Rick is an avid gardener. 10 green thumbs. He starts most of our flowers and veggie plants from seeds.

It's been a rough year for the flowers, slugs, bugs, and the like have devastated many of the plants, but we do have some color starting.



He bought a packet of mixed sunflower seeds. I like the two that have opened so far. Hope to see more variety as the other ones bloom.



My new avatar


Does anyone else play in the dirt when you are not playing with your S?

 

Gardening and landscaping are my biggest hobbies. Not by choice, but by the size of my yard.

The entire perimeter of my house (which I swear is about 400 feet) is covered with a mixture of perennials and some flowers. These are easy to take care of. I decorate my porch with hanging flower baskets which are also easy to take care of.

My food garden is another story. I have a row of blueberry bushes (probably 10 bushes over 8 feet) that provide us free berries all summer. I have a row of raspberries (about 15 feet long) that provides free berries all summer . This spring I put in a 10 foot row of strawberries that have just started to bloom. They look good. On top of this I have a 20x20 section of dirt that we grow vegetables in. This summer we have peppers (bell, sweet, hot), squash x4, tomatoesx6, green beans, chive, dill, parsley. I think that's it?

The garden takes about 6 hours a week to weed/water/monitor. If I keep up on it it's OK, but when it gets out of hand it's hard to get the upper hand back from mother nature. I do not have any pictures to share though

-Mike

 

Mike, I didn't realize you were into playing in the dirt too! When you're done with all the watering, take some pics to share!

No strawberries or any berries. Aren't the birds a big challenge with the berries? As far as veggies, Rick limits it to tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. We do have a couple of pumpkin plants growing in our compost pile. Tossed a pumpkin there last fall, and the seeds "took." We'll see if they produce or not.

 

The animals LOVE the berries. The birds go crazy on the blueberries, and the raspberries are popular with insects.

Oh I forgot, I have an apple tree too. We make apple pies with that usually. I had a hell of a time last year keeping the insects from boring their way inside the apples. One reason we only made pies was because I had to cut the applies to trim the insect damage. I don't think a single apple was damage free and there were hundreds of them!

-Mike

 

 

Not in our current crop....

 

Oh OK, rough year indeed. I'll hook you up with some next time we meet just like I did for Snoop

 

Ben your the man.

 

I've spent a lot more time doing landscaping work as well, but it's more out of necessity and not because I particularly like it. But ever since we got the house, we've gotten more interested in planting. There are numerous areas on the property that make great planters. We've got a few hydrangea plants coming in that I planted last year, and we will be planting some more this weekend (transplants from my wife's Aunt). I also planted a nice flowering rhododendron this spring. And a few weeks ago, I bought a used chipper/vac, and have been grinding up my numerous branches, which has yeilded some nice woodchip mulch. But I have so many trees on my property (both in and around my lawn) that I spend most of my time on routine yardwork. It's frustrating, because I really don't enjoy the futility of trying to "clean up" nature.

I'm not a big vegetable eater, so I don't have plans for a food garden. Plus, there are so many local farms around us in eastern CT that I can snag local fresh-picked stuff for cheap as it is. I have grown my own basil, but the bugs always seem to get to it before I do.

I've also been growing bamboo in pots from seeds, which are interesting to look at. I really like the stuff. But I think what makes me most satisfied are the outdoor flowering plants, since they don't require much maintenance.

 

Flowering plants/shrubs are cool. For a little easy color, plant some cone flowers. They are a perennial and the butterflies love them. They get pretty tall, so plant accordingly.

Our little yard is a big project at times. Sometimes I wonder about the amount of work we have created for ourselves, but I love sitting on the deck looking at what Rick has done, with a little help from his assistant, me.