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We've had a lemon tree in the back ever since I was born and it's been going very well considering the amount of neglect we give it. I thought that I might try pruning it because the shed it used to live next has been taken down and this gives me better access to all of the tree. When I got lemons I noticed these weird growths on the tree (sorry for demented photos)   What is this and more importantly does my tree have evil spirits trying to escape via. the branches?
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Sep 21, 2010 11:47
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Before digging up my gardens I had to contend with a forest of weeds that took the place of any grass lawn that might have been. We had a good crop of broccoli, eggplant, tomatoes, swiss chard, green beans and various herbs but the weeds have been a constant problem. I'm also really lazy when it comes to weeding and have only done it about five times through the whole season. The vegetable and herb patches are ground level so I was thinking that to combat the weed growth I could lay down some landscape fabric and build raised beds over my old ones. Would this work okay, and not cost me a fortune? The beds are about three feet wide and six feet long each, and there are three of them. Also, does anyone have suggestions for resources on plotting out garden spaces? I'd like a moderately attractive garden because right now I have a forest of tomatoes due to starting too many and planting them in too small of a space.
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Sep 22, 2010 01:25
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Spiteful posted:What is this and more importantly does my tree have evil spirits trying to escape via. the branches? Yes, if by evil spirits you mean citrus gall wasps. I think. If you live in Australia. The larva has been chilling and eating in there and has escaped through the little hole for Spring. There's no way to prevent it, but cut off the infected branches and burn them.
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Sep 24, 2010 14:07
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Bungdeetle posted:Yes, if by evil spirits you mean citrus gall wasps. I think. If you live in Australia. The larva has been chilling and eating in there and has escaped through the little hole for Spring. There's no way to prevent it, but cut off the infected branches and burn them. Yep, Australian. I guess i'll be in the garden tomorrow afternoon  Thanks for the info though.
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Sep 24, 2010 14:49
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CadavericSpasm posted:Before digging up my gardens I had to contend with a forest of weeds that took the place of any grass lawn that might have been. We had a good crop of broccoli, eggplant, tomatoes, swiss chard, green beans and various herbs but the weeds have been a constant problem. I'm also really lazy when it comes to weeding and have only done it about five times through the whole season. Use overlapped cardboard instead of landscape fabric. Just make sure it's overlapped and plain brown (not color, glossy or waxed). Over time it will break down and roots can go through. To prevent weeds on the surface, either plant intensively so the soil is completely shaded out or cover the soil with mulch
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Sep 25, 2010 02:06
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dwoloz posted:Use overlapped cardboard instead of landscape fabric. Just make sure it's overlapped and plain brown (not color, glossy or waxed). Over time it will break down and roots can go through. To prevent weeds on the surface, either plant intensively so the soil is completely shaded out or cover the soil with mulch Yeah, do this. Earthworms LOVE to eat cardboard. Earthworm poop makes the soil good 
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Sep 25, 2010 13:33
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Cardboard is great weed block, and you can throw mulch on top of it too for extra protection/make it look better. You can also use newspaper or brown paper grocery bags the same way, but any newspaper you lay down has to be pretty thick (like at least 6-8 sheets thick) and bags should be 2-3 layers thick.. I build my veggie beds using a variation on the lasagna gardening technique; that's something you may want to look into as well. The main difference with mine is instead of putting all the layers in a big, loose pile, I built a raised bed frame where the bed was going to go and just filled it in with stuff. It does take a big supply of compost to keep things topped up, though, as the beds tend to settle a lot in the first year or two as the stuff breaks down.
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Sep 25, 2010 14:49
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I got some habanero seeds from a friend so I decided to try my hand at growing them. The only space I have is a south-facing windowsill in my tiny apartment, where my little seedlings are currently sprouting. I have two main worries: is room temperature (72-74F) too cold for them, and are they getting enough light? They do get sun through the window, but only for the middle part of the day and of course, only from that one angle. I have a bit of disposable income I can use on a grow light, are there any particular kinds I should be looking for?
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Sep 30, 2010 19:16
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Anyone ever use milk as a fungicide? I had horrible luck with my winter squash and pumpkins. Early on Squash Vine Borers attacked the Buttercup and Hubbard squash. I sliced the vines open with a razor blade and pulled out these disgusting grubs out of the stem. Pumpkins were unaffected, which is unfortunate in a way because they were VERY susceptible to Powdery Mildew. I think I will have to use insecticide for the borers next year, which I’m cool with because only the very base of the plant is at risk, and only at the beginning of the summer, but for powdery mildew you have to spray fungicide all season. I was reading and a home remedy is to spray milk, and the pH or the phosphate, no one really knows, keeps the spores from germinating. The Hubbard was also susceptible, the buttercup was less affected by the fungus, but most affected by the borers. Also, what are the guidelines for saving tomato seeds? Specifically I grew 6 different varieties immediately adjacent to each other, really enjoyed some of them, but not sure to the degree they would have crossed with each other. Here is a report of what I grew: Matt’s Wild Cherry (OP): This variety is crazy productive. Many hundreds (thousands?) of very tiny, very tomatoey, bright red tomatoes on very long vines. It was very early and even though the vines are old and tired now, it continues to pump out cluster after cluster. Will definitely grow again. Sweet Chelsea (F1): Very productive large cherry. Almost as early as Matt’s, but tomato flavor not as intense. It’s OK, even good, but not as good. I’ve had some problems with splitting, especially when it rains after an extended dry period. Not going to grow again. Polfast (F1): Very early, small tomato. Kind of between a cherry and regular slicing. Very good for such an early tomato, not as good as a more main season one, but way earlier than them. Was advertised as a small determinate vine, but vines were surprisingly long. Might grow again. Celebrity (F1) Main season Red. It was advertised as being very disease resistant. It may be, but I didn’t have a problem with diseases on anything else. It didn’t seem particularly early, particularly tasty, or particularly productive. Won’t grow again. Black Krim (OP) Reasonably early, dark red, almost burgundy, large on long vines. Excellent flavor, productive, meaty. Will grow again. Kellogg’s Breakfast Sandwich (OP) A bit late, large orange beefstake tomato. Very productive. Fruit is very hit or miss. When it hits, it really hits. Beautiful, bright orange throughout, few seeds, meaty. I don’t know if the color enhances the flavor, but it is like eating sunshine. But like a lot of beefstakes, some fruit is a bit misshapen, and it tends to have a narrow window between being underripe and very overripe. Will probably grow again.
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Sep 30, 2010 21:19
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Anyone ever use milk as a fungicide? It works, but then your garden smells exactly how you'd expect a garden full of rancid, sun-baked milk to smell. On the bright side it seems to be pretty effective so you don't have to put up with it for long. In my family's garden, we've now lost our minds and decided to take advantage of our last chance to get in spring/summer crops. Summer managed to wipe out an entire thriving garden in the space of a couple days this year. 18 square feet of solid strawberry bed and I only got to eat one loving strawberry between the birds and the summer genocide.  Nuked off a whole bunch of cool heirloom tomatoes, too. The peppers kind of survived, but they look pretty heat tortured.We finally tore all the dead crap out last weekend and threw in a bunch of tomatoes with cycles short enough to bear before the frost gets really bad. This included a Black Krim, which I'm excited to hear is as awesome as it is bizarre. Our most successful crop this season was black widows, which continue to materialize out of nowhere and make me scream like a little girl. Also ants. Ants in the garden, ants in my potted herbs, ants in the shrubs, ants in the house. Diatomaceous earth is pretty rad if you have ant problems.
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Sep 30, 2010 22:12
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Anyone ever use milk as a fungicide? I had horrible luck with my winter squash and pumpkins. Early on Squash Vine Borers attacked the Buttercup and Hubbard squash. I sliced the vines open with a razor blade and pulled out these disgusting grubs out of the stem. Pumpkins were unaffected, which is unfortunate in a way because they were VERY susceptible to Powdery Mildew. I think I will have to use insecticide for the borers next year, which I’m cool with because only the very base of the plant is at risk, and only at the beginning of the summer, but for powdery mildew you have to spray fungicide all season. I was reading and a home remedy is to spray milk, and the pH or the phosphate, no one really knows, keeps the spores from germinating. The Hubbard was also susceptible, the buttercup was less affected by the fungus, but most affected by the borers. I hate those vine borers. Really hate them. Decimated all of my winter squash, and hit my zucchini really hard....which actually worked in my favour since the zucchini plants production matched my usage, instead of overwhelming me. Zucchini plants were hardy enough to handle the attack. Apparently tin foil around the base of the plant can help. Insecticide is an obvious solution but I am unsure as to whether it is allowed here (Ontario). To save tomato seeds, I take them from a tomato and put them in a jar. Next I add about the same volume in tap water, put plastic wrap over the jar, poke some holes and let the mixture ferment (mix it daily). I grew my tomatoes from saved seeds (did not buy any tomatoes this year) and I honestly got ~95% germination of the seeds. Saving seeds is fun and ridiculously easy!!! I had quite a few volunteer Matt's Wild Cherry plants. I even have one growing out of the 1 cm space between my foundation and the side of my driveway.
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Sep 30, 2010 23:05
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I just started using a 9:1 water/milk mixture to battle powdery mildew yesterday; I'll report back with results Previously I tried neem oil, which was not effective, and a fertilizer tea with lacto bacillus in it, which seemed to actually work. We've had terrible problems with powdery mildew; we're about half mile from the ocean so the air has stayed moist, especially in our freaky cold and foggy summer in the San Francisco Bay Area Does anyone know of a variety of cucurbits that are powdery mildew resistant?
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Oct 1, 2010 00:26
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dwoloz posted:I just started using a 9:1 water/milk mixture to battle powdery mildew yesterday; I'll report back with results I was wondering the same thing, and this is the best resource I have seen. http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/Tables/TableList.htm I've grown regular Delicata squash, also called sweet potato squash. Very good variety. I want to try Bush Delicata, which is supposed to be very resistant. My Burgess Buttercup did well with the mildew, which is unfortunate because the vine borers already destroyed the plants, but there is always next year. It is not listed as resistant though. Buttercup is a Northern New England treat that I grew up with. For pumpkins, most of the varieties don't seem easy to find, or are only available to commercial growers. Magic Lantern seems to be an exception and is in quite a few catalogs. I'm also about a mile from the ocean, in the shade, which is supposed to make it worse. I'm curious to see how well milk does. I might intentionally grow something that is susceptible just to see if milk will keep it alive.
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Oct 1, 2010 05:20
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Thats a fantastic link. I especially like that it lists whether it's open pollinated. Thanks much Us coast folks have it rough. Even a few of my tomatoes and kale are showing signs of mildew, it's freaky. My picks from that list (based on it being mildew resistant, open pollinated, smaller quicker ripening and seeds that are available to purchase): Success PM Straightneck - summer squash, bush Wautoma - pickling cucumber, vining Honey Nut Mini-Butternut - winter squash, vining Sweet REBA Acorn - winter squash, bush PMR Delicious 51 - melon, vining dwoloz fucked around with this message at 06:59 on Oct 1, 2010 |
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Oct 1, 2010 06:28
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Something has been eating my 3-week old tomato plant Full body shot:  Close up of leaf damage:  Any ideas? I'm in Central Florida.
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Oct 1, 2010 14:31
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That looks like caterpillar damage to me, but I don't know anything about Florida gardening. Check the undersides of the leaves for eggs/caterpillars.
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Oct 5, 2010 22:18
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Milk has been semi effective. It seems to be mildly preventing the powdery mildew but not stopping it altogether. I'm still having to every other day remove badly affected leaves and spray more milk
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Oct 5, 2010 22:42
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dwoloz posted:Milk has been semi effective. It seems to be mildly preventing the powdery mildew but not stopping it altogether. I'm still having to every other day remove badly affected leaves and spray more milk Between the PM and borers, I'll have to do something different next year. Now that you have tried the milk, does it work good enough that you will do the same thing next year, or will you look for resistant varieties instead? For the borers, I noticed that they love Hubbard above all else. I think I will plant tons of it as a trap crop and when they first start, I will pull it all out. Meanwhile, the buttercup (my favorite) I will have to spray insecticide (as much as I hate to, but by the middle of July they will be done) and inject BT in all the vines with a hypodermic needle as a preventative. Or just plant butternut, which I am not as much of a fan of.
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Oct 6, 2010 02:41
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Between the PM and borers, I'll have to do something different next year. Now that you have tried the milk, does it work good enough that you will do the same thing next year, or will you look for resistant varieties instead? I think I will continue using the milk; it's worked well enough. Next year though I will most definitely ONLY be planting varieties that have some sort of mildew resistance
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Oct 6, 2010 07:53
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Crossposted from the GWS Gardening Thread 2010 So I had an idea for a small gardening project recently and I've run into a bit of early trouble. I'm trying to track down a clear plastic/glass/other(?) pot that is cube shaped and (obviously) has an open top. Do these sort of pots not exist or are my google powers just crappy? All I can find are terracotta/stone/colored plastic pots.
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Oct 11, 2010 10:55
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Do I have aphids on my broccoli?   ...and is that a lacewing larvae eating them?
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Oct 11, 2010 17:50
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The Weird posted:Crossposted from the GWS Gardening Thread 2010 Solution: Buy plexiglass, cut into desired size, glue/caulk/epoxy together. If you want one big molded piece, maybe make a mold, stick a shop vac in the bottom, and go to town with a heat gun?
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Oct 14, 2010 19:33
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At what point can I quit waiting for these last tomatoes to turn red? apparently while I was out of town we had a freak night where it dipped into the 40s but otherwise it's been plenty warm. It won't last much longer and I'm debating whether or not to just go ahead and trash em.
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Oct 22, 2010 02:54
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I don't know how long to wait for your tomatoes, but don't trash them just because they're green. Do this instead, it's delicious
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Oct 22, 2010 06:04
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You can also pick tomatoes that are full-size but still green and ripen them on a sunny windowsill inside. They're not as good as vine-ripe but still way better than store bought.
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Oct 22, 2010 11:57
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There are several ways to ripen green tomatoes off the vine: http://www.wikihow.com/Ripen-Green-Tomatoes I recommend the banana method, personally.
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Oct 22, 2010 18:43
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Pickled green tomatoes are pretty awesome.
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Oct 24, 2010 05:44
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Yes, we had a glut of green tomatoes from my friend's back garden last week so I made some green tomato chutney. I used this recipe and it had the bonus of making my flat smell of vinegar for a couple of days
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Oct 24, 2010 10:36
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Something is eating my basil! I am really mad, I was under the impression that basil was good for repelling pests? All my other herbs which are in pots around it are completely untouched (oregano, coriander/cilantro, parsely and chives). Since I was chopping up some garlic and onions when I realised how bad it had gotten, I sprinkled some around the base. Pretty much the whole plant is all holey and eaten, what else can I do? I can't see any obvious signs of bugs or eggs. I am in Australia, if it matters. Also this may be a dumb question but I am new to vegetable gardening and the seed packet/internet haven't been all too helpful. I am growing a zucchini plant which seems to be putting out flowers although it's still rather small. Is it best to pollinate them myself or will bees do the trick? They are 'Blackjack' zucchinis. I have a couple of lavender plants in pots that I can stick near the zucchini to attract bees if need be.
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Oct 31, 2010 15:59
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I have a banana tree growing next to my tomato bushes and I'm certain that it's the main reason why my tomatoes all ripen and turn a beautiful red.
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Nov 1, 2010 17:54
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The Weird posted:Crossposted from the GWS Gardening Thread 2010 Roots are photosensitive, they don't like light
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Nov 5, 2010 20:54
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Eden posted:Something is eating my basil! I am really mad, I was under the impression that basil was good for repelling pests? All my other herbs which are in pots around it are completely untouched (oregano, coriander/cilantro, parsely and chives). Since I was chopping up some garlic and onions when I realised how bad it had gotten, I sprinkled some around the base. Pretty much the whole plant is all holey and eaten, what else can I do? I can't see any obvious signs of bugs or eggs. I am in Australia, if it matters. Don't know what's eating your basil but its unfortunately not a pest resistant plant. Chewed holes are most likely a caterpillar; they'll hide under leaves so check there. You can spray the plants with neem oil (non toxic but insecticidal) but thats a more extreme measure. My primary defense against caterpillars: grow in abundance. When you grow a lot more than you can use, you leave plenty for both you and the bugs to munch on. I wouldn't worry about pollination. Flys will likely pollinate the flowers before bees do and you'll never even notice it happened. Remember also, there are male and female flowers; you can cut off (and eat) male flowers if you're not interested in collecting viable seed or you can leave them be
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Nov 5, 2010 21:03
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Is there a book anyone recommends reading for someone just starting to garden? We are at a new home now with 5.5 acres and plenty of open space for a nice garden, which has been my plan since we decided to move. I am buying a tiller sometime soon to make sure I am ready for planting season. I am planning on starting from seeds to reduce the cost involved (unless this really isn't cost effective). Time really isn't a concern, since it is heading into winter there really isn't much to do. So any recommendations?
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Nov 9, 2010 18:25
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Has anyone tried planting potatoes in trash cans? I'm curious what kind of yields I could expect from some several 30 gallon trash cans using this method: http://www.ehow.com/how_2222722_grow-potatoes-garbage-can.html The other option is to make a wooden above ground enclosure 4' high, 5'x5' with a removable side to easily pull the grown potatoes out.
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Nov 9, 2010 21:06
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mAlfunkti0n posted:Is there a book anyone recommends reading for someone just starting to garden? What are you interested in growing? Where are you located? 5.5 acres is a lot. You would have room for fruit trees, vegies, lots of stuff. I post quite a bit in BFC, so that part of me would discourage you from getting a tiller right away, unless you are rich enough that the cost would be a rounding error in your budget. If you are going to start small, you don't need a tiller. If you are going all out, you might be better off hiring a farmer with a tractor to open up the whole area.
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Nov 10, 2010 23:09
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Most previous attempts to grow vegetables by me had been in containers on our apartment balcony, which didn't work out too well. So when I moved in with a friend a couple of months ago I persuaded him to let me use part of the backyard for a vegetable plot: Stuff has been in the ground for about 7 weeks now I think, I planted seedlings rather than growing straight from seed because I didn't want to over complicate my first plot. The soil is your typical sandy South Australian soil, so I mixed in a bag of compost and about half a bag of chicken poo. I know everything is a bit too close together, but I wasn't sure what things would grow ok and what wouldn't so figured what the hell. I have tomato, butternut squash, yellow button squash, zucchini, spring onion, strawberry, silverbeet, green string bean, and capsicum plants all doing well. I was so impressed with the growth of the tomato plants that I added a couple of new plants last weekend, along with some more basil and cucumber seedlings. The Zucchini plants have tons of baby zucchinis on, and the flowers just started opening today. Like I said I know it's a bit cramped, but I plan to train the beans up tall stakes, and the squash has all the empty patch on the left to trail over.
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Nov 11, 2010 11:43
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Help! I've got slugs! They're eating my basil and lettuce! I sprayed some chilli/garlic/pyrtheum spray. That didn't deter them. I put in a sunken dish of beer and that only enticed a couple whilst there were still some right next to it on the lettuce. I just went out and picked a bunch off. So what are my other options? I've got a raised bed so should I do a ring of Copper around it? I hear thats good but how often do I have to clean the tarnish off?
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Nov 11, 2010 12:39
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Zeta Taskforce posted:What are you interested in growing? Where are you located? 5.5 acres is a lot. You would have room for fruit trees, vegies, lots of stuff. I post quite a bit in BFC, so that part of me would discourage you from getting a tiller right away, unless you are rich enough that the cost would be a rounding error in your budget. If you are going to start small, you don't need a tiller. If you are going all out, you might be better off hiring a farmer with a tractor to open up the whole area. Not actually going to use the full 5.5 acres, probably in total around 1/4 to 1/2 acre eventually. I live in zone 6 (Cincinnati), and have decided to start a bit smaller than initial plans to make sure I enjoy it. The tiller is a cost I am OK with since I am purchasing used and it will come in handy for flower beds and such this spring time too. I have found a nicely used Troy Bilt Horse for a good price, plus I have a few friends that are starting gardens at their new places too. Crops I have decided we "need" are : Some variety of sweet corn Green/Red Bell Peppers Couple varieties of hot peppers (jalapeno or such) Carrots Green beans (still deciding the type) Sugar Peas Tomatoes Cucumber Zucchini There are a few others I would like to try with, but first those mentioned above. I plan on planting a few berry bushes and a few fruit trees, but that's another project. I did buy a book that was mentioned earlier on a link in this thread, it's called "The Vegetable Gardener's Bible: Discover Ed's High-Yield W-O-R-D System for All North American Gardening Regions" I ordered a few packs of seeds for growing some herbs indoors (basil, oregano, etc) to give my thumb some experience to approach a green color. I have planted Zucchini at my old place, and like expected and mentioned here it grew like wildfire. I am just trying to plan as best I can. I will be staking out the outline of the garden this weekend and probably stringing off rows and such to get a visual of the garden. Lots of work, but I am looking forward to it. Edit : I am also starting a composting bin/barrel this weekend from plans off instructables. mAlfunkti0n fucked around with this message at 14:03 on Nov 11, 2010 |
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Nov 11, 2010 13:58
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Fists Up posted:Help! I've got slugs! They're eating my basil and lettuce! Slugs go after the tender young stuff mostly. You can buy copper strips or rings that they can't cross or you can cut the top and bottom off a plastic bottle and sink it into the soil around the young plant The slugs feed at night so if you're tenacious, head out with a flashlight and an implement of death dwoloz fucked around with this message at 02:53 on Nov 12, 2010 |
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Nov 12, 2010 02:48
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mAlfunkti0n posted:Not actually going to use the full 5.5 acres, probably in total around 1/4 to 1/2 acre eventually. I live in zone 6 (Cincinnati), and have decided to start a bit smaller than initial plans to make sure I enjoy it. The tiller is a cost I am OK with since I am purchasing used and it will come in handy for flower beds and such this spring time too. I have found a nicely used Troy Bilt Horse for a good price, plus I have a few friends that are starting gardens at their new places too. Think you are on the right path. You might want to smother the area with pieces of cardboard or leaves, or something to smother and weaken the grass for next year. On another note, has anyone gotten weird looks yet by stealing the bags of leaves from the neighbors and dragging them back to your house? Last year I made 2 big bins where I just took some 4 foot tall wire mesh fence and cut it to make a free standing cylinder about 4 feet in diameter. My only complaint is that I didn't make more, the leaves probably shrunk by a factor of 10. So this year I am stealing everyone's leaves early and often.
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Nov 12, 2010 06:36
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