gardens

[honeyblonde 0]

I tried Clematis once but didn't have the patience for it. I admire those of you that do it well.

With work and school I have to go low maintenance, so that's why I love bulbs. You just pop them into a well-prepared bed and forget about them for a few years until they need divided.

For those of you who are just getting started, I'd recommend the TV shows on gardening to learn from. That's where I started and now my bulbs bloom better than anybody's I know. My grandfather also taught me his secret - Miracle Grow.

With gardening, it really is all in the dirt. The more time you put into preparing a proper bed for your plants the better they will grow.

I hope to see pictures of all of your gardens on here soon, they are certainly so rewarding!

[Jaylen Brit 0]

I have Clematis here, and honeysuckle and roses, rosemary, lavender, lilac trees, red hot poker plants, daffodils, tulips, narcissi, gladioli, st josephs coats - I have no idea if ANY of them will grow in NC and yes I realise I can't bring cuttings over..mores the pity

Also my garden atm is about 110ft long..the one at lenny's house is about half an acre..or bigger (less than an acre anyways)..and the sheer size makes me go 'wahhh!'

I think I will have to start small..I need to visit a garden centre..I'd like similar plants to what Im growing now - but I know I'll have to fertilize the ground first - if its just small areas then its doable I guess..I'm not gonna bother growing veggies tho - takes too much effort

[ktun 0]

Goodness, if the garden is that huge, I'd start with patio pots and ease myself in!!!

My FIL who lives 7 miles away has 85-90 acres, although I guess 80 of that is devoted to corn. He's not much of a gardener, but planted some tuilips right around the house itself and they proved to be very effective. Even if you dont have much time to devote to the garden, something small like that can make a big difference.

Edited April 16, 2006 by ktun

[sukie175 0]

New house, huge yard and hardly a perennial in sight!! So far I have planted in the last month:

Potatoes

Tomatoes

Peppers - yellow & green

Onions - white & yellow

Squash

Carrots

6 Hydrangea

3 Rose of Sharon

3 Climbing Roses

3 Clematis

50 Asiatic Lily bulbs

1 Magnolia tree

50 Dahlia bulbs

5 hanging baskets

4 succulents

1 blueberry bush

5 strawberry plants

6 hostas

25 canna lilies

6 minature rose bushes

2 packs of wildflower seeds

2 aquiliga

50 anemone bulbs

And a few more I can't remember!

Cottage Gardens on QVC knows me by name, I'm knackered, broke and have soil permanently under my fingernails!

Still next year I can sit back and just admire it all - assuming I get my greencard that is!!!

Lets see anyone beat that

Edited April 17, 2006 by sukie175

[jodyangel 0]

We planted some herbs by the backdoor saturday....and have started some zinnia seeds already in the front porch to transplant later. We have established a lovely garden here already but add to it each year now. We bot LOVE gardening!! Yeah!! We have a nice yeggie garden too. Tony will rototill it this week and then we will grow Tomato's, carrots, brocholi, corn, hot peppers, green peppers.....and anything else we think of!!

The year and a half I had to live in an apartment I Hated it!! I hated living with people all around me close and I hated not having a garden. Blah to living Anywhere else but in the country!!

[Elizabethnhenry 0]

I want to be Sukie when I grow up!!!

My neighbors cat keeps pooping in the garden, so I won't grow veggies, but I have planted, dahlias, rosebushes, marigolds, hydrangeas and those "a gardens where you roll out a piece of felt and water it and stuff grows...so I dont know yet what all will grow from it.

[charmac7 4]

Better Homes & Garden has a great web resource for gardeners

http://www.bhg.com/bhg/plantfinder/

you can type in your zone, whether it is a shade plant, full sun. etc.

right down to what color bloom . and it will show you which plants including a pic and planting tips will grow well with the criteria you entered.

Char

[almaty 19]

New house, huge yard and hardly a perennial in sight!! So far I have planted in the last month:

Potatoes

Tomatoes

Peppers - yellow & green

Onions - white & yellow

Squash

Carrots

6 Hydrangea

3 Rose of Sharon

3 Climbing Roses

3 Clematis

50 Asiatic Lily bulbs

1 Magnolia tree

50 Dahlia bulbs

5 hanging baskets

4 succulents

1 blueberry bush

5 strawberry plants

6 hostas

25 canna lilies

6 minature rose bushes

2 packs of wildflower seeds

2 aquiliga

50 anemone bulbs

And a few more I can't remember!

Cottage Gardens on QVC knows me by name, I'm knackered, broke and have soil permanently under my fingernails!

Still next year I can sit back and just admire it all - assuming I get my greencard that is!!!

Lets see anyone beat that

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sister sarah, you need to get some bib overalls..you are indded a farming type of girl

[eau_xplain 2]

New house, huge yard and hardly a perennial in sight!! So far I have planted in the last month:

Potatoes

Tomatoes

Peppers - yellow & green

Onions - white & yellow

Squash

Carrots

6 Hydrangea

3 Rose of Sharon

3 Climbing Roses

3 Clematis

50 Asiatic Lily bulbs

1 Magnolia tree

50 Dahlia bulbs

5 hanging baskets

4 succulents

1 blueberry bush

5 strawberry plants

6 hostas

25 canna lilies

6 minature rose bushes

2 packs of wildflower seeds

2 aquiliga

50 anemone bulbs

And a few more I can't remember!

Cottage Gardens on QVC knows me by name, I'm knackered, broke and have soil permanently under my fingernails!

Still next year I can sit back and just admire it all - assuming I get my greencard that is!!!

Lets see anyone beat that

Definitely the winner!! Wish I had half the energy (and knack for gardening) that you have!

[honeyblonde 0]

Wow, Some of you have really been busy. On the subject of rototillers, what brand and model would anybody recommend? We need to buy one, even though Abdel swears he will be happy to hoe up a spot for a vegetable garden, and I'm not sure which one to get.

The National Wildlife Federation has a great website for creating a backyard garden that attracts wildlife.

http://www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat/

Right now we just have some birds that come through and the luna moths migrate through our yard every year. One of the pictures I posted is of the luna moth that came through in 2004. The picture of the one last year I haven't scanned yet, but it looked like it had just crawled out of a cocoon. The tip of one of its' wings was still all curled up.

Oh yeah, we attract snakes too, but when I found a copperhead about 10 feet from the kitchen window I wasn't really thrilled to attract them. This year I've been seeing ring-necked ones which are totally harmless to people, so hopefully that will be the only kind we get - no poison ones.

[sukie175 0]

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sister sarah, you need to get some bib overalls..you are indded a farming type of girl

Brother Dean - expect a pic soon of me in bib overalls!!

But theres also not much to do out here in rural NW Oklahoma!!!

Joking apart - I think its in the blood, both my parents are avid gardeners too. But when I was growing up I hated gardening and would not help, it all changes when you have your own place. If I can offer any answers to questions I will.

On the clematis issue - I love them and had 4 in the UK. The 3 I planted here 2 weeks ago seem to be doing well so far. I just think they are worth all the effort for the beautiful big blooms you are rewarded with later.

Sarah (aka The Farmer)

[nina1 0]

before i say what we planted in our 1acre back yrd, id like to say that if someone 5 yrs ago were to tell me that i would one day do some gardening when i get married, i would have laughed to their face! My family in Canada has a big backyard also, but i never used to go back there. I didn't like anything having to do with gardening.

But nowwwww that im married and we have our own home and i stay home all day bcz im not working, and i don't know anybody here, i keep myself busy with gardening.. It's really beautiful the feeling i get when i see the vegetables growing because of ME taking care of them.. I call them my babies! I even talk to them sometimes! lolol

Okay here's what we'll plant. We haven't planted yet bcz we normally plant the seeds in cups and when the plant is strong enough, we transfer it to the ground. We did the cups thing (50of em') last mth. We still have a little more tilling to do b4 we plant them into the ground..

Colored peppers (including purple and black)

Banana peppers

Squash

Zucchini

BEEFSTEAK TOMATOES, cherry tomatoes, san marzano tomatoes, yellow tomatoes

cucumbers

beets

turnips

radish

colored eggplants

watermelon

honey dew

And that's all i can remember... Oh, here's a tip for those that plant alot of tomatoes for example. It's a tip a coworker of my husband's gave us. He said that if you plan on planting alot of a certain thing, plant a few at a time in 2 wks intervals. That way, your tomatoes don't all become ripe at the same time and then u find urself having to throw some away bcz you had too many! Smart isn't it!?

[Cassie 8]

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sister sarah, you need to get some bib overalls..you are indded a farming type of girl

Brother Dean - expect a pic soon of me in bib overalls!!

But theres also not much to do out here in rural NW Oklahoma!!!

Joking apart - I think its in the blood, both my parents are avid gardeners too. But when I was growing up I hated gardening and would not help, it all changes when you have your own place. If I can offer any answers to questions I will.

On the clematis issue - I love them and had 4 in the UK. The 3 I planted here 2 weeks ago seem to be doing well so far. I just think they are worth all the effort for the beautiful big blooms you are rewarded with later.

Sarah (aka The Farmer)

If last summer and this past winter were any indication, chances for rainfall are going to be few and far between, and the clay soil in Oklahoma gets so horrible. My eventual goal is to get as many plants and things going as you have planted, but in small doses, I don't think my water bill could handle it all at once!

Edited April 17, 2006 by Cassie

[sukie175 0]

You are right on the water bill issue Cheryl - we have an underground irrigation system that helps and we just run each zome for 30 minutes every night - but we haven't had the first bill yet!

Where we are in OK the soil is not bogged down with clay, in fact it is the best soil I have ever seen which makes us think the previous owner brought in top soil.

Sarah

[Cassie 8]

You are right on the water bill issue Cheryl - we have an underground irrigation system that helps and we just run each zome for 30 minutes every night - but we haven't had the first bill yet!

Where we are in OK the soil is not bogged down with clay, in fact it is the best soil I have ever seen which makes us think the previous owner brought in top soil.

Sarah

You fortunate girl! We worked in a bag of topsoil into the little corner plot we started, and I wish I had bought a couple more bags' worth. But we'll see what happens this year -- it'll help me decide if I want to add more plants in the future or not!

Edited April 17, 2006 by Cassie