Anyone else Planting gardens/flowers?

[anisa]

I've only planted a row of dutch onions for the green onions, and another row that will wait until the fall to harvest big onions...our chives, tarragon survived the winter and are flourishing, and hubby has basil growing in our Eurogarden like last year. We'll be putting in sage also since I love having 'fresh' frozen basil and sage all winter. Other than that, we picked up packages of bulbs today: gladiolas, stargazer lilies (my favourite for their intense scent!), dahlias, and somethingelseiforget. We'll put them in tomorrow if it's not pouring. We transplanted 15 feet of hostas from our DD's home that were on two sides of their old toolshed (our old toolshed), and put them along one side of our deck..it'll soften it so nicely.

Other than that, we have 4 deck planters, and 5 hanging planters to plant, and hubby's on the hunt for something called "million bells"...So...so far, that's about it....Oh. And we also picked up seeds for a pumpkin for our grandson, and radishes...probably mini tomatoes, will go in also, since I love grazing on them in the summer....that should be it....

are you sure? i mean, it sounds like you're not doing much of anything over there! ;p

i hope you find your million bells... just by the name it sounds lovely

[marstec]

Lynn,

Million Bells is also known as Calibrachoa. I buy mine at Costco in the 4" pots (in a three pack). They are further along than the small starts you can get at the big box stores, so you will end up with a much better planter in the long run. They come in several wonderful colours...I'm partial to the red myself.

[Lynn49]

Lynn,

Million Bells is also known as Calibrachoa. I buy mine at Costco in the 4" pots (in a three pack). They are further along than the small starts you can get at the big box stores, so you will end up with a much better planter in the long run. They come in several wonderful colours...I'm partial to the red myself.

Thank you so much! Did you recently purchase them at Costco? I'm going to let my hubby know, and he'll probably head straight over there in the morning, it's only a few blocks away. We bought our petunias there last year and they were fantastic. But you just have to keep going and going, hoping to catch them...Thanks again, Hon!

[DaveP]

my dad did orange trees from mandarin seeds i think. about a couple of yrs ago. they wold strictly be indoor plants i guess, but they looked nice!

Citrus trees are beautiful. Too bad we can't grow them outdoors up here.

For rabbit ridding, I've heard of using hair clippings, used kitty litter, mothballs, and cayenne pepper - oh, and garlic - not powder, but granulated.

I use one of these for rabbit control out at my dad's summer place:



He looks almost identical to that pic. Gaius, my big boy. Like all Inuit sled dogs, he is a predator, rather than a scavenger like most dog breeds are. He's a hunter. He's gotten many rabbits, pigeons, even a beaver! No matter how hard he tries ( and he tries HARD) he can't get a squirrel though. Those things are just a little too aware. And saucy. Boy do they like chirping at a hunter who failed from the treetop!

[Patty Smyth]

Citrus trees are beautiful. Too bad we can't grow them outdoors up here.



I use one of these for rabbit control out at my dad's summer place:



He looks almost identical to that pic. Gaius, my big boy. Like all Inuit sled dogs, he is a predator, rather than a scavenger like most dog breeds are. He's a hunter. He's gotten many rabbits, pigeons, even a beaver! No matter how hard he tries ( and he tries HARD) he can't get a squirrel though. Those things are just a little too aware. And saucy. Boy do they like chirping at a hunter who failed from the treetop!

pffffft dogs!!!! My cat got a squirrel and left it right in the middle of my bed.

Speaking of wolves(sort of) my friend went to the hunting store and got wolf pee in a bottle. It keeps ALL pests away, so she says.

[DaveP]

pffffft dogs!!!! My cat got a squirrel and left it right in the middle of my bed.

Lol. My dad's summer place again, my sister has 2 cats, Bob and Kitty. A squirrel decided to take up residence inside the cottage - walls or attic, don't know. It used to like to hang out in the porch way up on the high shelves. Screeched it's head off at the cats, my sister told me. Then one day there were a few fluffs of fur and no more screeching squirrel. Cats are patient.

I'd like to see one try to take down a beaver, though.

[Patty Smyth]

Kudos for the beaver for sure lol

The biggest thing one of my cats every brought in was a live pigeon and it made a huge mess in the living room flying all over the place finally got it with my dads fishing net, they are nasty.

[Lynn49]

are you sure? i mean, it sounds like you're not doing much of anything over there! ;p

i hope you find your million bells... just by the name it sounds lovely

Lol....ah, anisa....actually my hubby planted up the 4 deck planters, the 4 hanging planters, 1 box planter, plus he put in all the new bulbs in my new flower garden, and we bought our herbs for our little back garden. Now all we have to do is wait for the frost to arrive! I want to get out gazebo roof on tomorrow, so in case frost is called for, we can just put everything under it. And maybe even the drapes I sewed last year.....But it was FREEZING out there today! One day we have our air-conditioning on, the next day, not at all! Will summer actually get here?!!

[Lynn49]

Lynn,

Million Bells is also known as Calibrachoa. I buy mine at Costco in the 4" pots (in a three pack). They are further along than the small starts you can get at the big box stores, so you will end up with a much better planter in the long run. They come in several wonderful colours...I'm partial to the red myself.

We found them! We went slightly out of town to a nursery here, and omg, there were tons of them in all colours! We bought " plugs" which cost 79 cents, half the price of the larger plants, but we've done that with bacopia before and they grew beautifully! We even bought a ginormous yellow million bells hanging planter for the front of the house...it's gorgeous!
Thank you for the info on them...now they just have to grow!

[Lynn49]

Citrus trees are beautiful. Too bad we can't grow them outdoors up here.




I use one of these for rabbit control out at my dad's summer place:



He looks almost identical to that pic. Gaius, my big boy. Like all Inuit sled dogs, he is a predator, rather than a scavenger like most dog breeds are. He's a hunter. He's gotten many rabbits, pigeons, even a beaver! No matter how hard he tries ( and he tries HARD) he can't get a squirrel though. Those things are just a little too aware. And saucy. Boy do they like chirping at a hunter who failed from the treetop!

Oh what beautiful dogs they are (typing slip: I typed god instead...slip? I think not! ..! Gaius, eh? Love the Roman name!!!!

[MortgageQueen]

Lol. My dad's summer place again, my sister has 2 cats, Bob and Kitty. A squirrel decided to take up residence inside the cottage - walls or attic, don't know. It used to like to hang out in the porch way up on the high shelves. Screeched it's head off at the cats, my sister told me. Then one day there were a few fluffs of fur and no more screeching squirrel. Cats are patient.

I'd like to see one try to take down a beaver, though.

I'm surprised Gaius doesn't also take out Kitty and BoB?? They're not known to be friendly to small animals. .
My cats kill all squirrels and chipmunks. My heart sinks when a new one "moves in" cause I know its days are numbered. . . My one cat brought home an ermine once. I was pretty impressed.

But back to gardening. . My onions are all peeking through and my radishes have sprouted. I just did my bean and pea seeds a few days ago. Did my dahlias a few weeks ago and one of them is poking through the ground.
Oh and an oriole moved in! They are soooo pretty! I hope he's cautious. i don't want an Oriole "present" from one of the cats

[DaveP]

I'm surprised Gaius doesn't also take out Kitty and BoB?? They're not known to be friendly to small animals. .

Oh he definitely would, given the chance. We don't have them out there at the same time.

[marstec]

We found them! We went slightly out of town to a nursery here, and omg, there were tons of them in all colours! We bought " plugs" which cost 79 cents, half the price of the larger plants, but we've done that with bacopia before and they grew beautifully! We even bought a ginormous yellow million bells hanging planter for the front of the house...it's gorgeous!
Thank you for the info on them...now they just have to grow!

Lynn,
What I like about million bells is that you don't have to deadhead them...they just bloom all summer long. If they start to look a bit shaggy, don't hesitate to give it a bit of a trim, they will bush out and look even better! Remember to loosen up the roots before planting the plugs, especially if the roots are going around and around the pot.

Did your husband ever get to Costco to check out their plants? I'm heading there on Thursday. It's always a crapshoot when the new stock comes in...you have to be a brave person to dive into that madness!

[Lynn49]

Lynn,
What I like about million bells is that you don't have to deadhead them...they just bloom all summer long. If they start to look a bit shaggy, don't hesitate to give it a bit of a trim, they will bush out and look even better! Remember to loosen up the roots before planting the plugs, especially if the roots are going around and around the pot.

Did your husband ever get to Costco to check out their plants? I'm heading there on Thursday. It's always a crapshoot when the new stock comes in...you have to be a brave person to dive into that madness!

Hi...we went to Costco today since we were out looking for new clubs for me, and they have quite a nice selection of plants, but no million bells. Their double impatiens looked scrumptious, though...I think they'd look nice in the house, actually...

So when you mean "scraggly" do you mean when they get 'leggy'? They're so beautiful now...like a huge round ball! I got the all yellow ones...so I'm thinking you mean when they get stringy...just give them a haircut at the bottom?
No green thumb here...it's always been "survival of the fittest" for my plants!

[marstec]

Lynn,

If you look at the growing tips of your million bells, you will see little side shoots along the stems...cut the growing tips off and the plant will branch off into two stems rather than the one...this is why pinching back your annuals make them bushier. Sometimes in late summer, your annuals will get really scraggly and not so full, that is the time to give it a trim.

Remember, with a lot of annuals their job is solely to set seed...if you deadhead (take off the finished flowers), you are extending the life of the plant (and your growing season).

Good thing you got your million bells at the nursery...Costco only had them in the large planters. I'll check back later in the week because their stock fluctuates. I got a flat of mixed impatiens, some bacopa and red geraniums.

If you are looking for wave petunias...Canadian Tire has the six packs on for $5.99 right now, which is a really good price. The wave petunias bloom really well in planters and they don't get as leggy as the normal petunias.