A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall Gardener's Chat What did you do in the garden today? Part 4....

I did nothing this weekend and the rain is pouring down today.....

they scare me everytime I see one, we got like a ton of rain over the week end and I guess that's what had them all stired up

Snakes don't scare me but spiders...geez they just give me the shivers.

Above is the corner that I had to fix up to plant the cacti that Lynne was sending to me. I cleaned out all the grass that was between the house and the AC unit. Can yo see how much my hen & chicks have spread since last year???



Above is the cacti that Lynne was so gracious to send me.- -I am hoping that the Hen & Chicks will get along well.

Looking good Carol!!! I hope they grow well for you and flower next summer!

are those prickley pear cactus? if so, you got way too many for there

that's a pricky pear under that window and every year it gets 2 times as big

Well I finally got something accomplished out there. I'm very proud of myself. I got 6 of the zinnias planted and about 16 sq ft weeded. Not that 16 sq ft is a patch on what all needs to be done but it is a start.

Hey Suzydaze I didn't realize that our homes looked so much alike. That is really cool.

I better water my veggies today.

Good work Tammy, slow and steady.

Didn't do much the past few days but I see my tame berries are almost ripe. yay.

Belinda---I am not sure of its name---but hey--it is what it is---I'll deal with the excess later--

last night I trimmmed grass around my patio blocks and also some in the dog pens (that is usually my DH's job.)--oh, I watered some too.

I hear you there, I had one got so big I scrapped it all off and took it all out. you may not have that problem since your in a cooler climit

I really like mine...lots of room.

I've got to get out soon and water everything, taking ashley to the water park later today

This morning I mulched my herb garden,--(I need to weed the asperagus bed again tonight)
put super thrive on my 3 maple trees, Watered some flowers & put bloom booster on some of my flowers and some of my bushes.--
last but not least I put some vinegar on some of my weeds----after I buy another spray bottle today I am going to spray some weeds with ammonia. WE will see which works best on Illinois weeds.

I know what you mean about room. I rattle around in my home. But I may be getting a roommate. That would be really cool.

Today I planted another 14 zinnias. I'd have done the rest but I have to weed first. don't I always lol. They are planted between a full sun hosta and a part shade hosta. Both of which came from a friend and have not been happy this year. Hopefully next year they will do much better.

The Gypsy pepper is all orange so it won't be more than a day or two before it is ripe and I can pick it. I'm looking forward to trying it. I'm looking for the perfect sweet pepper. I hope this is it.

I also harvested 8 more purple and white Gladiolus seed pods. I hope these are all fertile. Does anyone know if these seeds will sprout using the damp paper towel method? I want to know now rather than find out next year when I don't get any sprouts. Hate to be disappointed.

tk I would say try sprouting them in wet paper towel now, because I know amny perennial seeds if sowed really fresh will not need to go through stratification to germinate. Or the other choice may be to wintersow them of direct sow in fall. Glad seeds are papery with a lump in the middle

Thanks Kenny that's what I have.

Today I got the electric chain saw out of the box read all the directions and then pruned the tree I'm working under. It keep slapping me in the face so it was time lol. Then I weeded another 16 feet of the tree bed and planted another 10 zinnia. That brings the total out there to 30.

I got so busy out there that I forgot I was boiling water to pour on the weeds in the walkway. So by the time I got to the pot half of the water had boiled away lol. You understand that that means the bleach didn't work all that well either. So we are back to the boiling water that at least works alittle bit. Even though it takes multiple applications where the weeds are very thick.

Anyway after I dug up the weeds I got out the rake and smoothed out the area pushing the soil that had migrated to the bottom of the bed back up where it was thinner. Some of the rains we've had have been heavy.

I've also finished staking all of the landscape timbers so that they won't move or topple over. Along with that I managed to rescue all of the yogurt cups that had fallen into the back yard from the deck. Fortunately they were all the empty ones rather than ones with seedlings in them.

So today it wasn't the heat that drove me indoors. I just got tired. Hopefully if I can keep pushing the envelope it will get to where I can go for several hours without stopping. that would be great.

I tilled my new bed yesterday and today I wanted to get the border up, but it's already too hot to get out today

I picked tame berries today and weeded a bit.

I watered my garden and prepared a new row.

Hey em what's going to go in the new row?

wtg tamara and suzy.

I transplanted the rest of the zinnia to the garden bed for a total of 26 plants in three rows. They are going to look great when they start blossoming. Weeded another 16 sq ft. Watered the transplants and raked the weeded part of the bed smooth. I really need my groundcovers to take off so they can hold the soil in place. Every rain I get moves the soil all around.

I also transplanted my 7 mini chocolate peppers into larger cups. We'll see which ones survive my mishandling.

Then I planted the last of the plants I got from Juanita when I moved. I have no clue what they are but they've survived being in a pot and uncared for for over a month so they deserve to be planted. And the hole left from the dead azalea was an exact fit for the pot so that is where they went.

So much to do.

Wow, TK you're certainly on a roll.

Your yard sounds like it's really coming along

I wish. It's still mostly weeds. And rocks. And weeds.

But I do what I can each day and then I sleep. Right now I don't have any energy to get out there again. I wish I did. There is so much to do.

Well today the Dwarf Curled Italian Parsley was the first thing to get sown. I have 3 other parsley cultivators selected for planting but between the heat and the dive bombing wasp i decided to come in.

I'll start on them early tomorrow morning before he gets up and the heat gets going.

I pruned my tomatoe plants...that's it. Gotta get digging this week end.

looked sadly ad my tomato plant. that one green tomato has been the same size the whole month of July.
its looking like fried green tomato lunch to me----

and then I watered things this am as well.

and oops--there were the Mock Orange cuttings I took yeseterday-----

I planted some corn and watered the garden once more.

Weeded the veggie garden, took down the fencing I had around it.

Looked over my garden beds...they are in such a disaray(sp?)....I need to thin them out. They are all getting overgrown. Gee who ever though that when they say plant 6 feet apart that they really meant it?

My dad planterd some squash and watermelon too close to each other and they grew all over the place.

Today I tied some tomatoes to their stakes and began preparing some more beds which will double the size of my garden.

MOCK ORANGE CUTTINGS!!!!!!!! REALLY?

I love mock orange is there anything I can trade you for a mock orange cutting? I'm prepared to be generous here. I really am. I love those. Is it a single or a double bloom huh huh huh. Inquiring minds want to know. Tell all please.

Hey Em you doubled your garden space that is wonderful. That must have be a tiring task.

Hey Tamara. I'm so trying not to over plant as well. I take my measuring tape out with me to make sure I am doing it right. Now I just have to remember to also allow for a path for me so I can weed as needed in the cultivated areas. I'm not small and I'm very clutzy so I really have to allow room for me to sit down and work.

My garden is small,but the new bed made it bigger.IO have plans to dig another bed which will TRIPLE the size of my garden.I'm just getting ready for fall.

Enrique that is the best way to do gardening. Spend the time to prepare the soil and then plant. I usually get it backwards lol.

I plant and then try to make the bed around the plant. Doesn't work at all well but there it is.

Yesterday I found a source for Horse and chicken manure. Can't wait to start loading it up and taking it to my place. Unfortuately I only have 2 10 gallon buckets with lids. I need those because I don't have a pick up and I wouldn't want to carry them unlidded.

But it means that I can finally get two more layers on the sidewalk bed that I am working on. And that is cool.

And I'm going to use the horse manure over where I want to put the veggie garden next year. I can't wait to get started.

tk, rubbermaid bins with lids work well. that's what the carriage place told me here. i need to start getting some from them. glad you reminded me.

I don't think I would use my rubbermaid bins. They are too good for that. I store my other soil amendments in them. Along with other stuff. But I do have a big trash can with a lid. I'll have to see if it will stand up in my vehicle. No that won't work. Once I got it loaded with manure I'd never be able to lift it. I guess I'll just have to do it alittle bit at a time. Ok well, that's probably all I could do in one setting anyway.

Thanks for the thought, though it is a good one. Maybe I could line the rubbermaid with a trash bag. Hummmmmmmm. Think think think. Thanks for the suggestion Jiffy.

that is what i'll be doing is lining them with the black garbage bags, then taking the bags out and letting it age in the bags.

Never did a thing, it rained here back and forth all day.

This morning before I left the house I planted three containers of Lime Basil and three Containers of Lemon Basil. I've never grown either one and I'm curious to see how they look and taste. I also watered my purple ruffled basil because it looked so droopy. It hasn't improved any so I'll go out there this evening and give it even more water.

........still raining. I'm thinking we are getting the tail end of a hurricane or something...it's pretty nasty out today.

I watered my flowers and gave them bloom booster. then I went out and bought some concrete edging blocks for the dog pen & I found a mounded primrose plant on sale--$3.33. I so hope it makes it this late in the summer.

cool...I watered this morning too hot for anything else.