Thread: YOU can Grow a Backyard Garden!

Originally Posted by Poor Richard

Locust Swarm in California

She needs birds.

Lots of birds. She needs an Ostrich.

I'd like to plant a few flowers here at my new place, but have never grown a thing in my life. I live in North Dakota and I've heard about "zones" of growing, what times, what types of flowers, etc. Don't know where to look. I've tried Google, but I want a small test patch.

Originally Posted by Sigrid

I'd like to plant a few flowers here at my new place, but have never grown a thing in my life. I live in North Dakota and I've heard about "zones" of growing, what times, what types of flowers, etc. Don't know where to look. I've tried Google, but I want a small test patch.

A lot of the time when you purchase a pack of seeds there will be a map on the back of the seed pack that will show the different growing zones for the USA, and it will give planting dates for each zone. Sometimes packages of bulbs have that too.

Any seeds, bulbs, or plants that are sold locally in your area will probably grow in your area.

Originally Posted by Sigrid

I'd like to plant a few flowers here at my new place, but have never grown a thing in my life. I live in North Dakota and I've heard about "zones" of growing, what times, what types of flowers, etc. Don't know where to look. I've tried Google, but I want a small test patch.

If you want an amazing hardy flower that makes everyone stare..... I suggest Dracunculus Vulgaris look the image up online. It's a bulb that produces an exotic gigantic flower and it's northern winter hardy as well as drought tolerant. Everyone who sees my Dracunculus (Dragon Lilly) stops to admire the strong velvet petal and the amazing stamen.

Try Iris and Day Lilly first. Add shasta daisies and Tulips. Those are hard to kill until you can get the hang of gardening. Allium and and Asian/Oriental lilies have proven to be very hardy in the north.

I plant Allium "Globe Master" periodically throughout my gardens and give it a real "wow." look. The flower bloom balls are almost as big as a soccer ball. When my Globemaster Alliums bloom I have friends who say "Look the martian flowers are up."

This fellow is reasonably priced. He and his wife are white and he seems very kind to me...likes to throw in bonus flowers. Just look the name of the flowers up online and view images to see what they look like in different settings and lighting.

Echo Iris
Tall Bearded Irises | Echo Iris

Here are some day lilies....Professional Garden Designs for people who love perennials.

Custom Garden Designs - Great Resources - Daylilies

I am favorable to the Iris "Chasing Rainbows" as well as true blues, yellows, and true reds. I'm collecting flowers because I want to learn to hybridize and someday have my own flower farm.

Originally Posted by Sigrid

I'd like to plant a few flowers here at my new place, but have never grown a thing in my life. I live in North Dakota and I've heard about "zones" of growing, what times, what types of flowers, etc. Don't know where to look. I've tried Google, but I want a small test patch.

How unthoughtful of me Sigrid....

What are your favorite colors?
I can just mail you some starts for you to try this fall.

Edit:

Ernie is pro his heritage. He thinks we need to wake up and save ourselves because the corrupt political system won't.

Ernie gets my business.

Biodynamic Farming

Genetic Pollution

The worst genetic pollution of all is race mixing, which results in irreversible genetic pollution (GENOCIDE).

Monsanto - The Most Evil Corporation on Earth?

Years ago, a friend of mine in Texas told me "After what I have found out about hybrids, I ain't never planting a single seed of a hybrid again!"

Cyanide Grass in Texas is a hybrid of a hybrid

...cows dropped dead several weeks ago on an 80-acre ranch, just east of Austin.

...Tifton 85 grass, which has been growing there fore for years, had suddenly started producing cyanide gas, which appeared to have poisoned the cattle.

According to the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension service, Tifton 85 is a traditionally made hybrid grass constructed using an African Bermuda grass... ...and Tifton 68, a different hybrid produced in Tifton, Georgia.

HYBRID GRASS LINKED TO COW DEATHS IN TEXAS | BREAKING NEWS | Sky Valley Chronicle Washington State News

Because of the inflated cost of gasoline and diesel

A local farmer hired men to pick tomatoes. The truck arrived right on schedule. The farmer called to verify the market price he would receive for his tomatoes.

After he made that call, he had the same men take the fresh picked tomatoes back off the truck.

He paid the pickers, and he paid the driver a show up fee, but said that he lost less money by throwing the tomatoes away, rather than paying the freight to sell tomatoes for less than the freight charge.

MOST of the cost of a barrel of oil is profit for the International Bankers, and MOST of the cost of gasoline, natural gas, and diesel is profit for the International Oil & Gas Corporations.

APRICOTS ARE RIPE! One of my favorite fruits. Mine are almost as large as a peach and sooooo sweet.

Originally Posted by Poor Richard

Because of the inflated cost of gasoline and diesel

A local farmer hired men to pick tomatoes. The truck arrived right on schedule. The farmer called to verify the market price he would receive for his tomatoes.

After he made that call, he had the same men take the fresh picked tomatoes back off the truck.

He paid the pickers, and he paid the driver a show up fee, but said that he lost less money by throwing the tomatoes away, rather than paying the freight to sell tomatoes for less than the freight charge.

MOST of the cost of a barrel of oil is profit for the International Bankers, and MOST of the cost of gasoline, natural gas, and diesel is profit for the International Oil & Gas Corporations.

Truly sad. G.S. controls everything we consume through commodity contract manipulation. There is talk of regulating these monsters,of course, the bankster lobby in Washington is very powerful. We shall see if a few honest men can shutdown the casino.

Planting Pepper Plants the Square Foot Gardening Way

Note to self:

When picking Apricots all afternoon. Happiness is sunscreen.

Originally Posted by Nordic Angel

Note to self:

When picking Apricots all afternoon. Happiness is sunscreen.

I spend as much time as possible in the shade, and try to work outdoors in the early morning and late evening, taking care of indoor work at high noon; except in the dead of winter when I do the opposite. Lots of evenings I stay out past sunset until I just can't see any more.

Most people seem to quit when it cools off in the evening and just enjoy the evening. I work harder and faster after it cools off.

I am just glad that I am up here in the mountains where it does cool off in the evening! (It got to almost a hundred degrees here today.)

It's been a hundred plus here in Tuscaloosa. My grass is burning up! The seasons have been off a bit this year, starting with a winter than wasn't cold, a summer that skipped over spring, and now blistering heat that we usually don't see until late July or August.

Originally Posted by JamesinUSA

It's been a hundred plus here in Tuscaloosa. My grass is burning up! .

My grass is doing just fine but I set my neighbors field grass ablaze today. Obviously, today didn't go the way I planned.