Gardening/Maintenance Thread

[robbiestoupe]

have about 100 or so seedlings going in some trays. veggies and flowers. (i was a few weeks late getting them started)
i have been doing some internetting and some sources say to cut the weakest loooking seedlings (so there is only 1 per pod) and others say to let them grow (2-3 per pod based on seeds/germ rate). any experience with these?

I let them grow to about 2-4 inches in height and choose the strongest of the bunch. You'll have to thin them out eventually when you transplant them. I figure why starve the plants of nutrients in the interim?

[mac5155]

Depends on the plant, but I rarely trim anything of mine down. They say to do it with tomatos but I don't bother.

[blackjack68]

Let them go and let the weak ones die or wilt and then transplant only the healthiest ones.

[mac5155]

Birds and/or rabbits completely destroyed my beautiful leaf lettuce. I could just cry.

[blackjack68]

Birds and/or rabbits completely destroyed my beautiful leaf lettuce. I could just cry.

Such is the life of a farmer. Time to invest in some 1/4" chicken wire.

[DigitalGypsy66]

I've had twin blueberry bushes for about five years now. Bought them at the end of the season for a pittance.

The birds get the little amount of berries they yield before I can get to them. Every. Damn. Year. I might have enough for a bowl of cereal this year, but I need to get a fake owl to keep the other birds away from them.

[blackjack68]

You should be getting a lot more blueberries than that. Did you remediate your soil? Blueberries like acidic soil, maybe a little sandy.

http://www.fallcreeknursery.com/home-ga ... ow-to-grow

[DigitalGypsy66]

We live in a geographic region known as the sandhills, so our soil is very sandy (great for septic drainage! ) I'll need to look into some soil samples to see why we don't get a better yield. They were "corresponding" varieties of blueberry bushes that supposedly were better for cross pollination, as well.

Looks like pruning is important, something I've never thought to do with those bushes.

[robbiestoupe]

Speaking of blueberries, I bought a couple of dwarf bushes this year and put them in larger pots in my garden. They were going great until this past weekend one of them just up and decided to wilt. Brown, dry leaves and the stem starting to turn brown. Any way I can salvage it? What could have set this off?

[mac5155]

Has anyone ever purchased a Honeycrisp Apple tree online? I can't find any at local nurseries. I am going to get the wife one for our new property and our anniversary (4th anniversary is 'fruit'). Also as I am reading, the Honeycrisp requires a pollenator tree as well, so I will probably also buy a Golden Delicious as well.

Also any planting of the tree advice is appreciated as well!

[AuthorTony]

Any ideas on when to plant pumpkins outside (Somerset County, where it's currently 50ish degrees)? The little plants I started are not so little now and I feel like they need to go into the ground.

[blackjack68]

Any ideas on when to plant pumpkins outside (Somerset County, where it's currently 50ish degrees)? The little plants I started are not so little now and I feel like they need to go into the ground.

Now.

http://www.almanac.com/gardening/planti ... te+College

[blackjack68]

Speaking of blueberries, I bought a couple of dwarf bushes this year and put them in larger pots in my garden. They were going great until this past weekend one of them just up and decided to wilt. Brown, dry leaves and the stem starting to turn brown. Any way I can salvage it? What could have set this off?

I have no idea why that could have happened.

Any chance there is something in the soil eating the roots?

[AuthorTony]

Any ideas on when to plant pumpkins outside (Somerset County, where it's currently 50ish degrees)? The little plants I started are not so little now and I feel like they need to go into the ground.

Now.

http://www.almanac.com/gardening/planti ... te+College

Thank you! I was worried it might be too cold but I know I'm running up on the long growing season. I rather doubt I'll have any luck, but it's going to be interesting to try.

[DigitalGypsy66]

I need to look into freestone peach trees. We have one of the largest peach farms in the state about ten minutes from my house, so I know they grow well here. I love me some fresh peaches.

[robbiestoupe]

Speaking of blueberries, I bought a couple of dwarf bushes this year and put them in larger pots in my garden. They were going great until this past weekend one of them just up and decided to wilt. Brown, dry leaves and the stem starting to turn brown. Any way I can salvage it? What could have set this off?

I have no idea why that could have happened.

Any chance there is something in the soil eating the roots?

It's all new soil (organic planting soil) that I put into a 1' diameter planting pot with the bushes. Also put some peat moss, and mulch on top to help the acidity level and keep in the moisture. I fertilized them after about a month.

As far as bugs/insects eating the roots, I did see a large family of pill bugs under the pot, but not sure if they penetrated or not. I don't think they are a detriment to plants, though.

[blackjack68]

Pill bugs shouldn't be a threat. I can't really say what else would've caused it without fully guessing.

Here's someone else with a similar problem and some suggestions.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions ... -and-dying

[robbiestoupe]

It could be over watering as suggested in the forum. Initially I watered them every day to get them started, but over the past month I've done very little watering since we've been getting a lot of rain. It doesn't make sense that one bush is dying and the other is fine. And the dying bush is the one that seemed to be the stronger one.

meowshrug.sadface

[blackjack68]

Any ideas on when to plant pumpkins outside (Somerset County, where it's currently 50ish degrees)? The little plants I started are not so little now and I feel like they need to go into the ground.

Now.

http://www.almanac.com/gardening/planti ... te+College

Thank you! I was worried it might be too cold but I know I'm running up on the long growing season. I rather doubt I'll have any luck, but it's going to be interesting to try.

Too much moisture followed by too much heat will wipe them out. Read up on Downy Mildew and keep an eye out for it.

[count2infinity]

Lawn and garden go hand in hand right? Right...

Just moved into our new place and found out on Friday when we went to pick up the keys that we're responsible for lawn maintenance. It's a tiny little lawn, so no biggie, but I didn't want to go and buy a lawn mower. Especially a gas mower because then that's one more thing to worry about. Was at Sears and found a "reel mower". One of those that the blades go due to you pushing it deals... figured I'd buy it, give it a go, if it was a pain in the ass, I'd return it and just suck it up and buy a gas mower. The thing is really nice. It was $75 and now there's little to no maintenance because it's all just mechanical, don't need to buy gas, don't need to plug it in, just push it and go.

[dodint]

Yup, I did my research on them a few weeks ago. Ultimately ended up passing because my yard is the side of a hill and I don't cut often enough (they don't like tall grass). Sounds absolutely perfect for your use.

[count2infinity]

Sounds absolutely perfect for your use.

It really is... all the research I did into them said they were a pain in the ass, but it was hills, weeds, and sticks/pinecones that were the main complaints. The grass was a little high last night when I went out and cut it, and I did two passes over the whole lawn, was done in about 30 minutes. So provided that I keep up with it, it's 15 minutes every 4 or 5 days? I can handle that.

[NTP66]

Changed from an old school bulb to an LED grow bulb late last year, and our Plumeria went bonkers with buds. Four flowers already bloomed, with seven more buds starting to open. Of course, I noticed the buds right after I bought a brand new pot to transplant this one into, so that'll have to wait until winter now.

[LITT]

any recommendations on how to get rid of powdery mildew? ive been taking to the google but no luck. our dahlias are getting crushed

[LITT]

we were doing some shopping at best feeds and saw an interesting hibiscus - midnight marvel. purple foliage and red blossoms. are these winter hearty? it says on the label it should be good but i always think of hibiscus as a florida plant