we cheated and used mrs. wages dill mix for the first batch of cukes. next batch of pickles will be sweet (got a recipe for those). not sure either of those would be good for jalapenos.

7/25/2017 3:59:04 PM

I would just look for a sturdy nursery pot that would fit inside the mouth of the milk jugs. vines that might grow quick enough to look good this fall: plectranthus, tradescantia zebrina, Lysimachia nummularia.

7/25/2017 4:36:52 PM

well my garden is pretty much done for the summer. Tried to keep the tomatoes going but missed a week of watering and stringing them up due to work and after the first big growth and fruit production they turned brown and died. I'll be doing a drip system for next year so I don't have to stand outside with a flashlight at 5am or 10pm just to take care of them. Still have some peppers, but that's about it.

7/26/2017 10:48:52 AM

^ Yup. Started the season strong with weekly heavy rains, and it's been comparatively dry as hell the last month+. I hear ya about the watering. Wish I had drip as well.

7/26/2017 11:48:39 AM

Drip has been nice, but its the flood of moisture that got most of my 'maters earlier in the season.

They are coming back and hanging on right now, and some raise plants in planters/pots have done better than those closer to the ground.

I think we have 5 gallons of pickles at this point (cucs did awesome), had to replant zucs/squash after a good harvest (stem eating larvae thing got them before I knew what it was) - new plants look better.

Melons did awesome as well as potatoes, radishes, turnips, greens, broccoli, cabbage. Brussel Sprouts are setting sprouts right now.

Green beans were doing good until a couple nightly visits by a big Doe. Caught her red handed eating my beans a few weeks ago. Good harvest before that though, so not a total loss.

Getting ready to plant my fall crops over everything except my tomatoes and peppers.

No weeds as of right now in my back to eden row (free wood chips over compost and cardboard), but everything else is covered in weeds big time. They grew right into the landscape carpet I was using - gonna have to do something different next year or get rid of the carpet all together.

7/27/2017 5:44:30 PM

Does anyone here grow garlic?

Are you able to harvest it by the time you want to plant in the spring...or is that dependant on what variety of garlic u plant?

11/5/2017 12:29:48 PM

Anyone have any greenhouse kit recommendations? I'd like something approximately 12'x24', preferably a metal/polycarbonate kit that will hold up to heavy snows well.

11/5/2017 9:39:10 PM

i think im about to be into the greenhouse business myself. i think im gonna go with a setup i can put up in the winter and completely dismantle in the summer. probably some "fishing rod holders" stuck into the ground will be the permanent part, then i can insert a pvc frame with drilled pin holes. the design in my head will surely change 67.3 times when i am actually putting it all together.

i have no idea what material i will use to layover the top yet. probably whatever i find on sale at first then live and learn from there. luckily i am close to a hotbed of plant nurseries and im sure those folks throw things away that i will love to have.

12/30/2017 10:58:51 AM

I just bought the materials to make a simple 8'x8'x10" raised bed when the frigid weather hit. I'm hoping to plant mostly a bunch of flowers to attract pollinators.

My pitcher plants are doing pretty terrible; it'll be interesting to see if much survives the winter. I thought they were being overtaken by a mysterious fungus, but I ended up finding mealybugs. They've been practically impossible to control, but they've only been targeting Sarracenia, which I've dumped more money into.


I got a Phaelanopsis orchid last year on discount with a dead flower stalk, it has put out two since. I just bought a bunch of tiny ones and I'm trying to grow them in a terrarium, alongside some Nepenthes and sphagnum.

I'm looking forward to growing a normal garden, aside from the bog garden.

1/2/2018 8:43:49 PM

Any of y’all do bonsai? Fiancé got me a small bonsai for Christmas. It’s a Loropetalum (looks like Ruby but it doesn’t matter). Seems like it could be a neat hobby. I work in the nursery business so I’m very familiar with growing stuff on a commercial scale. But don’t know anything about growing something bonsai. But I like the idea of doing it. Plus since I’m in the nursery business, I have access to all kinds of plants that I could grow bonsai.

1/10/2018 3:30:02 PM