A Gardening Thread

[Mlle. Zabzie]

Send me some of that rain please!  That’s what I have to say.  And I am sorry about the Dahlias.  They are such temperamental little divas, but so beautiful when they thrive.

[lady narcissa]

6 hours ago, Elder Sister said:

We got 13 inches of rain in the last seven days, and my lovely dahlias that I have babied, prayed over, sacrificed small animals to...well, they're not doing so great.  I am SICK.  ...

... So how's your garden doing?

I am so sorry about your dahlias! I hope they rally and come around!

Living in an apartment with no outdoor space sort of eliminates weather worries for me.  My mint is doing fabulously! I do not want to jinx myself but I think I have perfected snipping some bits off every week for mint tea and keeping it replenishing itself.  My basil on the other hand is a bit undecided.  It was doing great but then the other week it abruptly halted its enthusiastic growing and is now on the fence about things.  I will continue to observe it.  I got the beginnings of a tomato plant that is supposed to do well in a container and will supposedly grow cute little tomatoes.  We shall see.  I successfully transferred it to a larger container and I've installed a support stick and marked its current height so I can appreciate if it grows at all this week.  Fingers crossed!

I will also request that you send your rain up here.  I absolutely love rain and we've hardly had any.  We are way behind this year.

[Alarich II]

We have an old saying that for a farmer, the weather is never right. Same goes for gardeners, I find. We had plenty of rain, after three exceptionally dry years and finally, finally everything is growing as it should without incessant watering. However, the humidity has also greatly favored the growth of funghi and so the peaches I planted last year and two of my apple trees have a fungus that curls up the leaves (curly top it is called, I believe). Which sucks because now it's too late for preventive treatment and I'll have to wait until next year and hope they survive. On the plus side, our cherries are coming along very well, the pear trees that I planted 3 years ago are bearing very promising signs of fruitification which wasn't the case in the dry years and the quinces and apricots I planted last year are growing very well. 

The mint that I thought I had razed from one of our raised beds has made a strong comeback with the clear intention to conquer and rule the entire bed. Regular mint tea just barely keeps it in check.

[Elder Sister]

My dahlias are actually doing okay.  I lost 3 dahlias that were rotted, but the rest of them are hanging in, blooming, starting to bloom, etc., and are looking good.  I've had to spray them with a 3in1 - the deep south is much different from the climates where dahlias seem to thrive.  I hope they'll pull through and do well; I just love them.

@lady narcissa, you got some bad weather in your area this week!  I was thinking about you - hope you dodged it and all was well.  @Alarich II, I love that saying about the weather.  It's so true!  

[lady narcissa]

1 hour ago, Elder Sister said:

...you got some bad weather in your area this week!  I was thinking about you - hope you dodged it and all was well.

Yes, it was completely fine in the city, all the action was out in the suburbs. Tornados *knock on wood* typically don't make it to the downtown area along Lake Michigan, they swerve or break up. There is speculation the heat put out by the concrete and buildings of the downtown somehow contribute to this.  In any case, we just had some heavy rain and lightning down here. And of course, living in a high rise building with no outdoor space, my plants were completely fine!

Actually my tomato plant is growing gangbusters.  I marked its height at the beginning of last week and then measured again this week and it grew 4 inches in the week.  Which seems pretty good for a what is supposed to be small tomato plant that isn't supposed to grow too high.  Will it actually grow tomatoes?  That is this summers entertainment!

Glad your dahlias seem to be pulling through!

[Toth]

I must admit, the Corona lockdown had succeeded in turning me crazy. I don't have a garden. I don't even have a balcony. But still at the beginning of all this I jokingly thought to myself that it would be neat to be self-sustaining like some kind of prepper. So I started randomly planting all kinds of seeds that piled up from whatever fruits were currently on the table. I planted loads and loads of orange, lemon, tangerine, pear, pomegrenate, tomato, pepper, currant, strawberry, cherry, mirabelle and gooseberry seeds. Absolutely convinced that they wouldn't become anything anyway, so I planted them in wild abandon.

Well, fuck me.

By now all window sills and the whole dining table are covered in plants. Oranges, tangerines, peppers and tomatoes definitely work the best. Mad as hell that my lemons and pears got killed by a spider mite infestation. For the last month I have been able to harvest lots of tomatoes and peppers, the peppers even tasting astonishingly close to the hyperengineered supermarket peppers I took the seeds from. In fact: Those fucking peppers! I took all the seeds from a single yellow pepper that I thought wasn't ripe anyway and threw all of them into one bucket of soil, learning far too late that yellow peppers are just a type of pepper and not a state of ripening. Next I knew I had 45 goddamn pepper plants to tend to. I... honestly can highly recommend it, these little guys are perfect for your little home farming enterprise. The pomegrenates are also terrific. Planted three, two sprouted and even though one at one point looked a bit frail, they have now grown to quite the impressive height.

Unfortunately I don't have the patience for any kind of stone fruits. I read somewhere that you can drastically increase the speed of cherries sprouting by carefully cracking the shells, so I did that, but it didn't lead to anything. Berries hate me as well.

Now the next step of insanity came upon me: On my way back home I found a couple of marron trees that were already dropping their fruits. Well... I grabbed a handful of them and we'll see whether I can make some of those sprout. Has anyone experience with those?

Edited October 1, 2021 by Toth

[DireWolfSpirit]

On 10/1/2021 at 10:36 AM, Toth said:

Next I knew I had 45 goddamn pepper plants to tend to.

Salsa batches!!

[HoodedCrow]

My friend composted tomato seeds and lived to regret it:)

[Mlle. Zabzie]

43 minutes ago, HoodedCrow said:

My friend composted tomato seeds and lived to regret it:)

I had a volunteer acorn squash this year.  It was tasty.

[DireWolfSpirit]

Our Apple tree yield this season is not even a third of normal.

Parents in lower Michigan have said its the same( sparce ) in their area.

Edited October 4, 2021 by DireWolfSpirit

[Toth]

Wednesday I wanted to dig up the chestnuts to put them into the freezer after watching some Youtube videos explaining that this is what you've gotta do to make them sprout. Well... apparently not me. Two of the four planted chestnuts turned out to already have sprouts. Today I came back to dig one of those up to put it into a separate pot, but it turned into a bit of a hassle because the root was already like 10 cm deep. Little buggers grow fast!

... also, while I was already at it, I randomly buried two walnuts next to it... I mean... why not?

[A Horse Named Stranger]

On 10/1/2021 at 5:36 PM, Toth said:

I must admit, the Corona lockdown had succeeded in turning me crazy. I don't have a garden. I don't even have a balcony. But still at the beginning of all this I jokingly thought to myself that it would be neat to be self-sustaining like some kind of prepper. So I started randomly planting all kinds of seeds that piled up from whatever fruits were currently on the table. I planted loads and loads of orange, lemon, tangerine, pear, pomegrenate, tomato, pepper, currant, strawberry, cherry, mirabelle and gooseberry seeds. Absolutely convinced that they wouldn't become anything anyway, so I planted them in wild abandon.

Well, fuck me.

By now all window sills and the whole dining table are covered in plants. Oranges, tangerines, peppers and tomatoes definitely work the best. Mad as hell that my lemons and pears got killed by a spider mite infestation. For the last month I have been able to harvest lots of tomatoes and peppers, the peppers even tasting astonishingly close to the hyperengineered supermarket peppers I took the seeds from. In fact: Those fucking peppers! I took all the seeds from a single yellow pepper that I thought wasn't ripe anyway and threw all of them into one bucket of soil, learning far too late that yellow peppers are just a type of pepper and not a state of ripening. Next I knew I had 45 goddamn pepper plants to tend to. I... honestly can highly recommend it, these little guys are perfect for your little home farming enterprise. The pomegrenates are also terrific. Planted three, two sprouted and even though one at one point looked a bit frail, they have now grown to quite the impressive height.

Unfortunately I don't have the patience for any kind of stone fruits. I read somewhere that you can drastically increase the speed of cherries sprouting by carefully cracking the shells, so I did that, but it didn't lead to anything. Berries hate me as well.

Now the next step of insanity came upon me: On my way back home I found a couple of marron trees that were already dropping their fruits. Well... I grabbed a handful of them and we'll see whether I can make some of those sprout. Has anyone experience with those?

How on earth did you get your pepper seeds to grow. Serious question. Thought those are cooled for transport, and thus the seeds become dead. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

On 11/6/2021 at 7:24 PM, A Horse Named Stranger said:

How on earth did you get your pepper seeds to grow. Serious question. Thought those are cooled for transport, and thus the seeds become dead. 

Buy some from an area farm, the only transport there is field to vegetable stand.

One area farmer has their veggie stand directly next to planted field. Pretty sure it's just pick, rinse and into the same bushel basket that sits in the stand for you to purchase. No cooling involved there.

[Toth]

On 11/7/2021 at 1:24 AM, A Horse Named Stranger said:

How on earth did you get your pepper seeds to grow. Serious question. Thought those are cooled for transport, and thus the seeds become dead. 

Mmh... first I have heard of that. Have you tried it yourself? Because I seriously didn't do anything other than take the seeds from one bell pepper in a packaged bag from the supermarket, throw them in the bucket and then get overrun by plants.

Edited November 7, 2021 by Toth

[Spockydog]

10 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

How on earth did you get your pepper seeds to grow. Thought those are cooled for transport, and thus the seeds become dead. 

Buy a pepper, cut it open, extract seeds and plant them.

 

Edited November 7, 2021 by Spockydog

[Spockydog]

Also, refrigeration is how you preserve the life of seeds.

Edited November 7, 2021 by Spockydog

[IheartIheartTesla]

Not really a gardening thing per se, but its now leaf raking/blowing season here in Michigan (a bit late but whatever). The thought is that the falling leaves choke the grass below over the winter if you don't rake them, but I've always been a little dubious of this notion. At any rate, I think the debate though is whether to let the city collect the leaves or have it sit to the side and maybe be naturally mulched over the winter. The latter has the advantage at least of maintaining some sort of biodiversity in your environment.

[Toth]

42 minutes ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

Not really a gardening thing per se, but its now leaf raking/blowing season here in Michigan (a bit late but whatever). The thought is that the falling leaves choke the grass below over the winter if you don't rake them, but I've always been a little dubious of this notion. At any rate, I think the debate though is whether to let the city collect the leaves or have it sit to the side and maybe be naturally mulched over the winter. The latter has the advantage at least of maintaining some sort of biodiversity in your environment.

Well, it certainly needs to be moved from the roads to prevent injuries. Wet leaves are a nasty hazard. Not sure how much grass you have in public spaces. That you have to remove it from large grass patches is something I also heard, but it is definitely encouraged to leave it below your shrubs for insects and hedgehogs to hibernate with. Heck, here if you are a garden owner this is the season where you can barely walk two steps in the evening without getting run over by a hedgehog huffing and puffing about their business. You really shouldn't take away their leaves.^^

[IheartIheartTesla]

Here in suburban and small town US the yearly process is to rake/blow/sweep the leaves into a nice pile by the side of the road that municipal services come and collect every year. The roads are cleared as a matter of course as part of the yearly process. I'd agree with what you say about leaving a nice pile for little critters to munch on in your yard, but as 'they' say, you cant fight City Hall (although it isnt really a mandate).

[Tywin et al.]

No fair, I'd love to find hedgehogs in my garden!

Regarding leaves, I was always told you should mow over them where possible before raking them into your garden for the winter and let the city deal with the ones in the street.