A zillion beginner questions
Plant snap pea seeds right in the ground in early spring. Transplanting seedlings usually kills them unless very well established. Be sure you plant them near a tall trellis or fence.
The non-climbing beans your daughter planted may be bush beans, they don't need trellis support, and they produce string beans. We eat those all summer.
You should stake the tomatoes and remove suckers.
Good luck
Update!
My basil plants are NAILING IT. I'm gonna have to make pesto, I have so much basil. Question: I remember last year it started to flower and someone told me to pinch the flowers off so the leaves would continue to grow. Well I did that, and it didn't seem to make much of a difference. But, last year's plant wasn't in full sun. Should I still pinch off flowers when they appear?
Tomato plant's game is on point. The plant is gorgeous and starting to make little green tomatoes! My little daughter was so excited to see tomatoes but it's going to be a challenge to get her to be patient and wait until they're nice and ripe! Good life lesson, right?? Pick no fruit before its time.
The beans/peas/whatever they are are exploding. I tried to stake em a little, just to keep them from spilling out into the patio... And the darn thing laughed in my face. Oh well. Soon we will harvest you, peans, and we will be the ones laughing.
Morning glories... RIP. (See previous thread, I haven't the heart to tell the story again.) There is one remaining survivor. Hopefully she will take up the mantle for her lost comrades.
In other news, note to self: Rosemary is a perennial. Leave it alone. Also, one does not deadhead a geranium. Several weeks post-beheading, the poor thing has finally managed to regenerate itself. Life lessons.
PS Thanks to @mem for the advice about suckers and bush beans!
PPS The hydrangeas continue to elude me. I see a hint of blooms peeking out, but they are taking their time. #patience #lifelessons
Based on observations of my own and neighbor's hydrangeas, they are blooming now. Some of mine are blooming, some are not. Their care and maintenance are a complete mystery to me - no idea why about half of mine are blooming and half are not. It's like raising 2 children in the same way, in the same household and one turns out to be success and the other a serial killer...
jed said:
8) OK OK this is so weird: Hydrangeas. Can we talk about Hydrangeas for a second? So... last year I waited to see what would happen on the old wood, and nothing ever popped out so I pruned it after all the new shoots grew up. It never bloomed. THIS year, I noticed early on that green shoots were popping out of the old wood! I left it alone and now it's all green and leafy... but no blooms yet. Isn't that crazy that last year NOTHING grew out of the old stalks and this year it ALL grew out of the old stalks? Anyway, when should it bloom?
lanky said:
Based on observations of my own and neighbor's hydrangeas, they are blooming now. Some of mine are blooming, some are not. Their care and maintenance are a complete mystery to me - no idea why about half of mine are blooming and half are not. It's like raising 2 children in the same way, in the same household and one turns out to be success and the other a serial killer...
... who dismembers Morning Glories for sport.
I planted moon flowers next to my trellises with the morning glories. Moon flowers bloom after sunset, with huge white flowers that have a really nice scent. I have been trying to grow them for years with no luck, and this year I soaked the seeds for 2 days before planting them. It worked!
Are Moon Flowers perennials? Would it make any sense to plant them this late in the year, or is this a "next year" item
I swear I use punctuation. All of my posts seem to be missing the final punctuation mark. The former should clearly have a question mark.
Period.
Yes, keep pinching off the basil. In fact, cut the whole top off when you want to use the basil, it will widen the plant, make it grow outward. Same thing works for dahlias and lots of other things.
Feel lucky about your rosemary after last winter. Rosemary comes back maybe two out of three years around here, and mine gave up the ghost around December. Congratulations, you must have it in a place close to the house that gets lots of sun.
This is hydrangea time now, and you should be seeing buds if not full-out blooms by now. Make sure it gets plenty of water. Keep the morning glory away from the hydrangea, it will smother it!!!!
Do deadhead geraniums if you're talking about the standard red geraniums and not the perennial pink geraniums. They need space and light, but you don't have to worry about keeping them wet; once they're established they're pretty good drought plants. BTW, at the end of the season you can bring them inside and they'll bloom all winter, as long as you catch them before the freeze.
jed, you can also grow tomatoes up through a wire cage or round galvanized tomato holders.
My cherry tomatoes got 12 ft tall last summer so I had both and stakes to keep it growing upwards.
I use the soft green covered wire you can get at Lowes or Home Depot to tie the plants to the wire or stakes.
I also stake my tall dinner plate dahlia flowers too.
They'll get 5 ft tall with giant blooms by the end of summer.
"In other news, note to self: Rosemary is a perennial. Leave it alone. Also, one does not deadhead a geranium. Several weeks post-beheading, the poor thing has finally managed to regenerate itself. Life lessons."
Rosemary is perennial, but hardiness is iffy in NJ (a quick google say zones 7 to 10 for rosemary, and SOMA is 5 or 6 iirc), so you might want to bring it in or protect it over the winter.
Geraniums (regular red/pink/white geraniums, round or ivy-shaped leaves, ie, pelargoniums) do benefit from deadheading, = removal of spent flowers, and aren't bothered by being cut back some, either. Meadow geraniums/perennial geraniums (purple/blue, magenta, fingery leaves), I don't know. Might benefit from shearing in midseason, but might take a while to recover, as yours has? I've been leaving mine alone, but now they're getting too big for their space.
Keep enjoying your garden! And keep posting - I've really been enjoying your adventures and your writing.
Bring all your questions, your family, your dog and a picnic lunch and go to the Rutgers Gardens Open House July 25.
joy said:
Are you local?
If so - and our schedules match up - I would be happy to pop by and point out the stuff I recognize.
Hi Joy, I realize you wrote this a year ago, but I too am a COMPLETE beginner re all things green. Your comment to the other beginner here was so generous; I wondered if you might be interested in popping by our place too! We are in MW. I totally understand if it's not possible though-- no pressure
Sommerj - are you new to Maplewood? Do you know about the Maplewood Garden Club? Are you actually interested in maintaining and getting to know your garden? The Maplewood Garden Club is on meeting hiatus until Sept. but perhaps you'd be interested in coming to the free/open to the public meetings once a month, usually the 1st Monday of every month at the main library on Baker St. There a speakers presenting topics which may interest you. Members are always happy to lend an ear or some advice. Great group of people. Men and women of all ages. Not tea sipping old ladies who don't like to get their hands dirty!
http://www.maplewoodgardenclub.org/
As I enter into year three of being a homeowner and a gardener, I feel the need to restate the single most valuable piece of advice that I DID NOT take when I first started my horticultural career:
DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING FOR THE FIRST YEAR!
Well, I just couldn't help myself. I started "weeding" and cleared out part of a beautiful, mature perennial garden to plant a vegetable garden. In the process, I lost a ton of Iris, some sedum "John Creech", and of course the snapdragons that I thought were weeds until I saw them growing in a neighbor's garden. So, I learned my lesson. The vegetable garden had some limited success but mostly it was a flop, due to uneven sunlight patterns and uneven soil.
So last year I let the whole thing rest and do what it do. I kept it mulched and weeded (carefully), and then, in the fall, I planted a few new perennials and some new ground cover. The plan is to TAKE IT SLOW, let the new guys settle in and see how they grow, and then supplement as needed in the fall again. Meanwhile, I've left some space to put in some pretty annuals, and I'm going to build some container gardens on the back patio... which is the ONLY spot in the whole house that gets full sun! In fact, the previous tenants left us some huge planters, so I put those on the patio and planted some tomatoes, basil, and peas. Then in the fall, when the tomatoes died out, I stuck mums in there. One of the mums did great, but the other two didn't do very well. Maybe because of the tomato fertilizer I used in that pot? Or maybe there's some gunk leftover in the planter... who knows. I'm going to dump them all out and clean them thoroughly this year. Here's a picture of my Princess watering the mums.
The other tragedy last year, which some of you may remember, was the infamous Morning Glory Slaughter. The landscape company that I hired took a weedwhacker to my Morning Glories, which I had started from seed indoors and lovingly planted and encouraged to twist around the fence. They were juuuust about to bloom, when they were cut down. Luckily, one of them managed to survive the attempt on its life, and he turned out to be quite a beauty!
jed said:
The other tragedy last year, which some of you may remember, was the infamous Morning Glory Slaughter. The landscape company that I hired took a weedwhacker to my Morning Glories, which I had started from seed indoors and lovingly planted and encouraged to twist around the fence. They were juuuust about to bloom, when they were cut down. Luckily, one of them managed to survive the attempt on its life, and he turned out to be quite a beauty!
That's truly sad, but I can trump that. We had a huge, beloved pine removed, and all my roses and clematis removed to put in an"alternate" septic system, noisy, ugly, taking up lots of space in our yard. We are starting over. The only advantage is that it left half an acre of flat ground for my son to plant a vegetable garden he's wanted to plant for years. He was afraid the recent cold snap had ruined his lettuce, but fortunately it was fine. Now, let us hope the lettuce doesn't suffer from its proximity to our new septic system. If I fall silent on MOL around June or July, it might be because of contaminated vegetable garden. If we do survive, I may get to replant my roses next August when the veggie garden has been harvested.
Gorgeous. Morning glory is really tough. I love how they match your siding.
tom said:
Plant bulbs in the fall, between October 1 (roughly) and thanksgiving. Tulips don't return so well, but daffodils and narcissus will reward you for years.
Took this advice; bought a bunch of bulbs at Costco and Princess and Daddy planted them all around the house in the fall. I told them to put them wherever they wanted! They did a nice job of planting them and now they are all popping up! This fall we will plant daffodils; I just love how cheerful they look in early spring.
The other thing we've learned is to plant bulbs in clumps. They look better when they come up that way!
Today I made moss milkshakes and that covered about one square foot of my lawn, ha! I took the Princess over to Cardinal Garden Center to inquire about moss; i.e. do they sell it, and what can I do to encourage it? And they told me to put soil acidifier on the lawn and that would make the moss grow like gangbusters. So I went out today and sprinkled that all over the lawn, especially in the grassy spots. Then it rained most of the day, so that was good timing! Hopefully it'll soak in and the moss will be happy. I am trying to temper my expectations, however: I hear it can take a few growing seasons until the moss really establishes itself.
My mother-in-law, an accomplished gardener herself (lives on a gorgeous, huge property in Bethlehem, PA with ample sunlight by a creek... sigh...), gave me a GINORMOUS book about gardening. I read all about pruning and decided to give my Forsythia a haircut. Last fall, I dug out all the vines and weeds and old dead branches because the poor thing was just a hot mess. So of course now it looks pretty leggy and pathetic, but with beautiful yellow flowers! I think I did a pretty decent job of trimming a bit, stepping back, adjusting, and trimming some more. And I'm glad I gave it a good cleanup in the fall, because the branches I trimmed back are sprouting new growth.
There's a big bare patch of land right next to the forsythia, and next to that is a little firewood holder/gazebo thingy. I'm thinking of planting a shrub there -- maybe just another Forsythia, but I'm also thinking maybe raspberries would be fun. I hear they're relatively low maintenance. I'm sure the birds & squirrels will eat most of them, but we might get a few berries out of it, right?
Now... for the firewood holder/gazebo thingy... I'd like to hang some flowers from that, but I'm afraid they won't get enough sunlight. What would be a pretty hanging flower that doesn't mind partial shade? Maybe something that would sort of climb down the planter?
Also. Princess and I started some seeds indoors. We have tomatoes, basil, carrots, and morning glories. I ordered a three-level raised garden bed set from Amazon; that arrives this week so I can start setting that up next weekend! I'm so excited!
This is my plan. Will it work?
Level 1 (lowest): Flowers. Whatever looks low and pretty at the Maplewood Garden Club sale; and also maybe some periwinkle or something. Or maybe lettuce? I don't know... do I need to think about soil ph level and all that? If I grow tomatoes on top, will that soil affect the soil in the levels beneath? Hm....
Level 2: Herbs!
Level 3: Tomatoes and carrots, since those need a deeper bed.
But... I remember last year, I had to get special tomato food because my tomatoes had some kind of rot on them, big black spots on the bottom. Once I started using the tomato food they were perfect! Will carrots do OK next to tomatoes?
I love marigolds... maybe I should plant those next to the tomatoes. I hear they grow well together. And the combination of those two smells... MMMMMM.
jed said:
Today I made moss milkshakes and that covered about one square foot of my lawn, ha! I took the Princess over to Cardinal Garden Center to inquire about moss; i.e. do they sell it, and what can I do to encourage it? And they told me to put soil acidifier on the lawn and that would make the moss grow like gangbusters. So I went out today and sprinkled that all over the lawn, especially in the grassy spots. Then it rained most of the day, so that was good timing! Hopefully it'll soak in and the moss will be happy. I am trying to temper my expectations, however: I hear it can take a few growing seasons until the moss really establishes itself.
My mother-in-law, an accomplished gardener herself (lives on a gorgeous, huge property in Bethlehem, PA with ample sunlight by a creek... sigh...), gave me a GINORMOUS book about gardening. I read all about pruning and decided to give my Forsythia a haircut. Last fall, I dug out all the vines and weeds and old dead branches because the poor thing was just a hot mess. So of course now it looks pretty leggy and pathetic, but with beautiful yellow flowers! I think I did a pretty decent job of trimming a bit, stepping back, adjusting, and trimming some more. And I'm glad I gave it a good cleanup in the fall, because the branches I trimmed back are sprouting new growth.
There's a big bare patch of land right next to the forsythia, and next to that is a little firewood holder/gazebo thingy. I'm thinking of planting a shrub there -- maybe just another Forsythia, but I'm also thinking maybe raspberries would be fun. I hear they're relatively low maintenance. I'm sure the birds & squirrels will eat most of them, but we might get a few berries out of it, right?
Now... for the firewood holder/gazebo thingy... I'd like to hang some flowers from that, but I'm afraid they won't get enough sunlight. What would be a pretty hanging flower that doesn't mind partial shade? Maybe something that would sort of climb down the planter?
How about philedendron or lantana? We live at the Bethlehem side of NJ. We have great soil around here.
jed said:
Also. Princess and I started some seeds indoors. We have tomatoes, basil, carrots, and morning glories. I ordered a three-level raised garden bed set from Amazon; that arrives this week so I can start setting that up next weekend! I'm so excited!
This is my plan. Will it work?
Level 1 (lowest): Flowers. Whatever looks low and pretty at the Maplewood Garden Club sale; and also maybe some periwinkle or something. Or maybe lettuce? I don't know... do I need to think about soil ph level and all that? If I grow tomatoes on top, will that soil affect the soil in the levels beneath? Hm....
Level 2: Herbs!
Level 3: Tomatoes and carrots, since those need a deeper bed.
But... I remember last year, I had to get special tomato food because my tomatoes had some kind of rot on them, big black spots on the bottom. Once I started using the tomato food they were perfect! Will carrots do OK next to tomatoes?
I love marigolds... maybe I should plant those next to the tomatoes. I hear they grow well together. And the combination of those two smells... MMMMMM.
Ph should be high for tomatoes and lettuce. If you have limestone in your ground, hard water, you have high ph. Raspberries grow like crazy. you just have to be sure to pick the berries right away, or the birds get 'em.
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Plant bulbs in the fall, between October 1 (roughly) and thanksgiving. Tulips don't return so well, but daffodils and narcissus will reward you for years.