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rojay posted:You've already gotten good advice, but I'd throw in a Japanese gardening knife. The one I have cost around $25 and it's really useful. This is the one I bought: https://www.amazon.com/Nisaku-NJP65...115&sr=8-5&th=1
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Dec 10, 2023 17:34
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Hello Gardening thread, Does this thread ever talk about hydroponics? Last night I came across the very simple Kratky method, which is basically putting plants in a covered bucket of water and leaving them until their done. No pumps or air bubblers required. I don't do much gardening myself but I do make my own kimchi and would like to grow napa cabbage for it. My gf had some growing in the yard this year but they got ravaged by every pest imaginable. The Kratky method seems simple (good for me because I suck at gardening) and can be done to some degree indoors, which makes pest control easier. Anyone have any experience with the method?
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Dec 10, 2023 17:55
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Count Roland posted:Hello Gardening thread, Yes! Leafy green stuff grows really well with it. I ended up doing two net pots in opposing corners of plastic shoeboxes for my indoor lettuce farm, and it works a treat. I suggest getting a cheap EC meter to get your nutrient concentration dialed in, I didn’t see great results until I figured out that I had been way under-dosing the maxigro. Don’t bother with the purple/pink “grow light” stuff, get the cheap 5K white LED shop lights from your local big box home store, the whites these days have all the spectrum the plants need and are much easier on the eyes. You can also usually get one half-refill of the tank after the roots have drained it completely, but don’t get too greedy because the roots at the top tend to rot if they get submerged again.
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Dec 10, 2023 21:56
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Cool, good to see others here are into it. Before I jump right into cabbage, I'm wondering if I should start with something smaller and easier. Like an herb maybe? Or lettuce seems very popular for this method. Something with a quick turnaround so I can learn from my mistakes and dial in a bit of a process. Any suggestions on a super-simple* starting version? *to me simple means avoiding actual garden stuff. Buying an EC or pH meter and preparing solutions is science-y stuff which I'm quite comfortable with
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Dec 10, 2023 22:43
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Count Roland posted:Cool, good to see others here are into it. Lettuce let me iterate through the learning process really quickly. Mint and basil worked well too. I did grow a head of cabbage with the same setup once, but only used one plant per shoebox.
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Dec 11, 2023 19:19
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  What is up with this plant? Brand new shoot came out just a week back, it was healthy and green. Now it's turning black? What gives. It's not being overwatered or underwatered, the soil is damp as per my hygrometer which has proven itself to be accurate. Is this an infection?
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Dec 14, 2023 14:17
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It's been about 10 days and my second pepper seed tray hasn't germinated yet.  Should I run out a buy a little heater pad for them? I didn't use one for my first tray and those seeds all look just fine. Alternatively, I have a little Vornado heater fan I can sit them in front of.
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Dec 16, 2023 22:49
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ive had good luck germinating seeds on a cheap heating pad id be worried a fan would dry everything out too quickly
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Dec 16, 2023 23:19
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I never have trouble just germinating on top of the refrigerator where it is warm. Not that I’m saying that’s best practice or anything.
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Dec 16, 2023 23:27
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freeedr posted:I never have trouble just germinating on top of the refrigerator where it is warm. Not that I’m saying that’s best practice or anything. I have germinated peppers on a high shelf in my utility room (which has the water heater and clothes dryer). If it's dumb and it works, it's not that dumb...
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Dec 17, 2023 01:02
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I. M. Gei posted:It's been about 10 days and my second pepper seed tray hasn't germinated yet. If you want to consistently germinate peppers, you should have a heating pad and a way to cover them while they sprout. You can hack up a bunch of different ways to do it, but it’s the most reliable and least hassle to do it in dirt with a heating pad and way to keep humidity in the soil.
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Dec 17, 2023 02:35
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Amy suggestions on good sites to buy Northern California wildflowers from, particular CA poppies?
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Dec 17, 2023 03:40
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Good luck not getting CA poppies in any wildflower mix you buy.
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Dec 17, 2023 04:24
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This is what my garden looks like right now: The middle garlic is volunteer that I noticed too late to transplant. The whole garden gets full sun and is well drained, although the far right gets a touch earlier shade in the evening than the left end. I want to plant an asparagus bed, would the far right be a good spot for it? Deer tend to come from that direction but not too bad. Would a single 15' row be plenty for a family of three?
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Dec 17, 2023 13:32
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Shifty Pony posted:This is what my garden looks like right now: It would probably be enough in about 5 years.
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Dec 17, 2023 18:02
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Looking for some advice as the internet is all over the place with suggestions. I'm growing some Romain lettuce, Jericho specifically. Which is supposed to be a more heat tolerant version. It's still younger and small about 2 weeks from the expected harvest time. I wanted to try some so popped off an outside leaf to try. It is bitter. Taking me back to the cucumbers I attempted last year. This week has been warmer than usually hitting about 79f a couple of days and nights in upper 40s low 50s , the plants are in grown on drip schedule for every other day at the moment. I'm wondering is this the heat? The fact it's small and young or what? Suggestions?
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Dec 17, 2023 22:43
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I got a few plant catalogues in the mail in an attempt to get me to buy a bunch of christmas plant dna. What's a good seed seller since I don't wanna use baker creek
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Dec 19, 2023 01:00
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I've been very happy with Johnny's Selected Seeds. For herbs, I like Artistic Gardens/Le Jardin de Gourmet. Yes, the website is straight out of 1995, why do you ask? I've been less and less impressed by Renee's Gardens: poor germination.
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Dec 19, 2023 02:09
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Seconding Johnny's. I've used them personally and when I worked for an urban farm a few years back they were the only seller we used. I've had consistent germination rates with what they list on their website.
kedo fucked around with this message at 15:51 on Dec 19, 2023 |
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Dec 19, 2023 15:32
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PokeJoe posted:I got a few plant catalogues in the mail in an attempt to get me to buy a bunch of christmas plant dna. What's a good seed seller since I don't wanna use baker creek I've never been anything other than happy with Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and their gnome-heavy catalog is always lovely. Their range is pretty tailored to growing conditions in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast U.S. though. The Lahman pink tomatoes I got from them last year were probably my favorite thing I grew.
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Dec 19, 2023 15:44
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Johnny's, Southern Exposure, Territorial for general purpose. Kitazawa for Asian food crops and Select Seed for flowers.
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Dec 19, 2023 16:29
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Wild boar farms for some whacky and interesting tomato varietals. Botanical interests is probably the best large-scale seed company that doesn’t cater to commercial or market growers like Johnny’s IMO.
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Dec 19, 2023 17:39
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I ordered from Victory Seeds this year since they carry a ton of stuff from the Dwarf Tomato Project. Shipping and delivery was lightning fast (as in I ordered my seeds last Thursday and got them on Monday). They do lean into the anti-GMO thing a bit, but no Bundys in the closet that I am aware of... e: I have been happy with Seed Savers Exchange in the past Discussion Quorum fucked around with this message at 17:50 on Dec 19, 2023 |
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Dec 19, 2023 17:48
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Anyone have any sage advice for growing beets? I put them in every year and I just get consistently sparse and small beetroot. Trying to pare down my list this year and debating ditching beets for more marigolds or herbs. Should I presoak seeds? Is it a matter of watering less often but more deeply to encourage a bigger root system? Are they like carrots where they require crazy loose, sandy soil? I've tried detroits and cylindra's, maybe I should just shoot for a bigger variety...
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Dec 19, 2023 17:51
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I've had really good luck with beets in loose, rich compost (Black Kow) with waterings every other day on hot days. It's also important to thin them as they respond negatively to crowding. I also tend to keep them covered with insect cloth until they're really established, and only when there's a relatively mature looking plant will I remove the cloth (at which point the leaves get destroyed), though I'm not sure how much of an impact this has on beet size. kedo fucked around with this message at 19:19 on Dec 19, 2023 |
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Dec 19, 2023 17:57
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Make sure you're not throwing nitrogen at the beets; they'll be encouraged to grow leaves instead of roots.
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Dec 19, 2023 18:52
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I haven't tested it but beets like ash, apparently. I can't remember the content - will watch it later actually - but Red gardens has a beet video. https://youtu.be/Vyq6c0HS68M?si=tMUMN2tD_6olundC
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Dec 19, 2023 18:57
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Tell me about your experience with self watering planters from 5 gallon buckets. Thinking about experimenting with them for figs (already in 5 gal buckets) and maybe some dwarf tomatoes (rather than grow bags). The main objective is to cut down how much I need to manually water in our summer heat, especially if I want to go away for a long weekend and not come back to stressed or fried plants. I was thinking about moving away from peat this year and using coconut coir, but some sources indicate it doesn't wick well enough to move water up 12+".
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Dec 19, 2023 19:12
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Ridiculous seed complaint. I dislike color-mixed seeds. I want (say) the carmine in your cosmos mix, but you aren't selling it separately. It's worse for some flowers, where none of the individual colors are sold separately. On the other hand...
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Dec 19, 2023 19:37
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Soul Dentist posted:Johnny's, Southern Exposure, Territorial for general purpose. Kitazawa for Asian food crops and Select Seed for flowers. I'll add that this past year was the first year I got seeds from Kitazawa since the sale/buyout/whatever it was to True Leaf. And I didn't notice any decline in seed quality. They seem to be dropping the old Kitazawa packaging and replacing everything with generic white cardboard sleeves with a sticker indicating what's inside. Which is a bit of a decline quality-wise. But eh, not like I spend a lot of time staring at the packaging anyway. I'll also add the caveat that I've gotten a lot of various stuff from Kitazawa over the years, but this past year it was mostly just greens (because I save seeds and propagate most of the other stuff, so only buy new seeds for most things if something went seriously wrong the prior growing season).
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Dec 19, 2023 23:46
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I skipped Kitazawa last year because they mixed in all the other company’s seeds top in the browsing results. I also sent them feedback about the decline in website quality. It’s disappointing because they had been such a high quality experience with seeds. I hope they’ve fixed some of these things before I order in a month or two. E: They clearly did not care that their website is now terrible. It is still terrible. Jhet fucked around with this message at 01:38 on Dec 20, 2023 |
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Dec 20, 2023 00:05
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Kitazawa took forever to ship my seeds last year.
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Dec 20, 2023 01:06
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Discussion Quorum posted:Tell me about your experience with self watering planters from 5 gallon buckets. Thinking about experimenting with them for figs (already in 5 gal buckets) and maybe some dwarf tomatoes (rather than grow bags). The main objective is to cut down how much I need to manually water in our summer heat, especially if I want to go away for a long weekend and not come back to stressed or fried plants. I have been having quite a fun time using the Deep Water Container (DWC) bucket system for these beans. All you need is a 10 dollar aquarium air pump, net cups, and nutrient for your water. I'm being a little goofy with this build. I am using a live bamboo shaft for a bean pole and using horizontal lighting to see if I can trick the plants into bushing up. Hydroponics is surprisingly cheap and fun. 
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Dec 23, 2023 03:58
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Discussion Quorum posted:Tell me about your experience with self watering planters from 5 gallon buckets. Thinking about experimenting with them for figs (already in 5 gal buckets) and maybe some dwarf tomatoes (rather than grow bags). The main objective is to cut down how much I need to manually water in our summer heat, especially if I want to go away for a long weekend and not come back to stressed or fried plants. I bought 4 5-gallon buckets to try making two last year but then I saw an earthbox on sale and went with it instead. I may try making the bucket ones next year. Even with four full-sized 4-5ft tall pepper plants it could go about three days during the hottest summer heat before the 3-gallon reservoir ran dry. During the milder temperatures it would last almost a week with less evaporation. I just used normal "moisture control" miraclegro potting soil and it stayed at a perfect moisture level as long as you have water in the bottom and some sort of plastic/mulch over the top.
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Dec 23, 2023 15:41
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i have a couple of "earthtainer"s that are a similar design made from large rubbermaid tubs. they work great, they only need to be topped off once a week or so in the hottest part of the summer
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Dec 23, 2023 16:54
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I also have 2 self watering things that are big totes instead of the buckets but they work pretty well
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Dec 24, 2023 08:39
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Spikes32 posted:Amy suggestions on good sites to buy Northern California wildflowers from, particular CA poppies? I'm really late, but here https://leballisters.com/product-category/wildflower-seed-mixes/
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Dec 30, 2023 05:46
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Saved for next year that place looks great thanks!
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Dec 30, 2023 16:13
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Does anyone have a go-to guide for pruning fruit trees, specifically fig, peach, apple, and (Asian) pear? Preferably with good drawings of what needs to be done for 4-5yr old trees. Most of what I'm seeing online seems to be non-experts crapping out hundreds of articles by copy pasting bits from other existing crap "articles" or AI-generate garbage. Maybe I should reach out to my ag-extension or master gardeners.
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Dec 30, 2023 18:47
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Shifty Pony posted:Does anyone have a go-to guide for pruning fruit trees, specifically fig, peach, apple, and (Asian) pear? Preferably with good drawings of what needs to be done for 4-5yr old trees. You're probably looking for your state's master gardener manual from the ag extension. This is the kind of thing in mine (PA):  Covers climate/area appropriate varieties, lifecycle, pests, etc.
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Dec 30, 2023 19:01
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