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Man. I gotta get somewhere more temperate. A winter only getting down to 20 or 25 briefly sounds delightful.
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Nov 16, 2023 21:28
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Son of Thunderbeast posted:I'm in the Seattle area, Zone 8. It frosts occasionally over the winters, rarely snows, and the lowest I've seen the temp get is in the 20s so far (maybe possibly into the teens with the windchill but I haven't paid attention to windchill since moving out of WI). https://phys.org/news/2023-11-hardiness-gardeners-nationwide-unveiled.html We’re into 9a in Seattle mostly now. Solkanar512 does some citrus in the area, but I don’t see tarps or anything past some piled leaves on the citrus in the neighborhood myself. You might still get hit by a hard freeze, but they don’t tend to last more than a week anyway.
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Nov 16, 2023 21:34
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Yeah I could def swing that if needed. Better than a burning pot of diesel/oil lol
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Jhet posted:https://phys.org/news/2023-11-hardiness-gardeners-nationwide-unveiled.html oh poo poo i'm 9a now too. that makes a lot more sense tbf, below 20 was the first time in 7 years i've lived here, definitely not an average extreme minimum anymore
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Nov 16, 2023 21:36
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As for overwinter fruit growth- zone 6- is there a particular breed of fig tree I could start indoors and hopefully transplant out next year?
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Nov 16, 2023 21:39
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Chernobyl Princess posted:Could you not put the citrus in a pot? We've got a potted lemon tree I started from seed in zone 6 and I just keep it indoors. We're not expecting lemons off of it though, because it's a random grocery store lemon seed I stuck in a bucket of dirt at the demand of my toddler, but it's actually growing pretty well this way. Jhet posted:https://phys.org/news/2023-11-hardiness-gardeners-nationwide-unveiled.html
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Nov 16, 2023 23:18
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Jhet posted:https://phys.org/news/2023-11-hardiness-gardeners-nationwide-unveiled.html Oh snap, didn't realize a new plant hardiness map dropped. We went from 7a to 7b. This changes EVERYTHING.
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Nov 17, 2023 15:10
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What the......I'm 7a now?
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Nov 17, 2023 15:26
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What the hell, I went from 10b to 6a! (I also just moved 1000 miles north).
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Nov 17, 2023 15:33
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Huh, I guess I went from 9a to 9b. I mostly worry about summer highs and drought these days, which USDA zones don't really capture anyways
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Nov 17, 2023 21:49
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This is very troubling!!! But I’m looking forward to being in 7a by the year 2050 I guess? 
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Nov 17, 2023 22:26
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I am in California, so our ridiculous plethora of microclimates means the USDA list is rarely as helpful as it seems. However, I went from 10A to 9B, so I hope that may make my bulb provider stop bitching at me about chill.
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Nov 17, 2023 22:28
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Anyone got any Opinions on rotortillers? Looking to replace this beast, which has been my mom's go-to since they got it in the late 80s. Troy Bilt Horse with a Magnum Kohler 8. It still runs, but is an absolute bear to shift and my mom's 64 now so it's been too much for her for a few years anyway. Basically, I'd like smaller and lighter, though ideally still cutting near the same width (Width of the blade housing on this one = 1 ft 9 in). Thinking to go electric, as that should definitely help the weight/hassle, and she doesn't use it enough anymore to justify the power in this thing. If I go that route, it's gotta be battery, not corded, and removable battery I assume (we're in NH, and it won't be stored in a heated area). Anyone have any recommendations? 
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Nov 25, 2023 21:15
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a thing i see virtually no opinions on on the internet is, do you guys think i should still overwinter my pepper plants if i don't foresee temps to go below freezing? like would it still be best practice to trim down the leaves regardless or would it actually be better if i left it as is?
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Nov 26, 2023 11:38
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Futaba Anzu posted:a thing i see virtually no opinions on on the internet is, do you guys think i should still overwinter my pepper plants if i don't foresee temps to go below freezing? like would it still be best practice to trim down the leaves regardless or would it actually be better if i left it as is? I just let mine as is, and it seemed like they'd be fine for the first half of the winter as they just kept their leaves. After enough cold days, though, they dropped all their leaves and I thought they were done for. But when rotating out my plants just before spring, I kept one that had dropped all its leaves, and it eventually bounced back just in time to match the fresh new seedlings that had grown enough to go to blossom. I'd say if you have seeds to spare, you can start a couple of backup seedlings when you normally would, and replace any overwintered plants that didn't make it.
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Nov 26, 2023 18:17
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Futaba Anzu posted:a thing i see virtually no opinions on on the internet is, do you guys think i should still overwinter my pepper plants if i don't foresee temps to go below freezing? like would it still be best practice to trim down the leaves regardless or would it actually be better if i left it as is? Just don’t let them get water logged during the winter if you can avoid it. A lot of peppers can be perennials in a really warm climate. Now is usually a good time to prune it too if you want to shape it, but you can do it equally in the spring. If it does get super soaking wet, they will likely die if the soil also freezes.
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Nov 26, 2023 19:58
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yeah the temperatures should hover around 44f for the remainder of winter according to forecasts. i'm leaning on doing nothing to them but yeah that is a good point that pruning them might make them grow in cleaner directions next year, i'll have to see just how they've developed sometime in december once all the peppers are gone
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Nov 26, 2023 21:00
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I've had indifferent luck with trying to overwinter peppers, in terms of yield the following year—plants tend to be fine, but don't produce as well as a new plant would. No idea if there's some pruning trick that I'm not doing that would help with it.
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Nov 26, 2023 21:46
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Nosre posted:Anyone got any Opinions on rotortillers?
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Nov 27, 2023 03:00
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:The easiest and laziest might be get her interested in no-dig/no-till gardening, which has lots of other advantages too! That's basically what she's been doing [after the initial preparation anyway] for a few years once this one started to die. She has a big rig come in to dump manure and till the whole thing initially, but a personal-sized one was nice to use for weed control in the rows - she still works and doesn't have the time to keep things under control by hand or handtool. Nosre fucked around with this message at 08:40 on Nov 27, 2023 |
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Nov 27, 2023 07:52
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all the "no till" youtubers ive seen really mean "minimized tilling" and i'm tired of pretending it's a real thing. everyone tills
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Nov 27, 2023 07:56
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Nov 27, 2023 08:46
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PokeJoe posted:all the "no till" youtubers ive seen really mean "minimized tilling" and i'm tired of pretending it's a real thing. everyone tills Even "no till" large ag is just seed drillers with shanks that are absolutely tilling one inch wide furrows across the entire field. The latest/fanciest version are cutting discs to open the ground to disturb even less soil, but I'd argue you're still tilling rows at that point.
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Nov 27, 2023 15:25
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Doesn't "no till" just mean leaving the remains of the previous crop on the surface of the soil instead of mechanically incorporating it down? It still allows for minimally disruptive mechanical aeration and cutting through the top surface for seed planting.
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Nov 27, 2023 16:03
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Shifty Pony posted:Doesn't "no till" just mean leaving the remains of the previous crop on the surface of the soil instead of mechanically incorporating it down? It still allows for minimally disruptive mechanical aeration and cutting through the top surface for seed planting. "No till" ag yeah is that there's no separate tilling operation other than seeding. "No dig" is layering compost on top of the ground and planting in that, though I have learned from experience that you want to at least loosen the soil some before you put that first layer down if establishing a new bed.
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Nov 27, 2023 16:09
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My grandson says “compost” the English way, accent and all, because that’s how he heard it on some video series. He just cuts to a different dialect for one specific word and continues being adorable
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Nov 27, 2023 17:09
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freeedr posted:My grandson says “compost” the English way, accent and all, because that’s how he heard it on some video series. He just cuts to a different dialect for one specific word and continues being adorable 
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Nov 27, 2023 18:43
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Although an American, I always say "dahlia" with a long A because that's how Bertie Wooster says it.
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Nov 27, 2023 18:48
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e. wrong thread
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Nov 27, 2023 18:52
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In our house if you don't say compost like Charles Dowding, you're saying it wrong. Also in our last no-dig bed we had good luck with planting deep root veggies (carrots, daikon, etc) for a few years to break up the soil for us before we started planting other things. It worked out great.
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Nov 27, 2023 18:55
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I don't know how compost is pronounced differently between, I assume the US and UK, possbly australia? e: well a google and now I do
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Nov 27, 2023 20:29
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Well, that officially replaces "serotonin" as the word Brits say the dumbest.
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Nov 27, 2023 20:40
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Aluminium.
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Nov 27, 2023 20:52
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Aluminium. I at least get that, and I hear a lot of Americans use that pronunciation when referring to elemental aluminium versus an alloy, or it in malleable form (aluninium ion vs. aluminum can).
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Nov 27, 2023 20:56
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Oh, I totally get the historical reasons, I just think it sounds silly. Like whortlebanger or something. Aluminininium.
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Nov 27, 2023 21:38
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So I got my garden soil tested and I have a few low nutrients but I'm confused by how many I have that are over the optimal amount and wondering what I should do about it. For reference, I'm just trying to grow very standard veggies for california, tomatoes, beans, peppers, eggplants, melons etc. My garden is one year old, and very clay heavy with fine soil particles. It's in ground, and used to be a lawn many years ago, and about 80X6ft. I put a lot of compost into it last year and tilled, and I want to be more effective/targeted this year. I know I need to put a lot more compost in it just because of how crap the soil is/was when I started last year, but are there any recommendations of what I should do (in particular for the high values) or websites I can read through to understand what to do based on these results? Attribute: Result: Optimal range High EC: 2.30 dS/m: 1.0-2.0 Ca: 10.0 meq/l: 5-10 PO4-P: 103 mg/kg: 50-60 K: 992 mk/kg: 250-350 Zn: 14 mg/kg: 2.5-4.5 Mn: 26 mg/kg: 2.5010 Fe: 73 mg/kg: 5-10 Optimal range Saturation Percentage: 53%: blank Mg: 7.2 meq/l: 1/2 Ca Na: 4.2 meq/l: blank Lime Pres: none detected: blank B: 0.7 mg/l: 0.2-0.5 Cu: 3.8mg/kg: 204 Low pH: 6.8: <7.3 ESP: 0.8%: 1-4 NO3-N: 15 mg/kg: 20-30
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Nov 28, 2023 02:10
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His Divine Shadow posted:I don't know how compost is pronounced differently between, I assume the US and UK, possbly australia? Idk what else I was expecting
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Nov 28, 2023 02:28
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For just "throwing it in the ground and seeing if it grows" it did okay. My jalapenos died again though. But next season I'm not loving around & actually growing serious. But I'll turn these in to hot sauce.
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Dec 1, 2023 18:26
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Spikes32 posted:So I got my garden soil tested and I have a few low nutrients but I'm confused by how many I have that are over the optimal amount and wondering what I should do about it. For reference, I'm just trying to grow very standard veggies for california, tomatoes, beans, peppers, eggplants, melons etc. My garden is one year old, and very clay heavy with fine soil particles. It's in ground, and used to be a lawn many years ago, and about 80X6ft. I put a lot of compost into it last year and tilled, and I want to be more effective/targeted this year. I know I need to put a lot more compost in it just because of how crap the soil is/was when I started last year, but are there any recommendations of what I should do (in particular for the high values) or websites I can read through to understand what to do based on these results? I would be very surprised if you could do anything about the high mineral content other than diluting the soil with something else, which you're doing. Where are you getting your compost? Are you making it, are you buying it, or are you collecting it from a city giveaway? I have seen it recommended not to use city compost in food gardens, because you don't know what herbicides/pesticides were being used by the person who donated their grass clippings to the green waste. This may be an urban legend, and I honestly don't know. I am genuinely surprised that your soil testing considers a pH of 6.8 low. If I got that result, I'd look at this chart. According to the chart, 7.3, which your test recommends, is too high for the ideal range for peppers, to give just one example. NO3-N is nitrogen level, which plants need to grow and thrive. See the California Department of Food and Agriculture PDF. Your nitrogen levels could be better, and compost is often not going to help with that. I would go buy a couple of bags of "rotted chicken manure" or "rotted steer manure", whichever your garden center or feed store stocks. If you have a friend who grows rabbits, grab that dung!* If you were seeing plants too short or dropping yellowed leaves before fall, that might be a nitrogen deficiency, or might not. In any case, feed the vegetable garden this spring. * Fresh, unrotted chicken or cow manure is going to burn your plants. Rabbit digestive systems are different, and produce dung that can be used immediately. I frankly can't comprehend ESP; maybe somebody here can. Arsenic Lupin fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Dec 1, 2023 |
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Dec 1, 2023 19:32
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ESP is exchangeable sodium percentage which is basically your soil's blood pressure and risk of heart disease
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Dec 1, 2023 19:38
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I too have ESP
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Dec 1, 2023 20:41
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