Gardens

[SamanthaGrace]

Anyone else putting in a garden this year? I've always grown a little even if a little balcony garden in my LA condo. But the last little bit, now I have some land. I have been putting in a real garden like my parents did when I was growing up. I found I missed eating from my own garden. I have always bought most of my fruits and vegs from my local farmers market. I find the farm to table stuff, taste the best. But nothing beats my own tomatoes and beans.

This season has been weird a little cooler. I have been afraid to get into the more brittle veggies. So, far I have been keeping my peas indoors. But I am noticing the wild strawberries on the side of my house are starting to sprout up. Let's hope we do not get a freak 3 hour frost in May that kills the blooms. That is what happened last year. I am not joking it was 80 degrees. Then in the middle of the night it dropped down to 30 for 3 hours. By 8 am we where back up to 70.

[WalterB]

I like that, Samantha. I"ve never been able to grow anything (brown thumb, lol.) I've tried flowers, never tried fruits and veggies. But I'll agree that fresh grown is best. When I lived in Michigan it was a big thing to go out to all the roadside stands and get our fresh fruits and veggies. Good luck to you, Samantha. I'll be glad to buy a salad from your garden.

[SamanthaGrace]

I like that, Samantha. I"ve never been able to grow anything (brown thumb, lol.) I've tried flowers, never tried fruits and veggies. But I'll agree that fresh grown is best. When I lived in Michigan it was a big thing to go out to all the roadside stands and get our fresh fruits and veggies. Good luck to you, Samantha. I'll be glad to buy a salad from your garden.

Midwestern roadside stands are the best thing ever!!! All around the Great Lakes the best orchards I've ever been to. The growing conditions are amazing for pitted fruits, apples and grapes. The soil is amazing. I am a big fan of that region.

Nothing wrong with a brown thumb. Haha... growing takes a lot of trail and error. Think about it, you get one shot every year. If you are say 40 you really haven't been growing that long. 40 shots in my mind is just the start. Far from being able to reach your 10,000 hours in a life time. My guess is it takes many life times. Things die with me all the time. I blew it last year with melons and pumpkins. I have no idea what I am doing with them. But I can do potatoes, green/ yellow beans, cucumbers , peas and lettuce just fine. Likely, because I had a lot of balcony practice the past 20 years. I started growing basil, parsley and thyme for my first gardens. Mostly because I thought it was ridiculously expensive to buy those herbs in store for my pasta sauces. I can grow them from seeds for like $1.99 on a window sill. Haha... rather then spending like $5 for a jar or $2.99 for the fresh that ends up with like 7 little leaves of basil. That goes bad by the time I make my sauce on the following Tuesday, when I bought them on Saturday morning.

[UncleDave]

I love finding roadside stands for fruits and veggies on the back roads in the country up here in Michigan.

It's easier than growing. I think I'm the only person who can't grow tomatoes. I get maybe 3 off a plant. I'm pathetic

[StevieP]

I do have a garden and I do find it quite hard to keep on top of at the best of times. My brother was visiting last (Easter) weekend and helped me with mowing the lawn and power washing the patio. My spring time project for this year was to build a raised bed for growing vegetables in out of some old wooden pallets I brought home from work but I haven't been able to get to that yet. My main aim is to continue to encourage wildlife to visit the garden as much as possible... no hedgehog sightings as of yet but lots and lots of tadpoles in the pond which means I'll have plenty of frogs out there in a month or two!

[ErikB]

I do have a garden and I do find it quite hard to keep on top of at the best of times. My brother was visiting last (Easter) weekend and helped me with mowing the lawn and power washing the patio. My spring time project for this year was to build a raised bed for growing vegetables in out of some old wooden pallets I brought home from work but I haven't been able to get to that yet. My main aim is to continue to encourage wildlife to visit the garden as much as possible... no hedgehog sightings as of yet but lots and lots of tadpoles in the pond which means I'll have plenty of frogs out there in a month or two!

Great yard! I love the pond. I don't have a pond on my property, but in the spring I can hear the frogs in the ponds nearby.

As for hedgehogs, I tried to find a clip of the Monty Python episode ending with a giant hedgehog named Spiny Norman looking for Dinsdale, but YouTube let me down!

I got the impression that English gardens were supposed to be running over with garden gnomes. Or is that just in the two movies?

[WalterB]

That's a nice yard, Stevie. I miss a nice, green yard. Yours looks like a great place to play Croquet. I've been dying to play croquet somewhere. I wanted to play it with my son when he was young, but never got the chance.

[StevieP]

I got the impression that English gardens were supposed to be running over with garden gnomes. Or is that just in the two movies?

Garden gnomes are a thing, I do see them in the garden centres from time to time, but I nor anyone in my family to my knowledge has ever had one. If anything I'd rather make a little fairy patch tucked away at the bottom of the garden somewhere!

[StevieP]

That's a nice yard, Stevie. I miss a nice, green yard. Yours looks like a great place to play Croquet. I've been dying to play croquet somewhere. I wanted to play it with my son when he was young, but never got the chance.

Thank you Walt... I feel it could be greener. My dad was always proud of his lawn and I've not quite got the whole maintenance and feeding of it down yet. Never played croquet out there but have in the past played badminton!

[WalterB]

Here in the desert Southwest, we've toyed with drought for years. In El Paso, that, and low-income residents have converted way too many yards and open spaces into gravel pits. They even dug up all the grass in the Ft. Bliss Federal Cemetery and covered it with pea gravel. It looks like crap. Of course, no one dug up the Ft. Bliss golf course that sits about a mile away. Many, many yards in El Paso are either covered in pea gravel or concrete, or many times just laid to waste. A few are nicely landscaped with colored gravel, maybe some paving stones, maybe some small gardens or cactus. But most are just trash. It's pretty sad, really.

[StevieP]

The bank holiday weekend weather wasn't really all that good here so I didn't get to do much in the garden at all but I did make a start on the raised bed (for vegetable growing). It's still a bit damp, so I have to wait for it to be dry so I can paint it - then I can tack in the liner and fill it with compost.

And my rhubarb is growing splendidly!

[WalterB]

So far, so good, Stevie. I remember my dad built a 4-tier 'garden' for strawberries one year. It grew, but I don't remember it being overly productive. Let's just say, I didn't see a big increase in the amount of Strawberry Shortcake flowing out of the kitchen.

[SamanthaGrace]

I do have a garden and I do find it quite hard to keep on top of at the best of times. My brother was visiting last (Easter) weekend and helped me with mowing the lawn and power washing the patio. My spring time project for this year was to build a raised bed for growing vegetables in out of some old wooden pallets I brought home from work but I haven't been able to get to that yet. My main aim is to continue to encourage wildlife to visit the garden as much as possible... no hedgehog sightings as of yet but lots and lots of tadpoles in the pond which means I'll have plenty of frogs out there in a month or two!

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Oh my goodness! Your garden is splendid. The tadpoles are charming and I love the whole pond area. I love the whole thing. I hope you are able to attract some hedgehogs.

[SamanthaGrace]

I love finding roadside stands for fruits and veggies on the back roads in the country up here in Michigan.

It's easier than growing. I think I'm the only person who can't grow tomatoes. I get maybe 3 off a plant. I'm pathetic

Haha.... well it could be the soil too. Sometimes soil needs a little boost.

[SamanthaGrace]

Here in the desert Southwest, we've toyed with drought for years. In El Paso, that, and low-income residents have converted way too many yards and open spaces into gravel pits. They even dug up all the grass in the Ft. Bliss Federal Cemetery and covered it with pea gravel. It looks like crap. Of course, no one dug up the Ft. Bliss golf course that sits about a mile away. Many, many yards in El Paso are either covered in pea gravel or concrete, or many times just laid to waste. A few are nicely landscaped with colored gravel, maybe some paving stones, maybe some small gardens or cactus. But most are just trash. It's pretty sad, really.

That is so sad. The desert can be charming. Palm Springs is an example of very charming desert land. But I guess people have to care to keep it beautiful. I understand being tired of concert and rocks. I started feeling that way in LA after a while. I get it, LA is A-LOT greener then El Paso. Mind you I haven't been to El Paso in 15 years. I am sure it had changed a lot.

[SamanthaGrace]

The bank holiday weekend weather wasn't really all that good here so I didn't get to do much in the garden at all but I did make a start on the raised bed (for vegetable growing). It's still a bit damp, so I have to wait for it to be dry so I can paint it - then I can tack in the liner and fill it with compost.

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And my rhubarb is growing splendidly!

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Oh!!! You are inspiring me! I have some scrap wood I thought about burning. But I may actually make another raised bed out of it! That is a fantastic idea. The rhubarb looks amazing! I do not grow rhubarb. But I noticed it does very well in other gardens I walk by. I think rhubarb maybe a good damp climate plant. You are also inspiring me to make a strawberry Rhubarb roll.

[WalterB]

That is so sad. The desert can be charming. Palm Springs is an example of very charming desert land. But I guess people have to care to keep it beautiful. I understand being tired of concert and rocks. I started feeling that way in LA after a while. I get it, LA is A-LOT greener then El Paso. Mind you I haven't been to El Paso in 15 years. I am sure it had changed a lot.

Well, whatever green was here in 2007 is mostly gone now, lol. Kermit would stand out like a sore thumb in El Paso

[StevieP]

This past Sunday the weather was so lovely that I was able to get out in the garden and after taking down the laundry and mowing the lawn I finished off my little raised vegetable bed project and actually got some things planted in there! There's still plenty of wood left so this may be the first of several... but actually taking the old pallets apart was far more time consuming than I originally realised it would be so it may not be too immediate. But I am very happy with how this one turned out!

[WalterB]

Looking good, Stevie. Seriously.

[StevieP]

Thank you Walt, appreciate it! I guess working in a hardware shop all this time, some DIY stuff was bound to rub off on me!