The BIC Plant and Gardening Thread

[sister13]

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:

[Saradestin]

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! 😁

[Samtian]

@Saradestin Great job! And congrats!!!

[Saradestin]

Thank you so much @Samtian !! 🤗

[tsavorite]

@Saradestin ,

My hat is off to you!  You go, Girl!

[Saradestin]

Thank you so much @tsavorite !! I lost all my nails but it was worth it! Now it is easy-peasy! 

[CookieGirl1]

Keep us updated, @Saradestin!  Sounds like you're putting a lot of love into it all.

[Saradestin]

I will bore you all @CookieGirl1 ! 😅 I will be sharing the progress for sure! 😊

[CookieGirl1]

@Saradestin nah, that's not boring.  It's fun to see progress!

[sister13]

I forgot to say congratulations on your house, it’s a lot of work but so wonderful! Can’t wait to see more and how things progress! @Saradestin 

[Saradestin]

Thank you so much @sister13 !! 🤗🤗 We are so happy! I have loved on apartments most of my life and I needed more space to plant all I wanted so now I am in paradise!!! 😃

[jaaayp]

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

[Saradestin]

Thank you so much @jaaayp !!! 😘 I love the before and after pictures as well. We tend to forget how things looked because some changes are slow and take a lot of time. We get used to it. I also have the before and after the December freeze. I will share those another day 😅

[JoSometimes]

@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!

[Saradestin]

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

[JoSometimes]

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!

[Saradestin]

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

[sister13]

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!

[Saradestin]

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!! 

[sister13]

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 

[Saradestin]

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 😂

[sister13]

Tagging @JoSometimes and @Saradestin !
💗💗💗