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surfered

(13,536 posts)
1. I envy your lavender. I do petunias and amazon dianthus in winter and salvia, purslane, portulaca, and vinca in summer
Fri Apr 3, 2026, 11:33 AM
Friday

CrispyQ

(40,980 posts)
3. No green thumb here!
Fri Apr 3, 2026, 11:51 AM
Friday

I'm going to try Jack O'Lantern pumpkins & zinnias this year. Never done either before. I started them from seed inside & have been setting them out during the day. Last week I transferred the pumpkins to bigger pots (3) & stuck them outside. I take them to the garage on really cold nights, & cover them on not so cold nights. If it's above 50°, they don't get covered. I'm not sure how to deal with the zinnias. I really started them too soon, & now think I should have just sewn them into the ground directly. I have another bag of seeds, so I may still do that.

For you Deb, from my virtual garden.🌷🌼🌻💐🌺💮 🌸 🌹

Ocelot II

(130,614 posts)
4. I will grow whatever Mother Nature allows me to grow.
Fri Apr 3, 2026, 11:55 AM
Friday

My yard is mostly planted with native plants, and my attitude toward gardening is generally Darwinian: If it lives, it was supposed to be there, and if it doesn't, it wasn't. That said, I have some tulips as well as non-native hostas, lungwort and ligularia in some shady areas where not much else grows except for ferns, and they always survive. My natives include bee balm, black-eyed susans, coneflowers, cardinal flowers, jacob's ladder, and queen-of-the-prairie (filipendula). I grow lavender and mint in a container. This year I will grow catnip because I have cats again, but that also will be in a pot, safe from marauding neighborhood felines.

This being Minnesota, nothing is growing yet except that the tulips have started to come up a bit. The Siberian squill should also appear pretty soon.

PufPuf23

(9,870 posts)
7. Grow a garden for mental health, good food and my cat likes to help.
Fri Apr 3, 2026, 02:30 PM
Friday

Last year grew 6 types of peppers, lemon and regular cukes, 6 types of tomatoes, eggplant, sugar snap peas, okra, 4 types summer squash, carrots, beets and tomatillos to eat and give away. Plus cilantro, basil and Italian and regular parsley grown in pots. Grew several types of sunflowers, zinnias, nasturtiums. snap dragons, verbena, lobelia, California poppies, cosmos and other flowers (mixed seed packets).

Will plant about the same this year. Think will add Brussel sprouts, chard, green beans and 2 pot plants.

Had bigger gardens in past with corn, winter squash, pumpkins and just more of everything but stick to the small, fenced area by the deck now.

The cat likes to garden. He liked to visit and hang out back in 2021 and I let him in the house in September 2022. He likes to hunt for gophers sit on the fence or sit on the chair next to mine admiring our work.

The last 6 years now, there has been smoke from nearby wildfires that has impacted the garden. When there is smoke, the tomatoes won't set fruit and growth in general is impaired except the peppers and tomatillos.

When I was a child, my grandmother grew lavender for potpourri. She would sew satin bags filled with dry lavender.

debm55

(60,783 posts)
8. Wow, You must have a large yard, PufPuf23. Your selections are great. That is what I use my lavender for .
Fri Apr 3, 2026, 04:15 PM
Friday

av8rdave

(10,659 posts)
9. I don't, but my wife certainly does
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 08:05 AM
Yesterday

I couldn’t name most of what she grows, because plants are just a smudgy, green background to me (a defect, I know).

She has our yard full of healthy plants. My favorite is one I actually know - a lush lavender growing under our hummingbird feeder. I have no idea whether or not it attracts the hummers (we get a lot), but what I love about it is that all summer it literally vibrates from all the honeybees. I wind up watching them as much as I do the hummingbirds.

Weird aside on plants: Bev is a wonderful cook and loves to use fresh herbs, so I got her one of those indoor herb gardens. Unfortunately it doesn’t produce enough of anything to be useful. Except for dill, which is the one herb she never uses. She has to cut that one back every 2 or 3 days. Guess I should start making pickles.

quaint

(5,112 posts)
10. Half new seeds; half last year's.
Sat Apr 4, 2026, 10:23 AM
Yesterday

The only over-winter surviver is Swiss chard. Dead tomatoes after enduring three winters.

Pepper Chili Anaheim Non-GMO
Pepper Serrano Non-GMO
Pepper Bell Non-GMO
Pepper Bell California Wonder Heirloom
Tomato Paste Roma Heirloom
Tomato Slicing Celebrity Non-GMO
Carrot Little Finger Heirloom
Zucchini Round Green Heirloom
Zucchini Black Beauty Heirloom
Cucumber Pickling Little Leaf Non-GMO
Cucumber Non-GMO
Eggplant Shooting Stars Heirloom

Another attempt to have drought-resistant color:
Flower Gomphrena Pink Heirloom
Flower Gomphrena Purple Heirloom

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