I had mentioned this in the plastic thread and then never did it. Bad me.
Let's talk bees! And butterflies! And green lawn care and elimination! And pesticide/herbicide reduction/elimination! And trees! And birds! And wildlife! And growing and preserving your own food!
Yessss! DH and I were literally just talking this weekend about a pollinator garden. We have an awesome blank slate in this large bed in our backyard. I know for sure we're doing Russian Sage and Lavender.
I would love recommendations for other plants. I'm in Colorado (Zone 5B).
@ Yes, please do! I’m a rookie in this area but eager to hear more. We’ve got a batch of veggies (tomatoes, peas, cucumbers, carrots) going for nearly three months now in planters I’ve kept in a sunny spot in the house. I don’t have super high hopes (ie. the carrots) but I’d be happy with a few tomatoes, especially the cherry ones. I miss those in particular since I’ve stopped buying them because of the inevitable plastic packaging. The plants all spent their first night outside yesterday and were looking rough this afternoon, but have perked back up with some water. It’s interesting how much the kids and I care about them since we started everything from seeds. Our “babies!” 😛 I think it’s pretty cool that a few of the tomatoes are already taller than my five year old.
Post by karinothing on May 7, 2019 16:11:24 GMT -5
We have a pollinator garden I love it. I think I am putting a hummingbird feeder and bee and bird bath in there this year. It has bee balm, cat mint, milk weed cone flowers, verbena, and sedum. Someone just out in some bee hives across the st so I expect it to be busy this summer.
I've maintained a garden blog for 10 years now (with a couple small hiatuses). We're Zone 5b. I'm also in the process of establishing an Airtable base that will serve as a record of all our plantings in the yard.
We have several pollinator gardens on our property. One out front has some of the toxic native perennials like milkweed that we won't put in our back yard because of Little Miss Rototiller (aka Little Dog)
We grow a lot of our own produce and preserve a good chunk in the fall. Last fall was not a good harvest for us though.
We've had a rain barrel for probably 6 or 7 years now and use it to store water for use in the garden. I want to add another one. I also want to create a rain garden for the run-off.
Right now we have a nest of birds on top of our deck pergola. I can't wait for eggs and babies. We also have carpenter bees who nest every year in our pergola.
2curlydogs, if I take a picture of the bed I have, will you give me some recommendations for how to plant it? It backs to a fence, so we want to do the Russian sage back there since it gets pretty big. Not sure what to do closer to the front since I would think it would be best aesthetically to have plants that are not as tall. Your hydrangeas are beautiful!
@ Yes, please do! I’m a rookie in this area but eager to hear more. We’ve got a batch of veggies (tomatoes, peas, cucumbers, carrots) going for nearly three months now in planters I’ve kept in a sunny spot in the house. I don’t have super high hopes (ie. the carrots) but I’d be happy with a few tomatoes, especially the cherry ones. I miss those in particular since I’ve stopped buying them because of the inevitable plastic packaging. The plants all spent their first night outside yesterday and were looking rough this afternoon, but have perked back up with some water. It’s interesting how much the kids and I care about them since we started everything from seeds. Our “babies!” 😛 I think it’s pretty cool that a few of the tomatoes are already taller than my five year old.
What zone are you in? I've had the best luck with Everglade cherry tomatoes. They are heat and drought resistant and so easy to grow. Seriously I didnt do anything except to plant them. They are fabulous producers. I can mail you some seeds if you want, just pm your address.
I’m hoping to put together my raises beds not this weekend, but next. I have a wildflower mix for one and doing veggies in the other. This is my first year vegetable gardening, so I’ll take and and all tips!
2curlydogs, if I take a picture of the bed I have, will you give me some recommendations for how to plant it? It backs to a fence, so we want to do the Russian sage back there since it gets pretty big. Not sure what to do closer to the front since I would think it would be best aesthetically to have plants that are not as tall. Your hydrangeas are beautiful!
Absolutely! I'd want to know general location and zone info, so I can make good native recs wherever possible, but I'm not a native-only purist. I love our Russian sage and daylilies as much as our native Columbine, coneflower, and prairie grasses.
Here is my veggie garden plan for this year. We rotate beds every year, and with 10 years of plans, I also rotate what side the tomatoes are on, so they only end up in the same location every 6 years. I've found this helps control diseases.
We're trying broccoli again this year. The first year we did it, we ended up with a massive cabbage worms issue. I've bought fine mesh screening to see if that helps this year.
Other pest control tips is I interplant marigolds with my beans to keep down the Mexican bean beetle. Similarly, onion, leeks, and garlic can keep other pests away, which is why you see them by the broccoli.
Weed control is maintained thru intensive planting aka square foot gardening and other smothering plantings like the three sisters.
2curlydogs , if I take a picture of the bed I have, will you give me some recommendations for how to plant it? It backs to a fence, so we want to do the Russian sage back there since it gets pretty big. Not sure what to do closer to the front since I would think it would be best aesthetically to have plants that are not as tall. Your hydrangeas are beautiful!
Absolutely! I'd want to know general location and zone info, so I can make good native recs wherever possible, but I'm not a native-only purist. I love our Russian sage and daylilies as much as our native Columbine, coneflower, and prairie grasses.
Yay! I'm in the same zone as you. Let me take some pictures tomorrow and talk to DH about how much sun it gets. I'll shoot you a PM.
We have a pollinator garden I love it. I think I am putting a hummingbird feeder and bee and bird bath in there this year. It has bee balm, cat mint, milk weed cone flowers, verbena, and sedum. Someone just out in some bee hives across the st so I expect it to be busy this summer.
Thank you for planting a pollinator garden. We started raising bees last year. We had one hive last year and this year we are expanding to 2. It is a fun and one of the coolest things we have done.
We just planted some new perennials last weekend. We have a ton of rabbits in our neighborhood so are really limited in what we can plant as they will eat just about anything, but proven to be rabbit proof are: salvia (comes in a few colors), yarrow, and bee balm. We have two colors of bee balm (my husband is obsessed with the giant bumblebees they attract) and I added some russian sage this year too.
We have two raised garden beds but have gotten lazy about using them over the last few years. I feel like the tomatoes always take over and we are really bad about staying on top of pinching basil and whatnot. I think we may just plant grape tomatoes this year and maybe a couple of herbs (but not basil).
My dad has a huuuuuuuuuuge garden and his yard is a certified monarch waystation. There is a berry patch, a ton of wildflowers, all kinds of veggies and herbs. Fruit trees too but the stupid squirrels always steal the fruit before he can get any
I have a ton of Liatris planted in my front garden. It is really hardy (zone 7b?) I barely have to do anything, and it spreads on it's own (I cut the flower stalks after the flowers fade before it can reseed everywhere because it will be everywhere in a season if I don't). The bees and butterflies go nuts for it. 100% recommend if you want to attract them.
I'm trying to be better with pollinator friendly things this year. Last year my favorite garden center gave out free milkweed seeds, so we'll have those this year. My work also gave out free wildflower seeds for earth day, they did last year too and the butterflies loved them. I grew sunflowers for the first time last year and the bees loved them, so I'm planning on adding more this year.
I want to do a bee bath this year. I try not to draw too many birds to our yard because of our dogs (our jack russell mix will try to hunt them) plus we have a huge squirrel problem, so bird seed just makes that worse.
I have a bug/bee house I bought at Aldi two years ago but I think I need to move it to a better spot this year.
Ooh, I want to play! Though I admit most of this falls into H's territory.
We live on about 1.75 acres. It's mostly grass and a decent about of fruit and evergreen trees. We do use chemicals, but increasingly little. I think he came with a good mix for kill all spray, but I'd love any suggestions for eliminating lawn clover in the "yard" part.
We have a giant garden. Everything got planted this weekend. We try and freeze or can what we can't get to. This year we are trying storage tomatoes, so I'm really excited about that.
We are currently working on what is apparently a multi year project to remove some of the evergreen trees and replace with an orchard. Once it's done I'm hoping to have 15-20 fruit trees on the property.
We just got a bunch of new chickens this year. There are 16 total. Two are old and not laying much, and I believe two are roosters. It's...a lot, I won't lie. But upkeep is minimal and we eat a lot of eggs.
Landscaping I could do better for sure. I've got a few water heavy plants (coincidentally also my favorite spot in the yard) but the front yard can be largely neglected. I was just thinking I need a tree next to our living room window for evening shade, I'm just not sure what. Probably a project to tackle next year.
After years of buying annuals, I’ve decided that this will be the year I plant pollinator-friendly perennials in most of my beds. It’s just a matter of finding the right ones - I need smaller scale plants that won’t take over since some of my beds are small. I would love flowering all/most of summer (or at least one thing blooming in each bed through the seasons) but I have little knowledge of where to even begin. I also need transplant friendly plants since we will likely be re-doing some of our landscaping in stages over the next several years. I’m in zone 6b.
I have a small raised bed where I usually plant tomatoes and zucchini. It’s 4x4. I can usually fit 2 zucchini plants and 2 tomato plants. My favorite tomato is the pineapple tomato. It’s yellow and pink and stripey. Perfect for a drizzle of balsamic. Then we also do some variety of grape/cherry tomato since they practically grow themselves and are very prolific. Everything does ok despite not getting a ton of sun. Our backyard is lined with very tall trees so the only real full sun they are getting is midday for a few hours. I’d love to expand it but I’m waiting until we decide how we’re redesigning that part of the yard.
Post by DotAndBuzz on May 11, 2019 16:50:03 GMT -5
I’ll share my tip for keeping the deer and bunnies from eating your flowers:
2 cups water, 1 egg white. Whisk that together just enough to break up the egg white (so the mixture sticks to the plant) and add in some hot sauce. A few shakes will do it.
Spray that on any plants you don’t want them eating. Works best on the buds, before they bloom, so it won’t bother bees, butterflies, or hummingbirds. Doesn’t seem to harm the flowers or plants at all. I’ve been using it for about 3 years now on my ground-cover succulents, hostas, day lilies, and hydrangeas.
However I have no idea what it will do to veggies. We have a potted veggie garden on our deck, which doesn’t connect to the ground, so no deer/bunny concerns there.
PNW, zone 8-9 (we seem to be shifting upwards). If you're looking at zones, I suggest checking out the sunset zones which also give an idea of rain, heat, etc.
We built four large raised beds last year. We used corrugated metal, so they're about 3 ft tall and 4'x4'. I plan on growing indeterminate tomatoes on a lattice, so that's going to get really tall, but at least I won't have to bend down to get the weeds? I'll add some oriental eggplant too. That's two of them. I've got an artichoke, beets and lettuce in the other that's shadier. Then the 4th I think I might go with asparagus (I love fresh asparagus but it seems to take a lot of room so I'm torn), Brussels sprouts, and chard.
We live on about 1.75 acres. It's mostly grass and a decent about of fruit and evergreen trees. We do use chemicals, but increasingly little. I think he came with a good mix for kill all spray, but I'd love any suggestions for eliminating lawn clover in the "yard" part.
What does he use for a kill-all? I’ve got a terrible problem with thistles in our fire pit area, and nothing seems to get rid of them. I pull as much as I can, but unless I get super lucky and the weather is perfect and the stars are aligned, they end up tearing off instead of pulling the root. (And they’re growing up between rocks, so I can’t get a tool down further.)
We live on about 1.75 acres. It's mostly grass and a decent about of fruit and evergreen trees. We do use chemicals, but increasingly little. I think he came with a good mix for kill all spray, but I'd love any suggestions for eliminating lawn clover in the "yard" part.
What does he use for a kill-all? I’ve got a terrible problem with thistles in our fire pit area, and nothing seems to get rid of them. I pull as much as I can, but unless I get super lucky and the weather is perfect and the stars are aligned, they end up tearing off instead of pulling the root. (And they’re growing up between rocks, so I can’t get a tool down further.)
I know vinegar and Epsom salt. Maybe soap for the third ingredient? Though it sounds like you shouldn't use it a ton but I bet by a fire pit you'd be fine.
I admit I removed any landscaping rocks solely because I refused to weed between them. Our firepit is just in a bare spot though, no extra rock.
Yard-wise: I have a pretty established shade bed with native bleeding hearts, Japanese anemone, Solomon's seal, hosta, huechera, clematis, hellebores, native wood sorrel and columbine. I love it and it's actually pretty low maintenance. It's shaded by the house and an apple tree that's planted too close to the house and is rather a pain in the rear. I have a dream of ripping it out for a dogwood.
Then at the front of the yard I have a giant (8' tall?) native rose - I think it's a Nootka, but it could be a bald hip. The bees love it and it's never had a problem with disease, pests, or black spot. The only problem is it sends out runners and is an overall 800 pound gorilla. Also in that area is a native red flowering currant and a false indigo that I keep accidentally uprooting when I go after the invasive blackberries (oops). In between I have crocismia (nothing bothers this plant, pretty orange flowers pollinators love), canna, poppies (oriental and California when I don't miss the window for seeds), nasturtium, sedums, wallflower, sage, dahlias.
Then there's some blueberry bushes, and some hydrangeas that might be a poor decision because I hate watering, but love the shrub.
We get a fair amount of pollinators, and mostly because I'm not consistent, fairly low maintenance. I don't spray, I'll use a little sluggo early and then again in the fall. I usually use granular fertilizer once a year. Not much watering outside the veggie plants. I'm pretty lucky in that where I live it's easy to find the right plant for the right place. The hardest part is keeping up with the weeds, but I've been mulching to keep those down.
In terms of sustainability, I've learned that not trying to grow something that isn't meant for the conditions is step one (no shade-lovers in the sun so you're not watering all the time, sorry but if you've got clay you're going to have to find plants that like clay). Don't plant mint. Tolerate a bit of messiness. Learn what works and then do more of that.
Post by shortcake2675 on May 11, 2019 18:30:53 GMT -5
I found some blackthorn growing along my property line. It’s not the nicest hedge, but it blooms flower butterflies like, my neighbor doesn’t mind the thorns, and it’s already there. Seems like a win. I have more help from the birds regarding new plants than I would ever ask for.
For those of you that have raised gardens, what is your ideal size? DH is building some next week and I just can’t decide.
Assuming that you have access to both sides, double the length of your arm is a good max for width. Length is to taste, but if you have different conditions you could have a sun bed and a more shaded bed if you keep them a bit smaller.
Also price out the soil, depending on the height of your bed it adds up quickly. Taller beds mean less stooping and it's easier to keep out weeds.