# Gardening talk? Yes please! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 8, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883 "2011-03-08T03:25:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/121 "2011-04-11T14:14:47Z")
I waded through the calf deep snow still in my yard over to my garden which is about half revealed to find… Weeds. It’s too soon yet to plant anything in the garden, I can’t even get to half of it and I’m already WEEDING! WTH is up with that? Also, it looks like some plants which I didn’t get around to removing are still there and green. Either that, or the cucumbers are growing back. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/122 "2011-04-11T16:39:23Z")
**Broomstick** , it’s [Bonide Repels All](http://www.bonideproducts.com/lbonide/backlabels/l237.pdf) and the 4th page of that link tells how to use it to protect bulbs and seeds. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/123 "2011-04-11T17:29:36Z")
> [@Flutterby](#): > > I waded through the calf deep snow still in my yard over to my garden which is about half revealed to find.. Weeds. > > It’s too soon yet to plant anything in the garden, I can’t even get to half of it and I’m already WEEDING! WTH is up with that? > > Also, it looks like some plants which I didn’t get around to removing are still there and green. Either that, or the cucumbers are growing back. :dubious: I hear ya - my chickweed is going great guns. I bought a couple of pink lily bulbs yesterday - the picture looks about like [this.](http://pinklilies.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/ASIATIC-LILIES-PINK-LARGE.jpg) It was $4 for two bulbs, so I figured I’d take a chance, even though I had no luck with my daylily bulbs last year (I ended up just putting in three potted plants instead). I love lilies, so I’m planning to collect a whole bunch of them. I put some [Casablanca lilies](http://www.flowersgallery.net/gallery/casablanca-lily/casablanca-lily-1.jpg) in last year that I hope come back again this year. The squirrels go after my bulbs and new transplants, too. Little fuzzy bastards. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/124 "2011-04-11T18:16:24Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > **Broomstick** , it’s [Bonide Repels All](http://www.bonideproducts.com/lbonide/backlabels/l237.pdf) and the 4th page of that link tells how to use it to protect bulbs and seeds. Problem is, that’s not healthy to use around anything you intend to eat. That might work for my daffodils, but not for the rest of the garden. The coyote pee is safe to use everywhere in the garden. Oh, and good news! The radishes, onions, and either beets or turnips (forgot which row is which) I planted outside are coming up! And the indoor seed are now outside. I’ll probably have a few casualties, but they’re looking pretty good, too. And the tea rose - which I’m never sure will make it through the winter - is coming back _again_. It’s the sorriest looking, scrawniest, most pitiful looking rose bush you ever saw (90% of it right now is dead wood I’ll have to prune back soon) but it blooms roses the size of saucers/small plates with the most wonderful subtle fragrance. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/125 "2011-04-11T19:47:19Z")
Roses are another plant that I think tends to surprise people with its hardiness (the other I’m thinking of being lilies). I only plant hardy plants, and I’ll have lots of roses and lilies around here soon. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/126 "2011-04-12T02:03:22Z")
Spring has arrived! My daffodils are about to bloom. Apparently, they’ve done a good job of protecting the dwarf iris from the critters because that is pushing up too. My dogwood cuttings survived their first winter but I’m still waiting to find if the black raspberry canes and reblooming lilac made it. Please, oh please… ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/127 "2011-04-13T04:17:35Z")
In last year’s gardening thread I complained about my battles with Joe Pye weed, which is nearly impossible to get rid of. And this year I’ve learned that the conversation society sale is selling the stuff to people! Argh, why??? ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/128 "2011-04-13T05:43:05Z")
I worked on tomato cages today. Yeah, actual planting is still at least two weeks away (and there is a chance for freaking SNOW this weekend), but dammit, I can’t wait for homegrown tomatoes! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/129 "2011-04-13T17:38:31Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > Spring has arrived! My daffodils are about to bloom. Apparently, they’ve done a good job of protecting the dwarf iris from the critters because that is pushing up too. My dogwood cuttings survived their first winter but I’m still waiting to find if the black raspberry canes and reblooming lilac made it. Please, oh please… Well, lilacs and raspberries are really tough, if that helps at all. 🙂 I think I have to go to the greenhouse today, and see what’s in. Maybe I can get a couple of tomato plants to baby for the next month or so until I can plant outside. I’m desperate for home-grown tomatoes, too. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/130 "2011-04-13T17:46:51Z")
Hey, a gardening thread! Can someone tell me if my star jasmine is a little late wrt producing the blooms? I’m not seeing them blooming in the ground cover at the mall either, fwiw, but spring _is_ getting on. Southern California, near Disneyland, btw. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/131 "2011-04-13T17:58:13Z")
[Thar be onions](https://picasaweb.google.com/augratin/Apr132011#5595128522953424162)! ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/132 "2011-04-13T18:04:28Z")
**Kaylasdad99** , my Star Jasmine is blooming profusely right now, as is that I see at the nursery. Been doing so for probably the better part of a week. Texas Gulf Coast, Hardiness zone 8b to 9a. Unfortunately, now I’m less convinced the fourteen large Italian Cypress are actually recovering. At 16" average for the trunks this would be an enormous loss. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/133 "2011-04-13T18:12:52Z")
Well, for the first year ever, I managed to actually get the first planting of sugar snap peas to come up without the squirrels and birds eating/moving all the seeds. Yesss! Also the asparagus is starting to poke up. It’s year 3 for the asparagus so we should be able to get a good harvest out of it. I also have some very nice seedlings coming along. A couple of the pepper seedlings and a few of the tomatoes developed some kind of white fungus on the leaves, but I removed those with extreme prejudice, and the rest seem healthy so far. We’ll be planting out in early-to-mid-May, most likely. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/134 "2011-04-14T01:27:06Z")
It’s so much fun to read everyone’s updates! I haven’t planted my cool-weather veggies yet, but I did a lot of clean-up and flower- planting in the front over the weekend. I started planting flowers in my tree lawn a couple of years ago and have finally gotten the maximum amount planted that I want to do. This means I just have a little patch of lawn left that I use for putting out recycling and yard waste. Later this week and on the weekend, I’ll be doing the rest of the front yard and, I hope, getting a start on the back. I added some pinks, creeping phlox, scabiosa and candytuft in front and also planted sweet alyssum and snapdragons since it won’t bother them if it cools off again (unless we get persistent hard frost). I’ve planted sweet alyssum too late the last several years and had it poop out midsummer. I’ve had good luck planting it mid-April before, so I’m hoping it’ll work out. It’s really fun to see things coming up. My first celandine poppies are opening and my shooting stars have buds, so they’ll be opening up in the next couple of days as well. All kinds of other plants are growing, so it’s really starting to look like spring. Yay! ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/135 "2011-04-14T02:25:03Z")
Onion chives are up and running and the strawberries are greening up too. So elfking, I should ditch the Joe Pye weed someone gave me last year? Is it good at holding back an eroding hill? It might be worth keeping the stuff if it does. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/136 "2011-04-14T22:58:07Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > I filled in a couple of open areas in several beds with five flats of begonias and four of coleus about a month back and they’re just doing beautifully. I don’t know specifically which coleus they are but the kid and I noticed this beautiful blue and white crown coming up from the warm red and green leaves yesterday. Quite striking. Purple petunias in hanging baskets are something I’m going to have to remember for next year as well. Those blue and white crowns are flowers. You will need to cut them off or the coleus will think their job is finished and die. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/137 "2011-04-18T02:28:57Z")
This week I thought I had ordered some vegetables and fruits from a co-op/CSA type thing. I received a confirmation email of my order and I went to pick up my produce on Friday where I learn the guy was trying to get out of the business but couldn’t be bothered to post that on the website or disable ordering. But he showed me around his garden. He had a lot of vertical stacked styrofoam containers that seemed to be connected to a drip irrigation system. I tried looking for some info online but it seems that they are mostly used for hydroponics but it sure looked like he had soil in the boxes. They looked like “vertigro” containers which I found online. I wondered if the containers could produce a lot since the way they are stacked there is a lot of unused space but the advantage is that it’s vertical and not spread out. Has or does anyone use these type of systems for gardens? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/138 "2011-04-18T12:21:09Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > Those blue and white crowns are flowers. You will need to cut them off or the coleus will think their job is finished and die. Well no, coleus won’t die if you let it flower. Some people think the flowers look scraggly and cut them off for that reason. And vegetative growth might be less abundant if the plants flower. But it does no harm to the plant otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/139 "2011-04-18T12:52:30Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Well no, coleus won’t die if you let it flower. Some people think the flowers look scraggly and cut them off for that reason. And vegetative growth might be less abundant if the plants flower. But it does no harm to the plant otherwise. That, and coleus needs to be pinched out regularly or else it just elongates until you have a thousand long, skinny sticks with leaves every 6 inches. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883/140 "2011-04-18T18:54:33Z")
[This is my back yard today.](http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/featherlou/House/HPIM6804.jpg) [This is the other bed in the back.](http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/featherlou/House/HPIM6805.jpg) I put extra snow on to protect the little plants that are starting to come up from the bitter cold last night. [This is a little statue of two birds.](http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/featherlou/House/HPIM6801.jpg) [This is a lily from warmer times (and my old yard).](http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/featherlou/House/HPIM3337.jpg) Gardening in Western Canada is not for the faint of heart. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-talk-yes-please/573883.md?page=8)