Gardening and Plant Thread

[Konstantin Romanov]

A friend of mine has been having trouble with a couple of hillside garden plots. Zucchinis, corn, beans and spinach planted in them are stunting and failing to germinate or germinating incompletely (pods with a single bean, corn needs manual pollination and kernels only populate halfway up the cob, zucchinis dropping flowers early etc). Cucumbers for some reason are doing a lot better, though are still slow for the region and season. She's got a 3rd bed down the hill on a flat which is fine, or at least isn't stunting as badly.

The soil is waste from digging a shed into a hillside and I think it might have a lot of raw deep clay in it, but she's turned horse manure into it so it should be a little bioactive and it's aerated at least 2 feet deep. It's on a low line on the hillside so it might get saturated by groundwater and lose salt but if it was nitrogen leaching the beans should be doing better, between that and the reproductive abnormalities she thought maybe lack of phosphorous but with the manure and granulated fertilizer that seems hard to believe.

Any ideas as to what it could be? At the moment the only advice I can think of is to raise the beds.

 

[Yandex Captcha Solver]

A friend of mine has been having trouble with a couple of hillside garden plots. Zucchinis, corn, beans and spinach planted in them are stunting and failing to germinate or germinating incompletely (pods with a single bean, corn needs manual pollination and kernels only populate halfway up the cob, zucchinis dropping flowers early etc). Cucumbers for some reason are doing a lot better, though are still slow for the region and season. She's got a 3rd bed down the hill on a flat which is fine, or at least isn't stunting as badly.

The soil is waste from digging a shed into a hillside and I think it might have a lot of raw deep clay in it, but she's turned horse manure into it so it should be a little bioactive and it's aerated at least 2 feet deep. It's on a low line on the hillside so it might get saturated by groundwater and lose salt but if it was nitrogen leaching the beans should be doing better, between that and the reproductive abnormalities she thought maybe lack of phosphorous but with the manure and granulated fertilizer that seems hard to believe.

Any ideas as to what it could be? At the moment the only advice I can think of is to raise the beds.

You can always call up your local farm bureau to do a soil test. It will save money and hassle versus winging it.

I would also make sure the manure isn't from Grazon and certain herbicide sprayed food plots. It's a great way to kill a garden. Call up the source of the manure/hay (if it isn't your own) and see if they use/used Grazon. Here is a rundown of it. Cucumbers and corn are less sensitive to it.

 

[WanderingFarmer]

Any ideas as to what it could be? At the moment the only advice I can think of is to raise the beds.

How's the sunlight and are they even flowering?

Sounds a lot like sunlight starved plants. I've had similar issues trying to grow my beans and squash in too shaded of an area.

 

[Rakovnik]

A friend of mine has been having trouble with a couple of hillside garden plots. Zucchinis, corn, beans and spinach planted in them are stunting and failing to germinate or germinating incompletely (pods with a single bean, corn needs manual pollination and kernels only populate halfway up the cob, zucchinis dropping flowers early etc). Cucumbers for some reason are doing a lot better, though are still slow for the region and season. She's got a 3rd bed down the hill on a flat which is fine, or at least isn't stunting as badly.

The soil is waste from digging a shed into a hillside and I think it might have a lot of raw deep clay in it, but she's turned horse manure into it so it should be a little bioactive and it's aerated at least 2 feet deep. It's on a low line on the hillside so it might get saturated by groundwater and lose salt but if it was nitrogen leaching the beans should be doing better, between that and the reproductive abnormalities she thought maybe lack of phosphorous but with the manure and granulated fertilizer that seems hard to believe.

Any ideas as to what it could be? At the moment the only advice I can think of is to raise the beds.

I would've separated the clay pile and dumped it somewhere else instead of trying to blend it with the manure. Since it's too late for that did she mix in the granulated fertilizer before heavily mixing the clay and manure? If so the fertilizer may be too deep. Was it fresh manure or composted manure? If it was fresh manure with wood shavings for bedding those shavings will soak up nitrogen as they decompose.

You can always call up your local farm bureau to do a soil test. It will save money and hassle versus winging it

The LaMotte soil test kit works well if you want to DIY it, I tested samples from a few of my pastures last week and it'll get you close enough for NPK + pH

 

[Konstantin Romanov]

How's the sunlight and are they even flowering?

It's direct and strong enough to burn seedlings if they aren't shaded but I don't remember the exact number of hours, if I had to guess 7-9 in summer? The flowers bloom, as I said it's the fruit development that's retarded.

Was it fresh manure or composted manure? If it was fresh manure with wood shavings for bedding those shavings will soak up nitrogen as they decompose.

I think it was fresh manure and grass mulch, so yeah there would be some primary decomposition going on. I saw a lot of granules on the surface so I assumed she scattered some after prepping the soil but I'll ask.

Call up the source of the manure/hay (if it isn't your own) and see if they use/used Grazon.

I hadn't heard of that. The manure is from their horses but they buy feed hay so that's another line of inquiry.

She's indicated she wouldn't really trust an amateur soil test but I could try leaf feeding some of the plants nitrogen. If those ones thrive, safe to say they were deficient right?

 

[Motherf*cker]

I bought a Hyacinth bulb in a box, the smell is going to be crazy overwhelming

 

[Lucius Aelius]

I got a new wave of sprouts today. The marker I used washed off of these jugs, so I don't know exactly what they are, but I believe these are the pear seeds I planted after Christmas. I bought my whole family comice pears for Christmas and had them give me the cores.

 

[CEO of Gay]

Sticking to potatoes, salad and herbs this year. Fruit trees will get fed well, but the borders are gonna have a simple raking to get up weeds, then flower seeds chucked down and whatever comes up comes up. This year is shaping up to be difficult and we’re not going to have a lot of time to garden.

If anyone wants any mint, I am apparently now your go-to keyboard. After years of not being able to grow it, the stuff has finally taken off…and taken over my herb bed. And the wall of the herb bed. And the grass around it. I’m half expecting to go away for a few weeks this summer then return to a two-storey mint groot telling me I’m no longer welcome.

Enjoy your permanent infinite supply of mint. I hope you and all your neighbors like mint jelly and mint tea. If you do somehow successfully manage to pull all the mint roots out (lol), I suggest keeping it in pots. I recommend the same for other mints like peppermint and other overwintering mint-family plants like lemon balm.

Though my section of the country is still getting fucked by the snowiest winter in living memory, the end of frost danger is only about 8 weeks away, which means it is time to start seeds. I started a bunch of pepper varieties this weekend, along with some tomatillos and eggplant for the neighbors. Tomatoes normally start very easily for me so I'll be starting those in a couple weeks from now, when we're 6 weeks away from the end of frost danger.

I also brought last year's pepper crop inside at the end of the season and tried to get them to hibernate over winter instead of getting killed by the cold. Only two have survived, but they are coming out of hibernation rather vigorously. What just a couple weeks ago looked like a couple dead green sticks, now have fresh shoots and leaves emerging from every single node. I have no doubt both plants are going to wind up extra big this year for a having head start on everything else.

Combined with the two surviving pepper plants, if my seed starts do well, I may end up with a surplus of peppers this year. I hope my neighbors like chili and hot-sauce.

 

[Lucius Aelius]

The first of my black walnuts sprouted recently. These nuts were gathered from one of the local parks. When I was repotting them, I was struck by just how aggressive the roots were. There's a great big taproot as thick as my thumb on both of these. Nothing else has come up yet, but it's still early.

 

[Squanto Airi]

Forgive me if I've asked this before, but I was wondering if there were any good herbs or foods I could grow indoors that also wouldn't bother a cat?

Spoiler: Slight pl

I can't grow food outdoors since my neighbor feeds the raccoons and squirrels.

 

[Lucius Aelius]

Forgive me if I've asked this before, but I was wondering if there were any good herbs or foods I could grow indoors that also wouldn't bother a cat?

Spoiler: Slight pl

I can't grow food outdoors since my neighbor feeds the raccoons and squirrels.

For the smaller scale "pot in a windowsill" type stuff, Thyme and Rosemary will be your friends here. Rosemary will get huge if you let it, so be prepared to repot it.

 

[Squanto Airi]

For the smaller scale "pot in a windowsill" type stuff, Thyme and Rosemary will be your friends here. Rosemary will get huge if you let it, so be prepared to repot it.

Would basil be good to grow indoors as well?

 

[Aunt Carol]

Would basil be good to grow indoors as well?

YES. Basil is hardy and vigorous and can turn into an indoor basil plantation if you have enough pots and windows and no sense of moderation.

Uncle-type Youtuber Atomic Shrimp made a series of videos about his "Infinite Basil Project." He admits sometimes it dwindled into a "Finite Basil Project," but he'd restart it with a new plant and keep going. This video is the quickest rundown, as well as his experiment to see if letting the basil bloom slows overall growth (yes).

tw: British pronunciation of "basil"

 

[AnOminous]

This video is the quickest rundown, as well as his experiment to see if letting the basil bloom slows overall growth (yes).

It also gives the basil a bitter flavor, which ruins sweet basil. Pinch those little buggers off whenever they appear.

 

[Sperg_rancher]

if you're in a USDA zone 2-5 area, now's the best time to trim your trees. It is the easiest time for trees to recover, with the smallest risk of infection. I did my apple trees earlier this week.

 

[Gnu Fig]

Surprise, my Sauromatum venosum 'Lake Tana Form' decided to open up its flower while I was at work.

As far as foul-smelling flowers from my collection go, this one is probably a 4/10 on the stink scale. The smell itself can be described as "someone sprayed perfume next to a horse manure pile in an attempt to mask the smell."

It's a good thing the weather is just warm enough to evict this thing until the flower dies in a few days.

 

[femboy fart huffer]

As far as foul-smelling flowers from my collection go

From experience if you're bad enough at gardening then every plant becomes a bad smelling one.

 

[Gruntgar The Indentured]

Would basil be good to grow indoors as well?

Under a proper light setup/environment it can do well. You want to pinch off any blooms as they appear or it will stunt leaf growth. I've considered growing peppers inside since I have a long retired setup unused. I just cannot justify $15-20 a month in utilities with what I can do in my 10 gallon planters out back with but a of tapwater and Miracle Grow. I just have to cross my fingers and hope the inevitable May/June hailstorms don't kill them.

 

[Clotso Coof]

Attention: There is a climbing rose bush called Golden Showers, now on sale at Sams Club. Plant for cheap laughs when someone asks about your pretty yellow roses. Or take a photo of the label at Sams Club and send it to your friends with immature comments.

 

[Moist Boys]

Clover is fine as a cover crop. It helps keep down fungus gnats by regulating moisture if you overwater your organic beds. You won't see any serious production garden using it.