Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Mar 19, 2020 11:18:08 GMT -8
It’s one of my favorite views: The Porch Garden
The heather is in full bloom. The potted azaleas have seen better days. They one at the left doing better than the one at the right. We’ll see if they both can resuscitate.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Apr 8, 2020 16:52:45 GMT -8
The tulips are in bloom. This is the second season for these bulbs. I have other planters where they didn’t flower so well. This one, however, did fine. Larger View
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Post by timothylane on Apr 8, 2020 17:15:41 GMT -8
As I recall, we had some tulips at our old house. Also lots of violets and grape hyacinths (and, of course, dandelions).
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on May 4, 2020 15:14:49 GMT -8
I was out doing some gardening, minding my own business, and my brother says “You look like Secret Agent Gardener.” He even had a soundtrack for it. I’ll leave the lyrics up to Gibbnonymous. AgentCam
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Post by kungfuzu on May 4, 2020 15:59:45 GMT -8
I can't quite make up my mind, "Secret Agent Gardener" or "Universal Gardener?" You modify your clothing and become "Gardener in Black."
I love that song.
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Post by timothylane on May 4, 2020 16:29:28 GMT -8
Part of my regular sequence of music is a Johnny Rivers collection that (of course) includes "Secret Agent Man". Despite the similarity of the titles (which may have been deliberate), it has nothing to do with the TV show Secret Agent.
On the other hand, how secret is Brad's gardening? Then again, one reason why Roger Moore played James Bond at least mildly for laughs is that Bond (at least in the movies) by then was too well known to qualify as a secret agent. Does Brad have a license to kill aphids? (Come to think of it, does he have a license to kill the mandarin hornets threatening the state? That may be more important soon.)
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on May 4, 2020 19:15:30 GMT -8
LOL. And if got just the environmentally-friendly stuff. But I watched a segment on Gardener’s World where the one gardening said that the aphids on her lupins didn’t actually do any harm. Considering how resistant they are to whatever spray I’m using, I might try that this time.
But don't touch my roses.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 22, 2020 10:52:14 GMT -8
Here’s a panorama of the driveway garden border (DGB). It’s a hodgepodge. If you’re looking for a design influence you might say “Mossberg.” It definitely shows the shotgun approach. I make no apologies (but note the obvious). But like how it is filling in. BorderCamThe tall object on the left is something that grew wild. It has yuge leaves and it’s starting to flower at the top. But I have no idea what it is.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jun 22, 2020 13:17:43 GMT -8
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 22, 2020 13:24:55 GMT -8
I feel at all times, Mr. Kung, we must uphold excellence, even in our gardening endeavors. Or at least admit we're schlubs and enjoying the heck out of it.
But I do have in mind the idea of trying to bring a little harmonic order to the chaos.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jun 22, 2020 13:26:14 GMT -8
I think it looks very nice.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 22, 2020 13:28:46 GMT -8
Thanks. My elder brother has suggested putting a half-wine-barrel as a water feature. I think a workable place for it would be at the far right, just over the top of that one square of bricks (with an azalea inside) that is centered in a bit of green grass.
I could add a few water plants and even a solar-powered fountain of some kind.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jul 13, 2020 11:41:34 GMT -8
The roses are looking pretty good:
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Post by kungfuzu on Jul 13, 2020 12:41:13 GMT -8
Nice roses. I love that color.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 3, 2020 13:16:59 GMT -8
• I started harvesting cucumbers about two weeks ago. You just can’t buy these in the stores.
• I saw my first hummingbird today.
• The first cherry tomatoes are ripening. (I have five plants.)
• About three or four weeks ago, the leaves on my fig tree started dying and they all eventually dropped off. Same with the tiny little figlet that Gibbnonymous gave me last year. But both fig trees are now vigorously repopulating the leaves. I’m not sure what caused the defoliating.
I’ll snap a few pix when I get a chance.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 3, 2020 13:25:46 GMT -8
Ain't that the truth! We grew cucumbers once and the difference between our garden cucumbers and store-bought cucumbers was surprising. I could not believe how much better those from our garden were. I would never have expected this is such a common vegetable. Unfortunately, the squash bugs (as I recall) got to them. Since then we have not grown any more.
We had a similar problem and I cut back on watering the tree. Since that time, the leaves stay green and healthy. Unfortunately, we are still not getting very big figs.
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Post by timothylane on Aug 3, 2020 14:02:55 GMT -8
I think Elizabeth managed to get cherry tomatoes in our back yard. Too bad they were supposed to be plum tomatoes. We had a lot of trees there, which means we didn't have as much sunshine as they needed. But she tried real hard to grow things. It was better in the front yard, where she put out a lot of flowers. The trees weren't quite so extensive there.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 4, 2020 7:27:49 GMT -8
I know you’re referring to shade. And, you’re right, tomatoes like the sunshine. Another factor with trees (depending upon how near you are to them) is that they suck all the moisture and nutrients out of the soil and apparently many (especially evergreens) produce some kind of substance that inhibits growth of other plants around it. 10 Types of Good Shade Plants That Grow Well Under TreesI have one small bed directly under a tree that I’ve been experimenting with for a few years now. Hosta, ferns, and a few other things are doing fine. But much of the stuff I planted there didn’t last long. UnderTreeCamInteresting story about the host to the very left (just below center at the edge of the frame). I have a compost dump. It’s informal. Just a hillside where I dump plant material. Well, this spring I went to dump some more stuff there and saw something growing roots. I picked it out of the litter and saw that it was a hosta. I don’t know where that came from. I’m guessing it was in a pot that I had planted with something else and threw that something else away because it had died, forgetting that it had a cohabitant. The little heather to the back center doesn’t seem to be growing at all. I should move it but it may be too late. I’ve got a few foxgloves woven in there now. Hopefully they’ll bloom next year. Not a particularly spectacular patch of garden but I’m trying to green it up as much as I can.
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Post by timothylane on Aug 4, 2020 9:19:52 GMT -8
Well, it's a little late for us to learn what can handle the shade. Elizabeth had what she wanted to grow. It wasn't so hard getting away from the trees, but there were a lot of big ones, which meant a lot of foliage and thus a lot of shade. But that's a nice Undertree Cam photo.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 4, 2020 9:23:52 GMT -8
Monty Don on Gardner's World had had several segments on what and how to grow plants underneath trees. You just have to pick the right plants and/or augment the soil a bit. But there are lots and lots of plants (even with beautiful flowers) that do pretty well under a tree. I tend to just plant and hope instead of doing a lot of research.
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