Gardening and Plant Thread

I can't get over it's already Mulch time in my area.

If I didn't keep turning my lawn into raised beds or gardens I'd have less to do but I'm dreading how much I'll need to lay out. I had such incredible luck with my peppers last year so I'm going hard an entire plot of them. I don't know how well they will do but I just got seeds from a friend for Fresno chillis.

My basil came in side with a few other herbs and I love it's main stalk is becoming dark brown it's like a little tree adorable :D
 
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Man, i got just a little excited for spring and planted a ton of starters. I've got:
18 San marzano tomatoes (for canning sauce)
18 azoychka tomatoes (for fresh)
5 adzuki beans (bush)
6 yellow eye beans (bush)
6 jester squash
18 nightshift acorn squash

I'm also going to be direct sowing some 3 sisters (corn, pole bean, squash together) to save space in my plot. Think I'll also be doing barley, rye, and wheat for assorted home brewing experiments, and a medicinal herb garden for tinctures and supplements for the winter cold season. My gf has started a few things, but considering how successful she was last year with starters (ie not at all) I'm not holding my breath, but I'll continue to encourage her.

And luckily one of my rabbits gave birth
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So I'll be enjoying all the free cold fertilizer I've been collecting from my rabbits all winter. Not sure how many from this litter are gonna end up as breeding stock or freezer stock, but we'll see how good they put on weight, and how many females i got.

I can't wait for all this white bullshit to melt away at last.
 
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Spring is definitely coming. I've started my first round of seedlings for vegetables and started my autistic notebook so I can spread out eventual harvest and won't have to eat 20 cucumbers a week. My hands are itching to get into the ground, but I need to hold off just a little longer. I've started clearing out most of the garden front and back though. I hope everyone's hibernating plants did OK. I've not lost a single one of my peppers this year...yet.

On a side note, for some reason my camellia started to bloom. It's a small bush but they're just be at least 10 flowers already with more to come. I hope it's not its final hurrah.

Edit: I've also prepared to battle the mildew.
 
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shameful existence said:
Yeah, they all got killed by potato blight the year I deliberately planted them, but I've been harvesting a nice handful of tiny potatoes from that garden bed every season since.
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Picklechu said:
I grew them as a kid a few times. They're usually pretty easy to do.
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So I'm in the midwest and apparently the best time to plant them here is early may.

I know they are a fairly tough crop. I figure as I become more self sufficient growing a high calorie crop like a potato is a good choice for if SHTF.

Garden will be about the size of a pickup truck length and width wise. Going to start clearing the grass and tilling as soon as this shit weather starts clearing up in the next week or so ends. I guess I'm just looking for general info on how far I should be spacing them apart, how much I should/shouldn't be watering, etc etc
 
Glowie Hunter Art Bell said:
So I'm in the midwest and apparently the best time to plant them here is early may.

I know they are a fairly tough crop. I figure as I become more self sufficient growing a high calorie crop like a potato is a good choice for if SHTF.

Garden will be about the size of a pickup truck length and width wise. Going to start clearing the grass and tilling as soon as this shit weather starts clearing up in the next week or so ends. I guess I'm just looking for general info on how far I should be spacing them apart, how much I should/shouldn't be watering, etc etc
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IIRC, we would just rake the soil a bit to loosen it up, literally toss the cut up chunks of potatoes with eyes on them on the ground, throw some leaves on top, then after awhile the whole patch was filled with potatoes. We never really measured anything out or worried too much about watering them, which we did do for nearly everything else (tomatoes, cucumbers, etc). This was in Alabama though, and in very good soil, so that may make a difference.
 
Glowie Hunter Art Bell said:
So I'm in the midwest and apparently the best time to plant them here is early may.

I know they are a fairly tough crop. I figure as I become more self sufficient growing a high calorie crop like a potato is a good choice for if SHTF.

Garden will be about the size of a pickup truck length and width wise. Going to start clearing the grass and tilling as soon as this shit weather starts clearing up in the next week or so ends. I guess I'm just looking for general info on how far I should be spacing them apart, how much I should/shouldn't be watering, etc etc
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Look into growing with straw
While I will admit I haven't tried gowing in straw before I've seen several gardens online and in person who say it works. As for growing potatoes in general they're pretty hardy, the only real danger is disease, since almost all potatoes are clones. Disease shoudln't become a problem for hobby gardeners unless you grow potatoes in the same patch multiple years in a row.
If you're new to gardening don't go into it with a mindset of "I'll grow my own food, and survive when SHTF" start smallish and work your way up.
 
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Honored guest said:
Look into growing with straw
While I will admit I haven't tried gowing in straw before I've seen several gardens online and in person who say it works. As for growing potatoes in general they're pretty hardy, the only real danger is disease, since almost all potatoes are clones. Disease shoudln't become a problem for hobby gardeners unless you grow potatoes in the same patch multiple years in a row.
If you're new to gardening don't go into it with a mindset of "I'll grow my own food, and survive when SHTF" start smallish and work your way up.
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I'm definitely going into it with a beginner's mentality, the SHTF part is part of why I want to learn. Even if it doesn't I still wish to be self sufficient. I'll be growing out of this patch for 2 years before I move, although I could probably replace the soil, I always have access to more soil via my job.
 
Picklechu said:
IIRC, we would just rake the soil a bit to loosen it up, literally toss the cut up chunks of potatoes with eyes on them on the ground, throw some leaves on top, then after awhile the whole patch was filled with potatoes. We never really measured anything out or worried too much about watering them, which we did do for nearly everything else (tomatoes, cucumbers, etc). This was in Alabama though, and in very good soil, so that may make a difference.
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I was wondering about the viability of seed taters vs store potato bags with eyes. I'm sure it's wildly cheaper to buy a bag of taters from the farmers market or store than to buy seed potatoes. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm in central IL in a very clean area, soil quality shouldn't be an issue
 
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Glowie Hunter Art Bell said:
I was wondering about the viability of seed taters vs store potato bags with eyes. I'm sure it's wildly cheaper to buy a bag of taters from the farmers market or store than to buy seed potatoes. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm in central IL in a very clean area, soil quality shouldn't be an issue
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I would avoid store bought spuds as they're(sometimes) sprayed with chemicals that retard the growth of eyes and that could retard the growth of your plants. You should be able to pick from a wide selection of seed potatoes from your local Menards, Lowes, Home depot soon.
 
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Honored guest said:
I would avoid store bought spuds as they're(sometimes) sprayed with chemicals that retard the growth of eyes and that could retard the growth of your plants. You should be able to pick from a wide selection of seed potatoes from your local Menards, Lowes, Home depot soon.
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You think it be worth also asking around the local farm stands?
 
Glowie Hunter Art Bell said:
Anyone here done potatoes? Looking at growing a small patch of those this spring
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Planted some that we had in the basket that had grown eyes with my kid a couple years ago in our backyard, completely forgot about them until a year later, then dug them up and had quite a few nice potatoes. So I figure if you put minimal effort into it then you are probably good to go. I've heard using the box method is ideal, and I agree about going to a farmer's market/local is the best way to go.
 
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Anyone here have any basil advice? I have a small indoor plant that's doing ok, it's frail but still kicking. I water it and try to get it sunlight, planter is normal sized for how big the plant is so I don't got a clue why it's so weak.
 
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I have lost all of my peppers. Cats ate the inside over wintered peps and the last wet cold snap killed all the starts I had covered outside to harden off. I'm reseeding all my dead peps. Thankfully I have the time and room to do so before the last frost so they'll still get a head start on the season... still frustrating. Garlic is doing fantastic, peas are going at it, spinach is doing meh. There's a lot of volunteer mustard, in the yard and not my garden, that needs transplanting. Waiting for a dry day to do bed prep and transplant the lettuce, cabbage, kale, cauliflowers.

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@Glowie Hunter Art Bell Adding onto the potato talk. Yes to rotted straw, hay, and compost. Potato box or four post wrapped with chicken wire is cheap and fantastic. You get vertical gardening and saves you space for other plants which is perfect for your small area. Honored was right about the store potato spray they use, but it can be washed off.

worm ranch said:
Anyone here have any basil advice? I have a small indoor plant that's doing ok, it's frail but still kicking. I water it and try to get it sunlight, planter is normal sized for how big the plant is so I don't got a clue why it's so weak.
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Is the basil turning yellow, losing leaves, getting brown spots, burn spots? How old is the potting soil? Is it too wet? Is it compacted from watering over time? Is it depleted of mineral salts? Plant roots need air, and leaves need nutrients beyond just NPK such as calcium, magnesium and other trace minerals. It could be starving for both if the soil is old and wet enough. My house is super dry from the heating system we use and I only water my indoor plants maybe once a week. Simple fix is to change out the soil and give it a few weeks to improve. I redo my potted plants every year in spring for this reason with a soil mix of cotton burr, compost, vermiculite or perlite.
 
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worm ranch said:
Anyone here have any basil advice? I have a small indoor plant that's doing ok, it's frail but still kicking. I water it and try to get it sunlight, planter is normal sized for how big the plant is so I don't got a clue why it's so weak.
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What kind of soil is it in? Not all soils are equal, some are lacking in nutrients. Do you fertilize or feed it? How many hours of sunlight does it get? You'll want 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight if possible. How often do you water it, and how much water do you give it? Becareful not to overwater as that can hurt it, poke your finger into the soil an inch or two and if its stil damp you might want to hold off on watering.
 
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Honored guest said:
What kind of soil is it in? Not all soils are equal, some are lacking in nutrients. Do you fertilize or feed it? How many hours of sunlight does it get? You'll want 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight if possible. How often do you water it, and how much water do you give it? Becareful not to overwater as that can hurt it, poke your finger into the soil an inch or two and if its stil damp you might want to hold off on watering.
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Basic potting soil I got from a gardening store, nothing aside from watering since everything I can find locally is either for flowers or vegetables and I don't want to assume and give it the wrong type, it's shady around my house but I try to move it around to get sun throughout the day, so I'd wager it gets around the needed amount of sun, and I do that method every time I go to water it so I'm not too worried about over watering, so every couple of days I water it.
SphinxItOver said:
Is the basil turning yellow, losing leaves, getting brown spots, burn spots? How old is the potting soil? Is it too wet? Is it compacted from watering over time? Is it depleted of mineral salts? Plant roots need air, and leaves need nutrients beyond just NPK such as calcium, magnesium and other trace minerals. It could be starving for both if the soil is old and wet enough. My house is super dry from the heating system we use and I only water my indoor plants maybe once a week. Simple fix is to change out the soil and give it a few weeks to improve. I redo my potted plants every year in spring for this reason with a soil mix of cotton burr, compost, vermiculite or perlite.
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It's a yellowish green colour with a few brownish spots, but not many, leaves falling off and dying is becoming more common. The potting soil does need to be switched out soon, but I've never noticed this issue before (Aside from the colour, it's just super limp and delicate, I probably need to look into fertilizers or something, my problem is that options are limited where I live)
 
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