I'm starting to enter the panic stage of garden planning.

[Conuly]

My usual approach to the garden is to toss in some seeds and hope they come up, which mostly works, but this year I'm being ambitious and a. getting up all the huge rocks idiot contractor buried there b. disposing of the bees c. making a concerted effort to get rid of that awful weed that takes over and spreads by runners and is awful and d. putting in raised beds.

 

Also, I'm going to try to grow corn. Nobody around here is ever successful with corn, and a lot of people have tried, but I'm going to attempt three sisters planting and see if that works. The only problem with this is that nobody likes squash that much. Well, that's what food banks are for, right?

 

I think I may be overstretching myself here, just a little bit. If this works, my next year plan is to replace the fence, put up mirrors, and plant some fruit trees and berry bushes on the side yard where we get just enough sun, maybe. But without disturbing my ferns, because I love my ferns.

 

I'm not sure if I need gardening help, psychiatric help, encouragement, or advice. But I probably want sympathy. What is everybody else doing this year, gardenwise?

 

(Oh, and my sister wants flowers in the front, so it looks nice. Who needs flowers? I have no idea where even to start with flowers! With me it's veggies all the way! So that's another level of low lying stress, because if I put in flowers I want them to be inexpensive and slightly different from the endless marigolds and snapdragons the rest of the block plants. Oh, and thief proof, but if I plant nettles with my tulips on my own property surely that's nobody's business but my own?)

[constantgardener]

If you want a low maintenance flower garden, go for a cottage garden style. Plant bulbs and perennial plants and you won't have to worry too much about them year to year. I don't know your location but in the UK you can buy young plants fairly cheaply by mail order like this: http://www.vanmeuwen.com. I have a couple of borders (I will post pics when there is something to see!) which I have to do very little to other than weed and cut most stuff down to ground level in the winter. I'm thinking things like echinacea, penstemon, phlox, achillea, daylilies, aquilegia... I do love my cottage garden plants.

And you do have my sympathy over taking on too much - I do it every year.

[Conuly]

The trouble with bulbs is we have thieves of both the furry and not so furry kind. I don't actually begrudge the squirrels for trying to eat, but I draw the line at humans. Plus, I never have luck with them. Roses, yes - I am so successful with roses that I ended up ripping one out and am pulling out another soon as I can bear to be outside because they just keep on thriving and I'd rather have something less thorny that doesn't want daily pruning. People say roses are hard, and I don't understand how that can be. We get a lot of four leaf clovers as well. :roll: But bulbs are something my mother is great at and me not so much, and for whatever reason she hasn't wanted to garden these past few years.

But, now, some quality perennials, there's a thought.

[Arete]

I have had homicidal urges against the neighborhood squirrels, so I sympathize. I can say that they have never shown any inclination toward muscari grape hyathcin and daffodils. Irises also do not interest them, but probably might interest a klepto-gardening human neighbor. They are the only bulbs that have ever been able to survive and thrive against our squirrel hoodlums. Forget tulips, it's not going to happen. I have one ugly ass orange lily they won't touch. They have destroyed all other far more beautiful lily varieties.

For perrenials I recommend lupines. They won't flower the first year but after they are good to go. So is floxglove and bells of ireland.

[Mela99]

My beds are almost entirely made of bulbs and perennials. If you want a good way to keep furries from digging them up, get a bar of Irish Spring soap and grate it over your beds. It won't hurt the flowers or soil and animals are revolted by the taste and smell.

We live on farmland and it keeps all the critters away.

Daffodils and tulips are my favorite, and hyacinths and hens and chicks grow in the worst of soil with little care. If you wanted some ground cover, I would go with pink sundrops, creeping phlox or golden coreopsis.

fyi, my favorite online place to get bulbs is the Michigan Bulb Company. Flowers are great, prices are even greater. Google them!

[Arete]

Well, I'm in a holding pattern here. I have seedlings ready to transplant outside, but as late as this past Monday, the night temperatures fell to 31 degrees Fahrenheit. Can't risk the tomatoes and some of the herbs just yet.

I've got some micro greens and scallions planted outside, but they are doing a whole lot of nothing. :evil-eye:

[Arete]

Anybody got any gardening updates?

My microgreens are starting to come along, and I have this weekend slated to transfer the tomatoes and herbs outside. The are busting out of their starting containers in the kitchen.

[Bethella]

I'm at the oh shit stage of gardening. I got antsy this spring and started my seeds too early. Which means that they were ready to go in the ground too early as well. So now I'm sitting here waiting to see if my stuff (particularly the tomatoes) will survive our late frosts.

[Conuly]

Next year I'm growing tomatoes from plants. Seeds are just too much stress! Peas and brassicas are coming up, carrots never took, and it started raining just when I needed to weed!

[Arete]

I just put the tomatoes and herbs out on Sunday, and it appears that it is going to rain for the next 6 days. :doh:

[Maggie Mae]

I done f-ed up this year.

Started too early on some things, too late on others. Part of the problem was the fact that even after our last expected frost day, it was still snowing. Then we had a snowstorm the week before our "everyone get out and plant" day, so the garden area was mostly unacceptable until it was too late. I'm going to try to make this work anyway.