Gardening Thread

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Thu Jun 18, 2020 11:54 am

I’m extra proud of my covered wagon. Made with 1/2” PVC pipe that pops into some 3/4” PVC pipe holders/stoppers attached to the side of the planter with pipe brackets. Then draped with garden shade cloth I bought directly from an agricultural supply company (it lets in 60% of the light and shades my lettuces enough to keep them from bolting in the heat, hopefully).

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m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Thu Jun 18, 2020 2:14 pm

what a beaut.

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Fri Jun 19, 2020 3:22 pm

it's very beautiful!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Fri Jun 19, 2020 3:39 pm

if anyone enjoys this thread and doesn't know about Monty Don, now is really a perfect time to get into it!
Monty is a very famous British gardener with several tv shows/series/specials about gardening. It's the most soothing shit in the world- hi def footage of plum blossoms blowing in the breeze, thoughtful conversations about watering and seeding, history lessons, etc. My favorite show is Big Dreams, Small Spaces, where regular people design and build humble gardens with Monty's advice and visits over time. His location shows (Monty Don's Italian Gardens) are very beautiful and educational, and Gardener's World is the classic garden advice program. ENJOY!

https://youtu.be/x4sZkEIxHCg

https://youtu.be/fZ_S1X_U9Hw

https://youtu.be/GNOmm936rRY

willowowow · Post by **willowowow** » Sat Jun 20, 2020 11:40 am

I'm spending hours every day in my little container garden- planting and replanting, listening to audio books, watching things grow or fade, appreciating the order and freedom of these special living things. I scattered many packets of wildflowers in the parking strip where grass normally goes and everything is blooming and happy- poppies, lupine, other stuff- and the bees can't get enough! Also neighbors. There's a soccer field beside my house and between the fence and our property line is a sad little weedy strip, running the whole length of our house and then some. I spent this week cleaning it up and planting cosmos, sunflowers and echinacea, and black eyed susans to climb up the fence. The Salvation Army owns the field, and it's closed right now for COVID so I don't think they'll mind. I also planted a little container veg/herb garden out front beside the mailbox we share with our neighbors.

The peace and satisfaction these projects bring me is honestly what's getting me through this dark time. I'm running out of places to cultivate, so soon it'll just be maintenance.

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Sat Jun 27, 2020 11:41 am

That’s so lovely, Willow! Everything the light touches should be a garden

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Sun Jun 28, 2020 11:24 am

pics!!!!

it's going to be so lush and beautiful once summer ramps up <3

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 5:13 pm

I just learned how to prune tomatoes! Had no idea it was even necessary, but apparently you gotta cut off the suckers (which are fractal tomato branches) to keep things in line. Each sucker (being a fractal) can start a new tomato plant so I’ve just pruned myself into abundance. Gardening YouTube does not disappoint. Sometimes I’ll just watch like a 14-minute video about “ways you’re probably watering wrong”

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 5:23 pm

This nice man taught me about tomatoes

https://youtu.be/q4IUhZMA9O0

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 8:03 pm

I love gardening YouTube so much I made a book about it last fall!
http://ifiaar.org/STORE.html

I guess this should technically go into the plugs thread, but it's a small book of text appropriated from the comment section of gardening YouTubes. Just some sad and funny questions/observations about how we draw boundaries between ourselves and nature, u know?

willowowow · Post by **willowowow** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 9:48 pm

Here are some front and back garden pics! I took them a few days ago and even more things are blooming in both zones today!

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yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:02 am

Oh man, that's really nice. Love the cinder block nasturtium zone!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Mon Jul 06, 2020 7:30 pm

That is all so pretty. Love the wildflowers, love the secret garden!

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Tue Jul 07, 2020 1:18 am

Your very own wildflower field is so so nice.

willowowow · Post by **willowowow** » Tue Jul 07, 2020 1:24 pm

Thank you! Many bees, butterflies and hummingbirds visit us now.

Speaking of hummingbirds- are they known to be curious? There's a lil' pal whose been visiting, hovering above and seemingly studying our cat (who is completely disinterested thank the lord) and even looking in the window of our house like she wants to be invited in?! She also chills on the rope attached to our sun shades, much closer to us than any other bird is willing to come. Is she snoop? Is she vampire?

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Tue Jul 07, 2020 2:06 pm

We just got a hummingbird feeder and have been AMAZED at how many hummies have appeared out of the aether to enjoy it. Maybe five different regular visitors all dive-bombing each other with their high-frequency aerodynamic wing-flapping sounds. They're super present and will totally take their sweet time checking stuff out.

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Wed Jul 08, 2020 6:10 pm

Reading this garden thread made my day. [mention]willowowow[/mention], such beautiful wildflowers! [mention]yourfriendclaire[/mention] your garden adventures are wonderful. Feeling a lot of the same things here - spending every day checking, trimming, watering, tying up, sweeping... it's such a treat for me.

My garden situation is a lot of roses, mostly english, and things that bees love. For fruits there's fig, raspberry and cherry. The cherry tree produces like crazy but suffers brown rot that I've tried gently treating the last few years without much luck. Luckily not much slug trouble here, though the fly situation is out of control. My tenant has chickens and I wonder that there's just not much to do about it. I tried spraying the entire yard with neem last week, but I'm not sure that had much effect.

This year's yard favorites are the Jude the Obscure rose, moonbeam coreopsis, and sunset hyssop, which all of the bees and butterflies like.

I'm late to the earworm party, but it reminds me of one year when [mention]alexshred420[/mention] said "Life is like a chair of bowlies" to me and every time I picked and washed cherries I couldn't stop it looping in my mind and even now five years later it still loops when I'm in the tree.

willowowow · Post by **willowowow** » Thu Jul 09, 2020 12:57 pm

hi [mention]marijke[/mention]! Your rose and fruity garden sounds amazing! I am intimidated by roses but I love them. Pics please!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Thu Jul 09, 2020 4:43 pm

pics!

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Thu Jul 09, 2020 6:18 pm

[mention]willowowow[/mention] They are a bit fussy... and a lot of rose yards are uninspiring cause they've just got a row of blighty roses. This is out front where dozens of little hot cocoa roses are about to bloom.

Cut roses - JFK, hot cocoa and Jude the Obscure

Here's the cherry before picking. I made a few cherry clafoutis, and gave the rest away on next door. I love the tree because I had one growing up, but I don't think I would have planted one. Though it is super romantic when it is dripping with ripe cherries.

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Sat Jul 11, 2020 11:54 am

I really love your cherry tree, it's very romantic and sweet!
Also wanna stick my faces in that bouquet of roses.

willowowow · Post by **willowowow** » Wed Jul 15, 2020 3:11 pm

Wowowow!!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Mon Jul 27, 2020 12:27 pm

I've got cucumbers! I love that they have spines you have to rub off, and that they are warm from the sun. Some of them grow curved and look like sex toys. It's very beautiful, thank you cucumber <3

freddy · Post by **freddy** » Mon Jul 27, 2020 2:07 pm

[mention]marijke[/mention] if you need a home for some of your cherries next year, I'd like to humbly submit my application. I have all these recipes for tart cherries (e.g. sour cherry slab pie), but you can't really get them from the store. Thank you for considering my candidacy!

freddy · Post by **freddy** » Mon Jul 27, 2020 2:11 pm

[mention]yourfriendclaire[/mention] & [mention]willowowow[/mention] I have not confirmed this yet, but my bird nerd friend Michelle tells me that if you put out a hummingbird feeder, you must consider it a year-round commitment, because hummingbirds may choose not to migrate south based on the presence of food, so you really need to stick with it during the cold months. Does anybody know if this is true? Intense!

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Thu Jul 30, 2020 12:15 pm

That sounds about right to me! I wouldn't wanna migrate on those tiny-ass wings if I could enjoy my daily sugar water in the comforts of a domestic backyard.

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Thu Jul 30, 2020 12:45 pm

Garden thread: the fig tree at my parents' house is popping right now. I'm in full Little House on the Prairie mode so I harvested about 20 pounds of figs and have been trying every method of preserving them that I can think of. Made about seven jars of chunky fig jam (excellent on a burger or a sandwich), froze a gallon bag of whole figs, sliced another five pounds of figs down the middle and sun-dried them in my backyard on a wire rack. I'm trying another drying method today, blanching them and drying them whole in the sun. Made simple syrup with fig LEAVES that tastes coconutty and earthy and rips with a little seltzer or in a cocktail. Any other fig tips welcome!

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:32 pm

[mention]freddy[/mention] They are a sweet cherry! But if you want any sweet cherries, you can have as many as you like! I always need help picking in July.

Fig tips, yes! The avalanche of green figs is happening.

I "did" the yard this morning... lots of stinky fish fertilizer, trimming, spraying essential oil sprays to ward off bugs. I love all of the smells. Next year I'd like to plant primarily for night scent - night blooming jasmine, moonflower, nicotiana. White night flowers to bring the bats in.

I cut a bunch of good-smelling roses today, including the first blooms from abbaye de cluny and Anne Hathaway. The names! It's a weird party in the yard - Anne Hathaway hanging out with Julia Child, JFK talking to Don Juan. There's a "Marijke" rose at the rose test garden. I've been volunteering there a while so I think I'll sneak a cutting and propagate it, though it's a wild hot pink, a real Pam Anderson style rose.

willowowow · Post by **willowowow** » Sun Aug 02, 2020 3:26 pm

I want to bury my face in those petals!

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Sun Aug 02, 2020 3:48 pm

I'd like to know about your essential oil sprays please!

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:30 pm

For flowers and citrus I mix together dr earth fungicide and dr earth insecticide in a spray bottle with water and give a good soak. Clove, rosemary, peppermint, garlic and other good smells.

I hear knocking some bugs off with a strong jet of water can be effective.

Sometimes I’ll do dish soap or a neem/soap/water combination, but I don’t want to smell neem when I smell roses, and some plants are sensitive to the soap and get crispy.

I also just smoosh countless aphids between my fingers as part of my morning garden tour.

Earwigs are everywhere, I haven’t done anything to combat them... mostly cause I don’t know if they’re hurting anything??

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:32 pm

[mention]willowowow[/mention] yes! All day.

I’m testing out propagating my favorites, happy to share roses if it’s successful.

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:59 pm

I try not to blast my plants' leaves with water too much because I've read that makes them more susceptible to fungal disease. I've been doing the Dr. Bronner's and neem oil thing, but I think I need bigger guns.

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I have kind of a dumb but also existential question about garden pests...um, how do bugs get there??? I mean, for example: I planted some kale in a planter bed in my backyard. Previous to the existence of this kale and this planter bed, all that stood in their place was a concrete driveway. No kale-adjacent plant for miles, just cactus and California natives. Now three kale plants are on the scene and within four weeks there's a whole colony of kale-specific little cabbage mites calling it home. Where did they come from? How did they find it?? Did they...walk here? They're so small! Did they float it on the wind? Did they somehow manifest from within the kale?

You know what I mean?

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Sun Aug 02, 2020 7:35 pm

Same, I try not to do much water-blasting cause we’re very fungal up here.

They take the bug train and now your yard is the FINAL STOP.

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Sun Aug 02, 2020 9:02 pm

bug train: "choo choo"

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Mon Aug 03, 2020 3:23 am

Bugs be magic.

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Mon Aug 03, 2020 10:34 am

Speaking of white flowers bringing the bats in, a bat squealed over our patio the other night and I almost wept with joy. Come back, friend!

freddy · Post by **freddy** » Mon Aug 03, 2020 3:47 pm

I was super excited that my green zebra tomato plant was looking lush and giant, but now all the fruits have blossom end rot. Google accuses me of inconsistent watering which is TOTALLY TRUE (ouch). I don't know what I am doing! I don't know how to water a tomato plant! Please, can somebody tell me what to do?

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 10:09 am

I have yet to encounter blossom end rot! Something to look forward to

Anyone have tips on deterring my neighborhood raccoon, Dana (and her two children), from furiously digging holes in my planter beds? I wake up every morning to a fresh tilling. Miraculously most of my plants have survived but it's only a matter of time.

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 10:54 am

I don't, but I'm charmed.

Does anyone know why my cucumber didn't produce much? I will google, but if anyone has thoughts...

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Thu Aug 27, 2020 3:26 pm

Not enough pruning, maybe? I know with tomatoes you gotta prune more than you think is right in order to get the plant to focus on setting fruit. My pickling cukes are also pretty dismal this year, although in my case I think it's the heatwave in LA.

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Sat Aug 29, 2020 7:42 pm

How to get the gherkin werkin

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Sun Aug 30, 2020 12:47 pm

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Tue Sep 01, 2020 8:40 am

Anyone know why tomato leaves get sad and curl inwards?

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Tue Sep 01, 2020 8:41 am

PS - I placed a bunch of very spicy little chili peppers in my planter beds and that seems to have turned off the raccoons. Organic!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Tue Sep 01, 2020 10:43 am

I love that so much.

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:52 am

111 degree heatwave in LA cooked my garden alive. I spent the morning clipping actual kale crisps off my kale plant & dusting wildfire ash off my tomatoes. Cool world!

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Mon Sep 07, 2020 12:03 pm

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Mon Sep 07, 2020 1:20 pm

Ugh, that's so sad.

I got a fresh tomato delivery today from an acquaintance who is deeply farming and doing small produce baskets etc. Now there's a fresh san marzano sauce simmering and it smells sooooo good, I love fresh tomato smell!!!!!!

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Wed Sep 09, 2020 12:38 pm

[mention]freddy[/mention] I spoke too soon, I got blossom end rot too! I read it can be due to a calcium deficiency, or yes, watering erratically or too deeply and leaching the soil of nutrients in the process. I aborted the rotted tomatoes and fed some more compost. We'll see.

I found out recently you can make your own seaweed fertilizer by gathering beach seaweed, chopping it up in a bucket with some rainwater, and letting it ferment a few weeks before straining and applying like compost tea or as a foliar spray. I've done this with nettles before, but the element of gathering garden materials from the beach is a fun novelty. I'm trying it with some kelp brought home from a recent heatwave beach-escape-day. Added some borage leaves to the stew too. Will report back.