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Alterian posted:I planted bachelor buttons one year and now every year they come up in my garden and in part of my yard. I won't let my husband mow over the corner until they're done blooming because they're so cute! Perhaps more commonly known as Cornflower? I'm planning a small patch of wildflowers in my backyard, and I think I need some of those. I really like them in my Lady Grey tea from Twinnings. What approach do people usually take when trying to identify an unknown plant? I've got a book of native plants that has been helpful, and there's a master gardener plant clinic every week, but are there any good internet resources? Say for example I found a flowering plant with three white outer petals and a small cone of inner petal. Where do I go from there?
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Mar 4, 2012 02:46
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Sometimes the local nursery has someone that can do identifications, and locally here the extension service has people who can identify flowers or know who can. Not mowing an area that has wild flowers is a good thing. A friend lived in a house she rented from the landlord who ran cattle on the grounds in the summer. Because the pasture was untouched for the spring all the wildflowers were everywhere. The only one we didn't see was Calypso lillies, sort of like a ladyslipper in magenta. If I could figure out how to get camas and lambs' tongues to transplant I wouldn't mow until June
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Mar 4, 2012 02:54
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It might have been nodding trillium, but just early. I was with a master gardener at the time but he didn't recognize it. I'll have to take a closer look next time now that I know more about what to look for.
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Mar 4, 2012 03:05
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 plus   3 of us, 4 shovels, 2 wheelbarrows, 5 hours, a pizza and beres later:  No spreading/tilling for now. We're first going to build an enclosure around it to keep the dog out, and that has to wait until payday. I also need to cut that with topsoil or something because it's 100% hot compost. The ground is sloped so my plan is to have the footpaths double as swales, so they'll follow the contour lines of the slope. Seeding will likely begin in early April after a vacation we're taking.
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Mar 4, 2012 03:06
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Cpt.Wacky posted:
My sister in law is getting her masters in environmental science and has taken classes in plant and tree identification so I just ask her. If she doesn't know what it is, she knows easily how to find it!
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Mar 4, 2012 03:34
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So I built a grow rack.cowofwar posted:
So I built my own. Each shelf has 13" of height. Lights are secured to the bottom of the shelves. The middle shelf is removable in the event that my plants get really tall. Cost: $33 Materials: 2x 72"x16"x5/8" pieces of cabinet board (finished pressboard) 3x 96" 2x2 lumber pieces Cut the pressboard pieces in to 53" and 19" pieces. Cut the 2x2 lumber in to 13" length pieces. Frame the 13" 2x2 pieces in to four squares. Build first level sides. Attach the side square frames to the 19" pressboard pieces. Stand up edges and place 53" span across the top of the square frames. Add second level sides. Place second level of square frames on top of the 53" span, and against the outer pressboard (the pressboard goes up half way between the first and second shelf. Slide popsicle sticks between span and square frame above and below to introduce some space (allows first shelf to be slid out). Attach the second level square frames to the outer pressboard. Add top. Place second 53" span on top and attach after drilling holes for the eye hooks which are installed at an appropriate location on the underside of the spans for your lights. Slide out first layer and attach eye hooks on the underside, slide it back in. cowofwar fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Mar 4, 2012 |
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Mar 4, 2012 03:47
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Cowofwar, you must have a cat?  Nice job BTW!
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Mar 4, 2012 05:21
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Socratic Moron posted:Cowofwar, you must have a cat? Thanks, I realize now that I wish I had installed the shelves on rollers so I could have the lights really low and just roll the shelves out for watering and maintenance.
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Mar 4, 2012 05:41
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cowofwar posted:Yeah, and he's an rear end in a top hat too. He pulled out a pepper plant that I rescued and bit off a broccoli seedling that I was unable to save when I left the deer netting off for a couple minutes the other day. If you think he's an rear end in a top hat now, wait til he realizes he can get a buzz off of pepper plant leaves. I lost a good 6 seedlings to mine last spring and have to cage off any plants I have inside overwintering due to Lily figuring out that pepper leaves =  Witnessing a cat speeding on Solanacea alkaloids is certainly a sight to be seen though, almost worth the effort to clean up and replant.
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Mar 4, 2012 15:16
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Just moved to LA and picked up a couple planters along with some mint, thyme, rosemary, chives, and basil to grow on my balcony. Anything I should keep an eye out for? I think I have them spaced pretty well. I have the rosemary and mint in one planter, and the rest in a second.
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Mar 4, 2012 16:42
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My seedling cart is almost assembled and the room it'll stay in is almost cleaned out and organized. I even have a humidifier for the room. Its one of these http://www.growerssupplycompany.com/seedlingcartga3p2aluminum-p-60.html I got it for free  I'm not even quite sure what I'm going to grow yet, but I really need to start pretty soon. I should go through all my seed packets and see what I have. My garden is still in disarray, but I can probably get my greens garden cleaned and ready to go soon.
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Mar 4, 2012 17:08
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ScooterMcTiny posted:Just moved to LA and picked up a couple planters along with some mint, thyme, rosemary, chives, and basil to grow on my balcony. Anything I should keep an eye out for? I think I have them spaced pretty well. I have the rosemary and mint in one planter, and the rest in a second. Rosemary is a slow grower, and mint is invasive, to put it lightly. Be prepared to fight an eternal battle keeping the mint in check. Or find a dedicated pot for it. I found a few bite marks in my tea plant seedlings. And there was a giant catnip plant right next to them. Time to put up some cat fencing. You durn cats!! 
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Mar 4, 2012 18:17
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cowofwar posted:The amount of light coming out of fluorescent lights will decay over time as well. They don't just burn out like an incandescent light. They just slowly dim over time due to something called cathode decay. The tubes will normally have a lifespan date on them. I think you get full light emission for like two years or so and then they start to go. I've heard of people changing them from every six months (probably excessive, to up to a couple years). Well, I went and bought a couple of bulbs yesterday at Ace Hardware. The only ones I could find that were along the lines of the cool whites you mentioned were $13 each. Ouch. I bought two, because I wanted to start getting this thing put together this weekend, but I still have another fixture to put lights in, and I want to make sure there's not another, cheaper bulb I should be using. It was pretty tough to pay $13 per bulb, when the office fixture bulbs were $3 each. The T8 bulbs were also a lot cheaper - about half the price of the comparable T12 bulbs. I have two shelves to use for my project, so I think I'll pick up a T8 fixture for the next phase. I would like to find a cheaper one than Ace had, though (~$25). Here's a pic of what I have so far, because I felt like using my camera today.  Not too bad for $26 in bulbs (so far), and a bunch of stuff we had lying around. And just to beat a dead horse - I should only need to heat the seeds until they germinate, right? And once they've started growing 4" under my fluorescent bulbs, they'll be okay in my cool-ish basement? Once my heating pad arrives (hopefully this Wednesday), I can really get started. I haven't been chomping at the bit like this to do some gardening in years. I also went to the Habitat ReStore, and got a large piece of glass or transparent plastic of some sort for $2, and 3 7 ft. 2-by-4s for a dollar each. I'm going to use them to make the top of a cold frame to put out in the yard asap. I still need to locate some plywood (or at least some 2-by-8s) for the sides, but the top will be the tricky part, so I wanted to get that ready before spending any more money on it. Peristalsis fucked around with this message at 18:59 on Mar 4, 2012 |
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Mar 4, 2012 18:55
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Peristalsis posted:Well, I went and bought a couple of bulbs yesterday at Ace Hardware. The only ones I could find that were along the lines of the cool whites you mentioned were $13 each. Ouch. I bought two, because I wanted to start getting this thing put together this weekend, but I still have another fixture to put lights in, and I want to make sure there's not another, cheaper bulb I should be using. It was pretty tough to pay $13 per bulb, when the office fixture bulbs were $3 each. The T8 bulbs were also a lot cheaper - about half the price of the comparable T12 bulbs. And yeah, growth temperature can be lower (16-21C) than germination (~21C). There is a minimum germination temperature and higher temperatures just increase germination/growth speed. http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex1203 http://tomclothier.hort.net/page11.html Be careful with moisture levels as well if you're using a dome as you can get dampening off of your seedlings, the dome isn't really necessary.
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Mar 4, 2012 19:38
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Hey garden gurus - I could use some help... I just started a garden for the first time, and I've got something going on. We did our planting on 12/30/11 in Houston, TX. The weather was still cold at the time, obviously, and we did a dumb thing and just put seeds right into the ground hoping they'd grow. Shrug. Well anyway, its March, and by now we would have expected nice big plants. They've gotten plenty of water but also plenty of cold too (I've had to cover a few times during freezing temps). Anyway, not much is happening, so I'm working some new seedlings right now, and purchased a grow light as well so I can keep some indoor plants. This brings me to my issue. I'm pretty protective of what I DO have, and I noticed today that I apparently have something eating my plants. Can you guys help me determine wtf it is, and how to get rid of it? This is supposedly an organic garden, so I don't want to spray anything on it. Natural cures only please! Bugs on my lettuce  Bugs on my collards  And one more question.. these carrots, as mentioned, were planted first of the year. They all sprouted, but did nothing beyond that. Should I just dig them up and start over with some really strong seeds I started indoors, or can these be saved? Sad carrots 
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Mar 5, 2012 00:26
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cowofwar posted:That's expensive. My fixtures (T8) cost $17 and lights cost $4 each (5000K) in Canada from homedepot. Do you have a good resource on using T8s as grow lights? I broke down and bought a T5 HO bulb from Amazon, but I would have much rather purchased some cheaper lights from my local homestore. I thought that T8-T12s didn't have the power needed to sustain plantlife...
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Mar 5, 2012 00:37
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dhrusis posted:And one more question.. these carrots, as mentioned, were planted first of the year. They all sprouted, but did nothing beyond that. Should I just dig them up and start over with some really strong seeds I started indoors, or can these be saved? Based on my experience here in Phoenix this year, I'd expect your carrots will take off like rooty little rockets in short order. I started mine in December (which I'm sure is crazy to people outside the southwest), and they kind of grew, but they only started growing like weeds as the soil and ambient temperatures were finally consistently warm the past couple weeks. I sowed a crap ton of additional carrots ... three weeks ago now, and they've only just all gotten true leaves. Similarly, my rutabagas (which on paper should have been done in January) only just popped their tiny purple tops up last week. Weather! 
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Mar 5, 2012 00:38
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dhrusis posted:Bugs dhrusis posted:Sad carrots
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Mar 5, 2012 01:01
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dhrusis posted:Sad carrots I grew carrots last year for the first time and I felt like they weren't growing well either. They were small for a long time, but eventually they starting to get bigger, faster. Just wait it out I'd think.
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Mar 5, 2012 01:27
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Socratic Moron posted:Look under the heavily eaten leaves. Do you see any small caterpillars or bugs? Look carefully, the little bastards blend nicely. If not, go out at night as late as you are awake with a flashlight and see what you see. I just spent 1/2 hour squashing caterpillars on my lettuce and turnips. Fuckers. So we're agreed that the Carrots aren't a waste? I just dug in/demolished about 20 beet plants that didn't look like they were doing anything either, because I thought that they were NEVER going to do anything. I was about to do that with the carrots. If it's just weather, and I need to be more patient, I can do that too. I just expected more. If its the way I handled the seeds (sowed them too early, or in bad weather, etc) then I'm happy starting over. If its my soil, then I'm happy to fertilize. My soil was all purchased. It was an attempt at "Mel's mix". It consists of: -8 cu/ft medium grade vermiculite (#3.. not coarse) -8 cu/ft organic compost (50lbs "Black Kow" composted cow manure, 2cu/ft of "organic compost" (blue bag from Lowes Home Improvement), 1 of red bag "Scottsmans Choice" from Lowes -6 cu/ft organic peat moss from Lowes All mixed together. No fertilizers added. I'm thinking that the soil may suck, because the "organic compost" was cheap and is bottom of the barrel most likely. I've got a compost heap started but it hasn't netted anything yet, and I've got a worm farm going but they aren't eating much either. I'm willing to fertilize, but would prefer if I can keep the chemicals to a minimum. Organic is my preference.. EDIT: Do I kill the caterpillars by hand or what? Will soapy water or something like that work??
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Mar 5, 2012 01:38
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I'm thinking of just container gardening with most of my plants since I'm really only a renter at this house. Right now I have tomatoes, peppers, snap peas, and onions sprouting with carrots, spinach, lettuce, and broccoli to plant later. What has worked best in containers for you guys? I'm thinking of planting in the soil the peas and tomatoes and container growing the rest. Also, container recommendations?
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Mar 5, 2012 02:38
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dhrusis posted:Do you have a good resource on using T8s as grow lights? I broke down and bought a T5 HO bulb from Amazon, but I would have much rather purchased some cheaper lights from my local homestore. I thought that T8-T12s didn't have the power needed to sustain plantlife... Looks like a T5 puts out 2k lumens for a 2ft lamp. Check out the lumens/watt table on wikipedia for fluorescent lamps. T5s are similar to T8s with electronic ballasts. Looks like the T8s are better than T5s overall when you factor in cost. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_efficacy#Examples_2 dhrusis posted:Another consideration for root vegetables, more important than compost and such, is that the soil has to be loose (not packed, not clay) and it generally also can't be too acidic. For instance, my soil is acidic and peppers, tomatoes, etc grow amazingly well, but root vegetables will totally fail to grow without treating the pH of the soil. Careful with fertilization as well. Make sure you're giving your plants what they need. Different plants need different soil types. Compost is not always a good thing for some plants and at certain times. Soil is not the same and different plants prefer different soils. Fertilizers can totally nuke your yields if you use the wrong formulation, too much or at the wrong time.
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Mar 5, 2012 03:29
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dhrusis posted:All mixed together. No fertilizers added. dhrusis posted:EDIT: Do I kill the caterpillars by hand or what? Will soapy water or something like that work??
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Mar 5, 2012 03:44
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Also, a reminder for you new gardeners: root crops like carrots don't transplant well. You're likely to get weird mutant carrots with multiple, smaller taproots from disturbing their root system during transplanting.
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Mar 5, 2012 04:24
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dhrusis posted:This brings me to my issue. I'm pretty protective of what I DO have, and I noticed today that I apparently have something eating my plants. Can you guys help me determine wtf it is, and how to get rid of it? This is supposedly an organic garden, so I don't want to spray anything on it. Natural cures only please! Organic growing can't just be thick masses of veggies, you will get bugs and disease. Attracting insects that hunt down and consume the pest insects is very important. Organic growing can be very productive, and planning out habitat that attracts beneficial insects and birds will help, but one of the things people need to accept is that they shouldn't expect 100% production rates (you shouldn't expect that with chemicals, either). People often don't realize just how much can be produced by a small garden, so manually picking off pests and attracting beneficials should be plenty to keep production rates acceptable. I'll admit, though, caterpillars can really tear through a plant. It's amazing how much damage one or two caterpillars can do to a single head of cabbage. zeroprime fucked around with this message at 15:13 on Mar 5, 2012 |
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Mar 5, 2012 15:10
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zeroprime posted:Flowers and herbs interspersed between your veggies, and beds of herbs, forbs, and shrubs around/near your veggie beds.
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Mar 5, 2012 16:52
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I'd suggest checking with a local extension service for advice on plants that are native to your area and will attract the best varieties of insects/birds. I know plants like bat face culphea, echinacea and four o'clocks are good for the Texas area. Obviously you'd want to be careful of plants in the mint family, but thyme, basil, sage, lovage, etc would be nice additions interspersed with veggies. Don't plant fennel and be careful with some salvia's, though, they're allelopathic and will interrupt the growth of other plants near them. Lavender and rosemary are fantastic in Texas, both are drought tolerant and smell great. They can grow rather large, so they're best in separate beds. I've got some marigolds between my lettuce right now, but that won't last long before the heat picks up here in Houston. Borage is supposed to be really hardy and bring in beneficials, I'm trying it for the first time this year and I look forward to seeing how well it does. I know many gardens/nurseries here in Texas sell plants that are specifically and prominently branded "Texas Natives" so those are great choices for dhrusis.
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Mar 5, 2012 17:37
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Two different questions: 1) I'm interested in putting in about a dozen grapevines this year or next. About half will be table grape varieties, but I'd also like to put in several kinds of wine grapes. I would use them only for making interesting juices, jellies, and sauces (I do not care for wine). Does anyone have recommendations for wine varietals that taste good when they're not wine? 2) I have a horrible, massive ant colony that's taken up in my compost pile. It's definitely not just them feasting on scraps, I disturbed part of the pile and found their egg laying operation. I of course don't want to use chemicals to kill them cause this is going to be in my garden once it's done. What can I do to get rid of these shitheads without agent oranging my pile?
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Mar 5, 2012 18:43
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Good luck with the grapes, that sounds like it would be fun to have. I hear wine grape-vines take a number of years to mature but don't know about food grapes, be sure to check into that before expecting edible harvests for the first season.ixo posted:2) I have a horrible, massive ant colony that's taken up in my compost pile. It's definitely not just them feasting on scraps, I disturbed part of the pile and found their egg laying operation. I of course don't want to use chemicals to kill them cause this is going to be in my garden once it's done. What can I do to get rid of these shitheads without agent oranging my pile? A garden fork is indispensable if you have any amount of garden space and compost piles. Stay away from the fiberglass ones, you can never tell which ones are poo poo and the poo poo ones will break as soon as you try to do any heavy lifting, just get a solid wood and metal one. zeroprime fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Mar 5, 2012 |
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Mar 5, 2012 19:49
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ixo posted:2) I have a horrible, massive ant colony that's taken up in my compost pile. It's definitely not just them feasting on scraps, I disturbed part of the pile and found their egg laying operation. I of course don't want to use chemicals to kill them cause this is going to be in my garden once it's done. What can I do to get rid of these shitheads without agent oranging my pile? You could try using an ant bait or spray containing spinosad, an insecticide that is commonly used for spraying fruits and vegetables. It's often labeled as "organic" because the insecticide is based on a bacterial toxin, but it is synthesized.
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Mar 5, 2012 19:52
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zeroprime posted:Wrap a nice layer of duct tape, sticky side out, on the handle so they can't walk up it to your hands while you're turning the pile. drat, why didn't I ever think of that.
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Mar 5, 2012 19:52
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Terro may be worth trying too, but it's not a quick kill thing. It's a mixture of borax and corn syrup. Ants eat it and bring it back to the colony for food stores. The level of borax builds up and eventually kills them all. Borax itself is harmless to people and animals. I found it worked well for keeping their numbers in check when I had them in a rental house and couldn't get the owner to take care of the ants properly. After turning the pile you could put one or two of the Terro traps nearby to get any stragglers.
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Mar 5, 2012 20:00
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zeroprime posted:Good luck with the grapes, that sounds like it would be fun to have. I hear wine grape-vines take a number of years to mature but don't know about food grapes, be sure to check into that before expecting edible harvests for the first season. Year 1: let grow uncontrolled. Year 2: cut off side branches and cut back height to where you want the branching, let grow uncontrolled. Year 3: cut off side branches and trim T branch, let grow uncontrolled. Year 4: cut off side branches, cut T branches down to 6-8 buds. My grape vine is on year 2 and it wont be producing anything this year, it's still very scrawny.
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Mar 5, 2012 20:02
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dhrusis posted:And one more question.. these carrots, as mentioned, were planted first of the year. They all sprouted, but did nothing beyond that. Should I just dig them up and start over with some really strong seeds I started indoors, or can these be saved?
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Mar 5, 2012 21:16
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Ants should not be able to live in a proper compost pile. I'm guessing it needs turned like mentioned above but I'm guessing it is also too dry. It should be as moist as a wrung out sponge. If you don't get any rain for awhile or its under cover, keep it moist. Once it gets hot enough that it's doing some real composting, ants won't go anywhere near it unless they want baked.
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Mar 5, 2012 21:19
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coyo7e posted:Carrots do not respond well to transplant, nor do most other root crops. These were sewn from seed.. does that change things? Still recommend I let them grow, or will they never amount to anything.. its been 2 months and that's all theyve got. Thanked for the native plant recommendations to combat insects... I'll try that out. DIE CATERPILLARZ
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Mar 5, 2012 23:15
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I had been relying on rain to keep my pile wet, but I guess with the warm winter that hasn't happened. It also is not quite optimum as far as ratios go, there's a lot of food scraps and not as much lawn and leaves as there should be. I recreated the biblical flood in there after turning it this morning, and I'll mow my lawn tomorrow to increase the inedible ratio. I'll also be renting a wood chipper soon and that will increase the volume of plant material dramatically.
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Mar 5, 2012 23:24
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I've been searching locally, and only found vermiculite in hilariously overpriced small bags at Lowes. I've found peat moss, and my compost pile has been retrofitted to have worms introduced so that it can be ready when I get my beds made sometime in late March/early April. I'm not finding it at any garden centers or nurseries in my area. Some of them didn't even know what I was talking about. Where the poo poo can I find bulk vermiculite?
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Mar 6, 2012 01:47
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I went to the store to buy blue button seeds, and accidentally bought desert bluebells.  I planted them anyway, so hopefully I'll have some flowers by my party. It was 70F today, and they're in full sun, so it's possible...
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Mar 6, 2012 01:59
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TheFuglyStik posted:I've been searching locally, and only found vermiculite in hilariously overpriced small bags at Lowes. I've found peat moss, and my compost pile has been retrofitted to have worms introduced so that it can be ready when I get my beds made sometime in late March/early April. I'm not finding it at any garden centers or nurseries in my area. Some of them didn't even know what I was talking about. Where are you. Try folks who supply pool materials. Thats where I get mine. Houston Vermiculite Products... you can perhaps call them and ask where they get theirs, or where there are others like them...?
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Mar 6, 2012 03:12
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