What's in your Garden?

[KLS52]

I swear, I am the worst gardener, ever.

But, I got the rest of the plants in. It was torture. I have one more spot that needs something so I’m going to have to go and pick up something to put there. I’ll take some pictures once I get the mulch down.

But I have no sense as to how to properly place the plants. Plus, when I started out a few years ago, I had no idea what I was doing and now all of the tall plants are in the front and the short ones are in the back and I’m too lazy to dig them up and rearrange them. So I just keep planting new stuff in between, forgetting to pay attention to how tall they are going to grow, lol. I’m hopeless! But at least I have a garden.

 

[KLS52]

I haven’t planted my garlic yet, but that should be easy. I just have to decide where I want to plant them. I hope I’m not too late. I think they were supposed to go in before this but I’m going to try it anyway.

 

[Skylark]

I haven’t planted my garlic yet, but that should be easy. I just have to decide where I want to plant them. I hope I’m not too late. I think they were supposed to go in before this but I’m going to try it anyway.

Unless you live very far north (or very far south in the Southern Hemisphere) you may want to wait till late September or October to plant your garlic.

 

[KLS52]

I bought some that were supposed to be planted in Spring, although I’m not going to know which is which at this point. So maybe I will just wait until Fall. Or plant a few and see what happens. I gave some to my coworker who is tending our employee garden and they are coming up already.

 

[Tom L.]

@KLS52 How about leaving that spot which needs something empty for now? You can always move something else which is getting to big to that spot later, maybe (as long as it's not something that hates to be trnsplanted when it's really growing)?

Some creeping bellflower and pokeweed have volunteered in my yard; the bellflowers have been here a long time (before I moved in) but the pokeweed is recent. The Bellflower is a European ornamental which has escaped from cultivation in many areas; some places consider it invasive, but it hasn't been that bad at my place. I'm transplanting a lot of it to that strip of ground in-between the sidewalk and curb; grass has a hard time growing there, and that strip has gotten invaded by Lady's Thumb (Polygonum persicaria) and the Lamb's-Quarters I mentioned somewhere else. Supposedly, they're both edible- but I wouldn't eat anything from that area, what with all the dogs walking by, trash, possibly lead accumulated from from gasoline back in the day...

Pokeweed has long been eaten too, but certain parts of it at certain stages of growth are poisonous, and you're supposed to boil it in two, or preferably three, changes of water in any case. I recently read that there are carcinogenic substances in it, too. What??!!... I'll just pull the stuff up, and stick to eating weeds that won't kill me- like dandelions, garlic mustard, lamb's-quarters, and purslane.

@Katrina Yay, home-grown grapes!!! I think commercially-grown grapes often have pesticides, but yours won't. What variety are they? I used to have wild, native Riverbank grapes (I keyed them down as Vitis riparia) in my yard- they were small, and tasted like those SweeTart candies, but it was damaging the fence. Now I think a small Cat Grape is growing at my place... maybe I'll build an arbor for it. (But the grape did look nice covering the fence like ivy...)

ETA: Yep. I just googled "Dirty Dozen", and commercially-grown grapes were at about #4 highest in pesticides.

 

[MadamSarcastra]

Well, the peonies have faded and now ye olde rose bushes are blooming....

 

[Skylark]

I have now distributed all of the extra spaghetti squash seedlings that I had transplanted into little pots. The last three I gave to a friend whose only growing space is on an apartment balcony. I told her to get ready for the entire balcony to be full of squash vines. But she knows.

Another twenty were planted in overgrown lots around my city. Not sure if they will be able to fight hard enough against established grass, but it’s worth a try since I had the mother load of seedlings. I don’t have enough space at my place to let the vines run wherever they want, so I’m good with experimenting elsewhere in places where the stakes are low.

 

[Chryssie]

A nice batch of tomatoes I picked today!

 

[KLS52]

My garden is a mess. And I love it. Because it’s mine.

I have milkweed growing in between the plants. I refuse to pull it because I saw, firsthand, last year, how the monarch butterfly lays it’s eggs and I got to watch as the caterpillar spun its chrysalis and then emerged as a butterfly. So I’m giving it one more try this year. I realized I gave up too early thinking all of that happened at the end of Spring so after a few weeks of not seeing any activity I would pull them up and discard them. But now I see I have to wait until the end of Summer.

The other mess is this big tall weed that I did cut down in early Spring but it sprung up again just in time for the babies to hatch in the birdhouse. It’s providing coverage for the house so I’m leaving it alone until they leave the nest.

I have some pretty stuff in between all of that. I am, however, disappointed in the dianthus. They didn’t take at all and they look just awful. I may remove them. Thankfully I only planted two of them.

 

[Tom L.]

I have some milkweed growing in my garden, too! Why not give the dianthus a chance? Maybe it just needs to get adjusted. I divided my lovage plant last spring, and this spring, the small part I planted in a different area is hardly any bigger than it was at the end of last season, although the bigger, main plant as bounced back. It has thick roots, so maybe the small part I planted in a different area is still busy storing some emergency food in its roots.

Speaking of weeds... I must be insane. I add a few dandelion leaves to my meals now and then- not too many, partly because they're bitter and partly because I try to eat a variety of things. But a few weeks ago I pulled up a whole dandelion plant when I was taking some leaves... and I replanted the root in my garden??!!... New little leaves are sprouting from it now. Anyway, I do kind of like dandelions. There aren't that many in my yard; they're kind of pretty, and edible to boot; and they really aren't nearly as aggressive as the ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea) and crabgrass.

I was reading up about garlic mustard this week. Some sources on the internet warned that it contains "cyanide in levels that are considered toxic to mammals" and advised against eating it more often than every other day. Baloney! I had some at lunch today with my rice and xskooooo./l;sadkjjjjjjjascvkljl/kk/d

*head hits keyboard as I pass out from toxicity*
*JUST KIDDING* Sort of... I suppose you could theoretically eat enough of something and get sick... and I do tend to eat large quantities of vegetables- more than most people.

Something is wrong with my tomatoes though... the leaves are kind of shrivelling. I might have read something about a wilt that is bothering them lately. But the bellflowers I've been transplanting to the "hellstrip" between the sidewalk and curb seem to be taking hold.

 

[KLS52]

We supposedly have blight in my area. I need to go google blight because my tomatoes are not doing well at all. I thought it was because husband planted them, half heartedly and didn’t do a good job. Maybe it’s a combination of the two. I think my soil is not great, also. It seemed extra clay-ie and rocky. I’ll be back and report if I find out anything interesting. Last two years it was blossom drop.

 

[KLS52]

• Dark, concentric spots (brown to black), ¼ - ½” in diameter, form on lower leaves and stems. Early blight is marked by tell-tale rings.
• Fruit can also be affected; spots often begin near stem of fruit
• Lower leaves turn yellow and drop

I don’t think it’s blight. No dark spots. Although, the lower leaves are turning yellow...not so much dropping off but shriveling and withering so I pull them off.

 

[PTree15]

I haven't killed my basil yet! I'm hoping to cut a few leaves for a pasta dish I want to make. I love fresh basil. That's the only thing I'm growing this year. It's in a pot on my deck. My neighbors have a raised garden box in their yard. I like that idea because then you don't have to bend over as far to take care of it. I could totally do that in my yard. Maybe next year.

 

[Val]

The flower show!

RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2018 / RHS Gardening

And they say that there is a Chekhov's corner in there.

 

[MadamSarcastra]

Can someone tell me what this is?? The tall "frondy" one... it just popped up out of nowhere underneath the big pine that I call The Feeding Tree, so I'm wondering if it was due to something I tossed out there.... LOL

 

[Chryssie]

I have no idea what that is but I think we have the same weed here too. They just pop up randomly everywhere!

 

[MadamSarcastra]

I have no idea what that is but I think we have the same weed here too. They just pop up randomly everywhere!

Oh, OK. I've just never seen it around our house before, especially not there... it's something that digs shade....

My father said "It could be corn!"

 

[Chryssie]

I think these are very similar! The wind is blowing them around a little!

 

[Chryssie]

It posted one twice! LOL

 

[Katrina]

After several frustrating hours with GIMP, I made some Before/After shots for my blog. I may as well share them here too!
The front garden:

Spoiler

And the back yard:

Spoiler

Closeup of lupine:

Spoiler

I don't have any photos of the garden plot yet. Will add some later!