My tomato plants are putting out blossoms now. Huzzah!
We have peas!
Only about a serving’s worth, but likely I’ll do them up for the spouse this week sometime.
My cat, George, shows no interest in the “cat grass” I planted. Why is this? Do the blades have to grow longer before they have effects? Does it have to be dried first or something?
My two minigardens have been… interesting… this year
Garden 1; last year had Sunsugar cherry tomatoes, I made the mistake of planting six plants because I didn’t know how they’d do, i ended up with more Sunsugars than I knew what to do with, they were incredibly prolific, Six beefsteak plants as well, but the stupid hornworms decimated them too, I also planted some purple potatoes in that garden, they never amounted to much, the beans, broccoli, and brussels sprouts never did much, the cukes went well though, after the killing frosts came at the end of the season, I let them just die in place, and planned to till them under, never got around to it
Garden 2; had a couple heirloom tomatoes in it, but was quickly taken over by the pumpkins, they essentially commandeered that garden, the deer got to the pumpkins before I could harvest them though, Grrr…stupid deer, as with garden 1, I let the plants die off and planned to till them under, forgot about it
This spring, I tilled the dead plants under, tilled the garden on two seperate weeks just to make sure the tilled soil was good and friable, planted on the third week
In garden 1, learning from my experience, I planted two SunSugar tomato plants, four pimento pepper plants, four butternut squash plants, and a pair of Stevia plants (we had a longer than normal cold spring, so I had to cheat with plants from the garden center and not seeds), a few weeks later, I planted some Dinosaur Kale from seed as well
Fast forward to now, in addition to the happy plants above, I’ve got quite a few “Free” plants in Garden 1, what I thought were weeds as I was weeding today turned out to be tomato seedlings, most likely sunsugars, as the leaves look identical to my big sunsugar plants, I had so many SS tomatoes that they ended up self-seeding, and it also turns out that in the process of tilling the garden earlier in the month, I also cut up some purple potato seed potatoes that I missed harvesting last season, so I have at least five purple potato plants growing for free too…
Garden 2 I was more particular with this season, a Supersweet 100 cherry tomato plant that’s really starting to crank out the protomatoes, and an Early Girl Bush tomato, which isn’t doing all that well, this garden also has a row of snap peas, a couple rows of bush beans, some lemon cucumbers, and some calendula flowers, all growing from seed (the tomatoes were bought as young plants), but even this garden has some “free” plants from last year that self-seeded…
Remember the pumpkins I had planted in this garden, the ones that took it over?, well, their kids are back, with a vengance, the entire garden is riddled with pumpkin seedlings, and they’re growing incredibly well, so well that I had to transplant a thicket of them, no, not a patch, a thicket, they were that close together, clearly remnants from the deer-eaten pumpkins
I decided to perform an experiment, I can’t bring myself to pull up and toss perfectly good plants, especially free ones that are doing well, so I grabbed a couple old car tires, and some fresh potting soil, and made a two-tire-high microgarden, planting the transplanted pumpkin plants into it, i planted them good and densely, so at least some of them should survive, and if they don’t, no big deal, I left some pumpkin plants undisturbed around the edges of the garden anyway, if they die off, I’ll turn them under into the soil and dump some potatoes in there for a potato-tire-garden
I wasn’t expecting the “free” plants this year, but who am I to argue with free? 
I get more plants for no extra effort…
Oh and this afternoon as I was mowing the lawn, I drove the garden tractor off into our field to take a look at one of the old grapevines to see how it’s doing, pretty well, actually, and while there, discovered a small patch of Bee Balm plants, very striking with their shockingly electric-purple spiky flowers, since the field is being hayed this week, it was only a matter of time before they were cut down and baled with the rest of the hay, so, I grabbed a shovel and dug them up, de-weeded and de-grassed it, and planted them next to garden #1, I hope they appreciate me saving them from the hay baler
Here’s some updated pics on my MobileMe gallery the Bee Balm is the spiky purple flower
I’ve always heard the self-seeding, “free” plants referred to as “volunteers”.
As I was getting my garden ready this spring, I did a decent job of remembering where things were, what was a plant, what needed to be pulled, etc. However, there was one item that I just couldn’t tell. The leaves were shaped pretty weed-like, but they had a red tint, and there wasn’t anything nearby. So I decided to just let it grow.
Week after week after week, it would continue to grow. And week after week after week, I kept thinking to myself, “that’s a weed”. But last week, it flowered some really pretty yellow blossoms, with the indication of sprouting a shit-ton more. So I ask you, teeming millions - weed or not-a-weed?
Not a weed. That’s an evening primrose.
Oooh, looks pretty invasive for Indiana. I may need to tread lightly here - I’m still reeling from the Great Yucca Battle of '09.
I’m trying out using Miracle Grow this year - I’ve never fertilized much in the past. It’s not a huge outlay - I bought a big box of the stuff, and it goes about one tablespoon to a gallon of water. I think the soil in my yard is a little played out; planting all the clover I’ve planted might help with that, plus I never rake up my grass clippings. I might top dress the lawns next year; still haven’t decided. I also have a fertilizer called Worm Poop that might work really well, if I could ever get the bottle to work with the hose (that’s how it’s supposed to be distributed).
I tried using rooting hormone with rose cuttings, and it never worked for me. I took a big root from the old rose bush at our last house and transplanted it here; it sent up a couple of shoots, then those died, and it looks like it’s done now. I wish you the best with your cuttings. I’m not sure what the magic trick is for them, but I don’t have it yet.
Mine too! Yay!
My cats just start chomping on it when it comes up; you might have a cat who doesn’t particularly want to eat grass. Mine love it - they go into the back yard, eat grass, come back in the house, and throw it up on the rugs.
Yeah, I think that’s the primary purpose of grass for cats. It’s like snuff, with vomiting instead of sneezing.
Oenothera species (generally known as evening primrose or sundrops) include a number of plants that are relatively well-behaved in a garden setting. I have a variety of sundrops (O. fruticosa) that spreads by runners but is easy to maintain at the size you want.
On the other hand, Mexican evening primrose (the pink-flowered O. berlandieri) has proven to be invasive in a lot of gardens, especially in warmer zones.
I was messing around with the camera in the back yard today -
Some chives being photogenic.
My cat hanging around.
Our house ape - he protects the house.
Today from the garden I got a turnip, carrots, radishes, lettuce, onions, beets, chard, and kale. Yay!
On the downside, my next door neighbor sprayed roundup along the fence line and took out most of the peas. Fresh peas were not as popular with the spouse as anticipated, so it wasn’t a catastrophe, but it was annoying.
I do have two questions for those more expert than myself.
First, I planted multi-colored carrots. That is, the carrots come in different colors, not that each carrot has more than one color. The orange and purple ones are pretty standard (except for the occasional twisted mutant) but the white ones… most of them are too woody for use. Seriously, like sawing through a branch. They aren’t any older than the others, they aren’t any larger, and it applies to those that haven’t started going to seed as well as those that started forming flower heads. What gives? Are white carrots just more prone to that?
Second, and more serious, my remaining turnips exploded (except for the one that wandered over by the corn). It started with the leaves falling over limp, then dying. At that point, the turnip looks OK but if you pull it up it’s mush inside. If you don’t pull it up then a couple days later it… well, sort of explodes into a pile of foul-smelling mush that attracts zillions of flies. I’m guessing, by the way it started at one end of the row and went turnip to turnip, it’s some sort of disease process. It has not, as far as I can see, affected the nearby onions, beets, carrots, or peas. I don’t think it’s a case of excessive damp. I did not notice any sort of insect activity other than the flies that show up after everything goes to hell.
I do have another row of turnips several feet away that, as of now, seems unaffected. I’m hoping they remain so, but who knows?
Bump?
Can someone tell me what’s up with the turnips? ^
I can’t help you with either, sorry. My guess for the turnips is some weird fungus like the potato scald I got on my potatoes last year. Man, that made for some butt-ugly potatoes.
I had to transplant my two largest tomatoes today - when I took them out of the containers, it was like they were encased in cement, practically. No wonder the poor things were wilted! I’ve got them in the gardens now, and they’re looking better already.
I put netting over my strawberries (and saskatoons), but something still ate a gouge across one berry. What does that? Slugs? Squirrels?
In other news, putting sod upside down on the garden was a bad idea - the grass still came up, and now I have to figure out a way to kill all the grass and still be able to plant food there. Maybe I’ll cover the area with tarps next year till everything’s dead. I’m going back to regular rows for my plants next year, too - I’ve discovered that the reason for putting plants in rows is that it’s much easier to weed.
Cardboard (non-glossy) and enough fill dirt mixed with chopped leaves and grass to keep it down will do the trick, and it’ll decompose easily enough for you to just cut into it when you want to plant. (And it makes weeding that much easier as well.)
Sorry Broomstick. I have no experience with growing turnips.
The first ripe tomatoes (cherry type including Sun Gold) were enjoyed this week. Cherry tomatoes always seem to be the best-tasting.
In ornamental news, the Victor/Victorian garden is approaching one of its seasonal peaks (cannas have burst into flower, roses have recovered from the harsh winter and early spring with abundant growth and bloom, and other annual goodies are putting on a show).
Plus, it’s been a good year for one of my favorite perennials - some clematis or other, I forget the name. 
Whoosh on someone who’s going to post to let you know that the name is in the url for the photo in 5…4…3…2…
I have those pink evening primrose here in Indiana. They are invasive, but in a friendly sort of way–in other words, they spread everywhere, but they’re super-easy to yank up and clear out. They don’t establish horrid deep root systems or anything like that. I like them because they fill the empty spots in the flower garden. I just pull them before they go to seed when I get a chance. They’re pretty, too.
I’ve gotten pattypan squashes, bush beans, lots of sugar snaps, and all the broccoli so far. I need to plant pole beans–the bush beans were an accident, and they’re here one day and gone the next, so I yanked them up after the harvest. I think I’ll go ahead and pull the broccoli up so the melons have more room.
The tomatoes are coming along nicely–I’ve gotten lots of cherries and several early hybrids, and the heirlooms are looking pretty good so far.