My duh! moment is that I planted some of that Trombone Squash that Ralph was promoting so heavily last year (brought some to the swaps, chatted it up here on GW). Everyone told me to expect a big vine. Everyone mentioned that it grew more like a gourd than a summer squash but everyone loved its flavor and its vine borer resistance. So I planted some.

Now my yard is big (just over one acre) but the garden is tiny (the size of two living rooms). In that garden I grow a row of just about everything you can imagine and by this time of year it is very hard for me to squeeze in between the tomato cages and pepper plants without being ensnared in the kiwi vine or tripping over the cucumbers. So I made a simple fence like trellis hoping it would be strong enough to support some trombone vines. I sowed. They sprouted. I thinned. They thrived but stayed small for a week or so and then they took off!!!!!!!!!! I have finally resorted to snipping off the growing tips on the vines but I don't think even that will slow them down. I spend just as much time in the garden trimming other plants and moving things around just to make room for this monster (I yanked all but one of the babies). It is loaded with blossoms so I expect a good crop, but still... if I had listened I could have planned better.

Oh, and I doubt aphids are the reason for your million bell disaster. Plants grown in greenhouses can suffer greatly with aphids but once they are put outside in the cruel cruel world of eat or be eaten their numbers tend to stay under control. I get big infestations in the early spring but by this time of year I hardly see any - but then I never spray and my yard is full of bugs (both good and bad).

Oh, and if you plant million bells in the ground they are reliable perennials here - only needed minor protection during the really cold weather.

It's all I can do to bring myself to deadhead perennials or take off the first blooms to get branching! I postpone and postpone....and eventually miss the branching and/or 2nd bloom season. The deer/bunnies deadhead my rudbeckia for me, so those are nice bushy plants with loads of blooms. Duh! That's what I should do...give me strength to pinch/prune/deadhead! LOL

Cameron

I bought a plastic window box this spring and grew lettuce in it until the lettuce bolted. Then I sowed some patty pan squash, which started out great then started dying. I was watering really regularly and couldn't figure out what the problem was. Then, I noticed the soil was kind of... sloshy. I figured a drainage hole might be plugged. When I investigated, I discovered that I had forgotten to punch hole in the bottom of the pot.

Once I got that problem squared away, my squash were promptly eaten by some sort of medium sized brown bug.

As an aside, I had a pot of million bells I brought home from vacation in KY. It did really well for a while, then part of it died, now the whole plant has died. It had water, it had drainage and I never saw any signs of insects, but it is totally dead now.

I had no idea the million bells would overwinter in the ground. Maybe I should go throw that last one in the dirt today. I'm about ready to fill those baskets with something else anyway.

We grew ornamental gourds for the first time this year and they did about the same thing. They sprouted quickly but grew slowly until one day they just took off. We have them planted next to the fence and they are now spilling over. Thank goodness the neighbors don't mind.

I am bad about putting off dead heading until I absolutely have to. My husband is just about addicted to it though. We go to garden centers and while I am shopping he is dead heading their plants.

And.. been there done that with the forgetting to punch drainage holes or remove drainage stoppers. It's a fun task to perform after the plant has had a chance to establish itself in the window box. When we moved in, the previous family had left two terracotta window boxes with the house. I'm glad they already had drainage holes because those things weight a ton when they are empty.

So yeah I did throw those million bells in the ground and gave them a healthy dose of shake and feed. They are not looking too happy but who knows, they could have been on their way out before I transplanted them or they could be just going through a little transplant shock.

Anyway...

Here are the new replacements. The sweet potato vine looks scraggly and unhappy but so did the ones in the two photos at the bottom. I'm guessing it has been about...two weeks since I planted those and they were just as small and discolored.

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Dichondra and yes.. I put coleus in the baskets lol. I had them in baskets last year with a climber and they did well. I'm pretty sure a dangler won't have the same effect but what the heck...I had a few left over. I've put stranger things in them baskets. I have some new baskets that are twice as big that I will be taking for a spin next year.

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And here is Beany watching me take photos. LOLBeany is not amused by my antics.
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More sweet potato vine and coleus in the next two and yeah, that's a volunteer morning glory growing in that first window box. Same box every year has one morning glory volunteer in it. And Yeah, that is ivy growing up my window in the bottom photo. I've never been more tempted to break out the round-up....I actually just need to be more diligent about pulling it.

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