Posted on 09/01/2024 6:06:00 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
The MONTHLY Gardening Thread is a gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located.
This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.
It is impossible to hijack the Gardening Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table Recipes, Preserving, Good Living - there is no telling where it will go - and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us! Send a Private Message to Diana in Wisconsin if you'd like to be added to/removed from our New & Improved Ping List.
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Good Morning!
(((HUGS)))
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What is my favorite part of gardening?
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Either it is harvesting, preparing, cooking and EATING the produce of the garden. (The ‘cooking’ part can be optional).
OR it is sitting in the morning sunshine, relaxing next the garden and watching it grow!
Have a pleasant Sunday!
Agreed...meandering thru my 162 pepper plants in the early morning sun, watching the bees ‘do their thing’...best time of day. God is awesome.
Fall is my favorite time of year, the only downside being that it means winter is coming…..😢
I skipped this year for my tomatoes because last year was too hot for them.
My neighbor who is a retired farmer and grows a real garden did the same and it looks like we were right, it wasn’t the day temperatures but the lack of cooling at night that made us correct to skip it.
Good morning, DIW...I love seeing plants grow...to start from a minute seed and have it develop into magnificent food and/or flower/shrub is what drives me. Some growth I could do without (poison oak)...but overall...it is glorius. This year I had two volunteer Sunflower Trees (they have branches that span @5 ft) from last years garden...they have been amazing.
(:-)
“...it wasn’t the day temperatures but the lack of cooling at night that made us correct to skip it.”
Up here in Zone 5a we had hot enough days, but the nights were too cool! I had late fruit set, and I still have a ton of tomatoes out there ripening. It’s going to be a longer-than-normal canning season for me.
For me, it is two things. The MIRACLE that a tiny seed has everything in it to grow a plant. Just add water and dirt! ;)
Secondly, it's finding (through trial and error) all of the seed varieties that are right for your Zone, right for what you like to cook or can and almost always RELIABLE. I think that's going to be more and more important as we go further in our quest for self-sufficiency.
OK, one more thing. I LOVE how Spring makes me FEEL. Hopeful, ALIVE and ready to put all the blood, sweat and tears into growing food and flowers for me and mine - all over again...when I swore it all off after the first hard freeze! ;)
Added bonus: learning to use my unheated greenhouse to start plants earlier and make them produce longer into the Fall.
They are...still have plenty of white blossoms on my pepper plants.
I guess my favorite part of gardening is watching my plants grow healthy and tall. I have 55’ of roses to enjoy (as do the neighbors), a swervy garden bed traversing the frong lawn of 7 Japanese hollies punctuated by clay tubes containing various flowering succulents, 4 scattered dwarf crape myrtles, and then the shady half of the backyard with raised beds full of various hostas, heucheras, Japanese ferns, etc. I have a separate raised bed with a lovely pulmonaria. The sunny side of the backyard has raised beds of nandina, shasta daisies, black eyed Susans, echinacea, gaillardia, and lantana. The back of the backyard has raised beds of zucchini, cucumbers, cantaloupe and eggplant. The cucumbers are about finished, and the zukes and cantaloupe are drawing to a close. The eggplants are still producing lots—eggplant parmesan anyone? (mmmm)The strawberries finished up last month, to the disappointment of my neighborhood cuties, who looked forward to picking the delicious strawberries to take home to Mom. Next year I want to plant some varied sunflowers. Not only do I enjoy them, but so do the birds. I just installed a starling and squirrel proof suet cake feeder which is working well, but I’m waiting for the echinaceas to go to seed to attract some goldfinches. Oh, I enjoy my garden, front and back!
I am a Spring and Fall Girl, myself.
I like the Fall activities (Orchards, nature walks with the leaves turning, even raking) and stocking up the house for the Winter months with books, movies, puzzles, yarn, seed catalogs, tea, coffee, baked goods in the freezer, a full pantry of home-canned goods and firewood. ;)
Also: High School, Badger and Packer FOOTBALL! :)
I’m so HAPPY that you now have a yard to play in! I remember your gardening quests on your small balcony in the city. :)
I’m as pleased as punch. Harvested not just some tomatoes (Early Girls and Abe Lincolns), but also a Sugar Baby watermelon that survived all the usual hazards. It was delicious. :-)
Agree on the Fall activities. Must find a new firewood source a.s.a.p., as the one who supplied me last year has moved out of state.
My old farmer neighbor is in his 80s now and said he has been writing down his local temperatures since about 1985 (he may have said 1995), he still maintains a small place about 80 miles from us with cattle and some animals for meat, he is grumpy but I may ask him if those notes are in a form that he could make a copy for me, they would serve no real purpose for me but might be very interesting.
His small vineyard did OK this year but they looked a little less robust to me.
I’m with you on all that. Except the football. I don’t watch it myself.
However, having a football game on TV in the background takes me back to my childhood when my dad watched the games every weekend.
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