Gardening

[Mach123]

Last year I tried to start late and I told myself oh everything I do in my garden works out because I have a green thumb. Maybe I do but what I did last year it was I took a bunch a Shortcuts including starting late and I screwed the whole thing up. Or the front yard anyway and then I got only about 5 pumpkins and the sooty blotch was horrible so…. This year I’m totally overcompensating.

I have a new garden in the front outside the fence on the street I’ve never done that . Moon flowers and night blooming morning glories and lavender. Inside the fence and right along the border there are so many plants from the last few years I don’t remember them all and inside the perimeter wildflowers and sunflowers . I like all the sunflowers and I’ve been getting purple and red ones I really love those . Some of the moon flowers and morning glories and sunflowers out front are still going in I’m not done.

I trimmed the hedges yesterday they are really tall and that’s a big workout but I bought that little giant ladder and it’s too heavy but there are lots of good qualities like I can get up pretty high and feel safe enough to wave the appendage removal tool (electric hedge trimmer) around.

Out back I made beds for the fence meaning the forsythia hedge . There are other bushes mixed in, our poor lilac that’s finally doing well this year mostly I think because I hit it with the poison in the spring. There is a kind of hard shell aphid I think that was killing it . I made beds around the hedges and weed blocked in front and behind . Instead of mulch I used bags of miracle grow potting soil over the weed block instead of mulch , mulch sux, and I’m really happy how it looks. The yard full of weeds and weeds around all the plants is really depressing. Plus I have neem oil for the sooty blotch my peas were dying as soon as they came up this year (those are new) I’m pretty sure it’s sooty blotch hopefully the neem oil works.

Over in the big backyard flower garden I put zinnias and sunflowers and morning glories and this year a bunch of new stuff I’m trying. Winging it. Totally exciting. Plus we have prolly 5 or 7 planters and I actually made 2 planters myself that I’m still assembling. I don’t know how that’ll work or how my planters will look but we will see shortly.

What I really love about all this is you make one great big effort in the spring my neighbors you know just can’t believe watching me jump around in the whole yard and do all this and then you get to enjoy the thing you know all summer and it just keeps changing and growing and are you gonna do is keep watering and weeding which I’ve also been very lazy about in years past but you know this year I’m gonna try and keep up even though I say that every year and also I need to get soaker hoses and you know something else like that because yeah I’m always half assing the watering you know so that’s next, but it’s been quite a year so far and I’m really excited.

 

[Mach123]

I was just out there again for a couple hours it’s freezing with the wind howling off the ocean and cloudy. I had to wear a sweatshirt and woolrich shirt with long sweatpants and this for working and digging. I’m getting there though. I think I want to put a border here like a little fence thing or whatever I’m going up to Home Depot and see. I told my wife I wanted that low white wire fencing people used when we were kids . She said no of course her favorite word. None of my family ever did anything in the yard thirty five years but they are quick to say they don’t like whatever it is I did or instruct me what I should have done . It’s the nerve, the audacity that gets me. But whatever like Ricky Nelson said you gotta please yourself.

 

[Friday]

Last year I tried to start late and I told myself oh everything I do in my garden works out because I have a green thumb. Maybe I do but what I did last year it was I took a bunch a Shortcuts including starting late and I screwed the whole thing up. Or the front yard anyway and then I got only about 5 pumpkins and the sooty blotch was horrible so…. This year I’m totally overcompensating.

I used to have a black-thumb… until I got engaged to a horticulturist (advanced degrees, his business in a rare niche, etc.). And he broke it down… Barney style… on exactly how to grow HIS plants.

I’m a natural with animals, but had to be explained to as if I were a drunken child, for plant care. He? Had OCD so was not only willing to do that, but relieved I followed his directions so explicitly. I had to. The black thumb meant NOTHING came naturally.

Being with him? Means my average/low producing tomato plant is 50+ pounds of tomatoes. When my neighbours average 10lbs of weak beasts (pinkish, droopy) per plant. I have a veeeeery narrow range of plants I can grow to competition level excellence. (The 5 I grew with his precision/training). A wider range (a few dozen) that I can grow well (as I’ve researched & follow conventional advice & have experimented with). A few hundred that will grow, under my care, to middling or lesser effect.

I started/learned/mastered growing (certain species) indoors. My transition to outdoors, with the same species, dependent on the fawking weather?!? And other variables?!? Was soooo not a kind one >.< Growing indoors you can OCD the fawk out of sprouting, vegetative and fruiting cycles, soil & nutrient comp, air/temp comp, pinching, flushing (for “dirty” plants, like “dirty” fish… flushing all the toxins out of the soil, replacing the water in the tank), etc., etc., etc..

If you understand plants intuitively? Like my ex-fiancée did/does, or I do with animals? The knock back is a bizarre thing (I get on with wolves & horses, and can train both to a fare thee well, but dog training I get knocked back on, & have to go all artificial/calculated with ). But it also lets you know where the edge is to the envelope. Having to go PAST a thing, to find its edges.

***
I learned today that growing an already-growing onion bulb? Only gets you seeds. >.< I’ve been assuming for YEARS that growing onions are like growing ginger/garlic/potatoes/Jerusalem artichokes/etc.… say hello! to a new crop, if you can “just” facilitate its enthusiasms. Nope. Seeds. Not new bulbs/roots/etc.. Well f*ckity f*ck f*ck. Dagnabit. Meanwhile? All the plant-minded people in my life are like… Well, DUH! Hello! Sigh.

 

[Mach123]

I used to have a black-thumb… until I got engaged to a horticulturist (advanced degrees, his business in a rare niche, etc.). And he broke it down… Barney style… on exactly how to grow HIS plants.

I’m a natural with animals, but had to be explained to as if I were a drunken child, for plant care. He? Had OCD so was not only willing to do that, but relieved I followed his directions so explicitly. I had to. The black thumb meant NOTHING came naturally.

Being with him? Means my average/low producing tomato plant is 50+ pounds of tomatoes. When my neighbours average 10lbs of weak beasts (pinkish, droopy) per plant. I have a veeeeery narrow range of plants I can grow to competition level excellence. (The 5 I grew with his precision/training). A wider range (a few dozen) that I can grow well (as I’ve researched & follow conventional advice & have experimented with). A few hundred that will grow, under my care, to middling or lesser effect.

I started/learned/mastered growing (certain species) indoors. My transition to outdoors, with the same species, dependent on the fawking weather?!? And other variables?!? Was soooo not a kind one >.< Growing indoors you can OCD the fawk out of sprouting, vegetative and fruiting cycles, soil & nutrient comp, air/temp comp, pinching, flushing (for “dirty” plants, like “dirty” fish… flushing all the toxins out of the soil, replacing the water in the tank), etc., etc., etc..

If you understand plants intuitively? Like my ex-fiancée did/does, or I do with animals? The knock back is a bizarre thing (I get on with wolves & horses, and can train both to a fare thee well, but dog training I get knocked back on, & have to go all artificial/calculated with ). But it also lets you know where the edge is to the envelope. Having to go PAST a thing, to find its edges.

***
I learned today that growing an already-growing onion bulb? Only gets you seeds. >.< I’ve been assuming for YEARS that growing onions are like growing ginger/garlic/potatoes/Jerusalem artichokes/etc.… say hello! to a new crop, if you can “just” facilitate its enthusiasms. Nope. Seeds. Not new bulbs/roots/etc.. Well f*ckity f*ck f*ck. Dagnabit. Meanwhile? All the plant-minded people in my life are like… Well, DUH! Hello! Sigh.

I grow flowers I gave up on veggies because of where I live and it’s just too much trouble in general not to mention the expense when the stuff is so cheap in the grocery. I just find that everything is against you. Every kind of pestilence and bug on earth comes right after you as soon as you try to grow a couple tomatoes. But, since you mentioned tomatoes. I had good luck last year with my cherry tomatoes and that was a lot of fun so this year I put in some big boy tomatoes I grow them in 5 gallon buckets and some cherrys and some seeds. I used the miracle grow potting soil. However in years past, I’ve always suffered from what we call the black spot because that was a thing in treasure Island if you recall that.

Is there any one size fits all chemical I can use on my tomatoes so that I can get a few and they don’t rot on the vine? I also tried peas this year and I never thought I would have any trouble with peas. I’ve grown them plenty of times in the past and there are a lot of fun and it’s the first thing you put in the garden and the city block just wiped me out I don’t even know if I’m gonna get any peas. I’m trying to nurse them right now and spray them with the Neem oil to try and bring them back from what I think is an infestation of sooty blotch. Anyway thanks so much for your post and any advice you could give me would be very welcome.

I do love growing things it’s hard to imagine in a few short weeks with some luck those sunflowers will be 10 feet tall lol. I also did catnip basil rosemary and thyme in small
Window boxes . I leave the seed packages around where I plant things otherwise I’d never remember it all. I’m pretty much done except for the window boxes I built for the driveway. Very thin to accommodate the very thin driveway . I’m not much at the carpentry mostly because I don’t take the time to read how to do it I have this ridiculous idea always that I can wing it .

 

[Friday]

I had good luck last year with my cherry tomatoes and that was a lot of fun so this year I put in some big boy tomatoes I grow them in 5 gallon buckets and some cherrys and some seeds. I used the miracle grow potting soil.

MiracleGro is extreeeeemely addictive to plants… once you start, you have to keep feeding it, or they’ll wither & die… or just sort of limp around. As you’ve started this year with miracleGro? Continue. There is NO workaround. MiracleGro start, MG end. Proprietary chems. Even perrinials cannot rehab after they’ve been introduced to MG. They, and their progeny, are dependent on MG… forever. Next year, though? As tomatoes are annual?

3/4s to 4/5ths Black Gold Potting soil.
Remaining Quarter or Fifth =
40% pearlite
40% vermiculite
10% blood meal
10% bone meal
+ water with worm castings

& Water twice… once DRY 1-2 inches &/or droopy plants (you want droopy plants, from too little water, and burned tips from too much; it makes the fruiting cycle kinda insanely productive). Once to wetten the soil. Once to hydrate the plant. If growing in pots? Stick them in your bathtub once a week or so and turn the shower on to clean all the toxins out of the soil (tomatoes, like goldfish, are “dirty” plants. They excrete a lot. And their excretions -built up- slow down both vegetative & fruiting cycles. Like 2-3 pounds per plant, instead of 25-50, depending on strain. For seeeeriously productive plants? 50lbs per plant? First, flatten seedlings with a fan, so the stalks get FAT. Second? Water twice, so the pots are freaking HEAVY, and don’t water again, until they’re feather light dry. To flush out toxins, wait until the horrid brown water turns clear). The first watering, plain water. The second watering worm castings. Ditto, after flushing out all the toxins? Do a second watering with worm castings.

& Piss on the soil at least once a day. Tomatoes LOVE human urine. <<< Thos was one of the delights of having boys, as kids. Girls need to use wide mouth mason jars, or slurpy cups & pour. Boys can just “write their name” in the soil, all delighted about breaking taboos, peeing outside). Yes. Pee on the soil, not the plant.

& stick a sprayer head on seltzer water (water + Co2, no salt/sugar/minerals from club soda) and spray the leaves/ stalks to Vroooom up their Co2 intake…. For intensely dark green, massive photosynthesis nutrient grabs. At least a couple times a week. On the plant. Not the soil.

Yep. Veggies are work.

But also casual going about your day work; a piss here, a spray there, a trip to the shower.

 

[Mach123]

I use the MG soil they sell in green bags. I have to use the half sized bags. The big ones are too heavy for me to handle now and the soil it’s in them is always soaked so they really weigh a ton. Then I add the MG green stuff dissolved in water. So it’s all MG all the time. Not constantly no. I’m not good at doing things consistently. The veggies are in pots of it. All the flowers are in topsoil but mixed heavily with it. I’m going to try putting out soaker hose watering gets to be a chore and those water bottles I’ve seen upended that leak slowly for the pots . A dry year is my biggest fear . We had severe drought conditions a couple years ago, and it was really depressing watching everything die from thirst.. Thank you for all that wonderful information. I’ll keep reading it over and over and slowly some of it will get implemented. It’s always nice to get to chat with a maestro. Someone who knows what they’re talking about from experience. Happy Memorial Day! It’s 5:20 and I’m looking forward to going out and poisoning the slugs.

 

[Mach123]

 

[Mach123]

 

[Mach123]

Watering all the boxes . All the above ground plants I find should be watered daily. They dry out very quickly. I got a nice watering head for my hose and a new hose . This is self care I realize very shockingly. My old setup made me wreck the plants and get all wet. Luckily I blew up my 2nd hundred feet of expansion hose and I’m very happy to be rid of it . It only cost 25 bucks for real garden hose 100 ft. I don’t recommend the expansion hose at all and I had to laugh at the obvious volume in sales they’re doing with it at Home Depot and it’s very expensive!

The real garden hose is a little heavier but I’m going to leave it lying in the yard . I took all the kinks out of it first thing, in terms of usability I find this crucial. Anyway, no more beating myself up with the garden hose .

 

[LemoNadka]

I'm really big into growing. I'm just intermediate level but it's therapeutic so I figure talking about it could be therapeutic also.

Hi, I'm also into Gardening. Sadly I live in the city for now, but I've got a long balcony. So I've got a huge palm tree ( I carried it myself and the mud on my shoulders and climb my 3 floors to my flat !) I did for all my plants. It was exhausting but also felt good. I've got 2 other palm trees but they're little still, I've got an aloe Vera, I've got 3 plants of different cherry tomatoes, Basil, parlsey, chive, strawberry , some flowers, Orchids, cactus.. my plan is to get nature around my long chair and then I will lie there in a bikini with a book and nobody to see me from other buildings

 

[Dark.Green.Feathers]

took some fleabane* cuttings today, hoping they will take and when they are big enough i will put them outside my window. probably should have taken them a lot earlier but it’s ok.
been nerding out on the taxonomy of all these daisy looking plants. normally it’s animals but not today. learning a lot. enjoying being curious and having a project like that. might have more plants out my window if one of these propagates well.

bellis genus species are “true” daisies, single stalks per flower, mostly basal leaves… erigeron is the fleabanes, typically branchy stems, more leaves further up. so many genuses of different daisy looking flowered species. practically millions.

would love to grow strawberries out there at some point, it gets a lot of light. i like the look of their flowers, too. would probably have to share with the birds but no big deal. if decoys don’t do it i’m not looking to net them or anything because i mainly want to look at it. as long as there is fruit, that’s good to me.


*erigeron karvinskianus specifically, for anyone interested.

 

[jaccat]

I have strawberries growing through my lawn - wild and cultivated. I've never planted them, the cultivated ones were here when I moved in, the wild ones have been a gift from some unknown bird. Both apparently like my garden, judging by how they thrive. I'm not a huge fan so the birds get nearly all of them.

This is my first year of a proper attempt at veg growing. I put in two little raised beds in the spring and have onions, beans, salad leaves and courgettes in them, plus two pots of tomatoes and a big tub of potatoes. There was spinach too, but it bolted. I started off two more courgettes in pots in the house incase the ones outside didn't take and am now in the awkward position of having four plants for one tiny plot. The ones inside seem to have solved this themselves, though as they are already fruiting - in my kitchen, which is mildly hilarious.

No idea whether I'll actually get anything edible at the end, but I'm enjoying the effort.