Gardening Boise

Seeds!!

// January 21st, 2010 // No Comments » // Seeds, Winter

I have decided that this year I’m going to dive in and grow most or all of my plants from seeds! Which means that I had to do a lot of research. And of course I’ll share!

General Information
About.com - Indoor Seed Starting
Botanical Interests (the first section has lots of good info about seeds)
Farmer’s Almanac (great tips)

Places to buy Supplies
Burpee
Gardener’s Supply

And places to get seeds
Botanical Interests
Natural Gardening
Burpee
High Mowing Seeds

Phew! There are some great sites out there and they all get me so excited. I don’t have to wait for spring to get started on my garden! But there is a lot of work to do before I can start my seeds, and in the garden itself. Stay tuned!

Happy Autumn!

// October 27th, 2009 // No Comments » // Autumn, Containers, Flowers

It’s time for cleaning up the garden, planning next year’s, and waiting for Spring!

And of course decorating with pumpkins and planting some pansies.

Mid-August Update

// August 16th, 2009 // No Comments » // Containers, Flowers, Summer, Vegetables

I’m sorry for the delay in getting this photo up, I wanted to wait until I pruned back the tomato plant. It was growing like crazy and starting to take over a couple of the other plants. Here’s what my veggie garden looks like now:

My catnip plant in the pot is flowering and it looks so pretty! My cat loves the fresh leaves too, I will have to make sure to always have a catnip plant growing somewhere no matter what.

And finally the black-eyed Susans my mom brought from her yard. Hopefully I will have more next year, they really are pretty!

It’s Done!

// August 5th, 2009 // 4 Comments » // Containers, Water Features

I have always wanted a fountain in my backyard. Any kind would do. This spring I bought a couple really big pots, and planned on using one to make a fountain. My parents gave me a fountain pump they used to have in their backyard, since they decided it wasn’t quite what they wanted. All I had to do was waterproof the inside of the container (using Thompson’s Multi-Surface Waterproof spray) and plug the bottom (using silicone caulk). Then I stacked up bricks inside, and covered them with rocks from the yard (I still need a few more, but it’s good for now).

Here is my container fountain! I am so happy! Maybe tonight I’ll sit outside on the porch and enjoy the sounds. It’s too hot to be outside now!

I may add a plant or two, that might look pretty awesome. I plan on making my other pot into a simple water garden with plants and pretty rocks, but that might have to wait till next year, when I have a place to put it.

A Comeback Story!

// July 15th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Containers, Summer, Vegetables

One of my cucumber plants was looking really sad about a month ago. It wasn’t getting any bigger and I was worried it wouldn’t ever grow. So I dug up the poor thing and planted it in a container (the back left container in the photo - ignore the dead flower in the front, it has since been pulled up *sad*).

About 10 days later, it became evident that it wasn’t a problem with the plant.

And just 6 days after that, WHOA. Haha.

As of right now, it hasn’t gotten tons bigger but it has quite a few flowers so I think it’ll be OK. It will be interesting to see. I replaced this plant in the garden with another plant from the store, and that seems to be growing alright. We’ll see.

Almost Ready!

// July 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // Summer, Vegetables

One of our pepper plants has been doing very well, and this little pepper is almost ready. I’m not sure how to know when it IS ready to be picked, though.

And these tomatoes are looking good, too!

Photos and Links, Oh My!

// July 11th, 2009 // No Comments » // General

I take LOTS of pictures of my garden and not all of them end up on here! If you’d like to see more, check them out here:

My Flickr Garden Set

I’ve also created a Delicious account for this site, which is a bookmarking service. Any link about gardening that I find interesting should show up in the “lifestream” section to the right. Here’s the main page of bookmarks if you want to see them all:

Interesting Garden Links

Quick Note

// July 11th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // General

I’m changing the website design, so things are a little wonky! I’ll get it fixed ASAP.

Edit: Done! For now. It needs more color, but I’ll have to get to that later.

Garden Pests

// July 10th, 2009 // 4 Comments » // Pests, Summer, Vegetables

Oh, the frustration of garden pests!!

First, we’ve got the gophers. They figured out how to get into the garden despite the chicken wire and are now stealing onions and chewing on other plants. Everyday or so I find a new place they’ve come up. I’m not sure what to do about them! We’ve tried the sonic deterrent devices, but apparently those don’t work anymore either.

And second, I now have TONS of earwigs (ewww) all over my zucchini and maybe my strawberries too. I found some advice for trapping them in water, so I put out a tin full of water (and bread, since they like yeast I guess) so we’ll check on that in the morning.

I did make some zucchini bread that turned out awesome, so that’s fun. I just hope I don’t lose the rest of my zucchinis to the bugs!!

Raised Bed Update

// June 26th, 2009 // No Comments » // Vegetables

Our veggies are growing out of control! It’s awesome. I just realized the last pictures I posted were a long time ago, so these will be a lot different!

I think this zucchini may be almost ready to pick!!