Gardening etc. check in....

[simpsongal]

How's everyone's yardwork and gardening going? 

- I'm waiting for my seeds to sprout (e.g., cucumbers, beans, squash, zinnias).  I HATE WAITING.  Like, every time I go in the garden I get pangs of anxiety that nothing will grow and I've got beds full of just dirt

- I'm finally reaping the benefits of perennial investment the past few years - I spent much of this season dividing asters, catmint, and black eyed susans.  I'm moving some things that are not thriving in their locations or are getting crowded out too.  We're also trimming the neighbor's maples back, so that should help our cherry tree and bring a little more light to other areas of the yard.

- Our peach tree looks awesome, I'm pretty proud of the shape I've given it in 5+ years growing.  Lots of peaches coming in and I've been spraying regularly w/a lime,Sulphur and neem oil compound to keep brown rot and other things at bay

- I planted plugs of irish moss near our stepping stones.  Really hoping it takes....

- I'm putting some dahlias and gladiolus in the ground...not sure if I'll have the energy to dig them up this fall.  I also put a lot of gaura in this year, which never seems to come back for me.

- I planted a purple leaf sand cherry - it says it only lives 10-15 years, but I love the color and it's next to a young cryptomeria, so I'm hoping they play nicely together until the crypt' gets larger and other neighboring plantings fill in.

- I finally put some Japanese red painted ferns in our shade garden - hoping they bush up a bit (LOVE the color).  I put them next to bunches of hostas & astilbe.

- I bought a cheap $100 powerwasher....I'm at that 'afraid to learn how to use a new tool' phase.  Hopefully I'll use it next weekend on the porch, before we hang our patriotic swags.

- We've decided to take down the rest of our arbor vitae.  The original owner planted them ~50 years ago, and they're way too close together and overrun w/honeysuckle vines & ivy.  We'll hire it out in the fall b/c these things are like 25 feet tall.  We'll move our fence back to reclaim the property line, plant better more interesting things inside the fence and maybe even add a shed. I have a set of exterior French doors I'm saving for said shed.  SO EXCITED!!!!

[Susie]

We planted a limelight hydrangea tree last week in honor of our dog who passed away last fall.  Since I am almost 38 weeks pregnant my contribution was mostly measuring for the spot and directing, but I am pleased with it!  It seemed an apt memorial for a golden retriever who behaved like he was part circus performer, right up to the end.

[definitelyO]

Finally got the whole garden in - (well DH did - but it was a joint effort).
Planted 2 tall grasses and 3 bushes this weekend.
We have 2 non-fruiting pear trees that were planted last year - one of them is about 3 weeks behind the other in terms of blooming, etc... not sure if we should be worried or not.

[angromarsi]

It seems that we've done little to nothing this year after having big planting years of perennials and shrubs the last 2 years but now revising this sentence after I've typed my response - we've done more than I thought but still have a lot to do! Now that my son's birthday is done (was Saturday), I want to pull out the dead stuff in the pots from last year and buy some annual flowers to re-pot. I tried lavender last year in hopes that it would come back (they're very large pots - zone 6b) but no luck - apparently only the sedum will overwinter in my hanging baskets - can't get anything to survive in the pots.

We planted some sunflower seeds about a month ago and they're about 3-4" high now. Some dry root astibles and some ferns are starting to show (and some I don't think made it). We also did an early spring planting of bulbs (muscari & allium) that overwintered in our garage because I got hurt in the fall and couldn't plant them - and surprisingly, a good majority made it! We tried lily of the valley for the 3rd time - and have failed again - I just can't get them to grow!

We took some divisions of iris from my MIL - and they seem to be taking to the spots well--no flowers yet though.

I also need to attack our veggie garden from last year - needs weeding of our pavers between the raised beds, the beds themselves, pulling much of the self-seeded tomatoes and dill and other herbs that decided to travel, trimming of overgrown raspberries and planting some new small veggies. I wanted to buy yesterday but knew I couldn't get to them until this weekend so hopefully the weather cooperates!

[megstoo]

DH put together my herb garden. It's made out of composite, has a shelf underneath for watering can etc and has 8 separate spots for different things so we have multiples of basil and mint but also have chives, cilantro, thyme, parsley.

The jalapeno pepper plant gave us 6 good size peppers already and there's 10 more already starting to sprout and the roma tomato plant has 6 tomatoes just starting to bud.

I really want to get rid of the hydrangia we have in front but it's huge and I can't dig it up. The landscapers put it in 5 years ago and swore it would stay small. It's completely taken over it's spot and because it's in a small area doesn't flower anymore, I just don't know what to put there. It's such a tiny spot (3 ft x 3 ft) so we need something that stays narrow but could get to about 4 or 5 feet tall. I love the look of hybiscus trees but they get much to tall for that space. (anything over 7 feet and it will hit the top of the house)

[hamster]

Blah. My flower beds are getting all weedy, and I'm too pregnant to do anything about it.

H's food garden is all in and doing well. We've eaten a couple of strawberries and small pea pods thus far.

[simpsongal]

May 20, 2019 11:40:03 GMT -5 Susie said:

We planted a limelight hydrangea tree last week in honor of our dog who passed away last fall.  Since I am almost 38 weeks pregnant my contribution was mostly measuring for the spot and directing, but I am pleased with it!  It seemed an apt memorial for a golden retriever who behaved like he was part circus performer, right up to the end.

I'm sorry

We planted a limelight standard last year and I couldn't believe how long it bloomed - even after blooms were spent they looked pretty. What a lovely tribute.

[simpsongal]

May 20, 2019 13:48:09 GMT -5 megstoo said:

DH put together my herb garden. It's made out of composite, has a shelf underneath for watering can etc and has 8 separate spots for different things so we have multiples of basil and mint but also have chives, cilantro, thyme, parsley.

The jalapeno pepper plant gave us 6 good size peppers already and there's 10 more already starting to sprout and the roma tomato plant has 6 tomatoes just starting to bud.

I really want to get rid of the hydrangia we have in front but it's huge and I can't dig it up. The landscapers put it in 5 years ago and swore it would stay small. It's completely taken over it's spot and because it's in a small area doesn't flower anymore, I just don't know what to put there. It's such a tiny spot (3 ft x 3 ft) so we need something that stays narrow but could get to about 4 or 5 feet tall. I love the look of hybiscus trees but they get much to tall for that space. (anything over 7 feet and it will hit the top of the house)

Japanese pieris?

[megstoo]

May 20, 2019 15:22:35 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

May 20, 2019 13:48:09 GMT -5 megstoo said:

DH put together my herb garden. It's made out of composite, has a shelf underneath for watering can etc and has 8 separate spots for different things so we have multiples of basil and mint but also have chives, cilantro, thyme, parsley.

The jalapeno pepper plant gave us 6 good size peppers already and there's 10 more already starting to sprout and the roma tomato plant has 6 tomatoes just starting to bud.

I really want to get rid of the hydrangia we have in front but it's huge and I can't dig it up. The landscapers put it in 5 years ago and swore it would stay small. It's completely taken over it's spot and because it's in a small area doesn't flower anymore, I just don't know what to put there. It's such a tiny spot (3 ft x 3 ft) so we need something that stays narrow but could get to about 4 or 5 feet tall. I love the look of hybiscus trees but they get much to tall for that space. (anything over 7 feet and it will hit the top of the house)

Japanese pieris?

The spread on these are 6 ft which is way to big for the space.  I really only have a spread of about 3 to 4 feet max so it needs to be something skinny

[simpsongal]

megstoo we have like 15 pieris around our property and while they can get upwards of 6 ft tall none are particularly wide. And you can trim them if necessary. Just a thought!

[niemand88f]

The blackberry, raspberry, and strawberry I planted last year look really good, I'm excited to get some fruit this year! I finished planting my annual flower containers and raised garden beds last weekend, just need to fill in some marigolds or alyssum in the garden.
My garlic was successful last year with a random head of grocery store organic garlic, so I bought some garlic from a seed catalog thinking that would be even better - but it looks like only one bulb will make it to harvest
I bought a drip irrigation kit to set up this weekend, my garden did fine last year but I definitely wasted water and grew a bunch of hollow cucumbers...

[ssmjlm]

Everything has been neglected because kid activities.

So finally last Friday I spent hours weeding and hopefully I can get DH to get some red mulch for around the swing set this weekend and then do brown mulch on the other beds next weekend. I also need to finish spraying the exterior for bugs and spraying the grass around our patio against the ants. They seem terrible this year, probably b/c we had a mild winter.

I bought a few annuals to replace some perennials that didn't come back and that's about it plant wise for us. I want to do some rocks around our shed, but that is definitely not happening until fall.

We're headed to the beach on Saturday night after soccer (see kid activities). Once we get there it will be general power washing and spraying for bugs. I usually have to spray memorial weekend and then again when we're down 4th of July weekend.

[rooster222]

I ended up using smart pots (https://smartpots.com) to start my garden and planted herbs in one and peppers and lettuce in the other one. I ordered a few more, larger pots in another brand from amazon to plant tomatoes in. So far they are pretty handy and I like that I can move them around in and out of the sun (or wind and storms). If anyone is interested in container gardening these are another option besides building a box or buying pots.

[dottyblue]

My yard is making me happy. 4 summers of hard labor, ripping out overgrown shrubs and cleaning up prior owner nonsense. My gardens are FINALLY in decent shape.

We are mulching this weekend, and I definitely need to trim hedges in the next couple of weeks when spring bloomers are done. I’ll also continue to add perennials over the next couple of years for color.

[L]

Not good. Hope this snow didn’t kill everything. I planted garden and a bunch of stuff on Mother’s Day.

[simpsongal]

L, I'm sorry!