Need help w/ Garden Bed Plant placement
needgreathelp
8 years ago
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needgreathelp
8 years agoRelated Discussions
New Gardener needs help w/ cukes
Comments (15)I'm totally new to this gardening thing and learning as I go but your cucumbers are going crazy! Those vines are so long! I started a bunch of "picklebush" seeds but then got discouraged because they weren't doing much so I bought two burpless bush hybrid seedlings (a girlfriend is growing those and they're doing great). At first I had planted several picklebush in a single large pot but I decided to separate them and it was a good idea. I now have several single picklebush alone in 14" pots (they're only supposed to grow to about 2' tall and I read somewhere that the pot should be half the height of the mature plant). Those have just exploded since I separated them. I have three picklebush and the two burpless bush sharing an 18-gal bucket with one of those wire teepees in it. The other day I stretched the longest vines up and tied them to the wire teepee and now they've really started climbing and they all seem so much happier. I'm just south of Atlanta and I water early in the morning and again in the afternoon if they're looking droopy. There's no shade in my yard so right now, they're getting about 14 hours a day of full sun. Oh, and I used half Miracle Gro potting mix and half Black Kow. I also spray them with Miracle Gro every few days (when I have it and I think about it). None of my cucs have matured yet (I started late) but there are a TON growing and more flowers every day. Not sure if any of that helps you but the biggest thing for next year would be to maybe consider one of the "bush" varieties that don't go nuts and stay happy in small spaces. I think the foliage on the bush varieties helps shade the soil and keep it from drying out as much too. Even in the smaller pots, my cucs seem to dry out a lot slower than anything else. This is one of the picklebush in a 14" pot. You can't see it but there are 7 or 8 little cucs growing under all those leaves. I'm thinking of moving all these pots next to a trellis so they can climb instead of just hanging there. Right now, the vines are hanging over the edge of the pot which is probably fine as long as they stay relatively short. This is 5 plants sharing an 18-gal bucket. This was a few days ago before I tied the picklebush vines up...can't believe what a difference it made! There are at least 20 little baby cucumbers in this pot. Oh, and I just planted all those June 2 so they're exactly a month old....See MoreNeed HELP with bed design + planting tree? w/ pics
Comments (7)Given the two choices, I'd leave it where it is. In addition to the need to be "pleasing to the eye", you need to allow sufficient space for the tree to mature. The planned bed is too small and the tree would be located too close to both the walk and the drive. While coral bark maples are not considered big trees, they do attain a decent size and faster than many other cultivars of Japanese maples. My own, just over 12 y.o., is about 18' tall and with an equal spread and will get larger. It would dwarf the proposed bed and its branches would interfer with both the walkway and the drive. Pruning to keep smaller is not an ideal solution, especially with JM's. I am not a fan of trees plunked down in the middle of an expanse of lawn. They look unplanned and awkward and have no context. And as they attain size, the canopy shades out the underlying lawn, making a larger planting bed (or mulch bed) pretty much a necessity anyway. Although your photos don't reveal that aspect, I'd consider relocating the tree to the front of the property, most likely offcenter to the left, and creating a large planting bed there with smaller shrubs/perennials to provide some context and grounding to the tree. The winter bark color feature also reads best from a distance and viewing from both inside the home as well as from the approach would be enhanced. And this planting bed would balance off the proposed enlarged entry bed (which I do think is a good idea, just not for the maple)....See Morenewbie needs help w/ creating xeric bed
Comments (4)I've done "xeric" conversions by killing the existing grass with Roundup, then mulching. The "lasagna" style or just a couple of layers of landscape fabric works well. It's not 100% weed-free. Dig right through the sod to plant - whap the clods to get the roots out of the dirt and fill the holes up with native dirt. The trick is to water the grass really well for a week or so to get it growing fast, then spray thoroughly. Mow it really short, leaving the clippings. Water well for another week or two to lure the survivors up and spray them....See MoreHelp with garden bed placement
Comments (6)If I understand correctly, A. you're in Australia, and B. you want to build a bed along the fence. The bed will eventually rot out the base of the fence and the roots of the trees will very rapidly colonize the bed. I could recommend a number of plants that would thrive in the soil without a raised bed and handle the dryness and rooty soil and mix of sun and shade, but I have no idea what one would use in the same situation in Australia. For what it's worth, in a moderate climate here, Liriope spicata, Geranium 'Bikovo' or 'Karmina', possibly some hostas, pulmonaria, Christmas fern, Begonia grandis, Solomon's seal....See Moreneedgreathelp
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoneedgreathelp
8 years agoneedgreathelp
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoagardenstateof_mind
8 years agoneedgreathelp
8 years agoagardenstateof_mind
8 years ago
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