How does your garden grow?

[Sharon]

...and what do you like to grow/what grows well for you?

 I've tons of roses, daylillies, oriental lillies, strawberries, and irises greening up now. Some tropical plants that winter in the basement (they're outside now---the oldest is 25 years old).
 Rhododendrums, a magnolia, some mums sprouting from last year, a huge azalea (5') that my neighbor tossed in the woods last year and it's getting bloom buds, so is the lilac bush...mmmm!  

When it gets warmer the cannas will sprout and flower.  I've heard the birds singing, some bees buzzing, and when it gets too hot to venture out into my little "Eden"  I'll be cursing myself for having to water all this stuff while dodging huge bloodsucking mosquitos, no see-ums that see me, sweat flies that sting or do they bite, & the dreadful bees. Then I'll be picking ticks off my dog and begging my sons to mow the lawn (in my best Mommy voice--Oh...Pleeeasse, I'll give ya $20)

Soon I'll be telling my husband that I want to move to Arizona and just have a "Rock Garden" and never have to mow or rake leaves again (because you know it's coming)!  

 

[Sharon]

Hi Elaine, your garden sounds nice.  I love those burning bushes in the fall, I had a japanese maple but the namesake beetles ate it.  I like perennials and bulbs too but after planting 50 tulips & 50 glads one year (and having them eaten by a critter) I gave up on them.

I had a veggie garden for many years, this year I put roses in it.  It would always start out as a joint venture; my husband loved shopping for the  veggie plants and wanted to put them in the ground then he'd forget about them, I got to do the rest.  We grew mainly peppers and tomatoes because everything else just would die (squash & cucumbers just get stem rot).  We tried broccoli one year and a pair of wild turkeys ate them all before they got very big.  One time as I finished planting a dozen tomato plants some just started to wilt and others just disappeared.  I couldn't figure out where I'd gone wrong until I saw the whole plant just sink into the ground.  I realised then that it was either a mole or a vole.

Another time we grew bell peppers and habaneros in the same proximity and ended up with bellaneros.  The bells got spicy and the habaneros were milder than usual.  After that we alternated jalapenos one year and habaneros the next, it worked out better (always had plenty to jar, freeze, or sauce).

I've loved gardening since I was a kid, my father was an avid gardener, although I did't realise then how much work it really was.  I've spent $$$ on plants, bushes, and trees that died; but it's been a real learning experience. This year I'm just "sticking" with roses.

Good luck and may the moles and voles never find your gardens!

 

[Cheetah]

I'm not the avid gardener by any means., I just wanted to share what has worked for me.

With my work schedule and commuting,  I look for easy to care items.  I don't have any time in the a.m. to be watering plants/flowers (which is supposedly the best time to water).  I love hostas (a lighter green/white variety that my mother brought me) and they do very well in the  humid summers here as well as rainy weather much like we had last summer.  After 3-4 years, mine have doubled in size and I've been able to chop them in 1/2 and replant elsewhere.

I also enjoy bay grass.  It looks very "bay-like" for this area and is easy to maintain.   I agree with everyone on the perennials.  Black-eyed susans have worked out great for me with little care involved.

I think the key is a good sprinkler strategically placed in the flower garden area

Hope this helps!

 

[Frank]

Let's see - on my property I've grown roses, tulips, daffodils, pansies, lilies, coneflowers, black-eyed susans, hostas, bleeding hearts, ewes(?), azaleas, rhododendrons, leland cypress, euronymus(sp?) and some kind of golden shrub.

Roses take special work, and frequent fertilizing. I've learned this only from trial, error, and subsequent reading on the subject. This will be my first attempt this year to grow new plants from cuttings.

Hostas grow everywhere. They are THE 'guy' plant - a phrase I use for gardeners with a brown-thumb, for whom nothing grows. I've already successfully cut one into four, and the ones I have are ready to be split again.

All bulb plants work well for me. I even grew some daffodils that I threw into the woods, thinking they were no good! Pansies grow well too - they are weak plants, but like Rocky Balboa, they just keep coming back.

I've had the best success however, with evergreens and acid-loving plants, like azaleas and rhododendrons, because the soil is already very acid down here, hence the prevalence of so many evergreens occurring naturally. I can't seem to even kill off my holly trees unless I pull out the stumps - they just come back anyway.

This year I'm going to try to grow vegetables for the first time, but I am sticking to using large pots. I can control the growth more easily.

And thankfully, rodents aren't a problem, because I have a cat that prefers the outdoors. She's only three and half pounds, but she is a mean Siamese, and I've seen her take down a squirrel! I think the varmint problem is solved simply because they can smell her scent.

 

[Sharon]

Frank, your garden must be a sight to see in the spring!  Let me know how the rose propagation goes.  I was wanting to try it also this year.  What will you do with the small plants that survive?  Do you bring them inside during winter or will you put them in the garden over winter (covered?)  and hope for the best?

 

[Frank]

I'm a *terrible* gardener! My tulips are up now, and they look nice, and the hostas out front look like they will grow in well. But the daffodils are gone, and unfortunately I didn't map out their locations, so they were competing with the tulips. Worse, they are all *small*! How did that happen?

The azaleas are blooming now, but the buds are just like blooming briefly, and then they fall off, so I never get the effect of a full burst of color.

The roses look best in early spring, but I've never pruned them well enough to get a good effect. Basically, there aren't many strong canes, and I get rapid growth - so what happens is, the flowers come, tip over the plant, and I have to clip them so they don't rot! But in the spring, they put out TONS of flowers, especially the white ones. By mid-May, I can make a massive bouquet for Mother's Day, but it never gets back.

Since I don't like bees around my porch, all my hanging plants are things like ivy, potato vines, asparagus ferns,  wandering jews, stuff like that. They *never* survive indoors, but that is because I have cats who think they are toys. I have some Christmas cactuses I've had for *years* that have never bloomed, and have barely grown.

I'm going to definitely plant some "protective" type plants this year, like marigolds and lemon grass (they smell very bad to most insects). I have never been able to grow herbs, and I'm going to work on vegetables this year.

Mostly - I'd REALLY like to get some *grass* to grow in my back yard! It's been six years, and I'm losing the battle!

 

[PmoneyandTT]

Does anyone know about planting Bell Peppers.. I love them so much.. But rather expensive in the market.. I am thinking of starting a project with growing veggies.. But Bell peppers are a big thing for me.. cause I can eat them like apples.. any suggestions?

 

[Sharon]

It's too late this year, but they are easy to grow.
This link is good for our area...
http://www.taunton.com/kg/features/growing/bells/1.htm
another good place to visit is gardenweb.com there is a lot of info there about planting and pests etc.  

 

[Frank]

It's way too late for growing new bell peppers, but you can be ready in the spring. Mine are actually doing better than the tomatoes, which is surprising. You have to water them a lot, keep them cool, and you have to keep the vegetables coming, and that may mean cutting off small peppers that won't grow fast. I found this out from experience, and friends have confirmed it. If you have some undersized peppers, cut them off and wait for the next round. Keep a steady supply of peppers off the plant, and they'll keep making more.