How Does My Garden Grow?

[RubyJeansMom]

Great reminder Margie. That's something that wouldn't be at top of mind, but I know my dogs would look at the compost pile as a doggy buffet. Glad to hear Rio was okay.

[Sadie G]

Thats good to know Margie, I had no idea. Sadie won't be going back to the area where my compost pile is so it should be ok.

I'm glad you knew what that flower was Phyrie! Good point on the seeds to Phyrie, I'm like you though, I would welcome any strays as long as they produce. Produce some produce!! For free!

Dixie, I grew tomatoes and cherry tomatoes in large pots on the deck for years. They always did very well!

Alina, I'm so happy your daff's finally opened! Very pretty! And I love the yard ornaments. I want to go flower and ornamental shopping so bad. Next week

Margie, I'm with you, there is nothing better than fresh green beans! Good luck, I'm sure they will do well.

RJM, my dad had a worm farm for a while and he did exactly what you described. His was for fishing worms too

Phyrie I agree, the bigger worms are better! I dug (actually pulled since it was so easy to get out with all the rain we've had) the grass out of the area for my compost pile in the corner of the back yard this afternoon. I wanted to have a defined area for the compost, and to my great (and very happy!) surprise the big fat worms were back there in multitudes! I was thrilled. My compost pile has started!

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

RJM, when I saw that photo of the worms, I immediately wanted to post a warning for you as I know exactly how you feel. However, you seem to have managed to scroll by it without incident.

My Mum, as you all know, is an avid Gardener. She has had a compost pile for years now and keeps a special bin alongside her regular bin under the kitchen sink. It doesn't take up much room, and has a charcoal filter in the lid to keep the odour to a minimum until it's emptied. As Phyrie mentioned about the Rabbit manure, we had horse and cow manure in endless supply which also used to be used.

This year I am desperate to at least have the small front lawn I own look like grass and not weeds.

Alina, had I been better informed when this house was built, I would have had topsoil put down prior to the sod being laid. However, I didn't and my front lawn is virtually weeds growing on rocks.

I am hoping that if I have a layer of topsoil delivered and spread evenly, I can then plant grass seed along with fertilizer which will hopefully choke out most of the weeds underneath. As it is right now, the ground underneath the weeds is so full of rocks and pebbles, that I can't even put my weeding tool into the soil as there is none.

The back of the house is relatively fine as all of the topsoil from digging the foundation is back there and even with the trees and their roots, the grass has done well and has very few weeds.

Any lawn tips would be appreciated. I know the alternative is to try and remove what is there; add topsoil and sod, but that is far more expensive than my plan. Growing lawn from seed takes longer but is far less expensive that new sod as topsoil must be put down first whichever way I do it.

I also know to let the grass grow taller and cut more frequently but not too short. The fellow I hired the first year kept cutting the grass too short and despite me telling him not to, he kept doing it. Needless to say, he has lost my business. He put himself out there as a Lawn Care specialist and yet couldn't explain, nor offer advice on how to choke out the weeds as spraying is no longer an option here in London. Pesticides have been banned, so no weed and feed, just seed and feed.

I have solicited my Mum's opinion and she thinks the topsoil, good seed and feed and loads of watering and removal of weeds if they appear would do the trick.

[Phyrie]

I did put a "Worms Pic" warning in the title, but I should have put some spoiler space. I'm sorry, RJM, and any other wormaphobes. I wonder if I can go back and edit this late? I'll give it a try.

Deb, If your front yard is small, perhaps you could put down some barrier material before you put the topsoil over your weeds. That black fabric weed barrier will keep the weeds from coming through, but will allow the grass to easily grow on top, and eventually down through the fabric as it breaks down over time. I have no idea if this is a totally cost prohibitive idea or not, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Speaking of composting, Kiba is a composter himself!! We were over at our daughter's last Sunday, and it was a feeding day. Kiba didn't want to finish his turkey neck, so he buried it somewhere in the back yard. Paul tried to find it, but couldn't. We were over there again today, and had to leave Kiba with the kids while we went shopping (it's warm enough I don't want him to have to wait in the car! Yippee!). Apparently, Kiba decided he needed a little snack and dug up his turkey neck that he buried a week ago. Brandi was appalled and took it away from him, amongst lots of "eeewww" and "yucks!" from the Grands. The neck was delivered to the great beyond. After we came back, and heard the story, I said he would have been fine with it, but they were worried about it making him sick. But I reminded them that most carnivores establish caches of "well-ripened" meat when they can't eat all they have caught, but consensus seemed to be that they didn't want to watch Kiba eat a week old, black with dirt, hunk of raw turkey. Don't know if I blame them, really.

[DixieDoodle]

So I planted 12 tomato seeds yesterday.. Already forgot to water them this morning and put them out on the deck.. Off to a good start!

[RubyJeansMom]

LOL Amy!

I bought my tomato plants this weekend, one is already starting to flower. Last year I started them from seed, they didn't start producing until August. Hopefully this will give me a head start and I'll be enjoying tomatoes all summer long.

[snifferspommom]

I know nothing about lawns, Deb. Sorry! That's the OH's domain, hee hee!! All I know is that grass grows through weed barrier, grr!!

I love starting veggies from seed. My seedlings this year are doing awesome! No flowers yet but they are nice and strong and not leggy!! I'll probably plant them out after we get back from vacay in 3 weeks! I have an overabundance of parsley, oregano, broccoli and basil, which I'm trying to give away. Don't need 8 basil plants and 20+ oregano plants.

Can't remember where you are located, Amy. Are you in a warm climate? If not, then you might want to start your plants inside in a nice sunny warm spot.

Wonderful that your tomatoes have flowers RJM! I was harvesting until November last year and still had fairly decent sized green ones on the vine! This year I'll know enough to pick them and let them ripen inside.

[DixieDoodle]

I'm in Nova Scotia. It has been plus 10C the past couple of days and I read online that the min. temperature that Tomatoes can grow is 12C so I did put them outside today and I am hoping that for once the weather person can predict the right temperature for today.. It is suppose to be 11C today. My balcony is well protected from wind so I hope they will do alright outside today, though they have a better chance being outside than inside with my plant killing cat. He has killed all of my house plants. Sadly my apartment is tiny and no matter where I put plants up high he can still manage to jump and get them. Anyone have any advice on how to keep a kitty out of plants??

Deb I will have to ask my Dad what he used on his lawn. When my parents bought the house many years ago the lawn was brown, weedy, and had moss in a lot of places. I know they didn't reseed the lawn but he did spread some sort of lawn fertilizer..

[snifferspommom]

Sorry about your plant killing kitty, Amy. Maybe put some sort of wire mesh over the pot until the seedlings are big enough?

My tomato seedlings have taken a turn for the worse. The leaves are yellowing and curling under. Think they sucked out all the nutrients from the soil they are in and are telling me to transplant them before they die.

Here's the latest and greatest Daff pic!!
Loving the Macro setting on my camera, hee hee!!

I should have kept a garden journal to write down the dates of things coming up in the garden. I just noticed a few tulips sending out stalks and closed flower heads, saw baby fiddleheads on my ferns, and one pea plant is sprouting in the veggie patch!!

I think my strawberries are lost to the rabbits. At least they are leaving my perennials alone...for now...

[RubyJeansMom]

Pretty Daffodil Alina!
Have you noticed everything is blooming later this year? At least here it seems as though that's the case.

I was so excited to see a beautiful pink tulip had bloomed a couple weeks ago, when we still had snow...looked outside today and Kessler was standing on top of the poor crushed thing. Oh well, at least I got to enjoy it for a little while.

P4180382.JPG (35.71 KB) Viewed 1090 times

[Sadie G]

What a beautiful daffodil Alina! I love the two colors.

RJM, very pretty tulip. I like how yours bloom down in the leaves. Mine get very tall on long tall stems.

Finally got the first of my veggie garden area's just about complete. I just need to get some more dirt this weekend and the plants and seeds. I won't get to plant as many things as I wanted this summer, but this is the smarter way to do this. The wood trim was Expensive!! But worth it. It won't move

This was before I dug the grass out. It looked like this just after lunchtime today. My OH cut the boards to fit when he came home for lunch. Yay!! I got to play in the dirt!!



I dug out the grass, and then started on the yard waste pile next to it. It was really GOOD "wormy" dirt!!!
This is what it looks like now. I still need to finish leveling out the yard waste area.



Thats my new compost area in the corner too. I had to double the size already!!

[Sadie G]

I just have to show you the garden stuff I got for Mother's Day

My family knows me well!!

This is from my daughter. It is solar powered and glows a bright blue at night. I love this!!



A miniature rose bush from my son. He knows I love these!!
(I got a lavender color one for my mom and daughter. Went back to get one for me and they were all gone! Thats what I get for hesitating. Should have bought three!)




Wave petunia's from church for Mother's Day. This has almost doubled in size already just since Sunday!



And this is from Sadie (via my OH!) I was really surprised at this one. He, oh I mean Sadie , listened and knew just what to get for me. I didn't expect anything from him, errrr I mean Sadie . I think I'm going to find a white flower to go in this one.



So how is everyone else's gardens growing? I can keep posting, I have plenty. But I would really like to see everyone else's too!

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Linda, I'm so glad you were spoiled for Mother's Day! You certainly deserved to be. How wonderful to receive such lasting gifts.

I love the butterfly ornament that lights up. I imagine it's beautiful in the evenings. I also think it's sweet that your Church had a gift for all of the Mothers.

When I was a newly "single Mum", I had to drive to Toronto and back to collect my sons on Mother's Day. That's a 5 hour round trip. When I arrived home, I noticed a new little garden, planted with Begonias in the front, and another garden, planted with Impatiens in the back. My Mum had bought everything she needed to plant two gardens for me, on Mother's Day!

Yes, of course I started to cry when I realized what she had quietly done for me on Mother's Day, when I should have been showering her with gifts and praise. The lovely gifts you received from your children, and "Sadie" reminded me of that.

[lucky&babesmom]

Love all the inf. on composting and all.

Linda , you really got some nice stuff for Mothers Day way to go.

RJM beautiful tulip.

Alina love the daff.

We have our garden out here are a few pictures.
melon garden

[lucky&babesmom]

Tomatoe and peppers warning rubber snake in second picture




squash


Tomaotoe and cucumbers


Alot of the rest just loooks like dirt yet some of this does alsoLOL