My building was originally a single-family home and now has two units, the upper (mine) and lower floors. Collectively, we are responsible for the grounds. The front yard is small and is mostly taken up by a couple of flowering shrubs and some lilies and tulips than seem content to do their own thing. The back yard is mostly deck and driveway. However, there is a smallish patch of "yard" that's mostly weeds. The lower unit occupants and their friends have trampled a path through the jungle from the driveway to the shady part of the deck (access is otherwise blocked currently by a pile of garage rafters). Today I spent half an hour pulling the biggest weeds - mostly enormous horseweed and pigweed, plus some nightshade, a few small saplings, and some other stuff I don't recognize. (I started because there was a pigweed in my way and just kind of... kept going.) I left the dandelions, most of the grass (not lawn variety; foot-tall individual plants), and a lot of something with fan-shaped leaves that grows low to the ground. I also left a decently-sized patch of nightshade that wasn't in anyone's way, because the bumblebees love it.
I'm thinking next year it would be good to be proactive and plant some intentional ground cover, but I'm not sure what. It's not a big enough area to bother with a lawn (or a mower). What sort of stuff could a person plant that would serve as low-maintenance ground cover and tolerate being walked on occasionally? Clover?
This is in the Midwest, in zone 5. There are shade trees/shrubs to the north and the house to the east, but the patch in question gets plenty of sunlight from the south and west. I have sun-loving container plants on the deck, and they're thriving.
I will of course check with my downstairs neighbors before planting anything, in case either of them has allergies, etc. They shovel the driveway (because they drive more often than I do and are active earlier in the day), so I don't mind dealing with the yard.
I have a low maintenance clover/yarrow mix lawn that I really like. It was supposed to have fescue but I killed it off.
The place I got the seed has lots of options, including no-mow and severe drought resistance: https://ptlawnseed.com/
Anyone here in USDA hardiness zone 4 ever have any luck growing watermelons? I could use some tips.
AbsoluteZero
They need lots of sun and water. Like minimum 8 hours full sun a day, 10 is probably better. As long as they have water they don’t seem to mind heat at all. Mine get sun from first light to roughly 4:30ish and it’s been 90F+ days here in southern Ohio for a couple weeks and if anything they seem to be growing faster.
Mine should be getting at least 8 hours, but probably not quite 10. I could try watering more often, I give my garden 2-3 inches of water once per week. Maybe I'll bump that up to 2x per week.
How early do you start your melons? Do you start them inside or outside?
Anyone here in USDA hardiness zone 4 ever have any luck growing watermelons? I could use some tips.
AbsoluteZero
They need lots of sun and water. Like minimum 8 hours full sun a day, 10 is probably better. As long as they have water they don’t seem to mind heat at all. Mine get sun from first light to roughly 4:30ish and it’s been 90F+ days here in southern Ohio for a couple weeks and if anything they seem to be growing faster.
Mine should be getting at least 8 hours, but probably not quite 10. I could try watering more often, I give my garden 2-3 inches of water once per week. Maybe I'll bump that up to 2x per week.
How early do you start your melons? Do you start them inside or outside?
I started mine inside, about 4 weeks before they went out. They've been in the ground since around mid May. I have 11 plants, 5 sugar baby and 6 crimson sweet. 3 plants to a hill thats about 2 ft wide and 1 ft tall. Each hill is spaced by about ~6 ft. For watering, maybe try 1 inch at a time twice a week if they are drying out. How fertile is your soil? Maybe they need some fertilizer?
They took a long time to establish once I transplanted them as I did not give them as much water as I should have. We got some heavy rain in early June, and that helped along with mulching each hill about 2" deep with fresh cut grass. Its only the last 2 weeks where they have really started growing like crazy, and they have nearly doubled in size since then along with starting some growth of melons as well.
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Half our plants have outright withered and died. Can’t tell if it’s from some blight or if it’s just too hot.
Is it lots of different types of plants that aren't either...
1) Secretly all cabbages (Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage etc)
2) Secretly all nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant etc)
If its a lot of different plants, its likely either a watering/excess heat issue, OR some kind of cutworm or caterpillar munching on their stems. I think some underground animals like gophers can do a similar thing where they eat all the underground parts of a plant.
If its all the same type of plant, then blights are definately on the table. Look around, do you have any isolated plants of the same type which are oddly just fine? Maybe a random tomato in a different border which is OK? Thats usually a good warning sign for blights.
All my corn is bored. By corn borers, that is. I've had a massive infestation of tobacco hornworms and I've killed over 30 now. They've all met an end under my size 13 shoe. To top that off, southern Ohio has been super dry for over a month now so any tomatoes that did form during that time have blossom end rot. The only things that haven't had problems have been my squash and watermelon. I've been trying to be as pesticide free as possible, and even had problems with aphids for a few days until the ladybugs figured a feast awaited them.
I'm going to need to invest in some biological pest control next year. Maybe we have a decent winter instead of the literal wet fart of one we had this year and that helps with some pests. I'm going to release so many parasitic wasps they will blot out the sun.
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Man these tomatoes are comin' in nice...is what the squirrels probably thought as they ate them. You furry little rats! You're rats with furry tails, that's all you are!
So just moved into a new place in Austin, and it's got a spot for a bit of a garden. Partial shade, it's rained twice in the last month, and it's hit about 100 degrees every day for the past month.
And it's basically August.
Um... anything worth trying to plant at this point?
I put all latest sprouts outside and now I'm pretty sure they are not getting enough water (browning on the edges of the leafs). Even though I drowned them when they were inside/in shade.
Good thing seeds are cheap enough that I can just keep trying.
AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
I have one corn stalk that's totally plastered in what looks like either eggs or teeny tiny little black mites. There's also a lot of flys attracted to it and tiny wasps I've never seen before. Haven't been able to find anything on Google just what the heck it could be. I'm gonna hose it down with some insecticide I guess. Just hope the plant hasn't been damaged too badly.
So just moved into a new place in Austin, and it's got a spot for a bit of a garden. Partial shade, it's rained twice in the last month, and it's hit about 100 degrees every day for the past month.
And it's basically August.
Um... anything worth trying to plant at this point?
No one from your area has responded, but I'm going out of a limb and say you should wait for a better season and less smoldering heat.
I have one corn stalk that's totally plastered in what looks like either eggs or teeny tiny little black mites. There's also a lot of flys attracted to it and tiny wasps I've never seen before. Haven't been able to find anything on Google just what the heck it could be. I'm gonna hose it down with some insecticide I guess. Just hope the plant hasn't been damaged too badly.
MayabirdPecking at the keyboardRegistered Userregular
Yeah, wait until the temperatures cool off. You could maybe till up and mulch a spot now, prepare the soil a bit, but it's way too hot to plant. Plants need a lot of water after being transplanted (before they get established) and they also need a lot of water in hot weather. Spring and fall are the times to put in plants, absolutely not summer. Austin, you're talking September at the earliest, or maybe October depending on how the months go.
That's where I'm at in my new garden patch. I put in some plants, but the slugs got them. I'm not going to use chemicals to deal with the slugs when there are plenty of garter snakes around to eat them, but the garter snakes won't come to the garden without a lot of cover, which the slugs ate. I need to put in more plants to shelter the snakes to eat the slugs off the rest, but it's too damn hot now. I'm waiting for temperatures to drop to more reasonable levels, and kinda hoping that I don't get randomly murdered by the police or something before I can get some more mint species in the garden.
I am having over heating issues with my home depot bucket sub soil irrigation setup so I ordered some 10gallon bags because they are supposedly better at temp control, even if that means losing the sub-soil watering system.
10 gallons is a lot of dirt, I need to start finding free dirt to mix with good soil.
So just moved into a new place in Austin, and it's got a spot for a bit of a garden. Partial shade, it's rained twice in the last month, and it's hit about 100 degrees every day for the past month.
And it's basically August.
Um... anything worth trying to plant at this point?
No one from your area has responded, but I'm going out of a limb and say you should wait for a better season and less smoldering heat.
I have one corn stalk that's totally plastered in what looks like either eggs or teeny tiny little black mites. There's also a lot of flys attracted to it and tiny wasps I've never seen before. Haven't been able to find anything on Google just what the heck it could be. I'm gonna hose it down with some insecticide I guess. Just hope the plant hasn't been damaged too badly.
I didn't realize aphids could be dark colors, so that's probably what they were. In any case they are gone now, the pesticide knocked them out right quick and in a hurry. The plant itself seems a bit stunted though, the ears of corn are quite small too. Hopefully it bounces back and those corn ears get good and plump.
AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
It appears I may have a new nemesis. This little bastard just lounging in my garden like he goddamn owns the place.
My defenses have held thus far, though I've seen him pen testing the chicken wire around a couple beds. I suspect he may be eating some of my lower hanging raspberries that aren't fenced in though. His coloration and relaxed demeanor compared to other bunnies in the neighborhood are making me wonder if he might be an escaped pet, but he does run if you get close enough, and he doesn't have the floppy ears I see on most pet bunnies. The wife wants to catch him and make him a pet, though I don't know how wise that is. I mostly just want to keep him from eating my garden. How well does that bunny repellent powder at the big box stores work?
Anyone done anything interesting with broccoli leaves? We've got a freaking prehistoric jungle of them to deal with. Not much actual broccoli head, but the leaves are huge. Might try making broccoli chips.
Anyone done anything interesting with broccoli leaves? We've got a freaking prehistoric jungle of them to deal with. Not much actual broccoli head, but the leaves are huge. Might try making broccoli chips.
Maybe try making a pesto with them, or using them in the place of other greens like collard or kale (sauted, poached, stir fried etc).
We did kind of a test plot this year, to see what would grow. About 18'x20'. We put in a couple kinds of cucumbers, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, green beans, lima beans, pumpkins, watermelon, strawberries, and corn.
The answer is apparently "everything." This is about 3 days worth, we've been getting this much every 3 days for about a month now. The corn is close, there are 2 watermelons and 4 pumpkins thriving too.
+9
MayabirdPecking at the keyboardRegistered Userregular
Some of it was just being dumb, but I’m about to give up on Neem oil and go nuclear.
Always expect a fight. My corn was ruined by borers, my beans were ruined because we tried to start them inside and they never thrived after that, and my tomatoes had massive infestation of tobacco hornworms.
We’ve had a terrible drought this year in southern Ohio as well.
I’m trying to avoid using pesticides because I like the beneficial stuff - I’ve had many different bee species pollinating my squash and melons. Next year Im releasing as many different possible species of parasitic wasps so they can do the dirty work for me.
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Looking for some advice from someone who knows about Kaffir Lime ( or just Lime) trees:
This is my Kaffir Lime tree - it's currently Winter, heading to spring, and you may notice something about this tree - roughly one third of it consists of what I want from the tree (delicious, delicious leaves) and two thirds consists of it trying to kill everything in its vague area, via impalement. Anyone have any tips on how to convince the tree to change these ratios? I need to weed under it ( difficult, because it penetrates all gloves and sleeves I throw at it), but I'm not sure why it hates all other life with quite the intensity it does.
Looking for some advice from someone who knows about Kaffir Lime ( or just Lime) trees:
This is my Kaffir Lime tree - it's currently Winter, heading to spring, and you may notice something about this tree - roughly one third of it consists of what I want from the tree (delicious, delicious leaves) and two thirds consists of it trying to kill everything in its vague area, via impalement. Anyone have any tips on how to convince the tree to change these ratios? I need to weed under it ( difficult, because it penetrates all gloves and sleeves I throw at it), but I'm not sure why it hates all other life with quite the intensity it does.
Is it grafted?
Normally fruit trees are mutants that don't grow very well, so they are grafted onto a stronger base tree. If all goes well only the mutant grows above ground and the base grows the roots. (this is called a rootstock). What it looks like happened here is a the rootstock of a kaffir lime graft started sending out shoots, and trying to grow into a tree. This is bad as the rootstock has undesirable properties (like thorns and no tasty leaves) and is faster at growing. If you leave it the mutant graft will die off as it is not producing enough resources for the tree.
Double check it is grafted. If it is, then cut all the thorny branches off as low as possible (they should all be sprouting below the kaffir section) and keep trimming back that which is not kaffir lime.
As always, double check elsewhere online.
In this moment, I am euphoric. Not because of any phony god’s blessing. But because, I am enlightened by my intelligence.
Posts
My building was originally a single-family home and now has two units, the upper (mine) and lower floors. Collectively, we are responsible for the grounds. The front yard is small and is mostly taken up by a couple of flowering shrubs and some lilies and tulips than seem content to do their own thing. The back yard is mostly deck and driveway. However, there is a smallish patch of "yard" that's mostly weeds. The lower unit occupants and their friends have trampled a path through the jungle from the driveway to the shady part of the deck (access is otherwise blocked currently by a pile of garage rafters). Today I spent half an hour pulling the biggest weeds - mostly enormous horseweed and pigweed, plus some nightshade, a few small saplings, and some other stuff I don't recognize. (I started because there was a pigweed in my way and just kind of... kept going.) I left the dandelions, most of the grass (not lawn variety; foot-tall individual plants), and a lot of something with fan-shaped leaves that grows low to the ground. I also left a decently-sized patch of nightshade that wasn't in anyone's way, because the bumblebees love it.
I'm thinking next year it would be good to be proactive and plant some intentional ground cover, but I'm not sure what. It's not a big enough area to bother with a lawn (or a mower). What sort of stuff could a person plant that would serve as low-maintenance ground cover and tolerate being walked on occasionally? Clover?
This is in the Midwest, in zone 5. There are shade trees/shrubs to the north and the house to the east, but the patch in question gets plenty of sunlight from the south and west. I have sun-loving container plants on the deck, and they're thriving.
I will of course check with my downstairs neighbors before planting anything, in case either of them has allergies, etc. They shovel the driveway (because they drive more often than I do and are active earlier in the day), so I don't mind dealing with the yard.
The place I got the seed has lots of options, including no-mow and severe drought resistance: https://ptlawnseed.com/
Mine should be getting at least 8 hours, but probably not quite 10. I could try watering more often, I give my garden 2-3 inches of water once per week. Maybe I'll bump that up to 2x per week.
How early do you start your melons? Do you start them inside or outside?
I started mine inside, about 4 weeks before they went out. They've been in the ground since around mid May. I have 11 plants, 5 sugar baby and 6 crimson sweet. 3 plants to a hill thats about 2 ft wide and 1 ft tall. Each hill is spaced by about ~6 ft. For watering, maybe try 1 inch at a time twice a week if they are drying out. How fertile is your soil? Maybe they need some fertilizer?
They took a long time to establish once I transplanted them as I did not give them as much water as I should have. We got some heavy rain in early June, and that helped along with mulching each hill about 2" deep with fresh cut grass. Its only the last 2 weeks where they have really started growing like crazy, and they have nearly doubled in size since then along with starting some growth of melons as well.
Is it lots of different types of plants that aren't either...
1) Secretly all cabbages (Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage etc)
2) Secretly all nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant etc)
If its a lot of different plants, its likely either a watering/excess heat issue, OR some kind of cutworm or caterpillar munching on their stems. I think some underground animals like gophers can do a similar thing where they eat all the underground parts of a plant.
If its all the same type of plant, then blights are definately on the table. Look around, do you have any isolated plants of the same type which are oddly just fine? Maybe a random tomato in a different border which is OK? Thats usually a good warning sign for blights.
I'm going to need to invest in some biological pest control next year. Maybe we have a decent winter instead of the literal wet fart of one we had this year and that helps with some pests. I'm going to release so many parasitic wasps they will blot out the sun.
I'm up to like 12 plants? Pruning is going to be an adventure come fall.
So just moved into a new place in Austin, and it's got a spot for a bit of a garden. Partial shade, it's rained twice in the last month, and it's hit about 100 degrees every day for the past month.
And it's basically August.
Um... anything worth trying to plant at this point?
Good thing seeds are cheap enough that I can just keep trying.
No one from your area has responded, but I'm going out of a limb and say you should wait for a better season and less smoldering heat.
Green aphids? https://www.almanac.com/pest/aphids
Then get that soil out and sifted through and then figure out how I want to go about the new garden plot out back.
I need to get the raised beds, figure out soil and compost, and figure out what I'm wanting to plant.
I've got so much wedding to do.
But the daffodils are coming up, and some hyacinths too
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That's where I'm at in my new garden patch. I put in some plants, but the slugs got them. I'm not going to use chemicals to deal with the slugs when there are plenty of garter snakes around to eat them, but the garter snakes won't come to the garden without a lot of cover, which the slugs ate. I need to put in more plants to shelter the snakes to eat the slugs off the rest, but it's too damn hot now. I'm waiting for temperatures to drop to more reasonable levels, and kinda hoping that I don't get randomly murdered by the police or something before I can get some more mint species in the garden.
10 gallons is a lot of dirt, I need to start finding free dirt to mix with good soil.
Grandfather Ashlock tomato. Beefsteak, very large, like 1lb.
Also, probably the most delicious tomato I have ever had.
Slap some of those bad boys in some BLTs. The ultimate sandwich for enjoying what a tomato has to offer.
I've just been eating them raw, sprinkled with a hint of kosher salt. They are so good, and I still have like 6 I need to eat.
We're still in the drought from summer. The dams are only about 51% full. Normally at this time, the should be in the mid 80's.
So I guess it's really really time for me to start looking into getting a rain water system set up before trying to get a summer garden in.
I was really hoping to have more rain this winter.
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I didn't realize aphids could be dark colors, so that's probably what they were. In any case they are gone now, the pesticide knocked them out right quick and in a hurry. The plant itself seems a bit stunted though, the ears of corn are quite small too. Hopefully it bounces back and those corn ears get good and plump.
My defenses have held thus far, though I've seen him pen testing the chicken wire around a couple beds. I suspect he may be eating some of my lower hanging raspberries that aren't fenced in though. His coloration and relaxed demeanor compared to other bunnies in the neighborhood are making me wonder if he might be an escaped pet, but he does run if you get close enough, and he doesn't have the floppy ears I see on most pet bunnies. The wife wants to catch him and make him a pet, though I don't know how wise that is. I mostly just want to keep him from eating my garden. How well does that bunny repellent powder at the big box stores work?
Maybe try making a pesto with them, or using them in the place of other greens like collard or kale (sauted, poached, stir fried etc).
So I made BLTs for my wife and I yesterday, and they were amazing.
Today, I took it up a level:
Bacon cheeseburgers with Grandfather Ashlock tomatoes with hydroponic lettuce. Just mayo, american cheese.
Best damned hamburger I've ever had. It was sublime.
The answer is apparently "everything." This is about 3 days worth, we've been getting this much every 3 days for about a month now. The corn is close, there are 2 watermelons and 4 pumpkins thriving too.
I wonder if using a bunch of bagged soil to fill them increased my risk of overwintered bugs, or if I should just expect a fight every year.
Just in the bug department I’ve got:
-squash bugs
-cucumber beetles
-squash borers
-buffalo treehoppers
-cabbageworms
-tomato fruit worms
Some of it was just being dumb, but I’m about to give up on Neem oil and go nuclear.
Always expect a fight. My corn was ruined by borers, my beans were ruined because we tried to start them inside and they never thrived after that, and my tomatoes had massive infestation of tobacco hornworms.
We’ve had a terrible drought this year in southern Ohio as well.
I’m trying to avoid using pesticides because I like the beneficial stuff - I’ve had many different bee species pollinating my squash and melons. Next year Im releasing as many different possible species of parasitic wasps so they can do the dirty work for me.
anyone know what they are and how doomed I am?
This is my Kaffir Lime tree - it's currently Winter, heading to spring, and you may notice something about this tree - roughly one third of it consists of what I want from the tree (delicious, delicious leaves) and two thirds consists of it trying to kill everything in its vague area, via impalement. Anyone have any tips on how to convince the tree to change these ratios? I need to weed under it ( difficult, because it penetrates all gloves and sleeves I throw at it), but I'm not sure why it hates all other life with quite the intensity it does.
You got slugs.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Hmmmm
That first pic made me think of a caprese blt
B for basil, not bacon, but you use an avocado spread on the bread to bring in some richness to offset the lack of bacon
Is it grafted?
Normally fruit trees are mutants that don't grow very well, so they are grafted onto a stronger base tree. If all goes well only the mutant grows above ground and the base grows the roots. (this is called a rootstock). What it looks like happened here is a the rootstock of a kaffir lime graft started sending out shoots, and trying to grow into a tree. This is bad as the rootstock has undesirable properties (like thorns and no tasty leaves) and is faster at growing. If you leave it the mutant graft will die off as it is not producing enough resources for the tree.
Double check it is grafted. If it is, then cut all the thorny branches off as low as possible (they should all be sprouting below the kaffir section) and keep trimming back that which is not kaffir lime.
As always, double check elsewhere online.