How is your garden looking today?

Oh, I've eaten those doughnut peaches. More of a novelty item if you ask me.

There's also those white flesh peaches, which are always so expensive.
I don't like them as well as regular peaches. Not enough acid to make the sweet just that little bit of tart. Too bland.

I really need to harvest them, and give them to neighbors and friends before they start dropping.

My wife will take some to her church social next week.

Anybody know the proper pH conditions for Phlox?? Weve had a lot of bad luck with the sumbitches and Ive tried soil amendment and drainage improvement but our soil is on the acid side. Is my problem pH related?

Everybody seems to say neutral to slightly acidic.

http://www.plant-biology.com/Phlox-annual.php

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/973/

http://wiseacre-gardens.com/plants/perennial/phlox.html

http://www.almanac.com/plant/phlox

Made a video today of the progress I'm making in the backyard so far. I decided to save the money and not buy a rototiller; just took my time digging in the manure, peat moss and compost before I planted the new plants. Also took some video of parts of the veggie gardens. Another section not videoed today has more tomatoes, peppers and strawberries.

Well, the electric tillers didn't really look industrial rated.

Thanks for the help Butrfly (may I call you by your first name?). I think the issue is one of proper drainage in the soil. I need to plant them in a place where the soil has been amended for proper drainage.

No mulch?

Enjoyed your video, Butrflynet.
I'm impressed.
You've obviously been very busy in your vegie patch!

Not yet. Still have a few more plants to put in, and some more bulbs.

Fall.

How's my garden looking... Ugh.

I just killed my beautiful rose bush. It was covered in pink flowers all summer long, every summer. Damn.
It was one of only 6 plants I was happy with... I haven't planted anything in a while, just seeds, and then I took my x-continent drive and well, nothing but weeds and dead grass and the few good plants areas I had nurtured are doing well.
See, I have my whole yard planned out. I used Google sketchup and designed where I was going to put everything. I knew we were eventually going to rebuild the garden.. But my husband dragged his ass. For months, for years..
Then this weekend he springs it on me, were going to rebuild the fence, start the planters, move the humungous dirt pile. I didn't think this was going to happen till next year. I didn't plan for this.
Dammit.
So all the fence posts have been removed, replaced with longer ones. The 6 foot fence wont be finished till next weekend. Meanwhile, I've been digging into rock hard dirt and grass, trying to dig trenches for 4x4" oak lumber - logs - they weigh a ton - that are meant to be the foundation for the raised beds. My husband's out of town this week, so I'll be digging, and digging, and dragging, and sawing, and screwing, screws and praying that the thermometer doesn't plunge. Meanwhile, It hasn't rained in a good long while. I moved my rose bush too late in the season and sadly the only thing left growing is the weeds surrounding it.

Long time since I have a2k-ed! Been looking around, trying to get a feel for things again. The site seems as interesting, intelligent and as pleasant as ever, which is really nice. Also been sad to read of users who have passed on.

Nice to see this thread is still continuing! My garden is looking pretty good this atutumn day. The weather has been mild, there has only been one frost so far this autumn, long may this last! My cosmos are continuing to bloom like there is no tomorrow, my containers of geraniums have grown gargantuan - must try to preserve some cuttings for next year! Very pleased that I finally got some autumn crocuses planted this year - it's like spring all over again. The grass is still growing strong, thought I'd done my last mow for the year but looks like I'll have to do a November cut! An unknown quantity for me! Almost got all of my new spring bulbs planted out on the weekend, but still plenty of work to do out there. I love my garden :-)

I fully eager of all your. There are almost gardened this year. However, next year is phenomenal. New homes in PA is a 20 x 10 greenouse and actual little landscaping, admitting a sufficient extent set side by side for the veggie garden. Do not delay until we move there so I can play.

My garden is looking beautiful today with yellow, orange and pink flowers. I have just purchased some pesticides to take care of it.

Well, Its that time of year. Goundhog day is behind and weve gotten into the first weekend of FEb.
I have, already

1. I planted onion seeds in a big peat flat. I let them grow as a mass of seedlings and they forms big mats of seedlings, to which I will severely prune almost to ground level at least twice.
In march, I will hold them under fast running water to loosen the roots and untangle them so I can create seedling clusters . I will store them for a few weeks and plant thhem by end of MArch the same time as I plant peas

2. I Planted aegeratum and parsley seeds in separate flats with peat compartments. parsley takes a while to germinate , aegeratum needs some time too

3. I ordered my tomatoes, eggplants, and hot pepper seeds. I will wait till early March to begin planting these so I can put em in the cold frame by April.

Thats about all the veggies I grow, except for yeller beans and gourds. EVerything else we buy fresh at the farmers markets

The earth may be asleep for the winter but its got an alarm set for an early spring

Yesterday I received the veggie seeds I ordered. Am going to start getting the soils turned over next week and then add some manure to everything so it will mellow out before planting time.

Farmerman, what environment are you growing your seed flats in? Do you use grow lights? I have yet to have any success with indoor seed starting. There just isn't enough natural light to grow healthy seedlings indoors. I'm torn between investing in some grow lights or investing in some cold frames out in the garden. I'm going to make a trip over to Habitat for Humanity's recycling shop this Spring and see if they have any windows I can use to build a decent cold frame.

we have very deep windows (its a very old farmhouse with window frames like 24"deep) so I made a portable frame that fits into a south facing window and use that for my flats. In several of the flats I use a bottom heater tape or heater mat to keep the soil warm.This, more than anything , gets the seeds going.
Always a s facing window for veggies so they dont get leggy. Ive used a grow light but the lights are really not as intense as the increasing sunlight in the mid to late winter.
Do you hve many S facing windows? If you dont want to get a heater tape , then make a plastic "greenhouse" cover for your flats, that also helps.
One of the tricks for starting stuff like lettuce or spinach or red beets was to put the flat on a radiator (with a towel underneath(ya dont want to boil the seeds). It gets really hot, like 120 degrees in the seed flat and the seeds just pop within three or so days. THEN(very importnt) as soon as most of the seeds are up, get em off the radiator and put them in the S facing windowsill. That was my trick before the heater tapes. Which arent as hot as a radiator in a Pa wintertime.

Do you have Daffodils blooming yet out there> I seem to remember that Feb was daffodil time in the Albaturkey area.

Not blooming yet, but the greenry popped out of the ground about three weeks ago. They're very confused. We've had 40-60 degree days and 25-30 degree nights for four weeks now.

Last winter I tried growing seed flats on the kitchen table. It was under a ceiling skylight and surrounded on two sides with windows, facing west and north. I had plastic dome covers for the flats.

The seedlings sprouted but got very leggy, so leggy they weren't able to support the weight of the first set of true leaves and just keeled over and died.

After that, I just sowed similar seeds directly in the garden and they did fine, they were just a few weeks behind schedule and I didn't get as much of a harvest from them when the hot weather arrived.