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.
  • #2,626
Borek said:
Yep. I got some other free seeds as well, long red slim pepper and hot banana pepper.

Good luck man... I hope you have success with your "ghosties". A little trick that seems to work for me, get the ghost peppers to germinate, (about 10 days with 80% F heat mat) then get a decent grow light and when the seedlings are transplant able, move them to a pot about 2 to 3 inches tall. Use a grow light soil (it doesn't hurt to microwave the soil before transplanting) to be sure no bad things grow as well. Then, put the heat mat under the 2 to 3 inch pot. Use the grow light 10 - 12 hours a day, turn off at night, but leave the heat mat on, every two or three days add a small amount of water, top of soil should remain dry. My plants are doing 2X better than just being in cool temps with normal ambient light. This technique works. Good luck, the sooner you start the ghost peppers the better.

Rhody...
 
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  • #2,627
A sad garden disaster story...in progress:

I have a ficus benjamina that I love and I hate. Well OK, I basically hate it. It's never been happy the whole time I've had it, drops leaves at each season change or if I so much as touch it.

It was in dire need of a new pot. It also needed to be pruned a bit - it had lots of bare branches (all that leaf dropping, you know).

So I did both the pruning and the repotting today. Took it into the garage, cut off all bare branches. Re-potted it (oops, there was a bit of root rot that I had to remove, not too severe I hope). So it's back in its spot and I hope it's happy.

Then I discovered I have sap drops in my hair :frown:! So I researched that quickly, found the recommendations for sap removal: peanut butter or olive oil. I chose olive oil.

It took a while but I did manage to comb all the sap out. My hair is not oily, it's fully *oiled*. Now I'm waiting for my scalp to stop hurting, so I can shampoo.

I look a mess!

And I bet the tree is going to die, after all that.
 
  • #2,628
lisab said:
And I bet the tree is going to die, after all that.

If I had a plant that caused that much trouble, it would be a safe bet that it would die very shortly after.
 
  • #2,629
lisab said:
A sad garden disaster story...in progress:

I have a ficus benjamina that I love and I hate. Well OK, I basically hate it. It's never been happy the whole time I've had it, drops leaves at each season change or if I so much as touch it.

It was in dire need of a new pot. It also needed to be pruned a bit - it had lots of bare branches (all that leaf dropping, you know).

So I did both the pruning and the repotting today. Took it into the garage, cut off all bare branches. Re-potted it (oops, there was a bit of root rot that I had to remove, not too severe I hope). So it's back in its spot and I hope it's happy.

Then I discovered I have sap drops in my hair :frown:! So I researched that quickly, found the recommendations for sap removal: peanut butter or olive oil. I chose olive oil.

It took a while but I did manage to comb all the sap out. My hair is not oily, it's fully *oiled*. Now I'm waiting for my scalp to stop hurting, so I can shampoo.

I look a mess!

And I bet the tree is going to die, after all that.
No, it loves you and will reward you by taking off this spring after it comes out of shock.

I've had simiar problems with them. They seem to be thriving one day and the next day you brush against it and every leaf falls to the floor. :frown:
 
  • #2,630
I need to make my seed list and get an order into Johnny's Selected Seeds. They have seeds that are appropriate for my zone.
 
  • #2,631
The jalapeno plants I brought inside are blooming.
 
  • #2,632
Evo said:
The jalapeno plants I brought inside are blooming.
I'm going to have to cut some forsythia branches and put them in a vase. Winter is too long and bleak!

kitchforsythia.jpg
 
  • #2,633
Evo said:
The jalapeno plants I brought inside are blooming.

Evo,

Did they bloom on their own, or did you, err... ahhh... help them along by being shaken ? :redface:

Rhody...

BTW, Borek... have you planted any of your Peter peppers yet ?
 
  • #2,634
turbo-1 said:
I'm going to have to cut some forsythia branches and put them in a vase. Winter is too long and bleak!

kitchforsythia.jpg

I wish I could have sent you the fifty foot row I removed last summer. They're gorgeous when blooming but here they'll take over your yard in a few years. I still have plenty I could thin out though. I left the original plants (they look like small trees).
 
  • #2,635
rhody said:
Evo,

Did they bloom on their own, or did you, err... ahhh... help them along by being shaken ? :redface:

Rhody...
It's Evo's magnetic personality or aura. :biggrin:

Interestingly, I heard a blurb on the radio about winter gardening and winter farmers' markets in the Northeast. Apparently USDA has been encouraging hoop houses to extend the growing seasons, and it's working. Rather than lay off farm hands during the winter, more farmers are keeping staff year round.

http://www.hoophouse.com/why-hoop-house.html

http://westsidegardener.com/howto/hoophouse.html

http://www.harrisseeds.com/storefront/c-106-high-tunnels.aspx

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2003-02-01/Hoop-Houses.aspx

 
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  • #2,636
dlgoff said:
I wish I could have sent you the fifty foot row I removed last summer. They're gorgeous when blooming but here they'll take over your yard in a few years. I still have plenty I could thin out though. I left the original plants (they look like small trees).
I would gladly have taken them if they were a cold-hardy variety. Unfortunately, dishonest garden-shops will sell varieties that are more suited for Mass-Conn, and the only parts of them that bloom are the parts that were buried under snow all winter. You end up with a green, leafy bush (eventually) that only gets blossoms on the lower parts of the lowest branches.
 
  • #2,637
Well it's not Maine's climate here, but I've seen them blooming in the snow.
 
  • #2,638
rhody said:
Evo,

Did they bloom on their own, or did you, err... ahhh... help them along by being shaken ? :redface:
When I noticed the blooms were open I must admit that there was some shaking going on. :biggrin:
 
  • #2,639
Evo said:
When I noticed the blooms were open I must admit that there was some shaking going on. :biggrin:

:biggrin: :devil: :wink: No comment...

Rhody...
 
  • #2,640
As it's well before spring, I'd like to plant something which will florish over the summer, while surviving next winter when I port them back inside.

Any suggestions? The pots are about 3 liters in size.
 
  • #2,641
forsythia, eh? i think we call them yellow bells.

i actually have some asparagus spears coming up, but it's only their second year (from seed) and they are tiny, spindly things. probably needs some kind of fertilizer, too, i suspect.
 
  • #2,642
mugaliens said:
As it's well before spring, I'd like to plant something which will florish over the summer, while surviving next winter when I port them back inside.

Any suggestions? The pots are about 3 liters in size.

how about some christmas/thanksgiving cactuses?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holiday_Cactus

just be careful to let them adjust a bit when you return them outside next year. full sun right away will be bad.
 
  • #2,643
This year, I left my strawberry plants out in the snow and ice since they always die when I move them indoors.

For once, I won't have to buy new plants in the spring.
 
  • #2,644

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  • #2,645
  • #2,646
Seeds I have, time to think about planting them.
 
  • #2,647
Astronuc said:
turbo reminded me - it's time to think about seeds and spring planting

http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds.htm

http://www.fedcoseeds.com/ogs/covercrop_chart.htm

Astro,

I did too, hehe... bring it on, the heat (in peppers that is).

Rhody...
 
  • #2,648
I guess I need to plant more garlic for the next season. My wife took a couple of small bags of garlic to the artisan butcher shop/deli. She bought sliced cheese, herb-garlic smoked bacon, and a large sub with vegetables and ham and she still ended up getting money back from the exchange. The garlic is a big hit, and the deli's customers are now stopping in and requesting it. Good thing for Tracy, because the more times people stop in for special foods that they can't get in supermarkets, the more incidental purchases they will make, including $$ deli meats, cheeses, and specialty foods. I might end up being the "garlic man" for real. Last year, I stopped in at the local community garden to give some seed garlic to a friend, and one of her co-volunteers stopped working long enough to come over and introduce herself, and say "you're the garlic-man!" She's a cute little thing, and I gave her enough garlic so that she could start her own self-sustaining crop. I have to reconsider giving away too much garlic from this season because it appears that I have an eager retailer for organically-grown, properly-cured hard-neck garlic.
 
  • #2,649
Is regular grocery store garlic hard neck? I have some that had started to sprout, so I planted it and brought it here to work. I still have 3 monstrous bulbs at home that I intend to plant at home, just in case my work experiment fails... (none have yet!) I have no experience with garlic...
 
  • #2,650
Ms Music said:
Is regular grocery store garlic hard neck? I have some that had started to sprout, so I planted it and brought it here to work. I still have 3 monstrous bulbs at home that I intend to plant at home, just in case my work experiment fails... (none have yet!) I have no experience with garlic...
I think most supermarket garlic is of the softneck persuasion (ones with tops that can be braided). My German white and Russian red garlics are quite flavorful, and they are very popular. Once Tracy started offering them in her deli, she got a a following that will pay a premium (she charges $1/bulb) for really high-quality garlic. I could easily sell my garlic as seed for other growers, but I'd rather help friends build their business.

My White German garlic is top-quality. She sells it for food at $0.95/bulb. FedCo co-op sells the bulbs for $3 each.

http://www.fedcoseeds.com/bulbs/search.php?item=222&index=1&listname=
 
  • #2,651
White German, huh? I will have to see if I can find that on this side of the continent... So outside of the fact that it is organic, and YOURS, ;) what is so special about this garlic? This is the first year I have thought about growing it as my brother uses TONS. I intend to get the hard neck for storage purposes, but I personally don't know much about garlic... Also, do you have any suggestions for softneck?

ps - I just perused my favorite local seed catalog, and they don't have White German... *sniff* I will have to go through all my catalogs this weekend. Need to order anyway!
 
  • #2,652
Garlic is garlic,and onions are onions, but its the soil that makes a difference. If I planted Turbos garlic here, it would not taste the same.
 
  • #2,653
Yeah, I kind of figured that... I went through my catalogs this weekend, and none of the local ones sold those varieties. His favorite varieties probably wouldn't even grow here, as we have such a short, cool summer. (:cry:) So I guess I will stick with the ones that sounded good when I went through the catalog a month or so back. Best stick with what growers know perform best locally!

But I still would like to know if his garlic is so desired because of something like size, or heat, or something else. Not that I would sell mine like he does, its just that having the bulbs be really REALLY good is probably the only thing that would encourage me to make space to grow them year after year.
 
  • #2,654
Ms Music said:
But I still would like to know if his garlic is so desired because of something like size, or heat, or something else. Not that I would sell mine like he does, its just that having the bulbs be really REALLY good is probably the only thing that would encourage me to make space to grow them year after year.
I plant my garlic cloves in the late fall or early winter. Keep your soil well-fertilized with composted manure and/or well-rotted compost, and your garlic will thrive. It's important to mulch the beds with mats of clean straw, IMO, to keep the soil-temperature up in the spring. I get early crops, and get summer heat (in shaded shelter) to cure the garlic. Curing is really important. Leave the fronds on, and hang the garlic to cure it so that the goodness from the foliage gets taken up by the bulb.
 
  • #2,655
I have a common Silver Maple tree like this,

silvermaple.jpg


and just noticed it is blooming. And low and behold...Honey Bees.

Yea! :smile:
 
  • #2,656
Ms Music said:
Yeah, I kind of figured that... I went through my catalogs this weekend, and none of the local ones sold those varieties. His favorite varieties probably wouldn't even grow here, as we have such a short, cool summer. (:cry:) So I guess I will stick with the ones that sounded good when I went through the catalog a month or so back. Best stick with what growers know perform best locally!

But I still would like to know if his garlic is so desired because of something like size, or heat, or something else. Not that I would sell mine like he does, its just that having the bulbs be really REALLY good is probably the only thing that would encourage me to make space to grow them year after year.
FedCo Bulbs has an on-line presence, so you can order from them. Our growing seasons are short and generally cool, but that's not a problem with German White or Russian Red hard-neck varieties. Order the bulbs in summer for fall shipment. Separate the cloves and plant them in well-fertilized (manure and compost) beds before a hard frost, and mulch them well. They will be one of the first plants to emerge (though crocuses can beat them to the punch), and they will mature by July, probably so you can hang them in a shady warm place to cure.

The bulbs are kind of pricey, so you might have to hold off on eating your first years' crop and save those bulbs for propagation and planting next year's crop.

http://www.fedcoseeds.com/bulbs.htm
 
  • #2,657
I've been trying to get my wife to grow vegetables in our garden for several years. I know that once she sees how much can be grown, she will be hooked.

Because of the increasing food prices at the store, I finally convinced my wife to let me have a small container to grow some lettuce. After that, she decided to also grow some dill and arugula also. We planted them yesterday.
 
  • #2,658
Borg said:
I've been trying to get my wife to grow vegetables in our garden for several years. I know that once she sees how much can be grown, she will be hooked.

Because of the increasing food prices at the store, I finally convinced my wife to let me have a small container to grow some lettuce. After that, she decided to also grow some dill and arugula also. We planted them yesterday.
Another herb that does very well in containers is basil. Get the Italian bush variety for the best yield. Fresh basil is wonderful for cooking, and you can make pesto out of it, too. We also plant Thai basil, which is nice too. Still, try the traditional Italian variety first.
 
  • #2,659
mmm... specialty garlic. I used to saute varieties from our farmer's market in butter and used the mix in popcorn.

I'm wondering what I'll plant in one of the herb pots that our landlord left in the front porch. The rosemary in one of them didn't make it through the winter. The chives are coming in nicely though.
 
  • #2,660
turbo-1 said:
Another herb that does very well in containers is basil. Get the Italian bush variety for the best yield. Fresh basil is wonderful for cooking, and you can make pesto out of it, too. We also plant Thai basil, which is nice too. Still, try the traditional Italian variety first.

Yeah, I wanted to plant basil but she doesn't like it. The main goal is to get her interested in growing food so it's not a big deal.
 

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