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We're finally getting some cold weather here, and this is something that I like to do - discuss what the weather is like in your neck of the woods.

I loathe the cold and love Summer, so much so that I try my best not to kvetch about the Summer heat because I will complain about the cold. All. Winter. Long. I also like Summer because I know it's gonna be hot and don't have to figure out what to wear. I like life easy like that...

🌞 The Weather Thread

We are all on the verge of being busy bees in our gardens! This thread is to share our daily garden accomplishments and trials.

Feel free to add yours.

My new neighbors cut down about 6 trees in February. I have been observing the suns tracking on this side of the house lately and it's looking promising. My current garden has gone from 9 to 6 hours of light due to the old neighbors trees. I've got to get some fence up, young me would've had this tilled by now. Old me will start with containers for the time being!

I purchased from a nursery and it was thriving at first, until it wasn’t. The leaves started turning black and the seller told me to water every 3 days and that should solve the problem. Well, it did, until it didn’t.

She started putting out new leaves and then bam, they wilted off again. She appears dry, the bark on the stem is just flaking off and I gave her a tug to see if her roots were settled and it came right out the soil.

I don’t know if I should...

Is my Blueberry plant done for?

I bought a meyer lemon tree 1.5 years ago. I have fertilized it 4 times with organic espoma citris tree fertilizer. Since I started fertilizing the branches have new growth outward but there are huge leaves growing from the branches instead of the normal smaller 'thicker' leaves. Is this normal? Should I cut off these larger leaf branch extensions. I've attached some pictures.



[ATTACH...

Meyer Lemon Tree

Hello,

I grow potatoes in containers. They have been in a fenced in area of my yard so I've never had problems with deer. I want to start growing some in another area where deer are known to browse. Does anybody have any input on potatoes and deer?

It is believed that okra made it's first appearance in America during the 17th century. It was brought to the southern Colonies, where it thrived in the hot, humid summers.

The first documented accounts of okra grown in the New World were by Thomas Jefferson, who grew it in his Monticello vegetable garden during the 1780's.

[IMG alt="Beautiful Okra...

Tips for Growing Great Okra

The Locals, plotting against me.
Their leader, "the Albino" is especially cunning

Hello, this is my first time growing Bell peppers and I’ve done some research on pruning. However, it seems to be a preference thing for topping off the bell pepper plant early on or doing so. My plant is growing, but I am noticing atleast 9-10 different clusters of flowers coming up. I’ve heard some say remove them so it can focus on growing leaves. I did this already once, but I am seeing a good amount coming up. Should I leave them? Or cut a couple down? Again, there are 10 clusters...

Should I prune these clusters from my Bell Pepper plant?

Hello all! Pleasure to be among so many fellow lovers of nature's bounty. Not sure if I'm utilizing this right if not please just direct me to where I should ask this question. I live on the CT shoreline, have been growing some potted cannabis plants outdoors. I'm 99% sure that I'm into the flowering stage but I am just looking for suggestions or comments about what to do next. Currently today we have 13.6 hours of sunlight and they're clearly already beginning the process before budding...

Introduction - outdoor cannabis question

Next spring I am going to do an experiment in no till gardening, never done it before. I will till where I plant my potatoes, and will add leaves between the rows. The other half of the garden will be no till. I have it covered with leaves right now. I will clear small areas to plant my squashes, Zuccini, pumpkins etc and add leaves around them when they sprout. My main objective is to keep the weeds down.
Will see how that works.

Yep! It's a thing! 😁

So do you grow Zucchini?

Any special variety?

Have a surplus?

Favorite way to prepare it?

Let us know if you give or receive any today, and pictures would be cool too.

Feel free to add yours

The pics below are the current state of things around here. There will be more seeds sown soon. For some things I'm 4 to 2 weeks behind this year. I'm in no rush, while I can put things in the ground by mid-May it only becomes food for the earwigs and slugs. They will eat an 8-in tall eggplant to lace in one evening.





...

Out here just pushing nature along!

Need to decide which tomato for 2025. Want one to use for salads and sandwiches. My garden is small; 1 section is 5 x 20' and 1 5 x 24'.

I am trying to get get more active in gardening, canning & freezing what I can. I am supposed to have a greenhouse delivered tomorrow so that will a new project to start. Next year going to try and do some mini homesteading. I am glad I found this place. Hope to find all kinds of information that will help.

Have a blessed day.

I have been thinking about what foods to grow for my chickens and turkeys, and came across this article. What do you grow for your birds?

@stone got me thinking about planning a pollinator garden.

Back story...
I took an old swingset and rededicated it to a trellised garden. Over the last couple of years I have planted peas, pole beans, and asparagus beans up the trellis. The tree to the right (north west) is a white mulberry that is staying.

My problems are:

• it is too far from water supply
• it is too close to corn field, hiding place for dozens of deer...

Pollinator Garden

This is our final harvest for the season. Looks like I'm gonna have to get some sirloin tips to have Steak-n-Peppers . . . . ohhhhh yeah.

How long does it take strawberries to wake from dormancy and start putting out leaves again?

Last fall, I took these two pots in and put them in my apartment building's storage room. There should have been almost no light and it should not have gotten too cold, but it may have gotten too warm.

A week ago I watered them and put them in a sunny window. Nothing yet.

I thought the 'above ground' parts being yellow and dead-looking would be fine, but the roots would come back to life?

Am I...

Waking up dormant strawberries?

New gardener here. Just looking for advice and reading how people do things. I am a complete novice. Interested in tomato plants

Is anyone into growing micro greens?

I thought I would present an easy way to grow lettuce indoors that I have been doing for years.

2/15/25 - Seed germination using rockwool cubes and fresh lettuce seed. I like Romaine lettuce for this method but I'm sure most types of lettuce will work just as well. I use the 1" square rockwool cubes.

• Using a pencil, chopstick, or similar, press a hole through the rockwool to promote root growth down.
• Soak rockwool and place in a container.
• Add seed to the hole. I added 3...

Easy Hydroponic Lettuce

Has anyone got any pets?
I've got 2 golden retrievers, on the right Barley is 11 and Berry is 9

OK, here's the deal.
Humble Bundle throws together a bunch of books, and then lets you decide on the package you want.
$1 gets you 3 books.
$10 gets you 9
$18 gets you all 29 books.
You DO NOT get to pick which books... it's a bundle.

Now, those other prices? Well, you don't get anything extra.
I guess you can pay more if you need a tax deduction or something like that.

I have used Humble Bundle for a year or so now, and the nice thing is they save your purchases online too. SO... if you...

Humble Bundle GARDENING BOOKS, pdf

My legal age grandaughter wants to try and grow some Cannabis. It's legal here in Canada BTW. I have never tried, so could use some pointers. In Zone 5b. Right now she has some seeds in a baggie with a wet paper towel. I suppose it will sprout and she will put into a small pot to grow and plant outside in spring. Is she starting too early? Any other pointers?.

Anyone use or try out “Seedtime” app for planning your garden?
There is free and pay versions
If not, do you have a different app you like?

It seems to me that, rather than hijack someone else's help thread, I could start my own thread. This will show my journey and hopefully help someone else.

To bring this thread up to speed, recently I discovered that the water pump in my larger unit wasn't working anymore. Pumps circulate the water to add oxygen mainly. I'd had problems with too much nutrient settling out of the water and have geared the amounts down, but evidently not in time to save that pump. I tried to fix it but one...

my hydroponics thread

I stumbled upon this idea the other day and I was blown away with it. My granddaughter mentioned she was going to cook some asparagus in the oven and with my poor hearing, I swore she said bacon was involved. (my bad). Soooo, I went to the ole YouTube looking for how to cook it and I found "wrapped in bacon" . . . oh yeah, set the hook and reel me in. I've never heard of it, seen it, or anything. This is my rendition of how to Bacon Wrap asparagus.

I’ve been working on Name of Guide removed by Moderator, and I’d love to get some feedback from real gardeners. It’s an online vegetable garden planner that creates a custom planting schedule based on your crops and location, and even lines up planting times to incorporate succession planting into your plan. You can create a plan for free at Site Removed by Moderator . I'm still adding features, and appreciate any thoughts, criticisms, feature requests, etc. Thanks in advance!

Bell Peppers will soon be in season in much of the world. This is how I freeze them for easy use year-round. They are not "dehydrated" or "Freeze-Dried". Just simply diced and frozen. The reason for freezing loose on a cookie sheet (on parchment paper is best) is for easy storage and use. If you just dice, bag, and freeze, you will have a solid block of ice with peppers in it. So, by freezing loose on a tray it will remove some of the moisture and will store loose in the bag...

Bell Peppers - Freshly Frozen