Maybe throw all of them in a 5gal bucket (not at the same time) of half-strength Maxicrop, in the shade?
Soak each for 15-20 minutes, then drain well. Keep them in the shade for the day. Walk away. Come back the next day and see who perks up.
ETA:
Oh oops!
Well that improved a little!
Well done!
Got my winecap mushroom bed in and wood chips soaking for my pink oyster buckets. Planning on bringing my tomatoes out to start hardening off, and my potatoes are peeking out above ground. Spring is fun!
Did my first spinach harvest today. These were spinach set as seedlings in October and left covered by fleece all winter. Thatâs inches, not centimeters
I thought a vole had made a nest in the spinach bed but then I found a rabbit in the garden. I had to remove the nest, thankfully before there were any baby bunnies in there.
Carrots have popped up. I may have to cover them again because the squirrels keep digging into the beds
Cross-posting from one of the food threads:
Free shipping, today only!
I had put it off, thinking it was a little late to start them, and maybe Iâd get some next yearâŚbut I just ordered two packets and got the free shipping 
(Thinking Iâll plant one packet this year and save the other for next yearâŚI know seeds are packed for the current year, but some should still sprout next year, shouldnât they?)
Just wanted to mention it in case anyone else is interested in their seeds/plants/goods. Looks like they are located in Maine, so I imagine the free shipping would end whenever itâs midnight in MaineâŚ
I hope it grows well for you!
My improved amethyst basil died and I havenât figured out why. Everything I put in that pot has died. Two basils and some chives. Maybe itâs a drainage issue? I probably need to do a complete clean out, vinegar bath, and then let it sit in the sun for a few weeks.
The improved amethyst had an interesting flavor. Iâm hopeful I can find a seedling or potted one.
My favorite is still the African Blue. It is a sterile cross and only grows from cuttings. But itâs a vigorous grower with a nice flavor between sweet basil and Thai basil. the flavor doesnât change when it flowers either, so we can keep harvesting it while sharing with the bees, who adore it.
Two years ago I found a basil variety called âWild Magicâ that was an absolute delight. Leaves with a green center strip and wide purple edges. Dense rounded shape, flavor more toward Thai basil, bloomed like crazy with long profuse flower spikes and didnât turn bitter. Havenât found it since, so I might have to try starting it from seed? I have the worst luck with that though.
Current garden gripe: golden rain trees (Koelreuteria paniculata)
Please do not be the person who plants these unless you hate your neighbors. The house across the street has 3 of them, and every single one of the ornamental seed pods is hyperfertile, blows into my front beds, and sprouts. This is what I pulled up today from one small area:
I weep for almost every other tree seedling I weed out, but not these.
That sounds like an invasive species! Worse even than all the crepe myrtle and mulberry seedlings we tend to have flow from neighbors
Checks
Yep. Invasive in many parts of the US, including Texas. Pretty tree, I see why people began to plant it. But damn I wish people had known more about invasive species in the past.
That basil you described sounds delightful! Iâll have to keep an eye out for it.
I think I may have a white mulberry in the yard:
How fast do these things grow? I donât remember it at all until this spring & right now itâs at least 5 feet high. It would be fun to watch the silkworms come & go, but between the mulberryâs invasiveness & the fact that itâs only a foot or so away from the house (& it could end up being a foot in diameter), Iâm thinking I should get rid of this.
Cut out as much as you can. Then come back a month later and cut out as much as you can. Repeat until the end of the year, then you may have a chance of getting rid of it.
Itâs unfortunate you didnât catch it when it was younger. They do grow incredibly fast and are difficult to kill.
If you can dig the entire thing out, do that. If not, youâll have to do what @Axolotl said. Though I typically, and very carefully, apply an herbicide to the stump every time I cut.
We have a stubborn one at the fence line that we canât dig out. Weâve been cutting, carefully applying herbicide, and cutting again for over a year now. We let it get away from us and now we pay the price.
Golden Chain Tree (Laburnum) is much better, but can be hard to find. You canât phone nurseries to inquire about them, because they will invariably hear âGolden Rain Treeâ and/or âViburnumâ instead. Mom learned this to her irritation, esp after driving across town. She eventually found one in a catalogue.
They cover themselves with wonderful, golden pea-esque dangling clusters of flowers.
mulberries are pure evil.
Various assholes have lived in a splendid, massive, 3 storey brick Victorian former House of Ill Repute* on the corner around the block from us. Theyâd lived there long enough that their also massive mulb is at least five feet around, and well over 30â tall. Iâve seen it get trimmed/pruned only once. The foul thing was planted in the grass easement right near the alley. It touches the ground, hanging well over both the sidewalk and street, so when berries are happening, everyoneâs gotta walk in the middle of the street or cross it. Canât park anywhere near it then, either, and drivers in the know give it a wide berth when going past.
The pigeons love it. After taking their repast there, they flap off to decorate cars, roofs, walkways⌠and plant mulbs all over the neighborhood w/their big, purple AF, fertilizing AF poops.
I have been soooo tempted for soooo long to get a buncha copper nails, walk over in the dead of night, and sneakily drive them into the accursed thing.
The house V recently came up for auction, with a ridicâly low starting bid. One hopes the new owners are an improvement over everyone whoâs lived there since we moved here in '84, and will get rid of the blasted thing. It doesnât even do much to shade the side nor back of the house at any time of day.
*It was returned to its former inglorious purpose by an exotic dancer during the 90s. Cars were parked on the side street next to it for a few hours every day & night. An expensive vehicle with official clergy stickers on was there at least 3X/a week, and we soon came to recognize several other um, regular visitorsâ cars.
She did keep a delightful (to us!) Chow named Bear, whoâd always happily visit us whenever he broke out of their yard. Bear despised everyone, human and animal alike, other than his own human, us, and our dogs. He adored both of our pretty girls, but he positively worshipped Kesha the Magnificent.
AFAIK, the V unpleasant woman who bought it from her kept the uh, business going for a number of years.
You know what they say, if like gives you mulberry trees, breed silkworms.
Not good if you have pets.
âItâs worth noting that all parts of the tree are extremely poisonous, including the seeds, leaves, bark, and flowers. The seeds contain cytisine, an alkaloid that is harmful to humans, goats, and horses, especially when not ripe.â
I have a lovely Illinois Everbearing mulberry on the back corner of our property, it produces huge amounts of berries every year that we use for many applications. But the key is to have it far away from pathways, roads or any other human goings on. Berries are delicious and plentiful.
If we could have a mulberry far away from the house and walking paths, Iâd probably like that. the berries are yummy.
I havenât figured out where the one that keeps sending seeds to our yard is
It may be very, very far away. Birds love the berries and plant the trees very efficiently. There are stories of folks asking why the farmers plant rows of mulberry trees alongside the road? âNo, honey. Thatâs where the power lines are. The birds sit on the lines. They like the berries so much, they plant more all along there.â
Damn it, I knew 'd forgot something important! Thank you!
Mom planted one at the house I grew up in, and none of our cats (they were allowed outside), nor the birds, or anyone else was affected by it. It grew for several years before we moved & rented it out. It was so beautiful, the local paper sent out a reporter and photog to visit us.
She planted one here, too, after eventually finding one via mail order, but it only lived long enough to bloom a few times. I have no idea what killed it, and it broke our hearts, but sheâd planted it way too close to the house anyway.
While it lived, that one also didnât appear to have any ill effects on our own nor the wild beasties and birbs.
This shows up in the wooded & shaded backyard. I am thinking it is some kind of (horse?) nettleâŚ
In years past, Iâve gone after it with the weed trimmer, but it would seem to put out some kind of flower, which is just getting started:
The other plant Iâve eradicated from our yard (again with the weed trimmer) is Japanese stiltgrass. Usually I just go after it once or twice each summer; by now not very much shows up in our yard.
Most of the rest of the backyard is covered with some kind of violet (I think).
I used to trim away all the violet, but it does flower, so Iâve left it alone (though the blooms, IME, are blink-&-you-miss-it, much like our tulip poplars).
I havenât otherwise done much planting back there, besides a bunch of daffodils and some ferns. I have some hostas in pots that used to be up on the deck.
For now, Iâve cut it down flush with the ground (digging would have to wait for another day).
Leaves look a bit like Arugula, but it is more likely
