What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

[turbo]

I hear that people have been trading pepper seeds...

I got lots of Ghost seeds from Rhody. I gave them to my young (periodic) neighbor from Mass and she sprouted them and started them with heat-mats and grow-lights. Unfortunately, it has been so cold and damp for so long here, that the chilies are doing nothing. Maybe she is having some success with her garden in south Boston, but I haven't seen her for a couple of weeks to ask.

 

[NeoDevin]

I got some ghost seeds from Rhody as well. I haven't planted all of them yet. Of the 15 or so I planted, I got 8 plants, of which 3 seem to be doing well, with the other 5 struggling. I'm not using heat mats or grow lights. They can't survive outside here though, the days are too hot and they get sunburned, and the nights are too cold. I expected that the nights here would be too cold, but I didn't expect the plants to have trouble in the day here.

One of them looks like it's about to have some flowers, so maybe I'll get a pepper or two out of them yet.

 

[turbo]

She has an automatic watering system for her (Maine) garden, and my wife and I look after it, depending on the weather. Needless to say, we have had to shut that off. If her place in south Boston has not been hit by all these storms, we may still have some ghosts - she will share.

 

[Evo]

My ghost pepper blooms like crazy, but peppers never set. The jalapenos are covered in peppers, but the ghost still hasn't produced, now that the weather is getting hot, I guess I'll have to wait until fall. I keep them where they only get early morning sun, then shade the rest of the day.

Here's a good discussion from people growing them.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pepper/msg061815017648.html?15

 

[turbo]

I put my ghosts in pots out on the back deck so they can get heat and sun and let the eaves protect them from the excessive rain. It hasn't helped. They are still tiny. I really hope my neighbor has success with hers down in south Boston.

It's funny. All the old biker-buddies that used to come up every summer to tent out, party and ride were from Quincy, Weymouth, and Brockton, and she lives right in the middle of that sprawl, and would love to move here.

 

[turbo]

I need healthy ghosts! Want some mature peppers with viable seeds. I hope my (occasional) neighbor has some luck with that down in Mass. Her garden and mine (here) have been drenched and cold. Lots of stuff is struggling.

 

[turbo]

BTW, if anybody here has a garden, you deserve to treat yourself to a scuffle-hoe (also known as a stirrup-hoe). It cuts weeds on the fore-stroke and back-stroke. The best weeding tool ever. My wife took mine up to my neighbor so she could give it a try, and that same afternoon her husband was at the garden-supply place buying one for her. I'll bet even money that he bought her two - one for here and one for south-Boston. they are great tools.

 

[ZapperZ]

Besides the garden all in full bloom or about the bloom right now, my indoor garden is also joining in the fun. In particular, my orchids all decided to bloom at the same time.

This first one I got as a gift. It came in a Styrofoam coffee cup with just two small leaves. And look at it now!

This is Freckles. She has been with me for a while, and you may have seen her before. She blooms every year with these gorgeous, purple freckles, thus, the name I gave to her.

The last one is Purple. She is also a long-time resident and blooms every year. However, she tends to go a bit out-of-hand, such as this time. She sprang 3 different flowering shoots, and they all went in different directions. It was hard to control, and not wanting to break the stems, I decided to just let her be. This year, she has certainly outdone herself and produced the largest number of flowers ever.

She is so big and spread-out, when I give her a bath in my kitchen sink, she tends to just occupy everything.

Oh, did I ever tell you that I treat these orchids as if they're my kids? :)

Zz.

 

[turbo]

Lovely flowers! Our cabin has small windows with overhanging eaves, so we don't have much luck with flowering plants.

 

[Andre]

Besides the garden all in full bloom or about the bloom right now, my indoor garden is also joining in the fun. In particular, my orchids all decided to bloom at the same time.

Looks good for sure. Maybe that it could have been even better if http://www.hrt.msu.edu/faculty/Runkle/Orchid/Articles/Growing_the_Best_Phalaenopsis_Part_2.pdf .

 

[turbo]

My vegetable garden is dying in stages. Another cold, wet day today. We replanted cukes and squash again recently, and those seeds will likely rot in the ground. Only the garlic (planted last fall) and the peas are doing OK. It's getting late in the season to justify replanting things like buttercup squash that need a long growing season.

 

[turbo]

Has anybody seen this? I don't know what kind of garlic those thieves stole, but decent hardneck garlic brings several dollar/lb. I try to save all mine to get other growers started and for a reliable winter supply for cooking, but my neighbor grows a whole let extra and sells it roadside for $5/lb. ~$37,000 seems a "bit" low.

http://news.yahoo.com/police-5-suspected-stealing-9.5-tons-garlic-135739139.html

 

[Evo]

Wow Zz, those are the best I've ever seen and I went to an orchid farm in Thailand!

 

[fuzzyfelt]

Amazing orchid display, Zz!

 

[ZapperZ]

Thank you, thank you. I love them too. They have been blooming for more than a month now.

Zz.

 

[Ouabache]

BTW, if anybody here has a garden, you deserve to treat yourself to a scuffle-hoe (also known as a stirrup-hoe).

We have one of those in the garden & tried if a few times.
Guess I never got the hang of it though. I prefer a standard hoe.

I recently side dressed rhubarb with chicken manure. I wasn't sure if it might
burn them. Seems the manure was aged enough, the rhubarb are leafing out like
crazy!

Edible podded peas are bearing like crazy right now. And garlic scapes were a
fine addition to the picnic barbeque. Squash & cukes are coming along
fine. Just waiting on more summery weather. Kale & chard are also leafing out nicely.

Our plums had a fair amount of black knot on them this year.
The cool damp weather encouraged spread of the fungus.
I pruned out as many black knots as I could find. Hope the trees will bounce back.

 

[turbo]

We have one of those in the garden & tried if a few times.
Guess I never got the hang of it though. I prefer a standard hoe.

I recently side dressed rhubarb with chicken manure. I wasn't sure if it might
burn them. Seems the manure was aged enough, the rhubarb are leafing out like
crazy!

Edible podded peas are bearing like crazy right now. And garlic scapes were a
fine addition to the picnic barbeque. Squash & cukes are coming along
fine. Just waiting on more summery weather. Kale & chard are also leafing out nicely.

Our plums had a fair amount of black knot on them this year.
The cool damp weather encouraged spread of the fungus.
I pruned out as many black knots as I could find. Hope the trees will bounce back.

About the scuffle-hoe: you have to get the hang of it. Then it will be your favorite weeding tool. The head pivots so that the forward edge cuts weeds on the forward stroke and the rear edge cuts on the backstroke. I tend to use mine while walking backward so that the weeds remain on top of the soil to be dried out, and I don't stomp them back into the dirt to get another foothold. Take your time, and you might learn to love that weeding tool.

Scapes are coming in rapidly, and are becoming more popular around here, as people figure out how to use them. I just give them away, showing people how to use the tender bases of the scapes and toss the tough tops. If people like green onions and garlic, they can get both flavors with scapes. My dog loves them, but I limit his intake quite strictly because onions and garlic can cause problems.

My plum trees and peach tree seem to be doing well. I'd love to have some warm, dry, sunny weather for a while. We are alternating between cold/rainy and too hot. The peaches are hanging tough, and it would be nice to get a good crop this year.

 

[rhody]

Beautiful orchids, Zz, you are surely a master in growing them, too bad their beauty never lasts long, I could look at them in that state all year long.

I thought I would post a few updates from my garden and pots.

The first picture is of 23 sweet peppers, doing nicely, followed by bhuts and trinidad scorpions in flower and beginning to pod.

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/4793/sweetsn.jpg

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/7065/podsandflowers.jpg

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/4139/podsz.jpg

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/9321/pods2.jpg

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/9830/scorpflowers.jpg

Does anybody miss me ? lol.

Rhody...

 

[turbo]

Nice-looking chilies, Rhody. Mine are not doing well. Between the cold-and-wet times alternating with heat-waves, there has been very little weather conducive to gardening.

 

[dlgoff]

Nice Rhody. No ghost this summer but my jalapenos are doing fine. I picked a couple dozen Monday and eat a few every day with my dinner.

 

[fuzzyfelt]

They are looking great, Rhody.

 

[turbo]

My wife will be a bit late coming home tonight, because she's going to shop around to see if she can find some cucumber seeds. The last two plantings rotted in the ground due to excessive rain. Unfortunately, most gardeners in this area experienced the same problem, so seeds may be very hard to find.

 

[ZapperZ]

More flowers from my garden.

This is my second most-favorite lilies, mainly because of the deep-read colors. Unlike the earlier lilies that I showed, the three plants of this lily is in plain sight from the patio, so we get to see it everyday.

This next one is a new plant. We got it about 1 1/2 months ago, and I planted it right next to the patio. I like it because in a single flowering bunch, you get two different colors! Most of our guests like it as well.

I got this milkweed over this past Spring at the lab during their Earth Day celebration. It came in a styrofoam cup, and it had 3 small leaves. It has grown quite a bit since then, and it is putting out flowering buds. I'm hoping that it will attract monarch butterflies. But I have it growing in a pot right now. I don't know if it will do well in there, or if I should plant it in the ground. Will it spread like wild fire if I do that?

This one, I know nothing about. It came with the house, and I rescued it and moved it to a different location, right next to the patio, before we had the landscapers came in and redo the backyard. It has been growing well ever since, but I don't know what it is.

Zz.

 

[Monique]

Zz, I really like the milkweed as well. I first saw it in Portugal, the color variation in the flowers is really beautiful.

Do you have any secrets for your orchid care? My orchid keeps shooting out flowering stems, but the flowerbuds always fall off before they open.

 

[AlephZero]

Good God, it even creeps onto wedding cakes!

http://www.beardsleecastle.com/weddings-f/cake-3tier-ivy.jpg

What the...seriously?

That's where it should be. It's a fertility symbol. In fact you can probably link "the holly and the ivy" (as in the Christmas carol) back the time when people made fire by rubbing two sticks together (but I can't possibly imagine what that has to do with making babies )

Anyhow, if you exterminated English red squirrels with your American grey rats with bushy tails, maybe our ivy is just levelling the score.

 

[ZapperZ]

Zz, I really like the milkweed as well. I first saw it in Portugal, the color variation in the flowers is really beautiful.

Do you have any secrets for your orchid care? My orchid keeps shooting out flowering stems, but the flowerbuds always fall off before they open.

When you see that they are about to give off the flowering stems, you need to start feeding it with fertilizers once a week, and do it "weakly". The common rule-of-thumb of fertilizing it "weekly weakly" actually works here.

And contrary to the instructions, phalaenopsis actually do not mind direct sunlight if it is behind a glass window. So make sure it gets plenty of sun.

The other thing that I do is that I tend to mist it quite often. A spray bottle is your best friend. I usually mist it in the morning before I go off to work. If I remember, I do it in the afternoon as well whenever I tend to my indoor plants.

Not sure if those are the reasons for the orchids blooming so well, but that's what I do.

Zz.

 

[Evo]

This one, I know nothing about. It came with the house, and I rescued it and moved it to a different location, right next to the patio, before we had the landscapers came in and redo the backyard. It has been growing well ever since, but I don't know what it is.

Zz.

It might be this.

http://www.velvetgreene.com/item/Heuchera_Firefly/372/p9c49

 

[Monique]

When you see that they are about to give off the flowering stems, you need to start feeding it with fertilizers once a week, and do it "weakly". The common rule-of-thumb of fertilizing it "weekly weakly" actually works here.

And contrary to the instructions, phalaenopsis actually do not mind direct sunlight if it is behind a glass window. So make sure it gets plenty of sun.

Thanks for the tips, I'll start fertilizing it a bit every week and see how the plant responds. I think I need to fertilize it more anyway because the plant is getting a baby I had to look it up on the internet, but I've found a keiki growing on an old flowering stem.

I did have to give my Phals a more shady area, it was getting too much sunlight and the leaves turned leathery, but it is doing well now. I'd like to try to mist both plants, but I'm afraid of the water damage to the furniture..

Here are two picture of the Phals:
The left plant I've had for about 7 years, it flowered for the first time last winter but the flowering stem broke when the plant fell The plant to the right I've had for several years and only fully bloomed once, it has been very actively producing flowering stems but every time I wait months until finally the buds fall off before opening.. hopefully I get better luck this time

 

[Pengwuino]

My garden has a giant fail growing! I planted some bell peppers and they seem to be doing this...

My first pepper had this problem to a much larger extent and I already see a third one developing this. They are bell peppers but they are starting to look like bell peppers giving birth to mushrooms :(

 

[Evo]

My garden has a giant fail growing! I planted some bell peppers and they seem to be doing this...

My first pepper had this problem to a much larger extent and I already see a third one developing this. They are bell peppers but they are starting to look like bell peppers giving birth to mushrooms :(

I think it might be sun scald peng. Do they get a lot of direct sun?

http://www.bucolicbushwick.com/2008/09/ahhh-it-burns.html