Anyone else Planting gardens/flowers?

[DaveP]

how exactly do you use those?

i have a neighbor that uses an old butter knife to 'carve' around the root and then pull it out. i saw a tool in a gardening catalogue that looked an awful lot like a drywall saw. so i went in the garage, got my drywall saw and tried that but i kept hitting rocks and was afraid of ruining the saw.

i have a cheapo tube thingy that you push down over the root, but because the roots aren't always straight down, that can be a bit of a hassle.

I got rid of all our dandelions last night. The neighbors are a bit annoyed though, maybe they're dandelion lovers?

[Lynn49]

LOL!!!!!!

Well, I hate my lilac bush this year! Last year (it's a fairly new shrub) I got at least a dozen blooms, and this year?
One!
On a new stalk!
We had lilacs at our last home and our shrubs gave us tons! Would anyone know why a shrub that gave me so many last year, only offer me one this year? We only cut off the blooms last year, just as we did on our other shrub....I love lilacs and they're blooming all over the city and I swear one day I'm going to pull over to the side of the curb and cut some overhanging branches just for myself!

[DaveP]

LOL!!!!!!

Well, I hate my lilac bush this year! Last year (it's a fairly new shrub) I got at least a dozen blooms, and this year?
One!
On a new stalk!
We had lilacs at our last home and our shrubs gave us tons! Would anyone know why a shrub that gave me so many last year, only offer me one this year? We only cut off the blooms last year, just as we did on our other shrub....I love lilacs and they're blooming all over the city and I swear one day I'm going to pull over to the side of the curb and cut some overhanging branches just for myself!

Lilacs irritate the hell out of me. I love them because they are part of my childhood. my grandparents
had hundredes of shrubs. But at the nursery they want $60 for just one? Gaaaah!

But they are so beautiful when they bloom.

[marstec]

how exactly do you use those?

anisa,
Do you see the two sharp points at the tip? It allows you to puncture the soil better than with a blade. Push straight down, parallel with the root, with one hand holding the plant, rock back and forth with the weeder until the weed pops out. Even if you don't get the entire root system, it still puts it back severely in growth. I've found most weeds won't return.

[Lynn49]

Lilacs irritate the hell out of me. I love them because they are part of my childhood. my grandparents
had hundredes of shrubs. But at the nursery they want $60 for just one? Gaaaah!

But they are so beautiful when they bloom.

They bring back so many wonderful memories: my Mom absolutely filled our home with fresh-cut lilacs...even our bedrooms. It didn't occur to me how often she had to replace them, since they don't last too long, but they were always beautiful. I did that in our home when our kids were young, too....but that house is now our DD's and her DH, and so far they haven't dislodged that shrub...I'm hoping to steal all the blooms, but come to think of it, I didn't see any on theirs either, last week.
Must be something in the air!! But you're right..they're so costly to buy; we stole this one from our former home... It bloomed so well there....I wonder what's wrong this year...ah, well. Wasn't meant to be....

[anisa]

Marstec, thank you for explaining!

[toban]

I love gardening. I bought 3 tomato plants (Beefsteak, Roma and Tiny Tim's), 1 Red Pepper, 3 Basil, 2 Mandevillas and 1 orange Geranium. I haven't bought other flowers yet but plan too within the next week. Wave Petunias, Marigolds and Dracena Spike are on the list. My asiatic type lilies are sprouting like crazy. One of my rose bushes is developing buds. It would be nice to have flowers outside year round.

[Lua]

hmm well my 2 baby kale plants lasted a whole 4 days before getting eaten... I surrounded everything with marigolds, leeks, and even sprinkled granulated garlic all around. boo-urns to the pests!

i posted some photos of the garden so far (it's far from being done) on my blog yesterday.. it should now be a memorial to the kale! lol http://mypinkthumb.com/2012/05/23/wo...eshly-planted/

[Lynn49]

So pretty Lua...very much like the early stages of our garden....don't you just love this season?!

[TrueNorthTreasures]

Well, I think we finally have everything planted that we have room for! Now, our fingers are crossed that Mother Nature gives us a far better growing season in northern BC that she did last year. I was devastated that I didn't come out of last summer with one single tomato, despite having 10 large plants! (The foliage on them was beautiful, but the fruit was about a month+ behind).

This year, we planted...

Green Arrow peas,
Hopi Black beans
Lima beans
Carbon tomatoes (LOVE these...)
Martino Roma tomatoes
Isis Candy cherry tomatoes,
Dinosaur kale
King of the North red peppers (supposed to be good for short seasons...)
Rainbow Swiss chard
Leeks
Green onions
Parsnips
Beets
Carrots
Potatoes
Basil, Flat-leaf parsley, Mint, Lemon Balm
Mammoth Russian Sunflowers, nasturtiums, dinner-plate dahlias, pansies, ice flowers, rose mallow

Hope to get some pictures taken once things start to grow in earnest.

Really glad to see the new gardening section on the forum! Hope the great gardening posts and pictures that already exist can be moved to that section at some point.

[TrueNorthTreasures]

More guerrilla gardening, just for fun...