After standing around talking with my neighbors for almost three hours I finally got the pruning all done. The pruners that just arrived from Amazon suck but the got the job done. They’re supposed to be spring loaded and open easily but after each cut I had to nudge the handles open for the next cut. A real pain in the ass, but I guess that’s what I get for ordering from Bezos despite the great reviews. So I packaged them back up and will be returning them to him.
I had a guy I know stop by to give me an estimate for trimming my favorite tree in the yard, a big maple that casts a lot of shade we’ve enjoyed over the years. He’s been telling me it needs to come down but I’ve resisted. Now I can see where it’s just aging out and indeed needs to go before it becomes a bigger problem. Damn… On the plus side, it’ll make for more sun do the garden and less leaves to rake.
They love it when I expose the creepy crawlies. I usually piddle around while the water is running in the morning. The video is too big so I had to upload to YouTube Excuse the heavy breathing. I missed my calling as an ASMR chick. https://youtube.com/shorts/SFFSjzhpr_c?si=qZkR10jjglgPeuBG I can't figure out how to imbed video anymore either. My friend who moved away loves my urban homesteading adventures. She thinks it would be amazing video blogging material. I dunno. Do people watch normies doing normie shit?
It's not too late for ASMR thing. I've seen people with fairly big channels doing fairly mundane things like recording themselves shopping at Aldi.
I uploaded one as a short and a shorter one as a regular video. The website isn't the only thing too old and outdated to deal with shit.
Wanted to ask about easy homegrown indoor mint and other herbs. Like, what's an easy go to so to speak in terms of growing them(dirt, planters, seeds, etc.).
Mint is pretty hard to kill, though we had a pineapple mint plant my wife bought that looked pretty dead most of the winter. Even with a grow light. Once that windy started getting more sun it perked up and is now coming on nicely. Rosemary can be temperamental. I’ve learned the trick is to not over water it, let the soil go dry before giving it a drink. Basil… good frickin luck. I’ve never managed to keep it alive indoors.
What do you have on hand? You are going to need lights or something for a proper indoor grow. Herbs are usually full sun. A lot of the perennial herbs are really drought resistance and woody as they mature, like rosemary, lavender, sage.
If you like hot peppers, I've seen some people grow some very nice pepper plants indoors. If you have a south facing window or sliding glass door might be enough light, but you'll likely need a grow light.
I bought a Bay twig last year and brought it inside and it's been flourishing under the grow lights and regular fertilizing and watering. My rosemary shrub is growing very large. Basil did OK but then I used it all so I now have a few pots that I've reseeded. I consider basil to be a one-off, not sustaining. Grow it, use it, replant new seeds. I also used to have a big pepper plant. As mentioned above, they do very well indoors. Mine was a hot pepper of some variety that I don't quite remember... so it was colourful (reds and yellows), with a bit more heat than a jalapeno, and a better flavour profile. I used them like banana peppers, slicing them up on a sandwich, etc.
Mostly just focusing on mint and basil since those are the ones I'd use most, though lavender would also be nice. The light thing is what I wanted to ask about. Does it NEED to be direct sunlight or can I get away with an LED strip? What about UV? I'm probably gonna grow these in my room so as to keep watch on them and wanted to know the necessary life conditions for them like light, temp, and water.
You want high intensity light. I keep two layers of lights. A grid of LED lamps with warming mats to go from germination to ~8" of growth. Below that I have an HID lamp with a MH bulb. I actually have two bulbs I can swap out that have a little different light wave lengths. Anyway, the HID lamp is bright as the risen sun, produce heat, and generally the bulbs emit full spectrum light, so I can support flowering and fruiting. That lamp is expensive to run so I don't typically use it except for plants that I mis-judged my season and started way too early that need a little more time indoors, and some other misc experiments. I haven't bought LED lamps myself anytime recently. Don't get anything marked as "grow lamps." They are usually underpowered for their price, and use gimicky purple lights that emit red light. You want to find LED shop lights with the highest lumen value on the shelf, with full spectrum light. I use 6 strips on chains hung from a frame to create a grid of light. I helped my mom shop a couple years ago. She got a double LED lamp, either 3' or 4', and mounted it under her cabinet in the kitchen for her plants.
I have 8 long led strip lights, half white, half grow (that purple haze). They’re on for 12 hrs every 24. This is an old pic before I rotted out my chives and ate all my basil.
Speaking of herbs, this year we’re gonna try something a little different. In addition to the basil, rosemary, oregano, etc., I ordered eucalyptus, chamomile and a chocolate-mint plant. I also ordered and honest to God tea plant, all from Burpees. So we’ll be trying our hand at homemade teas. I also ordered some new blueberry plants. I have three that are probably 20 years old and I’m still on the fence about whether to try and transplant them or just cut them down and be done with it. But where they are now is a pain in my ass. Inspired by a Joe Lamp’l video, I ordered a bunch of 20 gallon grow bags to do potatoes in this year as well as carrots. When the new garage is built I plan to have a dedicated section of my shop for all my gardening stuff. I’m also thinking of setting up a potting table and place to stack soil, mulch, etc in the lean to. It’s gonna be a busy year around here.
Here’s the video where he plants them and then an update here. What convinced me what this video where he planted carrots in them. I have had trouble growing good carrots and thought it was worth a shot. The nice thing is I should be able to plant the same amount of seed potatoes as usual and have that bed, usually dedicated to them, free for something else.