2020 gardening thread

[David Chaus]

Since we’re on roses, here’s a rose bush that we have to hack back every year, as it’s blocking the doorway to the woodshed. The woodshed is incorporated into a larger building, with the well pump room, the tool shed room, and Shamora’s garden house (kind of her work space where she stores garden tools, pots, potting soil, etc).

This is another rose just to the right.

This climbing rose is climbing up the Catalpa, which itself will have large white flowers later in the season.

Clematis in full bloom. We have a number of clematis that all seem to bloom at different times.

New growth on the Bird’s Nest Spruce. This was getting smothered by buttercups and a budlia, which has to pruned back every year as it grows quickly.

Peonies.

Sage.

 

[Monique]

For the first time ever, I have happy cucumber plants. Some of the leaves are bigger than my hand. And my pansies have survived the caterpillar infestation and are thriving! I don't see any chrysalises, so maybe the birds got 'em.

ALSO we just ordered a worm farm. I have never been happy with my compost results, and the latch on one of my spinner compost bins broke. This worm farm is continuous feed, too, and easy to collect the tea. We'll try having it in the garage to regulate temps a little better. Anyone have experience with worm farms?

 

[socalgal]

No experience with worm farms; with chicken manure (and at one point rabbits) we have lots of worms in our soil, so much that we have a reoccurring mole problem.

Here's "first day of summer" updates:

This rose has such a subtle fragrance; every bloom is its own secret garden.

This is "Double Delight". Gorgeous colors and a deep, delightful fragrance.

Joseph's Coat, second blooming.

Rosie the Cat (our neighbors, but who basically follows my DD wherever she goes and meows for her to come out and play)

Going to have a great year for grapes and apples!

First cantaloupes are forming. They are so little! Beginnings of a makeshift trellis for them.

Cucumbers are doing good.

We are also "grow" meat birds. They just got transferred from their brooders to the grass.

 

[Monique]

Rosie the Cat (our neighbors, but who basically follows my DD wherever she goes and meows for her to come out and play)
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What's the watering schedule for the cat? ;-) She looks a lot like my Oscar (also female)

I'm so jealous of your grapes and apples and the copious space you have for it all! If we weren't moving, I'd be tempted to replace the lawn with a lot more food plants.

 

[Scruffy]

Some other things in bloom around the homestead:

Evening primrose:

Japanese Iris:

Beardtongue:

Feverfew:

Rose Campion:

Valerian:

Milkweed about to bloom:

Yarrow:

 

[Scruffy]

More Japanese Iris:

 

[kimmyt]

My garden is going pretty well this year. I have tons of Romaine that is bravely withstanding the heat (Highly recommend Parris Island variety for heat resistance), chard, kale, our snap peas are giving us a good amount and I'm even getting a decent amount of strawberries from my patch. And just pulled this happy bunch of beets to have with some roast chicken this week. I haven't had good luck with beets previously but I used seed tape this time and they grew wonderfully, maybe they liked being a little more crowded than I would typically plant them as the tape was spaced about 2-3" apart, I'm pulling the bigger ones to give the smaller ones more room to grow as the season progresses.

Also in an effort to get some color all over my yard I bought a big healthy Jackmanii clematis the other day and put it in before the rains to train it up an old dead tree stump we hang our hammock off of. Yesterday my husband was lounging on the hammock and I heard a mighty crack, and well lets just say that I'll probably have to find a different place to put my clematis, although it was remarkably undamaged from the tree falling.

On the upside, we have a new tree stump end table for one of our seating areas. I guess we'll dig a post hole and cement in a hammock post since we use it a lot and none of our other trees are big enough to hang a hammock from.

 

[Monique]

My garden is going pretty well this year. I have tons of Romaine that is bravely withstanding the heat (Highly recommend Parris Island variety for heat resistance), chard, kale, our snap peas are giving us a good amount and I'm even getting a decent amount of strawberries from my patch. And just pulled this happy bunch of beets to have with some roast chicken this week. I haven't had good luck with beets previously but I used seed tape this time and they grew wonderfully, maybe they liked being a little more crowded than I would typically plant them as the tape was spaced about 2-3" apart, I'm pulling the bigger ones to give the smaller ones more room to grow as the season progresses.

View attachment 104865

Also in an effort to get some color all over my yard I bought a big healthy Jackmanii clematis the other day and put it in before the rains to train it up an old dead tree stump we hang our hammock off of. Yesterday my husband was lounging on the hammock and I heard a mighty crack, and well lets just say that I'll probably have to find a different place to put my clematis, although it was remarkably undamaged from the tree falling.
View attachment 104866

On the upside, we have a new tree stump end table for one of our seating areas. I guess we'll dig a post hole and cement in a hammock post since we use it a lot and none of our other trees are big enough to hang a hammock from.

View attachment 104867

When did you get those signs? Those are fantastic!

 

[LiquidFeet]

My gardens are mostly in the shade. At this point in the season the visual delight comes from foliage, not so much from flowers. Here are some of the leafy highlights.

Green all by itself is very good for my soul.

 

[kimmyt]

When did you get those signs? Those are fantastic!

I painted them and used some scrap lumber. Kurt was making the kids some ladder step things so they could climb to the top of that stump (because dads amirite) and so I just painted some words on there. I couldn't find a fictional place that was short enough to fit on the third one so we went with the ISS although it makes it seem like its not a real thing lol.

 

[kimmyt]

Green all by itself is very good for my soul.

There are a few things I miss about the east coast, how green it is is one of them.

 

[socalgal]

What's the watering schedule for the cat? ;-) She looks a lot like my Oscar (also female)

I'm so jealous of your grapes and apples and the copious space you have for it all! If we weren't moving, I'd be tempted to replace the lawn with a lot more food plants.

Rosie gets showered with love every morning, mid morning, late afternoon and early evening. She hides under my jasmine plant during the heat of the day.

We are in the planning stages of relocating, to somewhere we can have acreage. Our lot right now is about 7000 sq ft, flat. We have zones for everything.

 

[Monique]

We are in the planning stages of relocating, to somewhere we can have acreage

Us, too! Can't wait to have more room for toys .. er ... plants. Well, toys AND plants, why not?

 

[Scruffy]

My gardens are mostly in the shade. At this point in the season the visual delight comes from foliage, not so much from flowers. Here are some of the leafy highlights.
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Green all by itself is very good for my soul.
View attachment 104889

Lovely place to meditate, @LiquidFeet . Must be cool there in this heat wave. Are you in a drought? We are.

 

[Jenny]

@LiquidFeet - Your yard/garden is just beautiful. Do you divide your hostas or do you just plant them and let them be?

 

[David Chaus]

One of my favorite trees, a Cryptomeria (Japanese Cedar).

Heart Nut on the left, Goumi on the right. The Heartnut is related to walnuts with a smaller, heart-shaped nut. The Goumi will have tons of small berries.

Grass islands after I’ve mowed.

 

[LiquidFeet]

Lovely place to meditate, @LiquidFeet . Must be cool there in this heat wave. Are you in a drought? We are.

Yes, drought. Intense lumens, no humidity, barely there morning dew. The water bill will be high.

 

[LiquidFeet]

@LiquidFeet - Your yard/garden is just beautiful. Do you divide your hostas or do you just plant them and let them be?

Oh. I divide them. More for the money. I work the garden on a budget. I am not a collector. They spend tons of new hostas every spring. Not me.

Collectors buy their hostas, one of each, with the goal of having one of every desirable cultivar. Then they find a place for each one, so it shines all by itself. They make labels so visitors can see what the name of each single plant is. They tend to situate them separate from each other, so they show up as individuals. That's "specimen" planting, instead of "wave" planting which is what I do. Their gardens look similar to an art gallery; there's a label for each specimen, and space between them. A collector's garden looks quite different from mine.

Collectors don't want to garden as I do because I don't have that many different types of hostas. I have repeats. And the ones that repeat the best, that survive the dividing and increase in size once divided, are "common" hostas, many of them old-fashioned. Those are not what a collector is interested in owning. Every season there are "new" hostas introduced. They want those.

I divide my old fashioned, plain hostas, so I have enough of a particular color to fill a shape I've decided that I want in a part of my garden. I make colonies and shape them. My hostas work to make my designed gardens come to life and sing happy. I like the result.

If you are beginning to work with hostas and want to go the design way instead of the collector route, don't be shy about getting free ones from gardeners who have old plain hostas to give away. Join a garden club and seek out the hosta people.

 

[LiquidFeet]

Grass islands after I’ve mowed.

I like your grass islands.

 

[Jenny]

Oh. I divide them. More for the money. I work the garden on a budget. I am not a collector. They spend tons of new hostas every spring. Not me.

Collectors buy their hostas, one of each, with the goal of having one of every desirable cultivar. Then they find a place for each one, so it shines all by itself. They make labels so visitors can see what the name of each single plant is. They tend to situate them separate from each other, so they show up as individuals. That's "specimen" planting, instead of "wave" planting which is what I do. Their gardens look similar to an art gallery; there's a label for each specimen, and space between them. A collector's garden looks quite different from mine.

Collectors don't want to garden as I do because I don't have that many different types of hostas. I have repeats. And the ones that repeat the best, that survive the dividing and increase in size once divided, are "common" hostas, many of them old-fashioned. Those are not what a collector is interested in owning. Every season there are "new" hostas introduced. They want those.

I divide my old fashioned, plain hostas, so I have enough of a particular color to fill a shape I've decided that I want in a part of my garden. I make colonies and shape them. My hostas work to make my designed gardens come to life and sing happy. I like the result.

If you are beginning to work with hostas and want to go the design way instead of the collector route, don't be shy about getting free ones from gardeners who have old plain hostas to give away. Join a garden club and seek out the hosta people.

Goodness, not organized enough to be a collector! I have several different kinds, both paid for and donations, because I liked the looks of them and wanted to see how they would grow in my yard. Am now working on dividing the ones I like and want more of. We don’t have near the space you do, though