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Tildes Gardening Group: Week 3/5/26
Welcome all to our fortnightly (ish) gardening group discussion!
Feel free to discuss anything related to gardening, beginner or advanced, challenge or success.
Ive moved it to a fortnightly thread, as sometimes gardening can be a bit slooooowwww motion
@nukeman @vord @zenon @crialpaca @Aran @pistos @thecakeisalime @tyrny @pekt @rosco @dustylungs @lackofaname @neonbright @monarda @tanglisha @Esteebestee @mimic @Zenon @lynxy @monarda @gourd @sparksbet @patience_limited @arctanh @Zorind @TheInflatableKayak @Akir
(Let me know if you want me to stop pinging you!)
I came in from the garden this morning and found a tick crawling on me. I've never had to do tick checks before but here comes the new normal, I guess. How do I get my hands on an opossum... Anyone else now having to deal with challenges they didn't used to have?
And this is the first year I am putting down some tick tubes, in addition to spraying some vet best tick spray on the lawn. I just became a new mom and really terrified at the aspect of my baby getting a tick/lyme/all of the other diseases.
Hard part is that everywhere around has ticks, so I should do tick check often as well as applying picaridin when I go out. Also, lint roller on clothes helps to get the small nymphs on your pants.
If you have any pets that go outside, don't forget to check them as well. I grew up in tick country, they always seemed to be on my scalp or behind my ears.
Thanks. My cat is strictly indoor but I immediately got the anti-tick meds and treated her, since there's a danger of me bringing them into the house.
I’ve moved it to fortnightly.
My plants are doing great! So many have sprouted and grown more than expected, my raspberry bush in particular is going to break containment soon. Some have failed- weirdly the salad leaves and the sunflowers which I thought would be the easiest.
Done some tidying up in general. Next task is to get the new trellis up- moving from plastic to wood. Not sure about the expandable or fixed trellis- anyone got any experience?
I personally used plastic trellis netting and then used 1 inch metal electrical conduit.
Since I have a 4x4ft raised garden, I used two 10 foot electrical conduit poles sunken roughly 3 to 3.5 ft into the ground on either side of the garden which gives me about 6-7 feet of vertical trellis space, and then two 5 foot conduits for the horizontal top and bottom pieces (plus the associated couplers). Then a ton of zip ties to keep the trellis netting taut. This lets me have a very significant amount of fruit/weight on the trellis itself without worrying about it bending, breaking, or simply not supporting the plants enough.
It worked really well and let me kind of customize the sizing, but I'm sure there's much easier and better ways to accomplish it.
I use wire fencing that comes in a roll. It's supported by t posts. You can connect the two with zip ties or the little metal clips they sell next to the t poles. If you go this route, make sure you have something that will cut through the wire so you can make it the size you want.
My favorite configuration is 4 t poles with fencing going sideways / the long way going up each side and connected by an arch between them that's high enough to walk under. I like the 6x6 inch holes, they're easy to reach though to clip on vines or harvest on the opposite side. My cucumbers grow right over the top and create some nice shade.
I bought a galvanized steel planter box to put flowers in. Do I need to put a liner inside it to protect the steel from the dirt and/or the plant roots from heat (the planter will be facing south)? If so, what material should I use?
I found several articles claiming galvanized steel will last 20-30 years as a raised garden bed. The 10 year variant depends on moisture and some soil conditions. Here's one that explains it.
Thanks, that's a pretty darned good lifespan. I've decided to line the box with grow bag material for heat protection. I think it's got enough thickness that it won't prevent water from evaporating as plastic might.
You could also try painting the outside a light color, but you'd have to check what kind of paint would stick to the metal.
My wife planted some bulbs a couple of weekends ago, but it was cold again last weekend (no frost, and not below freezing, but pretty close) so we still have quite a few sprouts in the aerogarden we’re waiting to plant outside until it maybe actually will stay warm.
I was wondering where the thread went!
The king bud opened and flowered on my eggplant.. plant. Unfortunately it didn't seem to pollenate. Since there's a few more open buds with 6-8 more on the plant, so we'll see.
My cherry tomatoes are in full swing and I'm harvesting a small handful every other day with 3 to 4 dozen in various growth stages at any given time.
The Brandy Boy tomatoes, only one plant is doing well. One seems to have just died and the other is a bit shadowed by other taller plants (poor placement on my part).
Okra is finally growing after almost a month of nothing. But they're still only maybe 6 inches tall, so it will be quite a while before production I think. This can get up to 6ft+ tall especially in the 90F+ daily heat around here, so here's hoping I get a good harvest.
My pole beans went right to the edge of dying with some kind of issue. I could never find any actual pests, so I suspect disease, but the few that haven't completely died are starting to flower. Yields will be next to nothing sadly.
All 3 hot peppers (banana, poblano, and serrano) had their first full flush, I haven't seen any fruit set yet but I'm hopeful.
I retried my ground cherries with direct sowing this time and I think I got an old/bad seed packet. Out of the entire packet I've only had 5 total sprout. There's 4 with their cotyledons going (no true leaves yet) that are maybe a cm tall, so I'm babying them along hoping I get a single viable one going.
Not a lot from this end- I'm down to one lavender seedling, but it's looking quite robust, so I'm honestly not too worried. We have managed to root some sweet (Thai?) basil which we got as cuttings for a salad, which will complement the number of holy (I think?) basil plants which I have managed to propagate.
The strawberries are moving slowly, but still alive. I think I just need to water them more often. They're in a large balcony planter, and they're only a centimeter or two tall each, and I think the amount of soil dries quickly in this early summer heat.
And lastly, I've been dumping tomato plants on any neighbours who will take them. I had close to 26 germinate and survive to a reasonable size, and it's just too much for me. I only need 4- 2 of each kind. Luckily my neighbours seem to be quite happy to receive free plants for their balconies. And it gives me a good opportunity to practice my German (I have the A1 exam on Tuesday, and then we'll be moving onto A2/1 before the end of semester). I might have to start giving out succulents, too, as mine are dropping so many leaves which each bud into a new plant if I give them water. They're cute, and relatively hardy.