Gardening

[Willow Flats]

Hard to believe I was picking strawberries today while it is still snowing in other parts!

 

[HersheyMint]

Yummy

 

[MaryFlora]

Ha, Willow Flats! I just picked strawberries too…..in the frozen food section at the store!

Your berry is beautiful!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Hard to believe I was picking strawberries today while it is still snowing in other parts!
View attachment 46778

Pretty as a picture!

 

[Silver City Heritage Farmstead]

I drool over the strawberry picture...too bad I'm allergic.

I have a theory on the allergy, because it developed in my adulthood: I'm wondering if it's the *chemicals* that are used in commercial production, and not the strawberries themselves.

I'll let you know later this spring if I managed to send myself to the ER or if I gained 5 pounds eating shortcakes with clotted cream.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Saw our first Mountain Boomer lizard today. He is a small one. Hope he eats lots of bugs and gets big.

 

[Dragon Hill]

Cool! I wonder why they call them Mountain Boomers?

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Cool! I wonder why they call them Mountain Boomers?

No one knows for sure, but perhaps because early settlers mistook the sound of wind blowing through canyons to be some animal, and this collared lizard seemed a likely suspect. But, like most lizards, it is voiceless. It is the state reptile of Oklahoma. They are quite bold and do not mind folks getting pretty close to observe them. We see quite a few here.

 

[Silver City Heritage Farmstead]

The big bushy green you see on the left from this angle is my miniature rose. There are five hybrid roses down and to the right. I may have to cover them mid-week, as we're have a chance of a freeze after today's rain.

We've edged the border with blocks we scrounged on the property and picked up for free from craigslist.

In this picture:

I've started pulling the undesirable plants. I use a garden claw tool to loosen the soil. Then I use the grabber you can see in the wagon to pick them off and shake off the soil.

I have a plum, two peaches, a dogwood and two pecans planted in the corners and either side of the entry.

When the peaches were in bloom, I hand pollinated them because they aren't self-pollinating and I have just those two. Since I only have one plum, I hand-pollinated it with a wild variety.

Once I'm done hand-tilling, I'll plant all the bulbs I have. I'll also be starting seeds on heat mats under lights this weekend. Whatever is still viable and sprouts, I'll plant.

Almost forgot to show what I put in the corner!! These are two crepe myrtle I salvaged from a friend after her husband whacked their tops off. She couldn't bear to see their "dead sticks" in her yard, so to me they came.

 

[Kelly]

It might not be a crafty tutu, but dang you have been busy!

 

[Silver City Heritage Farmstead]

Thanks, Kelly. You might still see a crafty tutu yet!!

 

[MerMaeve]

One of the best gardening tips you'll ever get is to plan your new garden near a water source. Make sure you can run a hose to your garden site, so you don't have to lug water to it each time your plants get thirsty.

Also great advice when you build a barn! We didn't put a hydrant in so we have to hook two hoses together in the summer (just makes it to the barn door) and in the winter we haul jugs of water out.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

One of the best gardening tips you'll ever get is to plan your new garden near a water source. Make sure you can run a hose to your garden site, so you don't have to lug water to it each time your plants get thirsty. The best way to tell if plants need watering is to push a finger an inch down into the soil (that's about one knuckle deep). If it's dry, it's time to water.

That's why I'm not planting any more trees. Anything that has to have water carried to it is refused, no matter how rare or pretty or orphaned. I was offered a very cool old farm implement that would have looked great with plantings in it. But how to water? Out of the question.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Seems as though everything is really late this year. Larkspurs are just now starting to bloom and they should be finished by now. Seeing a few iris buds, and they should be over. Apple trees are just starting to flower. We say this every year: isn't this the coldest, hottest, windiest, wettest, driest spring ever??

 

[Cayuse]

I drool over the strawberry picture...too bad I'm allergic.

I have a theory on the allergy, because it developed in my adulthood: I'm wondering if it's the *chemicals* that are used in commercial production, and not the strawberries themselves.

I'll let you know later this spring if I managed to send myself to the ER or if I gained 5 pounds eating shortcakes with clotted cream.

Same for me and blueberries, I think it is the pesticide. Developed the allergy in my 30's when I lived on an apple orchard. I couldn't even walk through the blueberry acreage without itching and if I ATE them OMG, the hives. This farmer was heavily into chemicals.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I have a lot of warm season things to plant. Still too early and no sense getting impatient. I have an odd corn to try, some brown cotton, a new yard-long bean, and just ordered a lemon verbena from Territorial Seeds. I really enjoy its fragrant leaves; running fingers over scented things in the garden is a pleasure.

 

[kimbalina]

I’m just trying to keep up with the weeds at the moment... It’ll be a couple of weeks of still unpacking and settling in before we really come to grips with the garden! Our home was a deceased estate and I think the garden was a bit neglected for a few years... There’s a fair amount of lantana, morning glory, bindis, cobbler’s pegs etc. Some self seeded trees that we need to remove.

I have a gorgeous established garden at this home too! Here are some native Australian plants that are gorgeous at the moment.

 

[Silver City Heritage Farmstead]

I like the shape of the stamens in that purple flower. The orange one "Asclepias tuberosa" or butterfly plant in the United States. However, yours look more like a succulent in the bit of leaves I can see. The flowers look a bit different, too.

Do they tempt honeyeaters to visit? If so, do honeyeaters buzz like hummingbirds do?

 

[kimbalina]

I am so embarrassed... The purple flower is a tibouchina... NOT an Australian native as I’ve always thought... It’s a South American native. The orange flowers are actually a native orchid called epidendrem! You could throw them against a wall and they would grow! So hardy!

 

[Silver City Heritage Farmstead]

Oooooo!! I like plants you can throw against a wall and they'll grow!!

Please don't be embarrassed about plant id. If I was embarrassed about each time I needed to be corrected, my blushing face would look like this: