Gardens 2026

[Harriet]

Experiment - crazy woman counting out loud in her garden holding a watering can. But it's so I can spend money wisely next year, that I've been counting petunia blooms in the mornings. All have had about the same soil, sun, water.

I'm pretty sure petunias won't be one I'll start from seed next year - they're hard seeds to start, seeds of the hybrids won't be true anyway, plus the plants are such a value at nurseries because one hybrid plant can end up looking like 3 or 4 seed-started ones.

Bloom counts mid-summer, per plant:

Cool Jazz's small bloom and faint lilac color gets lost among others, so, not a keeper
Hoopla purple with white edges get attention, but only about 5 blooms a day each, so... ..
Bordeau purple/white are down to 9 blooms per plant a day, but was best earlier in the year
Saffron Finch yellow, complete turnaround, averaging 20 small yellow blooms per plant per day
SuperCal dark pink (cross of Petunia with Calibrachoa) over 20 a day, largest blooms
Jazzberry purple has gone completely uncountable - 30-plus small blooms daily, lush plants
Bubble Gum pink is uncountable - 30-plus of second-largest blooms, has the butterflies' vote

Anyway, ya'll don't worry - I'm still sane I'm pretty sure.

[Kittykatt]

Harriet, to me it sounds like a very sensible scientific experiment! After all, the mind can play tricks over time.amd.if your have a written record of what worked best for you, you'll know what to spend your money on next year. My DDeparted FIL was a great gardener and grew lots from seed, including petunias, and always had a "good show". I, OTOH, don't seem to be able to make them happy - when I've grown them in the past, they go "leggy" quickly (not enough light perhaps? Strange though, as the geraniums (pelargoniums) usually do well for me).

[Nancy]

I was up early to let the doggo out to P.
Did some watering on the grass.
Also painted the bottom of a side table after turning it upside down.
It's on the out door counter workspace to dry today.
Got the lawn furniture on the patio for now.
So it does not get fireworks on them.
Also so I could mow did that last nite at dusk and saw the head lite on my mower on!
Glad I did that already so I could walk watch games or what ever today.
Barely any of the seeds I planted came up.
I just focus on what reseeds on it's own and grow those!
Hoping for some marigold seeds that do that.

I have green tomatoes smaller than a gold ball I bought smaller plants this year.
Last year I had at least one ripe one by July.

[Harriet]

"Testing 5 petunias so you DON'T waste your money" video on the Visit Our Garden channel just came out this morning. He spent two months on a careful test with plants that had cost him from 69 cents apiece at a grocery store to 11.99 apiece at a nursery. His point was making a flower garden accessible when people need to be sensible with their gardening money. Although he mentioned the Bubblegum, he didn't include it because he said it wouldn't be fair since it would win too easily, and I agree. Plus, he noted that some people literally don't have room for such a vigorous flower, or they only want a small flower to tuck in a specific spot. He also had a SuperCal that I have, which he said cost him 6.99.

The winner in his opinion was the Wave, which he said he was able to find at $2.22 if he would buy a four-pack. The 11.99 "Bermuda Beach" looked healthier, in my opinion, as though it could withstand storms, but that wasn't the test. And the 6.99 SuperCal like mine was just as full and pretty as his winner to me, but, again, his experiment was about value for price, and it lost in price, of course. He pointed out that since he could have planted several of the Waves in the pot for the same price as the most expensive, it would have then been too obvious that it wins for the money. And the 69-cent grocery store petunia, which strangely did have a name on it - "Clear Mixture" - did continue looking cute but didn't ever come close to filling up his pot.

Kittykatt, our geranium is still healthy but is blooming less. Maybe I didn't give it enough room or maybe it's stressed by the heat. Supposed to be very easy to propagate geraniums by taking a cutting, but how to keep them living all winter? Hmmm .... .. I doubt it would be worth it to me. I need more windows? lol

Nancy, almost no one around here has gotten any other than their tiny tomatoes to ripen. Ddolder still waiting. My truck farming cousin has tomatoes but he doesn't count, he works solidly on his crop for months and springs for a greenhouse, lol. There's a variety called July 4th because it ripens by then, they say, and I thought about trying that one next year. But I heard others believe it doesn't do any better than Early Girl, which folks around here have been swearing by since I was a young mother, I think.

[Nancy]

I had better luck getting the $25 three foot tall tomato's last year. For mothers day.
Got one on my own. But that's not really a $ saving thing! LOL!

I have picked the apples pretty much cleaned the tree.
Some for goats for neighbors grand kiddos.
Some in front for critters.
I took some to the field saw two big bucks eating on my walk
after I saw the doe with twin fawns.
Other people are putting out pop corn for the "birds".


Got my steps in the rest of the way except the last bit of em doing that.
It is just after nine here now.

[Nancy]

Yesterday I did get some progress in the yard.
I have moved the pile of branches so I can put plants or bulbs where they were.
Branches are now in a can from the wheel burrow.
Two wagon loads are in the trailer.
The seeds & weeds I'd bagged up are all in the can to leave on trash day yea!

[Harriet]

There were a few things to tell here when we couldn't access the boards well, and then I had to spend online time on that, etc. so missed a few opportunities to tell.

Anyway, events -
Sweet potatoes are wonderful, big and very healthy.

Lantana never has wanted to bloom much - so odd. In past years, a prolific bloomer but this is a different variety, so I don't know the why.
Also Lantana - eaten by varmints of some kind, deer are my biggest suspects. We have a mom and her twin fawns who stay near us.

Impatiens look good. Remember that I was able to separate two plants that came in one little pot from a nursery? Well, the "other" one was the only red color, so easy to keep track. It went into disease and I had to rush to get it out of the garden to keep it from infecting the others. So, that is an interesting caution - sometimes, it's not a bargain to find a second plant. That one was obviously from a type that didn't have disease resistance. I know it wasn't just because of seeding itself, because that happens to mine all the time and causes no trouble.

Petunias - I've decided it's time to try propagating some of these. I want to hang on to some of these less hardy ones that are fading in strength against other plants now. I snipped from the Bordeau and the Saffron Finch and dipped into root hormone, planted in some actual bagged potting soil. They are in an egg carton (how original) in the best window I can find for them. If this works, I'll have learned something and can try it again, maybe, at the time of last frost or even next spring. We'll see. The thing I work against in this house is lack of window space. And in warm months, very little light comes in. It does in the winter, but it's a mixed blessing because I don't want to fade textiles.

[Nancy]

Trailer is empty now!
I got the last of stuff in it last trash pick up day yea!

I have not watered as much this year and that effected my tomato yield.
So I bought toms. at the veg. stand.
His zucchini & corn were not as good as last year too.
Prob. effected by the smoke and heat as well.

I will try some of his salsa if he does get it ready and sells it.