The Backyard: Gardeners, Assemble!

Two tomato sprouts from those fancy organic heirloom seeds I bought finally came up!!! My remaining two thyme seedlings are thriving. These make me happy.

My new mini rose is recovering from repotting quite nicely—still throwing out leaves and the blossoms are blooming. It's nice seeing as my last rose was hopelessly rootbound and died .

I just bought my first fancy seeds! Purple bumble bee tomatoes and blacktail mountain watermelon. I'm also going to try peas and corn this year, I think!

Gotta put together another raised garden bed to fit everything, because the strawberries they are GREEDY, but that's okay!

I think getting some gardening sand for my plants is the only thing that'll stomp out my fungus gnat problem for good. Still, anyone have any ideas?

edited 6th Mar '16 7:08:21 PM by Leradny

Bit the bullet and got some sand.

On the plus side, it's working like a charm. Flies are dropping like flies! However, I now have a little less than 5 pounds of sand because that was the smallest bag I could get. No idea what to do with it.

A classmate gave me a little pot of African heather for my birthday!!!! It is so pink and pretty!

edited 21st Mar '16 7:20:53 PM by Leradny

Free advice: spray with a mist-bottle regularly, rather than dumping a full-scale water bath on it and make sure the soil in the pot stays acidic — use stones at the base, at the very least.

The African heathers tend towards being the kind to grow around misty, foggy beach/ mountain conditions with clear drainage. They love the damp and dry, but not the wet and soggy.

edited 22nd Mar '16 5:07:03 AM by Euodiachloris

I bought a couple of teacups from a secondhand shop and planted some little ferny type things in them. Even asked my dad to drill holes in the bottom of the cups so they can be little self-watering pots. They look pretty, if I do say so myself.

Thanks, Eudia!

edited 25th Apr '16 8:28:31 AM by Leradny

Wow, it's been a month since this thread had a new post.

My tomato seedlings are growing fiercely! I can't wait for my own tomatoes! My new rose is getting splendid leaves! My heather still looks great. My thyme... is getting very leggy. It's probably too much fertilizer, since I gave all my plants a boost a couple of weeks ago. Something to avoid next go-around.

I've also snitched lavender cuttings from sidewalk bushes. Both English AND French. I love the thought of growing my own teas!!! :D

I just scored a bunch of free pots, and also a bunch of free dirt. Much urban gardening, little cost. I might as well start off two celery plants since I'll have enough space and pots.

I'd grow potatoes and onions to try becoming completely self sufficient, but root vegetables scare me. I tried growing garlic once and it was a complete failure, although I might just try again.

I moved all my plants to the new place. There's an alley between my building and the next which is both fenced and flooded with sunlight, so my garden will be safe and happy. I transferred a couple of my plants to new pots for more room, and gave them all a good watering so I'd have one less thing to stress about for the next two weeks.

I also got some fresh gardening tools, including pruning shears, gardening clips, and hooks for hanging dried herbs. My own plants are still too young and small for much pruning, but there's a thorny flowering vine of some sort climbing over the fence that always sticks me. I must defend myself!

The one plant that's suffering is a thyme sprout of all things. I did repot it, but my repotted tomato is doing fine. Odd.

But I did score about 20 free terracotta pots and some of the little ones are darling, even if they won't hold much. Time to fill them all with free soil!

My black thumb strikes again. Oregano gardens in a can failed to produce anything despite carefully following instructions. Just like the desk top "banzai", the peas, generic flowers, and my wife's house plant she had me water for a week.

Awwwww. Don't worry, gardening is a weird thing.

My thyme was revived with a little rain—I forgot that putting plants outside in full sun would dry the soil up faster.

My celery stumps are sending up tiny shoots from the center. It's SO exciting! I'll try to make sure at least one of them goes to seed this year so I can plant more.

COME ON WATERMELONS. SPROUT ALREADY.

I walk outside and there's a three-foot cilantro plant growing out of the rocks. I swear it wasn't there last week. That thing grew fast!!

Lerad: I have almost no success at all in growing plants deliberately.

Tuef: Awwwwwwww. Sorry 'bout that.

I just got a whole bunch of free dirt to fill my giant planters and most of my little pots! I've potted my second celery stalk and repotted my new mint plant. It figures that one of my nicer medium-sized pots tipped over and broke. However, I can just grab some epoxy glue on my way back home from an appointment, so that's no big deal.

I got some sage and rosemary. Now all I need is parsley so I can put them all in one of my giant planters and label it Scarborough Faire. The parsley will probably need its own container and i'll put it on top

I also got basil because it's delicious and summer is on the way.

I finally have watermelon seedlings!! GROW!! GROW MY PRETTIES!!

I got parsley!! Scarborough Fair is complete! I've repotted it as gently as possible in an appropriate pot.

My chamomile sprouts are growing nicely! I will feel sad when I have to thin them out.

I also transplanted my basil to one of my huge planters in hopes that I can make pesto. All that's left is my rosemary and sage. I need a couple of large planters for my other tomato seedlings, but they can wait a bit.

Bur:...Why am I suddenly afraid to find you with an axe and a talking watermelon.

I think I may just get a plant already grown or see if I can do one of those bottled gardens.

Garden progress on a tumblr post!

More specific pics:

• My Scarborough Faire planter◊. Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme! Yes, the thyme is there, it just blends in really well with the dirt.
• Italian basil in a stylish black glazed pot.◊
• Caged tomato.◊
• Mint and another thyme plant on the left. Bunch of chamomile sprouts on the right.◊
• My red rose plant, in a new pot.◊
• One of my two celery plants.◊ They are the COOLEST, mostly because I grew them from the stumps that are generally discarded.

If you're wondering why I didn't plant anything in the ground: It's an inch of horrible dirt with just weeds, and then straight up rock or cement.

Gardening is tough when you've got 20-40 lb planters! If you had told younger me that I would spend several hours a week ENJOYING hard physical labor that gets me dirty and sweaty, I would never have believed it.

I got six strawberry seedlings. They were on sale for less than a dollar each.

I also got California poppies and some crimson clover. It's amazing how many flowers are edible!