Garden Check-In

[bridgetmkennitt]

How is your garden going so far? Is it looking great? Is the weather fighting you or working with you?

Comments

[ladybrooke]

It flooded and washed away once, and it's raining again (and the town near us already flooded, so I'm not holding out too much hope).

I'm really hoping that it stays this time though - we put out everything except my two cherry tomatoes, my jalapeno pepper, my purple potatoes, and my sister's herbs. There's at least 30 plants out there, and we don't have the money to buy them all again.

[bridgetmkennitt]

Oh no, that's terrible! :( Stupid floods.

*crosses fingers* That sounds like a lovely variety, so I hope they stay as well.

[dantesspirit]

WE've had flooding rains here too. Thankfully, we're up on a ridge, so the water drains away pretty quickly.

Here's hoping your second attempt stays put!

[ladybrooke]

Thank you! We're on top of a hill, so it tends to drain quickly. It's just that this time it rained enough to take the seeds with it.

[rustica]

It's autumn here and we've had some storms blow through, so my garden is pretty much buried under fallen leaves :)

[bridgetmkennitt]

Is that the norm during this time of year for your garden? If so, what do you usually plant during other times of the year?

[rustica]

Very much the norm for this time of year - I'm in NZ, and we get a lot of storms blowing up from the Antarctic in winter.

The rest of the year, I mainly plant veggies, since most of the flowers in my garden are perennials. I'm experimenting with hellebore seeds this winter - I'm soaking them atm, then in a couple of weeks I'll be freezing them to see if I can persuade them to germinate. I'm a huge fan of hellebores, but I've never managed to grow them from seed before.

How about you?

[bridgetmkennitt]

Good luck with the hellebore seeds!

I live in an area where I can garden year round, but we're coming up to the summer where it can get pretty hot, so I carry my plants into my apartment and onto the balcony depending on the time of day. I grow veggies as well as household plants that have some purpose, like aloe vera and bamboo.

[lilacsigil]

I am growing a pumpkin in the greenhouse, not because it needs the protection from the weather but because of the possums who think pumpkin is the most delicious thing ever. When I tried to grow it out in the garden, they would eat some of it and try to take the rest up their tree, but they can't, so we'd find half-pumpkins at the foot of the tree. Even worse, they have clever little hands, so when we used netting, they would move the netting around until they could get to the pumpkins and eat what they could reach through the netting.

[bridgetmkennitt]

Those sneaky possums! Pumpkins are meant for you, not them. Hopefully they can't figure out how to get into the greenhouse.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

This is the most floral portion of the year until the asters erupt. Was too rainy today to patrol, but iris could be going tomorrow. Tree peony is in full bloom.

Lots of green leaves.

[bridgetmkennitt]

Those sound lovely! Hopefully the rain didn't do any damage.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

The German Bearded iris have yet to finish unfurling, slowed by the rains. The tree peony blooms are holding up fairly well, I shake them a little so they aren't both being sunned and sodden. More color is occurring in the siberian iris daily.

[zesty_pinto]

Three attempts. First lost to frost (damn). Second lost to frost (damn). Third time's a charm, but the housing committee planned some renovation of the gardening area, so had to move the plants (sort of damn).

Weather has been interesting, but the plants are growing, so that's a plus as far as I'm concerned!

[bridgetmkennitt]

Dang. :(

Yay for the plants growing! And here's hoping nothing else happens to the plants.

[primsong]

Such a wet and cold spring, everything is a bit behind - I ended up just planting in pots on my deck this round, nasturtiums, three kinds of cherry tomato and lemon cukes with a trellis plus some herbs, powdery mildew is going to be troublesome this year I think. We will prevail somehow!

[bridgetmkennitt]

Yes, you will prevail!

I live in an apartment, so I have everything in containers anyway, but I also live in a desert area with a super hot summer, so containers would be the route I'd take even if I lived in a house. Hopefully everything grows well and the tomatoes are tasty. :D

[shopfront]

Good! Gardening more than a very very little is a new thing for me, so I spent all of spring umming and aahing and consequently I think I'm now a little late starting but everything seems pretty warm and comfy with life because of it. Established plants from previous people are fighting off the pests that descended as soon as spring hit properly, new plug plants have all settled in well, and I have a bunch of happy seedlings popping up inside. It's raining frequently but only for short spells with decent but not super heavy falls, so I'm not even really needing to water anything outside which is nice.

Touch wood but I expect that the A+ gardening going well experience will falter soon, because, well, beginning gardener here! But so far it's pretty darn good.

[bridgetmkennitt]

Yay, you sound pretty productive with your gardening! Here's hoping you'll continue to have smooth sailing.

For some reason or another, plants tend to die under my hands, but I try not to give up and right now, my garden is doing well. If this continues, I'm going to add more plants and see if I can continue keeping them alive.

[norfolkian]

I was away for two weeks and just got back and my garden looks great (if a little overgrown/weedy in places). I had a neighbour pop by to water pots and raised beds, but I think we had a good mix of sunshine and rain (I'm in the Midlands, UK). I might post some pictures later once I've tidied up a bit!

[bridgetmkennitt]

Yay for the garden looking great!

Pictures are always awesome. :D

[highlyeccentric]

I just got to put my balcony garden in this weekend! I had thought I might have to move house, and possibly not have a balcony, so couldn't put anything in all spring. It all looks okay right now - I've figured out that the reason so much died last year was that two of my big cement planters don't drain properly, so hopefully this season will be better.

The weather will start fighting me very soon, though. My balcony has literally no shade after about 11am, and gets the direct afternoon sun - pretty much everything I put on it gets scorched over summer. I've planted miniature hibiscus this year, in the hope they'll be leafy enough to partly shade the herbs, but it remains to be seen if they like being in pots.

[bridgetmkennitt]

Yay for balcony garden! I have a balcony garden myself, sorta. I tend to move my plants in and out of my apartment, depending on the time of day.

Oh yes, I know what you mean on that. I thought about putting up shade for my plants, but my area has strong wind days which means anything I build will just get blown away. I finally bought some heat resistant veggie breeds so I'm trying that out.

[antisoppist]

South-west UK here. I'm renting and this is my second year here. My landlords have never lived in the house and just want me to prune things when necessary but the previous owners of the house were keen gardeners and have only moved up the road so I feel kind of responsible for looking after the garden they spent ten years creating!

My own planting last year was limited to pots on the patio but now I've seen the garden through a whole year, I've put in some summer flowering bulbs where there are gaps.

It is very much a spring garden. We had a lot of sun in April followed by a lot of rain in May so everything is now going mad. There is a flowering clematis taking over the side wall and the lane the other side, and a wisteria blossoming over the shed. A rose has forced its way through a mass of honeysuckle (which isn't flowering) and is producing roses about eight feet above the ground. The bay tree is growing as I look at it and the rosemary has flowered and fallen over sideways. I think I am supposed to just let everything flower and then do rather a lot of cutting back. I would like to plant something edible but I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by what there is there already and last year slugs ate all my peas and beans and even rocket so I am rather gloomy about its prospects.

[bridgetmkennitt]

Oh wow, ten years worth of garden? Yeah, I'd feel the same way too.

I feel a bit overwhelmed just reading your description! I wish you luck and here's hoping you can plant some edibles. I love edibles more than flowers (since I can eat the former and not the latter). Would container edibles help against the slugs?

[saki101]

It is developing. I don't have an actual garden, but lots of window boxes. Some of the plants in them last through the winter and some don't, so I plant seeds harvested from the ones that I know will die at the first frost and buy a few new plants each year as well. Also, I experiment with a couple new seeds now and then.

So, how are things at the moment?

All three geraniums made it through the winter, two are blooming and one only has small buds. It has scarlet flowers and is quite a treat when it blooms, so I'm hoping the little buds make it.

I have three miniature rose bushes that also made it through the winter, two were new last year and one is a couple years old and getting rather large for a potted rose. The smaller two are blooming and the larger one is just getting buds. I am fighting some sort of mildew on them. I may have defeated the aphids - or the spiders did - but there are tiny white specks that will turn into bugs soon enough if I don't get rid of them. I've been using soapy water on the leaves. They are even making an attempt on the geraniums, which are usually immune to everything.

I have one purple campanula that is flourishing, covered with flowers that a certain large bumblebee appears to adore.

My strawberry plants, which all came from one plant several years ago, made it through the winter, then more than half slowly turned brown and withered away. I don't know what happened, they were already budding. I have two left that seem healthy and they have the tiny beginnings of strawberries on them.

I took the bold step of buying a tomato plant a couple weeks ago. It is re-potted and on the side of the flat that gets strong afternoon sun. I know this is a bit of a stretch for a window box, but many, many years ago, I succeeded in growing a 'crop' on a window sill, so perhaps this will work.

There are more, but I'm going on too long, I think. Thank you for asking!

[bridgetmkennitt]

Window boxes are totally a garden. Not everyone has a house with a yard, so one does what they can. My garden is in containers because I live in an apartment.

Good luck with your plants! Hee, there is nothing wrong with talking about one's garden. It's a fun topic.

[liana]

Things are coming along slowly here in northern New England. We've had some extremes of temperature, but that's just Spring I guess. I've got seedlings of lunchbox peppers, jalapenos, basil, nasturtium, and three varieties of tomato. One of today's tasks is putting cages around them all so the deer don't chomp them. I have seeds in for kale, hubbard squash, carrots, and perilla. The asparagus patch has been providing good harvest for a couple of weeks, oregano is coming back quite well, and chives very much too well - I'm overdue in wrangling that patch.

[bridgetmkennitt]

Ooo, I'm liking what you're growing in your garden. It all sounds tasty. And yes, gotta make sure the deer don't eat them before you do.

[nanila]

It was a glorious weekend. We mowed and trimmed the hedge, and the aquilegias are in full bloom.

Also, we harvested radishes and rocket. Peppery goodness!

[bridgetmkennitt]

Yay for a glorious weekend!

Nomnom, that sounds good.

[ravena_kade]

I have a lot of the winter clean up done. The weather has been fighting me. Next weekend I will plant the veggies.

[bridgetmkennitt]

Stupid weather! I feel like the weather likes to fight me often. Good luck planting your veggies and hopefully the weather will be beautiful.

[willidan]

I've got some tomato plants and pepper plants out and they're doing well. I also put some container flower gardens in the front yard and some "mounding" flowers in the front yard. They are struggling a bit, because they face the full sun half the day and I need to get into the habit of watering them every day.

[bridgetmkennitt]

Nomnom tomatoes and peppers. Your garden sounds lovely. Is there a way for the watering to be automated in some way? What about one of those thingys where it's a ball connected to a long thing and you turn it upside down in the ground to water said plant? (I remember seeing them, but for the life of me, I can't remember the name of it).

[willidan]

I do have some. (I call them water balls, I don't know what they're called either.) But when I use them I tend to forget to check that they still have water in them. I can't wait until I have some fresh tomatoes from the garden!

[bridgetmkennitt]

Ohh, that's true. Water balls (hee) need to be refilled.

Yes, fresh tomatoes are great! I have a green tomato on my tomato plant and I keep staring at it, waiting for it to ripen. Grow, my little tomato, I want to eat you.

[willidan]

I've got some green tomatoes that have been green for weeks. My luck, they'll turn red when I have to go out of town in two weeks.

[dantesspirit]

I have maters! ( Heirloom Indigo Rose)



And baby summer squash!

[bridgetmkennitt]

Ooo, yay! They look pretty. :D