2018 Gardening, Landscaping, and Plants

Joined
Nov 20, 2005
Messages
19,385
Guess it's about time for this year's garden thread. Like in prior years, post what you think is interesting and appropriate.

We have had a cold winter. All I need to do is look at the electric and gas bills. Punxy Phil said 6 more weeks of winter. Personally I hope they're wrong.

Here in Southeast Tennessee it has been a little warmer the last week or so and things are starting to green up. I have daffodils that are out of the ground with the bloom buds getting ready to bloom. Some of my tulips are popping out of the ground too. Hyacinths made their appearance the earliest and got a bit froze a couple of weeks ago.

Not time for my vegie gardening activities, but I know that anyone who raises tomatoes and flowers from seed, will have things planted indoors or in a greenhouse about now.

So post up whatever interests you.
 
I believe our Wiarton Willy agrees to disagree with the honourable PP :D

Daffodils ... nice! They are actually out here too, but only along with other floral temptations in grocery stores so far. The seed packets just came into the stores recently too. Summer's coming.

I did spring for one beautiful potted purple hyacinth, waiting for that wonderful scent to fill the house - but Daisy found it on the windowsill. Yesterday I came home from town to find leaves, dirt, perlite all over the floor and most of the blooms gone. Only two whole (with roots) and a part bulb left for the recovery attempt. A little too annoyed to check the toxic for dogs list! Today, one of the wounded blooms opened, the scent is on the air and I am encouraged. Daisy lives.

Yup, the package from Prince Edward Island seed house arrived mid January. Again, I am using containers this year rather than bust sod here in this jungle, my new digs. Since all but one of my south facing windows here in this small home have been filled with overwintered geraniums started for a friend, I got mostly seeds that are fine going in the ground after frost is passed - nasturtiums of many varieties.

DSCF9141 SEED PACKETS 600 MED.jpg

My garden may be delayed. It will be a different landscape for me to tackle but I know it well from past.

Sad to realize that bee balm seeds did not make it through the move so I may have to scramble ... bug some local gardeners ... so that I can realize a massive planting this spring - this is one goal.

I want to light this place up come summer! Winter here has seen the lane ploughed 10 times to date. Today it is above freezing and our Family Day long weekend (your President's Day I understand) should see double digit temps here.

Plant life never fails to surprise me with its survival. Pay attention, learn what it needs ... and it lives on. Here the 'red hot cattails', second winter indoors, cut back hard in fall, are starting to put up fuzzy blossoms (which will grow long to look exactly like red [feline] cat tails BTW).

DSCF9193 RED HOT CATTAILS BLOOM 600 MED.jpg


Geraniums started in south facing window - in grocery bags as pulled last fall (bags newly reinforced with construction bag material to contain watering and with soil or vermiculite added to pack in)
DSCF9109 GERANIUM  600 MED (2).jpg


Geraniums thriving
DSCF9185 GERANIUM BLOOM 600 MED.jpg

Daisy and Dez on guard (lest any hyacinths invade the windowsill)
DSCF9177 DAISY DEZ WINDOW 600 MED.jpg
 
Anybody with simple plans for planters? Ones I can manage to move myself to get out of way for snow removal contractor in fall.
 
It's 76f in central Louisiana today so it's time to get started.
I turned about 15 lbs of rabbit pellets into my garden today, I'll be ready to plant in a couple of weeks.

We had a few days that got into the teens this winter so my citrus trees got smoked pretty hard. I'll trim them back and hope for the best.
 
Been rainy this month; last month the rainfall was severely lacking and we were in moderate drought conditions. It rains 3-4 inches monthly here normally. We're above 5" so far for the month. But it sure beats 15 or 20 degree days (F). The temp got down below 10 degrees which is a benchmark for plant hardiness. Hopefully none of my Crepe Myrtles died.

When things dry up a bit and the weather stays moderately warmish, I'll probably till up my little garden. This is the year for the mushroom compost dressing. That is always a bit of a chore for me hauling it in bulk, but it's too expensive in bags to be practical. I add about 6" of top dressing of the compost and then till it into the soil typically. Sure makes the plants grow, sometimes too well. I do that on my flower beds as well, although I don't put it down as thickly.

Nice to be thinking about gardening again. The lawn service fertilized for the first time this year today if that gives you an idea of where things stand. I have a basic lawn service for weed control and fertilization. I do the rest myself not that I couldn't do it all if I wanted to. But I often don't pay attention to the grass other than mow it and the service does that for me. My wife likes a nice yard.....

My wind spinners have been spinning a lot this winter. Love those things although I am not into yard art.
 
Taldesta - check out "This Old House" for planter designs. Google is your friend.

It's raining, and lately it's been automotive stuff keeping me busy, but I called in some help and got the place cleaned up and we're getting ready for spring. It's been kind of warm (50's) for a couple weeks and everything is coming up. Of course that means we'll have snow tomorrow, but hopefully that won't kill anything. I set out my Mason Bee stuff for the spring, and as soon as it quits raining I'll get some mulch in to cover the beds. Crocus, Hyacinths, daffodils, and tulips are up. Perennials just starting to show. My crazy Shasta daisy patch is getting out of hand already.
 
Taldesta - check out "This Old House" for planter designs. Google is your friend.

It's raining, and lately it's been automotive stuff keeping me busy, but I called in some help and got the place cleaned up and we're getting ready for spring. It's been kind of warm (50's) for a couple weeks and everything is coming up. Of course that means we'll have snow tomorrow, but hopefully that won't kill anything. I set out my Mason Bee stuff for the spring, and as soon as it quits raining I'll get some mulch in to cover the beds. Crocus, Hyacinths, daffodils, and tulips are up. Perennials just starting to show. My crazy Shasta daisy patch is getting out of hand already.

Thanks eisman. It helps if I can zero in on a specific web search as you have recommended. Google is my friend but dial up at 40 kbs ... not always! Graphic pages are a no go much of the time. But I do try :thumbsup:
 
I like the large plastic planters that are about 3 feet or so long and ~12" wide and about a foot deep. Use them a lot actually. You can lift them full of dirt pretty easily, especially store bought potting soil. They are big enough for flowers. (Not big enough for things like tomatoes.) They aren't cheap in my book for some molded plastic. But they are what they are. Sold at most hardware stores around here in their garden-flower pot section.

The thing I like about portable planters is that I can move them from sun to shade as I feel necessary.

Also, in terms of larger planters (home made ones), you could put wheels one them. : -) That would certainly add substantially to the cost and effort to build. Or perhaps on skies/skids... and move after it snows and before the plows hit. Install a U type hook on the end so you can attach a rope or chain to pull them.

I used to buy whiskey barrels (halves), but they have gotten REALLY expensive for something that I just let sit outside and rot up. Takes a few years but the bottoms go first. You could easily move them on furniture dollys (the small one). I use a two wheeled "hand truck".
 
Last edited:
Between rain showers today I snapped a couple pics. Here's the latest sculpture; made from stuff I got out of the architectural salvage yard. Just noticed the base still has the price stickers on it.

The crocus are coming up, and if you look close you can see the daffodils just starting to poke through. I had a friend give me a bag of bulbs about a month ago and I stuck them in during another rainy afternoon.
iSZVaul.jpg

These planters are tulips and some other smaller bulbs a neighbor had left over. Very surprised at how quick they came up in the pots.
 
How great it is to see some green outside and know that folks are fertilizing and anticipating spring blooms - postings from 'thawed ground' country!

There's an inviting contrast and balance to your sculpture, eisman - I like it a lot. Here I have, in times long past, drawn on country relics (perhaps kitsch) - rusty old hand pumps, tractor seats, other 'farm' pieces and large driftwoods picked up while camping to bring more appeal to the rockeries but I will have to free them from the field grasses if I want to use them this spring ... and see what is left of them after the years.

So glad the thread title includes the many aspects of property.

22-rimfire ... the idea of having perhaps qty (2) 3'L x 1'W (so 3' x 2' in appearance) planters together for impact, yet each movable with a hand truck just might be the key for the two or three areas I want some big colour. In the move I left behind two huge half barrel planters easily 30 years old that my mum used forever it seemed. Yes, I had to replace the bottoms but recouped the soil ... grew like magic! At first I would let them dry out in fall and hand truck them out of the way for snow removal ... but last few years I just placed them out of the way with a mower path between and left them in place because of the weight.

There is one broken wheelbarrow on site here and I could build a box on the frame but that 'look' may not be what I hope for. Priced wheels - you're right re: cost. I think grouping smaller planters may save me a lot of work, and just take a little more watering.

This property slopes toward the road in a distance and I so look forward to some massive plantings of bee balm just lighting the place up. All the flowers in the world up here by the house, as much as they will delight me, will not make much of a landscaping impact compared to the wild red of a bee balm patch.

I've started some milkweed and basil seeds and the geraniums are just taking over every south facing window except the one I reserved for myself by my reading chair. Man, they are survivors.

A small pileated woodpecker has been visiting. Very flighty bird when near the ground but obviously believing that the suet is worth the risk.

DSCF9173 PILEATED WOODPECKER FEEDER 600 MED.jpg
 
Those wood peckers are real flighty as you said. Pretty good photo actually for a snap shot. We see them occasionally here around the yard, but are much more common in the woods.

I use the large plastic planters quite a bit. I started with the smaller ones and they simply weren't deep enough to support much flower growth (but good for stuff like Pansies). Stuff gets a lot bigger than ya think. My wife's daughter uses those smaller ones.... veggies.... she'll learn eventually that they simply aren't big enough. I have both the large size > the single square type and rectangular... They work. I know they aren't as sophisticated as many planters, and depending on your yard, they may look a bit shabby. They're okay for me. the one thing I did last year with the planters on my wood deck is raise them up so that the wood can dry beneath them. That was a good move. I used the rubber-like edging blocks to raise up the planters. Worked nicely actually and they'll last. Didn't use bricks because bricks absorb water.

I have enough of them that I get multiple flower seasons with the accumulation without yanking out and replacing flowers. I move the shabby worn out flower planters to a less conspicuous spot and park them for use later. I move others when they look nice to a visible spot. Things aren't fancy at my house; generally fairly neat however. I have two whiskey barrel halves out front and one in the back yard. They get used every year and I don't move them for the most part. I believe most of the whiskey barrels come from Jack Daniels distillery. So, they're made of oak. Termites like oak, but love pine. They used to run about $20; last year I saw them for $40 each. Ouch. But they are certainly rustic and interesting. Drill holes in the bottom for drainage. I'll probably replace them when they start falling apart with new ones regardless of the price because I like them.

I have a small garden. I usually plant six tomato plants and that nearly fills the space along with a few other things. This year I am going to plant four in the garden and two in large plastic pots on my deck. The deck ones did well last year. Seems that you just have to choose the right variety of tomato. Always learning.... Should have some room for other stuff in the garden. Technically, I could expand the garden. But I like the grass...it's enough since we don't can stuff. Currently those two large pots that had tomatoes in are full of blooming pansies.

The environment in my back yard which contains the garden plot has changed significantly since last year due to the neighbors cutting all of their large oak trees down. I cut my crooked black cherry down which shaded a lot of the back yard. Gone now. It was the right decision. I didn't think of it as a large tree.... boy when that thing was on the ground... it was in fact large and I paid to have the wood hauled away. The logs would have sat in my back yard for years otherwise and they were pretty large logs. I couldn't lift them to haul away. Would have had to do fireplace sized chunks and many trips.

I got a new pickup with the new year. Not a fancy loaded one. Haven't had a new one in 25+ years. I'm going to take care of it. It should last me till I croak. I have a van that will need to be replaced in a couple years. That's for work; once I bought it years ago, it was amazing the few miles I actually put on my old pickup yearly. Yeah, I keep track of all gasoline purchases and record odometer reading, gallons, price and so forth (every time). Definitely interesting to see the price of gasoline change over the years. Once I started my own business, I didn't have the daily to-from work drive and that accounted for about 20-24K miles a year. After I bought the van, my usage dropped off to under 1,000 miles a month on the pickup which means for today's vehicles, it will last a LONG time. I do use the pickup for work and that accounts for about 50% of the total miles driven on it (one man jobs). So glad we aren't dealing with vehicles that are essentially worn out after 50 -75,000 miles like we used to. I thank the Japanese for this forced change in the US. In total, my total miles driven haven't changed that much but they are spread out between two vehicles.
 
Last edited:
Rain and mild temps in this region over last week have caused much flooding in communities closer to the border. They are still searching for a three year old swept away in the flood waters of the Grand River following the bursting of an ice dam.

Even here, the Muskoka River is completely open. I have to remind myself that it is February.

DSCF9226 0221181355-00 MUSKOKA RIVER OPEN 600 MED.jpg


Re: keeping wood from rotting under planters ... I don't mind using brick supports on turf, but on a deck I agree with keeping as little surface area contact as possible with good air space under. Water accelerates rot and damage, especially with the freeze thaw as we have here. In fact, this spring I will be looking at one huge (to me) project - raising and levelling the small deck at the main entry door. Those boards do not have enough ventilation under or between each of them ... and, once done, if I were to put planters on it, I would stand them on small, non-porous 'feet' of some kind. I have picked up a number of plastic pot stands (just rings with feet) at the dollar store in past and these do nicely for the smaller plants on deck or patio.

Right now my brain is just buzzing with ideas. Yesterday while in town I went to the library and struck gold in two recent books on raised-bed gardens and another one by my cbc radio gardening guru. On this property I can tackle anything :eek: certainly can't do this jungle any harm!

Interesting - keyhole garden, with small self-sustaining compost built in centre. Also I had never heard of Hugelkulture before ... 'hill culture' that involves mounding up rotting logs and/or branches (any size hill) and covering them with turf and topsoil, planting on sides and top (roots not close to wood) - a method that retains moisture and creates more garden surface area. Well, I have years of stacked branches here that I need to do something with. The mind boggles. Well, my mind boggles. Let's hope the boggling gives way to reality checks before the land thaws!

Red hot cattails plant is thriving. Even the hyacinth munched on by Daisy is recovering nicely. Geraniums have taken over the south facing windows ... all but the one I keep free of plants by my reading chair.

DSCF9228 HYACINTH MOOSE 600 MED.jpg

DSCF9226 RED HOT CATTAILS 600 MED.jpg


I've found that for camping, especially in bear country, I prefer a van-type vehicle ... but I do rely heavily on the hitch for trailering because there's always something oversized to be moved when you deal with country property where I like to live. Vehicle is a solid, dependable experienced one, vintage 1998, I hope it has one last, epic camping road trip across Canada left in it ... same as I wish for myself!
 
Hey all almost that time of year , I am going to build a couple of raised beds this year . I figure I can fit 2 , 8 x 4 beds in , my only problem is finding the right lumber Cedar boards are pretty expensive around here.
 
You could perhaps use railroad ties. But they are probably more expensive than cedar. Ties last a long time if you like the look. I used them at my last house. I need to cruise past my old house to check the landscaping since I put so much work into creating it in the 90's. At the time, I chose things to allow for a lot of growth. Last I looked at it (couple of years ago with a drive by), nothing really has changed except the trees are larger.
 
under dialup construction apparently!
 
Last edited:
Yes, railroad ties are treated with creosote. Technically not recommended for residential use. I read that you can put of couple coats of polyurethene on them to seal them better and place some plastic beneath the tie to reduce the chance of creosote leaching out of the tie into the soil.
 
When I moved in at my last home in 2010 there was a big topsoil pile overgrown for around 12 years ... that my mum, who died in 1998, had been 'snacking on' for her gardens. Perfect for an entry garden. It was likely placed here because dad had a very active shop on the go and this was out of the way for vehicles coming and going into the main yard.

IMG_6079 ENTRY GARDEN FIRST YEAR TOPSOIL MOUND 650 MED.jpg

At first I raided old woodpile logs that were on the property as uprights and they looked rustic and did a fantastic job. Not to mention that they donated slugs in quantities that would shrivel a gardener's soul!

IMG_6123 ENTRY GARDEN FIRST YEAR 650 MED.jpg

Second spring I smartened up and leveled the soil to prevent water run-off ... and the garden provided a colourful and impactful entry to the property for years.

In 2015 the old logs were sagging badly with rot, so I pulled them and picked up mini-ties (not treated and fairly inexpensive) in 6 ft lengths and cut them in three with my reciprocating saw. Because the soil retained was already settled, I felt no need to reinforce them other than digging them a little into the ground in place of the old logs. I had to leave some lengths horizontal at the back of the garden where the maple sapling roots prevented digging to secure upright lengths.

DSCF2385 ENTRY GARDEN NO STRAWBERRIES LOGS OUT 650 MED.jpg

DSCF2550 ENTRY GARDEN 1ST FLOWERS 650 MED.jpg


Also I lined the uprights and each division in the garden made with rock ... with waterproof barrier to stop evaporation and make watering more effective.

DSCF3345 ENTRY GARDEN BACK SALVIA BOWERS 650 MED.jpg

Not a professional job to be sure but should last another 5 years or so. I think these ties could be halved and applied for a split log application on a simple frame as well for rectangular raised garden.

DSCF5249 ENTRY GARDEN 650 MED.jpg

When I look at the sweat equity and compare, durable cedar planks could turn out to be some kind of a bargain!
 
I have become a very big fan of architectural salvage yards. Most cities of any size have one (or more). Some look like antique shops, but a good one will have the real stuff; posts, beams, columns, old fixtures, etc. The two biggest ones here always have slabs of lumber, huge stuff. Also popular are reclaimed posts from old docks, some are over two foot in diameter. I'd look there before going out to buy cedar planks (or anything like that). I bought 9-10 railroad ties a couple years ago for around $5/ea. I wouldn't use them around food crop though due to the coatings. Likewise any treated lumber.

It's been snowing here all week, after a pretty mild winter. Everything was coming up. bulbs 3-4" high already and my plums are ready to blossom. Don't know what the cold is going to do. I lost a lot of stuff last year to the excessive rain, this last cold isn't helping.
 
Back
Top