What Did You Do In The Garden?

[Trish Stretton]

I finally got all 26 san Marzano tomatoes planted out....not the 40 seedlings that grew although I did keep some back just in case I needed replacements.
I visited my daughter this week and 'helped' clear out some of their bamboo which got used for stakes...not as tall as I would have liked but my ute would only fit 6 foot poles. So, 80 stakes later.....
When SIL came home, he was disappointed to see Bamboo still standing, expecting me to have cut it all out and popped in my ute. lol
"Next time." I told him.

Cos I often get strong winds over summer, I had to cross brace these so they would stay in place.

Two Zucchinnis and Two cucumbers planted out as well. These are a different sort than I normally grow so I dont know how they will do. They arent supposed to climb.

I also turned my old bath up the right way, put it up on blocks, filled it with compost and planted it out with my sweet potatoes, known here as Kumara. I had too many for that so another tub got planted out as well-bottom half of a 200 gallon drum with the bung knocked out. (The top half usually gets used to smother unwanted treelings/weeds.)

and lastly, I was asked over to my neighbors place to check out some tree ferns that he wanted to get rid of. We organised for him to cut them down on Thursday morning and me to pick them up with my work truck and take them home where I should have pre-dug holes to pop them into...gotta love a win/win.

 

[flowerbug]

...
and lastly, I was asked over to my neighbors place to check out some tree ferns that he wanted to get rid of. We organised for him to cut them down on Thursday morning and me to pick them up with my work truck and take them home where I should have pre-dug holes to pop them into...gotta love a win/win.

sounds like a real busy time!

 

[Zeedman]

and lastly, I was asked over to my neighbors place to check out some tree ferns that he wanted to get rid of. We organised for him to cut them down on Thursday morning and me to pick them up with my work truck and take them home where I should have pre-dug holes to pop them into...gotta love a win/win.

Tree ferns... I wish we could grow those here. But then, they would probably just end up as deer salad, like the woodland ferns in my tree line.

 

[Trish Stretton]

Today, I used my scissor hole digger thingy to make three holes for the tree ferns to get popped into and that was it in the garden. Cant wait for tomorrow!
But I did get a gate I just happened to have lying around and bolted that into the doorway of my old shed- had unwelcome night guests recently...and big sigh...the rest of the day was me being stuck doing bookwork.

 

[Trish Stretton]

Tree ferns... I wish we could grow those here. But then, they would probably just end up as deer salad, like the woodland ferns in my tree line.

Maybe you could check out Sichuan pepper plants, either the evergreen or deciduous ones. The thorns on those puppies would make them think twice!
My Deciduous one is now flowering for its second time, i cant wait.
I did plant it where no dog or wilful child would think of going cos these thorns are twice as sharp as rose thorns.

 

[ducks4you]

@Trish Stretton , we will ALL be reading your upcoming gardening posts, while we here in the US (& Europe) suffer through our short days and cold nights!

 

[ducks4you]

Harvested seven 10 gallon buckets of tomatoes, and about 20 sweet bell peppers. Today, I am harvesting the rest of the banana and jalepanoes. Also, driving to DD's to harvest some dead limbs.

 

[Zeedman]

Maybe you could check out Sichuan pepper plants, either the evergreen or deciduous ones. The thorns on those puppies would make them think twice!
My Deciduous one is now flowering for its second time, i cant wait.
I did plant it where no dog or wilful child would think of going cos these thorns are twice as sharp as rose thorns.

I'm intrigued. Thorny, and with seeds that can be used for spice - sounds like a win/win.

It looks like I am on the northern edge of its range, but it might be worth a try. According to the arborist which will be taking down a tree for me, I'm probably going to be losing 1/2 of my mini-forest soon to an insect (emerald ash borer) and am looking for trees/shrubs that can fill those gaps. Until recently, the species was banned in the U.S., and all seed was required to be heat treated... but that ban appears to have lapsed. Provided that I can get seed to germinate (it looks a little tricky, even with good seed) I may try a few next year.

The funny thing is that when I moved in, I had several stands of hawthorn. Really wicked 2" thorns; and having young children at the time, I cut it all down... the process of removal was painful. I may try reintroducing that too; if I can root cuttings, there is a large shrub just down the street. The deer don't appear to have touched it, it is really pretty in bloom, and the dense growth would provide a good privacy screen.

Both trees might be great ways to shelter saplings of larger trees from the deer, until they grow large enough to survive on their own.

Wow... while researching the hawthorn species in my area, I came across a reference to Prickly Ash, Zanthoxylum americanum, which is often found growing in the same habitat. It is in the same genus as Sichuan pepper! Funny how some things come full circle. So there is a close relative native to my area, and it is considered to be the northernmost member of the Citrus family??? I assume Prickly Ash is invasive, I used to cut down thickets of that on my Grandfather's rural property. Not something I'd grow intentionally, it is nowhere near as attractive or useful a plant. I hope Zanthoxylum bungeanum (Sichuan pepper) isn't invasive as well.

You've steered my mind in a promising direction... thanks, @Trish Stretton !

 

[Trish Stretton]

I'm intrigued. Thorny, and with seeds that can be used for spice - sounds like a win/win.

It looks like I am on the northern edge of its range, but it might be worth a try. According to the arborist which will be taking down a tree for me, I'm probably going to be losing 1/2 of my mini-forest soon to an insect (emerald ash borer) and am looking for trees/shrubs that can fill those gaps. Until recently, the species was banned in the U.S., and all seed was required to be heat treated... but that ban appears to have lapsed. Provided that I can get seed to germinate (it looks a little tricky, even with good seed) I may try a few next year.

The funny thing is that when I moved in, I had several stands of hawthorn. Really wicked 2" thorns; and having young children at the time, I cut it all down... the process of removal was painful. I may try reintroducing that too; if I can root cuttings, there is a large shrub just down the street. The deer don't appear to have touched it, it is really pretty in bloom, and the dense growth would provide a good privacy screen.

Both trees might be great ways to shelter saplings of larger trees from the deer, until they grow large enough to survive on their own.

Wow... while researching the hawthorn species in my area, I came across a reference to Prickly Ash, Zanthoxylum americanum, which is often found growing in the same habitat. It is in the same genus as Sichuan pepper! Funny how some things come full circle. So there is a close relative native to my area, and it is considered to be the northernmost member of the Citrus family??? I assume Prickly Ash is invasive, I used to cut down thickets of that on my Grandfather's rural property. Not something I'd grow intentionally, it is nowhere near as attractive or useful a plant. I hope Zanthoxylum bungeanum (Sichuan pepper) isn't invasive as well.

You've steered my mind in a promising direction... thanks, @Trish Stretton !

Um...no, it isnt the seed that you use as a spice, its their casing.
Its not so much hot as in heat, its more of a sensation. I liken it to touching your tongue on both terminals of a 9 volt battery. lol
I have been eyeing up my more mature one and trying to figure out how many meals I'm going to get from this years harvest.
There was one stalk that was a little long and didnt have any flowers on it so that is now 4 cuttings.

 

[Trish Stretton]

@Trish Stretton , we will ALL be reading your upcoming gardening posts, while we here in the US (& Europe) suffer through our short days and cold nights!

lol, fairs fair.
Today, I drove off to my neighbour two doors down to collect my 3 tree ferns.
It wound up being 4 but I'm not complaining. It just meant that I needed to work out where the forth one was going to go and dig a hole for it.
So....now I have a water tank surrounded by tree ferns, mostly on the sun side, which for me is sort of north through to nor-west.
It does make the whole thing feel different.
I have had to water/mist the trunks and ground a couple of times to make sure they dont dry out and thankfully, today was overcast and at one point drizzly.
These probably should have been moved during mid winter but I am only too happy just to have them here.

I also weeded one bed out in the front yard of Watsonias and trimmed back a Pittosporum and Karamu,(sorry dont know the English name for it yet). I had been trying to find native flowers to go here but there just arent any pretty ones so I have got shade/partial sun loving Northern hemisphere seeds for areas like this. Now to get sowing. The pansies I put along the boundary line are flowering and looking nice....for my neighbour. Now I need to grow something for my side of the beds.