Monday, August 2, 2010

More tips and junk in the garden


Ever notice when you return after even a short vacation, that your garden looks like it's gone crazy on you?


June


August

Water tip - load your veggies with water daily and you'll have the sweetest produce EVER. The lettuce is amazing this year. It's so crispy and so perfect it looks fake.


May - dreary.


August - what wheelbarrow?

Flower planting tip - stuff your planting areas silly so you get a grand overgrown type of explosion when your flowers are at their best.

Container planting tip - drill holes, then cover the holes with rocks before adding your soil to provide the best drainage possible.


Shelter tip - try planting some flowers near something else that offers partial shade so your flowers survive the hottest part of summer, as well as protection from heavy rain.

The grapevine has made a big impact on how well this wheelbarrow gone mad is doing. I have to keep snapping new growth back, but it's worth the tinkering. The planter looks amazing.


I added the old wagon wheel for abit of extra junk appeal. :) Notice the status is being held upright by the handles from the wheelbarrow?


Pea planting tip - snap peas are cool.. you get flowers first, then food! :)

Did you know snap peas bloom before bringing you pods? I didn't! What a bonus!



The peas went so crazy on me, I needed to borrow one of my old rusty headboards to hold them up!


May ho hum.


August awesomeness.

But not everything went flawless in the garden this year. My lovely row of deep garnet geraniums (below) simply stopped blooming. The green was gorgeous but the blooms went bye bye.

Annoyed, I started chemical feeding them with the plan on doing it once a week. And watched them daily to see if there would be progress.


Week one (above) - the entire bush was littered with the buds!


Week 2-3 (above) - in full bloom! 

Holey chemical feed, this stuff really works! 

Flower blooming tip - keep those pretty blooms booming with chemical feeder once a week.  (I used Miracle Grow, mix granules with water)

My sweet neighbour Kenny watered all these flowers and veggies while we were camping. I'm paying him back with some chocolate bars and gum. Don't kids take the coolest payment ever? :)

How's your own garden progressing? 
How do you keep your flowers blooming?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In other news...


I'm back in the saddle this week. I feel like I've missed so much! Thanks for allowing me to enjoy my little holiday with my son. :) Stories and pics to soon follow. We did start a new DIY project just today so more on that too!


Thanks for the amazing SNS these past two weekends!  Scroll down or click HERE to visit all the incredible projects.  There are TONS!  Next weekend is kitchen islands.



And how's your Gitter Done project coming along??? Linkup goes up late Tuesday night. See ya then!

29 comments:

  1. Oooh! I love the before and after pictures of your garden. The wheel barrow looks awesome.

    For fertilizer, I discovered Fert-i-lome Blooming and Rooting Soluble Plant food. The make-up is 9-59-8. I asked at our local garden nursery that always has a beautiful entire wall of cascading callibrachoa every year. I asked them what they used. They recommended using this fertilizer once every 3 weeks. On the other weeks, use Miracle Grow.... works really well!

    Dead head like crazy and your flowers will bloom even more. Those are my little tips!

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  2. Those of us with the black gopher...line your planting beds with chicken wire (sides and bottoms). This will keep them from eating your entire garden!!
    Great picks of before and after!
    I too love the wheelbarrow!!
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  3. Your garden is so amazing! I'm super jealous, because I was unable to plant a garden this year. :( Keep up the good work!!

    http://yourworkistodiscoveryourworld.blogspot.com/

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  4. Your garden is lovely. I like the old iron bed it looks like a garden gate. My flowers have really struggled through this heat, but there is always the fall.

    hugs
    Sissie

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  5. Gorgeous! My only talent in the garden is trying to keep plants alive! :(

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  6. Lovely! We just got back, and our garden was heavily watered...and the weeds are a little terrifying. Today's to do list includes tending the beds...

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  7. Great advise! I just returned after 2 weeks with no one watering. I lost a few but a lot are just overgrown. I do need to feed them. You have encouraged me.
    Thanks!
    KarenSue

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  8. Gorgeous garden and thanks for the advice. I will definitely use it!

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  9. Love the gardens! My veggie garden is going crazy! I have gotten 30 or so cukes so far and more are popping up! I mean how many ways can you prepare a cuke?

    I do have a gardening tip for those with Japanese beetles. Go to the grocery store and get a bulb of garlic. Break it apart into cloves and plant one clove at the base of the plant the bugs are eating. They will leave the plant alone and you will grow garlic also! It looks like a tall spike so I put it in the back of the plant where it is hidden.

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  10. These are wonderful garden tips! I see such a huge difference when I feed my flowers and vegetables.
    Your gardens are lovely! You must keep up after the weeds as well.
    I am so imspired by your garden post! Now off to the front porch to feed my hanging plants!
    Yvonne

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  11. Your garden looks amazing...by looks a little sad...lots of weeds, can't seem to keep up with them.

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  12. Hi Donna, what kind of plant is that tiny ivy growing in your wheelbarrow? I have huge English ivy growing in our backyard that we are trying to get rid of, but I'd love the look of those tiny leaves cascading down from a small planter. Thanks, and your plants look beautiful!

    These pics make me dream of the day I can stop working so hard on the inside and start working on the yard (we just recently installed carpet, so we're a few months away from being able to focus on anything other than basic floor reno).

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  13. Everything looks great. Peas here are done, they were nuts...now the cabbage is bigger than my head and the pole beans are an easy 7 or 8 feet tall! It is so fun to take photos throughout the season, everything grows so fast!

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  14. HOLY GREEN THUMB! WOW you ROCK the garden! I'm in love with your photos!
    I received a blog award yesterday and I'd like to pass it on to you as well! I know everyone is busy so if you don't have time to do it that's fine I just wanted you to know that I HEART your blog! It's called A BLOG OF SUBSTANCE AWARD, and it's on my blog if you want to check it out!

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  15. beautiful... your yard looks so pretty. Mine hasn't made it past constructing my raised beds yet. I think it's a two-year project. Oy.

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  16. SO beautiful! Thanks for the inspiration! I love gardens!
    Rebecca@RootsAndWingsCo

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  17. DEADHEAD, DEADHEAD, DEADHEAD, and I am not talking about the Grateful Dead followers! My grandma taught me to deadhead(remove faded blooms) from your flowers and they will keep blooming and bloom more. I agree about the water, I traded a neighbor her time for mine. It's good to have good neighbors:)

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  18. Your gardens look amazing! Love the before and after shots!

    Tammy

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  19. Everything is burning up here and the rabbits are digging up the flowers. So, things are not going very well in the garden department. I just stepped outside and I think their is a snake in a flower pot that is sitting on a chair - oh my!

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  20. I also wanted to say that your garden looks like it came straight out of a magazine. So glad that your neighbor boy kept it watered while you were away.

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  21. You are so cool. Why can't you live next door to me instead of yappy-dog-lady?

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  22. Oh - btw, I would love to have you link on momspiration monday. If you get a sec. That wheelbarrow idea is so lovely!
    http://www.momsbyheart.net/2010/08/momspiration-monday.html

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  23. I'd post photos of my garden but I would be horribly embarrased. It did so terrible this year. I have whined and whined about it: how chickweedy and sparse things grew. Is that green rhubarb I see? DO you do anything with it?

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  24. Your plants are looking awesome! Mine aren't doing as great in this 105 + degree heat here in Texas! Yikes! Anywho, thanks for posting and giving me some ideas for my flower beds!!!

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  25. I'm heading out to buy some Miracle Grow! Your gardens are so gorgeous, you really have a green thumb....and the wheel barrow (wow)!

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  26. Yep...#25 Super Mom and me are in the same boat of fire...I have to check my mail to make sure I'm still on earth...think'n this could be close to Hades :) But seriously, the succulents are doing great this year. Grass is green for maybe another week...flowers have pooped out, just too dang hot in Texas.

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  27. Heyy! I just wanted to let you know that I enjoyed your post so much, that I decided to post it on my blog! Here's the link if you would like to check it out!

    http://yourworkistodiscoveryourworld.blogspot.com/2010/08/internet-went-out-at-work.html

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  28. Hi!
    I finally got an old wheelbarrow to do one like yours. But could you please tell me what type of plants you planted in your wheelbarrow???
    Thank you!
    Alicia
    alicia9265 (at) hotmail.com

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