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Alright guys it's almost spring, let's do this! (alternatively, here is some encouragement for everyone who is dealing with snow) Spinach!  Tomatoes!  Yeee sunflowers  Lettuce!  kale, mustard greens (the kale is delicious)  Peas   Oh, and I know a lot of this stuff doesn't really have the ideal amount of room but I live in Florida (sand-soil) and I'm too lazy/poor to build beds, not to mention I'm moving out for university soon. 
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Feb 13, 2012 17:59
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| # ? May 31, 2024 19:39 |
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Nice cinderblocks. Cinderblocks are actually a great component for making raised beds. Google 'cinderblock gardens'. If you're lucky you can scavenge them up over time. The great thing is that you can build a rectangle with them and grow all your producing plants in the center bed, and then grow smaller pollinator attracting flowers or insect repelling plants within the blocks all around the edge of your bed.
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Feb 13, 2012 20:05
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Hummingbirds posted:Alright guys it's almost spring, let's do this! (alternatively, here is some encouragement for everyone who is dealing with snow) I was kind of glad to stop living in Florida but I really do miss being able to start my seeds in January and put them out by the end of February/beginning of March. loving Texas prairie weather, god knows when the last frost will actually happen as it seems to oscillate between 70 and 30 every other day here for several months. Also pertinent to new Floridian gardeners: plant your basil and similar fleshy herbs now and start harvesting/storing a.s.a.p. because once it heats up for summer, no amount of rain keeps those poor things hydrated.
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Feb 13, 2012 20:31
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Hummingbirds posted:Alright guys it's almost spring, let's do this! (alternatively, here is some encouragement for everyone who is dealing with snow)
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Feb 14, 2012 01:19
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Kilersquirrel posted:I was kind of glad to stop living in Florida but I really do miss being able to start my seeds in January and put them out by the end of February/beginning of March. loving Texas prairie weather, god knows when the last frost will actually happen as it seems to oscillate between 70 and 30 every other day here for several months. It's the same thing here in the Ohio valley. We've gotten snow at the end of March on some years.
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Feb 14, 2012 02:47
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Socratic Moron posted:What are you using as your starter soil? The bag just says "TOP SOIL" It has no perlite or vermiculite. Probably doesn't drain too well, but then again, I don't grow anything too picky. I am pretty strongly in the "hobby" side of gardening so I don't worry too much about soil quality.
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Feb 14, 2012 03:19
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Make a worm bin. It is easier than a compost heap, and you get decent soil from it. Even if you are just a hobby gardener, there is always room to worry about your soil quality.
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Feb 14, 2012 05:01
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cheese eats mouse posted:It's the same thing here in the Ohio valley. We've gotten snow at the end of March on some years. Seriously, gently caress that noise. I vastly prefer potentially being able to go swimming on Christmas over potentially having to shovel snow on St. Patty's.
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Feb 14, 2012 06:57
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What's the smallest working size you can go with a worm bin? And can you start it with the average garden worm or should you get a certain species? Ideally I'd like one to fit under my kitchen sink, which isn't large, that I can toss in all my kitchen scraps. I feel guilty every time I chuck out anything compostable.
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Feb 14, 2012 09:27
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My personal go-to resource. Steve Solomon, suggests: "each cubic foot of worm box can process about one pound of kitchen garbage each week. Naturally, some weeks more garbage will go into the box than others. The worms will adjust to such changes. You can estimate box size by a weekly average amount of garbage over a three month time span..." But he also suggests that unless you are very strong, don't make a box bigger than 2x4 feet since it will wind up full of dirt. this book is Project Gutenberg's Organic Gardener's Composting, by Steve Solomon http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4342/pg4342.html He also suggests the book by Mary Appelhof, Worms Eat My Garbage My compost heaps turn into worm bins because I can't balance my C and N. So mine tend to be a cubic yard or bigger.
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Feb 14, 2012 15:05
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Thanks for linking those Steve Solomon books. I didn't know those two were available for free online. I have Gardening West of the Cascades and the Worm book on the way. If anyone lives in the Pacific Northwest the book from Seattle Tilth, The Maritime Northwest Garden Guide, is also worth a look. It's thin at about 85 pages, but it goes month by month suggesting garden tasks and listing plants to sow directly, transplant and so on including plant variety recommendations.
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Feb 14, 2012 15:58
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I personally use red wigglers in my vermicompost. It's the defacto composting worm. I'm sure you can use regular garden worms but they probably won't do as well. If you want your worms to break down your scraps REALLY fast, throw them through a cuisinart. It's amazing how fast they chow that puree. I did it for awhile then got lazy. Note that there's some stuff you're not supposed to put into vermicompost like citrus skins and onion. I also find the 3 bin system to be superior but of course the initial startup costs are greater. I'm at the point (worms are horny little bastards) that I'm getting horse manure from down the street and throwing it in my bins because I keep splitting into more and more compost bins and don't have that much waste. Keep them well fed and the worms multiply fast.
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Feb 14, 2012 17:38
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So I can't quite find a good place for this question but it looks like DIY is the closest I can get and I got referred here from the general question thread in hopes that I might get an answer. I was at a wedding a few weeks ago, and as a party favour for the wedding, I got about a 10" Colorado Spruce sapling. Now I live in an apartment in Canada, which means I have nowhere to plant this little guy, and even if I wanted to, the ground is frozen solid until April-ish at the earliest. I'm intrigued by the challenge of trying to keep him alive, and ideally I'd like to keep him indoors year round, but I realize that this may not be very realistic due to the type of plant being more of an outdoor temperate type. Does anyone have any advice on how to best deal with this? Everything I've read so far basically says "get them outside ASAP" but that's not going to happen anytime soon. Thoughts?
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Feb 14, 2012 20:03
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Desiree Cousteau posted:My personal go-to resource. Steve Solomon, suggests:
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Feb 14, 2012 23:59
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It sounds like they don't like garlic or potato skins either. I guess you always but that in with the regular yard waste compost.
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Feb 15, 2012 01:40
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CADPAT posted:So I can't quite find a good place for this question but it looks like DIY is the closest I can get and I got referred here from the general question thread in hopes that I might get an answer. Has the plant been acclimated to the cold yet? If so, you should get your tree outside ASAP. Houseplants and jungle plants can hang around indoors, but bushes and trees deteriorate without enough light. Is your tree in a pot? If so how big?
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Feb 15, 2012 03:57
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You might as well keep it inside and near a lot of light for this winter. If it warmed up and started to live again and you chuck it outside it may freeze. Give it as much light as you can give it and let it try to survive. I don't know if the spruces need cold to be healthy like koi, but the worst you can do is kill it. I saw one hotel owner who had a coffee tree in the foyer of his hotel, and that was in the Pacific Northwest, so odd things are possible. Oh, and most house plants are jungle plants, except, you know, for Norfolk pines and ficuseseses. Desiree Cousteau fucked around with this message at 04:33 on Feb 15, 2012 |
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Feb 15, 2012 04:30
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If you leave it inside it will almost certainly drop its needles and die. If you put it outside it will probably survive. You can start by putting it out during the day and bringing it in at night.
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Feb 15, 2012 04:55
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I picked up some stuff yesterday...  Now I just need to find good compost somewhere. My local town gives away composted yard waste but I'm not sure that's really so nutrient rich... Also some of my seedlings are sprouting!  I'm blogging about my first-time gardening experience here: http://infinityplusnothing.wordpress.com/. Mostly so I remember what works and what doesn't for next year.
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Feb 15, 2012 15:45
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Problem is I live on a second floor 1br apartment with no balcony in a lovely neighborhood, so outside is impossible. There is nowhere I could put it that it wouldn't get thrown out. There's not even a window sill on the outside of the window. I could OPEN a window for it, maybe that would work? To keep it alive I need to: -bring it outside -preferably plant it outside My obstacles to that are: -Under my current living conditions I can't bring it outside -The ground is too frozen to plant it Not a good situation. If I can't make it work indoors until it can hack on its own in a friend's back yard, I might as well toss it because there's nobody I know that I can actually give it to that will go out of their way to take care of it aside from me.  e: To answer some of the other questions, the sappling is about 6" tall (one single "stalk") and is currently planted in a pot that's about 40oz in volume. CADPAT fucked around with this message at 16:40 on Feb 15, 2012 |
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Feb 15, 2012 16:08
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Why throw it away? Give it away to a family member or friend instead?
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Feb 15, 2012 18:59
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I would at least try it indoors instead of throwing it away. The downstairs tenant in my building has some kind of fir tree indoors and it seems to be thriving.
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Feb 15, 2012 19:12
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EagerSleeper posted:Why throw it away? Give it away to a family member or friend instead? I think the exact reason was "because there's nobody I know that I can actually give it to that will go out of their way to take care of it aside from me". I don't know anyone that can even keep a plant alive for more than a month aside from my mom, but she said she wasn't interested and told me I should take care of it myself. That being said, someone replied in the general question thread that I might be able to make it last as long as 4 years if I do it right, so if that's the case, that's more than enough time to find it a healthy home. Maybe I'll start a thread if it survives the next month!
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Feb 15, 2012 19:41
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taqueso posted:The downstairs tenant in my building has some kind of fir tree indoors and it seems to be thriving. Does it look something like this? People mistake this as a cold latitudes fir tree, but it's actually a sub-tropical conifer. Norfolk pine.
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Feb 15, 2012 19:44
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Plus_Infinity posted:Now I just need to find good compost somewhere. My local town gives away composted yard waste but I'm not sure that's really so nutrient rich... There are a few risks with municipal compost. First off, they might use sewage sludge from a sewage treatment plant and dress it up with a "green" name like biosolids. Sewage sludge testing is covered by federal law in the US, but it doesn't test for everything. Some of the things that could be in it you probably don't want building up in your soil and food, like when people flush expired medications. Second, you don't know how good they are at composting. A lot of times the piles won't get hot enough to kill weed seed. The other problem can be not letting the compost decompose enough before selling it. Finally, since it's often yard waste brought in by landscapers, you never know what pesticides and fertilizers have been applied to it, not to mention home owners who try every chemical they can find in search of that perfectly green and uniform grass lawn. It's ok for ornamental and landscaping use, but I wouldn't use it to grow things you plan to eat. As far as finding good compost, call your local extension office and ask for suggestions. They might be able to connect you with Master Gardeners or Master Composters in the area who can make recommendations.
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Feb 15, 2012 19:54
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Costello Jello posted:Does it look something like this? People mistake this as a cold latitudes fir tree, but it's actually a sub-tropical conifer. Norfolk pine. It definitely could be. I'll take a closer look when I'm home and it is light enough that I can see through the windows.
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Feb 15, 2012 20:04
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CADPAT posted:I think the exact reason was "because there's nobody I know that I can actually give it to that will go out of their way to take care of it aside from me". Super reading comprehension skills on my part, my bad. Can't believe someone turned down a free plant! What is the world coming to? Good luck on keeping your plant indoors! If you can give it as much light as you can in an apartment, it could even sprout new needles! God speed, brave goon. Does anyone mind this thread turning into an all-general plant thread? A lot of people here seem to already know how to grow food for themselves, which leaves me kinda in a rough spot as I: don't grow food for myself, don't really know how to keep plants thriving. I thought about making a thread for a long time, but I don't know if two plant threads would be needed.
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Feb 16, 2012 00:19
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EagerSleeper posted:Does anyone mind this thread turning into an all-general plant thread? I'd like that. I don't have a yard, so I can't grow a garden currently, as much as I'd want to. I collect orchids instead.
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Feb 16, 2012 00:30
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^^^Hey there, fellow no-available-land person. If you want to talk about how you take care of your orchids, I'd be obliged. I had/have (it's still alive. In a way.) a phalaenopsis orchid that I had no idea how to take care of until the poor thing was already lost most of what it had to black rot. Despite how bad I took care of that plant, I saw that it was making a recovery towards the end, but in the end it was giving up the ghost. Now I'm trying to tissue culture it back to life. Will post pics later. /orchid story
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Feb 16, 2012 03:10
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In on week two of my desktop gardening project, and things are still progressing. I've been slowly culling out the weakest sprouts, but it's still got a way to go on the thinning. I'm starting to get some burgundy coloration on some of the lettuce and microgreens, and the first true leaves of some of the lettuce. I'm hoping to have the first true harvest at the end of the month, but I've already been adding the culled seedlings to meals.  As a side note, I've worked out with the landowner I'm bumming a patch from a final deal. "Do what you want with what I'm not using, so long as you're not growing weed." 
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Feb 16, 2012 03:12
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I have a Norway Spruce currently in a pot in my house, it's not ideal but it was truly a last-ditch "what the gently caress else can I do" sort of thing. My mother had gotten it as a wedding favor at a co-workers reception, which would have been a really cool idea had the wedding not been in loving January in Chicago. My mom mailed it to me along with a cutting from her jade plant- they're both now in my window with southern exposure. The spruce has actually put out new needles so it seems to be doing alright thus far. I only post this to illustrate that you can keep a conifer like that indoors for some time if you have no other choice. Having said that, I'd still try to get it outside ASAP, even if during the winter that just means putting it out for an hour or so during the warmest part of the day. Ordinary window glass still blocks a shitton of the UV that plants need for photosynthesis, so even just opening the window periodically will help.
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Feb 16, 2012 03:43
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I'd admittedly stop visiting the thread if non edibles became commonplace but I may very well be the minority.
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Feb 16, 2012 04:21
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Not defending the glory of houseplants here, but I'm curious how the thread not focusing on fruits/veggies can drive a person away.
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Feb 16, 2012 04:43
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I have very limited time, I'm only interested in reading about and posting about stuff I can eat, and the thread is titled Veggie and Herb Gardening. But again, I may very well be in the minority and that's cool. I can go elsewhere, there's plenty of vegetable talk around the internet. No biggie. People asked for input on the idea so I gave it
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Feb 16, 2012 04:58
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I agree we should keep them separated, with spring coming in a couple months this thread will start picking up speed again.
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Feb 16, 2012 05:32
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I'm with Socratic Moron on this one. Growing stuff that you can't eat has always struck me as a waste of time--reading about it doubly so!
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Feb 16, 2012 06:09
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Well, I guess I don't completely get the difference too well (same growing techniques involved) but I'm alright with it. Unless someone wants to do it, I'll make a thread for ornamental plants in a week or two. I'll have to do some research for the OP because when it comes to more in-depth questions such as plant diseases, I only know so little. Last post of the day: If you have some caulk/sealant, a tile, and a plant pot, you can have an effective irrigation system! http://www.globalbuckets.org/p/olla-irrigation-clay-pot-system.html EagerSleeper fucked around with this message at 06:13 on Feb 16, 2012 |
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Feb 16, 2012 06:10
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I'm adding some long white bunching onions to my desktop gardening experiment. I got a 1'x1'x6" plastic container for take-out that I thought would be perfect, so off I went looking for another shallow rooted plant that requires little space. I thought about planting some of the wild garlic we've got all over the place, but I'm the only person in my house that will eat it.
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Feb 18, 2012 01:22
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This is the first year that I'm going to try starting my tomatoes, peppers and leeks from seed so I'm trying to figure out the easiest and cheapest way to do it. Currently I'm thinking about just using an area under my desk: cheap, fluorescent shop light above, and a couple plastic trays with covers for the seedlings to germinate and grow. I'll just water and turn on the light in the morning and then water and turn off the light at night. 1. Does anyone use a heating pad for their peppers and tomatoes? I can buy a mat for $30 that is sized for one grow tray but I don't see why I can't just use some cheap heating mat from Canadian Tire that would allow for multiple trays. 2. Does anyone have a good list of annuals or perennials that are easy to start from seed and which make great vegetable garden companions (for attracting pollinators)? 3. When starting from seed is it better to water from above or use passive watering by setting the individual vessels in a tray of water? 4. Has anyone tried the egg carton method? I eat a lot of yoghurt and eggs (generate about 3 plastic tubs and a bunch of small tubs a week, and 3 paper egg cartons a week) and would like to try germinating in the egg carton, followed by transferring in to plastic yoghurt containers. I don't really want to buy plastic containers when I already have a bunch as waste.
My current garden has a grape vine (blue), strawberry patch (lime), herb patch (pink), raspberry patch (light blue) that I started last year. I grew tomatoes and peppers mixed in with the strawberries and had good success. This year I'm expanding the garden to the right (which will require a lot of compost to fix the heavy clay soil). I'll be growing pole beans (yellow) and snow peas (beige) along the top on a wire terrace, have a zucchini mound (light blue), and a cucumber mound (maroon) in the center edges. I'll have tomatoes (red) and peppers (green) along the fronts. I'll have bush beans (grey), carrots (orange) and leeks (purple) in the middle. The total garden size is about 27feet x 7 feet. 
cowofwar fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Feb 19, 2012 |
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Feb 19, 2012 01:36
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| # ? May 31, 2024 19:39 |
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If you had told me 10 years ago that as a grown-rear end man one of my simple joys would be scraping the top layer of my compost off and seeing it begin emitting steam, I would have punched you.
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Feb 19, 2012 03:13
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