Gardening

[CCL]

My tomatoes, basil and cilantro have sprouted. I wish it was warm enough to set them outside. I know they will need more sun than they can get thru the window.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Apr 15, 2020 6:16:29 GMT -5 CCL said:

My tomatoes, basil and cilantro have sprouted. I wish it was warm enough to set them outside. I know they will need more sun than they can get thru the window.

How late is your last frost? Maybe invest in a grow light?

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

I’ve got cool weather sprouts!! Spinach and various lettuces are popping through the soil. And kale and spinach that miraculously wintered over is starting to get bigger!!

[haapai]

I put the very leggy geranium that I had nurtured all winter outside two days ago.  Then it snowed.  It may have only experienced a few hours of below freezing weather.  The leaves appear to be toast.  Is there any chance that the stems survived and new leaves will emerge?

[Deleted]

haapai Only time will tell. Strip off the dead leaves and wait.

I did it. I risked my life at Walmart's garden center this morning and bought purple verbena, trailing vinca, dipladenia, and potting soil. "Rona" was nowhere in sight, but since we can't see her...

There were plans to trim some hedges this morning and cut back the azaleas that are done blooming. It's cold out there. The sun is shining, but we have a brisk north wind so I don't wanna. Besides, I don't feel like changing into my grubbies. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer, and I can start the day by dressing in grubbies first thing.

[CCL]

Apr 15, 2020 10:00:30 GMT -5 GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl said:

Apr 15, 2020 6:16:29 GMT -5 CCL said:

My tomatoes, basil and cilantro have sprouted. I wish it was warm enough to set them outside. I know they will need more sun than they can get thru the window.

How late is your last frost? Maybe invest in a grow light?

May 10th. I do have a small grow light. Hopefully it's enough til it warms up. If it's at least 50s I can put them on my porch where it's sheltered. Snow flurries today lol.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Apr 15, 2020 11:54:28 GMT -5 haapai said:

I put the very leggy geranium that I had nurtured all winter outside two days ago.  Then it snowed.  It may have only experienced a few hours of below freezing weather.  The leaves appear to be toast.  Is there any chance that the stems survived and new leaves will emerge?

Are the stems near the soil mushy?  If so, it's toast.  If not, you might have a chance...

[kadee79]

Apr 15, 2020 11:54:28 GMT -5 haapai said:

I put the very leggy geranium that I had nurtured all winter outside two days ago.  Then it snowed.  It may have only experienced a few hours of below freezing weather.  The leaves appear to be toast.  Is there any chance that the stems survived and new leaves will emerge?

If the soil didn't freeze, it will likely come back...give it LOTS of time.

[haapai]

The stems appear reasonably sturdy at the base but farther up the stems turn green and frighteningly transparent.  The transparent bits of stem have not gotten droopy, but it's probably a question of time. 

I'm gonna keep it.  It will be hideous for a long time but it might be the only geranium that I can get my hands on this summer. 

[Deleted]

Apr 15, 2020 14:29:27 GMT -5 haapai said:

The stems appear reasonably sturdy at the base but farther up the stems turn green and frighteningly transparent.  The transparent bits of stem have not gotten droopy, but it's probably a question of time. 

I'm gonna keep it.  It will be hideous for a long time but it might be the only geranium that I can get my hands on this summer. 

Got a clear plastic sack of some sort? Even a zipper sack will do. Cut off the squishy part of the stem, cover plant with clear sack to keep the heat in. On warm and/or sunny days, take the sack off so that it doesn't get too warm and burn the plant, replace before the sun goes down. Repeat.

[haapai]

The tips of the geranium stems still look iffy. 

But the rhubarb is past the ass-of-a-mandrill stage.  There are fluffy green leaves obscuring those garish pink nubs now.  For some darned reason, I always feel cleaner and more upstanding when the rhubarb leafs out. 

[cktc]

Ok I need help. I bought plants and I don't know what to do with them.

I have 6 small bell pepper plants and a 4" cherry tomato.

I have a couple pots that are 11" wide and 8" tall, would these be big enough to start? Can I plant some of the bell peppers together or will they all need their own pots?

I'm thinking or ordering some 5-10 gallon bags like these.
www.amazon.com/dp/B01M7X88NQ/ref=cm_sw_r_fm_apa_i_FukMEbNPESFMT

[haapai]

You probably need more pots and a hell of a lot more media and a watering strategy/system..  I wouldn't be placing an order for any sort of collapsible or reusable container right now unless I knew that I had the media to fill it and the oomph and organization to keep it wet. 

On the plus side, you can always ditch the peppers and concentrate on the tomatoes.  That drastically reduces what you need, including luck.  I've never had any sort of luck growing peppers.  Tomatoes will at least produce copious foliage before disappointing you with rather few fruits.  

ETA:  I would not recommend doubling up your pepper plants in 11x8" pots unless the plants are tiny and somewhat frail and you are committed to culling the weaker of the two.  Also, an 11'' by 8" pot is quite small for growing tomatoes unless you have set up a watering and fertilizing and pruning regimen that you will not deviate from for months. 

[CCL]

Tomatoes generally need a big pot. They can grow pretty big although a cherry tomato shouldn't get nearly as big as a full - size tomato plant. You can start it in that pot, but I think it's gonna need a bigger one. In my experience tomatoes don't like to be moved once they are 6-8" tall. I grow cherry tomatoes in a pot every year. It is about 20" x 20" and about 24" tall. I get a LOT of tomatoes every year.

For the peppers, your pot is on the small side, but you may do ok with one plant in it. They are usually ok with being transplanted for me. 

Are you someplace where it's warm enough to put them outside? They both need lots of sun and plenty of water. Pots can dry out quickly, especially small ones. The bigger, the better.

[cktc]

We're in Phoenix so a bit late in the planting season, but they will be getting eastern exposure and filtered light so hopefully we can keep them going through the heat. I'm home all day with kids who like to be outside so hopefully I wont swiftly kill them all with neglect.

Two of the pepper plants ended up in trick or treat Jack-o-lanterns. We're thinking a home depot bucket for the tomato.

[CCL]

They normally need drainage holes in the bottoms of buckets. I'm not sure if that's necessary in Phoenix, though, since it's already so dry out there.

[NoNamePerson]

Apr 17, 2020 5:21:44 GMT -5 CCL said:

They normally need drainage holes in the bottoms of buckets. I'm not sure if that's necessary in Phoenix, though, since it's already so dry out there.

That's needed no matter where they are planted!! Pepper plants can get quite big also. I guess that would depend on variety and growing conditions. My son actually had to stake up a couple of his pepper plants but I think that was not the norm - just one of those things. But also planted in raised beds and not in containers!

Regardless happy planting to all here and enjoy the harvest

[Deleted]

I've used my drill to put holes in all sorts of containers.  A nail and a hammer can work on plastic or metal too if you don't have a drill.

[Deleted]

The garden center is starting to go up in our farm supply parking lot!  I'm not a huge gardening fan, but I usually put one in, and now I have captive slave labor in my house for weeding and watering.  Memorial weekend is the earliest "safe" time for us though, so we have some time. 

[Deleted]

Moved some plants to spots more to my liking. Potted all but two of the plants that DD got yesterday. She didn't do it yesterday because she wasn't feeling it. If I'd waited for her to feel it, the plants would be dead. It pains me to let a living thing die.

I'll ask what she wants to do with the two that are left and pot them tomorrow.

Got the globe amaranth seeds. I love the plants but geez, have a care! Soak the seeds for at least four hours in hot water? And the water stays hot for four hours how? Then plant and wait three weeks for them to germinate, keeping them moist but being careful not to flood. Guess I'll start them in pots because we're supposed to get rain over the weekend "heavy in some areas."

Nuisance now, but pretty this summer if they grow and thrive.

Planted some blue sea holly two weeks ago, and it's finally sprouting. It's not even supposed to grow here because it's too hot, but I had some last summer that did well. Nice thing is that it's a perennial so there will be lots of it in various spots out in the South 40 for years to come.

It would be nice if the gardening high would last more than an hour after I come inside. It would be nice if it would last until the next day so I'd get my arse in gear sooner.

Anybody got any extra red hot poker plants or Mexican petunias? There are already three red hot pokers, but I want more. Those three are orange. Got yellow? How about sunpatiens? Got any of those? The little ones in flats will do; they grow fast and they're way cheaper in flats. I want bright fuschia/pink ones.

The knockout roses have really taken off and are, as they say, a riot of color--red, pink, yellow.

[jerseygirl]

Missrigby I am so jealous that you have knockout roses. Those are gorgeous, any flowers I plant other than on my deck get eaten by deer and other critters, and then there’s all the shade we have in this neighborhood. Trees are lovely but we’ve got sooo many

[Deleted]

jerseygirl I not only have knockout roses, I have two dozen of them in a section of the garden devoted just to them. It took forfreakingever to get them all planted two years ago, but they took off and they love their location.

The first packet of globe amaranth seeds have been planted. Now we wait.

DD just gave me $100 gift card to Home Depot. Their hours now are 6am-6pm so it's too late to go to the garden center today, but as soon as it's daylight tomorrow morning I'm there! 

And she gave me the third dipladenia that she bought because she doesn't have a spot on her patio for it. I potted DD's other flower, the name of which I've forgotten, but it's happy and hanging on her patio with its twin.

[raeoflyte]

I went crazy buying seeds thinking I'd get plants started inside but that isn't going to work with the cat. I'd like to get the garden roto-tilled. I might see if I can do some kind of greenhouse that I could plant outside. Baby hoop huts or something.

[Deleted]

Apr 18, 2020 8:19:18 GMT -5 raeoflyte said:

I went crazy buying seeds thinking I'd get plants started inside but that isn't going to work with the cat. I'd like to get the garden roto-tilled. I might see if I can do some kind of greenhouse that I could plant outside. Baby hoop huts or something.

Be careful about roto-tilling. Weed first! Otherwise, the weeds will get tilled and just pop back up again. If you're only planting flowers, just digging or clawing down about 6-8" will do the trick rather than roto-tilling.

I had a wonderful time at the garden centers and only spent half the Home Depot gift card. I got a flat of 18 sunpatiens, three balloon flowers, a pot for an indoor plant, and more potting soil. Then I remembered that I also had a $25 Lowe's gift card (woohoo!) so went there and found diamond frost and gomphrena that I've been looking for. Those took the whole $25.

Now I have to hatch a plot, as my daddy used to say. Figure out what's gonna go where and hope that I don't change my mind later and have to transplant anything.

First things first. Two flower beds need to be prepped before anything gets planted. The rest of today is supposed to be sunny and cool before another three-day rain "event," including possible tornadoes tomorrow night.

[Deleted]

What? Nobody's been in the garden for the past six hours (since my last post on this thread)? What else is there to do? So it's sNOwing. So what? So it's raining. So what? So you've got other things to do. How can anything take precedence over playing in the dirt?

Not everything got done today. There are still all those sunpatiens to plant, another two gomphrenas (there are two in each pot), both diamond frost plants. I moved most of the Ixia because their original home just didn't look right. After I got done, discovered six more that I missed. Transplanted a fan flower to a little pot to keep on my outdoor table. Put a dipladenia in a hanging pot.

If it's not raining yet when I get up in the morning, I'll play in the dirt some more. If it starts raining early, I'll dust and vacuum instead.

[oped]

I'm in waiting for it mode. My seedlings are sprouting or growing... except the more I planted yesterday, or was it the day before? It got really cold here again, so we are just staying in place for another week. 

[Deleted]

I trimmed the Mexican Olive Tree today (DH cut the branches up and placed in trash can).  Then we pruned off a couple of crepe myrtle branches that whacked us in the face every time we went into the shop.  Then DH cut up more oak tree trimmings that fell on the neighbor's property when our guy cut it back yesterday.  Yeah, too much to hope he would say thanks for spending the $$$ to trim your tree-I'll just put those branches in my trash rather than throw them over the fence into your yard.  Seriously dude?  Karma is a really big bite 

[Deleted]

@donethat I dunno about where you are, but down here if your tree overhangs a neighbor's property and damages it if it falls, they are responsible for their damage. Because we're good guys, when we had some trees taken down, we also had a big branch that hung over a neighbor's driveway cut off, too. It hung just where the neighbor parks his car. Instead of being thankful that his car wouldn't be damaged if the tree got uprooted in a storm, he was ticked because his car isn't in the shade anymore. What?

He's the same neighbor who decided he didn't like the height of a hedge way inside DD's property line so cut a stretch of about 25 feet long down to a height of three feet before DD saw what he was doing and went out to remind him that he was cutting her hedge and to tell him to knock it off. The hedge is there so that we don't have to look at his year-round Christmas lights, his multiple cars, his trash cans, peeling paint on the trim of his house, general mess.

[happyhoix]

Well, I got a case of poison ivy, so it's official yard season again. 

Lost a winged elm to the Easter tornado, and three Leland's blew over and had to be pushed back upright and spiked for support. I'll have to water the crap out of them to try to not lose them in the summer heat. 

Wasn't able to do the normal fall winter clean up I normally so I've had to spend the spring beating back the honeysuckle and wild blackberries. All I've gotten planted so far are some potatoes in the raised beds, just not feeling it this year..... 

[Deleted]

Apr 20, 2020 17:22:16 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Well, I got a case of poison ivy, so it's official yard season again. 

Not yet. You need mosquitoes.