|
|
Post by 🐍 cahusserole 🐍 on Jan 31, 2018 17:39:16 GMT -5
And they sell chickweed?! HA! I recall a few years ago the New York Times had a gardening article about purslane being an edible weed. And at the end of the article they had sourcing information, in case you were feeling encouraged to introduce some to your garden (on the extremely unlikely chance that it wasn't growing there already). They located a purveyor of it and listed the price "for a packet of 250 seeds. Which is 248 more than you will need". And purslane seed is what I bought from them! Mostly so that my mother would get off my case for eating a weed. "LOOK IT'S A REAL THING IT CAME FROM A SEED I BOUGHT." |
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Feb 2, 2018 14:22:42 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by 🐍 cahusserole 🐍 on Feb 4, 2018 22:42:33 GMT -5
|
|
moimoi
AV Clubber 
Posts: 5,090 
|
Post by moimoi on Feb 21, 2018 18:32:52 GMT -5
I have succumbed to orchid fever...in that I purchased a $13 mini phalaenopsis to grow under a glass cloche in my dining room and now I'm desperately trying to figure out how to keep it alive. The prospect of repeat indoor blooming during cold months is mighty appealing, so I do hope I can keep this little bugger going. Anyone have tips?
|
|
Crash Test Dumbass
AV Clubber
ffc what now
Posts: 7,058
Gender (additional): mostly snacks
|
Post by Crash Test Dumbass on Feb 21, 2018 20:34:26 GMT -5
I have succumbed to orchid fever...in that I purchased a $13 mini phalaenopsis to grow under a glass cloche in my dining room and now I'm desperately trying to figure out how to keep it alive. The prospect of repeat indoor blooming during cold months is mighty appealing, so I do hope I can keep this little bugger going. Anyone have tips? Get a witch to curse you and transform you into a feral, bestial form, from which you can only be saved by your True Love? |
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Mar 5, 2018 9:53:19 GMT -5
Hugs and I spent the last two days of our vacation cleaning out our sunroom and building a second set of grow light shelves! Our garden-starting facility is now organized, tidy, and has doubled in capacity. I'm so excited! Tonight we'll be starting the next wave of seeds: peppers, snapdragons, and thyme. And in just a couple of weeks? It's time to plant peas! Things are starting to happen around here!!
|
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Mar 14, 2018 9:29:01 GMT -5
Seedling update:
The onions are all standing upright and have gotten their second sets of leaves. They're looking great!
And yesterday brought the first signs of life in the second wave of seedlings: the thyme sprouted. Yay!
Next weekend I think we need to start the rest of the flowers and the tomatoes. And theoretically we're supposed to plant the peas outside this Saturday, but A) we won't be home for that, and B) there's still a couple of inches of icy snow in the garden beds.
|
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Mar 18, 2018 17:08:50 GMT -5
I am starting indoor seeds this afternoon. I always put tomatoes, peppers, and other such seedlings in the ground the second weekend in May. The real challenge is snap peas, because I haven't even been out to the garden plots this year. Uggh, tilling day is the worst day.
In happier news, last night with dinner in addition to frozen garden green beans, I made sweet potato fries with our sweet potatoes. I was completely unaware of the fact that those are actually baked and not fried until late yesterday afternoon. They came out great! I am now ready to plant two rows of sweet potatoes instead of last year's half-row. To start, I cut a bunch of potato ends that were already sprouting eyes and put them in water. Monoculture here I come.
|
|
moimoi
AV Clubber
Posts: 5,090
|
Post by moimoi on Mar 18, 2018 18:55:35 GMT -5
Today I finally got outside to tidy up the garden and do some Easter decorating. What a thrill to be outside! And the neighbors have asked me to plan another plant swap!
I do have a quandary though: my rain chain on the garage empties into a lovely, large metal basin. I think it's made of tin because it's pretty soft, but it has a kind of copper finish. Last summer, it started corroding on the inside, which looks cool but probably isn't good for wildlife that likes to drink from it. So what's the best way to waterproof the inside of a soft metal container? Spraypaint? Some sort of epoxy? Line it with a waterproof material or plastic?
|
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Mar 19, 2018 13:04:54 GMT -5
Ugh, you guys, we've got another snowstorm bearing down on us for later this week (BECAUSE SERIOUSLY), and all I can think about now is a warm day in May with the garden all newly planted, strolling around and checking on the progress. Or late-evening sunlight among the overgrown beds in July, listening to the bees in the catnip flowers. I want green and leafy and sun-dappled and short sleeves and slow-flying pollinators moving from flower to flower in the rangy herbs, but right now there's still too much icy snowdrift in the garden to even be able to open the gate. I am SO READY. (And moimoi, I'm sorry not to have any experience with repairing a metal rain bucket, but surely a plastic liner could be simple and unobtrusive?) |
|
|
|
Post by WKRP Jimmy Drop on Mar 23, 2018 8:34:19 GMT -5
Guuuuys what is this?  Last fall I ripped up some tiny awful shrubs that were in this location, roots and all, and the only thing I remember planting there was a peony root. But two huge clumps of whatever this is have magically appeared. I have no idea what they are. In other news, I got the freakin coolest gardening gloves, cause I like to use my hands whenever I can. CLAWS. |
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Mar 23, 2018 10:55:01 GMT -5
Guuuuys what is this? Last fall I ripped up some tiny awful shrubs that were in this location, roots and all, and the only thing I remember planting there was a peony root. But two huge clumps of whatever this is have magically appeared. I have no idea what they are. In other news, I got the freakin coolest gardening gloves, cause I like to use my hands whenever I can. CLAWS. I have no idea what your plant is, but I love your Wolverine gloves! |
|
moimoi
AV Clubber
Posts: 5,090
|
Post by moimoi on Mar 23, 2018 11:07:20 GMT -5
Guuuuys what is this? Last fall I ripped up some tiny awful shrubs that were in this location, roots and all, and the only thing I remember planting there was a peony root. But two huge clumps of whatever this is have magically appeared. I have no idea what they are. In other news, I got the freakin coolest gardening gloves, cause I like to use my hands whenever I can. CLAWS. Those look like the leaves of some sort of wild onion. Does it smell onion or garlicy? If so, keep it - good for warding off pests and they might get pretty puffball flowers. |
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Mar 23, 2018 15:04:36 GMT -5
Guuuuys what is this? Last fall I ripped up some tiny awful shrubs that were in this location, roots and all, and the only thing I remember planting there was a peony root. But two huge clumps of whatever this is have magically appeared. I have no idea what they are. In other news, I got the freakin coolest gardening gloves, cause I like to use my hands whenever I can. CLAWS. I have no idea what your plant is, but I love your Wolverine gloves! Liz, those are Sabretooth gloves. I've actually had several daffodils bloom in the yard where I planted them a couple months ago. On Wednesday I had to excavate them from the snow. |
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Mar 28, 2018 9:21:11 GMT -5
We finally got around to putting the tomato seeds into dirt last night. It was pretty disappointing to discover, when opening the packet of Jaune Flamme seeds, that Seed Savers Exchange had sent us an empty packet. What gives? I'm waiting for a call back from their customer service, so we'll see how they resolve this. The garlic we got from them in the fall was half moldy and rotten, but for some reason I wasn't interested in engaging with them about it. I gotta say, this has been a very surprising turn of lousy product from what's usually been a really reliable source.
|
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Mar 30, 2018 10:18:11 GMT -5
They always wait until you have descended into a state of despondent resignation that you will get no pepper plants this year. They won't make a move until you're in that spot. And yes, Hugs and I were both in the absolute depths of feeling like seed-starting failures... when the peppers finally sprouted. It took three weeks and a few days, but in their defense, it's been chilly out in the sunroom where the grow light rigs are. But anyway! Now our long nightmare is over, and the peppers are officially back on again!
|
|
|
|
Post by 🐍 cahusserole 🐍 on Mar 30, 2018 11:55:51 GMT -5
I'm picking up my tomato seedlings from Terrible Friend later today (I left them with her while I gallivanted off to Itly for three weeks). Apparently something murdered my Rutgers tomato and like all the pepper seedlings dropped their leaves (still too cold at night I guess), so I'll have to start all those again. I am very happy to get them back, though. Probably going to put them in the ground this weekend or next.
The various peas and beans I put into the ground in the community garden all died. A lettuce or two survived. The daikon radish TF had given to me has bolted and started putting out flowers, so I imagine it would taste awful now. I might just keep it as a flowering plant for a bit. My green onion cuttings from the supermarket are hella overgrown and putting out puffball flowers now.
|
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Mar 30, 2018 13:50:35 GMT -5
I'm picking up my tomato seedlings from Terrible Friend later today (I left them with her while I gallivanted off to Itly for three weeks). Apparently something murdered my Rutgers tomato and like all the pepper seedlings dropped their leaves (still too cold at night I guess), so I'll have to start all those again. I am very happy to get them back, though. Probably going to put them in the ground this weekend or next. The various peas and beans I put into the ground in the community garden all died. A lettuce or two survived. The daikon radish TF had given to me has bolted and started putting out flowers, so I imagine it would taste awful now. I might just keep it as a flowering plant for a bit. My green onion cuttings from the supermarket are hella overgrown and putting out puffball flowers now. Aww, the price to pay for a loooooong vacation!  You should let that daikon keep going until it gets seeds. Then you can plant new ones! |
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Mar 30, 2018 14:53:19 GMT -5
Hmmmmm, I'm going to be on vacation/conference in late July. Wifemate will be at conference the week before. That's two weeks of neglect just before Peak Tomato Harvest. I will have to plan carefully.
Sun Gold and Roma tomatoes have largely sprouted; beefsteaks are being sluggish. A couple eggplants sprouted, but no peppers yet.
The circle of daffodils I planted around my mailbox have all bloomed and it is very cute.
|
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Apr 4, 2018 9:58:26 GMT -5
We finally got rid of all the snow on the garden beds, so I was able to plant the peas this past Saturday. (They were promptly snowed upon again, but whatever.) Yesterday it rained all afternoon, and you know what was a really wonderful feeling? To get to be, while looking out the window, all like, "Hey! This rain is good for the peas!" It's great to have stuff planted outside again!!
|
|
|
|
Post by 🐍 cahusserole 🐍 on Apr 8, 2018 22:16:04 GMT -5
There are some new weeds in my garden that are popping up as soon as I can pull them. Today I noticed that they sort of smell like oregano... which I transplanted last year.
This might explain why I'm only noticing them in my patch and no one else's. Whoops.
eta: oh! I noticed some bean-looking things growing on the bolted, flowering daikon. I guess these are the seed pods!
|
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Apr 12, 2018 8:55:41 GMT -5
There are people who are very handy who can build their own garden infrastructure. There are people who are very good at thrifting and Craigslisting and whatnot who can assemble other people's castoffs into their garden infrastructure. And then there are people like me, who are incapable of either. For years I have been dealing with jury-rigged solutions for curing and long-term storage of various harveststuffs, and most have been unsatisfactory. So you know what? I'm going to order one of these. And I can't wait to see if it makes organizing and keeping our apples and root vegetables from our farmshare more efficient and effective. How much will it improve our onion and garlic storage? Tons, I hope! Anyway, that's my garden story for today. I'm just really looking forward to having a system that works better than the current state of "heap everything into inconvenient vessels randomly all over the place." Oh, and we started hardening off the onions today! And all the tomatoes have germinated, including the Berkeley Tie-Dyed ones from 🐍 cahusserole 🐍! |
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Apr 14, 2018 21:49:56 GMT -5
What is worse than rototiller day? Nothing. Unless the rototiller poops out and you have to turn the rest by hand. I guess I should be glad I got as far as 2/3 through with the plots before it died on me, as apparently other people haven't gotten that far. I shoveled some too, but I've still got another 20% to go. Also the tiller left me with blisters right in the center of each palm like stigmata, and here it is still a week before Pentecost.
|
|
|
|
Post by 🐍 cahusserole 🐍 on Apr 17, 2018 18:08:15 GMT -5
Last night I made a salad using lettuce I grew! It required a LOT of washing, which made me feel bad about water usage. But it tasted good, and amazingly my guts didn't have an adverse reaction! I had some Italienischer (which is pretty huge, they are not kidding) and arugula. It was all pretty exciting. hudsonvalleyseed.com/italienischer-lettuce.html |
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Apr 19, 2018 12:43:19 GMT -5
Soil for topping off some of the garden beds is procured. Onions (which are ENORMOUS) are hardening off. Weather is not supposed to be too foul this weekend. It's going to be time for transplanting on Saturday! WOOOOOOOO!!!!
Meanwhile, the peppers and snapdragons are big enough now that we'll be moving them into their secondary seedling pots, too. Things are happening!
|
|
|
|
Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Apr 23, 2018 10:27:13 GMT -5
It was a SPECTACULAR weekend in Central New Jersey, and we were able to garden accordingly! On Saturday we cleared out one of the beds, topped it off, and transplanted the baby onions. And we took the thick layer of straw off the garlic, and it was such a relief to see that we've got the full bed growing. I had my doubts that we'd get nearly that much germination when we were planting it, because much of our seed stock was moldy and rotten. I guess garlic is hard to fuck up? I mean, we'll see how it all bulbs, but for now? I'm happy. Sunday morning we spent some time in the sun on the deck in the backyard, transplanting most of the remaining seedlings from their starter trays to intermediate pots. Peppers, tomatoes, snapdragons, and a couple of herbs. A wonderful time was had by all! https://www.instagram.com/p/Bh2D2hpnnjV |
|
|
|
Post by 🐍 cahusserole 🐍 on Apr 24, 2018 19:59:03 GMT -5
On Sunday, I noticed that three of my tomatoes have flowers already (Prudens Purple, Cream Sausage, and Grappoli d'Inverno). Last year I got my first flowers on May 1, so I guess we're a little ahead of schedule.
|
|
|
|
Post by Buon Funerale Amigos on Apr 24, 2018 20:33:44 GMT -5
It's hardly gardening, since I did nothing to encourage them, but I've harvested about two quarts of fiddleheads this week. Still a couple of days left in the season too.
|
|
moimoi
AV Clubber
Posts: 5,090
|
Post by moimoi on Apr 24, 2018 20:53:24 GMT -5
I hate you people. The only thing that's grown in my garden thus far are a couple crocuses the squirrels forgot about.
|
|
|
|
Post by ganews on May 1, 2018 11:05:21 GMT -5
Patrick's Seed and Feed in Covington, GA, is my favorite store in the world, at least since the old organic grocery in Athens closed a while back. It's the only place in the world where I can buy both CanGreen butterbean and Roma II green bean seed in the same place. I call them every year to ship me $3 worth of seed and they're always very careful to warn me that the shipping will cost just as much. I just got off the phone with the owner (son of the original owner) and we had a nice chat about the weather and the shifting season this year. He said they had frost last night!
|
|
