STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Elle · Hermes

Ready, Set, Plant!

NCshopper · Hermes

Oh, you've only posted about my favorite topic EVER!

We've been in Spring mode the past month or so, so we started some herbs as seeds inside and then took them outside a few weeks ago. As far as herbs go, we have chives, a ton of rosemary (which is hardy, so it'll last through the winter), thyme, sage, two big things of parsley, cilantro, and Kentucky Colonel mint, and chocolate mint. We probably have like 6 pots worth of mint and DH just made mint infused vodka. Woohooo! And we've had our share of mojitos lately.

As far as non-herbs go, I've planted some azaleas, hostas, and snapdragons and I've reseeded our yard and it's looking SO much better. And my pansies are still going strong, but once it gets too hot, I'll be replacing them with impatiens.

Can you tell I like gardening???

e_doli · Dooney & Bourke

i haven't planted anything yet (it's still too cold here for most stuff) -- i did motivate myself to clean out the beds, though, and they look so much better. all the perennials are starting to poke out and the tulips and grape hyacinth that i planted in the fall are just starting to bloom.

i'm going to get some pansies this week to fill up the planters.

Cortney1982 · Chanel

I don't think I will get around to a garden this year. I'd have to make some kind of barrier to keep the damn slugs away. I'm not too sure what you can grow in Western Washington opposed to Eastern Washington, they are much different climates! Anyways, I would plant strawberries, green onions, tomatoes, and peas for sure.

Elle · Hermes

Cortney1982 wrote:

I don't think I will get around to a garden this year. I'd have to make some kind of barrier to keep the damn slugs away. I'm not too sure what you can grow in Western Washington opposed to Eastern Washington, they are much different climates! Anyways, I would plant strawberries, green onions, tomatoes, and peas for sure.

Courtney, you can grow just about anything in Western Washington, aside from tropicals that is. Peonies do fabulously! Such a nice loooooooooooooooong growing season! I miss it!

Anyway, I'm going try to grow my cherry tomato in a hanging basket to free up floor space and maximize the amount of sun it gets. Hope it works!

-- Edited by Elle at 21:22, 2006-04-25

laken1 · Hermes

I have the biggest black thumb in the world, but I planted 2 patio tomato plants & they are doing awesome so far - they have gotten really really big! No fruit yet, but the "early girls" only take 50 days - I think I've had them about 4 weeks, so it's got to be getting somewhat close. I'd be very proud if they just stay green & I don't kill them

ILoveChoo · Hermes

I just planted some herbs (basil, cilantro, and parsley) this past weekend. I'd love to get a hanging basket for tomatoes and try doing some peppers, but I'm not sure if my balcony is big enough to handle all of that.

Does anyone else who does balcony gardening ming sharing the approx. dimensions of the space and explaining how you have it set up?

Sunshinegirl · Kate Spade

Oh, I love gardening talk. I planted my fig tree (in a big pot), rosemary and basil. I'm going to try mint again this year but i think it's just too hot in south florida.

I feel like i'm really limited to bromeliads, ferns and elephant plants because everything just wilts from the heat.

NCShopper, i love gobs of mint for my mojitos. My husband calls me Mojita Mama.

Metric · Gucci

I am excited to garden this year. We have big plots for our plants so I am going to do carrots, potatoes, peas, green beans, rhubarb, onions, strawberries. And parsley, rosemary, chives in the herb garden. We also have a huge raspberry bush, a nanking cherry tree and a crabapple tree.

The people that owned in our house before we bought it were very avid gardeners but I'm not sure what everything they had is. So I might give it this summer to see what comes up and then do my own flowers/plants/perrenials next year.

laken1 · Hermes

Sunshinegirl wrote:

NCShopper, i love gobs of mint for my mojitos. My husband calls me Mojita Mama.

Ok, stupid girl over here wants to know - what is a mojito? How do you pronounce it? Perhaps I can order one when we go out to eat tomorrow night & find out for myself.....

small fry · Chanel

Count me in as well. I am waiting for my hostas,butterfly bush,red sedum to arrive! My perennials are coming back and blooming. I will have to replace some plants due to my hubby spraying some kind of weed killer in the flower beds and it got all over my plants and killed some of them

arrrrrrrrr...... It was suppose to kill the weeds and not plants well that was not the case. So I need to replace my dusty millers, red lantanas sp??,blue queen salvias,shrimp plant. Oh and Iam in love with my Hybiscus sp?? It has beauitful red blooms and it survived the snow last year in tx

Sunshinegirl · Kate Spade

Laken,

Is a cuban inspired cocktail consisting of lots of fresh squeezed lime juice, simple syrup, tons of fresh mint, rum and a splash of club soda.

pm me if you want to know how i make mine.

Hermione · Kate Spade

laken! not everywhere has mojitos b/c they require fresh mint, but you can get them at "republic" in uptown, or also at monica's downtown ...

ETA: they probably have them at all the mi cocina's as well

-- Edited by Hermione at 12:40, 2006-04-27

blubirde · Chanel

So I've been staring and looking and staring some more at my little side yard. I cleaned up all the leaves - it has a rock bottom so no planting surface available - and I put down a very cool astroturf rug. (Sounds weird but looks ultra 50s cool, especially with the lanterns and free table I found.)

But what now? I would love to have some pretty flowers but what kind? And how does a hanging basket work? And I hate mosquitos so it can't attract mosquitos... I think it's hopeless. And I should mention I'm terrible at keeping things alive.

I'd also like to start a little herb garden. I have a window in my kitchen that gets light, so I could put them there. What are some good, basic herbs to start growing? I love cilantro, so I'd want that one but what else? How hard are they to grow?

I'm such a gardening novice. I apologize in advance.

Elle · Hermes

Cilantro is actually a cool-weather herb, and bolts and dies in the heat. And plants don't really attract mosquitos - just make sure you don't have any standing water or extremely soggy soil and you should be good to go. When I was first starting, I just went to a couple local nurseries and asked what did well in the area so I didn't end up with something finicky right off the bat. Then, just plant things that have similar water/sun requirements together.

We'll have to post plant pics soon!

blubirde · Chanel

Elle wrote:

Cilantro is actually a cool-weather herb, and bolts and dies in the heat. And plants don't really attract mosquitos - just make sure you don't have any standing water or extremely soggy soil and you should be good to go. When I was first starting, I just went to a couple local nurseries and asked what did well in the area so I didn't end up with something finicky right off the bat. Then, just plant things that have similar water/sun requirements together. We'll have to post plant pics soon!

So would cilantro work indoors or no?

Elle · Hermes

Only way is to try and see!

greendiamond · Marc Jacobs

This year my garden task is to get a cutting gardfen in place. Hubby and I worked on it 12 hours yesterday. We weeded the beast, and moved existing plants and planted a few summer bulbs. So far it will have a flowering apple tree, red carpet roses, blue bearded iris, white siberian iris and purple siberian iris, day lily in a burgundy and in a yellow, calla lily in a multitude of colors, and asiatic lily in white and in orange, dahlias, gladiolas in red, orange, yellow and pink, pink and purple garden phlox, and that might be it. We also put down about 5 inches of mulch, I don't want to have to weed that thing again. I have a long list of other perrenials to plant, but I will be picking them up slowly over the course of summer. By next year it should be up and running. Oh, I do have a columbine on the way Tuesday. It looks pretty good.

My front yard is already really colorful. My bulbs are doing great, and my hostas are almost all the way up, my wild violets are doing well, my plumeria is blooming (I didn't think that little guy was going to make it after lastyear) and my bleeding heart looks great, and the creeping phlox is creeping! A bunch of other stuff is up, but not flowering yet. I love to garden!

I can't wait to hear what other plants people have out so I can look them up and consider them for my place. Keep posting!

-gd

Bastet · Kate Spade

I don't have a yard, so I'm growing herbs on my balcony. I've got mint, chives, oregano, basil, lemon thyme, cilantro, and flat parsley. Elle, I didn't know that cilantro doesn't like heat! That explains why mine died so fast last year. I'm going to move my cilantro. Thanks!