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Tons of rain is in the forecast from tomorrow so I went ahead and harvested a whole lot of blueberries. This bush is in either its third or fourth spring and this is definitely the biggest harvest I've gotten with tons still ripening on the bush. I could have had a similar harvest last year but the birds were all over the thing. This year I tossed a net over the bush and obviously it made a huge difference. I ended up with nearly half a kilo. I'm curious to hear people's onions on pruning. I've read that without pruning generally a good year will be followed by a poor one but for the most part I've just been letting this go wild and it has been fine. It is pressed right up against a rosemary bush; I keep it mulched, toss some compost around it, and trim it very lightly.   And since I am posting photos here is my bird's eye chili I started from seeds last year saved from a store. Despite being rather compact it did great last year then survived the winter covered in plastic wrap and is now destroying it again. Between two small plants in the container I have around forty peppers while still being able to harvest a few young green every couple days. 
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Jun 25, 2019 07:58
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My blueberries did terrible last year and had a bunch of deadwood on them as I was letting them do their own thing. Earlier this year I cut it back aggressively and have a ton of berries almost ready for the loving robins to eat grrr. I need nets but I'm wary of dealing with stuck birds.
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Jun 25, 2019 15:21
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I used to cover my blackberries in nets and never had a stuck bird in them. Kind of a pain to get them on and off though, and make sure you take them off as soon as you harvest or stuff starts going through them and it’s a mess. People used to eat songbirds all the time-supposedly they’re delicious....
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Jun 25, 2019 15:24
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This is blight, yeah? Or some other disease maybe?  
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Jun 25, 2019 15:42
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guri posted:Tons of rain is in the forecast from tomorrow so I went ahead and harvested a whole lot of blueberries. This bush is in either its third or fourth spring and this is definitely the biggest harvest I've gotten with tons still ripening on the bush. I could have had a similar harvest last year but the birds were all over the thing. This year I tossed a net over the bush and obviously it made a huge difference. I ended up with nearly half a kilo. I'm basing this totally on what I've read (after having just planted some blueberries myself this spring) and not on experience, however: from what I understand you're not really supposed to prune (or expect much of a harvest) until the 3rd season anyways, so it's not surprising that you've seen good results without it. Personally I'd prune it to avoid Harry Potter On Ice's experience. My thinking is that if it grew healthily this year and has been doing so for a while, pruning it modestly will at worst cause it to hold steady at current levels. Double check, but I think the standard pruning advice for blueberries is to prune the oldest 1/3 of canes to the ground at year 3, and then anything older than 3 years annually after that. Harry Potter on Ice posted:My blueberries did terrible last year and had a bunch of deadwood on them as I was letting them do their own thing. Earlier this year I cut it back aggressively and have a ton of berries almost ready Does anyone have luck with the "reflective ribbon" method of repelling pests? I have a disorganized patio container garden, and nets are going to be a huge PITA for me...
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Jun 25, 2019 15:49
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Hubis posted:Does anyone have luck with the "reflective ribbon" method of repelling pests? I have a disorganized patio container garden, and nets are going to be a huge PITA for me... This sounds interesting, never heard of it. I'm halfway through assembling a homemade spinning scarecrow because my lazy rear end cats just sleep in the garden next to the birds and the drat dog eats my raspberries off the hedge himself. They are all in cahoots. Kaiser Schnitzel posted:I used to cover my blackberries in nets and never had a stuck bird in them. Kind of a pain to get them on and off though, and make sure you take them off as soon as you harvest or stuff starts going through them and it’s a mess. People used to eat songbirds all the time-supposedly they’re delicious.... My only neighbor uses some sort of light crop cloth to completely surround her strawberrys but still has robins get under it regularly.. which isn't a problem really as far as injuring the bird but they REALLY trash the plants when they get stuck in them. At least she has some left, the robins got all of mine D:
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Jun 25, 2019 16:02
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Nets are going to probably work best. The birds really don’t seem to care at all about anything I do to dissuade them from messing around anywhere. My mom has good luck with netting on blueberry and cranberry. She’s going to have more problems covering the lingonberries just because she planted them by the roses. The local feral cat has been active this week. Left me a rat and a starling. The starlings have been messing with the cat’s food though, so I figure it’s a fair retaliation. The birds have been extra active the last couple cooler weeks and now that it’s hit 80+ they’re more normal. My garden finally exploded in growth and the cayenne grew a few inches yesterday. I’ve had the worst luck with slugs in the new bed, but it’s my fault for not balancing all the compost I used in one bed with literally anything else. It’s heavy, wet and at least the peas and carrots like it. The bell peppers and beans really are not enjoying it and I don’t blame them. I should have known better to mix in more stuff. The greens grow great, but are getting eaten by slugs. So lesson learned. The misome growing next to the tomatoes in a different bed hasn’t been touched by slugs.
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Jun 25, 2019 16:53
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I forgot I had some of last years pepper crop still so I made a bunch of hot oil jars for friends. Also pulled the first of 3 garlic rows, pretty happy with the bulb size so far compared to last years crop. I'm down to the dregs of last years haul too so these are barely in time. 1 full year clean from buying garlic and eating it more than ever gently caress yea. The majority of those peppers are from two plants... loving greenhouse growing jeeeeez   
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Jun 25, 2019 17:07
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My garlic was tiny this year. Did you do anything to encourage larger bulbs? I’m considering planting a full bed of it over winter where my peppers would grow in the summer. The timing of it is pretty good for what I’d need.
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Jun 25, 2019 17:12
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Jhet posted:My garlic was tiny this year. Did you do anything to encourage larger bulbs? I’m considering planting a full bed of it over winter where my peppers would grow in the summer. The timing of it is pretty good for what I’d need. The only change I made was planting it at the right time, last year I didn't get it in early enough. In general I made a big effort to get everything in at least "early" because I'm worried the smoke from fire season is going to gently caress up at least a couple weeks like it did for me last year.
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Jun 25, 2019 18:33
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Hubis posted:Does anyone have luck with the "reflective ribbon" method of repelling pests? I have a disorganized patio container garden, and nets are going to be a huge PITA for me... Limited success. I think it`s helping to keep the ravens out of my Stella cherry this year, along with some aluminum pie tins clanging in the breeze. I also hung several hummingbird feeders in the tree since I`ve seen them mob larger birds and they really seem to dislike owls and ravens. The robins and other smaller songbirds are wary but still picking the tree bare from the top down. The hummingbirds will challenge them but the robins have adopted a hit-and-run strategy. When the tree was smaller I used bird netting but stopped after a family of hairy woodpeckers died when they got in under the net and got tangled. Now it`s too big to put any sort of net over and we`re only getting cherries during an overwhelmingly productive year. If I want cherries it looks like I need to start from scratch and plant some dwarf trees that can be caged.
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Jun 25, 2019 21:57
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Hexigrammus posted:When the tree was smaller I used bird netting but stopped after a family of hairy woodpeckers died when they got in under the net and got tangled. Now it`s too big to put any sort of net over and we`re only getting cherries during an overwhelmingly productive year. If I want cherries it looks like I need to start from scratch and plant some dwarf trees that can be caged. Something that I’ve done with success is throwing spools of thread over the tree. Hold the free end of the thread and lob the spool over a branch. Pick up the spool and do it again. Repeat till the tree is thoroughly festooned. It’s too thin to trap birds, but they really don’t like moving around in the area and won’t brave it to get to the cherries. Your local bird species might be different, of course.
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Jun 25, 2019 22:15
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Jhet posted:My garlic was tiny this year. Did you do anything to encourage larger bulbs? I’m considering planting a full bed of it over winter where my peppers would grow in the summer. The timing of it is pretty good for what I’d need. I was watching a documentary and some Chinese guys claimed that regularly picking the scapes off the garlic (the smaller side leaves) made the bulbs grow bigger.
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Jun 26, 2019 18:01
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Crakkerjakk posted:I was watching a documentary and some Chinese guys claimed that regularly picking the scapes off the garlic (the smaller side leaves) made the bulbs grow bigger. Scapes on garlic are not the smaller side leaves. They're the bulbous part that runs up from the main shoot and bends over and if left alone will make little bulb things that you can plant. I do trim my scapes because they're delicious in a fry up, but my garlic was still small. I've heard that before though, and I'm not sure if it's real or not, but the theory is that the plant will spend more energy on the part we want to eat underground instead of the part above grown.
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Jun 26, 2019 18:16
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Crakkerjakk posted:I was watching a documentary and some Chinese guys claimed that regularly picking the scapes off the garlic (the smaller side leaves) made the bulbs grow bigger. Scapes are the top part that you cut off later and fry up because its delicious ninja edit: oops I left this reply open too long
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Jun 26, 2019 18:30
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I posted this in the general gardening thread to little avail so far, figured I'd have better luck asking it here: what’s a good resource to learn about pruning in general? I’ve never done it (beyond pinching flower buds off peppers) and from reading the last few pages it seems important, or at least helpful, but I know nothing about it or how to decide what and where to prune
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Jun 26, 2019 22:49
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indigi posted:I posted this in the general gardening thread to little avail so far, figured I'd have better luck asking it here:
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Jun 26, 2019 23:54
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Platystemon posted:Something that I’ve done with success is throwing spools of thread over the tree. Hold the free end of the thread and lob the spool over a branch. Pick up the spool and do it again. Repeat till the tree is thoroughly festooned. Sounds promising. I'll find a spool of cotton thread and give that a try on the Bing cherry - it ripens later than the Stella and hasn't been hit yet. Four years ago we had a family of fledgling barred owls hanging out with us for several weeks while the adult ran herself ragged feeding them until they learned to fly properly (the other adult had been killed on the road nearby). It was interesting watching other birds around the juveniles - none of them gave a single gently caress about the juveniles, but the adult would find herself mobbed if she showed herself in the wrong place and time. Apparently the plastic owl we bought at the garden centre was modeled after a juvenile because it elicited the same response from songbirds in the cherries. I tried looking up recipes for robins but all I can find are copycat recipes from some place called "Red Robin".
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Jun 27, 2019 00:12
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I was cutting back some brush and found this on the side of my yard this morning.  Are these actual raspberries or something that will definitely kill me if I eat them?
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Jun 27, 2019 23:42
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Elder Postsman posted:I was cutting back some brush and found this on the side of my yard this morning. Only one way to find out! 
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Jun 27, 2019 23:56
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Elder Postsman posted:I was cutting back some brush and found this on the side of my yard this morning. Wait until they turn black
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Jun 27, 2019 23:57
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Elder Postsman posted:I was cutting back some brush and found this on the side of my yard this morning. Those are blackberries. The berries are tasty, but you do not want the plant on your property. Terminate with prejudice.
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Jun 28, 2019 00:03
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Elder Postsman posted:I was cutting back some brush and found this on the side of my yard this morning. keep cutting
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Jun 28, 2019 00:04
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Please help my dumb clueless newbie self. 3 different plants in the same planter. What do you guys think, yellow = too much water?   
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Jun 28, 2019 00:21
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Platystemon posted:Those are blackberries. oh god drat it i have a thornless blackberry that i actually planted on purpose on the other side of the yard and it hasn't produced poo poo this year, and hasn't spread at all.
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Jun 28, 2019 00:41
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I know that some people hate blackberries here, but my parents have had two rows of them for a decade without issue. You just need to keep them managed in some sort of trellis thing and cut back new shoots where you don’t want them. They are better if you have plenty of space, so it’s something to consider.
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Jun 28, 2019 01:56
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Jhet posted:I know that some people hate blackberries here, but my parents have had two rows of them for a decade without issue. You just need to keep them managed in some sort of trellis thing and cut back new shoots where you don’t want them. They are better if you have plenty of space, so it’s something to consider. Well, it depends on which type of blackberry you are talking about. Which species do your parents have? I love trailing blackberries but I wouldn't want one of the erect cane species in my garden. Pruning is slightly more complicated than that depending on if its primocane vs floricane
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Jun 28, 2019 02:05
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SubG posted:If you live in the States, wherever you live has a master gardener program. The master gardener program will have a handbook. The handbook will be full of useful information specific to the kinds of poo poo that grow locally, as well as general gardening stuff. If you don't live in the States, figure out what zone you live in, find a US State in the same or a similar zone, and get its master gardener handbook. holy poo poo the handbook for my county's program is $75 used. fuckin Penn State
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Jun 28, 2019 02:08
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If you live somewhere where blackberries grow wild, I don’t really see the point in growing them at home, but maybe that’s just me. If you do grow them, planting them in raised beds helps them thrive and stay contained.
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Jun 28, 2019 02:09
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indigi posted:holy poo poo the handbook for my county's program is $75 used. fuckin Penn State
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Jun 28, 2019 02:13
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:Well, it depends on which type of blackberry you are talking about. Which species do your parents have? I love trailing blackberries but I wouldn't want one of the erect cane species in my garden. Pruning is slightly more complicated than that depending on if its primocane vs floricane I honestly don’t know what species they are. They are a thorny variety and were likely transplanted from canes my great grandparents grew in much less tamed conditions. I do know that they have three levels of wiring that they tuck the canes into to stand upright while growing so they can mow between rows with the riding mower. They have plenty of space and they are delicious. Definitely understand that you have to be good with your managing it, but blackberries are delicious.
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Jun 28, 2019 02:19
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Elder Postsman posted:I was cutting back some brush and found this on the side of my yard this morning. Those look like raspberries to me. The powdery white canes are a sign of raspberries I believe. The fruit also looks more raspberry like to me at least.
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Jun 28, 2019 02:48
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Jhet posted:I honestly don’t know what species they are. They are a thorny variety and were likely transplanted from canes my great grandparents grew in much less tamed conditions. Hell yea I love blackberries I'm continually failing at transplanting the trailing kind. I want to grow all the fruits and berries Random protip if you're planning on push or ride mowing between planter boxes: make sure to give yourself several extra inches so the middle of your beds don't bulge in like ours do and make it impossible to fit through D:
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Jun 28, 2019 03:03
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Internet Explorer posted:Please help my dumb clueless newbie self. Double check that the planter isn't clogged or blocked on the bottom. The dirt looks like it has dried standing. It could also just be peppers being fickle bitches but yeah, looks like the roots are struggling.
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Jun 28, 2019 03:31
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Eeyo posted:Those look like raspberries to me. The powdery white canes are a sign of raspberries I believe. The fruit also looks more raspberry like to me at least. You might be right. The way the canes “job” is also more of a raspberry trait. Raspberries have whiter undersides to their leaves, if we could see those.
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Jun 28, 2019 03:47
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mischief posted:Double check that the planter isn't clogged or blocked on the bottom. The dirt looks like it has dried standing. Thanks. Figured it was something easy. Will look tomorrow.
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Jun 28, 2019 04:19
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You pick em farms are the best of both worlds for black berries. You can get varietals in different parts of the season and you don’t have black berries anywhere near your property until one of your neighbors foolishly plants some. Summer is coming along nicely. Have four small head of cauliflower and one I had to harvest because it was opening despite being tiny. More salad then we can keep up with. Our tomatoes are huge and we’re starting to stake them but only a handful of blossoms so far. Oh and the zucchini is starting to get a little too big but w/e.
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Jun 28, 2019 05:22
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We've had a heatwave here in Europe of the last few days, and Wednesday it got up to 38 degrees C (100F). Sunday is supposed to be that hot too, if not hotter. My cayenne plant seems to loving love the heat and I've got at least three or four new chilis growing on it since the heatwave started. My jalapeno seems pretty indifferent, but my lemon drop seems a bit sad about the heat, looking a bit droopy and it's dropped about 2-3 leaves. Should I bring the lemon drop inside? It's Europe so I have no air conditioning and indoors is only a few degrees cooler (and with no sunlight to feed the plants, since we have the shutters closed).
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Jun 28, 2019 08:41
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I have just come into some windowsill space at work, is there anything I can realistically start off now and get a crop off? I'm thinking lemon drops or similar. Gets good light in the afternoon, ventilation is ok, about 3ft by 3ft.
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Jun 28, 2019 09:04
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CancerCakes posted:I have just come into some windowsill space at work, is there anything I can realistically start off now and get a crop off? I'm thinking lemon drops or similar. A lot of the super productive summer plants---okra, summer squash, sweet potatoes, beans---really aren't suited for windowsill container growing.
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Jun 28, 2019 09:20
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