The 2019 Garden, Landscape, and Other Stuff Thread...

22-rimfire said:
The little vegie garden. It changes daily. The white and purple flowers are Columbine (not a native variety). They spread a good bit and I have to try to control the spread. Not really what I want in a limited space vegie garden. The ladder is for the cats to climb back off the garage roof. They can climb up there from a tree (with a bit of a leap) but can't get back. Hence the ladder. ----
The green plants in the background to the left side is Solomon's Seal that has pretty much spread and filled this space. There used to be Azalea's there but they died years ago.
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Green, green grass - holy cow - looking good. Encouraging. We have had a few inches of snow overnight but wind is not so bad.

Now, in past, I've taught a couple of my dogs to climb a ladder. Can's say I've seen a cat going down one :D

The wild columbine here is a shade plant and a gem to find growing. Also, here we have false Solomon's seal - great foliage, flowers and red berries, liking dappled to deep shade.

What diameter are those big tomato planters. Looks like plenty of soil for root growth. Garden looks great - so nice to see planting.
 
taldesta said:
Green, green grass - holy cow - looking good. Encouraging. We have had a few inches of snow overnight but wind is not so bad.

Now, in past, I've taught a couple of my dogs to climb a ladder. Can's say I've seen a cat going down one :D

The wild columbine here is a shade plant and a gem to find growing. Also, here we have false Solomon's seal - great foliage, flowers and red berries, liking dappled to deep shade.

What diameter are those big tomato planters. Looks like plenty of soil for root growth. Garden looks great - so nice to see planting.
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More snow... ugh. Spring is coming. My lawn looks real good in the spring and fall but doesn't like the hottest part of the summer.

Wild columbine is red or reddish as you know. There apparently are a lot of cultivated varieties. They grow and grow.... lots of seeds and plants popping up all over the place. Yes to being a shade plant, but they seem to do okay in full sun or they would have died out by now. Don't know the hardiness, but it might be something to add to a shady spot if they would survive the winter in your area and I suspect they would.

The containers are plastic > 20" diameter x 17" tall. The local Ace hardware sells them. I believe they buy the raw containers like are used for trees and so forth and cut more drainage holes. They charge about $10 each for them..... worth it to me. I think they are about perfect; not showy, but seem to work very well with plenty of depth for root development. I generally mix in some slow release fertilizer in the soil when I plant them and then add more as time goes on. I use the shake bottles that Miracle Grow makes. You can buy larger bags of fertilizer as refills.

The Solomon's Seal is a variegated variety and prefers shade (like you have in the woods). I kind of like it.

Never thought to use a ladder.... retrieving cats off the roof is no fun at all. 3 or 4 of them routinely climb up on the roof and go to my "office window" wanting to come inside (usually hungry). A few years ago, I had a 28 ft ladder up against the house to get to my highest roof. I was up there.... all of a sudden here comes a cat; couldn't believe that he actually climbed that height and the ladder was pretty vertical. Hence, I do NOT keep any tall ladders standing against the house since I might just find a stranded kitty up there and may not notice it for a good while (like a day on a hot roof). The "kittens" see the older cats climb up there and are learning to do the same thing. So far, two of the four have made the climb. Both are the largest of the litter. They get real frustrated if I am not home and are standing by my office window wanting in.... One of the neighbors mentioned he saw cats on my roof and I just nodded; yep. Not an uncommon sight when I pull into the driveway....
 
22-rimfire said:
The Pansies would have been okay left outside. They are very hardy. Cold slows the growth down, but generally does not kill it unless it's extreme cold.
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Only planted them a few day's before , not a big deal to move them was more worried about the wind .
 
LEGION 12 said:
Only planted them a few day's before , not a big deal to move them was more worried about the wind .
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Yeah, I've lost many plants in the strong spring sunshine ... but with the freeze in the wind. Sort of why our warnings about frostbite increase with the wind velocity in winter. Nasty winds lately.
 
taldesta said:
Yeah, I've lost many plants in the strong spring sunshine ... but with the freeze in the wind. Sort of why our warnings about frostbite increase with the wind velocity in winter. Nasty winds lately.
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Interesting question really..... wind chill affecting plants? My brother in law (the horticulturalist and former nursery owner) says "Yes". But wind chill is calculated for people (warm blooded) and not plants. So, I don't know. But I do know that you need to protect plants you might be transporting in say a pickup from extreme exposure to wind (wind burn).
 
22-rimfire said:
Interesting question really..... wind chill affecting plants? My brother in law (the horticulturalist and former nursery owner) says "Yes". But wind chill is calculated for people (warm blooded) and not plants. So, I don't know. But I do know that you need to protect plants you might be transporting in say a pickup from extreme exposure to wind (wind burn).
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I know we've had this discussion before ... wind chill warnings come with danger of frostbite warnings here. It is not a simple comfort thing even for people. Having lost overwintered plants to frost in high wind - yet in beautiful spring warmth and sunshine and also in warm temps while transporting them at even moderate speed ... my sense is that frost to living things is the standard. Not just people. Perhaps cellular freezing. I am open to information ... yet will say that, in my experience, freezing can come with the chill on the wind.
 
22-rimfire said:
Added: I decided to just stand the tomato cages over bell pepper plants for the time being. Sometimes when things get a bit grown, some support might be a good thing for them. I can always remove them later. Last year, I had a bell pepper plant that was a bit shaded and it grew 5 feet tall and I supported it with a tomato cage.
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How much shade did you give your peppers? I’ve had bad “luck” (I have no idea what I’m doing) with peppers.

I feel so sorry for you all with snow. We just had wind (birds nest is gone) and rain today. I couldn’t deal with anymore snow.
 
Generally speaking, peppers are a full sun plant. Like most plants, if shaded or planted too close together, they will grow tall. Things are kind of relative in that regard I think. In the heat of the summer, I think partial shade could be a good thing. I noticed that the plants produce peppers at first and sort of go into a period of simply plant growth, but no pepper formation (blossom set) until night time temps drop a bit. (I have no proof of this with peppers.) Tomatoes do pretty much the same thing. I think night time temperatures are generally the key. When I lived in PA, I never noticed this period, with peppers simply getting better and better as the season marched toward fall. It generally did not get as hot in Central PA as here in Southeast TN in the summer.

I only grow sweet peppers. I occasionally will grow banana peppers, but I prefer sweet as the banana peppers are kind of tough. Never really grew hot peppers and their growth habits may be different from sweet peppers as traditionally you think of hot peppers as a southern plant.

Added: Peppers are one plant that I think you can grow in containers pretty easily and effectively. I would suggest using some of the cheap (smaller ones) tomato cages be placed around them to support them as they get bigger. Still portable with the cage stuck into the container soil.

Peppers are really good for you and I believe considered one of the super foods like red beets, broccoli and so forth.

Really curious to see how my red beets do this year as I have never grown beets in the last 20 years. I just used up the available space with tomatoes for the most part. This year, all but one tomato plant are in containers so that frees up garden space.
 
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For several years I did up to 120 tomato and 60 jalapeno plants a year in my greenhouse, all in cut down 5 gallon buckets with drain holes drilled in the bottom. Used a combo of horse manure tea (put the road apples in a sock and soak in a bucket) and miracle grow. Once the peppers got going they wouldn't stop till the cold killed them. My peppers usually topped out about 3.5 feet or so but my tomatoes would go crazy vine. Peak season I would get 2-3 jalapenos per plant per day and 4-500 tomatoes. Our long Alaska days and short season probably make the growing dynamic a little different from most places.
 
Rose and Thistle Custom said:
For several years I did up to 120 tomato and 60 jalapeno plants a year in my greenhouse, all in cut down 5 gallon buckets with drain holes drilled in the bottom.
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... Sounds like a commercial operation. That said, as a kid we had a very large garden space and planted about 100 tomato plants a year. We canned the tomatoes. Yeah. We ate lots of spaghetti. Lots of kids.

Watching the Alaska shows on TV, I think the long daylight in the summer makes a big difference in terms of being able to grow things.

I have never tried to grow hot peppers. (Simply because we don't eat them often.) Maybe I should find a variety that is not real hot and give at least one plant a try. Maybe you could suggest a variety?
 
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LEGION 12 said:
They are pretty loud and obnoxious birds but they are cool , in the summer they sit right over us and demand food our fault for feeding them .
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They also called Quaker parrots. I own a 17 year old Green Quaker and she demands a treat every time I have breakfast or dinner and she can hear me open the fridge Lol. I hear their is a huge flock that live year round in central park NYC. The word is they escaped from a shipment in port and took up residence in the park. Very hearty birds and fun to watch.
 
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana :D

How wise is that! And how appropriate to Busby's natural intake of protein now that it is spring. Credit for recalling this old saw is not mine - you know who you are ... clearly someone who likes over-ripe bananas a lot more than I do Yet, at the grocery there was a total giveaway of over-ripe bananas ... and I seized the chance.

Don't bother telling me this is weird, I know.

So. may I announce today the raising of my first fruit fly of 2019. In the fall of 2018 I had fanned the last ones of the season from the kitchen composter across the hummingbird enclosure just to provide Busby with protein until the complete food arrived. I am sure that these live snacks and the ground freeze-dried bugs and sugar water kept the little bird going until the nectar compound arrived. And now, following a draining moult, and with all the curiosity and physical demands of spring.- it is time once again for some 'meat on the hoof'

Never in one million ears would I have thought that I would rejoice in seeing a fruit fly. But, let them bring it on. And let them know that Busby welcomes them with open bill :eek:

Forget the other bugs and extremes I have gone to. I am a slave to a hummingbird.

On the 14th the phoebes sang in the morning. Flocks of slate juncos have replaced the huge flocks of redpolls. Yesterday, the first chipmunk. Yup. Spring is upon us

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The ruby slipper and campfire coleus last summer made for an eye stopper..

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Same plants cut back twice over winter in original pots ...with successful cuttings - rooted and planted to front. The powerful red statement for the semi-shade/sun here. Zone 4a.

DSCF4590 COLEUS RUBY SLIPPERS AND CAMPFIRE 650 MED.jpg
 
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