Gardening Journal - Post your gardening updates here

i love that view! is that what you see when you look out?
id be staring at the sky all day long..

i see a problem with this...when the water is gone the wind will blow those bottles away.

i also wonder if winding the shoestring around the rootball before covering with soil would work as well or better..

i do like the stones he uses next to the plant.
i too, place a flat stone next to any plant i want to make SURE stays moist.one big stone helps a lot.

I am lucky..this is the view from the garden

https://imgur.com/47tySH5

And why I spend as much time there as possible...At least in the summer. We are supposed to have a hard frost again tomorrow night.

But lordy, I could get lost in those views too

Any know of an alternative to heat mats for indoors? How do you keep soil warm constantly in pot?

I use a heat mat. I can't think of anything I'd use instead..maybe just keep them in the warmest part of the house for a bit?

Suggestions that I have read (but have not tried):

- Top of the refrigerator

- Top of the internet / cable box

- On or near a radiator


Things that have worked for me:

- Paper towel method in plastic food containers on my kitchen counter

- Rapid Rooter plugs under grow lights


But that's just for germination. I'm still a beginner, but I hope this helps.

Thanks for the replies.

Any federally funded Hemp greenhouses around you? I bet they would know.

so my first blueberry here is called CLIMAX:

https://imgur.com/a/OOpp4jZ

it loved the soil and pond water i gave it..just a lovely plant:

https://imgur.com/a/5rv53ZH

a new buddy came home, and its a PINK LEMONADE, said to be more flavorful than all other blueberries..it was potted up soon after this pic was taken:

https://imgur.com/a/8US6eTj

they grew a good three weeks and then holy shit i saw this on my baby:

https://imgur.com/a/4MFM2Vn

figuring its a fungus of some sort, i start spraying with a baking soda/oil/soap mixture every five days because each morning it looks worse.

https://imgur.com/a/Qmrlart

i stepped up my spraying and the new leaves come out nice but soon got infected as well.

i had to strip ALL leaves from both plants because it was just getting worse:

https://imgur.com/a/OaZWV8a

ive sprayed with the same mixture and then sprinkled SULFUR powder over the entire plant.
idk what else to do..but the Climax is sprouting back.

https://imgur.com/a/VS9EctD

the Pink Lemonade has no signs of life the day after:

https://imgur.com/a/0PiYL0t

the bushes have both been given banana water for their root health, crab shells for a boost and their water is from the pond and NOT splashed on leaves, only given at root level.

they are not even a year old..
it is not a fun add to my journal.

my new sunflowers have sprouted so outside they go, and see the seed is still attached to that one little leaf:

https://imgur.com/a/LyBAYWH

i like their leaves because they have this pinkish blush on the center there..ive never seen that on a sunflower sprout before.its quite pretty, i think.

https://imgur.com/a/bECSnZM

i already have two other types of sunflowers:

https://imgur.com/a/v8cW7B0

https://imgur.com/a/rn17ht8

Last Edited by rob2 on 05/22/2023 12:31 PM

i love Lantana even though it stinks.
(it is used as a bug repellent in the garden)

it was one of our favorite flowers growing up as kids because they would change colors as they opened:

https://imgur.com/a/OA9hwae

https://imgur.com/a/R7NQOTC

my front garden area is growing along nicely..im quite pleased.

https://imgur.com/a/IyQy1XP

/there are over NINETY green tomatoes within there, i kid you not, i went out and started counting because it was just so many...

https://imgur.com/a/JySAuqO

https://imgur.com/a/tqnQs46

i came out one morning and noticed how the sunlight was shining pure GOLD on the hairs of the tomato stem and it was such a heavenly sight to see!

https://imgur.com/a/73D6JQd

both type of tomato i have, and the only thing i have done prune wise was to take any leaves from the bottom that actually touched the ground...only those came off, nothing else.
i didnt pull off any suckers, i just let the plants do what they wanted to do and boy did they ever perform!
i think i have TOO MANY now.
ive watered them almost daily and they are coming out perfect.

the water feature with this bed is next to the sago...i use this water for the plants.
there are big black/green frogs that live in here and all kinds of wildlife uses it to drink.

https://imgur.com/a/RqSYawj

https://imgur.com/a/rYafi8B

https://imgur.com/a/k5g6lwZ

https://imgur.com/a/3NQF7O5

Last Edited by rob2 on 05/22/2023 01:20 PM

5-22-23

OP here.

I'm stuck in Kansas waiting on a trailer.

Wanting to be back out the house as I think the pumpkins and will have sprouted by now.

I've also heard we've had about an inch of rain this week.

The gardens are looking great, though. :-)

that is good to hear OP!
so good.

Is it?

It would be better if I weren't stuck in a parking lot and was in a place where I could actually collect wild Boneset.

Maybe I'll head to the Nursery.

I don't have anything better to do.

:-)

my daughter and husband worked together to make this for me, i found the plan, she found the material and added the measurement lines and he cut them out.she screwed it all together perfectly and it even has venting.

https://imgur.com/a/r4D331N

its got dual holes for escape route, i asked for that.

https://imgur.com/a/cYVoUVF

it faces north and severely shaded south standing atop a tall wooden pole in an unused corner of the yard:

https://imgur.com/a/DsZfNhF

ill let you know if they like it.

oh no...i meant about your garden...yeah that didnt come out right.
how do you use boneset may i ask?
is it self explanatory? heals bones fast?

Boneset was originally used by native American tribes to set bones and for aques and fevers.

It came to be used by English colonists around the mid-1600s.

Some even say that it was most likely minister George Burroughs, who was accused of being the witch king of Salem during the Salem Witch Trials, who brought Boneset to English knowledge. He is known to have ministered among the natives and learned their medicines. Some accused him of making pacts with demons among them. However, Burroughs was a theologically trained Christian minister and happened to have an avid hobby of learning in medicine and healing. He was even mocked in new papers after the trials as being some sort of weird wizardly root collector.

Fyfe probably gives the fullest account of this traditional medicine that the mainstay against flu in America for at two full centuries.

Boneset -- the most popular American herbal medicine in history that no Americans have ever heard of today.

[link to www.google.com (secure)]

im Central Florida and here is my ALOE patch...one of them.

https://imgur.com/a/NKkSzQw

got them all twenty years ago from a neighbor who wanted roses instead.i just stuck them in the ground and walked away.
these monsters grow in halfday sun.

https://imgur.com/a/tuTaFBO

they are standing up several inches off of the ground.
they are old ones.

this second patch gets more sun and this is the one i pick from if i ever need any.i ask the plant which leaf can i take and then i wait.

https://imgur.com/a/W0RMJj4

after half a minute or so the plant will wiggle one or more leaves and those are the ones i will choose from.
taught my children how to do this.

the east bed when i first started..

https://imgur.com/a/LhwWsSS

had beans on a trellis but took that out..

https://imgur.com/a/l4laK5s

https://imgur.com/a/Bz93XrM

made a chicken wire/tulle catnip cage for thirteen plants:

https://imgur.com/a/1t91EgF

https://imgur.com/a/lorpg8W

im not going to sell the plants..instead ill grow them and sell the harvests.
ill just keep regrowing.
i have used logs/boards/bamboo/extra compost to stop up any lower gaps around the chicken wire.
i still have another larger area to plant more catnip but this was just a first try to make a cage with what i had laying around.

https://imgur.com/a/KQXcdam

Last Edited by rob2 on 05/22/2023 02:05 PM

interesting...and it helps the kidneys as well.i like that.

baby pineapple:

https://imgur.com/a/xSYQXUh

a month later...boy they take awhile!

https://imgur.com/a/ntTmXiC

It's the best diaphoretic I've ever taken.

It really does induce sweating.

It's where the saying 'breaking a fever' comes from.

That was Boneset (and is Boneset if you take it).

I made up a batch of Dr Scudder's 1870 Boneset tincture a few years ago.

Last March I caught a spring flu. I took only Boneset to see what would happen.

It induced sweating and did help the fever.

I know it's not best practice to test medicines on yourself, but this is one case where it worked.

Second only to quinine in my view.

I'm now a convinced Boneset user.

And Kansas has tons of it.

going to try and make BONEMEAL with these assorted bones from dinners ago.

https://imgur.com/a/whKVEzh

they are hopefully going to be dry enough when i finally throw them in the blender.
ill probably wait a month or so...idk.

im trying to do as much as possible without any money.

thank you for making this thread OP!
it helps me feel sane in this world..

https://imgur.com/a/1tC07dJ

this white tailed opossum has lived under my house for a couple of years now.

https://imgur.com/a/MZyp9hf

she comes in through the kitty window to eat the dry cat food and drink the water from their bowl.
as you can see she is quite fat.
it is loud when it crunches the food but she seems to be a very happy and surprisingly CLEAN animal.
she scoots off home when shes done and never causes any trouble.

there HAS been a raccoon come in twice now this spring and that fucker makes a huge mess.i dont like that.

That's what it's for. :-)

I tilled the main garden bed, which rips out the bermuda grass roots. Tomorrow, I'll rake, then start planning the drip irrigation lines. I'll spread humus, then set up lines and emitters for 15 roma, 15 okra, and 3 pepper plants.