Gardens vegetable, flower or other?

[Firefyter-Emt]

Funny this post popped up just now. Today I removed the snow plow from my big Troy-Bilt tiller, bolted the tines back on and gave the garden it's first tilling of the year. Now we can spread the compost on top, and then give it another tilling before we plant. The tiller is a thing of beauty, it's a vintage 1981 Horse model, the biggest one they made. My Dad bought it new and passed it on to me a few years back. It was in severe need of a full tear down restoration and paint. The good thing is that it is right up my alley!

Here is my garden after the tiller was restored last year. They sure the heck don't build them like this anymore!~ 4-speeds forward with reverse (Hi & Lo range) plus a locked axle. Not even a chunk of plastic to be seen on this old girl! (Ok... so the handle bar grips are plastic...)

I think I did a pretty good job re-building it if I do say so myself.

And this is the oldest photo I have of the tiller, I had torn it apart a bit to get the motor running again and forgot to take a photo when it was still in one piece. It is all original with a few updates to the motor. The decals are so rare it is not funny, they were sent to my dad in the mid-80's and he never put them on the tiller. I have all the books, manuals, and scrap of paper right down to the $1300 sales slip from when he bought it... in 1981!

We a decent sized garden, it's 800 sqft (40'x20') as well has half a dozen chickens for eggs. In fact, I was just having a late night snack of three eggs, toast, and a cup of coffee. Cooked in bacon grease to boot, can't get much more era correct than that! lol

 

[rumblefish]

Used to grow Pineapples when I lived in Florida. :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

I grow them in New York, in clay pots out back then in a bay window during the winter. My brother grows them in Florida in little spots all over his property. When I first saw one growing I was overcome by the urge to kick it like a football (being at the perfect height off the ground) :whistling

 

[jamespowers]

Sydney-area Australia is pretty dang warm, (Same garden temps as Dallas, and parts of California, I think) and I know that citrus grows in the area, I was just sort of wondering how beginner-friendly it was. I mean, roses grow in my area, but I wouldn't say the rose is super-straightforward.

I was muy impressed to see all the palm trees, and LEMONS fruiting in WINTER, but I was basically Queen of The Wide-Eyed Tourists. lol

Australia!? You could grow oranges from rocks there.
Lemons fruit in the winter here as well. Actually all year long really. The trees always havge some fruit on them when you need it. Its a good thing.
Oh geez! C'mon. Leave roses alone. That's another hobby of mine. They grow easily really. People place too much importance on a host of things the roses could really care less about. Decent soil, a systemic fertilizer and a spraying once in a while when they need it makes for a decent rose bush. Then again, what do I know? We only have 60 of them.

 

[jamespowers]

Funny this post popped up just now. Today I removed the snow plow from my big Troy-Bilt tiller, bolted the tines back on and gave the garden it's first tilling of the year. Now we can spread the compost on top, and then give it another tilling before we plant. The tiller is a thing of beauty, it's a vintage 1981 Horse model, the biggest one they made. My Dad bought it new and passed it on to me a few years back. It was in severe need of a full tear down restoration and paint. The good thing is that it is right up my alley!

Here is my garden after the tiller was restored last year. They sure the heck don't build them like this anymore!~ 4-speeds forward with reverse (Hi & Lo range) plus a locked axle. Not even a chunk of plastic to be seen on this old girl! (Ok... so the handle bar grips are plastic...)

I think I did a pretty good job re-building it if I do say so myself.

And this is the oldest photo I have of the tiller, I had torn it apart a bit to get the motor running again and forgot to take a photo when it was still in one piece. It is all original with a few updates to the motor. The decals are so rare it is not funny, they were sent to my dad in the mid-80's and he never put them on the tiller. I have all the books, manuals, and scrap of paper right down to the $1300 sales slip from when he bought it... in 1981!

We a decent sized garden, it's 800 sqft (40'x20') as well has half a dozen chickens for eggs. In fact, I was just having a late night snack of three eggs, toast, and a cup of coffee. Cooked in bacon grease to boot, can't get much more era correct than that! lol

Now that's a tiller. :eusa_clap Mine has about 1/4 of all the features but then again I bought it for about 1/4 the price.
Nice garden plot too. Looks liek you have enough land there for a farm.

 

[Viola]

Oh geez! C'mon. Leave roses alone. That's another hobby of mine. They grow easily really. People place too much importance on a host of things the roses could really care less about. Decent soil, a systemic fertilizer and a spraying once in a while when they need it makes for a decent rose bush. Then again, what do I know? We only have 60 of them.

Cut me some slack, man, I only have five or six of the little darlings so far and I'm still getting my sea-legs. Also, I consider anything that wants much fertilizer and spraying to be pickier than what I'm used to.

They don't mind the heat? Mine always pause in their flowering when its 95+ degrees out. Of course if I watered more often...? lol

They ain't sunflowers and butterfly bush as far as easy, is all I'm saying. Gorgeous, though.

 

[jamespowers]

Cut me some slack, man, I only have five or six of the little darlings so far and I'm still getting my sea-legs. Also, I consider anything that wants much fertilizer and spraying to be pickier than what I'm used to.

They don't mind the heat? Mine always pause in their flowering when its 95+ degrees out. Of course if I watered more often...? lol

They ain't sunflowers and butterfly bush as far as easy, is all I'm saying. Gorgeous, though.

Ok, ok. I should have said: what can I help you with concerning roses.
Roses---of course depending on the variety and specific plant within that variety---love heat and lots of light. When it is 95 degrees out, you are likely going to have to water container plants every day. Plants in the ground are a bit more insulated against heat. They will tell you when they need water. At 95 degrees, I would likely be watering them every other day.
Their flowers ain't sunflowers or butterfly bushes either. They are much more beautiful so they require more care. Its worth it.

See?

 

[Viola]

Those *are* gorgeous. You dawg, I can't afford any more roses! :rage:

And it sounds like I was underwatering on a massive scale. :eusa_doh:

So far the varieties most likely to forgive neglect in my not-too-watered clay seem to be 'Knockout' and 'Flower Carpet Yellow' and 'Nearly Wild' but now I want fancy ones like those.

What yellow, ivory/cream, or orange, or apricot ones would you recommend for relative easiness in your warm environment? I'll write it down for when I'm in Oz.

My favourite pink one is 'Zepherine Drouhin' - smells amazing!

 

[jamespowers]

Those *are* gorgeous. You dawg, I can't afford any more roses! :rage:

And it sounds like I was underwatering on a massive scale. :eusa_doh:

So far the varieties most likely to forgive neglect in my not-too-watered clay seem to be 'Knockout' and 'Flower Carpet Yellow' and 'Nearly Wild' but now I want fancy ones like those.

What yellow, ivory/cream, or orange, or apricot ones would you recommend for relative easiness in your warm environment? I'll write it down for when I'm in Oz.

My favourite pink one is 'Zepherine Drouhin' - smells amazing!

Zephrine Drouhin is a great thornless climber. I had it over an arbor at my old house. I hope they are taking care of it.
Arizona is a great Apricot rose.

Lady Hillingdon is a great yellow:

Ivory is always going to be Faru Karl Drushki to me. Produced over 100 years ago, it is still the quintessential white rose to me:

Tropicana is always going to be a great choice for an orange rose:

It can be prone to a few problems like mildew and such in colder dlimes.

Yellow is tough. How about Yellow Talisman?:

Gold Medallion:

Celine Forestier:

 

[Viola]

Oooh. You're the best! Those are keen.

Yeah, for yellows so far I have a 'Flower Carpet Yellow' which is being INCREDIBLY resiliant to neglect, from Home Depot, and a 'Sunsprite' I killed dead-dead-dead very sadly, and a 'Graham Thomas' I got for my mom, that is maybe looking for a lot more water than it's getting, but is a pretty flower.

 

[jamespowers]

Oooh. You're the best! Those are keen.

Yeah, for yellows so far I have a 'Flower Carpet Yellow' which is being INCREDIBLY resiliant to neglect, from Home Depot, and a 'Sunsprite' I killed dead-dead-dead very sadly, and a 'Graham Thomas' I got for my mom, that is maybe looking for a lot more water than it's getting, but is a pretty flower.

I forgot about Graham Thomas. That is a good candidate as well. It is fairly bullet proof as well. Yellow roses come from a rose found in Persia so they tend to prefer hot weather and a good amount of attention---which is why I have very few myself. Sunsprite is beautiful but for the reasons above it can be tough to keep going. My mother forced me to take care of a Gold Medallion. It is still alive in her yard as well as her ancient Lady Hillingdon---not the original bush mind you. The original bush was on its last legs so I took a shoot from it and transplanted it across the yard where it has done pretty well.
Any Flower Carpet Rose is going to be tough as nails. They will survive quite well even if left alone. However, most roses when established will be able to fend off quite a lot.
My Tropicana is 40 years old so it has staying power that a new bush would not have.
Did I mention Purple Tiger?

I just love this rose. It is much more purple than it shows there.The there is Old Port:

Ok,ok. I'll stop.

 

[Viola]

That Purple Tiger is swoon-worthy.

I'm going to justify it with my colour scheme (designed to keep me from buying EVERYTHING I like) by saying purple sets off yellow. lol

 

[pretty faythe]

my poor victory garden got attacked by weeds. Then again, its hard to tell which were weeds and which were the greens lol. I had to pull them and start all over again. Currently growing (they didnt need pulled) are brussell sprouts, which I am waiting ever impatiently for them to brussell lol and I have replanted green beans, baby finger carrots and chard. Heres hopping I don't get attacked by weeds again.

 

[JJWord]

I'm going to try to start a garden this year, just a small 9' x 11' with various hot peppers, green beans, and for the heck of it pumpkins.

I'd like to also supplement around our house with some color, ie flowers, but the wife has always been against it since she's extremely allergic to bees. Are there any varietys of ANY flowers that are less attractive to bees?

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Tropicana roses - great orange-red color that pops on any color suit, and it smells like a rose is supposed to smell, or so the older relatives tell me. I've got two in the backyard, just looked at the window while vegging here on the bed watching Royal Wedding. Interesting sight in that it's just starting to show signs of life after winter...and we've had snow on and off all day today.

 

[jamespowers]

my poor victory garden got attacked by weeds. Then again, its hard to tell which were weeds and which were the greens lol. I had to pull them and start all over again. Currently growing (they didnt need pulled) are brussell sprouts, which I am waiting ever impatiently for them to brussell lol and I have replanted green beans, baby finger carrots and chard. Heres hopping I don't get attacked by weeds again.

Try spreading a preemergent like Preen around your seedlings after they have emerged from the ground. That will keep the weeds down. If you are planting nursery plants then apply after you have them in the ground. It keeps weeding to a minimum.
Just a thought that might keep you from weeding your brains out.

 

[jamespowers]

Tropicana roses - great orange-red color that pops on any color suit, and it smells like a rose is supposed to smell, or so the older relatives tell me. I've got two in the backyard, just looked at the window while vegging here on the bed watching Royal Wedding. Interesting sight in that it's just starting to show signs of life after winter...and we've had snow on and off all day today.

Yep, since 1963 Tropicana has been captivating the public. It defintiely has that heavy rose perfume. Two others that will knock you down with their scent are Chrysler Imperial and Oklahoma. Imperial is a deep red and Oklahoma can get nearly red black.

Oklahoma

Chrysler Imperial

 

[fortworthgal]

Never thought I'd hear myself say this, but Firefyter-Emt: I'm jealous of your tiller! Very nice!

 

[jamespowers]

That Purple Tiger is swoon-worthy.

I'm going to justify it with my colour scheme (designed to keep me from buying EVERYTHING I like) by saying purple sets off yellow. lol

Purple sets off any color and the white goes with yellow as well. My mother had it planted in a bed next to a yellow rose (Lady Hillingdon) and then a white rose (John Kennedy--the weakest white rose I have ever met:eusa_doh: ).
I stopped justifying my selections years ago. lol After your first thirty bushes you stop keeping count---except every year in December when you have to prune them all.
Ok, one more unusual color:

Distant Drums captivates everyone I show it to. You truly cannot understand a mauve/tan rose until you see it in person. In fact, when I sold my other house, someone came into my backyard and literally stole my Distant Drums rose bush! They dug it up and took it!
I have one at the new house but I had to custom order it and it took nearly a year to get to me. :eusa_doh: Fortunately, it is doing great now. I am just waiting for the blooms to captivate more onlookers.

 

[rumblefish]

Zephrine Drouhin is a great thornless climber. I had it over an arbor at my old house. I hope they are taking care of it.
Arizona is a great Apricot rose.

I have a Carey Grant very similar in color to this one.


That satellite photo should have been taken when all of yours were in bloom.:eusa_clap

 

[jamespowers]

I have a Carey Grant very similar in color to this one.


That satellite photo should have been taken when all of yours were in bloom.:eusa_clap

Heheheheh! They are actually all over the yard. If you move back near the truck you can just make out a dozen or so in front of the hedge. Behind the hedge, in front of the porch, there are also plenty but you cannot see them from the street. That must have been taken quite a while ago as they haven't been in bloom since I pruned them in January.