Garden Thread

[Tippyclubb]

Lets make this a garden post and all questions, tips , advice will be here.

I have a patch of clay, everything dies there.  I have done everything-- mixing sand, compost, manure, dirt in the clay.  Now I am just fed up with this patch.  What can I put there that grows in clay other than Coneflowers?  Have a bunch of those already.  Anyone with experience with clay?

[springfever]

I have stevia cuttings that I'm trying to root.  I was told they are tropicals so have to come in for the winter where I am.  They are struggling.  Everytime I take off the humidity tent they flop over.
I wonder if drying the leaves and crushing to a powder would work.  You could make an extract but that involves alcohol.  Guess it wouldn't be any worse than vanilla though.  I still use vanilla, but I flinch everytime.
I read there are over 200 varieties of stevia, some sweeter than others.  I have no idea which one I have, but know it's sweet, cause I munched on one of the leaves.

[Isobella]

Love that this thread is still going=)

I haven't tried all the beautiful flowers, but am doing pretty good with my veggies.  Neighbors probably think I am crazy because it is in the front yard, not the back-but it was the perfect spot.

I finally found some stevia and it is doing well.....I just don't know what to do with it.  Have any of y'all ever grown it?  Any suggestions?

We couldn't figure out what was eating the bottom leaves off the collards this past season....until hubby found a huge turtle out there one morning stuffing his face, lol!

[GSDgirl]

A 22 short will fix that, LOL  It works around here

[winner727]

I have a wood chuck {or somthing] in the area  , he kills everybody garden in the circle. most of my stuff is going in screen porch .  hes big and fat    sun of a  bit*h .and his hair is shiney        bob

[susan400]

My sister and I have been gardening for a few months now.  We have to contend with the beach sand that's actually all the way into the mainland where we live.  We built it up with top soil, manure, Miracle Grow soil, etc.  We've got some things growing great now.  Some tall corn, some tomatoes, some zucchini, some yellow squash, some spinach, some broccoli, some beans and some marigolds (to ward off the interested animals-hopefully).   Today, I got to taste some of our first harvest and it was Yummmm.  I had 1/2 of one of the 1st tomatoes, some of the zucchini which I ate raw dipped in some ranch dressing and a few of the green beans-raw.   We washed them off first, of course!  But, there was nothing that I've tasted that's is store bought, that ever tasted as good as just picked that day from the garden!  And knowing that we did it ourselves, from seeds,  and with the good Lord growing it, made it so much the better!!

Blessings and happy gardening.

Susan400

[eureka254]

Dahlias are my husband's favorites, and when survive year after year, they just get bigger and more fabulous.  I found the best thing after digging them up is to brush the soil off gently with a paintbrush, and put them into individual paper bags with some sterile soilless mix/sawdust/vermiculite (easy to label that way, too), and I kept them in the basement were it was very damp, but not below 45 degrees.  I had many prize bulbs for several years (some Park Princess that would grow 4-5 tall and flowers 8-10 inches across), but had a flood problem one year, and they all rotted in the basement and we had to declare them a loss along with some furniture and keepsakes. (I think my husband minded the loss of the dahlias more than anything else...!)

Being in New England I'm still waiting for last frost, so I've just been admiring the bulbs coming and going at this point.  The little surprise in the garden was last week a local stray decided to pick my backyard ivy bed as the place to have her litter of kittens!  Cutest things, barely moving around under the yews... so I guess this year my seedlings are gonna have young feline competition for space lol.  

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!
~eureka