Do You Garden??

Racoon · 05-02-2006

The Garden Bug has bitten!

The weathers good, the Nurseries are stocked, and everything is green again!

Looking to turn the deck and yard (minus the dog holes and wear spots) Into another peaceful paradise! I can relax with a glass of Moet and watch the Birds!

and see the results of work and Mother Nature's design....

So, Do You Garden?
And What?

Do you have an interest? or Do you just mow the lawn?
Does your spouse do the gardening? or do you hire a landscaper?

Do you not have an interest? or Do you not have time?

If you live in an apartment or condo, do you have Indooor Plants? that would count as "gardening"

Chinese Wisdom: Cultivate thy Garden.
Gardens can be meaningful Metaphors.
Maybe one day I can have a Feng Shui balanced Japanese Garden, with rocks and Koi ponds!!

Racoon · 05-02-2006

Ok polls up! you know what to do.

Here is a great thread started by the Turtle, that may be useful for your learning and where you can gloss your knowhow and green thumbs:

What's Growing In Your Garden? Horticultural Science

orbsycli · 05-02-2006

I just moved into a HOUSE,
rather than my POS old apartment.
So, I'm germinating some seeds right now to plant out back.
Can't wait! :sunshine:

:freedom:

alexander · 05-02-2006

Quote:

I'm germinating some seeds right now to plant out back

canabis seeds orb

?

lol, dont like the yucky dirty ground work, i can spend 2 days fixing a bike, hands in oil and break fluid, but i can spend more then a half an hour in the garden, drives me crazy...

Racoon · 05-02-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexander

canabis seeds orb

?

Whats wrong with that alexander?
If you're gonna' have weeds in the back yard, they might as well be the good kind!

This year is off-the-hook for me. This is the lightest responsibility Spring Time I've had in a long time.

The Snow Peas are coming up! I just hope they don't get that rusty blight they got last year.
I am mixing the varieties...

Its good to mix in Lime too, that gives the soil Calcium...

If you haven't checked out Terra Preta, I recommend you do.
Its all about soil, and charcoal. MichealAngelica has done good by posting some great stuff!
Go back a ways and read some...

http://hypography.com/forums/earth-s...tml#post102066

Michaelangelica · 05-02-2006

Just planted some sweet peas- just comming up
(I put BBQ charcoal in the soil see my current obsession "Terra preta" link/discussion)
http://hypography.com/forums/earth-s...-new-post.html
(You need to start at the begining and read the links. I promise it is worth it if you garden/farm/grow in pots.

Have heartsease (V. tricolour) seed up but look a little sickly.
(see posts on cyclocides and violet leaf tea)
Herbs, medicine, cyclotides & pass the Violet Tea

Trying for the second time with some Chinese sage seeds from Richter's in Canada. I don't think these will come up either.
i can't grow normal sage because it is too humid whee I live.

My new (12mts) garden has lots of gardenias, impatiens,(seeding everywhere) Palms (seeding everywhere- not overly fond of palms but they do lok nice) Port Wine magnolia, Camellia sasanqua, Violets native (hederacea- spreading everywhere) and Common (odorata -seeding everywhere). Lemon basil self seeded by the pool. grevillia (which the parrots love- gret flocks of them visit)
I have planted a Boronia, Lemon Myrtle, Lemon verbena, Brugmansia/(datura) (apricot); a large magnolia, interesting coloured , some annuals (didn't do two good with soil PH as it is - still have a struggling hollyhock, Texas Rose, carnation) nasturnums, double impatiens, an orchid or two (expensive!), nutmeg geranium and a couple of roses and a few bulbs (earlicheer)
Of course herbs FRENCH Tarragon, Chives (garlic and onion) Comfrey,lemongrass Rau Ram(Vietnamese Mint a coriander substitute)-going mad. A Lime (Kaffir), ginger (from the supermarket, thyme, lemon thyme, lots of basil, parsley, Chillies habanero and Jalapeno- harvesting so many want some?
Citronella grass etc etc - god no wonder my wife complains about me spending too much money
--
I would probably live in a US zone 8?/9/10? Quite close to the sea

Michael

TheBigDog · 05-06-2006

We are preparing to build garden beds next to the house. We are looking at having four 4' x 12' beds. I have not determined what I am going to border them with at this time, some kind of wood. Something like RR ties, but I don't have a saw for cutting them. So I may go with some kind of lumber. This is more Shannon's project than mine, I do not consider myself to be a gardener, and don't have much ambition to change that. And unless I can convince her to join and pose her own questions here in "nerdville" I will continue to act as an intermediary. our soil here at the house is really sandy, so we might be getting a truck load of some kind of fill for our soil. Of course all of this is money I would rather not spend, so if anyone has somme suggestions for gardening on the cheap, I am all ears.

Thanks!

Bill

Michaelangelica · 05-06-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBigDog

We are preparing to build garden beds our soil here at the house is really sandy, so we might be getting a truck load of some kind of fill for our soil. Of course all of this is money I would rather not spend, so if anyone has somme suggestions for gardening on the cheap, I am all ears.
Thanks!
Bill

With sandy soil I would be adding as much compost and manures to the soil as I can. You should be able to buy a truck load of mushroom compost.
I wouldn't go buying soil. You just import problems from others. Sandy soil is fine just very deficient in organic matter.
Take an odoriferous trip in the country and but as much chook poo, Horse poo, Cow Poo as you can afford. A mixture would be best. Peat would be OK too. Anything organic (except citrus rind)
You may need to test and adjust your PH after your mix has had time to settle.

See also the thread on Terra preta here. There are a couple of posts about interesting things you can add to your soil. I would certainly be adding some ground up charcoal