Gardening and Plant Thread

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The main thing with basil is pinching off the buds. First, it's critical to keep the plant from going to seed and completely wrecking its output, and second, the places you pinch tend to grow back by branching off into multiple new stems. If you do this throughout the season, you will end up with a gigantic basil plant more like a shrub than a garden plant, and it will produce immense amounts of herb. Just make sure you keep track of when the first hard frost is, because that's when you should harvest the entire crop and make a giant batch of basil pesto. Portion this out and freeze some and you can be having fresh basil pesto in the middle of winter. Only use the best parmigiano reggiano you can get, and damn the cost, and you will be farting through silk.

(This cultivation method is also obviously useful for other unnamed herbs, although opinions differ and a "pinch of all buds" approach may not be optimal in the case of that other herb.)
 
@Null You're doing a better job with your nanner peppers than I am. It's been unseasonably hot and it went weeks without raining. I tried to keep enough water on everything but it was stressful on my plants. Everything else managed ok but I lost three of my six banana pepper plants for some reason. I did beat you to harvest though.
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Phone camera made them look greener for some reason. I can't wait to see pics of your peppers.
Everything else in the garden is progressing along well. I've picked one bell pepper from a runt of a plant that wanted to show off. All of the other bells have small peppers that will need more time. I'll be harvesting jalapenos here pretty soon. The tomatoes all have little tomatoes. I need to take more pics one day.
 
I'm assuming now is a good time to thin out my thyme? Thyme plant.jpg
Also, one of the berries of my strawberry plant has turned black and the stem is black as well. Looks like I lost a berry, but the plant wasn't growing many anyways. I didn't grow this from seeds. There's some flowers still, but if no more berries grow I may turn the plants into tea.
 
Helvítis Túristi said:
I'm assuming now is a good time to thin out my thyme? View attachment 2243719
Also, one of the berries of my strawberry plant has turned black and the stem is black as well. Looks like I lost a berry, but the plant wasn't growing many anyways. I didn't grow this from seeds. There's some flowers still, but if no more berries grow I may turn the plants into tea.
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How tall are they? I'd personally let them grow a bit more before picking the best one. A lot can happen to the little tykes at this age.
 
Helvítis Túristi said:
About an inch. Also asking since my basils are in a similar situation and are around an inch as well.
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Yeah I'd wait another week or so at least. I generally don't thin my seedlings until the first set of true leaves are 'almost there'. Yours seem to have just started, so you're not too far off.

WAIT. Hang on. No. Someone pls correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you better over-seeding thyme? Like you do with chives? You may want to leave them all in to help the plant bush out... because one seed becomes one root/stem I think?

Forgive me, I've actually never grown thyme from seed. I bought an established plant last year because I was behind the game.
 
Helvítis Túristi said:
I'm assuming now is a good time to thin out my thyme?
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I'm a bit of an anarchist, particularly when it comes to herbs. I say you don't have to do anything with them at all. IIRC one still can get a little bush just from one seedling, but it takes longer and isn't necessary. They seem to be coexisting happily so far. If after another week or two there are some underdogs blocked by others, get rid of them, but I'd still leave at least two or three, not just one. If they have enough space around, they'll find a way. Reducing herbs later is easier than the opposite - particularly if you'll be using them for cooking.
 
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AnOminous said:
The main thing with basil is pinching off the buds. First, it's critical to keep the plant from going to seed and completely wrecking its output, and second, the places you pinch tend to grow back by branching off into multiple new stems. If you do this throughout the season, you will end up with a gigantic basil plant more like a shrub than a garden plant, and it will produce immense amounts of herb. Just make sure you keep track of when the first hard frost is, because that's when you should harvest the entire crop and make a giant batch of basil pesto. Portion this out and freeze some and you can be having fresh basil pesto in the middle of winter. Only use the best parmigiano reggiano you can get, and damn the cost, and you will be farting through silk.

(This cultivation method is also obviously useful for other unnamed herbs, although opinions differ and a "pinch of all buds" approach may not be optimal in the case of that other herb.)
Click to expand...
My Dill started flowering and I've nipped them today. The dill is fucking huge for some reason.
Peas are flowering. I can see on the banana peppers, the new growth contains flowers. The Parsley is thick enough that I am confident to harvest it.

There's a rack of Thyme that smells great. I just rub my hand over it and can smell the good herbiness immediately.


QUESTION THO
If I buy land, what is the serious argument for raised beds? I tried watching YT videos but the arguments pro-raised bed sucked
 
Null said:
QUESTION THO
If I buy land, what is the serious argument for raised beds? I tried watching YT videos but the arguments pro-raised bed sucked
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Depends on land/soil quality. If your a suburbanite trying to cultivate a small garden with shitty sandy soil in your yard, a raised bed will get you good growing soil instantly. If you own land with okay starting soil, you can add compost etc and have good land for years. Also it's easier to prevent weeds and flooding washing away your soil and plants with a raised bed.
 
Null said:
If I buy land, what is the serious argument for raised beds? I tried watching YT videos but the arguments pro-raised bed sucked
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You'd have to have experience working on your knees on a clay heavy soil to fully appreciate them. So yeah, those are the two big ones - you can regulate the sort of soil you have in it (like adding a bag of sand) and it's much more comfortable height-wise. My "elevated" beds don't even go up to my knees and it's already a big difference. Terraced raised beds are also a way to deal with a slope.
 
Null said:
QUESTION THO
If I buy land, what is the serious argument for raised beds? I tried watching YT videos but the arguments pro-raised bed sucked
Click to expand...
The biggest pro is soil quality, working with clay soil is back breaking, and sandy soil has trouble with holding water, with raised beds you can better control the soil in your garden. Not having to bend over much or get on your knees to work the garden is another plus, I've got two foot high raised beds and I can pinch off/pull weeds as a walk by with little effort. speaking of weeds I've found that raised beds help reduce them.
Basically use raised beds if you want more control and convenience in your garden, but that comes at a cost which is the biggest con to raised beds, they're expensive. If you only have a small plot of land putting a few raised beds on it shouldn't cost to much, but if you want to fill a larger garden with raised beds it'll get really costly really fast. If you do settle down on your own personal plot of land it would be a lot cheaper to make your own instead of buying kits. I made a metal 4' by 24' by 2' raised bed for about $140 not including soil, its not pretty and I have to take it apart and refill it every couple of years but it works.
 
I'm aware this is a silly question but I wonder.. are those grow kits you see at store worth it? I kinda wanna try my hand at growing something and starting small
 
Null said:
My Dill started flowering and I've nipped them today. The dill is fucking huge for some reason.
Peas are flowering. I can see on the banana peppers, the new growth contains flowers. The Parsley is thick enough that I am confident to harvest it.

There's a rack of Thyme that smells great. I just rub my hand over it and can smell the good herbiness immediately.


QUESTION THO
If I buy land, what is the serious argument for raised beds? I tried watching YT videos but the arguments pro-raised bed sucked
Click to expand...
Wait til those little bubba flowers start turning into fruit. That's that magic shit.

As everyone has already pointed out, the number one argument against growing in ground is soil quality and being able to control it. It's not impossible to grow in less than stellar native soil, but you are going to end up spending a lot more on soil amendments than you would have ever imagined. It takes a lot of maintenance/keeping on top of it - pest/fungus/bacteria wise also (it's easier to quarantine off one sick bed if needs be).
Raised beds take a bit of maintenance too, but in-ground would be much more.

The other thing is literally the effect on the body - it's not to be underestimated. Like I'm a relatively fit/young wamman but it takes a toll on the back. Raised beds make it all so much easier (and even the super raised ones that are like thigh height). Also, unless you are practicing the no-dig gardening method, the actual process of tilling and preparing your ground is physically demanding stuff. Especially if you don't have an actual tiller and are doing it by hand.

Once I have land I'm hoping to do a mixture of both (soil dependant). Because some things have a good time in ground - pumpkins/squash, melons, y'know, things that ramble and vine along the ground and need heaps of space. And I'd like a small orchard, so in ground it is for the trees. But more finicky crops that need special attention, have a quick turnover, or need different nutrients, or different pest protections? Unless my soil was some superhuman growing matter, I'd probably opt for a raised bed.

TLDR - it all depends on the soil. And what you want to grow/what your ambitions are. And how much you want to protect your back.
 
I'm only doing an incredibly minimal selection of two sweet basil plants and two peppers in a corner of the neighbor's garden we've generally shared. Both pepper plants (Havasu and "Mammoth Jalapeno") have grown substantially sized peppers in just a few days that I neglected them. I'm worried the basil is stunted from planting too early (there were a couple soft frosts), but they've finally started bushing up a bit and growing buds to pinch. They usually get big (as in shrub-sized) later in the summer and the heat has finally kicked in.
 
Opposite Time Nomad said:
I'm aware this is a silly question but I wonder.. are those grow kits you see at store worth it? I kinda wanna try my hand at growing something and starting small
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I was gifted an aquaponic grow kit with an LED a while back. They're actually good for sprouting stuff from seeds and you can plant them outside/in greenhouse once they're big enough. It can be a fun learning experience buying new seeds for the kit and imo therapeutic watching the plant critters sprout and grow. You may have fun with it. I'd say look for one with an adjustable timer for the light. And probably don't need to drop a lot of money on it.
 
Opposite Time Nomad said:
I'm aware this is a silly question but I wonder.. are those grow kits you see at store worth it? I kinda wanna try my hand at growing something and starting small
Click to expand...
They can absolutely be fun to just get started with something, to see something that you planted with your own hands grow. It's exciting.

But worth it? I'm not sure. I don't know how much yield you'll get from a small kit like that. I'm not sure how good of quality the seeds would be either. I'd grab one if you want to experiment and give it a go! See if it suits you! Then, if you love it, do a little more research and forego a kit and plant some seeds of your own.
 
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