I threw some flat leaf parsley seeds in the grown two years ago and have pretty much ignored them and they have grown into a huge bunch. Same with my cilantro except I put the seeds in my earthtainer and they have really done well.


Can't really tell how big the leaves are. BUT.

The stuff in the back with the white flowers is cilantro. The stuff in the front is arugula that has over grown




[Edited on March 22, 2012 at 7:02 PM. Reason : Pic]

3/22/2012 6:56:16 PM

Quote :

"does corn grow to its full height and yield ears the first year? "

Corn does not come back every year, so yeah. The only common vegetables that come back every year are asparagus, artichoke and rhubarb. Speaking of which, my asparagus has already started coming up.

Also, I have dill all over the damn place. Planted some last year and weed eated it at the end of the season, now it is sprouting up all around the porch, and even in between the bricks of the sidewalk.

[Edited on March 22, 2012 at 7:05 PM. Reason : a]

3/22/2012 7:04:42 PM

I keep debating at trying my hand at asparagus. Right now though I don't really have any great place to plant it.

Speaking of honeysuckle I'm thinking about getting some of this honeysuckle to plant on our back deck area.

Quote :

"Goldflame Honeysuckle Lovely tubular flowers of yellow, pink and carmine bloom in flushes from spring until frost. A well-behaved native vine when compared to the rampant Japanese Honeysuckle, Goldflame can be trained to climb fences, trellises or arbors. Will not cling directly to masonry or wood; a support must be provided for them to climb on. This 6-12' vine varies in height according to the size of the support you provide. All who see it at the nursery are quite impressed with the beauty of the flower color and the fragrance. Heaviest blooming occurs in full sun in well-drained locations. A wonderful backdrop to the perennial garden, or loosely spilling over a wall. Native."

http://www.nichegardens.com/catalog/item.php?id=1619&PHPSESSID=851627ab552388612972f92769894e31

3/22/2012 7:24:09 PM

^ asparagus takes a couple years to get really established. but once it is, you don't even need to touch it. There was an asparagus bed already established when the house was purchased 7 years ago, so we got lucky there.

3/22/2012 8:19:11 PM

Quote :

"^curious now, how much did you spend?"

all the veggies (the little plastic cubes of 3, so 21) & herbs (4'' pot) = 30 seedlings total
banana tree was 15'' pot about 1' high
aloe was 12'' pot
forsythia & honeysuckle 20'' pot, both are btw 3 & 4 feet tall ($7.50 each...saw smaller forsythia in the same size pot at lowes for $16)
the flat of marigolds and zinnias (in 4'' pots) were $14 each
forgot to mention a 9'' hanging plant, 9'' geranium, 6'' lantana

grand total...$120

Quote :

"^^ corn is actually REALLY easy. I grew it for the first time last year and was very successful. Didn't do anything but put the seeds in the ground."

good! i'm doing three rows instead of 4. hoping that's enough for pollination. last year i saw a bunch of bees feasting on the maples, and i've seen a lot so far...so i'm hoping pollination won't be an issue here like it was at my old place.

[Edited on March 22, 2012 at 8:29 PM. Reason : ]

3/22/2012 8:28:12 PM

Corn is the only thing we did completely from seed last year. (that is, we didn't buy seedlings or start the seeds in flats before putting them in the ground). We just dropped the seeds in the soil and hoped for the best. Here is the first harvest:

3/22/2012 8:35:19 PM

yeaaaaaaah that makes me super excited. when did you put them in the ground? since it's been so mild i'd like to go ahead, but looking at the package i decided to wait. i don't mind covering up anything if there is a frost threat.

3/22/2012 8:44:38 PM

We typically don't plant anything until late April-early May. And even planting the corn that late, they were done producing before everything else.

In other words, you won't gain anything by planting any earlier, other than earlier harvests. But what you gain in early harvests, you will typically lose in overall yield. Corn should ideally be harvested in August, so planting in May is plenty early.



[Edited on March 22, 2012 at 8:53 PM. Reason : a]

3/22/2012 8:48:35 PM

and that's what i figured. i'm going to wait then. thanks!

3/22/2012 8:52:29 PM

I edited a little to add more info

3/22/2012 8:53:55 PM

Corn: soak the seeds in a cup of water for a day before you plant them.


Planting: My rule of thumb in Raleigh is to plant seeds on April 15th and plants on an cloudy/overcast day nearest to April 15th.

3/23/2012 8:45:22 AM

Ugh I'm annoyed. None of the tomato seeds I planted seem to be doing crap. It's been what? Two weeks now? I feel like they should have at least sprouted by now.

3/23/2012 12:57:15 PM

same with my heirlooms.

saw lots of bees on my blueberry plants today, you know what that means!

3/23/2012 1:22:57 PM

I might just give up on them this year and buy some starter plants somewhere. Which really annoys the crap out of me but c'est la vie.

3/23/2012 1:32:25 PM

Anyone have recommendations for garden and/or lawn mulch?? I ask for two different kinds because I don't think I need to spend the money on mulch that the dogs are going to tear up. I need about 14 yards in the backyard and probably another one for my front/gardens.

3/23/2012 2:02:32 PM

Personally I just use the cheapest mulch they sell. Breaks down faster than something like cedar but the breakdown also helps enrich the soil.

3/23/2012 2:55:10 PM

Ditto. we've been getting the cheap stuff at Family Home and Garden. looks good, works fine. the owner before us had that designer red mulch...blech. Not a fan.

3/23/2012 3:25:17 PM

Previous homeowner here used that red RUBBER mulch made from shredded tires, not only does it not break down, when it gets into the yard and you hit it with the mower it shoots it 1/8th mile.

[Edited on March 25, 2012 at 8:24 AM. Reason : Thankfully its almost all gone now ]

3/25/2012 8:23:31 AM

Quote :

"the trek to angier was totally worth it...yay wholesale/retail nursery!! i got three tomato varieties, eggplant, 3 pepper varieties, rosemary, cilantro, oregano, chives, thyme and basil seedlings. got them in the ground today (yes, nosy neighbor, I *do* know that if there's a threat of frost I will need to cover them up). got a very ambitious amount of seeds (only put sunflower, cabbage and onion in today), but some i'm going to hold on til late summer."

Where did you go in Angier? I'm looking for a decently priced nursery to hit up this week. Both for veggies and for some trees and general landscaping too.

3/25/2012 11:28:16 AM

Tarheel Nursery for veggies, herbs & flowers http://www.tarheelnursery.com/
And the place for shrubs and trees was directly across the street.

3/25/2012 1:03:05 PM

Found a tomato plant in its own container with a built in tomato cage for 12 bucks last night. I figure it is worth the gamble.

3/25/2012 1:40:18 PM

Dill, Curled and Flat Parsley, Candy Mint, and Lemon Balm on the left
Lemon Verbena, Cilantro, Chocolate Mint, Blue Basil, Sweet Basil, and Oregano on the right


Rosemary


Strawberry Plant, I ate the strawberry that was on there already. I only got this guy because he was on clearance at Walmart and I thought I'd give it a shot.


Sweet bay Laurel, Tiny now, but if he grows too quickly one of you guys might get a free tree


This is my tomato that will supposedly do fine in this container all season. We shall see! I believe it is a Best Boy

3/25/2012 5:33:09 PM

I just snapped these photos really quick since I was more concerned with washing all the mud off me so they're not that great but I wanted to show off what we got done this weekend

As a point of reference, here was the house back when it had a million boxwoods from hell:



With the boxwoods gone, I planted blueberry bushes and bulbs on the left side of the house:



The bulbs went a little cray cray so I'm going to have work to do in the fall making them more manageable. Some of those bulbs are garlic though so they'd be getting harvested anyway.

On the right side of the house are our raised beds of glory:



We're really proud of how these turned out considering a guy down the street from us used the same stones for a raised area in his yard and it looks like total crap. In the fall we're going to finish these up with capstones or if Home Depot happens to put them on sale before then I guess we'll go ahead and do them.



Yay herbs! Where you see the markers I threw in the rest of the tomato and pepper seeds I had from the failed plantings. Either they grow and those seeds weren't a complete waste of time or they don't and I can just throw something else in those sections.

I'm debating what to put in the lower raised bed. I'm thinking maybe asparagus in part of it but I'm not sure. Maybe this year I'll just do some squash and melons in it while I give myself time to think about what to use it for.



And occamsrezr put together this rain barrel today. Too bad we didn't have it for all the rain we've been getting the past week You can also see some of my monster garlic, sunflowers, and more peas.

And for fun, here is a picture taken almost exactly a month ago.



It's amazing we've gone from snow to summer weather in 30 days

3/25/2012 6:38:53 PM

^, ^^ Your pictures look great! I think we're going to break ground next weekend, and I can't wait to get this stuff growing!

3/25/2012 6:50:23 PM

Thanks I can't get over how big that oregano had gotten since I planted it in the fall. The root ball on it when I transplanted it to the raised bed was insane. I need to start using oregano more in my cooking apparently.

While I'm thinking about it, anyone have recommendations for edging? The left bed has nothing keeping the mulch in place right now so after it rains inevitably some of the mulch and dirt washes onto the sidewalk. I'm not really a fan of that black plastic stuff they sell because I think it looks cheap. But I'm also lazy and would rather get something I can just hammer or stake into place rather than digging a trench.

[Edited on March 25, 2012 at 8:43 PM. Reason : a]

3/25/2012 8:39:46 PM

Quote :

"yeaaaaaaah that makes me super excited. when did you put them in the ground? since it's been so mild i'd like to go ahead, but looking at the package i decided to wait. i don't mind covering up anything if there is a frost threat."

As far as planting early, there really isn't anything other than frost to worry about. For corn, you typically want to plant by July 4th at the latest, because cold weather might arrive before it matures. (That is what we have always gone by and have had good success.) We usually plant some in April and some more in June, so it all doesn't come in at once. (We plant a lot of vegetables, so you have to plan so that you don't get swamped.)

3/25/2012 8:53:03 PM

And of course we get a frost advisory the day after I get my last plant outside

3/26/2012 8:32:05 AM

hahaha yeah I just heard that on the radio this morning. Only thing I'm worried about is my basil.

3/26/2012 8:55:01 AM

Just cover em up...they'll be fine I do it every year at least once.

3/26/2012 8:56:46 AM

love all the pictures in this thread!

3/26/2012 8:12:25 PM

does anyone have any advice for aphids? I've got them on my basil and mint. the basil is just starting to come up from seeds so I can't really blast them with hot water. I've tried spraying them with water/soap (very diluted) but haven't had much luck. it seems to be killing my viatnamese coriander as well.

where do these things come from?!?

3/26/2012 9:37:46 PM

I used an organic aphid spray last year with great results. I'm not sure where they come from, but they were able to attack my plants on a third story balcony with ferocity.

3/26/2012 9:53:55 PM

Wow it's early for aphids. Some must have hitchhiked from the nursery.

3/26/2012 10:27:56 PM

Brought my four plants from the front inside, covered the rest with a flannel penguin sheet.

3/27/2012 12:03:44 AM

Has anyone ordered plants online before? A plant catalog showed up in the mail today and it had some interesting looking plants but I always feel like these things will show up dead lol.

3/27/2012 6:22:23 PM

Check for gaurantees and such. I have never ordered plants, but I worked at a petstore and ordered animals and there were all sorts of guarantees in place. If a pet warehouse can guarantee an animal showing up alive and able to stay alive for 24 hours I would assume a plant one would as well.

3/27/2012 6:57:43 PM

Yeah most of them seem to have one year guarantees. Maybe I'll try some out in the fall and see what results I get.

3/27/2012 6:59:38 PM

it appears that last night's frost got a few of my zinnias i planted in the front even though i wrapped them up. it's odd though as i remember them looking fine this morning when i unwrapped them and then later watered them. not sure what's going on actually. kinda puzzling really.

while tonight's advisory is only for east of 95, i decided to wrap my plants up just in case. except the zinnis in the front since they already appear on the way out. bummer.

3/27/2012 7:50:45 PM

I brought in the pricier plants and my favorites, as well as my dill that looked sad, probably just bent from being covered last night, but just in case

3/27/2012 11:17:28 PM

For anyone that likes herbs, check out Herb Fest!

http://www.herbfest.net/index.php

Looks like the weekend of April 20th will be the most worthwhile time to go. I just wish it was somewhere more central than Wake Forest

3/28/2012 9:36:43 AM

Wake forest is right down the road! Woo!

3/28/2012 9:40:36 AM

And if for some reason you happen to be in Asheville the first weekend of May they have their herb fest that weekend: http://www.ashevilleherbfestival.com/

I went to that one a couple years ago and it's pretty amazing the number of plants available for sale.

3/28/2012 9:49:46 AM

Potatoes aren't up yet oh well, any day now. Spent half the day tuning up the tractor, and bought corn and bean seeds today, so hopefully they will be in the ground tomorrow afternoon.

3/30/2012 11:38:04 PM

Big gardening day yesterday:

Already had the lemon tree (on the left), but the fruit is finally starting to yellow. Got the hibiscus and the lavender plant yesterday:



Salvia farinacea:



Herbs and vegetables. Got some basil, oregano, cilantro, mint, thyme, parsley, tomatoes (heirloom and super 100), and a couple pepper plants (fisher? and cayenne):



Planted some zinnias in front of the mini-fence. Still some snap dragons left from winter in the front row that will be pulled soon:



Window box full of all types of shit:



[Edited on April 2, 2012 at 7:23 AM. Reason : .]

4/2/2012 7:22:20 AM

^cool lemon tree. I had one a few years ago and when I bought it it had fruit but never produced again and eventually died. I had no idea what I was doing as far as gardening at the time though.

hit the farmer's market again. got some nice genovese basil, red rubin basil, and bean plant. got red, yellow and purple bell peppers, jalepenos, habernero, and cayenne pepper.

the aphids totally killed my vietnamese coriander and I couldn't find any more at the FM

they also killed off about half the sweet basil I had grown from seed.

went to the little gardening shop off Hillsborough street near Burke Brother's Hardware and got some really cheap 3 gallon buckets - 10 of them - and some nice soil today. I'll probably plant everything tomorrow afternoon before I head to the beach for the weekend.



[Edited on April 4, 2012 at 12:36 AM. Reason : .]

4/4/2012 12:34:59 AM

Quote :

"cool lemon tree. I had one a few years ago and when I bought it it had fruit but never produced again and eventually died. I had no idea what I was doing as far as gardening at the time though. "

I've been struggling with it so far. It had very small fruit when I bought and they've now quintupled in size. But I've been struggling with some yellow leaves and slight wilting. But now that I've fertilized it for spring, it's looking pretty good (and the fruit is finally turning yellow).

I REALLY want this lemon tree to work out. I've got a perfect spot in my yard to put it when it gets big enough.

The gf and I are pretty sure we put a some of the herbs too close together. We're going to wait til they get a little bigger and then move them around a bit.

4/4/2012 9:20:36 AM

Two of my cherry saplings aren't doing too hot. On one it has brown spots with yellow radiating out from the brown. I'm thinking it might be cherry leaf spot. I'm guessing I'll have to spray it with fungicide.

The second one I'm more perplexed about. It started to get its leaves and then suddenly they shriveled up into nothing. Now it looks like the tree doesn't have any leaves on it until you get up real close and see the brittle, tiny leaves. I don't think it's suffering from lack of water because the tree right next to it is fine and all the plants around it are fine. Any clues?

4/4/2012 9:25:28 AM

My Stargazer Lillies are blooming. They are gorgeous, and my first "success" of the season!

4/4/2012 2:16:22 PM

Cherry leaf spot seems likely given the description. there's plenty of treatment info out there. For the other tree, you should check for borers, but if the whole plant is affected there may be a problem with the roots. Perhaps you botched the planting depth or maybe there is a layer of clay creating a bowl under the rootball, or the tree just experienced too many moisture extremes. Just because the tree beside it survived is little indication of whether a new sapling is water stressed, even dormant ones. If it rains less than 1" in a week, it's time to water. For now, scratch the bark on one of the branches and see if there is any green underneath. When did you plant it, and what did you do to prepare the soil?

4/5/2012 8:31:35 AM

We planted both saplings (the tree next to the sick one) in the fall and pretty much replaced all the dirt in the holes with compost. I'm going to check and see if borers are the issue when I get home. If it's dead at least it was only a $5 tree. The problem is I can't remember if it's the bing or the black tartarian that I planted in that spot

Damn, they're calling for lows in the 30s this weekend. Guess I should get around to building those cold frames I was thinking of making.

[Edited on April 5, 2012 at 8:50 AM. Reason : a]

4/5/2012 8:44:13 AM