Posted on 05/03/2013 1:37:50 PM PDT by greeneyes
Same here in Missouri. Last summer and this spring just about the craziest in my lifetime. We had some trees that died last summer too. But my roses are planted on the north east side of the house, so they are shaded in the afternoon, and they came through just a bit bedraggled, but survived.
Just went out to get my car out of the shop, and heard on the news that the creeks and rivers are flooded and impassable on the back roads. Fire and Rescue has been busy rescuing people who tried to cross low water bridges and got swept away.
I guess that’s why that old saying “Lord willing and the crick don’t rise” is still such a common saying here.
Hubby lost his whole garden last year as well. I didn’t even plant 4 of the raised beds last year, because I knew that I wouldn’t be able to water them.
It wasn’t until fall that I actually got a crop of tomatoes. Before that the squirrels were stripping off even the tiniest and really green tomatoes just for the moisture.
Yes, it is sad, but some trees do have rather short lives compared to those that last hundreds of years.
he he he
Fortunately the temps did not drop below 30, so I am hoping my nearly in full bloom strawberries survived. The shock of this was that we reached the 80s and in a matter of few hours ‘old man winter’ blew in an Arctic blast’. I figure Obama’s scheme to go green energy is over reacting. (I can barely bear watching all the greenies on the Weather Channel these days.(s/)
It has rained on and off all day with the high reaching 37. Overnight is suppose to be 35. I have read strawberry blossoms will not get damaged if the temps stay above the 28 degrees without any kind of protection. It was impossible to cover these plants without the heavy rain then snow mashing them. So I left them uncovered and time will tell.
My post 51 - just read it again, ha ha- it was 105-107, not 205-207 but I think that was a Fraudian slip. It felt like the 200s.
My question is this: Some of you speak of planting flowers in your garden with the veggies. WHY? Do you have to do that to get bees to drop by? My two bush rose bushes in the garden are about to burst open with beautiful pink roses and that's all the flowers out there.
All of you tell me about having to have flowers out there. What should I plant to go along with those two rose bushes? If I need more, is there a pink blossomed flower I could use? All my roses were different colors of pink and that rose garden was my pride and joy and now they're all gone except these two bushes. I don't think the two weak climbing ones will bloom because they are so scraggly. They might bloom next year.
So, do I need more flowers and what kind of pink ones could I get if I need them? I know Johnny planted some kind of flowers and I should have already asked him about why he planted those.
Hubby covered ours with straw right after planting. So far so good. Course we will be picking all the blooms off of the new ones anyway.
I have almost always waited until end of May too. However, last year was such a heat furnace, that I thought it might be best to plant some stuff for harvest by June 1 in case we get a repeat of last summer’s heat and drought.
It does seem like we had a brief sprin, skipped summer and went straight back to winter.LOL
I noticed it, but figure it was just a typo.
That's a historical maintenance kind of thing. I don't generally waste time with plants I can't eat. I'm also planting cantaloupe in what passes for the flower beds up front.
I do NOT do ornamental for it's own sake.
If I want pretty gardens with flowers, I'll go to the Botanical Gardens.
/johnny
I have so many plants I can't tell which are the new plants. Had I known a week plus ago I would be getting snow I would have waited to weed out the nearly foot tall wheat plants that came up from last year's mulching. It certainly would have served well for insulation. I had just finished weeding out the other purple flowering weeds and dandelions along with the wheat that had taken over the strawberry plants from last fall. Nice clean pretty strawberry beds nearly full in bloom... Oh well, we shall see if my labor was in vain in the next few days.
Yes, flowers will draw bees for pollination and beneficial bugs too. Also some will help with the soil and some will help drive off unwanted insects etc.
Companion planting is a term that is used for this practice. Nasturtiums help repel aphids. Garlic likes Roses.
I just go outside at intervals and glare at them. ;)
/johnny
sprin = spring
I recall a post where you said sun flowers (think it was sun flowers) were growing. Are those the bulbs you were talking about being on the property?
So, I don't need flowers to attract bees?
All the roses that died were David Austin roses and I used those due to their being strong and resisting disease. They were such beautiful pink roses of all shades. There was one that was pink with yellow tinge around the edges but it stubbornly was all yellow. That one yellow bush among the pinks.
I'll tell you guys something else. I can't look at a seed and picture anything growing from it - it just looks like a seed of nothing to me. That fault of mine may be changing as I know a seed made those Kentucky Wonder Bean plants come up. But I dealt with seeds all day yesterday while planting those things and they still look like nothing to me.
Our “new ones” are in a brand new bed. Easy to tell.
Rose petals are edible, and rose hips make good tea and are high in vitamin c. I always plant a few marigolds along with basil with my tomatoes, and sometimes a few carrots.
Violas are also edible, and so pretty.LOL
LOL. Bet it does the trick too.LOL
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