Gardening and Plant Thread

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Just starting to get into gardening after seeing the homegrown garlic thread and so I planted some in my backyard last fall and they've just started to sprout so that's exciting

I've also got a few seedlings starting in my garage but that got a bit delayed by the heater breaking down in there, tomato seeds nearly all sprouted as soon as it got warm, some onion seeds are sprouting, and none of the peppers have sprouted yet but it's only been warm enough for about a week now so we'll see

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I don't have any pictures of the seedlings handy but here's the garlic sprouting up from under the mulch. We haven't hit the last frost date here yet so it's gonna stay covered for a bit longer.
 
Little early but the good cedar mulch was on sale of all places at Walmart.

So much mulching...I'm getting old did it all Sunday still feel it today.

Adding that last raised bed last year might have been excessive but I'll make use.

Still too early to plant but weeding started. I also got my first cut on my hand from my rose! A time honored tradition 😜
 
waffle said:
This is dandelion country for sure. The only two things I have sprouted at all ight now are them and my strawberries.

I should see some turnip and lettuce sprouts soon I think. It's been pretty wet so I haven't looked in a couple days.
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Leave at least some of the dandelions out. They serve a few ecological niches that can be beneficial to the garden. The flowers are one of the earliest spring food sources for pollinators. Training the local pollinators that they can find food sources in your garden is generally a good thing. The deep tap roots also help break up heavily compacted soils, and also pull calcium from deeper in the soil to closer to the surface.
 
CEO of Gay said:
Leave at least some of the dandelions out. They serve a few ecological niches that can be beneficial to the garden. The flowers are one of the earliest spring food sources for pollinators. Training the local pollinators that they can find food sources in your garden is generally a good thing. The deep tap roots also help break up heavily compacted soils, and also pull calcium from deeper in the soil to closer to the surface.
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I actually love the dandelions, I try to keep them under control a bit when they are going to seed but I never spray for them. Usually the weeds you are fighting tell you about your soil conditions. Dandelions show up in hard, compacted clay soil. Plantain loves acidic soil. Clover is a sign of low nitrogen.

My lawn is basically just these things, plus quack grass, so I am always putting in more gardens and running chickens to try to improve the soil and make it more hospitable for my preferred plants.

The dandelions are so necessary in early spring here, the first food for the bees and other pollinators.

Once I figured out there are medicinal plants around here I started paying a lot more attention to what the wild plants are up to. And even if, for example, goldenrod doesn’t do all the things promised, it’s still nice in an herbal tea blend all winter long, and I know it wasn’t sprayed.
 
CEO of Gay said:
Leave at least some of the dandelions out. They serve a few ecological niches that can be beneficial to the garden. The flowers are one of the earliest spring food sources for pollinators. Training the local pollinators that they can find food sources in your garden is generally a good thing. The deep tap roots also help break up heavily compacted soils, and also pull calcium from deeper in the soil to closer to the surface.
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I remember my grandma teaching me about them being early pollinators. But also remember after stuff started coming in, she'd pay my brother and I a penny per head.

It got us outta her hair on visits. Wise grandma.
 
Now it’s spring. Have at least a month of rest, waiting for mid-late April but I have some ghost peppers growing in a cup since September. gonna sew pumpkins later than my usual late April this year, cause last year they grew prematurely and the squash beetles got to them and I had to re-plant in mid July, I got one small green pumpkin for Halloween, I have to tear up the mound this year too to get the nutrients rich soil. The compost bin hasn’t been any good because I haven’t soaked it for the worms and mushrooms inside to thrive.
 
The pings are doing better now that I took them off the rock and just have them in moist soil. Some have even caught a few gnats. This has emboldened me to make a bog bowl with some native carnivorous plants, as I live in the environment for it.
 
Planted some flowering cherries only to realize the pair I got were the sterile just for show ones. I still like them but now I feel like a dick and need to double up on seeding flowers in the flowerbeds to make up for it. :sigh:
 
I can't get my "blushing bride" phlox to germinate. Does anyone have tips?? 1/24 after 3 weeks. Seeds buried, moist soil, with tray domes for humidity. It's still too cold (snowed twice last week) to try sowing outside yet. I'm bummed because I wanted them as edging to spill over the rocks around my south flower bed. :(
 
CEO of Gay said:
Who's growing what this year?
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I've got my potatoes planted and my cabbages, turnips, and other assorted greens all made it through the winter nicely. I'm gonna harvest them before I plow up that part of my garden and plant my beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, corn, melons, pumpkins, onions, and lettuce.
 
Dr. Henry Armitage said:
I've got my potatoes planted and my cabbages, turnips, and other assorted greens all made it through the winter nicely. I'm gonna harvest them before I plow up that part of my garden and plant my beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, corn, melons, pumpkins, onions, and lettuce.
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Winter dumped one last foot of eff-you on us this weekend.

I’ve forgotten what non-winter feels like, pls send sun

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Enjoy_the_Soylence said:
I can't get my "blushing bride" phlox to germinate. Does anyone have tips?? 1/24 after 3 weeks. Seeds buried, moist soil, with tray domes for humidity. It's still too cold (snowed twice last week) to try sowing outside yet. I'm bummed because I wanted them as edging to spill over the rocks around my south flower bed. :(
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Do you have a heating mat? Maybe that's the last push they need
 
It's pruning/trimming season now. Trimmed some fruit trees and got some good barbecue wood. Hopefully we'll have some better fruit and more within reach now that they're actually cut right. Hope everyone has good seasons ahead of them! :)
 
Pink grasshoppers are supposed to be rare, but I've seen two, maybe three of them so far this spring.
Are they a good luck omen or just a sign that I'm going to be fighting the damn things extra hard this year?
 
FatalTater said:
Pink grasshoppers are supposed to be rare, but I've seen two, maybe three of them so far this spring.
Are they a good luck omen or just a sign that I'm going to be fighting the damn things extra hard this year?
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Maybe they're getting inbred as fuck in your area, I think both parents have to carry the gene
I've heard of small scale farmers planting tobacco to control pests like hoppers if that's something you could try
 
FatalTater said:
Pink grasshoppers are supposed to be rare, but I've seen two, maybe three of them so far this spring.
Are they a good luck omen or just a sign that I'm going to be fighting the damn things extra hard this year?
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I think it means you are lucky, or a mutant in your area got super-lucky and had a couple kids.
 
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