Can i start a vegetable and herb garden thread?

[Mr Doof]

yeah. for sure. learned that lesson the hard way as a kid back in the 70's

I think I was around 4 or 5 the first time I tried smoking one of dear old dad's Marlboros.

Cured me for smoking the rest of my life.

And then came little league and trying chew around 9.

Oooooo, that was so much worse.


Anyway, nicotine is an alkaloid.

Inorganic acids in distillated water, and typical for this one would be sulfuric acid...battery acid in other words.

Soak the leaves in solution of....oh never mind, this will be more instructive. If you have insomnia, start reading it in bed.

 

[crustBrother]

sulfuric acid...battery acid

that got me kind of worried so i stuck a 100W bulb in my mouth and wouldn't you know it that sucker lit up like a mofo!

now my only question is do i go to a doctor or an electrician?!?!

 

[sussle]

Growing huckleberries?

After the 2017 eclipse, Sweetie-pie and went to some lakes in Washington before going to Mt Rainer and found scads of wild huckleberries. Scarfed them down on trails in the woods, in thickets at the edge of a meadow, and along the paths at Paradise Lodge....people saw us eating the berries and asked what they were and if they were safe to eat.

(with mouthful of berries) "Uckleerries and thar ood to meat."

They need cold, acid soils (volcanically derived with lots of conifer duff), and of course, rain.

Start saving your leftover coffee grounds and go get some lava rock that you can crush up to mix into your preferred source of organic matter.....have some friends with pine trees? Also, a tablespoon (or two) of white vinegar per 5 gal of water will help when it comes time to water it.

Let us (or just me) know how you fare with them.

just saw this - thanks for the tips! when i lived in Idaho, huckleberry spots were jealously guarded like surf spots.
had them in a pie once and they were awesome. looking forward to taking the journey - they just sprouted in peat pots.
from today:

 

[Mr Doof]

just saw this - thanks for the tips! when i lived in Idaho, huckleberry spots were jealously guarded like surf spots.
had them in a pie once and they were awesome.

Secret patch somewhere in the Cascades, careful of bears in late summer/fall when the berries ripen:

Won't out that one, but will out these in Washington.

PS

Huckleberry growing tips (a lot like blueberry) here (click me).

 

[Bob Dobbalina]

New house.
New neighborhood.
New kid in the house.

We share a yard with our land lord. I'm considering some easy to care for plants. It gets full day sun with some shaded areas along the fencelines early and late in the day. Their are some Bougainvillea, a patch of (wild?) mint, and some old, unproductive something on the fence that is thorny and bare (old roses?).

San Francisco
Sunset neighborhood (sandy soil I'd imagine)
Fog for extended periods of summer.

Any suggestions for things that don't take a ton of time or space?

 

[sussle]

Secret patch somewhere in the Cascades, careful of bears in late summer/fall when the berries ripen:

Won't out that one, but will out these in Washington.

PS

Huckleberry growing tips (a lot like blueberry) here (click me).

thanks MR. D - will consume that info with great interest. this is not the PNW - this is sea level coast NC. i expect it to be a challenging environment for these guys. got a round of huckleberries and wonder berries (very similar, i understand) ready to go into the ground.

 

[Mr Doof]

Am sure you get colder winters there than I do (for comparison, had frost in the backyard twice in December , so that you got covered.

Next difficult thing is the soil pH. You need an acidic soil, a sandy (got any volcanic ash) well draining loam, no clay soils. I cheated a little for my blueberry patch by starting with azalea mix, some soil sulfur, and pine tree needles from a friend in Pacifica who has a Monterrey Pine in the front yard....and used coffee grounds (need to work this into the soil somewhat, but be careful shallow roots).

Am unsure how your summer heat will affect them. Maybe give them a little afternoon shade?

I have never heard of "wonder berries". Now have something to look up later.

Remember to brag at harvest!

PS
What about Sea Buckhorn or Scuppernogs for coast NC?

 

[sussle]

Am sure you get colder winters there than I do (for comparison, had frost in the backyard twice in December , so that you got covered.

Next difficult thing is the soil pH. You need an acidic soil, a sandy (got any volcanic ash) well draining loam, no clay soils. I cheated a little for my blueberry patch by starting with azalea mix, some soil sulfur, and pine tree needles from a friend in Pacifica who has a Monterrey Pine in the front yard....and used coffee grounds (need to work this into the soil somewhat, but be careful shallow roots).

Am unsure how your summer heat will affect them. Maybe give them a little afternoon shade?

I have never heard of "wonder berries". Now have something to look up later.

Remember to brag at harvest!

PS
What about Sea Buckhorn or Scuppernogs for coast NC?

we got sand, we got acidic (this is azalea country), we got pine....we got no volcanic ash, will have to improvise on that. was thinking to try them on the east side of the house, so they get shade in the afternoon. will report on progress

those scuppernogs make for super-sweet wine, never had the grape

 

[1FinFevur]

Good topic. The blueburries in our yard (San Diego County) failed to yield any significant fruit this year but the strawburries went bonanzas, especially the "seascape" variety which are our favorite because of their most "strawburry" like flavor. We still have several bags of frozen ones from the Fall harvest and they just began fruiting. We have two rows in our garden. Luckily the vermin have also not been a problem for us but I can't say the same for our tomatoes and the green tomato worms last Summer.

 

[afoaf]

finished planting my tomato beds for the season. have twice as many plants this year with beds that I should be able to use year round

I got a yard of soil for $60...would have cost me $600 if I bought bags from the nursery....got a truck bed full of free mulch, too

pumped for squirrel hunting season!

 

[Mr Doof]

Good topic. The blueburries in our yard (San Diego County) failed to yield any significant fruit this year...

What did you do to amend the soil (to drop the pH) before planting?

Adding a tablespoon of vinegar per gallon of water will help lower soil pH over time, but better to use soil sulfur as it will have longer term effect. Only use fertilizer for acid loving plants.

Am guessing you already have the low chill variety.

 

[sussle]

My neighbor told me my backyard looked like a science project

But he's right - if you're in this thread, your yard is likely to have a variety of ongoing science projects/experiments that you are monitoring closely. What's more, your family probably has no idea what you're up to out there in the yard and prolly don't care anyway.

Like this. Sugar cane nodes I'm rooting - my family has no idea how cool this is

 

[Joshua2415]

A friend of mine who is an urban farmer in Denver re-posted this on his instagram the other day.

http://instagr.am/p/CcgpV9rA8_0/

 

[Mr Doof]

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.

New house.
New neighborhood.
New kid in the house.

We share a yard with our land lord. I'm considering some easy to care for plants. It gets full day sun with some shaded areas along the fencelines early and late in the day. Their are some Bougainvillea, a patch of (wild?) mint, and some old, unproductive something on the fence that is thorny and bare (old roses?).

San Francisco
Sunset neighborhood (sandy soil I'd imagine)
Fog for extended periods of summer.

Any suggestions for things that don't take a ton of time or space?

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:



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.

Plumeria is on my list to try my hand at sometime.

I highly recommend growing reefer if you haven’t before. Wicked fun.

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.

 

[Chocki]

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.

Plumeria is on my list to try my hand at sometime.

I highly recommend growing reefer if you haven’t before. Wicked fun.

 

[afoaf]

my tomatoes are popping

new soil bags have 4 plants in each of them....gonna be rich!

 

[Sharkbiscuit]

my tomatoes are popping

new soil bags have 4 plants in each of them....gonna be rich!

 

[Nick Kron]

A bunch of you have really cool herb gardens. You all know what type of Herb NK likes....WeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeD. Currently I have 2 Avocado trees, a few dragon fruit trees, and a bunch of banana trees. I want a vegetable herb garden next. Some great tips/ideas on this thread!

 

[sussle]

you guys kill me - i can grow everything but weed.

 

[Joshua2415]

A little berry harvest from yesterday.