Gardening Thread

[katya]

I did a search and didn't find anything like this. Sorry if there is already. Anyway.

I just moved to a new house where I am finally able to start gardening. I have done a bit of research and planted a few things, but I still don't know hardly anything about gardening. I was hoping maybe some of you would!

I am enjoying it so far, but it's still pretty early. Not flowers with flowers yet and my vegetables are still just babies. I planted some little white flowers (Carpet of Snow?) which are growing well, also my tomatoes are growing well. They're a few inches tall- I just put them into the ground. I'm doing both flowers and edibles.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

If I had a garden, what I would really want to grow would be herbs. It'd be so awesome to just go to the yard and pick some fresh mint, rosemary, basil.

[katya]

I think so too. I'm attempting to grow some rosemary but I'm not sure it's doing very well. It came out of the soil but hasn't grown in a while since. Maybe that's normal though. My mom used to have lots of herbs in the garden. And chives.

[Tessar]

CHIVES ARE THE FREAKING BOMB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I happen to rather like them.

I'm a huge herb fan. My mom grows them... mostly just rosemary (we have a TON of that out lining our front walkway, and it smells amazing to walk up to our house) but seasonally sometimes basil and whatnot.

Careful with those tomatoes. Guard them with your life. Birds love tomatoes... they will swoop down and peck the crap out of them, leaving you with zero dang tomatoes. >.<

[Gwaimir Windgem]

That's part of my fear with veggie gardens. It seems like there's never anything left after ravages of nature. With herbs, there HAVE to be some leaves left for you.

[Grey_Wolf]

Hi all!

Now the endless mowing of the lawn is about to commence in earnest. I just hope the weekends will bone dry - otherwise it cant be done - the machine DEMANDS an utterly arid dryness of the lawn - otherwise it will choke on the wet grass. Entreating the weather gods to hear my prayer.

Best to ya all and good gardening.

[katya]

I didn't know birds would peck at tomatoes. I was more worried about bugs and the cat (chewing the leaves or maybe using the garden as a little box). There aren't really that many birds around, though. I have a feeder for them, and they eat the food up, but it's not like they're constantly there like they were at my old house. Oh and at least I don't have to worry about deer in the garden either (or any other fairly large animals, since the yard's fenced in). I'm growing some carrots too. I'm not sure how easy they are to grow, but at least the birds won't get them.

My ideal fantasy land would be growing enough tomatoes and oregano to make pizza sauce.

[Tessar]

Originally Posted by katya

I didn't know birds would peck at tomatoes. I was more worried about bugs and the cat (chewing the leaves or maybe using the garden as a little box). There aren't really that many birds around, though. I have a feeder for them, and they eat the food up, but it's not like they're constantly there like they were at my old house. Oh and at least I don't have to worry about deer in the garden either (or any other fairly large animals, since the yard's fenced in). I'm growing some carrots too. I'm not sure how easy they are to grow, but at least the birds won't get them.

My ideal fantasy land would be growing enough tomatoes and oregano to make pizza sauce.

Oh honey. *puts a fatherly arm around your shoulder*

Let me paint a picture for you *waves arm out to the horizon*

Once upon a time, there was a person called "Tessar's Mom"... now this woman was a gardener, just like you.... and just like you, she wanted to raise some tomatoes! She rushed out to the local gardening center, and purchased some tomato saplings of her very own.

Filled with pride, Tessar's Mom planted those little saplings, and they began to grow. Oh she loved those tiny tomato plants... she watered them, cared for them, sang to them, socialized them with other tomatos, sent them to the best tomato schools....

Then one day she noticed something strange... there was a hole in one of her tomato plants. BIRDS! Filled with rage, Tessar's Mom put up a chicken wire circle around the tomato plants. No crow was going to molest her tomatos!!

But the next day there were more holes. So she put up smaller chicken wire. The next day, some of the tomatos were just plain old torn apart.

SQUIRRELS!!! Filled with unspeakable rage, Tessar's Mom put up some soft chicken wire around the metal chicken wire.

Then I think Tessar's Mom got to eat like... maybe one or two of the tomatoes that survived.

The End.

Now, what you should draw from this story.... is that birds and squirrels are little rat-b@$*@%#$!!!!!

[katya]

*gasp* Squirrels!

I'll take your word for it and look into getting something to keep the squirrels out. Gardening is hard.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Tessar

SQUIRRELS!!! Filled with unspeakable rage, Tessar's Mom put up some soft chicken wire around the metal chicken wire.

Then I think Tessar's Mom got to eat like... maybe one or two of the tomatoes that survived.

Which is why we have maybe one or two cherries from our entire cherry tree. At least the flowers are gorgeous.

Or any nuts or even hazelnuts, but little trees of them are sprouting up everywhere in the garden, gee, I wonder why.

Or apples, well we do have some apples but they're a bit sour, which -I reckon- is why we have any at all.

The last few years we have been looking specifically into getting garden-plants to attract butterflies, as well as plants that bloom at different periods so that we have some colour the whole year. (Also good for bees and butterflies, they then have a more constant food source.) The garden was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful this month. Too bad the weather has been extremely patchy, or I would have spent far more time out in the garden.

[katya]

When I was looking for what flowers to get I tried to pick some that were bird attracting, but I ended up going mostly for the ones that grow well in the area.

At the old house there was a peach tree, and we actually got to eat a lot of peaches off of it. I would always see the squirrels eating the windfalls though.

[Earniel]

Choosing native plants is always a good choice for the wild-life in your garden too. I've noticed that bees specifically tend to prefer native plants even if the flowers are smaller and less colourful. I reckon cultural varieties of flowering plants have been bred for colour and form and do not have the same pollen yield that attracts bees.

[Grey_Wolf]

The lawn is done - took an hour and 45 mins - now its only a question of it being very dry weather EVERY weekend - the machine cant take any humidity whatsoever.

[katya]

Why would you want to attract bees? I'm afraid of them. They are kind of cute and fuzzy though.

[Earniel]

Why wouldn't you want to attract bees?

For starters they're really, really necessary creatures, and not just for making honey. Human society depends on them and that's no joke. We need bees for the polination of food plants, without them the agricultural industry effectively would come crashing down around our ears.

They're also in decline, hives are dying all over the world and the exact cause is still not fully identified. Look up Colony Collapse Disorder if you're interested.

Sure they can sting, and I have been stung a few times now, even just last summer. But so can wasps, which I dislike a lot more than bees. An ordinary bee will sting only if it thinks it has no other choice. It will die when it stings, unlike a wasp. At least, this goes for European bees.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

It's true; you basically have to attack a honeybee to get stung by it.

Bumblebees are another matter, however...

[katya]

I see. Maybe I should try to attract some bees then. I was stung by one once when I was little, and I remember it hurting an awful lot.

It's pouring rain and thunder/lightning. I'm a little worried about the plants. I think I tend to underwater them though.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Gwaimir Windgem

Bumblebees are another matter, however...

You have aggressive bumblebees?

Originally Posted by katya

I see. Maybe I should try to attract some bees then. I was stung by one once when I was little, and I remember it hurting an awful lot.

The key to a healthy garden is to have healthy insect life. I have been stung several times now by bees, although never without reason. But it is rewarding to see bees, butterflies and other insects appreciate the plants you pick for the garden. It feels like you're doing something right.

[katya]

That's a big reason why I garden at all, because it feels like I'm doing something right. I've heard that gardens are better than just grass, that having lots of grass like most people do is somehow bad for the environment. And if it makes bees and butterflies happy then all the better. When I get better at gardening, I would like to have pretty much my whole yard be a garden. It's good for the person gardening too, I think.

Oh, I have a practical question though. I'm not sure how much I should water my plants. I'm afraid of overwatering, but I feel like I don't water enough. The directions say things like "water lightly and frequently", but how lightly? how frequently? I talked to my dad on the phone yesterday and he said they hadn't had much rain lately and he has to water his plants three times a day. It rains quite a bit here though. My mom told me something like if the water soaks right in, the plants were thirsty, but if it sits on top of the soil, it's too much. But I don't know if that's right or if that applies to all plants (I'm assuming not all of them).

By the way, here's what I have growing now: cosmos and carpet of snow both are doing well, rosemary which seems like it's not growing or dying and I'm not sure, and nasturtiums which haven't germinated yet (just planted). Oh, and the rose bush one of the previous tenants had has flowers on it now.

[Grey_Wolf]

This talk of bees reminds me of this vid - enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs-tl6GBOBo