The Gardening Thread

We first moved into this house two years ago and since it had been unoccupied for a long time, the first summer was basically spent bushwhacking brush and doing fun stuff like filling in a shitty old garden pool and moving bricks from one part to another to make a patio. This year I have three raised garden beds for vegetables again plus a bunch of pots for herbs and some new beds for perennials. Last year I grew an absurd amount of tomatoes and peppers and now I want to add some color to the backyard with native perennials for the benefit of our pollinator buddies. I got lucky with a spot in the yard that gets full sunlight all day and the tomaters love it. New stuff I'm trying are beans, cucumbers, beets, and carrots. Last year it was difficult to contain the tomatoes and I lost that battle, so this year I made A-frame trellises with cheap 2x2 lumber like Nett linked to and twine so hopefully I can at least get them started on that. They look like a drunk boy scout made them, which is actually pretty accurate, but they were dirt cheap to make and feel very sturdy. I also made another twine trellis for the beans and cucumbers (pickling type for ms. katokoch). I'm excited to see all the flowers I seeded start to sprout and come up. I'll post pics once things are more than just sprouts, we got a slow start here.

I am very fortunate to have good neighbors, they all garden and have been very helpful with advice and supplies. We collectively share perennials like ferns, hostas, and lillies when it comes time to split them, and one couple gets a truckload of composted soil every year to share in addition to giving me a bunch of zinnia seeds to plant. Unfortunately the landscaping vendor they buy soil from made a bad batch this year, it is just sticks and fluff and lets all the water drain through. My plants weren't dying but they just weren't really growing and I was confused 'til a neighbor visited and wanted to see if I was experiencing the same issue as them. Apparently lots of people in the Twin Cities are pissed at this supplier. The solution was to add some heavier soil around the base of the plants plus mulch on top and now all is good, I hope.

I have yet to deal with bad bugs and diseases, so far we've been clear. My primary issue is squirrels... the unrepentant little destructive robbing bastards. The dog and I are heavy handed on keeping them out of the yard (neighbors were happy to see I have a lab and let him chase stuff out of their yards too), and I haven't put chicken wire up around the beds yet but it'll happen this weekend. If anything that's to keep Buck and my brother's coonhound out. Rabbits haven't really been an issue though I don't grow tulips (yet).

Stormwater in my area drains directly into the Mississippi so I avoid applying stuff to my lawn and as a result its slightly shitty with occasional weeds. I do heavily seed and mow often, I always just mulch it back into the lawn, but having some dandelions or clover for a couple of weeks doesn't bother me. I just mow more to lop the heads off before they can go to seed. Neighbors aren't fussy either so it doesn't bother anyone. The one thing I have zero tolerance for are thistles.

 

We get Japanese beetles that swarm on the grape vines in my yard, to the point where thinking about picking them off seems asinine, but they don't bother the tomatoes or peppers and we'll see about the other stuff I'm growing. First summer here I tried to make peace with the squirrels but they took every single tomato that grew from what was a poor harvest to begin with. Every. single. one. That's when I shifted tactics.

We're looking at a relatively hot weekend so I will need to be on top of watering.

 

Holy fuck, a thread that will make my wife join.

 

Home Depot et al sell a bag you hang in your garden that traps those fucks. Cheap, too.

 

We've only had to do it twice and they did a great job. I'll double check with the wife.

 

Do you know where I can get s good tree poison here in town? I have a different kind of pest.

 

www.stihl.com

 

That part is covered. The tree itself ( and its defence system) Make it not that simple. It's against the shared property fence so I have to take it down bit by bit just to be safe and at the same time ease the neighbour I share the fence with. Still not that hard, but the now fully-grown foliage disguises the horrible thorns all over the tree like, everywhere on it. Fall Of Hyperion-style shit. I want to kill the tree first so I can see what I'm doing when I cut it apart.

 

Or you can just remove the bark in a ring around it.

 

I know about ringing. It's pressed against the fence.

Thanks for the tips folks.

 

That seems like a safe one to try. I like how it's chemical-free.

The only things I ever mix are certain plant foods/nutrients. Besides my weed spray everything I use is"safe" for the sake of dog and child. The weed spray is safe in no time, especially in the sun.

Natural weed sprays up here suck. Nett also echoed this: they suuuuck. They say "environmentally friendly". But fail to mention they "don't work".
Natural fertilizer works, though. And if I'm mistaken can't "burn" the lawn like chemical fertilizer if you accidentally over-feed it, yes? Fertilizer is pricey as fuck here too. Even "Golf Green" in Costco today seemed like a ripoff.

My grandparent's neighbour across the street was a riot. He was ultra-OCD about the outside of his house, it was perfectly landscaped. Hey....Nothing wrong with having neighbours who give a shit and make their place easy on the eyes, right? He mowed the lawn every three days, perfect baseball chessboard pattern every time. It was in the autumn when the entertainment began, my grand parent's front picture window was a two-way mirror. So we would sit and laugh as he would run out and grab a leg whenever he saw them hit the lawn. It was amazing, like he was grabbing enemy grenades and tossing them back.

...now, not to say the man had some obsessive cleaning issues. But I'd rather look at that sparkling property than some rented house lived in by a slob family who never cleans or mows anything. And it was great fun to watch when bored.

 

Drill a small hole in the trunk and introduce some Stump-B-Gone.

 

The talk of hand plucking beetles, or vine borers, reminded me of something to recommend. If you are forced to pull of a bunch of critters, rather than going in by hand, arm yourself with a hand vacuum. Totally worked for me. Shop vac + hose also seems doable, but I used a hand vac.....it didn't tear up the plants.

And +1 for drilling the stump and pouring in whatever.....toytoy has it right. In fact, drill the shit out of it just to begin the destruction....it can be cathartic.

 

It's all NPK and over application can burn your plants no matter how the NPK is derived. It's also pretty difficult to scorch turf. You have to go waaay over the recommended application and/or use the wrong formulation for your lawn. The best way to avoid burn is to apply in the morning when it's cooler and go on the light side. Historically, frequent weak doses has a better overall effect than a big shot all at once.

Our tomatoes are humming along, though I'm battling a hell of an aphid infestation. It's under control with a hort oil, but it's going to take three or four applications to kill them dead.