Follow
Share
Read More

3K Comments

Newest
First Oldest
First
111 112 113 114 115
Tacy, 60 plants?! My goodness! Must have been quite a harvest and you did a darn good job with them. I have planted tomato plants before and have had very little to harvest, guess I am not good enough to them. A cherry tomato plant a number of years ago gave me fewer than 10 tomatoes. Of the regular size tomatoes I think I harvested only one. You should teach me your tricks! Do you talk to them? For me to have a decent harvest I would need 60 plants. I too, am a city girl, but not for much longer. From big city to a very small one for me next week.
(1)
Report
Tacy, locate your agricultural zone, keep track of last freeze in the spring and first one in the fall. And be flexible as these are guidelines, but aren't firm.

Since you're a tomato lover, you can experiment with different kinds of tomatoes - ranging from the beefsteak variety to the little grape tomatoes. And of course order garden catalogues! They'll provide information on the kind of tomato for your specific use - eating, canning, cooking...

It is easier to buy plants when you first start out. If you have a problem with cutworms, wrap the root ball in something like newspaper (no colors as some of them used to have lead; I don't know if they still do) or cardboard, which will deteriorate but protects the tender roots from nibblers in the ground.

If you get hooked on gardening, you can also consider starting seeds indoors. Now or in February are the best times. This can be done inexpensively or not so much so if you get into the equipment -- "flora carts", fluorescent lights, grow lights, etc.

Some people just use things like yogurt containers set in a tray on top of a refrigerator.

There are also electric mats to provide bottom warmth, as a frig would do Some seeds like peppers and some flowers usually need bottom warmth to sprout.
(1)
Report
LOL
You must have a large garden if you had room for 60 tomatoes.
(0)
Report
It really depends where you are and what you are planting tacy.
You can find info about your average last frost date online if you are in a northern climate. Generally things like lettuce, or peas can go in as soon as the ground dries out and is easy to work up. Other crops like beans, cukes, squash or melons hate to be cold so you have to wait until the ground is warm. People usually buy tomato or pepper plants instead of starting them from seed, around here the garden centers have them out a few weeks before it is really safe to plant them out without a lot of TLC. The seed packets also have a lot of info right on the back.
Strike up a conversation with other gardeners you see buying seeds or plants, most of us are willing to share (you might have a problem getting us to shut up lol)
(1)
Report
I'm curious Sendme, what would be the reason your plants didn't make it through this winter? Up here the cause would be obvious, extreme cold or not enough time to get established before freeze up.
(1)
Report
Spring is coming, but I noticed it is a little late. There are no spring bulbs popping up-daffodils would have been up by Jan. 17th.
Eager to see the skink again, and hope he survived the winter. So much rain!
Today was another very grey day. Looking forward to more sun.

We don't get gardening magazines. I found some gardening topics in some recycled magazines over christmas in the laundry room.

Sorry to say, the newer bouganvillas did not make it through.
(0)
Report
Thanks, Cwillie. Will start a composting pile, but tiny!
(0)
Report
What about starting a compost pile Send? If you want to really go crazy about it you can do worm composting, if you want to be really lazy you can just bury your peelings etc around your garden plants.
(1)
Report
Juicing celery to correct my g.e.r.d. stomach issues, there is lots of celery pulp left over. Would my plants be able to use this nutrient somehow as a mulch, fertilizer, or a moist place to grow seeds in? I have about 2 cups in the fridge so far.
(0)
Report
My amaryllis haven't bloomed yet and they are featuring spring flowers in the store flyers this week, kind of pushing the season a little bit!
I gave up on catalogues several years ago, there were an abundance of garden centers and the shipping charges for small orders just seemed too high. Now the garden centers all seem to have disappeared too, I guess the boomers all have enough disposable income to hire pros to do it all for them.
(2)
Report
Major milestone today - received my first garden catalogue. It's from Wayside, with a beautiful cover of a mixed foliage border with a lovely lemon yellow to pale green ornamental grass, a frothy leaved evergreen, what appear to be pure white hydrangeas tucked in behind a lovely garden bench.... and more beautiful plants to tempt any gardener.

The format has changed slightly; photos of the plants are larger and there are a number of full sized pages just of one plant. I need to order another catalogue as many of these full sized pages are going to become covers for my gardening notebooks.

Who else has received their catalogues for 2016?
(1)
Report
The irises will probobly not bloom until feburary. That is normal time in my zone.
(0)
Report
Thats amazing, i think gardening is best therapy.
(0)
Report
Someday...someday....maybe....I'll take up metal working and create some wrought iron fences like the lovely designed ones I saw in New Orleans back in the 1970's.
(2)
Report
Send, you've just given me an idea for the porch railing that I think I'm going to have to replace. The short railings will make great decorations in the garden, but I'll have to find a way first to ensure that none of the old paint (old enough to have lead) can't flake off into the soil.
(0)
Report
A junkyard may have many configurations of old metal. I would prefer wrought iron.
(0)
Report
Garden, my favorite! Having only sweet peas in a round fish-bowl type arrangement, so many that no greens are necessary. Remember growing these as a child.
(0)
Report
My daylilies and the lunaria sprouted a few weeks ago before our short cold snap. I suspect they'll sprout again or continue growing as we're expecting a very mild holiday week. Even if they are harmed by what usually is a bitter January, they're perennials and very, very abundant so I know I'll still have some come Spring.

I would love to see irises this early - what a treat!

The idea of recycling furniture for outdoor use is a great suggestion. I have 2 mattresses that I was going to put out for trash pickup but now I'm going to take a good look at the springs to see if they can be made into trellises.

Did either of you add a frame to the mattress springs to keep them more stable? I would think that, like chicken wire, they would tend to flop without some kind of framing.

I'm thinking sweet peas would look nice on those kinds of trellises as well, and of course my favorite morning glories.

Has anyone ever grown the Japanese morning glories?
(1)
Report
We used the back of a broken futon for porch rails, painting it with opague grey outdoor stain, lasting for 8 years! We could have turned it opposite and made a trellis.

Sharyn, I love Jasmine! This summer we had to cut off the prolific blooms because it made us sleepy!
(1)
Report
Send, I have a jasmine plant in my backyard, I used the metal bottom of my kids crib for the trellis. The part that supported the mattress. Lots of great ideas for trellis!
(1)
Report
Sharyn, That's really something for winter encouragement, something growing!

Just saw t.v. show with the old metal grates on screen doors removed and used as trellises for butterfly plants to climb. They were attached to a fence, looked nice.
(1)
Report
My irises are coming up!!!' Yay!!' We are getting g a lot of rain here in the valley and snow in the Sierra's. The reality of it all will become clear if we continue getting rain and snow after the New Year.
(0)
Report
Anyone receive the 2016 gardening catalogues yet?
(0)
Report
Garden, they make wire clips to attached wire fencing to one side of the posts. You buy the wire fencing in rolls, attach the beginning of the roll to the first post and just keep rolling it along and attaching it to the posts. You could also use plastic zip ties. If the fence is not use to keep critters contained you could use cheap chicken wire type stuff or buy aluminum electric fence wire, run as many strands as you need for your plants to climb on. You could probably place your posts about 8 to 12 ft apart depending on what you are planting. If you use lots of t posts get a driver. Just a pipe with handles that slides over the post. Much easier than a sledge hammer.
(0)
Report
SendMe, that's a good idea. The pots would keep the plant somewhat rootbound, or act like a large bonsai pot. I might even add casters and put it on patio stones so I can move it around.

Windy, the fence would be roughly 250' long, if I decide to only fence in 2 sides.

I never thought about the T posts; I have them for laundry lines, and they're quite sturdy. I'm trying to picture how fencing would be strung - would it wrap around the posts, or just be run in front of or behind the posts? If fencing is anchored to the posts, how is that done?

Willie, my father had us help dig holes with the old post hole digger decades ago. I wasn't very fond of it then and would be less so now. I like the idea though of using the T posts for strength, then using the vines for more extensive cover.

I envision "T's" with hanging morning glory vines - they could also follow wires or even heavy string from one post to the next. With the portable pots for larger shrubs, or even more posts, I could just move then with me when I go, but they'd also serve as landscaping variety since they'd hold bushes that I don't want to grow too large.

And if the posts aren't anchored in cement, I can take them with me with I leave.

Thanks for the good suggestions. As many times as I've passed the T posts in my yard, I never even considered them.
(1)
Report
Sorry, I haven't been checking here. I find the most difficult part of putting up a fence is digging the post holes, you either need to rent an auger or know a farmer who has one and is willing to do you a favour. And the hand held ones at the rental places are not a one person do-it-yourself project. While simple round cedar fence posts are fairly inexpensive and may be more visually appealing, Windy's suggestion of using metal T posts is more practical. Perhaps if you used the metal posts for structural strength you could then compromise by using the vines etc as the cross pieces or weave them through wire fencing to make it more visually appealing in the off seasons. I brought a few 5" sections of woven wire fencing with me when I moved to town, I wish I would have had room for the whole roll, it is wonderfully useful!
(1)
Report
Garden, I don't how long you need this fence to be but a relatively cheap and easy way is to use metal T posts abs wire fencing. The post are 4 to 6 feet tall and can be easily driven into the ground. The wire fencing comes in rolls and there are a few different gauges. I use lots of the stuff for pastures and string elevtical fence on it, but I also use it for a dog run in the back yard and planted some ivy which is now beginning to climb up and hid the fence. You can get the stuff at tractor supply or any farm store.
(0)
Report
Welcome to the forum, David. Perhaps you could tell us a bit about your gardening efforts. Do you grow veggies, flowers, herbs?
(1)
Report
Garden Artist, here is the take it with you method: Create a 'fence' with those huge nursery boxes they grow trees in, plant anything to make it private. The boxes can be purchased empty.
(1)
Report
Sorry to be so long in thanking you for comments and suggestions.

SendMe,

As to intent and background: My yard is long and narrow close to the end of the block; there are 5 neighbors on the N side, 2 on the E side, and one, an abandoned house, on the S side. It's part of the N side and the S side that I want to block off, and create privacy fences through trellises. I've priced actual fences, and it's a bit more than I want to spend for a place I want to leave in a few years. When my father's gone, I have no reason whatsoever to stay in this area.

I do have honeysuckle, and some of the older vines are thick enough to be used in a trellis, but I don't think they're stand alone vines or have the strength support that would be needed for that, but they could provide lovely, fragrant covers.

I do understand that most bamboos are invasive, but as I recall from a previous discussion on another forum, there is one variety that's not. That's an excellent suggestion.

I would check with the Michigan DNR to make sure the variety isn't invasive, but frankly I don't think they do anything about nonnative invasive if they're not on public property. One of the neighbors has a black locust which is very invasive and nothing's been done about it, even by the city.


CWillie,

Sturdiness is one of my concerns. I have visions of peacefully hoeing one warm sunny day and suddenly having a whole trellis collapse on me.

What I probably would do is plant morning glories, my favorite vining crop, as well as beans and peas and possibly some other annual viners. I might even run strings down to the ground to channel some of the weight off the verticals.

Using scrap wood was my intention as I don't want to put a lot of money into a place where I don't plan to stay.

I was thinking of wood trunks of at least 2 -3" in diameter for the verticals, and even just string from one vertical to another but preferably other branches trimmed from the many vigorous and unwanted trees in the area. I was thinking of weaving the horizontals into the verticals in a wattle style.

When you plant yours, do you support the trunks in any way, such as staking them to posts in the ground, or planting them in cement? I want to avoid the latter, as I really don't want to go to the trouble of creating fence posts along the long property border.

The use of metal is something I've considered, but thought generally in terms of PVC b/c it's white and wouldn't be as visible as something darker. However, I've read that there's a powder type dust used as a finisher that can be toxic, so I'd need to do more research on that.
(0)
Report

Recent Questions


Popular Questions


Related Questions

Start a Discussion
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter