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edge
Apr 13, 2010, 2:17 PM
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Gardens!!!
Spring is springing up here in the Great North East; the lawns are greening, the perennials are perennialling, and the dead fall leaves are leaving. Show me what you've got.
Here's a few pics from my herb garden, located about 15 steps from my kitchen door, and 20 paces from my work shop. The work bench where I spend about 75% of my time looks out over this:
Photos from last week, during a lunch break.
The Glory of the Snows are looking good.
As is the Pulmoneria. Love that foliage!
The Inuksuit tries to summon the perennial shoots out of the ground.
The rhubarb is beginning to peek out. We look forward to rhubarb as the first pie fruit of the season.
Someone is starting a nest. Haven't seen them at work, so I don't yet know who the new neighbors will be.
Forsythias always cheer me up in the Spring.
Penny inspects the pond for aquatic life.
There they are!
Mi casa.
Photo taken last May. Those are Cascade Hops that are growing up the trellis. By July the thing is completely covered and provides a nice shade covering on the concrete bench. Alas, since I gave up drinking I no longer brew my own stout (it was my specialty!) but I still enjoy the hoppy aroma.
Penny's favorite, the hostas.
The pergola at night.
Visitor on the coneflower.
My grandparents ran a big farm, and I worked there a lot as a young 'un. Now that they are gone, my Uncle runs commercial greenhouses there, where I have also worked and get free plants (yay!)
After 16 years at this house, we finally have it so that the perennials are staggered right through the growing season and we don't have to plant anything, although we still put in certain veggies and annuals for fun.
(This post was edited by edge on Apr 13, 2010, 2:27 PM)
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karmiclimber
Apr 13, 2010, 2:19 PM
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Awwww I freaking love your corgi! Corgis are the best dogs ever.
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imnotclever
Apr 13, 2010, 3:08 PM
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Off my deck:
The before picture of the pond:
That's when I drained it to clean it. I figure it's 2400 gallons so I routed the downspouts to it. It rained last night and now the thing looks to be 2/3 full. I've got the pump in the box and just have to hook it up, get some goldfish, maybe a lily pad or two.
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chadnsc
Apr 13, 2010, 3:15 PM
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Garden, garden!?!
I don't even have grass yet in my yard! 
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edge
Apr 13, 2010, 3:20 PM
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chadnsc wrote: Garden, garden!?! I don't even have grass yet in my yard!
Grass in the pipe is worth two in the yard...
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edge
Apr 13, 2010, 3:25 PM
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imnotclever wrote: The before picture of the pond: That's when I drained it to clean it. I figure it's 2400 gallons so I routed the downspouts to it. It rained last night and now the thing looks to be 2/3 full. I've got the pump in the box and just have to hook it up, get some goldfish, maybe a lily pad or two.
How deep is that? I made mine 20" deep at the far end of the pic, and 36" deep at the near end.
During warm months the pump, which sits in a large black plastic container surrounded by stones, sits in the bottom of the deep end. In the Winter I move it up to the shallow end and keep it running so the pond rarely ices over completely. That way the water is stratified and recirculates from the 20" level, and the deeper end stays above freezing.
I started out 7 years ago with three goldfish/comets/whatever, and now I have none of the originals left, but maybe 10 or so of their descendants. I shudder to think of fish abusing my pond for their sexual desires, but oh well.
(This post was edited by edge on Apr 13, 2010, 3:26 PM)
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chadnsc
Apr 13, 2010, 3:31 PM
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edge wrote: chadnsc wrote: Garden, garden!?! I don't even have grass yet in my yard! Grass in the pipe is worth two in the yard...
Yeah but no grass on the ground is worth muddy swamp in the rain. 
(This post was edited by chadnsc on Apr 13, 2010, 3:52 PM)
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imnotclever
Apr 13, 2010, 3:48 PM
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edge wrote: imnotclever wrote: The before picture of the pond: [image]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4518178794_aa78f8a781_b.jpg[/image] That's when I drained it to clean it. I figure it's 2400 gallons so I routed the downspouts to it. It rained last night and now the thing looks to be 2/3 full. I've got the pump in the box and just have to hook it up, get some goldfish, maybe a lily pad or two. How deep is that? I made mine 20" deep at the far end of the pic, and 36" deep at the near end. During warm months the pump, which sits in a large black plastic container surrounded by stones, sits in the bottom of the deep end. In the Winter I move it up to the shallow end and keep it running so the pond rarely ices over completely. That way the water is stratified and recirculates from the 20" level, and the deeper end stays above freezing. I started out 7 years ago with three goldfish/comets/whatever, and now I have none of the originals left, but maybe 10 or so of their descendants. I shudder to think of fish abusing my pond for their sexual desires, but oh well.
I measured it but now have forgotten, It's maybe 2' average and a little under 3' at the max. The skimmer is at the bottom middle, off the shot, and you can see where the waterfall starts by the pine about 4' above the water level.
We just bought the house, so I'm still trying to figure out all of the ins and outs. I drained it to clean it out. There were a lot of leaves and algae. Right now I plan on draining it in the fall, those branches on the upper right are a maple tree that hangs over the thing.
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wjca
Apr 13, 2010, 4:08 PM
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chadnsc wrote: Garden, garden!?! I don't even have grass yet in my yard!
Don't worry. When you hit puberty, they'll grow in. You'll also have a lot of funny feelings and want to touch yourself where you pee. Its natural. No need to feel ashamed about it.
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chadnsc
Apr 13, 2010, 4:19 PM
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 I walked righ into that one! 
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edge
Apr 13, 2010, 4:26 PM
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wjca wrote: edge wrote: The pergola at night. Hey redneck, how about taking down the Christmas lights.
That was taken last December.
although I still use the lights on the pergola for Summer ambiance, they are long gone from the distant maple trees.
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granite_grrl
Apr 13, 2010, 6:09 PM
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Did a bunch of landscaping last summer, plants are still small and sparse. Just bought a Feathered Reed grass though and a painted fern to fill in a couple of holes.
I'm most excited to see the clematis coming back after cutting it down and the other ornamental grasses coming up.
I'm thinking about splitting my Stella d'Oros today 'cause I've got too many purple flowering plants in one spot....it would be nice to break it up with some yellow.
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edge
Apr 13, 2010, 6:27 PM
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wjca wrote: chadnsc wrote: I walked righ into that one! A little girl spent one Saturday morning with her father. They went to the bakery for breakfast where she got a blueberry muffin. Then they went to the barbershop so dad could get a haircut. The little girl was standing right next to her father while he got his hair cut, eating her breakfast. The barber said, "Be careful there sweetheart, you're going to get hair on your muffin." The little girl looked up and said, "Yeah, and I'm gonna grow tits one day too. What's your point?"
Now this is the sort of high entertainment I envisioned when I started this thread.
And GG, I have so many plants established now that after a couple days clean-up in the Spring, we just divide the mature ones and play with color/texture/foliage combos endlessly.
I also seem to have a proliferation of purple bee balm, coneflower, phlox, etc, etc.
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blondgecko
Moderator
Apr 14, 2010, 10:23 PM
Post #17 of 30
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Nice pics!
Here's mine (still very much a work in progress, so some imagination required):
The bit I'm currently working on (along the fence). This is just outside the kitchen, and will be the little spot for annual herbs and some regularly-used vegetables:
The most "finished" part. I still have to get the sparky in to permanently wire the pond and connect the lights above the deck, hence the cables. On the left is the perennial herb area. Spearmint, regular mint, lemon balm, two rosemaries, three sages, fennel, and lime verbena, with some chives and parsley just starting to sprout in the spaces.
Other end of the deck: a bunch of dwarf fruit trees. Lemon, orange, mandarin, two different apples, and a couple of coffee bushes. The white pipe brings water from the roof - the intended end result is that it'll look like a little dry creek bed.
The grape vine arbour. Four different grape varieties - two red, two white. They seem to love the spot - that's a singly season's growth, starting from two-foot canes.
The back corner (currently the pumpkin jungle - the inlaws were kind enough to plant all of a dozen pumpkin vines just before they went home. We have somewhere around a hundred kilograms of pumpkins back there). A few more fruit trees (black sapote, carambola and mango) which will screen it off once they're bigger. Also the remains of the chook pen.  A fair bit of work still to do...
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obsessed
Apr 14, 2010, 11:19 PM
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This was taken last year in May. Can't wait to see how it looks this year. Wisteria gone mad. It has strangled our ornamental pear tree that we planted too close to it.
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airscape
Apr 15, 2010, 6:34 AM
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WOW i'm surprised paulbmounds hasn't posted porn here yet....
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climbingtrash
Apr 15, 2010, 11:45 AM
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Here's a few from my yard...
These are blooming right now.
These are some shots from last summer...
This is a shot of the West Temple of Zion as seen from my front porch...
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edge
Apr 15, 2010, 1:03 PM
Post #21 of 30
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Wow! Blondgecko and Climbingtrash, very nice!
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granite_grrl
Apr 15, 2010, 1:31 PM
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Here are the photos of what's growing in my garden this morning.
Lungwart.
Spurge is about to bloom, periwinkle is going haywire around my house:
First bloom of the dwarf iris:
Pachysandra in bloom, and lilac bush almost in full leaf in the background:
Onions doing well:
Grape hyacinth starting to bloom:
Daffs and forsythia:
Clematis and hostas:
Daylilies with bearded iris plants in the background:
We bought the house just over three years ago....we pretty much tore apart the backyard and have been putting it back together since. Hopefully when I get things cleaned up a little more (still have to finish the fence, I have a bunch of pavers stacked in the back yard, etc) I'll take some over view shots.
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edge
Apr 15, 2010, 2:11 PM
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Very nice, GG!
How is it that you are so much further north, and yet your iris and daffodils are blooming ahead of mine?
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granite_grrl
Apr 15, 2010, 2:22 PM
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edge wrote: Very nice, GG! How is it that you are so much further north, and yet your iris and daffodils are blooming ahead of mine?
Seriously though, there's a funny little micro climate here. This is one of the furthest south points of Canada, but the lakes and the Niagara escarpment have done some funny things with the weather here and allowed this to be the fruit belt of Canada. Soft fruit and Wineries galore!
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blondgecko
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Apr 15, 2010, 9:58 PM
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Incidentally, I got to do my first glue-ins for this bit. Mostly I've just done gravity walls (given the size of the stones that the quarry gave me, this means mostly just single course). The wall on the left is two rows high, and the top ones are mostly split with hammer and chisel off a larger boulder. Around a foot and a half tall but only <6" wide, they needed some reinforcement. So, I got some 10mm galvanised threaded rod and a tube of polystyrene-silica 2-pack masonry glue from the hardware store. Glued in a couple of lengths of rod near the base of each stone, passed through the holes in some waste bricks, and cemented the lot together. Those suckers are going nowhere now!
The glue was awful stuff to work with, though. Tube had a funky nozzle to mix the resin and hardener as it came out, but the working time was so damn short that it set solid in there in the two minutes between one hole and the next. Ended up having to just break off the nozzle and mix it up by hand. That said, damn it's strong!
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