Gardening

[Spunky Porkstacker]

Miracle Grow is nitrogen heavy, which encourages green growth, not fruit or vegetable growth. It also only feeds the plant. The micro organisms in the soil do not like it, and as there is too much chemical fertilizer in Miracle Grow, more than a plant can utilize, the rest will wash into the water table.

Simply put, using organics feeds the soil which then feeds the plants. Synthetics feed the plants and the soil starves which leads to an increased dependence upon fertilizer and results in soil that is more or less biologically dead. Salts can also build up. Fish and forest fines, compost teas, etc are much better for a continuing healthy garden year after year.

I'll have to look those up. My tomatoes usually get 5 or 6 ft high and are loaded with fruit but I do put compost in the hole before placing the plant. Maybe I'll hold off on giving one of the tomato plants any MG this year just to see the difference.

 

[Tater]

Oh Tater Tater how does your garden grow....

Do you use it on taters or your special stash?:smoke:

Both.

 

[Crystallas]

Just dug out a new compost pit. Had to torch my other two because there is a crazy thistle overgrowth in the area and nobody is weeding them correctly. If you cut a thistle root, you get two in its place. Using industrial herbicides that are effective on thistle will taint your garden foods with no guarantee the thistle wont come back. It seems like one of those things home owners aught to learn about their property.

Filled the two old compost piles with sawdust, elm mulch, pine needles, and hoping to inoculate soon since I found a good armillaria mycelium base ready to be split at a local forest. Not technically gardening, but shares the same concept.

My garden in the last two years is completely different than what it was in the past. I just divided all my solomons seal for the year. Wild(queen annes lace) and rainbow carrot, shallot, ramp, and scarlet lima beans are all growing symbiotically in one patch and they come back up every year. The only thing I do is weed and store the worm-home in warmer soil during the winter, raise the soil level by putting a new topsoil in from the compost pit. Doing the rows of this and that method makes less sense to me by the week. Companion planting is the way to go.

 

[RacerX]

Just dug out a new compost pit. Had to torch my other two because there is a crazy thistle overgrowth in the area and nobody is weeding them correctly. If you cut a thistle root, you get two in its place. Using industrial herbicides that are effective on thistle will taint your garden foods with no guarantee the thistle wont come back. It seems like one of those things home owners aught to learn about their property.

Filled the two old compost piles with sawdust, elm mulch, pine needles, and hoping to inoculate soon since I found a good armillaria mycelium base ready to be split at a local forest. Not technically gardening, but shares the same concept.

My garden in the last two years is completely different than what it was in the past. I just divided all my solomons seal for the year. Wild(queen annes lace) and rainbow carrot, shallot, ramp, and scarlet lima beans are all growing symbiotically in one patch and they come back up every year. The only thing I do is weed and store the worm-home in warmer soil during the winter, raise the soil level by putting a new topsoil in from the compost pit. Doing the rows of this and that method makes less sense to me by the week. Companion planting is the way to go.

Well, damn, I thought I was a fairly serious gardener and half your content is completely over my head. That can’t all be self-taught, right?

 

[Burque]

Added five more plants that a buddy didn't get into the dirt and he decided he wasn't going to do his garden this year.

So I now also have:

2x ghost peppers
2x Golden ghost
And a chocolate sprinkle heirloom tomato

Salsa is going to be spicy this year!

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[Crystallas]

Well, damn, I thought I was a fairly serious gardener and half your content is completely over my head. That can’t all be self-taught, right?

:shrug: Never had a formal education on the matter. People know what they like. I see you raise chickens, I've never done that. The great part about markets, is that different people know different things, trade ideas and whatever they produce with each other. My neighbor raises chickens and I get as many fresh eggs as I can take from him, and I gave him a few bags full of morels last month. I'd probably kill a few birds before I figured out his end, and he would come up empty for years before finding any safe mushrooms. Fair trade LOL

 

[Spunky Porkstacker]

Added five more plants that a buddy didn't get into the dirt and he decided he wasn't going to do his garden this year.

So I now also have:

2x ghost peppers
2x Golden ghost
And a chocolate sprinkle heirloom tomato

Salsa is going to be spicy this year!

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Ghost peppers are wicked hot, but not the hottest.

 

[Crystallas]

Ghost peppers don't even have great flavor IMO.

If you aren't up to speed and just want pore pooping hot, then look up the 7 Pot Douglah, which is one that you can also grow just as easily. The flavor is *excellent* to go along with the heat, unlike the ghost pepper which is actually pretty meh. And I mean good flavor for fresh, dried YMMV of course. Yeah, it doesn't have a catchy name, but these are as hot as ghost peppers(realistic SHU scales, not just grading top end only) and *can* be about 2x as hot with the right conditions.

 

[Burque]

Ghost peppers don't even have great flavor IMO.

If you aren't up to speed and just want pore pooping hot, then look up the 7 Pot Douglah, which is one that you can also grow just as easily. The flavor is *excellent* to go along with the heat, unlike the ghost pepper which is actually pretty meh. And I mean good flavor for fresh, dried YMMV of course. Yeah, it doesn't have a catchy name, but these are as hot as ghost peppers(realistic SHU scales, not just grading top end only) and *can* be about 2x as hot with the right conditions.

I really prefer habanero's and jalapeno's. Hotter than New Mexico green chile but still yummy. However these were already plants and what the hell, no reason not to grow them up and do something with them. I think ghosts are an interesting flavor, but I prefer to use that level of heat sparingly.

 

[Crystallas]

I really prefer habanero's and jalapeno's. Hotter than New Mexico green chile but still yummy. However these were already plants and what the hell, no reason not to grow them up and do something with them. I think ghosts are an interesting flavor, but I prefer to use that level of heat sparingly.

Fair enough. Just lots of people grow ghost peppers because they think they are heat champs. IMO, they are meh. Hot for sure, just long surpassed by a number of peppers, many better tasting.

Ghost peppers are good though for one thing, the fruit body sizes. So you can make batches of homemade small-fauna repellent for the rest of your garden as effective as nearly anything else.

 

[Burque]

Fair enough. Just lots of people grow ghost peppers because they think they are heat champs. IMO, they are meh. Hot for sure, just long surpassed by a number of peppers, many better tasting.

Ghost peppers are good though for one thing, the fruit body sizes. So you can make batches of homemade small-fauna repellent for the rest of your garden as effective as nearly anything else.

I have had most of the hottest peppers in the world, and there is always a new one every year it seems that takes the cake for the recognized hottest pepper in the world. That really doesn't impress me too much because at some point they just aren't pleasurable to eat any longer. For every person that is different but I certainly enjoy a good amount of capsaicin. I really prefer hot with flavor as opposed to just hot for the hell of it.

I will share a funny story here though. One time the wife and I went to this small farm in Colorado that had its own small store to sell their produce. We stopped and picked a few random things and were getting ready to check out when I saw a bin of "Organic Jalapenos" They looked like fresh good jalapenos only about half the size of normal ones. So we grabbed a pound or so and paid and left.

Later we tried cooking with them and it was nearly impossible. I would put those particular jalapenos against any habanero/Ghost pepper/Reaper in the world. I think the first time she used three in a dish, the second time she used one in a dish and the third time it was a half in a big dish of food and they were still too fucking hot! They were on par with any hot pepper I had ever had in my life and they were just innocent little jalapenos..... that wanted to kill you.

 

[Crystallas]

I have had most of the hottest peppers in the world, and there is always a new one every year it seems that takes the cake for the recognized hottest pepper in the world. That really doesn't impress me too much because at some point they just aren't pleasurable to eat any longer. For every person that is different but I certainly enjoy a good amount of capsaicin. I really prefer hot with flavor as opposed to just hot for the hell of it.

I will share a funny story here though. One time the wife and I went to this small farm in Colorado that had its own small store to sell their produce. We stopped and picked a few random things and were getting ready to check out when I saw a bin of "Organic Jalapenos" They looked like fresh good jalapenos only about half the size of normal ones. So we grabbed a pound or so and paid and left.

Later we tried cooking with them and it was nearly impossible. I would put those particular jalapenos against any habanero/Ghost pepper/Reaper in the world. I think the first time she used three in a dish, the second time she used one in a dish and the third time it was a half in a big dish of food and they were still too fucking hot! They were on par with any hot pepper I had ever had in my life and they were just innocent little jalapenos..... that wanted to kill you.

Instant heat vs delayed heat. Another reason why serranos are a classic, because they are so fleshy that the significantly smaller capsaicin amount still explodes in your mouth. Unlike all of the top 10 that have some instant heat, but are mostly delayed because you need to breakdown those protective fibers.

But yeah. Whatever you like is cool. I just think ghost peppers are over-rated and really provide little purpose for growing in 2018, unless you're a pepper grower. Heat, flavor, fruit output, nitrogen conversion and soil correction, ease of growing... just so many better choices. But seeing they are just returning from many years prior, then nobody can fault you for that. I would keep them going too.

 

[Briggs is GOAT]

Tomatoes and cucumbers coming in nicely

 

[1COBearsfan]

Finally got to spend most of the weekend in the yard. We’re not growing anything edible, except the hollyhock that sprang up, but I had a lot to do nevertheless. Finally got my sprinklers replaced and fine tuned so our yard won’t be a crispy mess. Planted some marigolds in pots around the patio to hopefully keep some whorebag mosquitoes away. Put a columbine and a foxglove in the ground next to the roses to attract some pollinators.

The biggest accomplishment though was getting the compost turned. Three years ago we built a huge compost bin and I haven’t been very good about turning and watering it. I’ve added a decent amount of green and brown vegetation during the seasons but have only really worked it over a few times. But today I got it turned, moistened, & layered pretty good so this winter and next spring I’ll have a huge load of awesome compost to start our veggies again.

Which brings me to a few questions I have about my lawn. This fall/winter I need to overseed our lawn to finally get it green and healthy, the last two seasons we’ve had something dumb happen to our sprinklers and it’s gotten so brown that we’ve always been playing catch-up. My initial thoughts are to put down a layer of revive(recommended by a neighbor, not entirely set on it though), a layer of my awesome compost, & a fuckload of grass seed. My questions are:

1) Does that look like a good plan for the over-seeding? Any advice is most welcome

2) Any specific grass seed recommendations? I need a grass that grows well in a large range of conditions. I have spots that see mostly shade the whole day, spots that get absolutely barbecued by the sun all day, & all conditions in between. I haven’t checked my soil ph but most of the yard grows well when watered adequately and I have a large section under a huge pine tree that I’m sure is pretty acidic. So I need a grass seed that does everything well...

Any thoughts and/or advices are welcome. Happy gardening everyone

Edit: My yard is starting to get wild just like I want. I had to stay home with my son today, he’s not feeling well. I was checking on everything while we were running around. I found a few snakes and a baby praying mantis hanging around different areas of the yard. Just need to get some more wildflowers to really get some traffic

 

[oober]

+1
I've used Miracle Grow for years and love it.

Miracle grow contributes to green growth, not really fruit growth. If you want a solid all year feed fertilizer, consider Osmicote for vegetables. I have been using for almost 15 yrs now. Slow release in small beads. I put a little in the bottom of the hole and a little on the top and that is all I feed all summer. It is a very good general fertilizer. My tomato plants are normally so big and with fruit I add a 10ft piece of conduit that I pound into the ground to help tie up the plants other wise they fall over with the 4 ft cages I have. Every yr it takes me till spring time to use up all of the frozen tomatoes I have for sauces and that is with giving a ton away to the inlaws.

 

[oober]

Finally got to spend most of the weekend in the yard. We’re not growing anything edible, except the hollyhock that sprang up, but I had a lot to do nevertheless. Finally got my sprinklers replaced and fine tuned so our yard won’t be a crispy mess. Planted some marigolds in pots around the patio to hopefully keep some whorebag mosquitoes away. Put a columbine and a foxglove in the ground next to the roses to attract some pollinators.

The biggest accomplishment though was getting the compost turned. Three years ago we built a huge compost bin and I haven’t been very good about turning and watering it. I’ve added a decent amount of green and brown vegetation during the seasons but have only really worked it over a few times. But today I got it turned, moistened, & layered pretty good so this winter and next spring I’ll have a huge load of awesome compost to start our veggies again.

Which brings me to a few questions I have about my lawn. This fall/winter I need to overseed our lawn to finally get it green and healthy, the last two seasons we’ve had something dumb happen to our sprinklers and it’s gotten so brown that we’ve always been playing catch-up. My initial thoughts are to put down a layer of revive(recommended by a neighbor, not entirely set on it though), a layer of my awesome compost, & a fuckload of grass seed. My questions are:

1) Does that look like a good plan for the over-seeding? Any advice is most welcome

2) Any specific grass seed recommendations? I need a grass that grows well in a large range of conditions. I have spots that see mostly shade the whole day, spots that get absolutely barbecued by the sun all day, & all conditions in between. I haven’t checked my soil ph but most of the yard grows well when watered adequately and I have a large section under a huge pine tree that I’m sure is pretty acidic. So I need a grass seed that does everything well...

Any thoughts and/or advices are welcome. Happy gardening everyone

Edit: My yard is starting to get wild just like I want. I had to stay home with my son today, he’s not feeling well. I was checking on everything while we were running around. I found a few snakes and a baby praying mantis hanging around different areas of the yard. Just need to get some more wildflowers to really get some traffic

Be careful with the compost, if the weeds seeds that may be in are not killed, you will undoubtedly end up spreading weeds. Make sure your compost is doing what it needs to do. In the summer if watering and having the correct brown to green, it should actually be quite warm and smell like freshly dug dirt (if you can imagine). Almost a clean dirt smell if that make sense. Just nice and fresh smelling.

Only saying, because I made this mistake and my lawn was a mess.

To get back on track I used spring green for a yr until it was at a point again I could take care of it. When looking at 3rd party cost vs my time cost it just made sense.

 

[oober]

Finally got to spend most of the weekend in the yard. We’re not growing anything edible, except the hollyhock that sprang up, but I had a lot to do nevertheless. Finally got my sprinklers replaced and fine tuned so our yard won’t be a crispy mess. Planted some marigolds in pots around the patio to hopefully keep some whorebag mosquitoes away. Put a columbine and a foxglove in the ground next to the roses to attract some pollinators.

The biggest accomplishment though was getting the compost turned. Three years ago we built a huge compost bin and I haven’t been very good about turning and watering it. I’ve added a decent amount of green and brown vegetation during the seasons but have only really worked it over a few times. But today I got it turned, moistened, & layered pretty good so this winter and next spring I’ll have a huge load of awesome compost to start our veggies again.

Which brings me to a few questions I have about my lawn. This fall/winter I need to overseed our lawn to finally get it green and healthy, the last two seasons we’ve had something dumb happen to our sprinklers and it’s gotten so brown that we’ve always been playing catch-up. My initial thoughts are to put down a layer of revive(recommended by a neighbor, not entirely set on it though), a layer of my awesome compost, & a fuckload of grass seed. My questions are:

1) Does that look like a good plan for the over-seeding? Any advice is most welcome

2) Any specific grass seed recommendations? I need a grass that grows well in a large range of conditions. I have spots that see mostly shade the whole day, spots that get absolutely barbecued by the sun all day, & all conditions in between. I haven’t checked my soil ph but most of the yard grows well when watered adequately and I have a large section under a huge pine tree that I’m sure is pretty acidic. So I need a grass seed that does everything well...

Any thoughts and/or advices are welcome. Happy gardening everyone

Edit: My yard is starting to get wild just like I want. I had to stay home with my son today, he’s not feeling well. I was checking on everything while we were running around. I found a few snakes and a baby praying mantis hanging around different areas of the yard. Just need to get some more wildflowers to really get some traffic

On a side note, find a spot you could probably still throw a tomato plant in and get some rewards, or some of the root vegetables like radishes, green onions, etc..

Of course in Colorado definitely some mary jane smug2 if allowed by law.

 

[Xuder O'Clam]

Osmocote is still a chemical fertilizer that only feeds the plant, and not the soil. Covered in a soy bean resin to control release, it will still leave you like a gardening drug addict, needing to purchase chemicals to feed your plants because your soil has been left barren. Yes, it's an easier way to garden, but you become dependent on it. These products were designed this way from the beginning.

Go organic. You won't regret it, and you won't go back. It's not as hard or intimidating as many "experts" make it seem.

 

[oober]

Osmocote is still a chemical fertilizer that only feeds the plant, and not the soil. Covered in a soy bean resin to control release, it will still leave you like a gardening drug addict, needing to purchase chemicals to feed your plants because your soil has been left barren. Yes, it's an easier way to garden, but you become dependent on it. These products were designed this way from the beginning.

Go organic. You won't regret it, and you won't go back. It's not as hard or intimidating as many "experts" make it seem.

Never realized... Thanks.. Anyways, I have always gotten more fruit from Os then MG.....

From your experience, what is optimal, say on a 3 yr plan to condition the soil properly to not have to rely on fertilizers?

My soil

Breaks up nice, but does have a little clay attribute to it, but it drains well. I have never had it tested for PH, but I do get great vegetables out of it. I do add well composted plant compost in the fall and till it in. The biggest issue I have is blight, would premium soil help eliminate?

 

[Burque]

Got the first jalapenos and first tomatoes down as well as enough beans to have a three person meal with them. All delicious.

Got a bug problem though. Am seeing some fat catepillar things in the garden box, but not in the tomatoes, and seeing a bunch of tiny little striped beetle looking things.

anyone got good recommendations on a way to treat the bug issue? I would like to use as little store bought chemical as possible, but will resort to it if needed.