Gardening : Gardening

[Seeking_Nirvana]

I live in Illinois so I think its to late to plant anything this year. I was going to start with tomatoes. LOL

Eventually, I would like to have a flower garden and a vegetable garden.

Tammy

 

[hodge]

Tammy,

I don't think it's too late if you can find some larger tomato plants at a garden center or nursery. I live in Minnesota, a bit north of Illinois and I've planted tomatoes in July, and they did just fine. You just want to look for a big plant, like at least 6" tall with large healthy stems and strong-looking branches with blooms on them. I've gotten lucky finding some at local nurseries and K-Mart. Plus, if they have any left by now, they're usually discounted. It's just tricky getting them into their tomato cages when they're that big, but it can be done :)

If you go that route, good luck and keep us posted!

Hodge

 

[Moonshadow]

Yesterday's storm was very strong. It blew down a huge branch from my largest silver maple. I mean like 1/4 of the tree!

We don't have a chainsaw, so I'm not sure how we're going to remove it. Maybe I'll just let nature take it's course, and let the kids have a new log to play on. The only problem is the sharp parts, where the wood broke and splintered. I don't want anyone getting stabbed by it.

Amazingly, the branch didn't do any damage. It fell parallel to the fence, and missed my young apple tree by about 2 feet.

 

[hodge]

OMG, Moonshadow, I hope your tree recovers. Can you use just a regular wood saw to cut off the sharp parts? It's lucky no one or nothing was hurt!

A couple years ago lightning struck our peach tree and it recovered, but it looks funny because the lightning killed and knocked down a huge branch which also probably amounted to about 1/4 of the tree, so now it's quite lopsided. It's still producing peaches, though :)

We've been getting a lot of strong wind here all day. It's humid and over 100 so it's like a furnace outside. And we have a tornado watch till late tonight. Oh joy.

 

[Moonshadow]

I know it sounds silly, but I took a hammer to the jagged edges. It helped. They're not so dangerous, now.

Also, pounding things with a hammer is a great way to get some aggressions out.

 

[kers]

That sounds like fun, Moonshadow!

I just learned how to "deadhead" my blanketflowers. I love learning new things about my plants.

 

[hodge]

Kers, what are blanketflowers?

Moonshadow, I'm glad you found a solution that not only helped make the tree remains safer but also helped get some aggressions out:)

 

[Moonshadow]

I used some fresh beets, from the garden, in our salad, yesterday. They were sooo sweet. My youngest, who refuses to eat lettuce, picked the beets out, and just ate those.

 

[Riggs413]

Hello all.....hope someone can help with a question that I have. It's related to water type plants.

Sorry, I am not much of a gardener yet but hoping to change this so don't know the correct term for water type plants. Anyways, I have designed a waterfall to build next year in the backyard. It will be about 50' in length with three water pools, two waterfalls and 2 areas of rapids. As I wil be building this myself I also want to design what type of plants to place along the edges of the rapids and the plants within the three pools.

I have searched the internet but haven't found much to help me out. Can anyone help me with terms/jargon that I can use to search out different plants that live in water. I am in Canada so winters are quite cold but the summer temps get into the 90's. Anyone have experience with water type plants that they could recommend to use. Looking for a bit of an exotic look and don't want to use the local plants that I know of.

Sorry for the lengthy post but this is my dream project for next year to help me cope. Thanks everyone.

 

[hodge]

Hi Riggs,

I wish I could offer some advice; I don't know anything about water plants...but I wanted to say welcome to the gardening group. I think your plan sounds totally awesome! I would love to make something like that in my yard!!

Hmm, now some terms just came to mind...have you tried searching with the words pond or freshwater flora or plants? Also does your province have a department or office that might offer advice or info on what grows best in what climate and environment? For the latter, you could start by digging into the main website of your province. Just some ideas.

I hope you find some plants. I would love to see photos when you're done!

Oh, I just thought of something else - have you tried asking at businesses that sell equipment for making ponds and such?

 

[hodge]

Moonshadow, you make me want to try beets again !:)

I just picked our first spinach leaves. It's about enough to make two nice spinach salads.

 

[Moonshadow]

Riggs, I would suggest doing a Google search on water gardening. If you know what zone you're in (depending on where you are, you may be in a zone 3 or 4), you might add that in your search.

I don't know a lot about water gardens, but I know waterlilies are pretty easy to grow. There are also types of water grasses that are pretty novice-friendly. If you choose some more delicate plants, you may have to over-winter them inside.

You will also want to look into some kind of mosquito defense. If you're not planning on having fish in your pond, you will want to find some kind of the bacterial discs that feed on the mosquito larvae. If you are planning on keeping fish, you will need to find a means for over-wintering them, as well.

You might look for water gardening books at your local library, for more information.