June 30, 2009: Garden Blogger's Death Day



It's the last day of the month, the day Kate and Crew from Gardening Without Skills have proclaimed Garden Blogger's Death Day.

Not wanting Kate and crew to feel badly, but not actually having anything die on its own this month, I ran out to my garden and killed off a few things. Yes I did!


The broccoli might have sent off side shoots, but it, along with the marigolds that were supposed to grow to 18" and were still going strong at three feet tall, had to go. They were shading my tomatoes, and tomatoes are more important to me than broccoli or marigolds.


Slugs were the death of an entire row of brassicas. They didn't die on their own, but they were ugly (and infringing on my pretty calendulas), so I pulled them out by their roots.


Even a garden gnome can't keep my begonia alive. Technically, it's not dead...but it's getting there quickly.


My $3.95 Blue Wave petunia should be tumbling out of the tipsy pot. Instead, its blossoms are the nightly dinner for bugs. Next year I'll buy a cheaper plant for feeding insects.



Kate and Crew, I hope this makes you feel better about your mishaps. We all have our garden trials and tribulations. Some just have them more often.


10 comments:

  1. Yes given the choice between broccoli and tomatoes, I think the tomatoes always win. I just hope my tomatoes do better than my dead broccoli. I didn't even have to help mine out.

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  2. Daphne, those little side shoots are good, but not worth the 1-1/2 square feet (or more) of space they take up.

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  3. Death day...wow. Not sure how to feel about it, but it's true that no gardener is perfect. It's just so painful! Bye bye broccoli!

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  4. LOL - plant murderer! I always love reading your blog :) .

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  5. LOL! I really have to remember to take pics of all the untimely expirations in my garden. Got lots of them, for sure.

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  6. Hi. I came over from Kate's to check out the dead and dying in your garden. :)
    I have to agree with you about the tomatoes. I love them! I wish I could have kept mine going longer, but the Florida heat did them in.

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  7. Plant murderer! LOLOL. Well i do feel better seeing something dead in you garden, even if it was self-inflicted. I miss my tomatoes so much, but they're next to impossible to grow in this Florida summer heat...
    Thanks for bringing out your dead!

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  8. I get great satisfaction when I ripe big plants out after harvest. In my little spot if you start shading something and you have served your purpose you go in the compost! Can't wait for when the floppy pea's time is up. Your wave petunia flowers that are left are a very nice color. I bet they will start performing better soon, I think they just take some time to get growing.

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  9. Granny's just a stone-cold killer. :)

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  10. This is "KILLER GRANNY" answering your comments!!


    Kalena Michele, I had already harvested the head of broccoli, and the side shoots, while tasty, don't amount to much. So it wasn't a hard decision to rip them out!

    Crystabel, thanks! I'm a bad one, alright ;-)

    SB, Join the crowd! Have them ready for the last day of July.

    Dani, welcome to my blog! Tomatoes are THE garden veggie. Well, except corn, and I don't have enough room to grow that. We suffer from blossom drop on our tomatoes during hot weather, but I did plant a couple of varieties that were bred for hot climates. I also read an article about hosing off your tomato plants with cold water to prevent blossom drop. I'll have to see if I can find that again...but I think it was in our newspaper.

    Kate and Crew, I killed for you! I wouldn't do that for just anybody ;-)

    Dan, I just got great satisfaction from pulling out an entire 8' double row of green beans. HUGE pile of vines, I don't think they will fit in the compost bin :-(

    Ribbit, you know me well, don'tcha?

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