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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Anyone have any advice on growing garlic on the Gulf coast? We don't have a real winter here and I'm never sure when I'm supposed to plant it or what I'm supposed to do with it. Also is it worth it to try and grow celery?
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Feb 10, 2019 15:42
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Hey guys, I got all my hot peppers into peat pods last night. Last year I stupidly didn't bother labeling them because "I'll remember" which are which. I put these into containers filled with Miracle Gro on my balcony (and give a number away to coworkers). I have two questions, however. 1.) If I used the same Miracle Gro last year, what steps do I need to take this year? Just treat it like regular soil and fertilize? 2.) Last year I caught and killed two Japanese beetles that had been there for about a week maximum before I caught them, and neither were there at overlapping times. Should I be worried about grubs this year? The peppers, if anyone is curious: fushimi pepper naga bubblegum 7 yellow carbonero pink tiger x peach bhut fish pepper Freeport orange Scotch bonnet Foodarama yellow Scotch bonnet Caribbean red habanero naglah brown PDN x BBG7 primo x lemon drop
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Feb 14, 2019 00:29
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I got some seeds started not expecting much for a while but the tomatoes and cucumbers have already germinated and gotten fairly tall. Good to know I have good seeds but I suspect these guys may be doomed, even with the hoop and plastic greenhousey thing I'm planning I doubt I'll be able to plant anything outdoors until late April at best. My peppers and eggplants aren't up yet but the packages say they'll take a while to germinate. Don't rush too much guys.
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Feb 22, 2019 21:26
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You may only be a couple weeks early. When I lived in Louisville KY I’d have tomatoes out by May 1 at the latest. Mid April with a cloche is probably okay in a lot of places. I’m hoping for May 1 in Chicago for hardening off peppers and tomatoes. Greens, peas and radishes should be in by early-mid April if we actually get spring this year. I’m really looking forward to being out in the yard again. I have grapes to wrangle into submission this year.
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Feb 22, 2019 21:49
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Louisville isn't super far south of me so that's good to know. April 22 is apparently the average last frost date where I am. I may plant another batch in a few weeks just in case, I have plenty of seeds anyway. Also I'm using raised beds and my understanding is I can plant in them earlier since the soil will warm up a lot faster than the ground does.
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Feb 22, 2019 21:57
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I haven't had much to contribute between traveling too much for work and moving. But I took all of my leaves from the new property (shredded through a mower deck/leaf vac) and made a big pile in the woods. It's a roughly 10x10 pile that is about 5 feet tall. It's 38F right now outside...... Okay, that looks basically ambient temp. Let's dig about 1/3 of the way down (too lazy to get to the center of the pile):  Almost 90F. This pleases me greatly. I know this is what is supposed to happen, but I've never had the space and equipment to do a proper PILE of mulch. I'll probably turn this over the weekend and see how things go from there.
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Feb 23, 2019 00:04
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drat I am behind the curve I wanna do FLIR gardening!
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Feb 23, 2019 00:57
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UK folks, when would be the best time to get the cheap and nasty plastic greenhouse up in the garden? The weather for the beginning of March suggests it'll be wet and windy. I plan to get some extra tent pegs to keep the frame in place and tie the plastic cover on with twine but they're just so prone to flight 
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Feb 23, 2019 01:34
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:drat I am behind the curve I wanna do FLIR gardening! lol, fellow goon gave me their old Flir phone and of course I use it whenever I can. Because it's awesome. Thanks CursedShitbox! (it's drat near unusable as a phone because it's so old, but that Flir party trick still works)
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Feb 23, 2019 03:38
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Grand Fromage posted:Louisville isn't super far south of me so that's good to know. April 22 is apparently the average last frost date where I am. I put tomatoes in the ground in Indiana around memorial day, maybe a week or two earlier. Peppers go in June. Cucumbers can probably go in April for direct sow? I always have to looks this stuff up each spring before planting. E: Here's what I use for guidance https://www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/yardandgarden/extpub/indiana-vegetable-planting-calendar/ extravadanza fucked around with this message at 04:53 on Feb 23, 2019 |
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Feb 23, 2019 04:48
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With the help of my parents I just potted a bunch of different herbs for my apartment balcony. Are there any good iOS apps that can track watering and feed schedules and the like? I'm not really much into gardening so would be good to have something like this to get keep me on top of things to start.
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Feb 23, 2019 05:53
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So I planted 28 chili pepper seeds in a mini-greenhouse on my coffee table 2.5 weeks ago. Up until Wednesday of this week, there was no activity, and I thought that I'd somehow killed all of my seeds from overwatering or something. On Tuesday this week, I bought a heating pad to put underneath the mini-greenhouse, since I also had a feeling it simply wasn't warm enough in my apartment for them (ambient is around 24 degrees C). On Wednesday, a single 1 out of the 28 peat pellets started to sprout. She's still the only one to poke up out of the peat, and I'm worried that pretty much my entire crop except for this plant is somehow dead or non-viable. Anyway, here she is, my defiant little baby jalapeño. Her stem is bent over on itself, almost like it's twice as long and is just caught on some of the dirt underneath. Should I gently help straighten her out, or just let nature take its course?  As far as the other 27 lazy-rear end seeds that haven't germinated yet after nearly three weeks: when should I call it quits on them and just go get some new seeds and try again?
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Feb 23, 2019 07:53
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They just look like that at first, don't mess with it. That sucks more of yours aren't germinating, I'd give it more time though. Mine that I posted upthread already sprouted about 1/3 after only one week on the windowsill.
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Feb 23, 2019 08:16
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I've had jalapenos sprout at 20-22° I don't think the cold killed them, just try again.
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Feb 23, 2019 09:24
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Question for Hexigrammus: What do you plant after harvesting garlic? I ask you specifically because we're in the same area (roughly speaking. I'm in Courtenay). I feel like when I yank the garlic out, I'm just wasting valuable growing space in prime growing weather if I don't plant something there, but I don't know what would grow quick enough to be harvestable before winter. Any suggestions? I didn't pm this because I thought it might be useful information for others.
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Feb 24, 2019 05:11
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My little jalapeño has really shot up over the last 24 hours! I get the feeling from seeing other stuff online that this one might turn out to be a bit leggy. And in other good news, its neighbor directly behind it has also now started to sprout. Would have been happier if it was one of the other three types of chilis I planted, but at least it's something! Here's my setup for the moment. I just clamped the UV light on and set it to the lowest output (16% or something) for the first day so as to more slowly acclimate the plant(s) to the increased level of light, since it's been kind of cloudy here. Will gradually up that to a higher intensity at some point, and start running it for longer periods of time throughout the day. (Excuse the untidiness, it's cleaning day). 
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Feb 24, 2019 14:28
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I got some hanging basket blackberries last year, however they never really hung down and kept bashing the tips of the new growth against the wall so today i repotted them into much larger pots, they were completely rootbound after year one, and even worse infested with weevils. I washed all the soil out of the roots and drowned the bastards but is there any way to prevent them coming back?
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Feb 24, 2019 20:44
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So I'd like to build a little standing table planter, maybe something 3 feet x 2 feet, 1 foot deep. Are there any decent plans for a DIY that has access to a drill, hammer, glue, and whatever cutting services a big box like home depot or lowes might offer?
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Feb 27, 2019 03:51
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KKKLIP ART posted:So I'd like to build a little standing table planter, maybe something 3 feet x 2 feet, 1 foot deep. Are there any decent plans for a DIY that has access to a drill, hammer, glue, and whatever cutting services a big box like home depot or lowes might offer? Get a saw.
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Feb 27, 2019 04:03
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Stultus Maximus posted:Get a saw. for sure this but also they'll cut your material down for you KKKLIP ART posted:So I'd like to build a little standing table planter, maybe something 3 feet x 2 feet, 1 foot deep. Are there any decent plans for a DIY that has access to a drill, hammer, glue, and whatever cutting services a big box like home depot or lowes might offer? You can totally draw this up yourself! Its as straightforward as you made it seem. What part is confusing for you
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Feb 27, 2019 04:07
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:for sure this but also they'll cut your material down for you More or less how to support it with table legs, reinforce the bottom, and what should the drainage situation look like in the bottom of the bed e: Its a bit blurry but something like this is what I had in mind, each square represents 4 inches just to make things easy on my. My thought was to have a 3x2x1 bed, 4x4 posts coming through the inside of the four corners, secured by decking screws. I would use 2x4 boards (unless 1x4 would work just as well) to build the sides. In the middle of both the 2ft and 3ft spans, I'd have another 2x4 on the inside secured by decking screws to the sides and the bottom for support. I don't really know what to make the bottom of, but I figured it'd be more 2x4s screwed into the bottom of the sides and the 4x4 posts. I didn't know if I needed a shelf to add support, but considering the box is only 2.5ft tall (so my son can interact with the plants too), I didn't think it would be required, but easy enough to add if I feel like its a good spot to store things. Here is my plans so far:  and I guess I should think about what plants we want. We are going to do maybe another small planter or two for herbs, but wanted some tomatoes, like maybe one plant, a pepper plant or two, and I don't really know what else. KKKLIP ART fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Feb 27, 2019 |
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Feb 27, 2019 14:22
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Would you consider something like this? They're not super deep soil so it depends what you want to grow in it, but they're simple and strong. Don't forget the weight of the wet soil you want to fill your bed with, after all.
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Feb 27, 2019 21:23
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cakesmith handyman posted:Would you consider something like this? Thats sort of the idea of what we want but they are a lot more expensive than a few 2x4s.
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Feb 28, 2019 03:26
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I'm not an engineer but my basic understanding is you don't want to go up and down legs because they'll bow and fall from the weight. You want to go "criss cross" like in that professional one. It distributes the weight better. There's gotta be a million modern online Bob Vila videos and articles you can look up. Youtube taught me how to build my planters, fix my heating unit, and repair my printer.
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Feb 28, 2019 03:57
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Yeah I wasn't suggesting buying them, just wondered if the shape suited. They'll be easy enough to copy/build and more stable than what you were describing, particularly screwing the base upwards into the sides.
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Feb 28, 2019 04:55
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KKKLIP ART posted:More or less how to support it with table legs, reinforce the bottom, and what should the drainage situation look like in the bottom of the bed I'd use 1x4s for the actual box sides, and the 2x4s are good for the legs and supports. You could even use plywood for the base, but it's not worth buying a whole sheet for it and I'd probably just pick up another couple 1x4s and throw cross supports at the ends and one in the middle to distribute the weight. Making an X with the legs isn't going to do anything special if you're making a rectangle. 4x4s are going to be overkill, but your design looks just fine. Just put the legs under the cross supports and you'll have good weight distribution and it'll collapse from the wood decomposing in time and not bad design. 2x4s will take longer to wear out, but 1x4s will last quite a while still. You can use 2x4s for the legs and they'll be plenty strong for the weight of the wet soil and plants. Wood is good in vertical compressive strength, just think about the inside of your walls and how trees actually grow. It's all about getting the weight to move laterally into the legs and not just straight down or away from the legs instead.
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Feb 28, 2019 05:43
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OK, so I think I'll make the sides out of 1x4, legs out of 2x4s, do an X brace under the bottom and add a center 2x4 post for support. I'll retool my plans. I am assuming that I should be using decking screws to hold this bad boy together. Maybe some 1x4 braces between each leg for some extra support. E: for drainage, is it worth doing some holes in the bottom or maybe like a french drain kind of deal in the sides? KKKLIP ART fucked around with this message at 14:41 on Feb 28, 2019 |
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Feb 28, 2019 14:29
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I'd drill a couple 1/2" holes at the bottom of each side to prevent pooling water and call it good. And if you're going to do a brace underneath do it on edge, not flat side against the bottom. Way more strength in 4" of wood that's only 1" wide than in 1" of wood that's 4" wide. Crakkerjakk fucked around with this message at 17:31 on Feb 28, 2019 |
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Feb 28, 2019 17:27
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KKKLIP ART posted:OK, so I think I'll make the sides out of 1x4, legs out of 2x4s, do an X brace under the bottom and add a center 2x4 post for support. I'll retool my plans. I am assuming that I should be using decking screws to hold this bad boy together. Maybe some 1x4 braces between each leg for some extra support. I would say definitely do small holes unless you're reallyyy not that worried about water flow. Did you say if you're using treated vs non treated? Whats the threads consensus on that for planter boxes, doesn't matter?
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Feb 28, 2019 17:42
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:I would say definitely do small holes unless you're reallyyy not that worried about water flow. Did you say if you're using treated vs non treated? Whats the threads consensus on that for planter boxes, doesn't matter? Don't use treated unless you line the inside with pretty heavy duty food safe plastic, IMO. Like the pond liner stuff. Treated is fine for the uprights, just not for anything touching the soil.
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Feb 28, 2019 18:22
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:I would say definitely do small holes unless you're reallyyy not that worried about water flow. Did you say if you're using treated vs non treated? Whats the threads consensus on that for planter boxes, doesn't matter? I was going to use untreated pine because its a rental and we don't plan on being here that long to where wood rot would specifically matter. I think I am also going to put in an underlayment so I can have plenty of holes and not worry about soil leaching out too.
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Feb 28, 2019 20:44
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Crakkerjakk posted:Don't use treated unless you line the inside with pretty heavy duty food safe plastic, IMO. Like the pond liner stuff. That's always been my mentality but people around here seem to not care and I feel like I've seen people link studies showing that it doesnt matter. I still throw in epdm or visqueen because that wood is nasty
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Mar 1, 2019 01:23
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It used to matter a lot as they were treating the wood with crap that would leech into the soil and be bad for you. Mostly they don’t do that anymore because it’s bad for business and they have new formulations to treat the wood. You can’t buy CCA treated wood anymore since 2003, and they can’t put stuff in the formulas that is harmful since then either. I think it was an Insecticide/Fungicide act that got rid of it all.
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Mar 1, 2019 02:11
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Mostly I just don't trust the oversight mechanisms to be on the ball enough that if someone did put something nasty in it, they'd catch it before it's been on the market for like 3-5 years. Untreated is just easier and still lasts a good long time.
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Mar 1, 2019 15:06
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To each their own. The formulas for anything like that have to be registered, tested, and then approved by the EPA before they can be used, and they have a long list of things that cannot be in the product. For a very long time there was nothing keeping bad crap from being put into the wood, so I get the hesitation. Personally, I like making boxes out of cedar and use pine/fir/whatever it is in the pile that's not particularly unique and build structure out of that.
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Mar 1, 2019 16:21
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Jhet posted:To each their own. The formulas for anything like that have to be registered, tested, and then approved by the EPA before they can be used, and they have a long list of things that cannot be in the product. For a very long time there was nothing keeping bad crap from being put into the wood, so I get the hesitation. I'm less concerned about something known to be bad like arsenic or something and more something along the lines of the whole thing exploding right now with PFOA and PFOS (https://theintercept.com/series/the-teflon-toxin/) Lots of testing for years that said it was safe, only it turns out everyone was lying. Cedar is awesome, but generally too spendy for me. I usually just use untreated pine dimensional lumber. Cheap and plentiful. Just a pain in the rear end to get to my place, what with not having a truck. :/
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Mar 1, 2019 16:31
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I use the dimensional lumber too, but I don't need it to last for a very long time. The cedar is for more ornamental stuff, and it would be the sort of thing I don't want to rebuild for a long time. Also, cast iron cookware forever. There's a lot of stuff that's bad for us out there, and the DuPont cover up isn't much different than what Monsanto does or any of those other far too large for their own good chemical companies that care more about shareholders and the bottom line than slowly killing all the people that buy their stuff. It's not on their 5- or 10-year forecasts, so it's all good to them (as an organization, I'm sure there are individuals that do actually care). At some point I just realized that the world is actively trying to slowly (or quickly) kill me and now I'm just riding it to it's uneventful fatal end... But I have seeds that have germinated, so it'll need to wait until next year. A few tomatoes have popped out from 3 year old seeds. They're the first, so huzzah! I'm also trying to start Shasta daisies from seed because my 5 year old picked them out while I was buying seed starting mix. I'm hoping I can get some of them to at least start, but I've never done flowers from seed that you just didn't throw on the ground.
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Mar 1, 2019 17:01
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Whoo!!! I'm planting onions and greens this weekend. We had a couple freak snow storms but it's warming up again, so i figure the onions can take the cold and the greens are easy to replant if we get another freeze. And yeah, I've been slowly eliminating fancier materials from a lot of my day to day life, so a lot of what I use for food prep/growing is ceramic, metal, glass, wood, and generally trying to avoid plastic.
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Mar 1, 2019 17:31
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I'm still eating my garlic from last growing season and I feel like a king doing it. I didnt get any winter greens going and i feel very unhappy buying kale lettuce etc for $2.50-$5 a bunch. VERY unhappy about not being able to walk 15 feet and get whatever greens I want. Also crakkerjakk I've been doing the same cutting out plastic and using mason jars for my prepped veggies and it's made me use them more regularly with less waste. Good positive changes for me
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Mar 1, 2019 17:42
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I was given a large crate full of old blue glass mason jars that I'm debating on actually using. Nothing wrong with the glass, they're just beautiful looking. A few years ago I bought a bunch of pint sized mason jars for yeast washing and have ended up adding to the collection to the point where those jars are the most plentiful thing in my kitchen. That and half-pints for all the jam/jelly. I'm hoping I get a good year of grapes again because last year was a disaster and I didn't want to harvest all the grapes for 1/3 of them to actually be good. We got a ton of rain a week before they were ready to pick and most of them burst and then proceeded to rot. I bought a bunch of greens from Kitazawa seed after seeing Grand Fromage's haul and I'm excited to get them growing in hopefully only 5-6 more weeks.
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Mar 1, 2019 17:51
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