Minkpenny, there are benefits beyond the pleasure of viewing the garden. There is a sense of accomplishment to having been responsible for some growth. Even living in an apartment shouldn't deprive you of that reward. Look around your community for opportunities to brighten a dreary corner somewhere and take responsibility for its nurture (Ask permission first of course). Some churches up here run community gardens where help is always available and space available too. You just have to go out of your way to get there usually. Again, look around for opportunities. Civic organizations also like to do sprucing up with plantings. Good luck.

I'm planting a flower garden

Today I weeded the patch of dirt...tomorrow I will fertilise it.
Any suggestions for which flowers to plant? I'd like them to be able to be picked and put in a vase, and to be able to survive 40C+ temperatures (Australian summer coming up)

Also wondering whether veggies will grow nicely with the flowers?

Roses and Lavender are the main plants I have around the veggie patch but I'm also a bit of a trial and error girl as well. There's an awful lot to chose from at the moment ... you could try Chrysanthemums, Asters, Zinnias, Marigolds, Daisies ... anything really. It also depends on what type you want to plant as well! Herbs, Natives, Bulbs, etc, etc. The thing is to get it pretty much established before our hot weather really kicks in and make sure everything is mulched well.
I've got Marigolds planted between various veggies just to keep the white moths and other bugs away and they seem to work well plus they look quite nice when in bloom.
Best bet is just to take a trip down to your local nursery and see what's around.

Hope you let us know how it goes for you!

Sighs ... can feel another Bunning's run coming on!

Or from seed Zinnias make beautiful many colored Daisy type displays in the cut arrangement. The marogolds can be mixed in if you use floral wire to lengthen the stem on the blossoms(That's about all you can pick on the marigold without damaging the plant itself - in fact 'deadheading', the removal of blooms, encourages more blossoms on them)
If you can afford the bulbs/corms, the many new varieties of Dahlias are breathtaking and they will last a while when cut. Margarites and asters are wonderful later in the season, but you must start them now.
If you want greens besides the herbs and mints to mix in your arrangements, a shady spot can be used to grow Maidenhair fern. Many mistakenly plant asparagus fern to use like maidenhair, but the asparagus fern is an invasive weed in the garden and has skin tearing thorns on it. Avoid at all costs. Boston Fern leaves are nice in arrangements.

You're very right, mehaul Knowing that you helped in the growth of a vegetable or flower or plants must be so rewarding. Those are really good ideas, thank you! I'll find out and see if I can do something like that. Thanks again

I was intending to put Marigolds near the tomatoes mum wants me to grow...

Other than that, I'll have a look at what's in Bunnnings...I was there this morning buying some gloves. Looks like I'm going back again.

Heh! Now you just have to pick which tommies you want [or need]!

I wouldn't chose marigolds as a 'put in a vase' flower, unless you have different ones down there from ours. They are lovely in the garden, and do a good job of keeping down the pests, but one of the reasons they keep bugs away is their smell. Quite medicinal, not too nice in the house.

The smell is in the leaves mostly. The aroma from the bloom smells quite 'flower shoppy' or 'funeral parlory' 5 minutes after picking! as I am experiencing right now on a bloom I picked 10 minutes ago.

Absolutely right agony and that's the main reason why I mentioned them. They really do look good in the garden at the moment and do a fine job keeping most of the bugs away. Just like Nasturtiums they will self seed next year which is always a great signal for me to get busy in the garden.

Minkpenny,
Often libraries are strapped for personel to tend to gardens (if they even have them) Your local library may, if not use you as a resource, suggest places to do some growing. I used to have a beer can, top cut out that I rigged a wire coat hanger holder for, hung from the dash vents of my VW bug and grew a beautiful Lobelia in. If you drive in a car everyday, you could grow a plant in it.

There's a park four blocks away from my house called "Reader's Park", as it is next to the National Library. Now that you mentioned libraries, mehaul, I'm thinking maybe something can be done over there. Thanks again for your ideas

As of tomorrow, my garden will grow:
Tomatoes
Marigolds
Portulaca
Verbena
Phlox.

Basically, I went to Bunnings and picked the prettiest ones.

Good luck and be sure to use plenty of that black composted cow stuff. It will add nutrients and if what you folks say about the summer weather there, it'll help hold moisture in the soil as well.
I might opt for the Verbenas too since I can't find the Salvia I wanted.

I'm vermicomposting these days, which gives a lot of good rich compost, too - especially if you eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, and so have lots to feed them.

I have one batch of worms at home, and one at work. Since I'm living alone now, the colony at home is growing quite slowly, and not churning out much compost. The one at work, on the other hand, is just booming! A daycare yields an awful lot of banana peels, apple cores, and melon rinds.

This is a great winter idea, when outdoor composting doesn't do much because of the cold. Takes up about four cubic feet, and if you do it right there is no smell or flies. Can sit in a cupboard or in the basement quite happily.

Here's an indication of why I'm not doing any gardening for at least five months:

Current Conditions

Observed at: Wainwright CFB 2:00 PM MST Monday 22 November 2010


Temperature:
-21.5°C

Pressure / Tendency:
102.7 kPa / rising

Humidity:
81%

Wind Chill:
-32

Dew Point:
-23.9°C

Wind Speed:
NNE 17 km/h

Forecast

Issued: 11:00 AM MST Monday 22 November 2010

Today:
Periods of light snow ending late this afternoon then cloudy. Wind becoming north 20 km/h early this afternoon. Temperature steady near minus 21. Wind chill minus 32.

Tonight:
Cloudy. Clearing after midnight. Low minus 30.

Tuesday:
Sunny. Wind up to 15 km/h. High minus 24. Wind chill minus 39.

Wednesday:
Sunny. Low minus 31. High minus 22.

Thursday:
A mix of sun and cloud. Low minus 24. High minus 10.

I'M sure we'll get cold eventually here,
but right now for the next few days,11 Celsius
and rain.:)

At present, you cannot see my garden as it is covered in snow. Two days ago, with windchill factored in, it was MINUS 41 degrees Celsius. I had to use a hair dryer/blower to get my car doors open that day (wasn't just the LOCKS, the doors themselves were frozen shut).

Today, however, it went up to plus 2C. Which is good, since we're hosting the Grey Cup (championship gridiron football game in this country for those of you who are not Canadians) and the weather is supposed to "hold" til Sunday.

If you like a good dose of unpredictability and change with your weather, this is a good place to live. Personally (as far as gardening goes) I'd rather move to somewhere like New Zealand, where there is about four "growing seasons" in a year lol

I may whinge about the heat sometimes when it gets to 45C but I definitely do not envy you folk in the northern hemisphere with your cold weather!

lioness33 I'm glad you got your garden planted, it seemed a nice little collection and I hope it grows well for you. The rain we've had should help it along nicely!

Big day tomorrow, Jakeroo! I'll be in town today visiting my kids, hope the football crowds don't mean traffic will be bad.

Two months of searching and I could not find the red Salvia to back my orange PomPom Marigolds. So I went and got what I was sure would offend Agony's sense of smell. I now have Marigolds and Geraniums! They will get higher than the marigolds but not as high as the salvia would have been. I got the red color that I wanted and it is probably the most reliably sucessful plant to watering and cultivation abuse in the last hundred years, a real performer. Red Zonal Geraniums or as some Kew followers call them, Cranesbill for the shape the little seed pod takes after the blossom has gone by. but the smell bad stuff again is in the leaves. a flower cluster will go nice in an indoor arrangement. I hope you have an exciting Grey Cup Game to watch and enjoy. Did I mention I'm a BC(college)/Boston/Doug Flutie fan? people in Boston Know what Grey Cup is! Why not run a CFL franchise down there (the New England Whales or the Near Down Under)?
I see the Halftime entertainment will be provided this year by Bachman and Turner, somebody shift to overdrive! Sounds like fun.

Mehaul: You mean Flutie the Cutie? lol (sorry, I realize he's probably not your type). And LOL on the BTO reference, sometimes you are too funny : )

As for the "garden", it's certainly toast, but some of things I bought in the fall that never got planted (namely a Lenten Rose and a clematis) are blooming like crazy (I'm sure they will be VERY confused when I put them in the ground come spring lol). My gardenia (which CANNOT be left outside here, ever) is about to bloom and my "Christmas cactus" has buds on it (apparently, right on time). The poinsettias I've nurtured for over two years are looking splendid, if I do say so myself (I must remember to post a pic on the photo section).

okay, here are my "babies" that I've been nurturing. Only had to buy one "new" one this year:

(edited to move picture to December photos)

Very impressive! It must have been quite a task to move them in and out of light each day to set blooms on them. Can I guess on the new one? I pick the variegated pink mid left side.
We plant them outdoors in Florida after the holidays. The longest I've kept one going is five years it got to be a yard diameter dome of red (Had to put a refrigerator box over it to get blooms started. But what you show here is grand! well done.

Well thanks mehaul : ) As you know, they need equal amounts (12 hours) of light and dark to get them to bloom again. I let them do whatever they want to until late summer (just basically keep them alive lol) then I torture them in the basement in a room without windows, but which has grow lights installed. I'm very jealous of your growing conditions (sighs wistfully). I think next year, I'm going to experiment with trying to grow poinsettia "trees" (topiary effect), as sometimes they get straggly and I'd like to pretend that I intended them to grow that way LOL.

If pix are okay here, view my Marigolds and Geraniums. In the past few weeks we've had two 35F nights which didn'r bother the Marigolds but seem to have stalled the Zonals. They'll catch up though. Probably by the time to pull the Marigolds and replace them with some Impatience.

edit to remove photo

oops, sorry, never even thought about not being allowed to post pix here. Moderators please feel free to remove mine if inappropriate!

mehaul: I detect a pun in there somewhere lol

Yes folks , please do not post photos in here! We use too much bandwidth .

Greenthumberoo, repost your photo in one of the pix threads. It's a good one and more will see it there (I think).

lol mehaul, just came here to do that. gmta?

Thanks so much for removing /resiting your photos!