The Joy of Gardening

Last week we had tacos, :taco:
and salad, :green_salad:
with greens from our aquaponics system! :fish:

(The helpful hint on the right side of the screen says that this topic is similar to: We can now convert every film and TV show from the last 80 years into HDR which seems pretty random)

7 Likes

Congrats! Hopefully it was all tasty and healthy and yum!

3 Likes

Thanks! I’m pretty excited about it, and hope to expand/improve the system.

1 Like

It’s been a good year so far in the allotment. We’ve had a good mix of rain and sun for a change (usually we just get the rain). We’ve had good crops of strawberries, blackcurrents, blackberries, french beans, broad beans, runner beans patty pan squashes, brocolli, lettuce and potatoes. The cabbages are looking the best we’ve had (we usually struggle with brassicas).

However, the marrows & courgettes aren’t doing much at the moment (although they went in late), and we’re struggling with root vegetables this year and our garlic did nothing.

5 Likes

Looking good! I gave up on the re-potting business years ago. Instead, I start 4-5 seeds in a beer cup (those red 16 oz cups the kidz use for beer pong). Poke a hole in the bottom of the cup before putting the dirt in, though. When they’re big enough to go in the ground, either plant the whole cup in one spot, or separate them (normally they’re still small enough to so this if you’re careful).

1 Like

I’d be interested in knowing if the nasturtiums work, we suffer form whitefly on our sprouts and as we already grow them it would be an easy solution.

2 Likes

I could send you some if you want? PM me if you’re interested and I’ll harvest some at the weekend.

So, this looks like a dormant thread. I would like to revive it, unless thete is a more appropriate thread i am missing?

Anyway, i put in 2 experiments today. A cold hardy pomegranate theoretically good to Zone 7, which is me. We shall see. The other one is wintergreen, since i need a groundcover for the shady side of our springhouse, and ran across this guy reputed to need shady, damp places. Check and check, which is why i haven’t gotten anything else to grow there. Again, we shall see. Nothing ventured, nothong gained!

8 Likes

way to go, doc! loves me some pomegranate!
i reckon we can keep this thread alive, along with @NukeML , @IronEdithKidd and many others who frequently post about our gardening and harvests!
still picking starfruit off the tree out front and this bunch of bananas on the tree right now is bigger than any before it!
new pepper plants are all in for our warm winter - jalapenos, habaneros, cayenne and tabasco plants are looking good.

8 Likes

Planted the Fuyu persimmon today. Biotone in the backfill. Boomerang berm on the downslope edge. B-complex dissolved in water as root drench to minimize transplant shock. Fistful of seed (clover, vetch, peas) across the top of the wet soil. Deer cage goes on tomorrow
 not so rushed because the persimmon had already dropped its leaves.

A few weeks ago: Arkansas Black apple, Hosui Asian pear trees in the ground. Easier digging because soil was still not fully dry.
Before that: raspberries, two kinds; blueberries, two kinds. Hollytone + Biotone and a lot of rotted wood mulch.

Next up: thornless blackberries, two kinds; tea (Camellia sinensis); Juneberry (Virginia native); and a Virginia native (?!?!) hazelnut. Still need to calculate solar exposure hours, amendments.

Hoping for some rain. Our cistern is rapidly emptying, in part because I have keep watering to sprout some grass and clover seeds to take care of some bare spots out here. Yikes. But we had to get the excavator company to drop in better drainage system, and do grading away from foundation. They did tear the heck out of our turf, which at the time was very lush. Soil compaction = bad. House flooding = really bad. Helene didn’t flood us out in a major way, but some weeks ago, here, we had water come into our house.

Astonishing what can grow when one has access to rainfall/water and soil, two things I did not have much of in Texas.

5 Likes

Growing season is done with here. I picked my habaneros a few weeks ago. I had more than I knew what to do with so I sliced and vacuum sealed them for later use. I’ll probably end up making a hot sauce and brewing with them.

8 Likes

Watch the hazelnuts. We have eastern filbert blight here. There are resistant strains, Jefferson and Theta that i have have done great here. If you get tea to work, i will be very jealous! I have tried a few times, but it can’t take the winter. Currently growing Yaupon holly for my caffeine fix.

7 Likes

habaneros, carrots, sugar and gelatine make a wicked good jelly!

7 Likes

That looks good. I think I’ll try that. Thanks.

7 Likes


i just recently planted this lime tree in a very large container. these are new leaf growth since the transplant. i do not know what is causing them to wrinkle like this with some spots and what appears to be snail slime - however no evidence of snails anywhere and nothing has been chomped. no further sign of egg-laying from insects.
so any guess as to what I am looking at? nutrients lacking? fungus?
@Wayward, you have luck with citrus in containers. any suggestions?

6 Likes

I haven’t seen anything like that on my container citrus so far :crossed_fingers:
My key lime will get the “taco shell” curl when it’s crazy hot and/or I’m not watering enough, but your photo looks very different.

Search on citrus leaf miners. If it’s a new tree from a nursery, it might have come with stowaways.

5 Likes

Those are miners,they shouldn’t be a huge problem, unless you have loads. They’ll also only make marks on new leaves, won’t touch older leaves.

5 Likes

we do get leaf miners a lot.
i use a horticultural oil to drench the soil before i plant. supposed to keep instances of miners, but more especially, whiteflies, down. i could try a dilute solution on new growth before the miners show up, i just don’t want to suffocate the new leaves.
i need this tree to thrive! i am spending way too much keeping the bar stocked with fresh limes!

6 Likes

My problems are far different than yours :slight_smile:

This guy seems to think they’re not long term problems:

7 Likes

thanks for the article. that was helpful.
i need to get more nematodes from Arbico Organics. they sell spore-like powder that you mix with water and spray on the soil. the little buggers come to life and dine on larvae of different nasties, without harming the already dwindling pollenators.
should have already done that. the nematodes i sprayed last season kept the whiteflies to a minimum until late in the season.

6 Likes