Gardening Thread- Show me your gardens!

impressive. are you sure your helper there didn't knock the plant into the pool? they are known to be a-holes

 

Yes. He has a "clean record", wind has blown some of the smaller plants in before, if they haven't been watered. But never a big one. That was 3' from pool edge. We did have some strong gusts, like 30 or so, but the weather station batts died, so don't know for sure.

 

I read the posts about scraping out the "seeds" from just under the top you cut off, tried that and didn't work at all. So, the next time the wife cut one up, I just went to the greenhouse, gave it some Miracle Gro soil and a pot, and next spring, it needed a pot! When it went in in the fall, it was about 2' diameter. When it came out this spring, I had to displace a Gecko, and after a month, it was making the fruit! So, within two years, in semi controlled conditions, it could work.

 

What basic location are you? The Abelias are indeed nice. Not sure if they are "allowed" here.

 

Tulsa. Im guessing they would thrive in central TX.

 

Oh, I remember you posted "Indian Country" in another post. thanks, I will look them up. I have a place that need two lovely shrubs that we can both agree on!

 

yeah, eastern OK was "Indian Territory" before statehood.

 

When we go North, I go 75 & 69 from TX to Big Cabin. I love that drive (except for the expansion joints). The North Canadian is a thing of beauty, and have thought many times of trying to live there. But, alas, you have more snow and Tornados. (Altho, far less tornados that I-35 corridor). Mother nature showing respect I guess.

 

The ice is way worse than any snow we get. I bought my 2016 Taco in October 2015 and still don't know how it drives on snow. Your greenhouse project above is very cool.

 

That's funny about the snow. For many years, we drive North on the Holidays to Michigan, and only ICE scares me. ONCE, snow made us quit in Illinois - the only way I could see the highway was using the metal posts on each side. I forget where we were, but we had to go 60 miles south to get to that room! Made a liquor store run, and then we all went to the indoor pool!

I posted a picture of Little Big Red on the TW calendar, covered with 4" of Lockhart snow! give me a vote!!! LOLOLOL

 

And thanks for the greenhouse compliment. I have FB albums that go back to the very first. They are all stupidly detailed!

 

LOL, thanks for the vote. I meant the whole TW calendar, but I will now claim probably the only non TTC vote for our local! Thanks man. If you want to FB let me know. That's where I keep those albums....

 

18 degrees at the house this morning

The Marigolds in my cold frames are still struggling along, but everything else is deader than disco. I spent yesterday putting everything away/to bed instead. I pruned the grapes back for the winter and raked the Morning Glories down from their trellis & along the front fence line for next spring, mulched the beds out front, collected, drained, and coiled up the various hoses in the shed, ran the mower & string trimmer out of gas, etc.

 

Was this your first hard freeze this winter?

 

No, we had a killing frost back at the beginning of October that pretty much finished everything off, with the exception of some of the more hearty plants like the Marigolds and the Morning Glories, the grapes, and the beets/carrots. And we've had a few more since then, but then about a week ago we started getting nights in the mid-20's and that killed off everything else.

 

It was 2 degrees this morning. I still have carrots, beets, leeks, and rutabagas in the garden. The cold shouldn't hurt them, but the ground is frozen. I have wanted to pickle the beets, just haven't gotten around it it yet. I was just going to pick the leeks as I eat them, just haven't eaten enough. Also didn't expect the ground to freeze for a few more weeks. I don't have any specific plans for the carrots and rutabagas. Might just can the carrots. They say it will get into the 50's the next couple of days. Maybe the ground will thaw enough that I can get them out.

 

I wish to hell ours would freeze, but every time it gets a good start we get a day of rain that softens it back up. My lower lot is just like spring right now, there's so much mud.

 

Going pretty well in my garden. Ditching the distilled water has proven to be a good choice. Pretty vibrant looking plants (and 2! 2 plants would be a first ever, YAY!, but sadly too.) coming along at this point. A week into flower, I trimmed the lowest stuff up last night to help expose the dirt more and make watering easier. Used the ProMix ultimate organic mix with worm castings added in, but thinking that has all been about used up. Needed water last night, went with a dose of liquid nutes.

First feed last week was with a 0/7/3 formula. Went with 2 seperates this time, a 2/2/1 "Grow" type formula with the 0/7/3 added again. Also add in 1/4 tsp silicone/silica/whatever stuff.

Also figured out wind burn is a thing and re-evaluated my fan placement. I have also taken to weighing my containers. It really helps take a lot of guess work out of watering. Didn't think to start weighing until after I started, so I don't have a base weight to go from. Easy telling when a fresh watered container tips 20Lbs and I watered last night when they were down to 12 and feeling very light.

If the next 2 weeks go alright, it'd be nice to finally have this thing figured out a little bit.

 

Passionflower!
We have two varieties. Both live on fences, and also in huge pots with a tomato cage. Pots are now in the greenhouses, and the vines cut back from the freeze. They love to proliferate from the roots, with runners popping up all over.




I don't have all the other photos stored and handy, but they have quite the aroma, and definitely live on some sort of cycle. They have their own caterpillar (that wife used to kill, until I made her stop), which then is it's own Passion Flower butterfly, which pollenates the plants. And they make a fruit. The amount of each has varied greatly each year since we stopped messing with their cycle, and let them go about four years ago.

This year, fewer caterpillars and butterflies, but far more fruits at the end of the year. On the table are about 30 picked during our clean up, that the wife put in a lunch bag to ripen. Harder to see, in the plastic container, are about 20 that I am letting ferment, and will scrounge seeds for new plants. Just amazing sometimes.....

 

Thanks to your post and a little research I found out they can grow well here. I bought a Fredrick and a Nancy Garrison today in 6" pots about 24" tall.

Not my plants but a representation of the flowers.

Fredrick



Nancy