topic Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread in Besides Beauty

The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

sister13 — Sat, 03 Feb 2024 22:45:49 GMT

Hello BIC friends and fellow gardeners! Whether you have a container on your balcony, some indoor plants, a whole garden, or even if you just happen to visit a botanical garden or see a lovely space or plant in your neighborhood you want to share, this is the place! Please share pics, tips, plans and tricks about all things gardening!

For many years I had a container balcony garden with mostly flowers and herbs (when travel allowed), and I am now embarking on my first backyard landscaping and gardening journey.

I am often taking inspiration from the natural world around me and have recently had some spring inspiration for the Makeup Challenge of the Week and have loved chatting about gardening in our other threads, so I thought a new thread would be nice.

It’s always so interesting to me to see plants and gardens from different regions and countries, so I hope you’ll join the conversation!

PS: if you create a makeup look based on some plant or garden inspiration, please feel free to post your look or flat-lay here, too!

Here are a few pics of my spring bulbs to start and I’ll share more soon (kindly ignore the weeds)!

My old balcony (from the outside) - I’ll try to find an internal pic too:

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

sister13 — Mon, 15 May 2023 19:29:51 GMT

I was super excited for my bulbs this year. I had tried to do bulbs in containers in the past with limited success. Anyway, this year, I planted bulbs in our new backyard last fall and have been so thrilled to see them come up. I lost my diagram of exactly what I planted where, but basically planted an array around each fence post of hyacinths mix, tulips in purple and a white/purple painted version, and some allium.

I did a couple areas with daffodils, some purchased and some that I dug from my moms yard in Maryland. She had the most amazing naturalized displays of daffodils and paperwhites, so I’m thrilled those have come up!

Not the best picture, and now the giant allium are coming up behind these and looking almost ready to bloom!

Oh, there are also some iris and Siberian iris that I dug from mom’s, and I see those green tips starting to peek out, too.

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

sister13 — Mon, 15 May 2023 19:31:17 GMT

Tagging @JoSometimes and @Saradestin !
💗💗💗

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

Saradestin — Mon, 15 May 2023 19:34:28 GMT

Yay! I was going to start a gardening thread after the last gardening comments we exchanged and you read my mind @sister13 !!! I love it! Thank you!!

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

Saradestin — Mon, 15 May 2023 19:37:24 GMT

You have such a gorgeous garden @sister13 ! Your bulbs are starting to give the best of them! 😍😍😍😍 I love bulb plants because they come back every year. They are “smart”, as my aunt says about them. 😊

Keep sharing to see how everything grows/develops ! 😃

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

Saradestin — Mon, 15 May 2023 20:08:07 GMT

We recently moved out of a rental apartment and purchased a house with a little garden. The garden was in deep need of everything: trimming, mowing, cleaning, planting, fertilizing…. It will be a several months’ work (and in some cases years) to bring it to where I want to, but that is part of the fun 😁.

As some of you know, all the move and cleaning and rough gardening, ruined my nails, but it was worth it. I did so much!
Here are a few pictures of some of the work done (it is ugly, but it is part of the process):

The inspection highlighted that we needed to avoid any grass/weeds/plants growing under the stucco, so that was one of the first things I had to do.

The grass had grown inside the stucco to an incredible length, taller than me! 😵 And there were long roots from who knows what also all over.

But I was able to clean all the house perimeter (this is only one part). It took me several days.

I want to plant flowers there, but that when I find time 😁

As you can see, the ground is pure sand. I need to add good garden soil to mix with it so plants can grow.
I also took out several trees that I didn’t like and with branches too close to the roof (also highlighted by the inspection) The worst was to take the roots out 🥵🥵🥵🥵

Before

After

I planted a Rhododendron (that little green thing that you can see first) because it was on sale and this will be my “acid lovers” garden. This one is supposed to be heat resistant. We will see, because I have not seen rhododendrons here…

I want to add camelias, azaleas, gardenias, hydrangeas and nothing else because I would run out of space 😅

And for today I have bored you enough. I have done much more than this but it would be too boring/ugly to share.
Tomorrow more gardening! 😁

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

sister13 — Mon, 15 May 2023 20:55:42 GMT

Oh gosh, great minds think alike! I had been thinking about it for a bit and was kind of surprised we didn’t have one yet! 💗💗💗 @Saradestin

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

sister13 — Mon, 15 May 2023 21:00:07 GMT

Yes, I like that they don’t need extra watering or anything -just plant and forget about them until it’s time to enjoy them! ! I’ll probably throw some bonemeal down soon but definitely a great payoff year after year for a little bit of effort! @Saradestin

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

sister13 — Mon, 15 May 2023 21:09:38 GMT

Oh wow! That’s a ton of work but wow have you made progress! Ours is a blank slate, which is now just weeds (my few bulbs, lol) and this awful muddy clay that is the worst and sticks to everything!!!

I wish that I’d been able to sheet mulch it last fall but just didn’t get to it and now I’m regretting it badly. That would have gotten rid of the weeds and helped the soil, but, oh well! @Saradestin

Cant wait to see more and share more gardening tips!

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

JoSometimes — Mon, 15 May 2023 21:53:44 GMT

@sister13 @Saradestin I was thinking of starting a gardening thread too! Great minds think alike!

I’m starting late this year. The April was mostly on the cool, wet side of things, so I only really got to mowing the lawn a couple of times when the rain let up. The city snowplough’s gouged some of my front yard during the winter, I have to do some lawn maintenance. I’m not sure what vegetables I’ll get to plant this year since I’m starting so late. The perennials are doing well though since we got so much rainfall. Here’s a few photos from the back yard. I’ll come back with an update next weekend when I can get to doing some more work outside.

Strawberry patch is growing nicely. The net keeps hungry ~~children~~ critters from getting to them…

Chives have been thriving even with me coming it frequently to harvest some for garnish.

Cherry tree is done blooming and the cherries are on their way.

The Magnolia tree that just keeps on blooming.

And the magnolia-inspired look from

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

JoSometimes — Mon, 15 May 2023 22:01:34 GMT

@SaradestinI HATE digging up roots. That’s a lot of work but it’ll be worth it. The transformation so far is amazing! You’ve got a blank slate now!

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

Saradestin — Mon, 15 May 2023 22:07:14 GMT

I was surprised as well, because we have a thread for almost anything @sister13 😄. I will be boring everyone here because I love gardening and I always have my hands in the dirt! I should post some pictures of how covered in dirt I finish sometimes 😂

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

Saradestin — Mon, 15 May 2023 22:11:56 GMT

We all were thinking the same thing @JoSometimes 😅 ! Your garden looks so lush and gorgeous!! You made me laugh with your strawberry comment 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂

Wow, those cherries look amazing! They are so big already!!

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

Saradestin — Mon, 15 May 2023 22:13:53 GMT

Yes @JoSometimes ! Now I have plenty of available space to plant a lot of beauties!! But taking those (and worse) roots out was exhausting!!

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

JoSometimes — Mon, 15 May 2023 22:26:39 GMT

I know the pain @Saradestin. Before becoming a teacher, I bounced around from odd job to odd job, one of which was working for a mom and pop landscaping company. I helped with everything from tree roots to grading soil to building pergolas to laying down sod. It was exhausting work but I learned a lot and was the most fit I’d ever been in my lifetime!

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

JoSometimes — Mon, 15 May 2023 22:34:32 GMT

@Saradestin The year before the pandemic first started, my uncle gave me a few strawberry runners. I planted them in the planter and the next year they thrived. But I got zero yield that second year because the squirrels at the ripe red ones and my kids ate all the leftover white ones! I built the frame and net so I could cover them up! I have a blueberry bush beside it that also needs some cover. 😂

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

Saradestin — Mon, 15 May 2023 22:44:02 GMT

They are just way too tempting @JoSometimes !! 🍓🍓🍓🫐🫐🫐😋😋😋

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

Saradestin — Mon, 15 May 2023 22:45:49 GMT

I know @JoSometimes ! My grandpa was calling his orchard his gym. So appropriate! 😁

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

JoSometimes — Mon, 15 May 2023 23:17:22 GMT

So many blooms @sister13! Everything looks happy and hearty. And it looks like you have quite the property there. Can’t wait to see what else you’ve got growing in your yard.

Re: The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

jaaayp — Tue, 16 May 2023 02:22:34 GMT

@Saradestin @OMG I CANT WAIT TO SEE YOUR FINISH PROJECT. I LOVE BEFORE AND AFTERS!! Congrats on your new home. You a boss lady 🥰