WayOutWestMom10203 replies203 threadsRegistered UserSenior Member
There is a cinderblock retaining wall between my property and the city's. The footer is at least 18-24" deep on the city's side. (The city's property is higher up the hillside from mine.) So there's already a barrier. I cannot alter the wall in any way without written permission from the city.
Would brush killer work? Pruning and stump killer? I tried using Roundup on the shoots last year with zero effect.
abasket19306 replies858 threadsRegistered UserSenior Member
The season is SOOOO SLLLOOOWWW!!! Too much rain, not enough sun and heat! Yikes.
Still picking radishes which should have been an April/May thing. Starting to see some growth in other plants like tomatoes - they look healthy but just starting to even flower. Planted some additional stuff last week because why not?
My tree rose is in a wooden barrel planter. Its leaves are healthy but small and huddled densely together, probably for comfort. It craves some sunshine! In looking ahead at how to overwinter it I found one site where they said, "Meh, it's ten bucks -- treat it as an annual." I was both relieved and aghast to read that.
Nearby orchard farm reports very slow start and says their strawberry season will probably be late this year. If it stays too damp after the plants fruit, the mold will make some inroads.
My tomatoes are all about 2.5’ tall, if not more for some. Several have green tomatoes (early varieties). I started all of those from seed in my basement back in March.
My pepper plants didn’t fare well. I started those later this year so they were younger when they went in the ground. The slugs enjoyed them. I think two of my jalapeños survived but I lost all my Fresno and fireball varieties. I had to go on a pepper plant buying spree to replace everything. I may have bought like 5 extra plants 😂😂😂
My squash plants survived their transplanting (started from seeds) but some of the cukes and beans got eaten or uprooted (I have deep sunken hugelkultur beds and the moles love the habitat.) I’ve reseeded those and slightly staggered plantings aren’t a bad thing.
We’ve been eating arugula by the handful everyday. I seriously cannot keep up.
I stole the first raspberry off my back patch last night. It wasn’t quite as ripe as it should’ve been but I couldn’t resist the red berry.
I’m harvesting and drying some leaves off my culinary bay this weekend- very first harvest. I’ve had it for about 5 years and there were some winters where I’ve had to wrap it for a few days but it’s ready to get clipped a bit. That’s the hard thing about long term perennials- it’ll be years before some of them produce.
Aside from the culinary bay (which is a type of laurel), I dry leaves from my tea plants (they’re a type of camellia) and then just standard stuff like sage, thyme, oregano and rosemary. I planted an herb garden when I moved in here 16 years ago so my herb plants are kinda huge.
The bay is in a large concrete planter and stands about four feet above the top of the planter. You use new growth (so not old leaves). It’s just like the bay leaves you’d buy in the grocery store in the spice aisle. I go through quite a few, using them in soups or when cooking dry beans in my instant pot, so it made sense to me to buy a plant.
I only have 3 tea plants and the oldest one is about 3’ high and the other two are only 2’ high. I don’t harvest more than once a year from those but eventually I’ll have some big tea hedges supplying me with more than enough green, black or oolong tea.
abasket19306 replies858 threadsRegistered UserSenior Member
Duh, I didn't even read that as "bay leaves"!!!! But still very cool and quite a collection of herbs you have. Are you in a region where you have them growing several months of the year? The plant sounds huge and beautiful!
And by long term perennials, I wasn’t just talking about things with leaves- plants like kiwi, asparagus, many berries and fruit trees take a long time before you can harvest. I added 25 asparagus plants this year and it’ll be four years before I get a real harvest. The pawpaw trees are maybe 5 years off from producing. I’ve had a honeycrisp apple tree in the ground for at least four years that hasn’t produced yet- it was really just a stick when I bought it so it has to grow - a lot- before it produces.
I’m in the Pacific Northwest, so if we aren’t drowning in rain, it’s actually pretty mild here! The bay and tea don’t drop old leaves much, but I think early growth from late spring/early summer is probably best? I guess I could pull bay leaves at any time.
None of those herbs really die back here as we typically don’t get lots of below zero days. They just get bigger each year 😂😂😂 - too big!
lookingforward34060 replies376 threadsRegistered UserSenior Member
A friend had something like Hugelkultur and trouble with moles. One year, he lifted everything , dug deep, and set fine (fine enough) mesh at the bottom. The moles had trouble getting through that. His idea was to get deep enough that roots that extended deeply were protected. Plus, he had deep borders around his beds.
My stuff is doing well. I added more compost to last year's soil remains. I tend to buy an extra bag or two at season's end, let it sit offsides, so I'm assured this year's is definitely aged. 8-Ball zucchini, tomatoes, an eggplant. All starting to flower (which seems early, so we'll see.)
I have sunken hugelkultur beds so on the surface they look like slightly raised beds.
Most of them are either 3’ wide by 10 or 12’ long and dug down 3’. I’m unlikely to dig them out. The moles bump new plants now and then but in general once things are established they don’t cause any issues other than a few holes here and there.
It’d be a huge effort to dig each bed out and line it with hardware cloth. I’m not as young as I used to be... so I just pile on more stuff each fall and fill in spots as needed.
momofsenior17242 replies56 threadsRegistered UserSenior Member
So excited to have found this thread! I'm a newbie gardener. We have a raised planter bed that the previous owner left. We have a variety of herbs and lettuces that we've started harvesting/using but we're still waiting on our tomatoes and peppers. I think it's going to be a long wait because it's been so cold and rainy.
Ranipetgirl152 replies2 threadsRegistered UserJunior Member
Anybody has success growing a curry leaf plant? The roots were shallow and not deep. I received a young plant, that grew from a root of a big tree. (we live in California)
momofsenior17242 replies56 threadsRegistered UserSenior Member
Our landscaper talked us into doing an aggressive pruning of our privit hedge. Holy crow it looks AWFUL! I'm praying he's right and this will encourage growth of the lower branches to give us more privacy, but my H is going to pitch a fit when he comes home. Fingers crossed it doesn't take too long to fill back in.
greenwitch8745 replies41 threadsRegistered UserSenior Member
For a hedge, you should prune it so that the top is narrower than the base. That way sunlight will hit the whole side more equally and growth won't be so top heavy.
Replies to: 2019 Gardening Thread
Would brush killer work? Pruning and stump killer? I tried using Roundup on the shoots last year with zero effect.
Still picking radishes which should have been an April/May thing. Starting to see some growth in other plants like tomatoes - they look healthy but just starting to even flower. Planted some additional stuff last week because why not?
Nearby orchard farm reports very slow start and says their strawberry season will probably be late this year. If it stays too damp after the plants fruit, the mold will make some inroads.
My pepper plants didn’t fare well. I started those later this year so they were younger when they went in the ground. The slugs enjoyed them. I think two of my jalapeños survived but I lost all my Fresno and fireball varieties. I had to go on a pepper plant buying spree to replace everything. I may have bought like 5 extra plants 😂😂😂
My squash plants survived their transplanting (started from seeds) but some of the cukes and beans got eaten or uprooted (I have deep sunken hugelkultur beds and the moles love the habitat.) I’ve reseeded those and slightly staggered plantings aren’t a bad thing.
We’ve been eating arugula by the handful everyday. I seriously cannot keep up.
I stole the first raspberry off my back patch last night. It wasn’t quite as ripe as it should’ve been but I couldn’t resist the red berry.
I’m harvesting and drying some leaves off my culinary bay this weekend- very first harvest. I’ve had it for about 5 years and there were some winters where I’ve had to wrap it for a few days but it’s ready to get clipped a bit. That’s the hard thing about long term perennials- it’ll be years before some of them produce.
Aside from the culinary bay (which is a type of laurel), I dry leaves from my tea plants (they’re a type of camellia) and then just standard stuff like sage, thyme, oregano and rosemary. I planted an herb garden when I moved in here 16 years ago so my herb plants are kinda huge.
The bay is in a large concrete planter and stands about four feet above the top of the planter. You use new growth (so not old leaves). It’s just like the bay leaves you’d buy in the grocery store in the spice aisle. I go through quite a few, using them in soups or when cooking dry beans in my instant pot, so it made sense to me to buy a plant.
I only have 3 tea plants and the oldest one is about 3’ high and the other two are only 2’ high. I don’t harvest more than once a year from those but eventually I’ll have some big tea hedges supplying me with more than enough green, black or oolong tea.
None of those herbs really die back here as we typically don’t get lots of below zero days. They just get bigger each year 😂😂😂 - too big!
My stuff is doing well. I added more compost to last year's soil remains. I tend to buy an extra bag or two at season's end, let it sit offsides, so I'm assured this year's is definitely aged. 8-Ball zucchini, tomatoes, an eggplant. All starting to flower (which seems early, so we'll see.)
Most of them are either 3’ wide by 10 or 12’ long and dug down 3’. I’m unlikely to dig them out. The moles bump new plants now and then but in general once things are established they don’t cause any issues other than a few holes here and there.
It’d be a huge effort to dig each bed out and line it with hardware cloth. I’m not as young as I used to be... so I just pile on more stuff each fall and fill in spots as needed.
My cats enjoy the moles. 😬
Who was the now gone poster who argued things like farmed shrimp? He/she was an interesting gardner.
This is generally a "happy place" thread. Not all plantings do well, but most gardeners know that is part of the science and process!