Gardening for Beginners

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BrotherJustin

Guest
#81
#81
Depleted said:
I live in Philly, which means garden-planting season isn't coming until May 1st. Seems mean, since it feels like May 1st now. (It's warm enough to wear summer clothes.) I saw a daffodil ready to bloom at hubby's rehab center. I hope it's kind enough to bloom if I can get him outside in his wheelchair this weekend. (Physical rehab during the week, so he's too tuckered to travel then, but nothing happens on weekends, so there's a chance.)

This will be the second year I gardened without his help, and the first year was easy, because it was also the first year I gardened, so I only started with four tomato plants then.

Since my other hobby is blogging from the viewpoint of my stuffed animals, I have a picture of that first garden preparation (with the "Garden Gals" -- the female stuffed animals who think they are the gardeners in the family.)
 View attachment 145556

Same gardening space. Same family of stuffed animals to tell the gardening tales, but a few years later when we had a video camera. (My voice, raised slightly higher, because I'm trying to make a voice for Spaulding, my first teddy bear that started this strange hobby of mine.
Also my hand occasionally. lol)

[video=youtube;bO2gINZD04s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO2gINZD04s[/video]

I'm not sure how gardening will go this year. In the last four months most of my day is either trying to deal with everything I need to deal with before (or after) going to visit hubby, or I am visiting hubby. Container garden, so it requires watering with someone aiming the hose in all containers (except for the cactii and succulents) every day, which takes about an hour -- including weed picking, minor little quick fixes, like a tomato needs to be staked, and admiring and smelling each plant. Hubby has been the muscles and the troubleshooter for our garden and now he's not here. Not sure if he'll see the garden at all this summer, so, boy! I really would like a place where we can talk gardening and exchange ideas again. (Many of our plants are perennials so there is no option to simply skip caring for the garden. That AND we planted a blackberry bush last year, and I so hope it fruits!
)

(I find it funny that PW and I exchanged ideas on this post last year, we both left since then and both came back with new names. I am wondering if he's ready to plow his garden yet.)
Click to expand...
Thank you for sharing this glimpse into your life, Lynn!

The stuffed animals are a fun touch. :)

Did your husband get to see the daffodil?
 
K

kaylagrl

Guest
#82
#82
BrotherJustin said:
"Prett much" -- does that mean there's still a speck of hope? :) Try again?
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I bought some seeds and am thinking of trying again. My aunt is really good at growing,well everything,and encouraged me to try again. So I think I will give it another turn and see what happens this time.Wish me luck.
 
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BrotherJustin

Guest
#83
#83
kaylagrl said:
I bought some seeds and am thinking of trying again. My aunt is really good at growing,well everything,and encouraged me to try again. So I think I will give it another turn and see what happens this time.Wish me luck.
Click to expand...
Good luck! We're gonna need it too--this is our first large garden.

Keep us posted on your progress, if ya like! :) We're gonna start planting sometime within the next couple of weeks.
 
W

wwjd_kilden

Guest
#84
#84
Have you guys tried lovage?
It's nice to either finely cut, or just boil a bit of the "branch + leaves" with the food (and remove when done)

Be aware that it can grow to a fairly large bush
 
D

Depleted

Guest
#85
#85
Miri said:
Well I finally bit the bullet and gave our front garden its first grass cut of the year
yesterday.

It was the first time it has not rained for at least two days and I haven't been busy doing
something else. I caught up with some weeding and digging out old plants as well
before, you guessed it, it started to rain. Lol

I tell you, my muscles are aching this morning. It's been some time since I last had chance
to exercise those gardening muscles. :)

Why can something so fragile and delicate as grass, be so hard to cut when it's damp and
longish.


Im going to get one of these for the front garden, we have one already in shocking pink but I want
another in a different colour.


Click to expand...
Your shocking pink is the same plant in the picture. The only difference is the acidity of the soil. Pink is one end of the pH scale and blue is the other. (Sorry. Can't get a pot big enough for a snowball bush, so didn't pay attention to which kind of soil each needs.)
 
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Depleted

Guest
#86
#86
Miri said:
We have the same thing with dandelions, they just grow and sprout while
we look at them :(


View attachment 147418
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I wasn't kidding about hating to kill weeds in my garden. I keep hoping one will turn into a dandelion. Some looked promising, but none yet. lol
 
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Depleted

Guest
#87
#87
BrotherJustin said:
This was a harder job than I thought it was going to be!
View attachment 148323
I sure hope all that sweat and sore muscles lead to a yummy harvest!

-Almost time to plant. :)
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Needs mulch pronto. The soil looks all right for starter soil, but you're working towards black and higher than the rest of the yard.
 
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Miri

Guest
#88
#88
Depleted said:
Your shocking pink is the same plant in the picture. The only difference is the acidity of the soil. Pink is one end of the pH scale and blue is the other. (Sorry. Can't get a pot big enough for a snowball bush, so didn't pay attention to which kind of soil each needs.)
Click to expand...

Really? But they have such nice blue ones and pink ones and purplish ones at the
garden centre. I knew they needed acid soil, I have that. So if I get a blue one it
will turn pink? :confused:
 
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Depleted

Guest
#89
#89
BrotherJustin said:
Thank you for sharing this glimpse into your life, Lynn!

The stuffed animals are a fun touch. :)

Did your husband get to see the daffodil?
Click to expand...
Nope, but that's okay. The daffodil was just the first flower that showed up in that garden. The first day we got to go outside, their garden was at full-bloom. Our garden at home is mostly a summer/fall garden simply because we don't go out back much in winter or spring. (We don't go out back much in spring, so my two spring flowering bushes are out front where we'll notice them. lol) This is the first spring in decades we have fully immersed ourselves into. I think we'll be checking for signs of spring more often in upcoming years.
 
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Depleted

Guest
#90
#90
Miri said:
Really? But they have such nice blue ones and pink ones and purplish ones at the
garden centre. I knew they needed acid soil, I have that. So if I get a blue one it
will turn pink? :confused:
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That's what hubby taught me, and he's right 99% of the time.

The way I understand it is leave the soil around the blue one alone for a few years, and, since the plant will absorb what it needs out of the soil, the lack of whatever that is will make it slowly turn pink. (Might be the other way round and the pink is the one that needs the most acidic soil though. If that's the case, nothing changes. So, do a little research to make sure. If I had room for one, I'd want both, so let it go from one extreme to the other in the course of it's life. lol)
 
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kaylagrl

Guest
#91
#91
Depleted said:
Your shocking pink is the same plant in the picture. The only difference is the acidity of the soil. Pink is one end of the pH scale and blue is the other. (Sorry. Can't get a pot big enough for a snowball bush, so didn't pay attention to which kind of soil each needs.)
Click to expand...


Are these hydrangeas? My favorite flower! I visited Cape Cod and have loved the flower ever since.Dont know if they'd grow well in my area though.Pretty hot in the summer. :(
 
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Miri

Guest
#92
#92
kaylagrl said:
Are these hydrangeas? My favorite flower! I visited Cape Cod and have loved the flower ever since.Dont know if they'd grow well in my area though.Pretty hot in the summer. :(
Click to expand...

Yes they are, the one near my garden gate is shocking pink and it blooms its head off every year
with minimal maintenance. Plus no weeds grow underneath it. Fantastic :)
 
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Miri

Guest
#93
#93
Oh I found this about the colours.

Its strange though as the shocking pink one planted in my garden has been there
several years and it has always been shocking pink and has never changed.

Here is the one from my garden. Haven't a clue why it's upside down, it is the
right way around on my photo, lol


image.jpg


Changing the Color of Hydrangeas
 
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Depleted

Guest
#94
#94
kaylagrl said:
Are these hydrangeas? My favorite flower! I visited Cape Cod and have loved the flower ever since.Dont know if they'd grow well in my area though.Pretty hot in the summer. :(
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That's the proper name for the bush! (I can never remember the real name, but snowball is the casual name.) You can always check to see if they can. I want a palm tree, and usually it's too cold here for those, but there is one variety that can survive our winters. (Same problem though. There is no container that I can afford to plant a whole tree in. lol)
 
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Depleted

Guest
#95
#95
Miri said:
Oh I found this about the colours.

Its strange though as the shocking pink one planted in my garden has been there
several years and it has always been shocking pink and has never changed.

Here is the one from my garden. Haven't a clue why it's upside down, it is the
right way around on my photo, lol


View attachment 148363


Changing the Color of Hydrangeas
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Ummm, I'm a container gardener, so I think containers for everything. (My logic on why I forgot you might have trouble changing colors and why your soil would never run out of the right balance. Your plant is connected to the whole ground. My soil doesn't connect to real ground, so it loses nutrients over the years and need to be replenished -- every year. lol) I'm guessing yours doesn't change because all your soil has the same pH levels all the time.

As for why your photo is upside down? Best guess? Stop holding the camera upside down when shooting pictures? lol (Nah. I know. It's not that.)
 
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Miri

Guest
#96
#96
It's probably a bit topsy turvy just like me. :D
 
M

Miri

Guest
#97
#97
Well I decided to get a blue hydrangea.

Its just a baby :D so I have added a few other plants to that bit of garden to make a
blue, lavender, pink bit and if the hydrangea turns from blue to lavender or pink, then
at least it will match the rest. Lol


image.jpg
 
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Miri

Guest
#100
#100
PR

Just for you - how about this for a bit of topiary:D

animals-topiary.jpg
 
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