The 2019 Gardening Thread.

[NY cat man]

N NY cat man Was it a metal barn?

Just over my neighbor's property line; maybe 20 feet from my house there is a tall old tv antenna and a tall pine tree. There used to be 2 pines but one came down in a storm. They are working on the property next door now; so I hope they will take down the antenna.

No, it was a wooden barn, but the stanchions for the cows was steel set in concrete, and the vacuum piping for the milking machines was also steel, so there was the ground that the current was seeking. Larry just happened to be hooking up a cow when the lightning hit.

 

[foxxycat]

N NY cat man MoochNNoodles I've never had anything here get struck. I've seen trees after they got hit by lightning. Scary! We have a small cell of rain coming this way even though I watered everything this morning but it was a quick watering. I will give the big gardens a long soak tonight so my neighbor doesn't have to worry about them until Tuesday. I've noticed the tomato blossoms dried up and fell off so not getting anymore growth. I've fertilized the patio box even though there's fertilizer mixed in the soil. I'm wondering if it's already washed away. So friday fed it a weak mixture and today wet the soil. This is the one thats fed from underneath...maybe the dirt is too dry even though it drinks from the holding tank...so gave the plants a good wetting this morning. I wish we had a full day of rain. It's now 12 days since we have had any serious rain.

I watered the tire garden as the dirt has dried up completely....so it is muddy in the spring but in the heat of summer not so much. This fall maybe I will get the roto tiller out and see if I can slowly turn this mess of ferns and junk into a growing medium. I would love to grow corn and green beans down here.

So summer is plugging along and it's humid yucky too.

Took some pics yesterday morning

Bees favorite spot to sit

Dead end road. No one drives through here. It's an emergency access road with speed bumps. The trees are starting to grow into the road..if I have time this fall maybe I will trim back the limbs...or not. It's supposed to be the people who own the land that have to keep things trimmed and neat but if it grows in, maybe it will discourage people from driving through. I call it a deadend because no one travels on it.

 

[NY cat man]

I took some pictures this morning. First is the 'Goldsturm' black-eyed Susan

Next is our 2- yes, 2- tomato plants

 

[NY cat man]

Here is the big hosta. It changes colors once it blooms.

 

[catapault]

This summer the bottlebrush buckeye, Aesculus parviflora, is a butterfly magnet. It came with us from Connecticut to New Jersey when we moved, in a wardrobe carton on the moving truck. I raised it from seed.

 

[NY cat man]

I was out in the woods one day when I came upon what was left of a pine tree that had been hit by lightning. It had literaly exploded, throwing shards for 50 or 60 feet in all directions. You couldn't have gotten more complete destruction had you used dynamite.

 

[susanm9006]

My mother had a huge old tree that had apparently been hit by lightening. Just a big wide black stripe that ran down the trunk from top to bottom at first but within weeks the tree started losing its leaves and dying.

 

[rubysmama]

Took some pics yesterday morning

Beautiful pics. Love the "dead end" road. It's so "country".

I took some pictures this morning. First is the 'Goldsturm' black-eyed Susan

Really lovely. I have a "Goldsurm" too, which should be blooming soon. But it's just a wee little thing, compared to yours.

Next is our 2- yes, 2- tomato plants

Looks like you'll be able to set up a tomato vegetable stand.

Here is the big hosta. It changes colors once it blooms.

Very nice.

This summer the bottlebrush buckeye, Aesculus parviflora, is a butterfly magnet. It came with us from Connecticut to New Jersey when we moved, in a wardrobe carton on the moving truck. I raised it from seed.

Lovely pics. I need to get some butterfly magnet plants.

 

[NY cat man]

I will probably have to sneak around to our neighbors at night leaving bags of tomatoes on their doorsteps.

 

[rubysmama]

I wish a neighbour would leave a bag of fresh garden grown tomatoes on my doorstep.

 

[NY cat man]

Yes, but your Customs people might frown on me bringing produce into Canada.

 

[rubysmama]

Yeah, they can be picky sometimes.

 

[rubysmama]

The last of my day lilies have their first blooms now. Here's some pics:

Also a couple hostas:

NO ID for this one, and it gets a lot of sun, thus the bleached out look. But I like the way the light and shadows turned out in the pic.

This is Holy Mouse Ears:
i

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Pretty!! That 2nd lilly looks like a merlot color on my computer. I really like that!

I don't think my hosta bloomed this year. They did last year. I could have missed it avoiding the gardens in the heat.

School is starting in a week or two and I think that's giving me a little case of the blues. I'm soaking up some lazy days and not getting outside enough to work in the gardens. Maybe once the weather cools down we will be outside doing some fall planting and things to perk me up.

 

[rubysmama]

I don't think my hosta bloomed this year. They did last year. I could have missed it avoiding the gardens in the heat.

I have a few hostas that haven't bloomed yet. Some, I think, are late bloomers. But others, like my Fire and Ice, haven't bloomed in a couple years (maybe never). Must Google "why doesn't hosta bloom".

School is starting in a week or two and I think that's giving me a little case of the blues.

The shorter days are already giving me the blues.

 

[NY cat man]

All of our hostas have bloomed already. Some, like the mouse ears are finished for the year, while others are still hanging on.

 

[rubysmama]

I take pictures of all my real flowering plants each year, so I have an idea when they'll be blooming the following year, but never think to do the same with my hostas. Must get some pics soon, before the ones that are blooming now are done.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

That's a good idea to track your flowers that way. I do tend to take pictures of my plants; but I've never done it to track things. A few of my potted flowers are past peak. One is gone. It's that part of summer I guess.

 

[rubysmama]

That's a good idea to track your flowers that way. I do tend to take pictures of my plants; but I've never done it to track things.

As with everything, there's pros and cons to taking picture and tracking. The pro is you know when to expect the blooms the next year. The con is when a plant you liked doesn't show up the following year, and you stare at the picture missing it. For example, the last time I had this day lily bloom was 2017. And I've moved the plants around since then, so I don't know if it's still alive and not producing flowers, or if it's history.

A few of my potted flowers are past peak. One is gone. It's that part of summer I guess.

One of my pots is looking a little more past peak than it should be this early in August.

 

[NY cat man]

Our coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, and pyromania are still putting out new blossoms, and the fall-blooming sedums are developing nicely. On another note, our Japanese beetle infestation seems to have run its course, as it has been several days since I have seen any on the plants, but I have seen a boatload of them in the traps, but even that is tapering off.