gardens

[ktun 0]

Jaylen,

I'm seem to have the opposite of you. Heavy clay in the UK where it was a struggle to get anything established and fantastic soil here in Iowa. What I ended up doing with the clay type soil was trying to break it up with compost, rather back-breaking, but we found once we got some plants established in it, that seemed to improve the overall quality of the soil. We had several clematis (clematises? clemati? cant spell it) and they didn't seem to mind the clay too much and are great for patios and to cover ugly fences. We had a miniature rose bush that did very well in that soil too. I would think that some of those might work in NC too.

We're lucky here that anything grows, very fertile soil. One side of the house we have a vegetable patch which will probably have potatoes and carrots this year. Tried strawberries last year, but they didn't turn out that well. I'll probably put some petunias in the front and have a look around the garden centre for other possibilities. We've had 90 degrees this week, but I'm told that is no guarantee that winter is definitely gone, so I'll awhile longer I guess. This will be the first year that we're properly here, we were in England for 4 months last summer so I didn't do much then.

[MaryandMian 1]

To everyone with clay soil I live in Alabama and that is all we have. I have to amend the soil with compost too. A good thing also for ones that love to grow roses. Here is simple trick take your clean eggs shells and crush them up and lay them around the roses. Roses also love potassium and if you eat bananas take the skins and lay them at the base of the bushes. I know both of these tricks have helped my yard and it is continue struggle since the red clay takes alot of work to keep things growing. Our yard was sodded and the soil has just about killed off the lush grasses and I am struggling to get this repaired and with kids it is a task too.

[Dixie_Peach 1]

I have a little herb garden going on in my kitchen windowsill... and i have a hanging strawberry plant like gimy posted... also doing the small cherry tomatoes that way...

I want to get some tulips to plant... and some black-eyed susans... but, I have never tried these types of flowers before... we'll see what happens.

PS: edited to add... after reading some other threads... think i will try to plant some other things:

LOVE, HOPE, CHARITY, KINDNESS, CONSIDERATION, MANNERS, EMPATHY, SYMPATHY... and still looking for that weed-killer for prejudism and ignorance...

Love to all the VJ peeps!

[Ladylethal 12]

I'll be living in an apartment, most likely, but I'll still get me some vases in the kitchen to have fresh herbs, as I love cooking with those.

[almaty 19]

wow..there are allot of creative garderners here..i am just getting started..and have learned allot already from this post...

[Jasman0717 9]

Nothing seems to grow in my back yard other than rose bushes and papaya trees.

[almaty 19]

Nothing seems to grow in my back yard other than rose bushes and papaya trees.

shoot Jim/..let claudeth give a try..i bet she has a green thumb...

[honeyblonde 0]

Oooh Oooh Oooh, a safe topic! And one of my favorites. Savannah may have horrible heat in the summer, and gnats and mosquitos, but one good thing about this place is how great it is for gardening. Our Amarylis bulbs are in full bloom, and so are the Dutch Iris and Roses that are still in the same bed. I wanted to dig up the bulbs and move them and give some away but all I got done last year were the white iris and orange daylily bulbs.

We bought dill, basil, rosemary and parsley plants and put them out a few weeks ago. Abdel has watered them faithfully and they are still alive. We really want to put in a full vegetable garden, but that will have to wait a few weeks until I'm out of school.

If I can figure out how to post a picture I'll put some of the yard in here. Oh yeah, the wisteria just bloomed too. These pics are from 2004, but the Amarylis are still the same, only thicker from me not separating the bulbs when I should have. The wisteria didn't bloom as much in our yard this year because we cut it back a whole lot. It can really take over if you don't fight it.

Ok, I don't feel like uploading the pics to photobuckets so I'll just post them in my photos and you can all go there if you want to see them.

[cbd2cai 0]

Nada. Townhouse.

I am glad I found a townhouse that has some garden and yard space!

I've been planting some veggies, herbs, flowers this weekend: tomatoes, peppers (hot and mild), eggplant, parsley, columbine, lilies, ferns. Have planted other things too and hopefully will get some more blooming plants to perk up things (love blooming plants). I have some big tubs I put in the back yard which are used for the tomatoes and peppers plus various herbs. Mostly, I buy starter plants but I also have some seeds for coriander/cilantro, more peppers and parsley.

OK, off to the nursery again!

Oh, forgot to mention that I have a compost bin . . . so I have been digging it out and spreading on my garden . . . fun, fun, fun!! BUT it cuts down on having to buy bags of "soil" every year to boost the gardens ability to grow plants, LOL.

Oh, honeyblonde, I have one lone surviving clematis plant that has two very sweet blooms right now. I managed to take some pix but haven't uploaded yet to see if they are any good. If they are, I will post later.

Catherine

Edited April 16, 2006 by cbarrosmostafa

[babybunny 2]

I like growing Fresh herbs.

also, would like to plant a salsa garden. but, live in an apartment

not too much room on the patio.

[tmma 467]

I have 3 different clematis growing around my front porch , and 2 wisteria growing around the back patio ( if you can call it a patio-it's small).

Both plants are really easy to grow.

Clematis is a vine that likes thin poles or trellises to climb up, keep roots shaded and leaves in full sun-(I know that makes no sense, but basically have another plant shading the roots), wisteria will grow just about anywhere and loves climbing trees, with bunches of beautifully fragrant blossoms in the spring!

I love gardening and it really helps with the stress of this process!

Michele

Edited April 16, 2006 by tmma

[jordanianprincess 0]

I think this tomato planter is cool for those who are limited on space.

Sorry i tried to add the pic in the post...didnt work!

[cbd2cai 0]

Clematis is a vine that likes thin poles or trellises to climb up, keep roots shaded and leaves in full sun-(I know that makes no sense, but basically have another plant shading the roots), wisteria will grow just about anywhere and loves climbing trees, with bunches of beautifully fragrant blossoms in the spring!

I love gardening and it really helps with the stress of this process!

Michele

Yep, clematis is picky!! the trellis where I have it growing has nothing except the woody part, the blooms are at the very top where the new green growth/leaves are located (mingled with another vine), the bottom part is covered up by a nice thick growth of ferns. But I keep forgetting the clematis is located there because it always looks dead for so many months before the spring growth pops out! I almost pulled it down before I spotted the about-to-bloom part a couple of weeks ago.

Yes, gardening is a great stress-reliever!

Catherine

[eau_xplain 2]

I'm an indifferent gardener (unfortunately). Last year hubby convinced me to try putting some bearded Irises along our driveway and they are now just beginning to bloom. Wow, it looks so pretty that I think I might start doing something in other parts of our front and backyard also.

[tmma 467]

"Yep, clematis is picky!! the trellis where I have it growing has nothing except the woody part, the blooms are at the very top where the new green growth/leaves are located (mingled with another vine), the bottom part is covered up by a nice thick growth of ferns. But I keep forgetting the clematis is located there because it always looks dead for so many months before the spring growth pops out! I almost pulled it down before I spotted the about-to-bloom part a couple of weeks ago.

Yes, gardening is a great stress-reliever!

Catherine"

Clematis tends to look REALLY dead and alittle ugly in the winter; plus, the stems seem to be really brittle-I found that out the hard way.

Note to self-make sure it's planted where you want it the FIRST time-LOL!

Some clematis likes to be pruned-and some grows every year on old growth-but- mine are the old growth kind, and that means an ugly tangle of vines in the winter; but it's more than compensated for by the incredible blooms in the Summer!

Plus I have found that if you keep carefully snipping off the older blooms, new ones will pop all through the Summer!

I forgot-I do have a " top bloomer clematis"-(can't remember the name), climbing up a small tree in my front garden.

Michele

Edited April 16, 2006 by tmma