Login Here
It's spring up here in the Northern Hemisphere! With spring comes rains, if we're lucky (sometimes too much rain, if we're not lucky), and then flowers. Even in the city we find flowers in the oddest places, such as underneath a stairwell.
Even in the city, gardens and farms can grow. More and more cities are turning to CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) groups to repurpose land that once had houses on it. For the soil polluted by industry of the past, non-feed crops like switchgrass are grown for bioremediation and to provide raw materials for biofuels, all without pulling currently arable land out of production for foodstuffs.
So go put on another pot of coffee or tea and then come back and tell me: How does your garden grow?
Share This 
Spotlight
jus cogens!
DEZ
Good morning!
morning!
Must be that Linux thing that makes you so fast tw3k:>)
>:]
OT-MSNBC reporting that Ted Kennedy has been airlifted to hospital with undisclosed illness.
too late to plant veggies here in AZ….. will need to wait until fall but my herbs are growing like gangbusters……. have sage, greek oregano, rosemary, thyme, basil, tarragon and get this……. ginger root sprouts are coming up in the pot I planted them in….. woohoo…
On Topic…I don’t have a green thumb, but my forget-me-nots are just beautiful right now. I have failed at more plants than I can list but these babies just took off.
Yes, apparently with stroke-like symptoms. Good thoughts going his way!
Oooh! Nice!
I only have a balcony, so I’m limited in what I can grow. But I do have herbs and strawberries.
Here’s a digg for ya PW…
Talk about gardens… I think I now have all my veggies either in the ground or in BIG pots. Lots of tomatoes and Peppers( from sweet to Habanero) The tomatoes just love this heat we are having here in the bay area…. several have grown close to a foot in height in the last few days!!!
I have a spot in the community garden this year, so between there and my tiny backyard, I have corn, sugar snap peas, cucumbers, burgundy bush beans, zucchini, basil, cilantro, tomatillos, Anaheim chiles, and 10 tomato plants. Oh, and 2 pumpkin plants that are threatening to take over the world.
we put in tomatoes and marigold to gig the bugs yesterday and some zinnias. we have quite many herbs. and a few squash. we dont have much garden room, but we do have three stone fruit trees and three citrus and an avacodo.
very much wonderful bounty.
In answer to your question,
With silver bells and cockershells and pretty FDL maids all in a (numbered) row.
EG’s thread was a great, happy tears and lotsa hugs one to get me in a good mood. Now, the Mister just put on some Blue Grass and my toes are a tappin’.
The Teddy thing sounds pretty serious — especially because of the way it is being covered..
Teddy airlifted from Hyannis to Mass General.
Yummy! Heat is good for ‘maters, so long as there’s also water.
I belong to a CSA Sol Food Farms on the Occidental Ridge Sonoma County.
Another city taking a new approach to shrinking population is Youngstown Ohio
http://growyoungstown.org/
Yup — if it’s something Cape Cod can’t handle, it’s pretty serious.
Yes, that’s one of my links up top. Youngstown wisely decided to clean up what they had and live within their means.
I have these seeds that “someone” brought back from France about 4 years ago from a French Cavaillon (sp) melon that “someone” ate over there…anyway, I planted some 3 years ago and they grew like crazy, producing a bunch of melons…I saved those seeds, and I couldn’t get them to grow the last two years. A couple of weeks ago, I threw some of the seeds into my flower garden, and they are growing gangbusters…go figure…
boy will that news push the wingnuts into a spin……
Will search CSPAN for the video but watched a segment where Teddy was reading his children’s book about his dog going to congress to a gaggle of kids….. anyone could see he is great with kids, knows how to be a grandpa and has a heart the size of Mass….. actually bigger than that….. he talked to the kids and listened to each kid to asked him something….. Not talking AT but to….. sweetheart of a guy just seeing that…
i have been taking a break from 70 hour work week and busting @ss in the garden. Tearing the whole thing up, moved peony bushes last fall, and now am turning whole thing into 4 ft squares. Some is in partial shade and will put herbs there, and will build frames for tomatoes, cukes, (and zuchini? force me to pick before they are the size of battleships.) i need to keep a portion available for snapping turtle to lay her eggs. am going out there with pitchfork after putting in another load of laundry.
Good morning. Been in ye olde yard all morning….making it all purdy-like.
I am one of those people who by merely coming near a plant will cause it to fail. The only thing that I ever managed to grow was a pot plant back in the 70’s. Which the dog ate before it had a chance to get very far.
jus cogens!
I tried to grow one in a pot in a window back then too.
My mom came over - ack- and asked me what it was.
I told her it was mint. Ha!
Heh.
I didn’t know much about gardening before I met my wife. Now that we’ve got a house, I’m enjoying it more and more. Of course, we have a limited growing season here in MN.
funny! i had a pot plant in the closet w/ growlight, and every morning, when i opened the door to turn on the light, the cat would be there for any yellowed leaf i’d remove.
**sigh** back to work!
PW, love this thread. My “garden” here in the fog belt took two weeks of blaing sun pretty hard (and the lumber for the new deck and the debris from the rotting former deck didn’t make things better…). But this week is planting week….winds are finally bringing in cool air. This summer I get to find out if the “San Francisco’ tomatoes really bear fruit.
And Katherine, your CSA is in such a beuatiful place….just spent last week up at Oceansong on Coleman Valley Road. sigh. I think I’m love…with their gardens.
And OT: looks like Teddy Kennedy may have had a stroke. My thoughts go to him and the compound.
They are waiting for a statement on his condition from his office.
Ha, we are just now seeing signs of spring. Long, long, long winter.
I love the scilla called Siberian Squill. They are 4-6” tall with bright blue flowers. They show up early (for us northerners) and are blooming now. When they stop blooming, the whole plant starts to yellow & eventually disappear. If you plant enough of the bulbs in your lawn they make a bluish carpet. The beauty of that is that they have disappeared by the first time you have to mow.
The Arbor Day Foundation did a planting zone map in 2006 that shows a big change from the 1990’s due to warming. Plants are surviving & thriving further north. USA Today has an article with a nifty graphic to see how the zone map has changed. You drag the bar across the the map of original zone map & see the new Arbor Day zone changes. Sorry I haven’t learned how to link. The article is ”Warming Shifts Gardener’s Map” by Elizabeth Weise.
oops sorry. The Youngstown story fascinates me. Youngstown has had a terrible reputation for a variety of reasons and to see this idea taking hold and doing well is wonderful. There is lots of evidence that community gardens grow more than things to eat….even just planting in the media strips seems to make a difference.
Northern Ohio has one of the most successful fruit and vegetable grower/ wholesaler operations selling to restaurants nationwide. It would be amazing if after years of trying to bring back industrial jobs the growth area is farming.
Boston Globe reporting a stroke.
oh TEDDY hang in there!!!,we love you muchly
MASS GEN (Harvard) is prolly the best hospital in the country
what does that mean??
Good morning all. I have an herb garden in pots in front of the apartment. Face north. What else should I be considering?
What a beautiful place to stay.
By the way they also sell at the Sunday Sebastopol Farmer’s Market
http://solfoodfarm.org/
In my own garden, I am planting basil (cuz you never have enough), tomatoes-lemon boys and celebrity as well as brandywines, cucumbers and some form of broccoli and little pumpkins
Good morning OC!
I missed you downstairs. By the time you brought out the coffee, I had headed back to bed.
Hope all is well with you and your pups.
‘morning, demi! the pups are very, very good and cute as evah…
yourself?
Hi PW, and all! I’m sneaking a mo from work - to brag, cuz I have a little garden growing nicely on my front steps. I rent, and the big trees shade the whole place - great on the electric bill, not so good for veggies.
But this year I do have two hydrangeas, doing nicely so far, a lovely little blue-flowered plant whose name I’ve already forgotten, Italian parsley, basil, and chives.
Next week, the herb guy at the farmers market promises to have mint.
And, as the farmers market has opened, I now have eating tomatoes! They;’ll be a little better a little later, but right now, delish.
Love reading this thread - later - back to work!
What pups?
my 2 fully grown gigantic dog “pups”
;-)
this dfh thinks Teddy is the closest thing we have to a Lion in the Senate -
right around the time of the invasion caught him being interviewed by Moyers - and was stunned at his intellectual agility and recall as had always thought of him as the hail fellow well met type, certainly with influence but had no idea of his mental sharpness until then
Always plenty of water and the pots they are in are 10 gallon and so they hold the moisture right all this heat. I have one thats a hold over from last season (Sun Golds) and it is just taking off again… If you haven’t grown Sun Golds you just have to. These little ones never seem to make it into the house… pop one into your mouth and it says sweet and TOMATO boy oh boy they are just great!! We also have oregano. thyme, sweet and Thai basil, dill, chives soy beans, green beans, yellow squash, and Egg Plant… I think there is more but There are so many I can’t remember them all!!!
Well I have to go so you all have a great day and I will see you later here at THE LAKE:>)
I’ve learned lately that it is not a very good idea to hook all 160 pounds of the “puppies” together and try to walk them that way - seperate leashes = better.
turn your apartment around to face south
“Hyannis Fire Lt. Bill Rex told the AP a 911 call came in from the Kennedy compound at 8:19 a.m. EDT A male was transported to Cape Cod Hospital and was transferred by medflight at 10:10 a.m. from Barnstable Municipal Airport to Massachusetts General Hospital. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....co/kennedy
Whoever they are is handling this very very quickly, which of course with any sort of stroke symptoms is the right thing to do.
lol
I’m growing pot herbs in the beating son on on my terrace. They are the only thing that can take it. Most everything is in except the basil. Saving that till last because it’s a no brainer, and there are always tons of it at the farmers market.
Found gorgeous big spearmint plants and they aren’t thriving. Second time. I don’t get it, they’re supposed to be easy. There is a consensus here that tarragon will not thrive, so I’m trying mexican tarragon (not really tarragon, but supposed to taste like it if leaves are chopped), we’ll see. It’s blooming its heart out, form of marigold I understand.
The ones on the south side of my building are only 15 ft from the next building and get almost no sunshine, but thanks for the idea. Also, my AC bills are nearly reasonable since I face north.
last night I noticed he’s ranked 4th(?) most powerful senator.
I finally got my drip system working properly and my containers have never looked better. Everything is in bloom all over the SF Peninsula, everything!
Have any of you ever seen “living walls”? I want one! check out www.eltlivingwalls.com. It started with “greening” rooftops, but the walls can be grown in areas like city balconies, etc where there is little soil but you can still green it up. Pretty cool
Impatiens might grow well on the North side in a pot. They can’t take the TX sun and do well in the shade.
You know I really dislike his personal history (meaning his treatment of Joan, etc.) but have recently found him to be an incredible and much needed voice on the floor of the Senate. Maybe this moment is his destiny.
Just thinking out loud here.
Hi PW!
I doubt this is any help, but I’ll throw it out just in case. MN’s GOP governor Tim Pawlenty was in WI talking to Rethugs and they asked him about the veep job.
No one wants to talk much about the veep talk
I thought there might be an outside chance that MN Democrats could use his “day job,” comment to good effect.
Just came in from watering the yard. Um, have I told you all about my grapes? Last year, we harvested so many we didn’t know what to do with them. Gave away a ton. So far only the green ones are growing. Still small, about the size of very large peas, but there are lots and lots of them.
We live on the side of a hill in chapparel and when we first moved here, I drove around the ‘hood looking at what other people had going. Grapevines…
Why swim upstream. Trying to go with flow.
Hi Betsy. How was the evening? I slept in and am getting ready for my day of puttering in the yard, orchid house and fish tanks.
I noticed yesterday that as the sun is getting higher in the sky, your pots are almost in the sunshine. If you put some a little further out from the building they will get sun for a few hours. In the summer in Texas that is all most plants need.
Pawlenty doesn’t seem to be all that engaged with his “day Job”, imo.
Mrs Raven’s roses next to Raven’s memorial.
oh oh oh! I popped off before I read all comments. Didn’t know Kennedy suffered a stroke. I meant that his destiny could be standing up to neo-cons. Jeez. No offense intended at all by my bad timing of a comment.
That has such a soothing feeling about it. What a wonderful restful place.
That is beautiful. What a lovely thing to do.
The roses look fabulous. Do I see St. Francis lurking in there? I love mixing plants in with the metal sculpture things you have there. nice.
That is so beautiful Raven.
damn Raven, that is lovely
Great shot of a great place.
Can you share that other, closer up shot of the roses.
People will really go ahhhhhhhhhhh.
I did.
Purty please?
Last month’s flush of blooms. They’re spent now but a whole new round of buds are about to burst forth.
That was Belinda’s Dream. Resistant to things that bother roses, have never had to spray them with chemicals.
I have one of my favorite roses Cecile Brunner planted right next to the back door, because of the fragrance. In the morning it gives off the most wonderful peppery rose scent.
Even in the city we find flowers in the oddest places, such as underneath a stairwell.
Speaking of odd places, at the old beach house many years ago Mother planted a rose bush almost underneath the stairs leading to the upper living area. Over time, the root stock apparently took over the graft and it then produced both blood red and a lovely pink shade of blooms. (Never knew which was which.) Anyway, after I had neglected to do any pruning for several years, one branch grew up thru’ a slit in the deck boards of the landing and proceeded to throw a bud and bloom. It gave me the greatest pleasure for more than a week to see that silly rose blooming right up thru’ wooden boards….plants can teach the most interesting lessons. :-)
The old deck reached its last life and is slowly being replaced by a new one…….the builders have been threatened with dire consequences should care not be taken for the survival of that rose bush. *g*
Thank you Raven, for sharing that amazing corner of your world.
:)
I’ll bet!
Dang, wang.
Also awful purty.
(I’m talking like that ’cause I’m listening to Blue Grass. I know you like that pickin’ & grinnin’ stuff. I almost said sh*t. :)
Nice roses, Wangdang!
Hey, tolerates partial shade! I have a lot of that.
Mornin’, Gnome. I picked the wrong time to run to the store…
I lub that pickin’ and grinnin’ shit, too!
My “Iceberg” climbers have had a heck of a time with thrips…sigh. I think they’ve died down, but it turned all of the blooms and buds brown; plus they’ve got a case of blackspot…Ugh…What a mess.
Heh! Pawlenty’s pushing MnDOT to get the 35W bridge rebuilt before the RNC hits town in early September. But this means that, even with the new funding for roads and bridges and general transport from the gas tax and license fee hikes, other roads and bridges are suffering badly, especially in places with lots of Democratic legislators.
Grape pizza. It’s one of my typically healthy recipes.
Pie crust baked on a cookie sheet or pizza sheet.
One layer of vanilla pudding, one layer of fresh whipped cream, and topped with grapes! (or whichever fruit!)
For a healthy variation, chocolate pizza. (Chocolate pudding and grated Hershey bar on top!)
Stunning, Raven!
figures.
My hubby commented with dismay on the china earthquake damaging schools and not government buildings. Catching on to the fact that the same thing “could” happen here if “our priorities get messed up”.
Now don’t be too ####### Mr. Dosido. He’s a hardworking dude and I’ve been bringing him along slowly. He has admitted that if he acknowledged how bad it is, he would become too overwhelmed.
Saved to my desktop, ’cause it’ll be fall before I harvest, and I’ll fergit.
Thanks. You have the coolest recipes, Loo.
…don’t forget the Zubaz!
But there’s this feign of an attempt to get “tough on bridges”. Apparently, it took 13 dead and over 100 injured to alert MNDOT to that problem.
Kennedy may be okay…was awake
I know the feeling, get it myself. Sometimes I just have to tune it all out and take a sanity break. Usually in the garden. Imagine that!
Yeah, we’ve got thrips this year, too. Even my friends with the professional orchid house are suffering. I just sprayed the other night with cinnamon oil to see if that would get rid of the pesky little buggers. I only sprayed where it is the worst, because I do have lots of lady bugs helping me out and I don’t want to hurt them.
OOOOH, gardens! At some point I’ll get it enough together to post pix, but I’ve got tomatoes, 2 kinds of peppers, Swiss chard, the lettuces and mesclun which are about to bolt, rosemary, thyme, dill, oregano, sage, parsley and asparagus as far as things to eat, with 2 different varieties of eggplant waiting to be planted (just got them this morning). The jasmine along the side and back fences is still blooming, the hydrangeas have buds, and I’m about to replace the pansies that are gasping their last in the beginning of the heat with moss roses. The 8 different coleus varieties are doing well, and 2 dahlias came back as a surprise from 2 years ago. My first experiment with gerbera daisies is doing well so far, and the rose mallows are growing. You’d be surprised what you can fit into 1/4 acre with a house on it!
Sigh…Zone 5…I’m waiting for Siberian Roses..
hmm, perhaps what he had was a TIA.
Interesting that Obama has issued a statement regarding Kennedy, but not Clinton.
What’s TIA, Toby?
We are participating in a sustainable gardening program through the University of Kentucky. It’s organic and we just received our first produce yesterday. Mostly lettuce, green and asparagus but they were delicious.
Transient ischemic attack.
Really fresh, organic lettuces are completely different from anything that you’ll ever find in the supermarket, aren’t they? When I picked my first leaves I simply couldn’t believe how good they were.
I didn’t know that Nancy Pelosi is in Iraq.
I yanked off all of the blooms and then when the new buds were opening I sprayed a shot into each one. Seemed to work for awhile. I’m not going to fight them…I worry about the other bugs and birds too…they seem to have died down a bit. I found a spider web with a little green mother spider and a bunch of spider babies on one of the roses…I left them alone, because I’m hoping they like to eat thrips. Now, if they eat the roses…they’ll have to move :)
beautiful!
So far as I know all spiders are carnivores (bugivores?). I have gone to a fair amount of trouble not to disturb webs when I see them, rooting for spiders!
Oh, wow! Just WOW! I’m in awe…
probably Clinton is waiting on more solid news… something official.
Insectivores !
Thanks Betsy, Marion. I suck at roses, Belinda’s Dream is the only one I’ve had success with. But I am branching out, so to speak, and trying some climbers. So far, so good.
It is amazing how Mother Nature evens things out. I figure I’m just going to observe.
[head meets desk] Duh… Of course! Brain fart…
Has anyone ever grown New Zealand spinach? It’s a new thing for me this season. Not really spinach, but tastes alot like it and loves hot weather.
Betsy - from south of you — LOL!
I liked bugivore :)
Tonigt we meet by the Inlet to the Bay to say farewell to a friend who drank himself to death. He was an affable and creative person isolated from his family he left his 9 year old dog who loved each other His ex has his pup she rescues animals so has a passle of crits for him to pack with. His liver was gone. He was found on the floor by his bed.
My garden is my best friend. I save my laundry water and make compast tea. I am still growing soil bacteria giving them time in my 3 new raised beds on piers. I love recyling my grey waters through compost tea. I seeded red worms two weeks ago and have them in the compost bin. When the cool weather comes their will be a cold frame to enclose them.
I have met other new neighbors that are wonderful gardeners. They are planning to make rain barrels and similar gretwater treatment systems. We are all organic.
Understanding bacteria’s roll is one of the keys to a healthy planet. It is the part of the system that cleans and rejuvenats. You can make compost tea easily. It is good for cleaning your drains and septics. I reuse my shower water to flush my toilet. Flushing uses a lor of water. Your sink water is a source of nutrients. You can save water bt having a cover over the soil and subsurface drip irrigation. Slow down. Gardening is the greatest. Once the soils are pregnant with fungi and microrhizzae the plants are in their happy home and love giving back to you. I have gorrilla hair under the planters to discourage weeds. I will cover the beds with last years straw. The subsurface drip line is fed by a 5 gallon container of laundry waterwith organic soap. The chlorine is long evaporated that e with the domestic water so it does not kill the bacteria.
Since the correct bacteria are dominant the