Gardening

[Rose White]

@DharmaGirl what do you use for your planting medium in your pots?

 

[DharmaGirl]

Just potting soil. I want to try the coco-coil, but haven't ordered it yet.

 

[Rose White]

I’m struggling with container gardening. I’m constrained to have to use lots of containers where I’m at, but I also have lots of shade. I really want to grow herbs and edible/useful stuff or flowers. I’m thinking I need to get into a routine of adding amendments to my pots. And probably breaking up old roots before planting new stuff?

Does anyone who grows in containers use a soil amendment? Sometimes I add fresh compost but I’m not sure it’s enough or often enough. Maybe a quarterly schedule would be best

Also, I really need to research plants that like shade. If you have any shade-loving plants please share.

 

[Friday]

Does anyone who grows in containers use a soil amendment?

Black Gold
Pearlite
Vermiculite
Blood meal
Bone meal
Worm castings
* People Pee

^^^ For their feet*
vvv For their leaves

Co2 spritzer (2 litre bottle of club soda)

* That’s my basic tomato blend above, which most of my container plants equally adore, or can at least cope with. Some need special blends. For actual tomatoes/tomato family plants I also add people-pee here and there. It was a lovely thing about having little boys! No peeing in a mason jar.

For “dirty” plants, (indoors) I stick all the pots in the bathtub once a week and run water through them until the water runs clear… the only additive I re-add are the worm castings, once every few weeks. For outdoor plants I just make sure to soak them wellest, as the toxins they excrete will filter out into the much larger area without any extra work on my part

 

[DharmaGirl]

I add compost to my containers, and some fertilizer. I have about a 90 day grow season so I combine half old soil with half I get out of a chicken area that has sat for a time. I also buy garden soil since most of the soil is crappy here. This year (in my spare time) I'm going to transfer some soil out of the chicken yard into a compost bin for next year's pots.

 

[Aprilshowers]

I live on a large property with several different kinds of gardens. I want to try doing a cottage garden this year. I've got it laid out for when the weather finally turns to spring here, but I'm still undecided on what to plant. I know I want hydrangeas and lots of color. Any suggestions?

 

[Friday]

I usually mix opiated poppies into my color gardens to “hide” them amongst the regular poppies and dahlias and such… because I don’t want people targeting my house to milk them, or rip them out by the roots, so putting them in my medical gardens in a no-go. They’re also illegal, but have plausible deniability mixed into all the rest. Because poppies are self seeding, they also add to the wild charm.

 

[Rose White]

@Friday when I grew opium poppies I couldn’t prevent them from hybridizing with the garden ones. The seeds were never true for me—bees love poppies!

 

[Friday]

@Friday when I grew opium poppies I couldn’t prevent them from hybridizing with the garden ones. The seeds were never true for me—bees love poppies!

<tilts head> You know? I wonder what the HONEY would be like in purely somniferum poppy fields???

 

[Dynamic]

I got a bunch of stuff from the garden center..including blue hostas
didn't even know that was a thing!!! I am going to mix them in with green variations on the side of the house under the kids balconies.

I took a before pic I am hoping I remember and take an after

 

[Friday]

I took a before pic I am hoping I remember and take an after

Me, too!

 

[Aprilshowers]

"Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the winter snow
Lies a seed that with the sun's love
In the spring becomes the rose"
- Ananda McBroom