Homegrowmen Thread #80

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>tfw buying new varieties of vegetable seeds
>tfw the seller throws in Mystery Seeds
>orange watermelon, purple Brussels sprouts, purple cauliflower
>all that potential
>all that unknown flavor, texture, and use

I wish I was knee deep in summer crops already. The wait through this shitty winter is killing me.

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Prepare for peppers!

I just ordered some diploid true potato seed. This is going to be an interesting year.

>tfw it's rained the past three days and is supposed to keep raining all week
>tfw can't get anything tilled

Anyone know how long blackberry cuttings keep for? This is really frustrating.

>>963411
Keep them in water. They should start growing roots eventually.

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Thinking ahead to summer I'm wondering how much soil melons need.

I want to grow it on top of this, and run the fruit through the spaces with something to hold them just under the canopy.

In my mind the vines cover the top and you use a step latter to get the fully grown fruit below.

The bucket holding the soil would either be on top or hanging off a stud.


Can this work

>>963495
I'm not sure the width of cracks between those slats will be wide enough to get the fruit to start hanging down.

>>963497
I was thinking that too. Either the limb won't be long enough or the fruit will be too big when the limb is long enough. Would pretty much ruin my idea because I don't want anyone on top of there to get fruit.

>>963495
Melons can send roots up to 15 feet (~4.5m) away from the plant. Watermelons 20' or 25'. I think that the taproots can go down 4'-8'. That's not to say that they can't be grown in less soil, but you'll need to manage the fertility more and water them more.

>>963501
A 5-gallon bucket/pot with some compost will work.

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This year I tried my hands at germinating pepper seeds with a little indoor greenhouse, coconut-fiber-pots and an UV lamp.
And some of them just don't want to grow.
Not a single one of the Messilla, Habanero Mustard and Numex Pinata seeds actually grew. Everything else grew from fine to spectacular, even the Aji Charapita or the Carolina Reaper.

Any ideas what those 3 kinds in particular might not have liked? Or is it just bad luck? (All three are bought seeds while pretty much everything that grew great was my own stuff I harvested last fall)

Thanks.

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>>963520
Another view of my little greenhouse. Right after setting it up a six weeks ago. (The other picture was a month ago, everything is nice and big now, except for the three I mentioned)

>>963525
>>963520
I'm trying habarnaros too, I'll post if I'm having trouble with them too

>>963370

>>963520
I grow a ton of NuMex chiles. I just go out and shovel up some soil from behind my barn where the worms have gone to town on the manure, and do a solo cup garden. I do have to pick weeds, but almost all of them are up by now. IMO, keep it simple, and you'll be fine.

>>963527
I like your setup, do you heat up that plate with electricity?

The interesting thing is that I have another Habanero (El Remo), which grows fine. But no dice with the Mustard, I even tried another pot. 10 seeds, nothing.

>>963536
>do you heat up that plate with electricity?
No but i position it close to the heating duct so it stays warm

>>963535
I used specialized soil for germinating seeds, low on nutrients, etc. Maybe they prefer different soil. Will try that approach, thank you.

>>963539
Yeah, now I see the clamp is part of your lamp. I even use the same.

>>963302
Hey guys, /out/ retarded /fit/ guy here. I'm starting to grow stuff and I had a few noob questions.


1) In your opinion, are there any relatively low maintenance veggies or plants that are high in calories? I'd like to be able to, in a few months or more (not sure of timeframe) be able to regularly supplement my foods with homegrown stuff. Potatoes seem like a good starter, but I'm wondering about any suggestions you guys might have?


2) If I have a seed tray with potting mix that I tried to grow another vegetable in, and the previous veggie is dead, should I dump the mix and start fresh? Or should I just plant over the dead plant? My thinking is that the dead plant would provide some nice nutrients as it decomposes, but I'm not sure if that's what would happen.


3) How long does it take an apple tree to start growing? I've got a metric shittonne of seeds from apples I've eaten, and a large pot, and I was thinking of starting a project to grow a tree. I'm expecting at least several months to see growth, but I was wondering if you guys have tried it yourselves?

>>963618
>1) In your opinion, are there any relatively low maintenance veggies or plants that are high in calories? I'd like to be able to, in a few months or more (not sure of timeframe) be able to regularly supplement my foods with homegrown stuff. Potatoes seem like a good starter, but I'm wondering about any suggestions you guys might have?

potatoes, beans, yams, those type of things are the only produce high in calories desu

>>963618
>I've got a metric shittonne of seeds from apples I've eaten
apple seeds don't grow true to their parent so you're gonna have a bunch of weird ass hybred plants. Also probably 8 years or so before you get fruit off of them. But honeslty just throw the seeds out, most won't germinate and the rest will be retarded.

>>963621
Thanks for the response anon. I'll pick up some seeds for beans and yams in a few hours, and I'll be skinning potatoes for dinner later as well, which I should be able to grow from.

>>963624
Yeah, I did read about that. The goal is not really to get fruit at this stage; I know that's a little beyond my skills, and I think trying to graft branches would end with me killing the tree. Mostly my goal is to grow a tree and see what happens.

How retarded are we talking here?

>>963627
>How retarded are we talking here?
flavourless, bitter, sour, very small, grab apples.

Join the club and try growing a lemon like the rest of us. More likely to be true to the parent because there are far fewer varieties than apple.

>>963621
Beans can be a bit of effort if you live in an area with field mice. They love to eat the sprouts, so it ends up less work to keep them indoors for quite a while.

>>963618
>Or should I just plant over the dead plant?
Just pull the plant and start a compost pile.
Getting enough light indoors is tricky, so it's better not to create any extra shade.

>>963629
I hadn't actually considered growing a lemontree. I think I'll swap my plan. Thanks for the advice, anon. I'm assuming the same kind of timeframe?

>>963630
Ah, ok. Thanks for the advice. Light isn't a huge issue for me, since right now my little growing operation is small enough to fit in my bathtub, which gets a lot of light.

>>963631
>Thanks for the advice, anon. I'm assuming the same kind of timeframe?
lemons can flower in as few at 4 years I've been told.

>>960728
>>960727
>>962871

some lemons from the last thread

>>963631
Also with yams, don't forget that the leaves are edible.
Bit more food per plant that's easy to overlook.

>>963621
>>963627
>>963647
>yams

Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas). Yams (Dioscoreaceae) are something else entirely. Also, don't confuse the two. Blame southern-USA marketing and African-Americans living there for the confusion. Uncooked yams cause contact dermatitis.

>>963618
1) Most typical vegetable garden plants are low maintenance. Try sweet potatoes (start indoors), potatoes, legumes, corn, and taro root (if your in temp zone range 9-11). All high starch foods that is.

2) Strain out the dead roots of the old plant to reduce fungi problems. If the plant died from a disease instead of lack of water/too much water or physical damage then don't plant the same type in its place for a couple years. Like don't plant another Solanum species where a diseased one died. You'd be rotating crop species with soil anyway at the end of the season.

3) Apple trees can fruit in as little as 3 years (like a tree near a chicken coop). 5 years is average, and 8-10 years is for poorer conditions. Fruit from apple seeds will not be the same as the parent plant. They must have more than 1 cultivar of apple in order to properly pollinate thus all fruit has two different cultivar of parents. I'm not saying don't do it, but you never know what the results will be. Especially if the orchard uses crabapples to pollinate. They also need dormant months in the cold for best results.

>>963309

I know that feel all too well. I think this time last year I was already planting some things outside, but this year it's looking like I'll have to wait until April for that.

I live in Memphis, and we barely had a winter this year. I was tempted to start putting peppers and tomatoes out next week, but it looks like we are getting one last cold snap. Regardless, the ground is warmer than usual for this time of year, so I expect a long and prosperous growing season.

What can I put in/on the bare dirt surrounding my vegetables to prevent it from turning into soup every time it rains?
Will just covering the dirt with straw work?

>>963934
don't use regular straw, it will grow into grass and ruin your bed. pea straw or other types of mulch would be better

My dudes, I bought an old bonsai tree new in a box as a little kit. It looks to be at least 10, maybe 20 years old... I just watered it and started the process. But am I wasting my time? Would the seeds even still be okay. It cost me $4 at a thrift store so its not a big loss

>>963941
>don't use regular straw, it will grow into grass and ruin your bed
Are you sure you're not thinking of hay?
Hay is dried grass, straw is the stalks of grains like wheat and barley.

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>>953136
It seems the high temp treatment works! After just 18 days the first root has appeared (seed has cracked a few days ago)

>>963949
What's a memeplant? no bully please

>>963952
Based on the appearance of the seed, I'm guessing it's an avocado.

>>963949
Is there a specific reason it became a memeplant?

>>963942
>bonsai
>seeds

What? Bonsai is any tree or shrub that you prune to make it look like a miniature version of a large mature tree. After 10 or so years you'd them be able to put it into a bonsai pot and call it a bonsai, if its shaping was complete. If you are starting from seed then the viability of the seed it certainly in question after 10-20 years. You may need to replace the seed with whatever you like.

What type of tree or shrub are the seeds from?

>>963954
oh right. I didn't recognize the meme seed because I don't buy the meme fruit.

>>963954
It is one of those things nearly everyone grows at least once in their lives. Lemon trees are above it in meme-order if you must label.

>>963733
I always have to wait until May. I start seeds indoors in Feb-Mar.

>>963934
Mulching your soil will help hold moisture and make it even more soupy than it is already. You need to plant your veggies on mounds to help them drain or dig between the rows to help run water off faster when it rains.

>>963909
Yeah, I get that feeling here then it snows. 1 week it is 75F next there's snow and ice, repeat.

>>963949
Congrats!

>>963949
Lucky, mine took over a month

>>963942
Nigger it's gonna take years to get a decebt shrub

>>963958
>It is one of those things nearly everyone grows at least once in their lives
Is there any reason, though? Is it particularly easy to grow/keep alive?

>>963956
Avocado is delicious, you shut your mouth.

>>963963
No reason usually other than "Hey, that's cool I want to try!"

>Is it particularly easy to grow/keep alive?

Not really. Pineapple tops are easier to grow and fruit sooner (inside 2 years for mine).

>>963965
>tfw you don't know if you like avocado because where you live there are none that are properly ripe

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Did I do well guys?
The only two windows in my apartment are north-facing, and there are high vegetation not far from my window, further obstructing the sun...
In the picture you can see the cardboard wrapped in cooking foil. I have also ordered a growing light.
What else can I do?

>>963965
I love me some guac, but with people putting avocado on everything it has become a meme food. Right up there with sriracha and that rotten juice people pretend to like.

>>963968
I read somewhere (don't remember where) it's rare to find ripe avocados because they're climacteric and need ethylene/temperature regulation during transport to avoid early maturation (like bananas), and the difference between unripe/too ripe is very thin (more than in bananas). All in all, it would be easier to sell them some days before ripe than to sell an over-matured batch.
I don't know how true is all of this.

I've got a few pots full of soil/dead plants, what can I do to make the soil useful/fertile?

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>>963969
Looks like the veggies need more light. The best you can do is to box in everything with foil. But, you really need to crinkle up the foil so it doesn't create hot spots and burn the plant leaves. That part is very important, but only important if there's direct sunlight part of the day. Regardless, diffused light is better all around and you get that from the wrinkles. If that is getting less than 4 hours of direct sun a day then it won't matter.

>>963978
Yeah, that is the reason. Pineapples in the 1980s were very ripe when they arrived in my area and where super delicious. Now you can only buy fully green pineapples and they taste like acid and ass. They even have a sticker on them saying that they are ripe and that the green color isn't indicative of ripeness and that they will ripen further. Which is all a load of shit.

I took the tops off those, grew pineapple plants, and harvested the pineapples when the flower stems fell over and the fruit was blazing yellow. They were fucking amazing tasting though rather small due to the size of the pots.

>reposted pic related, but camera does not do the color justice at all

>>963952
>>963954
>>963959
>>963958
Thanks for all the (you)s Meme plant because as been said, it appears to be pretty much everyone's beginner seed

>>963968
Don't pineapples need to be constantly above 21°C else the flowers/fruits fall off? Kinda hard to pull off outside the tropics unless you like high heating bills

>>963984
Learn how to make "compost tea."

Use your soil as a growing medium similar to a growing medium for hydroponics, like using coconut fiber bags. You'll be able to grow stuff in it right away. In the interim, you can learn how to make compost and build up soil using compost and sand.

>>963986
Mine were inside, in front of a south-facing window, in a room that was semi-cold in winter and in summer I set them outside. I never checked the temps, but it was probably never really below 21C at any one time. I mean that's less than room temp and the house was always set to 72-73F/22C. Nothing ever fell off.

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>>963984

>>963985
Nigger I've been growing a pineapple for like 4 years now with no flower

It got fucked up last summer by animals outside and lost a lot of leafs but i just want a flower

>>963987
>I mean that's less than room temp
Really? Most of the year (outside summer heatwaves cause no AC) I'm keeping my living room at around 18 during the day and 16 at night most of the time, other rooms being a bit cooler - and no I'm not fat

Also if I wanted to grow one here I could probably never place it outside overnight, as lows above 21 are very rare

>>963989
Stress the plant. Stop watering it until the soil is bone dry. Shade it or move it indoors during that time so there's little light. Then water it and give it lots of light. It should be triggered into making flowers. I'm not sure how long it should go with low light and no water. 3 weeks probably. Just remember that you must harden it off to full light or the sun WILL scorch them. If they get scorched, they are slow to show it.

The pots in >>963985 are something like 3gallon I think. Good luck.

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>>963994
Mine usually flowered when winter stopped and more light poured in during spring. 16-18C is more than likely too low. You can use a humidity tent to help raise the temps locally around the plant. A single 60watt incandescent light bulb attached to a cheap thermostat would be all you'd need to heat it. That is literally what I do for many plant heating applications.

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>>963997
>humidity tent

>>963995
Okay I'll try this

>>963997
Welp, that'd already set me back way too much.
60W * 24h * 270d/year * 4years * €0.30/kWh = €467
>270d for the 9 months I'd probably need to heat per year
>4years because that's how long it supposedly takes from seed to fruit

Quite expensive for a single pineapple desu, I know home gardening for most of us is for fun mostly and not really for saving money, but still, for that cash I could buy like 200 pineapples from the store

>>963302
What's the most space efficient meat I can grow, including fish? The cheapest? I'm interested in trying to grow some sort of meat, but I'm not sure what kind of things to look at. I was thinking either chickens, or some sort of small aquatic life, but half the guides I find online are people in the country who really don't seem to understand how to do things when space in limited. THought you guys might have some input.

>>964004
bugs, like cricket and mealworms

>>964004
mealworms

>>964004
Buy a single pig

Do any of you guys have a job in horticulture or a closely related area, or all you just hobbyists?

>>963987
I drowned 3 pots with a gallon of water and skimmed off the organic stuff for the compost tea, got about half a pot. I think 1 gallon was overkill, anything I can do with the sand-clay-silt slurry or just wait for it to dry?

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All my peppers get these grooves on the sides of the stems, close to the soil. Looks like they're trying to form roots above ground.

>>964009
Hobbyist for me. My career is more /lit/ than /out/.

>>964002
€157.68/year for a 24/7 lightbulb.
€630.72 for 4 years.

Here's the thing, it isn't 24/7. That would totally cook the plant. The thermostat would shut the light off when it reaches the set temp. Bubblewrap the tent and it will be even more efficient.

>>964009
I'm a subsistence farmer.

>>964013
This doesn't sound like compost tea. Google "how to make compost tea" and tellme if that is what you are doing. As for the sand/silt, it can be mixed with the soil to allow better drainage if needed.

>>964015
That is very common and a good sign that humidity is properly high. The more the better.

>>964039
Most of the dead plants I assume composted in the soil already. I got an amber liquid with the skimmed stuff in a pot and the rest of the wet sandy soil in a bucket.
Sorta concerned the amber liquid might be clay though

>>964046
You can add the uncomposted organic materials to your compost bin so you can make compost tea with it. What you did also deplenished the overall nutrients in the original soil. The clay is fine in such tiny amounts

fuck yes my neigbor is having trees cut down and my backyard is gonna have so much more light this year

plants are gonna be fucking 3 times as tall as they were last year im so giddy

>>964051
Congrats on the good fortune! What are you going to grow in your sooon-to-be jungle?

>>964039
>I'm a subsistence farmer.
How is that working out? I think I'm interested in farming and horticulture but I have no way to find out if its right for me.

>>964039

> I'm a subsistence farmer.

where do you live?

>>964047
The soil's surface was cracked and dry anyway. It should be usable for replanting right? Or should I mix in some of the uncomposted stuff?

>>964053
cherokee purple tomatoes I wanna reach out my 2nd story window to pick them this year.

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It's meller time once again!
Let's see if I can get even better results with these 2 varieties than I got last year with "Red Star" which ripened a bit too early
All I can hope for is a not too cool summer

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Help a noob out, please
This past Sunday i planted spearmint seeds in an outside container. Later i found out despite being a badass invasive and resistant as fuck species, mint is pretty hard to grow from seeds.
Should i expect any sprouts in the following week or should i give up, being a beginner and try other things?
It's the end of the winter here and temperatures are around 17ºC to 20ºC often sunny, the vase is exposed to sunlight basically all day and the soil is pretty moist and directed for aromatic plants

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>>963999

>>964339
A lot of things germinate between two and three weeks, so don't give up that quick

>>964058
Working fine for me. You will need to make a list of foods and amounts you eat. Then see what you can grow/raise. If you are lucky, you already have a diet that you can easily replicate on a farm. Otherwise, you'll need to switch up some food types and change your diet.

>>964071
On a farm.

>>964158
Those are a good slicing, fresh eating tomato. They can fairly well, but are a bit on the juicy side for making sauce (just takes longer to cook down.)

>>964077
It is better to put fully composted materials into the soil. Uncomposted materials will rob the soil of nitrogen as the microbes break it down. It is okay to have it on the surface, just not mixed into the soil.

>>964251
Good luck! I have one unknown cultivar planted from store-saved seeds and 2 cultivars on order, "Orangeglo" and "Blacktail Mountain". The latter is a cool weather watermelon. Evidently, it can take 40F nighttime temps.

>>964339
12-16 days for mint seed germination.

Give it at least 3 weeks and keep it properly moist the entire time. The largest problem is planting too deep (1/8"-1/4" max) or letting the top of soil dry out. I have catnip seeds planted and I'm patiently waiting too.

>>963411
Welp, I went ahead and planted one of the cuttings anyway. Hope it doesn't bite me in the ass too much. Variety is Ebony King and they're not supposed to be too hard to grow. Soil was vaguely dry but still a bit clumpy.

>>964408

i meant what nation do you live in

>>964158
If you really want them to climb you should get some cherry tomatoes too.

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The other graft I did Sunday, this one is white apricots, they are a bit too long but those were the only branches with very little flowers out yet

The one I posted in the last thread is a peach not apricots

>>964422
It's like you're a minimalist, but only with tires.

>>964414
US, Zone 5.

>>964415
>tfw someone gifts you a cherry tomato plant and it takes over 1/3 of the raised bed and becomes 8 feet tall.

Billions and billions of tiny tomatoes.

>>964422
Looks tidy, but what is the trunk stock? I have done bud grafting more than anything.

Hello, is homesteading viable for a single guy who works full time? Every farmer I've known is a family man whose wife and kids help out. I'm single and I'll be buying property this year. I want to have a goat for milk and maybe eventually raise from pigs for meat.

>>964435
As a subsistence farmer or hobby? Hobby is doable, but subsistence takes a good head to get things planned out. It is doable, but if you don't know the best ways of doing stuff, you're going to go hungry most of the time. It isn't about the amount of work, it is about the methods and planning. It is best to start out simply supplementing your diet with home grown foods and go from there. Having a few animals and veggies is no real biggie. I know dozens of people who have a few of this & that and a full time job.

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It begins!!!

Upper pics are Early-sprouting, Purple Broccoli.
Lower pics are tomatoes.

>>964434

Don't you get fucked by taxes as a subsistence farmer?
Or are you the anon that sells AKC doggos?

>>964452
It depends on your state. Where I live anything you farm gets a dollar amount on it even if you don't sell it. If you have over x amount of farm livestock/produce you can apply for farm taxes which lowers your overall taxes. You can also get other tax breaks.

>puppy mill

Sounds terrible.

>>964450
Yeah I am not trying to self-sustain, I just want some goats so I stop having to pay so much for organic and raw milk

>>964473
That will do it. You'll need a lot of forage land for them if you want to save on their food costs or grow your own for them. The most expensive part will be the fence. lol

>>964476
Do does get sad if you take their kids away?

>>964482
Yeah, they can get a little strange sometimes. If there are several goats and the kid is well grown it is a lot better of course. They are rather gregarious and uber curious (can I climb on that!?).

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>>964485
Shit, I don't know if I can take away a kid and make the mommy goat depressed like that

I'd probably end up with a full herd of goats eventually

>>964489
That will get worse if someone starts naming them. Farming can be pretty metal.

Just sell off goats when they are weened.

>>964492
LOL, I've been asked to come help people butcher animals when they've decided to raise chickens or rabbits or whatever. They always watch some youtube or some shit and insist that the critter has to have its throat cut to kill it. I hand them the knife, and they can never do it. Cutting a critter's throat is a very visceral way to kill it, and when people haven't ever killed something before, they tend to hesitate or half ass it, which just prolongs the ordeal.

If they continue to raise animals for meat, they almost always go to a less visceral way killing the animal.

>>964543
Just shoot it

>>964546
It's always somebody in town who wants to do something like that, so no shooting. Otherwise, I agree, but small critters like rabbits are pretty easy to kill very quickly without shooting them.

>>964543
That is actually an old religious rite. It wastes good flavoring though. I use a bullet to the head.

>>964408
What do you do for money to buy things other than food?
Do you have a produce stand or something?

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Algaefag #2 here.
I didn't realize the last thread was archived ir inactive.

>>949188 →
Oh, how great! I am still gathering my gear to produce Chlorella and/or Spirulina.
It's kinda hard to find in Europoor and since I am relatively young, I have a really low budget. But I think I can make it work even with the gear at my place, but getting the cultures is my biggers setback.
>>949410 →
>dinoflagates
I would love those too. But I just need to set up a bunch of racks more that I own right now. I had brought two racks with the intention to be used for algae growing.

What ways are there to tell when compost is ready/usable?
All the green bits are gone, and most of the brown bits, though there is still some intact straw mixed into it.
It doesn't smell bad, which I've read is a good sign, but I also don't think it's gotten hot like compost piles are supposed to do, since I made it in a 55-gallon drum rather than an actual pile on the ground, it may not have been big enough to heat up. Is it still usable, though?

>>963955
I understand what a bonsai is. And I also don't expect to grow it over night... It's honestly the weirdest product I've ever found, so thought I'd try and get some details on it. I'm not home at the moment, so can't get the exact name. But I believe it's a tasmanian eucalyptus bonsai. Sorry for the vague response. What seeds would you recommend otherwise?

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>>964492
Is there any reason to not just keep the kids until they're mature and then sell them to be made into meat quickly and painlessly

I just want everyone to be happy

>>964408
Eh, desu I'm never worried about nighttime temps for most of my annual stuff as long as it doesn't go freezing.
I planted my peppers and tomatoes mid-April last year and we had some nasty unusual cold wave later that month with one night dropping to just +0.2°C (might have even dipped slightly below freezing near ground level for a short time), and none of them showed any sign of damage. They also only finally died when the first significant frosts (-2°C) came in mid-November.
Melons may be a bit more sensitive, but I'm not really worried about anything below +5-ish, which generally shouldn't happen here after mid-May

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Quick update from the Dutch guy with zero experience growing veggies.

Everything is sprouting and especially the beans are looking very sturdy and have really thick stems. I planted way too much cauliflower and lettuce so I'll have to weed that out once they get a bit bigger.

No sign of live from the zuchini yet.

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>Try having a homemade garden.
>Look for a thread about in 4chan.
>Honestly expecting to find it on /diy/
>Somehow find it here.
>Look at all those pics.
>All these fruits and vegetables plants.
>Not a single flower on sight: no roses, no tulips, no roselle, nothing slightly similar.
>Look at my own garden pots tags.

Y,yeah, I'm growing habanero chilli just like all of you! I'll show you all once they sprout.

Pffft, of course I'm not going to ask you on advice to properly grow flower plants, who would plant flowers?

>>964726
Homegrowman used to be a general on /ck/

I like flowers too, growing irises and roses in my garden

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>>964604
I mostly trade with friends, family, and neighbors. I sell eggs for cash though.

>>964708
It will look and feel like dark rich soil. That can take 1-3 years depending on your methods. 55g will decompose nicely.

>>964711
>What seeds would you recommend otherwise?

Juniper or a crabapple tree. Like the kind of crabapple that has fruit like this.

>>964715
That's what most people do.

>>964724
Gratz!

>>964726
There are a few flower growers in past threads. Most people who garden don't need flower advice since most everyone grows them and has experience. It seems more people are really new to vegetable gardening.

I grew flowers once, but now just stick to things I can eat. What flowers I have now are either edible(day lily, nasturtium, hosta, etc) or don't need maintenance anymore(iris, tulip, rose of Sharon, etc).

Homegrowmen started on /ck/, went to /diy/, and has ended up on /out/ which seems to be the best place and largest crowd.

I need some assistance, i got mint and basil stakes and did put both in cups of water to grow roots. Is it right? how much time should i wait? I just started plating things so i'm not sure of what to do now.

>>964726
I plant bulbs and grow some vine flowers along my fence and garden wall. Now what do you want?

>>964726
Ornamentals are more focussed on the /an/ plant thread... well ideally that is (in fact it should be more properly named /dionaea/)

>>964432

that car has been motionless for at least 7 years, no reason to put good tires on that
I'm waiting for a chance to bring that to the demolition man (is that even right in english?)

>>964434

the stock is Prunus cerasifera, it grew from a nearby stock with a normal apricot grafted on it

>>964755
>demolition man

Recycler?

Here we have junk yard where old cars sit waiting to be salvaged for parts or crushed and melted to recycle.

>Prunus cerasifera

That should work well then.

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>>964755
Your home sounds pretty cool. We only have scrapyards around here.

>>964739
Yeah keep them in water, I'm gonna assume you don't have rooting hormone but that would help too

>>964726
I grow some plants specifically for their flowers, anon. They attract beneficial insects. If they're edible on top of that, then great, but that's not why I grow them.

>>964755
Demolition derby. Sounds like fun, anon, just keep it in reverse as much as you can.

>>964791
full kek

There was a local guy who installed some stuff on the passenger side that linked to the wheel and pedals on the driver's side. Only he was facing backwards and had the seat turned around. He drove the entire derby backwards and nearly won because of it. He was driving a really long station wagon which made it even more absurd looking. If he'd had installed a second axle and set of wheels in the back he'd have won for sure.

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>tfw you find a stash of gardening books
>tfw after being on the internet for decades everything in the books reads like blog posts and Homegrowmen Q&A threads minus links.

Literally nothing has changed.

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Whew. I finally got up the first reflective panel for this shelving unit. I'd have the second one done, but I ran out of glue even though I cut it half and half with water.

The tomatoes are near 100% germination so far. I'll thin them to only 10 plants per cultivar. It is going to be a literal jungle this year in the gardens.

>>964815
wooo catnip

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>>964764

well Stallone is indeed italian, guess where he find the inspiration for the film

Just noticed my bulbs are a good 4" out of the ground and it's going to get really cold again. I covered them with a pile of leafs. Will that help, is there anything else I can do?

>>964735
Can I speed up the composting by adding worms to the barrel?

Also, should I add more green since there's still un-decomposed brown matter left, or leave it alone?

>>964882
What kinds of bulbs? Is this garlic getting frost heave? But yeah, mulching the shit out of them should help. There are no guarantees, but something is better than nothing.

Anyone grown honeysuckle? I'm hoping to get some on one of my garden fences. Thinking of just stealing some from my mother-in-law's land, as it's everywhere there.

I know it's a bit invasive, so I was wondering about experiences. When I was growing up, our honeysuckle was only ever around one tree in particular, didn't seem to spread anywhere else.

>>964886
Tulips and daffodils. Nothing too fancy, the normal bulk mixes you get from garden stores.

>>964885
Keep adding more and more. Everything organic you have that is waste can go into the compost.

>worms

The term is "vermicomposting" and you should google up how to do it properly. There's a whole method for it. Yes, it will increase the rate of decomposition. Another faster method is to use black soldier flies. Their larva compost much faster than red worms. You also have the option of feeding the fly larva to chickens if you have any.

I pile my compost on the ground and leave it alone. The piles are several feet high, wide and several meters long. Worms come up into it from the bottom and black solider flies fly in from everywhere. There are several other insects and tons of fungi and microbes that aid in the process. Once a pile is large enough, I'll make a second pile and so on.

1 year after tossing on the last of the compost on a pile I'll plant gourds and squash plants of several varieties. Year 2 I add the compost pile to my raised beds and put a layer of soil over it then plant normally on top.

I always try to have 3+ piles going at once of various ages. That way I always have new soil being added to the beds and can make new raised beds, every expanding how much I can grow. Eventually, I'll have so many beds that 1 compost pile will be enough to top up the nutrients on all of them instead of making a whole new bed.

>>964888
I have tons of it growing as vines and as bushes where I live. I made wine from the flowers of the vines one year.

It will tear down some fences if the fences are not sturdy enough. Keep that in mind. It doesn't grow very prolific if you have a weed eater and are tending your lawn/yard normally. If you let it go, it can become a time consuming problem to remove from unwanted places.

>>964882
>>964889
They should be fairly fine. I see mine come up in snow all the time.

Is there anything one can do to grass clippings to keep them from sprouting new grass, making them useful for composting?
Like pouring boiling water on them or microwaving them or something?

>>964930
They cook themselves when you pile them up. You can increase this by spraying the pile with some water from the garden hose. It will get so hot you can cook in it. No joke.

>>964968
I don't think I have the area to make a large enough pile to generate heat, though.

>>964979
3' x 3' x 3' will do it if you get the mixture right.

>>964987
I've got a single 55-gallon barrel to work with.
Something like 5.5 cubic feet to work with since I can't fill it all the way, rather than your suggested 27 cubic feet.

Bought 2 blueberry and one raspberry from a local nursery.

All three are Monrovia and the blueberry are only about +-1sq foot big but going into full gear for spring. They're still in the original pots, I only got them about a week ago.

When I stick my finger in the pot it's sort of hard to wiggle it down to test dryness. Should I repot them now? I was going to put them in 2ft pots but wait till they got a little bigger.

Also How did I do buying Monrovia plants, are they a meme?

>>964979
>>964987
>>964999
Green grass clipping will get wicked hot within only 2 hours even in a small pile. Grass won't do that if it is dry. It only works with fresh green clippings. It is pretty amazing. It works best if you have a grass collector on your mower.

>>965002
Are they root bound? If yes, they need repotted regardless. I would go ahead and plant them in their final place/pot. You may need to strap the pot to them and anchor the bushes if they are top heavy.

From these people?
http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/

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>>964815
Second reflective panel done. Glad I had access to a giant box. I feel much better about things now.

I'm researching sheep's milk and it seems to be way creamier and more nutritious than either cow or goats milk.

So why does almost nobody in the US sell sheep milk? Am I missing something here?

From what I can gather, they produce less milk (which is probably why the smaller amount they produce has more butterfat) and dairy sheep are usually used to make cheeses.

Maybe dairy cattle and goats were originally similar to modern dairy sheep but they were bred for raw output over quality of output. Meaning dairy breeders were the ancient equivalents of the modern farm industry using artificial fertilizer to increase crop yields which ultimately contain a lesser share of nutrients.

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Anyone can identify the tree with the white/pink flowers at the top of pic related?

>>965061
Could be a lilac

>>965058
>So why does almost nobody in the US sell sheep milk? Am I missing something here?

Same reason it is difficult to find Capretta in a lot of places. It is a cultural thing. Only in the past couple decades has goat cheese been popular enough to find in some stores now. Though, I still have to pack up and go to Amish country in order to get it here.

You are pretty much right about the reasons for breeding them.

>>965061
Most people need location in the world to help narrow the results.

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So I have 4 of these "Southern Home" grape vines and I wanted some tips on growing grapes in pots. I've never grown grapes before. I need a trellis but I'm unsure how that would work out with a pot.

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>>965024
I wouldn't think they would be root bound but it sort of feels like it. Pic related was the first one. Doesn't really seem big enough to fill up that pot. Am I likely wrong?

Yeah that monrovia

>>965020
Does the grass pile need sun exposure to do so?

>>965119
Isn't there a recommendation about the size of the pot in that care guide? It should fill the pot. Roots travel a long ways. You'll always need to repot any potted plant after x amount of years, depending on species.

>>965139
No. It just needs to be fresh-cut green grass. A little spray of water can also help it.

>>965058
>So why does almost nobody in the US sell sheep milk?
There's no sheep-milking infrastructure, and no one wants to start building sheep-milking infrastructure because it's a risk and cow's milk, due to being the norm, isn't.

>>965140
yeah i was just putting off buying a ph tester, soil and fertilizers because i was having trouble finding good bat guano but it would probably be best for plant vigor to do it soon

>>965061
magnolia? in late bloom?

>>965030
nice. Is it the reflective or the dull face of aluminium?

>>965159
Aluminum foil glued over cardboard with the shiny side facing up. The cardboard ripples help diffuse the light.

>>965066

Absolutely not

>>965159

You nailed it, magnolia liliifera
I only knew magnolia grandiflora and not this other subspecies, gotta try to snatch a branch or some seed soon

>>965186
They are beautiful trees, good luck

>>965185
Do you see any big difference between shiny and dull surfaces? I heard the difference of light reflection between the two is a myth (one is reflective, the other diffuses, but both send back as much light)

>>965196
It really doesn't matter. One just looks better. Since the cardboard backing makes it very wrinkled, it helps diffuse the light more than enough.

If you are using it as a sunlight reflector then you need to crumple it yourself to produce more diffusion or hotspots will burn the plants.

Somebody mail me some seeds

>>965228
what kind and to where

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my girlfriend's birthday is coming up...

I'm after an interesting, hardy plant that can grow inside with partial sunlight

what do you guys recommend?

>>965246
Anything and to Ontario

>>965250
Aloe or some cactus

>>965250
Disocactus ramulosa
Trachyandra
Haworthia Cooperi
Orchis italica

>>965252
give us an address. After I seed my tea garden I'm going to have left overs

>>965281
[email protected]
Hmu I'll respond on email

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Anyone interested in mushroom growing?

>>965366
Yeah foragerbro here. Im thinking of selling farmed mushrooms for extra dough for christmas

>>965366
>tfw I didn't get a new sample of my shiitake logs to inoculate new logs

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>>965369
Do it! You could probably fit a whole lot of mushroom growing in between now and christmas.

>>965373
What method do you use to create ioculant from older logs? I have heard of a sawdust method.

I just started working for a mushroom farm, pretty much my dream job. Open access to plan out experiments as well.

>>965379
>from older logs?

I use the mushrooms from the older log. I drill holes in the new logs, stuff some mushroom bases, stems, and such into them and seal it over with wax. Rather quick and dirty really. I'm hoping the older logs will have just one more flush. They are 4 feet long and 5 inches wide, but light as a feather now.

>working for a mushroom farm

If it is indoors, remember to wear a GOOD respirator.

>>964004
Three rabbits can supposedly provide 180lbs of meat a year.

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>>965143
Sheep are also complete assholes to work with. You need dogs to just move the buggers calmly where as a beep from your horn and dairy cows wander on it. Thats from my 6 years of dairy farming to date.

>Pic is of pet lambs and calf that roam around the farm I worked on

>>965470
I've been wanting to try this. Where is a good place to start? Should I get a kit and keep part of that going or can I use some shiitake stems from the store bought ones and put them in a log? I have done pf tek before so I'm not totally new to this.

>>965476
what? how?

>>965476
Any good guides on rabbit farming? Sounds feasible, as long as you feed the shit outta them.

>>965490
Lots of sex

>>965483
Buy some plug spawn from online. I got mine from fungi.com and it comes with good instructions. I used wine bottle wax to seal the holes.

Yes, you can use store bought stems. There are many guides online as to how to do that. Though, not so many for logs. Most are for doing stuff in jars to make kits. Basically, get ones that have the most stem. Preferably with some of the base attached, that is the best part. Cut it off and stuff it in a hole you drilled in a log then wax over the hole. The logs must be from a freshly cut down tree that was still alive.

If you have access to freshly made sawdust from a live tree, you can use that as a growing medium. Make a small kit, use that to stuff the holes with.

>>965490
They breed like.....well rabbits.

>>965476
They also produce really nice manure for gardening. I'm not sure about keeping them in cages and butchering. I've had rabbits before. It wasn't really very fun.

>>965281
Whatcha putting in your tea garden, anon?

>>965530
It's mostly herbal. I'll give the full list when I roll out of bed. In the meantime, does anyone know the start up costs for raising bees?

>>965585
>start up costs for raising bees?

$200-$500USD depending on many factors.

If you buy all new equipment, queens, and bees you will pay an arm and a leg. If you make your own gear & hives and entice a swarm into your own hives you'll spend next to nothing. There's everything in between.

I recommend looking up your local bee keeper's association and attending the next meeting or calling a few of the heads. They often are bursting with advice and old equipment they will sell you for cheap.

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>tfw watermelon seeds are sprouting
>tfw 100% germination of tomato seeds

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>tfw the purple potatoes are sprouting due to high humidity and 80F temps
>tfw ugly purple grow light someone gave me

>>965614
>purple growing lights give purple potatoes
>slap some green LEDs over next batch, get green potatoes
>sell to stoners who think they're weed buds
>invest in more land, a cow, some hens, and a wife
>become self-sufficient

Guys what will grow well in England? Got a small vegetable plot (around 1x3m) I can use until October.

Can I just put seeds in the ground or do I have to grow stuff in trays first?

>>965625
>become self-sufficient

Way ahead of you.

>>965629
>Guys what will grow well in England?

Most anything that isn't full tropics with a long growing season.

>Can I just put seeds in the ground or do I have to grow stuff in trays first?

It depends on how much time you have between frost dates. Look at "days to maturity" when researching seeds/plants. Sometimes you need to plant 2 months before the last frost in order to have a good crop.

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>>963302
Got paid $60 today to remove a raised garden bed today. Not sure where I'm going to plant the 200+ strawberry plants that were in it

>>965639
They do well in container gardens. Separate them, pot them up, and sell them for $2 each.

>>965639
>>965641

it's true that they do well when potted, but it's a waste imho

You lose all the stolons that could get you many extra plants

>>965604
>ntice a swarm into your own hives
I can do that? How would I go about getting honey bees interested without ending up with something hornets

>>965639
If you don't have the space on your property, you could consider some hardcore guerrilla gardening.

I guerrilla planted wild virginia strawberries from seeds I collected all over the ravines and parks in my area and now I have my own private strawberry patch.

>>965663
Set up a hive. Add some honey to it (preferably honey comb). Wait. Every week check it and clear out anything that isn't supposed to be there. If you happen to see honeybees in the area you'll have a much better chance. Just google, "how to attract a swarm honey bees". Around June would be the best time to try. You'll use this method once a year when dividing your hives.

I have a bunch of vacant lots and empty patches of dirt I want to turn into flowerbeds. (NYC, zone 7A.) I'm looking for a good wildflower variety seed pack; something that will grow and reseed on it's own without much human intervention. Some of these are places I'm taking care of, others are neglected yards that I want to guerrilla garden, so I don't have regular access.

An interesting mix of flowers, stuff you don't typically see, would be awesome, but the important part is that it'll reseed by itself and compete with any weeds that will try to colonize the patches.

Can anyone recommend a good seed mix and a good place to get them? Or should I just use a bunch of the 25¢ mixed flower seed packets you get at the 5 and dime?

>>965514
What type of log do you like for shiitake? Red oak seems to be coming up the most.

>>965744
Whatever tree has a double trunk on my property that is also a hardwood. I'll also take low limbs that are the right thickness.

>>965747
So any hardwood? I know a busy tree cutter that I can probably as for anything.

>>965742
I live somewhat North of you, just outside of Toronto, Ontario, and I had a lot of success with a bulk-purchased native seed mix.

This website:

http://www.americanmeadows.com/wildflower-seeds/northeast

has some good looking seed mixes of plants local to your region. The good thing about these kinds of mixes is that the companies don't treat the seed with chemicals, they only provide native or naturalized plants, and the seeds are usually either perennials or self-seeding annuals (meaning you won't have to reseed under most circumstances).

You could do it quick easily by getting a whole bunch of those dinky packets they sell at department stores and garden centers, but if you are looking for volume and reliability, I would go with a bulk seller.

>>965759
Also, if you are someone who has empty space, I would recommend trying to plant some milkweeds. The monarch butterfly life cycle revolves around this one plant and by putting decent-sized patches in your area you will be helping them out a great deal.

>>965765
w2c milkweed?

>>965785
Hmmm, well I usually find wild plants and grab some of the ripened seeds, so I don't have firsthand experience with buying them. They are very easy to ID with their distinctive leaves and leaf growth patterns: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepias_syriaca

The first place I would look is your local not-for-profit seed bank (if you have one)... those guys are usually willing to give them away for free or dirt cheap because it helps the cause. If that doesn't work you can look for suppliers online. Worst case scenario, buy a seed packet from your local garden center or grocery store - they often have common milkweed seeds.

>>965785
How do you live without a milkweed dealer?

>>965750
Yes. 4" to 8" inch is the min-max diameters I'd go. Remember only the freshest logs should be used. Anything over say 3 days old and they start losing sugars the fungi can use to get things going fast. Much longer and other fungi take up home first and compete.

>>965379
I'll definitley look into mushroom growing.
I have the space to start farming in the near future.

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>>963302
100 Walla-walla sweet onion sets that a friend brought me today.
Going in the ground this weekend.

>>965639
craigslist some and hope for the best.

even if nobody answers you can acknowledge you tried

>>965678
I'm gonna try this with raspberry

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>>965470
We have a designated fruiting room with full ventilation.
Separate incubation and fruiting areas.
Also, that inoculation method can totally work. Keep rocking it. Just make sure flies don't get in. I use stem butts all the time for cardboard spawn and it runs pretty fast, with little contamination.

>>965483
Getting a kit will probably work better since it comes with some supplementation in it already, lets you multiply it quite a bit since it is already colonized and you aren't risking the grain colonization at home. Fruit it once out of the kit, and then use the kit as spawn into straw, or sawdust. Gives you a huge second flush that can keep going again and again.
Logs are great, but they are only half of the whole growing world. If you use cardboard spawn/straw/alfalfa you can grow bagged shiitakes and oysters within a month. Logs tend to take half a year at best in most climates.

>>965877
It is pretty easy, I would recommend it.
Investments can be anywhere from like 20$ to 100$ depending on your climate.
Cheap all in all, and given care your systems can be set up to produce a ton pretty quick. Doesn't take up much space either.

I have a question about flowers:

I'm planting gladioli bulbs in my flower bed's back row, and the packaging said to space the bulbs 6''. However, the blurb on the package mentions a positive of the gladiolus being that you can grow a ton of them in small spaces. Am I supposed to be putting more than one bulb in the hole? Is 6'' spacing too much? How exactly am I supposed to grow a lot in a small space?

>>965946
One bulb per hole. They will multiply to fill the space between.

>>965932
Good idea. Those things spread like wildfire, especially the reds.

There is a wild patch in the ravine near my house, and in a 3 week period I managed to harvest nearly 30 pounds of black raspberries. I froze most of them and had enough to last me till next summer.

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Hello, a bit new in this.
My mimosa pudica's new leaves are starting to look dangrously yellow. Ive tried fertikizer without success. The dirt is a bit moist but i dont think its overwatering.
It happened before (almost killed the plant) on old leaves and im 90% sure it was due lack of nitrogen because it healed with fertiliser.
What could be happening?

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Are there any place you can adopt plants?

>>966017
Maybe look on Craigslist for people giving plants away?

>>966017
I can't really answer your question but I just wanted to say I think it's really noble you aren't looking to just buy mass-produced plants from plantfarms while so many get destroyed awaiting adoption. You're a good anon.

>>966013
Could you post a pic of soil? If in pot, could you post a pic where the size of both the pot and the plant are visible? Also if in pot, does it have a draining hole?

Also, do you really let the soil dry a little between two waterings?

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>>966042
Just watered today because it seemed a bit druly. I should probably stop, right?

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>>966042

>>966031
not sure if trolling

>>966059
>he doesn't rescue senior plants

>>966017
>>966031
>>966059
>>966060
Contact landscaping companies and seasonal greenhouses. Call the greenhouses the very day after they close, for the season, to see if they have any leftovers.

>>966045
>>966047
Thanks for the pics, nice patio by the way. Did you check if it was root-bound? If yes, it may be time to repot. Given the size of the plant/pot, I rather doubt it.
It seems to me you water it a lot, but I may be wrong. The best way to know if you should water a plant is generally to put one or two phalanges of your finger in the soil. If it's humid, don't water.

Then it may be a lack of nitrogen, but once again I doubt it, the soil seems rather dark and rich. Plus it seems older leaves are ok.
Since it seems these are the new leaves which are yellowing (can you confirm it?), I'd rather think of an iron deficiency. Most of times iron doesn't lack in the soil, but the plant can't absorb it due to pH elevation/irregular watering, or root-bounding

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>>966074
Thank you for your help!
100% new leaves.

Does this look like root-bound to you?

>>966081
That is rootbound

Tonight the temperature is dropping to 22F and possibly snowing a couple inches. I have planted radishes, lettuce and spinach and have plants about an inch high. Do I need to cover them or would they be able to take the cold one night? (it would be in the 40s the next day).

>>966095
Cover them! Use anything from bedsheets to plastic.

>>966095
I don't plant stuff outdoors until May

>>966098
Thanks. For some reason I thought cold crops can take a little snow.

>>966101
I'm in the northern part of zone 5 and can get things growing earlier. Plus we've so far had a real mild winter.

>>966101
Some stuff like the cold weather plants >>966095 planted can handle a lot, but need a little protection from frost.

>>966103
If it frosts it can kill them. If it only snows without frost then they will probably be fine. I would put some water bottles (not hot water) around them and/or cover them at the very least.

>>966098
>>966095
Don't let anything plastic touch the plant. Blankets and leafs should help/

>>966105
True, always have an air gap otherwise frost will still nail them where ever the cover touches. Cloth covers have less chance of this happening because of the thin layer of air in the cloth layer.

>>966104
I'll fill some plastic bottles up tonight, thanks.

>>966105
I've been covering them with plastic tarp, oops.

>>966108
Just put a spacer between the plant and the tarp where it touches the plant.

>>966093
:(
any tips on it?
should i try unroot it or just re-pot and it will be fine?

>>966116
Plant it in a bigger pot with looser soil
But you need to cut the rootbound parts lengthwise, prob scissors are fine, to break it up otherwise what can happen is the roots start to rot even if given more space

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ID

>>966162
Flower

>>966162
That's a :O flower. I recognize it well.

>>966263
You idiot. It an :o flower, clearly.

>>966162
looks similar to a sego lily so some form of lily mehbe

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Planted red potatoes, red onions, scallions and radishes & carrots (together in one row, since that's apparently a thing) in my raised bed today!

Hopefully I'll get the other one stained and filled with dirt before the month is over. It's either going to have cabbages or summer squash. There's not really enough space for both in a 4'x4', is there?

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>>966479
Also, anyone want to take a shot at identifying the tree? I imagine it's something common, they're everywhere around the neighborhood. Zone is 8a, in Texas.

>>966481
Southern Oak

Squash can get pretty bushy. There is chance it will overgrow other plants. I always keep mine in a different plot.

>>966484
Huh, I was hoping it was something good along those lines. I've got all these logs from when the tree was trimmed last month. I want to use a few to make round slices with and have a cute little path around and between the boxes.

>>966479
I'd start 2-4 squash and just as many cabbage, if not a couple more. You an always eat the thinnings for cabbage (and squash really, but who does that?). I had a 3X3 I grew ~9 napa cabbages (6 good sized ones), 3 broccoli, and 2 brussels sprouts just hanging in there.

>>963302
Ok guys, you all got me into this homegrow thing, and I've been shitting up your threads over the last few days and I finally have a gameplan. I'm ready to start sowing stuff tonight and tomorrow.
I'm an Ausfag who wants to slowly start producing my own food, with the intent of slowly turning my backyard into a mini farm.

ANyway, the plan:
>Put down fresh soil in my shitty, weed filled garden beds (after removing weeds) and planting the following:
-Snow peas
-Spinach
-Basil
-Tomatoes
-Broccoli
-chives
-Mint (in it's own pot so it doens't become a weed)
-Lemon grass

I intend to start planting them all in little blocks tonight and tomorrow. Plan is to put a few blocks of soil, about 5cm high and a few square feet big, and plant a crop in each (barring tomato and basil which will be planted together), and water them with tank water. I figure since it's Australia, there's enough sun to grow pretty much anything at the moment. Most of the seeds claim I'll be able to harvest in about 3 months, so ideally I'll harvest them all in one or two go's, I also aim to plants beans, potatoes and sweet potatoes (or really anything higher in calories) once I get established.


I also hope to eventually breed rabbits for food (starting with a trio) so I have a steady supply of meat, but that's in the future.


So, thoughts on my little operation plan? Any big red flags? Potting mint, and some of my chives and tomatoes as I type this. Aim is to start small and slowly develop stuff as I get better at it.

>>965678
Kek, there's a huge area of wetlands behind the houses where I live. What's the best berry or edible plant that's hardest to kill? I'd definitely be up for guerrilla planting a shitload of something and watching it slowly grow and consume the neighborhood. The citycucks around me would probably even avoid them because they'd think they were poisonous, kek.

>>966648
Thimbleberry

>>966645
You might be underestimating the time it takes to weed the area, speaking as someone who is /still/ weeding my own beds. Shit's exhausting.

I like your mix of herbs + veg tho

>>966648
This depends on where you are. I don't know which plants are native to your area and what kind of climate you live in.

Factors that matter include:
-Sun exposure
-Average winter and summer temperatures
-Soil PH
-Soil moisture (you mentioned wetlands, so I envision some place where the ground is permanently wet)
-Soil type (sandy? Dense? Nutrient rich? Nutrient poor?)

Generally speaking, if you want hard to kill I would say that members of the rubus family (raspberries, blackberries, thimbleberries, salmonberries) are a good bet. I have secret patches of black raspberries (r. occidentalis) and wild allegheny blackberries (r. allegheniensis) at the local conservation area, far enough off the beaten path that the wimpy citycucks and cuckburbans will never find them. The patches survive brutal winters and dry summers year by year and produce a lot (last summer I got nearly 30 pounds of wild black raspberries from the black raspberry patch). It also helps that the plants spread like wildfire and drown out any other plant life that is shorter than them. You can buy decent red raspberries at the market, but wild blacks are something only the enterprising forager can enjoy, and are well worth it.

Strawberries are also a good bet. I don't know where you live, so I don't know exactly what the native plant life is, but where I live (Ontario Canada) there are two species of wild strawberry, fragaria virginiana, and fragaria vesca. The plants are extremely hardy, and spread rapidly. They don't produce as much as domestic strawberries per square meter, but the fruits are incredibly delicious and are something you will never find at a grocery store.

Depending on where you are, another wild delicacy is wild leeks, also known as ramps. They take a few years to get well-established, but I've heard they are the best tasting member of the extended family of plants that includes garlic, onions, leeks, and shallots. Worth considering.

>>966669
If you want to know what your options are in general, I would reccommend looking up native plants in your area, perhaps consulting a foraging website geared towards your zone. Half the weeds you encounter on a daily basis are potentially edible. I grew a patch of dandelions, garlic mustard, and stinging nettle - all weeds that no one would give a second thought to, but quite palatable when used correctly.

>>966651
Most of the weeding was actually done a while ago; I went through and spent several hours removing every weed I could find not too long ago. There's just a lot of dead shit like leaves and sticks from failed garden attempts by previous owners which has turned to shit. "Weeding" is probably a poor word choice on my part. "Clearing" would be more accurate. My solution is to just say fuck it, remove any weeds I do find, and put several cm's of fresh soil and potting mix over the top. My theory is that if there's anything down there, it'll be small and get strangled by the weight of my new crops.

Also, thanks. I figure since I don't actually need to live off this, I might as well grow herbs as well as veggies from the start. Since variety can only be good.


>>966669
Thanks for the response, anon. I should have mentioned; I'm in Australia, on the East coast (Victoria, near Melbourne). Wetlands are areas with a lot of grass and lakes/rivers/creeks in them. Hence "wet". Judging from the absolutely inhuman amounts of grass and trees growing there, I'm pretty sure it's decent soil quality. One dude owns a small slice of it and grows a lot of shit (gonna stay away from his stuff though since I'm not a dick).


ANyway, the place in particular I'm thinking of is a creek obscured by a large, long hill. There are little water holes there too.


Which of the berries would you say grow the fastest? I'm thinking of planting a few on the banks of the creeks and watering holes, and slowly letting them expand out from there.


>>966675
Huh, that's actually quite interesting. I'll look into it, but I think the main things that grow here are a weird stinky flower, and a mushroom I'm pretty sure is poisonous. And so much fucking grass.

>>966676
Hmmmm, I assumed you were somewhere in North America, but if you're in Australia I have no knowledge of your local plants. If there are native Rubus species I still recommend them more than anything else - hardy plants, propagate quickly, high yield, one of the best set-and-forget wild crops.

They aren't wild, but I bet you could grow domestic strawberries in your area (there are probably aussie websites that explain where in Australia you can grow them).

In most cases, if you are growing fruits you have to wait 1 year, since 1st year plants aren't developed enough to fruit. If it is local herbs then you can expect results in as little as 3 months.

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I have some frogs in my allotment pond and they've layer spawn.

Someone told me frogs are really good for your garden, anyone have any ideas why?? Or is it just some bullshit wives tale?

>>966680
Ok, thanks for all the help anon. I may plant both fruit and herbs, and see what happens.

>>966681

frogs eat bugs

bugs eat your garden

>>965479
that looks really cool mate

>>966645
3029 reporting in
where abouts are you?

I've already planted and harvested my snowpeas, I'm not sure this is a great time of year to be planting them. Normally I do it late winter to early spring.

I'm planning on sowing some Spinach around the start of April
Also what kind of tomatoes? If you live in the south like me, I'd say it's too late for them.

What advantages are there to a raised bed? Any disadvantages?

What height is recommended?

>>966727
The soil don't get compacted (you can almost work only with your hands), weeding is easier, there's a good balance between draining and moisture, depending of the height it's easier to work with it

>>966688
This is fun

What eats frogs?

>>966755
Snakes and birds.

>>966755
French people

>>966757
Isn't that cannibalism?

>>964015
Lol

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>>966645
>you all got me into this homegrow thing

You make my watermelon seedlings smile.

>gameplan
>slowly

Very good approach.

>rabbits for meat

Do you hunt and butcher? Some people have an emotional difficulty butchering rabbits or any farm animal, but they can hunt and butcher easily. Good luck regardless. Rabbit crap is amazing for composting into fertilizer. If you make a raised bed you can keep the rabbit cage over the bed for them to crap into it. Then move the cage and add compost and such to help process it into usable soil.

>Australia

You may need shade cloths for some of your veggies:

http://www.siteshade.com.au/blog/how-to-choose-shade-cloth-for-plants/

>list of veggies

I always recommend that people list the foods they currently eat and use that as what to research for growing in your area. Then move on to things you'd like to add to your diet.

>Any big red flags

Nothing that I see off hand. But, since you are using your water tank, I suggest you use containers of whatever size from bathtub to large bucket and have a drip tray under them that will catch all the run off water. You'll be able to reuse it and not waste so much. A shade cloth plus humidity tent might be needed for some plants. The varieties you should look for are heat-tolerant ones. Ones developed and used in your section of Australia will be best of course.

Your cold weather crops can probably be grown in full shade on the shady side of your house or whatever. Having them in a semi-buried sump hole will help keep them cooler. Either in the side of a hill, or at the base of a building foundation. Like if you missed the tomato season, shade cloth and a cool place may allow you to grow them anyway.

>>966648
>What's the best berry or edible plant that's hardest to kill?

Blackberry. But, check your state/country wildlife management website to see if they are listed as an invasive/illegal plant. You'd not want to fuck up your local area with them.

>>966651
Weeding is easy. Just mulch over it. Also, learn to identify the weeds so you know which ones you can add to your salad. 90% of the stuff in my gardens that are "weeds" are my salad greens. The rest is either compost material or mulched under.

>>966645
>>966777
I forgot to say, you should research mulching. It will help keep the soil moist and cool. I normally lay down some newspaper or cardboard then pile on woodchips, sawdust, dry straw, or dry yard clippings. It makes a world of difference for the amount of water that is needed to water the plants

>>966676
Normally, there's decades of dormant seeds in local soil. Every time you dig up root veggies or disturb the soil some of them germinate and you get more "weeds". Some types last 20+ years in the soil just waiting

>grass

FYI, you can normally harvest the seed and use it for sprouts that you can eat. Just learn to identify the grass so you know what it is exactly

>>966681
Toads are better. The frogs tend to only hang around wet areas while toads travel all over the land. You can make toad houses (google how) to help invite them in and have them reside in your garden. Both eat local insects, both pests and beneficial. Their tadpoles and pollywogs will eat aquatic plants, algae, dead things, and aquatic insects like mosquito larva depending on the type of tadpole/polywog

>>966680
I'd also like to mention that some veggies and herbs need to grow a full year before they will start to flower and go to seed. An example is carrot-family plants. They grow the edible root the first year, but usually don't flower. The second year the root becomes woody and the plant flowers (they look like wild carrot aka Queen Anne's Lace flowers). Then you can save the seeds

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>>966727
Copy/pasta for you (inb4 someone complains about mycorrhizal symbiosis again):

-Better drainage and soil air flow.
-No need for tilling since it never gets compacted. Just planting and digging up crops is tilling enough.
-Due to the lack of tilling, mycorrhizal symbiosis is enhanced, increasing water and nutrient uptake, resulting in higher yields, better drought, cold, pest, disease, heat tolerances, and soil toxicity.
-Soil temps are higher at the beginning and ending of the seasons to extend the season a bit.
-You can more easily use polytunnel systems to have year-round gardening.
-You can more easily cover with cloth or netting to prevent frost or certain pests from harming crops.
-Permanent watering systems are easier to install and maintain.
-Reaching things is much easier, especially if your raised bed has a wide wall you can sit on.
-You always have well established walkways for you and your tools/wheelbarrow.
-It creates a buffer zone for weed seeds and many crawling pests.
-Less need for weeding and when you do need to weed it is super easy to reach and pull out of loose soil.
-Easier to apply intensive gardening techniques for much higher yields.
-Complete control over soil composition.
-Landlords normally allow it, because it does not destroy the hardpan of the yard and can be easily moved/removed.
-You can more easily employ a wide range of permaculture techniques.
-You can cover disused/fallow raised beds with chicken tractors/rabbit tractors in the off season to fertilize the soil.
-Keeping track of your crop rotation and planning your crop placement is a little be easier.

>>966763
They only eat the legs

>>966727
What is your climate like? You have to tailor your garden to your situation. I live in a desert. Raised beds have a use here, especially if you are handicapped and can't bend over easily, however, my beds are sunken beds. My property is very flat, so the flow of water is not a huge factor. What I want is for the water to stay on my beds and soak in. Good soil infiltration is important, and making it so that water infiltrates where my beds are is important. Basically, I pile up dirt where my walkways are, always have something growing (cover crops are used) on the beds even if it isn't something that I can't eat, use cover crops as mulch when they are done, and I don't till.

If you live in an area that gets 50 inches of rain/year and can't afford the material to build frames for raised beds, you would want to dig your walkways out and pile the dirt onto your beds.

Adapt to your climate and your situation, anon.

>>966715
Sorry for slow reply, I was at work. 3196 reporting in.

Thanks for the heads up on that stuff anon. THe tomatoes are red cherry tomatoes, so I understand they grow pretty quick. If it's too late to get in a quick harvest, perhaps I'll put them and the snow peas in some smaller trays and grow them inside, on a windowsill. Not ideal, but a small, shitty harvest is better than none, and from what I understand indoor plants can usually grow indoors. I actually have a small tray I've been growing indoors for a few days, but I'm still waiting to see results.

Can spinach be planted now and harvested? Or have I left that a bit late too?

Vicfag by the way, and we've been having the last few weeks all above mid 20's, if that's relavent.

>>966777
Thanks for the advice anon. I'll take it all on board.

For the meat thing, I'm pretty confident I'd be OK with it emotionally, as long as they don't have names, as long as my sister (legitimately may not know where food comes from) stays the fuck away from them and as long as I know they're being treated fairly and ethically.

And thanks for the ideas of shade. I may need to rethink my planting areas, but my garden has some natural shade in the form of still-alive trees and some nicely pointed walls. I should be able to find a relatively cool spot for the plants that reqiire that.

>>966780
I'll look into blackberries, thanks anon.

And shit, I didn't know that about weeds. I guess I'll need to be pretty careful about not accidentally feeding dormant seeds.

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Can I get a diagnosis? It's an Avocado, and its has been loosing leaves at a slow, but steady pace. New growth still happens, but I would like to know what is wrong.

>>966837
>I'll need to be pretty careful about not accidentally feeding dormant seeds.

Don't worry about it. You'll most likely need to use mulch there and that alone normally stops weed problems.

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>>966839

>>966839
>>966842
Possible potassium deficiency. Google it.

Well, there is a small, damp (there is water everywhere, more or less) forest behind my backyard, I wonder if I could find an use for it.
I cannot cut it down, but it's quite sparse, so I shouldn't have problem with space, but as I said, the place is damn, marshy at places.

I was thinking about raised beds/hugelkultur, maybe a goat or a mating pair.
Any ideas for method and plants to use?
Temperate climate, like in central Europe.

>>966834
I live in zone 7, and hobbyists here like to plant things like lettuce and spinach around the middle of Feb. I've planted spinach and lettuce in the fall and had it overwinter, with fresh salad all winter. You can also plant during the winter in many zones, and let it come up whenever it is ready in the early spring/late winter.

>>966844
It just depends on how much light you get in the area you want to grow things. It may be great for cool weather crops, raspberries/blackberries in summer for instance, but not so good for tomatoes. "Woodland gardening" and "edible forest garden" are search terms that will help a great deal.

>>966851
>It just depends on how much light you get in the area you want to grow things.

I guess I can safely say that it's quite average (a few hours, maybe?), but it varies depending on how many trees are around. These are mostly smallers trees around, so it should be a much trouble (in legal terms) with trimming their branches a bit.

And thanks for search terms!

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Hi guys, I live in south Florida and noticed this peculiar plant growing in my yard. Looks like an ordinary yellow flower growing close to the ground, but seems to produce this spiky orange fruit. Does anyone know what this plant is called?

>>966834
>3196
My man, on the otherside of the bay. Lucky you. All the good /out/ shit is on your side of the bay. Overhere it's fucking flat all the way until you get to the grampians in the west or Macedon ranges in the north.

>Can spinach be planted now and harvested? Or have I left that a bit late too?
On the contrary, I think it's still just a little too early. From my understanding Spinach doesn't like hot weather. So I'm going to wait for it to cool down just a little more before I start sowing.
Once we stop having those odd days above 30, it's a good time. So I'd wait at least a fortnight

>>966990
http://www.eattheweeds.com/bitter-gourd-balsam-pear-pharmacy-on-a-fence/

Is it fine to put a 1 foot raised bed on top of my French drain? Should I make it taller just in case? Not entirely sure what I'm worried about, maybe the plant roots interfering with it somehow.

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>>967033
Don't do that.

>>967082

Jesus Christ

>>967033

Heh, I had a neighbour who grow a tree or some other big plant on his garden. Somehow, the roots reached the water supply network, found a crack and spread through the main line, eventually blocking it.

For literally months, the entire block had problems with low water pressure and eventually they wouldn't receive enough water for their chores, which lead to complain after complain with the authorities. When they came to inspect the area, they found an entire section blocked with roots (like this pic >>967082), and had to manually pull out whatever they could. The neighbour got fined.

But his garden was gorgeous.

is it possible to pollinate a fruit tree with its own flowers (switch between them) or do you need pollen from another tree?

>>967160
It depends on the type of tree. You'll need to google the type to see.

>>966995
Haha, yeah. I'm working on my L's now, and the second I'm on my p's I'll be out camping and doing /out/ shit every few days hopefully.

But thanks for the tip. I'll wait a week or two before planting my spinach. Do you think I could plant it now in a relatively shady area of my yard? Or would that just cause a slew of problems?

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>>967213
>I'm working on my L's now
How many hours have you clocked?

>and the second I'm on my p's I'll be out camping and doing /out/ shit every few days hopefully.
Sounds awesome. I'm on my green P's. I just got back from the Macedon ranges. My gf and I just drove down there, chucked on our hiking boots and did a short 6km walk

>Do you think I could plant it now in a relatively shady area of my yard?
How shady are we talking? Is it getting any direct sunlight during the day? Or at least partial light? Normally spinach struggles from too much heat/sun. So I'd imagine it should be fine.
Take a look at pic related for some ideas on what you can plant in the shade

(Australian translation: Chard = Silver beet. Arugula = Rocket/Roquette. Scallion = Spring onions. Cilantro = Coriander)

>>965366
What exactly am I looking at here and how do I start this?
Do stores sell shit to start mushroom farming? Or will I need to buy shit online?

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>>967294
I think Lowe's has some kits as well as a few garden centers of other stores, probably Walmart and Sam's Club. They will look similar to this picture usually. Once your kit has flushed a few times you can divide it to make more kits of your own.

There's a shit ton of info online about "growing culinary mushrooms". As well as how to DIY your own mushroom kits. One of the easiest type is Pearl Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) and there are a few colors you can choose from. They just need cellulose growing medium. That's sawdust, coffee ground, shredded papers, straw/hay, etc. The mushrooms normally used on pizza is Agaricus bisporus (aka button, crimini, portobello, etc) and it needs manure to grow. Horse manure is the easiest. Most people already have everything they need at home to make a mushroom kit for Pearl Oyster mushrooms aside from the actual source for the mushroom.

You can also grow these in your garden as part of your composting regiment and/or in the soil with the plants.

Check out,

fungi.com
midwestgrowkits.com

>>967082
>>967114
Well I mean, the drain doesn't have anything to do with my water pressure or how I get water. It's just diverting water away from the house and down the street (and was only installed prior to me moving in two months ago).

If nothing else, maybe raised beds on legs? I could dig off the dirt top and just put more rocks on top of it too, maybe. And have a dry garden area, since grass likely won't grow on top of the drain.

>>967425
What we mean is that it will clog your french drain. Any barrier that the roots can not get through will work including an air gap. You are never supposed to put anything on top of a french drain in the first place.

>>967425
>maybe raised beds on legs
Good idea in this situation.

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>>963959
mine took three

>>967573
If you peel off the thin brown outer layer, it'll happen quicker

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Strawberry putting out it's first flower, with another on it's way. Repotted it today, it was pretty rootbound because I hade neglected it. I loosened the root ball up a bit, so it should be fine.

>>967414
Cheers, I've just checked out Bunnings (I believe it's the Australian version of your Lowe's). And they have the kits.

I think I'll try the oyster mushroom kit because my family owns a cafe meaning I have unlimited supply of spent coffee ground.
Once I grow some from the kit, is starting a new kit as simple as taking the spores from the old mushroom and mixing it into the new medium (coffee ground)? (Obviously keeping it in the right environment for light and warmth)

>>967649
Coffee grounds are also great for fertilizer.

>>967649
Pasteurize the coffee grounds first.

>>963949
What's up with the avocado piercing thing?

>>967666
Convenience.

The caribbean sun keeps burning my seedlings

Does anyone know if 40% or 80% greenhouse mesh is better?

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Hello first time posting here so sorry if this is a bunch of retarded questions or the wrong place.

Sorry if this is a wall but trying to be thorough.


I've been growing and separating an Aloe Vera plant for a year or 2 now, I started off with 1 medium sized one and I'm currently at 55 total plants.

I want to kick up their growth so I can get a few of the medium and smaller ones to the size where they too produce pups so I can get some exponential gain going and grow a fucking army. So far I've only really replaced all the soil of every plant with Miracle gro cactus mix. this really made them grow well.

Yesterday I bought a soil testing kit and tested some of the newish (few weeks old) soil of one of the plants to see what kind of nutrient balance the soil came with and pic related is the results of that and a PH test.

I was reading some aloe vera articles online and I came across a few that cited a university study showing that a 10-40-10 liquid fertilizer provided the best possible growth, and the Ph is best around 7 from what I gather, some places say 7.0-8.5
What can I do to ramp up production? My only goal is more pups, I couldn't care less about leaf size.
For some reason this particular one and it's offspring just fucking love to produce them, so I thought I would capitalize on it.

Any tips or advice would be appreciated, this is the only type of gardening I've ever really done.
Thank you for your help.

Gonna grow some sourgrass indoors, any tips for growin the stuff?

>>967686
your tests seem to answer your question, you're nitrogen depleted

>>967680
40% should be fine. 80% would block way too much.

>>967686
>55 Aloe plants

Wow.

FYI, if you pinch out the center growth, they will send out side shoots you can use to cut off and root as new plants. The center should regrow.

I agree that nitrogen is needed.

NEW THREAD: >>967708
NEW THREAD: >>967708
NEW THREAD: >>967708

>>967649
Let me give you an idea of your situation.

Start off with kit, the kit is a mix of grain (some nitrogen) and sawdust (very little nitrogen but high carbon) altogether the kit has an adequate balance of nitrogen and carbon. It gives you a few flushes, and then you break up the block and transplant it to some coffee grounds (low nitrogen, high carbon). That breaking up stage is called cloning, because that is what you are doing.
You now have a slightly diluted mix of carbon and nitrogen, but the nitrogen leftover from the grain should give you a few more flushes in the coffee. Eventually though, you try and break up the coffee grounds and move it onto more coffee grounds. Another cloning.
At this point, the second batch of grounds, your nitrogen will be far too low to expect any worthwhile mushrooms. Your medium is now only useful as an inoculant (still useful).

If you give it more nitrogen, it will be able to give more mushrooms after you clone it again. Unfortunately most sources of nitrogen are very susceptible to mold which will compete for nutrients and keep your mushrooms from growing. (This is called contamination)
Sources of nitrogen commonly used are grain and alfalfa. You cannot expect to be able to handle grain without a pressure cooker, syringes, and a number of other amenities. Alfalfa you may have luck with if you boil pellets until pasteurized.

When people cultivate them industrially they use pressure cookers or autoclaves to sterilize pure grain (super nitrogen rich), they then inoculate it either with a clone, or with spores. Then, they mix this grain into pasteurized sawdust, achieving a proper balance of nitrogen and carbon. Spores will not germinate except on grain or other nitrogen rich mediums. You cannot get spores to germinate on coffee grounds or cardboard, they are too nutrient-deprived. The mushroom needs nitrogen to break down the carbon in the coffee.

TLDR: More equipment to do anything past two transfers. ~4-5 crops

>>967596
What kind? Domestic or some wild species?