Any collectors who garden as well?

Spring seems to have arrived very early this year. I find myself in the unusual place of having to remove dirt from various places so that I can enjoy my coins and banknotes. Just wondered if anyone out here has the same urges to get in the dirt and get in the coins?

I bought a house in August and am going to take up gardening more seriously this season, after having been a "passive gardener" half my life. But up here in Sweden, spring hasn't really arrived yet. I'll try to grow some food, if the slugs don't take it all.

Yeah we've got extensive gardens around our house, although being in the southern hemisphere, we're moving into Autumn (otherwise known as "Fall" to you Americans) So we're harvesting and planting winter vegetables at the moment. The blackberries, cranberries and elderberries are all coming into season though

Just wonderful...we have such bad luck with tornadoes that when we have nice weather I just really appreciate it. Beer traps a lot of gardeners but I know it works with the slugs as well. Do they use beer against the slugs in Sweden? Visiting New Zealand is a dream of mine. I am sure it is gorgeous whatever the time of year...I need to try more berries in my garden, just strawberries at the moment. Been eating my asparagus since February. That is very unusual around here.

We stick fruit bushes wherever we can on our property, we've got black currants, red currants, New Zealand cranberries (sweet, taste more like a guava than cranberries) gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, we've got plum trees and apple trees. The city council reserve behind our property has wild blackberries and elderberries and there are orphan apple, pear, plum and quince trees round our street too. We pretty much don't pay anything for fruit and vegetables in the Summer-Autumn. There's photo's of my garden on Redsmith's thread about how much do you spend on groceries.

https://en.numista.com/forum/topic45908.html

Yeah, I've heard about beer traps (not to be confused with bear traps, inside which a living bear devours all the slugs), but I haven't tried it myself. I'm so envious of people who live in a climate where stuff grows all year round, but then again, when would I find time for coins if winter wasn't so long here?

Back in the day, me and the Mrs. rented a 100 year old farm house North of Toronto and we had a very large vegetable garden. The usual fare including tomatoes, potatoes, beans, snow peas, carrots, etc. I was always the experimenter. Biggest failure was popcorn (although the local cardinal population didn't think so). Biggest success was giant pumpkins. They had to be pollinated by hand (yup, male and female flowers) and watered constantly. My largest weighed in at over 150 lbs. Come Halloween, I would make them into pumpkin spiders: stack them 3 high, add corn stalks for legs, carve a "scary face" and viola; Monster Halloween Pumpkin Spider.

Neilithic I love your raised beds! I also raise bed and it has never been a problem for me until this past year. We had an EF5 tornado that blew through two years ago and it has made weeding my beds the dickens...loved the idea of your "bear trap," I like that it is more temperate where I live, but I must say that I enjoy a great winter to get out of the yard...I have been told that we eat a lot of disgusting stuff here..so I checked, and yes, Oklahoma used to be owned by France. Now dont misunderstand, some of the best food is french, but also some of the ghastliest food is french. So I wonder, does a cuisine that made snails delicious have a recipe for slugs? If so then I might be pleased to have the wee beasties...

Mr. Graham, I loved the picture of your giant pumpkin spiders...I can almost see your giant garden...lovely..

Slugs are pretty much the exact same thing as a snail, but no shell. I say go for it. We ate them in servival school

Yees! I love gardening and consider it my second hobby.

It's pretty hard in Florida because of the summer heat but once we move north I plan on growing the majority of our vegetables and fruit. We do have a massive grape vine which now almost covers our East wall which provides us with a huge crop of sweet black grapes each year. The vines make beautiful green frames around each of the bedroom windows and combined with the morning sun it really makes the bedrooms glow. It's hard not to wake up with a smile on your face.

By June the lawn will look tired and everything will look dusty and lifeless but our garden looks nice in spring.

I've read about ppl trying to cook slugs, but without success. Apparently they are way too rubbery to eat. Also, I read somewhere else that they are quite parasite-ridden, so I wouldn't want to risk it.

Spring finally came this week, lots and lots of crocus in my lawn with bees and butterflies swarming around them. Now it's back to +1 degree centigrade though, and it snowed a little earlier this morning. Sigh.

I just planted lettuce and also am geeting a third harvest from the kale l planted in the fall.

Hell no !

I hate cutting the grass nevermind anything else. I made a start on our garden last summer and it was looking nice although plain (suits me) we bought turf as there was previously just half bricks and clay. All summer it looked great but now we're heading into spring it's ruined, our two dogs that love to belt around the garden sure have killed the grass off !

Same here mark! I have tried a full herb patch as well as a rose area and a small patch for vegetables. The lawn was immaculate in the summer. But now my American bulldog has gone running from one end of the garden to another in a manic forrest gump style. There is a long strip of torn up mud down the middle with other wear all over the garden from when she runs around in circles and falls over.

when she isn't doing that, she is eating any flowers or herbs she likes the smell of, she is quite partial to mint plants I have found out.

Age must be catching up with me, I chopped down some trees and a hedge on a fence-line that I'm going to put a new fence up on, and I ended up throwing my back out and lying on the floor in agony because I couldn't get up. Feeling better today, but I've still got to dig out the stumps and the posts from the old fence before I can start digging holed for the new posts, not looking forward to it.

Quote: "neilithic"I ended up throwing my back out and lying on the floor in agony because I couldn't get up.

​

Welcome to my world on a daily basis......

Quote: "neilithic"​Age must be catching up with me, I chopped down some trees and a hedge on a fence-line that I'm going to put a new fence up on, and I ended up throwing my back out and lying on the floor in agony because I couldn't get up. Feeling better today, but I've still got to dig out the stumps and the posts from the old fence before I can start digging holed for the new posts, not looking forward to it.

​Your not alone, its a terrible feeling when you realize, your not so strong as you once were. I hurt my back and my knee recently, and with a horrible realization..... I cant do the things I used to do and I have three kids. when I was 20 all the people that were in the stage of life I am in now were getting....OLD....and boring.
Sigh, such is life

One of my previous wives was a top class gardener, especially herbs. Throughout the 22 years we were married we very rarely had to buy any. She even enjoyed mowing the grass which she considered relaxing. Sounds like Mrs Borat - "Strong like a ox"? Well she was a former model and taller than most men so I never thought of her as a farm animal substitute.

Every house we lived in had a well organised herb garden around the back door. My favorite was the one she created under the kitchen windows and reached by a pair of French Windows (doors) from the dining room / office. I have very nice memories of the most beautiful scents wafting in on the night breeze through the open doors. Herbs release their scents at different times of the day or night.

One of the finest gardening moments was taking a very old, worn out circular rose bed and dividing it into six different segments with old red bricks rescued from a demolition site. After much research and even more trial and error with local conditions we managed to make a "flower clock" by selecting plants which flowered at different times of the day. It was only ever accurate for a few weeks due to seasonal changes but during that time it was quite remarkable and unusual.

Fortunately my current wife is showing great interest in gardening, both food and flowers, and a simpler lifestyle. We are very much looking forward to retiring to cooler climes and learning new skills together. As one chaper of life closes another one begins.

My garden was destroyed by a tornado. It didnt blow anything away..it blew debris in. So much dirt and trash...and now I have more weeds than I ever ever had. I had no weeds prior to...controlled all the soil and compost in my raised beds...I have to say though...getting the dirt under my nails has been relaxing..little by little my garden will be a paradise again. I love my small herb garden...love my alliums...

We've already planted yellow squash, eggplants and beans in the raised bed, as well as a few rose bushes and other flowers. The herbs are doing well and the loquat tree have us a bounty this year. We planted it last year and we got 7 fruits at that time already. The key lime hasn't given us fruit yet. The weather has been a little strange in Houston this year.

Got my lettuces, arugula, and cilantro planted yesterday...my fig tree has fruited and is leafing out. All this before the wisteria flowered...very early year indeed...

Quote: "Oklahoman"​Got my lettuces, arugula, and cilantro planted yesterday...my fig tree has fruited and is leafing out. All this before the wisteria flowered...very early year indeed...

​nice, I like wisteria. Not sure it would do well down here though.

Hi all!

I do also have a family-ran small 1.5 ha farm in the countryside.
Not exactly only for gardening, but it has some spots for that as well, with some herbs
During this season nothing relevant is going on, as trees are getting in bloom, in a few weeks it will be beautiful, nature is going on its way :)

It is located in the region of the best cherries of the whole country, during MayJune ;)
Also I have a wineyard, which produces around 1ton grapes during SeptOct. Though it is near the demarkated Douro region (for the worlwide known Port Wine), I only produce - I mean, selling to cooperatives the grapes - table wine, which is of quite good quality. Along the way, I still have Kiwis as well.
I also have a decent quantity of orange trees, mandarines, tangerines - even bloody oranges, which are quite exquisite!
Then, I also have peaches, plums, figs, almonds, lemons, apples, pears, chestnuts...
Some other non-tree fruits are strawberries, raspberries, delicious blueberries and physalis.
I also grow lettuce, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, beetroots, onions, garlic, eggplants, a large variety of beans and homemade olive oil, and oreganos.
Everytime I go abroad I like to buy some seeds to try to grow something in there, even though sometimes the weather conditions are far from ideal.

So, basically a wide selection of fruits and vegetables which allows me to have my own feeding. Also, a neighbour produces honey, so bees are around which helps a lot in the polinization.

However, unfortunately, it is not sustainable still, as running costs are way too high to mantain this agriculture weekend peaceful hobby - and I do not need to pay to the birds to hear them singing!
We do it for the joy and not for the income - as for that - you must go to monoculture, which is not funny at all...
Anyway, it seems healthy, and - hell yeah - luckily I am not of those who thinks that the fruits grow in the supermarket shelf!!

What a wonderful picture of your farm I have created from your description...just lovely...

I like to see old threads carried on.
I'll just post one picture.

A collector and a gardener here. Sharing the picture of our safe haven (on going development in the area) where we can see the beauty of nature while sipping a hot cup of coffee.




MaiCoins

Gardening grounds me.

Salads. A little too much, because usually they were skinny, but this year my 24 salads are huge and... they are all ready at the same time...

    
 

Tomatoes. The plants are beautiful but still no fruit...

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme.

The novelty is the sarcophagus. A huge oleander growing along the wall with branches growing back all the time, the hell !
As we are no longer entitled to sodium perchlorate or roundup, I decided to make a concrete sarcophagus more than two meters on a side. It's new and original!

We had plenty of cherries, and it freezes very well when you're full of clafoutis and other pies, and it's almost time for plums, yum!

 

and my little piece of wild garden. It hasn't been mowed for years. It teems with life

Frenchlover

Salads. A little too much, because usually they were skinny, but this year my 24 salads are huge and... they are all ready at the same time...

    
 

Tomatoes. The plants are beautiful but still no fruit...

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme.

The novelty is the sarcophagus. A huge oleander growing along the wall with branches growing back all the time, the hell !
As we are no longer entitled to sodium perchlorate or roundup, I decided to make a concrete sarcophagus more than two meters on a side. It's new and original!

We had plenty of cherries, and it freezes very well when you're full of clafoutis and other pies, and it's almost time for plums, yum!

 

and my little piece of wild garden. It hasn't been mowed for years. It teems with life

Wow, some very nice images. We also have a garden and for years it was foremost my wife's interest, but I am getting more and more warm on the idea on working in the garden myself. We have decided to erect a greenhouse to keep out those pesky killer slugs (Arion vulgaris). This year we have not yet seen any of those, but last year and the year before that - mamma mia - could kill between 100-150 a day.

 

Nice tomatoes, what sort are they?

Just lovely Frenchlover!

After reading this thread I can see that killer slugs are a nuisance for others as well.

 

I have tried the beer trap. First of all, I have not yet found a beer awful enough that is worthy of being drunk by slugs. Secondly, there are some relatively inexpensive alternatives.

 

In our garden we last year had two leopard slugs (Limax maximus - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limax_maximus) and they prey on killer slugs, so don't use killing methods that take out all slugs, some of them are your friends. The Helix pomatia (escargot - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_pomatia) is edible.

 

Try to find where the killer slugs have nested their eggs and get rid of them. They are hidden somewhere moist in a shady place, like inbetween rocks or under a rotten log etc. The most effective when the killer slugs have become large enough to see with the naked eye, is to cut them in half in the end where the head is. Leave them were they were killed and when they are dried up and no longer slimy, some of the garden creatures will eat them, amongst them the hedgehog.

 

There are only few animals that eat living killer slugs - the Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata), the Indian Runner duck and other killer slugs (hence the name).

Slugs and snails cannot cross an area covered with dry ash.
A safety cordon 10 to 15 centimeters wide with ash can effectively protect crops. 

Then to protect ashes from the rain is another matter😜

I used to grow and sell my own cactuses.

NN.Ben

I used to grow and sell my own cactuses.

Cool. 

I have a garden too, quite big, but is kinda neglected… Will post photos later. My parents and i also plan on buying an olive tree with this warm weather.

I needed a container for climbing plants.

I made one called "made of bamboo". 

I like to play with wood...

But oh stupor, I see that the Dipladenia can reach three meters high! 

I'll have to think about a new design!

I am a willing gardener, but I lack a decent canvas and the motivation a lot of the time.

 

I try with flowers and some vegetables on our pocket sized section.

 

 

These were greens I grew last winter. But we have had biblical proportions of rain this year and half our normal sun, so almost nothing has grown or grown stunted. Photos taken last Sep, when my partner was still alive and taking an active role in things.

 

  

Photos taken in January during the wettest summer in history

 

In the spring and summer I do a lot of potted colour planting. However in winter, its very damp and sun shines from north so the hedge at right's shadow covers the entire courtyard from May to July with no sun getting in. So this time of year its a damp wasteland where everything small dies, in August I waterblast and September to November I plant out and enjoy flowers and colour through to April, when winter takes over.

 

I mow the front too, but my neighbours […] are no use and do nothing for upkeep (I live in 1 of 3 flats). Most of Auckland is flats or apartments and only the super rich can afford their own free standing houses on large sections.

 

Everyone else's stuff is just beautiful!

New composition of evergreen

Moneytane

 Most of Auckland is flats or apartments and only the super rich can afford their own free standing houses on large sections.

I wish all collectors a nice weekend.

So this is what got me interested, that only the rich can afford to own a separate house. It's not like that with us:

I have two houses + a barn in the shape of a "U", between them a plot of 400m², 800m² behind the barn is a small garden, it is followed by a large garden-orchard 6800m².  

,, I lived in the city center - and I had a garden outside the city - I sold everything and moved to the mountains, I don't feel rich - I wouldn't even buy a one-room apartment in Prague for a house, a house and a garden,,

I just took pictures of some rarities:

Big garden: Apple tree 4x, Pear 2x, 3 times apricot, plum4x, cherries3x, peach 2x, mirabelle1x, 2x walnuts-- everything just for your own consumption and the joy of eating fruit without chemical sprays and artificial fertilizers.

last year the apples fell to the ground no one wanted them anymore this year there is no harvest they are on a small tree.

  I have had this powerful lawnmower in the past.

  A pear and an apple tree in a large garden

there are also small fruit-bushes: gooseberry, josta, red, white currant,etc.

blackberries        https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostru%C5%BEin%C3%ADk 

  this is a North American aronia and I now mix this fruit into the diet I drink every day.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Aronie&rlz=1C1NHXL_csCZ927CZ927&sxsrf=AB5stBjtImxjuk941XTb9wmIA3kL72vyoQ%3A1691236566172&ei=1jjOZJb7Cbb77_UP9OOxgA4&ved=0

My love made a delicious plum cake yesterday:

This is a variety of plum ,,Čačanská lepotica,, https://www.google.com/search?q=%C4%8Ca%C4%8Dansk%C3%A1+lepotica&rlz=1C1NHXL_csCZ927CZ927&tbm=isch&sxsrf=AB5stBhhBh92WGo4_aFqLsKOoR0CrB2GVQ:16912368

 

I will only show rarities, after 40 years of planting, the cut is for a very long time:

Remember the fairy tale about "Cinderella" who got three nuts?

I grow five-nut walnuts for my granddaughters so that they also have a dress for the divorce and sports and not like that stupid cinderella:

 I have two fig trees outside, they haven't frozen yet

I cut off a piece of twig - plant it in a flowerpot and water it, I have no problem with it - everything grows: my hands are green-neighbors and wife talk it.

The younger son caught on to his attempts in the folio:

 

saltillo pepper, pepper haba choco, kashmiri, Trinidad_Moruga_Scorpion

 

https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_Moruga_Scorpion

 

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1NHXL_csCZ927CZ927&sxsrf=AB5stBjLhwW_qjCipDfYJHh5g-VntFuW3g:1691232997023&q=paprika+haba+choco&tbm=isch&source=univ&fir=9cUESZ45pvDIRM%252CI1FuYxICqPr2yM%252C_%253B-

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=paprika+saltillo&rlz=1C1NHXL_csCZ927CZ927&tbm=isch&sxsrf=AB5stBh41AKwbwxmjtlbH_H0kTH1XnTmwg:1691233047087&source=lnms&sa=X

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=paprika+kashmiri&rlz=1C1NHXL_csCZ927CZ927&tbm=isch&sxsrf=AB5stBjoXeNTjTl07NXwPhckg6AMTgzopA:1691233116364&source=lnms&sa=X&

 

My grandchildren are also starting to help me and they see that the harvest will diversify the menu:

I have a natural well in my backyard with natural water that replenishes itself, next to it, a herb garden for daily cooking, it is built with sandstone stone, where there are traces of cutting perhaps by the Celts or the Great Moravian Empire:

 

 

 

 

            And many - many others

I also reproduce and give it all away

,, Goji,,

https://www.google.com/search?q=kustovnice+%C4%8D%C3%ADnsk%C3%A1&rlz=1C1NHXL_csCZ927CZ927&oq=kustovnice+%C4%8D%C3%ADnsk%C3%A1&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWU

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=ginkgo+biloba&rlz=1C1NHXL_csCZ927CZ927&tbm=isch&sxsrf=AB5stBgxV5skUthAo-

Vines, even apple trees, and lots of ornamental shrubs and perennials, annuals. I lack strength, so I gradually give preference to the following generations.

Ahoj Ivan 

Hello everyone in the world.

   I also sometimes forget that, as a colleague from New Zealand said, that we are a global website.

Here in Central Europe, autumn begins - summer says goodbye and the days get shorter and the nights get longer. The garden is getting ready for a long sleep until spring.

This is what growing is all about: without chemicals, artificial fertilizers and sprays. Nicely pick and make a salad harvested today:

aunt

it's still growing

I have different types of zucchini

 

Here are my son's experiments with hot peppers:

  Kashmiri chili peppers come from India and with their milder heat of around 5,000 - 10,000 SHU, they are among the least hot chili peppers in this country. Smoky and earthy undertones stand out in their slightly fruity and sweet taste. Color and pleasantly spicy.

 

some are blooming right now

 

And herbs for cooking will be found even under the snow in winter:

it will make the food taste better and give it an aroma. ( Thyme, dobromysl, chives, licorice, parsley leaves, celery leaves, lemon balm, rosemary, and other)

Taken today after lunch

And my most desired for my healthy fruit, the Aronia bush, was eaten by a hungry flock of starlings - they never came to me, only sometimes for the vine, and now the whole crop - let them eat and I humble myself.

Ahoj Ivan