Who is gardening? It is very therapeutic!

My mom has a pergola covered with some sort of vine too :)

Sounds like you had a great childhood too!

I would not trade it for the world- except doing Hay... that sucked. : )

I think that's the best part - walking through and checking out what you planted - sitting and watching it grow.

I'm determined to learn as much as possible from this. I even dug out a notebook to log planting dates/amendments/random other crap....maybe i'm taking it too seriously. I dunno, but it really has already done a lot for me.

I have RA and this little garden I started has already improved my health - and I haven't even eaten anything out of it yet. So yeah, hooray gardening!

I like using our new drip irrigation lines. Saves a lot of water

I bought one, but I haven't even taken it out of the box yet. It's a little intimidating.

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I found that I like this tubing with the built in drippers. So much easier than cutting the tube and putting it together.

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You will like his musings I bet. Plus, they are free! Food for thought....

Garlic is planted in the fall. It needs a cold spell to bulb up correctly. You can plant now, but you'll only really get greens.... (not necessarily a bad thing).

I'm waiting for a stretch of 70+ degree weather to start my grafting for the spring. I'm changing a plum tree with 2 varieties on it to one with 5 varieties as well as a pluot, a peach and an apricot (if I can find the space for it).

I'm also grafting a couple pawpaw varieties this spring.

In my room at work I'm growing butterfly pea (the Latin name alone makes it a curiosity to grow) because I want to drink blue-tea.

I also have kiwis, persimmon,figs, goji, Che, apples, cherries, pawpaws, dozens of different kinds of berries (many of which would be new to you... like schizandra), ramps, medlars, Chinese cinnamon yams, lots more things...

I'm even growing mushrooms.. Wine Caps..

I'm in zone 6b, but with protection I easily grow things from much higher zones...

I put in drip irrigation years back, but the upkeep (due to critters) wasn't worth it. I mostly just water by hand at this point (I'm on less than an eighth of an acre)

Last Edited by Asymptote on 04/13/2021 09:29 PM

One query...have you ever gotten 2 fig harvests in? Here in 8b they never quite ripe enough in the fall.

24 "Black Cherry" and 24 "German Pink" heirloom tomato seeds put in the heated germinator with LED grown lights yesterday. Heat pads on a different timer than the grow lights. Well water. Targeting last weekend of May planting. Lots of other heirloom stuff to put out that weekend.

I have, but I cheat... only 3 of my figs are in the ground. I have over 2 dozen more in pots that I move in and out of my basement as the weather requires. A couple of my potted figs have ripened both their breba (early) as well as main crops. The breba figs are always inferior to the main crop, so I generally remove them as their presence delays the spring flush of growth...

I lost my meyer lemon last year so its on my list to replace this year. I have a poncirus trifoliate planted in the ground that gives me sour little oranges each year, though. I'm hoping my finger lime produces again this year for me as well...

Therapeutic Yes! But most challenging. I live in the mid desert against 17000 acres of wild land. Annuals can't survive the extreme temperatures and what does survive gets eaten by....well you name it, we got it.
Anyone with experience with this, I would love your advice. I'm fortified to the hilt and pack rats, rabbits, skunks, raccoons, havelina and coyotes find their way to my food forest in the desert. Been trying for 3 years now. Please let me know how you keep very hungry and thirsty critters away.

Oh, yeah. You know I'm always going to have the medicinal herb garden. Planted on Passover Moon. It will be a grand harvest. :-)

My herb garden:

Foxglove
Deadly Nightshade
Wolfsbane
Henbane
Meadow Crocus/Saffron
Baptisia / Wild Indigo
Mandrake
Catnip
Wormwood
Hyssop
Chilensis
Wintergreen
Pulsatilla

I ordered Datura, but it didn't come in.

Will have to wait till next season unless I grow it inside on the iHarvest.

Plant some kudzu mine is coming back as we speak can't wait for it to take over the yard

I really should add a little Indian tobacco to the herb garden. It's really helpful for tetanus and other wounds.

Having a little tobacco corner for medicine is never a bad thing.

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Yes, It is a wondrous plant!

Nice selection.

I think I'll order just standard NICOTIANA.

It's really the best for medical purposes. That's the drug that actually acts against the tetanus if you get a bad wound.

Old cowboy remedy. There weren't any doctors around in the old west if you take a rusty nail on the range. Tobacco is your only bet.

Remember, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Except for my garden.

My garden will kill you.

I have an indoor grow tent; have spinach, spicy Thai basil, and some mung beans.

Just going through the process of taking care of something living like that, and then consuming it and realizing it's all organic; it's been a spiritual experience for me. I feel cleaner in a sense.

spent the afternoon putting in a rose garden

Yep. I built an ultra cheapo drip system from the dollar store.

I spent a grand total of 20 bucks on my irrigation system.

I am saving so much water it's absurd.

We got our daughter a bag of the butterfly pea tea for Christmas. Blue tea looks very different. I found some growing on our property.

Needless to say, I'm a bit envious.

I've tried to fashion my garden after Alnwick.

I'll never be able to achieve that level toxicity and bitterness.

Oh, heart, heart. To be a gardener at Alnwick is like a fantasy.

1/8 of an acre? You are doing a great job! I’ve got five acres with nothing on it, I have irrigation so I’m going to start planting. I’ve got seven fruit trees so far and some blueberries. I’m looking forward to growing everything possible.

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Source your plants and seeds carefully. I'll get starter plants at a Farmer's Market after asking the farmer what chemicals have been applied.

Seeds - Baker Seeds in Missouri are staunch defenders of heirlooms as well as organic. Big Box store plants do fine, but I don't trust them, really. If most of the inside of the store is from China, I don't want to, and can't, test the plants.

Otherwise, planting several Aronia shrubs for their super-high antioxidant as a long-term. Just moved to central Iowa, way out of my range of when to plant, etc. Town had the derecho with ambulance-chasing roofers from states away who left a hazmat situation of shingles all over the yard, no tarps, no cleanups, pounds of nails for future children to get hurt on. Cleaning the dirt right now and planting a tiny garden this year.

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