All Vegetable Gardening (flowers, irrigation, landscape, growing)

[in_newengland]

Beautiful pictures. It has been my lifelong dream to garden in England. Dh is from England and he tried it here and gave up. Our weather is too hot in summer for his prize begonias and there are droughts and he would have to water every day. He doesn't seem to have figured out how to water anything either--just sprays a shallow amount of water during the middle HOT (32C) part of the day and wonders why it dries out! And this is in the North!

I got my beets planted today. Just two small rows. Now I need rain because the hose isn't hooked up yet. I transplanted the tomato seedlings into their own pots but it'll be another month before it's warm enough for them to go outside. They're getting a good headstart inside with a little glass fake greenhouse over them. Like a cloche.

[elston]

I set up a teepee for support of some Japanese cucumbers or "kuyri"; I am hoping having them up off the ground in my well draining raised bed.....might give me a chance for a crop before they succumb to fungus. I had to try.

[B87]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Beautiful pictures. It has been my lifelong dream to garden in England. Dh is from England and he tried it here and gave up. Our weather is too hot in summer for his prize begonias and there are droughts and he would have to water every day. He doesn't seem to have figured out how to water anything either--just sprays a shallow amount of water during the middle HOT (32C) part of the day and wonders why it dries out! And this is in the North!

I got my beets planted today. Just two small rows. Now I need rain because the hose isn't hooked up yet. I transplanted the tomato seedlings into their own pots but it'll be another month before it's warm enough for them to go outside. They're getting a good headstart inside with a little glass fake greenhouse over them. Like a cloche.

He mustn't have been from southern England then, because you need to water plants all the time in summer down here, especially things like courgette or cucumber. Even grass goes brown and dies if you don't water it all the time!

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by B87

He mustn't have been from southern England then, because you need to water plants all the time in summer down here, especially things like courgette or cucumber. Even grass goes brown and dies if you don't water it all the time!

Good! I'm so jealous of the English for the soft rain that makes for such good gardening conditions. It looks so green all the time. Right, he's from Lancs. (North).


We got the hose repaired with duct tape and i watered my beets. (LOL, in UK that would be hosepipe to water the beetroot?) And I planted the morning glory seeds in the window box and in a planter. Also dug up a few future sunflower plants that sprouted from seeds the birds dropped during the winter. Free plants for beside the house.

[B87]

I put a bay tree sapling in the ground today, will have to keep the grass and nettles away for a while until it grows big enough to fend for itself.

Was going to sow courgette seeds last week or this week, but that might have to wait another week and go in with the sweetcorn seeds, as we are due a late cold snap with a couple of days of 10c/2c.

[elston]

I have three Rica sweet potatoe plants in one of my raised beds....a garden neighbor gave them to me.....he didnt have room for his whole order and when I admired his....he offered me two or three.....he not only gave me the plants but he planted them for me in my bed. I have never grown sweet potatoes before....when I lived in Maine I grew Irish Potatoes very successfully. I also had pretty unlimited garden space.

Here in FL....I have three 4x8 beds and two 4x4 beds.....I am getting more than enough to keep me in fresh veggies....altho I am getting a bit tired of japanese eggplants.....my most prolific crop. I have beautiful herbs and my onions are doing well......I have been eating the bunching onions...which have gotten pretty big....my large white onions are bulbing up...(even tho our garden guru told me not to expect them to do anything) Peppers are looking good and tomatoes are getting pretty good size...now they just have to get ripe... My okra is really coming along. I broadcast planted some seeds for Japanese Greens...or brassica japonica....I am always excited to see tiny little seeds germinate....and grow. It always feels like a miracle.

[swbtoo]

Originally Posted by elston

...I am always excited to see tiny little seeds germinate....and grow. It always feels like a miracle.

It IS a miracle, always.

And you do appear to have a green thumb, so that helps.

[elston]

The japanese cucumbers kyuri are poking up this morning.....big excitement! The Japanese greens are looking good and the okra is growing by leaps and bounds. I have green tomatoes that are harvest size.....just need to ripen up....

The "butterfly lady" is busily planting ornamental beds (nectar producers) in rock gardens around the perimeter of the family gardens. Our gardens consist of 100 4x8 raised beds filled with an organic grow mix. They are laid out on a medicine wheel pattern in alignment with the four directions and divided into earth, air, fire, water quadrangles. Its on a beautiful green area which includes wooded and marshy land....a grassy park like area with a labarynth and a fire ring and studded with slash pines and oaks. The landscapers are making natural islands of native flowering and fruiting plants and trees ..... to make it hospitable for birds and critters and BUTTERFLIES. There is a pond on the edge that provides our irrigation for the gardens....and an aquatic environment for turtles, ducks etc. We found that a turtle had laid its eggs in the mulch pile.

This morning I saw pilated wood pecker in the tree and we have a mated pair of Eastern bluebirds in the bird box....all in all this is a sweet piece of heaven that has gently fallen to earth.....I feel so blessed to go there to tend my garden.

[B87]

Artichokes are starting to come up now.

[TerraDown]

Down here, you can only grow cherry tomatoes in the early spring to mid-summer. I've started some herbs though, and always have fennel going, in the shadiest (coolest) part of one of the gardens. We eat the bulbs, and save the seeds for Italian cooking. It also supports Swallowtail caterpillars, so we share.
Also always grow basil, year round. I love to brush up against it and release the scent.
Anyone growing the 'Mexican tarragon?' It's not really tarragon at all, related to marigold, but packs a stronger punch than true French tarragon. I've had such bad luck with tarragon in the past I'm trying my hand at the Mexican marigold type.
We need rain down here too. It keeps skipping right by my place.