What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Astronuc
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Evo garden
AI Thread Summary
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.
  • #3,101
Zz, could the last two shots be of some kind of bee-balm? The bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds love it. If it chokes out every living plant in sight, it's probably bee-balm. Like all members of the mint family, it spreads like crazy and will take over.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #3,102
turbo said:
Zz, could the last two shots be of some kind of bee-balm? The bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds love it. If it chokes out every living plant in sight, it's probably bee-balm. Like all members of the mint family, it spreads like crazy and will take over.

Oh dear, I hope not, but I need to know if it is since it is in a planting bed with others.

Zz.
 
  • #3,103
ZapperZ said:
Oh dear, I hope not, but I need to know if it is since it is in a planting bed with others.

Zz.
We have a ton of that stuff (blue and purple-blossomed varieties) and they are as aggressive as can be. That's OK with me because I would love to have fragrant plants taking over, with less lawn to me. If you like herb teas, you should encourage the bee balm (even if you have to isolate it), because the leaves make wonderful tea.
 
  • #3,104
BTW, if you like bergamot tea, why not grow your own bee balm? Why pay for that herbal tea when you can grow your own bee balm and get all the leaves that you need for nice tea? Once the plants are well-established, you can pick off leaves tear them up, and make cold-brewed tea in your refrigerator. Bergamot tea goes well with a touch of lemon, and doesn't need sugar, IMO. Some people like a bit of honey, though. This is a really good plant to have around.
 
  • #3,105
Beautiful flowers Zz. :)
 
  • #3,106
Gad said:
Beautiful flowers Zz. :)
I hope he learns to like them because bee-balm will come back over and over again from even the smallest root tendrils. It's almost impossible to eradicate manually. Find someone who wants some and give them clumps of it year after year. Bee-balm is the gift that keeps on giving.
 
  • #3,107
turbo said:
I hope he learns to like them because bee-balm will come back over and over again from even the smallest root tendrils. It's almost impossible to eradicate manually. Find someone who wants some and give them clumps of it year after year. Bee-balm is the gift that keeps on giving.

Yea. I made the mistake of tilling a out of control patch of mint only to have a whole garden of it the next year. Round-up is the only way. IMO
 
  • #3,108
My garden is doomed this year. We had cold and wet, followed by a heat-wave, and now we are back into cold and wet. The seeds that didn't rot earlier were blanched by the heat, and the new seeds will probably rot in the ground. We have planted and replanted squash, cucumbers, and other garden staples only to see them fail. This weather is nasty.
 
  • #3,109
turbo said:
My garden is doomed this year. We had cold and wet, followed by a heat-wave, and now we are back into cold and wet. The seeds that didn't rot earlier were blanched by the heat, and the new seeds will probably rot in the ground. We have planted and replanted squash, cucumbers, and other garden staples only to see them fail. This weather is nasty.
Squirrels ruined my plants.
 
  • #3,110
Evo said:
Squirrels ruined my plants.
Unfortunately, I can't move my plants. There is no room for a ~1900 ft/sq garden on the deck or in one of the garages. We get what we get, and this spring's alternating cold-wet/hot-dry stuff has got me discouraged. Once we have replanted crops 2-3 times, it seems like a waste to keep putting more effort and money into them.
 
  • #3,111
Speaking of problems... Something wrong happened to most of my peppers. They had a perfect start and I was proud of them in the end of May, but now most of the young leaves are small and twisted. I have three varieties, and all three look this way (although some worse than others, and it is obvious that Peter Pepper was hit the hardest).
 
  • #3,112
My ghost peppers have been a bust. They just couldn't stand these extremes.
 
  • #3,113
Evo said:
Squirrels ruined my plants.

Some critters dug through my planters containing seedlings of my Thai basil, flat-leaf parsley, and thyme. My regular basil planter survived.

I will commit terrible acts of violence if I ever catch these critters.

Zz.
 
  • #3,114
I have a critter getting the ripe tomatoes inside my deer cage the night before I go to pick them. There's going to be a war.
 
  • #3,115
There are no veggies in my garden anymore. Oh sure I had them for many years, onions, green peas, peppers, carrots (lots), etc.

It meant continious struggling with weeds and pests, disappointments, but most of all at the time of harvest, the same veggies were a lot cheaper in the grocery stores, than the equivalent of the effort you'd put in them. Seed, dung, area, watering, not even counting the work done.

So then I scaled back to interesting veggies only, mainly cherry tomatoes and snow peas, which were relatively rare and expensive. But that changed over time too.

So in my garden you find roses, fuchsias, Japanese maples, etc, no veggies.
 
Last edited:
  • #3,116
We're getting 1-1,5"/ hr here. We don't need all this rain.
 
  • #3,118
dlgoff said:
Looks like you're on a 5 year cycle.
I garden defensively, but sometimes weather gets the upper hand.
 
  • #3,119
Andre said:
There are no veggies in my garden anymore. Oh sure I had them for many years, onions, green peas, peppers, carrots (lots), etc.

It meant continious struggling with weeds and pests, disappointments, but most of all at the time of harvest, the same veggies were a lot cheaper in the grocery stores, than the equivalent of the effort you'd put in them. Seed, dung, area, watering, not even counting the work done.

So then I scaled back to interesting veggies only, mainly cherry tomatoes and snow peas, which were relatively rare and expensive. But that changed over time too.

So in my garden you find roses, fuchsias, Japanese maples, etc, no veggies.

Story of my life, er, I mean my garden.

Have you tried lemon cucumbers? I tried growing them last year for the first time. They grew like weeds. They make great pickles. :smile:

Perhaps we should start a seed club, kind of like post card club, only more useful.

I hear that people have been trading pepper seeds...
 
  • #3,120
OmCheeto said:
Story of my life, er, I mean my garden.

*snork* omg my keyboard is sprayed...:smile:
 
  • #3,121
OmCheeto said:
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.
 
  • #3,122
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.
 
  • #3,123
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.
 
  • #3,124
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
 
  • #3,125
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.
 
  • #3,126
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.
 
  • #3,127
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.
 
  • #3,128
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!
img5264x.jpg


img5266b.jpg


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.
img5268s.jpg


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.
img5271z.jpg


She is so big and spread-out, when I give her a bath in my kitchen sink, she tends to just occupy everything.
img5004kj.jpg


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

Zz.
 

Attachments

  • img5264x.jpg
    img5264x.jpg
    59.6 KB · Views: 340
  • img5266b.jpg
    img5266b.jpg
    57.2 KB · Views: 331
  • #3,129
Lovely flowers! Our cabin has small windows with overhanging eaves, so we don't have much luck with flowering plants.
 
  • #3,130
ZapperZ said:
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 .
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #3,131
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.
 
  • #3,132
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
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #3,133
Wow Zz, those are the best I've ever seen and I went to an orchid farm in Thailand!
 
  • #3,134
Amazing orchid display, Zz!
 
  • #3,135
Thank you, thank you. I love them too. They have been blooming for more than a month now.

Zz.
 
  • #3,136
turbo said:
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.
 
  • #3,137
Ouabache said:
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.

dukegarlic.jpg


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.
 
  • #3,138
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... :wink:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #3,139
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.
 
  • #3,140
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.
 
  • #3,141
They are looking great, Rhody.
 
  • #3,142
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.
 
  • #3,143
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.
img5305lu.jpg


img5311g.jpg


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.
img5314p.jpg


img5320m.jpg


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?
img5313u.jpg


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.
img5325k.jpg


Zz.
 

Attachments

  • img5305lu.jpg
    img5305lu.jpg
    53.3 KB · Views: 329
  • #3,144
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.
 
  • #3,145
lisab said:
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 :biggrin:)

Anyhow, if you exterminated English red squirrels with your American grey rats with bushy tails, maybe our ivy is just levelling the score.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #3,146
Monique said:
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.
 
  • #3,147
ZapperZ said:
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.
img5325k.jpg


Zz.
It might be this.

http://www.velvetgreene.com/item/Heuchera_Firefly/372/p9c49
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #3,148
ZapperZ said:
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 :biggrin: 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 :frown: 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 :smile:
 

Attachments

  • DSC03231.jpg
    DSC03231.jpg
    37.3 KB · Views: 416
  • DSC03235.jpg
    DSC03235.jpg
    41.5 KB · Views: 411
  • #3,149
My garden has a giant fail growing! I planted some bell peppers and they seem to be doing this...

atm53l.jpg


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 :(
 
  • #3,150
Pengwuino said:
My garden has a giant fail growing! I planted some bell peppers and they seem to be doing this...

atm53l.jpg


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
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

'How Does Your Garden Grow' thread - raised beds
Replies
36
Views
1K

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top