It's veggie/flower gardening time again! What are you planting?

Hi Sisters! 

You know I love gardening time and I am SO ready! Working at the greenhouse/nursery is making me crazy with ideas.  They don't have many flowers and veggies outside of the traditional so I am going to a different greenhouse today where the selection is overwhelming~LOVE IT!

I am going to make some hanging baskets today. BTW~have any of you planted the double hanging baskets with the coco liners? Is there any tips or secrets I should know about planting them? Do flowers do well growing in them? It seems the top basket is much more shallow than the bottom~kind of nervous about that.

I did buy a shrub called Magnolia Jane. It is small compared to the ones growing around here, but the purple flowers on it are amazing! It isn't the tree hardy to our area which is often mistaken for a tulip tree but the scent is amazing. It is supposed to grow about 15 feet tall but right now it is a sad 18 inches tall but covered with those blossoms.

I am off to find some Brandywine tomatoes plants. There weren't any seeds in the stores or starts locally so hope to find some at the greenhouse today.

SO~what are you planting this year? Tell us all about it! Tell ME all about it...If it is hardy to my area, I may want one too! lol

HUGS

Hey Sissy!

I use the coco liners in a few of my baskets and one thing I discovered is I HAVE to soak them in a bucket of water during the week to make sure the soil gets moist. Course my bucket is filled with water only deep enough that it comes to a little under the rim of the liner/basket when I place it in to water or the soil could run out during soaking. Moss roses grow great in them, I try to keep drought friendly plants in them because when it gets real hot they do dry out fast. Or I hang them in shade areas.

I want to come and work with you in the greenhouse except I dont think I would be able to lift anything heavy like the 800 pounds of soil you did for that lady the other day, my back would be killing me. Thats what they need to hire the young kids for. LOL

My goodness what dont I have growing.......I noticed in my wild flower area there is alot of flowers that self seeded....wooooooooooooooohoooooooooo! I have 2 different types of tall grasses that I have to dig up and place in a bottomless pot and plant back in.......this curbs the roots from growing/spreading and taking over in the plots. Clemitas, have planted about 150 of the Pansey's, not sure where the different varities of Sunflowers will go yet, I have the seeds sprouting my SS sent me. Lots of Dalihas, Columbine's,Salivias( Purple, White, Coral colored) Moss roses, Latania, Hollyhocks, Gerainums and Roses. I picked up a few blue colored plants for this year but dont rememebr the names right now. Not certain what I will grow on my arches and I have tons of Ivy that need to be transplanted, I might try growing some of the ivy on one of the trellises. As far as veges go.....the usual tomatoes(couple different types and cherry), green peppers, habanaro peppers, cukes, Patty pan( new this year, my seeds havent sprouted just yet) yellow squash, snow peas, green beans, asparagus, Red onions,strawberries(3 different types), herbs( Chives, Basil, Parsley and Sage), Corn( just a few rows), Okra, and I think 2 different kinds of lettuce(no slugs yet, keeping my fingers crossed), I know there is Romain but I am not sure if hubby planted some bib lettuce and not sure if he planted cabbage. I wish we could grow avacados and lemons. :(     Other than that unless I or hubby see something else that will be it.  So I will be watching this thread for maybe some new ideas too.

Hi Lil Sis and all who want to talk about their gardens!

I will tell you something that a farmer told me yesterday at work. I don't know if this is an 'old farmer's tale' but he swears by it. If you are plagued by deer in the garden(I suppose you have to be rather rural for this, BUT) He says if you plant at least two rows of sunflowers around your garden, the deer stay away because they hate sunflowers.  I guess we will be trying that this year~now to keep the raccoon out of the sweet corn! Those little beasts know exactly when to go in and terrorize the sweet corn

ALSO, the guy at the nursery told me to make sure you put plastic in the coco liners and poke a few holes. He agreed with you about the hours of watering with them....I am still going ahead with the plan to plant it, but I am kind of nervous about it!

Today I heard about a huge greenhouse out in the middle of nowhere~more nowhere than I am!~and OMG, it was amazing! They had a few heirloom tomatoes, including the brandywine. We bought a couple called Hillbilly. From what I read about it it must be similar to the Mr. Stripey that we have with the yellow fruit with red swirls.

They had Tidal Wave petunias for 2.00 a start~so they are going at the base of the fountain this year. They had starts of hardy hibiscus and butterly bushes for 1.00! Now that made me a VERY happy gardner. I am adding a large section of butterfly bushes because the butterflies do come-and the plants get so big, it will take up a corner section and quite inexpensively! YEA!

I walked out in my garden and my flowers aren't nearly as far along as yours, Sandra. So much of our stuff is still dormant!  Except that darn Russian Sage...that stuff is growing everywhere again.

My clematis is still dormant~but I didn't trim it or anything last fall....the thing is probably 15 feet...do I trim it back or do the flowers come back on the old vine?

Speaking of vines...I have two wisteria vines to plant. I don't know that they will grow here, but do they get real woody and need a heavy support?  I am so lost with those, but they were cheap and seem to be growing in the pot I transplanted them to....

Guess I will tell you about the new roseslater~Knock Out~anyone ever grown them? Anything special I need to know?

We are expecting frost tonight, but I am preparing a bed with some new soil...you are right. This lifting soil is for the young ones! lol

HUGS, Linda

I cut my Clematis vines back to about 4 inches last fall and they are growing like crazy......you will need to trim yours back I am guessing now is as good of time as any for that.

 What great deals your finding!!!!!! I am so jealous!

Planting with the liners is so pretty you will love the look.

I would support the Wisteria but I have never grown one I did find this sight that will help.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2069810_grow-wisteria.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art

I looked on line for the roseslater and nothing came up what is it?

Frost is coming my way too but isnt suppose to hit till Monday night but we covered things up and brought all the baskets back in.

Now I know more people are gardening where are they? I just know there are some seeds out there I cant live without but dont know it yet. lol

Sandra, others will be along, I am sure.

Now I have a project for you~I am now on the lookout for a Zonal Geranium that hasn't had the main stem cut to make it bushy...I saw a geranium planting~well, two of them in this whiskey barrel and they were almost 3 feet tall and still growing. The guy told me to find a geranium, probably from a greenhouse grower, that is young and hasn't snapped the main stem. Then, as it grows, you keep cutting the side shoots as the main stem grows. So the theory is you are growing a geranium tree. When it gets the height you want, then you can let the side shoots grow. These two geraniums took up the entire barrel and were staked because they were so tall and heavy like a bush~with probably 100 blooms! The bad part, it is so hard to find the straight stems because they go to other greenhouses from the grower already clipped.

Sounds pretty good, huh?

You ladies are making me jealous with all this talk about flowers!  I dearly love flowers but know nothing about them.  I'm lucky to know a daffodil from a tulip!  I do know what a wisteria is and I would absolutely love to have one, but they are so pricey in the catalogs I get.  I have 3 flower beds but I go to the market around Mother's Day and pick out the pretty ones and bring them home to plant them.  Just don't EVER ask me what they are lol.  DH don't like perennials because he don't think the flowers last very long so I have to plant annuals (do I sound like a pro??) because they flower all summer and fall.

I have been in the veggie gardens this weekend.  I have the "vine" garden all planted with squash, burpless cukes and regular cukes.  I got 3 kinds of tomatoes in, 3 kinds of peppers, cabbage, cauliflower, dill and basil today.  We're supposed to have rain for the next 3 days so the seeds will have to wait until the end of the week.  My asparagus is coming up but it is very thin and spindly - I wish some would come up that is big enough to eat!  I'll be picking rhubarb in about a week and my strawberries are taking over the pyramid we put in last year.  They are looking great.

Do you ladies know much about rhubarb.  All I know is that I planted it and it grows.  I pick it and cook it lol.  I have 2  plants and one is not a very big plant.  The other is a huge plant every year and usually gets one of those hollow flower stalks in it and I have to cut it out.  This year it had 5 of them already.  Someone told me the plant is bad and I need to dig it up and replant.  I really hate to do this because that plant produces most of my rhubarb!  Is there any way to stop this from happening or do I just live with it???

Happy gardening!

Laurie

 Laurie,Don't you just love a good rhubarb pie? My rhubarb is about ready to pick. I have a few plants where the stalks don't get too long and I always pick them first. I have another plant that is just not doing well and never has. I guess it is just like with other plants, why does this one grow but not that one. You could try digging it up and replanting it~just don't harvest it for a couple years. You also need to top dress the rhubarb in the spring and fall with a little manure and/or compost. Rhubarb really seems to draw and deplete the nutrients fast. Do you remove those seed stalks that grow from the center? As soon as those appear, remove them because when the seed stalks grow, it stops the stalks from growing.

Laurie, be sure to tell Sandra about the patty pan squash~you grow that and bet you even have some great recipes for her!

Sandra, our area can't grow okra~and I have only tasted it in gumbo in New Orleans....You have a longer growing period so you can grow things we can't even think of! I do know that when I cooked frozen okra, no one wanted anything to do with it. For one thing, the kids had no idea what it was and I had no idea what it was supposed to taste like!

Sandra~you won't believe these little wisteria vines...are you ready? lol  They were in those little boxes at Aldi's for 2.98! lol  I had tried a couple expensive ones before and they died the first year. I brought them home and planted them in some gardening pots and they are two feet tall! At least if they go on to the garden in the sky, I am not out much this time. I was reading that I probably won't see blooms for seven years so I may not even live long enough to see them if the vines live.  We we vacationed last year down through your area to TX they were all over! Some of the prettiest and established ones I saw were in MO, AR, and OK....Some were even grown into trees instead of vines and they put on an outstanding show. I am just going to be thankful if they live a few years~geesh, the climate sure makes a difference for some of these plants. We tried Crepe Myrtle and our area freezes them out the first winter~and yet the nurseries keep getting them in and people still buy them.

 I also have my plants for the double hanging coco liners...I am going with pink and white non stop begonias and sutera with lime green leaves(those are AWESOME) and some of the super-trailing purple verbena...Now that ought to be a site, don't you think? lol and LOTS of plastic! YIKES, I don't want that to dry out~DH have me the hanger for my birthday so I really don't want him to think it was a bad idea or that I can't use them! lol

The Knock Out Rose has been around for a few years but fairly new to our area. There are a few in stores and they would disappear. This year that is all our place got in for roses except for a couple skids of tea roses. I listen to what people say about them but other than resistant and hardy, no one seems to know very much. I am going to give them a try~they sure are pretty little things and the double pink that I got seems to have a slight scent where I can't get anything out of the red ones. Anyway, I am going to plant them either side of my big Venus so we will see what happens in our 'enhanced' hard clay soil.

http://www.theknockoutrose.com/moreroses.cfm

Going to cut that clematis back today~they don't usually live for me so this was a surprise and now don't know what to do with it.

People here don't have good luck with pansey's! And those cute little violas have issues, too. Those seemto only do well in spring and early summer~the head guy at the nursery told me that unless I was planning on putting them in baskets, don't bother this late in the year. I still don't understand that~I just loved those little yellow and deep blue violas with their intoxicating scent!

Have another question~have you ever planted those big bulbs~the mammoth elephant ear caladiums?  I now have some of those for the big urns around the driveway and garden. It was just getting too expensive to plant them and those bulbs are supposed to grow to 5 feet....any suggestions on container planting for them?

Gosh, I think I am trying too many 'new' things this year and I just might get overwhelmed.

Linda

Well it just so happens I know someone who works at a greenhouse....boooowahhha

Doesnt that sound beautiful! How many years does it take is my question? I have one zonal I have had for years and when I read this I ran in to check the middle stem.........:(   its not straight. dang it!

I can see it now when I see some I will be checking each and everyone for that "special" one.

Laurie~ What type is your asparagus? I have 2 types one that comes up thin and the other comes up fatter. I know a little about rhubarb, I love eating it raw, hubby wont let me grow any. How long have you had your plants? They say every 2 to 3 years your need to dig them up, break them up and replant. Early Spring is the best time to do that but I think now is ok too. I have read you cant stop the hollowing. I know you hate to upset the larger plant but I think it's telling you its getting a little crowded in its space.

off for now

Sandra

 Now don't everybody laugh at once but.... I plant fake flowers. Seriously. I used to plant real flowers all the time but.... the hard rains knocked petals off, squirrels constantly eating the flowers, every weekend i was weeding, I either under or over watered, and very rarely could sit outside due to the bees drawn in by the fragrant flowers. Plus, i don't have a green thumb like some people.

 So, I go to AC Moore, Wal-Mart, or any discount store and gather up an armful of different colors and styles.... take them home and push them into the ground all over my property and enjoy the beauty without all the fuss. When summer is over, I pull them up, clean them up and use them for centerpieces on my tables or when I visit relatives graves.

I pick the brightest ones I can find and always get comments on my 'beautiful' flowers. LOL!

Other than that, I do plant 1 plant each of green peppers, cucumbers, pumpkins, and grape tomatoes. I have very limited space. I also have 3 small rose bushes too.

Hi LindA and everyone!

LindA, sounds like you are enjoying that Greenhouse!  I LOVE Greenhouses!!  I'm like a little kid in a candy store! 

We use to grow a garden...very Large, I might add...now?  It's sewn down with grass and DH doesn't want to plant another one.  Easier to mow than hoe, he says...me??  I'm a canner...so now I have to go the the local markets to get what I want can up for the winter months.  **sigh**

But, I do have a huge Senator Dunnlap Strawberry bed that I replanted last spring.  I have Blackberry bushes and Blueberry bushes, Concord Grapes, Gooseberry Bushes, Peach Raspberries.  Apple Trees and Peach trees.  I'm on the look out for a really hearty Pear tree.  We grow our own Asparagus and have a very Large bunch of rhubarb. 

Laurie, my grandmother told me that when the rhubarb "seeds", just break the stalk out of the rhubarb.  It will be fine.  Also, when it is picked to thin out, if you run your lawn mower over it, it WILL come back toward the end of summer...mine does every year.

LindA, I love hibiscus!!  I planted some in an old claw bathtub in our back yard, they were beautiful until the Squirrels got to the bulbs!!  I would love to have a butterfly bush.  I have a Clematis that went dormant for a while, but I watered it alot and if finally came back last year.  My alltime favorite flower is Columbine and panseys/violas.  I have 2 whiskey barrels that I plant different flowers and vines in, they turn out beautiful every year.  Have you ever seen a perenial Geranium?  I have one, it's a beautiful purple.  Our house is surrounded by purple and white Lilac bushes.  These bushes are older than I am and are about 15 foot tall.  My crocus's are almost in bloom and our driveway is lined with peony's..one year they are white, the next they are a beautiful peachy pink and one year they were real dark pink!!  I love bleeding hearts, roses and tulips, the more perenials that I can plant, the better...

I'm so glad that you started this thread!!  I would love to see the greenhouse that you work in!  I'm hoping to visit the ones in our area this weekend.

Dee-bug

i'm not allowed to plant anything in my very small yard  and i have a black thumb to boot so it wouldn't do me any good  lol

ladyUni

I planted mine last weekend.  We planted 39 tomato plants (Better Boy, Better Bush, and I forgot the third kind), 22 pepper plants (California Wonder bell, banana peppers, big chili pepper, Anaheim peppers, and mild jalapeno peppers), two rows of okra, four mounds of squash, and two mounds of cucumbers.  Six of my tomato plants and two of my peppers have died.  I may have used to much fertilizer or it could have been from the hard rain.  We are going to wait a month and then replace those plants so maybe when all the other plants quit producing, we will still have these that will be planted later. 

I have two rose bushes and a Wisteria plant.  I planted the Wisteria last year and thought it died over the winter but it didn't.  Hopefully it will grow enough this year that it will have blooms next year.  It's in the middle of my yard away from all trees so I'm looking forward to the blooms.  I think they are so beautiful. 

Hi Ladies~

I started out with a black thumb, but I made up my mind that I was going to learn to grow a flower. Our ground was a big drawback because it is old hard clay.

Dee, we don't do the garden like we used to when the kids were all home. I don't  put up much any more, but I might reconsider with some veggies this winter.

Also, Dee~you mentioned gooseberries! My aunt used to bring gooseberry pies over to my dad when I was young. That was such a treat! I remember she brought gooseberries in a container for my mom to make a pie and I tasted one. It was SO tart! I couldn't believe pie could be so good coming from something like that. Occasionally I would see it on a restaurant menu around here but they have completely disappeared. It must be like rhubarb~you either love it or hate it. lol  I used to have about an acre of strawberries. I would put up what we needed but would sell the rest. Those strawberries were Robinson and All Star and I couldn't replace them from anywhere! At least they grew but I have replanted twice since then and I only get a few quarts. And yes, I have perennial geraniums. I have taken starts from them and plant them to fill in where others have not grown. Some day I imagine my whole flower garden will be those because they are just so hardy. I have tried different flowers and somethings just DON'T grow for me. It has to be the soil. Would you believe I can't get lilacs to live and peonies will not grow. My neighbor said any ground will grow lilacs and has given me start after start~now she is convinced there is something in the soil that isn't right.

Sandra, I have looked all over for a straight stem Zonal and I am told that the nurseries clip them while they are young so they will get bushy. I guess will have to start looking in January when they start planting their plugs and request a couple. I would love to try it!

Now my Black Lace plant survived it's first winter! It is going to be real bushy~the rabbits kept eating it to the ground last year. It will probably be very deformed. We had another heavy frost last night so I will have to go out in a couple days and see what the damage is. I didn't plant anything I got on Sunday because we knew this was coming. I know we will have to cover stuff one more time, but now it is time to plant it or it won't get much of a start.

The plumcot tree has been in blossom but the apples haven't started. Our peach trees died last year~it was such a rough summer from late frosts to drought. They never snapped out of it.

The greenhouse I work at is small compared to the big ones but they sure have a nice simple variety. Yesterday I had to get everything that would die in the frost in there~I was completely worn out from hauling it in, rearranging and the like.  When I got home I could have cried, I was so tired! Now I am off again this morning~I want to work in my OWN garden! lol

Linda

On the elephant ear bulbs........we have been growing them along the shadey side of the house and they take ALOT of water being bog plants. Yep they would get over 5 ft tall and droop down, I've never grown them in pots(but I know you can I have seen it). They dont like direct sun, I'll check downstairs and see how many I have(we keep them in a big rubbermaid tote). Are you needing a few bulbs Linda? I think I could send them through the mail couldnt I? Let me know, that way you could expermint more. I know we wont be planting alot of them this year.

Ahhhhhhhhhh my passion.. gardening. All of my bulbs are up and blooming. The tulips are about ready to bloom any day now. We started from seed impatiens, geraniums, coleus, moss roses, vincas, pansies, violas, and have been planting the containers in the garage & moving them to our small greenhouse, until it's safe to place them outside.We have started most of the veggies from seed as well. Tomatoes: Celebrity is our fav. They are soooooo sweet and juicy and low in seeds, very meaty. Also some beefsteak and big boy and early girl. We tried a new one this year called 4th of July??? Also from seed we have peppers of every type from green bell to spicy hot habaneros. We have planted the radishes, onion plants, onion sets, cabbage & lettuce. Later we will add the tomatoes & peppers along with egg plant, zuchinni, acorn squash, and cucumbers. I need to get to work....but I'll post a picture of some of the blooming plants tonight, if I have the energy to go out to oneof the beds and snap a shot!!!

WELCOME SPRING!!!!