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Greetings fellow gardeners,

I was talking to my mom on the phone the other day about my very first harvest grown from seed!


She suggested I try to find a community garden and I asked, "Do you think my plants would be safe? What if people knock 'em over or steal the fruit? Like that guy in the beginning of 'Waterworld'," she responded,
"They're gardeners! They can't do anything bad!"



It took almost an entire year from seed to fruit. The conditions for plants in my crappy North Hollywood apartment are not exactly optimum for gardening.. but I'm making it work. At least in LA, I don't have to worry about frost.

All my plants are currently potted due to an excess of concrete.

I'm going to start my own gardening stats chart now:

PLANTS GROWN:
Watermelon      2
Mild Pepper      3
Tomato            5
Pumpkin          2
Basil               >10
Strawberry       2

FRUIT/ VEGETABLES:
Tomato           1

I live in zone 7, and I planted a couple small pots of evening primrose two years ago. I thought it would be the perfect ground cover to put around some low scrubby pine bushes on the bottom tier of my front curb - full sun, drought resistant, fast growing, and blooms June-August. Come to find out, my husband wasn't happy with how high it grew, and we both were unhappy with how it started growing everywhere (including cracks in the sidewalk and driveway), so we agreed to remove it.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what would work well in its place? Here's an image of the area that I dubbed "Primrose Gone Wild."



(4Runner in the driveway for scale. Please ignore the scruffy lawn. Keen eyes will spot the lawnmower which remedied that issue shortly after this photo was taken.) Any and all suggestions welcome! Bonus points for suggesting native plants.

Thought I'd share...


Hearts on a wire

( two more )

Has anyone grown rainbow fern (Selaginella martensii), also known as peacock moss, in a hanging pot? I have one hanging outside on my porch here in Pittsburgh. It gets a little direct sunlight and tons of indirect sunlight. Have you observed that anywhere it gets direct sunlight, it dries up and turns brown? What about your watering regimen? Any advice would be appreciated!

my husband and i moved from an apt to a house this past weekend. i know this is not the ideal time for transplanting anything, but i had no choice. the majority of what i dug up from the back yard at the apt is doing relatively well at the new place... except for my beloved butterfly bush. i was so excited about it this year, as it had sprung from a wee little sprout to a GIANT happy plant in the matter of one season. i had no idea it would take the transplant this poorly; i'm so heavy hearted to see it completely wilted and sad right now.

obviously it went through quite a shock (having the hottest weekend so far this year didn't help, either). i've watered it religiously, but i'm afraid it's toast for the season. what i'm curious about is if a) there is anything i can do to revive it or b) i can hard prune it somehow to promote any growth again for the season? i'm thinking more of option b, as the leaves are basically curled and browning at this point. however, i wasn't sure if a hard pruning would be the best thing to do.

thanks for any suggestions!

Yesterday, there has been a big flower market (15 minutes by car from where I live). It was amazing. I loved to see so may different plants. We spent there 2,5 hours until we finally had everything that we wanted.

We added some plants to our patio.

( Pictures... )
We also planted 2 bamboo plants, down by the canal. (I haven't made a picture yet.) I'm wondering if it's going to survive anyway, as it's planted on a pretty sunny spot. Does anyone have experience with Bamboo that's getting too much sun?

So, I've been skulking around LJ for a while now, and I just joined this community. I am starting a garden at home, and I'm sticking to easy, hardy plants for now, like lilies. But for when I get more confident, does anyone know where I could find some Fuchsia? Preferably between New Orleans, LA, and Pensacola, FL? Seeds or pre-started, I don't care!
Thank you to anyone who could help!

I harvested my first shell peas yesterday.  And new potatoes, and a few small carrots.  They were all planted mid-March in raised beds, during that strange early warm spell.  This is a much earlier first-harvest than I'm used to.  To celebrate, I made a nice small meal of new potatoes fried in a little butter, tossed with steamed veg (peas, carrots, beets, a few bits of flowering kale, and asparagus) and garden-fresh parsley and chervil.  I took a picture, but...there's a knack to food photos, and I don't have it yet; it looks way more appetizing in person.

There won't be as many peas as I'd hoped - someone tried to de-tangle some vines from the trellis, and bent&killed some of them.  Seems like I need to re-learn that lesson every year:  get the support structures in place long before they're needed and then leave them alone.

The Alrite spinach has bolted, and the tatsoi, and the Regiment spinach is just starting to bolt, but the chard and kales are still doing well.  I've had my usual mediocre luck with beets, turnips, and flowering brassicas - a very small harvest so far.  I think much of this has to do with planting them too close together, and indeed where I've thinned they're doing better.  The fava bean blossoms have turned black and are podding up now (first time I've grown favas - when I saw the shriveled black blossoms, I worried something was wrong, but apparently it's the normal order of things).

Last weekend - in humid mid-80s heat, I finally dug up and amended the rest of the garden (eight 5' x 25' wide rows).  This weekend - in humid low-90s heat, I planted the rest of the heat-loving crops:  cucumbers, zucchini, squash, melons, beans, herbs (sweet basil, fenugreek, Thai basil, papalo, and more Thai basil).  It's supposed to be in the 60s the rest of the week - so it goes.

Still plenty to do:  weeding, taking out the early stuff that's done (or never did well), sticking second plantings in anywhere I can find space, mulching, covering the paths between the wide rows so they stop getting so overgrown, putting in the rest of the drip irrigation, etc.  But I feel good now that at least one planting of everything is in the ground.

And, I start getting CSA box in two weeks.  Which means next weekend I need to get the kitchen ready for a summer of hardcore veg-prep.

my stuff is in pots in the woods near an old pond about 600 feet from here so its good water since its so dry.well its twilight and the woods get dark.i look down and theres a 3 foot garder snake i almost steped on. glad this isnt florida where theres anacondas.i would be screaming running.

So I went to my terrace taking a look around... inspecting my seedlings and such... and there was this tiny poppy.. wonderfull surprise for the day :) I had tried to sow seeds last summer , seeds that I had collected from the nature in a village the previous summer... but nothing had showed up... But now I have this one . I'm happy !