The 2020 Garden, Landscape, and Other Stuff Thread...

[taldesta]

Beautifully laid out garden spaces, such variety (sesame too ) and it looks like a number of your gardens hug the porch - a fine way to edge with food production ,,,

When you say 'from seeds', may I take that to be direct (into the soil outdoors)seeding as opposed to starting indoors?

 

[22-rimfire]

The garden's are coming along. Late start planting. Everything planted from seeds this year except for our 3rd year chive garden. We planted onions last fall and they were coming up thru the snow this spring. We ate them all then tilled the garden before planting.


Some tomato plants popped up in the middle of this years lettuce spot in the main garden. Must have been from the tomatoes the critters knocked off and partially ate last fall.


Couple cucumber plants threw out tendrils last night so we put up the wire for them to climb.


Peppers are slow this year but gaining steam!


Tomato stems are getting thicker and gaining height.


Sesame leaves are coming along nice!


We made hand made and rolled chive/egg/shrimp dumplings the other day!


Chive garden with some green onion, sesame and old pantry garlic thrown in.

Looks like a space for everything. Looking good! I'm too impatient to start peppers from seed, although I see no problem doing so. It relates more to indoor space that is available.

It has been dry here this month (June) after months of 6 inches+ rainfall. Normal rainfall for June is about 4 inches and we're struggling to have 1 inch so far (essentially three weeks into the month). The reduction in rainfall was sudden. Yard is already showing browning signs and the mowing schedule has widened out a bit. I was mowing after 5 days earlier this Spring. Now I'm at 8-9 days more than likely. Supposed to get some thundershowers today and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it happens. The weather pattern seems to be shifting again to more west to east movement. I don't mind watering my garden or my flower beds, but really hate to water turf grass. Feels like I'm just pouring money into the ground.

My red beets seem to be doing better this year. Got a late start and then the seed germination was very poor and I replanted. So, I'm really late. But I have been thinning the plant spacing. Peppers... I would give them a medium development rating so far. But there are peppers on the plants and things are moving forward. Tomatoes.... I would give a medium rating overall as the plants are a bit spindlely.

 

[LMT66]

Beautifully laid out garden spaces, such variety (sesame too ) and it looks like a number of your gardens hug the porch - a fine way to edge with food production ,,,

When you say 'from seeds', may I take that to be direct (into the soil outdoors)seeding as opposed to starting indoors?

I should have clarified that part. The last few years we bought quite a few seedlings and also started our own from seeds in pots. This year no store bought seedlings. We got a late start this year. Our two main starter pots sit on a furniture dolley. I wheel them in the garage if night temps are low or excessive rain is coming then wheel them out for the daytime sun.
We had a few spring temp drops into the high 20's so we covered as much of the beds as possible with old sheets and blankets those nights. Also some drenching rains which had us out there digging drain channels around the beds during 3+" rainfall events.

The gardens around the deck are nice. I can check and water all sides from the deck and can reach the yard gardens also.

The main yard garden got a border this year to make it easier to mow around and looks a little cleaner. I stripped turf off one end then moved it to where the garden bulged a bit then put the border in.

Before (2019 garden).

After. Last years leftover leaves over the expanded area.


We love sesame leaves!
Last years....

And lettuce.

Looks like a space for everything. Looking good! I'm too impatient to start peppers from seed, although I see no problem doing so. It relates more to indoor space that is available.

It has been dry here this month (June) after months of 6 inches+ rainfall. Normal rainfall for June is about 4 inches and we're struggling to have 1 inch so far (essentially three weeks into the month). The reduction in rainfall was sudden. Yard is already showing browning signs and the mowing schedule has widened out a bit. I was mowing after 5 days earlier this Spring. Now I'm at 8-9 days more than likely. Supposed to get some thundershowers today and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it happens. The weather pattern seems to be shifting again to more west to east movement. I don't mind watering my garden or my flower beds, but really hate to water turf grass. Feels like I'm just pouring money into the ground.

My red beets seem to be doing better this year. Got a late start and then the seed germination was very poor and I replanted. So, I'm really late. But I have been thinning the plant spacing. Peppers... I would give them a medium development rating so far. But there are peppers on the plants and things are moving forward. Tomatoes.... I would give a medium rating overall as the plants are a bit spindlely.

Those peppers are stubborn! We about gave up on them this year but then they poked up after weeks but were really slow growing.
It's been a wet spring and early summer here. Not going to water any part of the lawn this year.

 

[22-rimfire]

LMT66 What do you use Sesame leaves for? I am not familiar with the plant other than I know the seeds you see on bread and so forth came from somewhere.

Are you in Texas? The black soils remind me of the Black Prairie soils from north Texas. I used to live there.

We also had a very wet spring and I guess you would say winter also..... it seems to be changing now and I hope that we get at least what is considered "normal" monthly rainfall during the drier months or June through October here. Historically rainfall here (southeast TN) actually is pretty consistent on average monthly. This year and last have been different (so far).

Looks to me like you really enjoy growing things.

Covering plants when the temps get below freezing is a hit or miss thing in terms of protecting the plant from freeze damage. Works well for frost but that usually happens at temps just above freezing.

 

[LMT66]

LMT66 What do you use Sesame leaves for? I am not familiar with the plant other than I know the seeds you see on bread and so forth came from somewhere.

Are you in Texas? The black soils remind me of the Black Prairie soils from north Texas. I used to live there.

We also had a very wet spring and I guess you would say winter also..... it seems to be changing now and I hope that we get at least what is considered "normal" monthly rainfall during the drier months or June through October here. Historically rainfall here (southeast TN) actually is pretty consistent on average monthly. This year and last have been different (so far).

Looks to me like you really enjoy growing things.

Covering plants when the temps get below freezing is a hit or miss thing in terms of protecting the plant from freeze damage. Works well for frost but that usually happens at temps just above freezing.

Sesame leaves. I think they are really perilla leaves. We use them in salads, wrap things in them, pickle them. Very tasty. My gal is Asian so it is used often for our meals.

We are in northern Illinois. The soil looks black because we mix a lot of miracle grow vegetable soil in the gardens each year.

It's a lot of work but very rewarding (and at times frustrating). Saves some money too!

We lucked out with the temp drop. Weather people called for frost so we broke out the old sheets and blankets but the temps dipped below what they had forecast. Everything that had sprouted were very tiny and survived.

 

[taldesta]

Hummingbird candy - first bloom from seed! Nasturtiums will bloom in abundance now until a killing frost takes them. The bulk of my planters are filled with nasturtiums of several varieties; some trail, some climb, some just grow - all will put up lots of large flowers, very colourful.



The maple shades the planters from the harsh afternoon sun, keeps the birdbaths cool too
I put rocks in this bath for birds - they like good traction. All three birdbaths serve as water troughs for thirsty squirrels and chipmunks as well. I will try to get a gravity drip going - all the critters seem attracted by a gentle splash and ripple.



The runt is fattening up and his fur is looking much better. His nose for peanuts is amazing!



It's nice to believe he likes me for my kindness but I suspect it is the food - definitely the food. Time to start scaling back on the sunflower seeds. Go wild, young man. All the squirrels drape themselves along the planters, the bench ... and loll in the beautiful weather. I love having time to observe.



Tomatoes are thriving with the rain lately. Pansies, petunias, caragana, lilies, yarrow, bee balm, glads, cosmos, marigolds - all coming along beautifully. Here the perennial Liatris and Asian Lily ... zinnia seedlings from direct seeding outdoors. Most survive the chipmunk trampling I should thin them.



My tarp shed, the 10 x 20 that was blown all to heck last fall, is now looking quite spiff with the new, green construction grade tarp over the frame. As soon as the weather cools down I plan to tighten it down a little better. Looking forward to having my roomy sheltered workspace again

 

[LEGION 12]

 

[taldesta]

Keeping cool, I see

Corn is thriving in the heat too!

 

[LEGION 12]

Keeping cool, I see

Corn is thriving in the heat too!

Corns doing really well , surprised really wind storm blew it over a few weeks ago .

 

[LEGION 12]

Corn in the raised bed is doing even better .

 

[taldesta]

Yup, trust the roots to know their soil. The plants are always teaching me what they like best and it is often surprising ...

Laurence is looking dapper

 

[22-rimfire]

Corns doing really well , surprised really wind storm blew it over a few weeks ago .

My onions are looking about like yours in your City Pickers container in the background. They don't like this 90* heat we have been having. The corn brings back memories of making rows (as straight as possible and evenly spaced) over about a 75 yd garden width. This is when I was a kid and the late summer-fall saw us chopping the stalks up for our cows into bite sized chunks. They liked that quite a lot. We froze a lot of corn back then. Lots of kids to feed.

I might add that this was in fact the very first use of a chopper type knife. We found a big bowie knife that most likely some hunter left in the woods buried in leaves. We were clearing away the leaves which were damp to spread out our sleeping stuff. A machete would have worked just as well, but there were no machetes at my house then.

I see you have your peppers planted in the regular raised beds. I would have gotten a few store bought plants to augment the ones your grew from seed.

 

[LEGION 12]

My onions are looking about like yours in your City Pickers container in the background. They don't like this 90* heat we have been having. The corn brings back memories of making rows (as straight as possible and evenly spaced) over about a 75 yd garden width. This is when I was a kid and the fall saw us chopping the stalks up for our cows into bite sized chunks. They liked that quite a lot. We froze a lot of corn back then. Lots of kids to feed.

I see you have your peppers planted in the regular raised beds. I would have gotten a few store bought plants to augment the ones your grew from seed.

I still have more peppers growing in the seed tray just in case .

 

[22-rimfire]

My Purple cone flowers are blooming like crazy in the perennial portion of my front bed. I have both purple and white ones. (Camera; Canon point & shoot)

Picked up a Tick Weed to add to the bed from the nursery. We'll see if there are more additions later.

 

[22-rimfire]

The tops were mostly dead on my onions from the city pickers container, so I yanked them. They aren't huge onions but very usable.

Considering the size, I think I spaced them about right (~4") when I planted them. Now I have to decide what to put in that planter for the rest of the growing season. Of course there are still remnant onions there that were small or still growing.

 

[22-rimfire]

Of course Spencer had to check out what I was doing with these white smelly things.... Edible? Everything is always about them.

He's probably trying to figure out why humans eat such things. But then he likes to eat spider webs and they aren't on my top ten list of things to eat.

 

[eisman]

It's been a while since I posted, and a lot of that is because it seems to rain every weekend lately. Still I have managed to get some things done around the yard. I've been wanting to put these trees in since I moved, not so much as a screen, as to put some shade on the south side of the house. Finally got around to it, and I think they're going to be just what I was looking for. Planning on putting a bunch of lavender down around them as a border, if I can find a nursery with any left.

It's summer, so the daisy's are going nuts:

Likewise the roses. One has decided it needs multiple shades of pink, the other is inclined to climb up into the weeping blue spruce:

Pulled two 90 gal trash cans full of weeds, and have been burning the ones out of the gravel drive for an hour or so every night this past week. Still have more to do, but I'm finally getting there.

 

[eisman]

Was looking around today while cleaning stuff up and saw this:

Initial thought was antlions, but that's kind of unusual because the ants I do see are very small, or 1" long. Don't like either, but the big ones are bad news, as they are really hard to get rid of and luckily they prefer wooded areas. Turns out they are nests for Thread Waisted Wasps. I don't mind them, anything that eats spiders is good by me, but I'd never seen them nesting before.

Here's a male:

Here's the female:

 

[22-rimfire]

It's been a while since I posted, and a lot of that is because it seems to rain every weekend lately. Still I have managed to get some things done around the yard. I've been wanting to put these trees in since I moved, not so much as a screen, as to put some shade on the south side of the house. Finally got around to it, and I think they're going to be just what I was looking for. Planning on putting a bunch of lavender down around them as a border, if I can find a nursery with any left.

Likewise the roses. One has decided it needs multiple shades of pink, the other is inclined to climb up into the weeping blue spruce:

Pulled two 90 gal trash cans full of weeds, and have been burning the ones out of the gravel drive for an hour or so every night this past week. Still have more to do, but I'm finally getting there.

Are those Arborvitae in the top picture? The roses are pretty. I was never very good with roses. But I have a couple just in case I figure out how to grow them.

 

[eisman]

Yes, emerald arborvitae. Should top out around 12'.

Those roses are so easy. I just let them go, dump a container of ladybugs on them around now, and hack them down to almost nothing every fall. They'll have flowers into Sept.

I may have to totally dig out the red one. It's running out of room as the trees around it close in. The pink one always ends up climbing into the Pirus over it.