Garden Club V: Herbs, Vegetables, and Blooms

[Cayla]

Yesterday...

I finally cleared out the area in the backyard for the new patio. I also weeded the front flower bed, and planted petunias, marigolds, and an arborvitae shrub.

On my balcony, I planted a cucumber plant, more basil, and new guinea impatients.

[RJDiogenes]

My Mother's purple flowers bloomed and are now unblooming.

[scottydog]

On my balcony, I planted a cucumber plant, more basil, and new guinea impatients.

I need to suggest to The Wife that we plant cucumbers. What color are your impatients?

My Mother's purple flowers bloomed and are now unblooming.

Do you know what kind of flowers? I wonder if they're rhododendron.

[RJDiogenes]

Not Rhododendrons and not the Peonies-- somebody here once identified them, but I can't remember. I'll see if I can find a picture in my archives or take a new one next Saturday, if they are still alive.

[scottydog]

^^ Sounds good. I'm not sure what flowers and flowering shrubs grow in your area. My guess is that you have some varieties that Richmond doesn't have, and vice-versa.

[Madeliaette]

finally...a whole bag of strawbs cropped at the plot. YUMMO! here is a pic of todays gatherings....i only stayed 20 mins as it started to rain

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Sounds good. I'm not sure what flowers and flowering shrubs grow in your area. My guess is that you have some varieties that Richmond doesn't have, and vice-versa.

Here they are, from a couple of years ago:

finally...a whole bag of strawbs cropped at the plot. YUMMO! here is a pic of todays gatherings....i only stayed 20 mins as it started to rain

Yummo indeed. Those grapes look mouth watering.

[scottydog]

finally...a whole bag of strawbs cropped at the plot. YUMMO! here is a pic of todays gatherings....i only stayed 20 mins

Those look delicious! Are they nice and sweet?

Those are hibiscus! We have those in our yard, too

[Madeliaette]

Those grapes look mouth watering

grapes? thats gooseberries!!!!!!!!

[Cayla]

I have a couple of cherry tomatoes that are ripe. This is quite early, but I cheated by buying a plant with a few tomatoes already on it.

[RJDiogenes]

Those are hibiscus! We have those in our yard, too

Hibiscus, of course. How could I forget?

grapes? thats gooseberries!!!!!!!!

In the little bag? Well, they still look mouth watering.

I have a couple of cherry tomatoes that are ripe. This is quite early, but I cheated by buying a plant with a few tomatoes already on it.

You get a commendation for original thinking.

[Elara]

18 plants started. 8 peppers (2 Lilac, 2 yellow, 2 orange and 2 red). 4 Bonny Bell tomatoes, 2 White Tomesol tomatoes, 2 Atomic Grape tomatoes. 2 eggplants. A full month later, nothing. So I tried again. A week later, one plant came up. Waited, no more came up. So another week later, I planted two new seeds in 17 pots. I ended up with 3 plants in some, 2 in others and two pots only had one, but only one pot had just the one planting because it was the only one that came up first planting.
Bad luck on the plants. They did well, but the tomatoes have so far had a lot of blossom end rot. The eggplant never really grew, it's up about a foot tall. The yellow, orange, lilac and red peppers are finally producing, the green have done great.Potatoes did not do well, just tiny things. I'm thinking I need new potatoes. I've been using old ones from the year before and I am wondering if that is the problem since they did great the first couple of years. No idea on the sweet potatoes. I planted slips and whole, sprouted potatoes. I wanted to see if there was a difference in how they produced.
Two of the mini crocus that I moved last fall bloomed, but all 7 from the group at the old house came up. Two pea-sized bulbs that I moved from where they were in this bed to the new spot, came up, and the big one, which I accidentally cut in almost half, and moved from the round bed came up, sprouting two plants. The 2 pea-sized bulbs were still in the old spot, being crowded out by the Lily of the Valley, and they haven't bloomed in... 10 years? Meanwhile, the big one didn't bloom after I moved it, but it grew from the tiny pea-size to the size of a boulder (in marbles).
I really want to dig that up, see what happened there, I mean, I cut it apart and put it back together. Did the smaller part rot? Did it heal back together? Why two plants? I spent the month, since the others came up, hoping for this one to survive, and now that it has, I want to know what happened, but I know I can't touch it, I need to let it just do it's thing. Maybe check it this fall, or not.
Went over to mark the tulips, found four and one marked from last year, but nothing up back in May. They did come up later, so I got them marked, though they are deep in the raspberries. Found a crocus growing in the dirt where I dug up the others. I'm not surprised. Checked again, to see if the mini iris might be there. Never saw one, but I'm going to dig the area up just in case.
The pink Morning Glory I rooted and planted last year, came up. It's in a planter, so can't spread. And next to the also contained, Lily of the Valley, which I only have because it came from my grandparents.
Carrots and radishes did okay, squash has been 50/50 with only some doing well. Strawberries really got hit hard with the drought this year, lost about half of my plants.
Built a new raised bed, still adding composted horse poop to it, so not planted this year.
Basically, gardening not so great this year.

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that. I wonder why that is. The drought or side effects of the drought? It seems that there must be some common thread.

But "Atomic Grape" excites me. "Here I come to save the dayyyyy!"

[scottydog]

Basically, gardening not so great this year.

Probably due to heat and drought, right? Are you able to manually water these flowers and veggies throughout the summer?

[Cayla]

I put my croton, sago palm, and jasmine outside for the summer.