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marchantia posted:I don't think you will have a ton of success with tomatoes on 2-3 hrs of sun to be honest. If you are dead set on it, think about trying a cherry/grape tomato plant and not a big slicer tomato. I definitely think you'll get more success with herbs (basil, oregano, rosemary, etc) as far as Italian cooking goes. yeah, i'm in 7b and have tried for a couple years now to get tomatoes out of a spot that starts the summer with 7-ish hours of direct sun but drops off to 4-5 by august, and it's an exercise in frustration. trying a couple different cherry varieties this year so we'll see
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Apr 17, 2023 22:58
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I'll try a few small experiments this year and not go in expecting anything that is not shade tolerant to do particularly well in a 14 story hole. It will be fine if something does bad, i got a shitload of cicoria to grow in any vacated space I pressure cook it, drink the water left over as tea, and then saute the greens with oil and garlic or freeze plain for later.
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Apr 17, 2023 22:59
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Chad Sexington posted:So I'm realizing this spring that I lightly hosed up with my asparagus bed. Sounds like you accidentally grew white asparagus!
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Apr 17, 2023 23:01
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Fitzy Fitz posted:Sounds like you accidentally grew white asparagus! Pretty much! It's such a pretty purple when it gets sun too. 
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Apr 18, 2023 00:07
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Discussion Quorum posted:The figs were another gift from the neighbor and have absolutely exploded over the past couple weeks (plus a third that is developing at a more leisurely pace). He got them from the community garden and wasn't sure what variety they are. I'm hoping for an LSU Gold but 
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Apr 18, 2023 00:47
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Get a sick ceramic owl statue on a pole to guard your figs
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Apr 18, 2023 01:04
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CommonShore posted:Yeah that's definitely garlic. Even without the developing bulb Leeks don't look so fibrous in the neck near the ground and the leaves are a bit juicier looking Yeah concurring with all of this. Shifty Pony posted:The mystery plants: Probably carrots, although it looks like it has multiple crowns and one big fat root? Celeriac?
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Apr 18, 2023 22:04
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Real hurthling! posted:I get about 2-3 hours of direct sun once summer starts around june and the sun gets high enough Leafy greens would be your best bet with that little direct sun. If you really want to try tomatoes, use small varieties, grape/cherry tomatoes.
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Apr 18, 2023 22:34
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Year three on attempting to establish backyard berries is go. After two years of very little blueberry growth and losing all my lowbush berries to deer, I've pulled the 4 healthiest ones to replant in raised beds. I think it's probably just too hard to amend my super bad ground soil to get acidic and draining enough to make them happy, so the raised beds should fix that. Gonna underplant them with strawberries to hopefully cut down on the weeds. I didn't have much luck with in ground strawberries but the rabbits who live in my hedges seemed to have enjoyed them. Also picked up some primocane blackberries to do in another raised bed -- pretty cool to have two flushes of berries since they put out "old wood" berries in the early summer and then the new canes fruit in the fall. Last year I hit one of the elderberries with a lawnmower. It did not care at all and is putting out canes as well as the one that did not get hit. Elderberry champion. ScamWhaleHolyGrail fucked around with this message at 16:39 on Apr 20, 2023 |
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Apr 20, 2023 16:34
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ScamWhaleHolyGrail posted:Year three on attempting to establish backyard berries is go. After two years of very little blueberry growth and losing all my lowbush berries to deer, I've pulled the 4 healthiest ones to replant in raised beds. I think it's probably just too hard to amend my super bad ground soil to get acidic and draining enough to make them happy, so the raised beds should fix that. I gave up on my in ground blueberries last year. Apparently I missed them in the brambles of dead natives back there because they are inexplicably back this year. I will expend no effort and see what happens.
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Apr 20, 2023 20:33
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Sichuan peppercorns started sprouting new leaf buds at the very end of March, and now they're all pretty leafy. Looks like the "new" plants (the ones that I put in last year) want to be productive...lots of clusters of flowers: Direct-sown spring greens are coming in. Had a shitload of wild greens in the yard this winter, including a whole bunch of that bok choy that escaped the beds the year before. Kinda want to start collecting seed from the wild growth for sowing in the beds (in the theory that the stuff that's getting huge with no attention is going to be more vigorous, and it also seems bolt-resistant as gently caress), but the house finches that spread the stuff in the first place absolutely demolish the seed pods as soon as they have seeds in 'em. Only other thing that got direct sown this season (not counting patches of alliums that are self-propagating) was long beans and bitter melons. Long beans went in last weekend and they're already coming up. Bitter melons aren't showing yet, but I've got a couple starts that are still indoors. Probably going to transplant most of the starts (peppers, bitter melon, winged beans) this weekend. And probably going to get more starts from a local nursery—didn't bother trying to start any eggplants from seed this season because we've had loving terrible luck with eggplants from seed.
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Apr 20, 2023 21:05
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My eggplant managed to flower right before dying, and it unleashed a hellstorm of pollen on to all my other poo poo.
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Apr 20, 2023 21:24
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I've grown a bunch of different kinds of eggplant from seed, and it isn't like they always fail. But I've had more eggplants than anything else do the thing where they grow into like 6" plants and then just sorta hang out...not growing, not wilting, not flowering, nothing...for the rest of the season. One season I had a Lao green eggplant come up, put out its seed leaves...and then nothing. It just sat there with nothing but a pair of seed leaves, tiny little thing, for like six months. I didn't even know that was possible. Every time I've gotten starts from the nursery: boom, eggplants. Like several pounds a week. Plants have to be pruned back or supported because they're falling over under the weight of too many eggplants. That kind of thing. So this season we just said gently caress it, got no eggplants out of the garden last year (which was just a weird growing year in general), we're just going to get starts and not worry about it this year.
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Apr 20, 2023 21:37
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SubG posted:I've grown a bunch of different kinds of eggplant from seed, and it isn't like they always fail. But I've had more eggplants than anything else do the thing where they grow into like 6" plants and then just sorta hang out...not growing, not wilting, not flowering, nothing...for the rest of the season. One season I had a Lao green eggplant come up, put out its seed leaves...and then nothing. It just sat there with nothing but a pair of seed leaves, tiny little thing, for like six months. I didn't even know that was possible. I don’t know how you’re starting from seed but I’ve had this issue every time I’ve tried to use those lovely expanding peat pucks
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Apr 20, 2023 22:13
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Try the little italian ones i have a family member that is always giving me loads of them
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Apr 20, 2023 22:22
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i'm doing a couple eggplant cousins, 'striped toga eggplant' and 'pea eggplants' this year, because they looked cool (and because i'm afraid florida heat/bugs/etc would ruin me if i tried big ones)
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Apr 20, 2023 22:50
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the milk machine posted:I don’t know how you’re starting from seed but I’ve had this issue every time I’ve tried to use those lovely expanding peat pucks I've had the best luck with various varieties of traditional aubergine-like eggplants and hybrids thereof, and next best luck with various varieties of Japanese eggplant (which are consistent producers for me whenever I get them as starts). The real problem children are cultivars like Lao and Thai green eggplants. I haven't had enough success with them to get a feel for what does and doesn't work, but if I had to take a wild guess I'd say it's probably because it stays pretty cool at night throughout the spring, and they want warmer soil. Alternately it might be a length of day thing or something like that (but I might just be saying that because I had a shitload of problems with okra because of day length, when I had been used to being able to just scatter seed and watch it come up like weeds in Texas). It definitely seems to be something that affects them somewhere in development between the seed leaf stage and flowering, because I've never had problems with germination and sprouting, and plants that start flowering keep producing once they start.
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Apr 20, 2023 22:59
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Not enough heat sounds like a good guess.
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Apr 21, 2023 00:35
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Chad Sexington posted:I will expend no effort and see what happens. After a lot of research it appears berry growing falls into either: "I extended a ton of effort and got gently caress all for it" OR "idk man I don't do poo poo for em they just do this" -- I assume this mostly has to do with how difficult it is to change soil pH en masse in either direction
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Apr 21, 2023 17:50
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Got a couple herbs planted on the roof today, passed by the garden center with a free hand. I'll go back for some sage soon. Full set up right now. Flowers look better now that i cut all the expired bulb varieties down in preparation for drying and storage  I think i should germinate my cicoria and arugula inside in little pots and bring it out in a few weeks its still a bit chilly at night. Good thing my wife accidentally bought a whole box of little pots online instead of just 1 Im up to over 45 mins of full sun a day now, summer is coming! That drat ball of fire is getting higher and higher over the neighbor building before passing me by! Cant wait til i get the whole morning of direct light.
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Apr 21, 2023 18:30
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Real hurthling! posted:Got a couple herbs planted on the roof today, passed by the garden center with a free hand. I'll go back for some sage soon. Some herbs that are smaller and still useful: Thyme, cilantro if you eat it, tarragon ditto, marjoram*, chives, summer or winter savory. I tend not to plant parsley, because one bag at the grocery store is equivalent to an entire plant's worth of leaves, but if you want it for garnish instead of tabbouleh, knock yourself out. Hit the herb section and rub things between your fingers to see what you like. I would recommend both a standard thyme and a lemon thyme (this will usually have variegated green-and-yellow leaves), because lemon thyme has a bright flavor that perks up a lot of dishes, especially seafood. Your basil plants are too close together; basil isn't as big as sage, but it grows 12-24" high. The next time you plant basil, space the plants at least 12" apart. Plants to avoid in a planter box: any mint, any oregano, lemon balm, and in general anything in the mint family. That charming little plant you bought is going to send out runners and eat the entire bed. If you want to plant any of these, put them in a separate pot. * Yes, marjoram is a mint, but I've never had problems with its spreading.
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Apr 24, 2023 16:56
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Thankfully basil will usually rely on its feet to kind of dictate size. I've had everything from well behaved potted basil to out of control ball-eating-bush plants when they have enough room and food. Cilantro is a really neat option for your particular spot, it is incredibly sensitive to heat and sunlight. That might be a really cool option with the shade that you have. Rosemary would enjoy periodic sun as well. Mint in a container though, that's definitely inviting chaos to the party. Also like Arsenic said, oregano doesn't usually play well with others.
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Apr 24, 2023 20:22
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I was thinking about installing an arbor by the gate to my garden. Has anybody had squirrels and chipmunks use an arbor to get over a garden fence and into the garden?
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Apr 25, 2023 17:10
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Bloody Cat Farm posted:I was thinking about installing an arbor by the gate to my garden. Has anybody had squirrels and chipmunks use an arbor to get over a garden fence and into the garden? Squirrels will just go over the fence regardless, so I don't see why they couldn't go over an arbor. Chipmunks will just go under.
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Apr 25, 2023 17:22
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Jhet posted:Squirrels will just go over the fence regardless, so I don't see why they couldn't go over an arbor. Chipmunks will just go under. That was my thought, as well. I have 1/4 inch hardware cloth for fencing around the garden. They currently don’t try to get in at all, so I wasn’t sure if the arbor would cause them to start getting in.
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Apr 25, 2023 19:11
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repotted my tomatoes and eggplant moved my cold-hardy crops to the greenhouse yesterday planted way too much garlic today gonna put potatoes in tomorrow ordered a soil test e. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMCA9nYnLWo
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Apr 25, 2023 21:20
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I've just got my first backyard in my adult life and am looking at doing some raised bed gardening. I bought the house and yard and am still in the phase of "I can't bear to 'damage' any of this" so have been looking at elevated beds. I really would like to grow tomatoes (and blackberries if I can), but from what I've read they enjoy pretty deep soil. Never gardened a day in my life and I trust goons more than fifteen minutes of Google. Any pointers for good raised beds / tomatoes / gardening in general? If it helps I believe I am in zone 7b.
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Apr 26, 2023 01:03
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Zodack posted:I've just got my first backyard in my adult life and am looking at doing some raised bed gardening. I bought the house and yard and am still in the phase of "I can't bear to 'damage' any of this" so have been looking at elevated beds. I really would like to grow tomatoes (and blackberries if I can), but from what I've read they enjoy pretty deep soil. Never gardened a day in my life and I trust goons more than fifteen minutes of Google. Any pointers for good raised beds / tomatoes / gardening in general? If it helps I believe I am in zone 7b. Basic "how to build a raised bed" is kinda broad, but what I did for each of mine is use six 8' 2x6s for each bed, cutting two in half to make a 4'x8' bed. That gets you just under a foot of soil. When you build the beds, you put down a layer of old cardboard or something to kill off the grass and attract earthworms. First season if you plant something root-y, it'll end up growing a lot of lateral roots, but unless your soil is absolute poo poo in a season or two the stuff under the beds will end getting improved as a side-effect of gardening over it. You can intentionally plant pioneer crops that are good at breaking up soil—guys with bigass taproots like parsley, and things that don't give a poo poo about soil quality like Japanese sweet potatoes. I plumbed all my beds with a drip system using PVC pipe for a couple bucks, I think most people buy a drip hose/emitter system. I started out doing DIY trellises built mostly by tintertoy-ing together spare PVC pipe, but I've moved to using "real" trelliseses/tomato cages from Gardener's Supply. Don't want to overwhelm you with a bigass infodump here, but feel free to ask for more information about whatever you need more on.
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Apr 26, 2023 01:21
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What's everyone's favorite way to reasonably cheaply and rapidly build soil/compost in place? I'm taking a year off using the beds and would like to try to increase soil bulk between now and next spring. I have good but slightly sandy native dirt. I'm on the Gulf Coast-long growing season, hot summers, very high rainfall. I think the combined area of the two beds in question is probably around 600-700 sq ft, so whatever I add I need alot of (so it needs to be cheap or free). At the end of last year I did cover the both beds with straw, that seeded some stuff in which I nuked a few weeks ago with roundup, but the straw is still there. I used to mulch with live oak leaves but I have had competition for collecting people's bagged leaves around town apparently and I haven't done that in a year or two. Everywhere around here that sells 'topsoil' seems to really be selling sand with enough dirt in it to turn it brown-with our high rainfall organic matter doesn't stick around long in soil. What's my best cheap option? A bunch of pine bark mulch and some cottonseed meal to add some nitrogen and kick start decay? Arborist wood chips with cottonseed meal? Bag all my grass clipping and dump them in there? There are a ton of nurseries around here but I haven't had much luck sourcing rotted pine bark by the trailerload. Any suggestions for soil building summer cover crops that don't look terrible (my vegetable garden is in my front yard)? Do the japanese sweet potatoes mentioned above build soil or just break up soil? Compaction is not an issue and if anything my soil is too light. Not really in a big agricultural or livestock area so I'm not sure I could easily source manure, and again it's in my front yard in the city so I don't want to dump a bunch of uncomposted manure there.
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Apr 26, 2023 03:10
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I have done grass clippings with my 4x8 raised beds it keeps the beds covered but I wouldn’t say it’s great at composting. The sun just cooks it but I also didn’t try mixing it in or anything as I went. I dumped my lawn clippings on beds every few weeks.
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Apr 26, 2023 03:45
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I'd check out what Gulf Coast resident and friendly permaculture crank David The Good has to say about building soil health. I can't use most of his advice since I'm way up in zone 6b, but his videos are fun. I'm kind of a permaculture crank myself tho so ymmv.
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Apr 26, 2023 13:00
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thunderdome winner
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Have you looked into Chip Drop? Does your city have a composting service? Here you can buy several cubic yards for a few dollars.
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Apr 26, 2023 14:47
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SubG posted:What sort of advice are you looking for? This is super useful, thank you! One thing I am curious about is whether you can grow tomatoes in those elevated raised beds I see online, usually wooden ones with 3, 4 feet of leg elevating the bed itself off the ground. I may be conflating those with beds designed for flowers or smaller plants because everything I've read implies tomatoes want deep soil, and that feels incompatible with a bed raised fully off of the ground.
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Apr 26, 2023 18:48
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Zodack posted:This is super useful, thank you! One thing I am curious about is whether you can grow tomatoes in those elevated raised beds I see online, usually wooden ones with 3, 4 feet of leg elevating the bed itself off the ground. I may be conflating those with beds designed for flowers or smaller plants because everything I've read implies tomatoes want deep soil, and that feels incompatible with a bed raised fully off of the ground. Depends on the variety. I've grown perfectly cromulent determinate tomatoes in containers. Just look up "container" tomatoes.
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Apr 26, 2023 18:53
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Plenty of folks grow plenty of tomatos in 5 gallon buckets. You might need to water them a little more frequently than you would plants in the ground, but if you’re in a colder climate the soil in a bucket will warm up faster and might extend your growing season.
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Apr 26, 2023 18:58
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Plenty of folks grow plenty of tomatos in 5 gallon buckets. You might need to water them a little more frequently than you would plants in the ground, but if you’re in a colder climate the soil in a bucket will warm up faster and might extend your growing season. 
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Apr 26, 2023 19:13
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Yeah, main thing you need for tomatoes is sun. They're fuckin' weeds. Really the main "tricky" part of growing tomatoes (apart from keeping them hacked back so they don't sprawl over everything and breed a billion whiteflies, and being sure to feed them if they're producing a lot) is that if you live somewhere where you get sustained temperatures over about 90 F/32 C you have to plan around it, because most cultivars will stop setting fruit when it stays too hot (although you'll still get plenty of leaf and vine in most cases).
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Apr 26, 2023 19:36
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My Dad grows his straight out of a growbag and he always has more fruit than he knows what to do with. Those things are only like 3 inches deep
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Apr 26, 2023 19:39
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We are just starting to see some spring in Minnesota and garden area that grows hosta has been overrun by something else. It seems crazy because I am pretty sure this was not there last year. It even expanded out of the garden area and into the (extremely lovely) lawn. I dug up a few and it looks like a bulb-based plant:  Google lens says this might be hyacinthella. I guess I want to know if this is going to crowd out the hosta which is just starting to poke out of the ground. Should I weed them all out? Or if its desirable, should I consider replanting them somewhere? For reference, this is what the area usually looks like in full bloom  Thanks in advance.
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Apr 26, 2023 23:09
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Looks like Siberian Squill to me, and I’m in MN too! It’ll die back in early summer, so uh your hostas will be fine. Squirrels love to dig up bulbs, and I’m pretty sure squill puts out seeds as well, it spreads pretty well on its own.
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Apr 27, 2023 00:35
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