Back to the garden!

May 21, 2008 4:54 PM

Advice and plant identification help for a novice gardener?

My new house in upstate NY has a garden. It's been neglected for five years, but the neighbors tell me that prior to that it was well cared for by the little old lady that lived here. And now, with spring upon us, there's all kinds of interesting stuff growing, and I'm excited about playing in the dirt. Unfortunately, I'm also clueless about gardening.

So my question has two parts:

1.I recognize some plants amid the weeds: Daffodils, mint, chives, dead-looking rose bushes. But can you help me identify these? [H. is the rose.. can anyone tell what type?]

2. What are some good projects for a novice gardener given 3-4 hours/week and a pretty low budget? I'd love to plant some vegetables; what can be planted this late in the season? I plan on spending a weekend weeding the beds and adding mulch, but what other steps should I take?

Any tips much appreciated!

posted by qxntpqbbbqxl to home & garden (25 comments total)

I can only immediately identify H - a rose bush but without the blooms its not possible for me to be more specific. And also P - Bleeding hearts. (aka Dicentra) I'll carry on looking at the rest trying to ID some more.
posted by kirstk at 5:20 PM on May 21

A. looks a lot like a weed that bedevils me in my garden but it could also be a flowering perennial (such as milkweed).
C. looks like mustard, but I won't swear to it.
D. looks like a young Delphinium, wait and see if it develops giant purple spikes of flowers
H. Repost when it blooms, rose stems all pretty much look alike.
J. looks like Coreopsis, but seeing the flowers open will make it easier to ID.
P. is Dicentra, commonly known as Bleeding Heart.

It's not too late in the season to plant summer veggies if you start from seedlings. You'd also do fine starting seeds of any fast grower: radish, beans, squashs, cukes.
posted by jamaro at 5:25 PM on May 21

J looks like peonies.

These will be a lot easier to id when they flower or buds open.
posted by iconomy at 5:33 PM on May 21

I think the groundcover in the background of K is vinca.

You might check to see if there's a good nursery near you. The guy who runs the one down the street from me is a horticulturist, and he's an ID ace. I just take him a leaf/twig and he can almost always tell me exactly what plant/disease I've presented him.

Definitely plant some veggies. Tomatoes need at least 4 hours of sun a day, but do best with more than 6. Buy seedlings, don't plant from seed.

Also, you don't want to add mulch (yet) -- you want to add compost, to the soil. Mulch comes later. It's usually some sort of wood chips that you put on top of the soil around the plants. It keeps moisture in the soil and reduces weeds.
posted by mudpuppie at 5:44 PM on May 21

E looks like it could be a squash plant. I'll second the C is mustard weed. I can't see the Coreopsis or Peony connection with J, but I can't suggest anything that would fit better.

It would help for id purposes to know when the plants flower (or when the pictures were taken) and a scaling object for each plant to judge size. Also, where the garden is - what state or zone.

Tomatoes from seedlings are still possible - make sure there's lots of sun. If you don't plant immediately, weed and fertilize the soil anyways - you will have to weed this area consistently however. Mulch trees and/or established plants. (And yes, sorry, mudpuppie, mulch can be added to a garden at any time of year, and in some regions, it is best to mulch in late spring to reduce evaporation and moisture loss during those hot and sunny days.)

You can also still plant a few things - cucumbers, summer (and winter!) squash, pumpkins, zucchini, pole beans, soy beans, edamame, corn, carrots, beets, and maybe even some melons. Also its a good time to start growing basil and cilantro. If you want to add flowers, try zinnias, marigolds, salvia or phlox.
posted by kirstk at 6:15 PM on May 21

Thanks everyone for the great replies!
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 6:22 PM on May 21

These are all guesses - the only one I am sure about is P. The others will be easier to identify when they bloom.
B looks like Mint - if you rub the leaves, does it smell like mint?
C looks like tyellow Achillea
G is probably a blue Cornflower
J looks like a peony
O may be a Chrysanthemum
P is Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spectabilis)
posted by Susurration at 6:26 PM on May 21

I'm guessing too--or rather, going by instinct:
a) pull
b) mint, PULL
c) pull
d) keep
e) wait and see, probably keep
f) can't tell
g) not sure
h) not sure
i) keep
j) can't tell, wait and see
k) maybe vinca surrounding but that's burdock in the middle (the big leaves) PULL, PULL, PULL
l) keep
m) keep
n) keep
o) keep
p) columbine
q) can't tell
posted by bricoleur at 7:10 PM on May 21

j) I think Susurration is right it's a peony definitely keep that
posted by bricoleur at 7:17 PM on May 21

p) right about that too, I always thought that was columbine but I was wrong apparently
posted by bricoleur at 7:20 PM on May 21

Professional botanist/ecologist here. I can id some of these but I'm not good with cultivated plants so I will leave those along. If you can post better photos of the shrubs I could probably id those as well.

A is a goldenrod or an aster. It will flower later this summer and you will know for sure.

C looks to be yellow rocket. Maybe I'm not too sure base don the photo.

E is garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), a nasty invasive plant. Pull immediately- dispose of in trash as it will still produce seed if you leave it piled up.

I has flowers that might be gill-over-the-ground, and Vinca is the background ground cover.

K is burdock with a background of Vinca.

O is Galium, perhaps the cultivated plant known as cleavers.

P is bleeding heart.

Definitely, control the garlic mustard. Vinca also can be an invasive plant and you may want to control it.
posted by buttercup at 8:08 PM on May 21

You can still plant your garden now. Around here, we can't plant until about now and we do just fine. Seed packets give you a rough estimate of how long they take to harvestable right on the packet (though you have to add germination time).
posted by ssg at 8:46 PM on May 21

A. The tall plant looks like it is worth waiting to see if it blooms before deciding to pull, but the stuff growing around it with the round serrated leaves and the little purple flowers is ground ivy ie "creeping Charlie" and you want to pull all of it up. It's an invasive weed that is really hard to get rid of and can choke a lot of your plants.

L. Looks like a volunteer tree to me. I'd pull it up if it was that close to my wall.

Don't be afraid to thin out some of your perennial plantings, a lot of them do better if they get a good thinning every spring. Many of the plantings in my yard actually come from neighbors and friends who were thinning out their perennials.

My secret to growing good vegetables is add lots of nice rich compost to the soil and to mulch around my plants with grass clippings to hold in the moisture. Tomatoes, peppers and herbs are really easy to grow and ideal for the beginning gardener.
posted by pluckysparrow at 9:39 PM on May 21

I. looks like it's probably some sort of Ajuga, most likely Ajuga Reptans.
posted by a louis wain cat at 10:25 PM on May 21

O looks like sweet woodruff to me, though it's hard to get a sense of the scale from the pic -- should be low to the ground and bear white flowers.

You're fine to start a veggie garden. It's late to get into cool-weather crops like peas and spinach, but you're in plenty of time for warmer-weather crops.
posted by jon1270 at 4:36 AM on May 22

I completely disagree with everyone who is identifying J as peony... or even a keeper. It looks very much like an aggressive plant we see everywhere in Vermont. If it puts up little white flowers, start doing your best to get rid of it, which will probably mean digging it out. Or Roundup if you aren't too picky about chemicals.
posted by terrapin at 4:41 AM on May 22

Oops! I am so sorry. I meant O! How embarrassing.
posted by terrapin at 4:42 AM on May 22

It's not late in the season to put in a vegetable garden. Here in SE Michigan we generally can expect to be frost-free by Memorial Day weekend. Depending on where in upstate NY you are you might even be a little later. Starting a vegetable garden with seedlings now is the right time not late.

With little time I recommend using grass clippings, straw or compost to mulch your vegetables and mulch around your other plants to help control weeds. Water regularly - I like to set up a soaker hose in my veggie garden - the slow seap wastes less water and puts it right at the roots rather than in the air. With your vegetable garden you may want to get a soil test kit from a local garden center -checking and then correcting potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus and ph levels will go a long way towards ensuring a good crop.

Nothing wrong with Round-up - it degrades to water in 24 hours so is the most non-toxic pesticide available - helpful if you have an overwhelming quantity of weeds to take on in a previously neglected property. I saw this despite my strong preference to avoid chemicals when I plant.
posted by leslies at 4:56 AM on May 22

If it will be sunny on that weekend while you're weeding, make a quick sketch of the garden and then look around every hour or half-hour and note what time of day direct sun arrives at each area and when those areas become shaded again. Knowing how many hours of sun you get in various sections will help you choose plants that will thrive, and that will be worth the time it takes you to grow them.
posted by jon1270 at 4:59 AM on May 22

G is Centaurea montana, also known as perennial cornflower or perennial bachelor's button.
posted by violette at 5:11 AM on May 22

Nothing wrong with Round-up - it degrades to water in 24 hours so is the most non-toxic pesticide available

Not so. Glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) has a half-life in soil of 60 days according to the EPA. There are other ingredients in Roundup that are of environmental and health concern as well.
posted by ssg at 7:49 AM on May 22

A-- ground cover is creeping charley, hideously invasive. pull it if you can. Tall might be phlox might be a weed. See if it develops a flower mid-summer, large head with multiple (probably pink) star-shaped individual blossoms

B- weed
C-weed
D Columbine should start developing flowers any day
E Hollyhock?
F-I ?
J Peon?
K My neighbor has these, definitely not a weed, but I don't know what it is
L weed
N Queen Anne's lace. Some people think it's a weed, but it will act like a ground cover (as you can see) and will develop beautiful tall lacy stalks in the fall. It is somewhat invasive, make sure you confine it to the area you want by assiduous weeding and thinning
P Bleeding heart

The good news is the non-hardy things have now died off and you have a garden full of mature and healthy plants.
posted by nax at 9:18 AM on May 22

Hit post too soon. I'm in Chicago area-- I plant cold weather veg seeds no earlier than first week of May (lettuce, spinach, peas) and bean, carrot, and squash family seeds around 2nd-3rd week at earliest. Bedding plants (tomatoes, squash, peppers, herbs) I don't put in until after June 5 otherwise late cold snaps (40s at night around here into June) will kill the young plants. I get harvest into November some years and always through Setember. So you're fine to start a vegetable garden still, I think.
posted by nax at 9:22 AM on May 22

I see that the ones I knew were already identified by others. But I'm glad the one that I was going to say was a weed (A), and should be pulled is not. I have that growing, and would have pulled it this weekend.
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 9:52 AM on May 22

Try advertising on Craigslist for a plant swap-- it's a good way to meet other gardeners in the area and a way to increase your stock. You'll need something to swap, of course, but you'll be surprised at how generous people are.

A fun project is to map out your garden as it is now and then map out your fantasy garden. I made a detailed plan 8 years ago and I've been following it faithfully ever since. There is still much more I want to do, but like you, I garden on a shoe string. Speaking of which, Craigslist is also a good way to find cheap plants and free manure and free landscaping rocks. In the last two weeks I've gotten free alpaca poop, free horse manure, and lots of gorgeous plants for a $1.00 a piece.

Bear in mind the old Chinese proverb that the best fertilizer is the gardener's footprints: walk around and LOOK every day. Take notice which part of your garden is in the shade in the afternoons, which part stays driest, where the richest, loamiest soil is.

Having a good loamy soil is the aspiration of every gardener-- no matter if you have heavy clay or sandy soil. The trick is to add humus: compost, last year's mulch, well rotted manure, etc. Some of your kitchen waste can be thrown right into the garden: coffee grounds, tea bags, banana peels all go right into my plant beds-- my roses especially love the banana peels. Ground up eggshells and the dog's old bones go in too. If you feel like it, one thrifty trick is to put your kitchen scraps into the blender, add some water and puree-- then toss right into the soil.

You can actually mulch any time of the year. I've already mulched my vegetables with wood chips (free! from the city) to keep the weeds down. Every spring I enlarge my beds by planting new perennials, bulbs, herbs, and shrubs in the space already prepared, then extending the edges with heavy applications of newspaper covered by mulch-- this leaves a very tidy looking bed and the newspaper foils most weeds (except the darn crapgrass.)
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:19 PM on May 22