Anxious for Spring

[Mandolinrain]

So hopefully this has gone to the gardening section....if not, sorry.

thought I would share what I am up too. Starting garden plants from food scraps.

Works every year and I transplant them , eventually in my garden. 

So so here’s what started so far , Bok Choy,Romain Lettuce, celery....so easy to do. starting onions tomorrow and potatoes.

Heres a pic of the celery two two days ago...below.....

Any other gardeners out there? Love to trade secrets  

[Giulia]

You're kidding me?!!!!   You simply cut pieces of celery and stick them in WATER and they ROOT???!!!!   Or the bottom of a head of romaine?  It doesn't rot?  Me gonna try that!  I know that's true with members of the mint family and onions, potatoes, but had no idea that would work with those others.  

My secrets? More like Murphy's Garden Laws (MGL).   If I put a plant in the ground three times and it dies each time, I figure it doesn't want to live in that spot!  lol  

If you can't quite tell if it's a plant or a weed in early spring, if the roots go all the way down to Hades, you know it's a weed.  And...the more invasive the plant, the more likely it is a weed.  And.... (MGL) the one you think is a plant that you leave will likely turn out to be a weed, and the one you yanked out will be the true plant.

If you don't thin out Black Eyed Susans they will form an impenetrable mat that you'll need a bulldozer to get through!.  (MGL)  The plants you WANT to reseed never do so, the ones you don't WILL. 

 (MGL)  The day after you plant bulbs some critter WILL dig them up.  (Often you will faintly smell Mr. Skunk) 

(MGL):  When your snow peas are just perfect and ready to pluck, some critter will get there a'fore ye."  Ditto with the tomatoes and stink bugs.

(PS - yes you got this in the gardening section!) 

[Mandolinrain]

Oh man I hate STINK BUGS!!!!! We found this thing on Amazon called a BUG ZAPPER! i FREAKING lOVE IT FOR THOSE NASTY BUGS!!!

Celery, yes and all that I showed, Bok Choy, romain lettuce .even broccoli ....., just chop off entire bottom end and put in fresh water about an inch. Change water once a day. I prefer to use warm water. Another good one is green onions....put the white root end in water after you chopped and used the greens...the greens will grow back and you can cut from them for salads all the time.

Snow peas...I have a hard time with. Start early right?????? Do I have the right peas...I mean sweet peas cause I love the long vine and flowers

Im like you. I experiment a lot. I have a little sunny room in these new digs and its just for all my starts and rooting. I am concerned my garden area will be not very sunny as it was at last house. We are in a dense wooded area. I am also going to make a few garden starter boxes with old window panes I saved. That is on to do list

Now for a good joke I know you will howl at. I married my fellow nearly 38 yrs ago and I had my first garden. I planted potatoes. I was so bummed. I had beautiful foliage but no potatoes. Then the following spring I was tilling my garden and WELLA!!!!! Loads of potatoes!

 Who knew???? hahaha I crack myself up

[Mandolinrain]

Oh and Wisteria...I love it but talk about invasive!!!! Whew. i didn't know the tip about longer roots for weeds, but it makes sense. Its also been my experience that a lot of weeds  (not all though) have fuzzy feel to their leaves. I agree on black eyed susan....same goes for mint plants. I normally only grown them in containers or bury the container in the ground...another way to contain them

[Chuck-2-20-2011]

I actually do garden, though I never created my own stuff from food scraps. Amazing concept! In fact, I have an associates degree in horticulture. I thought I was going to grow things my whole life! Funny how things work out. It's quite challenging growing a garden here, nestled against Colorado's fourteen thousand foot peaks but I do manage to grow some pretty decent crops. 

 To short of a season for tomato's here, but I do manage to grow lettuce, carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, green beans, peas and carrots and sometimes I have some luck with potatoes, though that varies from year to year.

 But one thing I've noticed where I live. The clouds have started to get puffier. More like spring clouds. There were actually some birds singing here this morning. Hope their not here to soon. March can be a bear sometimes in these mountains. 

 So yeah, I'm looking forward to another spring and the summer that comes after! As usual, I can't wait! I do get impatient this time of the year! All I can say is:

ONWARD TO SPRING!!!

Chuck

[Chuck-2-20-2011]

I made the mistake of planting some mint in the middle of a wildflower garden that I cultivated. It only took one season for my wildflower garden to be totally overgrown by the mint. So I understand Guilia's comment about evasive! I'm still getting rid of those roots! (And they go everywhere!! But I WILL win!! I've learned a thing or two about determination since I quit smoking.

[Mandolinrain]

Wow Chuck, Colorado...such a beautiful State!!! Sounds like you have an amazing garden. I hear you about the weather though. Its been rather mild here recently and March normally can bring a bag of wintery mix, never know what we will get. But I sure am enjoying the nicer weather for now. I just hope our spring rains are not as long lasting as they were last spring.

I so enjoy digging in the dirt. I tried propagating roses with no luck using the growth hormones from garden store but didn't work; Came across using garden scrapes few years back from someone on Facebook, which I am not on anymore. The garden scrapes is fun and it does work. Rooting things like Basil and mint inside is nice to have to clip off of for different recipes. Handy. I wanted to try cauliflower inside but don't think it will work. Was looking at tube videos last night and it looks more up your ally...due to the science behind it.

I hope this blog stays alive. I love learning from others on the flowers and gardens! Thank you for your input!

[Giulia]

Wisteria!!!!  OMG talk about invasion of the body snatchers.  It was all over the property in NC where we lived.  Tripped me up many a time while I was out spending hours trying to cut it back.  I'd be attempting to walk and my foot would be grabbed and splat on the ground would I go.  You can't pull it out if it's well established.  The vines were 25' in length and I'd just cut them at the base and wrap them in loops.  As bad as Kudzu.  The beautiful oriental invasives are the worst.  Bamboo.  Forget it, you'll never get it out.  English Ivy you can mostly get rid of because it's roots go more laterally than vertically.  That stuff must grow a foot a month.

Tip:  you can grow cukes and squash upright on sturdy poles to save space.  Looks ridiculous but works.  Love your potato story, Missy!  Live and learn, eh?!  Snow peas are not the same varietal as a sweet pea, nor the same as the regular garden pea.  Sweet peas are planted for their pretty blossoms but are toxic when eaten in quantity.  I will NOT be planting green onions.  Another invasive plant.  Got them all over the lawn and in the flower beds here.  They aren't the same as the ones you buy in the store, and don't taste terribly good, but idea of putting more onion in the ground NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  Not going there!

What I've learned is that certain invasive plants are only invasive if they're in a happy home, e.g. conditions conducive to the most root growth.  Onions like acidic soil, for example.  The mint that I planted down here in the south is NOT invasive because it's too dry and mint likes a LOT of moisture, whereas in the north it would take over.  Good luck, Chuck!  lol

Stink bugs are bad, but it's the voracious Japanese beetles that just decimate the bean leaves.  

[YoungAtHeart]

I will share a funny gardening story from back in the day when I cultivated a 20'x 40 ' vegetable garden.  My kids and I LOVED green beans, but usually after the second  harvest they always got invaded by a Spanish beetle thing.  The Good Earth Gardener was on TV at the time, and he recommended you put a large number of them in a bucket in the sun and make a "body stew" of them  and then spray the plants.  I dutifully made up the stew and got it in a spray bottle...you had to mist BOTH sides of the leaves....so there I was squatting beside a row of beans in the boiling sun, encased in rubber gloves, -dutifully spraying each leaf.

But - guess what?  It did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!  What I finally figured out was to do TWO plantings of the beans.  When the first set was invaded by the bugs, the second group were just coming in.  I would get two harvest off them before the bugs would invade, and by then we were sick of green beans and had moved on to corn, tomatoes, broccoli and other veggies!s' m

NEVER watched The Good Earth Gardener again.

I created and kept up that garden with a shovel, a hoe, a rake and my arms and legs.  I wonder NOW why I am in such bad shape???!!!!

Enjoy your veggie gardens.  I'll stick to my flowers now - we have a GREAT farmers' market in our village every Sunday morning!!!

[Mandolinrain]

also, I don't plant green onions, I just keep them rooted in water jar for trimming the greens off the tops for cooking  I never had luck with onions in garden. CHIVES, also spread like crazy and I can never get rid of them. Must be wild cause I never planted them but I will pick them and dry them and chop them up for seasonings I make.

Love the idea of poling squash. Last few years when we were still at the farm, I had a wonderful area up by the horse barn where hubby helped me plant a pallet garden. It did super ( rich soil up there). I may need to resort to more pots for things so I can move them around to get sun. This house has a lot of woods around it. Am concerned because I LOVE gardening. I had tons of beds at last home. I have to figure something out. May need to take fe more trees down, which I hate to do.

So you answered my sweet pea dilemma....it IS the flowers i SO LOVE about them. I think I always plant them to late.