Anyone else garden?

[Czanne]

Hey, whitedove -- on the lettuce bed: oi. Lettuce can go pretty densely planted if it has enough water -- it's thirsty -- and it doesn't mind being with root veg, as long as you start them separately (so carrots first, to let them establish, then lettuce; that way the carrot tops are visible). We have pretty much no soil -- being just off a mountain range, the top soil is about 2 inches thick and the rest is in Kansas -- so I use raised beds, too. My best lettuce year was using one of those little 3 foot diameter kiddie pools that the grocery stores sell for $2-5. I punched some drainage holes in the bottom, added a couple bags of top soil, then mixed a couple packs of lettuce seeds with about a cup of sand to make scattering easier. When the first set of seeds had real leaves, I sprinkled another set; repeat 3 times. I'm a big salad eater, and that kept me in salads from around June 1 to first frost.

If the Evil Overlord is trusted with scissors (sorry, I can't tell if EO is a small child or adult), try to get them to use scissors to cut leaves instead of yanking, then the plants keep producing.

[WhiteDove01s]

being just off a mountain range

A description of the entire state of West Virginia.., well, at least that percentage of it that isn't 'right on a mountain' instead. XD In my case, Monsanto (and a couple of it's shallow front companies that filed bankruptcy to avoid any culpability) dumped toxic waste here. Dioxin, to be specific. It doesn't really go up the food chain in plants (so my fruit trees are 'safe'), as it binds to fats instead, but I prefer to dig in the actual ground here as little as possible. On top of that, I think the place was a landfill of the less chemical sort. I've dug up all kinds of broken glass and even car parts. It makes me really really miss living further in the country.

If the Evil Overlord is trusted with scissors

Thank you. I spent 15 minutes in here laughing, and trying to not be loud about it and risk having her ask me what I was laughing at. XD

The Evil Overlord is my biological mother. I was raised by my grandparents, so as far as emotional ties she's more like "that big sister who only came home to cause trouble and would steal my things to sell at flea markets". Believe me, she's earned her name as much as I've earned mine. (In fact, she actually likes it, and has asked if that means she can steal Regina's wardrobe from OOAT) She just turned 57 years old. She was in a car accident about ten+ years back and is on disability.

Do I trust her with scissors? No. I don't trust her with anything sharp, anything breakable, or anything that could pass for a blunt object. Or the chainsaw she bought herself (and puts herself in bed for two days straight any time she insists on using). However, that's not my call and I can't do anything about it. I'm just here to get her out of bed or the bathtub when she gets stuck and can't move, lift heavy things, and make trips that involve walking more than within sight of the house. So, is she allowed to have scissors? Yes. I'll just stay out of reach while she has them (and try to hide anything I don't want cut up in my room). XD

I did tell her to try to start using scissors on the leaves when the lettuce patch is growing this year.

And she told me she already has dressing...

In other garden stuff, my first tomato seedlings came up today!

So I've lowered the light way down on them to make sure they grow all nice and strong and not leggy.

Also, here are my mini citrus trees, my banana tree, and a potted vine which are waiting out the last of the cold weather inside.

I'm kind of worried about my baby banana. It made it through almost the whole winter, only to start developing some kind of weird die-back just in the last month.

It doesn't seem to match any disease on any banana sites I've found, so I'm hoping it's just a case of it needing more heat and sun and it'll pull through until weather allows it to get that.

[MitisFeles]

WhiteDove01s, tomato seedlings look so cute

I started to do a bit of gardening in the last two year, because I missed my parents' house, that being a country house has a lot of ground around it that my grandparents (and now my dad) used to grow lot of plants and vegetables.
I haven't a garden in my actual house but I have a really big terrace and a decent number of potted plants. Mainly ornamental plant like marigold and cacti and herbs I use for cooking, like rosemary, basil and sage. This years I'm trying for the first time to grow chili peppers from seeds and doing my best nursing 3 gardenia plants I accidentally left outside during the winter and suffered the cold. One has new leaves but the others still look battered...

[Kae915]

I wanted to do some gardening but since we moved from oklahoma I cant get a single thing to grow!! I had pea seeds that used to sprout within a couple of days for me grew about a foot tall until we couldn't take live plants with us for the move. Now it won't even sprout.

[Czanne]

Whitedove -- yay on those tomato sprouts! On the banana -- boo. Ow. Here's fingers crossed for it being cranky and SAD and just needing sun.

So... The EO sounds... Challenging. (And familiar. Are you sure we're not related, because I've got one of those, too?) Virtual hugs, sympathy, tea, cakes and ears on offer as needed. (I don't live with mine, but only because she has to have dementia care. No sharp or motorized objects for her, either.) (this week's SRSLY? is she's decided she's going to hitch hike back to her old stomping grounds because her carers and I don't let her have her sweets -- diabetic. Given that her walking range is currently about 200 yards with a walker, I'd almost pay to watch her try. At least it would get her out in the fresh air. )

Dioxin. Yeah. Good plan staying out of the dirt when possible. Oi. So sorry on that. (Fike-Artel, right? We're part of that suit for spouse's father. There aren't enough swear words in all of the languages in all of human history...)

[WhiteDove01s]

WhiteDove01s, tomato seedlings look so cute

Baby things almost always manage to look cute (Except baby spiders)

I haven't a garden in my actual house but I have a really big terrace and a decent number of potted plants. Mainly ornamental plant like marigold and cacti and herbs I use for cooking, like rosemary, basil and sage

Ooo... I haven't made any hard decisions on my herbs this year. Last year was my first try on kitchen herbs and it started well and ended badly. Do you bring yours in for the winter? I tried to. Most of them did fine all year, then as soon I brought the pots in they all died... and I do mean the perennials, not the annuals. Those were expected. I still have seed tho, so I might try again. All together I have seed for chervil, savory, parsley, chives, sweet basil, sweet marjoram, thyme, oregano, sage, cilantro, and rosemary. Well, and also woad, and toothache plant, but neither of those are kitchen herbs.

I wanted to do some gardening but since we moved from oklahoma I cant get a single thing to grow!!

Plants and seeds can get thrown off like that. It's an odd thing. You could try looking for an heirloom variety that was developed near where you now live?

Are you sure we're not related

Given aspects of the reputations of both my biological father and my maternal grandfather's dad... No, I'm not sure about anything of that sort. (I could have unknown half-siblings in Vietnam, even!)

No sharp or motorized objects for her, either.

I have no legal control (like power of attourney) or any other kind of control over the Evil Overlord's actions, sadly. Including whether or not she plays with the chainsaw. My best methods for most things are to distract her, find other things for her to do (polymer clay has been a really good thing), or try to make sure I handle it myself if it's something I know she'll hurt herself on (heavy lifting). The chainsaw is hers, tho. She won't let me touch it any more than I'd let her play with my Phicen doll. So when she decides she wants to go whack at something with it, all I can do is wait for her to come back in, complaining about her arms being numb and having another migrane, and then she'll take to bed for two days and complain loudly and with swearwords about being hurt.

She resents the fact that she can't do the things she used to, partly from injury and partly from age. And some of it's her own fault. She'll have cussing fits about doctors and says they're all quacks and frauds and it's they're fault she's injured. After the accident they put a neck brace on her. She felt fine so she TOOK IT OFF and went back to work. This is their fault, somehow, because it can't be hers. Her nickname is because there's really no telling her what to do, especially if you try to do it directly. It just makes her dig in her heels and she'll do it anyway, and often throw a temper tantrum worthy of a badly raised toddler in the process. I have to be sneaky and kind of hint and nudge and hope I can steer her away from things sometimes. It doesn't always work.

My biggest recent win was convincing her to relinquish cleaning control of the cast iron cookware my gran gave me. (I think she also resented that my gran passed her over with the set, which had belonged to my great-grandmother.) She'd try to wash them anyway, start to struggle with lifting them, and leave them full of water while she went to nap. I'm going to have to put some work in on the big one's coating this summer as she managed to strip most of it off. Getting her to admit the problem means she doesn't hurt herself trying to wash the pans, and the cast iron doesn't end up rust.

(this week's SRSLY? is she's decided she's going to hitch hike back to her old stomping grounds because her carers and I don't let her have her sweets -- diabetic. Given that her walking range is currently about 200 yards with a walker, I'd almost pay to watch her try. At least it would get her out in the fresh air. )

Ohboy. I can see that of the Evil Overlord in maybe 20-30 years. Or if she's ever committed and someone tries to force her to do anything. She doesn't have dementia (yet), but I'm almost certain she's not right in the head. I don't have the education to make a proper diagnosis tho. (My best guess, currently, is borderline personality disorder.)

Dioxin. Yeah. Good plan staying out of the dirt when possible. Oi. So sorry on that. (Fike-Artel, right? We're part of that suit for spouse's father. There aren't enough swear words in all of the languages in all of human history...)

Nope, Solutia (or something like that, fuzzy on spelling) was the front here. Though the Evil Overlord says Elmer Fike used to own the big bit of hillside across the road from us, and she's sure there was illegal dumping there. (But then, she's also sure Santa Claus is a member of the Hell's Angels, so take that with some salt.) That's the thing about front companies, they're all the same people underneath.

The case 'round here has officially been settled, but I wouldn't count it a win. They had to pay to vacuum a few carpets (like that would really do anything), and 'free medical monitoring'. In other words, Monsanto gets Free Guinea Pigs if you want to let them poke you. Here's an article on it.
http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201311220094

And wandering back to topic, I'm up to 8 (out of 12) tomato plants sprouted, and 3 (out of 12) pepper plants! And I'm thinking I may have overwatered the banana over the winter (complete newbie mistake). A lot of sites seem to say if it just rots back way too much, cut it down and hope for fresh sprouts - they're more like a flower bulb than a tree. I'm going to hope it holds on to a couple leaves until it gets sun, and then see about cutting off everything that looks rotted.

I'm going to try to get out a bit today and check on things in the yard. There's still a lot of brush to gather up because of winter storms. I moved all the really heavy stuff (one was a tree probably 3 times my height that I had to lop the limbs off of first with a limb lopper so I could drag it out of the way). There are tons of little sticks left to keep the Evil Overlord distracted and busy. XD

[Trethowan]

Garden update. My handful of pots with their little seeds haven't really gotten anywhere yet. I'm worried I tried to plant seeds too early. I usually don't start planting until mid-April.

My front yard gets the best sun, but since my HOA doesn't allow gardens in the front yard, I'm thinking about hiding the low-lying plantings behind a row of marigold and planting rosemary, basil, and sage in a shrub-like format. If everything is laid out like a landscape instead of garden rows, I think I can get away with it. Bwaahaa!

Anyone have any tips on pest control that's worked for them? I'm against using poisons and pesticides.

Maybe I should put a greenhouse on my deck out back. /sigh. So many options!

[Trethowan]

Happy updates! I decided to till a little patch in the front yard and surrounded it with a rock border. I planted a small run of broccoli, pumpkins, squash, bush beans, sweet peas, spinach, tomatoes, and peppers. I think that should be a nice start and it will be easy to manage all in one place. It's a small patch so I'm definitely going to hide everything behind the marigolds like I'd said.

I decided against doing a greenhouse because the point of this garden was just to be a small patch. As it stands, I only spent around 12 bucks on seeds and didn't have to buy anything else (so far) so that's nice.

How about you guys? any new updates on your gardening now that it's warming up?

[WhiteDove01s]

I've got my carrot bin started, and will be spending part of my day repotting my baby tomato and pepper plants (they grow so fast!). Now if I could just find a good place to sit them that isn't 'all around my computer monitor'. Between that and some unbaked polyclay projects, I have no room to sew dolly underwear... *sigh* Space is always tight here.

Like most of my stuff, the carrots are an odd blend... though in this case I had to buy them separate and mixed the seed together myself (I keep my seeds in a cool, dark place in a metal tin, so I can get a few years use out of a packet.)
Amarillo (yellow), Lunar White (white), Little Finger (orange and short), Atomic Red (red), and Cosmic Purple (purple). I still like the orange ones best...

P.S.: My newest dolly addition, Amy, wants to help with the plants. I may have to take pictures...