|
Speaking of fertilizing - we finally have a nicely done yard with lots of native drought tolerant plantings (SF Bay Area, Sunset zone 14). What should I be doing about general purpose fertilizing? I know how to handle the small lawn and the trees, but not sure for more general purpose bed plantings (mostly grasses, shrubs, and succulents). Miracle grow and a watering can?
ROJO fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Apr 14, 2024 |
#
?
Apr 14, 2024 23:52
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 29, 2024 06:22 |
|
|
ROJO posted:Speaking of fertilizing - we finally have a nicely done yard with lots of native drought tolerant plantings (SF Bay Area, Sunset zone 14). What should I be doing about general purpose fertilizing? I know how to handle the small lawn and the trees, but not sure for more general purpose bed plantings (mostly grasses, shrubs, and succulents). Miracle grow and a watering can? <taps thread title>
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2024 00:09
|
|
|
The Wonder Weapon posted:I need to plant a handful of young trees (zone 6) in a couple weeks. Are any of these growth products you get advertised useful/necessary? I'm wondering if they actually help or if they're snake oil. https://www.fast-growing-trees.com/products/root-rocket-fertilizer?variant=13940847247412 Mycorrhizal fungi are hugely good and important to the way most trees take up water and nutrients but there is about a 99% chance your native dirt is already full of them and/or any tree you get from a nursery already has them. ROJO posted:Speaking of fertilizing - we finally have a nicely done yard with lots of native drought tolerant plantings (SF Bay Area, Sunset zone 14). What should I be doing about general purpose fertilizing? I know how to handle the small lawn and the trees, but not sure for more general purpose bed plantings (mostly grasses, shrubs, and succulents). Miracle grow and a watering can? An often overlooked question with fertilizer (esp with houseplants or small yards) is ‘do you actually want these plants to grow?’ And if yes, how fast? They’re gonna grow naturally some-do you want to speed that up so you have to prune them sooner? Or just let nature do its thing? If you’re in a droughty area that becomes and even more important question. A fertilized plant that is trying to grow really fast needs more water than an unfertilized plant and if you push fertilizer (especially with irrigation) you can wind up with a plant with way more top growth than it’s roots can support and which will suffer much more in a drought than a smaller plant with a better root:leaf ratio. Much like vitamins/supplements in people, plants only really need fertilizer if their natural environment is missing an important nutrient. You can juice yourself or your plants up if you want to grow fast, but normal people/plants don’t really need that.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2024 00:19
|
|
|
Motronic posted:<taps thread title> Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Miracle-gro is generally a decent fertilizer but the only real answer is the thread title-get a soil test done by your county extension office and they’ll tell you. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2024 00:28
|
|
|
Get their master gardener manual and it will be a great reference for all this kind of stuff. I use mine at least a few times a year.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2024 00:30
|
|
|
Ca county ag won't do soil tests  . But they do have a lot of literature
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2024 00:46
|
|
|
ROJO posted:Speaking of fertilizing - we finally have a nicely done yard with lots of native drought tolerant plantings (SF Bay Area, Sunset zone 14). What should I be doing about general purpose fertilizing? I know how to handle the small lawn and the trees, but not sure for more general purpose bed plantings (mostly grasses, shrubs, and succulents). Miracle grow and a watering can? Native plantings don't generally need fertilizing because they're the best suited to grow in your local soil and climate, but agree with the commenters saying to call your county extension. Your local university may offer soil testing, or you can send it in the the University of Minnesota for testing: https://soiltest.cfans.umn.edu/ Spikes32 posted:Ca county ag won't do soil tests CA as in California or Canada? See my link above for soil testing through the U of M if you're in the states.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2024 15:30
|
|
|
California. I got a soil test done by some Fresno ag testing companies but it wasn't as cheap as county ag places. No shipping charges though...
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2024 22:53
|
|
|
Live staking report: I hammered in a bunch of Southern Arrowwood branches last year, they barely grew any leaves (expected for year 0). So far about 1/3 of them have woken up and are now growing tiny leaves  I'm hoping a bunch more wake up, it's still pretty early.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2024 01:16
|
|
|
devicenull posted:Live staking report: I hammered in a bunch of Southern Arrowwood branches last year, they barely grew any leaves (expected for year 0). So far about 1/3 of them have woken up and are now growing tiny leaves So satisfying. That's great to hear.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2024 01:34
|
|
|
Over the winter, I started and grew out some milkweed indoors and planted them out a couple weeks ago, alongside a mature butterfly milkweed I had planted in the fall. I was rewarded with a whole crew of fat and happy monarch caterpillars. Last night the I heard the mosquito truck go by. I assume that explains the caterpillar carnage this morning. They haven't been eaten or anything, they look like they just died mid-whatever they were doing. It seems my plans for a milkweed patch have a slight flaw! e: Found 2 survivors today. Maybe it was something else? Who knows. Discussion Quorum fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Apr 17, 2024 |
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2024 15:15
|
|
|
  I had my front yard fully landscaped last year (graded, removed all top bullshit on top, new sod, mulch, etc). In my front bed, these have started showing up this spring. The other beds do not have them so I'm ruling out something contaminated in the mulch or something. Any idea on what this "weed" is? Is it even a weed? Any suggestions on removal? I dug down and there's apparently no common vine or substance to actually remove, just these leaves. I'm at a loss on how to eliminate/remove these. Prefer not to use the nasty pesticides if I can, but if it's the only choice I'll do the needful. Thanks in advance!
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2024 17:49
|
|
|
Try Google Lens or a plant ID app? If they hand-pull easily and it's just a small area, that might be your easiest option.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2024 18:41
|
|
|
TraderStav posted:
What state are you in? Those look a hell of a lot like ramps, which are a famous wild-gathered treat. Do they smell like onions? I wouldn't advise eating them without a firm ID, but if they smell like onions, I'd leave them alone. e: Try the apps iNaturalist or Google Lens. They can often identify based on just a photo.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2024 19:23
|
|
|
Thanks, will try Google lens. I'm in southeast Michigan. They do not smell like onions. When you say do nothing, just leave them at let them die? We are eventually looking to plant bushes/flowers here so not sure if that'll be a solution or a problem.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2024 19:36
|
|
|
My strong suspicion is that it's somewhere in the allium wild onion family; it may or may not be edible. Depending on where your topsoil came from, it might have been carried along. Crush a leaf just because I'm curious? (and then wash your hands, ofc) These are ramps: note leaf shape and red stem.  https://foragingguru.com/wild-leek/ e: It could also be lily-of-the-valley.
Arsenic Lupin fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Apr 21, 2024 |
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2024 20:46
|
|
|
Can’t complain about free sod, beats waiting on grass seed for the construction affected area of the yard. Most importantly I can no longer see dirt from the inside of the house. Now if only they had about twice as much available to fill out the rest of what I need. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2024 01:01
|
|
|
I'm building a picket fence soon. It'll have 4x4 posts sticking up ~3' high. By the 'bury 1/3 of the above ground height' rule that means just burying a foot. Does that seem sufficient? For some reason that doesn't feel like enough. Should I concrete them in or for a low picket fence is that overkill? No frost line or anything here.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2024 18:41
|
|
|
devmd01 posted:Can’t complain about free sod, beats waiting on grass seed for the construction affected area of the yard. Most importantly I can no longer see dirt from the inside of the house. Anything stopping you from placing dirt/manure/seed/straw in the remaining bare areas?
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2024 13:50
|
|
|
We have a 40 x 20 foot garden that we used last year, after not being used for a few years by the PO (most things grew well). We also have a ton of compost that we plan to put out either a week before or after we plant things. I'm trying to figure out when to send some of the soil in to get it analyzed so we know what fertilizer to put down now. Should I do it on the base soil? On the base soil after we add compost and till it in? Or is adding compost basically adding fertilizer and we don't need to worry about soil analysis?
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2024 14:18
|
|
|
The compost is the fertilizer. Don't overthink it, you'll be fine. Get a soil test at the END of the season this year to inform your decisions on what you need for next spring.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2024 14:23
|
|
|
Potato Salad posted:Anything stopping you from placing dirt/manure/seed/straw in the remaining bare areas? Time and energy, mostly, I even have a huge dirt pile and seed on hand. The rest of the landscaping on this side hinges on installation of the grill pad of which I am currently procrastinating. Once that’s in I can get the border in place then backfill a dirt/seed mix.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2024 14:48
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 29, 2024 06:22 |
|
|
Ok fine, I got off my rear end this weekend: Picked up more landscape edging for the rest of it so hopefully I can get it installed this week.
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2024 22:42
|
|