Gardening: the beets must go on

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Gardening: the beets must go on

Orbs: Apr 1, 2009; ~Liberation~

Hey thread! I've started following this with great interest recently, since I also do a lot of gardening, and love reading about other folks who do. I'm sure my topic has been mentioned before, but since I only just started following this thread I'll go ahead and share my experience, since it might be interesting.

I don't know exactly how good my methods would be for total gardening beginners, but as basically a beginner in ability myself, it's been a very interesting and rewarding journey learning and applying the principles of Permaculture to my backyard gardening. I have been doing it for about 3 years now. I am by no means an expert, but I've discovered some things, which might be useful, both to people who want to do actual permaculture gardening, and to people who just want to continue with raised beds, plots, and other standard types, but need advice.

One thing is that, at first, it seems to be actually a lot more work and planning than 'regular' gardening. You have to sit down and really take some time to think, not only to observe the natural rhythms of the life that already exists in your yard, but also to plot changes out in your head/on paper, and to actually physically do the work. (The work is, like I said, rewarding, but can be intense and exhausting in the first couple years.) There might also be smaller harvests than you're used to, starting out. But that isn't guaranteed, and plus, I believe that working this closely with nature to grow things has larger rewards to it than only raw yields.

Anyway, once you have at least a couple "food forest" or symbiotic links established, the plants, fungi, and animal helpers you have hopefully been cultivating all start working together to maintain themselves, with less and less input from you as the cultivator. Nitrogen fixers and other plants with long roots draw up nutrients from deep in the soil, for themselves and the other things around them. Flowers attract helpful pollinating birds, insects, and other animals where you want them to go (and also flowers can help strategically keep them away from areas where you don't want those things to be). Trees and bushes provide solid climbing foundations and shade to plants who need them, as well as fertilizer for new growth with their falling leaves, and other organic matter they attract/shed.

There are a bunch of basic guides, articles, and books you can look up. I don't know if any one is really "definitive", which kinda makes sense given the diverse and adaptive nature of Permaculture. This article is pretty good though, and might get interested folks started- https://foreverfarms.org/how-to-build-a-permaculture-garden/

For emergency pest and weed control, some very helpful and relatively environmentally friendly products I've found to be useful are pretty simple. One is called Neem oil, which helps control fungi, bugs, and other unwanted spreading things. The other is simply a basic mixture of vinegar and water, which can clean lots of different things, including outdoor stuff. These two, combined with the permaculture'd plants protecting each other, solves most of my weed and pest problems.

Not all problems admittedly, and unsurprisingly since nobody else in my neighborhood seems to apply these principles, so I'm sometimes basically at war with their versions of nature, lol. The big one is just weeds with deep, hardy structures like nightshade and creeping charlie. Those, I still have to get down with my kneepads and gloves and try to dig out directly. That's a bit back-breaking sometimes, but it's not too bad, and it's still ultimately more enjoyable than maintaining a 'standard' flower/vegetable garden was in the past.

I have also found it interesting to study Three Sisters planting methods, native amerikan crop farming knowledge that shares a lot in common with permaculture (and it likely was partially inspired by those older methods). The corn, beans, and squash plants in traditional Three Sisters setups work extremely well together once they get going, and require very little ongoing maintenance. Just planting and harvesting, basically. It might be a good thing to start with for interested people who don't want to commit to redesigning their whole yard right away. https://www.almanac.com/content/three-sisters-corn-bean-and-squash

Once I have a little more free time, I plan to share some pictures of my garden. Gotta run for now though, see you all later, and happy gardening!

Orbs fucked around with this message at 15:54 on Mar 18, 2024

# ¿ Mar 18, 2024 15:45

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 21:04

Orbs: Apr 1, 2009; ~Liberation~

Chad Sexington posted:

I was setting up my new Wifi hose timer and got a little caught up in the moment and oops, now I've planted english peas and two kinds of beets.

We're supposed to get an overnight freeze this week so I might regret leaving the hose out, but the beets must go on.

The beets must go on, exactly, lol

# ¿ Mar 18, 2024 22:24

Orbs: Apr 1, 2009; ~Liberation~

Hell yeah. Just give me a patch of mint or greens to graze on, and I'd be happy too.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2024 03:28

Orbs: Apr 1, 2009; ~Liberation~

PokeJoe posted:

mint is a terrorism plant imo. don't plant it anywhere outside a container

One person's terrorism plant, is another person's freedom fighter plant.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2024 11:33

Orbs: Apr 1, 2009; ~Liberation~

Atahualpa posted:

Is this the right thread for discussing planting flowers as well? Been trying to spruce up my balcony and so far everything's going smoothly, but I have concerns going into the summer when it'll be 100+ degrees here every day for 3-4 months straight.

In my opinion, hell yes it is the right thread for discussing planting flowers. They are a valuable and beautiful part of any nature network.

quote:

Not sure about this, but I think it's generally recommended to remove the antimagic seeds from the cones before planting them anyway.

lol. It's all about the cones...

# ¿ Mar 24, 2024 18:25

Orbs: Apr 1, 2009; ~Liberation~

Justa Dandelion posted:

My seedlings have started to sprout! Arugula and cabbage so far, I think I see my spinach and salad greens starting to move. Hoping the peppers come up in the next few days

Also trying the Ruth Stout method in the veggie garden this year. We got two bunnies that yeild about 20 gallons of urine soaked hay and manure. Been stacking it up in the garden beds and will see how it goes this year

How's everybody's garden going so far?

Kind of in a holding pattern with it this year, as I wait for new ground cover (white clover and wild (non-poisonous) berries) to spread. I'm happy with it though, because that did involve a lot of work, especially since I had to try to remove a bunch of nightshade and creeping charlie in the process. Those fuckers have deep, tough roots. I'm certain I didn't get them all, but gently caress it, gotta do a little bit.

Good luck and best wishes to your garden!

# ¿ Mar 29, 2024 04:48

Orbs: Apr 1, 2009; ~Liberation~

I never use any devices like murdertubes or whatever in my gardening. The way I see it, if pests manage to get my crops despite my precautions, they deserve to eat them more than me. They were hungrier for it and I respect that.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2024 19:39

Orbs: Apr 1, 2009; ~Liberation~

Shifty Pony posted:

Nah squirrels are just fuckers, it has nothing to do with hunger. If they were actually hungry they wouldn't leave pounds of ripe fruit with three bites taken out of it scattered below their favorite nibblin' spot.

Other animals/microbes can eat them then.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2024 22:13

Orbs: Apr 1, 2009; ~Liberation~

Discussion Quorum posted:

this is why I let all of my fruit get brown rot, the fungi were just more determined than me so I say they deserve it

There are precautions you can take for that. But also yes, fungi do deserve to exist too.

freeedr posted:

I should confess. It�s been me eating your garden.

E: but I was indeed very hungry

Also no worries, I hope you enjoyed it~ My harvests are fine though really, I still get plenty.

freeedr posted:

Fuckin love composting. It�s like a magic spell that makes earthy, beautiful soil that smells like happiness. Out of leaves and poo poo.

Nice.

Compost is glorious, I'm glad to see appreciation for it. :love:

# ¿ Mar 31, 2024 01:31

Orbs: Apr 1, 2009; ~Liberation~

Atahualpa posted:

Well, it's a work in progress, but here's what I've got now:

Left planter: lavender, mistflower (not yet blooming), lantana (blooming but you can't really see it here), and meadow sage. Pretty happy with this one.
Right planter: gaillardia, cineraria, and gerbera daisies. Probably will switch some of this out at some point; I originally intended to go with coneflowers instead of the daisies, and the cineraria is looking shaggy these days and was always meant to be a temporary placeholder.
Ground: Euryops, jasmine vine #1, coleus+jasmine vine #2, dwarf bottlebrush, and garden pansies to the right of the shelf.
Shelf: Oregano, thyme, spider plant.

I have an eastward-facing balcony that gets full sun all morning, and in the summer here it regularly gets up to 100+ degrees for 3-4 months straight while rarely dropping below 80 at night. My balcony avoids the worst of the afternoon sun heat but is concrete and frequently gets around 120 degrees when it's 100+ out according to the cheap thermometer in the picture.

Primary question: are there any of these I should plan to bring inside or take other measures to protect before we hit summer weather? I'm guessing I'll at least have to move the pansies, cineraria, and euryops.

Secondary question: any particular care advice for any of these? When and if to prune, fertilize, etc. I already messed up some things last year out of ignorance (e.g., the coleus, which was a gift and used to be much bushier with beautiful foliage), and while I've been doing more research this time around and have a clipboard with care instructions for each plant, any advice is welcome.

I don't have any advice about the care questions, but thank you for sharing the pic. Those look awesome, and I'm glad they have a lovely view, plus a cat helper. :3:

GlyphGryph posted:

Whats are some good plant to grow to use as a trellis for beans and cucumbers? I have heard corn suggested, but would like to consider other options. Zone 6b, for what that's worth.

Do you think Dogbane would work as a trellis plant, actually? That would be quite convenient.

There's a reason corn is the usual suggestion for a living trellis here. The only other reliable options I've encountered in this zone are trees and shrubs, which take a while to get big enough if you don't already have ones of sufficient size. If none of those options appeal, making non-living trellises is pretty simple. Depending on how big the climbers get, sometimes you can get away with just driving a stake in the ground or leaning it on something sturdy like a fence. I've had some morning glories, snap peas, and other things travel all the way up the stakes and then along my fence before, lol

# ¿ Apr 3, 2024 16:46

Orbs: Apr 1, 2009; ~Liberation~

I'm very hype to see and share all of the plants of everyone experiencing spring, like I am right now. It's been raining so heavily that it's hard to get good pics recently, but I actually got a couple good ones of some tulips during the eclipse on Monday.

The white clover ground cover is coming in nicely in most places... mostly where I can clear the creeping charlie from coming back in time, lol

# ¿ Apr 11, 2024 22:50

Orbs: Apr 1, 2009; ~Liberation~

freeedr posted:

confused little guy thought he was outdoors

Aww, as a big spider fan and a fellow confused little creature, I am rooting for him.

eke out posted:

this is a good reminder to start doing some preventative neem spraying before all my poo poo is covered in leaf-footed bugs in may (gently caress leaf-footed bugs)

Absolutely, thank you for the reminder. Neem oil is fantastic, cutting down on so many different diseases and pests.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2024 20:52

Orbs: Apr 1, 2009; ~Liberation~

Lawman 0 posted:

Hoping the peppers I get do well this year! 🤞

Same, and same hope to everyone else's plants!

On my end, the chives I planted last spring are blossoming. I love chives so much.

# ¿ Apr 18, 2024 23:22

Orbs: Apr 1, 2009; ~Liberation~

mischief posted:

Eh, even in the most organic approach there is a time and place for tearing poo poo up every now and again.

It helps to have a heavy counter rotating tiller when you need one.

That's true, but one thing I'm grateful for is sometimes just giving myself permission to not do something. Like, I still pull up the creeping charlie and nightshade as best I can, because those are highly poisonous to me and others. But I mean if there is a crop I don't feel like planting or harvesting for whatever reason, sometimes I just don't. Especially not if friends have more than enough produce they're already trying to give out. I call it my tribute to nature, lol

Heavy tillers are a good investment for when something does need to get done. You might be able to rent one if the job you need it for isn't that big. e: or borrow!

# ¿ Apr 23, 2024 15:41

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 21:04

Orbs: Apr 1, 2009; ~Liberation~

Oh yeah, a pressure washer is another thing I've needed pretty often, but not often enough to justify buying one.

# ¿ Apr 23, 2024 16:39

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Gardening: the beets must go on