How does your garden grow?

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HollyGolightly

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
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Heart of the South
:inspect:
Had to get out my magnifying glass, lol.
I can't figure it out, lemme try this
20170422_131457_zpshoc33hxx.jpg.html

le sigh. nope.
this?
nope, uploading some of them isn't working, but they are from the same file and format as the others. Well, he's adorable and my gerberas are winning with 8 blooms while the Ogre's columbine only has 5 - he's got more buds than mine though.




....very green thumbish ma'am!....
Thank you! I'm a little shabby , but I like it like that. I'm having fun. And the birds. They love my yard.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
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The High Seas
I can't figure it out, lemme try this
20170422_131457_zpshoc33hxx.jpg.html

le sigh. nope.
this?
nope, uploading some of them isn't working, but they are from the same file and format as the others. Well, he's adorable and my gerberas are winning with 8 blooms while the Ogre's columbine only has 5 - he's got more buds than mine though.





Thank you! I'm a little shabby , but I like it like that. I'm having fun. And the birds. They love my yard.
I love your garden!
 

HollyGolightly

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
9,660
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Heart of the South
I love your garden!
Thank you sisterwife! I do too. It makes me so happy. I'm working on identifying the birds by their sounds too. Best medicine ever: birds and flowers.

Hey, the Ogre is finally tiling the shower walls!! Tell me what you meant - years ago - when you said "make sure you square up the walls". Every time I say that to him, he heaves a heavy sigh and refuses to reply. Typical ogre behavior. Now that we're at that point, I feel it's important.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
Thank you sisterwife! I do too. It makes me so happy. I'm working on identifying the birds by their sounds too. Best medicine ever: birds and flowers.

Hey, the Ogre is finally tiling the shower walls!! Tell me what you meant - years ago - when you said "make sure you square up the walls". Every time I say that to him, he heaves a heavy sigh and refuses to reply. Typical ogre behavior. Now that we're at that point, I feel it's important.
If he is sighing, he must have already done it. The walls have to be squared so the tiles will go on even.
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
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USA
Resurrecting a very old thread to share what I'm doing and see what you're doing. We tilled two big garden patches in the backyard only to decide we didn't want to do it that way - no worries, the weeds are filling in nicely. We don't get our yard sprayed - it seemed to make the dog's feet itch years ago, so sometimes I do the vinegar/Epsom salt thing, but mostly not. We've settled on just 1 raised bed garden this year to see how it goes. We've planted tons of flowers. I had so many little pots in the garage, I have no idea why. So the Ogre built a shelf on the back of the fence and we planted flowers in every single one. Plus the flower bed, and many other pots of flowers scattered. I'm having so much fun planting, watering, pruning and I can't wait for tomato season. We planted 6 tomato plants, 6 broccoli, 6 Brussel sprouts, 3 onions, 2 squash, 1 banana pepper, and 2 romaine lettuce plants.

I've become a gardening nerd. I am only inside today because it's raining, and I miss seeing y'all. The rain is glorious. I'm going to grill steak in the rain in a couple of hours.

Here's how it looks at Chez Holly today.
Just seeing your avi makes me smile, Miz Holly!

We're going to attempt 4 raised beds this year--have never done more than 2 before now, but I feel the need to be planting :) Your plants are WAY ahead of ours, though! We can't safely plant anything but the hardiest cold weather crops here before Mother's Day.
 

Doc Creed

Well-Known Member
Nov 18, 2015
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When I was a child I visited my great-grandmother's house in the summer and her yard was alive with birds, green plants and new growth. Her tomato plants were tied with pantyhose to chicken wire and her muscadine arbor, not yet drooping with fruit, offered shade to stray cats. I remember her deep freeze sat near the cellar door and it often was covered with gray peach baskets with her sewing supplies in it. The freezer had Ziploc bags of purple hull peas, okra, sliced yellow peaches and Silver Queen corn. This back door was screened and led to a stoop ensconced between blooming hydrangea bushes. Within these walls no television was turned on until after supper and I can still hear her shoes shuffling over the wooden floors, humming as she cleaned.

The front porch of her white-framed shotgun house jutted out like a ship's deck and was painted Robin's egg blue. Most of the paint had flaked off over the years and in the shade it was like cold granite, cool all summer long. A burly fig tree, large enough for me to climb, consumed most of the porch's vista but it blocked out the heat and was full of purple figs by July. In Alabama the old timers always had a Bell jar of fig preserves on hand and it was a mainstay at the breakfast table like lard biscuits and sorghum syrup. Besides the purple fig there are brown turkey figs and both are a sweet delicacy to many Southerners.

Does anyone here grow them?

fig-trees-and-figs2 (1).jpg
 

HollyGolightly

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Sep 6, 2013
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Heart of the South
Oh Doc, the figs. :swoon: For some reason the past two years my fig connections have not had any figs - or they're holding out on me. Both of them claim no fruit. Are you having this problem in B'ham? Let's do a fig dance - let there be figs this year. I need some. Costco had a little tray of them last year (or maybe the year before) 12 of them for $8 GASP! And you couldn't taste them first. I usually get buckets for free. I love figs.
 

HollyGolightly

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
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Heart of the South
Just seeing your avi makes me smile, Miz Holly!

We're going to attempt 4 raised beds this year--have never done more than 2 before now, but I feel the need to be planting :) Your plants are WAY ahead of ours, though! We can't safely plant anything but the hardiest cold weather crops here before Mother's Day.
Oh my Lord! Is it still cold there? 4 raised beds - that's awesome! I aspire to that. What are you growing? I had no idea how much fun all of this would be. We've got some berry bushes too, but we're really clueless about them. Who knows when we'll get fruit. The advice on how to grow them is very confusing to me . Here's hoping for blackberries!
 

Doc Creed

Well-Known Member
Nov 18, 2015
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Oh Doc, the figs. :swoon: For some reason the past two years my fig connections have not had any figs - or they're holding out on me. Both of them claim no fruit. Are you having this problem in B'ham? Let's do a fig dance - let there be figs this year. I need some. Costco had a little try of them last year (or maybe the year before) 12 of them for $8 GASP! And you couldn't taste them first. I usually get buckets for free. I love figs.
Lol...yeah, local figs are nearly impossible to find in the grocery store and people don't grow them in their yard like past generations. I have found them at certain farmers' markets but it's more common to find the preserves and chutney in the fall. By the way, I meant Ball jar, not Bell jar in my post. Eight bucks is high, isn't it?
 

HollyGolightly

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
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Heart of the South
Lol...yeah, local figs are nearly impossible to find in the grocery store and people don't grow them in their yard like past generations. I have found them at certain farmers' markets but it's more common to find the preserves and chutney in the fall. By the way, I meant Ball jar, not Bell jar in my post. Eight bucks is high, isn't it?
I would pay that for them if I could taste them first. I've never seen them at our Farmers Market. They must get gone fast. I should plant a fig bush. I think I shall.

Bell jar/ball jar - literary minds and all. I know what you meant.
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
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Oh my Lord! Is it still cold there? 4 raised beds - that's awesome! I aspire to that. What are you growing? I had no idea how much fun all of this would be. We've got some berry bushes too, but we're really clueless about them. Who knows when we'll get fruit. The advice on how to grow them is very confusing to me . Here's hoping for blackberries!
Starting to warm up :) I'll have late spring strawberries (perennial) first, then tomatoes, green beans, bell peppers, tomatillos, zucchini and yellow straight neck squash, carrots. Maybe some eggplants. We have a lot of herbs, too: oregano, mint, thyme, lemon thyme, chives, bee balm, lavender (I want more of this, if I can find the hardy plants that will overwinter here), rosemary, basil, sage. We have plum trees that have the sweetest little plums, but they don't come on until August/Sept (depending on the temps), and really good grapes. I can't get stupid berries to grow! I've tried raspberries a couple of times, but they just die. YAY for blueberries! too hot and dry for those in this part of the state, though they will grow further north :)
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
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USA
skimom2
That sounds wonderful!! Good grief, if it's too hot for blueberries up there, our's are not going to make it. We've got 2 blueberries, a raspberry and a blackberry. I've read it takes a couple of years to get fruit, so hmm.. I'll try to be patient.
You have a LOT more moisture than we do--that could make the difference :)
 

HollyGolightly

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
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Heart of the South
I tried growing tomato plants and successfully raised a fine crop of Tomato Hornworms .:)
Oh those things give me the heebie jeebies. I forget the treatment for them. Did you get rid of them?

Ick ick ick

My tomatoes are prolific. There's a bazillion - all still small and green but a foretaste of things to come. I love homegrown tomatoes and cannot wait.
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
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Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Yesterday behind the Superstore, in the front parking lot actually, I saw a big cardboard bin of marigold plants that had been dumped in there. Quite a few were still in great shape, with yellow or orange flowers attached, so I rescued a few of them.

They're now in pots on my back deck - I'm hoping they'll make a complete recovery.

I almost feel like going back to get some more - it is a shame to see them all go to waste like that!