What does your garden look like ... Today?

[DeborahJane]

Wonderful to see your view from your kitchen window in autumn and winter, Esther. Would make doing the dishes quite pleasant I'm sure.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

thank you. spring and summer is pretty grand also

 

[wiseowl]

Yonight my garden is covered in snow

 

[Beverly]

Lovely photo @Esther Knapicius ... it would be a nice addition to the Feb photo of the month. I have to live vicariously re "Winter" photos, it was 88 degrees F (31C) here today and not a snowflake in site. Of course it was in the mid 60s at night. Chilly but not likely to produce a proper "winter" photo.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

ok, I can put it in.

 

[Beth_B]

Lovely photo @Esther Knapicius ... it would be a nice addition to the Feb photo of the month. I have to live vicariously re "Winter" photos, it was 88 degrees F (31C) here today and not a snowflake in site. Of course it was in the mid 60s at night. Chilly but not likely to produce a proper "winter" photo.

Still winter, though! Much of the world doesn't have stereotypical snowy winters.
Heck I like to live vicariously during our cold gloomy winter by looking at sunny scenes.

 

[roadrunner]

This is from my roof, much of the plants are "weeds", which are starting to bloom, plus some cultivated plants that are doing fine now, maybe later I'll get some more close ups...notice the yellow, that's flowers of broccoli (in the upper frame; in the lower it's milkweed). And my first harvest of bananas for the year.













Pink Wood Sorrel

 

[MaryMary]

roadrunner, I can't help but notice how green your yard is compared to your neighbors' yards...
Wow, what a difference!

And my first harvest of bananas for the year.

How many times will you get a harvest in a year?

 

[roadrunner]

roadrunner, I can't help but notice how green your yard is compared to your neighbors' yards...
Wow, what a difference!

How many times will you get a harvest in a year?

My yard use to look like his; here in Florida we have very sandy soil and if there's no rain all the moisture and organic matter are depleted very quickly, unless you water your lawn -- I don't water my garden, that's all from very spongy soil.

If you average it out, it probably averages one bunch per year (I'm guessing), but on occasions I've had two bunches and some years with none.

I started out with one very small plant, it grew very fast and produced numerous suckers -- sometimes I cut them down, just because I don't want a banana forest. In 2016 I had two plants produce, but lost one to Hurricane Matthew -- the plant was completely knocked over; I should have placed supports on it.

This year I have a total of six plants, ranging in size from 3 feet to the largest of over 7 feet, which has the bananas. I can see the second largest (over six feet) possibly fruiting later this year.

When I wash my dishes, I use the "dirty" water from pre-washing to water the banana plants and I rinse out oily/greasy dishes/pans in the mulch pit around the banana plants -- it's very difficult to over water banana plants and this is (I believe) the reason why they grow so fast, along with this area being the most fertile and heavily mulched of all my areas of the yard, it's basically like a huge compost area.

 

[Dawn]

My little cottage garden this morning.

 

[Dawn]

This is from my roof, much of the plants are "weeds", which are starting to bloom, plus some cultivated plants that are doing fine now, maybe later I'll get some more close ups...notice the yellow, that's flowers of broccoli (in the upper frame; in the lower it's milkweed). And my first harvest of bananas for the year.













Pink Wood Sorrel

I love your yard! This is what I'd like to do once we buy our own place. We don't need no stinking grass!


Also, how do you collect your dish water? I assume you have a tub...Do you use a special soap? I have wanted to figure out a rig that would run a pipe from my kitchen sink to a collection bin for watering my garden. Every time I turn on that faucet I think the water that just runs down the drain would be so much better used.

 

[roadrunner]

Yes, just a tub, nothing fancy. I don't use a special soap, since I don't collect that water. The water I collect is from the pre-washing, where I remove all food and greasy film from the utensil, then I use a separate sponge (with detergent) to simply clean the dish, all that water goes down the drain. Most of my water use is from the pre-cleaning process, so it adds up. If the dish is super dirty, say a pan that I baked a chicken in, I take that out side and do the pre-cleaning in a heavily mulched area. Zero grease/food particles goes down my drains.

And yes, it's very nice not having a lot of grass to cut; I look at my neighbors cutting all that grass and feel for them


P.S. It wouldn't be very difficult to run a pipe out to the garden or another collection point from a sink or even a bathtub, I just haven't done that. However, I also collect the condensation water that comes from my A/C unit, that also adds up.

 

[Owdboggy]

Took the camera for a walk today. Much the same views as usual.
http://s703.photobucket.com/user/Owdboggy/library/April 2017
http://s703.photobucket.com/user/Owdboggy/slideshow/April 2017

 

[johnny canoe]

My garden today!

 

[wiseowl]

Good afternoon my friends,this is my garden to day