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[Beekissed]

Some pics of the garden and flower beds...after they recovered somewhat from deer eating them down to the nub in many places. They do not eat zinnias or marigolds apparently, but will chew impatiens and portulaca off to the stem. They also ate a good bit of my squash, tomatoes, a lot of my beans, etc. So, slow recovery but they are coming back.

This is a spaghetti squash I stuck in the flower bed...the deer had eaten all the leaves at one point but it's growing back and actually producing something now. All these impatiens were also eaten down to the stems as well but are now coming back to fullness.

My arch collapsed under the wt of the vines and also due to the hay bales disintegrating behind it, removing it's support. But, lo and behold, the butternut squash that was torn from its roots and I thought had died from it all is starting to recover after I just plopped the rotten hay bale it had been on top of the exposed root ball.

These zinnias were planted in the place where a wood chip pile had been for a year...they look better than all those actually planted within the garden, wouldn't you know.

This year I did something different with my zinnias in the front bed and in the garden...I didn't broadcast the seeds and let them just grow willy nilly. I planted them to flats and planted them out as seedlings, spacing them so they would have more space and be more evenly distributed across the bed. That worked out great, both in this bed and also in Joel's garden.

The whole garden...it's starting to die off and I need to get in there and pull out a lot of vines and such. Fall is upon us!

 

[ninnymary]

It looks gorgeous with all that color! Is it humid where you live? I want to try growing zinnias again. They get powdery mildew here and don't look very pretty and I refuse to spray them. Too much work for this lazy gardener. Do you use grow lights for the seeds?

Mary

 

[thistlebloom]

Bee your place is beautiful! I love your flower beds with all those zinnias and other blooms. It's a very cheery and bright sight. I'm inspired to start some next year to plant along the fences in the vegetable garden which is visible from the road.
That would distract from the puny veggies I've been growing the past few years, haha.

 

[Beekissed]

It looks gorgeous with all that color! Is it humid where you live? I want to try growing zinnias again. They get powdery mildew here and don't look very pretty and I refuse to spray them. Too much work for this lazy gardener. Do you use grow lights for the seeds?

Mary

Very humid here. They get the mildew here too eventually, but they still manage to look pretty good all season despite that. I don't use grow lights for my seeds...I just put them out on a grow table under some Agribon. Best growth I've had ever for seedlings doing it that way this year.

This is my outside sink/butchering station I made from some free wood and an old metal bedstead. In the spring it serves as a grow table now.

 

[Collector]

Your borders look really nice with the flowers all in bloom. I like how the squash leaves work like a living mulch to hold in water and shut out weeds. I think I will try that next year.

 

[flowerbug]

Your borders look really nice with the flowers all in bloom. I like how the squash leaves work like a living mulch to hold in water and shut out weeds. I think I will try that next year.

the cucumbers also work well for us as a cover crop to keep the weeds down in that garden.

 

[Nyboy]

bee I grew zinnia from seed planted in 2 cement planters are flowering away but did not start flowering till half summer gone. Wow now that is a run on sentence where is @Smart Red

 

[Finding God in the garden]

Hey everyone,

I planted some fall vegetables a couple weeks ago and it looks like I have some good germination rates so far. I've got peas, carrots, green beans, and spinach planted. Any tips on any of those particular vegetables? Also, I've never dealt with thinning before because my spring garden I planted 1 seed at the final thinned distance apart which resulted in a very low germination on my tomatoes. So to avoid the low germination I planted with thinning needed. How long do I wait to start thinning? How do I choose which ones to thin (tallest, greenest, most foliage)?

Thanks,
Andrew S.

 

[henless]

Your zinnias are lovely Bee! Do you have to replant every year or do they reseed?

It's not Fall here yet. Still scorching hot summer.

 

[flowerbug]

Hey everyone,

I planted some fall vegetables a couple weeks ago and it looks like I have some good germination rates so far. I've got peas, carrots, green beans, and spinach planted. Any tips on any of those particular vegetables? Also, I've never dealt with thinning before because my spring garden I planted 1 seed at the final thinned distance apart which resulted in a very low germination on my tomatoes. So to avoid the low germination I planted with thinning needed. How long do I wait to start thinning? How do I choose which ones to thin (tallest, greenest, most foliage)?

Thanks,
Andrew S.

Andrew, sorry i didn't see your questions before, please repost as a separate thread in the veggies section so perhaps others will notice it too.

my take on most planting of seeds and thinning is that i try to plant a little more than half of what the package recommends and double the spacing in the row and then come back later and fill in any gaps as needed (mostly for beans as almost everything else we plant in our gardens is put in from potted starts - except onions, garlic, squash and strawberries).

for onion seeds (because i usually have so many) i'll prep the row, put i trench in it at the right depth using a pointed hoe, put the seeds in there and then drag the rake through it back and forth to move the seeds apart a bit. i don't worry about fine tuning as that is what thinning is for. after they've sprouted then i thin to the recommended distances and i don't mind leaving some extra space as it's easier to weed if there's more room.

i don't really have tips for peas because my track record for pods is so poor on most varieties. groundhogs, rabbits and chipmunks seem to find them even the times i plant them inside the fenced gardens. only a few varieties do they seem to ignore more and i can at least get a crop, but i've tended to not plant peas the past several years as i'm a bit more into beans.