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The Gardening Thread

Discussion in 'Permanent Threads' started by bewildered, May 27, 2017.

  1. bewildered

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    Thanks! What part of the country (or what zone) are you in? I am in 8b for reference. We had about 6 weeks of winter this year with a solid week of hard freezes. I was expecting Feb to have another cold snap but my accuweather is showing nice springtime weather until March (Highs mid-upper 70s, lows in mid-upper 50s). Today is 75/63F. I want to roll around in the beautiful weather and bring it inside with me.

    I tried some long season red creole onions as well as some broccoli and cauliflower this fall/winter and they were all giant wastes of time. I also grew snow peas and those were very successful and will be grown twice a year from now until I don't have space for a garden. SO easy, heavy producer, plus they are legumes and replenish nutrients in the soil. Win win win. As much as I'd like to have a winter crop, it is kinda nice to have a seasonal break from the garden. I planted rye grass in the garden to build the soil and to green compost before planting my crops. I will definitely be making this an annual practice.
     
  2. Nettdata

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    Right now all my stuff is growing indoors... still well below freezing for quite a few weeks/months yet.

    So far I've got a whack of Beefsteak Tomatoes, Cilantro, and Catnip all growing like weeds under my lights and heaters.

    I have some more seeds on their way that should be here this week. My thyme didn't grow at all... well, kind of... it grew a little bit, got 1 or 2 really small leaves, then died. I have no idea why. Maybe I planted the seeds way too deep. I've got a bunch of peppers, thyme, sage, and other herbs on their way so I can get them started.

    Regardless, I'm not too worried about the actual plants right now, I'm starting to build out a "geeky garden" setup.

    I've started to design a remote monitoring/watering system that has solar-powered nodes that you stick into the ground... they will measure temp, moisture, light, and report back to the main hub (wirelessly), and automatically water as required using solar-powered solenoid taps. I figure this will do well with the raised beds I'm putting in this spring.

    I went looking for some commercial products that do what I want it to, and they were about $1.5k, but it's really just about $200 in pieces/parts, so I've ordered the parts and will start writing the Arduino and Pi software in the next few weeks.

    I'm kind of really lucky in that I have an electrical engineer at work that specializes in small hardware projects like this, and he's given me some phenomenal guidance on how to get it done.

    Should be fun!
     
  3. Nettdata

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    Something like this, but with bluetooth wireless:

     
  4. SouthernIdiot

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    What do you mean by "long season red creole onions"? To grow onions in the South, you need short day or neutral day types. If seed, sow in the early Fall. If bulbs, sow as soon as you can in the spring.
     
  5. bewildered

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    You are probably correct, I am mixing my terms up.

    I bought red Creole onion seeds and planted them in the fall, which is what I read you're supposed to do for my region and that type of onion. I had a few come up but they were largely not very successful. A big part of it probably has to do with me not using the right fertilizers or nutrients to bulk up their size. I did fertilize but was not following a specific schedule which is probably why I failed. We also had a very warm fall this year. Have you grown red Creole onion successfully in the past?
     
  6. SouthernIdiot

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    I haven't grown that variety, but I looked it up and it is a short day. It should do ok for you with the correct fertilizer schedule and conditions, etc.
     
  7. Improper

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    I am zone 7.

    Yes to short day onions in 8b! Check out Dixondale, I get my onions there. Great product, big bundles. Great guides, too. I usually order with a friend or two, because more bundles ordered means lower price per bundle.....and cheaper is good.

    http://www.dixondalefarms.com
     
  8. bewildered

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    Maybe I will try onions again, but it will be bulbs instead of seeds. I'll have to split with a friend like you suggest. My germination % was really low with the seeds.

    @Nettdata , how are you watering your seeds? I typically cover with very little soil. If the seed is large enough to handle like a tomato or a cucumber, I will push into the soil and water in until water drips from the bottom of the container. If I am dealing with tiny seeds like coleus, thyme, celosia...I water the container with no seeds, sprinkle the tiny seed(s) on top, and keep moist daily or twice daily with a misting spray bottle. In fact for the most part I keep the seeds moist with a spray bottle mister and don't water thoroughly til I have a couple sets of leaves and they have some roots going. I've had really good success germinating this way indoors under a blue and red LED grow lamp.

    I have also covered a large multipack of seeds I was starting with saran wrap and uncovered once all the seeds were germinated--that kept conditions very moist and humid. I did that with the celosia and they seemed to respond well to that.
     
  9. Nettdata

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    I think the thyme was just planted a bit too deep, but everything I've read says thyme is a bitch to start from seeds at the best of time.

    My cilantro and tomatoes are coming in gang busters, almost ready to be moved into larger pots.

    I keep everything really moist, but not soaked... I'm worried about them rotting out on me.

    All I've been using is a small mister and it seems to be working really well.
     
  10. Esian

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    As long as some of your thyme made it you can propagate it out but just taking cuttings and sticking them. Keep them misted well until they start to set a root. Time to root will depend a lot on your conditions, but they aren't hard.
     
  11. Nettdata

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    Yeah... they dead.

    It was my first attempt ever at planting seedlings, so I'm learning a lot.

    Probably planted the thyme too deep, as a leaf or two showed on the surface, and then died off. Just that... a leaf or two.

    Most of my cilantro is long and stringy and falling over, which I come to find out is probably due to being too far away from the light source, and not having any wind on them. I've now raised them closer to the light source, doubled said light source, and put a fan on them. (Apparently having a fan causes the stems to toughen up... who knew?)

    That being said, my tomatoes are going crazy right now... very fast growing.

    Just had a raspberry pi delivered today that I'm going to turn into a time-lapse camera with an old web cam I have, so I can start to keep a photo diary of what's going on.

    I'm not solving world hunger, but it sure is fun.
     
  12. bewildered

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    I waited to start my dahlia seeds (I have cactus and dwarf) until I had peat pots since they develop tubers and do not like to be moved. It pays to know people who love to thrift for the sake of thrifting--I got about 80 peat pots for less than $4.
    Holy fresh seed, batman... this is 4 days after planting 2 per pot. By the next day every single one had come up, and I guess my fingers were sticky because I had 3 come up in some pots.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]



    @Revengeofthenerds to answer your question earlier about lemongrass-- it is super easy to start from seeds. I bought seeds for lemongrass, stevia, marjoram, cilantro, thyme, 8 varieties of basil--- and all of them have germinated inside of 5 days except the cilantro, whose seeds are bigger so I think they just need an extra day or two of moisture to pop open. Lemongrass is supposed to grow 4' in a season so if you live in a place that doesn't have hard freezes, you should be able to overwinter, or just start a new batch each season since it grows so much and starts so easily.

    [​IMG]


    I'm excited about the stevia, for one. I tend to use white sugar in my coffee in the morning but would use stevia if it were abundant and free. It's a tropic/semi-tropic and will do great in my climate.

    Yesterday I planted some things. Balsam for a shadier part of the garden near my firepit-- this stuff comes up easily and self sows throughout the season, so I open sowed these seeds. I had some really old moneyplant seeds from when I was a kid-- no telling if these will come up, but I put those behind the balsam. I also started a multipack of African daisies and specialty coleus including Chocolate Covered Cherry and Pineapple Surprise. My mom really likes coleus, especially the pink and white striped kinds, and I am growing extra for her.
     
  13. bewildered

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    Put up the string tomato trellis today. I was going to do cement remesh cages but it was too pricey and too heavy for me to take care of independently. I also started the cucumber trellis off to the side but will need to finish that when there is more light. I made some good progress this weekend. Hopefully I can get some plants in the ground next week. My pepper plants have tiny buds starting.

    [​IMG]
     
  14. Nettdata

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    My God woman... did you pull a permit for that there construction?
     
  15. bewildered

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    Heh. It's just a frame, that's all. All credit is not my own anyway, I had my husband do the pounding and the tying because my shoulder is still bum.

    I'm sure my neighbor will love it. Who needs a privacy fence when you can just plant a wall of tomatoes?
     
  16. billy_2005

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    That happened to a couple of my hot peppers (also in Canada), and some of my basil and lemon balm. Really not sure what happened. One day they were looking great, with decent sized first leaves, the next most of the herb seedlings had fallen over and died. The peppers' leaves just curled up and turned black, then fell off. Weirdest thing.
     
  17. Kubla Kahn

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    That conduit? Might have a chance of staying upright. Concrete mesh FTMFW.
     
  18. Nettdata

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    Eventually the tomato plants become a structural component in and of themselves.
     
  19. bewildered

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    Yea, 3/4" conduit 10' long tied together at the top about 8" down and split for legs. The metal along the top was something I found behind the shed up in the rafters. It felt fairly secure at that point but you could still move it a little with your hand so I staked the rod down on either side.


    Bingo.

    Hurricane season may be interesting . ..
     
    #299 bewildered, Feb 26, 2018
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2018
  20. bewildered

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    Pink polka dot plant 2 ways: Coming back from the roots and coming back from dried flowers from last year. I see activity! Hard to see but there are 4 or 5 seeds that sprouted at the same time. I have weeds that come up occasionally in my stuff outside but I think this is actually the polka dot plant coming up. The sprouts are too uniform to be a random. It's so neat to see how plants persist even when they appear dead. A bougainvillea vine got slapped during our hard freeze but I didn't toss it just in case and now I am noticing new growth. My mom gave me a bunch of plastic pots, many with dirt, that she gets at the big box stores for nothing. I have a calla lily coming up from one of those, too. Neat!

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]


    Blue salvia from seed. I'll be growing this from seed every year--salvia do amazing down here because they love the heat and are tolerant of dry conditions. These are shaping up to be easy, fast growers. These haven't bloomed yet but they are getting close. 500ct for $2.50 -- not bad.


    [​IMG]

    On the other hand, holy EF do petunias seem to grow slow. I bought these on a whim one midnight (my drunk purchases are WAY different than most people's). These are called Scentsational Petunia-- they are supposed to be a pretty periwinkle color and smell amazing. So to start they were a bit expensive. You get 15ct for the pack (Actually 17 seeds in mine, thanks for tossing me a bone). I had 10 plants come up (Bonus, one Lobelia seed was stuck to my finger apparently and came up too) and they are growing so slooooow. I'm sure they will be worth the wait. I'll turn my impatience into productivity and go grow something else in the meantime.

    [​IMG]



    I can't wait til some of my seedlings get a little bigger and I can start planting them in the ground or in displays. I hate having little plastic pots everywhere but am too cheap to buy nicer looking ones. Hopefully most of that will be stashed with the potting supplies within a couple months.