Mostly herbs. . .I’ve got tarragon, oregano (2 kinds), thyme (2 kinds), parsley (2 kinds), basil, chives, sage, mint, a nice container of rosemary (2 kinds). I’ve got so much, I’m just randomly garnishing things I pull off my grill.
I had a big ole dill plant. It’s in a container with the tarragon and creeping-thyme. One day, I noticed there were 5 caterpillars munching on it. Two days later, it was gone, and so were the caterpillars. They came out of nowhere, chomped my dill to nothing, then left.
I have a pepper plant that has two nice looking jalapenos, but I did some considerable damage to it recently.
I have little trees that I’m turning into bonsai, 6 or 7 cuttings, 2 saplings from my Japanese maple, and 3 more plants that I’m going to Bonsai in the future.
I recently picked up an awesome hanging plant called a mandevilla.
Hey, Trunk- I’ve got pics of my herb garden in my Flickr photostream. If you have some excess herbs, snip them with scissors in the morning, and lay them on a non-stick cookie-sheet in your hot car. They will dry in one or two days, and you can use them this winter.
Bonsai takes TIME, and all you ever see in books and the web are excellent specimens. Mine are in progress, but, I’m not ashamed of them, either.
I’m only a few years removed from always killing them, but I have a couple going that are kind of cool, and a few plants in regular nursery containers that are for future pruning and planting. They have a lot more potential than anything I’ve made.
(also, I can’t access flickr from work. I’ll check those pics are home if I get on tonight.)
Forgot to mention, I also have some fennel growing. I don’t know if there’s a bulb growing under the surface.
I’ve got a story for you. A man pulled in my driveway this evening while I was working in the garden (visible from the road) and explained that he and his wife had stopped a couple times and grabbed a few cucumbers from my “help yourself” free produce table.
Said “That is real sweet of you. Listen, do you have anything to sell? We don’t have time to garden, and I would be glad to buy some stuff from you.”
“I will have some heirloom tomatoes to sell in a couple weeks, but everything else has suffered because of the drought, and today’s storm blew a lot of my corn down.”
“Well, I just thought I would stop in and say thanks. I’ll grab a few on the way out.”
“No, go ahead and take the rest (about 20 small pickling cucumbers). It is getting dark, and if you don’t grab them, raccoons or opposum will. Might as well take them with you.”
I had a policeman stop after ten on Halloween night. He wanted a pumpkin, because he had just finished work, and he couldn’t go home without one for his kid. I was a kid back then, and he gave me $10 bucks.
Beaucarnea let me know if you ever run across a giant snapdragon. I used to grow a variety as a kid that got at least four feet tall. It dropped off the radar, and I don’t know what it was called. This is just a little bug in your ear, in case you ever see it, or similar.
Awesome. Strangers are some of the best people in the world. I’ve had a surplus of summer squash and cucumbers, and have been loading the *help yourself * table every couple of days since July 1st. Now that I have everyone’s attention, I’ll be setting up a produce stand for the heirloom tomatoes (75+ plants, all loaded, but still mostly green) next weekend, and the sign will explain that the honor system will be used for commerce. I’ll put a couple dollars worth of quarters in the box, a sign will read “Honor System Produce Stand. Prices are as follows… weigh and pay. Honk if you have questions or need change.”
Should be an interesting social experiment. Any suggestions?
Giant snapdragon? I’ll keep an eye out. Old fashioned favorites like hollyhocks and cleome are frequent in this area, so it is likely that snaps and other self-sowers might be around. Everyone who has those things is always willing to share seed, so I might be able to find it!
Corn is hybrid (I am ashamed, but it is just so sweet) Silver Queen and Kandy Korn. Can you suggest some non hybrid varieties?
The J beetles have not been much of a problem around here - probably not hot and dry enough. Corn will be ready in about a week (my personal record is 19 ears in one meal: yeah, I love my corn, and used to be able to eat a lot*), and tomatoes are just coming on. I’m very disappointed that the Green Zebra plant apparently has a fatal disease, though. Lettuce came and went almost unnoticed because it went to seed after the rabbits had eaten most of it.
*re: the Garrison Keillor reference: yes, sweet corn is better than sex. I think he recommends not picking until the water is boiling. We haul the stove down to the field and just bend the stalks over into the boiling water.
I’m in awe of you all. I am a baby gardener, and a bit of a lazy one, too, so I’m starting gently–with zucchini. Can’t fail, right? Well, last year’s did. (Okay, so maybe only having one plant and putting it in a nice pot wasn’t a good idea. This year, I started with four, and put them in the garden bed I discovered hiding behind the dangblasted Himalayan blackberries.) I have eaten two baby zucchini so far. It’s good.
Last year, my two tomato plants produced–one tomato on each plant. You have to laugh.
And JUST the day I was going to pick my crop of all two tomatoes–some critter came through the night before, and there were zero tomatoes.
Laugh, right?
I am trying some peppers beside the tomatoes, and some scarlet runner beans. I don’t know if we’ll eat them or not, but they are pretty. I have a chive plant in the front, pretending it’s an ornamental.
I’m starting with the easy stuff, and with the full knowledge that we have deer, raccoons and bunnies about, so optimism must be tempered with caution. I have chicken wire if I want to get fancy, but there’s no real spot for fencing, so I’m mostly a container person.
I have a bed around a flowering crab, mainly to stop somebody from wrecking the tree. People have asked in the past what the pretty purple flowers are. Chives are more than garnish. Scarlet runner beans are hairy, so as a green bean they are not too desirable. You’re better off saving the seeds for soup or the like. Save some for next years plants.
Beaucarnea I just wondered if you grew sweet corn or what. I see it’s all sweet corn. You may wish to sell tomatoes by the quantity, or you’ll have to have a certified scale. I buy the sweet corn around here stopping at farms with a picnic table and a box for money. There are a few farmers that still raise corn so the neighbors can get some in summer.
My orange pink rose had 15 blooms open or partially open yesterday. I don’t expect that many at a time on one bush again this year. I had 5 Peace roses open two days ago. Last year when I got the rose plants, only 4 of 5 were what they labeled. I plant for fragrance and then looks.
The last three can have flowers typically reach 6 inches across. These are the roses for getting the whole area to smell great. This selection gives you a good range of colors too. Mister Lincoln can look like dark red velvet. The Peace roses can look florescent they’re so intense. The Queen Elizabeth is the best pink and the largest rose flower I’ve seen. Angel Face is a lavender color. Tropicana is a nice orange color. Mirandy is a medium red. Chrystler Imperial is bright red with an orange tone.
I’ve planted a few Green Zebras somewhere amongst my unlabeled heirlooms, Oslo, but since many of the varieties I planted are striped and none are ripe yet, I can’t find it. I walked up and down the paths this evening gently squeezing all the green stripey tomatoes looking for one that feels ripe- no luck. (But I do feel a little dirty.)
Savannah, you are doing what seasoned gardeners wish they had the self-restraint to do: growing only exactly what interests you, and no more than your family can consume. I aspire to garden like you someday.
Angel Face is my favorite fragrant tea, Harmonius. Smells heavenly. The lovely bright tangerine Radiant Perfume was Mom’s birthday present this year, and just now has buds. I’m not diligent enough to raise teas, but I’ve got my eye on a garish Joseph’s Coat climber to entice the bees to stick around and work the garden.
(Okay, so maybe only having one plant and putting it in a nice pot wasn’t a good idea. This year, I started with four, and put them in the garden bed I discovered hiding behind the dangblasted Himalayan blackberries.) I have eaten two baby zucchini so far. It’s good.