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Potted up some tomatoes last night. Those tall ones were in the smaller containers, removed, set in the bottom of the big pots and filled up. Peppers and a few eggplants are crawling along on the lower shelf. The one mistake I made was procrastinating on finding a better fan so they ended up with no airflow and are pretty floppy.
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Apr 17, 2013 19:54
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Fozzy The Bear posted:That is why it is so great to live in California. Actually I do live in California.  I'm just near the Oregon border and up high enough that when a cold front blows through it's about at eye level.
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Apr 17, 2013 20:33
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vulturesrow posted:Well I had four holes and apparently I put a couple seeds in a hole. I'm using the square foot gardening method so 4 plants in one square.(for corn that is) So two of the spots in that plot sprouted and two didn't which netted 3 plants. My youngest daughter had a large hand in picking out our crops and she was quite adamant about corn. My understanding was that corn is pretty hard on the soil so I didn't want to plant too much. You need at least a four foot wide block of corn to get good pollination (in the square foot system, one whole bed). With only three plants you may not get any ears at all. And if you're worried about how it is on the soil, interplant it with pole beans (just not too vigorous ones, or they'll overwhelm the corn).
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Apr 17, 2013 22:17
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Home Depot had blueberry plants on sale, so I thought I would buy one and see how it does. I know they like acidic soil, so I put about 8 over ripe lemons in the hole and chopped them up with my shovel then put the plant in the ground on top of the lemons. Was this a bad thing/good thing/won't matter?
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Apr 17, 2013 22:26
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I've never heard of adjusting pH with lemons. I'm gonna lean towards "won't matter" for pH. If you really want to do it right then you need to measure the pH first and adjust with lime or sulfur as appropriate. For a single plant on a whim it's probably not that important.vulturesrow posted:My understanding was that corn is pretty hard on the soil so I didn't want to plant too much. Corn is only hard on soil in the sense that it is a heavy feeder of Nitrogen. The roots are actually quite shallow. If you're worried about it then just plant peas there in the Fall, even if the corn is still growing, or next Spring. Personally I don't see much point trying to grow it outside of novelty sense the yield is so low for the space and nutrient used. This is also a bad area to grow corn since it doesn't stay warm enough long enough for most varieties.
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Apr 17, 2013 23:12
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I'm thinking about trying this or something similar this year. Pictures of the jalapeno plants coming soon. The weather around here sucks, so planting is on hold. Also ordered my hot pepper seeds last night.
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Apr 18, 2013 00:34
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It's burgin' time! 
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Fozzy The Bear posted:Home Depot had blueberry plants on sale, so I thought I would buy one and see how it does. I know they like acidic soil, so I put about 8 over ripe lemons in the hole and chopped them up with my shovel then put the plant in the ground on top of the lemons. Blueberries should have the above done but also have a bunch of peat moss mixed in as well. The reason is that you need a pH buffered soil. Simply adding acid wont work because there is a lot of organic material in your dirt that can buffer the pH back up.
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Apr 18, 2013 01:14
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Cpt.Wacky posted:I've never heard of adjusting pH with lemons. I'm gonna lean towards "won't matter" for pH. If you really want to do it right then you need to measure the pH first and adjust with lime or sulfur as appropriate. For a single plant on a whim it's probably not that important. Agreed. Blueberries like a pH between 4 and 6, so try and get it down to there if possible. You can also buy sulfate compounds to lower pH. They are little faster acting than straight sulfur.
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Apr 18, 2013 01:17
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I like to pH balance with sour gummy worms, since they first acidify the soil, and then amend it for you.
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Apr 18, 2013 01:24
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Costello Jello posted:I like to pH balance with sour gummy worms, since they first acidify the soil, and then amend it for you. Warheads are where it's at. Let those worms know who's boss. 
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Apr 18, 2013 02:23
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Lead out in cuffs posted:You need at least a four foot wide block of corn to get good pollination (in the square foot system, one whole bed). With only three plants you may not get any ears at all. Cpt.Wacky posted:Corn is only hard on soil in the sense that it is a heavy feeder of Nitrogen. The roots are actually quite shallow. If you're worried about it then just plant peas there in the Fall, even if the corn is still growing, or next Spring. Personally I don't see much point trying to grow it outside of novelty sense the yield is so low for the space and nutrient used. This is also a bad area to grow corn since it doesn't stay warm enough long enough for most varieties. Yeah the corn is definitely a novelty item. But when the princess speaks, the king must obey.  If I get a couple ears out of it she'll be ecstatic and I only used a single 1x1 plot on it. Win win in my book. Thanks for all the info though. Im just really excited that stuff is growing. I was more than half expecting it all to just wither away/not sprout. You are in NW FL arent you Wacky? Whereabouts if I may ask?
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Apr 18, 2013 04:15
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vulturesrow posted:Yeah the corn is definitely a novelty item. But when the princess speaks, the king must obey. Sorry, I meant my area (Pacific NW) by "this area". I'm sure Florida is better for corn aside from the occasional hurricane. We wouldn't even be transplanting corn starts for a few months here. Anyways, it's great that your kid is excited about gardening and you're indulging her. 
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Apr 18, 2013 06:27
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Costello Jello posted:I like to pH balance with sour gummy worms, since they first acidify the soil, and then amend it for you. Well done...  Cpt.Wacky posted:We wouldn't even be transplanting corn starts for a few months here. Corn starts? If you're doing corn starts, I'm pretty sure you're doing it wrong. We did popcorn here a couple years ago as a direct sow. I heart bacon fucked around with this message at 11:45 on Apr 18, 2013 |
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Apr 18, 2013 11:43
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Cpt.Wacky posted:Sorry, I meant my area (Pacific NW) by "this area". I'm sure Florida is better for corn aside from the occasional hurricane. We wouldn't even be transplanting corn starts for a few months here. I own a house on Whidbey Island so I am familiar with the climate.
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Apr 18, 2013 16:31
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I heart bacon posted:Corn starts? If you're doing corn starts, I'm pretty sure you're doing it wrong. We did popcorn here a couple years ago as a direct sow. Either way works and I have done direct sow as well but it's less reliable here. Our warm season is very short so we need to make the best use of it we can. You can also get much better germination by starting indoors because you can control the soil temperature more reliably. You also get a solid block of corn without any gaps or late transplants that fall behind the originals. You do have to be very careful about not damaging the roots when transplanting, but there's also less risk of animals digging up and eating the seed or young plants. vulturesrow posted:I own a house on Whidbey Island so I am familiar with the climate. Cool, I'm over in Port Angeles.
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Apr 18, 2013 17:43
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I've heard of people growing corn transplants in discarded toilet paper tubes. You just fill the bottom inch or two with seed starter mix, put your corn seed in that, and move the whole tube outside when it's time to transplant. The tube then acts as a protective collar for the transplanted seedling to prevent it getting ate by cutworms/armyworms/etc. I've never done it myself though because the one time I grew corn we ended up just feeding a ton of earworms that season. 
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Apr 18, 2013 18:31
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Marchegiana posted:I've heard of people growing corn transplants in discarded toilet paper tubes. You just fill the bottom inch or two with seed starter mix, put your corn seed in that, and move the whole tube outside when it's time to transplant. The tube then acts as a protective collar for the transplanted seedling to prevent it getting ate by cutworms/armyworms/etc. I've never done it myself though because the one time I grew corn we ended up just feeding a ton of earworms that season. I've done melons that way. Cut tp tubes in half and fill with seed starter mix or coco coir. Reduces transplant shock. They dry out fast though.
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Apr 18, 2013 18:55
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My wife recently got into this. Or back yard is entirely made up of a plastic sheet covered with enough small rocks to just look like a 'rock garden' or whatever it's called, so we can't plant stuff in the soil. We have to buy pots and soil. I was thinking of making/buying *some thing or other* to make a home made large planting box, or something. We also have compost from last year that looks nice and composted now. Unfortunately we forgot about that until all the herbs/tomatoes/cucumber was potted. Is there any non expensive way to get a large low container to plant stuff in? Has anyone got any ideas or tips for this? As it is, I don't see us growing anything big, even in the medium sized pots we have.
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Apr 18, 2013 20:35
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redreader posted:My wife recently got into this. Or back yard is entirely made up of a plastic sheet covered with enough small rocks to just look like a 'rock garden' or whatever it's called, so we can't plant stuff in the soil. We have to buy pots and soil. I was thinking of making/buying *some thing or other* to make a home made large planting box, or something. We also have compost from last year that looks nice and composted now. Unfortunately we forgot about that until all the herbs/tomatoes/cucumber was potted. Is there any non expensive way to get a large low container to plant stuff in? Has anyone got any ideas or tips for this? As it is, I don't see us growing anything big, even in the medium sized pots we have. You can knock together a raised bed pretty easily with some dimensional lumber (2x6 etc). The more expensive part is usually buying enough soil to fill it up. Cheap plastic tubs and totes meant for storing junk will also work with holes drilled for drainage. Just don't expect to last forever since the UV from sunlight will make the plastic brittle eventually.
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Apr 18, 2013 21:34
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vulturesrow posted:Well I had four holes and apparently I put a couple seeds in a hole. I'm using the square foot gardening method so 4 plants in one square.(for corn that is) So two of the spots in that plot sprouted and two didn't which netted 3 plants. My youngest daughter had a large hand in picking out our crops and she was quite adamant about corn. My understanding was that corn is pretty hard on the soil so I didn't want to plant too much. Lead out in cuffs posted:And if you're worried about how it is on the soil, interplant it with pole beans (just not too vigorous ones, or they'll overwhelm the corn). If you want to try companion planting with corn and beans I'd probably try bush beans, since they can provide nitrogen yet won't climb up the stalks and pull them them after a rain adds too much weigh or something. coyo7e fucked around with this message at 22:59 on Apr 18, 2013 |
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Apr 18, 2013 22:56
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I'm having an issue with my seedlings where on some of the plants, the cotyledons are turning yellow, and on a few it's also yellowing on one of the true leaves. I've read that this is a symptom of overwatering - should I just let things kinda dry out for a few days? Will the plants recover?
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Apr 19, 2013 00:10
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I started some onions inside this spring, and they're about ready to be put out, I think. Do they need to be hardened off like tomatoes and peppers do?
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Apr 19, 2013 15:18
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Peristalsis posted:I started some onions inside this spring, and they're about ready to be put out, I think. Do they need to be hardened off like tomatoes and peppers do? Onions and other buried crops can overwinter just fine outdoors.
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Apr 19, 2013 17:19
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kid sinister posted:Onions and other buried crops can overwinter just fine outdoors. Okay, but I have some growing in my basement under lights, and I want to put them outside in the ground soon. Do they need to be hardened off first, like tomatoes and peppers do? I don't think that has anything to do with cold weather, more about acclimating to direct sun and wind and such.
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Apr 19, 2013 17:22
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I wouldn't bother hardening off onions, although I wouldn't bother with starting them indoors either. I also have never successfully grown a single onion come to think of it, so maybe I should shut right the gently caress up about them. Yesterday I put these in the ground: tomato: 3 cherry, 4 roma, 2 beefsteak, 2 sudduth's brandywine, 1 red brandywine, 1 jaune flamme maters herbs: 3x dwarf greek basil melons: 2x orange flesh cantaloupe, 2x watermelon cukes: 2x lemon 3x marketmore zukes: 1x yellow crookneck, 1x gray zuke corn: 40 kernels stuck down into 3 rows flowers: 3x chrysanthemum 2x marigolds Which added to the already planted inventory of: Green beans: 2x contenders, 2x blue lake Peas: 4x snow 4x snap Radish: around 75 of mixed varieties Lettuce: around 20 of I forget what variety Garlic: ~20 plants Broccoli: 3 or 4 survivors that I don't really care about anymore all that's left are my dozen peppers that are too small yet, an eggplant that isn't doing much, 5 more basil plants, a few more thyme plants, and pumpkins. 13 tomato plants. I'm gonna die. YLLS/TFLC crosspost 
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Apr 19, 2013 18:48
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Yes, you want to harden them off if they've sprouted. In my experience, you plant them in the fall/winter and don't disturb them until harvest, though. Onions, potatoes, garlic, aren't really supposed to move at all once they touch the dirt, but once the greens come up they can be sun or wind-burned so you do want to harden them if you've gone that route or bought starts.
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Apr 19, 2013 19:01
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ixo posted:13 tomato plants. I'm gonna die. I think I ended up with 12-14 plants last year and drowned in tomatoes. I still have frozen tomato soup left over. You should start planning how you're going to use and/or preserve them. Soup, salsa, chutney, roasted "sun-dried", etc. This year I'm only doing 2 plants each of 3 varieties: sweetie, polar beauty and stupice. The weather continues to be cold, wet and occasionally windy but next week is looking like a normal spring that we haven't seen for a few years: 60s and sun. I'm going to put in a few potato towers on the food bank plot at the community garden this weekend. Sections of donated welded wire fence fixed into circles, lined on the sides with landscapes fabric and filled up with a little dirt and compost. It's hard to find good info on the growth habits of potatoes but it seems like there is some similarity to the determinate/indeterminate tomato pattern. As near as I can tell it's only the late season potato varieties that benefit from constant hilling up to produce more potatoes, so I got Yellow Finn, Red Pontiac, All Blue (for the kids amusement) and Kennebec.
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Apr 19, 2013 22:41
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I started a square meter garden. I'm using a 1m x 1m box with a frame with fishing lines for vine plants. I would like to know if anybody could identify some odd plant that I suspect is a weed but can't verify it as it doesn't look like any of the local weeds that grow in the city. I'm using store bought black earth and its possible that the plant came uninvited as part of the earth. Here's the suspect.  How do I knew when to harvest radishes? Mine have developed some huge, spiny leaves with very meaty, reddish roots(?). It surprises me as I planted the inverted color radishes (white outside, reddish inside) but I don't see the little bulbs (the edible part).
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Apr 20, 2013 04:41
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It was supposed to be warm and proper Spring but of course as soon as I put stuff in the ground a freak storm comes in bringing with it lows in the 30s tonight. So I made a hoop house. Sorta
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Apr 20, 2013 05:39
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Just got back from the municipal governments yearly composter sale. 25 dollars for one that retails for $75 or so. Not bad. Had some good conversations with people in line about gardening. Supposedly Homedepot around here are selling cherry trees for around $40. I might have to think about that.
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Apr 20, 2013 17:00
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We've had a lot of wind and quite a few cool days recently, which is a return to normal spring weather. None of it has really impacted my tomatoes, but some of my beans and peppers have torn up leaves and mangled growth because of the wind- it got up into the 30-50 mph range on at least 2 days. My Golden Jenny Lind melons have sprouted, but my watermelons haven't. I have given up on the Armenian cucumbers my wife started, they look dead or dying so I planted some directly. My guess is the cold got them since they're really a melon, not a cucumber. My wife found a small caterpillar that might have been a young hornworm on one of the beans, so those got added to the weekly spray circuit. Finally, I have a tree problem. That freak warm spell caused my supposedly fruitless Olive tree to bloom. I haven't decided whether to prune it all off or actually try to harvest and cure olives, if it could grow some. I'll find out the variety from my parents to see if it will grow anything decent. Could be a mess, though. There is a place at UNLV between the Physics building and what is now a building leased to the EPA where a really prolific olive tree hangs out over pavement. That pavement is permanently stained for like 50 feet around the tree, with tracks leading away where golf carts have run over rotten olives and tracked the juices along behind them. It's such a mess when that tree fruits. Damaged pepper. It will be fine, it's just a little torn up now  Tomatoes. I think these are homesteads, They are Abu Rawans if I'm wrong.  Dead cucumbers, Lettuce starts the might be successful but probably not.  Peppers finally doing well with regular fertilizer. Too bad I ran outta space, I'll keep them around as replacements.  Abu Rawan tomato. It's so tiny! Should grow to medium size.  Juliet grape tomatoes. The big one is halfway there.  Stupice tomatoes, look at em go.  Wind damaged yard long beans. Ugly, but all I can do is wait it out.  That's a cornfield, and my finger. This is 5' X 4', but it's basically what has been discussed as the minimum. However, Burpee is selling a cultivar "On-Deck", that supposedly only needs 9 ears in a 22" container. 
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Apr 21, 2013 08:03
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So I found some seeds that say "packaged for 2011." Do seeds expire? Also, do you find tomatoes do better (from seed) when started indoors or just seed in ground?
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Apr 21, 2013 12:01
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frenchnewwave posted:So I found some seeds that say "packaged for 2011." Do seeds expire? Seeds eventually get too old to germinate, but just put them in water and see which ones sprout, then plant those in either peat pucks or soil cells. 2011 wasn't that long ago. For tomatoes, you start them inside, then transplant them when it is the best time to in your area. For my zone, I started my tomatoes too early (they are f'ing huge now) and it's still getting below 0C at night. So, around here, May 24 weekend is when everything is supposed to go in the ground. Now I have friends that have planted some things, but who knows how they will do. I think they are using a cold frame though. I haven't asked them.
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Apr 21, 2013 12:17
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Thank you, very helpful!
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Apr 21, 2013 13:00
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Two years ago I got a tiny decorative plant that had tabasco peppers on it as a gift. It grew in a small (like 1.5" diameter) pot and did very well for many months indoors. Inevitably, it died and I harvested the seeds. Last year, I sowed them in that same tiny pot, but like two weeks after germinating they all died. I may have overwatered them or the tiny pot was too crowded or something, I'm not sure. This year I found that I had two more seeds of it left and they seem to be doing well, each in a slightly larger (2.5") pot. What worries me a bit is that the seedlings are the same size my bell pepper seedlings are. I'm not sure what to expect. Will they grow to full size plants? Is the "dwarfism" a genetic trait or is it in function of the size of the pot or something else? Or does it require messing around with intense growing lamps and stuff? Is there something I can do to let this grow into an adult plant that is suitable for tabletop decoration?
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Apr 21, 2013 13:34
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Has anyone ever tried growing tobacco? I don't smoke or anything, but I thought it could be fun to grow tobacco starts from seed and sell them to any anti-gub'ment smokers who want to stick it to the man by growing their own and avoiding taxes. As far as I can find on Google, it's legal to sell the plants, it's only the harvested and cured end product that has to be taxed, run through the department of agriculture, and blah blah blah. Anyone have any experience with this who can confirm/deny?
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Apr 21, 2013 17:09
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/nyregion/25tobacco.html?_r=2&ref=nyregion& I really doubt you could make much money doing it, curing tobacco is a pain in the rear end. hell, my relatives in NC are/were poor as heck, and they grew tobacco as a job in the right climate. Before the settlement, my mom used to make money by selling her allotment from some land she owned. I think anybody that wants homegrown tobacco will just do it themselves. Anybody who is too lazy will just pay tax. http://www.seedman.com/Tobacco.htm There's where the new york home grower got her stuff. http://www.seedman.com/Tobacco.htm I also know baker creek carries tobacco seeds, but that they are old or ornamental varieties and are all listed as poisonous.
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Apr 21, 2013 19:12
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frenchnewwave posted:So I found some seeds that say "packaged for 2011." Do seeds expire? To expand a little... Seeds don't suddenly stop working. There is usually an accepted germination rate depending on the type of plant, in the range of 70-80%. As the seeds age the germination rate goes down. The rate it decreases depends on the storage conditions. Seeds kept in a cool, dark place within an airtight container will last the longest. The longevity of the seeds also depends on plant. In general you can expect about 3 years but certain stuff will be shorter. The main example I can think of is parsnip seed which doesn't usually keep longer than a year or two at most. You can find charts of seed longevity online, like this one: http://www.hillgardens.com/seed_longevity.htm More practically, older seeds are fine but they might not germinate as well or at all so it's worth sowing more seed than you normally would. If you're really curious you can do a germination test. Fold up and mark up a paper towel in a 5x5 grid. Put a seed in each "cell" and then dampen the paper towel and put it in a ziplock bag. Wait and see how many of the seeds germinate and multiply by 4. That's your germination rate as a percentage. As for tomatoes, most plants do better if they are sown where they will stay for their whole lives. They are never shocked by changes in light intensity, temperature or disturbance of the roots and grow up in a tougher environment outdoors instead of being tender and fragile when raised indoors. However, many people like to get a head-start by starting plants indoors and transplanting out as soon as possible. It extends the season and the harvest. In some climates like mine it's also necessary to use starts for things like tomatoes because otherwise the warm weather doesn't last long enough to get ripe fruits. TerryLennox posted:How do I knew when to harvest radishes? Mine have developed some huge, spiny leaves with very meaty, reddish roots(?). It surprises me as I planted the inverted color radishes (white outside, reddish inside) but I don't see the little bulbs (the edible part). As soon as they look big enough to eat. Leaving them in longer risks damage by slugs or other bugs, and if they get too big then they don't taste as good. Sometimes the root grows in the ground but most of the radishes I've grown will push up above the soil at least partially. It's also not unheard for the seed packer or gardener to get mixed up. I made some chips for mulch today:  That's a 10x12 tarp with the fruit wood chips in the back and some twigs and cedar/pine in the front. Cpt.Wacky fucked around with this message at 20:53 on Apr 21, 2013 |
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Apr 21, 2013 20:50
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Thank you for the info. This is my year of experimentation as I try to figure out what works and what doesn't (for me and my modest garden). I've got a few things I'm starting indoors, a few seeds left to throw in the ground, and have no qualms about picking up transplants from the farmers market if my seeds don't take off. My lettuce is starting to sprout and my cilantro too. I'm like a little kid getting so excited.
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Apr 21, 2013 21:13
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AxeBreaker posted:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/nyregion/25tobacco.html?_r=2&ref=nyregion& I remember reading that top article a couple of years ago. I thought it was kind of funny until I read that she had a parrot. Then it just seemed sad. Birds are extremely sensitive to air pollutants. I agree that processing the leaves is probably more work that most people want to do, but I live in a college town, and I'd hope to sell to college kids and hipsters who want to take rolling their own one step further, but maybe wouldn't think it through all the way. I'm going to try to sell off my spare tomato and pepper starts this year, so growing one more species next spring wouldn't be too much trouble. A couple of my seed catalogs have comments like that Baker Creek catalog. I'm not sure if they have to put that there as a CYA disclaimer, or if these are actually just toxic plants. I'm not going to chance it though - I'd get some seed for tobacco that is meant to be consumed. I guess it could be fun to grow a plant or two of my own, too, just to say I had. I could keep the seed that way, if it becomes a success. And since people are posting pics of them, here's my growing setup for this year.  
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Apr 21, 2013 21:51
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