Hi all

I should really post this in that thread where the gardener wanted to kill the non-garderner member of the family for some screw up. My hubby has always been great until this week. When it hit 30+ here, he "forgot" to open the mini-greenhouse and the top layer of the plants literally cooked. I have them sitting on the driveway hoping they will come back from the roots but some of them, there is no hope in h.... that they are coming back. I am going to have to go out with my list and rebuy what died. The idea of the greenhouse was to protect them from the frost, not cook them to death!
Danni

Danni,
I'm so sorry to hear about your poor plants. That would really upset me too!

Did u lose very many of them and what kinds did u lose? I have been tempted to get one of those little greenhouses but know how fast clear plastic heats up and knowing me mine would be cooked in no time. Were these plants u had started in the house or had bought from the nursery? I hope some of them will come back!

Son came over today and cut down most of the mountain ash tree. It had mostly died last year except for one trunk or sucker as my son calls it. It looks so strange but I hope it will spread out more as it ages and not do anymore dying. Part of it is in flower right now too.

We got the pump in the pond after much fighting with it, the container keeps floating up to the surface, don't know if it is from the quilt batting or what? But hope it stays down now. *L* Also moved another fish out into the pond.

It was cool here today, had some thunderstorms too. I covered the plants up on the patio tonight just in case we got frost as I don't want to lose all the trays I have out there now. It is 11C outside right now.

Take care
Debbie :-)

Hi Debbie

The plants were from a nursery. I haven't tried doing winter sowing yet but I definitely think I am going to try it next winter. I spent way too much on annuals this year for my containers.
Last night, I trimmed the dead leaves off and I think that 2 of the trays will survive. The last tray is totally cooked so I am going out later today to see if I can find the same kind again. The tray of geraniums that I got for cheap was the one I was really worried about. They were a pale pink and to replace them cheaply at this point would be impossible. Once the dead leaves were cut off, the bases were nice and green and some of them were putting out some new leaves so I thing I will be ok with those.
By the way, am I the only one that can't keep up with the weeds these days? I just weeded a couple of days ago and today my beds look like they haven't been done in weeks. I am going to try getting some roundup and painting it on some of the more stuborn weeds. I have always done weeding by hand but it is getting really hard to keep up.

Danni

Hi
I got some work done yesterday in the yard, it was nice out, not too hot and not too cold. *S* I planted up about 11 very large pots on the patio, with the dog's help of course. *S* She loves being out in the garden with me now. I planted impatiens, petunias, lettuce and peas I had planted the day before.

Last fall I had bought some window boxes that sit right on the railing of the patio and I have yet to plant those up.

Has anyone used those type of window boxes before? I hate the old ones and they always tilted forward so the water would always run out no matter if I put shims at the back of them or not. So I'm hoping these new ones will work out much better.

I have about 6 trays of plants and 2 window boxes full of plants, no dirt in them yet. Just waiting to be potted up. About 8 tomatoes and 3 trays full of plants in the front yard still to be planted. Not nearly as many as I had last year, but enough to keep me busy for a while. It has been cold here the past couple of mornings. Yesterday it got down to 3C, this morning it got down to 5C.

The onion bulbs I planted a few days ago have started coming up in the pots too, so I will be starting to put flowers in with them soon.

Found our friendly chipmunk in the patio pond the other day. Poor thing, I really liked him, he would follow me around the yard and pop up behind the beds to watch me. I don't know why he wasn't able to get out of the pond once he fell in, but I guess he just couldn't get a hold of the hard plastic. *sigh* Poor thing. I know the dog and cat loved to watch him scarmper around the yard too. I didn't use to like the chipmunks, but this one had quite the personality. *sigh*

danni, I'm so sorry to hear about your losses. I hope that u can get at least 2 of your trays of plants to come back. I have found that pinching back the geraniums make them more bushy too, so u might try doing that to get new leaves coming on them.

No, u aren't the only one that can't keep up with the weeding. I have hardly made a dent in the weeding yet. I just don't seem to have much energy this year, but I am trying to get a bit done every day. I also bought another OFF Lantern at Canadian Tire so I won't be so nervous about going into the yard with the bugs, though they were coming around yesterday when I was working on the patio and I had two of the lanterns going, but not nearly as bad as when I was in the front yard watering with no protection at all. I sure wish our town would spray for mosquitoes, that would really help, especially now that we have West Nile here. It's bad enough our winters are so long, but to not be able to go outside in the summer is a pain.

Do U have a lot of mosquitoes and black flies at your place? What do u do to keep them off u?

I use round up on the walk ways, but haven't used it this year as it has been too windy. If u get a small box and put it over the weed then spray into the box, that will help stop any drift of the round up getting on any plants U don't want it on.

My water lily has survived winter in the pond! I wasn't sure if it would live thru being frozen, but it did! Here I was getting son to bring it in every year, but last year with Mom dying I just told him to forget it.

The fish we had to leave in the pond over winter cause we couldn't catch it didn't survive though, the cat got 3 of the fish over winter, and one just died the other day. So I only have 2 left that are now in the pond, but haven't seen them the past few days so I hope they at least survived so they can eat the mosquitoes.

Guess I should try and go back to bed,,,,,Have a good day.

Debbie :-)

Hi Debbie, I've been so busy in the garden that I didn't come on for awhile. We're having gorgeous weather and I've got everything planted outside. I know we could get a frost yet but I'll keep an eye on it and cover everything if I have to. Here are a few pictures of my garden.
THESE ARE THE TOMATOES I HAD IN POTS A FEW WEEKS AGO
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CARROTS
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BEANS AND GARLIC
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ONIONS AND LETTUCE

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It was another hot day here today. I didn't go outside until later on tonight when it had cooled down a bit. I planted two of my tomatoes, some marigolds, and geraniums. I don't have too many marigolds this year and I think I should of grown a few more. Did some more watering and chatted with a neighbour down the street. Still haven't spotted the fish we put in the pond either.

clairdo, very nice pics of your gardens! Your veggies are doing quite well and look good! I don't usually plant the tomatoes out this early but I am hoping the weather will stay nice now so I don't have to run around covering them up if we get frost. Some of the onions I planted are starting to come up now.
What kind of tomatoes are u growing? I have Siberians, Early Girl Hybrid, and Sungold. I still have5 or 6 more to plant.

Take care
Debbie :-)

Hey debbie i planted siberian also for the first time. Have you tried them before ? I'm anxious to see what they taste like. I also planted grape tomatoes. I save the seeds from those every year because they are the best i ever tasted. I also planted beans called ROYAL BURGUNDY. They are purple on the vine but turn green when cooked. Also this year I got hybrid cucumber seeds on the net and they are doing fine so far.

just realized these are pickling cukes. boy am I mad grrr..

We've had some hot weather here too, but it's a lot cooler the past couple of days. I'm glad about that because it's completely airless in the library when it's hot outside, even with the windows open and a fan going. Pant, pant, gasp, gasp!

I have been soooooo busy outside! As usual, i winter-sowed way too much stuff and now i'm trying to find places for it all. Right now, i'm trying to get as many annuals into the ground as i can. The perennials will be okay where they are for now. I've also been trying to get some containers done too. A lot of my stuff is looking a bit moth-eaten, except it's probably slugs not moths. :) I put everything under a tree to keep them out of the sun, but i think the slugs like it there too.

My brother was here on the weekend. He's working north of here and had four days off, so came here. He cut the grass for me, which was great, but i told him NOT to cut between some trees because i had daffodils, scilla and some ferns planted there. He must have misunderstood.... :( Can't win, eh?

Danni, that's a shame about your plants! I know the feeling! I've been trying to get some grow-bags going but they've cooked twice in the mini-greenhouse. Of course, it could be because i didn't root the plants properly first... :) I'm going to try some coleus so now i have some cuttings in water and hopefully i'll do better this time!

Yes, the weeds are hard to keep up with. Every time you turn around, there's more coming up. Parts of some beds are okay, but others - yikes!!

Debbie, i've really concentrated on trying to get plants that bloom at certain times of the year, so that there's always something blooming. Things this year are a week or so ahead of other years. And there are things i've planted that i have no idea when they bloom, so it's a nice surprise to see them. For instance, these Centauria montana - i totally forgot that i'd winter-sowed them last yar, and here they are blooming already!
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Here are some more pictures. First, trollius in the background and lamium 'Pewter Pink' in the foreground:
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Iris 'Rhein Nixe':
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Allium 'Purple Sensation':

The shadier white bed:
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My tree peony finally bloomed after four years!
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The vegetable garden is coming up nicely too. Dh planted extra potatoes "just in case" and they're all coming up! LOL I got all the tomatoes, peppers, cukes and zukes in on the weekend. It seems really late, but it isn't, i guess.

Not much else. I'm yawning here so it must be bedtime. Tomorrow at school, the little gardeners will be planting some annuals around the school's monument. I'll have to get some pictures and post them. They're so enthusiastic!

Night, all! Take care!
Marcia

It has been a bit chilly the past two days. I covered the potted plants up Thursday night and brought the trays of stuff back into the porch. Hubs and I went for a walk last night and I was actually wearing my "light" winter coat! It was suppose to go down to 2C tonight, but got down to 5C then started going back up again, so that was good.

I planted two tomatoes and one zuccini but then the weather turned and they got covered back up again.

clairdo, I have grown the Siberain tomatoes for many years now. They are a medium size but not much taste to them, but mine don't often get a chance to ripen on the vine. Better than store bought though. Yours might have more time to ripen seeing as u are further south than I am and your growing season is a bit longer than ours. *S*
I have also grown the Royal Burgundy beans and they were nice, they can handle cooler weather than regular beans can I think.

I'm sorry to hear that u didn't get the type of cucumbers u wanted, maybe they will grow bigger than pickling ones though? I didn't grow any cucumbers this year, but I have grown some called Cool Breeze and they do well for me. They aren't a real big cucumber but bigger than pickling type. And they don't need a male and female plant either like some cucumbers do. I also bought grape tomatoes at the grocery store yesterday for the first time after hearing you and others talk about how good they taste and will taste them tomorrow. *S*

Marcia, your library doesn't have a/c? I guess it must be an older building?

Sounds like u might have enough winter sown plants for a plant sale so u can raised more money for your gardening habit. *G*

And yep, slugs like the shaded areas. U might want to pick up some Safers slug bait, that is what I use around my hostas and it works well.

Sorry to hear about your brother and errr the grass/plant cutting accidnet. *sigh* Ya just can't give a non-gardening man too many instructions. LOL

My irises, oriental poppy, and lupins are blooming now, can't take pics though cause they started blooming in the rain. LOL Japanese lilac tree is going to be blooming soon too and my azalea is blooming. I can see it from the family room window, but it is soooo buggy on that side of the house I don't go on that side much.

Your flowers are gorgeous!! I love that big clump of irises u have and allium and your tree peony is beautiful!! Does it smell as pretty as it looks?

Dannie, how did u make out with replacing your plants that u lost? Were u able to find replacements?

Well time for bed here.....

Take care
Debbie :-)
PS: Here is one of my Paul's Glory.
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Debbie I was able to replace all but the pink osteospermum. Everywhere was sold out so I got some kind of daisy instead. Not quite what I wanted but oh well. I got started planting some of my containers today so I was pretty happy about that. I tried taking a chunk of my heuchera lime ricky for the pot in the front yard but I don't think I got enough roots to go with the division. The thing is looking pretty floppy right now but I will give it some time. If it doesn't work out, I can always go out and buy another one just for the pot but I hate to do that when it is already growing in the yard. I did plant a strawberry jar full of sedums and hens & chicks today. Looks good already so it should look great in a week or so. I also got all the beds in the front yard weeded. All in all it has been a busy day and my back is letting me know that too! I don't have a bad back but when I garden for an extended length of time, I sure feel my age.

Danni

Hi everyone,

The weather has really been jumping all over the place here. It's hot then it's cool. Today was another cool wet day, but at least I didn't have to water the garden. *S*

The Japanese lilace is blooming and making the rose garden smell wonderful. Then by the back door the mock orange is blooming and making that area smell great too! I am so happy with the Japanese lilac tree this year. It has 3 times as many blooms as last year so I'm hoping next year it will be bigger and have lots more blooms than this year.

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I think I have run outta space to plant my last tray of plants. I have used up all the big pots so I guess I will have to do one last walk thru of my garden and if I can't find any where to plant these last ones, maybe I can give them to my neighbour a few houses down. I just met him a few weeks ago and he seems to be very nice. Our neighbours on the east side of us that run the bed and breakfast have their house up for sale, I don't know where they are moving to, but I sure hope that whoever buys their place will be nice too. *S*

I am stil pulling tons of sunflowers out of pots and the garden. So many in fact, that they are pushing my plants out of the pots! *L* That little chipmunk has been very very busy!

This iris bloomed for the first time this year. The tag on it said pink, but it is more of a light peach colour. It only has 2 blooms on it but I'm hoping next year it will have many more blooms. It is nice that it started blooming after the yellow ones were almost finished too.

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The yellow ones bloomed for the first time this year too so I guess I had them all planted to deeply. I still have other irises around the garden that haven't bloomed yet and I guess they all need to be raised up a bit more.

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My peonies are just finishing up, this year the wind and rain was hard on them, but the blooms I brought into the house really made the house smell nice. *S*

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Almost all the roses have started to bloom now. This one is Hazeldean, very thorny and only blooms once a year. But it sure brightens up the spot when it is in bloom.

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Morden Blush

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Morden Centennial

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The leaves on the Mordens seem very papery again this year even though I dumped worm castings around them, so I will have to get out and fertilize them when it dries up a bit.

Danni, how is your garden coming along? Do u have pics to show us?

Clairdo how is your garden coming along? Do u have pics to show us? How are the veggies doing?

Marcia, are u still in school or are u finished for the summer now?

Take care everyone and I hope your gardens are all doing well.

Debbie :-)