Gardening to divert depression

Blessings2011

I think I may be losing my Juliet tomato seedlings.

Had them in the peat pots with the dome cover (planted ten seeds), only five came up (The one with the blob on top died.)

Looked good with two small leaves each.

Gave them bright indirect light, and then sunlight, as someone (Day?) said to.

Took them outside for an hour (not in direct sun) and they immediately wilted in the pots. (Soil was moist.)

Still have four hanging in there, with one lying over on its side.

If I put them in the ground now, they'll probably all die. It was in the 90's last week, this week will be in the 80's. We have drip irrigation in our raised bed.

They're so fragile!

They're back in the bathroom window with the bright light...I'm waiting for more leaves to grow, but no luck....

Any suggestions?

thatsvanity

I lost my sister to BC 2/14/2011 and I've cried and cried and cried, but this spring we moved to a new home with rich soft dirt in the backyard and I started digging holes and planting and it has helped me so much. It seemed so natural after winter and the death of my sister to plant and renew the backyard with bogenvilla, basil, tomatoes, succulents, strawberries, mint, oregano, lavender, and a few palms. Digging in the dirt and watching things grow has helped me reboot my brain a little bit.

chabba

Hadley, My father coined the term.  He had a true green thumb.  When he was a kid he built a fence across the back of the pasture on the family homestead using posts cut from the grove of trees his folks planted when they first settled there.  The fence grew.  When I last saw it there was this perfectly straight line of trees 30 or so feet tall.  At the top of many of the trees you could still strands of broken  barbwire.

3jaysmom

chabba: i always wondered if those things worked, or not.. someone gave me one a year (or two) ago, still in the box.. i think i'll get it out, and try it. might be too old, but, nothing ventured, nothing gained..

  hadley, i garden by the 50/50 rule.. works everytime. i expect 1/2 of what i plant to grow, and im not often dissappointed!!hahaha 

  anyone (maya) hear from sneh?? i miss you, gal.....3jays

Maya2

3jays: I haven't heard from Sneh for a couple weeks. She's involved in setting up their new house I believe. I miss her too.

thatsvanity: Sweetie, welcome. I'm so sorry about the loss of your sis. You're proving just what Sneh had in mind when she began this thread. Getting dirt under your nails and watching things grow really does help us feel better.

Sherryc

Hadley glad your flowers are sprouting.  Keep us posted as they grow.  I love watching my vegetable garden grow.

The slugs have destroyed my spinach plants.  Went ahead and harvested what I could.  I then took that bed and planted more green beans as I never tire of them.  My tomatoes are starting to come in and they are so good.  I think we have had sliced tomoatoes at every meal.

3jaysmom

im so happy with the patio, again.. glad to have it BACK at my house, and get so much peace, sitting there, just admiring the palnts!!!

  it's now rainy season, and the mosquitos come with it, so without a breeze, im not out there much...

  i do believe ths garden has kept me going, for over 3 years now.. its almost a "memory" garden for me. i told everyone NOT to give me cut flowers; ever.. just little ones i can plant!

  now, i look out, and i see the roses my mom gave me years ago (she's gone 5 years now) and, the hibiscus we got for our anniversary renewal.. over 10 yrs ago.. and, i just added one for my bday, from jay #2, and mothers day this yr from my beloved DH.. not a bad garden to look at, and have so many memories!!3jays

FLwarrior

thatsvanity, sorry to hear about the loss of your sister.  I am glad you have found gardening to be so healing.  I survived tx by puttering and pitteling in the flowerbed and container garden. It is very therapeutic. 

3jays it is so nice to hear how much you enjoy your special garden and all of the memories!

I had some leek and spinach seedlings (2inches tall)...and a darn squirrel got in the pots and dug holes completely uprooting the little seedlings!!!  AARRRGGHH!!!  I don't imagine any of them will survive.  Anyone have any clever ideas for squirrel deterrent?

Jeannie57

Good for you, Hadley! I am too lazy to plant seeds, so I am impressed.  Gardening gives me so much pleasure. I am glad you are so excited about it!

3jaysmom

i also, just can't to get the patience to do seeds. so i start out with little plants, although they've been big ones, i've gotten lately. i'll send a pic off of my latest tonight.. the colors are so pretty, and butterflies like it, i think...3jays

chabba

3jays, did you get any lillies?

TwoHobbies

Hadley I love sunflowers.  We planted the big ones one year and they were so tall I thought maybe they were close to a record, but no, the record was something much taller.  Last year I planted the smaller varieties and they were so beautiful, dark chocolate centers and yellow petals and another variety that had burgundy in them.  They are one of my favorites.

Thatsvanity, it is very healing to see things grow again and be close to the earth.  Maybe you can plant some of your sister's favorite flowers or plants to remember her by.  Or maybe find a plant with her name as a memory. 

Sherry can I come over and have a BLT?  I so can't wait for tomatos but it will be July for me! 

3jays I completely agree about the memories a garden can create.  I have taken daises and daylilies from my mom, I plant four o'clocks to remind me of my grandma, and hydrangeas remind me of my former home.  Great memories.

It is finally warm here again and I spent last weekend dividing my perennials and planting a couple more.  This weekend hopefully I'll get the vegetable garden started. 

FLwarrior

I have not tried windex for a deterrent...I bet it is the ammonia in it that is the deterrent.  I have used moth balls in the general area of flowers and plants, but not around anything edible.

TwoHobbies

Hadley I do put a little fence around my sunflowers for a bit.  I think the chipmunks and squirrels both dig them up.  Had to plant twice last year!  The tall one I grew was called Russian something.  Russian Giant maybe?  It's a variety that grows very tall.  We estimated ours was about 16 feet which I thought was so tall until I found out the records was something like 25 ft!  They are fun. 

3jaysmom

nope, no lillies yet, but a beautiful vine mi'll have to take a pic,cause i don't know the name of it.. the nursery didn't have any lillies..3jays

FLwarrior

The squirrels got into to my basil seedlings.    HELP...What can I do to keep the squirrels out????

Kimberly1961

From maybe a couple of months ago, I had asked about peach, bronze roses in memory of my friend's mother who had passed and had the most beautiful red hair.  I had a few suggestions from this thread and bought 3 beauties this year in honor of her.  Thank you for your wise suggestions.  Blessings...what beautiful pics.  Marybe also.  Corporate blocks pics from photo bucket but yours came through.  Oooh la la.

Wish I could show you the roses and peonies blooming and even my silly vegetable container gardens.  It does renew my heart to see it all growing again.  Love to all of you who share that same joy.

Jeannie57

I had to cut my yellow stargazer lilies back before they bloomed because they appear to have Botrytis or something. So sad! I have other lilies in other beds, though, that look fine. Ha, ha, kind of like cancer. Cut it out, treat it (fungicide for lilies), hope for the best and be thankful for everything else.

ananda8

A neighbor told me to put seeds in water before planting.  If the seeds float, then they are bad.  Plant the ones that sink.  I find it works like a charm and the seeds I plant come up 90% of the time.

I am going to try the Windex thing.  Of course one needs to look for Original Windex because the newer stuff has additional chemicals.  Ammonia shouldn't hurt the plants unless it's sprayed directly on them.  Thanks for the tip, Hadley.

TwoHobbies

Hi all.  You may find this funny/ironic.  I, the avid gardener, just got a notice from the city to trim my hedge off the sidewalk.  Well excuse me, I'm busy doing more important things.  I had to get my vegetable garden planted and move two hydrangeas where they'lll get more sun and plant some hostas and heucheras and my containers with herbs and strawberries, and oh my the weeds from not weeding last year were awful.  Now I still have a mandevilla to plant and basil and sunflowers and three flower beds to weed.  Maybe after that I'll get to the hedge!  BTW I had cancer last year, dear city, so no I didn't get the hedge trimmed!  And I'm waiting for the hedge to stop blooming because I already got stung by a bee trimming part of it.    

ananda8

TwoHobbies,

In my area if the home owner doesn't trim the hedge, the county road workers do so at no charge.  They do a fairly decent job.  You may want to check on the policy in your area.  I love trimming hedges, its the clean up and disposal of the cutting that I hate. Perhaps the officials in your area will pick up the trimmings when you're done.

I learned my lesson about weed two years ago.  No matter how much I don't have time or inclination to weed, I have to keep up with it because otherwise I have a real mess on my hands.  I am now using Preen everywhere but my vegetable garden and herb garden.  It works well at preventing weed seeds from sprouting. 

Wren44

Twohobbies, you might call the city and play the cancer card. Maybe the city could find someone to do it as a volunteer. Don't know how well they would do, however.

TwoHobbies

Maybe I will call the city next week and see if they will do it.  Somehow I doubt it, but maybe I'm wrong. 

The weeds will absolutely get away from you if you don't keep it up.  Last summer I was recovering from surgery and my flower beds looked as bad this year as they did when we moved in.  I'm going to get some mulch down so the weeds won't be such a problem.   

Got my two small beds cleaned of weeds this morning, so I can plant my sunflowers tomorrow or this evening.  Then I just have one more big flower bed to re-do.  It's chock full of daylilies and roses, so I'll let them go ahead and bloom and then I'll start working on it.  Oh and the hedge... 

Sherryc

My garden has been out of control as DH puts it but in a very good way.  I have had so many vegetables.  I have been able to keep us, my mom and my in-laws supplied and I canned 28 pints of tomatoes last saturday.  Still harvesting more so I will can salsa this saturday.

Wren44

Sherryc, oooh I'm jealous. We just broke 70 degrees yesterday. Back to the 60's today. Somewhere there's a medium climate. Houston was way too hot for me.

Raj20

Monsoon season is just arrived. My house plants are looking so green and lustrous. I have planted big trees like Chineese palm, Chineese Teak, Coconut trees and many more which will take 10 to 20 years to become big. I am very excited  to see them growing into full fledged 20 yrs. old tree. So I have decided to live healthy to see my trees growing. It may be  funny on my decision but I have to see them.

ananda8

rajkumari,

How long do the teak and palm trees live? 

I have oak trees on my land that are about 100 years old.  These oaks can live 600 years.  About six years ago I planted some Leyland Cypress which grow really fast and are green all year round but only live about 50 years.  The Cypress make wonderful shelters from heavy rain for birds and small animals. 

3jaysmom

Sneh, its' so good to see you back here.. i've had marybe, from bco; come to visit for a week, so i haven't been checking in as often.. i hope your feeling better...

  is the marigold hotel true to form as where you live in India?? 'm planning to see it this week. Maya said she enjoyed it..

  we went to butterfly world, yesterday, with marybe.. i buy a lot of my plants there.. butterfly freindly, of course..

  we bought a gorgeous red velvet madevilla . im not big on red, but DH loved it, and got it for the front garden...

  i need to plant seeds UNDER the larger plants out front.. someone gave me one of those "carpet" of flowers, so gonna try it, for a border.. i haven't enough blooming plants in the front..

  its good to see everyone here.. they just trimmed all our hedges here, not something we have to worry about. the condo assoc. had their landscaper do it.. but, they don't do it too often. the heats hitting, now, so letting it go will do it good.3jays

Raj20

Hi ! Cherie ! I am doing good. As there is lot of changes in the forum I was finding  difficult to post for sometime , so I had to go through help site to gain knowledge on how to do it and moreover  there was  huge scarcity of electricity in my area due to which  I was unable to be in touch with you all. Now  the condition is somewhat stabilized as the state govt. has procured some electric load from other states as we dont have sufficient . Frequent load shedding daily kept everyone paralized from normal work. We just attend office daily but no work as the entire system  has been computarized in our office. Still now there is  2 to 3 ours load shedding. You know  my state Assam is famous for heavy rain forest region and its capital Guwahati is the 7th fastest growing state in our Country. So I have plan to grow lot of trees in my land, particularly in backyard slop. Blooming plants needs extra care so I prefer only fruits, leafy green plants which are locals. I just picked up some plants from the Nursery and planted in my backyard . I dont even know its biological name, perhaps I might check in the net to find out the original names of my plants. I grow about 30 varieties of Indoor house plants in the plastic pot only in my balcony. I have  sone photographs but I am unable to copy & paste here.

chabba

raj,  Good to see you back.