The Garden is IN! What's in yours?

<p>Garden porn!</p>
<p>First, let me say that my snail eradication program has gone well. I handpicked buckets of the bastards and baited the rest, using Sluggo, a bait that is safe to use around wildllfe. Just say no to Corry's! Snail picking is like Easter egg hunting. So fun! Just drown them in a bucket of soapy water and dispose of them however you want. I use biodegradable Dr. Bronner's soap. Anyway, the snail population is much lower now, thank god. They were on the march, like tiny foot-soldiers.</p>
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<p><strong>New Summer Edible Stuff</strong></p>
<p>Chard (red and rainbow)</p>
<p>Tomatoes (Early Girl and Sungold mini yellows)</p>
<p>Cucumber</p>
<p>Purple Sage</p>
<p>Basil</p>
<p>Mixed basils</p>
<p>Bush beans</p>
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<p><strong>New Summer Non-Edible Stuff</strong></p>
<p>Cerestiums (grey groundcover with white flowers)</p>
<p>Heurechas (squat, brownish-burgundy with white flowers)</p>
<p>Penstemons (?)</p>
<p>Salvias, "Hot Lips"</p>
<p>An annual I cannot recall the name of, tall purple, orange and yellow flowers</p>
<p>Gourds, I guess. Not my choice.</p>
<p>Silver lavender</p>
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<p><strong>Old Edible Stuff I'm Rehabilitating</strong></p>
<p>Peppermint</p>
<p>Lemon Tree</p>
<p>Persimmon Tree</p>
<p>Thyme (scraggly bastard, but a nice ground cover, of sorts)</p>
<p>A very old and woody rosemary monstrosity</p>
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<p><strong>Old Non-Edibles I'm Rehabilitating</strong></p>
<p>Three rose bushes, two of which are covered in rust and black spot. The non-diseased rose is infested with earwigs</p>
<p>A hydrangea that a hard frost may have killed last winter</p>
<p>A pendulous datura or brugmansia (Wedding Bells? It's toxic but lovely looking) which is decades old</p>
<p>Lambs ears</p>
<p>Purple irises</p>
<p>A 4 foot Japanese Maple, so beautiful</p>
<p>5 abandoned bonsai</p>
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<p><strong>Other stuff to rant about:</strong></p>
<p>-I'm jerry-rigging some old trash cans into compost bins.</p>
<p>-I'm considering manure</p>
<p>-I want to solarize a field of weeds in the backyard (covering with a plastic sheet, moistening and letting the sun boil all of the weeds dead)</p>
<p>-The front yard is overwhelming, and I really just need to forget about rehabbing the back yard.</p>
<p>-My dream is to get rid of the lawn/sod and replace it with other stuff</p>
<p>-I want to rip out the "Heavenly Bamboo" but I've been out-voted</p>
<p>-I want to try some sulfur on the roses. I've cut off all the rust and spots and would prefer a more..."natural" fungus inhibitor</p>
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<p><br>
I love the DIY feel of this thread and how many of you are re-purposing objects for your garden. LOVE IT.<br>
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<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>Tech Tee</strong> <a href="/forum/thread/74111/the-garden-is-in-what-s-in-yours#post_2002790"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-bottom:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-right:0px solid;"></a><br><br>
Holy crap Bux! That's a lot of stuff.<br><br>
By the way, I have heard (never tried them, not sure i ever will) that Lamb's Ears ARE edible.</div>
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Yeah, it is! Lamb's</p>
<p>Ears are pretty fuzzy, not sure I'd want to hear it. But it does seem like something that Victorian/Edwardian era folks would've had in their salads.</p>
<p>Hm.</p>
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<p>Funny Freudian slip I made there with "hear" instead of "eat."</p>
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<p>'Cuz they're...lambs EARS.</p>
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<p><laughing><br><br>
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<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>Buxtehude</strong> <a href="/forum/thread/74111/the-garden-is-in-what-s-in-yours#post_2002795"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-bottom:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-right:0px solid;"></a><br><br><p><br>
I love the DIY feel of this thread and how many of you are re-purposing objects for your garden. LOVE IT.<br>
 </p>
<p><br>
Yeah, it is! Lamb's</p>
<p>Ears are pretty fuzzy, not sure I'd want to hear it. But it does seem like something that Victorian/Edwardian era folks would've had in their salads.</p>
<p>Hm.</p>
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<p>Regarding my on-the-fly composter, I've been thinking about it for a week.</p>
<p>I couldn't justify buying a fancy plastic compost tumbler and further cluttering up the house. And buying more plastic crap seemed contrary to the composting ethic of re-using stuff. But I didn't want to waste time making a flimsy chickenwire "cage" to hold the compost either.</p>
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<p>This house has lots of crap lying around, including old Rubbermaid garbage cans. Eureka!</p>
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<p>So, I sawed off the bottom of a can for drainage. I need to find a way to drill holes into the sides for more air circulation. Tonight is the composts' first night of existence. It's sleeping outside alone, under the persimmon tree.</p>
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<p>I hope racoons don't get into it. Or my poodle.</p>
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<p>It's interesting that you put it in the garage. So, did it ever get warm or was it a cold compost?</p>
<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>RaisingArizonainNH</strong> <a href="/forum/thread/74111/the-garden-is-in-what-s-in-yours#post_2002804"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-bottom:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-right:0px solid;"></a><br><br><p>What did you say?</p>
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<p> Repurposing ? That is the only way!</p>
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<p> My husband made out compost bin from an old 55 gallon plastic drum from work. He cut a half circle opening on top and made a small door at the bottom.  I put in the garbage all year with some leaves and other stuff and in the spring it is DIRT! I love it .</p>
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<p>  We had a wicked  t-storm earlier.. but now we are getting a nice steady rain. The frogs are thrumming and I KNOW  my grass seed would be singing .... if it could.</p>
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<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>markalan</strong> <a href="/forum/thread/74111/the-garden-is-in-what-s-in-yours#post_2002322"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-bottom:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-right:0px solid;"></a><br><br><p>I didn't have time to put in a big garden this year, so I took some old garbage cans that had holes in the bottom, cut them in 1/2 and used them as planters - .  Got a nice crop of tomatoes going, some strawberries, and just planted some red and yellow peppers</p>
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Now that's a clever idea.</p>
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<p>It's amazing what you can do with old garbage cans.<br>
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