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ToastFaceKillah posted:That would be awesome. Also, we'll be trimming it very often, the reason we even planted it is that we use mint one or two times a week. would that help keep it from spreading in itself? Nope. Mint sends runners under the ground surface and spreads that way. Trimming won't have much impact.
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Apr 7, 2011 21:01
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damnit, oh well, guess i'll just have to convince him.
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Apr 7, 2011 22:13
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ToastFaceKillah posted:That would be awesome. Also, we'll be trimming it very often, the reason we even planted it is that we use mint one or two times a week. would that help keep it from spreading in itself? We planted some mint along the driveway and let it spread a ways. I'd mow it into a defined area but it still spread, it just grew shorter! We had tiny little mint plants in with the grass. As above, it smelled cool when you mowed it, but if you want a uniform lawn you don't want to do that.
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Apr 7, 2011 23:12
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I was mistaken. There were only 3 mint plants planted and lemon balm. This was almost exactly a year ago. You can see it has a couple runners, but pretty contained and not too bad.  I just took this one today. (Kinda crappy, sorry) But you can kinda make out the small green florettes all over the place. Its all mint. I should take a picture in about a month when its growing tall. 
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Apr 8, 2011 00:18
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You can put the mint in a container (like a 1 gallon) and then bury the container. Will prevent the rhizomes from spreading
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Apr 8, 2011 01:04
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Alterian posted:I should take a picture in about a month when its growing tall. This. I have a bunch of 1/2 wine barrel planters and am thinking about putting mint in a few. Pics would be really cool.
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Apr 8, 2011 02:01
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Dielectric posted:...but if you want a uniform lawn..... Me having a uniform lawn is a hilarious thought. It's in my backyard, and I live in Texas, home to lovely crab grass and dandelions. If it takes over those, gently caress yes. I would absolutely love that. Would using some of that plastic liner sunk down a couple of feet help, rather than planting it in a pot? I'd be able to convince my husband to do that easily, since we can cover the liner with mulch. He's afraid of killing it if we move it, and is dead set on it where it is. I could also easily do that when he's at work during the day. As long as the plant was fine, he really wouldn't give a poo poo.
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Apr 8, 2011 03:17
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ToastFaceKillah posted:He's afraid of killing it if we move it, and is dead set on it where it is. Don't worry about killing it, mint is super robust and recovers from amazing amounts of physical damage. I didn't know it crouched into a mint lawn though, that's so cool! This year I'm planning on growing sweetcorn and sunflowers together in my big plot to create a dramatic looking patch of tall plants. Is this a good idea? It's going to be a block so the sweetcorn should be able to pollinate itself. I'm also planning to grown butternut squash for the first time ever. Do they stay compact like courgettes, or sprawl all over the place like pumpkins?
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Apr 8, 2011 12:49
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I have been trying to start some beans from seed and I'm not having much luck. I planted a row of dry seeds, around 12+ seeds, and only one sprouted. A couple weeks later I planted more seeds, 20+, after soaking them overnight in distilled water. It has been 2-3 weeks since the second planting and nothing has come up. I dug around and found one seed and it still looked dormant, not rotten or anything like that. I am in Austin, TX and the weather has been consistently above 70 reaching into the high 80's on occasion and usually getting into the 50's at night. From what I've read the beans need warm soil to sprout, so is it just too cold for the beans to sprout? Did I just get unlucky with the packet of seeds I bought? From what I hear beans don't do well as transplants, but could I sprout the seeds indoors and right as they're starting to germinate stick them in the ground and hope for the best?
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Apr 8, 2011 17:43
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Does anyone have any tips for growing herbs and chillies from seeds? How often are you supposed to water them? Some of them have gone mouldy, but I don't want them to dry out and die.
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Apr 8, 2011 18:16
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ToastFaceKillah posted:That trellis is entirely too small for concord grapes. By year three those plants will be monsters. They are also a little too close together. Our concords at the vineyard are on 8 foot centers and we prune the crap out of them. Check out this book http://ohioline.osu.edu/b919/pdf/b919.pdf
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Apr 8, 2011 21:27
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is there any way to transport them to another spot without killing them? I have a friend that likes to do welding, so I can probably get him to weld us up a much larger, much nicer looking trellis.
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Apr 9, 2011 00:04
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Garkon posted:bean trouble Bear in mind beans and other legumes are very attractive to rodents who might live in your garden. I had a problem with mice eating my peas when I direct sowed them. If you find beans aren't sprouting, dig around in your row and see if you can find the beans, if you can't, you might have a problem with them being eaten.
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Apr 9, 2011 00:05
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pisshead posted:Does anyone have any tips for growing herbs and chillies from seeds? How often are you supposed to water them? Some of them have gone mouldy, but I don't want them to dry out and die. Herbs are basically weeds, I had a single basil plant in a pot last year and now there's basil all over the front of my doorstep area. Try to kill them and they'll laugh in your face, save for a few exceptions(FYI rosemary HATES not being treated like a cactus. It will literally grow and thrive in bagged playground sand and zilch for watering). Chiles take a little babying when they're young, give them really really well-drained soil to start in. I had my best success with the ground-up sphagnum moss pucks that come in the cheapie "grow X herb from seed" foil packs from Target. Otherwise, use a potting soil/sand mixture to try and make the material as loose as possible and easy for them to sink those delicate little roots down through and still get air while remaining moist. I've heard people talk about only using distilled water due to chloramine killing seeds or excess mineral content inhibiting sprouting on tropical-origin plants but no hard proof. I've never done it, myself, sounds a little bit  to me for anything that's not an orchid or epiphyte. Those, however, are some picky bitches.e: once your chile seedlings get a few inches high, they like to get a good soaking every 2-3 days. Their native habitat in south mexico/the yucatan(yes i know there are arid varieties like piquin and chiltepin but we're typically talking tropical ones here) gets a couple inches of rain several times a week and typically has poor, very sandy soil with lots of mulch-type buildup from all the fallen and decomposing leaves. Kilersquirrel fucked around with this message at 03:15 on Apr 9, 2011 |
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Apr 9, 2011 03:06
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madlilnerd posted:Bear in mind beans and other legumes are very attractive to rodents who might live in your garden. I had a problem with mice eating my peas when I direct sowed them. If you find beans aren't sprouting, dig around in your row and see if you can find the beans, if you can't, you might have a problem with them being eaten. I certainly have squirrels digging up everything they can, but my rows of beans have been left alone and undisturbed. In addition, I dug around and found a bean I had planted and after two weeks it looked like I had planted it yesterday.
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Apr 9, 2011 04:12
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Hey, I have an idea for planting a tree soon (next week or two) and don't know where to post some questions I have. This thread is the closest thing I can find, but I wanted to see if it would be okay if I asked some questions here or if I should start my own thread. Supposed I could start it as a tree megathread type dealie if there is enough interest, figured I'd start here first though.
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Apr 9, 2011 04:53
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My Dad loves to grow stuff but since my parents moved to the freaking desert everything they've planted has died, except for mint obviously. I want to surpise him with some seeds or something that he has a fair chance of helping flourish, but I know nothing about plants. They live in the Middle East so the temp never drops below about 60f/15c (even at night) and can go as high as 120f/50c, daylight doesn't vary massively somewhere between 9 and 15 hours a day I'm guessing. Their garden is shady and has a crazy water system we don't have any control over (sometimes it works in the am, sometimes pm, sometimes at noon) but between that and gardeners randomly coming in to water we have a lawn the intire year . They also have a (I think) kumquat bush, it's about knee hight and the people working on the compound (mainly philippinas) and peacocks love them. I was wondering if maybe chilli peppers would work. If it's essential things can also be planted in direct (OMG so hot) sunlight in the front garden. Is it crazy to plant things at Christmas when it's around 20c during the day and pretending it's spring? I really just don't know. I fully realise it sounds like my parents live in a land made up by a kid with a wild imagination and acces to a lot of sugar but it really exists.
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Apr 9, 2011 11:37
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In tropical or sub tropical climates your planting options are near limitless. Many things considered annuals will also be perennial. If you need shade and/or cooler temperatures shade cloth works well. My main concern in a hot dry environment would be irrigation. Heavy mulch and lots of organic matter in the soil would help a lot.
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Apr 9, 2011 16:57
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be Creative posted:Hey, I have an idea for planting a tree soon (next week or two) and don't know where to post some questions I have. This thread is the closest thing I can find, but I wanted to see if it would be okay if I asked some questions here or if I should start my own thread. What are you trying to find out?
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Apr 9, 2011 19:09
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I've been reading the thread, but a total novice.(I do tomatoes every year, but start pretty late) I see every one with stuff in the ground, but I keep getting sporadic frosts here. I live in Pittsburgh PA. Is it OK to go get plants and put them in the ground now? I want to do bell peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and strawberries. Maybe some kind of mint after reading how hearty it is. I don't want to waste money on the plants though if it's going to die.
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Apr 9, 2011 20:43
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ChairmanMeow posted:I've been reading the thread, but a total novice.(I do tomatoes every year, but start pretty late) I see every one with stuff in the ground, but I keep getting sporadic frosts here. I live in Pittsburgh PA. Is it OK to go get plants and put them in the ground now? I want to do bell peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and strawberries. Maybe some kind of mint after reading how hearty it is. I don't want to waste money on the plants though if it's going to die. At this time of year, I would still not be leaving peppers and tomatoes outside overnight because they are very tender. You can harden them off by leaving them outside on sunny days and bringing them back in. Potatoes I don't know about, they are the same family as tomatoes and are from tropical origins, but they've been bred for a different climate for so long now that they will probably be okay. What you could do is put them in the ground and make cloches to protect them- individual cloches can be made from 2L drinks bottles with the bottom cut off placed over each plant, or you can make a tunnel cloche from loops of wire with polythene stretched over. If you are still getting frosts though, I would play it safe, make sure everything is in a container with breathing room and bring them in at night. Strawberries I can't give you any advice on, we have a lawn of wild strawberries growing all over the place in my back garden and it's near indestructible.
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Apr 9, 2011 21:26
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^thank you! Just jealous of every one who has stuff growing outside already! I can wait I guess.
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Apr 9, 2011 21:33
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We just built box gardens on the side of the lot, we have an acre, they are settling in and will be filled with plants and seeds tomorrow. The boxes are 4x4 and 3x12 I hope its enough....
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Apr 9, 2011 21:59
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Zeta Taskforce posted:What are you trying to find out? I just have some general questions as long as a few more technical questions. I live in zone 6a/5b and am looking to plant a japanese maple. The soil in my areas has a fairly high clay content, and doesnt like to drain the best. However the location the tree is going in drains better than the rest of my yard. Is it worth it to dig a huge wide hole with a drain dug into the bottom? This is a potential problem because I am planting this tree on top of what will be a dead root system. So digging large wide holes will be very difficult. It would be easiest just to dig a hole for the rootball and letting it figure the rest out. Another question, mulching around the tree? Best mulches to use? Should I bother fertilizing the soil around the tree? Also, I am planning on trying to get the tree in the ground April 23-24. Is that too late in my region (South West Connecticut), is it worth waiting until the fall? I'd rather not wait that long even though it'd allow me to deal with the dead roots where this will be going(its replacing an old diseased russian olive). I am currently taking an arboriculture class, so I feel like I have a decent grasp at all of this. However, I have never tried to grow my own tree and would appreciate any tips/tricks to make the process go more smoothly. As of right now my plan is to cut the existing tree down to below the soil, it shouldn't grow any new sprouts from the root system if I can get the tree cut before serious growth starts. I am concerned that it will be a major problem if the olive tree starts to try to grow again, competeing for resources with the baby japanese maple. If the olive tree is most likely going to cause problems, then I will hold off planting until the fall so that I can make sure the olive tree is gone for good. Lastly, I am not dead set on a japanese maple, but they grow in my region well and are nice looking smaller trees. Any nice flowering trees that work in USDA 6a? Sorry for the scattered post, but I am trying to get the ball rolling shortly and me being away at school right now is making it difficult to get any real work done.
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Apr 9, 2011 22:02
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be Creative posted:I just have some general questions as long as a few more technical questions. I live in zone 6a/5b and am looking to plant a japanese maple. The soil in my areas has a fairly high clay content, and doesnt like to drain the best. However the location the tree is going in drains better than the rest of my yard. Is it worth it to dig a huge wide hole with a drain dug into the bottom? This is a potential problem because I am planting this tree on top of what will be a dead root system. So digging large wide holes will be very difficult. It would be easiest just to dig a hole for the rootball and letting it figure the rest out. I googled trees for wet areas and came up with this list: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/quickref/trees/trees-wetareas.html I don't think Japanese maples do very well in wet areas, and I'm trying to visualize what you are talking about with this drain, but my gut feeling is that whatever you do will be such a minor improvement for the work it would take to do that I can't see it being worth it. Magnolias, pear and persimmons are on that list and are nice looking small trees. I don't think you need to plant something that early. I guess you could if you are ready, but you don't have to rush it. I'd say especially if it's wet area, and spring can be extraordinarily wet in New England, you would do better waiting until May.
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Apr 9, 2011 22:48
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ChairmanMeow posted:^thank you! Just jealous of every one who has stuff growing outside already! I can wait I guess. Don't worry, there is still plenty of time. I sowed my plants today and the corn and squash are starting life in the greenhouse for a couple of weeks. It's been very mild here, but the English spring has a habit of throwing out bizarre weather, so there's still time for a frost or even a sprinkling of snow before summer arrives. Does anyone here have experience of harvesting rosehips? They are really high in vitamin C and you can make rosehip syrup out of them, but I've no idea if you need a certain variety of rose for that or what.
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Apr 9, 2011 23:06
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There are certain rose cultivars bred specifically for their fruit but any rosehip is edible (but generally quite bitter). I've heard of people making jams out of them and using them in tea.
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Apr 9, 2011 23:15
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Zeta Taskforce posted:I googled trees for wet areas and came up with this list: Yeah, thats the problem I've seen with J. Maples. The whole drain thing is basically digging a hole about 6-7 feet wide the depth of the root ball. Then within that hole dig a ~6 inch shaft down a few more feet and fill that with traprock. Its just so that the water has an easy way to get past the clay in the soil. It sure is a fuckload of work that i'd prefer not to do, and frankly probably isn't worth just having a japanese maple. If it wouldn't be a problem to plant later in the summer I suppose I could wait a bit longer. The only thing contradicting this is I have heard that if the roots can't get themselves situated before a nice hot summer drought(bound to happen at least once)it will most likely kill the tree. On the other hand, a wet spring would do the same. Seems almost like it doesnt really matter and I am overthinking this a bit. It is probably the result of my professor who teaches only the best ways to do something. Anybody in the CT region should check out Uconn's plant database, just google uconn plant database. Its fairly small(I had trouble coming up with options for my specific situation, hence these posts), and very ugly to look at, but it has a lot of information for plants/trees in this area. I'll check back in here in the next few weeks with any updates/questions/etc. Maybe when I get around to planting I can remember to take some pics and post them here if anybody would be interested.
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Apr 10, 2011 00:24
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If you're looking for a small flowering tree that can tolerate moist clay soil I'd recommend either a dogwood (Cornus florida) or a redbud (Cercis canadensis). They both grow like crazy here in our heavy clay Virginia soils, and I know for a fact they will grow in zones as cold as 5a. Downy serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) is also a beautiful flowering tree with the added bonus of edible fruit, assuming you get it before the birds. They're a lot harder to find however.
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Apr 10, 2011 00:45
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Wow, thanks a lot. The dogwood looks just about perfect. Relatively small, fairly hardy, flowers, nice fall foliage. I guess I should do some more research into options, also need to see what the local nursery's actually have/can get quickly too.
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Apr 10, 2011 01:59
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A fruit tree would have flowers, fall foliage AND edible fruit......just sayin. You can get trees that are grafted onto rootstocks that are tolerant of clay/poor draining soil
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Apr 10, 2011 03:13
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dwoloz posted:A fruit tree would have flowers, fall foliage AND edible fruit......just sayin. You can get trees that are grafted onto rootstocks that are tolerant of clay/poor draining soil That sounds like cheating though  . I would actually love to start from seed, but I dont have the time/space/resources for that. I'm only in college now, but I would love to have a greenhouse and some grow lights inside maybe to get a real nursery going. Besides the trees, I could get into the true groove of this thread with a nice set up.
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Apr 10, 2011 05:41
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ToastFaceKillah posted:is there any way to transport them to another spot without killing them? I have a friend that likes to do welding, so I can probably get him to weld us up a much larger, much nicer looking trellis. It might be worth the risk. Our vineyard only limes the soil and they grow pretty vigorous. We cut them back to about 30 buds and still have to prune all summer. These plants have 4 foot cordons, but the canes shoot of from that and go even farther.
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Apr 10, 2011 06:04
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be Creative posted:That sounds like cheating though Most fruit trees actually can't be started from seed (assuming that's what you're referring to). Well, I mean, they can, but the variance in dispersion of genes with most fruit trees means you have no idea if you'll get fruit that's actually good to eat. Michael Pollan's "Botany of Desire" discusses this in depth on apples, and is just plain fun to read besides. That said, it still didn't stop me from planting an apple tree that my daughter started from seed, cause I'm the gambling type (plus it made her just so happy). I won't know if that gamble will pay off for years though. I can say that within just a week of being put outside it got cedar rust though.  I've been putting sulfur spray on it overwinter, hopefully that nipped it in the bud (no pun intended).Fruit trees can be showy, but not as much as trees specifically bred for ornamental purposes. I have a dwarf elberta peach (Prunus persica) in my backyard, and although it gets nice looking single-petaled blossoms in the spring they last only a week or so before they start turning to fruit. Contrast that with the kwanzan cherry (Prunus serrulata 'Kwanzan') in my front (an ornamental cherry) that will have huge double-petaled flowers on it for a good 3 week period. So long story short, is you can have both fruit and flowers, but ultimately you have to choose which is more important. Me, I put all my showy stuff in the front for people to see, and keep my goldmine of deliciousness hidden in the back so random people on the street can't steal my fruit.
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Apr 10, 2011 15:00
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Any suggestions for non-chemical intervention to a dandelion EXPLOSION in our neighborhood? I'm weeding 5-10 of the fuckers out of the garden a day and it's getting to be more dandelion than grass in the rest of the backyard.
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Apr 10, 2011 23:28
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mischief posted:Any suggestions for non-chemical intervention to a dandelion EXPLOSION in our neighborhood? I'm weeding 5-10 of the fuckers out of the garden a day and it's getting to be more dandelion than grass in the rest of the backyard. Eat them. 
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Apr 11, 2011 01:00
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mischief posted:Any suggestions for non-chemical intervention to a dandelion EXPLOSION in our neighborhood? I'm weeding 5-10 of the fuckers out of the garden a day and it's getting to be more dandelion than grass in the rest of the backyard. Better grass. Don't let any of them go to seed in your lawn this year. Then treat your lawn properly in the fall: soil tests, lime if necessary, core aeration, slit seed - or if the soil is poor skip the slit seeder and broadcast spread seed right after core aeration and then drop spread an inch of compost on top of that. In fact, you should start with the soil tests/lime now, because lime takes some time to work its way in and adjust pH. If you've done all of that, your lawn will be healthy next year and your broadleaf problem should be nearly gone because your grass won't give them any room to grow. This is assuming you don't have a pest problem that is thinning your lawn. If you do, google beneficial nematodes. They work great. But do the rest of what I described as well. If you're impatient, you can treat these things chemically, but that's really not the way I do things anymore so I won't even get into that. I also consider it a largely stop-gap measure, because the results rarely last without repeated applications. What I described above will simply work for years with little maintenance other than annual pH adjustment (or less, depending on your area and soil) and occasionally dropping some more compost on to feed things. Edit: also, cut your lawn no shorter than 2 1/2 inches (I mow at 3), and never cut more than 1/3 of it at a time (meaning if you let it get to 6 inches, cut it at 4 inches, and then cut it again in a few days down to 3). And always cut with sharp blades. What I'm getting at here is that if your lawn is healthy, you wouldn't be having dandelion issues. So make your lawn healthy and all will be well. Motronic fucked around with this message at 01:11 on Apr 11, 2011 |
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Apr 11, 2011 01:07
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Bigdee4933 posted:It might be worth the risk. Our vineyard only limes the soil and they grow pretty vigorous. We cut them back to about 30 buds and still have to prune all summer. These plants have 4 foot cordons, but the canes shoot of from that and go even farther. I talked to my husband about it....we're moving one about 10 feet to the left, so we have one on each side of our porch, and he's going to build a new trellis to go all the way across. Nice way to have a semi-private porch. and if it dies, we'll go buy another one 
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Apr 11, 2011 01:35
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Motronic posted:Better grass. The lawn is incredibly unhealthy because the soil is poo poo. It's in a subdivision that you can tell they scraped and sold the top soil. It takes a lot of work to make new garden space, so I guess it would be no surprise that it'll be work to make the lawn healthier. It's mostly weeds growing on clay, but I've found a really cheap source of compost and can more realistically improve it the way you're recommending than I could buying bagged compost in the years prior. Definitely something to look into that I hadn't considered. Alterian, can you believe there are people here in NC that actually farm dandelions for a profit to sell the greens? That's practically cheating around here!
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Apr 11, 2011 01:59
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What's wrong with dandelions in a lawn? I just mow what I have and the weeds are green too, so what's the difference? I have mowed at 3 inches for a few years with a mulching mower so all the fertility is returned, so I do have a about 85% grass. I just don't think it's worth the effort to be at 100%.
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Apr 11, 2011 02:25
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