@Tiffany I know how frustrating to have all your hard work eaten up. Hope you at least get the science project.
There always seems to be something wanting to eat our vegetables before we can get them.
We have... zucchini!!!! and.... yellow squash!!!! and.... cucumbers!!!! I have zucchini and cucumbers sliced and in the dehydrator and oven and yellow squash in the freezer and cucumbers in the fridge becoming refrigerator pickles and more on the counter and more growing!!And some in the fridge waiting their turn for the dehydrator.... Anyone coming over gets free zucchini!!
I have three different gardens, only two are active this year. A bird/butterfly garden that is still in progress. I am trying to get it cleaned up this year as I was sick last year and couldn't work it plus we had a drought so I lost a lot of plants. I also have an herb garden near the bird garden (i get some really neat birds! I am currently digitally scrapbooking some of my photos. I will post some pics soon) and I also have a veggie garden which is not in use this year. Just got better as the season was beginning and didn't have the energy or motivation to get to it this year. I so love gardening! My kids love it too.
We have a town house with a very small rear garden...
Have planted it with evergreens and bushes, climbing rose, and a clematis along with a feeder to encourage the birds and wildlife.
We laid down wood bark to keep in some moisture and although we don't have a pond, we have several frogs this year. They seem to like it under the bark and bushes.
This year we planted some fuchsia' s for colour and the Bees and butterflies have been visiting which is Lovely.
Will scrap a page or two in due course as have been photographing the flowers, wildlife etc...
The front is lavender, lawn and a tree - I am drying some of the lavender at the moment to make little lavender pillows
We had a severe thunderstorm 3 nights ago. It included golf ball size hail. I'm mourning the loss of many many pretty flowers and trying to clean up the carnage left behind. Oddly, my tallest plant, a black hollyhock, was virtually unharmed.
Um...no. We have a massive garden, and I'm allowed to pull the weeds out now that I can differentiate between tomato plant vs. not a tomato plant. I look at things and they die. I admire people who enjoy gardening, but there's no sense of longing to emulate y'all.
@Cat - I know how you feel... my first foray into tomatoes was a wee bit of urban gardening in tubs... the stunted result was a little bit disturbing! Mind you... I was a wee bit lax on the water on 40 degree days!
I grew up in big gardens and LOVE it, but as a city dweller now have had to resort to things that grow in pots and have developed a bit of a cacti and succulent fetish as a result! I did have a lovely parsley growing... until I went away for four days and came back to the evidence of a possum having enjoyed it for dinner!
The one thing I can't grow for the life of me is mint. I know, it's meant to grow like a weed but mine just DIES!
Janet, love your yard. All the work we put in really does pay off in the end. However, I live on 20 acres and we are never ever done. Busy taking care of nasty, exotic species like buckthorn that prevents all the desirable trees from growing. Also do tons of canning of tomatoes, peppers, apples, beans, raspberries, etc. well over 120 qts. last year. But this year is different. Much too cold and wet to get plants in on time. In addition, once my 24 tomatoes were in for about 2 weeks, the farmer across from us sprayed his corn for weeds and wiped out our tomatoes! Oh well, I already have my beans done and have frozen 16 quarts of raspberries. Right now I have 4 gallons of chokecherry sipping liqueur brewing. May be a good year after all! Cheers to all...
So Jordan and I have suddenly found ourselves with a garden, and with everything else going on it's a bit overwhelming! Especially since gardening is not something we know about. So far, I've watered it and cut off a few dead things.
Question: When a plant dies, are you supposed to tear it out? Does it depend on the plant (I don't know what these are)? Do you rip it out with roots, or leave the roots in for later?
I was a terrible gardener until we moved to a warmer climate. Now I can't make things stop growing! It's nice though, not to have to try so hard to get something to peek out of the dirt.
...Right now I have 4 gallons of chokecherry sipping liqueur brewing. ...
I've been contemplating picking chokecherries this year (and nanking cherries). There are so many chokecherry trees in the neighbourhood and I know no one picks from them. I love chokecherry jelly. Reminds me of my childhood growing up in the country. We always picked wild fruit - especially chokecherries and saskatoons.
I'm going apple picking today. A guy in the neighbourhood has a 4 beautiful apple trees and they have the most delicious apples I have ever eaten. I don't know what kind of apples they are, but they're about the size of a macintosh, but firm and sweet. They make beautiful apple juice, jelly, and sauce. They're ok for pies, but a tart apple is better. I'm only going to make apple sauce this year since I still have about 30 jars of jelly in my pantry from last year. I can even give it away fast enough - everyone is on a "diet" and doesn't want jam. If I have the energy, I may go cherry picking tomorrow before it gets to late in the season. I can't wait until the rosehips come this year. I want to try making rosehip jelly. I'm kind of become an "urban" forager. When I walk the dog, I walk her down backlanes now so I can see what kind of fruit people have growing. There's a ton of raspberry bushes growing outside the fence on one property that I want to go check to see if they're ready.
I've also been researching which "weeds" are edible that grow in our area. I know dandelion greens are and believe me we get a lot of dandelions in our yard, but I wouldn't eat them because of the dog roaming around the yard. I may take some seed from some next year and grown them in a pot. There are a lot of "salad" weeds, but again, living in the city and all the exhaust from cars and mess from dogs, I would never eat them, but taking the seeds and growing them in pots might be something to try. With my luck, I won't even be able to grow weeds.
@Marissa that is a good question about the plants. I would say if you don't know what they are just leave them and see if they come up next year. Some plants like daffodils and tulips need have the leaves and stems die back because that is what feeds them. If the plants are annuals they need to stay in the ground or they won't grow next year. If it is a vegetable garden then those would need to be replanted every year so you can get rid of them, however most gardeners just turn them under the dirt so they become compost. I hope this helps.
Another question for anyone living in the Pacific Northwest. I realize that summer is coming to an end, and soon it will be colder, but I have lots of little pots and planters and I was wondering if anything would live in them through the winter?
I am no gardener, but I would leave the dead plants for now. The Northern Hemisphere is heading into Autumn and Winter and many plants die off in the winter and come into life again in the spring. Then it is fun seeing your garden come to life again.
I used to love to landscape and garden and even preserve the produce (what we could get from our northern climate). Now we live further south where I could grow all the things I wanted to grow then, and between fibro and arthro and the other stuff that creeps up and takes over, I can't get down to garden. Will try to grow a few things in some planters on our deck benches next Spring, hopefully. Meanwhile I'm just glad I can walk at all and still use my computer and Photoshop and even scrapbook sometimes. We belong to a local CSA so I get my fresh veggies that way and enjoy the blooms from the shrubs planted by the former owner of our home. Sometimes I just itch to be able to dig in the dirt again!
I love to garden I have several I do every thing flowers, herbs, veggies, fruit trees, Sun, shade, even bunnies!!!Well those last ones like eating when I give them from the garden. I enjoy all kinds of plants and i love being in the garden.
This is wonderful, so many gardeners. I love to garden. Tomatoes, strawberries, Pumpkins, eggplant, squash, okra, green beans, potatoes, peas, peppers, broccoli, cucumbers, cabbage, etc. Love flowers too. Our strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, potatoes, green beans, and okra did great. I have spend all of august and September canning and freezing. Squash did not do as well this year. I usually have so much I give to the neighbors. Has anyone made mock apple pie with zucchini? My husband loves it.
Hi, Just a newbie to the forum here...and love that so many other people like to talk gardening to. (Even those non-gardeners). I love my garden, am growing whatever I can get my hands on. The normal lettuce, cucumber, celery, carrots, spinach, pumpkin, watermelon, rockmelon, tomato, capsicums and an arrangement of herbs. This year I'm trying potatoes, taro, loofah and spaghetti squash as well as kale and a new different type of spinach - ceyelene spinach. Have a chicken coop and growing blackberries over the top, whatever we don't get and drop they get. I shall take some pictures and show everyone. Got lemon grass growing wild, and have to fence that off from 1 of our dogs as he loves it and will eat it down to the ground.
@Tiffany I know how frustrating to have all your hard work eaten up. Hope you at least get the science project.
There always seems to be something wanting to eat our vegetables before we can get them.
OMG...we get vine borers - they SUCK, too!
This is my starter batch this year...I need to transplant, so don't have any good in-ground pics yet.
And here's from 2011 (as I failed to plant anything last year - shame on me!):
Hope to get close to this again because it thrived, despite the cabbage worms that we hand-plucked from the plants! LOL!
@Tina I love your garden. Hope you don't get too many pests.
We have... zucchini!!!! and.... yellow squash!!!! and.... cucumbers!!!! I have zucchini and cucumbers sliced and in the dehydrator and oven and yellow squash in the freezer and cucumbers in the fridge becoming refrigerator pickles and more on the counter and more growing!!And some in the fridge waiting their turn for the dehydrator.... Anyone coming over gets free zucchini!!
@Cindy, where do you live? Dehydrated zucchini chips ROCK!!!
OK...finished transplanting today...some of the starter plants didn't make it...
But here's what did (so far)!
I have three different gardens, only two are active this year. A bird/butterfly garden that is still in progress. I am trying to get it cleaned up this year as I was sick last year and couldn't work it plus we had a drought so I lost a lot of plants. I also have an herb garden near the bird garden (i get some really neat birds! I am currently digitally scrapbooking some of my photos. I will post some pics soon) and I also have a veggie garden which is not in use this year. Just got better as the season was beginning and didn't have the energy or motivation to get to it this year. I so love gardening! My kids love it too.
We have a town house with a very small rear garden...
Have planted it with evergreens and bushes, climbing rose, and a clematis along with a feeder to encourage the birds and wildlife.
We laid down wood bark to keep in some moisture and although we don't have a pond, we have several frogs this year. They seem to like it under the bark and bushes.
This year we planted some fuchsia' s for colour and the Bees and butterflies have been visiting which is Lovely.
Will scrap a page or two in due course as have been photographing the flowers, wildlife etc...
The front is lavender, lawn and a tree - I am drying some of the lavender at the moment to make little lavender pillows
We had a severe thunderstorm 3 nights ago. It included golf ball size hail. I'm mourning the loss of many many pretty flowers and trying to clean up the carnage left behind. Oddly, my tallest plant, a black hollyhock, was virtually unharmed.
@Cindy: Me, me, me! For sure I need some yummi veggies today
One of our (few) flower pots is in bloom, what is a surprise, as we are not really cultivating them since the cats arrived....
Um...no. We have a massive garden, and I'm allowed to pull the weeds out now that I can differentiate between tomato plant vs. not a tomato plant. I look at things and they die. I admire people who enjoy gardening, but there's no sense of longing to emulate y'all.
@Cat - I know how you feel... my first foray into tomatoes was a wee bit of urban gardening in tubs... the stunted result was a little bit disturbing! Mind you... I was a wee bit lax on the water on 40 degree days!
I grew up in big gardens and LOVE it, but as a city dweller now have had to resort to things that grow in pots and have developed a bit of a cacti and succulent fetish as a result! I did have a lovely parsley growing... until I went away for four days and came back to the evidence of a possum having enjoyed it for dinner!
The one thing I can't grow for the life of me is mint. I know, it's meant to grow like a weed but mine just DIES!
Janet, love your yard. All the work we put in really does pay off in the end. However, I live on 20 acres and we are never ever done. Busy taking care of nasty, exotic species like buckthorn that prevents all the desirable trees from growing. Also do tons of canning of tomatoes, peppers, apples, beans, raspberries, etc. well over 120 qts. last year. But this year is different. Much too cold and wet to get plants in on time. In addition, once my 24 tomatoes were in for about 2 weeks, the farmer across from us sprayed his corn for weeds and wiped out our tomatoes! Oh well, I already have my beans done and have frozen 16 quarts of raspberries. Right now I have 4 gallons of chokecherry sipping liqueur brewing. May be a good year after all! Cheers to all...
So Jordan and I have suddenly found ourselves with a garden, and with everything else going on it's a bit overwhelming! Especially since gardening is not something we know about. So far, I've watered it and cut off a few dead things.
Question: When a plant dies, are you supposed to tear it out? Does it depend on the plant (I don't know what these are)? Do you rip it out with roots, or leave the roots in for later?
I was a terrible gardener until we moved to a warmer climate. Now I can't make things stop growing! It's nice though, not to have to try so hard to get something to peek out of the dirt.
I've been contemplating picking chokecherries this year (and nanking cherries). There are so many chokecherry trees in the neighbourhood and I know no one picks from them. I love chokecherry jelly. Reminds me of my childhood growing up in the country. We always picked wild fruit - especially chokecherries and saskatoons.
I'm going apple picking today. A guy in the neighbourhood has a 4 beautiful apple trees and they have the most delicious apples I have ever eaten. I don't know what kind of apples they are, but they're about the size of a macintosh, but firm and sweet. They make beautiful apple juice, jelly, and sauce. They're ok for pies, but a tart apple is better. I'm only going to make apple sauce this year since I still have about 30 jars of jelly in my pantry from last year. I can even give it away fast enough - everyone is on a "diet" and doesn't want jam.
If I have the energy, I may go cherry picking tomorrow before it gets to late in the season. I can't wait until the rosehips come this year. I want to try making rosehip jelly. 
I'm kind of become an "urban" forager. When I walk the dog, I walk her down backlanes now so I can see what kind of fruit people have growing. There's a ton of raspberry bushes growing outside the fence on one property that I want to go check to see if they're ready.
I've also been researching which "weeds" are edible that grow in our area. I know dandelion greens are and believe me we get a lot of dandelions in our yard, but I wouldn't eat them because of the dog roaming around the yard. I may take some seed from some next year and grown them in a pot. There are a lot of "salad" weeds, but again, living in the city and all the exhaust from cars and mess from dogs, I would never eat them, but taking the seeds and growing them in pots might be something to try. With my luck, I won't even be able to grow weeds.
@Marissa that is a good question about the plants. I would say if you don't know what they are just leave them and see if they come up next year. Some plants like daffodils and tulips need have the leaves and stems die back because that is what feeds them. If the plants are annuals they need to stay in the ground or they won't grow next year. If it is a vegetable garden then those would need to be replanted every year so you can get rid of them, however most gardeners just turn them under the dirt so they become compost. I hope this helps.
Thanks Sharron! That does help!
Another question for anyone living in the Pacific Northwest. I realize that summer is coming to an end, and soon it will be colder, but I have lots of little pots and planters and I was wondering if anything would live in them through the winter?
I am no gardener, but I would leave the dead plants for now. The Northern Hemisphere is heading into Autumn and Winter and many plants die off in the winter and come into life again in the spring. Then it is fun seeing your garden come to life again.
I used to love to landscape and garden and even preserve the produce (what we could get from our northern climate). Now we live further south where I could grow all the things I wanted to grow then, and between fibro and arthro and the other stuff that creeps up and takes over, I can't get down to garden. Will try to grow a few things in some planters on our deck benches next Spring, hopefully. Meanwhile I'm just glad I can walk at all and still use my computer and Photoshop and even scrapbook sometimes. We belong to a local CSA so I get my fresh veggies that way and enjoy the blooms from the shrubs planted by the former owner of our home. Sometimes I just itch to be able to dig in the dirt again!
I love to garden I have several I do every thing flowers, herbs, veggies, fruit trees, Sun, shade, even bunnies!!!Well those last ones like eating when I give them from the garden. I enjoy all kinds of plants and i love being in the garden.
I just love gardening! But like Peg I have health-issues that limits me in my gardenwork. I want to do more than my body can handle....
This is wonderful, so many gardeners. I love to garden. Tomatoes, strawberries, Pumpkins, eggplant, squash, okra, green beans, potatoes, peas, peppers, broccoli, cucumbers, cabbage, etc. Love flowers too. Our strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, potatoes, green beans, and okra did great. I have spend all of august and September canning and freezing. Squash did not do as well this year. I usually have so much I give to the neighbors. Has anyone made mock apple pie with zucchini? My husband loves it.
Hi, Just a newbie to the forum here...and love that so many other people like to talk gardening to. (Even those non-gardeners). I love my garden, am growing whatever I can get my hands on. The normal lettuce, cucumber, celery, carrots, spinach, pumpkin, watermelon, rockmelon, tomato, capsicums and an arrangement of herbs. This year I'm trying potatoes, taro, loofah and spaghetti squash as well as kale and a new different type of spinach - ceyelene spinach. Have a chicken coop and growing blackberries over the top, whatever we don't get and drop they get. I shall take some pictures and show everyone. Got lemon grass growing wild, and have to fence that off from 1 of our dogs as he loves it and will eat it down to the ground.
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