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Sichuan peppercorns have decided it's Spring: Anyone have opinions on carpet beetles on flowering plants? A few weeks ago when the peppercorns were flowering they got covered in carpet beetles. They were obviously there to feed on the pollen, but I don't have any feel for how beneficial they are as pollinators vs how likely they are to damage the flowers/plants by massing on them to eat the pollen. I ended up spraying half the plants with a neem oil solution (Safer, for whatever that's worth), and that cleared out the carpet beetles. A couple days later I though that the plants that didn't get sprayed were going to not set fruit, because the ones that had been sprayed already were and the un-sprayed plants weren't...but then the un-sprayed plants started developing fruit as well. So now I don't know if the carpet beetles adversely affected pollination (but not enough to prevent fruit set), or if spraying helped it (that is, if I was basically hand-pollinating by spraying the plant).
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May 18, 2023 22:28
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Got a tricotyledon sprout in my Emerald Towers basil! I know it means nothing much for the plant, but I'll pretend it's like a 4-leaf clover.
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May 18, 2023 22:43
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SubG posted:Sichuan peppercorns have decided it's Spring: I don't believe that they're beneficial in anyway and are just generally a pest. Z. simulans seems to like setting the berries even without dioecious pollination sometimes, but perhaps the beetles were keeping it from happening by eating the pollen instead of tracking it around. Mine seem to be about 2-3 weeks behind yours always, but they fruit and set and have put out a bunch of new growth this year. They're tall enough already that I'm going to be pruning them into more of a bush shape already after only the one year of having them.
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May 18, 2023 23:13
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Hello my name is Chad and my watermelons are straight trash. It's in the deepest part of my new bed which is probably like 95% compost. I'm guessing it's N deficiency... or I hosed up the roots when transplanting.
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May 18, 2023 23:53
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SubG posted:Sichuan peppercorns have decided it's Spring: drat looks nice. Mine is still just growing leafs but they smell extremely good when you rub em a little 
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May 19, 2023 00:28
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Chad Sexington posted:Hello my name is Chad and my watermelons are straight trash. How recently were they transplanted?
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May 19, 2023 01:43
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 Cherry tomato blossoming
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May 19, 2023 03:14
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ThePopeOfFun posted:How recently were they transplanted? A month ago. There's some new growth there but also diseased tissue. Tbf even my tomatoes only started taking off in the last week. We've been hard up for proper sun.
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May 19, 2023 10:49
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 Peppers are growing nicely! The Shishito even has a little baby pepper growing! Also added a Hibiscus because why not.
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May 19, 2023 15:01
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Aspargus has poked up and it looks like it's in the edible range this year for the first time since I planted it in ... I think spring 2021, so I'm stoked. I'll probably also have a spinach and kale harvest in 4-5 days too. Beans peas and carrots are germinating. Most of the transplants look right happy, except the okra and a few of the bulb/storage onions. My Elizabeth variety sauce tomatoes are growing like loving heroes too. Let us all hope for a lack of disasters for our respective gardens as they wake up for the summer of 2023 in the Northern Hemisphere!
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May 19, 2023 15:55
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Annath posted:
Hibiscus tea is my fav
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May 19, 2023 16:18
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Does anyone know/think it's a fools errand to try and grow taller pepper plants (habanero and the like) indoors with a grow box(not hydroponics) that has a max height of 18"? I'm not concerned with having massive yields more just to have something green in my place and have them grow in something more organized than having a bare grow light hanging from the ceiling.
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May 19, 2023 18:30
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MasterBuilder posted:Does anyone know/think it's a fools errand to try and grow taller pepper plants (habanero and the like) indoors with a grow box(not hydroponics) that has a max height of 18"? I'm not concerned with having massive yields more just to have something green in my place and have them grow in something more organized than having a bare grow light hanging from the ceiling. That's pretty short, but if you're committed to pruning you might be able to convince it. I'd worry that the close lights would end up burning leaves or not being disperse enough to get enough light through, but it might be possible. It's going to depend on your light choice as much as how you prune it, but having grown peppers in a 2.5' tall shelf they can be managed.
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May 19, 2023 18:38
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Jhet posted:That's pretty short, but if you're committed to pruning you might be able to convince it. I'd worry that the close lights would end up burning leaves or not being disperse enough to get enough light through, but it might be possible. It's going to depend on your light choice as much as how you prune it, but having grown peppers in a 2.5' tall shelf they can be managed. I hadn't thought of that issue. This is the mini garden I was looking at. I imagine that I would replace the poles with longer and sturdier if it ever became a huge issue.
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May 19, 2023 18:52
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CommonShore posted:Aspargus has poked up and it looks like it's in the edible range this year for the first time since I planted it in ... I think spring 2021, so I'm stoked. I'll probably also have a spinach and kale harvest in 4-5 days too. Beans peas and carrots are germinating. Most of the transplants look right happy, except the okra and a few of the bulb/storage onions. My Elizabeth variety sauce tomatoes are growing like loving heroes too. glad to hear asparagus is still just now coming up for folks. I planted about 25 plants last year, they VIGOROUSLY grew, seeded, etc and this year there hasnt been a peep yet and i was starting to worry that they all just died or got root eaten or something
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May 19, 2023 18:55
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Real hurthling! posted:Most problems in life can be solved with a fake owl I was going go with outdoor cat or vet yet your neighbor’s outdoor cat.
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May 19, 2023 19:05
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MasterBuilder posted:I hadn't thought of that issue. This is the mini garden I was looking at. I imagine that I would replace the poles with longer and sturdier if it ever became a huge issue. You could consider getting some plastic clips used for bonsai to make it be bushy, and habanero is a good choice for that. But you'll probably end up with only the one plant in that space if you want to be able to convince it to fruit. You'll need to do the pollinating yourself too, but that's easy enough. Should be plenty of light from those LEDs for it, but depending on the temp in your house it may want a heating mat underneath, especially in the fall-winter-spring if you want to convince it to keep flowering and fruiting.
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May 19, 2023 19:14
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silicone thrills posted:glad to hear asparagus is still just now coming up for folks. I planted about 25 plants last year, they VIGOROUSLY grew, seeded, etc and this year there hasnt been a peep yet and i was starting to worry that they all just died or got root eaten or something That does seem a bit late. We're north of you and we had the first tips show on Apr. 16. But that's a 10 yo bed with multiple varieties and everything is 5 weeks late and fucky this year - our last frost was two weeks ago at the beginning of May instead of the last week of March. The Martha Washingtons we grew from seed were the last to show up long after the other varieties and still hasn't shown any enthusiasm for growing. I ran into a YouTube video suggesting that if you don't top up the bed with soil every year the roots grow too close to the surface and can be damaged during the winter. Not sure how true that is but adding compost to the bed is now on the calendar, along with the annual seaweed mulch collecting trip to the beach. Maybe that will perk up Martha Washington's interest in life.
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May 19, 2023 21:20
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silicone thrills posted:glad to hear asparagus is still just now coming up for folks. I planted about 25 plants last year, they VIGOROUSLY grew, seeded, etc and this year there hasnt been a peep yet and i was starting to worry that they all just died or got root eaten or something I've found that I experience that every year, but I'm also pretty sure that I'm one of the coldest/northerly gardens among all of the thread regulars here, so if you're later than me things might not be looking good. Hexigrammus posted:That does seem a bit late. We're north of you and we had the first tips show on Apr. 16. But that's a 10 yo bed with multiple varieties and everything is 5 weeks late and fucky this year - our last frost was two weeks ago at the beginning of May instead of the last week of March. The Martha Washingtons we grew from seed were the last to show up long after the other varieties and still hasn't shown any enthusiasm for growing. I throw leaves and general yard waste on top of my asparagus beds every fall to insulate them.
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May 19, 2023 22:35
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yeah mine were well insulated with big leaf maple leaves all winter so i figured that would have been enough. It also wasnt a very cold winter.
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May 20, 2023 00:18
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OK, finally planted potatoes, pre-fertilized earlier and now after planting a little too, just to use up the last bit. Here's hoping for a good harvest. I made my own seed potatoes since the cultivar is hard to find.
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May 20, 2023 15:36
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CommonShore posted:Aspargus has poked up and it looks like it's in the edible range this year for the first time since I planted it in ... I think spring 2021, so I'm stoked. I'll probably also have a spinach and kale harvest in 4-5 days too. Beans peas and carrots are germinating. Most of the transplants look right happy, except the okra and a few of the bulb/storage onions. My Elizabeth variety sauce tomatoes are growing like loving heroes too. Asparagus question: I planted some bulbs this year and got a couple early shoots. One looks like a normal (but small) asparagus spear, but one is tall and has shoots coming off of the stem. Do you recommend trimming, or just leaving it as is? I'm usually willing to just do nothing, but thought you might have some insight.
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May 20, 2023 16:36
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His Divine Shadow posted:OK, finally planted potatoes, pre-fertilized earlier and now after planting a little too, just to use up the last bit. Here's hoping for a good harvest. I made my own seed potatoes since the cultivar is hard to find. Nice boulder.
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May 20, 2023 16:39
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Genderfluent posted:Asparagus question: I planted some bulbs this year and got a couple early shoots. One looks like a normal (but small) asparagus spear, but one is tall and has shoots coming off of the stem. Do you recommend trimming, or just leaving it as is? I'm usually willing to just do nothing, but thought you might have some insight. Asparagus spears are just immature stems of the mature fern. First year you want to let them fern out and focus on growing roots. Just let em do their thing.
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May 20, 2023 17:15
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His Divine Shadow posted:OK, finally planted potatoes, pre-fertilized earlier and now after planting a little too, just to use up the last bit. Here's hoping for a good harvest. I made my own seed potatoes since the cultivar is hard to find.
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May 21, 2023 21:45
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We did grow bags precisely once. We had a good crop of tubers but wiresworms made them unusable without paring away half the potato. As far as I can tell there were two contributing factors. The growbags were on dirt that had been turf the previous year. Click beetles like turf and may take a while to vacate the area once you remove it so we had a hungry population just waiting for us to set the table. We had drip irrigation in the bags but they tended to dry out between waterings, opening up cracks in the soil. This provides newly hatched larvae with a highway to lunch. Next year we put in beds in the same area and kept them well watered. No problems with wireworms. otoh if we will need to switch to insects as a protein source it might be a way to get ahead of the curve.  
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May 21, 2023 22:18
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I winged a bunch of potatoes that had big rear end growths from the grocery store into my garden around thanksgiving and they have grown some pretty decent plants now... When should I try getting some fresh taters out of the ground?
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May 21, 2023 22:24
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silicone thrills posted:I winged a bunch of potatoes that had big rear end growths from the grocery store into my garden around thanksgiving and they have grown some pretty decent plants now... When should I try getting some fresh taters out of the ground? Depends on what type of potato they are. But usually August/Sept when the tops of the plants start to die back is when they come out. New potatoes are different and are usually sooner. You can try to hand brush the soil away from the top to see what you have down there. Flowering is another sign that they're about ready to be dug out. 60-90 days is pretty common, but we've probably had maybe 30 days of growing season since Thanksgiving?
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May 21, 2023 22:49
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Jhet posted:Depends on what type of potato they are. But usually August/Sept when the tops of the plants start to die back is when they come out. New potatoes are different and are usually sooner. You can try to hand brush the soil away from the top to see what you have down there. Flowering is another sign that they're about ready to be dug out. 60-90 days is pretty common, but we've probably had maybe 30 days of growing season since Thanksgiving? Seemed like mostly yellow potatoes and ill keep an eye out for flowering. They aren't huge. Its funny because they're about the only thing that seem to really be thriving so far for me this year other than my raspberry bushes.
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May 22, 2023 00:10
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Fully planted for spring! Everything seems to be starting out great. This yard brought to you complete with store brand u-post propaganda. Veggie bed with big posts to do a florida weave for tomato trellising. Smaller posts for smaller trellises (cucumbers, peppers).  Three beds with berry plants (big grey ones). I had been trying to grow what was originally 12 blueberry plants and is now 4 thanks to deer/rabbits/poor ground soil for a few years with no luck. They seem to be happy in the amended/raised bed soil and haven't seen much varmint damage yet. There's also one bed containing primocane fruiting blackberries for containment's sake. Each bed is underplanted with strawberries to hopefully provide an edible/living mulch for the bushes. Elderberries are to my left before the first bed, and do not give a single gently caress about anything including being hit with a mower and are thriving. White beds will be roses but they haven't come in yet. Long row with the posts is all dahlias (50ish? plants. I started out with 8 last year but was really lucky with my first attempt at keeping and dividing tubers) that will be trellised and act as a sort of wall against my berries/roses hopefully. The brave urban deer don't usually get that close to the house to walk around it, but I'm sure they'll prove me wrong. 
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May 22, 2023 01:31
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Can I dry the flowers from my Hibiscus plant (Fiesta Hibiscus) and make tea, or does it need to be a specific variety? If so, should I cut new flowers, or use the ones that fall off naturally?
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May 22, 2023 01:38
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Can I just say that everybody in this thread that posts their garden is like a thousand times better at it than the folks in my neighborhood. Everybody here just attempts some podunk bullshit and ends up feeding squirrels unripe garbage. It's nice to see folks have researched, invested gardens that have plans and results, even if there's occasional setbacks. Love it!
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May 22, 2023 01:55
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Just wait until I post my first attempt this year... podunk bullshit here we come
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May 22, 2023 02:44
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my garden is my attempt at creating a new kind of biome on a building rooftop
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May 22, 2023 02:48
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i call it the temperate weedlands
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May 22, 2023 02:48
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Me to my wife as I'm assembling yet another compost box: "Don't think of it as weeding, think of it as harvesting compost feedstock."
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May 22, 2023 03:42
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Alucard posted:Just wait until I post my first attempt this year... podunk bullshit here we come I can't see even see Podunk from here. No self-respecting Podunkian would put up with the state of my garden.
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May 22, 2023 04:17
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Annath posted:Can I dry the flowers from my Hibiscus plant (Fiesta Hibiscus) and make tea, or does it need to be a specific variety? I'm not going to tell you 'no you can't' as many people do exactly this. However hibiscus tea is general made form a specific plant. Roselle or Sorrell or Florida cranberry and a bunch of other names it's known by. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roselle_(plant) Further more it's not even the flowers you use its the caylix which covers the flower and protects the seeds. I'm growing my first 5 in the ground this year in Arizona. Planted April and harvest is around Thanksgiving. They apparently LOVE the 100+ temps here. Here is the local az lady who talks about growing and care and use. https://growinginthegarden.com/how-to-grow-roselle-hibiscus-growing-jamaican-sorrel/
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May 22, 2023 04:42
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Busy as gently caress weekend so far. Put in a patio for a firepit, made labels for my plants, and managed to keep my hrdoponics tower alive   Gosl tommorow is de-grassing my beds and topping up the mulch w00tmonger fucked around with this message at 05:23 on May 22, 2023 |
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May 22, 2023 05:10
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SubG posted:What kind of luck have you had growing potatoes in grow bags? Whenever I've tried it, the plants have been very vigorous, but I've gotten fewer usable potatoes than when I've done them in the ground. Ah those grow bags are my fiances experiment, I didn't plant anything there, she planted... flowers? What kind of fertilizer were you using? Certain fertilizer like chicken based has too much nitrogen and that leads to potato plants forming more blasts and less tubers. Cow dung based fertilizer, that's the stuff for potatoes. Or I guess which ever bag at the store says for potatoes on it.
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May 22, 2023 05:19
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