Gardening and Plant Thread

[XYZpdq]

so I'm in a ground floor apartment
a few years ago there was a bonsai I had that one day I picked up to groom and bugs started streaming out of it, so I put it outside one of my windows
fast forward to now, and I realized I should probably move it, and it turns out it sprouted roots out the drainage hole and is now about four feet tall
any tips and/or tricks for digging it out and putting it into a new pot?
I don't know much about plants but I know it's not a good idea to just rip it up or something, but I plan on moving near the end of the year so I suspect it's a good idea to start figuring this shit out

 

[CivilianOfTheFandomWars]

The strawberries have been potted, may God have mercy upon them.

 

[Oddjob OTP]

I have a vivarium where I keep my blue tongue skink and have learned I have inherited my mother's ability to kill any plant. Current list is: mood moss, a creeping fig, and a partial success on killing a marble queen pothos (eventually recovered when I removed it from my presence). I am still working on killing an asparagus fern and a mamey croton. Tomorrow or Tuesday I will make an attempt to murder some pillow moss and sword ferns.

 

[Helvítis Túristi]

Strawberries are hard to get too wrong and the general tips you find online work fine. I'm getting some of the hanging ones for pots this year, and as long as they have space for airflow and decent soil, they take care of themselves. The only maintenance is getting rid of the runners and old leaves. My biggest regret with my garden strawberries has been not planting them on a landscape fabric (to prevent weed). It's ugly as hell and an admission to laziness, but would have saved me a lot of work. Not an issue for a few plants in a bucket though. You may not get many berries the first year.

So I have a nursery tray for my strawberries. I'm using seeds and none of them have sprouted yet, but my tomatoes and wheat plants have. Should I try to sprout the strawberry seeds via wet paper towel method and then place them in soil or try another method?

 

[shameful existence]

So I have a nursery tray for my strawberries. I'm using seeds and none of them have sprouted yet, but my tomatoes and wheat plants have. Should I try to sprout the strawberry seeds via wet paper towel method and then place them in soil or try another method?

I have never grown strawberries from seeds myself, because I don't have the patience for it. Now if your tomato seeds germinated within a few days, the temperature is likely high enough, so just check if the strawberry seeds have enough light. Then it's just waiting. It can take up to 2-3 weeks. I'd say the best way of starting these tiny seeds is just pressing them gently into a bit of soil, covering the whole thing with a foil or a transparent lid. If you get lucky, you'll have plants for autumn.

 

[shameful existence]

Just a bunch of "it grows!" pics. Some kohlrabi - taste-wise I prefer the white ones, but the purple ones are the prettiest early vegetable, so I always mix them in. This is my elevated garden bed and I have not yet found a thing that wouldn't grow there. Then there's some garlic - this is a bit of an experiment because this sort of garlic was supposed to go in the ground in autumn but I was too lazy and only planted it last month so I'll be observing where it goes wrong. And an apricot tree.

 

[Null]

Banana Peppers pictured. Not pictures is Parsley, Thyme, and Dill (just planted). Also want to do some peas but I'm in an apartment, If I ever move I'm going to have to haul all this shit to a new place and it's going to fucking suck.

 

[Salade Nicoise]

View attachment 2096025

Banana Peppers pictured. Not pictures is Parsley, Thyme, and Dill (just planted). Also want to do some peas but I'm in an apartment, If I ever move I'm going to have to haul all this shit to a new place and it's going to fucking suck.

Depending on your space you could put a few pea plants in if you wanted - peas and beans don't actually require too much root space (i.e. you don't necessarily need heaps of soil/compost leading to super bulky/heavy pots). But they are climbers, so would need something to grow up (a trellis, teepee, or cage).

My tip to apartment dwellers who want to grow a veggie is bush beans (or determinate beans depending on your lingo). They don't climb like other beans/peas, stay like a little squat bush, so saves a ton of space. Bang for your buck harvest wise, you can't do better. Think classic green beans. You can plant like 4 of them and they will feed you for at least 4 months if you want them to. The more you pick, the more they grow. An easy, dynamite crop.

ETA: I've got a few mouths to feed, so planted 8 plants last year. Was giving away beans for months, and eating them almost every day it felt like.

 

[FEETLOAF]

This is a comfy thread. I like this thread. I have three apple trees which give me a big comfy harvest every year. I think they're Gala apples but I don't know, the previous owner planted them. One of the trees is an old man who probably won't last many more seasons. There's a big hollow in him where the squirrels nest their yearlings twice a year. I have a corncob feeder right above the knothole for them. My dog is a huge fan of that. All I know is they aren't crabapples and are definitely a cultivar, because they taste delicious. Just put up five fuckin yellowjacket traps because fuck those fuckers love my garden. Last year I made pies, this year I think I might learn how to make preserves. I want to learn to make Cider at some point but I imagine pressing apples requires some sort of apparatus.

If you know how to make cider from scratch @ me nigga

 

[Salade Nicoise]

This is a comfy thread. I like this thread. I have three apple trees which give me a big comfy harvest every year. I think they're Gala apples but I don't know, the previous owner planted them. One of the trees is an old man who probably won't last many more seasons. There's a big hollow in him where the squirrels nest their yearlings twice a year. I have a corncob feeder right above the knothole for them. My dog is a huge fan of that. All I know is they aren't crabapples and are definitely a cultivar, because they taste delicious. Just put up five fuckin yellowjacket traps because fuck those fuckers love my garden. Last year I made pies, this year I think I might learn how to make preserves. I want to learn to make Cider at some point but I imagine pressing apples requires some sort of apparatus.

If you know how to make cider from scratch @ me nigga

I can't help in the cider front, but absolute speds I know manage to make it quite well so it can't be that tricky. Go with god, frand!

I'd love an apple tree. Preserves are a great way to go... apple chutney, even just a huge store of homemade apple sauce. I'm envious AF.

 

[shameful existence]

Lettuce - no deaths after transfer, surprisingly.
And some daffodil I got on sale last year. The bulbs didn't look too good, but they made it. I had originally intended to only grow plants that can be eaten, heal or repel/attract specific kinds of animals. It turned out to be unsustainable, particularly during last year, when a lot of the more attractive USELESS plants were sold online and I saw them all the time. So the new rule is that I can only get those that would be thrown away otherwise. I run a plant shelter, lol.

 

[Salade Nicoise]

The neighbours had some tree loppers come in today - I wasn't home. I got back this afternoon, went out to get some herbs for dinner, and these fuckers have obliterated a bunch of just transplanted winter seedlings. Super careless on the fence line and just branches and twigs all over my beds. A heap of snapped little guys.

My delicate, fragile, cared for little babies. Half my snow peas are gone, 2 kale plants fucked, half a bed of mache lettuce and one red cabbage. OH and 3 sweet peas (which were fuckers to germinate).

I can deal with it when I fuck up, or it's just a bad year, or it's pests or weather or whatever... but fucking cunts being lazy pricks? I'm not even mad anymore, just sad.

 

[retard strength]

First year with an actual in-ground garden. Got so many fucking radishes.... it isn't a problem I just planted way too many and they are all thriving.

 

[Salade Nicoise]

First year with an actual in-ground garden. Got so many fucking radishes.... it isn't a problem I just planted way too many and they are all thriving.

I always end up with too many. I get over-eager and just keep planting them. Fun fact: they actually are delicious roasted. Lose a lot of their heat and are like a bit potato-ey. But tasty!

 

[retard strength]

Same, Each time I say "too many!", in a few days we are out planting seeds where the old ones left space. It feels good to know they will always pull through.

 

[Sped Xing]

Speaking of apple trees. My Mother gave me four bare-root apple trees for my new place in February before I'd even moved in. Not knowing what else to do, I just dug holes and watered them in. I water them pretty heavily once a week with a garden hose.

They've all sprouted pretty little leaves, though clearly something is getting at them. Some of the leaves have been bitten at, and have dark bars on them.

Is horticultural oil a good thing to use? What else should I be doing? Oh no oh me oh my poor baby trees I don't know how to care for you.

 

[Salade Nicoise]

Speaking of apple trees. My Mother gave me four bare-root apple trees for my new place in February before I'd even moved in. Not knowing what else to do, I just dug holes and watered them in. I water them pretty heavily once a week with a garden hose.

They've all sprouted pretty little leaves, though clearly something is getting at them. Some of the leaves have been bitten at, and have dark bars on them.

Is horticultural oil a good thing to use? What else should I be doing? Oh no oh me oh my poor baby trees I don't know how to care for you.

Leaf miner maybe?



I prefer to use neem oil than horticultural or white oil, just for organic wanker purposes. But hort. oil should take care of leaf miners. But the neem works really well on them (I get them on my citrus trees and neem always takes care of it). Move quickly though, leaf miners are pricks and if they're on that tender new growth too long it's gonna be a bad time (this year anyway).

 

[Sped Xing]

That may be what I saw, thanks! I'll stop by TSC on my way home tomorrow; I'm pretty sure they have neem oil.


Is this a daft idea? I was thinking that I could take some frelled 5 gallon buckets, pierce holes on the bottoms, and fill those up for an extremely redneck version of an irrigation system. Right now I'm literally just spraying a garden hose at the ground and trying not to splash too much on the trees; I know that's not right at all, but in my defense I wasn't planning to get fruit trees until I a) had time to learn anything and b) actually lived there.

I have some glyphosate in a little spray bottle. That should be safe for clearing out the nasty weeds around my trees, provided I spray on a still day, no? From my understanding, Glyphosate is reasonably safe as long as you don't actually get any on the tree, while 2,4 D is a terrible terrible idea, but hopefully someone can confirm?

I read in some extension service pdf that you shouldn't use mulch around trees the first year. Does anyone know anything about that?

 

[FatalTater]

I imagine pressing apples requires some sort of apparatus

My mother used to put sliced raw apples in the blender, then she would pour the pulpy mess into a colander lined with a thin cloth. (the colander was sitting in a large bowl to catch the juice.)
She would let it sit and drip for a while, then would occasionally press the pulp with her hands to get more juice out.
Once it was done enough for her standards she would pour the juice into jugs and put it in the fridge for drinking and would either use the pulp in cake recipes or put it in the freezer for future cake recipes.

Speaking of cake, Mom used to make dried apples by thinly slicing them and putting them on towel-lined cookie sheets, then placing them in the sun on the picnic table. Once they were done she stored them in glass canning jars. Dried apple stack cake is underrated and now I'm craving it.

 

[Salade Nicoise]

That may be what I saw, thanks! I'll stop by TSC on my way home tomorrow; I'm pretty sure they have neem oil.


Is this a daft idea? I was thinking that I could take some frelled 5 gallon buckets, pierce holes on the bottoms, and fill those up for an extremely redneck version of an irrigation system. Right now I'm literally just spraying a garden hose at the ground and trying not to splash too much on the trees; I know that's not right at all, but in my defense I wasn't planning to get fruit trees until I a) had time to learn anything and b) actually lived there.

I have some glyphosate in a little spray bottle. That should be safe for clearing out the nasty weeds around my trees, provided I spray on a still day, no? From my understanding, Glyphosate is reasonably safe as long as you don't actually get any on the tree, while 2,4 D is a terrible terrible idea, but hopefully someone can confirm?

I read in some extension service pdf that you shouldn't use mulch around trees the first year. Does anyone know anything about that?

Neem will likely take care of whatever it is - it's kind of a wonder.

I'm not the best to speak on trees tbh, the ones at my place have been here for years and the ones I've brought in are in containers (thus on drip). You'd probably be better served with a pipe (or an actual deep root irrigator) slightly off to the side of your root systems and deep watering that way? Someone else please weigh in though, I'm not sure.

Otherwise your hose watering should be fine if it's a deep soak. I believe the no mulching around tree bases is to help avoid rotting the tender roots and/or graft unions (depending on the tree type). That's also why folks will often only fertilise in a ring around the tree base too. Even in containers I leave the root area bare, and then mulch around it. It helps water get straight to the roots as well (and again avoids that potential rot of young roots when mulch works a little too well at keeping the moisture in).

I personally don't use glyphosate, again, hippy bullshit organic reasons. I mostly hand-pull weeds around my edibles, but also use this Aussie stuff called 'Slasher'. It's basically pelargonic acid and works really well.