Shirley U Geste
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Post by Shirley U Geste on Feb 13, 2015 1:26:59 GMT
Spring is coming, sooner to some places then others, but it is coming. Anyone putting in a garden this year, be it floral or vegetable? Any recommendations for plants, or warnings about past failures? What are your favorites to grow, either to look at or to eat? And of course, once things get growing.... we want pics!!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2015 1:40:33 GMT
Love gardening threads!
I have a large garden area, but our house is going back on the market March 1st. So maybe some small container gardening. Toms and jalapenos for us.
I love canning tomatoes. Good trick for tom plants - Par boil a fish ( outside ) and bury it next to your plants, they love it.
And herbs...basil, thai basil, and rosemary are my favorite.
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Post by jellybeanscloset412 on Feb 13, 2015 1:41:50 GMT
I had a good veggie garden for about 3 years. It was hard work! After all my planting daffodils and extra protection to keep out animals my OWN two dogs got into it! I couldn't believe it.
My older dog ( who is in doggie heaven now) would just stand in it and walk around like it was her special place .My Golden Retriever would lay in it, all 150 pounds of him!
So I'm not sure what to do this year. I love fresh organic produce but it does take some work. Maybe I'll try container tomato plants.
So that's my warning,plant away from your own darn animals. I like to plant all veggies but I guess tomatoes give me the most back. I would do alot if I had the space and time. Oh and herbs, they were great to fresh and on hand!
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Feb 13, 2015 1:46:49 GMT
I can't do jack @#$% until late April. We usually get another freeze or two (not including last night's, LOL) before we can plant up here. I use containers, but the stores won't get any bedding plants in until late March.
I could plant seeds but I'm impatient. I'd be staring at the pots daily screaming, "grow dammit, grow, I want flowers NOW!!!!"
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Shirley U Geste
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Post by Shirley U Geste on Feb 13, 2015 2:07:22 GMT
It's been so warm down here that I have my guy coming this weekend to clean up and turn over my garden space, put up my trellises and set up my watering hoses.
The morning glories and other vines will start coming up soon and I want to be ready for them. I'm still deciding on what wildflower mix to use and will put that in around the end of the month.
My geraniums are still on my back porch so I can cover them at night, but they will be going out into the yard by the end of the month as they are really growing great.
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kritter
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Post by kritter on Feb 13, 2015 2:13:46 GMT
I only do flowers and such but not veggies. Too much hassle with them.
I like plants that I can plant and they take over from there. Most of mine are roses, Esperanza, Bougainvillaea, Pentas, Chrysanthemums, and Hibiscus. Right now I am cutting everything back since it doesn't look like we will have a hard freeze this year.
I am too impatient for seeds too.
Since we are always in water rationing, I have to stay with plants that don't need a lot of water once they are established.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2015 2:21:00 GMT
I'm planning on growing tomatoes, peppers, herbs, sunflowers and lots of pollinator-friendly perennials. DH and I joined the local beekeepers group and took a class in January, so we'll be setting up two backyard hives in April. I want to have chickens someday, too. But either I need to become a morning person, or wait until they develop a breed that doesn't rise at the crack of dawn. Dantes, I never heard of sticking a fish in with the tomatoes! Thanks for the tip.
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Shirley U Geste
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Post by Shirley U Geste on Feb 13, 2015 2:31:58 GMT
Veggies have gotten to be too much work for me so I don't have them in the garden anymore.
My garden area is all done in plants for the birds, hummers and butterflies. It becomes a total critter fest.
Lots of morning glories and other climbing vines that cover the trellises and fence and beautiful wildflowers that bring in the bees too. I love seeing and hearing them every day and the gazebo in the yard is my favorite place to sit and read.
I put a row of huge pots in front of the garden with different pink geraniums in them, but those are the only potted flowers I do as it gets way too hot here in the summer and I can't haul hoses every day.
I do love tomatoes, so I may put in one tomato plant this year, probably a heritage species as those are so tasty and lower in acid.
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kritter
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Post by kritter on Feb 13, 2015 3:37:46 GMT
All my plants are in the ground.
Potted plants are too hard to keep watered here in the summer.
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kritter
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Post by kritter on Feb 13, 2015 3:48:37 GMT
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Shirley U Geste
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Post by Shirley U Geste on Feb 13, 2015 3:57:40 GMT
The ground here is awful, hardpan is down only 4-6 inches. Super hard to put stuff in the ground here. My garden area was dug down 12 inches and I also have it surrounded by stucco blocks so it has another 6 inches of height and was all filled with good soil and steer manure. The shrubs I have; Texas Sage, Oleanders, etc all had to have wide and deep holes dug and filled with soil. So putting flowers in the ground just doesn't work for me. I have the geraniums in pots along the front edge of the garden, so when the sprinkler waters the garden every day they get watered too and I don't have to even think about them. It's worked great the past couple of years so I am going to stick with that. I get plenty of color and flowers from the garden area and it keeps me and the critters happy so I will just forgo flowers in other parts of the yard. Desert living can be challenging, you just have to work with Mother Nature and not fight against her. The one advantage I do have is we have a nice deep well, so water usage isn't an issue.
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Shirley U Geste
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Cats, cats, cats and more cats!!
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Post by Shirley U Geste on Feb 13, 2015 3:59:48 GMT
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kritter
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When we lose sight of how we treat animals, we tend to lose sight of our humanity
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Post by kritter on Feb 13, 2015 4:02:25 GMT
I like that one too. May have to get both. Free shipping so I would be losing money if I didn't.
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kritter
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When we lose sight of how we treat animals, we tend to lose sight of our humanity
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Post by kritter on Feb 13, 2015 4:03:20 GMT
Guess if I am going to increase my backyard art, I had better start listing instead of looking.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2015 4:03:55 GMT
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Shirley U Geste
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Cats, cats, cats and more cats!!
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Post by Shirley U Geste on Feb 13, 2015 4:17:51 GMT
LOL Put him in your yard and charge admission.
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Feb 13, 2015 4:38:41 GMT
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Shirley U Geste
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Cats, cats, cats and more cats!!
Posts: 10,383
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Post by Shirley U Geste on Feb 13, 2015 4:43:02 GMT
That's cute. I hadn't seen them with the lights before.
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Feb 13, 2015 4:43:23 GMT
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2015 16:56:11 GMT
I'm planning on growing tomatoes, peppers, herbs, sunflowers and lots of pollinator-friendly perennials. DH and I joined the local beekeepers group and took a class in January, so we'll be setting up two backyard hives in April. I want to have chickens someday, too. But either I need to become a morning person, or wait until they develop a breed that doesn't rise at the crack of dawn. Dantes, I never heard of sticking a fish in with the tomatoes! Thanks for the tip. The fish is a Native American trick. A company named, Alaska, makes a plant food out of fish. I tried it, but I didn't care for it much. I've thought about beekeeping. I love bees, and it sounds really interesting. A neighbor down the road did it for a few years, before she moved, and really enjoyed it. I hate that people overuse pesticides. They don't realize they're helping to kill off the honey bee population. I read an article years ago about California farmers importing beekeepers to pollinate their crops.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2015 17:04:16 GMT
Okay - geese. I know they're messy, dirty, and loud. I love watching them, and want them to make our area a landing spot. My husband keeps promising me to get a load of cracked corn, or whatever...to spread on the acreage. I was going to borrow some of my bil's decoys to help lure them in. He told me - You want geese, I'll get you some geese. No bitching when you get them. hahaha
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2015 17:05:00 GMT
Love those tulip solar lights!
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kritter
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Post by kritter on Feb 13, 2015 23:04:45 GMT
I went out on errands this afternoon and it looks like our freezing days in south Texas are over.
It is an old legend or whatever here that if the mesquite trees are leafing out, freezing weather is over. Rarely are mesquite trees wrong.
Mesquite trees are blooming everywhere here. Let the gardening begin!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2015 7:04:56 GMT
Has anyone tried pineberries? A friend of mine told me he bought some bare root plants. They're strawberries that taste somewhat like pineapple.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2015 7:26:35 GMT
All my plants are in the ground. Potted plants are too hard to keep watered here in the summer. My potted tomato (cherry) actually did very well. And I have the blackest thumb you could imagine. Somehow it fended for itself. Someone told me to use a disposable diaper, pull it apart and bury the absorbent stuff from inside in with the dirt. I didn't try it, but it's an idea for those forced into containers. We have a loooooong way to go here before gardening is even a distant thought.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2015 7:42:30 GMT
Okay - geese. I know they're messy, dirty, and loud. I love watching them, and want them to make our area a landing spot. My husband keeps promising me to get a load of cracked corn, or whatever...to spread on the acreage. I was going to borrow some of my bil's decoys to help lure them in. He told me - You want geese, I'll get you some geese. No bitching when you get them. hahaha I think I am the only other person who feels this way about them. I love their social interactions - how one or two will stand guard while the others cross the road; how certain groups of parents will hang out together and their chicks get all mixed in, but then the break back out into their family units and seem to know who goes with who.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2015 8:17:09 GMT
Yes! They're really fun to watch. I take Flyer up to the lake and after walking it we sit down and I watch them for a while. I wish they were comfortable enough to take our food offerings.
I love watching them fly overhead. One time my husband was about a mile from the house and he called me to go quick go outside and look in the sky. There were hundreds flying by and honking up a storm.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2015 15:39:53 GMT
I love gardening. I didn't have time to do anything last year but this year I am going to start my vegetable and fruit garden and if I have time, I would love to start a rose garden. I used to do a lot of gardening at my previous house. I already planted garlic and onions in the fall and now, I'm planning out my vegetable garden. I'm still putting together my vegetable list but for fruits, I plan to plant strawberries and apple trees. Ahrn, we are getting more bees this year too. We had them at our previous house, but they didn't do well with the move to our new home. Right now, I have lots of time to plan since I will be surrounded by snow for another month or two. I can't find my pic of our planted garlic but here is one of the snow.
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Post by denise15601 on Feb 14, 2015 17:28:28 GMT
Here in W PA, I can't plant until late May, to be safe. I LOVE my veggie garden ad it is 15 x 30 feet.
Poor thing has very little soil over rock on one end, and under pines at the other end....so it is a struggle.
I usually plant about 20 things, and am so happy that my CT scan won't be until July to see where my BC might have spread to. So that gives me plenty of time to get the garden established. It was really hard for me to get the garden planted last summer since my chemo was kicking my butt, but I did it!!!
I love to plant flowers along my driveway wall, but haven't been able to for the last few years, since it was falling down.
So I had it rebuilt last summer and I sure hope that the daffodils and snagdragons will reappear. Then I will buy more flowers to plant, too.
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Post by RetroMonde on Feb 14, 2015 18:03:07 GMT
I just noticed this yard & garden topic; is it new? Glad to see it- I love to talk yard, flowers & food gardening. We have 1/2 an acre of jumbled mess that I need to start wrestling into a yard so I'm planning to be outside a lot this year. Our biggest obstacle is wild blackberries that spring up everywhere. We don't use chemical so are constantly pulling/cutting them out. A goat could be a solution... won't our neighbors be surprised?! We already have chickens- lovely creatures; maybe it's time to add to the menagerie.
I didn't plant a garden last year for the first time EVER... won't make that mistake again. Gotta dig out the greenhouse (from the blackberries, again... sigh) and start seeds soon. Ah, I can almost taste those tomatoes now. The wood of the raised beds is rotting after 10+ years so it needs to be replaced too. I want to replace it with concrete blocks for a permanent fix. That won't be cheap; gotta work harder & sell more. Yeah, right.
Bees are an interesting idea. There's a bee-keeping supply store directly across the freeway from us; I've probably met their honey bees in my yard. I'll bet they have classes. We already have mason bees in tubes that pollinate our fruit trees each year but last year something happened that killed them; they need to be replaced now. Maybe I'll do that while we're out today.
((Denise)) Don't the daffodils come back each year? Ours did, even after a few years of being gone. But I think the soil moves the bulbs. We have a clump in the yard now where I KNOW I didn't plant them.
Sandra
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