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

Who was it either last year or the year before that was showing off like 10 zucchini plants he had put in, in his first year gardening? That was a fun couple of pages, with all of us laughing about how he would soon be able to feed a small 3rd world country.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2010 02:09

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 02:21

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

moana posted:

WTF, we've got strawberries! It's been like two weeks since I've planted these, the buggers are growing up fast.

Most varieties say that, for a plant that is going to be around for several years, you need to pluck off the flowers in the first year to ensure proper root growth. If you don't just be aware they may not make it through the winter.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2010 13:43

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

moana posted:

I plucked off all of the flowers/strawberries that were on it to start off. Do you mean I have to not have any strawberries at all this year? That is sad. I'm in San Diego, so maybe they will last the winter anyway?

At least pluck them off for the first 4-6 weeks.

So, I got my strawberry crowns today. Managed to get about 25 in the ground but I still have 75 left to go... I'm going to need more space for all these things.

# ¿ Apr 16, 2010 04:34

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

dwoloz posted:

drat, that's a load of strawberries. How much did 100 run you?

About $40 shipped. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-6568-cabot.aspx To buy 25 shipped it was going to be about $23 so it made sense to buy a ton extra.

We spent a ton of money on the garden this weekend. I bought a $100 tumble composter, 6 bell pepper plants, 4 Roma, 2 Better Boy, 2 Celebrity, 2 Grape Tomato, 2 Early Girl, a few small spinach plants, 10 bags of mulch, couple bags of mushroom compost, 2 containers of fertilizer and some garden staples. Thankfully on Sunday, the plants were buy 1 get 1 but still I don't even want to look at the final tally.

# ¿ Apr 19, 2010 13:26

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

clam posted:

I'd like some advice on my egglpants...I put them into the ground aaaages ago, and they've really thrived. The problem is, that they're not really producing much fruit. There are 6 plants in total... and they've grown HUGE. Some reaching 5 feet tall. They've been covered in flowers for about 2 months now. We've only really had 2 good fruit off them. Mostly the flowers drop off, or the fruit has little holes in it - and then when you cut it open, it's rotting from the inside out!!

I don't know much about eggplants but that sounds very similar to what can happen if you fertilize tomatoes with too much nitrogen and not enough phosphorus and potassium. Have you fertilized them at all? From the growth it sounds like they are getting consistent water, I see recommended is 2" a week, is that consistent? But, if I had to guess site unseen, I'd put money on blossom end rot which is normally due to a lack of calcium in the ground.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2010 14:13

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

Blackberry bushes (get thornless ones they are much easier) are supposed to be fairly shade tolerant, but you'd need a fair amount of space to get decent yeilds.

# ¿ May 11, 2010 13:33

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

Does anyone happen to have experience with Doyle's thornless blackberries? I'm making a new garden by the house for the tomatoes (meant to get it done this year but it's going to be next) and it's going to free up a ton of room in my back garden for other stuff. I prefer things that continue to produce over years that I don't have to keep pouring money into (outside of watering and fertilizing).

I'm just having problems finding any kind of verification on their claims of "gallons" of fruit per plant and don't want to have to wait several years before finding out if these are going to work like I wanted.

# ¿ May 11, 2010 16:48

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

Zeta Taskforce posted:

Don�t you love seed catalogues? Everything is sweet, tender, early, amazingly productive, a breeding miracle. They�re fun to read until you actually have to pick something.

I have zero experience with Doyle�s thornless blackberry, but if you compare blackberries with blueberries, raspberries, black raspberries, any small fruit, blackberries will out yield pretty much everything 2 to 1 at least. But depending on how much room you have, if it was me I would put in a bunch of different stuff in addition to the blackberries, maybe a dwarf cherry tree, a few summer bearing raspberries, fall bearing ones, asparagus, a grape vine.

A cherry tree doesn't interest me a whole lot and I already have two semi-dwarf apple trees that I put in last fall. They look like they will be able to produce decently for me, but I don't really need to start a personal orchard. I'm already planning grape vines for next year and am doing my research on varieties that will work well in my area. Not including the new garden, I have about 20'x20' to take up and if I get my hands on a power tiller I may extend that another 10-15' on one side.

The problem I'm having is that typical blackberry bushes are only going to give me (at max) a couple pints of berries a year. The Doyles are claiming 1-10 gallons of berries a plant, which obviously sends my BS detector off, hence me looking for people with experience with them.

For the record, here is what appears to be a fairly impartial assessment of them. It was the best I could find: http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/NAFEX/message-archives/old/msg04064.html

Anubis fucked around with this message at 20:15 on May 11, 2010

# ¿ May 11, 2010 20:07

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

mischief posted:

I just meant for the sake of the garden itself. Hate to see all those plants go to waste.

This rain is killing us here in NC too. My garden was in standing water last night with quarter size hail tearing up my tomatoes, and it's pouring down rain again tonight.

God, yes. What the hell is with all this rain!? I need 80 degree heat, not 8 more inches of rain! I blame myself, I set up soaker hoses throughout my garden which obviously is causing this to be one of the coolest and wettest spring/early summers I can remember.

# ¿ May 17, 2010 04:50

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

A good nursery should be able to provide a nutrient mix with calcium in it. Look for one with low nitrogen but high in other nutrients, lest your tomatoes grow too large without as much fruit.

# ¿ May 20, 2010 02:28

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

kingfet posted:

For tomatoes what size containers do you recommend? Can I get by with 2 gallons each, or should I really go with a 5 gallon?

I've always heard 5 gallons is a bare minimum and a quick google search seemed to confirm that. You'd need to be watering several times a day if you did anything less and you'd likely still get poor results.

# ¿ May 21, 2010 02:17

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

Oh god, I lost half a pint of blood to the loving mosquitoes while tending my garden this evening! Seriously, my back looks like I have boils or something... I'm not going to sleep well at all tonight.

# ¿ May 25, 2010 03:13

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

I can't have an open compost bin (city rules against such things since people use them incorrectly and attract pests) so earlier this year I bought one of these: http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3800117

It looks alright in the yard and is easy to turn, though the size makes it of limited use. I'll report back when it's done making it's first batch, but last I checked it had just started to work so it will likely be 3 months start to finish on my first batch.

In other news, the tomatoes are improving but still doing horrible, the peppers are being devoured by some type of bug that I can't track down and the green beans are just now starting to poke their little heads above the soil. However, I'm picking over half a pound of strawberries a day, the new rows of strawberries that I planted are all looking super strong with only 2 casualties out of the 40 odd plants that went in the ground and the blackberry bushes are actually starting to produce!

Hopefully this weekend is just filled with the basic weeding and nothing major being needed, but we shall see.

# ¿ May 29, 2010 00:15

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

Veila posted:

I almost started a compost bin myself, but then a friend informed me that in Norman, OK they have a free compost center... I was all WHAT?? Sure enough take your truck there with a shovel and go to town filling it up completely free. For those that don't want to deal with making it yourself I recomend checking around to see if your town or a town near you has something similar.

The problem I have with those places (because my city has one itself) is that people put literally everything imaginable in their yard bins. Poison ivy and oak along with tons of seeds of weeds get mixed in with pesticides and poisonous fertilizers that are used on the over chemically treated grass cuttings which just leads to potential problems.

I'll use the city compost when dealing with a flower bed that I don't plan to ever put veggies in, but if I'm going to eat it I'd recommend having a bit more control over your compost sources than a normal city compost system could provide.

# ¿ May 30, 2010 06:52

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

The neighbors have caught on and have started watching for when I go out to the garden and then call me over to talk when I come back with mounds of strawberries. All the good will might make up for my lack of grass trimming and the number of weeds I ignore in my lawn.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2010 03:01

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

stubblyhead posted:

I have a pepper plant that's starting to get some tiny fruit on it. I've noticed that the edges of some of the leaves are starting to curl upwards though, and I've noticed some tiny black gnat-like insects on some of the leaves. Are these thrips? Does the old dish soap solution spray work ok on these guys, and will that be safe for eating later? I've seen a couple of aphids as well, but only a tiny amount.

I can't ID the bugs but I can promise that the dish soap solution is perfectly safe, despite what "A Christmas Story" might have you believe.

# ¿ Jun 2, 2010 17:08

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

This drat rain needs to stop, I don't want a small pond in my garden and my green beans likely don't appreciate being 1/4" underwater! I lost the last little batch of June strawberries because it was so wet they rotted and the storms have managed to hurt my baby apple trees as well, this poo poo needs to stop.

In other news, I'm considering buying a bunch of rootstock and setting it up for grafting from my apple trees and doing all the new ones in a supported espalier style. Does anyone have any experience doing something like that? Opinions on if I just be better off trying to find whips in the rootstock that I want than grafting myself?

Anubis fucked around with this message at 16:09 on Jun 14, 2010

# ¿ Jun 14, 2010 16:04

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

Emasculatrix posted:

I just had to dig up my pepper plant and move it because my zucchini literally quadrupled in size during the heat wave last week. I also picked a bunch of green beans, blackberries, and a few cherry tomatoes. I am one happy camper!

Your zucchini isn't done, it's going to take over everything then turn on your house! RUN, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

So it stormed like mad for about 10 minutes on Monday and one of my neighbor's trees had a major limb come off and land in my new strawberries.

Looks like a couple will be squashed but in good news he's removing the entire tree which will open up a ton of early morning sunlight to my garden!

# ¿ Jul 6, 2010 21:57

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

Alterian posted:

Tell me if this sounds a little crazy or not:

I've been having problems with growing things in raised beds. Is it possible the hot carolina sun is heating up the soil in the raised beds too much and drying it out too fast? The ph and quality of the soil is fine. I finally have a test going on. I planted some green beans in one of my vegetable boxes and some in another area planted directly into the ground. The ones in the ground are doing great. Only half the ones I planted in the box actually sprouted, and they look pretty gross. I only have 2 raised boxes, but I'm thinking about switching to straight in the ground.

My guess would be either that or (depending on what you filled your raised bed with) fertilizer burn. How far above the ground is your gardens and what do you use for an outside barrier? I've seen people use tractor tires and the like which I know would trap heat.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2010 18:16

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

There are several ways to ripen green tomatoes off the vine: http://www.wikihow.com/Ripen-Green-Tomatoes

I recommend the banana method, personally.

# ¿ Oct 22, 2010 18:43

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

Has anyone tried planting potatoes in trash cans? I'm curious what kind of yields I could expect from some several 30 gallon trash cans using this method: http://www.ehow.com/how_2222722_grow-potatoes-garbage-can.html

The other option is to make a wooden above ground enclosure 4' high, 5'x5' with a removable side to easily pull the grown potatoes out.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2010 21:06

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

Turkeybone posted:

Does anyone recommend any online seed or seedling companies?

johnnyseeds.com did right by me last year.

# ¿ Dec 29, 2010 14:31

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

Zeta Taskforce posted:

I wonder if that's a cutworm? If it is, they are up to no good.

It certainly looks like one to me. Kill them all! (And protect your plants with physical barriers).

# ¿ Jan 24, 2011 23:45

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

jovial_cynic posted:

Loving this California spring-time. I just threw down a bunch of seed yesterday, and I've already got buds getting ready to take off on my raspberry shoots and on my pomegranate tree.

Also, I learned that cilantro survives California winters, just like parsley. The basil, not so much. So I've got some year-round herbs available here, which is pretty exciting. Gardening here is SO much better than the few months of gardening weather I had back in Washington.

Fun!

We are predicted to get a high in the low 20s today in the midwest... I hate you so much. So, we have to get our large tree removed tomorrow so we can get work done on our sewer line. This means two things, 1) My garden won't be shaded in the afternoon (yay!) and 2) I need to plant 2 more apple trees to appease the wife.

The cost is totally worth not having to deal with helicopters and the resulting little trees anymore, though.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2011 18:17

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

Zeta Taskforce posted:

If you don�t mind me asking, how much will it cost to remove? I have a black walnut growing in the corner of my property that I hate. It�s a nice looking tree, but it also shades things in the afternoon, makes a mess, I can�t use the leaves for compost, and because there is only one of them, I don�t even get edible walnuts. Its about 5 feet from a train station; I�m not cutting it myself. I don�t want to cut it and be �that guy� on Chanel 7 Action News. I don�t know if I can afford to do anything this year or not.

This sucker is a bit bigger than a typical black walnut would be, but is running $1,000 to take everything down, chip all the small stuff, haul that away and cut the large stuff into manageable bits. I'll finish off the 2-4' logs myself with my chainsaw and give the wood away to friends with wood stoves... or I could make them do that work, we will see how generous/cold I feel.

# ¿ Feb 11, 2011 01:19

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

Costello Jello posted:

That includes grinding or pulling your stump, right?

No, that will be an extra $150-200 separately (it will be a huge stump). The sewer people included that in their bid, so the tree people didn't include it in theirs.

# ¿ Feb 11, 2011 14:32

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

Does anyone have a dependable supplier that sells triple crown blackberries? We've determined that we are going to put in a row of them to supplement our Apaches (we put in 4 more this last weekend) and I want to get them from somewhere reputable. Unfortunately the only place I've purchased from before is an individual seller on Amazon, and who knows if he's selling the real thing or a different variety.

Thanks in advance anyone who can help.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2011 22:12

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

FogHelmut posted:

The only outdoor space I have is a 5'x9' balcony. This is surrounded by a fence that doesn't let light through. I've got a couple of 16" round flower pots on a table, and 2 24" long window boxes to sit on the railing. Are there better ways I could be making use of my space? I don't plan on growing more than some tomatoes, peppers, and some herbs.

If it wouldn't blind anyone I'd purchase or build an inexpensive multi-tiered plant shelf and then maybe set up some light reflectors to help get more sun on them.

Maybe a stand like this: http://www.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx?DeptID=59556&CatID=59556&Grptyp=PRD&ItemId=1a68af6 maybe? Or even just normal shelving if you can get enough light reflected in.

It kinda depends if you have an overhang blocking sun on your balcony or not, since things like tomatoes and peppers are both very dependent on getting a lot of sunlight.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2011 22:17

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

VikingKitten posted:

Oh, I forget about clay. I have almost entirely sand. Any time it's not frozen it's crumbly I'm in Reno, NV, which just adds to the challenge.

I'll trade you a dozen cubic yards of clay for a dozen cubic yards of sand!

Stupid soil here always clumps. I keep telling myself if I keep adding a little river sand and a lot of compost and till it in every year, eventually I'll have something decent in my big garden.

# ¿ Mar 23, 2011 23:58

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

Chance of snow tomorrow with a low of 26? gently caress you midwest! :rant:

My potatoes and blackberry bushes haven't shipped either, I'm really afraid of them coming in when I'm out of town now.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2011 15:15

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

Got my All Blue seed potatoes today! Unfortunately I'll be out of town for a week so they will have to wait but it's still good that I got them before we left.

# ¿ Apr 2, 2011 07:22

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

Uh oh, not good. My Yellow Delicious tree has almost fully bloomed but my fuji tree hasn't even gotten his leaves out yet. I'm guessing this is going to completely gently caress up the pollination and mean almost no apples this year.

# ¿ Apr 19, 2011 13:53

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

Zeta Taskforce posted:

Are there any crab apples, anything else remotely nearby? That stuff does cross polinate. If not, maybe a neighbor would be kind enough to give you a branch of something that is currently in flower and you could put it nearby when the bees are active.

A couple neighbors have apple trees but they are a good 100+ feet away so I don't know how good they will be. I haven't even seen any bees yet this year, so I have no clue what the hell is up with this tree. It just seems to have completely jumped the gun on everything else. Once we get the sewer redone we are going to have to add two more trees to try and make our apple crop a little less vulnerable to this, I suppose.

# ¿ Apr 19, 2011 17:00

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

Here's a good question for you guys. Does using gypsum to break up clay have any potential weird side effects in a veggie garden? We've been fighting clay for years now working in compost with a little sand every year but if this stuff does half as well as I've seen people claim it'd be a God send for our larger garden.

# ¿ Apr 19, 2011 19:29

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

Eh, apple trees have pretty blossoms even when you aren't getting apples... not exactly my first choice but I could possibly see it as a decorative tree. What made me :psyduck:

was the concept of a growing a single strawberry plant.

So, I got 3 cubic yards of 50/50 topsoil/compost delivered today and I filled my raised garden with that, peat moss and vermiculite. My back is in so much pain. I've got a lot of the soil mix left, I'm considering making another raised garden somewhere in the yard but I Don't know where I'd put it yet.

Anubis fucked around with this message at 02:25 on Apr 24, 2011

# ¿ Apr 24, 2011 02:20

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

Pluto posted:

*Sigh* I was supposed to get a 50/50 mix last year when I ordered 20 cubic yards. I don't think that's what I really got. And it was super fun digging up bits of metal and broken glass this year.

Of course the only solution is to build another raised bed and haul out half the dirt and truck in pure compost (from another goddamn company). Like you I don't know where I'd put it though.

Uck! That's pretty horrible. I did find one piece of metal (that actually ended up attached to my sock) but for the most part my only complaint with what I got is that it had a little too much clay imho. But that's kind of how all the soil in the area is so assuming they are pulling from local sources it would make sense.

How did the metal and glass get in there without you noticing? Did they dump it directly in the bed for you or what?

# ¿ Apr 24, 2011 06:27

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

madlilnerd posted:

Thank you for making me feel better about my landscaping tie raised bed. I was feeling self conscious about how it looked because not all the ends are perfectly squared and lined up. Feeling loads better.

In a couple years you can always rip that out and build something a bit nicer, though. It's really not a big deal.

# ¿ Apr 25, 2011 06:32

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

madlilnerd posted:

peat stuff

There certainly is a debate over peat among gardeners and while I won't get into all of it since it would distract from the conversation I'll say that, while I'm currently using peat myself, if you can find and afford the price difference I'd recommend substituting coir, especially if you can spot it locally. Coir is industrial waste coconut husks ground up and it has pretty much all the great properties of peat without the debated ecological implications.

Anubis fucked around with this message at 17:19 on Apr 28, 2011

# ¿ Apr 28, 2011 14:00

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

neogeo0823 posted:

Most of the gas stations and nurseries around here carry a coconut based mulch. Would that be the equivalent?

You'll have to read the label to be sure they aren't adding anything weird but yes if it is listed as coconut it's using coir.

Costello Jello posted:

Is it still okay for me to enjoy Scotch?

A small donation to the nature conservancy or something similar should cleanse the soul and make the scotch taste a little smoother. http://www.nature.org/

Honestly, and I really don't want this getting into a huge debate in here, one of the largest threats to peat is underground fires and the burning of peat to produce energy. Slow moving fires can sit underground burning peat for dozens and even hundreds of years before they are even found and in some countries it's common to burn peat in large quantities similar to coal for energy production.

Of all the sources, Canadian peat is likely your best ethical choice as they heavily restrict the amount that can be harvested but in the grand scheme if we want to save the bogs and reap all the benefits, including cleaner water and massive amounts of trapped CO2, we need to stop burning the stuff for fuel and heat.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2011 17:44

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 02:21

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

Umbriago posted:

I've made my raised beds out of scrap wood. (They're 6ft x 3ft x 1ft.)

Now my gardening success depends on two things.

1. My dad agreeing to have these things in his garden. He agreed to having raised beds, but I don't think he realised how much room they'd take.

2. Me being able to get some topsoil and compost for cheap. 1 ton of topsoil costs �70, and I'm going to need more than that to fill these. There's no way I can afford that, and it defeats the purpose of growing my own veg -- to save money! I've put out wanted ads on a few Freecycle groups, hopefully someone bites before my seedlings need planting out. Otherwise this wood goes back to being firewood and the seedlings are given away.

At worst, raised bed for sale, �20 on craigslist/local equivalent.

Use those proceeds to fill one of them and just plant directly into the soil for the others for now.

# ¿ May 4, 2011 14:23

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

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