Flowers And Bushes And Trees: How Does Your Garden Grow?

[DeLurker]

Signed the lease for the garden plot in the community garden yesterday.  It is an organic garden so need to keep that in mind - I'm not 100% organic at home because of the fire ant mounds that can blossom overnight.  My first task will be doing some weeding - the spot isn't in too bad of shape.  Sadly, it has a lot of mint that needs to go - I am not a fan.  I'll just pull them separate and put them out for any of the other gardeners who wish to take them.

Half of the community garden is dedicated to a local charity that does a lot in our area.  They grow fresh veggies for distribution through their food pantry.  It has a pretty small full print but they grow an average of 4,000 lbs. of fresh vegetables (and strawberries) per year.  The area just opened another community garden and they have similar space there so it will probably double in the near future.

[JTMacc99]

1 hour ago, DeLurker said:

Sadly, it has a lot of mint that needs to go - I am not a fan.  I'll just pull them separate and put them out for any of the other gardeners who wish to take them.

Yikes. Mint is a runner. You'll be pulling that stuff out until the end of time.  Fortunately it's not that hard to spot and yank out as it pops up.

[DeLurker]

Yeah, I had a 4 year battle to eradicate the ones planted by the prior owner at my house inCA.

[Bastet]

I love mint, but I grow it in a pot to keep it contained - and I still wind up yanking it out of random places in my yard.

[harrie]

Spring may really be on the way  -- after the upcoming storm, anyway.  Where there are chives, there's hope.

 

[CatsAndMoreCats]

Hello all, I typically lurk on the Chit Chat forum. :o)  But I'm also a hard-core diseased gardener with very little outdoor space.  I have a balcony.  I did all-orange impatiens last year.  It turned out amazingly well.  I also have figured out not "just" how to keep orchids alive, but how to keep them producing new shoots every few months.  I'm very proud of that.  Basically, I ignored the advice to keep them out of direct sunlight and water them only once every several days.  My orchids thrive in an east-facing kitchen window.  I give each one 4-5 ice cubes every 2-3 days.  Boom, done:  gorgeous orchids that come back again and again.  I tried uploading some photos but mine are too large.  :o( 

Hausermann's Orchids is a giant nursery in the west Chicago burbs.  My treat to myself is to drive out there 2-3 times each year.  They always have beautiful selections on the sale table.  Phals with several shoots, tons of blooms on each shoot, for $10-$15.  It's my therapy. 

[Spunkygal]

11 minutes ago, CatsAndMoreCats said:

Hello all, I typically lurk on the Chit Chat forum. :o)  But I'm also a hard-core diseased gardener with very little outdoor space.  I have a balcony.  I did all-orange impatiens last year.  It turned out amazingly well.  I also have figured out not "just" how to keep orchids alive, but how to keep them producing new shoots every few months.  I'm very proud of that.  Basically, I ignored the advice to keep them out of direct sunlight and water them only once every several days.  My orchids thrive in an east-facing kitchen window.  I give each one 4-5 ice cubes every 2-3 days.  Boom, done:  gorgeous orchids that come back again and again.  I tried uploading some photos but mine are too large.  :o( 

Hausermann's Orchids is a giant nursery in the west Chicago burbs.  My treat to myself is to drive out there 2-3 times each year.  They always have beautiful selections on the sale table.  Phals with several shoots, tons of blooms on each shoot, for $10-$15.  It's my therapy. 

Thank you! I almost purchased an orchid but am so wary about how to care for it. Do you also feed it and how often?

[CatsAndMoreCats]

LOL.  No, I don't feed anything.  I'm sort of a gardening terrorist.  Thrive by my minimalist care, or don't.  So far, the orchids are falling in line with that!

[Spunkygal]

4 minutes ago, CatsAndMoreCats said:

LOL.  No, I don't feed anything.  I'm sort of a gardening terrorist.  Thrive by my minimalist care, or don't.  So far, the orchids are falling in line with that!

Hee! I can do tough love! Thanks!

[Mountainair]

I have never been able to keep an orchid alive. In fact I was just on here talking about how I've done well lately with a few houseplants that I was considering starting a container garden for fresh herbs and veggies. Well, now my houseplants are close to death. I think my house gets too cold in the winter time to sustain them inside or something. If we have a warm spell I will put them outside to get some "fresh air" and then they end up getting over watered by rain or the temp drops before I can get them back in. When I used to have an orchid I used the ice method and still use that method on one particular inside plant that has a really terrible water basin underneath it. My mom recently gave me a good bit of advice that my very novice self had never heard of and that is to fill the bottom part of the plant container up with water intead of watering from the top. For me it would never fail to happen that I water from the top and one hour later there is a flood of water due to the plant getting overwatered. 

[CatsAndMoreCats]

Is there a Trader Joe's near you?  That's actually a fabulous place to get orchids at all price points from $6.99 to $17.99.  I love their selection.

[theredhead77]

I spent a bit of time weeding my little plot. I got about half way done and was going to spray to kill the roots when I realized the weed spray I bought is for lawns, not gardens.

Back to Home Depot tomorrow to pick up proper garden bug and weed killer. Should I do anything besides weed / remove roots to prepare the dirt for planting? Is there any sort of pre-seeding food that would help?

[peacheslatour]

18 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

I spent a bit of time weeding my little plot. I got about half way done and was going to spray to kill the roots when I realized the weed spray I bought is for lawns, not gardens.

Back to Home Depot tomorrow to pick up proper garden bug and weed killer. Should I do anything besides weed / remove roots to prepare the dirt for planting? Is there any sort of pre-seeding food that would help?

Coffee grounds. Worms love it and Starbucks gives it away for free. Just work some into the soil and get some alfalfa meal and work that in too. 

[theredhead77]

12 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Coffee grounds. Worms love it and Starbucks gives it away for free. Just work some into the soil and get some alfalfa meal and work that in too. 

I can save my own grounds, I make a pot every day. I saw a worm in the dirt yesterday and fear I may have accidentally killed it later during my weeding / dirt working.

[peacheslatour]

3 minutes ago, theredhead77 said:

I can save my own grounds, I make a pot every day. I saw a worm in the dirt yesterday and fear I may have accidentally killed it later during my weeding / dirt working.

You can also save veggie ends and mix that with your coffee grounds in a small covered trash bin- Voila, compost.

[walnutqueen]

I've had a worm bin for decades.  It started out as the only acceptable source of food for the incalcitrant aquarium froggies my niece "adopted" (those little finicky fuckers lived for too many years long after she stopped spending every other weekend with me!!!).  I spent too much of my life dangling little bits of worm at the mouths of those idiot frogs, just trying to keep them alive (which worked a leetle too well...)

 Every scrap of plant-based waste goes into the worm bin these days; sometimes composting material is fed to my hardy neglected yet thriving plants, which is a total shock to their system!

[theredhead77]

I won't be composting. It rained  today but I plan to finish up the weeding an prep after work now that it will be lighter later. There's mint and all sorts of random weeds growing in the surrounding plots. I'm going to find out if they are available and if they are I'll weed / deroot the areas bordering my area. After I finish the initial weeding I'm going to dig deep to get the roots, spray with weed killer and start planting in a week or so. I used to grow seedlings using expand-a-dirt thingies but I think the cats will eat them.

One thing I hate are the flying buzzing bugs that a garden brings so this may be a short lived venture.

[peacheslatour]

This has been a very odd spring. It's the first time I've ever had camellias, hyacinths, daffodils, lilacs, wisteria, bearded iris and peonies all blooming at the same time.

Quote

One thing I hate are the flying buzzing bugs that a garden brings so this may be a short lived venture.

But not bees, right? All gardeners love bees.

[JTMacc99]

So it's August 1st. So far I've harvested my garlic planted last fall. It was a pretty good year for that. Not all of the garlic got to be really large heads, but probably harvested 50 in total, so that's that.

Summer squash have done very well. I'm about to put down a few seeds for a second crop to come in towards the end of September.  Cucumbers kept getting eaten by the bunnies before they could start climbing, so I fenced then off and should have a crop in a couple weeks.  The first group of tomatoes I planted are giving me some fruit now. (Not including the cherry tomatoes, which are prolific now and will be for the rest of the summer.)  The second batch of tomato plants I put in fairly late for me are growing like mad and are really healthy plants right now. I should have a BIG crop from them in about a month.

The hot peppers are looking great. I should be able to make another batch of hot sauce this fall. I need to feed them, as they're in a raised planter and need a little food. I have some volunteer decorative gourd vines growing with vigor in from my compost pile, so hopefully my pumpkin vines will produce a couple nice ones, and I'll have a nice display for Halloween. 

All in all, things are doing pretty well so far. The next 10 days look like pretty good growing weather. High of 85, possible thunderstorm. So sun and rain and good heat. The tomatoes and peppers are down with that forecast.

[theredhead77]

Green beans are resilient! I gave up after I got bit or stung by something many months ago.  Wandered into the garden about a month ago and I had green beans and a baby carrot (that I thought was a weed. Oops!). I planted more green beans, those things popped up plants in a couple days. My cucumber plant is growing and I need to get a dedicated cage for it.

[ratgirlagogo]

The leafy herbs have been doing fine this season - the tomatoes and the poblanos, not so much.  The weather has been WAY too hot, they tell me.  I've only started really getting tomatoes and peppers in the last two weeks when the temperature FINALLY went down into the mid 80's.   Yay!

[Bastet]

19 minutes ago, ratgirlagogo said:

The leafy herbs have been doing fine this season - the tomatoes and the poblanos, not so much.  The weather has been WAY too hot, they tell me. 

Yeah, the heat is really doing a number here, too.  Things are just getting going, when normally I'd already be handing out excess to neighbors.  It was only this week that I had my first BLT of the season!  (Granted, that was because, while I finally had some tomatoes, it took me another couple of weeks to go get bread and bacon.)  My parents grew corn this year for the first time since I was a kid, and it's coming in pretty well now.  I'm not a huge fan of corn, but every once in a while fresh off the stalk corn just hits the spot.

[emma675]

I'm having a really hard time with growing basil this year, which is a first. It's been really, really hot and muggy here, so maybe that's the cause?

[JTMacc99]

6 hours ago, emma675 said:

I'm having a really hard time with growing basil this year, which is a first. It's been really, really hot and muggy here, so maybe that's the cause?

Basil should be fine with hot weather, but it could use a little afternoon shade when it gets really hot. 

[Bastet]

Basil can deal a lot better with really hot than with really cold (which I love, because it means my plants produce year-round, as it doesn't get really cold here).  I give it extra water in the heat so the leaves don't do their sad and droopy routine, and it's fine.

[ParadoxLost]

Whenever I pass this thread, I just want to say... it doesn't.

Anyway.  New thing I learned.  Heat tolerant flowers are not so heat tolerant when its in the mid 90s in Spring instead of Summer.

[JTMacc99]

My vegetable garden is up and running. Everything is double fenced so losses to rodents have been prevented. Good variety of tomatoes this year. Lots of large pink and red heart shaped tomatoes are on the way along with some gold beefsteaks and some yellow/red bicolor round ones. I’ll have very pretty pictures of harvests in August if it goes well. 

Going to attempt to grow some larger pumpkins. I’ve never had problems growing decorative gourds and smaller pumpkins but can’t seem to get bigger varieties to full size. So we’ll see. 

[theredhead77]

I'm sharing my plot with my neighbor and two of our tomato plants have early blight. I spent a bit of time cutting off all the infected leaves down to the stem but I'm not optimistic I managed to save the plants. 

[StroggCore]

On 6/7/2019 at 1:23 PM, JTMacc99 said:

My vegetable garden is up and running. Everything is double fenced so losses to rodents have been prevented. Good variety of tomatoes this year. Lots of large pink and red heart shaped tomatoes are on the way along with some gold beefsteaks and some yellow/red bicolor round ones. I’ll have very pretty pictures of harvests in August if it goes well. 

Going to attempt to grow some larger pumpkins. I’ve never had problems growing decorative gourds and smaller pumpkins but can’t seem to get bigger varieties to full size. So we’ll see. 

Hey, man! I have a question for you. As I see, you understand something about gardening. I want to turn my lawn into a beautiful garden, but right now it looks awful. What kind of lawn edger should I use in order to deal with tall grass?

[peacheslatour]

Fucking rabbits are eating all my muscari! What do?

[Spunkygal]

1 minute ago, peacheslatour said:

Fucking rabbits are eating all my muscari! What do?

Advertise for a bobcat to visit...the animal, not the machinery. I have tried so many things...fencing, spraying with fox urine, etc. Our local bobcats are the one thing that controls the rabbit population around here. I’ve had a mom and 2 cubs hanging out here lately thanks to many succulent rabbits. Yeah, I know, the rabbits are adorable but it’s so frustrating when they chew your veggies and flowers down to the stem. Good luck! Let me know if you find a solution.

[Nordly Beaumont]

On 3/8/2020 at 4:42 PM, maddi2020 said:

My problem is that I have no idea how to decor a garden and what flowers to plant in this period of a year or maybe it's already late for it.

I'm in Minnesota, so it's too early here! I'm the same way you are, i don't know how to make a pretty/interesting flower garden. But I can grow those veggies! Personally, I love daylilies. They're so dependable. And in a year or two you can split them and split them and have tons of new free plants!

2 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Fucking rabbits are eating all my muscari! What do?

The only solution I've found is a wire mesh fence.

[JTMacc99]

15 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Fucking rabbits are eating all my muscari! What do?

Yeesh. In my vegetable garden, I have layers of defenses. The outside fence keeps out all but the most determined larger animals. But the bunnies, especially the little ones go through it like water, so I wrap the beds with 1 inch wire or plastic fencing. 

But out in the yard, like when I planted crocuses, that's not practical. So assuming physical barriers aren't practical, have you tried sprays? I have had some success with things like Liquid Fence to keep the rabbits from eating flowers, but it takes a pretty determined schedule of keeping the plants covered in the stinky stuff.  If it works, the rabbits may actually move on and eat something else.

[ParadoxLost]

I need help from people who understand how things grow.

I'm trying to avoid throwing yard waste into landfills while waste services aren't picking up yard waste.

I was thinking about trimming my shrubs and composting the leafy stuff and using the woody parts as mulch.

Is there anything you need to do with remnants of branches you through into mulch beds to keep them from randomly sprouting stuff every where?  Or is that not really a thing that happens?

I know nothing.

Edited April 10, 2020 by ParadoxLost

[JTMacc99]

3 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

Is there anything you need to do with remnants of branches you through into mulch beds to keep them from randomly sprouting stuff every where?  Or is that not really a thing that happens?

The woody parts of shrubs are literally dead wood when you chop them off.  So you would not have to worry about them sprouting.  Cutting them up into pieces small enough to work as mulch would probably be the biggest challenge for this project.

 

[falltime]

I only have potted plants. I have several aloe veras, wax begonias, and citronella plants. I've had them for a few year. I'm in south-ish TX. My plants look so good during winter time, once spring gets here I struggle with my aloe and begonias so much. Too little water, too much water, too much direct sunlight. When fall arrives They start to do better.

For a few years I have been trying to get my marigolds to fully bloom. I fail every time. Only the first outer petals spread then they begin to die. This year I had the most seedlings I've ever had but then snails happened... so bye bye to the majority of my marigolds. I see their slim on my other plants too.

I have a few cuttings water propagating. I've had some rosemary and citronella in water for about 2 week, still no roots but they haven't died yet. For a month now I've had a monstera deliciosa in water and it is finally getting teeny tiny roots.

[peacheslatour]

On 4/10/2020 at 8:35 AM, ParadoxLost said:

I need help from people who understand how things grow.

I'm trying to avoid throwing yard waste into landfills while waste services aren't picking up yard waste.

I was thinking about trimming my shrubs and composting the leafy stuff and using the woody parts as mulch.

Is there anything you need to do with remnants of branches you through into mulch beds to keep them from randomly sprouting stuff every where?  Or is that not really a thing that happens?

I know nothing.

Wood Chipper?

[Nicmar]

I am becoming overwhelmed by all the leaves that my oak trees leave behind.We have a Leaf vacuum ,but since we had rain last week it was picking up as much as I like for it to pick up 😒

[Browncoat]

I have a mulching mower, and I just mow over the leaves as they fall (I have oaks and maples that drop a lot of leaves).  Sometimes it does take two passes, but it's less work than raking.  I don't remember the last time I raked.

[peacheslatour]

3 hours ago, Nicmar said:

I am becoming overwhelmed by all the leaves that my oak trees leave behind.We have a Leaf vacuum ,but since we had rain last week it was picking up as much as I like for it to pick up 😒

At this time of year? My deciduous trees are just starting to get leaves.

[Nicmar]

21 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

At this time of year? My deciduous trees are just starting to get leaves.

Cause i'm really lax in that dept......

[peacheslatour]

I planted a viburnum bush a few years ago because I love the fragrant little clusters of pink/white flowers. What I didn't bargain for is the splendid fall foliage. Especially when it's sunny, burnt oranges and bright golds. I just love it.

[JTMacc99]

My Lowe's store got in a rack of small citrus trees to the Garden Center this year. I'm pretty sure I've never seen this before here in NY. I walked by them enough times to the point where I put a Persian Lime tree in my cart, and now I have to figure out how to make it grow and produce fruit.

Instructions with the tree are to keep it in the same pot for the next 2-3 years. It's only like 15 inches tall right now, and it's in a 1 gallon container.  Then pot it up to a 10 gallon container for 2-3 years, and then settle in with a 25 gallon container. 

I'm not so sure about this advice. The jump from a 1 gallon to a 10 gallon is a BIG jump. A 10 gallon pot is a BIG pot. 25 is freaking huge. My experience with other plants would be more along the lines of going from 1 to 5 to 15 in that same timeframe.

Does anybody have experience growing citrus trees in pots?

[peacheslatour]

48 minutes ago, JTMacc99 said:

My Lowe's store got in a rack of small citrus trees to the Garden Center this year. I'm pretty sure I've never seen this before here in NY. I walked by them enough times to the point where I put a Persian Lime tree in my cart, and now I have to figure out how to make it grow and produce fruit.

Instructions with the tree are to keep it in the same pot for the next 2-3 years. It's only like 15 inches tall right now, and it's in a 1 gallon container.  Then pot it up to a 10 gallon container for 2-3 years, and then settle in with a 25 gallon container. 

I'm not so sure about this advice. The jump from a 1 gallon to a 10 gallon is a BIG jump. A 10 gallon pot is a BIG pot. 25 is freaking huge. My experience with other plants would be more along the lines of going from 1 to 5 to 15 in that same timeframe.

Does anybody have experience growing citrus trees in pots?

I usually keep any small tree I get in a pot for a few years but then I always plant them in the ground. Those ever increasing pot sizes are insane.

[JTMacc99]

7 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

I usually keep any small tree I get in a pot for a few years but then I always plant them in the ground. Those ever increasing pot sizes are insane.

I'll have to keep this one in a pot for its entire life unless I move to a tropical location. (Not a terrible idea, to be honest.) Here's a good picture of what a 25 gallon pot looks like. I guess that if my tree gets to be 6 feet tall in 5-6 years, I could put it in a 20-25 gallon pot. 

You can see what I mean by going from 1 gallon to 10 as suggested. It would seem like the pot up from 1 to 7 and then to 20 for the final move would be a better move. 

[Mondrianyone]

This might be helpful. There's an interesting line down near the end about fruit trees' faster blooming time in larger pots.

On an unrelated subject: Our lilacs have gotten really scrawny. Driving through nearby areas a few days ago, I developed serious lilac envy. Everyone else's are so beautiful and lush, even bushes in empty fields that no one takes care of. I think I'm going to cut ours down to less than a foot tall, per some reading I did. I didn't see anything about how long it would take them to bloom again--anybody have an idea?

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, JTMacc99 said:

Does anybody have experience growing citrus trees in pots?

It's not necessary here, so no.  But I have two orange trees (one Valencia, one navel) and one lemon tree in my backyard, and I can't imagine having never let them grow larger than what even the largest pot would allow, so if pots are the only option, I understand where they're coming from with those large-sized recommendations. 

[peacheslatour]

2 hours ago, Mondrianyone said:

This might be helpful. There's an interesting line down near the end about fruit trees' faster blooming time in larger pots.

On an unrelated subject: Our lilacs have gotten really scrawny. Driving through nearby areas a few days ago, I developed serious lilac envy. Everyone else's are so beautiful and lush, even bushes in empty fields that no one takes care of. I think I'm going to cut ours down to less than a foot tall, per some reading I did. I didn't see anything about how long it would take them to bloom again--anybody have an idea?

I'd cut about a third of the trunks to the ground and see how they do.

[ginger90]

1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

didn't see anything about how long it would take them to bloom again--anybody have an idea?

It can take up to 3 years if you cut it all the way back. 

I always cut back any new shoots growing at ground level. That doesn’t affect flowering and let’s air circulate.

[emma675]

I'm in Texas and I'm growing a Meyer lemon treein a pot. A huge pot that's on wheels so I can roll it into the house during the winter. 

Mine went from a 5 gallon pot to a 30 gallon pot last year and it's doing well. I fertilize it regularly and it loves the hot Texas summers. I've got lemons for the first time this year that are about ping pong ball size right now. The nursery salesperson told me citrus plants sometimes need a few years to fully grow fruit and I'm on year two, so it seems to be going well so far. 

I've tried to grow tomatoes for the last two years and I seem to be completely incapable.