Anemone
Apprentice
Drummer, dreamer, and doodler...
Posts: 128
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Post by Anemone on May 13, 2007 17:07:52 GMT -5
I'm starting a garden, and I just thought I'd ask around for tips. The piece of land I have doesn't get remarkable amounts of sunlight, but I'd say it's in sunlight about 50% of the day. I also live in New England, in case you want to know what kind of climate I'm working with. Any of you guys have suggestions?
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Post by Azonthus on May 14, 2007 16:54:17 GMT -5
What kind of sunlight? Direct? Indirect? Morning/noon/afternoon/evening?
Also, what kind of soil? Does it drain well or is it a swamp?
I'll let you know what I put in my Fairy Garden last year. This garden is on the north side of the house and in the shade most of the day, but it does get some direct sunlight in the afternoon. The soil is fairly moist, but I had to water it nearly every day during the hot season because of what I had in there.
Moss- I just love moss! It's awesome to stand on barefoot and looks great as a ground cover. This is the reason I had to keep watering the garden when it got hot out.
Phlox- springtime flowering ground cover. I had pink ones, but I personally prefer the purple. The pink just came up there on their own!
Hosta- I believe the hosta I had was Big Blue or something like that. It's got HUGE blue leaves. These leaves are bigger than a dinner plate. Hostas like shade, especially under pine trees because they like acidic soil.
Ferns- Japanese Painted Ferns are my favorite. This particular one has nice purple, white, and green fronds and can get to about 18" diameter. Again, shade and moisture loving.
Violets and pansy's - these come up on their own in my yard. Really, they grow like weeds! But i love the purple flowers, so I let them come up everywhere.
Allysium- small, white or purple flowers. These can be great draping flowers hanging over baskets or neat ground cover.
There were others, but I can't remember exactly what they were!
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Barry
Scholar
You Steal me Mountain Dew, I kill you!
Posts: 634
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Post by Barry on May 15, 2007 2:05:57 GMT -5
I live in New England too. In Pennsylvania. I don't know much about Gardening, except keeping it watered and weeded out and keeping the deer and rabbits out with a electrified fence like the one in Jurassic Park. ;D
RF, FH,
— ßarry
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Post by Wolf on May 15, 2007 14:04:42 GMT -5
I know this is kind of a given but some people do not realize this:
If you have pets, do not use cocoa mulch. It is a common mulch (far as i know) but as the name suggests it is made from the cocoa plant and thus toxic to pets. I have actually heard of people who did not connect this and whose pets died because of eating it.
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Anemone
Apprentice
Drummer, dreamer, and doodler...
Posts: 128
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Post by Anemone on May 15, 2007 16:18:21 GMT -5
Wow! Thanks for all the tips!
Thanks for the list of plants Azonthus! There's already a few hostas on the other side of the house, so I already had those on my list. The leaves are beautiful, aren't they? It sounds like you were working with the same kind of soil as I am, so I'll try out a few of those plants. ;D
To Ebony: Ah, yes. It wouldn't do to give my cat cocoa mulch poisoning.
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Post by Azonthus on May 18, 2007 19:27:06 GMT -5
Here are some pics from my paleo/fairy garden! My Safari apatosaurus likes to eat the thatch from the fairy house. The Carnegie triceratops is coming around the corner to stop him, again. A Safari Styracosaurus in front of some begonias and a gigantic impation in front of him. A fairy feeds a parasaurolophus some cabbage. Once again, begonias in the background.
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Anemone
Apprentice
Drummer, dreamer, and doodler...
Posts: 128
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Post by Anemone on May 19, 2007 6:47:30 GMT -5
Those are pretty awesome, Azonthus. I particularly like the fairy and the parasaurolophus. You do get quite creative with your little dinosaur figures. I might have to do something like that now.
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Post by Azonthus on May 19, 2007 15:18:26 GMT -5
I have a lot more fairies, but they didn't photograph well at all. *laughs* They're still dirty from last year and I need to wash them! Especially since I'll be using them as decorations at my wedding... Here is a picture of the whole garden. It really looked better than that in person! This was my old camera while it was dieing and before I got the new (awesome) one. The washed out, bright white spots are the fairies. There are nine dinosaurs in the first photo and three fairies (two are hiding behind the rocks and you can only see their wings). The second picture has three fairies and one well hidden dino. This is one of the fairies who is hiding behind the rock. I call her my Venus De Milo fairy because both of her arms are broken off. So, since they're not there, she's peeking around the rock at my Safari utahraptor hatchling!
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Aven Bluewing
Apprentice
It's kind of fun to do the impossible
Posts: 180
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Post by Aven Bluewing on May 25, 2007 21:51:26 GMT -5
Gardening is always fun; my family and I do it every year. My dad is really into planting vegetables, so this year we're planting radishes, carrots, squash, pumpkins, peas, lots of kinds of peppers, and some other stuff. We're growing some morning glories and moonflowers for our wooden screen that hides the garbage cans. Every year, I always plant mammoth sunflowers, and I mean HUGE! The tallest one I grew got to be 11 feet tall! I remember one sunflower grew eight heads (small ones)! I tried planting lavender last year, but it never sprouted. This year, we're also thinking of growing a flower patch of Sweet William, canterbury bells and purple zinias. The canterbury bells like shade, sweet william likes sunny spots and zinias like full sun. There's a lot of pink columbine that grows everywhere no matter how many times we try to plant it all in one spot; I think it would do well in shade. And lily-of-the-valley is a nice low-sun plant, too, I think. I always get very excited when it comes to plants! ;D
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