Gardening 2020

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posiepurrs

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If I had a heated greenhouse I could keep my stephanotis vine, hibiscus tree and bougainvillea vine in it in winter. They are all in 12-18 inch pots so are difficult to move in and out in the warm weather. I would be able to start all my seedlings in there. I may even try a camellia. I have added some photos of some of my flower and vegetable garden as well as the seedlings waiting to be planted. The vegetable garden looks smaller than it really is. I dug every inch of it with a spading fork - good exercise, but I am gad I am done!
 

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catapault

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I have a greenhouse. It keeps me happy in winter. Thermostat is set for 50 degrees Fahrenheit as I mostly grow cool temperature winter flowering plants. Which would include camellias. Whatever size greenhouse you get will be too small, guaranteed. Automate as much as possible - heating and venting. Summer overheating can be more of a problem than winter heating so plan on shading as well as ventilation.

And as far as moving plants in and out - use a hand truck. If you are concerned about marking up your floors just lay down corrugated cardboard and roll along on that. Stairs are the biggest issue for me - there's a second red spot banana upstairs that needs to come down and out. But Himself found the most clever hand truck. Instead of wheels that simply go round and round it has two trios of wheels that easily engage to move up or down a step.
 

NY cat man

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I have a greenhouse. It keeps me happy in winter. Thermostat is set for 50 degrees Fahrenheit as I mostly grow cool temperature winter flowering plants. Which would include camellias. Whatever size greenhouse you get will be too small, guaranteed. Automate as much as possible - heating and venting. Summer overheating can be more of a problem than winter heating so plan on shading as well as ventilation.

And as far as moving plants in and out - use a hand truck. If you are concerned about marking up your floors just lay down corrugated cardboard and roll along on that. Stairs are the biggest issue for me - there's a second red spot banana upstairs that needs to come down and out. But Himself found the most clever hand truck. Instead of wheels that simply go round and round it has two trios of wheels that easily engage to move up or down a step.
That's what I was going to suggest. I have one, and it surely comes in handy when moving bags of mulch or compost or potting soil. It also is great when I have to move our big cast-iron urn around- especially as I'm not as young as I used to be.
 

Norachan

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Just beautiful! When I was in North Carolina for school, many of the walking trails had ferns. Very green and lively to see. Is this your yard?? Love more natural looks like this.
Thank you. My yard is really a huge enclosure for my 20+ cats. It was really overgrown when we first moved in, 6 years ago, but I'm gradually taming it. I've been doing a bit of landscaping, clearing out the dead wood, trying to encourage native plants and making things to keep the cats happy.

It's still pretty wild though. This is when we first bought it.

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After some clearing.
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With the cat proof fence up and a few of the things I've built for the cats.
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Winchester

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posiepurrs posiepurrs Your pictures are lovely!
Norachan Norachan Wow! It looks very secluded and peaceful. Do you have neighbors? How close are they to you?

It looks like I will have enough asparagus for yet another meal. I was up at the garden yesterday and saw some about six inches tall. W WillowMarie Asparagus fresh from the garden is simply decadent. There's something about being able to walk up and cut what I need. And I only saute our asparagus to the barely tender-crisp stage. I also love it raw in the salad. It's really good and I think it's better than buying it in the store.

Our green and yellow beans are about two inches tall now. The peppers look like they're doing well. I put several pepper plants in pots, too, and put them on our back deck. We're planting corn this afternoon and will plant about ten days apart. Once the corn comes up, we'll have to get the fence out. A couple years ago, the blasted raccoons climbed over the fence and got into the corn patch. And I swear they rolled around in the patch. Til they were done, we had no corn at all.
 
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posiepurrs

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Winchester, anything home grown is better than store bought. I think I overdid it on the peppers this year! I have sweet bell, yellow banana, cayenne, jalapeno, serrano, and poblano. I wanted paprika peppers, but couldn't find the seeds. I am NOT having any luck with my onions though. Even with fertilizer they just aren't performing. I won't set them out quite as early next year - it stunted them.
 

Tworagdolls

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I think I overdid it on the peppers this year!
Lucky you! It’s almost impossible here without a greenhouse. I have one variety of sweet pepper (Marconi) coming up in a pot. Hopefully the sun will shine this Summer in Ireland!

Here’s what I managed down at the allotment today. The lockdown overgrowth is slowly being cleared. I also planted some rainbow chard seeds.

EA7288C4-832B-44F1-B963-B79AB9D4F8D0.jpeg
 

WillowMarie

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Thank you. My yard is really a huge enclosure for my 20+ cats. It was really overgrown when we first moved in, 6 years ago, but I'm gradually taming it. I've been doing a bit of landscaping, clearing out the dead wood, trying to encourage native plants and making things to keep the cats happy.

It's still pretty wild though. This is when we first bought it.

View attachment 335880
After some clearing.
View attachment 335882View attachment 335883
With the cat proof fence up and a few of the things I've built for the cats.
View attachment 335884View attachment 335885View attachment 335886
Wow, life goals <3 Just stunning. Thank you for sharing. Bet the cats love that! Is the fence home made? What tips do you have to make a fence cat proof?

posiepurrs posiepurrs Your pictures are lovely!
Norachan Norachan Wow! It looks very secluded and peaceful. Do you have neighbors? How close are they to you?

It looks like I will have enough asparagus for yet another meal. I was up at the garden yesterday and saw some about six inches tall. W WillowMarie Asparagus fresh from the garden is simply decadent. There's something about being able to walk up and cut what I need. And I only saute our asparagus to the barely tender-crisp stage. I also love it raw in the salad. It's really good and I think it's better than buying it in the store.

Our green and yellow beans are about two inches tall now. The peppers look like they're doing well. I put several pepper plants in pots, too, and put them on our back deck. We're planting corn this afternoon and will plant about ten days apart. Once the corn comes up, we'll have to get the fence out. A couple years ago, the blasted raccoons climbed over the fence and got into the corn patch. And I swear they rolled around in the patch. Til they were done, we had no corn at all.
Num num. Cannot wait to try home grown asparagus some day <3

Lucky you! It’s almost impossible here without a greenhouse. I have one variety of sweet pepper (Marconi) coming up in a pot. Hopefully the sun will shine this Summer in Ireland!

Here’s what I managed down at the allotment today. The lockdown overgrowth is slowly being cleared. I also planted some rainbow chard seeds.

View attachment 335932
I'm growing some swiss chard, too! Seeds have not germinated yet, but hopefully will soon. Put some in a pot outside and also starting some inside. I've never seen the seeds before and was surprised by the interesting, pokey shape of the seeds.
 

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Lettuce seeds are the first of my vegetable seeds to germinate! (not including my indoor veggie growing kits, which have been growing.) A couple days ago, the ones germinating inside sprouted and excitingly the ones outside in pots were visible this morning! Also planted the inside germinaters in the outdoor pot this morning, which is the 3 sprouts close to each other. I should probable separate them further apart for growing.

The pot is on the enclosed deck with some sunlight, so will slowly keep moving the pot to become more in direct sunlight to avoid shock to the seedlings.

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Norachan

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It looks very secluded and peaceful. Do you have neighbors? How close are they to you?
It is. :)

There are a few other houses around. At least half of them have been empty for years and are pretty much derelict. Some of them only get used as holiday homes once or twice a year. We have a few permanent neighbours. The closest live about a five minute walk away. They're a nice couple, have a cat of their own and feed the friendly feral too.

It's nice to be in a place where we don't have to worry about the cats all the time.

:lovecat:
 

Norachan

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Thank you for sharing. Bet the cats love that! Is the fence home made? What tips do you have to make a fence cat proof?
Yes, it's a home made fence. It's just wooden poles and deer netting. It's been modified several times. We get a lot of snow here and a few trees came down in storms, so the fence had to be repaired and made snow proof as well as cat proof. It's not 100% cat proof, a couple of our escape artists can get out.

I think for a perfect cat proof fence the most important thing to have is cooperative cats.

:lol:
 

susanm9006

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Our 'Storm Cloud' amsonia are in bloom already. A week ago there was nothing, but now look.View attachment 336054Also, our 'Winky' Aquilegia are starting to bloom. We just planted them last year, and they look to be taking hold.View attachment 336055
Thanks. I have those ones in the bottom pic but never knew what they were called. After tulips, they are usually the first bloom In the garden!
 

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My Grandpa loved to grow chard as he called it. Maybe someday I'll give it a try. I could go for some good sauteed greens right now. With hot peppers of course.

I finally got my corn in yesterday. :paperbag: I got 5 rows of about 7'. The patch isn't quite square so the rows are longer at one end and I started running out of seed. Next year I'll buy more.

It had been 2 weeks since DH tilled up the ground for me so I ended up pretty much turning everything by hand again and then mixing in about 8 1/2 bags of composted manure by hand. I ache. :lol2: Last night I dozed off on my bed before my kids bedtime even. I got up to say goodnight and something between my tailbone and leg was not cooperating I was so stiff and sore. I almost fell trying to get out my door but I was cracking up walking like a wooden duck or something. 🤪 I took an advil before going back to bed later and I feel much better today. I slept in till almost noon though. :eek: Guess I better hit the bowflex a lot more regularly! 🤪

I got my roses mostly weeded and the new side bed for sunflowers mostly cleared of sod too. I've still been holding out hope that my order for Sunflower seeds from Burpee will show up but I'm going to just go ahead and plant the pack I picked up at the grocery store now. Burpee has had an awful time this spring with shipping in the pandemic. I got notice that it shipped 2 days after I ordered it but the shipper never got it. They were getting so many bad reviews on Facebook because you can't get through to customer service (my e-mail was never answered either) that they shut down their review section. I feel bad for them as much as I am sympathetic with everyone who received dead plants or waited 6 weeks for anything to show up. DH is going to help me move the garden soil that we got for the sunflower bed. I'm not doing that by myself when I'm already sore!
 

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Sometimes, I think that I should construct a bunch of raised planting beds with flagstone or crushed stone walkways between them. Raised, because of the poor quality of the local soil, and stone so I can get rid of my lawn mower. Our back yard is too small for anything really extensive, so it is doable even for an old geezer like me.
 

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I have 3 raised beds. My yard is SUPER sandy. I end up doing all the tilling and what not by hand; but it is nice to contain everything and feel more control over the soil. I also can put bunny fence right around the beds and top it with bird netting. That's on my to-do list while DH is home today too. (It keeps growing!) We made sure we left enough room around everything for DH to mow. We have rocks around the roses out front and I have to hand weed that all. I'm afraid the backyard would be worse. The crab grass is such a pain. If it weren't for that; I'd love to have some pea gravel or something around the beds. I have rubber tiles around one bed and the crab grass will grow right over them. :angrywoman:

When my Grandpa got in his later 80s my cousin made him a table height raised bed for his patio. He grew a lot in there! He let the peas grow over the side and dangle down but he also attached a pvc frame for a trellis. I think the table was maybe 4 feet by 8 feet. I'm not sure. He put his tomatoes in tall buckets off to the side and it kept him happy. His assisted living home has a few similar tables on the patio he loves to tend but they aren't quite as nice as what he had at home.
 

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Our problem isn't sand, but instead red clay, with it's attendant lack of drainage. I have one of those mini tiller attachments for my string trimmer, but even with that, and various soil amendments over the years, it still is a battle. Even mulching doesn't seem to stop the formation of a hard crust that water doesn't penetrate easily, and there are several low spots where I get ponding after a rain. If I convert it to raised beds, I can dispense with most of my headaches.
 

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An exciting plant day for me. Mushrooms harvested today and cooked with some olive oil and black pepper seasoning mix, yum yum!
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Some of my succulents are dying. These were the ones that were in a box for 3 months. Seems some may have had very weak stems or rotted when I watered them. Maybe also too soon in full sun, but I did gradually introduce them over the course of a week. The one that is just two sticks sticking up lost its leaves (right) and seemed to have rot (left). Hoping the top part of the left one will grow roots and has been placed in soil. Three leaves were still attached, so we'll see what it does. The jar on the left had a soft stem, too, so I cut off all the offshoots to replant and two of the fallen leaves I left on the pot, just in case.

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The succulent in the back left is doing wonderful! Seems to be growing many offshoots!! Wondering if any could be flower stalks? Time will tell.... never had one flower before, so it will be super exciting if it will. If not, will have many offshoots I can cut and hope to grow.
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Lithops seeds are also sprouting! Was a pack of 20 and only 8 so far. Although since it was a mix of seeds, different types may have separate germination time frames.

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Also, 5 of the cuttings that arrived 5 days ago are growing roots already!! They were replanted in separate pots and will start to get watered soon.

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Lastly, the outdoors swiss chard germinated since this morning! What a surprise! While the lettuce seeds had germinated a day earlier inside than the ones outside in the pot, the swiss chard has not germinated inside yet but has outside. Still waiting on the carrots and tomato seeds, and there will be 4 more kinds of seeds coming in the next week to plant outside <3

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