Gardening

Tony Page said:
One of the things I always enjoyed about gardening, when you start your own plants you can't select new varieties or a vegetable you never tried before.
I remember when I decided to try growing celery. The stalks came out pretty nice, and I blanched most of them, I left a few unblanced to see what they taste like. they were too strong tasting and bitter for me.

This is the first year in a while that I'm trying new varieties of tomatoes and peppers and I'm really enjoying it, brings back a lot of good memories.

I had the same feel for flowers starting them and couldn't wait to see them blooming was it going to look like the catalog.

All in all I did pretty good starting my own plants but that doesn't mean I didn't have failures I had my share. Trial and error comes with the Adventure.
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You could try Golden Self-Blanching Celery if you want @Tony Page. You will probably have to start your own as I don't think commercial nurseries offer that variety. Some home gardeners may offer it though.
 
Beth Gallagher said:
I love lantana, too... especially the smell of it. I have a bed of yellow lantana under my kitchen window that froze a couple of months ago but it has already sprung back and is blooming!

I also have a knockout rose bush that is covered in buds, so it's about to be fabulous.
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I got a knock out rose bush last year ala Yvonne. I kept it in a pot and wintered it over indoors behind the garage. It just started sprouting so I put it outside trying to keep it from getting ahead of plants around here. Might have to bring it back in a few more times.
Iffy spring.
 
Krystal Shay said:
I had 5 beautiful knockout rose bushes. As soon as they were in full bloom and looking gorgeous, those freaking Japanese beetles arrive and destroy the flowers and leaves.😠 I tried everything to keep those buggers off of all my flowers. After fighting them for years, I gave up trying to have nice rose bushes. I also had a beautiful chaste tree. Damn beetles ate it to nothing as well. It seems like the only thing they don’t bother is my Ornamental grasses and my landscape shrubs.
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We had those beetles back when I was a kid in NY. We only just started seeing them here in Wisconsin about three years ago. They went after my rose bush, surprisingly my grape vines and even my raspberries. I hear chickens love them if I can catch enough of them.;)
 
Mary Stetler said:
I got a knock out rose bush last year ala Yvonne. I kept it in a pot and wintered it over indoors behind the garage. It just started sprouting so I put it outside trying to keep it from getting ahead of plants around here. Might have to bring it back in a few more times.
Iffy spring.
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I love knockout roses, but they will get really big and unwieldy if you let them. I cut mine back to 6 inches tall about a month ago and it's already about 2' tall and bushy, and has tons of flower buds. They can take a very severe pruning which is good because they get tall and leggy.
 
I don’t care to garden in the real sense. I’m got burned out on that years ago.

Husband planted three knockout rose bushes 5-6 years ago. They did fantastic under his green thumb. The Kids cut them back for me last Fall and while they are growing nicely, not as nice if husband were here to care for them.

I also have a “dwarf” lilac bush that didn’t get trimmed back because it has a birds nest in it.

I have DayLillies in the horse part of the Pet Sematary that babysit themselves.

Three crepe Myrtle that also babysit themselves.

A flowering plant on the dining room table, from husband’s celebration of life two years ago. It is amazingly in full bloom with huge leaves. The gal who brought it, probably used part of her lunch money to buy it, so I am trying my best to keep it alive. It is finicky in that it likes its water at room temperature, only twice weekly. I also have to move it away from the window during the summer heat or it wilts. It prefers colder temps.🙄🙄

Considering I have been known to kill chia pets, this ^^^^^ is pretty good for me 🤠🤠
 
Jake Smith said:
Got two radishes out of the garden yesterday, they're the ones that grow larger then the round ones; but I noticed a crack in one so I pulled two for Marie and I to try. Plenty is still left.




View attachment 1272

That's my cold mug of beer in the photo, It tasted great after grading the road yesterday. ;)
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Keep trying to get garden photo like Marie told me to put up, after she had looked at it and said it's looking good; but pic's are not really showing how we seeing plants, for some reason, going put photo up anyway; and will snap another when it's plants are big later.

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Strange the difference in these plants live, and in the photo. Marie said it maybe the settings are not set right, for landscape photos. I'll come back and do it later.:)
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I remember the first time I grew radishes. My first picking they were tender and juicy. I let some stay in the soil figuring they would stay nice and fresh and crisp instead my second picking which is further down the road they became Woody. A little later they started bolting seed heads.
After that I started planting them a week apart then when I picked them I picked them all that were mature, and refrigerate them.
 
Tony Page said:
I remember the first time I grew radishes. My first picking they were tender and juicy. I let some stay in the soil figuring they would stay nice and fresh and crisp instead my second picking which is further down the road they became Woody. A little later they started bolting seed heads.
After that I started planting them a week apart then when I picked them I picked them all that were mature, and refrigerate them.
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That's what I did, before too; but like you I replant smaller amounts, and do it after each mature cycle, and have been picked to start New batch, they are fast producers. I've kind of learned to do more variety in planting and smaller amounts, because, before I would plant to much of one thing, just to find out they all came up, and had too much of one kind, of another. Live and learn, huh?
 
Mary Stetler said:
We had those beetles back when I was a kid in NY. We only just started seeing them here in Wisconsin about three years ago. They went after my rose bush, surprisingly my grape vines and even my raspberries. I hear chickens love them if I can catch enough of them.;)
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One of my neighbors had grape vines and they destroyed it. We can't seem to get rid of them now that they are here. ☹️I read that Cardinals will also eat the beetles, but I can't seem to gather enough of them in a meeting to discuss a strategy plan. :D
 
Connie Bennett said:
I don’t care to garden in the real sense. I’m got burned out on that years ago.

Husband planted three knockout rose bushes 5-6 years ago. They did fantastic under his green thumb. The Kids cut them back for me last Fall and while they are growing nicely, not as nice if husband were here to care for them.

I also have a “dwarf” lilac bush that didn’t get trimmed back because it has a birds nest in it.

I have DayLillies in the horse part of the Pet Sematary that babysit themselves.

Three crepe Myrtle that also babysit themselves.

A flowering plant on the dining room table, from husband’s celebration of life two years ago. It is amazingly in full bloom with huge leaves. The gal who brought it, probably used part of her lunch money to buy it, so I am trying my best to keep it alive. It is finicky in that it likes its water at room temperature, only twice weekly. I also have to move it away from the window during the summer heat or it wilts. It prefers colder temps.🙄🙄

Considering I have been known to kill chia pets, this ^^^^^ is pretty good for me 🤠🤠
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Sounds like you are a fine gardener. I use the wilds and the tames too. I had to actually plant the wild day lillies in my ditch so they could take care of themselves.
 
Mary Stetler said:
Sounds like you are a fine gardener. I use the wilds and the tames too. I had to actually plant the wild day lillies in my ditch so they could take care of themselves.
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I have a perfect spot for Lilies of the Valley but they are toxic to livestock so I can’t risk planting them. Day Lillies & Crepe Myrtle are not toxic to livestock. I still have horses and my only fence neighbor has goats.
 
Interesting discussion on radishes. Succession planting is the thing--small amounts every week or two. We cannot plant them at all in midsummer, as they bolt immediately due to the long days. Sometimes we plant them in the greenhouse around now when the days are short and they will be done before the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers go in.

What kind of beetles are the pests? Are they Japanese beetles? We don't have them here and they haven't been a pest most places I have lived, but we had them in New Jersey when I was growing up and praying mantises were introduced to control them. Since then, milky spore bacteria have been isolated to be sprinkled on the lawns where they pupate. You could try that or just hit 'em with godawful pesticides that just kill everything:(
 
Don Alaska said:
Interesting discussion on radishes. Succession planting is the thing--small amounts every week or two. We cannot plant them at all in midsummer, as they bolt immediately due to the long days. Sometimes we plant them in the greenhouse around now when the days are short and they will be done before the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers go in.

What kind of beetles are the pests? Are they Japanese beetles? We don't have them here and they haven't been a pest most places I have lived, but we had them in New Jersey when I was growing up and praying mantises were introduced to control them. Since then, milky spore bacteria have been isolated to be sprinkled on the lawns where they pupate. You could try that or just hit 'em with godawful pesticides that just kill everything:(
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Yes, Japanese beetles is what has invaded us several years ago now. It would not do any good to treat the lawn unless all the neighbors are willing to do the same, and some are not. The beetles are pretty wide spread around counties. They come out when it gets hot. We have praying mantises too. We must have lazy ones because they don't seem interested in working. They just like to hang on the tree trunks.
 
I almost forgot — every year ramps (wild onions) and wild garlic come up in the pasture. Some of my horses would eat them, some would not. They are edible.

This year was a bumper crop. My brother pulled the biggest ones up. Some he ate here, the last batch he carried home because he doesn’t have them at either place in NE Ohio.

I am too lazy to go out and pull them up🫣🫣
 
Connie Bennett said:
I almost forgot — every year ramps (wild onions) and wild garlic come up in the pasture. Some of my horses would eat them, some would not. They are edible.

This year was a bumper crop. My brother pulled the biggest ones up. Some he ate here, the last batch he carried home because he doesn’t have them at either place in NE Ohio.

I am too lazy to go out and pull them up🫣🫣
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I haven't thought about ramps in years. My mother used to fry them with potatoes and they were yummy.
 
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