gardening

Scientists’ top 10 bee-magnet blooms—turn any lawn into a pollinator paradise

Botanists from the University of Copenhagen and the UK set out to find the best flower combinations for bees and hoverflies.
Danish and Welsh botanists sifted through 400 studies, field-tested seed mixes, and uncovered a lineup of native and exotic blooms that both thrill human eyes and lure bees and hoverflies in droves, offering ready-made recipes for transforming lawns, parks, and patios into vibrant pollinator hotspots.

Below are the plants recommended for European and United Kingdom uses...

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

mdehners

So, I'm sitting on my porch, smoking a Hobbit/Churchwarden pipe, looking downhill to the TVA reservoir cove we live above, watching the birds and bees. Nice.....
This yr I planted Balsam Impatiens in the elevated beds along the N side of the house. My brother, Bless him's heart was in the right place when he put them in before we moved here but he's basically the anti-gardener. He can grow a lawn and that's about it so he didn't know that the N side of a house limits what you can grow. It'd be perfect for mini Hostas but they'd basically be tv trays for deer! I've had/have plenty of Tiarella/heucheras, Bleeding Hearts, Cyclamen and Columbine so after Spring blooms are a bit scarce. I'd originally planned to plant the Balsams in the E garden but with health issues this yr I wasn't able to go about on my knees so I just stuffed them in where there was space. So far they're Mauve and Lilac the former much more vigorous. The Bumblebees love them, esp the Mauves.
Lost pretty much all Lilies not far in the back of the beds to deer. Don't like the leaves but the blossoms?!?
With all the Rain we had this Spring I've lost about 1/2 my Lavender cultivars. Thankfully, most of those were Lavandins and the more sweet(and edible) angustifolias oddly were the survivors...including one vera from seed!
Unfortunately, with the various health issues and accompanying md visits I've hadn't the time, energy or md clearance(just had a spinal electric pain reliever installed 2 weeks ago) to even spend time smoking my pipe and watching the birds(and for you "woo-folk", Nature Spirits;>), let alone keep my beds up. Thankfully, things are slowed WAY down and starting this week I can do more than I have. Got the front 3 ft of the W front yard bed weeded and gave the Salvias a bit of a late "Chelsey Chop";>.
Slow and easy does it!
Cheers, Pat

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Lenoir City(Nevermore;>!)
Current Music: John Dowland Radio

ysabetwordsmith

These pictures are from Thursday. I went foraging at the Charleston Food Forest. It's across the parking lot from the Coles County Community Garden.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

The Coles County Community Garden is across the parking lot from the Charleston Food Forest. It's not the kind where you rent a bed and grow what you want. It's tended by the community and anyone can come pick things to try.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

I enjoy growing dark-colored plants. I have black flowers, bronze leaves, black fruits, all kinds of interesting things.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Today I started making liquid fertilizer from Russian comfrey. Begin with Part 1: Jugs. With those done, I harvested leaves.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Today I started making liquid fertilizer from Russian comfrey. This plant fills a lot of guild roles in permaculture including fertilizer, miner, mulcher, protector, attractor. I have been using it primarily as a bee plant that I can also slash-and-drop several times a season. I grow it under many of my trees and there's some in the prairie garden too.

There are various ways to make liquid fertilizer from comfrey. I will be testing two: 1) a small amount of comfrey leaves in a large amount of water, and 2) only comfrey leaves crammed tightly in a jug. (See Part 2: Leaves.)

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

rebeccmeister

(updated and cross-posted from my blog)

My newest mulch pile:

I only recently got a wood chipper, and I am so happy to be able to mulch small branches at home now!

Lovely little flowers on the French lavender:

I have a dahlia I call the Dark Dahlia, which is behind the lavender, under some rhubarb leaves, just starting to come up. This is most exciting because I wasn't sure if I got it out of the ground in time last fall/winter.

The wine barrel tomato plants are getting much bigger, and have some flowers going:

Some of the ripe strawberries (while walking my cat Martha):

Yummy strawberry-arugula salad! Needed more strawberries. Next time.

luna_moon

Hello! My name is Luna. I am new to this group and also somewhat new to Dreamwidth! I keep a small backyard garden of mostly veggies and herbs. I grow most of my plants in containers. I use a variety of pots, grow bags, and upcycled totes for growing. Helps keep weeding a lot easier and I don't have to bend over quite as much/often (I have POTS). I live in the middle of the city, close to our downtown district. I don't have a lot of yard space, or the space I have may not be suitable for growing in ground. I am still working on them, but I have a few ideas for posts about composting and upcycling in the garden that I hope I can share in the future!

Below the cut is a small garden tour! This isn't everything I have, and I am still working on adding a few more things. :]

( Garden tour! )

ysabetwordsmith

I found this article about making a Mosquito Bucket of Doom.

1) Fill a bucket with water and put it outside.

2) Add a handful of grass to make carbon dioxide which will attract more mosquitoes.

3) There are two options to kill the resulting larvae.

-- Dump the bucket weekly and refresh the trap with new water and grass.

-- Add a mosquito dunk, which lasts about a month. Replace whenever it sinks or dissolves.

Also, make sure there are no other pockets of still water to attract mosquitoes elsewhere in your yard. Every bit that you can find and remove is one less mosquito nest.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today's project was filling a set of trough pots and securing them to the benches of the new picnic table. (This is from Tuesday, but it's after midnight so the date reads Wednesday. See some "before" pictures.) There are 6 troughs total, although one already had wild strawberries in it from earlier. Each bench holds 3 troughs. I got these and a bunch of other pots when Big Lots went out of business.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

These pictures are mostly from the savanna.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Today I took some pictures at the Charleston Food Forest.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

moonhare

I did a quick checkup on my little 1986 Pony tiller today:

- inflated soft tires
- cleaned out residual mouse nest from blower housing
- oiled recoil ratchet
- cleaned/oiled foam air cleaner cover
- replaced the spark plug
- added Sea Foam to last Autumn’s gasoline
- topped off the oil
Started on the second pull!

From there I tilled under the living room window in anticipation of a batch of gladiolus bulbs coming next week. I then gave the garden a rough tilling.

I love this time of the year!

Current Mood: accomplished

moonhare

Other than a few odds and ends, the garden fence project has been completed. This should secure the area from the rabbits, woodchucks, and deer. Other smaller rodents, and birds, haven’t been as destructive.

Added were an electrified wire above the existing fence, and a mesh barrier behind the electrified wires at the fence base. The top wire is to deter deer; the mesh is to discourage other pests. I also replaced some insulators and tightened up the lower wires where necessary. What is left is to trim back any vegetation and to staple the mesh as needed.

From the Peter Rabbit movie. I used a similar pic in 2019, when I first considered adding the electrified fence.

My first postings about the fence were in August, 2019.
https://gardening.dreamwidth.org/2019/08/06/

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

I took some pictures around the yard. These are from Monday. See the south lot.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

moonhare

First cutting for 2025!

Yummy! Not a large amount, but as these mature at different rates I wanted to cut the higher stalks before the heads opened and supplemented with the shorter ones. I might try storing some cuttings in the fridge to get larger portions; supposedly one can refrigerate these in a plastic bag for a couple of weeks.

Current Mood: pleased

moonhare

Spring is advancing, slowly, here. Nighttime temps are still in the 30°s F, but there is plenty of plant activity in the yard!

( Pics! All expand. )

Current Mood: bouncy

ysabetwordsmith

These pictures mostly show the south lot. See the House Yard, South Lot, Savanna and Prairie Garden, and Back Toward the House.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Today I took pictures around the yard. It's cloudy, so the lighting is bad, but so much is happening that I wanted to capture it. See the House Yard, South Lot, Savanna, and Prairie Garden.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

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Bee Food Flowers

Hobbit Time;>!

Photos: Charleston Food Forest

Photos: Coles County Community Garden

Photos: Dark Gardening

How to Make Comfrey Liquid Fertilizer Part 2: Leaves

How to Make Comfrey Liquid Fertilizer Part 1: Jugs

June garden updates from Albany, NY

Intro

How to Make a Mosquito Bucket of Doom

How to Secure Trough Pots to a Bench

Photos: Savanna

Photos: Charleston Food Forest 5-10-25

Tiller time!

Fence work

Photos: House Yard

Asparagus

Springtime

Photos: South Lot

Photos: House Yard

Profile

July 2025

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