What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

In summary, we put in a huge garden and had a green thumb from the get-go. We still have a garden, although it's a little smaller now. We mainly grow vegetables, fruits, and flowers. I've been a pretty avid gardener at times but not for eating, just for looking.
  • #1,716
Moonbear said:
Wow, that's a gorgeous orchid, Zz!

I spent yesterday and today out learning why this yard has no landscaping. The soil, if you can call it soil, is a mixture of clay and rock. Nonetheless, with some persistence, I got a couple of willows, a couple of ferns, and some lilies planted and have a big pile of pretty rocks.

I have some vegetables I was going to just plant in the front of the house, but under the rock, there's more rock, so that's going to take more work than planned too. But, at least I know what I'm tackling now. I'm still just going to plant the few vegetables in the front for this year, because I need to work on that bed anyway to prepare it for flowers eventually, so might as well use it for some veggies this year as I work on parts of it. But, long term, this means it'll be raised bed gardening for me.

You can make a raised bed. That should help even with the bad soil.

So what are you going to grow? I can give you my grocery list! :)

Zz.
 
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  • #1,717
ZapperZ said:
Purple is now in full bloom. All the buds are fully opened, and I expect the bloom to last for at least another month.

img4935.jpg


This, definitely, is the largest bloom (both in terms of number of flowers and the size of the flowers) that I've gotten out of this orchid plant in the 4 years that I've had it.

Zz.
<GASP>

OMG, Zz, they are gorgeous!
 
  • #1,718
My organic-gardener neighbor raised a bunch of extra seedlings, and a few days ago he told us that we could have all we wanted. 4 heirloom varieties of tomatoes and several varieties of sweet peppers. I picked up 48 tomato plants today and hoed up a raised bed and mulched it with newspaper and straw. He also told us that we should use his greenhouse to start our cucumbers (which I took advantage of today) and to top it off, he gave us a mini-greenhouse that he built last fall. It's a little larger than 3x3' and about 7' tall. with lots of shelving He had a bunch of aluminum framing and aluminum-framed windows in storage, and after he planted so much more stuff in his existing greenhouse than the little one could ever hold, he decided to build a large greenhouse on the side of his barn, and turn his present one into a garden shed. Gotta love neighbors like that. My wife is thrilled - she's been wanting a green house for quite a while but the cost of the commercially-built ones and kits kept us out of the market.
 
  • #1,719
Hairy Vetch Mulch Activates Genes For Phytonutrients In Tomatoes
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080405095039.htm
Hairy vetch mulch activates, in regular tomatoes, some of the same metabolic pathways and genes that are activated in biotech tomatoes by the insertion of the ySAMdc gene, which makes tomato plants more vigorous and makes their fruit more tasty and nutritious.

. . . .

Mattoo found that tomatoes reacted to the extra polyamines produced by the new gene the same way that they reacted to the yet-to-be-determined compounds or signals from hairy vetch. He saw significant buildup of amino acids and choline, an essential micronutrient for brain development, as well as other nutrients or antioxidants in both transgenic and non-transgenic plants grown in hairy vetch.
. . . .

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/afcm/vetch.html

Grow tomatoes with hairy vetch which prevents other weeds from growing.
http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-5-16-1561,00.html
 
  • #1,721
A co-worker just gave me a bag of something she calls "mint". I've grown mint before and I don't recognize this. It doesn't taste like mint either. It has a very strong grassy tatse, but it does have a very slight hint of mint, like mint was near it and it absorbed a bit of flavor, it's that unnoticeable.

Here's a picture (sorry it's my camera phone)

A GOOBF card for the first positive ID.
 

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  • #1,722
I think it should be this that you tasted before http://expat21.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/mint-leaves.jpg
 
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  • #1,723
Evo said:
A co-worker just gave me a bag of something she calls "mint". I've grown mint before and I don't recognize this. It doesn't taste like mint either. It has a very strong grassy tatse, but it does have a very slight hint of mint, like mint was near it and it absorbed a bit of flavor, it's that unnoticeable.

Here's a picture (sorry it's my camera phone)

A GOOBF card for the first positive ID.
Here you go:

http://vietherbs.com/herb-directory/vietnamese-balm/
 
  • #1,725
Sounds like a banana mint, but I will be darned if I can find a picture of the leaf...

edit: or maybe this: http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/menniliaca.htm"
 
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  • #1,727
Well, take some leaves home and see if Foofer goes nuts. There are LOTS of species of catnip and most of them have serrated heart-shaped leaves.
 
  • #1,728
Oh dear, it DOES look like catnip!

This is exactly what it looks like!

https://www.artisticgardens.com/catalog/images/Catnip02.jpg

http://aboutcatnip.com/

Ahahaha, she's been using catnip, thinking it's mint!

Well, it is in the mint family, that would explain the odd smell!

Dr Foofer will have fun tonight. Thanks turbo. <slides 1 GOOBF card into turbo's computer>
 
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  • #1,729
Evo said:
Oh dear, it DOES look like catnip!

Uh-oh...how much did you eat, Evo?
 
  • #1,730
lisab said:
Uh-oh...how much did you eat, Evo?
Not much, it had a very grassy-weedy taste. *Evo lies on her back and swats the computer mouse*

How could she not know what mint is? Dare I bring her some real mint next week?
 
  • #1,731
Those leaves you photographed looked fairly large compared to those of most members of the mint family, but like I said, there are countless varieties of catnip and there may be some that have pretty big leaves. It seems that most members of the mint family have LOTS of variants. Give the leaves a "cat scan" and see what happens... ;-)
 
  • #1,732
turbo-1 said:
Those leaves you photographed looked fairly large compared to those of most members of the mint family, but like I said, there are countless varieties of catnip and there may be some that have pretty big leaves. It seems that most members of the mint family have LOTS of variants. Give the leaves a "cat scan" and see what happens... ;-)
The leaves are HUGE.
 
  • #1,734
And she told people that she had a lot of mint growing in her "organic garden" and sold a bunch to some startled people here that had said they'd buy mint. She had this left over and just gave it to me. o_O
 
  • #1,735
they look more like the leaves of a tree to me, maybe something related to a cottonwood
 
  • #1,736
Proton Soup said:
they look more like the leaves of a tree to me, maybe something related to a cottonwood
Cottonwood? The cottonwoods up this way have long shiny leaves that look like willow leaves.
 
  • #1,737
They look more like tree leaves than mint or catnip. Look at the pictures of basswood and mulberry tree leaves here:
http://saltthesandbox.org/trees/oval.htm

The leaves look like those of a tree that used to grow in my backyard when I was a kid...they grew like weeds, absolutely everywhere, but if you didn't pull them out when they were still small, they turned into huge trees in a very short time...REALLY fast growing!
 
  • #1,740
Evo said:
A co-worker just gave me a bag of something she calls "mint". I've grown mint before and I don't recognize this. It doesn't taste like mint either. It has a very strong grassy tatse, but it does have a very slight hint of mint, like mint was near it and it absorbed a bit of flavor, it's that unnoticeable.

Here's a picture (sorry it's my camera phone)

A GOOBF card for the first positive ID.
In our yard, we have two plants with similar leaves - garlic mustard and anise hyssop. Both can be found on prairies.

Garlic mustard is an invasive species and is one of the first greens. It takes a bit like mustard greens and faintly like garlic.
http://www.nps.gov/plants/ALIEN/fact/alpe1.htm
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ALPE4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic_mustard

Anise hyssop (or some variant of the Lamiaceae family) - has a minty taste/flavor and a bit like anise or licorice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyssop
http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/anise_hyssopx.htm - a.h.
www.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/pictures/agas_01.jpg[/URL]
[url]http://media.photobucket.com/image/anise%20hyssop%20leaf/mthomasg316/garden%202009/DSC05218.jpg[/url]

If tastes a bit minty and looks like the images in the last two links, it's very likely a variant of anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum).
 
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  • #1,741
Astronuc said:
In our yard, we have two plants with similar leaves - garlic mustard and anise hyssop. Both can be found on prairies.

Garlic mustard is an invasive species and is one of the first greens. It takes a bit like mustard greens and faintly like garlic.
http://www.nps.gov/plants/ALIEN/fact/alpe1.htm
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ALPE4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic_mustard

Anise hyssop (or some variant of the Lamiaceae family) - has a minty taste/flavor and a bit like anise or licorice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyssop
http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/anise_hyssopx.htm - a.h.
www.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/pictures/agas_01.jpg[/URL]
[url]http://media.photobucket.com/image/anise%20hyssop%20leaf/mthomasg316/garden%202009/DSC05218.jpg[/url]

If tastes a bit minty and looks like the images in the last two links, it's very likely a variant of anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum).[/QUOTE]Oh dear, that one leaf picture does look identical.

I can'y believe this woman thinks this is mint.
 
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  • #1,742
I take it that Dr. Foofer did not swoon over the "catnip"? There are so many variants of herbs in the mint family (and despite the very large leaves, it is likely that the plant is in the mint family from the appearance of the leaves) that you could spend a lot of time trying to nail it down. There is an organic seed vendor a few miles from here, and they have a mind-boggling array of herbs that have been crossed and selectively bred so that you can buy seeds for basil that tastes "lemony", some that has hints of anise, and mints that wander VERY far in flavor and scent from peppermint, spearmint, and wintergreen.

It's nuts what these people can produce in a few generations with greenhouses and controlled conditions (no genetic modification). Gregor Mendel would be proud.
 
  • #1,743
Evo said:
Oh dear, that one leaf picture does look identical.

I can'y believe this woman thinks this is mint.

i can. the alternating pairs of leaves about a central stem is the classic mint growth form to look for. and it appears to be in the "mint family" also. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mint_family
 
  • #1,744
I'm buying a house, and planning on putting in a hedge of rose bushes around my front yard (both for looks and privacy). Can anyone give any advice on how to do that? What kind of roses should I get? (I want something about 5-6 ft tall, with either white or dark red flowers, and dense enough that you can't see through it very well) How should I prepare the ground? How far apart should I plant them?

Thanks in advance.
 
  • #1,745
NeoDevin said:
I'm buying a house, and planning on putting in a hedge of rose bushes around my front yard (both for looks and privacy). Can anyone give any advice on how to do that? What kind of roses should I get? (I want something about 5-6 ft tall, with either white or dark red flowers, and dense enough that you can't see through it very well) How should I prepare the ground? How far apart should I plant them?

Thanks in advance.

Where is the house, Neo (i.e., what climate)?
 
  • #1,746
Edmonton, Alberta.
 
  • #1,747
NeoDevin said:
Edmonton, Alberta.

Then, plastic roses will survive your winters. :rolleyes: :biggrin:

I know nothing about roses, actually, so can't help at all there. I seem to be having success with deer resistance, so far, but some of the things I planted aren't so happy with the wet soil. Several neighbors have expressed shock that my plants haven't been eaten by deer yet. I did plant only limited amounts of plants, expecting that to be a problem and not wanting to waste a lot of money on deer food. I might just be lucky that all the rain is giving them plenty of tasty food without having to venture out onto lawns yet. I am mostly selecting deer resistant plants too, but know full well that doesn't mean deer proof.
 
  • #1,748
I'm in the city, so deer aren't a problem.
 
  • #1,749
The further adventures of my herb growing co-workwer.

Today she brought in little baggies of what she called "flowering cilantro".

I picked up a bag, and here is what was in it.

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/355/herb2.jpg

This is what I expected in it.

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/424/herb1p.jpg

I asked her where she learned about herbs. She told me she took a class from someone in her neighborhood that has a class on "natural organic herbs" and gave her the herbs she grows. :eek:

Ok she thinks catnip/hysop is mint. She thinks dill is cilantro.

Now she's told me she has morel mushrooms. I can only imagine what those might be.
 
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  • #1,750
Evo said:
Now she's told me she has morel mushrooms. I can only imagine what those might be.

That's hillarious and scary! If Evo's posts start turning purple we all know she tried her crazy coworker's mushroooms...
 

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