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Message |
    
mem
Citizen
Username: Mem
Post Number: 1568
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 5, 2003 - 10:25 am: |     |
This is the time of year when I start planning my garden. I am always looking for new things to plant, so if anyone has any suggestions, etc. thanks in advance. (The vegetable plot is fairly small)
This is what I am planning to plant so far:
Vegetables:
Tomatoes
Bush beans
Snap peas
Cucumbers
Yellow and green squash
Flowers:
Looking for easy to care for perrenials that bloom all summer long...
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mim
Citizen
Username: Mim
Post Number: 251
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 5, 2003 - 10:53 am: | |
I am an avid flower gardener. Few perennials will bloom all summer long -- coreopsis verticillata and roses are the longest-blooming for me. I always include a few annuals to keep the show going even when the weather is at its hottest -- white cosmos is my favorite for this purpose, as it looks cool and fresh in the worst heat; I also love nicotiana sylvestris for shady areas, both its tropical appearance and fragrance at night. I'm not much of a vegetable gardener, though I always have tomatoes (cherries or grapes since my sun is limited and small fruit ripens faster), a few beans and peppers, and various leaf lettuces (early and late in the season; they're no good midsummer). I could talk about gardening all day, and it seems especially welcome on this raw day with the snow still piled all around! (But underneath it all, I know my hellebores are waiting to greet me!) |
mem
Citizen
Username: Mem
Post Number: 1569
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 5, 2003 - 11:33 am: | |
Mim,
I used to grow bell peppers at my previous house, but I gave up with my current garden because they were stunted, with very small peppers. Any idea why?
I plant lots of annuals, I spend money like a sailor on them and that's why I am looking for more perrenials. |
Joan
Citizen
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 1471
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 5, 2003 - 4:46 pm: | |
The trick with perennials is to get various types that bloom at different times.
My brother-in-law is a strong advocate of hostas. They do very well in shadier locales and seem to tolerate almost any kind of weather conditions we get around here.
The hostas I have in my garden usually bloom in middle to late summer.
I have also had good luck with forsythia (very early bloomers) and azaleas. |
lah
Citizen
Username: Lah
Post Number: 95
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 6, 2003 - 8:49 am: | |
Any recommendations for a shade garden (preferably perennials)? We have had a lot of luck with hostas, but not much else. Also, any recommendations for nurseries with good shade plants? |
M R Titus
Citizen
Username: Mrt
Post Number: 2
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 6, 2003 - 11:30 am: | |
My favorite has always been a square-foot garden. I used to watch a show hosted by Mel Bartholomew. anyone remember it? |
mim
Citizen
Username: Mim
Post Number: 252
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 6, 2003 - 1:53 pm: | |
I remember square foot gardening! Very efficient system.
Don't know what's wrong with your peppers, mem. I only try to grow the smaller, hot varieties (since you can buy the other types easily enough), and they usually do fine.
My favorite shade perennials, lah, are the perennial geraniums. There are many types, in colors from white to deep purple, with bloom times from early to midsummer. I have one that even repeat blooms in the fall. They are quite pretty and really tough. Astilbe is also beautiful, though it needs a good deal of water, so isn't exactly easy-care. Ferns and lady's mantle do well in shade, though they don't bloom. (Actually lady's mantle does, but not very showily.) Sweet woodruff and vinca are pretty spring blooming groundcovers.
I'm sure I've forgotten lots. My garden has been under snow so long I've forgotten what's out there! |
ajc
Citizen
Username: Ajc
Post Number: 974
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 6, 2003 - 8:05 pm: | |
Mmm Joan... Help me out here. Are you saying you do tricks to get those blooms?
Hey, I can't tolerate my local conditions any longer, and my brother-in-law doesn't know the difference between a rose bud and a blooming onion.
So, maybe we can make a deal? Would you be willing to trade some of your blooming good luck and put a bloom in my garden, for some of my blooming good pancakes?
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millie
Citizen
Username: Millie
Post Number: 49
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 6, 2003 - 9:53 pm: | |
Mem -
It's difficult to find perennials that bloom throughout the summer, as Mim said. There are some that stick around as everlasting (read "dried") come to mind. How about hydrangeas (more of a bush), or Chinese lanterns (cool-looking but can be invasive), or lumeria (a self-seeding biennial with cute purple spires in the spring followed by oval green seed pods, when rubbed off in the fall become silvery translucent)? Mim also mentioned astilbe which has a fairly long bloom time and then the plumes dry out and look ok.
Lah - Besides what's been mentioned, euphorbia blooms in the spring and can tolerate shade. Mine are an interesting yellow bloom. Dicentra (bleeding hearts) are very vigorous in our area. They go dormant in the heat of the summer so I interplant among hostas and just hack them back when they look weepy. I have had good luck with the van Borgendien (maybe Borgandien?) catalog, based on L.I. If you buy a bushel of their daffodils, they'll put you on their wholesale mailing list, otherwise you'll get the retail catalog. Same stuff, but wholesale offers larger lots at good prices.
You can also check out the plant sale that the Maplewood Garden Club has at the pool every year. It's usually the Thurs., Fri. & Sat. before Mother's Day. They have a large "shade" section of perennials, as well as sun perennials, annuals, vegetable plants, herbs, hanging baskets, pottery, some bushes and trees. Not the run-of-the-mill stuff you'll find at, say, Home Depot.
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sally
Citizen
Username: Sally
Post Number: 13
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Monday, March 10, 2003 - 4:02 pm: | |
I need some help .We have (had ) a hedge between our house and our neighbors . It has just about died out . Any suggestions as to what can be planted to replace it . I would like something that will grow fast and get tall enough for privacy . Perhaps some kind of a bush with long flowing branches ? There is partial sun . Thanks for any ideas . |
thegoodsgt
Citizen
Username: Thegoodsgt
Post Number: 213
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Monday, March 10, 2003 - 4:52 pm: | |
Answers to all your questions:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/
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nakaille
Citizen
Username: Nakaille
Post Number: 1406
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 11, 2003 - 5:01 pm: | |
My 6 year old wants to do her very own veggie garden this year. We have extremely limited sun so tomatoes will not appear in the spot she's picked out. (I suppose I could stick one cherry tomato plant in for a try.) Any other suggestions for veggies that do okay in less than full sun? And that are not too complex for a young gardener to manage? (I know, I know, after the first week we'll be doing a lot of the work ourselves.) Thanks.
Bacata |
mck
Citizen
Username: Mck
Post Number: 538
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 11, 2003 - 8:47 pm: | |
Bacata: you could try various lettuces. they need good soil and regular watering, but can do without a lot of sun. You pick them leaf by leaf so they last a long time and that's fun. |
justmelaura
Citizen
Username: Justmelaura
Post Number: 198
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 11, 2003 - 9:54 pm: | |
Hello MemoftheGreenThumb
I am taking the day off tomorrow to start cleaning out my garden, since it is supposed to be in the 50's. I have a predominately perrenial garden, with lots of things to share. I try to divide most things up early in the season and I will be very happy to give you a bunch of plantings. I am a haphazard gardener, with stuff the blooms constantly. Call me, and I will pot you up 'stuff'. BTW, I do an annual post mother's day trip to my favorite nursery where I get to buy everything wholesale (my sister is a landscaper and horticulturist), let me know if you want to go on a field trip!
jml |
mem
Citizen
Username: Mem
Post Number: 1584
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2003 - 12:17 pm: | |
jml,
Thanks so much! Hey, feel free to clean mine out when you're done with yours! 
How about the first weekend in May? |
justmelaura
Citizen
Username: Justmelaura
Post Number: 203
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 12:46 am: | |
Dearest Memofthevine
I actually did start clearing out the back 40 and was so happy to see the first sprouts! Oh Happy Day! Give us a few weeks and I will pot you up some stuff. For the first time, I have actually planted up a pathetic garden inside waiting for spring. Primroses, wonderful ivys and some other blooming crap! EEK! What can I say, I love the bloom. I even bought a bunch of climbing roses that are sitting by my back door craving the spring. Really, you should take me up on the daytrip thing, my sister is an artist who lives for the soil.
jml |
nakaille
Citizen
Username: Nakaille
Post Number: 1412
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 4:26 pm: | |
Mck: thanks for the suggestion. I wonder if she'll start eating lettuce if she grows it herself? Just don't tell her I said that aloud.
Her favorite veggies to eat are broccoli, spinach, and snow peas. We have basically clay for dirt and 10 years of soil amendments haven't improved it. But, maybe snow peas will work?
Bacata |
mem
Citizen
Username: Mem
Post Number: 1587
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 5:10 pm: | |
Laura - I am taking you up on the daytrip thing - the first weekend in May? I'll be in the Abacos the last week of April.
I gave up on starting the garden indoors when my houseplants began taking over all the first floor windows. I'll defintely take you up on the plantings.
Thanks. |
jgberkeley
Supporter
Username: Jgberkeley
Post Number: 2919
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 5:31 pm: | |
Nakaille,
Try carrots and radish, they do OK in the shade and the kids love to see the colors that you can see as the roots develop. Basil, chard, spinach and chive do GREAT in shade areas. Lettuce loves the shade but is pretty hard to grow and have it look like anything you would ever see in a store, and draws the slugs. Then you have to bait with pellets or beer.
Use Miracle Grow to water and feed the plants. It is a good overall product and gives a very good safe result.
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jgberkeley
Supporter
Username: Jgberkeley
Post Number: 2920
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 5:41 pm: | |
Mem,
Want success and something new? Italian frying peppers. Grow well, stand up bushes and taste great!
Want to take some time but do something that not many bother to do? Asparagus. It takes a full year to get the bed started and loves full sun, but once going, it will go for 25 years. I have a bed that is 3x6 and it does well with Jersey Kings.
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Joan
Citizen
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 1498
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 6:56 pm: | |
Bacata:
A friend of mine wanted a vegetable garden but had little sun in the back yard. He ended up with a vegetable garden in front of his house. That garden produced enough fresh vegetables to feed a family of eight throughout the year. |
Tina Kelley
Citizen
Username: Addiemoose
Post Number: 5
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, March 15, 2003 - 1:05 am: | |
Sally, I wonder if buddleia (butterfly bush) would work for your shrub area? It attacts butterflies, the blooms smell like honey, and they grow. I don't know how much sun they need.
Hey, does anyone know if you can grow daphne odora in Maplewood? I think it takes one zone warmer than us, but with global warming, maybe it would work? |
sally
Citizen
Username: Sally
Post Number: 14
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 18, 2003 - 10:21 pm: | |
THEGOODSGT AND TINA KELLEY .
THANKS FOR YOUR GOOD SUGGESTIONS ON REPLACING OUR HEDGE . SORRY TO BE SO SLOW IN RESPONDING TO THEGOODSGT . i HAVEN'T BEEN ON LINE MUCH LATELY .
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