I'm a little proud of my...

12 years ago

Do you have some secret (not so secret now, lol!) pride about something in or about your garden? Is there an area of your garden you are particularly pleased with having created? Is there some project or object you did for your garden that secretly puffs you up a bit (go ahead and brag!)? Perhaps there is even some plant you get personal gratification from- maybe you grew this tricky fellow from seed or are able to over winter it or get it to grow when few others can?

Here is my current pride...

My lettuce bed! Honestly I have come up with some real hair-brained garden projects. Fortunately this one tuned out good! I put the main raised veggie bed in last spring and then got a smaller side wing done this spring that was especially for lettuce and spinach. It was sloooooow growing for them at first, but now they have shot up! I put some netting over it when the birds started pecking at it a month ago. So pleased with this little bed.

So what are you a weensy bit proud of in your garden?

CMK

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Comments (26)

girlgroupgirl
12 years ago
You are growing beautiful lettuce!! I'm so jealous because I can not grow them in summer here. They all look so tender and delicious! Great job, you should be proud!!
rafor
12 years ago
Lovely! Isn't it a constant battle to get to the food before the animals do? LOL I used to have a strawberry patch. Birds would take a bite or two out of several berries. I don't mind sharing, but couldn't they just finish off a few berries totally instead of pecking at each one a little????
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lavender_lass
12 years ago
My Celsiana damask rose. It's just starting to bloom and it has a wonderful fragrance. My little start, from last summer, has grown into a beautiful shrub...and I'm very proud of 'her'! LOL

{{gwi:296804}}

CMK- Your lettuce bed is wonderful...and looks very tasty. I can see why the birds were helping themselves :)
christinmk z5b eastern WA
Original Author
12 years ago
-thanks much GGG and rafor! It hasn't been terribly hot here so the greens haven't bolted (except the spinach, lol!). Once they do I will seed another batch for fall.

-LL, NICE ROSE! It is huge! Did you have to cut it back far this spring, or did it not have much die back? I whacked mine all the way back. Didn't expect much from them this year but then they shot up fast in the cool and damp spring. All your other roses doing as good as Celsiana?
CMK
lavender_lass
12 years ago
CMK- The deer chewed the Celsiana back a bit last fall, but no winter die back and she's a monster! I just love the shape, color and fragrance :)

The other roses (along the front of the house) are also doing well, even a few that I thought I'd lost...thank goodness for 'own root' roses. The fairy garden is a little colder and gets more wind, so the hardier roses do much better, there.
Thyme2dig NH Zone 5
12 years ago
CMK, your lettuce is beautiful! It's so great that it hasn't bolted yet. It's funny but I never had any birds pecking at lettuce. I would have never thought that was a problem.

LL, WHAT?!?! That rose was a start just LAST year? In Z4 it grew into that spectacular shrub! WAAAAH! I WANT ONE!! LOL!!! It's gorgeous and just loaded with buds.

I think the one thing I accomplished that I'm most proud of is the planning of the front slope and how it changes though the seasons. I am satisfied with it every day of the year and it just makes me so happy to drive home every day and see it! I always have some sort of "loose" plan for new areas of the garden, but I really did think the slope through (as I was planting it along, not on paper) for texture, color, seasonal interest, etc. I've posted so many pictures of it I won't bore you all with them again! LOL!
User
12 years ago
LL and CMK gorgeous...we are having rain every day now so things are really growing. Haven't had a wet summer in years so this is a pleasant change.

Thyme...bored ??? I don't think so ...I never ever tire of looking at your gardens. When I rode through NH a few weeks ago on my bicycle I sure thought of you and your gorgeous gardens and wondered if I was near...c
organic_kitten
12 years ago
My zinnias this year. Easy to grow? Yes, but such a nice band of them, and the goldfinches and hummers (insects) and cardinals are enjoying them too.

kay
christinmk z5b eastern WA
Original Author
12 years ago
-Susan, never! Post another!!

-Kay, what a great shot. I'm not the biggest fan of zinnias, but planted some (candy cane gold and red) cuz' my mom likes them. I sure do hope I get goldfinches!! I saw one here just yesterday feeding its baby...awwww. ;-) Do you keep up all the spent flower heads, or only the ones in later season?
CMK
roper2008
12 years ago
I like your lettuce bed. I grow a mix every spring.

Kay, lovely zinnia's. I don't have too many in my garden this
year. Not too many volunteer's.

I was trying to think what I was a little extra proud of in my garden.
My canterbury bells would be one. I planted the seeds last year and
I forgot what was in the pot. It never bloomed and I thought what the
heck is this. Well I just left it alone and this is what I got early this year.
Very cute.
christinmk z5b eastern WA
Original Author
12 years ago
You should be proud roper! Those look great. I really like that pale blue one in there... Hopefully those will reseed and you can get some more going for next year!
CMK
Annie
12 years ago
Love the lettuce bed! Don't they just taste 100 times better from the garden?
I had lovely lettuce this year in the spring. First time in many years they grew so well.

Oh, I love the Zinnias. My mother's favorite too. Mine never look that beautiful. Mother's always did, but not mine.

Canterbury Bells? Oh, you are so lucky to live where you can grow those.

Lovely pics, ladies. Just lovely.
Annie
12 years ago
I'm a little proud...of my little Red Crepe Myrtle. I bought it last year from the Mennonites who have a business about ten miles from here. This year, she is blooming to beat the band! Gorgeous red crepe-like blooms and only a little more than 2 feet tall!

For her to do so well in this horrible heat and terrible drought pleases me no end. I am very proud!

~Annie
organic_kitten
12 years ago
Beautiful lettuce, you should be proud. Lovely Canterbury Bells, Roper.

CMK,, I just keep the later ones...may not even do much of that this year. they have popped up all over my yard.

kay
luckygal
12 years ago
I'm kinda pleased with myself for making my own compost year round. I've done this for many years because I have a mostly organic garden and don't have access to bulk compost. I collect kitchen scraps every day year round altho cannot maintain a hot compost in the cold weather here in the north. I have quite a large pile right now ready to sift and mulch my garden with. It's a lot of work but I simply cannot throw kitchen scraps in the garbage when they make such a great soil amendment.

Plants I'm proud of are my delphinium that are growing and blooming so well and my new roses that all survived winter.

Dark blue/purple delphs -

{{gwi:733524}}

Light blue/pink delphs

{{gwi:733525}}
christinmk z5b eastern WA
Original Author
12 years ago
-Annie, SO much better! I never even knew before that lettuce could taste so different from variety to variety- all store bought kind are so dull and similar tasting. But growing your own you can REALLY tell how individual the flavours are.
Would love to see a pic of your lil' crape myrtle some time. Hint hint ;-)

-kay, thanks for the info!

-luckygal, omg those are amazing delphs!!! I had some at one point, but got tired of replanting every few years when they petered out. Do you replant? Those are stellar. I am such a sucker for bright blues in the garden ;-)
CMK
Thyme2dig NH Zone 5
12 years ago
Luckygal, those delphiniums are absolutely beautiful. Do you have them staked or are they just that well-behaved?

Roper, isn't it great to just "wait and see". What a nice surprise you got!

Kay, do you just scatter fresh zinnia seeds in that area in the spring? Or do you start plants from seed? It sounds almost like they come back each year on their own from seed.

Trailrunner, I thought I saw you mention on another post that you were riding through my area! I hope you enjoyed NH. I can't even imagine all the hills/mountains you must have climbed up here! Any plans to ride through New England in the fall? The foliage is unbelievable up here.

Here's what the summer slope would have looked like when you were up here:

Last Fall:

Winter:

Early Spring:

When I first planted the slope I put in a bunch of cotoneaster and figured that would be that. It was just too ho-hum for me though and a few years later I ripped it out and planted it as it is now. I haven't made many changes to it. I think it has been planted for about 6-7 years or so. There's always something going on with the slope and it is the easiest area in my yard at this point. A couple weeding sessions over the season and that's it. I'm never bored with it anymore.
luckygal
12 years ago
CMK, I've never replanted my delphinium - have the same 4 plants I started with altho the dark one may have self-seeded as it's a huge clump.

Thyme2dig, I should stake them but don't. Had to cut a few stems of the light blue one as they are quite top-heavy and fell over in the rain. I have them drying as they make pretty potpourri. Your 4 season pics are pretty enough to frame.
DYH
12 years ago
What a fun and inspiring thread-- great photos of amazing garden vignettes or entire sections!

Cameron
loisthegardener_nc7b
12 years ago
You are going to laugh... I KNOW you are going to laugh..

But I am really very proud of the self watering container I made because I ran out of room in the nursery garden and needed somewhere to plant the Lobelia seedlings.

This container was made out of a kitty litter bucket, a floor tile, and 5 yogurt cups. Total cost: $2.65 for the floor tile (because I already had the other stuff). The floor tile sits on 4 yogurt cups inside the bucket and becomes a platform that keeps the dirt above the water. There is a hole in the middle of the tile, and a 5th yogurt cup with a nail hole in the bottom sits under the floor tile hole and acts like a wick to pull water up into the dirt where the seedlings are. You fill the "wick" yogurt cup with damp/wet potting soil or compost that has a similar texture until there is a mound of soil on top of the floor tile. Then you fill up the rest of the bucket with more damp soil and plant the seedlings. When the soil starts to dry out, the capillary action pulls moisture up from below. I can wait about 10 days before having to refill the holding tank in the bottom of the bucket. That beats having to run around every day and water all my containers (which takes over an hour to do).
plantmaven
12 years ago
I am not laughing. What a smart idea!

Kathy
b2alicia
12 years ago
My hollyhock!

I've never tried them before, so I got a seedling at the Rocky Mt GW plant swap last fall, and look at it now!

I'm loving the lily bulbs I splurged on , from the Philly flower show in March. I'm amazed at the colors!

{{gwi:733535}}

My caladiums. :) They don't grow very well here in Denver, but I'm pretty happy with these.
gottagarden
12 years ago
thyme2dig - those are fantastic photos! I especially love the fall shot, with all that gorgeous orange foliage. You are an advertisement for 4 season gardening!
roper2008
12 years ago
thyme2dig, you have a beautiful home!
odellohio10
12 years ago
thyme2dig - Your photos are gorgeous. I am completely green with envy! The fall one makes me want to cry, it's so pretty!!!
Thyme2dig NH Zone 5
12 years ago
Oh, you guys are great! You almost make me want to go out and garden! LOL!! I don't know what it is but I have had such the garden blahs lately and don't feel like doing a thing. Not usually like me at all. I can be quite the lazy gardener, but usually I get a surge of energy and get lots of garden projects done. I guess I'm just having a ho-hum time right now.

I'm sure I'll get revved up again in a couple weeks when the nip is back in the air. I love fall gardening and creating long-lasting color as far into the year as possible (very necessary with long, cold winters!) Thanks everyone for the kind words. Maybe I'll get off my keester and pull some weeds tomorrow! LOL!!