boogieshoes | how does your garden grow?

'with slime and snails and puppy dog tails, and carved pumpkins all in a row'

and now that we know i can completely botch up a traditional kid's song, shall i introduce you to the garden? graphic-heavy post under the cuts.

the backyard:

the pictures in this post show most of the backyard, but i got a new cool thing (tm) out there:

that's a gazing ball, and i'd been looking for one for a while.

the canes around the gazing ball are blackberry canes,

and in the pot in front of the chair, i'm growing apple mint,

chocolate mint,

and lavendar.

i ended up buying new lavender plants and potting them in, because i'd planted the old lavender seeds... but decided the mints were growing too fast to really let the lavender seeds develop, even if they're still viable.

in the old hanging baskets, i'm planting sweet onions,

chives,

sage,

and two baskets full of turnips.

none of these seeds are really growing. i *very carefully* put in just a few seeds in each basket in carefully selected places and got 1 turnip seedling that got eated by gnats or something. i think 'spray and pray' may be the way to go with outdoor plants for me - it seems to work better.

below the hanging baskets, there's a big basket in which i planted the Hollyhock of Doom last year.

it's not supposed to flower until it's two years old; it flowered within about 3 months of seedlings appearing in late july (seeds planted in march, no lie). awesome plant. i planted lupine

behind the 'hock this year, and also some strawberries

for a low-growing plant. last year's onion seeds are growing, i think, which is hysterical. the small strawberry i re-planted in it's pot is still growing also.

the 'front extension'

this year, i decided to extend into the 'front yard' - aka, around the front door of my townhouse apt. this is a kind of 'overall' picture of what it looks like:

the only thing i still want to buy there is the 2 shepherd's crooks, and i'll hang a couple of wind chimes on them. because chimes are awesome. those two plants that are growing right by the door are a pair of matched rosemary plants:

the mid-high pots

are planted with celosia seeds:

and the lowest pots

are planted with snapdragons:

which are already coming up. the snapdragon seedlings are why i'm saying i should maybe do spray and pray in the back, too, because i basically took half a pouch of seeds and dumped them in the pot and covered them minimally with dirt. but maybe it's still not sunny enough in the back. i don't know.

off to the side in the first picture, you can see this container:

which is graced with my coat-of-arms, should i ever get it registered. you can't seem them real well, but i've got horse supporters on there in red. on the back is the motto i picked out, which translates into 'know thyself'. this container is planted with seed potatoes:

above the pot is a 'fence-basket' thing which is planted with carrots:

(only orange baby carrots, but i love all those colors, don't you?) the second 'fence-basket' thing is planted with parsnips:

below those, i have another pot in which i'm going to plant sweet potatoes,

and that one is decorated with the arms of the barony of axemoor.

the laurel wreath is dreadful, but the croc came out cool. the one on the other side has mardi gras beads and a little parade cane. :) the back of this container has a motto that roughly translates to 'to rise above misfortunes'. since i came here right after katrina, it really fits how i feel about the place.

i hope you've enjoyed your tour of my garden. i wish you all could see it up close!

-bs

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Can't see any pictures, just boxes with a red x in them. I don't know if this is my computer screening it out or not. I don't get icons through my email, but I do get pictures.

Laurie

it's probably my fault - i'll have to fix it at home. i can't always tell at work if the html is wonky, or the pictures are being blocked because they're hosted on the wrong site.

but! thanks for telling me - i wouldn't know, otherwise. :)

-bs

ok, it's working on my end now. how about for you?

-bs, grumbling about silly html

I can see them now, and they look great. The pots are so very colorful and the plants look very pretty.

Laurie

thank you! honestly, i'm pretty pleased with how the pots turned out. and i think i'm in love with that gazing ball in the back. :-p

-bs

Ooooh, neato!

I haven't been commented lately, bah :( Sorry bb.

it is ok. you've had like, STUFF on your mind. me, i've had GARDEN on *my* mind, lol.

*hugs moar*

-bs

ZOMG, how can you manage to plant so much in such a small space?! You showed blackberries and strawberries and my brain went YUM. But all the herbs and mints (aHA, chocolate mint! So that's what is in the tea a friend sent me! It was making me crazy and she wouldn't tell me why it tasted like chocolate AND mint - MUST GROW) and veggies look to be awesome. How funny that your entrance to the townhouse looks exactly like my old one except mine was inset a little. But otherwise, yeah.

So how long before harvest? Because I'm going to make reservations at Chez Boogie for a salad.

*grins*

i love my gazing ball.

i plant in containers, so i don't get as much of a harvest as some of this stuff implies. (except for the apple mint - holy crud that stuff grows!) that's ok for me right now, because a lot of what i'm currently doing is learning *how* to grow stuff. we never really had a garden when i was a kid, so i'm pretty much learning as i go.

but i'm having fun, and i've even got a spreadsheet talking about when things are due to be picked and stuff. the herbs are ready when they're established. i think the carrots are due to be picked 90 days after the seedlings appear (which they haven't yet). so... high summer or thereabouts, and you might want to see about visiting the new orleans area for dinner!

:)

-bs

how does your garden grow?

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gazing ball!

Re: gazing ball!