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 sun 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:

[Mellmars1185]

@CynthieLu Thank you! Next on my to do list is meal plan around the herbs! 🌿

[CynthieLu]

Yummy 🙂 @Mellmars1185 

[Titian06]

This is all so pretty, @Mellmars1185 !  Pictures like this make me wish I had a house instead of a condo...almost! 🤣

[Mellmars1185]

@Titian06 Aw thank you! I guess there are pros and cons to both. I always wish I had a condo or an apartment in between moving out of my parents and on my own ❤️.

[sister13]

Some updates on the yard! I planted these two beds. One has the herbs that like drier conditions: lavender, rosemary, thyme, sage and pineapple sage.

The other has the tomatoes, a jalapeño, and herbs that like wetter conditions, I.e basil, and eventually some chives and maybe chamomile. I also have some marigolds to go in for critter control. 

Im also experimenting with the bricks/blocks for edging, I think I like the first (around the lavender/rosemary beds). Eventually I may raise these beds and I will set the edges better but just wanted to get a sense of the space and how it looks for now.

Some of the plants, especially the sage, got a little torn up by out hail storm the other day! 

I got the peony planted yesterday, this is Scarlet O’Hara and she starts off red but turns quite pink. She also got a bit bashed up with the hail. @Saradestin 

Planted the mock orange, you can see the utility box behind the fence that I hope to block, though maybe I should have planted an evergreen? I planted the mock orange right in front of the Siberian iris, which may shade it, so I’ll probably move the iris in the fall. The mock orange is SO pretty and fragrant! This one’s the Snow White, and I have another one, the Blizzard, but that one looks more scraggly and different, so I’m not sure if I should go ahead and Plant it or get another Snow White. Ugh, so many choices and decisions! 

[Titian06]

Your poor peony!  It looks so sad, @sister13 !  It will be looking lovely in no time when that bud pops open.  I like the bricks around your two small beds.  They bring a cohesive look with your patio behind it.  The mock orange is probably more in scale with everything else in your yard than if you were to plant an evergreen, unless you were planning to keep it short.  I'd stick with something more enjoyable.

[sister13]

Thanks @Titian06 ! I know, I’m so glad to have blooms already with the peony and the Snow White mock orange! The other mock orange (called Blizzard) looks pretty scraggly (not pictured and not planted yet) but it has buds all over, so I’ll give it a chance. I was kind of thinking of a shrub type evergreen (there is a mugo pine shrub I was thinking) to cover that utility box year round, but I can always add something to the side perhaps in that bed over there. I am planning to do some uptight junipers here and there for some screening, but probably in the fall or next spring. 

These bricks were on sale at Home Depot over the MemorDay weekend for only .25 cents, and I asked and an associate told me that was regular price (one had a sign that showed the sale ending 5/29 and the other did not), but she was wrong, so I’m sad I didn’t buy more then! Oh well, these are only like .48 regular price, but still, that .25 was an amazing deal!

[sister13]

Some irises on the way! These I transplanted from my moms, so I’m glad to see something is coming up. Though, they are pretty puny, so I’m not sure if they didn’t like being transplanted, don’t like the spot they’re in, got too much water because some drainage comes through her, and/or don’t like the soil. The daffodils and paperwhites didn’t do great over here either.

Anyway, now I want to put my mock orange where the Siberian iris is, but trying to decide if I’m going to plant it in front and move them in the fall, or just scootch the mock orange over a bit. There’s a big utility box in the neighbors yard they I’d like to block. 

Anyway, the purple one is the Siberian iris (the little teeny ones) and the other one might by a light blue/lavender, but I guess we’ll see! I should have waited to take the pic after I weeded, but I got excited, haha. I also got my peony in the ground so I’ll get a pic tomorrow! 

[jaaayp]

@sister13 can't wait for the bloom!!!

[heartsmyface]

@sister13  Ouhhhh pretty (or they will be very soon!!!!) 

[sister13]

Thanks! I just saw another one developing too, so we’ll see! @heartsmyface 

[Saradestin]

Irises!!  I love them!!!! 😃😃 I am so anxious to see the blooms, I am sure they will be gorgeous @sister13 ! I think that your irises are just adapting to a new home, I see them happy. They will be even happier next year. You have so much space to play with! Fun!!!! 😍

[sister13]

I can’t wait too! I’ll keep y’all posted! @Saradestin 

[Titian06]

Ooooo!  I love irises, @sister13 !  I can't wait to see them in bloom!  I planted bearded irises at my apartment that were from my mom's.

[sister13]

Thanks! My mom had a lot of them around her property, I’ll be interested to see the colors when they bloom (although I know the Siberian iris are a deep purple/blue.) I’ll keep everyone posted! @Titian06 

[heartsmyface]

Ouhhh fun thread!!  I’ve been doing some pot veggie gardening.  

 My cauliflower is ready to transplant to bigger pots 

 Cucumbers are sprouting 

 some thyme

 green onion, Garlic chives, peas basil and sage 

 radishes, tomatoes and some sad looking dill 

 baby zucchini sprouts 

 more tomatoes and some carrots 

 spinach and lettuce 

 some strawberries  I only see three so far. 

 and some peppers 

I’ve taken over a large portion of our back deck.  I also have potatoes and turnips growing as well as a ton of mint along the side of the house.  The plan is to get more salads this year.  Last years two salads were great but I wanted more after all the work.  

[jaaayp]

Wow, they look so fresh @heartsmyface !!!!

[sister13]

Oh wow Hearts! Amazing job on your planters! I am doing herbs and tomatoes and flowers in ground this year at the new house, with mint in containers! I am so impressed and can’t wait to see your salads! @heartsmyface 

[heartsmyface]

@sister13  how are the tomatoes doing in the ground?  we have box gardens going down the sides of the house but can’t plant anything that will attract deer or bears.  I do t want us getting fines.  The mint deters rodents which are attracted to the apple tree.  Plus it’s great for mojitos!  It’s contained in tiered boxes going down the stairs on the side of the house.  If it weren’t it would take over the yard.  
ha I keep joking I’m going to escalate and get a green house for next year.  I may actually be serious cause it would clear up a lot of deck space 

[sister13]

Well, I just planted the tomatoes a few days ago, so far so good, lol! We'll see how it goes and I'll keep you posted. We don't have deer close by and not too many rodents, though we're seeing more lately. I'm going to put some marigolds around them and trying some chives (if they sprout). I got some strawberries too, inspired by @JoSometimes - so we'll see how those do, I was trying to decide whether to do those in ground or in a container. @heartsmyface  

[JoSometimes]

@sister13Strawberries aren’t fussy. When I was a kid, my parents let them grow in ground. Right now, I have them in a planter box. If you want a lot of yield in the future, ground works best. They’ll produce runners and replicate themselves and you’ll have plenty of strawberries in a year or two. They’re pretty easy to maintain though if you don’t want them over-running and competing with anything else in your yard. Just snip the runners off when you see them, usually a few weeks after they finish fruiting. Or put some small pots of soil under the runners and let them them take root in the pot. You’ll have a bunch of baby strawberry plants to give away to friends and family!