this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2023
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Gardening

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Tried my hand at a vegetable garden in the past, and had miserable luck with it. To be fair, it was in some pretty crummy Maine soil that was full of rocks. Might have more success now though. Just curious what everyone is growing.

What I really want is a yard of just wildflowers. Better for the environment, less effort to maintain, and much more in keeping with my personality. I hate the fully manicured look. Only downside to that is ticks...so many ticks in New England...walking through it would likely be a horror show.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This year I tilled up some of my lawn and planted a wildflower mix. So far it's a complete miss...it looks like a pile of weeds with random grasses and clover all over. I have some small flowers starting now so things might turn around but I'm a little disappointed with it. The random parts of my yard that I neglect to mow tend to have more flowers and look nicer.

I mostly stick to vegetables and fruit, gardening is my hobby but it's great to get better tasting produce than I can buy and I can plant unique varieties to experiment with. Home grown garlic and tomatoes are in another dimension compared to grocery store vegetables.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Would you mind sharing a picture of the wildflower mix? What mix did you use specifically, and what zone are you in? What's the sun and rain situation like where you're at? When I look for wildflower yards, all I really see are examples of where it looks incredible, so that's inspiring but not necessarily realistic :/

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I used this mix from a local seed company here in Nova Scotia. I'm in zone 6 and the space I chose for the wild flowers has direct sun for most of the day. It's been a very dry spring but I've been watering it because I really want it to succeed. I know people say that wildflower meadows are a "mow once a year and leave it alone" kind of thing, but it really seems to take a bit of care and management to get good results.