Mumsy's Romantic Garden Advice

[MumsyII]

Wow, I finally caught up!
You guys have inspired me to make a new, small raised bed to grow my veggies in!
I am also going to try to locate Osage orange in NC for the new chicken coop and a border for the old mini pasture.
If anyone in NC knows where to get it (or of a reliable online nursery that sells it) I would very much appreciate the tips.

Thanks and happy gardening!

Yay!!! Raised bed vegetable gardening is easy once you slap the boards together and get the dirt in it. I use shallow one board beds for strawberries, lettuce, and blueberry shrubs. Shallow rooted things can go in with the Blueberry's. Lettuce gets harvested before its time to harvest berries. Strawberries are shallow rooted too.

I use two boards high for the deep rooted things. We pick up cheap cedar fence boards and 2"x4"s at the DIY warehouse and my husband puts them together very quickly. He cuts all the end boards at one time along with the corners. We just have them sitting above ground and fill them up. We like the idea of moving them if we choose. Long ago we used old railroad ties but they are soaked in poison and creosote. Not something I want my food growing along side. We don't have those on our property any longer. My daughter uses landscape timbers. She can sit on the edge while she putters. Whatever holds dirt will work. I use old rusty wheelbarrows for flowers and herbs. A friend of mine filled an old row boat with dirt and planted it in her front yard. A boat full of strawberries and herbs looks amazing. It was too holey to float but it drains well. hah!

 

[midnightroo]

Oh also, does anyone have any spare Jerusalem Artichoke roots they would like to share? I can wait until the plants die back, of course!

I have some growing. Pm me and I will send you some this fall.

 

[starlingdaly]

Yay!!!  Raised bed vegetable gardening is easy once you slap the boards together and get the dirt in it. I use shallow one board beds for strawberries, lettuce, and blueberry shrubs. Shallow rooted things can go in with the Blueberry's. Lettuce gets harvested before its time to harvest berries. Strawberries are shallow rooted too.

I use  two boards high for the deep rooted things. We pick up cheap cedar fence boards and 2"x4"s at the DIY warehouse and my husband puts them together very quickly. He cuts all the end boards at one time along with the corners. We just have them sitting above ground and fill them up. We like the idea of moving them if we choose. Long ago we used old railroad ties but they are soaked in poison and creosote. Not something I want my food growing along side. We don't have those on our property any longer. My daughter uses landscape timbers. She can sit on the edge while she putters. Whatever holds dirt will work. I use old rusty wheelbarrows for flowers and herbs. A friend of mine filled an old row boat with dirt and planted it in her front yard. A boat full of strawberries and herbs looks amazing. It was too holey to float but it drains well. hah!

Wow cedar is a great idea! I was just going to use cinder blocks but they are quite ugly. We are going to get materials for our new chicken coop today so I will grab some cedar boards while we are out with the trailer.

 

[aoxa]

Yay!!! Raised bed vegetable gardening is easy once you slap the boards together and get the dirt in it.

ONCE the dirt is in. That is the key point LOL.

It took me SO long to get one bed filled with dirt. I called the neighbour and asked if he would mind using his excavator to speed up the process. Took him 5 minutes.

But yeah, once the dirt is in, it's so much easier!

 

[Leahs Mom]

When I first started collecting books as a young woman, the zone thing scared me. I put way too much emphasis on it when choosing plants.

Then I was visiting this remarkable Koi breeder and wandering in his gardens and spotted a large Banana tree! Here? In the Pacific Northwest? Outside? I couldn't believe my eyes and asked the property owner how he managed that remarkable feat?

He explained to me about clever planting sites. Finding a protected place between two heated greenhouses that protected the plant from freezing wind. He used the dead and spent leaves of the Banana tree to pile and mulch the base of the plant. Banana trees aren't really trees. They are like huge perennials. New plants come up at the base. He told me he cut the larger parent plant down every fall, and nurtured the small start at the base for the next year. Amazing amount of information I learned from this man and that Banana tree. I grew one in my green house for many years until I lost interest and it shriveled up one cold night and never came back.

The # 1 lesson about zones? *Meh* If someone in your region can grow something exotic outside, you can too. Providing micro climates is the way to do it.
If you want to grow a fig tree but live in the wrong *zone* then create that *zone* in a nook against a wall that gets morning sun that will store heat and radiate it back onto the plant during chilly nights. Brick or stone walls are great for this. Entry ways usually have corners and nooks and crannies where special needs plants can fit. And dwarf trees are our friends. We can find places to stick them just about anywhere sun shines. There is also the method of pruning called 'espalier'.

Finally getting caught up. I appreciate your points about climates and micro-climates in the right places. I know I have some plants around here that don't usually thrive but they're planted in the right places (and everything here is brick or block so there is a good retention of sun heat) and they are doing very well...growing much like they would in a warmer climate.

For my large open fence planting I have to stick with winter-hardy as there is no wind break and they're right out there exposed to every extreme - from low wind-chills to hot summer full sun. That's a challenge if you want anything "romantic" looking!

I did get the book from the library but I think most of the items in it are for more southerly climates. It is a really nice book if anyone is more south than I am it might be worth getting!



Now I think I'm kind-of resolving myself that, for privacy, I may have to use mostly items like spruce, cedar, arborvitae, etc. Any thoughts or drawings that could show me how to do "groupings" of them in such a way that they don't just look like a straight line of trees? I'm thinking groups of 3 with some non-pine shorter non-evergreen bushes mixed in like lilac, etc. I'm just not sure how to do them in such a way that they look a little "wilder" or random.

 

[midnightroo]

Leah, there is something like what I think you want up the road from me. I will walk up there and take a picture this afternoon. Just not sure about the different climates between us and you. I go by it almost every day and I like the look of it, I just need to get my butt together and start doing the same for my yard.

I followed Mumsy suggestion and yesterday I weeded one front bed that plants were starting to crowd out the walkway and then I tackled the area around the mailbox. Nothing fancy for the mailbox. I just pulled weeded, out down newspaper as an additional weed block and some "dirt" from the dump. Then I sprinkled some marigold seeds I had in the "dirt". I only got it all done because my husband daughter went out for the morning, but I need to start setting aside time to do things like this more often.

I had to cut back a chrysanthemum ( is that the Latin name?) so I took the cutting and pushed them in some dirt around the yard. Even if only a few take, I figured it was worth the time, my neighbor tells me they root easily. They don't look too wilted today so time will tell.

 

[aoxa]

Leah, there is something like what I think you want up the road from me. I will walk up there and take a picture this afternoon. Just not sure about the different climates between us and you. I go by it almost every day and I like the look of it, I just need to get my butt together and start doing the same for my yard.

I followed Mumsy suggestion and yesterday I weeded one front bed that plants were starting to crowd out the walkway and then I tackled the area around the mailbox. Nothing fancy for the mailbox. I just pulled weeded, out down newspaper as an additional weed block and some "dirt" from the dump. Then I sprinkled some marigold seeds I had in the "dirt". I only got it all done because my husband daughter went out for the morning, but I need to start setting aside time to do things like this more often.

I had to cut back a chrysanthemum ( is that the Latin name?) so I took the cutting and pushed them in some dirt around the yard. Even if only a few take, I figured it was worth the time, my neighbor tells me they root easily. They don't look too wilted today so time will tell.

What is the difference between scientific name and latin name? Scientific Name: Dendranthema grandiflorum is the name for chyrsanthemum.

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]I do love Mums. Especially in the fall. [/FONT]



Here is a picture I took yesterday of our Silver Cup or Lavatera trimestris.

They are such easy annuals to grow for beginners. I have always loved them, and this is my fifth year growing them from seed.

ETA: Image of them just before opening..

 

[rowerjen]

I really need to finish my new chicken coop and this thread keeps distracting me! One of our local nurseries has an annual "day lily dig." The owner has some beautiful varieties, and he sells them for $2.75 a stem. Stopping at six took a lot of self restraint. He told me he threw in some extras. So, after I get the roof on the coop I'll get those in. I've gotten several lovely red lilies over the past few years. This year i'm going with peach and pink.

Love this thread - and now I need to get back to the coop!

 

[MumsyII]

Finally getting caught up. I appreciate your points about climates and micro-climates in the right places. I know I have some plants around here that don't usually thrive but they're planted in the right places (and everything here is brick or block so there is a good retention of sun heat) and they are doing very well...growing much like they would in a warmer climate.

For my large open fence planting I have to stick with winter-hardy as there is no wind break and they're right out there exposed to every extreme - from low wind-chills to hot summer full sun. That's a challenge if you want anything "romantic" looking!

For me the term 'romantic garden' means lush. Plants growing in abundance. Large flowering plants or climbing and vining. Little to no bare dirt evident. Gardens that don't really look like gardens. Mysterious in the sense that they force the eye to wander and wonder. Static gardens can be seen and understood in a glance. Romantic gardens are beckoning the viewer to come closer and explore. It's a a style of gardening but can be any climate, any size, any plant, and any where.

I did get the book from the library but I think most of the items in it are for more southerly climates. It is a really nice book if anyone is more south than I am it might be worth getting!

Which book?
I live in a Northern climate and grow many plants for cold and warm seasons. But if you are looking to concentrate on natives, that is a different thing.

Now I think I'm kind-of resolving myself that, for privacy, I may have to use mostly items like spruce, cedar, arborvitae, etc. Any thoughts or drawings that could show me how to do "groupings" of them in such a way that they don't just look like a straight line of trees? I'm thinking groups of 3 with some non-pine shorter non-evergreen bushes mixed in like lilac, etc. I'm just not sure how to do them in such a way that they look a little "wilder" or random.

Yes. You can group trees and shrubs in blocks and mix it up. It will appear as a wild shrubbery but well blended in time.

 

[MumsyII]

What is the difference between scientific name and latin name? Scientific Name: Dendranthema grandiflorum is the name for chyrsanthemum.

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]I do love Mums. Especially in the fall. [/FONT]



Here is a picture I took yesterday of our Silver Cup or Lavatera trimestris.

They are such easy annuals to grow for beginners. I have always loved them, and this is my fifth year growing them from seed.

ETA: Image of them just before opening..

I love lavatera and mums. I think maybe mums is universally understood for a common name. Love love love the blooms and color. I don't like the scent. My favorite lavatera is a perennial that grows to shrub size here called Barnsely. Some years it is hardy and some years not so much. Another perennial one I like grows like a wild flower when it naturalizes. Lavatera arborea. The flowers are very deep purple. I have it coming back year after year. Your lavatera bloosom is beautiful Justine.