Do you have a garden?

I know there is a social group for gardeners, but I'm just stating this thread to find out about your gardens.

And to invite all gardeners to join the social group.

My garden is mostly flowers, but this year I just bought 6 tomato plants and a sweet basil plant I have to plant them in my flower bed as that is the only sunny location in my yard.

What do you grow? What zone are you in? etc....

I live in an apartment so only have my balcony to garden on, but it's a rather large balcony so I do quite a bit. I have six hanging boxes that I always put petunias in they do quite well. Then I have 3 very large potters that I put begonias, and snap dragons and rosemary in. I do a whole whack of different herbs in pots, always lots of basil, some years it grows, some years it doesn't. I always have 2 geraniums - one at each end of the balcony. The only vegetable I grow is thai chili peppers which I harvest and dry every fall. I love sitting out on my balcony in the evening looking at all my herbs and flowers.

But it's still a couple of weeks too early for me to put my garden in.

--splitimage

My garden is ugly. My dogs don't respect it. I have two beautiful rosemary bushes but my male dog thinks they're a toilet

Thank you Splitimage!

So I'm interested in what you do with the basil and is it "Sweet Basil"? I think I want my one plant for pizza and sauces. I have no idea of how much I'll be harvesting from just one plant.

I've not ever eatten pesto, but think that is one of the things I'll try. Do you have any recipes that you use your thai peppers in?

Oh, you are up north in Canada! May 15th is our projected last frost date here. Or earlier if you go with zone 6. Some charts say zone 5 some say zone 6 for my zip code. I have some very shelters areas in the yard, so I'm sure zone 6 plants could survive, most winters anyway. But it's all in the shade there.

Oh, I'm sorry your dogs make you see your garden as ugly Sabrina! My dog, Jack also pees on the corner plants by the driveway, thinks that is his toilet too. We used to have this dog, Buddy, who would only poop up in the bushes - of anyone's yard! He had to find a slight hill before he would take care of business. What a trooper, or is that what a pooper?????

But the plants in my yard now are hardy or like his pee, because they are perking up just fine this spring

Do you have a real "garden", or is it your landscaping/yard?

Oooh...tomatoes and basil....add some fresh mozzarella, olive oil and vinegar and you've got a nice summer salad! I love basil. It can be used in all sorts of Italian cooking, not just red sauces or pesto. You can use it to mildly sweeten savory dishes quite nicely. Not sure if you have cable TV, but there is a great show on the Cooking Channel called Everyday Italian. The cook uses a lot of fresh basil and comes up with some great ideas.

My lettuce are only half an inch tall; I'm getting too impatient for them since they're cool weather crops; I may just go out and buy a flat of larger, ready-to-eat plants My peas and beans are looking good though but this good weather has held up for the last 3-4 days and I think I need to get the hoses out and hooked up so I can water. I don't know about the two tomato plants; they were looking sickly for a week or so after I planted them (yellow "branches" at the bottom I kept picking off) and they haven't grown very much but they have lots of flowers! They might do okay.

I didn't know there was a social group for gardner's. Thanks!

I have most of my veggies and herbs in containers so I can grow them year round and move them indoors in the winter months, zone 5. Such a joy. The garden outside is mainly bulbs, annuals every year, with flowering bushes, bushes, and trees but I do put some time into maintaining it.

Most my time is spent with all the containers, veggies included. There is two story sun porch here in the house, so I have a few giant schflerra, palms, big poinsettias, and various other ivies in it; looks like a jungle. I've been able to grow crotons, amaryllis, and miniature roses in containers too. My newest addition is an orchid and smaller gardenia, which was a gift and just smells lovely, but are challenging me at the moment. Oh are they challenging me. Everything did at first though.

This is more than you wanted to know I'm sure. I took to gardening later in life and love it. Keeps me grounded.

I have both veggies and flowers in my yard. In terms of edible stuff I have fruits like grapes, watermelon and cantaloupe. For veggies I have things like okra, purple hulled peas, snow peas. I'm trying Yukon Gold potatoes for the first time this year.

I bought a new mobile home a couple of years ago. I've been having a great time re-landscaping around it.

An insane work schedule and caring for my mother the last few years kept me out of the garden. It feels so goos to be back out grubbing in thre dirt tending to my plants again!

Gardening really helps to ground me too. Sometimes it feels almost like it will put me into the ground, 6 feet under when I over do it and my back or some other body part starts to act out

I have watched some of the cooking channel from time to time. I'll definatly check out Everything Italian for more Baseil ideas.

I had a beautiful garden at my old house. This house was a new build and we called the backyard Kasmir after the Led Zeplin song. Slowly I am coaxing a lovely garden out of it. It makes me happy to work in it. I hope that my husband decides to stay and that I can keep working on my lovely garden with him.

That is nice for you to love working in the garden. Hope you get to continue. My thoughts are with you.

I have a veggie garden and a flower garden.. Planted tomatoes so far.. Need to get the cucumbers in but it rains so much I can't work in the garden.. And I have to get the winter squash in.. Planting spaghetti squash and buttercup which I think is the same as butternut?

Have 4 Endless Summer Hydrangeas to plant and have no idea where to plant them.. I want to plant they everywhere there is room lol.. Problem is they like morning sun and afternoon shade... Planted all kinds of flower seeds and they are growing.. Slowly but surely...

Now if that lady from Bangladesh brags about how big her tomato plants and flowers are I am going to scream.. lol She looks at my "gardens" and has that smile that is laughing inside. Really irks me big time... Never thought I'd get angry over veggie and flower plants.. So I work extra hard on the gardens. Feeding... watering... weeding... AM gonna make those babies grow bigger than hers .... Am so tired working in the yard that I am in bed by l0pm .. And I ache all over too... But for some stupid reason, I love gardening.... my mind loves it.. my body doesn't...

Maybe we can start a tomato growing contest Radio! What have you planted this year, what tomato varieties?

I'm just going to be happy if I get some eatting tomatoes. Don't really are how big the fruits get.

Gardening is great for the mind. It looks like the sun is shinning today and will get to about 66 degrees with only a chance of rain. I didn't get out in the wet soil yesterday, but hope to today.

I'd stil like some hydrangea plants, will go get cuttings from someone down the street. I have the rooting hormone powder totry my luck. Don't know the varitey of the plants I'm getting, but know how beautful they are. Love them a lot too Radioflyer.

Maybe I'll sprinkle some carrots and lettuce and radishes today. Almost gave up on those with all the rain we've had here.

Enjoy gardening so much.

....A tomato growing contest made me smile. Don't think my tomatoes qualify for a contest, just yet.. lol....I can say at this point they are growing.. Planted big boy, beef steak and cherry tomatoes. For whatever reason, I am not sure why, I wanted to plant everthing from seeds.. Maybe buying tomato plants would have been a better idea...

Planted white cucumbers and some other cucumbers yesterday. Got the spaghetti squash and butternut planted too.. Hope it isn't too late... Planted a few strawberry plants last year and was surprised to find giant strawberries growing. YUMM...Two are turning red and I do believe I will eat them before I tell anyone they are growing..

Haven't planted the hydrangeas yet. Need to find a spot where they will have morning sun and afternoon shade...These plants are going to take some work. Hope to find a spot to plant them tomorrow... Might plant a rose tree in the large planter in the front yard... Then I will be done planting unless I think of something else to plant....

I planted a lot of flower seeds. Can't wait to see the flowers...

Good luck with your tomatoes and carrots and lettuce. BTW, what varities of tomatoes did you plant...

My tomato plants are all heirlooms: 2 Rutgers, 2 Black Krim and 2 something or others. I dont remember right now! no cherry tomatoes. They are growing! No flowers yet. In fact other than looking 'perky', I don't think they have done much growing yet.

I did get a small row of my lettuce mix (seeds) in on Sat along with 3 red sweet bell peppers. Those are from a red pepper I bought at the store and was so delicsious I had to save the seeds. I've never done 'seed saving' before. So I hope I get some peppers from them. It has just been so wet here

It is raining hard right now! Hope the lettuce seed hasn't just washed away. Radish and carrots and all the other seeds are still in their cute little packages waiting for more dry weather.

Contest???? Don't really think I'll get a wopper this year, since I'm not growing any known for their size. But I will keep track of how many I get or what much weight in tomatoes I get from the different varieties. I'll have to look each varity up to see if they are considered high yield plants.

Mariglow or mariglobe is the one varity I didn't remember. All 3 are commonly know heirlooms.