The 2021 Gardening Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.

rubysmama

Forum Helper
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Nov 25, 2013
Messages
25,278
Purraise
62,759
Location
Canada
I had the dogs out yesterday and Riley was stung by a bee, right beside his eye.
Oh, poor baby. :( Hope it's getting better. :vibes::vibes::vibes:

Here's why I hate clover - the pictorial version. :clover:

The way I'd like my lawn to look, and about 20% currently still looks like this:
IMG_3182.jpg


The other 80% looks like this:
IMG_3185.jpg
 

susanm9006

Willow
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
13,152
Purraise
30,219
Location
Minnesota
Pennies in birdbath update. Pennies do an excellent job of keeping the water clear. Unfotrtunately since I put them in I haven’t had a single bird drinking from it. Instead the birds are all going to the untreated one about twenty feet away. I am going to go another few more weeks with pennies in but will likely end up removing them.
 
Last edited:

susanm9006

Willow
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
13,152
Purraise
30,219
Location
Minnesota
The clover stays green better than the grass in our heat sometimes. You can tell we have different grass in different areas by whats green and what turns brown in the heat.

The worst thing is the crabgrass though. It spreads everywhere in the blink of an eye. Next year I want to try putting down a preventative but that won’t help my gardens. 🤪
My neighbor who has beautiful lush grass swears that the secret is putting down a fall weed and feed. I am going to try it this year
 

MoochNNoodles

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Apr 30, 2005
Messages
36,646
Purraise
23,465
Location
Where my cats are
Oh that’s too bad the pennies are keeping the birds away. I wonder if the water tastes different to them.

DH has done weed and feeds in the fall. I’ll ask him about doing that again this year. The weeds that bother me grow into tall spikey plants. There’s something out there that grew a gnarly looking base and tripped DD last night.

DH cut all the limbs off the section of tree that came down and we had a bonfire with it last night. I picked beans while he got it going. I still have 2 more 4x4 sections to pick. I need to fertilize everything and side dress the corn again too. I ended up working in pants because the mosquitoes biting my ankles hurt! It felt more like stings.

BA86D9C7-E3B5-4F71-959B-262D161B9CB9.jpeg
 

susanm9006

Willow
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
13,152
Purraise
30,219
Location
Minnesota
Oh that’s too bad the pennies are keeping the birds away. I wonder if the water tastes different to them.

DH has done weed and feeds in the fall. I’ll ask him about doing that again this year. The weeds that bother me grow into tall spikey plants. There’s something out there that grew a gnarly looking base and tripped DD last night.

DH cut all the limbs off the section of tree that came down and we had a bonfire with it last night. I picked beans while he got it going. I still have 2 more 4x4 sections to pick. I need to fertilize everything and side dress the corn again too. I ended up working in pants because the mosquitoes biting my ankles hurt! It felt more like stings.

View attachment 386981
Fresh green beans, like just picked sweet corn are the best. No comparison to the taste of store bought kind of fresh produce.
 

Boris Diamond

Cat Valet
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 27, 2015
Messages
27,151
Purraise
15,944
Excitement time. Cherokee purples are almost ready!
IMG_20210706_164941985.jpg


I put my tomato plants in early this year. It meant that I had to cover them with tarps and use an electric heater for about ten nights, but I do have tomatoes earlier than usual.
 
Last edited:

rubysmama

Forum Helper
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Nov 25, 2013
Messages
25,278
Purraise
62,759
Location
Canada
Seeing all your veggies is making me regret not planting some this year. Oh well, next year. Meanwhile, I'm focusing all my attention on my flower gardens, so at least they're looking better than usual.:) And can I just say, a bag of mulch doesn't go very far. :hmmm:
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #370

Norachan

Moderator
Thread starter
Staff Member
Moderator
Joined
May 27, 2013
Messages
32,668
Purraise
32,854
Location
Mount Fuji, Japan
Very nice W WillowMarie

The monsoon has just finished here. A lot of the flowers I planted have turned black with all the rain, but I've done some extensive pruning in the hope of getting them to put out some new growth. I need to cut the grass and weeds down in the cat's enclosure too. It's way over their heads now.
 

Boris Diamond

Cat Valet
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 27, 2015
Messages
27,151
Purraise
15,944
I use an ultraviolet flashlight to spot tomato hornworms. They glow bright green in ultraviolet! They can do an amazing amount of damage in a short time. Last night, I spotted something brown - not a tomato hornworm - on an Aconcagua pepper plant. I though it was a dead leaf. On closer inspection, I saw it was a frog/toad. They eat slugs which I have been having a problem with, so I'm glad to see him there. Here is his pic!
Frog on plant.jpg
 

rubysmama

Forum Helper
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Nov 25, 2013
Messages
25,278
Purraise
62,759
Location
Canada
On closer inspection, I saw it was a frog/toad. They eat slugs which I have been having a problem with, so I'm glad to see him there. Here is his pic!
Frog on plant.jpg
Oh, he's so cute. Wonder if he'd like to come to my garden, as last night I spotted 2 slugs on my hostas. I didn't know what to do about them, so I just got a twig and brushed them off, though I'm sure they found their way to other leaves to munch on. Must Google for eco-friendly ways to deter them.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #373

Norachan

Moderator
Thread starter
Staff Member
Moderator
Joined
May 27, 2013
Messages
32,668
Purraise
32,854
Location
Mount Fuji, Japan
Must Google for eco-friendly ways to deter them.
Pretty gross but very effective way of dealing with slugs:

Get a plastic cup, dig a hole in the ground so the cup sits in the hole with just a couple of cm above ground level. Half fill the cup with beer. Slugs can't resist the smell of the hops. They crawl in and drown, drunk and happy. You can throw the slimy slug beer into the compost and refill every few days as needed.
 

rubysmama

Forum Helper
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Nov 25, 2013
Messages
25,278
Purraise
62,759
Location
Canada
Pretty gross but very effective way of dealing with slugs:

Get a plastic cup, dig a hole in the ground so the cup sits in the hole with just a couple of cm above ground level. Half fill the cup with beer. Slugs can't resist the smell of the hops. They crawl in and drown, drunk and happy. You can throw the slimy slug beer into the compost and refill every few days as needed.
Yeah, I've heard that before, and it does sound like it could be a pretty gross sight to see. :fear: Though I guess at least they die happy, though I don't necessarily want them dead, just gone.
 

MoochNNoodles

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Apr 30, 2005
Messages
36,646
Purraise
23,465
Location
Where my cats are
I saw it was a frog/toad. They eat slugs which I have been having a problem with, so I'm glad to see him there.
Oh I had no idea! We have both here and the slugs like my sunflowers. We aren’t beer drinkers but maybe I can send DH for whatever is cheapest.

This is my most recent picking. My sunflowers are starting to bloom more and more too.
image.jpg
 

posiepurrs

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 11, 2015
Messages
2,696
Purraise
6,231
Location
Western Massachusetts, USA
I swear it seems like my garden is never going to produce! I have peppers and tomatoes looking good, but just not ready yet. The potatoes I planted WAY back in early spring just recently started growing! I thought they had rotted in the ground. Beans are blooming and the cucumbers are stalled. I wanted to make pickles but at this rate I won't be able to. This time last year I hade cucumbers galore. The onions are getting bigger though and I did harvest my garlic. Carrots never even came up, not did the purple hull peas. My bread seed poppies didn't come up either. The rain has been horrendous. The only time I have turned on my hose in the last month is to rinse my deck after spraying with cleaner.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top