Old thread: >>753269
Companion Planting - Raised Beds - Vertical Gardening - Square Foot Gardening - Polyculture - Composting - Mulching - Vermiculture - Espalier - Fungiculture - Aquaponics - Greenhouses - Cold Frames - Hot Boxes - Polytunnels - Forest Gardening - Aquaculture
Resources:
Murray Hallam’s Aquaponics: (sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYR9s6chrI0 )
-Aquaponics Secrets DVD
-Aquaponics Made Easy DVD
-DIY Aquaponics DVD (Aquaponics The First 12 Months And Aquaponics DIY DVD)
Backyard Aquaponics
https://kat.cr/backyard-aquaponics-t4385398.html
400+ PDF BOOKS ON GARDENING
https://kat.cr/400-pdf-books-on-gardening-t3324399.html
Youtube channel Growingyourgreens, tons of videos on almost every single gardening subject,
https://www.youtube.com/user/growingyourgreens
Ollas clay pot watering system,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkNxACJ9vPI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvKq5geEM-A
USA Time of Year Planting Guide,
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/what-to-plant-now-zl0z0903zalt.aspx
Food preservation,
http://nchfp.uga.edu/
https://kat.cr/complete-book-of-home-preserving-pdf-gooner-t10069401.html
https://kat.cr/canning-and-preserving-all-in-one-for-dummies-2011-mantesh-t5998098.html
http://www.allamerican-chefsdesign.com/admin/FileUploads/Product_49.pdf
Mushrooms, (culinary and psychoactive):
https://kat.cr/usearch/Stamets/
Mother Earth News' Vegetable Garden Planner program, (full version requires yearly subscription $fee)
http://www.motherearthnews.com/garden-planner/vegetable-garden-planner.aspx
Tons of Gardening/Farming PDFs
http://www.fastonline.org/?page_id=35
Aquaponics
http://www.fastonline.org/?page_id=32
US Farm Income and Taxes,
http://www.hobbyfarms.com/farm-marketing-and-management/farm-income-taxes-14991.aspx
US Grants and Loans for Small Farms,
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=GRANTS_LOANS
http://afsic.nal.usda.gov/farms-and-community/grants-and-loans-farmers
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/funding.shtml
Managing Risks on Your Small Farm,
http://agr.wa.gov/Marketing/SmallFarm/managerisk.aspx
Chicken info and forum,
http://www.backyardchickens.com
Rabbit guide
http://www.agriculture.gov.tt/publications/manuals/rabbit-production-a-producer-s-manual.html
A public access seedbank for many types of rare or endangered plants; both edible and ornamental,
http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/index.htm
Organic and heirloom selections:
http://sustainableseedco.com/
http://www.seedsofchange.com/
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/
Potato, Sweet Potato, and Tubers seed bank (free, but requies filling out forms and waiting in line):
http://www.cipotato.org/
Awesome interactive plant/gardening maps for USA, Canada, France, UK, BC, (frost dates, temp zones, etc):
http://www.plantmaps.com/index.php
Sprout seeds and info:
sproutpeople.org
Insect Habitats for attracting polinating bees, predatory/parasitic wasps, hibernating ladybugs, butterflies, etc.
http://www.inspirationgreen.com/insect-habitats.html
Toad and Hedgehog Habitats,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JetkWtw7Jc
http://familycrafts.about.com/od/frogcrafts/a/How_To_Make_A_Toad_Village.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces/hedgehog_home/
http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/leaflets/L5-Hedgehog-Homes.pdf
Chili Peppers
http://www.fatalii.net/
More on Aquaponics & Aquaculture,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=26xpMCXP9bw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=_WgfaJjvfxA
http://www.appropedia.org/Aquaponics
Sourcing plants from the grocery,
http://www.diyncrafts.com/4732/repurpose/25-foods-can-re-grow-kitchen-scraps
What's wrong with my pepper? Some of the leaves have spots like this and the tips of most leaves are broken or brown
>>762879
Bacterial leaf spot.
>>762884
How do I fix it?
This has bean the comfiest series of threads ever.
I've learned so much m8s.
>>762886
http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/NewsArticles/PepperLeafSpot.htm
Hope you like reading.
Check out my high tech irrigation equipment made with the leg from a pair of old jeans, a piece of string, and a hose clamp.
>>762891
>This has bean
is this a pun?
Update from the herb "beer garden"
Things moving along nicely!
Radishes started sprouting today, going to thin them out in another day or two. Have two rows of about eight radishes, two seeds per sow.
Still waiting on my tomato, parsley, jalapeno, habanero, cayenne, cilantro and red bells to sprout. Hoping in the next week or two.
My chive plant got a haircut last night.
My brussel sprouts also got some friends yesterday, two companion thyme sprouts.
>>762953
Lel
It will be cool when it's all grown in
Hello friends, is this a fungus or disease on my onions? First time growing, I figured the foliage should be dying off pretty soon to start creating bulbs, but I wouldn't expect greyish spotting on the leaves.
>>763129
Unsure, but I'd take the leaf off to prevent spreading.
Gonna commence a dump here since I snapped some pics today. First up are some pea sprouts that I've been munching on. These were grocery store peas that were about $2 a pound as opposed to the seed packets which will run you about a dollar an ounce.
>>763264
First time doing Potatoes. Should I cover or let them grow a bit more?
>>763266
Rhubarb brothers. I think these guys are older than I am.
>>763268
One on the left. Should make some jam this weekend if I'm not too behind on studying for finals.
>>763269
Onions on the left, but I'm more interested in the circled area. I buried a horseradish cutting there a month ago. Do either of those sprouts look like they could belong to him?
>>763273
Finally the vanguard of my main garden. Mostly peas, turnips, radishes, and yet unsprouted carrots. There's also a Spinach at the bottom left. Already 3 weeks since planting but these guys have gone through snow, sleet, a couple frosts, and a high temperature of 86 last weekend so I'm not surprised with the slow growth.
>>763266
Let them grow more. They have at least a week or more before you should cover them.
Horrible dream last night. Two drunk and asshole teens tore up my garden leaving cigarette butts and torn up plants everywhere. Woke up in a cold sweat. Bad juju.
Could I grow 2 tomatoes in 1 10l pot?
I love going through fields and grabbing all the corn I can get for free
>>763495
Sure as hell can, just buy a determinate species .
>>763485
Man do I know that feeling. My garden is on the other side of 10 acres and I worry about that shit daily. Thinking about throwing up a fence to keep retards and deer from wiping me out. I had to chase a doe off my land last night around 12.
>>763485
I had a dream my sister bought a tiger cub and we played with it
>tfw u underestimate how many of your plants are going to survive and now you have to perform eugenics
>tfw too lazy to build another raised bed
cant wait to get em in the ground tho
>>762910
I like this. Peppers look healthy too.
what are you using as mulch?
>tfw just plucked my first strawberry
Interestingly enough it's from the rows of (cultivated) F. vesca (which are supposed to start later but go until October/maybe November), and not the × ananassa cultivar rows
>>762910
what mulch is that?
>>763713
I was wondering the same.
Hardening my babies
I'm growing (some are inside) hot beads, aji verde, 7 pod primo, Trinidad scorpion (only one survived) Carolina reaper and other boring ones like nacho, jalapeño and Serrano, bell
Planted a Bracatinga tree some three months ago, its about 3ft tall now, growing an inch a week, would anyone be interested to see monthly posts of it?
Pic related is what it looks like as an adult
>>763783
Sorry forgot pic
>>763783
Yeah, definitely.
>>762858
just planted this dwarf meyer lemon tree. Does it look like it's been grafted or grown from a seedling?
>>763575
>>763713
>>763736
Looks like really old mulch.
>>763747
>Hardening my babies
For some reason a whole scene of a drill instructor yelling at plants went through my mind.
>>763783
>>763787
If you can, do a stop-motion of it.
>Be me
>Be prepping a couple of beds for green beans and a salad garden
>Pulling weeds and ripping out saplings
>See sapling that I don't recognize species
>Uproot it
>Has giant bulb just under the surface
>Look closely, it looks like a walnut
>Go consult the internet
>It is indeed a walnut sapling
>I damaged a few leaves and broke off the lower part of the tap root
>Re-pot it anyway and hope it works out
>6 hours later and it is still not wilting
Seems as though I may have just scored a new walnut tree. If it's still living in a few days, I'll post pics. I already know where I am going to put it if it survives.
Now I'm left trying to figure out how the hell a raw walnut made it into my garden=/
>>763916
I had several of those pop up in my garden too. Make a big BIG wide hole filled with rich soil/compost. Keep it watered well through the years. In like 5 years it will have walnuts for you. Not doing that will mean 10-15 years before it fruits.
You can always espalier it too.
>>763967
Cool. It's a sapling, so it may take two years instead of one, but normally when I put a new tree in here, it spends the first spring/summer/fall establishing its root system, then grows like a rocket for several years. I have an apple tree that went from 5' to at least 12' in 2 years. The water table is 4'-6' depending on how much moisture we've had, and trees that send down deep tap roots don't need that much water.
>>763866
where'd you get it?
>>764001
Ebay my nigga
>>763866
I can't say, but if you're in doubt you can always cut the bottom suckers
>>764011
how was it sent? Just in a moist packet?
>>763908
Yelling at your peppers is actually part of the process
>>764018
Yeah. The roots were wrapped up. The guy has good reviews and has communicated with me about how to take care of it, says the ones he's growing now are starting to flower. Not showing much travel shock at the moment either, even though it was ground shipped from California to North Carolina
>>764016
Ebay dude has confirmed they are grafts. Should i cut the bottom ones off? He trimmed it some and those don't look like sucker branches.
>>764081
How much was it? Care to share a link?
>>764083
I'd cut them, to be sure the root doesn't come over the graft.
>>764105
This. I once had a "dwarf" cherry tree. It was planted where the space was just right for a dwarf too. When I cut it down, it was 40' tall. That was probably because the rootstock overcame the graft.
>>764105
>I'd cut them, to be sure the root doesn't come over the graft.
please explain science of this. This intrigues me.
>>763627
>tfw just plucked my first strawberry
Waiting for the squirrels to start plucking mine. I wish I could take an air rifle to the fuzzy rodents or something.
>>764131
Most fruit trees that you get from a nursery are grafts. They'll pick a root stock that is tough, and then they'll take a twig from whatever cultivar produces the desired fruit, graft it onto the root stock, and then once the graft has bonded to the root stock, cut off any root stock above the graft. Sometimes the root stock can throw out shoots, and that can lead to undesirable fruit production/flavor/etc...
It's not as big of a deal when this happens with most stone fruits, but some fruit trees are almost 100% propagated via cuttings and grafting. Apples are one such example, because, due to them being triploids/tetraploids, they rarely breed true. Starting an apple tree from seed can result in some very off flavors, and apple breeders might go through 1000 or more trees until they have a good tasting cultivar. Every single Fuji apple tree can trace its lineage back via cuttings/grafts to the very first Fuji.
>>764141
Is the root stock the same species?
>>764188
Same species, different cultivar. I don't know if grafting onto a different species is even possible, or if it is possible with some things but not others. You might take some shit tasting apple tree that survived a nasty drought, a few hurricanes, a few extra wet years that left the soil perpetually soaked, etc... and use that for your root stock, then graft a cutting from a Fuji apple tree onto it. I have one apple tree that has five different kinds of apple on it, and it's all thanks to grafting. (I didn't do the grafting.)
>>764199
Is this why fruits from grocery stores rarely produce true seeds?
>>764201
I know that there are issues with polyploids breeding true in some species, but not in others. I only marginally understand polyploids, so I would recommend that you do your own research on that topic. But yes, that is one of the many possible reasons that a plant won't breed true to its parents.
Also, a lot of commercial cultivars are hybrid. When you're talking home gardening and breeding your own plants, you are talking about something different than a big farm hybrid. They both fit the definition, but crossing a yellow squash with a pattypan squash is different than what is done with some of the major hybrids. The basics of commercial hybrids is that they'll pick a set of desirable traits in one line, and inbreed the fuck out of that line until it gets retarded, do the same with another line - making sure that the desirable traits in the other line compliment the desirable traits in the first line, then cross breed those. From there you do actually get hybrid vigor. F2 generations can be wonky with that shit though. They can also be wonky with the squash from a home gardener though. But that's just fun.
This leads into male cytoplasmic sterility. IIRC, and don't quote me on this, because it's been a while, but IIRC, they take the mitochondrial DNA from one species and replace it with that of another, making the males of its offspring sterile. (The male sterile part is true.) This gets passed on, even if a different cultivar that isn't male sterile pollinates a female from the male sterile line.
Think about how easy it would be to make sure that only pollen from one line was fertilizing the other line with retardo inbred hybrid crops. Think about the lack of a need for patents, because your shit is going to die out if you save seeds from their shit.
>Cucumbers are starting to flower
>Tomatoes starting to flower
>Cabbage heads forming
>Sunflower heads forming
>Broccolini heads are forming
>Blueberry plant has finished flowering and is now fruiting
>Strawberries are fruiting
>Everything else is coming along nicely
>ruby red basil seeds finally sprouted today
>mfw it's the middle of autumn, most of my shit is growing out of their appropriate seasons
I am having so much fun with gardening, only started a couple of months ago. Completely filled up my vegetable garden and intend to do an expansion ready for spring. I want to grow corn and amaranth during in it, and start on some more sunflower varieties, and a few experiment plants like Kiwanos.
Has anyone here tried aquaponics? Does anyone know some numbers like how many times water should be changed, the ratio of fish to plant, best fish for specific plant and such.
More concretely I am interested if tilapia could go well with lettuce and how many tilapia individuals would i need for x number of lettuces.
>>764199
>I don't know if grafting onto a different species is even possible
At least in the case of citrus this is often done (within that genus)
Never did anything like that myself before, but I wonder if I can place a Quercus x turnerii twig on a regular Q. robur or petraea seedling (oaks are not supposed to work with simple cuttings in water glass), gotta read up on it
Almost every single plant in my garden has some kind of disease or pest on it.
>>764272
>mfw it's the middle of autumn, most of my shit is growing out of their appropriate seasons
Row covers anon, row covers.
>>764201
No, most fruit are open-pollinated and must cross with another variety. Apples must have a second apple tree of a different variety in order to produce fruit. Since both parents are different varieties, the seed will be a cross. Some orchards (like mine) use crabapples to pollinate all the trees since they are extremely hardy and always bloom fully no matter what with more flowers than anything else. Thus, a seed from such a pollinated fruit will be a cross-pollinated hybrid like Red Delicious x Crabapple (Malus domestica 'Red Delicious' x Malus hopa). Which most likely won't be anything at all like the fruit's parent plant if you grow a tree from its seed.
>>764423
Is that bacterial spot all over your plants?
I thought mine was bad. Jesus.
>>764423
whats in the bottles? I assume its to control the climate inside?
>>764141
I don't think I'm at that stage yet, I just want a fruit tree
>>764141
is there any downside to cutting them off?
>>764499
There shouldn't be. If you're worried, you can wait until you know the root system is established, but I expect that it should be fine. You can cut enormous amounts off of a healthy established tree and not kill it.
>>764432
water, they store thermal energy
>basil leaves are droopy
>one site says it needs better drainage
>another says it needs more water
>another says its fungus that isn't present
>another says its flowering (its not)
>another says the other is wrong
>another says
I think I have to re-pot it into either something with very good drainage, or put it in the ground and just deal with having to walk a little further from my kitchen to get basil.
Does anyone have any opinions on what to plant basil in?
>>764532
I'd personally put it in the ground, but I'm just like that.
And, yes, it can be quite annoying that overwatering presents the same symptoms as underwatering.
>>764532
>Does anyone have any opinions on what to plant basil in?
Whatever as long as the drainage is good.
>>764532
I'm pretty sure that's how basil is supposed to look
>>764604
Agree with this. When basil leaves get large like they they curl naturally.
>>763129
I don;t think that's a big deal. Those onions look big. Could they be ready to pull?
>>763266
Definitely let them grow more.
>>763273
I don;t know what horseradish looks like, but I know that doesn't look like any weeds (VT) we have.
>>763747
If you;re losing pepper babies it's because you;re not warm enough, or dry enough. It's always cold or wet that kill peppers.
>>764532
That looks fine. Basil would prefer to be dry than wet.
>>762953
Let's hope it will keep going
>>764423
Interesting. Don't those plants need sunshine?
>>763783
>>763865
>>763908
There ya go thats Month "1" for it, as soons as it grows substancialy I'll put a timelapse together, leaves are looking depressed because its almost night time and this type of tree(mimosa) falls "asleep" during night time
Guys
How big of a spruce or cedar or fir tree could I transplant? My family has a rural property and our neighbour built a big ugly garage near our property line
I want to trans plant trees from the forest and make a wild like hedge along the property line
Is 2.5 metres too tall to transplant a deciduous tree ?
Anyone have any idea weekday this could be? My uncle was told that it is an herb used for cuts or scrapes.
>>764738
>weekday
*What
>>764738
It's that herb Sam gets to put on Frodo's stab wound when he's stabbed by the Nazgul in Weathertop
>>764723
This fucking thing
>>764757
Kingsfoil nigga. Steep that shit and water and all the gondor maids will be on your dick.
>>764762
Looks pretty old. It may have some "electrical" problems that could start an "accidental" fire some day. If such a thing were to occur.. well.. it would be very beneficial to your current situation.
>>764738
Reminds me of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hylotelephium_spectabile which I also have quite a few in the garden, pretty common ornamental around here, valued for its dry place tolerance and late flowering (where I live it does around late August to October, yours already looks like it's about to though)
Pic is one of mine in flower
>>764765
He actually cut a tree down on OUR properly to hold backfill for his garage
We had bought the property that summer so my dad didn't want to make bad relations with our new neighbour
Now we've had enough. I'm sure if we appealed to the Township aka town council they could get a court order for him to demolish it because backfill is on our property
However we're not assholes and he lets us use his driveway in the winter and the land isn't useable for us anyway
I just want to hide his ugly garage
>>764513
Hmm... I think i'll cut the two at the bottom off in a couple of weeks. I'm gonna let it settle in for a bit longer, this is only its second day since being shipped.
I'm having trouble getting seeds to start. I'm allowing them to germinate before putting them in degradable starter kits. Is there a point where I should know to plant them in my garden? Should they get potted before the get planted? Am I watering them incorrectly (until the starters are damp along with the soil)?
>>764813
What's the trouble?
>>764814
They shrivel and die. Sometimes watering helps, most of the time it does not. Overwatering maybe?
>>764813
Got any pictures?
>>764819
You may need to describe the conditions and sequence of events that leads to shriveling. Also, what plants are having the problem?
>>764835
I'm not able to take pictures. Sorry
>>764841
Nearly everything but, its most noticeable in my broccoli which were perfectly healthy sprouts, about 3" tall, before shriveling and dying. I removed them from whatever those seed staring kits that simulate a mini greenhouse are called after they grew too tall, set them on the counter to give them some sunlight, and have watered them until they're soaked, twice, sometimes once, a day.
Why aren't you guys "cardening" yet?
hyuk hyuk
Seriously though, this weed has been doing just fine here for a couple months now. Destroy or it see how much longer it can hold on? If it starts getting too out of hand I'll have to get rid of it to save my car.
So my rosemary sprout is getting a little leggy and toppling over. Is pruning recommend at this early stage or should I just try and keep it upright like I am now with that little toothpick?
>>764890
Leave it man, the plant and the car have become one.
>>764768
Thanks.
>>764901
1. Is it really rosemary?
2. There is almost nothing to prune!
3. Just put more light if you want it less leggy, preferably in a colder color temperature
>>764901
Spindly plants are often a sign of not enough light getting to the plant.
>>764813
>>764819
>>764841
>perfectly healthy sprouts, about 3" tall, before shriveling and dying.
Sounds like textbook case of "damping off", which is caused by too much watering which creates a fungal infection.
If you're using those little seed starting coconut fiber things that swell up, I had the same problem with damping off using those.
>>764901
Thats not rosemary. Pic Related is what rosemary looks like young. They have pointy leaves and dont look all clovery like that. Unless its a really weird breed. Its not a weed?
>>764979
It's rosemary. Unless I got a packet of seeds, which all looked the same, that were all somehow not rosemary.
>>764981
Hmm odd, thats a really strange leaf for rosemary to have is all.
>>764968
Thank you. That sounds right
>live in a dorm in a shifty neighbourhood
>become part of the resident council
>take initiative to make improvements at the dorm
>make a tiny community garden on a patch of land we have
>everyone is really happy about it
>wake up this morning
>find out someone trashed the gardens during the night
>mfw
You try to give to people, and this is what happens.
>>764981
m8 it's most definitely a weed, the rosemary seed hasn't sprouted yet.
>freeze watch tonight
Be strong my children
>>765054
For me there's usually frost warning until the third weekend in May
I share your frustration
>>764855
Over watering I think.
>>765049
There will always be bad people. Don't pay them any attention and they will go away
>>765100
>>>/r9k/28552762
Apparently not.
>>765105
>reverse image search
>it's an old picture
Yeah.
>>765078
>>765054
Sometimes I think they just do that on the news to fear monger people. I've had frost/freeze warnings every other day and it is like 80-90F during the day and 60Fs at night.
The way I do it is to check the current temps and if the sky will be clear. If the sky will be clear all night and the temps low (25-35F) then there will be frost.
>>765049
>You try to give to people, and this is what happens.
Regardless of the damage and your situation, never freely give anything to people for any reason at all. Always do an exchange, no matter what. I know it sounds really Jewish, but people do respond better to it and have more respect for the object/service. Plus, if you give anything freely, people become entitled and just want more and more then get angry when you don't have more or refuse.
You can learn this quickly by helping children. The patterns show up faster with them, but adults are just as bad yet a little more restrained. Also, the types you are dealing with have childish mentalities who are adults. That makes it even worse because they are too old to re-train and too young to reason with properly.
>>765105
That's just an armchair troll. All you have to do is cite laws and the fact they are destroying property and can go to jail for it then hide the thread.
>>764762
You could try a royal empress tree. They grow really fuckin fast, like 10' a year. They also get pretty flowers too, and they aren't invasive. They'd do a great job of covering up his garage if you live in the right zone.
I know absolutely nothing about gardening but i'm interested in starting something basic, preferably something I could eat.
Where should I start in educating myself on the subject?
Recommendations of the type of plant I should try first?
>>765230
What is considered a local staple? That's a good place to start.
>>765233
Not sure what the south florida gardening scene is haha
>>764762
>>764723
You can move as large a tree as you have the tools and know how for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtOfeMs7wGc
>>765261
Cool webm
>>765228
>royal empress tree
I just looked it up, I'm looking for conifers because in winter it wouldn't hide it where's conifers could be like a hedge
>>765049
Just keep going. Some people are retarded.
https://youtu.be/rQFSzoxFZcQ
I took a bunch of pictures but I'll just post two, ask if you want more of a specific area.
To the far left is a scalloped cinder block circle. The front part has my watermelon, butternut squash, and cantelope, the back half has a rosemary bush, some peas, and some green beans. The back three are on a timed sprayer that wont get the melons/squash wet which are on a drip line.
The large bed on the left, some 15 x 7 is half corn, then peppers, then sprouts/kale/broccoli/cauliflower. Popup sprayers.
Large bed on right same length but less wide is cucumbers up front with the metal supports, then collards, two peppers, lettuce, parsnips, carrots, beats, and an eggplant. Popup sprayers.
Around the whole system planted in the cinderblocks squares are things I dont want spreading. Here I have three large sage plants, a line of strawberries, some leeks, thyme, stevia, basil, a few flowers here and there to keep the wife happy. Merigolds as well.
Throughout the whole system I have tobacco growing randomly because it keeps away the yellowjackets and aphids.
In the back of the picture, may be hard to see, there should be a fig tree, gogi berry bush, seaberry tree, plum, peach, and apple in separate pots all linked to drip lines.
Not pictured are my tomatoes up by the house, the olive trees on my decks, and the green beans on my front deck.
>>765323
This is pretty depressing. This peach is loaded but it is seriously afflicted with leaf curl. We have hit it pretty hard with copper and have been picking off the effected leaves but who knows how much fruit will make it.
Are there any hen breed identification guides that aren't paginated to hell requiring loading up 100 tabs?
I live in NJ and want to move out to Colorado to start a chicken and vegetable farm. I have 0 experience with farming and gardening, and I recently quit my fulltime IT job in the city for a fulltime job at a warehouse closer to home in the suburbs.
I still live at home and cannot start my own garden because my father uses all of the available soil on our tiny property for his garden, and I can't participate in his garden because of his "if anyone does this except me, the entire garden will die and the soil will become infertile for the rest of our lives" mentality.
Where do I start?
>inb4 "You don't, enjoy your miserable life as a wage slave."
Did lots of work in the garden today. Mounted up the potatoes some more and applied some fish blood and bone everywhere. Fucking spuds are growing like crazy at the moment. Even used a crowbar to destroy parts of the shed ceiling (how do you know something's plasterboard and not asbestos? It's probably plasterboard, it was made in the last 20 years).
Made a new home for my 3 surviving pumpkin plants (RIP shorty, you put in a good innings until my cat sat on you). They're gonna spread like motherfuckers so it's possible I'll cull 1 more, or maybe 2 - this is my first time growing pumpkins. The wind started picking up and because the pumps are freshly planted, I was worried about the wind causing damage to them. I had some leftover wood in the shed so I decided to try my hand at building a cold frame until the little chaps are bigger and well-settled. Don't have any glass or perspex, so poly sheeting will have to do.
Oh and my peas have started showing what I hope is going to be their first pods! In pic you can see my dying beans (bastard cat sat on them too. bitch), some salad bollocks on the left, and a hint of my ever-growing wilderness of peas, string and chicken wire.
/blog
>>765193
>Regardless of the damage and your situation, never freely give anything to people for any reason at all. Always do an exchange, no matter what. I know it sounds really Jewish, but people do respond better to it and have more respect for the object/service. Plus, if you give anything freely, people become entitled and just want more and more then get angry when you don't have more or refuse.
This. People appreciate a thing more when they have to give something up for it
>>765365
Look for a job in Colorado, maybe consider one that's not in IT, that way you can at least support yourself once you move. Look into what kind of land you need to raise chickens, then look where you can grow chickens, as in what towns will let you. I assume you want free-range chickens, so I'd suggest looking into any free-range chicken farms either in New Jersey or Colorado, and ask them how they handle their shit. I think you can mail order chicken eggs that'll hatch into little babies.
Whatever you do, don't get into debt
>tfw some of my onions are starting to flower
What do? I capped the shafts with the flower buds, will the bulbs continue growing?
Also, shouldn't you normally wait for the foliage to yellow before harvesting? Too bad there's 10+ days of cool, rainy weather in the forecast, so no matter what I do, the soil will be wet
>>765496
I know onions are delicious, but have you tried leek? Grows year-round (in oregon) and you can harvest many times. Cut it off at the base and you can have 4x1in of sweet onion like flavor. Cut it off right near the base and it will grow back. Early spring plant the first batch. When the old batch starts sending up bulbs wait until they are 1-2ft tall, should happen a month after planting your starts. Entire stalk is super sweet and makes for an awesome base for leek soup. Boil all the leeks, blend, boil, cook into a paste and freeze.
>>765523
I cook with leek too but not too often desu, also too late to start it now from seed, unless the hardware store has pre-grown young plants
>>765523
>>765496
>>765559
>tfw I planted a whole bed of elephant garlic bulbils last fall and they look like grass growing up all through the bed now.
Can't wait for the 1st harvest in 3-5 years. lol I need to pick out some equal-sized places to plant each successive season. That way in 3-5 years when the first bed is ready to harvest I'll be planting a new bed and be doing that every year from then on.
Not to do with gardening but I have mice in my boat
Fuck
>>765648
You have a mouse garden now, friend. Take care of them well and they're good eatin'.
>>765616
I thought it was 2-3 years from bulbils. Did elephant garlic take that much longer to mature? I planted some cloves last year I'm hoping I don't fuck up. If my onions are any indication I probably still will, though.
>>765664
I threw the babies in the lake but momma escaped
>>765329
>We have hit it pretty hard with copper
I think this only really works if you do it preventatively when the tree is still dormant before it has a chance to set in come spring time.
>>765687
Ah thanks. We have used fungicides as well. Were trying to shift to copper. Been chemical free for three years now until this.
>>765664
It depends on the variety. 2-3 years for bulbils is hopeful, but 3-5 is shrewd. At 3 years, larger varieties are the same size as normal garlic. I'm shooting for 3 years due to great growing conditions.
Welp, all my pepper plants have bacterial leafspot. Wat do?
>>765731
I know that feel
Cut all infected leaves and change the soil, remove all dead leaves Round the base
>>765559
Depends on what zone. I'm in zone 8, right next to zone 9, and I wouldn't hesitate to plant them right now. Yeah, a bit late, but they're biennial anyway, so a little frost in the fall won't hurt them.
**********
I need /out/'s opinion. I'm the poster who found the walnut tree in my garden a couple of days ago. I potted it right away, and after 2 days, the parts that aren't damaged aren't wilting. I do need to put it into a bigger pot, as a quart is a wee bit small for a tree, but it was ready to go and it was big enough for now.
My question is this: I already know where I'm going to put it if it survives. It is only about 10" tall right now, and it needs to be bigger to have a better chance of survival where it is going. I know you're supposed to put trees in the ground when they're dormant, but this thing should start growing a taproot like crazy. Should I plant later this summer or in early fall when it still isn't dormant so that the pot doesn't stunt the taproot?
>>765738
This plus spray copper soap fungicide.
The copper won't cure disease on old foliage, but will help prevent it on new foliage, so it's still important to remove any dead leaves.
Also don't use overhead watering that gets foliage wet. I made the mistake of using a lawn sprinkler to water my stuff and nearly everything broke out with bacterial diseases.
>>765746
That's the one nice thing about gardening in the desert. While I have to be careful about getting the leaves of things like beets and chard wet when they're in direct sunlight, foliage dries so quickly that I really don't have to worry about that kind of stuff.
>>765754
Avoiding overhead watering is also about avoiding splashing spores on the ground up on your plants.
I have a bunch of used tomato cans in my recycling pile, >>762953 got me thinking I could use them as pots for small herbs if I puncture some small holes in the bottom of them.
Is there anything wrong with using a metallic can (that might rust) as a pot?
>>765793
Apparently it's a thing. Lot of information on Google about it. Couldn't be too bad if there's a ton of people doing it.
These look really nice if you intend on gussying them up a little. Hell makes me want to do something like this for my kitchen herbs.
I seem to have developed a minor case of fungus gnat in one of my houseplants. I could buy an insecticide, but if I water less and maybe just scrape the the top layer off and hit it with some Lysol to kill the fungus will that be sufficient?
>>765885
Either:
1. Get a spray bottle and mix 1:4 ratio of hydrogen peroxide to water. Mist the top soil twice a day until infestation has went down considerably.
2. Open your spice cabinet and grab some type of pepper seasoning like cayenne powder, etc. Sprinkle on top layer of soil in pot.
>>764199
you can graft a tomato plant onto a potato rootstock. I think they just need to be closely related, as in the same family or genus.
>>765965
There's a neat trick. If this works I'll need to look into some sand to prevent future infestations too. as the soil I've got these in doesn't seem to drain well.
>>765885
If you want to minimize their presence, be sure to water and let dry your plants all on the same rhythm (otherwise, when one plant dries, the gnats go lay eggs in another). It may be hard to do if your plants don't all need water on the same rhythm (by example different pots' sizes).
Something else that I find helping (beside not watering too much) is to fill a small yellow-bottom cup (by example a transparent cup on a yellow sheet) with soapy water. If properly lighted (they tend to fly toward light), it catches adults quite well.
All in all, if their flying-arounds don't annoy you to much and if their quantity stays reasoned, they are not a real threat for the plants
>>765054
>30 degrees tonight
Everything I've got out so far should be hardy enough to survive a light frost, but still I'm a little worried. Covered my unsprouted cabbage and cauliflower just to be safe since they're a bit less hardy.
>>766045
>tfw highs/lows of 13/4°C (literally colder than last Christmas) after it was 28/14 for a couple days last week
Hate that rollercoaster BS, had to put my lemon seedlings back inside after they were out for a month
I can just hope my tomatoes, bell peppers and watermelons won't suffer too much
>battling bacterial/fungal infections on my tomatoes and beans
>nearly a whole week of rain ahead
>>766051
Yeah, this rain is bullshit. lol
>>766050
Stuff low to the ground often times can handle it since the soil is radiating pent up solar heat. You can help this using containers of water around your plants. Paint them black for extra thermal absorption and release. They can also help with frost conditions.
>>765305
Ahhh, good point.
That feel when perfect growing conditions.
>>766252
tfw frost warnings in May
I've run some ties down low, indicated with red line. Maybe I'll run a band outside at the top so it won't interfere with digging? My concern is that the frost will blow er apart.
>>766292
Pic above is across the bay from you. Note the snow in the air :/
My Roma Tomatoes sprouted, very pleased.
>>766376
Which pic? Are you in Owen Sound?
>>766508
Cool
My family is from Chesley
Hey guys,
Poor-grad student here with month old tomato / sweet pepper / habanero pepper seedlings currently in little peat starter pots.
I know it's ill advised to go from a tiny pot to a huge pot, but I have no in-between sized pots.
Is it okay to repot these seedlings right into their final containers, at 10-14" diameter? I'll be pulling the seedlings out of the peat containers, don't worry.
>>766523
Wat?
Just bury the peat container in the bigger pot.
>>766537
I've read that people say you should remove the root ball from peat containers because even though the peat dissolves over time, it hampers further root growth.
>>766539
Poke holes in it if you're concerned
Pulling it out of the pot will just damage the roots because they usually stick to the peat and can penetrate it too
If the cotyledons died on my 3" tall seedlings and the leaves are starting to turn yellow, should I fertilize?
>>765439
>Asbestos
I cant tell you about processed asbestos, but I can describe its crystal form. mineral/raw asbestos has long fiberous / needle structures. If its fiberous at all take that shit to an asbestos lab for an ID.
>>766551
Chances are you need to water less, maybe it's already too late though (root rot)
Made a raised bed this past weekend. Cherry tomatoes, full size tomatoes, bell, jalapeño, and seranno peppers, onion sets, and eggplant. Also bush beans in some tilled earth in the back, not too much hope for them buy I thought why not. First time trying my hand at gardening.
>>766616
My spacing might be a bit off but I just kind of eyeballed it after buying the plants like I tend to do. Still need more cages for the other tomatoes. Do the peppers and eggplants need them too?
>>766620
Yup, you're going to have a solid mass of tomatoes and peppers. Don't worry though, you should still get tomatoes and peppers, it is just that each plant should have a reduced yield over what it would if you had given it more space. You can also prune the tomatoes to make them more manageable when they start growing into each other.
Sometimes I plant my shit too close together on purpose, but that's when I'm doing something for seed saving and I want some competition between plants to see which ones will whip the other plants' asses.
>>766599
Arg it's so frustrating.
I feel the soil every day twice a day and whenever it feels dry under the surface, I water.
I even posted here last week about how I let them get too dry and they flopped over (when I watered them, they stood back up).
It's impossible to keep the moisture level good it seems.
>>766553
Cheers yeah. I did a bunch of googling and concluded with a fair degree of certainty that it's most likely plasterboard. Crumbles in to dust, no fibres.
>>766426
Nice. GF's also growing romas at the moment - killed a batch due to a greenhouse 'issue' (wind picked up, knocked the whole thing over, didn't secure it with enough bricks), so we replanted and they sprouted a few days ago.
Are you planning on separating those seedlings, or culling the weak?
>>766650
It helps to know how plants are supposed to respond to your environment. For example, I know that drooping NM Chiles at 4PM is no big deal. I don't water that shit until they are drooping before noon.
Corn leaves that curl between tasseling and initial kernel development is a huge fucking deal and is going to reduce yields. Corn can also send roots down 6' or 8', so the top inch or two may not be indicative of what is going on in the soil. I converted a plot of land a couple of years ago to garden space, and no matter what I did, I couldn't keep the corn leaves from curling when it got hot. I finally pounded a piece of PVC down about a foot and pulled a core up. It turns out that there were cracks hidden underneath the surface, and the water was not soaking into the soil below a few inches. It was just going back down to where I had pumped it from.
The point is, there is often as much, or more going on underneath the surface than there is above, and sometimes you've just gotta check.
>>766620
When the plants are way too close to each other you can just dig a hole and transplant a plant to it along with enough of the raised bed soil to fill the hole. Otherwise, all your plants will suffer from there being way too many too close. This is especially true of the peppers and tomatoes. they need air and sunshine between them. Otherwise, they won't get pollinated as well and their fruit will be more susceptible to rotting. Other things like bacterial spot and fungal infections love that type of tight plant spacing.
Basically the full grown plant leaves from each plant should just lightly touch the neighboring plant.
Remember, you can plant between the raised bed and the property fence. Just take your raised bed fence on that side off and let it connect to the property fence so that the walk way ends are closed off.
Also, your fence is upside down. The rabbits can get in those larger holes. Flip it right-side up and all those tiny holes will be on the bottom like they are intended to be.
>>766650
Well of course it doesn't have to be overwatering, it's just one (yet very likely) possible cause of problems
Are there maybe fungus gnats or other pests? Those can eat away at the roots and be very harmful to young seedlings, had my troubles with them too
>>766656
Haven't decided yet. My intent was to make an upside down planter for my balcony, but whether I want to do one or all three I'm still mulling over. I've recently been using a lot of tomatoes for red sauces and salsa, so maybe three plants might be warranted. I've already thinned them out to these three strongest of the bunch. I'll make a decision down the line when they get a little bigger how many I want to keep.
>>766674
"Fungus gnats" refers to a type of insect not actual shrooms. They lay their eggs in the soil and then the larvae eat away at roots, they hit my indoor parsley quite hard last winter
Also, how do you treat your tomatoes? Expose them to cool temperatures for extended periods? Strong winds? Dark location? They don't like that
>>766686
Oops I thought you missed a comma, I know what fungus gnats are and I don't have them currently.
They sit in my living room next to a big sliding glass door under LED growlights for 12 hours a day.
They only get direct sunlight for maybe an hour or two each day, but that'll change when I move them outside when I repot them. ~70F all day long, no wind.
>>766690
Well not much of an idea then. I started most of my San Marzano tomatoes (similar breed I guess) in mid-February. I'm the Rhinelander at 50°N so there's very little light here especially in winter and I didn't give them any artificial lighting, but they didn't mind
Only thing that screwed them a little was when I forgot them outside, still in their pots, some time in March when there was heavy wind and rain but eventually they recovered (simply removed the wrecked foliage at the base and planted them out a bit deeper in late April)
Since then they've been doing slow but well despite the shitty weather lately
Purchased some railing planters this weekend and got them all installed. Covered with plastic wrap with small holes in it to retain heat and moisture until the seeds completely gemerinate. Left most has some bibb lettuce, middle has tendergreen beans, and right most has swiss chard.
>weather forecast for tonight
>freezing with probably some light snow
>well that sucks, but i guess it won't be that bad if there's not too muc-
>30 km/h winds all night with 50 km/h gusts
Well fuck you too nature.
>>766760
Yeah shit is weird. We had the warmest December on record with a daily mean of +7.2°C, and the lowest it got was -0.4
Then January and February were relatively mild as well, March and April a bit too cool and now May is going zig zag, probably ending up too cold as well
>>766764
O-oh Canada.
>>766620
Damn son, peppers need about 12 inches between plants and tomatoes a good 24 inches, with at least 3 feet between rows.
There's no reason to plant everything so close. I mean, yeah your fruits will grow, but you'll get a really bad yield, pruning will be a mess of tangled branches, harvesting anything in there will be extremely unpleasant and good luck just walking around, and the reduced airflow will make diseases much more likely and they'll spread fast.
For your onions, you could have planted them in bunches of 3-4, 12 inches apart. They don't care being bunched together, they'll push each other apart and grow just as good. Bunching them like that makes weeding much easier.
For peppers and eggplants, they don't need cages. Just stake them with a little piece of wood, don't buy expensive cages for nothing. You could even not stake them at all if you're lazy, your area seems well protected from the wind and peppers and eggplants mostly collapse when there is suddenly a shitload of rain coupled with a lot of wind.
>>766633
>I want some competition between plants to see which ones will whip the other plants' asses.
Natural selection at its most delicious. Me, I've just been taking seeds from the healthiest looking plants I spaced normally at the end of the season. It worked great until an unprecedented pest problem wiped out my seed stock. Back to square one.
>>766633
>Sometimes I plant my shit too close together on purpose, but that's when I'm doing something for seed saving and I want some competition between plants to see which ones will whip the other plants' asses.
Unfortunately it does not work that way. They all suffer and all live but at much reduced capacity. Removing just a few allows them to grow in to plants 3-5 times stronger with vastly higher yields than the weaker group.
Just got the go ahead from a friend's parents to take some clippings from their amazing lemon and orange trees. Gonna try to clone some, graft a few and probably fuck up a lot in the process. /citrus/ is going to be great.
>>766831
I beg to differ. If you start with a single cultivar, that might be true if it is homogeneous enough. In a genetically diverse population, there will be some definite winners and some definite losers.
>>766840
Everything still suffers. Even the "winner"s do poorly.
>>766841
Again, I beg to differ. I'm on my 4th year of breeding a corn landrace, and some stalks do very well despite being close to other specimens. When everything starts to suffer, I'll know that I've reached some sort of equilibrium and I'll start being less abusive.
>>766845
Not the person you're talking too, though it's not that obvious to me that you're selecting the very "best" plants, the notion of "best" being quite relative.
One could imagine you only select plants that happen to get rid better of their concurrence. That doesn't mean that a plant which dislikes close neighbours wouldn't score "better" in long term, leaven alone (by example against sickness, or by higher yield...). What I mean is that the trait you are selecting could very much only be a toughness in close neighbouring. All in all I don't know if 4 years are enough to really start to select these kinds of traits
>>766886
No, I'm selecting the best plants based on what thrives the best in my soil, my climate, etc... The first step is that whatever I end up with has to produce. Cobs are produced too low on the plant and raccoons get them? Any genes that it passes on are from the male side. It can't handle the intense high desert sun? Same as the coon corn. My alkaline soil is hard on it? You guessed it.
Once the corn is adapted and produces regularly, then I can start selecting for other traits, or I can just leave it be.
Pic related is from last year. The stocks that those two cobs came from were about 2' apart in a bed that was seeded at a rate that was about 60,000-65,000 plants per acre, which is exceedingly high. The nice looking cob came off of a stock that had 4 other similar cobs, though with mild insect damage at the tip. The stock that the smaller cob came off of had one even more pitiful cob on it. Differences like that aren't uncommon.
Keep in mind that I started with 7 or 8 cultivars of corn, add new ones when I come across them, and I let them cross pollinate promiscuously. I just added bloody butcher and some random blue corn this year. The goal is to select against that which doesn't do well under stressful conditions while maintaining a high degree of genetic diversity. That way, I have a population that is more likely to at least partially withstand some new bug, or an extra hot year.
And you had better believe that you notice a difference in less than 4 years, provided that you start off with enough genetic diversity in the beginning. It just gets better every year.
>>766913
>>766886 here
Thanks for the input. It makes more sense in my mind now that you said it. Though there is a thing I don't get : if you cross-pollinate to keep genetic diversity, how can you select traits that quickly? Isn't it like mega-F1 hybrids plants? I totally could see the benefit on a diversity level, but doesn't it take at least two generations to stabilize traits that interest you, with withdrawal of the unwanted ones? (my genetic lessons are far far away...)
>>766931
I'm only somewhat interested in stability. If something changes, I want the population to be able to change with it. I have access to unlimited horse manure, for example. What if that goes away and I have to use something else? Some stability, yes, but it's not the ultimate goal. I'm interested in guaranteed yield without industrial inputs, even if lower than commercial cultivars. If I can get 90 bu/acre every year, but a commercial cultivar produces 100 bu/acre most years with a greater risk for catastrophic failure, I'll be happy.
And yes, there is a chance that I'll get unwanted traits in there. In fact, it is guaranteed. But an unwanted trait today could be desirable 3 years from now, and totally shitty ones will eventually get selected against. The other thing is that I don't know if a particular plant is doing poorly because it doesn't like the intense sun or because it doesn't like something in the soil. It might make sense to let it pass on its genes if it is resistant to intense sun (I'm at 5,000ft, btw,) but something in my soil is throwing it off.
And right now there are a bunch of F3 hybrids in there. Last year I started getting colors that I didn't start with. This year should be fun.
What's the consensus on marigolds? Do they actually repel rabbits or is this another old wives tale?
>>766959
Dunno about rabbits but in the UK we use them deter small flies that damage food plants. We have them planted around the edges of our raised beds in our allotment and between rows in other places, they seem to work quite well, no fly damage.
>>766959
They attract bees I thought
Its my first time using one of those small jiffy plastic greenhouses. When do I know I should transfer from the greenhouse into a pot im just worried the sudden change i humidity will kill the plant. (I live in hot and dry AZ)
>>766959
It does not work for repelling rabbits. It can act as a trap plant for slugs. It can attract pollinators as well.
I screwed up. The question is, just how bad, and what to do.
We have two layer hens. I went to the monthly farm swap and wanting a blue egg layer, bought a single black ameraucana pullet. She looks kind of like the pic. Now she is lonely and peeping and my friend and grandfather berate me for not buying two--believe me, I wish I had.
I just put a mirror in with her and it seems to help. The farm swap is not again for a month but on Saturday upcoming there is one a few counties over, it's about 3 hr drive round trip, that the seller said he'd be there. I think I better make the time and go get another...? It's necessary? Is it too long a time from now? Poor little chicken!
What is this thing?
Living in Delaware if it helps
have an update on my fern-wall, twats.
at what part of the year are pepper harvested?
and how tall will my plants be getting?
>>766426
Why does everybodies soil look so nice
>>766721
>6PBV53
You might want to edit out your license plate next time anon.
>tfw what I assume were snails ate away all but one of my brussel sprout seedlings
Must've been during the wet weather lately. I now temporarily protected the last one with some grid but I doubt the mesh is narrow enough
Will be looking for seedlings to buy from the hardware store tomorrow (not starting from seed again for which it is too late now anyway) and some sort of net for over them
>>767358
it is.
I DID IT! I GERMINATED A LEMON SEED!
should I keep the pot inside for now? We still get 5°C at night
>>767542
>>767545
>>767542
desu I even keep my 10 month old seedlings inside again over night currently because we have a cold wave (highs/lows of around 15/7°C) so I fear leaf drop (root activity in lemons only starts at around 12-13°C, so I don't want light/sun shining at them when the soil in the pot is colder than that for an extended period - to my knowledge they're among the most cold sensitive of all citrus)
>>767554
Thanks for the advice
>>767330
Lambs Quarter/Goosefoot. When young, usually early season and under 12 inches the stems are easily eaten. It is the precursor to spinach and was eaten as widely as spinach is, prior to spinach taking over. Raw or cooked, eat it like you would spinach; stems and leaves. You can mix it with salsa about 1 part lambs quart with 2 parts salsa.
It grows wild in most places, does well in poor soil, grows 6+ feet tall, becomes thick and woody, and has easy to save and replant seeds that do extremely well in gardens.
>>767363
Screen works. But, so does companion planting with a living mulch. The slugs and pests eat the living mulch. Right now you have this barren dirt desert with tiny green seedling oasis attracting every slug/snail in the area.
>>767573
>barren dirt desert
Well, funny thing is that I only checked upon it more closely today because I wanted to un-weed, as there were lots of weeds growing. None of those were touched at all, only the sprouts.
I only bulldozed everything (except the last survivors) with the hoe after that and then took the pic
As for companion planting, there are 2 rosemary there, still very small though (you can see one in the pic left from the sprout), from cuttings (I have like 10 total) that I rooted last September and slowly had grown in pots since then and then planted out there around late March, those were unharmed too
>>767545
So I put my lemon seed in the former indoor pumpkin pot.
Think it's cursed?
>>767619
Eh, now that I see that pot again, I have to give a rather negative update of my November watermelon too
So I planted it out in early May (while doing so the root ball gave off a really nice, strong watermelon smell), all seemed fine for a while and the vine even grew a bit, but then it suffered from what must be sun scalding a few days later (can't have been low temperature as it was during warm weather), all the leaves that had developed while inside went pale and eventually crumbled, only the few latest ones stayed green.
So it's been living a zombie life for the last 10 or so days, not really growing but not completely dying either, there's even a fruit now growing extremely slowly (now 1cm diameter)
But now I discovered that a new leaf has shot in the lower part (barely visible on pic), and a couple more what looks like leaf buds showed up on the next nodes too, so let's see if there's a chance of recovery after all. Even if it fails, I have 8 more seedlings planted last weeks
>>767629
Maybe the shock of extra daylight damaged the leaves?
>>767648
Yeah I guess so, they weren't used to (much) UV before (only had it sit outside for a day or two a week earlier, didn't think that even a tropical plant is so sensitive in that regard
>>767073
Bees r guud, frond.
>>767306
I'm in the California valley where it can also get hot and kind of dry. Mine have all been dealt with my novice abuse quite well in the past and gone straight into the ground with no issues. If you're worried you can always harden them off though. Just raise the lid or remove it for a bit at a time.
So can I water my garden with this or should I just get to collecting rain water?
>>767629
Don't use plastic mulch with vines. The vines have to root into the ground along their path. This allows them to grow larger fruit and perform better. With some varieties it is good to actually bury the vine a little bit and leave the leaves sticking out. That helps prevent vine borer problems.
Also, black heats up a great deal and can damage young plants that are laying on it directly.
>>768042
Rainwater time. It that your well water or municipal tap water? I would contact your local Agriculture department and ask them about it too. How much did the tests cost?
>>767561
Dude, I've grown plenty of corn. Yes, you need to have enough corn bunched up for pollination to occur, but you can still plant it too close together. I've let volunteer corn stalks grow by themselves just for shits and giggles, and it does just fine. However, you either wind up with severely inbred corn seed, or you wind up with no pollination, and thus no corn.
>>767388
I like it
>>768323
We were talking about plants too close together and that led to corn, you damned autist.
Yeaaaaaah! My peas finally started flowering!
>>768042
Must be well water.
Looks completely fine except for the arsenic and being slightly soft. Uranium is also just barely above the 30 ug/L "limit".
>>768410
>>768042
>Uranium
Enjoy your tomacco
>>768319
I'm glad people actually like it now, it looked like shit a year ago when I started it.
>>768156
Well it explicitly stated so on the seed pack because I'm about on the northern edge of where watermelons can grow (50°N) so it said that using black foil helps making sure the fruits will mature by the end of the season (maybe I don't necessarily have to use it because I've planted them in a warm microclimate anyway)
I know it has no natural means to stabilise itself with the tendrils when on foil but I locked it in place with bent metal pegs so it doesn't get thrown around/snapped by the wind.
Does watermelon even form any adventitious roots at all? Google is inconclusive and only seems to mention grafted individuals (which mine are not)
>>767363
>>767586
So I went to 2 different hardware stores in my area today (with huge gardening departments) but didn't find any brussel sprout seedlings there
Thus I decided to start from scratch after all (checked the seed package and it says it's OK to plant from seed up until late May - after all they're only ready for harvest from December to early March anyway, so they still have a lot of time to develop), hoping the warming temperatures will keep the soil dry enough for no snails to come.
Didn't buy any net or something, they had nothing fitting the particular planting area well enough
I also talked with my grandma about this (lives a couple streets away and has 60+ years of gardening experience, you should totally see her plant seeds, unwrap peas etc at miraculous speed) and she had similar issues this year but doesn't think it's snails but rather insects like fleas, flies and shit
>>768493
Mine grew them. Also, use a hot box instead of black plastic. The reasons it gives on the packet are for warming the soil to extend the season time. A hot box/cold frame does the same thing without all the other problems.
>>768611
Hmm, I guess I'll remove one of the 3 foils (containing 3 plants each except the one with the zombie one which only has one other seedling) and compare development
>hot box
You mean erecting a sort of greenhouse? Too expensive for me, as each foil is about 2x1m
Also, one of the nice advantages of the black foil is that weeds are almost completely choked, which I don't wanna miss (tfw spent like 3 hours yesterday around the garden un-weeding, and have to do so every 1-2 weeks, especially when it's warm and moist)
