Garden 2024

[pepperhead212]

I got my hydroponics set up, with the nutrients leveled out, and added some "Karma", and some micorrhyzae powder last night. Today, I got the rooted cuttings planted - all that's left to do is plant seeds (I'm just drawing it up now). I planted all of the basils, but I won't need 2 of any of them - I'll just wait and see which grow best. I have a few new varieties of seeds, but most are tried and tested. I semi-sterilized those cuttings, before planting them, by doing a dunk in a hydrogen peroxide solution - 1 tb/a pint of water.
All of the basil cuttings rooted in 7 days, the Thai basil with a little fewer roots. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The red Epazote all rooted strong, in about 15 days. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Epazote and basil cuttings, planted in the larger hydro tub. Seeds get planted later. 10-30 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The smaller hydro tub, for seeds later. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[Kathleen]

My rose bush is missing all its leaves. It looks like deer damage but I don't see where a deer could even get to the rose bush and the sunflower on the other side is just fine. Plus, all the blooms on it are still there, too. Do roses lose their leaves in the fall?

My roses will lose leaves at various times of the year only to grow them back. Right now, my roses look a little scrappy. And they will have a few leaves off and on throughout winter, but will bush back out come spring. I will advise that roses are hungry little bushes, so do feed them. I'm terrible at keeping on a feeding schedule, so I have been using this product for the past few years. It's spendy but a little goes a long way. I have two lines of rose bushes and purchased this in March of 2021. I still have some leftover.

 

[pepperhead212]

I got almost all of the seeds planted in the hydroponics, the Russian kale, the white stem bok choy (had good success last year with this not bolting quickly), and the new Koquie bok choy, that I've only grown this fall. I'll see what it does inside. I planted the new Landrace Mizuna, and the standard green Mizuna. And some leaf lettuce, from seeds that I saved from that plant that went well into August, before bolting. And 3 cilantro, of 2 varieties - Burpee, and Leisure. Only one parsley - the curly (but not triple curly) variety, as the roots in the flat leaf varieties are just too massive, for this. And just the one new Persian dill - I'll be getting new seeds for the Dukat from the outside plants. And one Arugula, which I'll have to plant maybe every 3 weeks, as it grew fast, but bolted fast, so I have to just use it up fast, and pull the roots out, which I won't let get overgrown (last year was my first time with this in hydro).

Oh yeah - I almost forgot that Za'atar I planted - some other new seeds I got from trueloveseeds.com A couple other herbs I got from them I didn't try, as the plants are way to large - 3 and 5 feet tall! They are the Quillaquiña, or Bolivian Coriander, and the Huacatay, or black mint. I got seeds years ago for the Huacatay, but had no germination, so hopefully these will do better.

 

[larry_stewart]

Didn't know Za'atar was its own herb/ spice. I always thought it was the mixture with them, sesame seeds and sumac.

Do you use the leaves, seeds or both fro this plant ?

 

[pepperhead212]

The za'atar is that herb/spice blend, but also refers to an herb, that can actually be one of several - that Syrian oregano I got as a plant from Richter's years ago, True Za'atar, and Cleopatra Za'atar. Here is the description of each:

https://www.richters.com/Web_store/web_store.cgi?product=X4316&show=&prodclass=Herb_and_Vegetable_Plants&cart_id=6357986.3379869

https://www.richters.com/Web_store/web_store.cgi?product=X7130-200&show=all&prodclass=&cart_id=6357986.3379869

https://www.richters.com/Web_store/web_store.cgi?product=X7130-200&show=&prodclass=Herb_Seeds&cart_id=6357986.3379869

They all say hardy from zone 8-10, which means that they might not be able to survive our worst winters, so I always take some cuttings, and root them on my back porch, but it keeps coming back every spring, spreading a little more. Only the leaves are used, and strip easily, fresh or dry.

 

[pepperhead212]

Here are those winter greens on the side of the house, that the squirrels destroyed most of in the back yard. The choy sum I harvested again today, but the one on the left has never flowered yet, while the other two have had multiple blossoming. I haven't tried that yu choy yet - that's supposed to get sweeter once it gets below freezing.
The greens on the side/front of the house, not bothered, KOW. These are the Koquie bok choy and kolibri. 10-31 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The Choy Sum, harvested several times, and the Yu Choy, getting quite large. 10-31 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Those very large Senposai plants, growing back, after harvesting more than half of them. 10-31 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

5 Merlot Napa cabbage plants, and 1 Kolibri, in an Earthbox, after pulling peppers out. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[rodentraiser]

My roses will lose leaves at various times of the year only to grow them back. Right now, my roses look a little scrappy. And they will have a few leaves off and on throughout winter, but will bush back out come spring. I will advise that roses are hungry little bushes, so do feed them. I'm terrible at keeping on a feeding schedule, so I have been using this product for the past few years. It's spendy but a little goes a long way. I have two lines of rose bushes and purchased this in March of 2021. I still have some leftover.

I totally forgot about feeding my plants. I'll have to do that. It's just been raining non-stop and I get to the point where I don't even want to look outside. I went out to get mail tonight and a tree fell down across my blue mist plants. I'll have to get the neighbor to have me move it because I can't even budge it.

I also drove over my irises today backing out. It was raining so hard I couldn't even see out the windows. And of course, I had my reading glasses on.

The forget-me-nots arrived today. IF this rain ever stops, I'll go out and plant those and my tulips.

I had deer in the fence again as I drove up this evening but at this point, there's very little damage they can do. I honked the horn at them and they jumped out and then just looked at me. This made me mad for some reason, so I chased them clean out of the yard with my car. I'm sure they'll be back. I think they have a mandate from God to make my life miserable.

 

[rodentraiser]

I forgot what I ordered. I don't have forget-me-nots. The label says Spanish bluebells. LOL

 

[pepperhead212]

I got a large amount of leaves collected, and ground up today, and got my garlic and shallots covered by about 4". The rest will get saved.

The seeds are sprouting quickly in the hydroponics, though the one Thai basil cutting, is bolting, which I was afraid it might, since it started turning purple on the tip, even while rooting. So I found a totally green cutting yesterday, and stuck it in one of those coir things I am starting all those seeds in - the only empty one left. Hopefully this one won't bolt. The other basils are getting new growth, and doing fine. The lettuce germinate in less than 2 days, and most of the brassicas are just becoming visible in the holes, though the herbs are taking longer, as expected.
Lettuce, germinating after less than 2 days. 11-2 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[Rascal]

I havnt germinated 1. Not even 1 seed for chillies
That's unbelievable. I put it down to old seeds.
I still have 100s in the freezer though.

Russ