daylilies are showing signs of life.

I also dislike tomatoes, except as sauce or ketchup. I grow them anyways, because others love them and I am quite good at getting them to grow and produce well. This year I may try some purple Russian tomatoes, as I specialize in unusual and rare vegetables. Lemon cucumbers, white,brown, and/or purple peppers, heirloom tomatoes, and the like.

My favorite was an accidental hybrid, when my palm-sized Jack Be Little pumpkins cross-bred with my Lumina white pumpkins to produce, you guessed it, little white pumpkins. Now, years later, some stores carry them as decorations, but I get some satisfaction knowing I did it first, about 1996.

[Odainsaker 2,133]

All our potted hippeastrums bloomed about a week ago...each stalk has four big red trumpet flowers speweing big pollen bits.  The bees should love them, last year they were pollinated and grew weird, winged-seed pods which looked like pumpkin-shaped triffid heads.  "Day of the Triffids" in my yard...one season an unidentified vine along the backfence left a large distended gourd, which I named the "Body-Snatcher" pod.

I bought a bunch of elephant ear bulbs...eventually, I'll get up to actually plant them.

Unlike the basil and rosemary starters, the Texas tarragon plant we bought died...I thought it was because I hadn't been watering it, but, no, I discovered the cats have been rolling all over the tarragon as though it were catnip.

[Meg 368]

I have several houseplants, all given to me as gifts, which is surprising when you consider the fact that a co-worker once took a plant of mine into protective custody.

One was a poinsettia which was red when I received it, hung in there but stayed green the next year, and gave it the year after.

One is an amaryllis that started growing in the box, totally lack any green color of course.  I planted it and it stumbled along for a few years then suddenly, last year, did something that looked like this.

Then there is a the Christmas cactus a co-worker gave me.  It was happy in my office but not so much in my condo since I retired.  But then I moved it to where the poinsettia was and suddenly it's blooming.  as in right now.  (did I mention it was a christmas cactus?)

Then there is this other plant.  Don't know it's name.   It has white flowers that bloom sometimes.  or not.

It's all rather random.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: SkiGeek

I have several houseplants, all given to me as gifts, which is surprising when you consider the fact that a co-worker once took a plant of mine into protective custody.

One was a poinsettia which was red when I received it, hung in there but stayed green the next year, and gave it the year after.

One is an amaryllis that started growing in the box, totally lack any green color of course.  I planted it and it stumbled along for a few years then suddenly, last year, did something that looked like this.

Then there is a the Christmas cactus a co-worker gave me.  It was happy in my office but not so much in my condo since I retired.  But then I moved it to where the poinsettia was and suddenly it's blooming.  as in right now.  (did I mention it was a christmas cactus?)

Then there is this other plant.  Don't know it's name.   It has white flowers that bloom sometimes.  or not.

It's all rather random.quote>

Have a picture of it?

Im sure we could track down exactly what it is.

[Sam 163]

Originally posted by: manticorefan

It's getting warm enough now for peas, lettuce, carrots, and spinach.

quote>

You have the opposite problem to me. I have to wait for it to get cool enough for those. Even in winter the peas often don't get to harvest because its too warm and they succumb to fungus.

Originally posted by: manticorefan

I also dislike tomatoes, except as sauce or ketchup. I grow them anyways, because others love them and I am quite good at getting them to grow and produce well. This year I may try some purple Russian tomatoes, as I specialize in unusual and rare vegetables.

quote>

Are they different to Russian Black? I had some Russian Black ones a few years ago. It was a bit strange eating tomatoes that colour.

I had some green zebra ones the same year, they did a lot better than the Russian Black. They had a nice flavour too and looked good on the vines.

But my favourite were the Amish Paste variety.

Mostly though I get enough feral tomotoes coming up in the compost. They usually turn out as little cherry tomatoes but occasionally some good sized ones come through. The little ones make good soup.

Another plant I like are Cape Gooseberry. They are related to tomato and have a little paper-like cover over them. They make a nice jam.

Often though I wish it was colder here so I could grow some of the colder climate fruits, vegetables and flowers.

I like the heirloom varieties too, but I don't get them very often, only if I see the company at a show or something.

[Boggy1 45]

 It's the gardening season again over here in the UK. We've planted some broad beans into the vegetable plot. Later on we will get cabbage, lettuce, peas, maize, and other stuff planted. The greenhouse has yet to be cleaned up from the Winter, but generally we also put tomatoes, and various herbs in there.

Here are a couple of pictures from last years growing season.

In the house right now, in the Kitchen, we have a lot of potted herb plants. Which I use to add flavour to any dish I'm cooking up. Basil, sage, and mint right now. Later on we'll get some small lettuce pots there too. Lettuce in-a-pot is really wonderful, because the leaves grow back within a day or so. Great for salads, as you can get fresh lettuce every single lunch time, and two pots will last you all summer.

The flowers are out too. The backgarden has turned into a veritable wild-flower garden. It's lovely.

 

Daffodils are really common around here too.

We tend to get a lot of bluebells too, which is one of my favorite flowers. But they come out later in the season (picture was from last year).

SkiGeek: My Mum gets an amaryllis (in fact, the majority of flowers labelled as amaryllis are in fact 'hippeastrum', so keep that in mind) every year, and this year we had a two lovely quad blooms from two sets of buds over a few weeks. 

Manticore: We grew some Russian Blacks last year. The taste is certainly..interesting. Be warned that they appear to be more suseptable to bugs and fungus for some reason. It's a lot more squishy than normal red tomatoes, far easier to bite through, but also easier to spill all down your top. I advice caution and some sort of towel when consuming.

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

Originally posted by: sam

Originally posted by: manticorefan

I also dislike tomatoes, except as sauce or ketchup. I grow them anyways, because others love them and I am quite good at getting them to grow and produce well. This year I may try some purple Russian tomatoes, as I specialize in unusual and rare vegetables.

quote>

Are they different to Russian Black? I had some Russian Black ones a few years ago. It was a bit strange eating tomatoes that colour.

quote>

They are similar, and come from the same region. The blacks are extremely rare here. They are only available by special order. There are several purple varieties, although most come from the Ukraine or other Black Sea areas, they all get bunched together as 'Russian'.

There are also new GM purples, created by splicing 2 genes from a snapdragon into tomatoes to get an antioxidant-supercharged variant. All purples are considered to have a higher antioxidant content than ordinary reds.

[Duke of York 23]

Well today I mowed the grass and planted two tomatoes plants.....and I also planted a

few morning glory seeds.....

[your_adress_here 11]

Originally posted by: Duke of York

and I also planted a few morning glory seeds.....quote>

We planted a tree yestarday, for earth day. The city was giving out free saplings. Haven't found a name for him (or her) yet.

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

The cauliflower I transplanted just last week was decimated by rabbits. I bought some fencing, next-step solution (if necessary) involves a BB gun and a few of my mom's very old recipes for rabbit pot pie.

I ordered those purple tomatoes online, waiting with baited breath now for something I've never grown before. I was tempted to order seeds for the multicolored carrots (white, red, and purple) but it's late in the season for planting carrots, except for maybe a fall crop.

I'd like to post pics, but after 10 years of neglect and only a month or two of revival, it's not much to look at. There is a literal mountain of brush the size of a garage waiting to be disposed of.

Boggy: Great pics, and thanks for the heads-up on the tomatoes.

[Sam 163]

Nice pics Boggy.

Its a bit late for me to be mail-ordering seeds, and I apparently missed the garden expo last week. But I did put some very old spinach and silverbeet seeds into a self watering pot. Unfortunately I forgot to add dolomite. So with all those things stacked against them I'll be surprised if any of them actually grow.

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

I was out doing some yardwork, and thought I'd get a few pics of the violet invasion before they all get mowed down. I really like the white violets, I'll dig a few out to move for accents.

and the yard, looking toward the house...

[Boggy1 45]

I've never understood why you call them yards, even though they are quite clearly not a yard; but a lawn.

lovely violets though!

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

Lawn pretty much refers exclusively to the area in front of the house here. The back area is the yard, although we also use the term 'front yard'. I've never heard the term 'back lawn'. From the pic, you can see that it's nearly big enough to be a pitch.

A cardinal stopped by to inspect the grass...

A bare spot in a sidewalk corner was converted to a mini rock garden, anchored by an Oxalis v.'Molten Lava'

The fern vortex has you...

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: manticorefan

I was out doing some yardwork, and thought I'd get a few pics of the violet invasion before they all get mowed down. I really like the white violets, I'll dig a few out to move for accents.

and the yard, looking toward the house...

quote>

That is a giant back yard.

Must be an older neighborhood, the dont  make them  that big in the new subdivisions.

you lucky to get 20 feet now.

[Muck308 55]

It will be time for my dad and I to break ground on the garden soon. I don't know what he has planned for this year... but last year we grew beans (lima, green and bush), peppers (can't recall the type), tomatoes, and... damn what was the other. Well I dunno.

We usually team up for the garden at his office (He has an old house built in 1925 for an office. The yard [or lawn if you must] is a good size considering the surrounding area is mostly strip malls and car dealerships.) He has a garden at his home as well. I only have a couple potted plants at my home. My neighbor is responsible for those. My lawn here looks like crap because my landlord doesn't take very good care of it. He also avoids talking to me when he is here. I have never even met the guy. I wonder if he would mind if I planted a few banana trees...

[Odainsaker 2,133]

Omigosh, our plumeria flowers finally bloomed. I don't think our potted plumeria plants on our patio have ever produced flowers...as tropical plants with fleshy bark and sappy leaves, they don't particularly like central Texas with its dry summers and cold winters. In Hawaii, our neighborhood's streets were lined with large plumeria trees, which offered white flowers with yellow centers which we collected to make leis. Our new flower bunches from our potted plumerias are white with hot pink edges and white centers. Ah, the fragrant scents of the home islands, too bad our plumerias will never survive as trees in this Mainland climate.

Meanwhile, I found caladium shoots emerging in a forgotten storage bag of tubers and swiftly potted them amidst some ground rocks beside the fat Buddha statue. Hmmm, I wonder if there is any special spiritual significance in having a dangerously poisonous yellow Brugmansia Angel's Trumpet hanging pendulously over Buddha's head while also surrounding him with poisonous caladiums?