Lion’s Mane mushrooms about to explode!
ETA better pic with less lens flare
Edit 2: Here’s where I get my mushroom-growing stuff:
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Can gardening type folks post tips for people who want to start gardening, but are clueless about such like things?
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- Start small. Biggest cause for failure is starting a larger plot than you can manage. And you will get better as you gain experience.
- Don’t expect instant results. It can take a few seasons for the soil to go from lawn (yuck) to garden (yum!) Adding compost, mulch and such amendments as your soil type requires will take a few years to have an effect. I have incredible river bottom soil and it still took probably 4-5 years to get to where I wasn’t constantly having to add fertilizer or things to try to eek my plants through.
- Plant what you and your family will eat.
- There are way too many gardening channels on YouTube, but a couple really good ones are Epic Gardening and Gardening in Canada. These are folks who actually know their stuff (GiC is run by an actual University-trained soil scientist)
- It’s fun. Keep it that way!
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I’d also add:
- Find a nearby community garden and start there. You’ll meet folks who know the local conditions, what grows best and when, etc.
- Similarly, got any friends in your area with a successful garden? Go help them weed, mulch, compost, plant, squash bugs, or whatever needs done.
For me at least, gardening is very much a learn-by-doing process. Videos can provide useful info, but I need to get my hands dirty and make mistakes.
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Amen to that. Every location is going to have its own soil type, microclimate, pest and disease pressures, macro and micronutrient needs, timing for first and last frost, etc. Learning what works for your location is probably the most important, and also the hardest, knowledge to attain. Because you really can’t look it up, you have just do it.
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ETA:
Yes, this is successful in the Shenandoah Valley based on some anecdotal evidence.
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If there is a local-to-you gardener or farm or even a farmers market stall staffer who will give you some of their time, see if they have answers to:
- Where do you get your compost? (because the quality of it can make or break you in a very real, time-consuming, “scrape it all out and bag it” way if you get it wrong)
- Where do you get your soil tested? (as above) (it’s a really good idea to get your soil tested properly, and not, say, like how some “labs” I will not name in Texas, which provide soil “analysis” by zip code and not really be examining the samples I sent them)
- What specific varieties of veg / fruit work here in this area for you-the-farmer? (then compare to what your family eats or just look at your biggest expenditures produce-wise from your grocery receipts)
Also:
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Make sure that if your home as been treated for termites etc. that your in-ground garden is not located too close to your foundation bc: pesticides.
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If there is a master-gardener program in your county (usually offered through a university/county extension program), consider putting in the time, or making friends with someone who has been through it.
Two books I end up promoting for beginners:
https://www.amazon.com/Rodales-Ultimate-Encyclopedia-Organic-Gardening/dp/1594869170
(often available at bigger used bookstores, try to get a copy that is the least out-of-date possible if not buying new edition; has bug ID, short how-to on making compost, explainers for best practices)
Oh hey Rodale’s seems to have side-diversified and this looks interesting but I have never seen this specific edition before (“ultimate” eh?):
Other book, for inspiration as much as anything else, and the audio version is read by the author and worth every penny:
http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/
It’s the “why” whenever I feel like I need a peptalk.
Ooooohhhhh niiiiiice:
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So far, so helpful! Keep it coming, please!
Where do people come out on raised beds vs. just working the ground to make it good for inground planting? I was thinking I’d start small with a raised bed and see how that goes, while maybe making
other parts of the yard ready for more cultivation later on?
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- heat up faster, so can plant earlier
- can drain faster, so may require more water in some cases
- easier to maintain, kinder to a gardener’s lower back, harder for bunnies to chomp delicious greens, for dogs to dig into, groundhogs to devastate
- may help exclude some kinds of weeds
- may exclude some pests
- cost more bc they need [good] soil to fill them (even if one doesn’t fill half the depth with logs and leaves) and more to purchase if you are getting one of the pretty corrugated ones as seen in Epic Gardening etc.
- must be edged with a weedeater if one is maintaining a lawn (as opposed to mulched paths) next to it
- cheaper
- you may just need to amend existing soil w compost and leaf mould
- may have plenty of weed seeds in the seedbed
- may have some pests or diseases in the soil
- easily the better choice as fall goes into winter, bc the soil in the ground stays “warm” for longer than a raised bed
- unless adequately fenced to exclude whichever critters are interested in what you are growing, can be an open invitation for every stray cat, hungry gopher, groundhog, rabbits, etc.
- careful mowing is required if bed is in lawn
- cheaper
- can stay hydrated better in hot dry times
- also: cheaper
Good!
I forgot an important list item that I will append here:
- observe through the year the number of hours of sunlight and shadow you have in the prospective spot you are thinking of putting a planting bed in, because sunlight is everything and if you don’t have a minimum of 6 hours full sun during growing season, your plant choices are going to be tailored to what light conditions you do have
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raised beds are the only thing that allows us to have a garden at all, so i have to use them. there is no ground to work, as it is coral rock all the way down! we currently have four active beds and one that is now - 8 years after putting it in - too shaded to produce anything but ginger.
so, as @j9c wrote:
that is solid info, man. the trees on my neighbor’s fenceline are tall, thick, and fast-growing. that, plus a workshop shed he built have totally shaded out that one bed and my own mistakes in placing fruit trees, is leaving me with more garden shade than is needed, thus adding to the troubles i have been having of late. (who knew a starfruit tree would grow 10 meters in only 8 years?! and the mango planted at the eastern end would get to be almost the same height, shading two of the original beds?) a whole lot more pre-planning would have gone a long way on our small property.
the soil needs working every season, as oirs is drip irritated, the soil nutrients tend to leech downward, beyond the depth of most veggie plant roots. compost and manure teas are added throughout the season, and generous new composted soil gets worked in between plantings.
one last thing that i often do wrong is, i tend to overcrowd. the limited space means i have to forgo certain creeping vine plants like some squash and melons that won’t climb, and opt for more upright veggies like peppers and pole beans, or anything i can get to climb a trellis.
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Ok, adding on:
(No clue what number we’re on)
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Keep a journal or somesuch of what you are doing when, and then come back later to note if it worked, or needs adjusting. That’s the best way to figure out you own private microclimate (or Idaho, if you are if a certain age) I use a calendar planner book for this.
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Separately, keep an idea book for when you hear about some new variety or technique so you can remember what it was when you have to decide yay or nay.
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Don’t be afraid to experiment with new things. Some work out great, some get voted off the island. Trying cardoon this year for the first time.
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Figure out a way to grow from seed if you can. A sunny window works great for small numbers of seedlings, seeds are way cheaper, and the varieties available are way more diverse. (This can be addictive, and can lead to occupying you cellar to build a grow room and daydreams of a greenhouse. Just a warning.)
ETA: Also, this can lead to getting into seed saving and even stumbling onto you own varieties, which is not just incredibly economical, it’s also great fun!
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A good mindset of tinkering, and trial-and-error is helpful. Expect to kill things, a lot. That’s ok, it’ll help you fine tune things and get into better gardening habits. Make your plants part of your daily routine (or every other day), even if its just swinging by and doing a quick visual inspection.
If you want to start cheap, save cuttings and seeds from produce that you can root/germinate and put them in a garden or containers. Costs you nothing and its great for getting experience. And if you have friends that do gardening ask them for cuttings or baby plants, once a person gets going they’re often overladen with plants and don’t mind giving some out.
Edit: And i guess a really good suggestion is to be careful of overwatering. We tend to view watering as “giving the plant attention and love” and often times that’s the thing that is killing them fast. Underwatering is also bad but typically its easier to deal with, and easier to adjust the timing of it. Once you overwater though, it’s very hard to save the plant.
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(long interval passes and then I see this:)
… er, that would be 80°F, and sorry for the typo!
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If you have a botanical garden or community garden near by, check and see if they have spring plant sales. The live plants are typically cheaper and healthier than the ones available at big box stores and the selection should trend to natives and adapted species. They’ll avoid invasives.
It can also be a place to connect with some local gardeners.n
Before buying any plant, double check it isn’t invasive. The big box stores sell dozens of species that should never be planted.
Even if your focus is food plants, don’t neglect the opportunities to replace your landscape with natives and adapted species! They are good for the overall soil health, encourage beneficial insects, provide overwintering for native bees, use less water, etc. A healthier landscape will make for a healthier food garden too.
Also, dandelions are your friend. Native dandelions are the best though
Edit to add: dandelions are good in your lawn. Not so much the garden beds!
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COLD COLD COLD blast for the week ahead. Temps dropped from 50F/10C at midnight to 27F/-3C now, and still falling. I spent the morning fighting the blasted wind to get my bodged together insulation and supplemental heat “system” in place for North Alabama’s most expensive citrus.
Four moving blankets under one blue tarp all held in place by a bunch of cheap spring clamps and velcro straps. Inside is a not-at-all-rated-for-this radiator-style space heater resting on a boot tray and plugged into an outdoor rated remote switch and a 14 gauge outdoor extension cord.
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Yeah, I had to go out for a bit in the late morning here, and it was colder by the time I got home… the wind is already whipping out over here…
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They look snug though!
This is a good bit of why we have a single citrus tree in a half-barrel pot upon which I installed dresser handles. Anything below freezing but above 20, we shift the lemon 5 feet into the shelter of the front door alcove. Any lower, and we shift it 15 feet into the garage. The crazy thing has produced a third set of blooms over the last 5 weeks.
We had a supposedly cold hardy lime in the ground in the backyard. Paid $40 for it never expecting to see multiple days of under 10°F in North Austin. But then the big Texas freeze came and nothing but the root stock survived, despite all my efforts. Poor lime 
:green_square: the freeze also killed the 5 year old Monterey white oak sapling.
It was probably for the best on the oak. Still pissed since it cost us a lot to buy and have planted. Turns out it was root bound 
and we didn’t know. It probably was going to grow too big for the space. The Mexican redbud that replaced it was a lot cheaper, is thriving, makes really pretty buds and seed pods we can eat, and should never grow too big.
We need to go out in the chill tomorrow and trim the Red oaks. We need to do it when the beetles that carry oak wilt are too cold to carry the fungus. So, tomorrow!
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A local beekeeper asserted that dandelions weren’t even considered a weed, until the mass production/introduction of lawn care products, which kill dandelions along with the weeds - i.e., “I meant to kill the dandelions.” They’re beneficial to bees (especially in early spring), & also edible & tea-able(?), though I wouldn’t use any from my own yard (past application of fertilizers, runoff from neighbors’, etc.)
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We had a late freeze a couple of years ago. Very unusual for central Texas and a lot of plants getting ready to bloom lost their buds. But the dandelions were blooming five days after the thaw. Taking advantage of the situation. We had hundreds of bees in the yard, 2 or 3 to each flower. I was glad we’d hada policy of leaving the dandelions alone for years previous. They’d always been the first blooms in our backyard but that year, it took a good bit for the other random flowering ground cover we’ve encouraged to create new buds and bloom.
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Anyone got tips for starting compost? I was going to set up a hot compost outside, but was gonna have a thing inside for collecting scraps…
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