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24 May 2010

MetaChat, MetaChat, how does your garden grow? →[More:]
(and for "garden" please feel free to substitute "cat be-gnawed, straggly spider plant, if that's what you've got, cos y'know, I've been there).

I just cut our first major harvest of lettuce, arugula, spinach, and used it for a lovely fresh salad last night. Got all the tomato and basil plants in the ground this weekend, pray to the great flying spaghetti monster that we've seen our last snow (snow!) on the 13th. Finished this year's installation of the (perennial) herb garden. Ripped up a large messy weedpatch of lawn that wasn't thriving in the front yard, and sowed periwinkle and shade-loving wildflower mix in it, instead. I think I'll ultimately transform it into a shade/rock garden, but that's gonna be a year or 2 in the making. Kicked off SlugMaGeddon 2010 with a flashlight and some wet newspapers (yick), staked the roses and peonies, turned and soaked the compost pile.

Since around about mid last September, we have brought the yard back from a neglected overgrown wasteland to a pretty decent start on a suburban victory garden. It has not been easy, as the huge pile of tree branches / hedge debris we've been accumulating out by the kerb will attest. A friend is bringing his full-size pickup by next Saturday to (finally) deal with that. The weed removal program has been epic. The mister and I have both weeded, and weeded, and weeded, and weeded and WEEDED, and bitched and complained, and then weeded some more, up to and including removing a couple hundred 1-2" saplings from various places they don't belong, including the fence, the perennial borders, up against the foundation, etc..., installed some mulch, then the mister and I fixed both front and back water spickets and installed a drip irrigation system in the rose garden.

Mr lfr, apparently inspired by all this activity, then went on a creative tear by installing a bunch of pretty rock borders and an array of nifty solar lighting in the back yard.

Happiest of all, our big blue clematis, which I basically had to prune back to a 4" nub and had pretty much given it up for lost, appears to have come back from the grave, and is now busily crawling all over the back patio trellis and is already providing a nice bit of shade. Tons of flowerbuds on it, too, so in about 2 weeks it should be covered in huge sky blue flowers. Hurrah for Zombie Clematis!

post by: lonefrontranger at: 11:29 | 29 comments

Kale and romaine, so far. Lots. Kale in two meals yesterday. Lots of salads.

Local lore says do not bother with tomatoes before Memorial Day, and we put then in anyway and they do NOT like the cold and rain. We may need to replace them.

Peas are almost ready to eat, though, so there's peas.

posted by danf 24 May | 11:32

The mold around the ceiling in the shower is doing quite well, and we are keeping the creeping crud in the kitchen at bay. I'm not sure about the chili cultures my son is growing in the fridge.

posted by Ardiril 24 May | 11:37

My rosemary plant seems to be doing well and is likely ready for another snipping. My basil grew flowers at some point during the winter and so my mother says it needs to be thrown it. (It was only $1 at Target, so I'm not all that heartbroken over it.)

posted by sperose 24 May | 11:41

It grows at the mercy of the condo board!

But my avocado tree is doing nicely; my violets need separating and repotting; the mint is taking over; and the peace lily won't die but will never flower again.

posted by crush-onastick 24 May | 11:41

Impressive!

We are moving into a new community garden and it's going slow. We started with chives, sorrel, and tarragon and some chard and arugula, which is the only thing we've really started to harvest. I only got butterhead and mesclun lettuce seeded last week, along with spinach and parsley. I transplanted a raspberry bush and some native strawnberries from my last garden, and we put in two Russian Kale plants which so far are...adjusting. The soil isn't as good here.

At home I have some super-robust heirloom tomato seedlings of various kinds. They'll go in this week, I guess. Someone just told me that whenever irises start to bloom, you can plant your tomatoes. Works for me!

For the first time I'm trying potatoes. There are a lot of methods for planting them and I'm trying to decide which one to use. Probably a box-type method instead of hills. Also, trying onions for the first time too. I need to save room for basil. What else: pole beans, squashes, and cukes on the way. A rosemary and a thyme need to go in the herb area,too.

This garden has about 2x the square footage of teh last one, which is fun. On the other hand, the soil is much poorer.I really should build raised beds and might do that before putting the tomatoes in.

Fun, though! So excited for garden food! It's the BEST.

posted by Miko 24 May | 11:44

sperose, you can just cut your basil plant stems back to the 2nd tier of leaves coming off the stem. It will likely sprout more branches and leaves and give you good basil. You shouldn't throw it out before trying this. It's just that when it flowers, the plant's energy goes into making seeds instead of giving you tender, tasty new green leaves. Snipping off flower heads when they form, or ideally, before they get a chance, keeps the plant producing the tasty leaves a longer time. Once it flowers, the leaves get old, tough, and bitter.

posted by Miko 24 May | 11:46

We don't grow anything edible in the garden since I don't really trust the soil but the flowers are going great this year. Mostly our involvement in the garden is just pulling anything that looks like a weed and throwing some mulch down. All of the flowers (hydrangea, peonies, tulips, rhododendron, azalea, lilac and lots and lots of roses) were planted by the late owner of our house. Since it's Pittsburgh, we don't need to water the garden or the lawn but weed pulling is a full time job; the wild grape vines would take over the city if we didn't keep hacking them back.

posted by octothorpe 24 May | 11:49

14 tomato plants (with two new cherry varieties that I'm excited to try)
12 pepper plants
10 okras
10 cucumbers
30 pole beans
4 tomatillos
1 15' row of potatoes
no squashes yet; been too unseasonably cool

posted by mudpuppie 24 May | 11:53

I've got a windowbox garden...

Sage: which has been around since forever and ever and CANNOT DIE!

Basil: New basil! growing well, needs more what then I thought cause it's so close to the window

Oregano: Needs more time! but going well

Parsley: I have to keep cutting the flowers, I gotta keep castrating the plant

Lavender: Sprouted - going okay

Mint!: Mint! Mint! Glorious Mint! it keeps dropping yellow leaves and I have no idea why. Help me?

Pineapple Sage: Distrubingly fast growing.

Chives: Dude they are chives, they're fine.

Rosemary: Needs to grow FASTER damnit, and it got dried out a little bit which dear god how? I thought Rosemary was drought proof?

posted by The Whelk 24 May | 11:57

The mold around the ceiling in the shower is doing quite well...

Nice, we have a bunch of that too!! Part of the longterm plan is, of course, to rip out that crappy, crappy little bathroom, but that of course will involve a lot of re-wiring, re-configuring, a bushel of cash, and the typical mess and disarray of remodelling. In the meantime we've armed ourselves with mold spray, a long handled scrub brush and a tiny, pathetic battery op window fan, in hopes of delaying the inevitable. :P

also: thanks for reminding me. I desperately need to nuke the fridge, like, now. Before something evolves in there.

posted by lonefrontranger 24 May | 12:03

We're growing lots of herbs for use in Mexican and Italian dishes, having lots of success. Herbs are great.

Besides that, just tomatoes, peppers, some onions, and a few types of beans.

Yellow leaves usually means too much water. The plant might have wet feet (roots).

posted by iconomy 24 May | 12:04

Yellow mint leaves

posted by iconomy 24 May | 12:05

Mint!: Mint! Mint! Glorious Mint! it keeps dropping yellow leaves and I have no idea why. Help me?

is it in too sunny a space? Mint prefers partial shade, and a hot sunny window maybe too intense for it.

posted by lonefrontranger 24 May | 12:08

My mom is a master gardener. I hesitate to even get a cactus for myself.

Our apartment has a large north-facing balcony, and I keep thinking it would be nice to get something going there. I do love fresh herbs. Just haven't gotten around to it, of course.

We've broached the topic of having my mom come over and give us some pointers. Despite truly needing her assistance, it would be more of a "sacrifice yourself to make her feel good" effort as opposed to a real consult, but we can probably stick it out. (She has this tendency to say things like, "Well, when you make cake, you start with some flour and eggs..." after I've made, like, a croquembouche.)

posted by Madamina 24 May | 12:24

Mint is a weed in my yard, I run it over and pull it up but it keeps coming back. Makes the mower smell good though.

posted by octothorpe 24 May | 12:26

I will try that this weekend, Miko. I've got several batches off it in the freezer, but I'm interested to see how long I can keep it alive. (My mother has a tendency to kill everything she touches.)

posted by sperose 24 May | 14:36

Have spent almost the last year turning bermuda grass into garden, and am finally reaping the benefits!

Harvesting now:
Chard
Kale
Peas (measly this year. bad start)
Lettuce (not for much longer)
Arugula (bolted already, but still edible)
Beets
Carrots
Basil
Ground cherries (very few so far, but still! I've had some!)

In the ground and doing well:
• 12 tomato plants. Had two die and so had to replace them.
• 6 pepper plants
• 2 eggplants
• tons of beans, to the point where I'm not even sure what all varieties I have.
• cukes: 4-6
• Fig tree! I doubt I'll get any this year though. It's about 4' tall, but just two scraggly branches in a V shape.
• Blueberries--5 bushes, LOADED. These are 5-year-old bushes I got as a housewarming gift.
• Dill
• Zucchini
• Yellow Squash
• Cantaloupe
• Mint

Also, I have a nice, old hydrangea bush that's in full-on blue, puffball splendor at the moment. So great for spur of the moment presents for people!

posted by Stewriffic 24 May | 14:50

No pictures, useless, etc.

Unless, of course, there's a FotoFriday w/your own garden as a theme.

posted by deborah 24 May | 15:10

Lettuces, spinach, beets, and turnips are all being harvested. Peas got hot too early and died. Beans, eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers in the ground (tomatoes and peppers started from seed in January). All sorts of herbs doing well. Grapes growing like crazy despite (or because of?) heavy pruning.

posted by mrmoonpie 24 May | 15:31

I planted 3 Roma tomatoes in some self-watering planters made from 5-gallon buckets (not my gallery, but i followed the general plan). they're doing pretty well.
I also started 9 habenaro peppers from seed i saved from last fall. they are a little stunted, due to the cool, wet weather we've had up til now, but with temps in the 80's and 90's for the next week, I think they're starting to pick up.
I also have 2 garlic plants in pots that are doing well.

posted by argentcorvid 24 May | 17:46

Stew I may mooch some blueberries, look out.

We had kale, chard, collards, 3 kinds of lettuce this spring. Tomatoes are happily flowering & it looks like the cherry one will have several billion in the next couple of weeks or so.

Herb garden is cranking nicely. So are the sunflowers. Although I'm bummed that the black swallowtail caterpillars disappeared suddenly & keep telling myself they just went to make their coccoons...

posted by chewatadistance 24 May | 19:02

This is how my garden looked at 4pm today - I'm having the patio relaid with the same paving but new cement, and the little wall at the back rebuilt, all the shrubs trimmed back and the old woody or dead plants and the dreaded ivy cut away. The shed's falling to pieces so there'll be a new one there. It'll take about a week of mess and chaos (in the midst of which Specklet and TheDonF are coming to stay). But when it's finished it'll be just grand.

I'm very glad to say that the young man had put his shirt back on by the time I took the picture - there was a lot of pale flesh, moobs and 4" of arse crack on view for much of the day. Thankfully I went out and left the sight to the neighbours.

posted by Senyar 24 May | 19:31

I have around a dozen different kinds of mint, I'm a glutton for punishment I suppose. Although mint is not even remotely as annoying to deal with as yellow nutsedge OR Campanula punctata which isn't even a weed like nutsedge but rather, a really pretty but horrifically invasive flowering perennial.

Anyway, not a lot of veggies this year. I have a few rows of asparagus but I am not picking any this year, the rows were getting kinda wimpy I think the plants need to recover this year. I planted some tomatoes, some sweet potatoes and russet potatoes, peppers, onions, lots of herbs like thyme, oregano, sage, but so many of ornamental varieties are available that I use them in my perennial beds so I always have them anyway. I'll plant cucumbers and squash later, I might even plant some pumpkins although I only do those for ornamental purposes and I have so much work to do out here that I might skip them this year.

I hope to be caught up enough to plant some cooler-weather veggies like carrots and such in fall, along with planting new rows of raspberries and possibly planting a new grape row, although I am tempted to just ditch the row I have and buy grapes at the market, the grapes are so much trouble to grow compared to other stuff. I would have planted more vegetables this spring but I just have too much other stuff to do right now. After a couple of years of being pissed off at freak weather causing me to lose several large trees and shrubs, I am trying to get the wilderness of my yard under control again. I basically ignored it for a while.

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 25 May | 09:32

The garden is kicking ass this year. In the middle bed, the tomatoes are already huge and blossoming; there's enough basil to trim it way down & make pesto and all the lettuces are thriving. Beans, corn and Chinese pumpkins are coming along nicely in that bed and the cukes and peppers and eggplant and cilantro are happy in their bed if a bit slower than the other two. I should have started the Chinese eggplant inside though because it didn't come up from seed. And the flowers are doing nicely; looks like the hollyhocks I put in last year are going to bloom this year. Pix in a half hour or so.

posted by mygothlaundry 25 May | 14:09

On my windowsill my christmus cactus isdoing really well, the aloe plant that I got from another Mechazen is sprouting its own babies already (am I supposed to move these? they seem well stuck), the fuzzy purple leaf plant is getting super tall but does not branch out, I dont know if I should cut it back.

My orchid is growing a lot of leaves but no stem, my peace lily is doing well, but my basil is sad and droopy and down to 1 stem. I don't know what I did. Probably underwatered then overwatered in compensation. Oh well. I can never keep basil alive indoors.

posted by rmless2 25 May | 15:23

≡ Click to see image ≡
Corn & beans & pumpkins

≡ Click to see image ≡
Tomatoes & basil & zucchini & lettuce & herbs

≡ Click to see image ≡
Peppers & cilantro & cucumbers & eggplant & some weird beet turnip thingies

≡ Click to see image ≡
and the flowers are doing well too.

posted by mygothlaundry 25 May | 18:55

Love the Chinese soldiers watching your garden grow, mgl!

posted by deborah 25 May | 19:04

Memorial Day weekend is THE weekend for planting outdoor gardens in Alaska, and I am so ready. Also jealous of all of your gardens.

posted by rhapsodie 25 May | 23:13

aloe plant...its own babies already (am I supposed to move these? they seem well stuck)

They are attached to the main stem of the parent plant. If you don't want them in there you can just cut or pull them off. If you are planning on giving some away, you can wait until they have 3 or 4 leaves (they should have their own roots by then); if not, remove them as soon as you see them. If you don't remove them they will fill up the pot in a year or two. Glad to hear that it's doing well!

posted by argentcorvid 26 May | 10:04

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