Gardeners of AW, unite

Komnena

In Honor of Peter Tomich,USS Utah
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I put out a poppy and a columbine I bought at a local native plant sale. The rain now hopefully will help them settle in nicely, as it did the wild violets. I've never had either poppy or columbine before. But when I lost the hosta that came with the house I decided I would put in a native plant instead. The nursery lady recommended them and I thought I would try both.
 

Fenika

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I'm way too excited by the fact that I have a resident toad in my potted garden :D He's been there over a week. Yesterday it was hot so I put a dish of water out for him. I also put a white tub on its side in case he wanted the extra shelter, though he does well by hopping between the pots. He hangs out on the one parsley pot sometimes and eats the bugs, so I don't mind that he's squashing some of my parsley sprouts.

I wonder if I should take him with me when I move :D ;)

I have a picture of my garden and might get a chance to post it later today. Everything is looking nice but I wish it would grow faster. It's got water and sun and now fertile soil. I think the peppers will take off soon.

I need to harvest more baby spinach and salad and move my new parsley and oregano into those pots... Succession planting is win.
 

Fenika

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I don't know why the photo is so out of focus, but I'll post it anyway. Roughly from left to right: Peppers and tomatoes / Broccoli (in white pots) / Herbs, Basil, Lettuce, Spinach / Zucchini and Peppermint in the back right corner and more herbs, Lettuce, Broccoli, etc.

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And I found the toad hanging out in the lettuce today:

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Most my basil is Purple basil crossed with sweet or 'chef's' basil. One of them looks like a ... not a crocus- that houseplant with the multicolored leaves and starts with a C... Anywho, it's very pretty and I want to isolate it later this year, let it go to seed and self pollinate, and see if it will breed true so I can start a strain of it. Anyone know if basil does well long term when crossed to itself?

ETA: coleus! That's the one...
 
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Tepelus

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Your plants are starting to look good! It's been so cold and dreary here that my seedlings have been slow to grow, and I have so many jugs that haven't sprouted yet that need warmer temps over several weeks to sprout. It may be June before those sprout, some longer. I love the picture of your toad. I love frogs and toads, they're so cute. I have a lot of toads in my yard, and they're all welcome to stay and eat the bugs and slugs.
 

Fenika

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Thanks :) I had to start many of my seeds in the bird room. I started most of them too early, but they pulled through and next year I'll do better :)
 

blacbird

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Late frost last night killed my tomatoes and peppers and God knows what else. I'm going on a trip Friday for two weeks. Looks like not much garden this year. Maybe none.
 

Adobedragon

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And I found the toad hanging out in the lettuce today:

DSC_5313.JPG

Squee! It's so cute! I had a desert toad in the yard last year for a while, but when the rains finally came, he/she squeezed under the gate and went off in search of lurve.
 

darkprincealain

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I'm really sorry to hear about the frost, bbird.

I noticed yesterday while doing some watering that the beetberry and a couple other things are starting to look ... well there's no other word for it other than healthy. Can't wait till some of this stuff starts producing!

Yay for victory gardens!
 

Komnena

In Honor of Peter Tomich,USS Utah
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My heuchera has really taken off. So have the columbine and the astilbe. It looks like there is something to this native stuff after all. The astilbe already has little flowers. Only the poppy is not growing wildly.
 

Fenika

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I think my frog moved on, but the garden is looking really good. I almost killed the oregano with water logged soil, but have repotted it and it will mostly pull through. I've also got a ton of various summer squash from a friend, and randomly found some in my compost from I have NO idea where. Even if this had been seeds from last year, I've got no clue how they ended up in my compost and soil. So I've got three of these mystery squashes, along with the unlabeled assortment from my friend.

And I have to move in 2 weeks. I better get a place with room for a garden! Oi.
 

shakeysix

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thunder, hail, lightning and buckets of rain last night. looks like tornado alley might be back from its vacation down south. it has been so dry that the wheat and the alfalfa were more gray than green. now everything is green and the air is fresh and dust free this morning. just three days next week and school is out. i will be a full time gardener/writer for eleven blissful weeks! can't wait!--s6
 

Xelebes

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Things being planted (P) and harvested (H) this year:

Black Currant (H)
Chokecherry (H)
Crabapple (H)
Rhubarb (H)
Raspberry (H)
Gooseberry (P)
Peas (P)
Carrots (P)
Lettuce (P)
Pumpkin (P)
Radish (P)
Green Onion (P)

Still buying seeds and there may be more added, but we'll be planting tomorrow.
 
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Fenika

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Rose, we need to get you out of Utah.

Xelebes, we're gonna need pics of this big garden :)

And the squash from my friend is only two species: Zucchini and Yellow. That's fine by me. Bring on Summer!
 

10trackers

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Hello! :hi:

I was told by A Certain Person Who Shall Remain Nameless that I was to report to this thread. I resisted at first, insisted that I was not a gardening enthusiast, but as it turns out, gardening is fun :eek:

I'm renovating my backyard and prettifying my front yard (which is tiny) with a few well-chosen decorations and potted plants and a red broom (the shrub), which is absolutely gorgeous, or will be once it gets used to my garden.

My backyard has been neglected for over two years so it's quite an undertaking to fix it all. I'm working from the door to the end. Thus far I've bought lavender, petunias in all shades of purple, lilac and pink, deep purple verbena (I'm not sure if that's the correct English name), hot pink dianthus, ...

And today I splurged on a rose bush, a climbing rose and a rose tree in a pot (putting forget-me-nots around the stem). Oh, and I sowed this climber:

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Which will give flowers in July.

So, um. I think I like gardening. :D
 

backslashbaby

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Fenika, your toad is so cute! You can pet that kind, lol. Mom and both had ones who liked attention, as long as it was just a little pat on the head :D

OMG, I'm so excited about the garden this year :D I've been planting ornamental things in their permanent spots finally, after planning and watching for bloomtimes, colors, etc. for literally years. Things were getting too big to move around!

I just got through planting my herb + veggie wheel garden (it's a big circle with landscape timbers to divide it up). I have one cherry tomato low bush type, Roma because I love Romas, and a tall cherry tomato type. Then yellow peppers, cucumbers, spaghetti squash, and I'm doing summer squash from seed this year (directly). I skipped the zucchini and eggplant this year, because we're still working in that area of the garden.

Herbs are oregano, Italian parsley, thyme, sage, rosemary, basil, chives, and dill. Also lemon balm, tea hyssop and pineapple mint, but those are for looks and the bees, really. Strawberries are already growing in that garden.

We're building the bramble arbor behind this wheel next; woot! I have the raspberries, blackberries, etc. in pots at the moment; they came in late winter. I love me some salads and berries!!

I'm supposed to get blueberries, too, but they've been ridiculously pricey in town this year. I'll probably order them by mail, too, like I did a bunch of fruits this season.

I'm still going to buy certain veggies and fruits, because they are too much work for me to grow. The price of berries (etc) had gotten plain silly, so that's why the big plans.
 

Fenika

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Dang, now I want to hang out in both of those gardens :)

I have noticed one of my peppers is doing really poorly. Also, my parsley needs fertilizing. I hope not to get sucked into gardening today though as I need to be packing.

More pics please! :)
 

Xelebes

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Got the gooseberry planted but haven't had the seeds sown for everything else. Unpredictable work times and shoddy weather in the way.
 

Fenika

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It's going to be 93 today. My poor broccoli might not survive, though it's looking good now. One more week and I'm headed north.

My summer squashing is growing like mutant freaks. I'm not going to be able to get it in the ground fast enough!
 

sunandshadow

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Hmm, the poppies I am growing from seed seem to be turning yellow even though all the other plants around them are healthy green. Do poppies dislike wet conditions or are they extra picky about some minerals?
 

Adobedragon

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Hmm, the poppies I am growing from seed seem to be turning yellow even though all the other plants around them are healthy green. Do poppies dislike wet conditions or are they extra picky about some minerals?

In my experience, most species of poppies are fairly xeric, and don't like to get their feet wet, so to speak. They usually like well-drained soil, so a heavy wet clay or constant moisture isn't ideal.

They do well here in the New Mexico desert where my soil is glorified sand and it rarely rains.

Oh, and here are a few pictures of my desert garden: Linky. It's still about a month from all out glory, but we're now well past any danger of frost.
 
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backslashbaby

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In my experience, most species of poppies are fairly xeric, and don't like to get their feet wet, so to speak. They usually like well-drained soil, so a heavy wet clay or constant moisture isn't ideal.

They do well here in the New Mexico desert where my soil is glorified sand and it rarely rains.

Oh, and here are a few pictures of my desert garden: Linky. It's still about a month from all out glory, but we're now well past any danger of frost.

Ya, about all I know about poppies is not to try them here in the muggy, muggy South, so I never have :)

If I do try to grow plants from arid regions, I use a lot of sand in the potting mix and make sure to get the pH how they like it. A lot of them like more lime than I have here.

And give them excellent airflow, like in a windy spot.
 

Fenika

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So today I took a chance on placing half my plants under the gooseneck and in the bed of my truck. I had hoped the gooseneck trailer would shelter them rather than make a wind tunnel. Nope. The broccoli is stripped of most their leaves and bent over. Prolly won't recover. The long row of basil is not only stripped to the stem, but the soil blew away and exposed the roots. Peppermint is stripped at the top but will survive. Parsley mostly survived by the miracle of being young and short (it was sheltered by the rim of the pot). The plants in the back of the trailer look to have survived, so I have a few broccoli, lots of squash, one basil, two tomatoes, oregano, etc. The squash is going in the ground at my sister's.

Now I just have to find a house. Oi.
 

Arcturus

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I so wish I could do this. The food is so much better. We have a Farmer's Market close to where I live but it's expensive.