Gardener's cloth is that black fabric that you lay down to keep the weeds from popping up in your beds. I just put a little piece in the bottom of the basket and it still allows drainage but it keeps the water from running straight through.
Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #11
Veronica I wish you luck on your melons :) They will probably be alright after you get them in the dirt I would cover them up with a pot or box over night though, I don't like these low 40's lol
La do you ever line your baskets with the plastic bags and leave a hole at the bottom for drainage I think it really helps for watering, that's what I used to do when I made baskets.
I am so bad at watering hanging containers that I just gave up -- it's a shame, though, because three of them hanging between front posts on my house looked awesome! They are sort of messy, though, dropping petals and leaking dirty water...they just never looked good except from the street.
Lea, I finally decided and planted some golden yellow Bidens with the purple geraniums. Planted out some of your babies, today, too. Thanks! :)
Indynanny, same here, same here, same here, and same here. Some seedligns are tiny, and somehting like the Plum granny melons are way too big. Nothing seems juuuuuust right in size. Tonight is the worst of the weather -- so tomorrow would normally start the wholesale planting out, but of course it's Tuesday, my dad with mom. LOL! Never fails, I always think she gets the best planting day of the week.
I am having severe trouble deciding of some of these self sown seedlings are weeds or garden flowers. SERIOUS TROUBLE.
I pulled a whole bunch of baby duck Dianthus. There were just so many of them, it looked suspicious. I found the name tag about 1/2 way through. So I just scruffed up some soil, laid them down and watered them. LOL! I might get 3 or 4 plants out of it, who knows?
Critters, we had fresh Miniette Basil (2006 seed) on pizza Sunday night. The flavor isn't as strong( that's bad) but it is way easier to cut into small pieces when you're in a hurry (that's good)
Suzy
Yeah, the 'Minette' isn't as powerful as the larger-leafed Italian basils... but it's got a good flavor, I think, so I just use an extra handful of it. The little leaves are nice to sprinkle into salads, too.
I guess I should have told you the first part. All this time, I though I had a bumper crop of The 'real Italian basil from Italy" and I went to cut it for the pizza (still in pots, too cold to plant out) and I didn't smell it, which was weird. I looked at the tags, and I don't have a bumper crop of basil at all! I don't have any, maybe, except red rubin and miniette...I had cut yellow and orange bell pepper leaves! I forgot I even planted those and just thought I was seeing basil in the flat. Gee, that has to be up there in the scale of dumb and dumber!
Did everybody see the peony coop in the coop forum?
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/847241/
Is there something wrong with me? I am still trying to like basil. I grow a plant or two every year and use a little but I DO NOT think it smells good..... This year I have plants of the Italian and Red Rubin as some of my very tiny plants. I usually chop a few leaves in my salad and that's about all. I believe the bees like it though.
I don't like the smell of Salvia...I can smell it a mile away and have gotten rid of several large plants because of the smell of the leaves. I noticed even my beloved B&B had a whiff of it. '
But Basil? YUM! I love the scent of Basil! And we all love a tomato and basil pizza. Adults here might even add mushrooms.
Suzy
If you've still got seed, Suzy, you can direct-sow it when it warms up or sow it in a seed starting tray then plant out plugs in a few weeks... if you're out of seed, LMK. :-)
I'm with Indy in that I can't stand the smell of basil. I love the blooms and always bring in arm loads at harvest time and the smell reminds us of cat pee (sorry, but it does)! I've never noticed a scent to the salvia B&B before.
I do remember a stinky scent to a white salvia that also reminded me of cat pee....White salvia nemerosa “schnechugel”. I had 3 plants in the back of the car when I was driving them home from purchasing them and phew, awful smell! I think some plants have those smells to attract certain pollinating insects like that one Weez had in the swap... what was it? chocolate lily I think
Yes, I will definitely be direct sowing some.
I also just noticed that my Parsley didn't come back for it's 2nd year. What's up with that? Those plants were big fat and sassy last year, they weren't stressed and didn't bloom, and it's supposed to be a biennial.
Suzy
I should go ahead and plant my geraniums into something since they can take the cold but the only thing that I have in yellow is tuink's yellow nemesia and it's starting to bloom in the six packs :) Maybe I can go ahead and plant my geraniums and tuck something else in later. Suzy what about those marigolds that you gave me could I put a couple of those in with the geraniums? Do they get big? I forgot what you said about them lol
It's going to rain again Wed. and I really want to get my salvias in the ground today so they can grow and my artemsia is getting ready to bloom in my nectar garden :) So far the wind isn't blowing today just hope it stays that way so I can spray weeds in the beds and I have a big trade to wrap today, going to be a full day :)
The neighbor was wanting to hit some nursuries today but I don't think I'm going to be able to do it besides I don't need any more plants lol To buy any anyway :)
Ii plant lemon basil with my tomatoes but I don't eat basil, I don't care for the taste of it but I do like to smell it.
Suzy some of my parsley didn't come back either I just think it was too wet for it, really I lost quite a bit of it so far all I see are two plants out there and I had a bunch of it around one of the butterfly bushes and around in the host garden.
I have a question the neighbor wants me to ask, they have a leak behind the trailer, not sure if it's from the septic or a drain, they don't go threw that much water it's just one person and where it's leaking is where my mentor (Bill) usually plants his tomatoes what do you all think should he plant his tomatoes there? They don't know if it would be good to eat the tomatoes from the leak?
I don't think I'd plant tomatoes by a possible septic leak... but it should be possible to determine whether or not it's the septic system from the smell alone, I'd think... ? Sure hope it turns out to be an easy fix!
I agree with Critter, and in fact will go one step further and say you definitely don't want to plant food near a septic leak, but gray water would be ok.
I would htink you could smell it from your house if it was septic, though. I guess I'm not sure, but it seem like you should be able to. :))
Suzy
well I got our first ws plants transplanted this morning!
a nice batch of semi-double coral poppy somniferium seedlings from PamSue's seeds.
Thank you again PamSue if you see this :) Germination was great and there were alot, I just broke off clumps and planted several small clusters...does this sound right? Also, since poppies have a limited bloom time, and I have no idea how best to plant them, I'm wondering...do I plant something else in front of them? all around them? any suggestions would be most appreciated :)
I'm really excited at the thought of having poppy blooms. First time for me to try them and much to my surprise the seedlings do NOT look like that invasive thistle we have, which is why I've always avoided them. I thought I would pull them out all the time when I would go to pull out the thistle weeds. Now I just have to find a spot for our cannas, which I usually plant in the spot I planted the poppies!
oh, I wanted to ask...do I pinch all basil seedlings? Never having started basil from seed before, I'm having a hard time getting up the nerve to pinch them. I like really large plants, I'm afraid they will get stunted.
Basils won't get stunted by pinching... pinching will make them branch and turn into stout, bushy plants! Just leave one or two pairs of "true leaves" when you pinch the tops off. You may already see tiny pairs of leaves starting to form where a leaf meets the stem -- pinch above that, and that tiny pair of leaves will form a whole new branch.
It works just the same way as on bigger plants, so for some "pinch here" photos, take a look at my first DG article, "Pinch, Pinch, Pinch!" http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/106/
thank you critter :) I'll start my first pinching tomorrow!
Look at you wind.. You doing good there. : )
Glad ya had a good laugh Lala... I was so stunned by what happened I just couldn't type anythign else, but that.
I got a bunch of mints I bought from KathyAnn. Lovely plants and I wondering. Do I pinch them back or do ya just let them grow any way they want? First real big time with munts and not sure how to handle them.
Got a bunch of the limbs from the storm up. Had a huge oak branch and limbs break off and hit the ground. Just missed my Daylily bed so was real happy abotu that.
Got 48 tomato plants in the groudn today and only 26 more of them then can start on the peppers. Got the plastic off all the gh and most rolled up so i cna put them in the shed. The sun so hot here it melts and crumbles the plastic.
Wind, look at you go girl with all of those seedlings they are looking good!
It's not true about the septic would stink and just a leak wouldn't, I have a leak where the dish water drains and it smells awful! The one I was talking about is my mentor's daughters across the street, no veggies ok, thanks guys, I knew that would be the answer but they wanted me to ask lol
Star, I'm so glad your day lily bed is alright! I did a lot of that today, picking up limbs seems to be a never ending job around here lol It's going to storm again early in the morning so it will be another mess lol I need to have a big ole fire! Are you canning or selling tomatoes, that's a lot of tomatoes, how many peppers are you planting? lol I'm doing 7 tomatoes, 2 banana peppers and 2 green peppers lol I got rid of all of my extra plants today, the tomatoes and peppers, I was so tired of fighting those tomatoes falling over and sticking together lol Now I need to get mine in the ground.
Suzy, my dahlias are looking good and my cannas are pushing thru, I'm ready to plant! lol I think I'll do it next week so far the forecast is looking good! I started on my moon garden today and planted a moon vine, pearly gate just because I wanted to see what it looks like and the coral bean in front cause it's suppose to glow in the evenings. That's a start, lots more to go....
Hey, great pic of the babies, Wind! In the front center is a plant with blackish leaves...is that the black ornamental pepper? Will it turn black-black from collected seed, or do you know? Mine look the same way and I was thinking, "fooey! They won't be black." I was just going to pitch them as a matter of fact.
Star, You will have enough tomatoes to feed the hungry, that's for sure! Did you plant them in pots, or in the ground? Just curious, since you said you grew everything above ground. I can't imagine growing tomatoes in a pot for a whole summer -- how long does it take you to water everything?
Lea, Does your sink drain smell like a sewer? Like a rotten egg? I didn't realize that. Oh well. :))
I have some beautiful weeds blooming that I thought were Wsd flowers from last year. :) I nursed some golden rod along last year and poke weed, too. (the leaf was so pretty I thought it must be something good). Unfortunately, by the time they bloom, or at least get big enough to figure out they're a weed, they are extremely large, and they have entensive root systems. Other plants I have been nurturing are pink eringeum which I never would have planted on purpose, so it's a weed. If I see a butterfly on it in the next couple of days, they can stay for a while, otherwise out they go. The butterflies started out plentiful, but are not around at all as far as I can see...very weird because today was a pretty day.
I don't know what Obedient plants look like, but I think I got one in a trade last year. Is it Chelone? Or are they 2 different things? I get two things confused because the colors are the same (pink or white) and they are the same height, and both slightly (more than slightly?) invasive. I think I have some gigantic plants of Hesperis (I think, the tags are in the ground somewhere) just starting to open. The plants were Wsd last year, and they grew, then this year they exploded. about 36" across, but I think they are biennial and they are currently duking it out with the wild violets. The trick with them musbe to grow them in dry shade with tree roots, but the soil they are currently in is wonderful -- friable, fertile and gets some water in summer...a bad place for an overachiever, and I'm going to have to weed out the violets and Hesperis and also Lychnis. It's in the same bed. I thought it was shadier and drier than it is, I guess. I have never grown any of the 4 plants until this year.
I planted out a really cool 36" tall red (not sure what color red) Nicotiana. Maybe a dozen or so seedlings? I planted them about 6" apart because I *think* Nicotiana is an upright plant with a small footprint. I've never grown more than one plant of it at a time of it, and never any remotely approaching 36" tall, so I am excited to see it. I planted them in part shade, the shady side of part shade, so I better look it up in PFs to see if it's going to be okay. It came from Select seeds, so I am hoping it has some nectar for the hummers.
I've yammered on enough for tonight...
Suzy
Morning all!
It's done! Alle seedlings have been planted out and all seeds have been sown (except a couple of corn because they didn't come up)!
Weather is still warm and beautiful but still no rain whatsoever. Weeds are growing like crazy too.
This is how my backyard looks now, something new is blooming almost every day!
The tomato greenhouses have been filled too, with a nice water drip system which saves me a lot of troubel. There's tomato's, egg plants, cukes and peppers in there plus physalis and melon pear.
The cutting garden has almost entirely been direct sown. This is what it looks like now from close up:
This a beautiful petunia Straberry Blast I planted yesterday:
And this is what I found this morning!
Hate those snails and slugs, whichever the culprit is this time!
Now I'm definately going to use some nemaslug (which is nematodes) to kill them all, as soon as we get back from our trip to Madeira!
Oh tuink! you poor babies! Slugs are very discouraging, the first time I ever attempted planting edibles in a raised bed, the slugs came and ate up all my lettuce and parsley! Needless to say I never have tried lettuce since. :(
I love your backyard, it looks like a nice place to sit and enjoy a cup of tea, while enjoying you hard work paying off! The tomato set up is very cool too!
Suzy, the peppers are ornamental peppers from critters seed (pepper capsicum annum ‘fluorescent purple’ from your fall swap) , I don't think they are black peppers? that photo isn't that good to see them really. I'll take some close ups later. How are the rest of your seedlings doing? are you all planted yet?
Tuink, your cutting garden soil looks so sandy...we have a clay soil challenge here; and the further south you travel (towards the shore) in NJ the soil gets sandy. Is your veggie garden soil sandy too? if you put out a few shallow dishes of beer near the problem spots, it will lure the slugs into it and kill them. Have a good trip to Madeira :)
Tulink-how cute is your garden!!
Suzy-celone is turltlehead-totally different form obediant plant...
All of you be careful with this next wave of storms coming through....
Wind, later this month you could direct sow something like cosmos, zinnias, or marigolds in between your poppies. They would fill in and bloom when the poppies are done. I like cosmos particularly well for this, because the leaves are so fine they still let the sun in. The 'Sonata' strain is nice because they stay short.
Lea, here at the local health department you can pick up dye to flush down the toilet that lets you know if its a septic leak. It's the Health Environmentalist there who could give the details. The dye is kind of acid greenish yellow and you can see it the next day if that's the source of the leak. May want to point your neighbor in that direction.
Tuink, I love your garden! Way to go having everything in the ground!. I may catch up with you sometime in June, LOL.
Suzy, you mentioned butterflies which reminded me, I saw a Monarch yesterday! I usually don't start seeing those till well into summer, but this one looked pretty tattered, like it had just made the trip back up north.
I have been making a significant dent in getting seedlings planted. Yesterday I got 'Lemon Aura' sunflowers, 'Sonata white' cosmos, 'Custard and Cream' four o clocks, Ox Eye perennial sunflowers, yellow snapdragons, feverfew, and some 'Crazy Daisy' shastas in the ground. This is the 2nd time in a row its rained and gotten cool after I got a bunch of stuff in the ground- so happy with that! My partner used to comment that every time I planted something it would rain, which did seem to happen a lot till last year. Hoping the "charm" is with me again this year, LOL!
Gemini.... I need your lcuky rain charm.. Now that I got stuff in the ground, just hoping we have enough rain to keep em going.
Lee... Got about 70 peppers of assorted flovors and heat to go into ground, then cukes an dif room the squash and pumpkins. Some for me, some will be sold an dthe extra will go down to the food bank and shelters.
After getting all that plastic off, realized, things i wa shiding in emptied house now gota be moved before rain comes tonight or tommorrow. Also had a big bag of feilizer bust open so gotta scoop that up. grrrrrrr
A friend came and helped me tear off the plastic yesterday. One of my critters hitched a ride first on th eplastic and then for the trip back to the plant area.
Oh Star, your critter is so cute, I used to have those they don't grow here but I used to get them at the pet store, at one time I had three chameleons running in the house, I saw my dog run into one in the hall way and she went one way and the chameleon went the other way lol They are excelent for eating spiders! We had a lot of green spiders that year and they were in the house the chameleons took care of them lol
I wish I could put out a big garden but the sun won't let me I'm lucky to have a few tomatoes and peppers.
gemini, my ox eye are up about 8" now, I have them planted by the wild sunflowers that get about ten ft. high if I don't cut them down a couple of times with the lawn mower, the ox eye will bloom first then the sunflowers. I planted crazy daisy last year so I should see some blooms this year those should be pretty but I have a friend on here that said they weren't the show they were suppose to be so we shall see. Oh good thanks for that advice on the septic I'll tell Bill :)
We are having a dark and gloomy day here, it rained about an inch last night, I'm glad I got the grass cut yesterday!
Tuink, I wish I could say all of my little seedlings were sown! You have been busy! I set an eight pack of petunias in the tray of tomatoes and peppers that i'm going to plant on the ground cause the tomatoes and peppers were too tall incase we got winds last night and I'm afraid to go see the petunias I bet the slugs got to them last night! I'm going out now to check them.
Suzy, yes, that’s what my sink drain smells like, it was worse when my son and DIL lived here with more people in the house, dad and I don’t use that much water that goes down that drain so it’s not as bad now just once in a while.
That tall Nicotiana sounds cool! Mine usually reseed every year but I haven’t seen any seedlings yet I wanted to move some to the host garden where all of the aphids are lol
I love my Chelone, I have a purple one that is about three ft. high and full of purple blooms, I got some pink ones from Kath, I think but they haven’t bloomed yet, that plant is pretty big width wise about a foot, this is the first year for those too and I think I’m gonna love them! My pink ragged robin is blooming but my Lychnis isn’t yet.
Hey Ya'll, I have a few of these and they were part of the group that the tags blew away. They came from the swap, but I don't know what they are. Does anyone recognize this pretty lil baby? ~Lucy
oh how interesting...
Did you get any Gazania or Garliardia? Might be one of them. Sure are pretty looking and nice and healthy. : )
I don't remember planting any Gazanias. Kinda does look like one, tho, doesn't it? I went out and looked at all my Gazania leaves outside, and none of those look like this one. Guess we will know when they bloom. : )
I was going to say some type of Gaillardia too.
I got one seedling of fanfare from trade last year and it's getting ready to bloom! It has buds! I'm dying to know if they come true :)
Suzy, Don't toss your peppers! I've got both Fluorescent Purple and Black Pearl seedlings-mine look the same as yours, and at least the Fluorescent Purple are commercial, not trade seeds. I'm not sure about the Black Pearl as I did get them in a trade, but they're very similar looking seedlings, so I'm not too worried. I think that's just normal for those varieties.
I don't think it is either of them-I would've thought it was a weed if it wasn't in that cup!!LOL It looks like the tips of a kind of seedling I have, but the whole leaf doesn't look like that...mine is a nemophilia