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My squash were getting nibbled, so I put out some beer traps last night. This was the result this morning. Tray 1 Tray 2  loving gross!I thought I was going to get 5 in each one, not that many! Hopefully my squash will have some peace now that I've committed slug genocide.
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Jul 25, 2011 12:44
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 23:38 |
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We've also been having a very wet summer this year. Usually by this time I don't have a problem with the bastards because the dry heat keeps their numbers in check. I usually preliminarily nuke my slugs around March-April with organic pellets and then don't have any problems for the rest of the season. This year they've just been able to breed more I think. As for killing methods, I read an article that suggested going out at night, cutting them in half with scissors and letting the body drop into a bucket of boiling salty water 
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Jul 25, 2011 16:22
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This is my first year growing sweetcorn so forgive me if this is a retarded question, but this means it's flowering, right? Only I'm worried about my corn. They're only about 80cm tall. The spot gets a good dose of afternoon sun, but it can get shady at other times of the day. Am I going to get actual corn cobs, or not?
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Jul 29, 2011 16:50
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Alterian posted:I have surprise corn growing in my garden. I think its from the corn I feed my chickens. We get loads of surprise stuff growing under the bird table- different varieties wheat, oats, millet. Annoyingly, the sunflowers I planted and nurtured all got destroyed, but the ones the birds plant accidentally grow fine (till a squirrel decapitates them) I wouldn't call corn an imperfect flower, it's just inefficient like all wind pollinated plants. And thanks for confirming that is indeed a flower. It didn't look like any corn flower in my gardening book (they are black and wispy).
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Jul 29, 2011 23:38
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Marchegiana posted:Personally I handled my slug problem by going to a local pond, snagging a few tadpoles, raising them to toads and then letting them go in my backyard. Had the added bonus of being a really cool science lesson for my kids. So how's that for Pfft. We have toads in my garden, I see them by the water-butt. You know where the phrase "lazy toad" comes from? Cos I do. They're poo poo at controlling my slug problem 
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Aug 4, 2011 18:12
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bisonbison posted:I live in Oakland, CA (zone 9). This is a pic of my space, cleared of its mat of weeds over the past couple weeks. -You don't really need to test your yard dirt for pH, because you're going to be filling your raised beds with compost or imported topsoil, right? So none of your stuff will be growing in the dirt. -completely up to you, your budget and what you want to plant. Some people make raised beds a metre high so they don't have to stoop to tend them (or if they're in a wheelchair). 6 inch seems very small to me, hardly worth building a bed for. If you go for 12 inch, you'll have happier root vegetables as they'll have lots of lovely loose soil to expand into. -quick crop salads like radishes and perpetual spinach. Winter root vegetables; parsnips, carrots, swede. I wouldn't plant anything that needs to flower to give you produce because you might not have time within the season, but I'm not from Oakland so I don't know what your climate is like year round. That plant on the right is a banana tree, right? Does it give you bananas?
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Aug 7, 2011 16:49
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neogeo0823 posted:I went outside today to look at my plants, and all my tomatoes have a split running along their skin! From what I've read, splitting is caused by a period of drought followed by a period of heavy watering. They swell up and split and you end up with emo looking tomatoes. Still perfectly edible.
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Aug 8, 2011 18:53
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The thing to remember is that we all have a distorted view of produce. The stuff you see in shops, hell, even on some farmers markets, is carefully selected and bred to look as perfect as possible. Tomatoes and peppers are mostly grown hydroponically these days, which gives perfect results because of carefully managed nutrients and water uptake. The great thing about growing your own produce is that you can pick cultivars that taste great but might not transport as well as those chosen by shops- they bruise easily or don't grow uniformly. They also turn out strange shapes- like your cucumbers. There's nothing wrong with curvy cucumbers, supermarkets just don't want to buy them because they're harder to wrap in plastic and pack neatly in boxes.
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Aug 8, 2011 22:06
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Alterian posted:If you're growing it inside, it might not be getting enough light. He's got an Aerogarden, it's a hydroponic system with a built in growlight IIRC.
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Aug 19, 2011 20:29
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My reward for climbing a rickety ladder on uneven ground while wearing flip flops: + enough Bramley cooking apples to make a massive crumble. I have got to learn to brew my own cider one of these days.
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Sep 2, 2011 19:46
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Third Policeman posted:I have my own question. Its garlic planting season soon here. I was looking at seed garlic online and to be honest the price is ridiculous- £4.50 for two bulbs. Has anyone had any success using supermarket garlic as seed garlic? You will get success in some form- it will sprout and grow (anyone who's left a clove around for too long will tell you that!). There's a little bit about why you should buy seed garlic here, but from personal experience garlic grows like a freaking weed (I'm in South East England, your results may vary). Growing from seed garlic (I got mine from a garden centre) always seems to result in a bigger crop, with much more potent cloves. I always have a problem with my garlic though- mine never properly develops a cohesive white outer layer, so I end up with individual muddy cloves. It's very annoying. Apparently garlic is traditionally planted on the shortest day of the year and harvested on the longest. The more you know...
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Sep 12, 2011 00:04
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So after about a month of having buds, my butternut squash has finally started flowering. Is there still time to get any actual squashes? I live in South East England for reference. I also have tomatoes coming through outside, but I'm sure they won't ripen now. What can you do with green tomatoes?
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Sep 23, 2011 23:50
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Anubis posted:At least blackberries can just be pulled up roots and all as soon as that first cane pops above the surface. The ones in my garden can't. There's been an extensive bramble problem since before we moved into this property in 1995 and we've never managed to get rid of them all no matter what we throw at them- expensive weedkiller, fire damage, digging up as many as we can see. All it takes is a centimetre of root left in the soil, or some plants tucked away behind a neighbour's shed and suddenly- BAM- you're back to a thorny thorny garden. I'd much rather have a mint invasion. As seeing as my mother's spearmint escaped from its confines, it looks like that's on the menu. Sometimes I wish I lived in a place with loving awful soil so I could grow plants in compost in completely planned beds and not worry about escapees or invaders.
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Sep 30, 2011 01:54
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Anubis posted:Comparing the wild cultivators to the engineered/specially bred cultivators is like comparing wild boars to farm raised piglets. Mmmm bacon... Oh god I'm getting flashbacks of when I had to deal with the former But yeah, we don't so much have blackberries as we have proper bramble weeds. Also feral raspberries (there were canes here when we moved in, we "removed" them), those tiny wild strawberries and millet and sunflowers seeded from birdseed. Our garden is unmanageable and probably will remain so until my mother retires and can dedicate more time to it. And as she's terrified that retiring will mean spending more time with the man she's been married to for 34 years, I'm pretty sure she'll work until nature stops her. In other news, I had a mange-tout mini haul today! I love picking peas, it's such a treasure hunt. 
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Sep 30, 2011 17:44
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I moved away from my parents' house and massive garden way back in January, but luckily the flat I picked has a terrace (unluckily my flatmates, despite me getting a "yes you can" from them, don't seem to like me growing stuff out there). I'm also a bit worried about light levels because this terrace doesn't get a vast amount of sunshine, and the weather has been so crappy lately. Here are my sugarsnap peas:  Don't know if they'll grow down or trail up the chains. And here is my tub-o-salad, ready for its first harvest (which is good because I'm out of food) 
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May 12, 2012 01:06
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 23:38 |
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So I got home today to find all my seedlings smashed to bits. A flatmate had put the tray on the terrace wall, and poor balance or a gust of wind knocked them off. Piss annoying because I was planning to give the last of my pea seedlings out as presents, and all of my leeks look beyond saving. Can I have some advice with dealing with housemates who don't respect your plants? My plants were not in the way at all, they could have just pushed the seed tray to the corner of the terrace and not balanced it on the wall which was clearly a stupid loving idea. I asked them if they minded me having plants before I even moved in and was told they would be happy for me to grow food so I don't know what the gently caress. I don't know how to approach this, because I'm pissed off. Edit- I decided not to be an irrationally angry crazy person and got over it, then told flatmates that the tray can't be on the wall because it falls off. The end. madlilnerd fucked around with this message at 17:34 on May 13, 2012 |
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May 13, 2012 14:06
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