Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 19 (Getting Projects Done) May 11, 2012

Friday, May 11, 2012 | JustaDumbBlonde

[rightly_dividing]

If I plant three varieties of okra in such a small area, about 8ft x 16ft, will I be able to save seeds of each kind or will I have cross-polinated hybrids seeds?

[rightly_dividing]

I meant to tell you, wife likes your posts on the thread. She lurks on Fridays.

[tubebender]

...>>Only on a Friday a Friday cause that’s my day of rest<< One of those tunes from the past that pops up in my defective memory bank.

[Ratman83]

Thank you. Could not remember what I needed to worry about with filling around a tree and it was, as you said the soil on the trunk.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Okra usually self pollinates. I have planted different varieties on 40" row spacing and noticed that the pods produced were true to their own characteristics. However, if you have any bees in the area, whether they be honey or bumble, etc., they are going to carry pollen from one plant to another. No way to avoid that.

I generally don't worry too much about it because seeds produced from cross-pollination are going to produce a plant that is characteristic of one or the other parent, not both. So, you'll get true okra, you just won't know which one until you see the pods. I don't know if I mentioned, but Jade has turned out to be my favorite and can't be beat when the pods are 3-4".

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Since she only lurks on Fridays, she won’t see this, so tell her I said that I’m honored she enjoys my posts. That makes the time well spent for me!

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Oh, and I forgot to tell you ... I dropped by my local nursery this morning because I needed a nail set from the hardware part of the store. The store is owned by a neighbor and sometimes golf partner of my husband. He said that all of my new beds looked so good that I could get whatever I wanted from the garden center at cost!!!

I brought home another flat of caladiums, and 3 flats of other bedding plants, and also a dozen or more quart-sized lilies and other perennials for making beds on either side of the end of my driveway. Also got a gorgeous braided-trunk shrimp plant that is about 4 ft. tall. SCORE!!!

[rightly_dividing]

Thanks for that info.

I am going to cut some tree limbs that should make the sun area larger out there. We are excited about the new garden area.

[rightly_dividing]

My wife loves lillies and has planted a number of them. Recently the Lowes here was greatly overstocked somehow and has many, many rows of racks of plants for 1/2 off! She went wild. Now, while I search shrimp plant online.

Over the weekend I remembered a shade plant that we couldn't have before, a Confederate Rose! Gotta find one now.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Your wife and I sound like we have a lot of similar likes. I love lilies and have been planting a few here and there since last year.

I snapped this photo of the shrimp plant blooms. This one is called red, and it is my understanding that they come in other colors as well. I went back and got another and have worked them into the driveway beds. Hope to get a couple of photos posted later. We got one bed done and will do the other one tomorrow.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Here is the driveway bed which we will duplicate on the other side tomorrow:

[rightly_dividing]

What are the two yellows flowers inside the bed?

That is really beautiful, the rings and beds.

I am surprised that my wife has not offered to take a week off and come over and help plant in your beds! :)

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Achillea "Tutti Frutti" has tight heads of individual tiny blooms that range from butter yellow to coral. The foliage is very frilly and fern-like and moves at the slightest breeze. That's why I chose that one.

The bright yellow is Coreopsis, and I liked the dense growth habit and multitude of flower buds.

The beds look a little sparse right now, but I planted so that everything should touch slightly when it grows to size.

I'm going back later this afternoon for some more lilies and hostas. A bargain like that is hard to pass up. My husband is going to kill me. I am concentrating on the flower beds and neglecting the vegetable planting, but I am having so much fun with the flowers and veggies almost seem like work to me right now.

[rightly_dividing]

They really look great. I especially like the Tutti Frutti. The leaves look like ferns, and the flowers are in clusters.

Wife doesn't know it yet, but I am going to put in a new bed for partial sun/shade plants. We discussed putting a short, low fence to partition off an area for an outdoor table and chairs from a parking area. It occurred to me that a 2ft wide bed along the fence would be a great addition. So far, on our second spring here, we have not created any new beds, just concentrated on refurbishing the old, long abandoned existing beds. I'm thinking Hostas along here, but she may have other great ideas when she hears my plan.

[tubebender]

I will turn in my FR Garden Badge if you keep posting photos of those lovely warm weather flowers and plants... and that’s the truff. I wore a undershirt, a tee shirt, a sweat shirt and a old down jacket to spend 2 hours in the garden THIS AFTERNOON.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Bless your heart ... I keep tellin’ you to get yourself down here, and you, me and the berry thief can hang out and garden together. Anyhoo, Lady Bender’s flower beds are so far superior to my little efforts. Y’all are my inspiration.

[steerpike100]

You’ll want to use pre-1983 pennies if the idea is to add copper to the soil.

[fourteenmilecreek]

My ‘Heavy Hitter’ okra is doing extremely well! One of my plants was sporting 32 tender pods of okra this morning! I picked 40 pounds from two rows, 150’ feet long. And the bees love it!