Gardening |OT| Herb Your Enthusiasm

[Vincent Grayson]

Ooh, excited to discover this OT.

Just finished the last bit of work on my pumpkin patch (which I will forever call the Gourden) and got all the pumpkins and squash my fiancée had started into the ground. Now to hope the fencing is enough to keep bunnies from eating it all.

 

[Cow Mengde]

My parents grew these, so I have no idea what they are. I know it's some kind of gourd/melon. Just not sure what kind until they fully grow. Things that grow on vines are so satisfying though.

European chestnut that sprouted a few years ago. We have no idea where it came from. Decided to let it grow.

 

[maxxpower]

All my squash is dead from the multiple heat waves.

 

[Borgnine]

"Mortgage-Lifter" tomato.

 

[Dr_LawyerCop]

My garden is trash this year. A combination of pests and not having enough time to tend to it. Hoping to get some zucchini and might try to plant some more lettuce. Going to have to rethink some things. I think all the rain has hurt me. I have rarely had to water it all season, which means I haven't been in it as much.

 

[FliX]

Really pleased with my last weekend project...
Right next to the kitchen door for all our herb needs.

 

[Borgnine]

 

[Ether_Snake]

Might not be the best place to ask, but which part of the tree is "the trunk"? I have to cut a tree but the city is asking for a permit if the trunk is bigger than a certain radius at a certain distance from the ground, but this tree is like many trunks sprouting from almost ground-level, so I'm wondering if the trunk ends at the point where it forks, or if the forks can still be considered the trunk? I'll probably have to get a professional's written statement on this, but I'm curious. The tree is a lilac.

 

[Valkyr Junkie]

Might not be the best place to ask, but which part of the tree is "the trunk"? I have to cut a tree but the city is asking for a permit if the trunk is bigger than a certain radius at a certain distance from the ground, but this tree is like many trunks sprouting from almost ground-level, so I'm wondering if the trunk ends at the point where it forks, or if the forks can still be considered the trunk? I'll probably have to get a professional's written statement on this, but I'm curious. The tree is a lilac.

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A quick Googling across different municipalities says to add all of the trunk diameters up for a tree with multiple trunks.

You're cutting this tree down yourself, or is a tree service doing it? If I was doing it, I'd just feign ignorance and cut that sucker down

 

[Ether_Snake]

A quick Googling across different municipalities says to add all of the trunk diameters up for a tree with multiple trunks.

You're cutting this tree down yourself, or is a tree service doing it? If I was doing it, I'd just feign ignorance and cut that sucker down

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I'm in a city so I can't cut it down myself without some truck to carry the wood somewhere. If I go by the cost for another tree we had to cut which was MUCH bigger it shouldn't be expensive, and I'm going to split the costs with the other owner. Also I'll want them to remove the roots.

But yeah, I suspected I'd have to add them all up. That being said, I see they have a clause that says no permit needed if it obstructs construction work (not sure of the exact term in English), and I suspect that redoing the roof counts as that, which is why I have to cut the tree, because the company can't bring its container close enough. Everyone is charging us a lot because of it or won't do the job. The city requires that we plant another one after (for fuck's sake we had four trees on a tiny front yard, one that could have damaged the neighbors' building!), but I'll just get a small one planted in the corner if they ever come back to me about not having done it.

The joys of city regulations making everything complicated.

 

[Valkyr Junkie]

I'm in a city so I can't cut it down myself without some truck to carry the wood somewhere. If I go by the cost for another tree we had to cut which was MUCH bigger it shouldn't be expensive, and I'm going to split the costs with the other owner. Also I'll want them to remove the roots.

But yeah, I suspected I'd have to add them all up. That being said, I see they have a clause that says no permit needed if it obstructs construction work (not sure of the exact term in English), and I suspect that redoing the roof counts as that, which is why I have to cut the tree, because the company can't bring its container close enough. Everyone is charging us a lot because of it or won't do the job. The city requires that we plant another one after (for fuck's sake we had four trees on a tiny front yard, one that could have damaged the neighbors' building!), but I'll just get a small one planted in the corner if they ever come back to me about not having done it.

The joys of city regulations making everything complicated.

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Interesting. In my city, the city picks up yard waste including tree limbs as long as they're below a certain size. They only require a tree service to haul away away tree cuttings if they do the actual work and not the homeowner.

Can't you just play ignorant and hire the tree service, and then only get a permit if they say you need to get one? I would let them dictate everything since I wouldn't be surprised in scenarios where it's close to permit vs no-permit they would just go ahead and do the work to get paid.

 

[Ether_Snake]

Interesting. In my city, the city picks up yard waste including tree limbs as long as they're below a certain size. They only require a tree service to haul away away tree cuttings if they do the actual work and not the homeowner.

Can't you just play ignorant and hire the tree service, and then only get a permit if they say you need to get one? I would let them dictate everything since I wouldn't be surprised in scenarios where it's close to permit vs no-permit they would just go ahead and do the work to get paid.

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Ha you know what, I'd have to look into that, but I feel it would still be too many debris. I'd have to put them out little by little, but if it will cost like $500 total to get this done I think, and then split that with the other owner, so I'll hire someone if so, I have other stuff to do (and actually would have to get some equipment). We'll see when I get quotes.

For the permit, I am pretty sure all businesses will request it before doing the job otherwise they will get blocked from operating here. Here the only thing I'm willing to skip the permit over is the bullshit about having to replace my doors with ones that would actually let in less light because of their dumb architect's request to have doors of a certain appearance even though I should be able to replace my door by the same style I have since about half the doors in the neighborhood are like mine, and I have NO WINDOWS in that room.

Anyway /rant in the gardening thread but thanks for the suggestions!

edit: Just got a $500 estimation, they'll check on site to confirm the price, said "don't need a permit, save the money for a bottle of wine" ha!

 

[captive]

I gave up thinking my sweet potatoes weren't doing well. 👀

 

[Anustart]

I gave up thinking my sweet potatoes weren't doing well. 👀

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Them some big boys!

 

[Eye for an Eye]

I've been tilling a bit of the yard and planted some spinach seeds. It say 8 days to sprout and we've been getting some overnight passing rain to keep the ground moist. We shall see if anything happens.

 

[weemadarthur]

This year I'll just plant seeds in the ground. Starting indoors didn't help me at all last year, they just couldn't harden up.

 

[Anustart]

Oh I haven't even thought about what I need this year. I still don't have as much space as before.

Last year's pepper plants barely produced anything, so I'm switching back to the mix of coconut fiber + soil!

 

[W-00]

I started my tomatoes, melons, and pumpkins indoors a few weeks ago. I'm concerned that they may outgrow my current setup before it's safe to transplant them outdoors. We were having a very mild Jan and Feb where I am, so I thought I might be able to put them out early, but then a few days ago we suddenly had snow again.

I've added a small oscillating fan to my setup this year to hopefully strengthen them up a bit more, but as it's turned out, I can't have the fan on for very long at a time. It gets my cats interested in my plants, and that's never a good thing for them. My cats being interested in them is how I lost my two banana plants.

 

[Dr_LawyerCop]

Last year was a complete wash for me. I had animals get most of it, put up a fence but it was too late. I could have done a fall garden but I was just pissed at that point. Need to make some space in my basement to start seeds soon. I haven't figured out what I want to grow, but my 3 year old keeps saying he wants to grow pumpkins. Did that year 1 and had a ton of vines but not great pumpkins. I just really want it to be warm enough to work outside.

 

[weemadarthur]

Just watch out you don't plant too many pumpkin vines, those things hurt. They'll take over everything if they get a chance.

 

[Anustart]

Also little known fact. Now I don't know if this was specific to the giant pumpkins I tried growing one year, but they fn STINK.

 

[W-00]

I've grown sugar pie pumpkins a couple years (and my uncle used to grow larger pumpkins) and never had any issues with them stinking. Probably an issue with the specific kind you were growing.

 

[captive]

i started peppers and some plum tomatoes under my grow light.

2 sweet banana, 2 El Jefe jalapeno and 2 Jedi jalapeno. Tried to start 2 jalapenos i got from the store, they have the biggest jalapenos ive ever seen but so far they have no spouted.

also going to try tomatillos this year to make a home made green salsa.

 

[FliX]

This year I'll just plant seeds in the ground. Starting indoors didn't help me at all last year, they just couldn't harden up.

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Yea I too was disapointed with the results of growing my own seedlings. So this year I will probably just double down when mothers day comes along and there is a big local plant fair to buy a couple crates of assorted veggie seedlings that are ready to go.

Last year was a complete wash for me. I had animals get most of it, put up a fence but it was too late. I could have done a fall garden but I was just pissed at that point. Need to make some space in my basement to start seeds soon. I haven't figured out what I want to grow, but my 3 year old keeps saying he wants to grow pumpkins. Did that year 1 and had a ton of vines but not great pumpkins. I just really want it to be warm enough to work outside.

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Yup our harvest was also a far cry of what I had imagined...

 

[Eye for an Eye]

I just bought a little tray of tomato plants again for this year. Every year I can get at least one fruit off of a plant, and nothing more. But I keep trying every year. I have no problems starting them from seed, but I can never get them past the initial stage. Although I put out two pumpkins and a watermelon to rot in the yard. I'll till the soil up and maybe some of those seeds will take off. I had a pumpkin patch a few years ago when I turned over the soil digging up a privot plant. I had no idea what was sprouting other than it was green and it took over the whole area across the pathway up to the door.

I've got spinach growing at the moment, but the weeds over took them and shaded them out, so the leaves aren't much bigger than an inch or so. I uncovered half the patch, but now I have something eating the leaves, plus wormy bugs munching on them.

At the moment, my plum tree in the backyard is covered in blooms, the flower buds are coming in on the orange tree, but my apple tree in the front yard hasn't shown any signs of life since losing its leaves in the winter. I hope it comes back to life soon. It still feels fuzzy, but I haven't tried scraping the bark off to see if it's green on the inside.

 

[Valkyr Junkie]

I just bought a little tray of tomato plants again for this year. Every year I can get at least one fruit off of a plant, and nothing more. But I keep trying every year. I have no problems starting them from seed, but I can never get them past the initial stage. Although I put out two pumpkins and a watermelon to rot in the yard. I'll till the soil up and maybe some of those seeds will take off. I had a pumpkin patch a few years ago when I turned over the soil digging up a privot plant. I had no idea what was sprouting other than it was green and it took over the whole area across the pathway up to the door.

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Do you know if they're determinate or indeterminate tomatoes? Determinate tomato plants need a little bit of pruning, but indeterminate tomatoes need a lot of pruning (removing suckers) otherwise you'll end up with a giant plant that doesn't produce many blossoms for it size. Also, if you're in a really warm or humid client tomatoes will need shade in the summer.

 

[Eye for an Eye]

Do you know if they're determinate or indeterminate tomatoes? Determinate tomato plants need a little bit of pruning, but indeterminate tomatoes need a lot of pruning (removing suckers) otherwise you'll end up with a giant plant that doesn't produce many blossoms for it size. Also, if you're in a really warm or humid client tomatoes will need shade in the summer.

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I'm in California's Central Valley. We grow pretty much all tomatoes used for canned tomatoes. I've gotten flower blooms but it doesn't produce any fruit beside like one.

 

[Glimlocker]

I'm in California's Central Valley. We grow pretty much all tomatoes used for canned tomatoes. I've gotten flower blooms but it doesn't produce any fruit beside like one.

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Hey there - I'm in a part of SoCal with a very similar climate to the Central Valley.

What time of year do you see your tomato bloom? Anytime from late June-early September, the weather is too hot and will effectively sterilize a good portion of your flowers. So, you really need them to flower by May/early June.

It's definitely possible to get some tomatoes going - but I have no clue how the big Ag people get them to pollinate in our heat. Probably much denser planting to create a slightly cooler zone..?

Other tips:
- Incredibly consistent watering in the summer
- Fertilizer for tomatoes a few times before the fruit sets - but very little, if any, after the fruit sets
- Try San Marzano tomatoes - absolutely beastly tomatoes - mine are still fruiting right now after some hard frosts last week and a few others this winter.

Also, can you describe why you can't get the seedlings past the initial stage? Is it damping off? Or do you transplant and they just die off?

 

[Eye for an Eye]

Once I change their placement, from indoors to outdoors, they just die. I took an aluminum pan and placed like 24 of those seed discs. I added the water to let them expand and then drained the rest of the water. I placed carrot seeds in them and then used some saran wrap to cover it up. Once the seeds sprouted and started pushing against the top, I uncovered them and tried to transplant them into the ground. It didn't work out. I kept the tray outside in the same place I tried to plant them. For tomatoes, I've tried cherry tomato plants and full size tomatoes. I've even collected the seeds from some heirloom tomatoes. Never could get them past the initial stage either.

The only thing I've kept alive for like a couple of years now is an orchid plant. I've kept it in my kitchen window, that faces south and gets the morning sun. I forget it about it, ignore it, and flood it occasionally with water. It's on it's third or fourth time sending out flower shoots, and this time it sent out two. Both of them have buds forming on it. I have no idea why of all things this is the only thing to grow. My neighbor two doors down can make anything grow. She's even good at propagating clippings. And I'm good at killing anything.

 

[captive]

It's officially spring.

 

[captive]

me: meticulously spaces and plants carrots and cucumbers
dog: haha watch this *jumps in the garden and starts digging*

 

[scurker]

Once I change their placement, from indoors to outdoors, they just die. I took an aluminum pan and placed like 24 of those seed discs. I added the water to let them expand and then drained the rest of the water. I placed carrot seeds in them and then used some saran wrap to cover it up. Once the seeds sprouted and started pushing against the top, I uncovered them and tried to transplant them into the ground. It didn't work out. I kept the tray outside in the same place I tried to plant them. For tomatoes, I've tried cherry tomato plants and full size tomatoes. I've even collected the seeds from some heirloom tomatoes. Never could get them past the initial stage either.

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Are you hardening your plants? If you're immediately transplanting them as soon as the seed sprouts, that shouldn't be too much of an issue - but if the weather is still too cold they may have a tough time surviving. You may want to try to grow them in an ideal environment until they are big enough to hold their own outside. I usually wait until a couple of their true leaves are present, then gradually harden them off for 1-2 weeks before transplanting. For tomatoes, I usually wait until the chance of frost has passed and daytime temperatures are typically in the 70-80s.

Also, carrots are usually direct sow and aren't typically transplanted from seedlings.

This is our current setup with Hot/Sweet Peppers, Tomatoes, and Basil. We'll plant cucumbers in a few weeks since they grow so fast and direct plant everything else.

 

[Glimlocker]

Once I change their placement, from indoors to outdoors, they just die. I took an aluminum pan and placed like 24 of those seed discs. I added the water to let them expand and then drained the rest of the water. I placed carrot seeds in them and then used some saran wrap to cover it up. Once the seeds sprouted and started pushing against the top, I uncovered them and tried to transplant them into the ground. It didn't work out. I kept the tray outside in the same place I tried to plant them. For tomatoes, I've tried cherry tomato plants and full size tomatoes. I've even collected the seeds from some heirloom tomatoes. Never could get them past the initial stage either.

The only thing I've kept alive for like a couple of years now is an orchid plant. I've kept it in my kitchen window, that faces south and gets the morning sun. I forget it about it, ignore it, and flood it occasionally with water. It's on it's third or fourth time sending out flower shoots, and this time it sent out two. Both of them have buds forming on it. I have no idea why of all things this is the only thing to grow. My neighbor two doors down can make anything grow. She's even good at propagating clippings. And I'm good at killing anything.

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Sorry, just saw this.

So, to get things straight, you cover all your seedlings with saran wrap, then uncover them and transplant on the same day?
One thing that might be affecting it would be quickly moving from a high humidity environment to the very low humidity of our Californian air.

Essentially, you want to give your seedlings as little change as possible when transplanting. Your seedlings might be taking the double hit of both losing high humidity and being instantly exposed to high UV.

Here in most parts of CA, you should be able to just put a seedling tray out in morning sun and get them to sprout, no Saran Wrap necessary.

Last, can you describe what happens to the seedlings when the die off?
Do the leaves change color, do they completely dry up, or does the stem become constricted with the seedling toppling over?

 

[captive]

carrots are direct sow. They have a tap root that digs deep down, id say its nearly impossible to start them inside and then transplant.

for the other ones i do like scurker does and use a full spectrum UV grow light and i let them grow for a bit inside before i plant them outside.

 

[Nostremitus]

My four year old decided one of the raised beds was going to be her potato bed. So I helped her as she used the trowel yesterday.

 

[poptire]

We're building raised beds now and they're way more massive than initially realized. 8x4 is huge, y'all.

 

[Nostremitus]

We're building raised beds now and they're way more massive than initially realized. 8x4 is huge, y'all.

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Yeah, we have an 8x4x2 we use to grow Sunchokes, with PA parsley ground cover.

 

[Eye for an Eye]

So my soil is really healthy, but really compacted. It's like sandy clay. When it's wet, it's hard as a rock. When it dries out in the summer, it's dry as a bone and dusty. I tilled part of the yard, but it didn't really change it much. I don't know if I should add like a 2" or 3" layer of mulch to decompose or something else to help loosen it up. But there are some incredibly uneven areas of the yard that really need to be brought back up. It's a massive trip hazard, on top of it laying so low compared to the sidewalk. Would legumes or potatoes work for breaking up the compacted soil? Would it help if I wanted to put grass seeds out after harvesting? I'm also so over dealing with foxtails every summer. I get this lush green in the winter and spring, purple and yellow flowers and clovers all over the place, and then it all leads into foxtails when it warms up.

Here's a couple pictures of my spinach bed.
About a couple weeks after planting.

 

[Eye for an Eye]

And here it is after clearing the weeds that were choking it out. I thought I planted like five rows, or at least four. But it seems only 3 rows took root. Plus a cute little friend living in my yard. I think he's a Northern Alligator Lizard.

 

[FliX]

Spend some time in the garden yesterday on one of the first really nice days out just tidying and shit. Winter can please stay gone now.

 

[Dr_LawyerCop]

So my soil is really healthy, but really compacted. It's like sandy clay. When it's wet, it's hard as a rock. When it dries out in the summer, it's dry as a bone and dusty. I tilled part of the yard, but it didn't really change it much. I don't know if I should add like a 2" or 3" layer of mulch to decompose or something else to help loosen it up. But there are some incredibly uneven areas of the yard that really need to be brought back up. It's a massive trip hazard, on top of it laying so low compared to the sidewalk. Would legumes or potatoes work for breaking up the compacted soil? Would it help if I wanted to put grass seeds out after harvesting? I'm also so over dealing with foxtails every summer. I get this lush green in the winter and spring, purple and yellow flowers and clovers all over the place, and then it all leads into foxtails when it warms up.

Here's a couple pictures of my spinach bed.
About a couple weeks after planting.

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I think the way to improve your soil is to usually add a lot of organic material like compost, but I think it takes a lot of time. Not sure about potatoes and legumes but I do know that a lot of people plant daikon radishes as a cover crop to break up compacted soil. You plant them after your last harvest. I'd see if those work in your area.

 

[Cow Mengde]

It's that time of the year again, folks!

 

[W-00]

Just earlier today I had been considering putting some of my seedlings out since it's warmed up a bit and my seedlings are rapidly outgrowing my greenhouses.

Then we had hail. I'm glad I didn't put them out yet.

 

[Glimlocker]

And here it is after clearing the weeds that were choking it out. I thought I planted like five rows, or at least four. But it seems only 3 rows took root. Plus a cute little friend living in my yard. I think he's a Northern Alligator Lizard.

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That looks like you're off to a great start!
Also, I can't tell for sure, but it looks like you have a pretty decent plot of land to work work with.
I love when our lizard friends come to hang out when we're gardening. They're always good company.

Have you tried mulch? It's another must-have for the California garden. It will also improve your soil structure after a few years.
Garden straw is what I use, though any fine, natural mulch without seeds or dye should work well.

Last, you can just go to any respected garden supply in your area and ask for soil amendments - buy 2-4 bags of that and you should be set for a while.

 

[Eye for an Eye]

That looks like you're off to a great start!
Also, I can't tell for sure, but it looks like you have a pretty decent plot of land to work work with.
I love when our lizard friends come to hang out when we're gardening. They're always good company.

Have you tried mulch? It's another must-have for the California garden. It will also improve your soil structure after a few years.
Garden straw is what I use, though any fine, natural mulch without seeds or dye should work well.

Last, you can just go to any respected garden supply in your area and ask for soil amendments - buy 2-4 bags of that and you should be set for a while.

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I'll have to get pictures of the backyard. But the ground is so uneven and sunk down far below what it used to be. So many years of being compacted. I did get a little less than half the front yard tilled last summer, but I'm not seeing much difference in it. I really need something to break it up. Once it rains, it just turned into hard clumps again. I put up a storage shed in the corner of the yard, so hopefully I can get some stuff sorted and put away. We have bbq's all the time and I'm tired of cleaning the tables and chairs in between every use. I laid out 8 concrete tiles to line the edge and filled the middle in with sand. I hope that's good enough to support the shed. It's one of those lightweight Suncast sheds from Costco. Since I don't have anything in it, I could technically slide it to the side to adjust the base. I was limited on places I could put it without having to fill in the dirt to level it off.

 

[Kozmo]

I don't know if this is the thread to ask, but I live in an apartment facing north, so I get almost no direct sunlight. I'm looking at something like this so I can grow stuff indoors: https://asia.clickandgrow.com/products/the-click-and-grow-25

It's a big expense if I want to stack 3 of them together to feed my whole family. Does anyone have experience with these products? Are they ever really successful?

 

[FliX]

I don't know if this is the thread to ask, but I live in an apartment facing north, so I get almost no direct sunlight. I'm looking at something like this so I can grow stuff indoors: https://asia.clickandgrow.com/products/the-click-and-grow-25

It's a big expense if I want to stack 3 of them together to feed my whole family. Does anyone have experience with these products? Are they ever really successful?

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I'm interested in hearing what others have to say, as my partner has been eyeing something similar for the living room.
I have no personal experience, but see no reason why they wouldn't work.

But to be clear with three of these you are not feeding a family of 3 in perpetuity if that is what you are hoping for...

 

[Eye for an Eye]

That looks like you're off to a great start!
Also, I can't tell for sure, but it looks like you have a pretty decent plot of land to work work with.
I love when our lizard friends come to hang out when we're gardening. They're always good company.

Have you tried mulch? It's another must-have for the California garden. It will also improve your soil structure after a few years.
Garden straw is what I use, though any fine, natural mulch without seeds or dye should work well.

Last, you can just go to any respected garden supply in your area and ask for soil amendments - buy 2-4 bags of that and you should be set for a while.

Click to shrink...

Here's some pictures of what I mean with the backyard.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

I'm gonna try tomatoes, cumbers and spinach this year but it was still under 32f last week. Hopefully the weather decides to break and I can get started.

I have Asian Pears, mint, strawberry, grapes and persimmons.

 

[Cherubae]

It's almost time to start indoor-starting the tomatoes and watermelons. Last year I cross-pollinated two of the melon varieties as a mini experiment. Should be interesting to see what fruit the seeds produce.

So far I've only indoor-started flowers and coleus. Will be direct sowing the carrots and spinach soon; our last frost date is mid-April.