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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 stargazer » May 25, 2019 4:54 pm

The past week (and much of May) has been cool and wet. Today and tomorrow are spectacular and I know local gardeners are hard at work getting things done before rain moves in again tomorrow night...and before the summer crop of mosquitoes (hindered by our cool weather) emerges in full force.
But all night, Aslan and the Moon gazed upon each other with joyful and unblinking eyes.
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Grandmama » May 26, 2019 6:21 pm

fantasia wrote:Kalta, I'm intrigued by your cotton!

So am I! You must live a lot farther south than Minnesota to grow cotton.

My front flower bed is done. The bulk of the big plants that my sister designed for my fairy garden are in and I think growing.

I would love to see a photo of your fairy garden.
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby johobbit » May 27, 2019 2:46 pm

*enjoys reading about all your horticulture ventures*
Wishing everyone's gardens well this season! :D

We had our last frosty night about a week ago, so I planted in our floral gardens since then, putting in a few more perennials, plus a goodly number of annuals. They're looking great, 'though most are still fairly small, given that it is early in the season. In June, 2016 a group of NarniaWebbers came to our house for a Moot and planted an Oak Leaf Hydrangea in honour of a beloved member here, qwertykate, who passed away shortly before. It is bursting with new leaves, and should be a beauty again this year. :x

Because in our zone, we should not be planting earlier than May 24 (given the possibility of frost), I finally seeded our upper vegetable garden today with carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, peas, and beans. I forgot about a pepper plant, and will get that in later this week. Good day to plant today, because rain is supposed to move in and I won't have to pull the verrrrry looooong hose all the up there tonight ;)) or for the next few days, from the weather forecast.

The lower veggie garden still needs turning over: in it will go Red Chieftain potatoes and 3 or 4 tomato plants ... 2 Brandywine, at least (my favourite!); 1 cherry tomato plant. These both can grow rather tall, so my husband has rigged up a nice,very large, sturdy trellis on which they can entwine.


fledge1 wrote:the people before us liked to garden...and there is LOTS of awesome things coming up. Can not wait to see what it all is.

That is wonderful, fledge1! Keep us posted. :D

So cool about your cotton, kalta! All the best with that this year!

Your new raised beds sound lovely, Grandmama! Are your plants that were enjoying your sunny deck in the garden now?

Sorry to hear of that strong wind and hail that affected some of your plants, fantasia. Sure glad most plants are quite hardy, and even if it takes a bit of time, tend to recover and then flourish again.
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Grandmama » May 27, 2019 4:08 pm

johobbit, I enjoyed reading about your horticulture ventures as well!

No, my little plants are still on the deck, currently under a cold frame of sorts because the temperature keeps dipping down at night. And because the new beds may be set in place, but they are not completely filled yet. So, even though you're north of us, you are ahead of me in gardening!

Today it has rained most of the day, so no garden work got done. I still *hope* to get the beds finished and planted this week, but I will need some dryer weather to accomplish that.

For good news, the carrots and shallots that are actually planted are up and the rhubarb that I divided and moved looks great.
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby johobbit » May 27, 2019 4:52 pm

Indeed, this spring has been so very rainy! And cool. Keep us apprised on your progress, Grandmama. Excited for you to get the beds 'up and running'. ;)) :D

And yay for your carrots, shallots, and rhubarb!


Grandmama wrote:So, even though you're north of us, you are ahead of me in gardening!

Actually, and this seems odd, I know, but your area is actually a bit north of ours, as we are in SW Ontario between Lake Huron and Erie. So your latitude is a tad more northerly. ;))

The clouds have now moved in, and the rain should be starting in a few hours. Go, rain, water those tiny seeds! B-) (Just don't wash 'em away, though. :P)
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Grandmama » May 27, 2019 6:04 pm

johobbit wrote:Actually, and this seems odd, I know, but your area is actually a bit north of ours, as we are in SW Ontario between Lake Huron and Erie. So your latitude is a tad more northerly. ;))


I guessed wrong! I thought about asking stargazer where you lived, but was too lazy to go upstairs and ask before posting. However, if you are indeed south of us, then I have an excuse for being behind you in planting. :D
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby johobbit » May 31, 2019 11:54 am

;)) :D

Nearly everything is planted, except our potato garden, which my hubby just turned over last night. Such rich soil! I will be going outside today to plant the little spuds (with eyes, of course) once the sun starts getting lower.

The tomatoes went in last night, along with a border of zinnia seeds.

I have a few more perennials to put in the front, but have to enlarge that garden a bit to allow more room. :P Then we want to dig up more garden near the very front corner of our yard to make into an fall-time chrysanthemum plot. Mums are some of my favourite flowers (mmm, that scent ♥), partly because they are so vibrant in my favourite season, autumn!

I will be eagerly checking the upper garden next week (where all the veggie seeds are planted) to spot the first tiny green shoots coming up. :D

We have had so much rain, but today is dry and sunny. The poor farmers have not even had an opportunity to plant yet, as some fields still have lakes in them. :( Quite distressing for them, of course.
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Kalta79 » Jun 01, 2019 6:36 am

I'm hoping to get everything that's sprouted in the ground this weekend. Still not quite sure where to put all our melon and spaghetti squash starts though. And I had 6 watermelon starts in one pot all doing well, but a few of them just started wilting/shriveling up, no idea why. Had 2 similar pots with the same soil, and the other starts are doing just fine. So I've got 8 each left of cantaloupe and watermelon starts, and 9 spaghetti squash. And I can't remember if I said it already, but I planted 5 peat pots full of the last of my nasturtium seeds, but over a month later, I only had one lone start, and our new pastor's wife had mentioned she really liked nasturtiums, so I decided to give her my one, and two days after that, I noticed I had at least 3 nasturtiums that were sprouting.
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby fantasia » Jun 01, 2019 6:48 am

Grandmama wrote:I would love to see a photo of your fairy garden.


Here you go....
https://www.facebook.com/rachel.gamber/ ... ploaded=10
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby johobbit » Jun 03, 2019 1:53 pm

Cool, Kalta! I enjoy planting nasturtiums, but they do tend to take over, so I am leaving them out for this year. I would still like to find a place that they can spread without interrupting too much. :P

So lovely, fantasia! I look forward to seeing how this pretty garden develops. I especially like the hanging alyssum and moss roses tree pots. But some of those plants look like portulaca to me. Is 'moss rose' another name for the same plant?

I just checked our seeded veggie garden, even though I only planted the seeds a week ago. :P Always itching to see those first sprouts! Nothing yet, of course, but by the end of this week, I should at least start seeing some tiny green shoots.

Most of my gladiolas, whose bulbs I overwintered are coming up, yay! First signs of green there. I love the satisfying feeling of seeing something come to life again after keeping it indoors through the cold, snowy months. \:D/

Speaking of cold and snowy, it was near freezing here this a.m., and we heard—and saw photos—of snow falling in beautiful Algonquin Park earlier today (a few hours NE of us). :-o

Oh, our potato garden is planted (late last week). :D Everything veggie is in; now just a few more perennials to plant, after my hubby expands the front garden to make room. ;;) ;))

EDIT: I just went up to the upper veggie garden to weed, thereby giving me a much closer look. Lo and behold, the tiniest pea shoots are barely visible. And a couple of cucumbers too. Hurrah! The sight of that growth always thrills me. ;))
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Grandmama » Jun 04, 2019 11:54 am

Kalta79 wrote: And I had 6 watermelon starts in one pot all doing well, but a few of them just started wilting/shriveling up, no idea why. Had 2 similar pots with the same soil, and the other starts are doing just fine.


That is so frustrating! I've had some issues where the seeds sprout and get an inch or two tall and then the growth just stalls. They don't wilt or die, but they don't get any bigger either. Yet other plants started the same way do just fine. Sometimes I think I should just go buy my plants from a nursery instead of starting them myself, but there are too many advantages to starting them myself.

Thanks, fantasia, for the photos of your fairy garden. The photos motivate me to get my garden planted so I can share some photos as well! In years past, I used to take pictures of my garden on the 4th of July so I could compare from year to year. That gives me a month to make the garden ready for photos. :)

johobbit, I can relate to enlarging the garden for more perennials. My vegetable garden is shrinking as the kids move out, but the perennial garden is growing. Next year the plan is to tackle a perennial bed in the front of the house. There used to be evergreen type bushes growing there, but I took them out a few years ago and have yet to replace them with anything. It's a somewhat shady location due to large trees in the front yard. So far my plan has only progressed to include tulips since they bloom before the trees leaf out. (and they are my favorite flower)
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby johobbit » Jun 07, 2019 2:02 pm

Grandmama wrote:I can relate to enlarging the garden for more perennials.

Yep. ;)) I keep seeing more that I would like to have beautify our yard. ;;) It's quite a job to expand the existing garden—digging up the sod and finding another place for it. Takes a lot of muscle power ... which is why hubby does that part. ;))

It would be lovely to see some of your photos, too, Grandmama, when they're ready. :) I will try and post some too, at some point.

With all the rain, and the intermittent sunshine, plus our first warm, clear days right now, the gardens are growing really well. I will check the veggie gardens in the cool of this evening, but I'm thinking more tiny green shoots have sprouted up.
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Grandmama » Jun 08, 2019 9:41 am

All my plants are now in the garden! I can't say that the garden is completely planted because I'm staggering crops of beans, corn, and lettuce, so I will be planting more of all three next week.

It's so exciting to see the first plantings of corn and beans poking up. Now I'm working on deer protection for the beans. Since it's impractical to have a fence high enough to keep them out, we resort to some sort of netting/fencing to cover the crops that deer like to eat.

Also on the agenda is weeding, leveling and mulching all the paths. There's still plenty to keep me busy, but now only in the cool of the morning.

I hope everyone's gardens are doing great.
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Kalta79 » Jun 12, 2019 10:10 am

I didn't do beans this year, but I did plant some old Black Aztec corn seeds where I planted the spaghetti squash. My first cotton that sprouted is dying, dunno why. Hopefully the others coming up will make it. Hot weather has arrived with a vengeance, which means I've only got a couple hours each day in the morning and evening it's safe to work outside. I don't do well in hot weather, I pretty much wilt.
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Grandmama » Jun 19, 2019 9:07 am

Kalta79 wrote:I don't do well in hot weather, I pretty much wilt.

Ditto!

Yesterday was lovely and cool and I spent 4 hours weeding, mulching, watering, making a trellis, etc. The garden keeps looking better and better. This morning I was out again picking up discarded pieces of wood and junk laying in the paths and I found a toad under a piece of wood. Since I'd like him/her/it to stay in the garden, I made what it will hopefully consider a toad home next to the fence and moved him/her/it into the "home".

Something chewed off some of my carefully planted, watered, and thinned carrots X( so I will have to replant some.
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Re: The thread for people who have Green Thumbs (Gardening)

Postby Kalta79 » Jun 20, 2019 7:42 am

I've got to replant spinach, only two seeds sprouted, and one of them has disappeared.
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