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Gardening

Christy

Angel Diva
Anyone suggest anything fun? I have a bunch of stuff right now, 6 tomatos, 3 peppers, cantelopes, zuchini, squash, butternut, cucumbers, peas and all the assortment of cool weather stuff (beets, radish, lettuce, chard, kale, cabbage, broccoli, mustard greens, fennel etc,).

Tomatillos? One nice thing about them is that if you have a bumper crop or just don't know what to do with them, you can just make them all into a salsa verde or other green sauce all at once. They are great turned into a quick pickle as well. This makes a fun little gift for anyone that likes making Mexican food (even just tacos).

You didn't mention herbs but you have so many other things I'm guessing you do have an herb garden and just didn't mention it. Do you grow lemon thyme? This is my favorite herb. So good on fish and on many pasta dishes including pasta salads.
 

Kimmyt

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I have mostly perennial herbs, they share a bed with my strawberries except my oregano which will take over if its in there so it lives in the dirt by the side of one of my raised beds, although I do grow rosemary and basil in pots and in my beds (and lavendar in some of the flower pots that i have in the main garden area). I used to grow tomatillos but haven't in a while because I didn't have enough space, so maybe I will pick some of those up, iirc you need to grow more than one for pollination right? I do love making salsa verde!
 

BlueSkies

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I used to grow tomatillos but haven't in a while because I didn't have enough space, so maybe I will pick some of those up, iirc you need to grow more than one for pollination right? I do love making salsa verde!
Yes you need more than one. I've had years where the wildlife have eaten all but one of my plants and no tomatillos. (I still kept the single plant as the flowers attract the bees to the garden)
 

Kimmyt

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
My garden is starting to fill out nicely. This is the bed I try and put things the rabbits won't eat in. Once the snap peas get big enough they leave them alone. I also have mustard greens, cabbage (they might eat this who knows), jalapenos cucumbers on the trellis, and a few random squash plants that I let grow into the yard.
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The 'main garden' and rabbit proof fence. A ton of stuff jammed in these beds, I've been experimenting with growing things a little closer so they shade each other a little bit to help protect from the heat since its a bit of a furnace over here with full sun much of the day and the reflection off the siding and white rocks. New this year are the grow bags that I have scattered around, that will house tomatillos and cantelope. I also added some more hardy perennials to my little pollinator garden on the side (the only ones I can remember are lavender, echinacea and maybe shasta daisy). I also have a little bug watering station (shallow dish filled with rocks so they won't fall in and drown) over there.
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My little shed perennial garden, with some early summer color. I just added the foxglove today and have no idea if it will survive the summer but I wanted something with height. I tried to transplant some creeping phlox from another area of my yard but I'm pretty sure I failed miserably (hoping the roots are still going under the dead foliage though). Right now there is salvia, catmint, dianthus, and speedwell. Once those fade I should have some torch lily, penstemon, echinacea, tickseed and coreopsis come up and usually I can get another bloom off the salvia. Basically I just plant a bunch of stuff there and see what takes.
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Christy

Angel Diva
@Kimmyt I am trying grow bags for the first time this year too. I have tomatoes planted in the 10 gallon size. I wish I'd ordered more but by the time I decided I needed more, they were sold out or backordered everywhere.

What is a bug watering station? Do you need to provide water for your pollinators?
 

Kimmyt

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@Kimmyt

What is a bug watering station? Do you need to provide water for your pollinators?

Its a little something I saw somewhere, since we live in a pretty dry area, that bugs will try and drink out of bird baths and pools and stuff and then fall in and drown, so you can put rocks in a dish and then they can get the water from the dish without drowning. Have no idea if its useful or not (mostly the bugs seem to drink off the plants as i water them), but i have it set next to my pollinator flower pots and so the overspray from watering goes in there so it doesn't make any extra work to fill.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
Its a little something I saw somewhere, since we live in a pretty dry area, that bugs will try and drink out of bird baths and pools and stuff and then fall in and drown, so you can put rocks in a dish and then they can get the water from the dish without drowning. Have no idea if its useful or not (mostly the bugs seem to drink off the plants as i water them), but i have it set next to my pollinator flower pots and so the overspray from watering goes in there so it doesn't make any extra work to fill.

Aww that's nice, especially considering the bug apocalypse. I have a couple pot saucers with rocks out for birds (they need the rocks to gauge the depth apparently). I also read that this is a good thing to do for squirrels as they are less likely to eat your tomatoes. Anyway, bugs can use mine too.
 
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Christy

Angel Diva
Unlike @snowski/swimmouse, we are nowhere near harvesting tomatoes. I'm on snow and snap peas. English peas are still filling out. This even seems a little early for peas, and my plants look great and haven't been munched on by critters, so I'm happy.

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I have a perennial border in front; I'm going for the cottage garden look. I really like it this time of year.

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And it's peony time! I love these. I wish I could get more than a few blooms from the hot pink ones. I suspect they don't get enough sun.

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Christy

Angel Diva
@Christy, love the front! What all do you in have in there?

Blooming at the moment: Shasta daisies, foxglove, peonies, snow-in-summer, agastache, snapdragons, English daisy, violas, California poppies (these are volunteers and I pull most of them). Penstemon is just starting. There's some lower growing groundcovers like lemon thyme and ornamental oregano and a few small shrubs like hebe, daphne and a couple compact blueberries.

Lavender, anenome, coreopsis, crocasmia and whirling butterflies are up next.

It's a challenge for me to keep it looking good as the summer goes on. It's definitely at its best in late winter/early spring with the bulbs, and then spring to mid-summer with perennials.
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
Here's a few of my areas, mainly so I have them for comparison later in the summer - not much to look at right now.

This corner is where the hibiscus is, with black-eyed Susans in front. There’s also a mum in there, something else from a friend that I don’t even know what it is yet, and some annual verbena that I planted to fill up the spot right in front of the fence, while I test out the are to see if the lavender will grow or not.
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This has a couple of different geraniums, a mallow, and then a black lace elderberry bush. We had one out front that died, so I’m giving it a try back here. We'll see.
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This is the shady corner, with bleeding hearts, celandine poppy, turtle head, some Japanese grass that I just got, and hostas. Also some eupatorium (I think). We made it a little bigger this year, so I need to rearrange/get some more stuff. The bleeding hearts seem to be smaller this year than in prior years - wondering how long lived they are, maybe I need new ones?
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This is in front - same thing, made it bigger so stuff is in weird spots and needs work to make it better. I may buy a few more annuals to stick in there this year, though.
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Jenny

Angel Diva
There’s also a big stretch in between the hibiscus corner and the shady corner that I’m still trying to work out what to do with. It got the overflow of the zinnia flat I bought, and I got another hibiscus last year that has a featured spot. Nothing else yet, though.

Here's a couple of flower close ups.
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bsskier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Ladies, someone in another thread (which I cannot find) mentioned Spartan Mosquito canisters for skeeter eradication. I’m in their site, and looking at other online reviews, but don’t see FAQ’s or questions pertaining to use near animals, specifically, chicken coops. My common sense tells me since the manufacturer doesn’t mention it’s safe around pets, it’s probably not ideal for our needs. Still, there’s a chance I’ve overlooked something as I’m scouring through info. Does anyone have experience with https://spartanmosquito.com? TIA
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
My day lilies have started blooming. Wasn't paying close enough attention so the deer got some of the flowers already. They like a couple varieties much more. One of their favorites is right in front of the house. Will see how well the homemade recipe from @SkiBam works in the next week. Last year I think I only saw one flower even thought the plant is pretty big.

These are some of the fancier varieties I have. Got a few when a day lily farm was calling it quits a while back. Somewhere I have the names. I think the first one is called Chicago. Couldn't decide where to put it, but it's done fine in a pot.

Day Lilies early Jun 2020 - 1.jpgDay Lilies early Jun 2020 - 2.jpgDay Lilies early Jun 2020 - 3.jpgDay Lilies early Jun 2020 - 4.jpg
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
Updated pics:

The hibiscus/black eyed Susan corner. You can’t really see them but the annual verbena are quite tall, behind the BES bunch. There’s also an agastache I got from a friend, but it’s pretty small right now. And the lavender appears to be growing nicely, too. Hope that continues.
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Another view of this corner. When it's in bloom, it’s my favorite! Too bad the neighbor's new fence is already tipping. I don’t think the stupid groundhog has anything to do with it, but it's had a den there each of the last two years, until we find the trails and fill them in.
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This is the middle of the long fence bed. I'm slowly working at filling it in. So far, PJM rhododendron on the left end, another gigantic hibiscus in the middle (well, it will be anyway), a couple of artemisia near it, then a Veronica, another type of rudbeckia, and a red garden mum. My plan is for those three to grow together and fill in the empty spaces between them.
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Here's a closeup of the flower on the rudbeckia.
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Jenny

Angel Diva
This is kind of the test bed, where I put stuff that I don’t yet have a place for, or don’t know if it will grow in my yard. It’s got my gigantic hosta that I love, though, as a permanent resident. Other plants at the moment are an anemone, yet another rudbeckia (because I love daisy type flowers and these things all seem to live when I plant them), some dianthus, and a columbine. Oh, and a red salvia, and I think some sort of bellflower, from a friend. That might not make it though, as it's been uprooted a couple of times already.
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Here’s another corner with what appears to be my favorite color scheme, gold, red, and purple. The daisies are still working on blooming, but then they’ll be in the pic, too.
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