Maggot Garden Thread

[The AD]

Throw the slugs in a nice Caesar salad and tell everyone they're anchovies.

[Eldo]

Never thought I'd spend time on a nice summer day working in the yard until I bought a fixer-upper house four years ago. The back yard was basically a sunken patch of dandelions. I didn't know anything about plants or landscaping, my main plan was to build a garage.

Even though the house was on one of those half-width city lots, I decided there was enough space to build a garage and still do a patio area with some plants. I hired a Bobcat driver to do the initial levelling, and family and friends helped out with the garage. Otherwise did it myself with a lot of trial and error.

I went with low maintenance landscaping since the climate in Calgary is so harsh (Zone 3). The only vegetables I plant each year are tomatoes, which do really well along a south-facing wall of the garage.

Here's the progression of the yard over the last three summers. I hope to some day have a house with a bigger yard and more space to do it right.

[The AD]

Nice sequence, Eldo! Things really came together nicely. I see you have a rainwater barrel. Good man!

[P_McPoser]

Eldo, that's pretty sweet how you can see through the window that the garage instantly became overrun by "stuff" he.

[lemon boy]

Awesome Job Eldo, damn!

[snowsprite]

asparagus

You have patience...and stinky pee!

Sprite

[Eldo]

I see you have a rainwater barrel. Good man!

You can't see them all in the photo, but there are four rain barrels in total. That lasts up to a month, even if it doesn't rain a drop. (Which can happen here during the summer.)

I run a sprinkler on the front lawn maybe a couple times a year, otherwise the hose is reserved for washing my mountain bike.

[Steven S. Dallas]

Wow, Eldo, that's awesome!

[mr_gyptian]

We get snails by the bucketful. Hate those things.

The worst is when one is in the grass... and you're walking in bare feet and didn't see it but feel and hear it when it crunches. YUCK YUCK YUCK YUCK....

pour beer in an ash tray (or like device) and your snail/slug problem will be solved.

[StokeSmack]

Dwarf apples and pears, semi-dwarf peach, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, various peppers and herbs. Deer eat them all. We had invasive mint, and now grow water mint in our fountain (1/2 wiskey barrel with a plastic insert and a cheap little pump). That works fairly well - it can't go anywhere and smells really good with the water splashing on it.

[lobido]

We bought our place here in the Virgin Islands last August. The yard is about an acre, and is landscaped pretty outrageously. We have orange, lemon, sugar apple, soursop, avocado, mango and banana trees. I haven't a clue, as yet, how to tend the things. Mostly I clean up palm fronds. Had a stalk of bananas come in (a bunch?), they were the stubby sort. I expected overly tart and woody, but they were sweet and had good texture. My wife makes rounds each day to find what goodies may be ripe.

[shera]

Wow amazing pics that remind me so much of home

I hope this thread goes on and on

gyptian will you please pm me your phone number
this is a project that powderfarmer and i might do for you together

[lemon boy]

Bastardo! Frost this AM. Looks like our sorrel plants are gonna need trimmed out b/c all the leaves were frozen (even covered) this AM...we'll see it is pretty hardy. My tomato plants appear to have survived though (wallowater = pretty sweet).

Biggest worry right now though is one of our apple trees was in full bloom before the weather turned and it produces much tastier apples than the one that hasn't bloomed yet

[lobido]

Decided to check the crops this a.m. Some pics:
Sugar apples:


bananas

mangos

flowering vine on mahogany tree

[Yeti]

We've had frost the past 2 nights as well. Cilantro is all I have out right now*, and that's one herb with which I have bad luck. Anyone grow cilantro successfully? I started a bunch of seeds indoors, but the sprouts all wilted (damping off, I suspect.) I'm trying again with many more seeds sewn in a raised outdoor bed.

*(Actually, I also have chives from last year that came back without assistance.)

[The AD]

A few from the last couple days

[lemon boy]

yeti-
we failed last year with the cilantro and are redoing again this year. Chives are super hardy and should always come back, trim the blossoms off too (ours were actually growing in part of the lawn and got regulaily mowed before we moved them into the garden.

The Ad- Beautiful garden dude.

Our spinach, radishes and some brocholi have started to sprout. This week we'll add another tomato plant and a few pepper plants in the wallowaters. Need to order a couple of trees this week too.

[shera]

I'm kinda scared right now, but I'm going the whole hog with my garden biz. Just got the go ahead on a small perennial flower garden, about 100 square feet. Xeric but showy, which should be a real pleasure. But I need some more jobs right now and I need to get a regular weekly client list of gardens that need to be maintained.

Any advice/support on this would be so appreciated...

[lemon boy]

Rock on SheRa. Get that tightwad Mr_Gyptian to kick down some ducats for some gardening

Mine:
An onion just srpouted yesterday plus more of everything that got going the other day. Last night we picked up another two started tomato plants (Black & Mortgage Lifter) and two started pepper plants (Giant Marconi + Big Chilie). All safely packed in w-o-w's, which at this point I'm pretty much a believer in, the water froze during a cold snap here but the tomatos lived.

Our grass however is looking seriously shitty.

[cloudpeak]

The AD, lovely garden!

[shera]

Rock on SheRa. Get that tightwad Mr_Gyptian to kick down some ducats for some gardening

Under way!!!

What a ghetto, duct-taped operation I've got going right now. Borrowing the copier at A Basin, my mom and friends doing my advertising artwork, putting ads up at places like the laundrymat, using Walmart for my wholesaler....Sheesh.

Fortunately I found some great people to do hardscaping and irrigation, so I can focus on my expertise - plants, soil, design. And I've got a great list of friends willing to help out if I get lucky enough to be overloaded with work.

And my work from last year is starting to sprout and giving me so much joy and confidence. Spring has sprung!

[cloudpeak]

More spring:




Bunchberries & False Solomon's Seal


Columbine


And Bunchberries in bloom

[shera]

Ooooh, aaaaaah.

[lemon boy]

Well, got some more seeds in the ground, some under the little hothouse caps:
cuces
corn
watermelon
cantaloupe
collards
basil
okra

we also picked up two gooseberries (pixwell), one blueberry and one golden raspberry that will get planted as soon as our evergreen stumps are ground out (this week hopefully) and I can till in some manure and put up a fence (dogs). This year will be only moderate for fruit but next year is gonna be insane.

[Buzzworthy]

Garden was tilled yesterday as I have been battling a mean case of Mono for the last 8 weeks. Mrs. Buzz is the gardener though.

I do not know what is planned for this year, but it always is good. Large garden, will have to get up pics from previous years. Good stuff.

We have wild Rasberry bushes that I have tied up now too and fresh spearmint. Great for Mojitos!