Welcome back to Good Gardening! In our Week 4 discussion, we wanted to know which zone our Good Gardeners were working from, and what were the risks and benefits associated with it. We took the conversation to social media and shared anecdotes.
Annie Chung posted all the way from Hong Kong! She told the group that there’s a tropical climate, but as an island with mountains nearby, the winds on Hong Kong can be fierce, and so protecting—especially young plants from the wind is vital.
Annie also sent in this incredibly complex plant map of China’s growing zones.
“Gardening is a popular hobby on the rooftop, in pots, indoor and actual farms. I have an indoor regrow garden as I am only here for weeks at a time,” she told us, adding in response to commenter Marianna that she lived in the Philippines as well, and has a garden there.
Michael Siler and Eileen Schurer wrote in from Zone 8 in the Pacific Northwest. Spring is too cold, wet, and filled with slugs, they explained, to do much gardening before May-June.
In contrast, Melissa Wold McCollum said she lives in 9B – Phoenix, Arizona, USA—and gets extreme heat, with an average of 9 inches of rain per year. “I need to water by hand and provide afternoon shade in the summer for many plants.” She’s also creating microclimates: “The main garden is where I get afternoon shade, and I put a fountain in that area to add a bit of humidity to the air, which is doing well. Then, I started planting fruit trees that could take full desert sun. They’ll provide some good shade in a few years, and then I’ll work on the next layer down. I use a temporary structure with shade cloth for the baby trees, until they get established. In the meantime, I’m growing plants that love the heat and sun against the back block wall, like loofah and roselle.”
Here is a U.S. map of Garden Zones, in case you need to figure out what grows well near you…
Marianna Kokoreva from Zone 7 in New Jersey said she brings her mini roses inside during the winter. But warns that a Youtube video suggesting a homemade alcohol mix to deal with spider mites, was detrimental to the plant.
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need,” — Marcus Tullius Cicero.
Topic Week 5: Drought and Environmental Challenge
Question 1: Seeing as most of Europe is burning and withering under record temperatures, we wanted to ask if you face drought where you live, and how do you combat it?
Question 2: If you don’t face drought, what other environmental hazards do you face?
Question 3: What are some noteworthy natural phenomena you and your garden have faced? Any infestations? (Some are encouraged by drought.)
Tell Us Here in The Comments… or, send your questions, tips, and photos to [email protected]. Join our Facebook Good Gardens thread every Friday on the GNN Facebook Page…
Good gardening rules
- Green thumbs can help novice greenhorns.
- Share your gardening photos and resources.
- Garden jargon encouraged!
INVITE Friends to our Gardening Discussion on Social Media–And Share Your Photos and Tips!
We experienced some drought in early and mid June, here in Colorado Springs. Then our July “monsoon” kicked in, and we’re doing great on water levels. Very thankful!
Great to hear, Elisha!
Here in central Arizona, we’ve been in a drought for some time. This summer we’re finally getting a decent monsoon which is the source of most of our annual rainfall. We’d been re-using gray water to water our garden which was doing quite well until Tuesday’s monsoon’s hard hail ripped most of the leaves off our plants, left holes in the cactus pads, destroyed the basil and finished off the tomatoes, damaged chairs and much more. We had 2.25″ in a half hour and piles of ice that didn’t melt for hours. At least the flooding wasn’t too bad and didn’t last long. Who knows what’s next?
Sorry to hear about the monsoon. How exactly did you collect gray water to use? Love that!
We have recently seen an early leaf shedding here in north florida. Trees like my fringe trees that do not shed until late sept or early october have already lost their leaves. They are older well established trees too. So sad.
I heard that sometimes trees do that to conserve energy during very hot conditions, I hope that is the case.
Where we are located, we have not been getting very much of that heavy rainfall. Its like our house is in a vortex……..hahaha.