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The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Grandmama » Oct 11, 2018 7:57 am

The first snowflakes started falling here this morning, so I picked the remaining lettuce and now the garden is empty. In some years past, I have kept lettuce going until mid November by covering it with hay and a plastic tunnel, but there wasn't enough out there this year to make it worth the effort just to have bragging rights at Thanksgiving.

I hope we still get a few sunny days before the real snow comes so that I can get the garden cleaned up better and mow the yard. It's been far too wet lately to get much of anything done outside.
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby fantasia » Nov 09, 2018 3:31 pm

It's supposed to drop to 17F tonight, so I picked my celery which is the last thing in my garden this year. It's soooo potent. It's small but it's got bigger taste than the store bought variety. I plan to chop it up and freeze it this evening.
I do need to get my herbs out of my front pot too. Either that or cover it.
I'm not planning on doing much next year except for an occasional plant due to my whole herb garden being taken over by horrible weeds and grass. Going to kill everything off next year. Should be interesting. ;))
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby johobbit » Nov 09, 2018 5:10 pm

How did your sweet potatoes fare, fledge1?

Did you get those wished-for sunny days, Grandmama?

I've never planted celery, fantasia, but I bet it is absolutely delicious.

A few weeks ago we finished digging up any 'leftovers' in our veggie gardens. The potatoes are all harvested, as are the carrots (which we have already devoured—so-o-o good!), and the veggie plots are ready to be planted again in late spring, 2019. We went away for a couple of weeks recently, so before we left, we began winterizing the floral gardens. More to do there, though, especially as we have had a few frosts, with snow coming periodically, and it's turning quite cold. 'Tis so pretty, 'though, with the coloured leaves on the ground, mingled with the fallen snow.

It's sure hard going back to store-purchased produce, especially since my favourite market (runs from June 1 - Oct. 31) is now closed. They purchase only local product (within 75 kms), and I miss them SO much! :(( The stuff from grocery stores can taste akin to rubber or cardboard 8-} after weeks of fresh goodness from gardens!
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Grandmama » Nov 13, 2018 9:20 pm

johobbit, I so know what you mean about going back to store bought produce. I'm missing the taste of the peppers and tomatoes from the garden so much. And it doesn't seem right that I actually have to pay for cucumbers. I had so many this summer, I was giving them away to anyone who would take them.

Yes, we did get some sunny days and the yard got mostly mowed while running the lawn mower out of gas. The leaves also got mostly raked and are now in compost piles. Of course, one of the maples waited to drop its leaves until after it snowed, so not all the leaves got raked. . .
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby johobbit » Nov 28, 2018 3:26 pm

Grandmama wrote:Of course, one of the maples waited to drop its leaves until after it snowed, so not all the leaves got raked. . .

Yep. ;)) And the snow stayed for over a week. We now mainly have leaves to clean up that got stuck in the gardens, and would like to give the lawn one more mulch-mow, 'though I dunno if that's going to happen. :P But our geraniums are frozen in the ground, so we hope to have a wee thaw soon in order to pull those up before Christmas. We usually have November to finish off winterizing the gardens, but this year was quite different with the snow coming and staying. ;))

I give a lot of amaryllises away each year (they make great gifts), so have spent some of this afternoon planting the bulbs and making them ready for gifts. Love these gorgeous stems and flowers. When our kids were young, we would make a very light mark on the stem at night before bed, and when they woke up in the morning, behold! it would have grown a 1/2" or more. Then came the day, finally, when the buds began to bloom, and wow! After years of experimenting, I have figured out that the last week of November is the best for planting the bulbs in order for them to be in full bloom for Christmas Day. :)

Because I love fall chrysanthemums, we have quite a collection. I have been debating where to plant them, having tried one spot around the back, but it's too shady. Finally a much better spot hit me (so obvious!) when mowing the lawn one day late summer, so we shall over-winter the mums, then dig the garden in the spring, then plant 'em :D and see what happens. Hopefully something. ;))
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby artsky » Dec 26, 2018 7:04 am

Had anybody tried growing bamboo in a pot? Is it possible? I would really appreciate if anyone shares the experience. Me and my sister are fond of crafting different stuff. Bamboo is great for decorating and making interesting things (just look at the bamboo toothbrush I've found). I have everything for growing big plants and a pot with bamboo is what I need.
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Grandmama » Dec 26, 2018 2:07 pm

artsky wrote:Had anybody tried growing bamboo in a pot?

I'm sorry that I can't help you as I have never even considered growing bamboo in a pot. However, after reading your post, it has piqued my interest and I'd love to hear how it turns out if you try it. Best of luck!
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby fledge1 » Feb 04, 2019 8:42 am

johobbit wrote:How did your sweet potatoes fare, fledge1?



Sorry been gone from everything for a while. The sweet potatoes turned out awesome. For not knowing what I was doing, we had a HUGE crop. Made lots of chips and used some on stew. AMAZING! So ready for warmer weather and start again!
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby fantasia » Feb 17, 2019 4:30 pm

This next week the kids and I are starting to talk about plants. I hope to start some seeds so they can watch them grow. But as for actual gardening this year, I'm more or less taking a year off with the exception of maybe one tomato and one pepper. I need to kill off the bermuda grass that has completely taken over my yard. I can't do that with plants that I want to save in my garden.
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Kalta79 » Feb 17, 2019 8:28 pm

I would like to grow bamboo.

Have my garden planned for this year...well, what I'm going to plant, but not where yet. That's next. Celery, sunflowers, onions, peas, eggplants, salad greens, bell peppers, pumpkins, tomatoes, herbs, melons, beets, spaghetti squash, ground cherries, cotton, brussel sprouts, snapdragons, radishes, asian winged bean, carrots, millet, broccoli, patty pans, wheat, and sorghum. That's my plan, I'm hoping some succeed, we've got a short growing season and unpredictable weather, and frequently the plants sprout well, then fizzle out...
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Grandmama » Mar 04, 2019 8:59 am

Kalta, your list is impressive! I hope everything grows well for you.

It also reminds me that I need to get busy and start planning this year's garden and get the seeds ordered. I always start plants under lights in the basement in March, and here it is March already! How did that happen?

OTOH, since our garden is now blanketed in over 2 feet of snow, I will have to wait for all that to melt. . . .
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Kalta79 » Mar 04, 2019 7:26 pm

Yeah we've got lots of snow here too, and more supposed to come later this week, so I'm just going to make a blueprint/layout of the garden plot while waiting for it to go away.
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Grandmama » Mar 04, 2019 8:21 pm

After reading thru some of my gardening notes from last year, I realized that I haven't done any "winter sowing" yet. So I thought I should get ready to do some. Then I realized that the planter I wanted was out on the deck under 2 feet of snow! I had to shovel my way across the deck to reach it and now it is in the house thawing out.

The plan is to plant lettuce and spinach seeds, place the container in one of those clear, zippered blanket bags that has a few holes poked in it, and then set it back out on the deck. Last year we got some early lettuce and spinach that way so there's hope it will work again.

Has anyone else tried winter sowing?
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Meltintalle » Mar 31, 2019 7:58 pm

I've never tried winter sowing, Grandmama, but it sounds intriguing. I'm a very lazy gardener but I love wandering by green and growing things.

Right now, I'm keeping an eye on the rhubarb patch, hoping to see the first few green tips coming up after their winter nap.
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Grandmama » Apr 01, 2019 7:12 am

Meltintalle wrote:
Right now, I'm keeping an eye on the rhubarb patch, hoping to see the first few green tips coming up after their winter nap.

I am looking forward to rhubarb as well! This spring, our rhubarb will get moved to a newly built raised bed, which unfortunately means we won't get to pick it this year. So, if you have extras to spare, think of me!

In regards to "winter sowing", many sources have you use empty milk jugs to start the seeds in. Advantage: they're free if you buy milk in gallon jugs. Disadvantage: I found them difficult to work with and you have to transplant the seedlings later. Last year I found a YouTube video on "Winter planting/Direct planting" where you sow the seeds right in a container that they can continue growing in--no transplanting! (Lazy gardening :) )

I'm only doing lettuce and spinach since they don't need very deep containers to keep growing in. I sowed the seeds March 6th and have little sprouts up that hopefully will survive the freezing temperatures right now.

Next year I might try some flower seeds this way as well. I don't have any more handy large zippered blanket bags, but I think my sewing skills are up to making a cover out of vinyl from JoAnn's.
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby fledge1 » Apr 01, 2019 1:22 pm

We are so behind, this move messed everything up. We are most likely not going to have much of a garden this year. We just bought a house woohoo and from what I can tell the yard is already landscaped pretty nice. So I will evaluate what we all have and see where we can plant for next year.
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