More NJ pics, from commntor Bob H.
Here north of Boston, the roses that survive my neglect — Zepherine Drouhan, Don Juan, Jeanne LaJoie — are in glorious bloom, supplemented by a variety of pink-purple-magenta geraniums, including a lovely airy fern-leaved volunteer that pops up wherever the ground’s disturbed. This is the seasonal transition between Spring’s blue-purple-white lilacs, iris, pansies and Summer’s orange-cream-peach hemerocallis. Twenty years of fumbling, and I’m finally beginning to see the garden of my dreams. But the daylilies are already budding, even though traditionally they don’t bloom until mid-July through mid-August.
All but one of the tomatoes seemed to have survived transplanting, and are neatly lined up and laddered in hopes of a productive season. My current project, one trashcan at a time, is cleaning up the newly sunny eight-by-twelve area at the edge of the driveway extension, which would just about double the available space for my “vegetable garden” (containers of tomatoes, herbs & now blueberries).
What’s going on in your gardens this week?
SG
My daughter pulled a world-class dandelion from the untamed back edge of the property. It sported 12-15 inch leaves and the whole plant must have weighed at least a lb. of weedy greenery. My husband, a combination of frugal and natural foods bore, was thrilled. He washed the triffid down, boiled it and dressed it with olive oil and lemon. Our pathetic tomatoes should only be as robust and prolific as the dandelions.
Mary G
Beautiful garden!
Thanks to everybody who identified the Salpglossis for me two weeks ago.
Raven
Wonderful shots! How long ago were our roses on the FB? They are totally gone now! The poppies are coming up and she has purple stuff coming up all over. Lot’s of rain so it is just as green as it could be here in Georgia. The bugs are going to be bad this year!
currants
Two questions:
1) suggestions on when/how to prune Zepherine Drouhin (have had it maybe 3 years, thanks to a discussion here)?
2) I’m looking for a yellow rose, pref old-fashioned bush or climber. Any suggestions? (for New England).
Otherwise, looks like it’ll be a nice day, and though there’s still water in my basement from TS Andrea, the garden looks no worse for wear.
Linda Featheringill
My garden was rained on this week. It’s probably a good thing that it’s in a raised bed.
Tomatoes are growing like mad and have several little yellow blossoms. These varieties are new to me, so I don’t know how productive they’ll be.
This is the first time I’ve had a raised garden and I can see lots of advantages. One thing I did learn, though. The next bed I make will only be 3 feet wide instead of 4 feet.
The old gray mare ain’t what she used to be . . . .
currants
@Linda Featheringill: Hah! EXACTLY. Same here–I thought the 4 foot beds made more sense, were less expensive offering more space…but now I have six 4 x 8 foot beds and … a hard time really reaching the middle (especially for planting). Maybe in a couple years I’ll go up, and put 3×6 beds on top of all the 4x8s. I could put strawberries (and what else?) around the edges that stick out. Guess I still wouldn’t be able to reach the middle, though….
qwerty42
@Raven:
The ticks already are. And the deer are, as usual, eating plants of all sorts: flowers, tomatoes, etc.
Linda Featheringill
BTW, Anne. I remember pictures of your tomato pots. They looked so neat and so orderly
I’m quite confident my garden will look like a mess.
OzarkHillbilly
Had to read that 3 times before I figured out that all I learned in geography was still correct.
OzarkHillbilly
@Linda Featheringill:
Modeling yours after mine? Don’t worry, the tomatoes are just as sweet.
Kathi
My new 4×8 raised veggie bed is a joy and, boy, do they love the mushroom compost it was filled with! My only regret (so far) is that I let the guy who built it for me talk me into a height of 6′ instead of the 12′ I wanted. 12′ would have been easier on my back.
The roses are going nuts and the climbing Golden Showers on the front of the house is covered with yellow roses that frame the living room window. Lilies coming on strong – the Orientals will be open any day now.
OzarkHillbilly
@qwerty42:
Certainly true of the Ozarks.
Gindy51
@qwerty42: Just now you get ticks? Lucky you, we’ve had them since mid April and they are terribly aggressive this year, bigger too. They’ve sort of throttled back now at least on grabbing my dogs, but the poor rabbits have them all over their ears.
Our gardens are a lot wilder than most because I am a lazy person who only likes to tend to things like veggies. The veg gardens are raised and kept weed free and neat (OCD is good for something). I let the birds plant what they eat so I have lots of dogwoods, black cherry and crab apple trees as well as the gobbler oaks and walnuts the chipmunks and squirrels hide over winter and forget. I move them if I find the so the baby forest can expand. More tree farmer than flowers, I do have a couple of small gardens but mostly I wait until late summer and fall for the wild flowers to go nuts. We get tons of ironweed, milkweed, goldenrod, and asters of every variety that is native. The bees go crazy and you can’t hear yourself think for the buzzing. With 22.6 acres, 20.6 of it in the INDNR Wildlands Program, we have lots of wildflowers.
No roses are allowed as they really screw up the cedar trees and they are important for over wintering birds (it’s up to 5 degrees warmer inside those trees over winter!)
OzarkHillbilly
@Kathi:
Look on the bright side: A 6 foot step ladder weighs less than a 12 footer. ;-)
JPL
@Kathi: My sons built raised gardens for me for mother’s day but I provided the material.
They are 12 inches high with a cap. One son wanted me to go up another foot because someday I’ll be to old to bend over and I should plan accordingly . haha
debbie
As a lifelong apartment dweller, I live vicariously through other peoples’ lawns and gardens. I saw a blooming pink hydrangea this morning during my walk and remembered that there is in fact life after the azaleas die away. Even in Ohio.
Maude
@OzarkHillbilly:
I thought NJ moved during the night when I was asleep.
Southern Beale
I was gonna post some pics of my garden on this thread but I forgot which photo-sharing site I just set up an account with.
LOL.
Getting old sucks.
OzarkHillbilly
@Maude:
I was all set to blame Hurricane Sandy.
Ultraviolet Thunder
Here north of Boston, the roses that survive my neglect
I intentionally plant abuse resistant roses. Rosa Rugosa is not showy but it’s unkillable. One that I planted 6 years ago and rarely cut back is now 8′ high. And the blossoms smell incredible. My wife loves the fragrance of roses and constantly complains that modern hybrids have little or no aroma. She’s right. The old fashioned ones smell best.
Today I have to mow and do some pruning. I’m nurturing a patch of milkweed in the back yard that I hope the city code enforcement officer doesn’t see. It’s a weed to them but the butterflies and I I love the flowers.
Gotta get out there in the prickly pear cactus and cut out some Hedera Helix that’s trying to take over. That’s always a painful experience. But the cactus is getting smothered and needs light and air. In a few days the cactus flowers will start to pop and it will be covered in scores of big yellow blossoms. Detroit is way out of the zone for this plant but it and the many clones I’ve given to family are doing great.
OzarkHillbilly
@Southern Beale:
But it beats the alternative!
Violet
@Linda Featheringill:
Oh, yes, absolutely. It’s hard to lean in when the bed is 4 feet. Maybe it also depends on how tall you are/how long your arms are. For me that width resulted in some unused space in the middle.
Violet
@Southern Beale: Wasn’t it imagur? http://imgur.com/
Violet
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I posted to you in the garden thread last week about putting compost down in that section of the lawn you were talking about replacing the turf. It’s amazing what good quality compost will do to improve the lawn. I put it down this year in most of the lawn and left one section without it. Looks like two entirely different lawns now. Improves the soil quality, thus water retention, hummus and so forth. Brings in earthworms that improve aeration and add other good stuff. It’s relatively cheap, not too difficult to do and worth a shot before you spend a bunch of time and money re-sodding the area.
Keith
Chili plants I put in the ground last year (Trinidad Scorpions that appear to have crossed with Nagas) survived the winter and are putting out new fruits at a very fast clip. This time last year, I just had small flours, but so far this year I have already harvested about 20 peppers and have at least 30 green ones that will ripen in the next week.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Violet:
Thanks. I did see that. We were planning to re-seed rather than re-sod. That section of lawn is recovering nicely after being burned out. We mowed it short, spread a compound of hydrophyllic mulch and seed, top dressed it with commercial organic mulch/soil and have watered it religiously. It helps that we’ve had plenty of rain. The baby grass is about 2″ high now and is filling in pretty well.
We used commercial products rather than our own mulch for efficiency. The bagged stuff was already screened and the small area made the materials cost minimal. This is in a south exposure that now gets strong sun. It’s tough to keep grass there without regular watering and last summer’s hot spell really clobbered it.
Violet
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Keep putting compost on it. I use the best quality bagged stuff I can get because at that time of year I usually don’t have much of our own compost. I’ve got enough of that now, so that’s what I’m spot-treating with.
I heard a soil scientist speak about compost and mulch and how it works. His lawn is kind of amazing at this point. The turf grass in my area usually has roots that go about two or three inches deep. The roots of his grass–same variety as everyone else’s–go two feet deep. That’s what compost will do. It’s all about improving the soil quality. The grass quality will follow.
A few years ago in a bad drought he said he watered only twice that summer. Doesn’t need to. Roots of his grass are so deep they get water from the water table.
jnfr
I’ve got all but two of my tomatoes planted, and the eggplants and peppers are finally in the ground. Some of the perennials are starting to bloom, like this peony, and my sedums are budding. Roses are just getting started.
The weeds still own the yard though. Gotta get out there and whip them into shape. I love this time of year.
jnfr
Don’t moderate me, bro!
Elizabelle
We still have cicadas in Northern Virginia. But less. Thin little song out there this morning.
Apparently they’ve reached part of the NYC area. One was starring on the NYTimes website yesterday.
So long to wait underground, and such a brief, urgent and danger-filled life under the sun.
They’re a metaphor.
janut
Good morning all. Long time reader, infrequent commenter here. I love to read what others are doing in their gardens. This is my second year using my raised box (3’x6′), and things are going better than last year. Live and learn. I planted three heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and a melon this year, and they seem to be doing very well. I put basil, rosemary, tyme, sage, oregano, cillantro and mint in over the rail boxes on the deck instead of the raised box in the yard, and they’re doing great.
My pound puppy, Henry the Wonder Dog, sheds like crazy. After I brush him I take all the hair and stuff it around the outside of the raised bed & cover it with a little mulch. So far, no critters have raided the veggies. I learned this trick on the intertubes, so it must be true!
Anyway, just want to say I enjoy your blog and maybe, someday, I’ll even join in and comment once in awhile. I’m shy when it comes to chiming in.
Have a great Sunday everybody. Looks like a nice day here in Atlanta.
Violet
@janut:
Reminded me of a friend of mine who put mint in the ground. That thing took over. It’s now gone under the fence, through the utility easement behind her house, and into the neighbor’s yard. Short of poisoning it, she’s done everything she can to get rid of it, including digging it out. It’s still there. Lesson: don’t put mint in the ground unless you want it there forever!
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@currants: I’ve gone for two 4x4s instead of a 4×8 with a small pathway in between. I can reach everything that way. Helpful hint: Make the pathway the same width as your lawnmower if you put the beds in the yard. I reckon in the fall I may have enough gumption to dig out the 2x10s and move them.
This also works better if you’re gardening on a slope. I’ll end up with a terrace of beds eventually.
janut
@Violet: That’s what I heard, so its in its own pot. I did that with a plant I thought was dead. I threw the contents of the pot it was in back behind the trees in the pinestraw area, and it came back. Like crazy. Its taken over my neighbors back yard, but not mine! She doesn’t know how it got there, and I’m not telling. Hope she doesn’t read BJ!
OzarkHillbilly
@janut:
The wall of shyness just lost it’s first brick. May all the others follow in quick succession.
Southern Beale
@Violet:
OH that’s it THANKS!!!!
jnfr
@Violet:
Mine are about 3 1/2 ft wide, and it can be tricky to reach the middle.
Violet
@Southern Beale: You’re welcome!
janut
@OzarkHillbilly: Thanks OzarkHillbilly! I’ll certainly try.
Violet
@jnfr: Yeah, I think it depends on how tall you are and how long your arms are. A four foot wide bed might be great for someone 6′ tall, but not someone 5′ tall.
A tip I learned is to put a stepping stone or two in the middle of too-wide beds. You can always step on that with one foot, allowing much better access to the harder to reach spots. It doesn’t really take away from your garden bed “real estate” because if you can’t reach it, you’re not using it anyway. It made a big difference in my awkwardly shaped bed.
OzarkHillbilly
@janut: And don’t worry about being an ignorant self important bloviator. I got that post all locked up.
Elizabelle
@janut:
A garden tip Mr. Cole could use.
janut: you must comment more frequently.
(Heck, I am on this thread and I don’t even have a garden! Getting NSA’d out on other threads. Enough.)
Southern Beale
Here’s my garden a few weeks ago when my irises were in bloom. And this is my garden from this morning. We added the fake heron to keep the real ones away, they’ve been going after the koi.
Violet
@Elizabelle:
Yeah, it really is getting a bit tired. Maybe the FPers could post one NSA thread and one non-NSA thread at the same time, so those that don’t want to get stuck in the mire would have another place to go.
Violet
@Southern Beale: I think those are the same photo? The irises are GORGEOUS. What are the blue containers under the gazebo in the back? Is that rainwater collection?
stinger
I make my beds 4×6, but then I can walk around all of them. If I had access from only one side, I’d have to go 3×6. Also, with the 4′ beds I can get 6 tomato plants in; if they were 3′ wide I could only plant 3.
Gorgeous garden, Bob H!
stinger
@Southern Beale: Wow — really beautiful!
pat
Finally got out yesterday to plant some stuff I bought last week. Today it is cloudy and sprinkly again. Can not get three days in a row of good weather this year.
I bought some pepper spray for the plants the bunnies have been munching on. Hope it works. All those round chicken-wire fences don’t improve the look of the garden.
Also, I lost three rose bushes, several lady’s mantle, and assorted other stuff this past winter. Might have been that long cold spring…?
I’m going to go looking for a Rugosa Rose, and maybe some more different sedums, inspired by some of the posters here!
janut
@Elizabelle: Thanks Elizabelle. Next time I’ll just dive in, head first. What could go wrong?
Southern Beale
@Violet:
Oops. Try this one! Sorry!
Violet
@Southern Beale: How beautiful! The heron looks very lifelike! Love that you have a pond. I want a pond. Not sure where to put it–that’s the problem.
currants
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: That makes sense–hadn’t considered square for some reason. I also didn’t consider installing them on top of grass. Man, that would have been SO MUCH easier. I had a guy come rototill…and then placed the beds, dug out between, sifted rocks out, leveled the pathways, put down newspaper and then mulch. All this before I even started with compost and garden soil in the beds themselves–my WORD what a lot of work that was. (A stronger expletive would be more accurate but not in public.) A rabbit fence around the whole is keeping the critters out (well, the bunny critters, anyway–not so much the chipmunk and squirrel critters).
Southern Beale
@Violet:
When we bought our house it had a swimming pool — old, nasty, leaky, 1970s-era swimming pool. Pulled it out and a big hole was left in the ground so we turned it into our koi pond. It’s 5,000 gallons which is big but I found a bigger pond is easier to care for than a small one.
smedley the uncertain
@currants: Offset the 3 X 8 bed to one side of the 4 X 8 bed. The remaining 1 X 8 bed will still make a nice strawberry planter, and all are reachable.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@currants: I dug up the grass on the first one, what an effort! For the second I laid corrugated cardboard out for a couple of weeks to kill the lawn and it went much easier. Didn’t rototill — used a pitchfork and a shovel to break up the soil about 12-18 inches deep, built an enclosure out of 2x10s, set in the ground, then pitchforked in some compost. Not really a raised bed.
Never bothered to sift the rocks. Might have to do it in the fall, they’ve all been rising to the surface.
Bill D.
@Violet:
Carelessly skimming over the thread, I read your post as saying “the insects are GORGEOUS”. I suppose that can be an unintended result of gardening… large, well-fed, healthy insects.
Violet
@Bill D.: LOL. It’s always good to have a healthy ecosystem. I appreciate the insects in my garden, especially the predators that kill the pests I don’t like.
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: When I took a vegetable gardening class they recommended we don’t bother with any tilling or digging. Just toss the cardboard (plain brown, not the shiny stuff) down on the grass. Build the bed, making sure the cardboard sticks out a bit around each edge. Dump the dirt in and you’re ready to go. I’ve done it that way ever since and it works great. The cardboard is thick enough that it kills the grass and weeds. It’s biodegradable so eventually the water and worms compost it up, but not before it’s kept the weeds at bay. It’s super easy and you can throw a bed together in half an hour or so.
mch
Rain, then some let-up, then more rain. Here in western MA. It’s very depressing.