Gardening: What are you growing ?

[Darby]

Thought I'd see if a gardening thread would get some traction on this site.

As for myself ... I live in suburbia, and the house I bought has a smallish yard, surrounded by very tall old trees on adjoining properties, so I have somewhat limited 'full sunlight' during summer for gardening. As a result, I mostly use 5 gal pails instead of in-ground gardening.

I mostly grow cherry tomatoes in assorted colors (due to their reliably high & early yields and disease resistance), and hot peppers.

Photo mine:

This year I may try my hand at growing some bitter melon, which will require a trellis.

Photo wiki: Chinese variety


Photo wiki: Indian variety


I'm also hoping to get my first of many crops of Egyptian creeping onions, which I planted in-ground last fall, and which seem poised to explode.

[mtbturtle]

Ground is not thawed yet still raking up leaves. Will probably be at least another 2 weeks to a month before I plant anything. I think we are going to plant a bunch of Amish paste tomatoes for canning, carrots, kale and snow peas maybe some lettuce and spinach. Garlic we planted last fall.
I've blueberries and raspberries also.

[Darby]

I adore blueberries, but alas cannot grow them.

Back when I was still homebrewing (16+ yrs ago), my favorite style of mead to make was blueberry melomel, which I made with amish blueberry blossom honey, and fresh blueberries. I usually used a beaujolais strain of wine yeast, finished it at around 13% AbV and about 5 brix residual sweetness (lightly sweet).

[SciameriKen]

I took some seeds from some awesome cherry tomatoes I got from a farmer's market that I'll be planting - I also hope my miracle plant will produce something this year! Aside from that hoping to put blackberries in, blue Goji and some other heirloom tomatoes

[mtbturtle]

I'm growing a ton of leaves!

a ton o'leaves

[Percarus]

I tend to have a huge flowering tree outside my balcony that attracts a lot of bees, the small varieties (not the thumb sized ones I once related on my eBook). I love my bees, and in the atrium of the apartment we grow all sorts of things. But considering I only have a balcony I tend to buy plants and give to my neighbour who has a nice garden. Mostly indigenous Australian fauna/flora, like bush tomatoes, and what not. Some of these plants can be viewed on my instagram @ https://instagram.com/exphabius/

[Eclogite]

As a committed tree-hugging liberal I am greatly concerned about biodiversity. Therefore I have devoted the greater part of my 1 1/2 acres to weeds, of which I have an astounding variety, plus a couple of rogue potatoes. The butterflies love it.

[TheVat]

Haha! I like the mental picture "rogue potato" gives me. Yeah, I have tried the biodiversity rationale for not weeding and mowing, but some anonymous neighbor narked on me to the city and I was given one week to mow or they would send a crew to do it and charge me a hefty price. Fascists.

seriously, I would like to someday, as time permits, rip up the non-native fescue and establish some hardy native groundcover (semi-arid climate here) that knows how to take care of itself.

[Darby]

As a committed tree-hugging liberal I am greatly concerned about biodiversity. Therefore I have devoted the greater part of my 1 1/2 acres to weeds, of which I have an astounding variety, plus a couple of rogue potatoes. The butterflies love it.

One doesn't have to be a tree-hugging liberal to let one's yard go completely ramshackle ... anyone with a lazy streak can do that. ;^)

The local bees here love my cherry tomatoes (which blossom all year long), as well as mint and clover ...

Anyway, this year I struck out on finding purple cherry tomatoes, so ATM I've got the following underway:
* 3 "Sun Gold" yellow cherry tomatoes
* 2 'Husky Red" cherry tomatoes
* 1 Sweet Bananna Pepper
* 1 Small Sweet Pepper
* 1 Hot Jalapeno

I already have peppermint and egyptian creeping onions in the ground from last year.

My attempt to sprout bitter melon seeds failed ... I strongly suspect it was because I harvested the seeds from an underripe melon (re: bitter melon are only eaten when green, whereas they turn orange when ripe and become inedible). Next time I'll mail order fully developed seeds.

[addseo1119]

Aloes

[TheVat]

Aloe to you too, mate!

[mtbturtle]

The crabapples trees crabapple drvwy 2015 crabapple back 2015 , and the lilac bushes Lilac 2015 are blooming. The yard smells wonderful!

The daffodil parade is in full swing with new ones opening everyday

A few from around the yard

Not sure what these are called
pink center
Kedron Daffodil
Kedron Daffodil 2015

Flower Drift Daffodil
flower drift daffodil 2015

deck daffodils 2015

[Darby]

Beautiful pics.

My late parents had lilacs, honeysuckle, and crabapples in the yard when I was growing up, and everytime I smell lilac I think of them. :-) :-( :-)

The only drawback was that they constantly attracted yellowjackets, who loved to nest under the shingles and in the soffets/attic. Lesson to be learned - plant aromatic blooming trees away from the house and closer to the fence.

[mtbturtle]

Lots of Columbines blooming at the moment

purple white columbine

pink-white columbine

Little lanterns - large wild orange yellow columbine

burgundy white ruffle columbine

burgundy columbine

I transplanted some strawberries along the border of the bed and a lupin came along for the ride and it is HUGE this year and loaded with blooms it should be spectacular looking in a week or so when it's fully colored

lupin corner bow bed

[Darby]

Just harvested my first jalapeno of the season ... and yes, I grow the HOT variety, not the insipid milds that most of the supermarkets seem to carry in my region. Sliced it thin, pan seared in butter until nicely colored, and placed it atop a piece of multigrain toast slathered with refritos, and then topped with a crispy over easy egg (cooked in the jalapeno infused browned butter). Hot sauce optional. One of my favorite breakfasts.

I've got 8 cherry tomato plants of 4 different varieties going, and half have already begun to set fruit, but it'll be another week or two before they ripen.

[Darby]

Everything I've got has set fruit now, so I'm probably about a week away from my first cherry tomatoes ... the sun sugars will probably ripen first. Already had my first jalapeno, and my first mini sweet pepper is nearly ready.

Tomatoes are THIRSTY ... my 8 plants need about 3 gals a day (combined) to avoid drooping. The bees like them, so there's an added benefit.

[Watson]

Reminds me of the water conservation thread and how much water is needed per fruit. I have 3 tomatoes in large pots, that are doing well but a about it, and no flowers on them yet. We still had frost up to about 10 days ago, and a risk of snow.

[Darby]

Reminds me of the water conservation thread and how much water is needed per fruit. I have 3 tomatoes in large pots, that are doing well but a about it, and no flowers on them yet. We still had frost up to about 10 days ago, and a risk of snow.

I use 5 gal white paint pails, with holes drilled in the bottom ... the tomatoes love em. Mine flowered several weeks ago, and are all about 4-5ft tall and festooned with tiny green tomatoes.

[Watson]

I did start them inside, but I'm still a week or two behind yours. I also planted a couple or acorn squash on either side of the tomatoes, thinking the tomatoes can grow tall and the squash can trail around beside it. I also bought a squash you mentioned and planted a dozen of those.

[Darby]

I hereby claim the first harvested tomato of 2015.

Variety: Husky Cherry Red.

Caveat: It could have gone a few more days (deep orange not full red), but handing it to my beloved made her day. Normally the first isnt ready til July 4th ish, but everything seems 1-2 weeks ahead of schedule this year, in my area.

[Watson]

My tomatoes, Roma I think, are doing well, about 3 feet tall and bushy but I had to look very closely to find the buds. Looks like a few more days before I get even the flowers happening. I have a nice meaty one I sliced earlier. I think I'll save some seeds from it, to start some now, but also save some for next year.

[Darby]

Weather permitting ill post a pic of my tomato forest tomorrow.

[Darby]

My tomato 'forest' ... pretty much covers my entire patio. The tallest are about 4 feet.

And my creeping onions are creeping ... "Feed me Seymour !"

I had to resist the urge to eat them in order to let them produce creeper bulbs and spread.

[Watson]

Mine is more of a tomato "grove," of three pots and 4 plants. I do have some strawberries doing well this year. I planted they about 4 years ago, about 10 plants that didn't seem to do much so they got lost in the weeds to fend for them selves. But this year I noticed one and then another, and another and I started weeding them out. There are about a dozen plants and 3 have fruit well on the way and several have runners to send out new plants. I'll be tending to them more closely from now on.
I'm planning on getting some raspberries, and asparagus established if I can.

[Darby]

We just had a mix of 1/2", 3/4" and some 1"+ hail here. First time in my 50+ years I've seen hail this big. I took HD video, but it's way too big to upload here, with the 1mb cap.

Sadly, my garden took a beating. No broken windows, thankfully.

[Watson]

We had hail like that about this time of year in 2011 with lots of damage to roofs and siding. I had no garden at that time but the tree foliage knock down and ice in the yard were very telling of heavy down pour of ice. I was just north of the hail and only got a very heavy rain storm. Sorry to hear about your forest.

[Darby]

Half my planters were blown over, and there are sad little underripe green tomatoes all over the patio. :-(

I righted everything, and I think all the plants will survive, but I think I lost the 1-2 week headstart I started the day with.

[Darby]

Ok, I uploaded a 1:21 HD video of yesturday's hailstorm to YouTube.

A closeup of a large hailstone can be seen at time index 1:15.

[Watson]

With proper lighting and a dark background that could be a comet. Space is all the rage these days. Alas the fingers gave it away.

I had a lot more foliage on the ground and the grass was white with ice. The bigger ones were an inch or so into the lawn, and many cars were well dented. I was luck be be away at the time but it would have been a cool one to see.

[Watson]

I can report I have one yellow flower on a tomato planet, with a slight hint of two more maybe by tomorrow.

And with the hail it got very cool temp-wise, with all the ice falling through the air and on the ground.