Gardening: 2002-2009 Seasons

maggiethecat · March 26, 2003

(I have flax, canterbury bells, delphiniums, and lavender started in the sunroom--about 50 of each, if I don't kill em dead.)

Be still my heart! If even half survive, you'll be fine! Canterbury bells.....sigh.

I've lost my glasses and am begging eGulleteers to help me find them. When I do, I can give your post the attention it deserves.

Hopleaf · March 26, 2003

I told you where to find them Maggie. If not in the Alpha, then in the MG for sure.

snowangel · March 26, 2003

I think what I am looking for is some kind of evil thug plant that will take over the empty spaces and look nice with no work involved for me--that's easy, isn't it?

I may have written about this before, but I wanted something under our swing/playground set. I couldn't keep grass going under the swings, and I was tired of the mud being tracked into the house. So, I planted some creeping, low thyme -- the one I chose is a lemony thyme, so as their feet brush against it, it releases a lovely aroma. It has done a great job of filling in, and is tough stuff.

Hopleaf · March 26, 2003

I think what I am looking for is some kind of evil thug plant that will take over the empty spaces and look nice with no work involved for me--that's easy, isn't it?

I may have written about this before, but I wanted something under our swing/playground set. I couldn't keep grass going under the swings, and I was tired of the mud being tracked into the house. So, I planted some creeping, low thyme -- the one I chose is a lemony thyme, so as their feet brush against it, it releases a lovely aroma. It has done a great job of filling in, and is tough stuff.

that's fantastic. would that also work well as a fill-in for a flagstone path? do you think?

snowangel · March 26, 2003

I think what I am looking for is some kind of evil thug plant that will take over the empty spaces and look nice with no work involved for me--that's easy, isn't it?

I may have written about this before, but I wanted something under our swing/playground set. I couldn't keep grass going under the swings, and I was tired of the mud being tracked into the house. So, I planted some creeping, low thyme -- the one I chose is a lemony thyme, so as their feet brush against it, it releases a lovely aroma. It has done a great job of filling in, and is tough stuff.
that's fantastic. would that also work well as a fill-in for a flagstone path? do you think?

Absolutely. I got the idea from a gardening center where it was planted in between flagstones!

JSD · March 26, 2003

The previous owners of this old house started a garden on a very steep little slope just outside the back door. Not much soil--kind of gravelly clay. South east facing, so it is kinda hot and dry.
I think what I am looking for is some kind of evil thug plant that will take over the empty spaces and look nice with no work involved for me--that's easy, isn't it?

How about Mexican primroses? They spread, like dry soil and fill in the empty spaces.

Regarding the earlier post about growing lettuce in pots: Around here, it gets pretty hot in summer and the lettuce bolts early. Growing lettuce in pots if you're in a cool climate would probably work, but if it's hot, pots get hotter than the ground, and the lettuce would probably bolt sooner. Arugula seems not to mind the hot, and so it would probably do better in pots.

guajolote · March 26, 2003

Regarding the earlier post about growing lettuce in pots: Around here, it gets pretty hot in summer and the lettuce bolts early. Growing lettuce in pots if you're in a cool climate would probably work, but if it's hot, pots get hotter than the ground, and the lettuce would probably bolt sooner. Arugula seems not to mind the hot, and so it would probably do better in pots.

I was just going to grow the lettuce in the spring. I can only get decent lettuce at the farmer's market in May, June, Sep., and Oct. around here anyway, so I know it won't do well in the hot months. I'm going to give it a shot, I have very little to lose.

Thanks

sparrowgrass · March 27, 2003

JSD, I bought some seeds for a pink primrose that says it likes hot dry poor soil--don't know if they speak spanish or not.

JSD · March 27, 2003

This is the plant I suggested. Around here, a very hot dry climate, it blooms all summer. It will spread, so if that's a problem, you might not like it.

Click here for a picture of Mexican Primrose

Nick · March 27, 2003

If you're planting lettuce, definitely try some "Buttercrunch." Susie started planting it four or five years ago and neither of us have had such good lettuce. It's a semi-heading variety and many seasons after it bolts in the fall and goes to seed, it comes up the next spring just as fine as ever.

Before posting I did a search on it (to make sure it's not too obscure) and came up with this great link.

Hopleaf · March 27, 2003

what does that P stand for in P. Allen Smith? I've seen that before with other gardeners in the public eye? Is that a coincidence or is it a designation of some sort, maybe signifying an educational degree or something?

it's probably just an initial for Paul, but I thought I'd ask.

JSD · March 31, 2003

I had planted lettuce, spinach and carrots, and they've all come up!!! Today, I thinned them a little bit. Last year we grew carrots for the first time, and I highly recommend them. They were a million times better than carrots from the store. They were so good that my son actually got angry when I offered them to guests.

snowangel · April 4, 2003

OK, everyone. It's raining ice (prelude to snow -- 3-6" predicted). My daffodils are up -- I measured today, and they are somewhere between 1/16-1/8" high. There is no green grass, no buds on trees, no whatever that gets a gardener's blood going. I think I have espied a mite of action in my oriental poppies. Vegetables? A dream, only.

I'm just about to cry. Please, Santa, come! I need green, but bad. I'm beginning to think that when we go to the cabin for the first time (mid-May) there will still be ice on the lake.

:sad: :sad: :sad:

Jim Dixon · April 4, 2003

The Dixon clan left Illinois in 1853 because they couldn't get the arugula to sprout in April. At least I think that's why, but I'm happy they ended up here in Oregon where I can keep the vegetable garden sort of green and productive most of the winter.

This week I clipped some beet greens from the chioggias I left in the ground last fall, thinned out the overwintered arugula and cavolo nero, thinned some young salad cress seeded in February, and cut stalks of cardoon.

The shallots and garlic I planted in late October are getting taller, so I can start thinking about garlic scapes in a month or so. I just discovered a fat leek under one of the artichokes that is ready to eat.

It helps that this winter was incredibly mild and dry (la nina, they say), but even in an average year we rarely see extended hard freezing.

So even though there's a town back there with my name on it, I'm staying here.

Jim

Hopleaf · April 4, 2003

OK, everyone. It's raining ice (prelude to snow -- 3-6" predicted). My daffodils are up -- I measured today, and they are somewhere between 1/16-1/8" high. There is no green grass, no buds on trees, no whatever that gets a gardener's blood going. I think I have espied a mite of action in my oriental poppies. Vegetables? A dream, only.
I'm just about to cry. Please, Santa, come! I need green, but bad. I'm beginning to think that when we go to the cabin for the first time (mid-May) there will still be ice on the lake.

snowangel, rest assured that green grass, budding trees and April showers are on their way up north. It's already happening in Chicago, so it's bound to hit you next week. So, don't despair. And certainly don't cry.

It'll be green before you know it. I always say that us Midwesterners really appreciate the seasons because of the extremes we endure year round. Six or 7 months down the line you'll be eagerly anticipating the first winter snowfall (but don't think of that yet!!).

:biggrin:

Nick · April 5, 2003

My daffodils are up -- I measured today, and they are somewhere between 1/16-1/8" high. There is no green grass, no buds on trees, .....

No green grass or buds on trees here either. But I haven't been so desperate as to measure daffodils - yet. Now I'm going to have to go out and cast about for signs of daffodils and crocus.

But, it's supposed to snow tomorrow. :sad:

Hopleaf · April 8, 2003

But, it's supposed to snow tomorrow.

It did. :sad:

snowangel · April 8, 2003

We miraculously escaped the band of snow that blanketed a good portion of the Midwest yesterday. It is 55, brilliantly sunny.

A quick perusal of my garden reveals that I HAVE RHUBARB NUBS!

I will begin my spring ritual of getting up extra early and having my coffee outside, checking what's growing, how much it is growing...those quiet moments before the kids get up.

suzilightning · April 9, 2003

OK, everyone. It's raining ice (prelude to snow -- 3-6" predicted). My daffodils are up -- I measured today, and they are somewhere between 1/16-1/8" high. There is no green grass, no buds on trees, no whatever that gets a gardener's blood going. I think I have espied a mite of action in my oriental poppies. Vegetables? A dream, only.
I'm just about to cry. Please, Santa, come! I need green, but bad. I'm beginning to think that when we go to the cabin for the first time (mid-May) there will still be ice on the lake.

i have spent all day (at regular intervals) going out and removing the ice and snow we got yesterday- my mama always said that her daffodils had to be snowed on three times before they could bloom - my king alfreds now have been and they are up and in bud. my snow crocuses are now covered with snow with just the tips of the tallest ones poking out from the ice shelland my grape hyacints are totally buried - more ice glaze tonight :angry:

cold with rain all week - now i see why they tell all the new people who move in around here don't put your pansies out till mid may at the earliest

Hopleaf · April 9, 2003

We miraculously escaped the band of snow that blanketed a good portion of the Midwest yesterday. It is 55, brilliantly sunny.
A quick perusal of my garden reveals that I HAVE RHUBARB NUBS!
I will begin my spring ritual of getting up extra early and having my coffee outside, checking what's growing, how much it is growing...those quiet moments before the kids get up.

Well, it's about time the weather cooperated with you. I told you it was coming.

Thankfully, we're melting today. Now I can see what sort of destruction this untimely snowfall caused. I did have some stuff coming up. Some little snowdrops and a couple of orange flowers that were about to open before the snow came. And my hydrangeas are heavily weighted down with this wet, sticky snow. Hopefully they're ok.

Nick · April 9, 2003

The last snow has melted and I measured my daffodils. They're up a good 2 1/2" - 3".

Snowangel - what have you gotten me into? I've never measured daffodils before now. :unsure: :biggrin:

jackal10 · April 9, 2003

Hope springs enternal.

Planted more Raspberry canes (Autimn Gold and Autumn Bliss) in the new fruit cage.

Also purple (Jaquama) and white (Gijnlim - RHS award of Merit) Asparagus crowns

stellabella · April 9, 2003

I HAVE RHUBARB NUBS!

i share in your joy. there was a time when i actually used to bellow in a monstrous voice, upon discovering a tiny nub of green pushing it's way through the muck, "It's ALIIIIIVE!"

it's been raining for three days and my ox-eye daisies are fixin to bloom. we have dutch iris blooming as well as the sturdier, invasive bearded iris, which will reach their peak in about a week.