2017 Gardens

hoffse

It's a bit early, but my Johnny's catalog arrived, so I'm feeling inspired.  What are your gardening plans for 2017?

jtmh2012

I killed off a good bit of the front yard last fall just before the temperatures dropped.  So once it warms up, I'll need to reseed it.  Trying to kill off a bunch of wire grass in the front yard.

labro

Edible garden - Year 3 on asparagus means I. CAN. FINALLY. HARVEST!!! Rhubarb (year 3 so should be a big harvest), cherry tomatoes, big boy tomatoes, okra, various hot peppers (birds eye, jalapeno, etc.), butternut squash, spaghetti squash, green onions, cucumbers

I would really love to build some raised beds so I could do some greens and broccoli but I don't know if that will happen this year or not. I suppose I just need to come up with a design and make it happen.

Flower garden - Plant my mom's fall mums that she bought this year to fill in some empty space. Add some reseeding "annuals" like zinnia, cone flower, Queen Anne's lace for a "wildflower" garden type of area in our big front island. Break up some hosta bulbs and spread them out a bit more.

In the yard - pray hard that my azaleas come back ok this spring. They lost a lot of leaves during the drought and I'm really hoping the entire bush isn't dead. Continue our mission to reseed the remaining fescue areas with bermuda. The fescue is so picky and with all of our extra sun that we get after removing a ton of trees it's just not doing well.

ETA: I forgot we started some muscadine seeds last year. The vines are all around 6-8 inches long and in a pot right now. This spring I may see if I can find a good spot along our fence line to plant them and let them go nuts.

hoffse

H and I have two beds, two large pots, and 6 smaller pots, plus some space along our back fence that gets full sun.

I think for the beds we are going to do two kinds of large tomatoes (slicing and canning), and 1-2 kinds of cherry tomatoes.  Our cherry tomatoes were the star last year.  I got hundreds from one plant.

We also want to try tomatillos this year.  We've been using them more often in our cooking, but they are pretty expensive to buy.  If I could get even 1 round of tomatillos out of a plant the seeds would pay for themselves. 2 or more rounds, and we will be money ahead.

We are also thinking bell, poblano, banana, and jalapeno peppers.  This year I'm going to do 2-3 plants for the bell and poblanos and then probably 1 plant for the banana peppers and jalapenos.

Finally, I want to try okra in the beds.

We're thinking pole beans, a couple kinds cucumbers to pickle, and some charentais and pie pumpkins along our fence.  We can use the fence to help them climb.  We plan to replace the fence in a couple years, so I'm happy to let plants take it over for now.

Then sweet potatoes in the big pots and herbs in the small pots.  Cilantro, basil, and mint grow like a weed here.  Chives also do pretty well.

Last year we tried brussels sprouts and cauliflower.  They did OK, but took forever to grow.  We loooove brussels sprouts so might give those another shot, but I don't think we are going to bother with the cauliflower this year.  We did bush beans last year, and that was also OK, but we didn't have a high enough yield.  I've read you get a better yield with pole beans, so that's why we are switching.

I am trying to convince H to let me get some small citrus trees to plant, but he's not convinced yet.  That one is a work in progress, lol.

cbee817

No edible garden for us- we live in a city like neighborhood. No room and we have rats on occasion- can't even fill bird feeders and we are given huge garbage totes by the village to ensure that our garbage is all contained. Oh well- we do have a farmers market that is walkable from May-October so it works out. We stick to flowers- hope to add some dahlias this year since we had them in our wedding... reminds me of summer. 

hoffse

@labro how has the rhubarb treated you?  Do you need to plant it in the shade?  I thought it might be too hot here, but it's one of my favorites, so if it grows....

formerlyjessica490

We don't' eat enough veggies so a veggie garden would be a waste for us

labro

@hoffse My veggie garden gets partial shade in the afternoon and I keep it planted in a corner so it gets shaded by other garden plants and it's done very well. Even during the drought last year it wasn't THAT effected even when I wasn't the greatest at watering. I will say, I didn't get super red stems, and I don't know if that's because of the variety I planted or because of the conditions. I noticed I had more red stems during cooler weather than I did during the summer when I feel like you typically harvest.

julieanne912

Grass.  I just want some friggen grass in the backyard so the dogs won't keep trampling in so much dirt.  Plan is to lay sod for about 2000 sq ft, and then grass seed with native grass for the rest of it.  We have a large leachfield back there, so hopefully the native grass will take over there too (one end is already quite green haha!). 

But otherwise it just depends on the budget.  We'd like to put in a few more trees, and we'll need to do the sprinkler system if we do the sod.

hoffse

formerlyjessica490 said:

We don't' eat enough veggies so a veggie garden would be a waste for us

That was H's thought when I proposed making a real garden last year.  I really campaigned for a garden though, so he eventually gave in... and we found that our veggie intake went way up because we had them around all the time. 

jtmh2012

julieanne912 said:

Grass.  I just want some friggen grass in the backyard so the dogs won't keep trampling in so much dirt.  Plan is to lay sod for about 2000 sq ft, and then grass seed with native grass for the rest of it.  We have a large leachfield back there, so hopefully the native grass will take over there too (one end is already quite green haha!).

I thought having dogs and grass was an impossible combination?

Xstatic3333

jtmh2012 said:

julieanne912 said:

Grass.  I just want some friggen grass in the backyard so the dogs won't keep trampling in so much dirt.  Plan is to lay sod for about 2000 sq ft, and then grass seed with native grass for the rest of it.  We have a large leachfield back there, so hopefully the native grass will take over there too (one end is already quite green haha!).

I thought having dogs and grass was an impossible combination?

Ours does okay. I think it might be that male dogs are more grass-friendly than female? It doesn't kill the grass where he pees, it actually leaves these deep green hyper-fertilized spots, probably from the nitrogen. I think every dog's pH is different. He also doesn't dig, so that helps. Our lawn kind of sucks anyway, but it's not his fault.

H wants to work on improving our lawn, but I'm a big no-chemical stick in the mud so that battle continues. We'll probably compromise on reseeding and compost for fertilizer early in the spring. He wants to also try some moss killer. Meh. I like moss. 

For vegetables, it will be a rebuilding year. Last year sucked. We do have a shady spot where I'd like to try rhubarb and/or asparagus, but we have anxiety about the fact that rhubarb leaves are pretty poisonous. Our dog doesn't eat random leaves, but who knows what the kid will do. We'd also like to focus on tomatoes, I'd like to try winter squash for the first time, and I'll keep doing hot peppers in containers. That's been my most successful crop overall. I'll buy my tomato plants from the local high school plant sale in the spring; starting them inside just isn't going to happen this year. I'm also going to do eggplant again, but get it a nice sunny spot. I'm giving up on greens of any sort. The bunnies in my neighborhood are just far too aggressive.

LillibetteV

julieanne912 said:

Grass.  I just want some friggen grass in the backyard so the dogs won't keep trampling in so much dirt.  Plan is to lay sod for about 2000 sq ft, and then grass seed with native grass for the rest of it.  We have a large leachfield back there, so hopefully the native grass will take over there too (one end is already quite green haha!). 

But otherwise it just depends on the budget.  We'd like to put in a few more trees, and we'll need to do the sprinkler system if we do the sod.

hahaha, SAME! We are the embarrassing yard in town lol. This summer the plan is to get grass and a small raised bed for our first attempt at a few veggies. And to rip out this huge ugly rhododendron that I can't stand. I feel a little guilty because it's a mature plant and for 2 weeks a year it looks beautiful...but the other 50 it's just so ugly.  

formerlyjessica490

hoffse said:

formerlyjessica490 said:

We don't' eat enough veggies so a veggie garden would be a waste for us

That was H's thought when I proposed making a real garden last year.  I really campaigned for a garden though, so he eventually gave in... and we found that our veggie intake went way up because we had them around all the time. 

Good point....lol

julieanne912

Re: dogs and grass
Well, our dogs are pretty good about going potty over in the sideyard where there's gravel and compacted asphalt, and it's actually fenced off so we can keep them over there if we want to.  Remember, I live on over an acre, so the grass we want to do is just a small portion of the yard.  I'm just sick of all the dirt, our yard right now is 900 sq ft of patio, and the rest is dirt (other than the side yard).  It's even more fun when it's muddy, because it's the type of mud that is basically clay, so it's really hard to clean off of paws.  We have to usher the dogs into the side yard whenever it's muddy so they don't go running through it all.  Having some sod and native grass will help out with that a lot.

It was actually better before we did all the work last summer, because the native grass/weeds helped to control the dirt, but they dug everything up this summer to re-grade and put in the patio etc.  

I think dogs and grass is more of an issue in a smaller yard where the dogs are constantly running/;peeing on the grass.  

abrewer5

I'd really like to kill our current grass (combo of weeds like clover and crab grass) and put down new seed, but I think the fall is the ideal time to plant seed so I don't know if that will work.

Is there such thing as a weed killer that doesn't completely destroy your grass? I honestly haven't done much research.  

I'd also like to put stones or bricks in front of the garden to hopefully slow the weeds down from taking over the front line of plants. It drives me crazy. We live in a town house so our garden is tiny, but the weeds take over quickly.

labro

Re: Dogs

We don't have many issues. Our dog is an inside dog and we don't leave her outside for very long periods of time. I think the stupid squirrels dig up the yard more than she ever has. Our front and backyard are also pretty big so she has lots of room to run around and no one area gets stressed out too much. More than that, it really has to do with the fact that we resodded our backyard with bermuda grass. Her pee doesn't typically kill the grass unless she goes too much in one spot, but the bermuda recovers quickly and creeps over the brown spot within a week or two usually. It's also great if you have a ton of high traffic in your yard because again, it creeps and just covers over the thin areas.

formerlyjessica490

We had a lot of grass re-done in our front yard by a landscaper, so now we bring the dog to one of our mulch beds to pee...it has 1 big hosta plant in it so I don't care if it gets destroyed down the road it's easy enough to replace. We also have a dirt area in back so we try to get him to go there too.

We have a big violet problem in the backyard...they look so nice in the spring, but I know they are just a nasty weed....the landscaper said it's a lot of maintenance to control/kill them so we are just going to leave them be for now....

short+sassy

I know some of us have talked about this before but, I swear, one of these days I'm getting artificial grass.  I would LOVE to have a beautiful lush backyard of green grass year round.  But I have a dog.  Most of my next door tenants have had dogs.  The current ones have 3, though one is a Chihuahua.

Not only that, but the middle of the yard is always in sunlight, which brutalizes the grass in the summer.

We have a rosemary bush and aloe in our small front yard.  In the back, I keep wanting to plant a papaya tree, but we haven't got around to it yet.  We have a big raised bed.  We use a small end of it for compost.  We have some peppers (forget which kind) and cilantro that grows into an enormous bush during its season.

I forget what its called, but we also have a big plant that attracts Monarch butterflies.  When they are on their annual journey, back and forth to Mexico, we'll usually have a few of them fluttering around all the time.  It's pretty! 

smetter04

For once we don't have anything major planned for this year regarding landscaping. We'll need to refresh the mulch and purchase a few more bags of river rock to finish covering the area we started last year. Our big issue is rabbits and their affinity for eating my favorite plants. Last year they ate all my petunias, and in the past have liked our rose bushes, burning bushes, etc. This fall we used chicken wire to fence off the at-risk plants, but hopefully the rabbits don't move onto the other parts of the garden.

H and I have always wanted to plant a veggie garden but haven't had the time or energy to dedicate to one. I'm hoping that once our (future) kids are old enough, that we'll have more motivation to start one.

vlagrl35

well we are finally going to build that rock wall in front of our house this spring and plant some new vegetation.  wanted to do it last year but didn't want to spend the money.

vlagrl35

It also be nice to get rid of our moles that we've had issues with for 3 years now!  Our neighbor won't do anything about theirs so they come into our yard. It's so bad in their yard - it feels all mushy when you walk on their grass.  DH is temped to put a whole bunch of poison in their yard this spring to help kill them off.

smerka

I plan to make a new bed along our back fence. One half is done but I'd like to balance it out. And I'd like to do another in a dead corner of our side yard where we keep the hose. It's a hill so it will make mowing easier. 

In the fall, my mom helped us prune back a bunch of our bushes so we will see how they survive. 

We have some rhubarb that I really want rip out. My husband always says he will make stuff with it and never does. It gets pretty full sun and does pretty well. I just think it's ugly and for that one time a year my husband wants to make strawberry rhubarb pie, he can buy it at the store. 

labro

vlagrl35 said:

It also be nice to get rid of our moles that we've had issues with for 3 years now!  Our neighbor won't do anything about theirs so they come into our yard. It's so bad in their yard - it feels all mushy when you walk on their grass.  DH is temped to put a whole bunch of poison in their yard this spring to help kill them off.

I don't know if this is a great idea...but I guess I am anti-heavy poison solutions unless it's the absolute last resort. We were getting moles in our yard in a few areas last spring and what seemed to discourage them the most was just going around and stamping down the little ridges they make underground. They'll typically move on after they've eaten up whatever grubs and stuff they are after, and they also don't like super dry, hard soil so you might have luck with cutting back on watering if that's even an option. I know in the spring for us our soil gets pretty soggy with all the rain so we don't have much of a choice here other than to just deal with them as they show up.

julieanne912

Um yeah, I don't think putting poison in a yard that isn't yours is a great idea.

vlagrl35

labro said:

vlagrl35 said:

It also be nice to get rid of our moles that we've had issues with for 3 years now!  Our neighbor won't do anything about theirs so they come into our yard. It's so bad in their yard - it feels all mushy when you walk on their grass.  DH is temped to put a whole bunch of poison in their yard this spring to help kill them off.

I don't know if this is a great idea...but I guess I am anti-heavy poison solutions unless it's the absolute last resort. We were getting moles in our yard in a few areas last spring and what seemed to discourage them the most was just going around and stamping down the little ridges they make underground. They'll typically move on after they've eaten up whatever grubs and stuff they are after, and they also don't like super dry, hard soil so you might have luck with cutting back on watering if that's even an option. I know in the spring for us our soil gets pretty soggy with all the rain so we don't have much of a choice here other than to just deal with them as they show up.

oh DH has tried everything - stomping the trails down daily, poison, smoking them out, and traps.  The only thing that has worked for us is our dog caught one and killed it and DH found their main home and drowned them last year.  The reason though they keep coming back is because of our  neighbor.  He doesn't treat his yard at all.

vlagrl35

He's never put the poison in the back yard because thats where our dog is and honestly he's used the smoke more than the poison.  If you guys have better more affective ideas please let me know.

labro

vlagrl35 said:

He's never put the poison in the back yard because thats where our dog is and honestly he's used the smoke more than the poison.  If you guys have better more affective ideas please let me know.

Trap and remove is the only effective solution. From what I've read, you only get a few moles per acre anyway so it shouldn't take much to at least reduce their activity.

vlagrl35

labro said:

vlagrl35 said:

He's never put the poison in the back yard because thats where our dog is and honestly he's used the smoke more than the poison.  If you guys have better more affective ideas please let me know.

Trap and remove is the only effective solution. From what I've read, you only get a few moles per acre anyway so it shouldn't take much to at least reduce their activity.

he's tried several different traps over the last few years and they've never worked for us.  He even puts them in where he sees the most activity.  Any traps that actually work?

jtmh2012

vlagrl35 said:

He's never put the poison in the back yard because thats where our dog is and honestly he's used the smoke more than the poison.  If you guys have better more affective ideas please let me know.

We used to shoot them with a rifle when we lived in Ohio, but we lived on a 10 acre plot in the middle of nowhere.  Wouldn't work in more populated areas.

Xstatic3333

You could try something like this @vlagrl35:

http://www.hgtv.com/design/outdoor-design/landscaping-and-hardscaping/how-to-get-rid-of-gophers-and-moles

I definitely wouldn't use poison on someone else's property. I would absolutely pursue legal action against anyone who did that to me. On your own property go for it, of course. If you have an HOA you could pursue action through them but other than that I don't think there's much you can do.