When I grew vegetables I grew a bunch of things too close and then harvested the babies.
My contractos finally ripped up 30’ of driveway in our back yard and put down a plastic grid so that’s the last of the major earth moving in our renovation. (All that’s left is screens for the back porch and some mostly minor punch list type stuff.) We will plant grass this weekend and put in the rain garden. I’m going to use some stones to define some raised beds around the porch - mostly to bring up the height a bit so the drop of is definitely less than the required 30" in order not to have a to-code guardrail. Planting for those beds will wait for the screens, but I can move my rain garden plants to their final resting places (the ones that didn’t die in their temporary quarters at least.) I might also move some herbs to their big containers, though the containers will stay in the front yard until the porch is done.
I’m pretty sure along with grass seed and fertilizer I’ll be buying more plants this weekend. Maybe a composter too as our original compost location won’t work and our temporary one is in our neighbors yard! (Their fence is uphill from it - I’m not even sure they realize they own a bunch of land they aren’t using.)
Last year we ate cheese stuffed day lily blossoms and I always put nasturtium flowers in the salad. So pretty and they have a nice peppery taste.
I’ve grown onions close together and then harvested the ones “in between” as spring onions when they were small. That way you get a bonus as the green part is still tender and yummy.
@greenwitch, I have other flowers but not many. I even saw one flying that low near my squash.
Regarding green onion, my husband does not think it tastes like a regular green onion.
^ That’s the sort if thing I’ll do with the beets. Most sites assume you planted from seed and know what you have. since I bought seedlings, I don’t now how many “seeds” they started with.
I finally found an easy solution to the thinning: once the plant has little gumballs, apparently I can poke through the dirt and if there are multiples off one stem cluster, very carefully dislodge all but the biggest, leaving its taproot safe. I can use the small ones and let the bigger one keep growing. Sounds tricky, but I can do it. Some even say I can replant the littler ones. We’ll see.
You know I’ve been gardening for nearly 25 or more years. Beet is not something I worry about. I had tons in my garden without really trying. The ones that look stunned, I thin them to become salad, otherwise I let them grow. If they don’t have space, the beet pushes the dirt up and I know it’s time for me to dig them up.
Alas, my spring gardening finds me for the first time, allergic to poison ivy. Ugh. I’ve been so smug for so long and it finally caught up with me. All three sons were allergic from childhood. Prednisone is my friend this week.
Vabluebird- here’s a little known fact: mangos and cashews are in the same family as poison ivy and should be avoided for a while until the allergen is out of your system. I have to watch out for little poison ivy seedlings every spring that the birds have spread. I used to be smug too.
Went to nursery again today and got more flowers for the bees. They were buzzing away with the cosmos plants. I also bought some penstemon flowers. Something about the strawberry plants because I couldn’t help buying themeventhough I’ve already have tons. The fruits smell really nice.
I envy your shopping expedition, DrGoogle. I’ve put myself on a strict budget… and will experiment with planting flowers from seed. Today I planted lupine. And I’ve always like the impact that one color makes, and plan an all-white area of different types of flowers. Sort of excited to see how it pans out.
Post #193, I tried seeds but I think the birds must be eating them. The rain actually helped some of the seeds to sprout. I get a much more sense of satisfaction sowing flowers from seeds but not successful recently. Regarding white flowers, I got some white phloxes(another of my favorite flower) and white cosmoses.
I like lupine too, I remember an area I used to live had lots of lupine flowers that came up naturally. My daughter used to mention the book “the lupine lady” when we passed by. Ah, the good old time when they were younger.
But I think of spending money on plants is cheap therapy, the weather is gloomy today, flowers cheer me up.
Post #196, I used to sprout them indoors so that was much better. I’m afraid the birds get caught if I use the netting. The squirrels, raccoons have not found our yard yet.
@DrGoogle, I can relate about the cheap therapy! My gardening budget is an experiment to see if I can mend my ways. If it fails, oh, well. Next year will be fun
I also love phloxes in part because they flower for so long.
OTOH, it alarms me to hear that even an experienced gardener like you has had failures with sowing flowers from seeds. I don’t stand a chance.
Kalia, maybe because my seeds aren’t good. I buy lots of seeds. I feel rich when I have lots of them. I haven’t had A chance to use them and didnt store them properly, which I suspect could be the program. I’m also kind of the half-hazard gardener. I throw them in my garden and may be one or two survived and I’m happy. I only need one beautiful plant. Like my campanula bell in my front yard is gorgeous, got compliment from my neighbors, but I only got one after sowing a few packets, but you can’t buy the same plant with that quality from the nurseries that I frequent. If if they have them, they are not in the greatest shape.
I try to be a happy gardener. But I must admit I do waste a lot of money on seeds. That’s why I consider them cheap therapy.
