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Slanderer posted:Lots of leaves yellowing and falling off too, but most of them had damage like this beforehand. I ran across this today. Looks a lot like the damage we both had on our peppers. Insecticidal soap in May/June to take care of the nymphs, but they apparently don't do real negative harm most of the time unless they get hard by a fungal infection after. https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-insects/four-lined-plant-bugs
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Jul 15, 2019 04:04
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We planted too much zucchini. I think we’ll be able to handle the onslaught of tomatoes on the horizon but we’re already giving away zucchini.
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Jul 15, 2019 04:51
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Some years one plant is too many. We didn`t plant zucchini this year instead going with a couple of golden pattypans. Similar to cooking with zucchini but they hold up a bit better in soup. Come Halloween you can use any immature fruits to decorate your pumpkin carving.  Next year I think we might try Ronde de Nice zucchini. Thin-skinned and eaten at quite a small size. We`ll probably still be looking at stacks of them in the fridge come August.
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Jul 15, 2019 05:40
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Hexigrammus posted:Some years one plant is too many. All hail hypnoveg
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Jul 15, 2019 08:42
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Late winter or so I added a layer of compost to the soil of my main bed that wasn't entirely broken down. I was a little worried because it had a lot of woody bits and stuff but it seems the results ended up being a lot more positive than I expected. The more broken down parts were pushed down to the bottom with rain and the woody bits ( twigs, leaves, etc) stayed on the top layer to form a mulch just like I would normally lay down anyway. And some tomato observations. I can't remember if I mentioned it in this thread but I've been doing an experiment this year. Usually I grow a few tomato plants in my main bed where it is partial shade then more in containers up on my rooftop. The rooftop ones produce earlier but lose their steam very quickly and suffer through summer barely producing. The partially shaded ones however produce a lot later but are much more prolific, keep going through the season, and are overall much more healthy. I know you can't really compare containers to actual soil but this year I put several containers down in the same partially shaded area to see how they would do. So far they haven't produced while my main bed ones are full of fruits but the plants themselves look a lot healthier. I realized I did make one mistake in my selection for varieties in the experiment because they (black brandywine and beefsteak) seem to produce later in general than the other varieties I've been growing and are more familiar with (costoluto Florentino and San Marzano -- both of which I have in my main bed and the rooftop containers). I think I should have tried the latter two varieties for my experiment but too late now.  Main bed tomatoes and all of their friends. Every year I think I'll be able to have their height under control and every year I am proven wrong. This year I at least still have them mostly under control.  The main bed is full of these clusters of costoluto Florentino and a few San Marzano; there would be a lot more of the latter but the main stem broke during a wind storm a few weeks back.  A couple of the partially shaded plants.  and up on the rooftop in full sun.
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Jul 15, 2019 09:44
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Jan posted:e: vvvvvvvv If you do decide to make a tank system, look into what people do to use collected rainwater with drip irrigation A pump can be used to pressurise the system to ordinary drip pressure (twoish bar). The other option gravity feed from an elevated tank. There’s no pump to control or power. The timer and valves will function for months on alkaline batteries. The downside is that the pressure you’ll get within one storey is very low—it would take twenty metres of elevation to get normal pressure. The pressure difference between a pot on a bench and a pot on the floor will cause big variation in flow rates. The decline in pressure as the water level in the tank drops is noticeable. Pressure‐compensating drip emitters would seem to be the perfect solution, but they can’t be used because they clam up at very low pressures. Running a hose from a sink faucet, through the living space, and out onto the balcony is an option for the bold. There’s a risk of flooding and you may have issues sealing the door, but that’s the price to pay for no tank and no pump. Platystemon fucked around with this message at 11:25 on Jul 15, 2019 |
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Jul 15, 2019 10:09
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Yiggy posted:We planted too much zucchini. I think we’ll be able to handle the onslaught of tomatoes on the horizon but we’re already giving away zucchini. Both our zucchini died after a cabbage borer got to it. I got three zucchini total from two plants. My dreams of zoodles have been dashed.
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Jul 15, 2019 12:49
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How well do winter radishes hold up to frosts? I’m looking at planting around early August which would have them mature around the first frost date here. I figure I’ll have to wait out very hot (90+?) weather before sowing regardless though. Can they survive a bit of frost and keep going, or is it best to plant them at the right time regardless of weather? I’m assuming germination will be more difficult if it’s very hot.
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Jul 15, 2019 14:12
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I've been hobbled and unable to really stand on my feet for the last week so I haven't been able to water or garden. Luckily it seems like the whole "deep watering" thing works because everything still looks good and isn't dried out. Thanks, internet. You probably saved my garden this week. I really need to go dig the cheap sprinkler out of my shed today, though.
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Jul 15, 2019 15:15
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Eeyo posted:How well do winter radishes hold up to frosts? I’m looking at planting around early August which would have them mature around the first frost date here. I figure I’ll have to wait out very hot (90+?) weather before sowing regardless though. Can they survive a bit of frost and keep going, or is it best to plant them at the right time regardless of weather? I’m assuming germination will be more difficult if it’s very hot. Don`t know if it`s the same with regular radish but daikon radish will stand in the garden (zone 8) through the winter as long as you pile a fluffy mulch on to keep the exposed top of the root from freezing. Red daikon is easier to protect because it grows like a regular radish with only a little of the root exposed. The variety of white daikon we grow pushes the top of the root a hand width or more into the air. When it freezes the exposed top goes brown and mushy but the buried part of the root is still fine. I was able to salvage white daikon for kimchi after a month of subzero temperatures this February. (There`s a limit to what you can expect from mulch.)
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Jul 15, 2019 16:06
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I have a small container garden on my patio and I won’t be able to water it for about three days in August. This is in the desert - it’s in the triple digits every day. The tomatoes each get a liter or two of water a day, a little less for the chilies and a little less than that for the basil.  Should I put each container in a dish of water for it to soak up when I can’t water them? I don’t think it would be enough for four days and I’m worried about root rot. There’s a spigot on the patio - should I get a sprinkler (with a timer? do they make those?) and set all the plants around it like they worship the water-giving hose? Any ideas appreciated - thanks in advance. Edit: They do indeed make mechanical timers for a sprinkler/spigot. If anyone has experience with a cheapish unit that actually turns the water off I’m all ears. Ghost Cactus fucked around with this message at 19:10 on Jul 15, 2019 |
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Jul 15, 2019 19:05
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They cheap one from Lowes is fine, I've used one for years, think I have to change the batteries every two or three seasons.
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Jul 15, 2019 19:36
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I've been using Melnor's 4 valve unit, but only two of the valves (and only one of them on timer), found it at Costco (online I think) and it's been great. I've combined it with a drip irrigation system, mostly using whatever my local hardware store has for piping and eBay purchased drippers/emitters etc to give me control over the water amounts. Here's the product category from Melnor with lots of timer options. Recently I've found Rain Bird irrigation systems and piping at Lowes (Canada)/Amazon.ca
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Jul 15, 2019 20:10
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bengy81 posted:They cheap one from Lowes is fine, I've used one for years, think I have to change the batteries every two or three seasons. Heners_UK posted:Here's the product category from Melnor with lots of timer options. Recently I've found Rain Bird irrigation systems and piping at Lowes (Canada)/Amazon.ca This is really helpful - thanks!
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Jul 15, 2019 23:48
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I’m a Bad And Lazy Gardener and let my basil get away from me on deadheading and now it’s all gone to seed. What should I do? I usually just quit about this time of year and let everything but the grass go to hell until mid September when it dries out and becomes slightly bearable again, but I have been on a homemade pizza kick and really enjoying fresh basil and want to keep it going. I read somewhere that I could cut them way back and they’ll put out new, unbolted growth? True or false? Or should I just replant? I think if I repainted they would just bolt anyway cuz it’s hot af. This all is actually sounding like a lot of work for July in the swamp and maybe bolted basil doesn’t really taste that bad after all. 
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Jul 16, 2019 03:47
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Ghost Cactus posted:This is really helpful - thanks! A few pages ago, in response to me, a helpful Goon wrote an excellent long guide on the subject
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Jul 16, 2019 03:48
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:This all is actually sounding like a lot of work for July in the swamp and maybe bolted basil doesn’t really taste that bad after all. The flavor changes and goes a bit anise tasting, but the only way to tell is to try it and you might like it. Might be fine on pizza. I'm not so sure about cutting it back to get new untainted growth, but you can certainly cut it down and it'll just keep growing as long as it has the water it needs.
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Jul 16, 2019 03:55
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:I’m a Bad And Lazy Gardener and let my basil get away from me on deadheading and now it’s all gone to seed. What should I do? I usually just quit about this time of year and let everything but the grass go to hell until mid September when it dries out and becomes slightly bearable again, but I have been on a homemade pizza kick and really enjoying fresh basil and want to keep it going. I read somewhere that I could cut them way back and they’ll put out new, unbolted growth? True or false? Or should I just replant? I think if I repainted they would just bolt anyway cuz it’s hot af. Cut it all back, harder than you think you should. It'll be fine, and the new growth will have that unbolted flavor.
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Jul 16, 2019 06:24
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Yeah. Try cutting like 80% of that poo poo off and see how it goes. Take a few sprigs and put them in water until they grow roots so you have something to replant with in the unlikely event you kill them.
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Jul 16, 2019 06:28
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:I’m a Bad And Lazy Gardener and let my basil get away from me on deadheading and now it’s all gone to seed. What should I do? I usually just quit about this time of year and let everything but the grass go to hell until mid September when it dries out and becomes slightly bearable again, but I have been on a homemade pizza kick and really enjoying fresh basil and want to keep it going. I read somewhere that I could cut them way back and they’ll put out new, unbolted growth? True or false? Or should I just replant? I think if I repainted they would just bolt anyway cuz it’s hot af. For SHAME. You'll be surprised at how readily basil recovers. I've got a certain leaf size in my head and I dont let any get that big, usually picking in pairs across the stem. I eat a lottt of basil Also, I found out last season you can use silicon ice trays to freeze pesto that reanimate nicely with a little water and pasta. Never let your basil go to waste again!
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Jul 16, 2019 15:07
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Until you get super tired of eating pesto on freaking everything...
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Jul 16, 2019 15:19
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mischief posted:Until you get super tired of eating pesto on freaking everything... I dont think that can happen to me, I put garlic and hot oil and basil on so many of my meals. I eat pesto once a week. My palette is hosed
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Jul 16, 2019 15:21
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Spring: I know we have some pesto still frozen from last year, but fresh is so much better, let's get a couple of plants anyway. Fall: OK, well those plants got out of hand. Remind me next year we're skipping basil unless we eat everything out of the freezer before then. Winter: If I eat any more pesto I'm going to barf, and if you try to feed it to me I'm driving myself to Burger King. ... Spring: I know we have some pesto still frozen from last year, but fresh is so much better, let's get a couple of plants anyway.
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Jul 16, 2019 15:24
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Jhet posted:I ran across this today. Looks a lot like the damage we both had on our peppers. Insecticidal soap in May/June to take care of the nymphs, but they apparently don't do real negative harm most of the time unless they get hard by a fungal infection after. https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-insects/four-lined-plant-bugs Hmm thanks, could be this.
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Jul 16, 2019 20:01
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Hey everyone, I have a question about indoor herb gardening. I know once upon a time there used to be a thread for this, but I can't seem to find it anymore. Anyway, although it's kind of late in Summer to do so and I am not a gardener by any means, I've had a sudden urge to grow my own herbs to cook with. I live in Chicago, in an apartment, and I don't have any real outdoor space to utilize, but I have plenty of south and north facing windowsills. The south facing ones look out into an alley but get quite bright, the north ones face into a fairly large courtyard. I'd like to grow any/all of basil, thyme, parsley, and chives to start, I think. Is this doable at this point in the Summer, and in my living situation?
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Jul 16, 2019 20:50
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The thyme and things like Oregano and Savory will probably do fine in your north courtyard window. I have a big savory plant outside that gets only partial sun and it’s gotten enormous this year. The parsley and basil will prefer your southern window. Even indirect light will be okay but they might grow slower than you’d expect outside. Chives I’ve never done inside, but I’d expect with the basil is good. The nurseries here will probably be clearing stock. I bought a big 12” pot full of basil from Gethsemane in Andersonville around this time last year. Herbs are more forgiving than flowering and fruit producing plants, so you probably have decent enough light for it. Just pull them away from the windows in the winter a little and the thyme will be back next year or not even die off and the chives too.
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Jul 16, 2019 21:05
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Jhet posted:The thyme and things like Oregano and Savory will probably do fine in your north courtyard window. I have a big savory plant outside that gets only partial sun and it’s gotten enormous this year. The parsley and basil will prefer your southern window. Even indirect light will be okay but they might grow slower than you’d expect outside. Chives I’ve never done inside, but I’d expect with the basil is good. Thanks for posting this. A friend was talking about Gethsemane just yesterday actually. I called them up and they were really helpful. I'll swing by tomorrow and chat about starting up my herb adventure. I have a bunch of spare quart sized mason jars because I've been switching to bulk and lower-waste options in the kitchen, so I was hoping to just take those and get holes drilled in the bottom of them for drainage. Are mason jars okay for herbs, provided they drain well enough? I was looking into starting to use a pick-up compost service, but maybe now I should just get into apartment vermicomposting... 
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Jul 16, 2019 22:01
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Keret posted:I have a bunch of spare quart sized mason jars because I've been switching to bulk and lower-waste options in the kitchen, so I was hoping to just take those and get holes drilled in the bottom of them for drainage. Are mason jars okay for herbs, provided they drain well enough? Any container, provided that it has drainage, will work. The main difficulties with containers in general are water management and nutrient management. Meaning, a container can dry out faster, or retain standing water more than outside soil, because the small volume of dirt can only hold so much water. The same applies for nutrients: with a small container, you can easily over fertilize, but nutrients can also be used up quickly. I would probably use a potting soil meant for containers as it will have a higher proportion of soil additions to help regulate these two factors. Drainage holes + a soil amendment like vermiculite or perlite = good drainage. To water containers, first, pick them up to gauge how heavy they are when the soil is mostly dry. Then, add water until you see water running out the bottom of the container. Pick up the container again to see how much heavier it is. Whenever your containers feel light like they did when it was dry, water them. Herbs are not heavy feeders (they don't need as much fertilizer). A houseplant fertilizer would probably be good, as it is formulated to work in small containers. Vermicompost is the gold standard of composts so that would probably work even better.
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Jul 16, 2019 22:20
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We have a lot of house plants in a north window from there too. They have a pretty awesome humid greenhouse with tons of cool stuff. Most of the people there know what they’re talking about too. They have lots of pots and planters too, from reasonable prices to OMGWTF for a planter. They also have lots of annuals, but many fewer already and shrubs and trees have their own lot on the opposite side of the alley that is worth walking through just because it’s fun to look at. They’ll probably have some herbs left but sales started at the beginning of the month, so I don’t know what’s left. They’ll have seeds and for basil/thyme I’d be confident in starting those still. Many herbs will be fine to start now, it just takes some attention and learning what they need.
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Jul 16, 2019 22:25
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Keret posted:Thanks for posting this. A friend was talking about Gethsemane just yesterday actually. I called them up and they were really helpful. I'll swing by tomorrow and chat about starting up my herb adventure. Herbs are extremely container friendly. Use decent dirt and they'll be happy in literally anything that can hold it. Buy a crappy drill and you can drill your own mason jars.
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Jul 17, 2019 02:39
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Jhet posted:They’ll probably have some herbs left but sales started at the beginning of the month, so I don’t know what’s left. They’ll have seeds and for basil/thyme I’d be confident in starting those still. Many herbs will be fine to start now, it just takes some attention and learning what they need. Went by Gethsemane this morning and they had a ton of stuff left, luckily. I ditched the mason jar idea because they had awesome deals on their prepared/custom planter boxes. I got one prepared "dry" one for my south window and a lady helped me put together a "wet" one for my north window. Up to five herbs in each one and they only charged me for the planters themselves, at  or so each. Place is dope and the people are great; I'm glad it exists. I'll definitely go back in the future.Here are my brave little herbs in their windows:  (North Window) Italian Basil, Holy Basil, Cilantro, Parsley, Chives (and my Laurel that has somehow hung onto life despite desperately needing a larger pot and more fertilizer)  (South Window) Thyme, Rosemary, Tarragon, Marjoram I can't wait to
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Jul 17, 2019 21:27
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Keret posted:(North Window) Italian Basil, Holy Basil, Cilantro, Parsley, Chives (and my Laurel that has somehow hung onto life despite desperately needing a larger pot and more fertilizer) Those look like they’ll do well in your windows. The basil all needs to be cut back as it’s gone to flower, and with all the different grocers in my neighborhood I’ve given up on cilantro because it’s just so cheap for when I use it. Everything else is great to use. The box in the south window is going to be a lot harder to kill unless you just never water it. The stuff in the north box may eventually die back in the winter, but the chives will come back next spring. Basil is easy to start from seed too. Glad you enjoyed the nursery too, it’s my favorite in the area, but I’ve only been to a few on the north side.
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Jul 17, 2019 21:41
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Jhet posted:Those look like they’ll do well in your windows. The basil all needs to be cut back as it’s gone to flower, and with all the different grocers in my neighborhood I’ve given up on cilantro because it’s just so cheap for when I use it. Everything else is great to use. The box in the south window is going to be a lot harder to kill unless you just never water it. The stuff in the north box may eventually die back in the winter, but the chives will come back next spring. Basil is easy to start from seed too. Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. I'll take some shears to the basil tonight and transform it into pesto. I'm sure it's been gone over a lot in the thread over it's several hundred pages, but does anyone have a good resource that would serve as an in-depth but easy to understand primer for growing herbs (and plants in general) indoors, and keeping them alive and healthy? I'll have to take a look at the Master Gardener manual eventually, but for now I'm not quite that dedicated yet.
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Jul 18, 2019 01:25
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Any tips for turning the hummingbirds against the robins
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Jul 18, 2019 02:23
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Keret posted:Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. I'll take some shears to the basil tonight and transform it into pesto. University extension offices have short PDFs written by master gardeners on a huge variety of topics. Try googing "University of {Your State} extension office growing herbs" and see what comes up. This works with way more topics than you'd expect. I just did that, and found this: https://secure.caes.uga.edu/extension/publications/files/pdf/B%201170_3.PDF vonnegutt fucked around with this message at 02:38 on Jul 18, 2019 |
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Jul 18, 2019 02:36
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Hexigrammus posted:Don`t know if it`s the same with regular radish but daikon radish will stand in the garden (zone 8) through the winter as long as you pile a fluffy mulch on to keep the exposed top of the root from freezing. Ok thanks! I’d be growing watermelon radish, so more similar to Daikon than the spring radishes. It looks like I may get a break in he heat, so if I can get some good weather I won’t have to worry too much about fall frost. Edit: for germination temp, I’m assuming that’s soil temperature? Does the soil usually track the air temperature or is it slightly cooler? Eeyo fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Jul 18, 2019 |
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Jul 18, 2019 19:04
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A squirrel seems to have made off with one of my ghost peppers. RIP squirrel.
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Jul 19, 2019 01:23
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there's a chipmunk den in my yard. If it touches my watermelons I'll be forced to destroy it. I've been spraying hot pepper oil around the vacinity of the melons as well as on the plants, might get some coffee grounds to spread around the plants as I've heard they deter critters as well. I don't want to kill the cute little thing
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Jul 19, 2019 01:31
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Eeyo posted:Edit: for germination temp, I’m assuming that’s soil temperature? Does the soil usually track the air temperature or is it slightly cooler? Yes, it will be the soil temp. Maybe someone with more experience taking soil temperatures can chime in here. I’ve been keeping track of it for the last four years but I don’t know if I’m following anything like an official protocol. Our soil doesn’t track day to day temperature changes. It can take a week or two of cooler or warmer weather before the beds start to change at all. In mid-spring they run 4-8 degrees warmer than the minimum air temperature for the day. Today after a week of crappy weather they’re sitting @19.5 while the air temperature got down to 11 last night and only hit 18 when the sun came out briefly this afternoon. The heat wave we had going last month pushed maximum daytime temperatures up to 26.5 but the soil temperatures rarely broke 18. Daikon like regular radish can go into 4 degree soil which puts them in the earliest plantings. I don’t know what their upper limit is but at this time of year you might have to treat them like winter carrots and shade the bed until they get started. Eeyo posted:I’d be growing watermelon radish, so more similar to Daikon than the spring radishes. I hadn’t heard of watermelon radish before, now I want some. Odd how every year around this time I make notes in my garden journal bitching about how the garden isn’t big enough.
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Jul 19, 2019 05:09
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Dead center in a cucurbit patch full of happy healthy plants like this summer squash: I have another plant of the same variety that looked the same a few days ago but now looks like this:  Here's a close up of some leaves, in case that helps:  It does show signs of new growth though:  It went from healthy to half dead pretty much overnight (but it happened a few days ago, which explains the new growth). It's entirely possible that something (including possibly my clumsy rear end) trampled on it and it's not a disease of any sort. I really have no clue. I'm rusty at this whole gardening thing; this is the first one I've had in probably 10 years. So I have 3 questions for the more experienced gardeners: 1) do you see any clues that tell you what might have happened? 2) does it look like something contagious so I should remove the plant? 3) with the new growth starting, is it likely this plant will bounce back? If I lose one squash plant it's not the end of the world. I'm ALREADY overrun with yellow squash and zucchini, and I have 2 more of those plants. I mainly want to educate myself on what might have happened here.
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Jul 20, 2019 02:17
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