The Backyard: Gardeners, Assemble!

Speaking of free, there's a spider plant in the breakroom at work which desperately needs a new pot. I clipped off a spiderette and I'm going to bring in a new pot for the parent. I am also in charge of the orchid an old colleague left, it seems.

Hey-o Gardening cobbies! Got a question: I now have a large side yard, mostly fairly heavily shaded, and want something other than lawn there. ( between the shade and the dog, lawn grass doesn't do well). A friend suggested wild sowing herbs and such and letting them be ground cover. What sort of things would work well for that? (NO MINT of any kind!)

I hear ground cover varieties of thyme are really nice to be around.

Violets! Also, true moss or Irish moss are great lawn substitutes which don't need a lot of water or sun.

edited 4th Mar '17 1:20:19 PM by Leradny

Hmmmm. I'd tappy-lap over to my local nursery and ask about native-bird-and-bee-friendly herbage to put down. Along with suitable tubing tucked away in that shade for their use.

Some of it will be plant life that's area-specific.

Picture updates!

French and English lavender, respectively. It took me almost a year to get them this size and this healthy. I'm very proud of them.

The thyme is flowering. It's adorable!

After closer inspection of my violet planters, there are three different types of sprouts. Ideally they would all be violets, but I'd settle for just one.

My spiderette! It's doing nicely.

My aloe got sunburned outside so I moved it back to the windowsill. I didn't know aloe could get sunburn. It's hilarious!

Crimson clover!!! Look at those glorious red flowers.

And my white clover, which is a happy robust little thing. I tasted a flower and a leaf after pruning because I heard they were edible. They taste like grass, which I suppose would be great if I was a cow.

After a lot of scrubbing of some perfectly useful tables which no one else wanted, I rearranged my garden. Now I can have tea or read amongst the flowers and fresh air!!

We finally got rain! Lots and lots of rain! I might actually get to planting this weekend. And... and I'm going to see how my fall crops did long, LONG after I should've checked them.

...I blame Zelda for making a month mysteriously disappear.

I went to a beginner's workshop today, to learn stuff about bonsai. here is my new addition.

Looks like a Culpeper to me, that one does.

For a name, you mean? I hadn't heard that before

I'm thinking maybe Ignatius, or Isidore.

That sweeping lower branch argues more towards being an Ignatius, I think. Isadiore just isn't as theatrical a name by nature.

Also, Nicholas Culpeper somehow always springs to mind when I see a medically useful plant getting poodled to look good in a pot.

edited 3rd Apr '17 5:38:09 AM by Euodiachloris

Huh, juniper is medically useful?

According to the bonsai nursery owner, it's hypothesised that bonsai started as a way for nomadic peoples to carry medicinally useful trees around with them.

I have been told Ignatius is 'too pretentious', to which I replied "I am giving a bonsai people names. Your point?" I also rather like Jupiter. Because assonance.

This is my garden: It's a bunch of Before pictures.

The pots have strawberries, the green fabric thing has potatoes, and the garden box is awaiting dirt, tomatoes, and peppers. That lilac bush in the background, which doesn't have any visible lilacs because the few clusters of flowers are out of shot, is about to have a bad time.

Once the flowers die, it's going to get some rejuvenation pruning. That means that whole bush will be chopped down to a 6-12" height. It's For Your Own Good, lilac bush...

Sad Garden Update: Last week, the gate was unfathomably locked for the first time in three months. In an attempt to be a law-abiding citizen, I'd left a sign asking to please open the gate so I could water my plants. Checked it every day. Today, my sign is still there and the gate is still locked. I climbed the fence to assess the damage, save what I could, and pull what I couldn't. I will try to get someone to help me with moving my plants to a more accessible place, or just move them to my sister's.

• Rose and large mint plant: Thriving. Gave them both water mostly as a reward for being so fucking badass.
• Lavender: Superficial damage only. A good pruning and some water and they'll recover. Slowly, but surely.
• Violets: One died, the other four are pretty badly off but they're all still green, so I hope they'll recover.
• Herbs: Hanging on by a thread, may need to prune severely or start from scratch.
• Clover: GONE. ALL GONE. I mean, clover is literally the most common plant and I do have some seeds saved up, but still. They were my favorites :(

There was a second two-week period that I was unable to get through the gate. Out of all the outdoor plants, only the rose, a couple of violets, and the rosemary and thyme are there. Even the lavender couldn't stand lack of water for another two weeks :(. But the rose was still fine. The violets survived mostly because I moved them to my sister's place first and they've seeded.

My spider plant, aloe vera, and moss terrariums are still fine.

I've reseeded clover in some of the pots and gotten a few new lavender cuttings. Still have that dream of harvesting fresh lavender for tea.

I'm also trying to grow a lemon tree (or several) from seed because I need a new project instead of restarting an old one. I took five from an organic lemon and peeled them, then did the paper-towel germination method. They all sprouted nicely, so I planted them in the biggest pot and I've kept an eye on them for the past week.

So about a year and a half ago we sold my grandmother's house after her death. Before the house officially changed hands, I collected a handful of seeds from the nasturtiums that grew over her front steps for as long as I can remember.

I planted 2 of them in a cup a few weeks ago and they sprouted! I was worried they might not. I'm going to plant a row of them in a planter under my window.

The temperature outside was too much for the lemon sprouts and it's not even winter yet. I started a new batch of lemon seeds and I'm going to keep them inside in little pots until they're strong enough to withstand the nights.

New plants: I have peas, kale, a sunflower sprout, and two determined little lemon sprouts growing away. My clover and lavender have established themselves nicely.

Old plants: The rose has several blooms. I caught a few little dots which I thought were spider mites so I plucked off the affected leaves, but there were only a few. The rosemary and thyme have recovered and are looking bushy and green again. And the violets are finally, FINALLY flowering!

Everything is growing well. The peas have runners. The kale is starting to look like kale. The sunflower sprouts are growing their leaves. And my rose is blooming again. I'm going to try hand-pollinating for rosehips.

The lemon sprouts' first set of leaves are getting dark and glossy. I've prepared two pots for them with fresh mix. One is a smaller indoor pot and the other is an outdoor pot. With the small one, I'm going to try my hand at training a tree to remain small. I also found a lot of recipes for lemon leaves rather than fruit, so getting actual lemons isn't necessary, though I'll still try for the outdoor one.

I'm now trying to sprout pomegranate and dragonfruit seeds.

Poms I kind of get, but don't dragonfruit have a tendency to triffid it up with the minimum of excuse?

I have no idea what 'triffid' means, but all the research I've done on pitaya seems to indicate that it's a reasonably low maintenance succulent, like aloe.

"Grow beyond its bounds because it's easy to look after."

Ah, yes. I'm pretty certain I can manage it with support and pruning.