Can i start a vegetable and herb garden thread?

Bob Dobbalina

Miki Dora status
Feb 23, 2016
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Hey, latest revamped employee/management memorandum of understanding just dropped the possibility of random drug tests (now need to show cause before testing).

Hmmmm, I wonder how fun it would be to try growing something new in the backyard?

Also, looks like both indoor, potted, Hilo Beauty and Aurora Borealis (plumeria) have inflorescences.



Sunset has these primary obstacles:

1 Sandy and salty soil
2 Lack of winter chilling, summer heating
3 Cool winds (hmmm, maybe that should be cool WINDS)

If you have the sun and the space, can you put in a small greenhouse, like this:

View attachment 128684

Tunnel is cheaper, but wind can be an issue. Against a fence would help. If you do, go for supreme basil crop once you remove some sand and replace it with good garden soil and a bit of drip irrigation. Cool temps will slow the bolting. Careful of snails and slugs which rejoice in the drizzle of summer fog.

View attachment 128685




A.
My trick for growing plumeria in not so warm SF...I get bonzai-tree style plumeria, not full blown trees:

1 Indoor pot
2 Cactus soil with 1/2 inch potting soil on top and crushed (pea sized or smaller) lava rock.
3 Place in window where it is sunny for 6+ hrs a day...more is better. Make sure sunlight hits the container (warm roots important!)
4 Place hole pot in sink, fill sink with water, and let soak for 10 minutes. Do once a month. Every 2 weeks, tiny bit of low N, high K and medium P fertilizer in water.
5 Stop watering in late Oct. Move containers out of window. In December, put pots in garage (dark and cool) and wait for leaves to drop off. In February, bring pots to sunny room, but don't place in full all day sun for two weeks. Mid Fed, quick 1 minute soak, place in sun. March, full soak and first bit of fertilizer. Two weeks after, another dose of fertilizer water, back in the sun. Then back to step #4.


B.
Growing annuals with high growth rate is always a treat, moreso if it has weed-like resilience built in. (Part of the reason why I like growing cherry tomatoes....they are so much more fool-proof than the big heirloom breeds.) Am sure a friend in the know can send me a decent seed or 10.

Thanks!
I'm not sure how my landlord, whom I share a yard with, will feel about a green house.
 

Bob Dobbalina

Miki Dora status
Feb 23, 2016
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^ Even a small one? Hmmm, tell him you can grow pot in it and you'll give him 1/4 of the harvest. :shrug:

He's an 80 year old Chinese dude.
He owns a house that is easily worth 1. to 1.5 mil that his deceased wife bought for 200k in the early 00's but he hits up the local food bank every week.

I'm not sure he's down.
 

Mr Doof

Duke status
Jan 23, 2002
24,932
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San Francisco, CA
Friend of mine at work bought some thc/cbd containing arthritis lotion for her mom.

Mom said something like, "This smells like the medicine my grandmother used in Macao. Works well too."

Maybe if you pitched that angle....but yeah, probably not :shrug:
 

Senor Sopa

Billy Hamilton status
Mar 11, 2015
1,374
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Ponto
I have a pineapple
1652106192444.png

This Madagascar Palm seed pod is almost cooked
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Tomatos doing ok, I'm seeing lots of powdery mildew though.
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The Amaryllis patch is full glory
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The cilantro turning into seeds. The bees are going nuts on this right now
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And the mini greenhouse is stocked
1652106545650.png
 

Mr Doof

Duke status
Jan 23, 2002
24,932
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San Francisco, CA
^ - Can't remember the name of the town in Central Valley (California) that had sign on entrance to town saying something like "Welcome to XYZ, Cantaloupe Capitol of the World.

Maybe start there?
 

Mr Doof

Duke status
Jan 23, 2002
24,932
7,853
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San Francisco, CA
^ - Your honesty is like a felling blade. Allow me my illusions!:cheers:

Open this weekend, the indoor plumeria. Got this one from a roadside stand on Hawaii (Big Island) about, oh man, 20 years ago? Bought it for the name: Aurora Borealis. I know it is nothing compared to places where it grows without human intervention, but it is like a perfect bonsai for me....and the scent when the front room warms up recalls adventures.
 
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Aruka

Tom Curren status
Feb 23, 2010
12,161
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PNW
This has been the worst spring/summer I can remember for gardening. So much rain. The slugs have been hammering all of my small starts. Some of the perennials like the artichokes and collards have produced food but even those have been lackluster due to sparse sunshine. I'll have to re-plant carrots and possibly green beans. The fruit trees are looking okay as far as fruit set but pretty far behind where they should be overall. A couple of the newer plum varietes have fruit for the first time so that's pretty exciting. Plums are one of my favorite fruits. I'm not too upset because we needed the rain to get out of moderate drought status but still, it sucks to put in a bunch of work weeding and planting and whatnot and then have the weather crap all over my epic gardening dreams.
 
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crustBrother

Kelly Slater status
Apr 23, 2001
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I'll have to re-plant
I feel your pain. I got 18 inches of snow on top of my garden at the end of may and ended up replanting quite a bit.

One of my favorite things about my garden is that it consistently yields a ton of something that i don't even plant.

Purslane!

And it comes in early so I just let it grow in the space between the rows and harvest it as the stuff I planted starts to get big enough to start filling in that space.

Only problem is that as much as I enjoy purslane salads, I can't even make a dent in what comes up, so in years past I've just ended up composting most of it.

But this year I'm stoked to dip my toes in something I've never tried before.

Pickling!

Pickled purslane sounds pretty good, no?

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