Garden 2025

[KatyCooks]

My end product is usually average 1/3 nice ones, 1/3 ok ones and 1/3 not so ok. But every few weeks, when I go out east ( about 45 minutes away), I pass this house that has the nicest looking onions going in there yard. I dont know who they are , but I am always so tempted to knock on their door and ask what they do to have such nice looking onion plants. maybe one day Ill build up the courage too ask.

Just do it. Make sure you look presentable of course, but maybe you will make their day! (And learn their secret.)

 

[larry_stewart]

Just do it. Make sure you look presentable of course, but maybe you will make their day! (And learn their secret.)

Or maybe they'll think I'm a psychopath and shoot me for trespassing

 

[caseydog]

Any clue why my onion plants greens are always slightly wilted ?
- They are not yellow or discolored
- I've been fertilizing on a regular basis a a high Nitrogen fertilizer as purchased ( and recommended ) from the supplier, as I've done every year
- There is no weed competition
- We did get a lot of rain the past week, but this is something that happens every year. I see other people onion plants stating tall and firm, and mine always look weak sloppy.

Onion stalks (?) are mostly water, and wilt very easily. Even well watered, they can wilt just from the sun on a sunny day. I only tried to grow them once, and no matter how wet the ground was, the North Texas sun (and dry heat) was too much for them. Same with parsley, cilantro, and other plants that wilt easily in sunny, dry heat conditions.

CD

 

[caseydog]

Yesterday, I put in some tomatoes, cucumbers, a pepper, and placed beans in the ground. I need to make a trellis for the beans. Also, I put some perennials in the ground as I went to a plant sale unsupervised. Bliss sent me some garlic which seems to be thriving. I still want to know why I cannot seem to grow onions.

View attachment 74006

Do you plant veggies in your front yard. My HOA would go ballistic on me if I did that.

CD

 

[pepperhead212]

I plant those few zinnias, and a couple Mexican sunflowers in my front flowerbed, but most of what will be there will be edible - okra, hot peppers, and that red epazote. Plus that flowerbed of mint that comes around a little to the front. And the last thing I'll ever do is water a lawn (why would I want to have to mow more often?), unless I'm trying to get some newly grass seed growing.

 

[caseydog]

I plant those few zinnias, and a couple Mexican sunflowers in my front flowerbed, but most of what will be there will be edible - okra, hot peppers, and that red epazote. Plus that flowerbed of mint that comes around a little to the front. And the last thing I'll ever do is water a lawn (why would I want to have to mow more often?), unless I'm trying to get some newly grass seed growing.

I pay $160 a month to have an HOA tell me what I can do with the front of the house. They've tried to tell me what to do with the back, but they regretted that.

The front yard of my house is 90-percent native ground cover and shrubs, with a huge native elm tree. I have one strip of lawn between the sidewalk and street, that is required by the HOA.

This is what the backyard looked like a few years ago when I had a full pepper garden, as well as lots of herbs. It is not going to look that nice this summer, but maybe next year. Too much on my plate this year, plus they are predicting a hotter summer than last year. we are supposed get our first 100-degree day on Wednesday, six weeks earlier than normal. Last summer was hard to grow anything in. I lost a lot of plants. I don't have the energy to fight that fight this year.

Everything in the front yard is 100-percent native to North Texas, so that's not hard to keep alive no matter how hot and dry it gets.

CD

 

[dragnlaw]

dont know who they are , but I am always so tempted to knock on their door and ask what they do to have such nice looking onion plants. maybe one day Ill build up the courage too ask.

I agree with Katy! Certainly go and knock on the door (dont' disrupt supper) I'm positive they will be thrilled and complimented that you thought enough to tell them.

 

[Kathleen]

Do you plant veggies in your front yard. My HOA would go ballistic on me if I did that.

CD

I live in a historic neighborhood, and my HOA and I have a love/hate r/ship. The raised beds of green metal with onions, garlic, and beets are in my back yard, and are not visible from the street. I had no sunlight in the back until I lost my big tree, so all plants were once in the front yard. The tomatoes, peppers, beans, and cucumbers are still in my front yard. In the past, I have also grown okra, corn, eggplant, and squash in my front yard. (Okra flowers look like hibiscus!)

Several years ago, they went crazy. I received a letter that stated growing vegetables in the front would "ruin the historic value of the neighborhood." Now, most of our neighborhood was built during the 1930s. My home was built during the late 30s. When WWII hit, our neighborhood pulled out all stops to support the war efforts. Therefore, in my prettily fenced in area, I have a sign that says, "Victory Garden! It's patriotic! It's thrifty!" I grew bush beans along side my roses that year.

Beside my porch, I have two small gardens. One has several kinds of beans and potatoes. The other currently has tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. Both have marigolds and nasturtiums. My hanging baskets have strawberries, and I have a small patio blueberry growing. My sign remains, and I recently saw they want writers for their newsletter. I'm considering a series of articles on Victory Gardens. My garden has always been quite pretty and, now, we have several other neighbors with small and pretty victory gardens in the front.

The key is to keep it pretty and do not allow any fruits/produce to rot on the vines. I intend for the pole beans to make a screen for the porch this year! As for the HOA, they may have me on speed dial after 30 years of living here, but they gave me a rule book. Yes, it says no farming of plants or animals allowed in our neighborhood and "only ornamentals" allowed to be viewed from the street. I'm totally willing to let them try to prove that my scarlet runner beans are not more pretty (ornamental) than a pansies.

I enjoy my visits to their meetings. They did threaten me once with "architectural vandalism." (Their term used in their letter.) I'm still waiting to go to court for that with the photos of my period replicated gate that was crafted of real wood. As for the garden, an annual is an annual and all of mine flower. I did add to the perennial garden to attract pollinators this year. Native plants even! The HOA is miffy about clover as a front yard ground cover. It does not state in their rules that one must have fescue.

Here are photos of the front yard. There are many of the backyard elsewhere on the forum. It's a mix of perennials and there are now two raised beds on top of the hill hidden from street view. Oh, my onions are definitely dead.

And I pay my dues for this entertainment.

 

[Meryl]

Lovely pics @Kathleen ,and looks like a very pretty neighborhood.

 

[pepperhead212]

I put in most of my peppers today - still a few later ones, mostly chinense, but a few later ones that were just extras of the ones that almost all of them germinated. They'll be a couple weeks late, but they take off quickly.

I was ready to give up on the seeds for the pea EP, and tonight, there was a sprout! Only one in about 12, but maybe others will start now. The Matrosik is starting to take off now - started about 2 weeks late.

 

[rodentraiser]

View attachment 74052

That is one gorgeous tomato cage. Mine look like they've been tossed around by a tornado.

The marigolds and poppies have finally been planted.

Most of the hard stuff has been done. The canopy cover is on. I dumped all ten bags of soil into the raised bed (you know, those wheeled walkers are great at transporting bags of dirt). Today we ran parachute cord across the top of the bed and around it (naturally I thought of that after I dumped all the dirt in it), and tomorrow I'll plant the corn.

We also did the fence this morning, which did turn out to be 7.5 feet tall. This place looks like a real garden now - or a penitentiary depending on your view, I guess. I hauled in the 2 50lb bags of sand and tomorrow I'll go round and tighten all the parachute cords that are attached to the canopy cover on top and the cinder blocks on the bottom. When I've done that, I'll pour the sand into the cinder blocks to weigh them down more. With the wind we get from time to time, I need everything possible to keep the canopy from flying off.

I'm wiped out.

After that, I need to weed the irises again. I may be finished with that in time to plant all the strawberries and other stuff I ordered which were shipped today. THEN maybe I can relax a little.

I'd forgotten what I ordered and I was pleasantly surprised to find out I have 25 strawberries coming in, one different variety of strawberry by itself in one pot (I couldn't resist), another blueberry plant, a butterfly bush (and there's a wild one growing right next to my trailer YAY), and wonders of wonders, I ordered a grape vine. Guess what's going to climb over my arbor?

I only have 11 sunflower seedlings left over, none of the strawberries from last year, and someone took the parsley plant. Someone else took half the daisies. I have one more person coming to get seedlings and if she doesn't want any of the daisies, I'm going to do some rearranging in the rock garden and plant them there. Then there will be a container for my soon-to-be-here blueberry plant.

Oh, and tomorrow ALL the netting on all the plants comes off. YAY YAY! COWABUNGA!

 

[dragnlaw]

After cruising around several Nursery's and checking out prices...
Ferns in hanging baskets - $32.**, $29.**, $27.** and I bought 3 at the local grocery store $17.**.
Herbs started at $3.50 each - grocer store $1.50
Vegies $5.00 - grocery store $3.50
Germaniums $5.00 - grocery store $3.50
I admit, some looked a little woe begone, but I know they will perk up.

 

[Kathleen]

We have had a day of steady, needed rainfall. This year, I am striving to trellis some string beans. I also need to plant a few items that are still in pots. Too soggy to do it right now.

I have some deep purple Iris that fell over from being so water-drenched. With broken stems, I decided to cut them to put in a vase in the house. I never knew that iris bleed color. Every thing they touched were marked with a dark purple. It was surprising that they bled so much.

 

[rodentraiser]

Soooo...everything I was going to do today didn't get done because all my plants arrived except the little strawberry in the pot. So today was spent moving pots (the large ones, no small task) and repotting the blueberry, planting the strawberries, and generally finally cleaning up the boxes, rolls of netting, zip ties, and other junk that's been collecting while we've been putting up the fence and doing all the other gardening stuff. We had a little rain last night but not much, so I guess I'm adding watering to tomorrow's chores as well. The good thing is my neighbors are up from California and I don't have to water their lawn.

I did get all the netting off my plants and they all look really happy.

 

[rodentraiser]

Oooh, there's a deer outside. Now we'll see how the new fence works.

 

[FrankZ]

Oooh, there's a deer outside. Now we'll see how the new fence works.

I hear vegetable fed deer are good eating.

 

[Kathleen]

I'm excited! I got some trellis placed and a few beans are starting to emerge. I've planted some very old bean seed that were not properly stored. If they do not emerge, I will replant with some newer varieties. I simply could not toss the old seeds away without giving them a chance.

 

[rodentraiser]

I hear vegetable fed deer are good eating.

You have no idea how much I relish that.

 

[rodentraiser]

So I awoke this morning to see my grape plant stripped of its leaves. I have no idea what did that. It could have been a deer, but the thing would have had a neck 6ft long. Nothing else was touched. All I have left is a stem. Anyone know if it will survive?

Last night the wind came up, so I went out and tightened all the cords on the canopy cover and filled the cinder blocks with sand. Then I staggered inside.

All I did today was plant the corn and water everything. So naturally, now it's raining. Pffffft.

 

[blissful]

It's been hot and windy and today with big storms going through tornadoes across the state and lots of big hail. We're not getting much planting done but we'll be back to it tomorrow and Saturday it will be much cooler and it will be more comfortable to do the work.