2026 gardening thread, whatcha got going on in the yard this year? Even house plants are ok.

TEOTWAWKI inc.

TEOTWAWKI inc.

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A little garden bed overhaul project along the front of the house has turned into adding a sidewalk and garden bed on the side of the house and re-grading the parking area. All against my better judgement, but it really needs it. I've been trying to justify buying a cement mixer for a while. There is no chance in hell I'm mixing ~100 bags of concrete by hand.

I also planted a bunch of peach trees that I potted last spring, along the driveway entrance. Just drilled the holes with the tractor auger and stuffed those fuckers in there. Perfect fit. Took longer to lay it out and water them than planting them. I've always wanted a flowering tree lined driveway. There are some existing trees in the line where the rest of the peach trees need to go. I'll have to cut them down later this year.

Need to stop starting new projects and finish some of the ones that aren't done.
 
GOPerfect

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TEOTWAWKI inc. said:
A little garden bed overhaul project along the front of the house has turned into adding a sidewalk and garden bed on the side of the house and re-grading the parking area. All against my better judgement, but it really needs it. I've been trying to justify buying a cement mixer for a while. There is no chance in hell I'm mixing ~100 bags of concrete by hand.

I also planted a bunch of peach trees that I potted last spring, along the driveway entrance. Just drilled the holes with the tractor auger and stuffed those fuckers in there. Perfect fit. Took longer to lay it out and water them than planting them. I've always wanted a flowering tree lined driveway. There are some existing trees in the line where the rest of the peach trees need to go. I'll have to cut them down later this year.

Need to stop starting new projects and finish some of the ones that aren't done.
Click to expand...


We lined our drive with Redbuds. I hope they take off well.
 
TEOTWAWKI inc.

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GOPerfect said:
We lined our drive with Redbuds. I hope they take off well.
Click to expand...
That will look really nice! I don't plant anything I can't eat. Did 13 peach trees today, alternating varieties (cresthaven and China pearl). Very pretty flowers. Planted them close together and will prune and train kind of like a hedgerow (espalier) but one variety taller than the other. Should look interesting in a few years.

Maybe something like this along the entire driveway.

espalier-peach-trees-15-fruit-trees-in-winter-melbourne-pruning-planting-and-care-3659408380.jpg
5a851a4ad282737e93ac294477b60ccf-3139384648.jpg
 
GOPerfect

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TEOTWAWKI inc. said:
That will look really nice! I don't plant anything I can't eat. Did 13 peach trees today, alternating varieties (cresthaven and China pearl). Very pretty flowers. Planted them close together and will prune and train kind of like a hedgerow (espalier) but one variety taller than the other. Should look interesting in a few years.

Maybe something like this along the entire driveway.

View attachment 281126
View attachment 281127
Click to expand...


We have planted a decent amount of fruit trees so far. Well, my son has anyway.

Those pictures look fantastic.
 
Saltwater60

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TEOTWAWKI inc. said:
A little garden bed overhaul project along the front of the house has turned into adding a sidewalk and garden bed on the side of the house and re-grading the parking area. All against my better judgement, but it really needs it. I've been trying to justify buying a cement mixer for a while. There is no chance in hell I'm mixing ~100 bags of concrete by hand.

I also planted a bunch of peach trees that I potted last spring, along the driveway entrance. Just drilled the holes with the tractor auger and stuffed those fuckers in there. Perfect fit. Took longer to lay it out and water them than planting them. I've always wanted a flowering tree lined driveway. There are some existing trees in the line where the rest of the peach trees need to go. I'll have to cut them down later this year.

Need to stop starting new projects and finish some of the ones that aren't done.
Click to expand...
That will be absolutely beautiful when in bloom. Post a picture when that happens, obviously without your house it in. I love this idea.
The cement mixer is a good idea if you’re going to use it more than a few times. They can be rented but not sure how far away you are or what your vehicle situation is.
Sounds like what you did will make a massive improvement. At my old house the previous owner had a concrete pad he broke out, never filled in the hole, put black plastic down to prevent weeds and then covered it with a deck. The black plastic captured all the water coming from the backyard and dump d it all a few feet from my foundation. Constantly had minor water intrusion. I chiseled out the joints, added hydraulic cement, and put a patio in. While doing the patio I regraded the entire backyard. All the backyard water now shed off the patio I installed and down the far side of my driveway to the street. Not a drop of water in the basement after that for many years.
 
Saltwater60

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TEOTWAWKI inc. said:
That will look really nice! I don't plant anything I can't eat. Did 13 peach trees today, alternating varieties (cresthaven and China pearl). Very pretty flowers. Planted them close together and will prune and train kind of like a hedgerow (espalier) but one variety taller than the other. Should look interesting in a few years.

Maybe something like this along the entire driveway.

View attachment 281126
View attachment 281127
Click to expand...
I did this with my apple trees. I loved it. Now they are dead because the rabbits.
check out the shapes too can do of you want to get creative. I think the fruit with pits can be done in different shapes like vase shaped and cross over each other. It’s been a while since I researched it so I don’t remember if it’s the pit fruit can only be vertices and the apple can be vase shaped or vise versa.
Mine never had as dense of flowers as this because the stupid squirrels would bite off the spikes where the fruit would grow every now and again. I also allow d some branches to run vase shaped for my apples so it was trained like that but then had a few cross up and over the branches. I also allowed the central leader to get a few feet taller for more production. I only had two trees and you should not have that issue.
 
Saltwater60

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Here is where I’m at. Seedlings growing well. I had to buy 100 more 3” pots. Citrus tree greening up well and growing buds!! I’d love a few tangerines this fall.
 

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Saltwater60

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100% of my seedling are out of their seed trays and into 3” pots. Some peppers will need to go into 6” pots in 2-3 weeks. Peppers are growing well this year except my little cherry popper peppers. Poor seed germination and poor growth rate. The size difference is staggering. I have planted 30 cherry peppers and I have three that sprouted to something viable. 2/3 are actually growing and by growing I mean slowly. One has its second set of leaves and isn’t 2” tall. My other peppers are all 3-5” tall and some have their 3-4 set of leaves. The difference is staggering and many claim about poor growth rates on the website I bought from them.
 
Saltwater60

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Tangerine tree flower opened up. First of many. It smells wonderful.
All seedlings are growing well. No major issues expect my one fan fell into a bucket of water…. Maybe I can save it but I doubt it.
Some seedlings are 4-5” tall now. Peppers will start to get their first set of buds soon. I pinch those off to get them to grow larger and fatter stems. They are too small to support fruit.
 

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Saltwater60

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livingston said:
So folks I ended up with 21 fruit trees... I ordered from several vendors like Stark ..I did hit buy twice from one ... So I got surprised ... ...
We have had a lot of rain and tonight 4 trees are in standing water... Hope they survive ...
Click to expand...
I think the standing water will be fine as long as it is not long term.
 
TEOTWAWKI inc.

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livingston said:
So folks I ended up with 21 fruit trees... I ordered from several vendors like Stark ..I did hit buy twice from one ... So I got surprised ... ...
We have had a lot of rain and tonight 4 trees are in standing water... Hope they survive ...
Click to expand...
Terribly expensive place to by trees. Don't be surprised if half die in 1-3 years.

I don't think any of those well known retailers are actually the growers. Many are just resellers that purchase from a place called Dave Wilson Nursery. Why does that matter? Mostly little attention paid to root stock selection. They only select for dwarf/semi-dwarf, etc. Not much concern for soil type, drainage and water requirements, climate, etc. It's the same with the big box stores. You may not even get the tree you thought you were buying.

I bought almost 200 wholesale fruit trees from a couple local commercial growers last year. Did a ton of research on hardiness zone, root stocks, and pollination partners. I only know of 4 that didn't survive the first year. I have 2yo peach trees with fruit on them now.

PM me if you have any fruit tree questions.
 
S&W Fan

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TEOTWAWKI inc. said:
Terribly expensive place to by trees. Don't be surprised if half die in 1-3 years.

I don't think any of those well known retailers are actually the growers. Many are just resellers that purchase from a place called Dave Wilson Nursery. Why does that matter? Mostly little attention paid to root stock selection. They only select for dwarf/semi-dwarf, etc. Not much concern for soil type, drainage and water requirements, climate, etc. It's the same with the big box stores. You may not even get the tree you thought you were buying.

I bought almost 200 wholesale fruit trees from a couple local commercial growers last year. Did a ton of research on hardiness zone, root stocks, and pollination partners. I only know of 4 that didn't survive the first year. I have 2yo peach trees with fruit on them now.

PM me if you have any fruit tree questions.
Click to expand...
Stark Brothers is a nursery that has been in business since the early 1800’s
 
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S&W Fan said:
Stark Brothers is a nursery that has been in business since the early 1800’s
Click to expand...
I was told that Stark has growers all over the United States under contract growing for them .Some of my trees from Cummings and Mehrabyan nurseries . Located in Ithaca . The father of the Cummings nursery was a researcher at Geneva for many years.
 
Saltwater60

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I’m going to 6” pots on almost all my stuff this week. This is where things get tricky for me and I run out of room. A little less watering because the bigger pots. I’m going through 1.5 gallons of water daily just on my seedlings. Here is my stuff taken today. I raised the lights a few inches today as well. Some leaves were getting toasty.
 

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