Gardening: the beets must go on

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

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

With the world going to hell in a hand basket now is a good time to start a victory garden. For most of North America it's the time of year to start planning your garden and if you grow from seeds that require you starting your plants indoors, it's time to start the germination process. So, let's start talking about what everyone is going to do this year and help some people start their first gardens or expand their current one.

Some beginner tips for starting a garden:
Most areas have a gardeners club or helpline that can give you specific advice about what works well in your area. If not, seek advice from a local nursery or in this thread and we can try to help make sure you don't end up wasting your money.

Be careful and selective about the potting soil you use for your seeds. Many potting soils come premixed with fairly harsh fertilizers that will burn small plant's roots. Do your research so you don't sit staring day after day at a pot of dirt wondering why nothing will grow.

If you have never had a garden before, consider starter plants. While they are more expensive, a single plant can cost more then an entire package of seeds which could produce 20-50 plants in some cases, they are much less fuss and as long as you water properly and watch out for early freeze risks they can pay for themselves several times over with high quality and very tasty fruit and veggies.

Weeding
Weeding is the biggest time consumer with most gardens. Especially if the garden was previously an area with grass or weeds in it. There are several ways to combat weeds, each with their own benefits and drawbacks.

Black weed block - It can be used to effectively eliminate weeds, but it can also raise soil temperatures which could kill your plants or lower their fruit/vegetable production. If you have wide rows or plants that don't mind slightly higher soil temperatures, using a weed block along with mulch between rows can reduce your workload a ton.

Mulch - Likely to be the most recommended, mulch can be an effective method of keeping of weeds from popping up, but if you don't have your own compost pile it can end up getting expensive for larger gardens and can potentially change the PH levels of your soil if bark or wood chips are used. This can have a dramatic effect on PH sensitive plants, like blueberries. In these cases, straw or newspaper mulch can be used. You will, however, still have to do plenty of hand weeding.

Spray Chemicals - While there are plenty of spray chemicals on the market and some even claiming to be approved for vegetable gardens I personally don't know of any that I would be comfortable using in my garden. While you may not care about keeping a perfectly organic garden you should seriously consider the risks and rewards before using any kind of chemical weed control in or around your garden and you should certainly not use any during or after your plants begin to bloom.

Raised Gardens/Potted Gardens - Studies have shown that raised gardens are much less susceptible to weeds. While raised and potted gardens do limit a garden's size, you will not have many of the weed issues that ground level gardens have.

Hoe and hand - No matter if you attempt any of the above methods at some point your going to end up here. If you have a garden of any decent size, buying a decent quality sharp hoe and a set of knee pads will be your best garden tool investment. You didn't have anything better to do on Saturday mornings, anyway.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2009 20:19

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 11:50

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

A bit about my own garden:
I currently have a 200 square foot garden in my back yard that I spent re-edging with brick. The previous wood edging was rotting away and for pretty much the same price, though more work on the front end, I set down a border that should hold up much longer.

My garden currently has about 30 strawberry plants of across three varieties, which I planted last year and should be ready to produce a decent crop. I attempted to take clippings of some runners and grow some inside over the winter but that failed horribly, the potting soil I used is the main suspect for the failure. This year I'm attempting to grow Tendergreen Improved Bush Beans (green beans), California Wonder Peppers (Green/Red), Big Beef Hybrid tomatoes, Roma tomatoes and I'll likely purchase a couple Early Girl tomato plants since they did so well for me last year. I'm also going to attempt some containers of baby spinach and catnip, mainly as a test run for future years. I'm also planting a couple thorny blackberry bushes as a test, they will take a year before they start producing.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2009 20:21

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Have you considered copper edging to keep the slugs out? Any of them currently in the garden will be trapped in there but if you continue the beer traps, eventually you will get rid of them all and the copper should keep any new ones from getting in. Mulching with oak leaves also can supposedly help.

At the very least some copper tape for your containers would protect them, though from the sounds of it the weather was a bigger enemy then the slugs.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2009 21:33

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Mother Nature is mocking me, it's 67* out right now and all I want to do is go plant. Last frost date isn't till April 15th though. :suicide:

# ¿ Feb 25, 2009 22:25

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Woke up this morning to about half a planter of spinach sprouts. :3:

The green beans also seem to have sprouted, though they haven't broken the surface of the soil quite yet.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2009 19:59

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

anaemic posted:

I don't know what the laws are regarding hose pipe usage in America, but in England for almost all of the year I get away with having an electric timer sitting below my tap like this which simply opens a valve for five minutes once or twice a day to water the garden automatically.
I keep a section of regular garden hose running from it above my most delicate plants, and I've blocked the other end of the tube and simply punched a number of holes into it above the plant area using a thumb tack.
takes the daily hassle out of watering your potted plants and is very easily upgraded to have multiple pipes running all over your yard, which can even be dug in slightly below the surface in beds and is far cheaper than spending loads of on on fancy sprinklers for a small garden.

edit: first timer had terrible reviews

Do yourself and everyone in your neighborhood a favor and either buy a proper backflow preventer for your system or just water by hand. What you have created is basically a drip tube irrigation system and one of the potential problems is that certain diseases that live in the soil can travel up the hose and into the pipes in your house and from there could potentially even travel to your neighbors houses. It's hard to tell from your post if this thing is actually in a place that could get contaminated but it really is better safe then sorry and even if yours may be ok this might prevent someone else from doing something potentially dangerous.

If infection does occur it can get very nasty and very expensive for everyone involved, not even including the heath risk. It's also against the law in almost all areas to have that kind of setup permanently or semi-permanently in place without one. There are several types so here is a page to help you find out which kind you would need: http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/backflow-preventers.htm

So, in other news the green bean bush plants I started in a wooden planter with dirt from my garden and the leftovers from my seed package have sprouted great. On the other hand, the green beans, tomatoes and peppers I've planted in individual peat pod planters with potting soil has failed to sprout. The spinach is using the same potting soil and sprouted fine in the planters, so I'm going to guess that something is wrong with those peat pod planters. Guess I'll go buy some more regular window sill planters and just transplant the good old fashioned way, again.

Anubis fucked around with this message at 08:35 on Mar 2, 2009

# ¿ Mar 2, 2009 08:20

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

It took over two weeks and they may not be quite big enough when it's time to transplant but my green/red peppers finally germinated on my second attempt! No tomatoes worked out though, looks like I'm buying pre-grown plants for those again. Still, I think I came out ahead if I can transplant 10 or 15 bell pepper plants. I'm also hoping that my green bean plants transfer properly, now that you people have sufficiently worried me. I only need 10 to survive to supply me with everything I'll need in a year but if I could get more I could share, which is always enjoyable.

Only 4 more weeks till the frost date!

# ¿ Mar 15, 2009 07:51

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

HeatherChandler posted:

I am trying to picture seed starter fabric, and really can't. Can you take a picture? Can you maybe cut it into squares around each plant and then plant them seperately? Does it look like it is biodegradable? I have never seen it before.

The stuff I'm thinking about is the bottom of a seed starting kit I saw at home depot earlier this year. It has fabric on the bottom going into each seed's pod that draws water up into the soil so that you just poor water into a bottom tray and don't have to worry about over-watering or damaging young seedlings. I almost got one but figured that the setup would require the plants would need to be transplanted at least twice and that is usually when my plants die, so no thank you.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2009 05:48

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

kid sinister posted:

edit: should we start a new thread for planting non-crop plants, or keep this one? It is the time of year to be planting those too. I would gladly field those questions.

While I personally don't understand why you would want to grow something you can't eat, I'd say this tread is fine.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2009 18:01

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

HeatherChandler posted:

My tomatoes came up today, and I got so excited I made a chart in Excel to keep track of when each crop needs to be sown, hardened, and transplanted, including things I do successionally like bush beans and lettuce. I can hardly stop myself from constantly fussing and poking at them. I think I might go get another batch of compost and dig some more.

I can't be the only one with really bad spring fever.

I had it when I woke up this morning but hand tilling about 100 sq ft of rocky soil did it in for the day. Unfortunately, I'm sure the fever will be back tomorrow and I'll end up redoing the entire front garden with the intention of doing herbs or something. My poor back... :suicide:

# ¿ Mar 21, 2009 21:40

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

A notice to those in the midwest with failed tomato plant germination like me. Your local hardware store likely either got their first shipment or will receive their first shipment of plants this week. I just picked up 5 tomato plants in 3 varieties, unfortunately the store I went to didn't have any roma plants yet so I guess I'm making a 2nd trip next week.

Of course if you check out my attached picture I'm not going to be able to put them outside for close to a month, but I always like extra large tomato plants since you can bury them so deep and give them a solid root system.

Only registered members can see post attachments!

# ¿ Mar 25, 2009 19:32

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Alright, those hanging tomato plants need full sun, so putting them on the west side of your house isn't going to work. If you are even a little unsure about your soil just remove the corn, it takes an insane amount of nutrients to grow corn so while it is kind of fun, you won't actually produce much of anything if you don't have black Nebraska soil. Just for reference, my dark black rich (but slightly rocky) soil in Kansas only got me half a dozen decent sized ears out of 20+ full grown plants. Be careful about what you plant to the west of the house, use only partial sun plants there. Other then that, your mini green house likely will need some artificial light to help out nature, depending on what you are doing with it, see the discussion above on cheap florescent lighting.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2009 20:28

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

HeatherChandler posted:

Anubis, how early do you set out your tomatoes? It seems so early for zone 5/6. I am in 6 and haven't planned to set out tomatoes until early May, preferably with no reliable dips below 50. I'm just curious, am I overly cautious?

April 15th is my counties average last frost date. So, if the 10 day forecast looks good I try and plant on the weekend of or following the 15th. If worse comes to worst you can always use black plastic to prevent frosting overnight.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2009 21:57

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Becktastic posted:

This thread will fight you for the title: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3081101

Oh, we'll take that bitch out like a freak late spring freeze.

quote:

How many bags do you think I should buy? Do you think my current ground is that unacceptable?

Without some kind of soil analysis there really isn't any way to know if and how much help it needs. If it does need a lot of work you might need as much as an inch or two across all your beds.

quote:

Anubis, My hanging tomatoes will get afternoon sun. I figured that would be better. Full sun is like standing at the gates of hell. In the words of a friend (who was mostly joking but still...) "You are gardening in Arizona, so you need to make adjustments. If it says it likes sun, you are going to have to put it in the shade. If it says it likes shade, grow it in complete darkness." If they look unhealthy hanging from the eave, I can move them to full sun, but I would need to find something to hang them from.

I've never lived in a zone 8 so it's possible. I guess just be aware of it and be ready to make adjustments as necessary. I'd guess that they would likely be better off with the morning sun and shade from the afternoon heat, but like I said never done it in your area before.

quote:

Yeah, I already bought my corn before reading all the horror stories. At least now I can condition myself to accept failure and be thrilled if I get even one ear. I got a good amount of my seeds from these people: http://www.nativeseeds.org/ so hopefully they will grow well, this being their homeland.

You might have some luck with that corn but I'm going to guess that unless you are grinding it to make home made tortillas it will end up making better bird food then anything else. Honestly, since you already have the seed it won't do any harm to try it out, just be sure that next planting season you remember to use some organic fertilizer and mulch in that area since a lot of the nutrients will likely be sucked up.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2009 07:19

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Cakefool posted:

What is this zone witchcraft you speak of?

I can't find my courgette seeds. I'll have to buy some more.

http://www.garden.org/zipzone/
We use zones to determine which plants and specific breeds work best in our area and it also determines how long your growing season is. Obviously what works in Texas may not work as well in Minnesota. Most store bought seeds will also tell you when to plant based on your zone, which is that weird looking map on the back.

madlilnerd posted:

Okay guys, horrible shady area next to a massive conifer tree and my neighbours 4ft fence. I've dug out most of the brambles and removed a ton of roots, and will finish this at the weekend. There were lots of bulbs (most likely bluebell) that I've removed to replant later.

The problem is, it's very rocky soil. It's where the builders dumped some rubble after they did our extension.

1) What can I grow there apart from replanted bulbs?

2) Will anything edible grow in shade.

I have a feeling I'm going to have to shimmy up that conifer with a folding saw at the weekend. See you in The Goon Doctor when this all goes horribly wrong.

First off, be willing to put in some work with a bow rake to get some of those rocks out. It will take you awhile and you'll likely always have slightly rocky soil but if you work it into your garden prep schedule every year you can eventually win out.

Now, how shady are we talking here? No light ever or do they get a little during the morning/evening? If they get absolutely no sun I'm at a loss for edible things that can grow. If they get at lest a couple hours a day you do have some options. What zone are you in? (see above link)

Spinach could work but it will need a few inches of compost and a nitrogen rich soil, so some organic/food safe garden fertilizer might also need to be applied depending on the soil. Leaf variety lettuce and salad greens might work as well, if you get at least a few hours a day of full and a few as partial.

That's all I can come up with right now, hopefully someone else has some ideas that is a little more exciting.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2009 14:42

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

HeatherChandler posted:

Well, I decided to jump the gun and plant one section of my mesclun, since I do it successionally it won't matter if one bit dies, I can replant. It took all of 24 hours for some cheeky birds to find it. I need to get some netting but until then, I can't decide if I should put out some seed on the far side of the yard to distract them. Are birds that dumb? We have a lot of trees so birds are an inevitability.

While the birds would certainly eat the seed my guess is that the extra food would attract more birds and they would eventually run out of seed and move on to your mesclun. A quick fix option would be a scarecrow or plastic/concrete owl, which might keep the little birdies at bay.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2009 14:25

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Is there a support group I can join for people who can't seem to stop buying plants in the spring? I just came back from the store with 3 Roma tomato plants (although those were planned) and 2 more blackberry plants. Someone help me, this needs to stop!

I'm going to build more tomato cages now, too.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2009 18:38

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

HeatherChandler posted:

How silly of the predecessor to plant the thorned ones in the middle of everything. He also left broken whiskey bottles all over, maybe there is a connection.

Sorry, I wasn't meaning to say 'don't grow blackberries' just 'gently caress my experience dealing with them, listen to me whine like a big baby please'.

Oh that's fine, blackberry bushes aren't super high maintenance but if you neglect them... God help you. I'd still put my previous home owners as bigger assholes then then yours, though. They planted and cultivated ivy in the chain link fence and then allowed poison ivy to take over. I lost 2 years of gardening to that crap since I couldn't go within 20' of it unless I was covered head to toe. Eventually, after I got married, my wife removed it by hand, since she has never had a reaction to it.

Not to mention that the ivy was bending/destroying the fence. A neighbor planting ivy should be grounds for justifiable homicide, I know I'd never convict.

Anubis fucked around with this message at 09:21 on Apr 4, 2009

# ¿ Apr 4, 2009 09:19

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

madlilnerd posted:

Someone on here better show me how to puck and gut a wood pigeon, because boy am I sick to death of them eating my seedlings! Man cannot live on garlic alone, people! All my peas, leeks, sunflowers, pumpkins and courgettes have had to be restarted indoors. I don't have any proper compost because I can't drive and my mum is procrastinating, so I'm using our terrible compost full of sticks and eggshells and half rotted granny panties. GRAAAAGGHGHGGAAAAGGHH!!! *goon rage*

Try some dead CD-Rs hanging down with fishing line. Sometimes that will keep birds away, put the two tops together when you do it so both sides reflect well and hope for the best.

Edit: Really my fool-proof method of bird control is a young spaniel dog. Go down to your local shelter and pick one up then fence off your garden. They tend not to be great jumpers so nothing elaborate is needed as long as they have other space to run in. I guard my garden from trampling with just 3 strings of low gauge wire strung between some posts. It's great though, if there is a bird in the yard, he's after it like a fat kid chasing the ice cream truck. When it's nice out I have been able to throw down grass seed and still keep my yard completely bird free. This is clearly the most effective method of bird control, although they do cost a lot in shoe laces and new hats.

Anubis fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Apr 6, 2009

# ¿ Apr 6, 2009 15:21

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Jesus, an entire week of torrential rains, thunder storms and heavy winds. Good thing I was lazy about planting so far. I really do need to get some seed in the ground, though. And my poor strawberries are going to end up drowning and losing their blossoms.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2009 07:04

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Tomatoes are in, peppers are in although it is a bit premature... didn't have a choice in the matter they were crowding each other out in my planter and I had to move them. Green beans got planted and the strawberry plants have about 4-500 blossoms by my best guess.

If this goes even half way as good as planned I'm going to be sitting on so much produce I'll be able to feed hell and half of Georgia.

# ¿ May 5, 2009 06:48

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Yeah, I don't know what the weather's problem is but we are hitting down to or below 50 pretty much every day for the next 10. My peppers are going to be severely stunted.

# ¿ May 12, 2009 13:21

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Zeta Taskforce posted:

I�m so worried about my garden. After spending the better part of 100 hours digging out 5 surprisingly massive tree stumps and 50 foot lengths of a tangled mass of tree roots buried up to two feet deep, all that mixed in with cinder blocks, bricks, granite paving stones, on Monday I finally planted it. I still have windrows of stones and roots piled up along the sides, but I feel like I already spent way too much time getting it ready. What I didn�t plan on was the last two days being in the mid 90�s with about 10% humidity and 40 mile per hour wind gusts. And last week it was cold and drizzly. Gotta love New England. I�m resigned to get what I get and just happy that I�m not going to starve either way.

Next year I should get an earlier start since all I�ll have to do is plant it.

I�ll post pictures soon and start hauling out the roots after that.

Yeah, have faith that the first year is the major pain in the rear end and after that it's generally a hell of a lot easier. Starting any kind of garden is a long term project with a lot of front heavy work, but an oh-so-rewarding experience in the end.

# ¿ May 24, 2009 07:20

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Finally got to harvest a few strawberries! It appears some animals are eating a few of them, though. Found at least 6 that were already eaten while I was picking. Guess I have to get a plastic owl and cover them with some mesh. Annoying but the strawberries are oh-so-tasty.

# ¿ May 29, 2009 04:08

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Well, my strawberries seem to be dying down as far as production goes. Then again, it's mid June and to be expected. All but 2 of my bell pepper plants died but it was a worthwhile experiment that I can try again next year.

Lost a tomato plant to a rabbit, but it was a thin spiny thing that we kept going from last year so no big loss. Still, the rabbits have taken more then their fair share of the strawberries as well and something is going to have to be done. My bush beans are blossoming so another 15-20 days and I'll have about a bussle of them to get sick of.

ChaoticSeven, that's a real nice output. I wish I had more time to dedicate to the garden so I manage as much stuff as you.

# ¿ Jun 13, 2009 21:53

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

If you guys are having aphid problems, I'd recommend going out and finding somewhere that they sell ladybugs. You should typicly be able to buy between 1000 and 1500 for under $10. Considering they eat something like 7x their own body weight in aphids a day I can't imagine you having much of a problem after releasing that many.

# ¿ Jun 14, 2009 17:02

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Chajara posted:

Hahaha, I've considered doing this but since I've the only thing that stands between my balcony and the neighbor's is a wooden fence I'm wondering if it'll be a good idea. I don't think she'll take too kindly to being swarmed by ladybugs when she goes outside to smoke. Then again, perhaps it'll keep her from filling my own apartment with her nasty rear end cigarette smell 10 times a day. I wish I could just go catch some but I haven't seen a ladybug in the wild for years. Just those stupid smelly asian beetles.

In other news, I have some little tomatoes ripening. My pole beans are growing too, though I'm not sure why some of them have wrinkly leaves and others have normal looking flat ones. Hopefully I'll get some good beans off them.

I've heard they will only stick around for upwards of 2 weeks before dying/moving on. Luckily by time that happens every aphid will have been utterly destroyed by your swarm. If your seriously having a problem and your only concern is the potential swarm I'd say it's well worth it. Also, thanks for the laugh ChuckHead.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2009 14:36

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

A huge storm is destroying my garden as I type.

I don't think there is a drat thing I can do about it, either.

Wind gusts upwards of 55mph and torrential rains. Goodbye green beans, goodbye tomato plants... :cry:

Anubis fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Jun 16, 2009

# ¿ Jun 16, 2009 04:49

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

ChaoticSeven posted:

How did this turn out? If you had your tomatoes caged up with concrete wire cages mine withstood some crazy rear end winds just recently with no ill effects.

Most of my corn was ready for harvest today, so I did. I never had to spray this stuff with anything insecticidal or fungicidal which is something of a miracle I think in the south. Probably has something to do with how early I got it out. Quite a bit earlier than the real deal farmers. Peaches and Cream sweet corn. Booya.

The tomatoes actually did survive! All of the bush green beans are still laying flat and had a bit of standing water that I didn't have time to trench away, yet, and some of them got snapped by the wind but generally it was better then I expected.

My main concern right now is that if we get any more rain this week everything is going to be so over saturated that root rot would be very likely.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2009 13:28

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Shazzner posted:

Does anyone have any experience with a drip irrigation system? We're in a severe drought right now so my plan for a sprikler timer won't work. I'd like to build a passive gravity system with a rain bucket or something.

I was thinking of picking up this book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/096158484X/ref=ord_cart_shr?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

Any ideas on this?

I think I addressed this earlier in the thread but if you do go with a drip irrigation system you need to be sure you do your research and get all the proper filters and regulators for your situation. Failure to do drip irrigation properly can lead to some pretty nasty disease working it's way into your home's plumbing system and possibly even the rest of your neighborhood's plumbing. If you do it, don't cheap out, it's not worth the health risk.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2009 15:32

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

ChaoticSeven posted:

At what point does one have too many cucumbers? This is just a couple days after making 7lbs of fridge pickles and giving a couple more lbs away. Also look, I finally have a few tomatoes. I picked them a wee bit early as all the ones I've left on the vine have been a magic beacon for avian and other disasters. That big one is 1 pound 4 ounces.

We tried to warn you people about the cucumbers.... they never listen.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2009 13:48

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Quick fill in the blank poll: What is the proper way to kill a mother loving catapiller who managed to decimate an entire beefmaster tomato plant, including 3 green tomatoes of various sizes, in a single night?

The son of a bitch ate everything; pretty much every leaf on the entire plant is gone, all the green tomatoes are ruined and the blossoms are all gone. I caught him chowing down on the largest green tomato in my garden. About 10% already eaten when I plucked him up and put him in his current plastic storage container which is sitting in my kitchen.

He has stolen food and destroyed an otherwise healthy plant. He must die, suggestions are appreciated and pictures of the decimation will be posted when the wife gets home with the camera.

Edit: I've been informed that the proper term is "Tomato Hornworm."

Anubis fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Jun 27, 2009

# ¿ Jun 27, 2009 21:27

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Yesterday this was a healthy, happy plant.

My poor tomato.

The Face of Evil! :nms:

# ¿ Jun 27, 2009 23:47

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

"She" planted a bunch of eggs in the container I put her in, so either I have a million hornworm eggs in my garden or I grabbed her just in time... Would several large buckets of soapy water, in lieu of their morning watering, hurt the plants?

ChuckHead posted:

Let him develop into this. Then crush him.

Windy posted:

The caterpillars don't lay eggs, just the moths. What do the "eggs" look like?

Round balls of green, they look like the eggs in the GIS I did but I imagine since you said that it's likely just poop. I think I'm going with the surrounded by food suggestion. Just gotta find a cheap glass jar to "plant" in my garden.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2009 12:58

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

toenut posted:

My celery is still barely coming out of the ground after two months, so you are way ahead of mine. I've never done celery before, so I don't know what to expect.

Also, I must have missed one zucchini when I harvested this weekend because today I found this one that has grown to an epic size.

If everyone in America planted a dozen hills of zucchini world hunger might just be defeated. Although, I think it might hurt international relations when we dump a cargo ship of zucchini in a Canadian harbor and run away, in the middle of the night.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2009 14:27

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Well, if it isn't the little thread that could. Glad to see everyone in the southern hemisphere had fun while the rest of us were digging out from more snow then I care to remember.

Fun updates on my own garden: I planted 2 dwarf apple trees last fall (each 2 years old, a Fuji and a Golden Delicious, mainly because they are complementary pollinators). I'm researching into what kind of pest control I want to engage in, bagging seems like the obvious choice but that also seems like it would be a ton of work and the bags wouldn't hold up to rain very well. Anyone have experience with this?

Early seed germination has gone horribly, nothing has come up yet even with seed heating pads under the flats. I'm going to have to figure out what I am screwing up on and likely just settle for buying plants again this year.

I'm guessing it's the soil mixture I'm using, going to maybe try again with a different mix.

Goals for this year:
*Get a new bed up and running, closer to the house to promote more consistent watering for tomatoes.

*Plant the 100 strawberry crowns that I ordered and hope at least 40 make it to full growth.

*Build a net cage for the blackberries.

*Expand the blackberries from 2 plants to 6. (also enjoy our first year of harvesting blackberries!)

*Build a composting system. I'm thinking I can pick up an unused 55gal barrel fairly cheap and replicate something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Mantis-4000-00-02-ComposT-Twin-Composting-Bin/dp/B00008Z9ZF/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1268005221&sr=8-8 for a whole lot cheaper. (any one got some ideas to share?)

*Make a nice little wooden fence to replace the cheap wire one I have, in order to keep my dog out. At minimum make and install a wooden garden gate.

It's going to be a busy spring.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2010 00:48

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

teknicolor posted:

thanks alot you two these are exactly what I was hoping for, I need to get seeding on some of these

That first site was a little weird for me, so double check it. It wanted me to have already planted my beans but this past week was the first time it's gotten past 60 here and the ground was still pretty cold.

Just be sure to run sanity checks and listen to your seed bags over the more ballpark figures of the frost dates and you'll be fine.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2010 05:22

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

Horatio Gates posted:

Does anyone have any experience growing indeterminate type tomatoes in really large containers, like trash cans? We've started some heirloom tomatoes (Royal Hillbilly, and Weeping Charley)from seed but from what I understand these guys can get really big.

I've grown indeterminate tomatoes before, they have gotten to be 5-6' tall if you don't pinch them off, which a lot of people don't. Never grown them in a container but you shouldn't need a huge trash can for a single plant. A large flower pot should be plenty big for any tomato plant, just remember to drill holes in the bottom of whatever you end up planting them in, so you don't get water in the bottom and end up with mold and rot growing down at the base and eventually eating your roots.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2010 14:41

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 11:50

Anubis: Oct 9, 2003; It's hard to keep sand out of ears this big.; Fun Shoe

On an internet blog recommendation I bought my tomato seeds from johnnyseeds.com this year, I'll let you guys know how it goes with germination and production. I'm growing Big Boys, Celebrity, JTO-99197 Determinate, BHN-665 Determinate and a pack of Early Girl that I bought from the store.

I like always throwing a couple Early Girls in, since they start producing a solid 10-20 days before the others it gives me a warning to potential problems and if like last year the weather starts turning crappy and cold, ruining production, they will have already given me a decent batch to tide me over until the others can recover.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2010 05:20

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

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