The 2019 Garden, Landscape, and Other Stuff Thread...

Stuff is growing real well. I hope the peas produce and it looks like they will.

Added later: Picked up 6 broccoli plants today. Was surprised to see 6 packs of celery at Ace Hardware. Bought a pack of those too. May go back and pick up another six pack. Years ago in my teens, I grew celery, but always grew it in the spring, not the fall. Tag says 80 days, so about 3 months to maturity, but I don't know when the clock starts ticking. May have to think about growing it in a container so I can protect from frost later on this fall as well as keep the sun exposure moderate. May even give blanching the stems a try. In the past, the home grown celery was used primarily for cooking so blanching is more visual than anything else and you loose nutrients this way.

Guess I need to order another one of Legion's self watering containers?

 

Wildlife in the yard is lively! Pollinators are happy with the weather this summer - that's for sure. Painted Lady butterflies on the liatris spikes were so numerous I had to dodge them every time I passed by. Lots of the big honey bees ... happy bugs everywhere





Where there is water, the frogs will come ... this little guy is likely enjoying the mosquito larvae I see wiggling in the fountain reservoir. I'll let this little one enjoy his shady find - so no firing up the pump for now . Also I have a container of moist earth that is easy to climb into for the huge toad that hangs around the well watered plants on the porch.



Stargazer lily with paprika yarrow and petunias in the boulder garden are lovely together - yet the 6 lilies will be moved. They are going to be too tall for this garden next year. I just staked three of them with the cut hollyhock stocks (which are done now but putting up some new foliage and buds).

 

This little girl is likely Busby's (from my admittedly hopeful observations). Pic is through window and cropped ... don't know how I managed to save it at 750 pixels wide instead of 650.



The birds (not hummers) still prefer the old concave rock birdbath on the ground to the new one ... but the fake bird never leaves the new one



Loving the gladiolas - but, yes, they do need some staking after one heavy rain. Mostly the intensity of colour and the frothy pinks and white rimmed reds - every one - is a treat for me. My grandmother's garden. Combined with cosmos - unruly, happenstance in places ...

 

Temps here over last night at 48 F. Fresh this morning. Those self watering containers look like a great solution to early frosts, good idea I think. I just hope to see all my flowers come to fruition before first frost here which can be as early as Sep 17 according to my second favourite garden guru. Zone 4a.

I did take all the new flowers off the tomatoes weeks ago just to encourage the ripening of the existing fruit - and it seems to be helpful. The tomatoes went in late and I need any edge. Lots of the sweet million are ripening and the taste is delicious - home grown wins out every time.

Today I must cut back all the tomato branches that are shading the peppers too much. I hate to sacrifice any production but I won't get peppers otherwise. They were planted too close in hope of getting some afternoon shade from the tomato plants but now get way too much.

Daisy must be feeling her age because she has not raided the veg garden once yet. Of course, the tomato plants on the porch have been a temptation for her. Maybe just too hot this summer to walk over hill and dale to the veg garden . No squirrels at all - fair weather friends - once I began feeding only with the bird feeders protected by the squirrel baffle (stovepipe) - they never returned. Only two chipmunks come to fill their cheeks now. The raccoon comes rarely - so all in all, the critters are being reasonably well behaved.

 

I still haven't used one of those new containers, but that is going to happen shortly. I'll know after I set the first one up with soil if I am going to order another one. I like the shorter height for selected veggies in containers, I think. Celery will be perfect in this container size. Supposively, celery likes more alkaline soils, so I am going to mix pelletized lime with the fresh potting soil for that container.

Just about decided to move the two new tomatoes in big containers off my deck. They are about tall wire tomato cage height now with only a couple tomatoes forming. My outdoor thermometer shows temps often above 100 degrees F during these hot afternoons (full afternoon sun). Tomatoes don't like temps like that. I think they are roasting a bit. Night time temps are 73 > 76 degrees F these days versus in the 60's. Peppers like the cooler temps.

Picked a couple yellow bell peppers and Pimento peppers. I have gotten to really like the Pimento peppers on sandwiches as they are a little tangy, but not hot. My green bell peppers have not done well and I suspect the cause is too much shade, and some over watering. The 3 way meter has been informative. I noticed that the large container tomatoes may be dry at the surface but down at electrode depth, they are moist. So, I cut back the watering on those somewhat.

Next year I am going to plant more Pimento peppers versus the one plant I have now. I have grown to really like them.... one pepper = one sandwich with other fixings.

I see possums and raccoons in the back yard after dark often. Before I changed my larger sunflower feeder setup, the raccoons hit that hard and damaged the old one to the point it was not usable any more. We feed our cats canned food in addition to dry food. I don't want the canned food going down the garbage disposal (sink) and into the septic tank. Meat does not decompose well overall as can be attested to by pictures of steaks that are 20 years old found in landfills. So, I capture the cat food leavings in a gallon sized pitcher and toss that with bowl rinse water out into my back yard. The raccoons and possums search for these scraps. I am good with that, but practices like this could bring rats. I'm providing some food and so far have not gotten rats. If I ever see a rat, I will be on the hunt immediately.

You would be amazed just how many glass bowls are dirtied every day for cat food. Cats often do not clean their bowls very well and leave scraps that dry up. It is a constant washing thing. I have like 15 bowls that get used and cycled use to wash to re-use daily. Ideally, I would like to have enough bowls for two feeding cycles, but the numbers are a bit crazy. The pyrex custard bowls were a godsend back when I was looking for practical bowls to use. I wanted something that I wouldn't use personally to eat from, but hard to break and easily washable. I have about 10 spares that have not been placed in service. They are difficult to find now as I think (PPG I think) pyrex has stopped making them. You can find them on fleabay, but some of the prices they want are scandalous.

 

@taldesta Great pics!

What do you guys do with your harvest? (Freeze, can, donate?) I don't have that concern with my bumper crop of 6 strawberries or 6 tomatoes at a pop (into the 2nd or possibly 3rd MODEST harvest of tomatoes). Oops almost forgot about the sweet red peppers...

 

When we have more than we can use ourselves, I give to neighbors primarily. Also give to my wife's daughter if I see her. Those little sweet red ones are good. Looks like those Italian ones.

Planted the celery in the Legion container and moved the two tomato plants on my deck out of the hot sun. I will have to pay attention on the moisture issue with the container for a while. I can always water from the top if I don't think the soil moisture is sufficient. Will also pay attention to the two tomato plants to see if they are doing okay in a less intense sun location.

 

Pets and critters, critters and pets - how they run our lives one way or another

When I said my critters were under control, I had not yet been up to the veg garden to trim the tomato plants. All around the plants it looked like a dustbowl ... with errant feathers. A lot of the foliage was covered in dirt from the 'bathing' of the wild turkeys. Some sweet million were knocked off the plants - but that's ok. This mom and her young laze in the sun on the hill so much that they have flattened a lot of the tall grasses and have pathways zigzagging throughout and into the woods that borders.

Later they came foraging by the house as they do fairly often. Very skittish and so the pics are through the window (yet again). Last fall I counted 18 - no sign of such numbers so far this year. Honestly, the veg garden would disappear into a dust crater with last year's numbers. These guys love to dig.

 

Thanks annr ... everywhere I turn these days there is something the camera wants to capture. Credit goes to digital where I can snap and snap and then choose the pick of the litter.

Ah, yes, the harvest. Mine is quite modest. I eat a lot of the cherry type tomatoes that ripen first fresh off the vine as they turn red ... sweet. Daisy and Dez by my side naturally expect that some of what I pick will wind up in their mouths as well. I must locate my mum's recipe for green tomato chow because of the abundance that never make it to ripe. I do enjoy green fried tomato as a condiment - sprinkled with turmeric and done up in a cast iron pan over a cook fire.

Last evening Daisy accompanied me to the veg garden so I treated her to one sweet million off the vine and picked a few more for the table. She sat watching my every move, waiting for more. But I started on the path back to the house with a handful; she followed. Then that suspicion came over me and I turned to see her reverse her tracks right back to the tomatoes! She's 3/4 deaf and so I had to run her down where she was with her face in the cherry tomatoes ... BUSTED

Donating. There is a sizeable community garden in town and a lot of folks do donate to the food bank, extra tomatoes especially.

I think if I managed the soil better, planted early enough and fed them well that I would have a lot more ripening fruit within our growing season. That goes for all my veggies. I have a single green pepper on one of four plants, but remain ever hopeful.

Happy gardening all ...

 

Management, that's the kicker. Hard to do with the unpredictability of the weather and other environmental factors.

Don't know what the deal is with green bell peppers. Growing up in PA, we had large robust plants in the garden with essentially no care what so ever except weed control. Here, I get spindly plants and few peppers. I think it must be the summer heat as in the past, once September comes and slightly cooler temps, the plants start growing more. We'll see if it happens this year. I'm not optimistic.

Interesting about the turkeys.

My neighbor spent a bunch of money landscaping one portion of his yard. Now they are installing a metal fence. Think it's going to look really nice. My cat, Lily is not going to like this as she tends to hang out on their deck during the days and then come home in the evening or for food. The fence may be too tall for her to jump and certainly metal doesn't give her much of a grip to climb it. She's a small cat that the larger males pick on frequently.

 

I have a couple of flowering plants that suicided. (Following taldesta's advice, I will not post pictures.) But I'm puzzled how they can have blooms, look great, and shortly thereafter (matter of hours), caput, look like I dug them out of the Arizona desert.

I was flanked by 2 of those large turkeys yesterday as I walked through the neighborhood. (They are not very amicable around here.) One stood so still, it looked like a lawn ornament, the other was busy with something on the ground. When I passed by again, they had both gone into a neighbor's front yard and were poking at the soil. The creepiest view of the turkeys was last Halloween when about 6 of them flew up on the roof of a 2-story house way up on the hill behind my house. They stood still with the autumn moon shining on and around them. Eerie.

Fingers crossed for that pepper.

 

Here are two shots; one is of the newly planted celery in the City Pickers (Legion) container, and the other is the two tomatoes I planted about a month ago.

The black hoses behind the plants are the hoses I purchased to take the HVAC evaporate water away from the house and into the lawn where it might do some good rather than perhaps finding it's way into my crawl space where it would lead to mold formation eventually. The hose is "sump pump" hose which works perfectly.

Getting a thundershower at the moment and water the lawn sorely needs. The brown below the containers is actually "grass".

 

Glad to hear you are getting some help with the watering. Not bragging, but our grass looks like a golf course (no watering or anything)...the plants on the other hand...

 

That was the way of things last year in terms of the yard. Traditionally, the rainfall picks up a bit in September. But it has been drier than normal for the last couple of months here. There have been thunderstorms but most of them find a way to skip my house. We got 0.92" of rain in a quick one-hour burst today. The front yard is looking a lot better than the back yard.

 

I envy the tree canopy ... dappled to deep shade is a life saver in the heat. The one maple here is just beginning to cast a decent but limited amount of shade and more shelter would be great. At the back of the house there are evergreens - but that area needs a lot of work before it can become a usable space - maybe when it cools I'll start that clean up. A couple of deciduous trees among the evergreens need to be removed as they are not safe - the 'widow-maker' kind of not safe. Not a job I will tackle.

Celery looks right at home in the planter and those are nice roomy pots for the tomato plants. Hope you get enough rain.

 

All my Poblones are in there .

 

OK. OK. Confessions are clearly in order

1) I killed the corn when I hit it with the gas trimmer by mistake . In my defence it all looked like wild grass which we all know is my sworn enemy.

2) Half the begonias gave up the ghost in spite of the controlled watering and protection from the uv in the west. They want only full eastern exposure ... so, I killed them with ... location?

3) All the lettuce plants but two were trampled by wild turkeys ... I failed to control the livestock in the veg garden but I think I would rather plant lettuce in a nice LEGION self-watering container next time anyway... close to the house.

4) There's probably a lot more - I'll give it some thought - but definitely no pics!

 

Wow, LEGION 12 ... a feast for the eyes too!

 

Big trees are a double edged sword. The ones in the background are near my house (a red oak and hickory) with the oak sending out a big limb that is overhanging my roof now. I will eventually get someone (pay them) to climb the tree and cut that limb off.

You buy a new house and they have few trees. So, you plant all these trees and 20 years later they threaten the house. Tis the way of trees. I really like oak trees as they are really strong rooted. In the past I have planted them but I inherited these as the house was essentially built in a forest that they cleared enough to build houses on lots (sub division). The trees I have planted here have been medium height trees that could get as tall as the house, but not any 60 or 70 feet tall like forest hardwoods.

Keeping my fingers crossed with the celery. It has been a long time since I grew it. It will be fun regardless.

We all kill plants by mistake. But you pick yourself up the next year and try again.

 

Are they real hot?