In a couple years it would be big enough to flower again, if it’s getting enough sun. Most people just remove the older stems (trunks) from the cluster.To allow for new growth. I’ve seen people cut them all off completely, and the road crews cut off large patches of them. In a few years they’re back and flowering. Too much shade will prenvent flowering though, so be sure as to why the don’t flower, before you let them ocupy the space for years.
Radishes can be sprouting out of the ground in a couple days, and in maybe three weeks under idea conditions you can start pulling some.
Radishes can be sprouting out of the ground in a couple days, and in maybe three weeks under idea conditions you can start pulling some to eat. Thin them so they have enough space to grow or they’ll never be edible. They’ll have a small root and finally bolt.
It may not be getting cold enough for your lilac, either. We’ve had such warm winters in our neck of the woods lately and lilacs have a chilling requirement. Newer cultivars are being bred with lower chilling requirements.
I made a discovery recently quite by accident. I have cats so I don’t usually get to have plants inside as they fall victim to cat nibblings. I was at Lowes and they had a poor lonely oregano plant on the clearance shelf so I bought it and took it home and decided to leave it in the kitchen even though I knew it would get nibbled. Well, I learned that cats don’t like oregano. There were a couple tooth holes in some leaves but no major nibblings. I even saw the kitten sit next to it, sniff it and quickly turn her head away.
I know they like basil, dill, mint (of course) and even rosemary because those plants did not fare well indoors with the cats. If I could find some other herbs they don’t like, perhaps I could actually have a few indoor herbs for my kitchen.
Anyone have experience with Square Foot Gardening? I’m planning a move to the country and would like to start a kitchen garden, but want to contain my propensity for going overboard and then getting overwhelmed. I have a pretty brown thumb, but I’d hope to set it up with a soaker hose to prevent the inevitable “What? Water? Who needs that?” that seems to plague me.
Basically, I’d like to start out simple enough that I can have some success to build upon.
I’m looking for a good fragrant indoors house plant that I can put on my windowsill–any thoughts or suggestions? The window gets lots of natural light as well as artificial…
Here on the Gulf Coast, it’s been one of the most beautiful Springs I can remember. T’was a more severe Winter so maybe that just served to delay and concentrate all the blooming. Our maples budded first, followed by the mountain laurels, then the Redbuds and Dogwoods went crazy and were unbelivable above the loropetalum and azaleas. My Chinese wisteria, blue, just finished but the Texas wisteria, red, is on the way.
If anyone has any experience with cactus, I moved a huge curiosity cactus (wrinkled, like a Charpei) to a sunnier side and into an elevated limestone planter w/ appropriate soil. It’s around 7.5 feet tall and weighs around 300 pounds. Once before after a move, it never missed a beat. This time though it’s very unhappy and has gone from yellow to dead grey in a branch or two. Any way to alleviate it’s discomfort post-transplanting? I’ve root stimulated and later fertilized but to no avail.
A good plan. SFG is a great place to start, but don’t worry too much about it - some of the info I’ve read is downright scary in how exact they want you to be. The est thing you can remember to do to ease the water problem is to mulch the heck out of whatever you plant. Have fun, and grow what you LIKE!
I do intensive gardening, and use square foot gardening in much of the beds. I hope you’re refering to what I’ve known it to be for the last 30 years. You pick the ideal spacing for the average plant, and plant in a grid. It’s very simple. Break up the plants into smaller areas and plant different species to hinder something from taking out the whole crop. Using this method correctly doesn’t leave room for many weeds, and the weeding chore is reduced greatly.
I use a variation on this for where I want a row of flowers for show. I fit 3 rows of flowers in the 4 foot wide beds. I plant lettuce, radishes and green onions in the blocks refered to as square foot gardening. When the flowers get growning and need the space, the spring crops are all ready gone and the room is there to grow. I plant leaf lettuce as a cover crop and weed barrier, because it won’t come up again, when you turn it in. It grows thick enough between tall plants that I don’t have to weed and the soil is cooler and moister. You can quickly pull some of them if they are crowding your real crop. You can also make little earth dams around every 4 square feet, and soak the area that specificaly needs it, and the stuff you don’t wish to water in the adjacent area is not watered. It’s what I do when a soaker hose isn’t what I want to use.
Don’t want this to be a hijack or anything, but I have a question about restarting a garden.
Currently the garden is a “pretty” garden, in that it has flowers and stuff in it. Personally I think it looks pretty ugly. The neighbours say that it is done in the “Salad” approach, which means a whole bunch of crap all thrown together as far as i can tell.
I prefer gardens that are useful, and want one that will grow cucumbers/tomatoes/carrots/etc. So how do I do this?
I am assuming I need to kill everything in the old garden. Is this even possible? Do I just go nuts on it with various tools? Hack and slash it to death?
Then what about the soil? Do I have to remove it all (or at least most if it?). Currently it is somewhat raised, with a 2x4 or 2 on the edges of the garden.
If I do have to remove the dirt, is there some specific kind I should get? What about the compost amount? Just mix it in with the dirt? A composter already exists, and all food scraps go in there. It has been around for a number of years as far as I know.
If all that is necessary and gets done, how much space is needed for the above vegetables? The garden isn’t very big.
Put out a sign saying “free plants” and let your neighbors come and rescue anything they want from the flowerbed. Tell any gardening friends that you’re doing this also. Then spread the word at work or wherever if there are still some left.
After the happy adopters have stripped you clean and the bed is empty, throw in a bunch of compost – the stuff from the current pile, and buy a yard or two from a local garden center.
By bed being empty, do you mean all roots, everything? So basically removing all the dirt?
Its not the work I mind, and I doubt any neighbours would want of the plants (they don’t seem to care for the garden either), and the only friends I have who have expressed any interest in or have a garden all want it to be a useful one as well. Thanks though.