What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

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Gardening is a cherished activity for many participants, with roots tracing back to childhood experiences and family traditions. Organic gardening methods are favored, emphasizing the use of natural techniques over chemicals. Current gardening efforts include cultivating perennials like blueberries and raspberries, alongside plans for vegetable and herb gardens. Participants express a desire for more space to garden, reflecting on the challenges of apartment living and the joy of nurturing plants. The discussion highlights cultural differences in gardening practices, particularly contrasting American and Spanish lifestyles regarding home and garden ownership.
  • #1,711
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.
 
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  • #1,712
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.
 
  • #1,713
wolram said:
It is a bush with cone shaped flowers lots of little ones form the cone, the cones are about 1.5 inches long and they are blue, what is it please, can't find it on google.

I think it might be a Ceanothus species.
Maybe C.Skylark or C.Arboreus?
http://www.plant-encyclopedia.net/genus-ceanothus.aspx
 
  • #1,714
Try eating it, and let us know if it's not poisonous.
 
  • #1,715
NeoDevin said:
Try eating it, and let us know if it's not poisonous.

Okay, but if it kills me i will blame you. :-p
 
  • #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.
 
  • #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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