The Gardening Thread

#876
#876
VolNExile said:
We're killing our whole front yard and replacing with native flowers and grasses. Easy because we're paying a local businesswoman to do it! (blame it on our backs)

patchworkmeadows.com

Patchwork Meadows

Native Wildflower Pollinator Gardens
patchworkmeadows.com patchworkmeadows.com
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Huge, huge fan of doing this. Fell down a rabbit hole a few years back when i noticed the bees barely touched the forsythia in my yard and the birds wouldn't even perch on it- but they would perch all the time in the black walnut and cherry trees that and grown up in the forsythia.

Immediately started cutting down a bunch of old privet, ivy, and various other home depot nonsense my grandmother had been sold over the years.

So many more birds and bees, etc in the last few years.

Add in some controlled burns and its super easy.
 
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#877
#877
WallyBalls said:
Huge, huge fan of doing this. Fell down a rabbit hole a few years back when i noticed the bees barely touched the forsythia in my yard and the birds wouldn't even perch on it- but they would perch all the time in the black walnut and cherry trees that and grown up in the forsythia.

Immediately started cutting down a bunch of old privet, ivy, and various other home depot nonsense my grandmother had been sold over the years.

So many more birds and bees, etc in the last few years.

Add in some controlled burns and its super easy.
Click to expand...
I get that many don’t want to convert an entire yard to native plantings, but anyone who grows fruit and vegetables should get some native flowering plants etc near them. We need native plants to support native pollinators. I’m a bumblebee fan - big sweeties, unlike (imported) honey bees. Although I love honey, too.

I would have to dig up the research, but they definitely prefer native plants over Japanese this and Chinese that and European what’s-it and African something.
 
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#878
#878
VolNExile said:
I get that many don’t want to convert an entire yard to native plantings, but anyone who grows fruit and vegetables should get some native flowering plants etc near them. We need native plants to support native pollinators. I’m a bumblebee fan - big sweeties, unlike (imported) honey bees. Although I love honey, too.

I would have to dig up the research, but they definitely prefer native plants over Japanese this and Chinese that and European what’s-it and African something.
Click to expand...

Once my native wildflowers took off, the bumble bees, mason bees, etc went absolutely nuts in them. You can sit next to it in the afternoon and listen to them buzzing all over. Then I have more birds singing around the house too. I've planted several beautyberries and other berry producing shrubs that they love to pick off of.

Big benefit all around.
 
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#883
#883
Swiftybaby said:
Puh-khan How about you?
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Go aeiou said:
Same
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Always nice to meet people who were brought up right.
Hi
 
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#884
#884
I accept any pronunciation of pecan, though I pronounce it, “peh-cahn.” The past eight months, a frequent breakfast for me has been ~1 cup of berries, ~3/4 cup low fat Greek yogurt (plain), and ~1/2 cup of pecan pieces. I enjoy this. My stomach finds it agreeable, and it’s substantial enough to carry me to lunchtime. 👍🏼
 
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#886
#886
Tin Man said:
I accept any pronunciation of pecan, though I pronounce it, “peh-cahn.” The past eight months, a frequent breakfast for me has been ~1 cup of berries, ~3/4 cup low fat Greek yogurt (plain), and ~1/2 cup of pecan pieces. I enjoy this. My stomach finds it agreeable, and it’s substantial enough to carry me to lunchtime. 👍🏼
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Wife hit up the Aldi yesterday and got two big tubs of Greek yogurt and a sack of granola. Gonna have to start a morning routine with it. I used to have an iron gut but now not so much
 
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#887
#887
VolNExile said:
I get that many don’t want to convert an entire yard to native plantings, but anyone who grows fruit and vegetables should get some native flowering plants etc near them. We need native plants to support native pollinators. I’m a bumblebee fan - big sweeties, unlike (imported) honey bees. Although I love honey, too.

I would have to dig up the research, but they definitely prefer native plants over Japanese this and Chinese that and European what’s-it and African something.
Click to expand...
I now have 8 100foot long rows of thornless blackberries, 4 cherry trees. 3 apple 6 peach 3 pears a 50×50 vegetable garden continuesly fertilized with chicken poop. 8 hens 3 ducks and a pair of guinea s. Life is good in retirement.
 
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#890
#890
Anybody have tips for germinating pepper seeds? It seems I always have hell. Trying a YouTube method right now and wanna do more to see what works best
 
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#895
#895
Most of the tomatoes are up. Three of the Jimmy Nardellos (sweet Italian peppers) are sorta up, in that I can see the arch of the stalk, but the seed capsule and dicot leaves are still below the surface or barely showing.

And someone mentioned above keeping them on heat for the first 30 days. I keep them (and tomatoes) on heat mats until I harden them off and plunk them in the ground. They want high soil temperatures!

I have an itty-bitty Taylor soil thermometer that lets me know if the heating mats are still working. You want to have soil temperature (not necessarily air temperature) at 70-75 degrees. I keep them inside on the heat mats until the outside *real* soil temp hits this figure. Otherwise, they just sit there and look at you for a long, long time. Where I live (Asheville), that means that they don't hit the ground until late May or beginning of June. One possible way to work around this: heavy black plastic stretched across the planting bed to warm up the soil before planting out.

It's on Amazon for $9.06 1711068404372.png
 
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#897
#897
A heating mat, a sunny window, and patience. The below were seeded in late December. A few were reseeded 30 days later. The empty one was seeded twice with 2022 pimento seeds. Alas…
IMG_1976.jpeg
 
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#900
#900
Tin Man said:
I use peat cups for starting. I peel them off for planting and put the pieces in my compost bin.
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Where did you find the hexagonal tray? The peat pots fit perfectly! Do you know the brand name? (hint: maybe stamped underneath 🤪)
 
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