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Needs, it is exciting to grow, and use your own vegetables, put them on the table. And say "I did that" 😁
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I have a spot on my property where I just cannot grow grass in all the 38 years I've lived here (deep shade, poor soil, competing with mature tree roots). So I decided to do an experiment and I sowed mirco clover in one section and then transferred creeping charlie to another area. They are both growing nicely. Now I will sit back watch which one will choke out the other, sort like Godzilla vs King Kong. It's in an isolated area where it won't come in contact with the rest of my (or my neighbor's) yard. And even if it did, I'm not sure I care anymore. My summer water bill has gone up and up. We don't even have to mow it. And the pollinators definitely will like it.

When I posted my experiment on Nextdoor.com to see if anyone else had done it, it got 6K views. I had no idea there were so many other frustrated yard warriors, like me.

Have any of you tried micro clover as a replacement to grass?
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Geaton,

Here we have huge live oak trees. They are gorgeous but grass will not grow underneath them. The roots are massive!

It’s common for us to plant Asian jasmine ground cover, which is lovely and extremely hardy.
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Need, next I would encourage you to try tomatoes. I had plants that lasted for 7 years and the fruit got better each year. Then we had an unexpected freeze, or they would have been covered, and I lost all of them.

That was my most rewarding gardening adventure, keeping plants that are treated as annuals, which we live in climates that allow perennial life, alive and producing for years.

The smaller the tomato, for my climate, the better. I'm guessing you have more rain and can do the bigger ones easier.

All of mine were in 24" minimum pots, just FYI.

Enjoy your harvest!
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Needs , you have the most amazing beautiful oak trees down there!!!
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Creeping Charlie is my nemesis 😠. But it is kinda pretty when it's in bloom 🤷‍♀️
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Cwillie, I know, it's our nemesis in other parts of my yard as well.

Need, there's an older neighborhood in Vero Beach, FL that is full of live oaks and it's such a pretty drive. I'm up in Zone 4... I'll look up the jasmine ground cover.
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ITRR,

I am sorry that you lost your tomato plants.

7 years is a long span of time. That’s fabulous!

I really want to try my hand at growing tomatoes. We do get our fair share of rainfall.

My favorite tomatoes here are creole tomatoes. They are absolutely delicious! I love creole tomatoes, Roma tomatoes and cherry or grape tomatoes.

My dad grew tomatoes. Grandpa too. Grandma would can them. I know nothing about canning.

Grandma had a fig tree in her backyard. I ate the fresh figs right off the tree. She had so many figs that she canned fig preserves. The preserves were good too.

Are tomatoes prone to insects? I wish that I would have let daddy teach me about gardening when I was younger.

He offered to show me shortly after we moved into our home. I wasn’t as interested then. I was busy with other things.
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My husband asked me about red peppers. He wanted to know if we let the green peppers continue to grow, do they turn into red peppers?

I told him that I think that is the case but that I wasn’t completely sure of my answer.
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Yeah, green peppers are just unripe peppers, most will turn red but some will turn orange, purple or yellow.
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Im pretty sure they do also
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Thanks.

I am not going to wait until they turn red. I can’t wait to taste my peppers!🫑

They aren’t quite ready to pick yet. I know what I want to make with them. Stuffed peppers.
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I am most definitely glad all the planting is done, my flowers are getting heads on them. My tomatoes are growing, and moms flowers look great. 😊
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Today I've been focusing on the dirt inside, instead of outside. 😂
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I grew from seeds teddy bear sunflowers. They are starting to bud, I'm expected, grew them once before, planted them to young, and a critter munched them down. .

Bought some pots yesterday, going to pot them separately, and give one to my friends and neighbors.

Hopefully they are as cute as they look on google
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Nacy,

I love sunflowers! 🌻
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There like dwarf sunflowers. I put one each in a medium sized pot, a long the walk way going to my gazebo, looks really cute. Heck with friends I like them to much 😁.

I'd give you one though needs. 😊 If I could.
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Nacy,

I would gladly take it. I would swap some of my peppers for a sunflower! 😊
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I've never successfully grown sunflowers here, if the squirrels don't dig up the seedlings they climb the stalk and destroy the flowers.
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My neighbor builds amazing bird houses. He’s really talented in woodworking. He gets so angry when the squirrels eat the bird seeds.

He started placing metal sheeting around the trunks of his trees so that the squirrels can’t get to the bird houses.
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Not really gardening, but does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep squirrels out of your bird feeders.

We are invaded with squirrels, like I've never seen before.

They ate a hole in my and neighbors bird feeder . We have 3 cats, boys being boys husband bought a pellet gun, shooting near them. They didn't care. Neighbor put hot sauce all over and near his poll, they didn't care.
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There is no such thing as a squirrel proof bird feeder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZFjoX2cGg
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We have never been invaded this bad before, it's probably because of all the road work going on, now there done near me, they are chasing the squirrels my way.
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cwillie, I have been using a squirrel-proof birdfeeder for years. It's a cylinder shape with a cage on the outside of it so that when a squirrel jumps on it the weight causes the cage to decend and they are blocked from getting at the feed. It needs to be far enough from the post so that the squirrel can't reach over and grab the seed without actually being on the feeder. The cage spring tension can be adjusted so that even the smallest squirrel will cause it to go down.

It's very similar to this one, but not my exact model:
https://www.amazon.com/Squirrel-Outdoors-Protection-Cardinal-Chickadee/dp/B0CJ96ZKG2/ref=sr_1_7?crid=3JRG5P5R7HSO5&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.VrgxfoNdIGkwCVEGF0q7SkKLV93S87bgrq4Vzg7kAmt9-xGMIfXh8A2MQqx0Zm6V5RPh5F-JVG_pj0A16NZ1MP3LNogadrLvoKx99Zg11-KgGQn8qJv09iO2v8Ex3x5nO_Yn6v9_PrhhVwGlIjF4vID_Wc8WZRAGem6HHA06dgQ64SzidgQYxAgffc5H6nOgsxNYBAriNKgYFSubrFYz_EK-5vnyyeXJ_k4uLxPx1s5bmcpPz0kT_7qaWrmdH6iK5jYagYCwNyoht944M01BpMTDvI8Q9Vn0dhEBMEYFOnM.uijOULRRPqL4-3EjHxyJTOssUqcp0tQFcQ8nMcLm9kw&dib_tag=se&keywords=squirrel+proof+bird+feeder&qid=1718111058&sprefix=squirrel+proof+bird+feeder%2Caps%2C105&sr=8-7

I've had mine for a long time, maybe even 10 years or more.

However the squirrels do love drinking the nector out of my oriole feeder, like a bunch of drunken sailors.
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I once had a homemade baffle that kept out 95% of the squirrels but then they decided to launch themselves at it from a nearby tree, since it was really too far away they usually fell but they did manage to smash the feeder to bits in the process, thereby reaping their reward.
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I think if your really over populated like I seem to be this year, they will find a way.
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So I stopped at tractor supply, spent 50 dollars on a squirrel proof feeder. I'll let y'all know if it was worth it.
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No squirrel feeder is worth fifty dollars says this old bat. I feed my squirrels over the neighbor's fence so Frieda the foster doesn't get the nuts. Currently the squirrels have nipples, so babies in their nests I think.

I have a garden (small) that is a jungle of blooming high cineraria, brugmansia, jasmine, california poppies, foxglove.

I leave in two weeks for a month on Puget Sound with the DD, and am letting the partner watch over the yard, as he does yearly for a solid month. I want to try to clear out what I can of the spent blooms and yesterday filled one Lowe's garden waste bag and two huge greens containers (the tenants and ours).

Worked all day and had myself at last down on the ground with the proverbial "I cannot get up". Had to use the nearest tree (the brugmansia with it's yellow trumpet blooms) to pull myself to my feet. Have a blister on my thumb.

Nothing more strenuous than the Golden Gate Park dog park today, and eating things bad for me while listening to podcasts.

I hope I just "go" before I cannot get down into the earth. (wait, you DO get down into the earth when you go). I WILL NOT hire out this work I so love, let them have the fun, and pay them 50.00 an hour (the going rate on NextDoor here to do it while nanny helpers for moms only get about 35.00.

I will be gone June 25/July 25 and I never take ANY social media of ANY type with me, nor a computer. I do have a few friends here whose email I have on phone, should I fall in the Sound and have time to type in a message. But otherwise you kids are FREE OF ME FOR A MONTH, as happens ever year.

I do not want to hear too much celebration about that fact.
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You will be dearly missed , by me Alva!!! And many I'm sure!!
Have a great time. Many many a times I read a post and think , oh Alva needs to answer this one.

Take good care of yourself 💓

Btw, hubby doesn't know I spent 50 dollars 🤫. I don't disagree it was probably not the smartest purchase, we just never had this large of squirrel issue before. Birds where mad and banging on the window
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Call me crazy for putting this much effort into it, but we buy a product at Lowe’s or Home Depot that is mixed in with the birdseed to make it so hot nothing but birds will eat it. We bake the seed on a cookie sheet or other pans at about 225 degrees for 30-40 minutes with the hot stuff, maybe named Squirrel Away? The baking makes the sees unable to germinate when some falls to the ground. So a capful of the liquid heat and some baking and no critters and no germinating seed mess. It’s worked for years
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