What do you Grow?? The Garden Thread

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^ How wonderful. Isn't life amazing?

A cosmos sprung up out of nowhere. I just noticed today. One of my native orchids has started to bloom.

We had strong, gusty winds that blew in this afternoon. Looks like there were gusts up to 27 mph. It blew over some of my seedling trays. We'll see how well they recover!

The thing is I know a strong wind will blow them over, but I never remember that when it happens. I will look at the wind bending over the tree tops, and think, How strong the wind! The neurons connecting that thought with the thought I should put the seedling trays down seem to be missing in action.

The Scarlet Ladies' Tresses orchid is blooming in my garden. This is a native terrestrial orchid and the color is more peach than scarlet.

[url=[url=https://imgur.com/PTs2QzC][/url]]Scarlet Ladies' Tresses[/url]

You may notice there is a spider in one blossom. She stayed there all day and was gone the next.

BTW, somehow those tomato seedlings that were broken by the wind have recovered. I know that if a mature tomato stalk is bent, it does not recover. I wonder if seedling tissues are more flexible. It would make sense, considering the struggles seedlings face in getting going in the real world.

What a beautiful color!!
I have been lazy and just pulled weeds and stared at how green it all is.It has been too wet to do much.

The invasive weed hate list.
Ground ivy aka gill-go-the-round
Johnson grass
Japanese knot weed
Beefsteak plant
Japanese honeysuckle
And that awful blue wisteria that never blooms but sends up runners twenty feet away.
Some grass they made excelsior out off, it wasn’t there, than it was.All down the driveway.
I found the geese will eat the Johnson grass but that only works where they can’t eat the garden greens.They don’t really care to eat some of the other obnoxious weeds.

@blazingstar
I’m pretty sure tomatoes do get tougher and less flexible as they age.

Beautiful flowers
Our Orchid got zapped by mealy bugs about a month ago
But kept it going for four years as an indoor pot plant: so had plenty of joy from it while it lasted

@MissLizard
Can I add Couch Grass and Deadly Nightshade to the list of eminently detestable weeds?
Stinging nettles I quite like though: they’re fussy about soil fertility so the presence of a healthy clump is confirmation that you’re doing a good job!

This mornings garden inspection was a mixed bag;
Our bearded iris’ have conjured massive juicy flower buds up overnight
but also noticed the neighbourhood cats have been jumping off the wall through the orange blossom and snapping it’s flowering stems off.

Stinging nettles also make a good pot herb.Once cooked the sting is gone and they are very nutritious.
Lambsquaters are also a delicious weed.An elderly relative taught me to pick it for greens when I was a child along with poke sallet.
It’s suppose to be a spring tonic and clean the blood , also sassafras root tea.Which reminds me I need to dig some.
Also add wild morning glory to the weed hate list.

Yeah, I’ve heard of people making nettle soup: so they must taste good tone the main ingredient of a dish.
They also can look very pretty under the dappled shade of deciduous woodland.

Today I had to abandon my pea bed, there's only one pea plant, lots of roigue potatoes and quite a bit of bindweed. I dug it all up again and pulled out the bindweed then shunted the spuds up to one end. I'm running out of space.

A couple of days ago there was an adder outside the back door. It took me a few seconds to reach for my phone and try to take a photo and it had gone.

Sorry for spamming the thread, the novelty will wear of eventually.

I'd given up on the leeks but here they are, about 10 days after being sewn.

So tiny.

You’re not spamming the thread!
(I’ve actually left it open in a second tab to remind me to respond to last nights pic)

I like the layout of your kitchen garden, with all the beds having their different directions like little fields: think that’ll look very crisp and pleasing as the season comes on and the crops get bigger and closer to harvest.
What have you got going on right at the bottom?
It looks like it might’ve some kind of water feature, but I can’t quite make it out so am probably completely wrong.

I think leeks are slow-growers: I’ve never had convincing success with them (I’ve got them to grow to maturity, but always thin and weedy looking). A guy I knew in Yorkshire referred to leek cultivation as a “dark art”!
The little seedlings do look very cute though: have you got a researched technique for bringing them to a good size cleanly over the season?

At the bottom of the veg patch is an overgrown asparagus bed that never really welded anything. I've piled up the plastic sheets and carpet that was covering the veg patch over winter. There are little, walkways and bits that I can still dig over and use in the existing veg patch but I was enjoying having a few weeds and comfrey dotted around the place.

I don't know anything about flowers but yesterday I spotted 2 tiny little wild pansys growing and today there was a cuckoo call.

Well comfrey is a great plant to have around!
Pull a few leaves off and add to the garden waste every time you take it to the compost heap, and you can make your own comfrey tea by festering some in a bucket of water in the sun. (To use as fertiliser for the plants)
We’ve allowed some “weeds” that are really wildflowers to set up shop too: quite a few of the yellow welsh poppies, and some clumps of cowslip. Good for the native critters, and pretty for us without needing any particular effort

https://www.quickcrop.ie/learning/plant/leek
Doesn't sound like a beginner crop to me.

The horrible invasives I have are Old World Climbing Fern and Caesar's Weed. The fern is a vine that covers and smothers everything. Caesar's Weed is tough, with seed pods that stick all over.

I love your garden domineekee. I like all the plots and rows going this way and that. You aren't spamming the thread; this is what it is for. Gardeners love to see what others are growing and how they do it. Keep posting pictures, please.

When I was up north I grew comfrey. I had the impression our weather is too hot. But I ordered some roots anyway, just to see what will happen. So far they are growing well; the heat of the summer is the challenge. Of course the deer ate them down once already.

Really good rich looking soil in domineekee’s garden.No rocks either.
It always amazes me how fragile seedlings look.I started some trailing lobelia and they look like little green specks.
I bought leek starts one year from an onion company and they did ok, not as big a store ones.They were very tender and tasty.This year I tried seeds and the mice ate the babies.So try again next year.

First rose of the year here
Lady of Shallot: musky slightly orangey perfume.


(The mottling on the leaves is from Mrs K holding the rose spray too close, did the same myself last year )