FREEER FAMILY TABLE - Gardening Part I

me | June 3, 2005 | Gabz

[Gabz]

Good Morning all...........I had originally planned to start today with a topic of camping andother outdoor activities, but it is raining to beat the band and the weather was a bucket of water on my plans :)

So, since my outdoor activites for the day have been drowed, I'm back to my drawing pad and am going to try and finish the planning of the rest of my garden.

What kind of gardening do you all do? Do you like structured landscaping with beds and plans or are yu willy-nilly? Trees and shrubs, or just flowers? Or are you like me - whatever flowers are there I basically ignore and just work on veggies and herbs?

[proudofthesouth]

I live in a condo/townhouse so my gardening space is extremely limited.

I have gerber daises out front and in the back I have an azalea that has blooms that look like honeysuckle and a beautiful, beautiful pomegranate bush.

[Gabz]

WE haven't had that much rain this week - yet. But I know exactly what you mean.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Japanese Red Maples do very well in shade and mix well with a dogwood. They give some very pretty color other then green. I planted one this year, and it already has lots of new growth, so I'd say they are fairly hardy:) They have a very pretty lacy type leaf, They don't get huge, but I have seen them as tall as a house.

Becky

[Gabz]

Those are absolutely lovely!!!!!!!

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Thanks, I'd love to say, this is a topic I really enjoy, but I've got to run. Hope it's still going when I get back.

Becky

[trisham]

Nice work!

We have rather formal raised beds that are quite large, with trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals. I spend part of each day in the garden, and we walk there each evening discussing our work in progress, and plans for the future. We have much to do, as there was little in the way of landscaping here when we moved in two and a half years ago.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

It takes lots of time, and I'm trying not to get to carried away with trees, shrubs, and annuals, as they are suppose to be permanent. So I want to be sure it's what I want. I love driving around established neighborhoods and getting ideas.

The first year I stuck with annual, but each year add more permanet stuff. We have lived here for 25 years, but I've just started working on flower gardens the last 3.

Becky

[BibChr]

Well... I at least have the grace to feel vaguely guilty about it.

(c;

[trisham]

I love driving around established neighborhoods and getting ideas.

*************

We do the same thing. :)

[Gabz]

Poll Question: How many of you that enjoy gardening were raised either in an apartment or small urban/suburban lot?

I grew up in NYC :) We did flowers int he front "garden" and veggies in the backyard......daddy learned the hardway not to plant tomatoes and peppers out front - we never got any :)

But we spent the summers with my grandparents in Florida who had a large property with fruit trees, lots of lawn to mow, and huge flowers beds.....so I got the best of both worlds that way.

[grellis]

We have the oddest small tree/large shrub growing in our backyard which we are completely unable to identify. It bears two distinctly different flowers: One kind looks exactly like a Rose of Sharon bloom, the other like an old fashioned double rose. They're even different colors. The leaves are similar to a RoS but not exactly the same. It grows in full shade, right underneath our two huge mulberry trees (and if you know mulberries, you know how strange that is--NOTHING grows under them but weeds). My hubby is Mr Gardening man. We have several gardening encyclopedias, none of which have been able to help us identify this plant.

What was my point? Oh yeah--I love Rose of Sharon!

[AppyPappy]

We are experts in deer-proof gardening because they strip everything. Our only veggies are planted in a dog kennel. Sungold, German Johnson and Better Boy tomatoes along with cucumbers and hot banana peppers. I'm going to try cherry tomatoes and sweet banana peppers outside the kennel this year.

We have extensive gardens mostly mint, tansy, sage, irises (deer food) and some old heirlooms we hide behind the mint.

[Esther Ruth]

[SeamusVA]

Good luck! Our dogs do a good job of keeping the deer out of our garden so I guess they earn their keep in that respect :)

We have a couple different varieties of Brandywines (my husband's favorite) along with Cherokee purple, early girls and a few other new types just to see how they taste. Pepper-wise, we have habaneros (orange and a new brown variety) and Caribbean heat. Hubby likes his salsa HOT!

[AppyPappy]

Habs are OK but I can get them cheap locally. For some reason, people don't grow hot banana peppers so I grow them. They make the best hot pepper vinegar.

[Gabz]

No garden is complete without tomatoes and hot peppers! And eggplants, squash, beans, cucumbers, sweet peppers, etc, etc!!!!!!!

I've only gotten bean seeds and about 30 tomato plants in so far........the weather has been totally uncooperative.

[Gabz]

I actually do know what gerber daisies and azalea look like!!!!!! But I've never seen a pomegranate bush.

[Gabz]

WOW - that sounds like a very ambitious plan!!!!!

[Gabz]

Well... I at least have the grace to feel vaguely guilty about it.

ROFL!!!!

He has no need to feel guilty - he did all the tilling.

I got a rude awakening this week in regard to spatial observation vs actual square footage.

Someone had asked on a thread if it was legal for folks to grow their own tobacco. The answer is yes, but only 1/10th of an acre - but while I knew the answer, I really had no actual idea of how large a space that was. someone else did the calculations and it actually comes out to slightly less than 4,400 square feet.

And here is where my spatial observations are so far off........I figured that 4,400 sqft would be about a quarter of what my husband had tilled.

WRONG - what he has tilled is nearly exactly 1/10th of an acre..............I had no clue an acre was that BIG......

[WV Mountain Mama]

Thanks for the info. I have done searches on HGTV's website. I am pretty sure that is listed for a good shade tree.