Nice growth...wishing you a healthy harvest.
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Put them in the ground yesterday! They were starting to look like their roots were ready for some room and three days of gorgeous weather coming up followed by a few days of rain. Thought it was good timing plus I was just excited!
I did one last till of the area, a little bit of movement of some calendula and other seedlings to open up a little bit of room. I dug the hole, added some myke (mycorrhizae, beneficial symbiotic fungus that works with a plants roots to increase nutrient uptake and water retention) then put the plants in, and gently covered them with soil. Then gently watered
I also did some companion planting, adding some marigolds to the borders near the seedlings. Marigolds are so great for pest protection! Also have yarrow, sunflowers, borage and chamomile seedlings growing, and mint spreading. If I could recommend just one of these I would say chamomile. I put it ALL over my garden this year. They call it the doctor plant, it is antibacterial so will prevent mold and infections. Ok and sunflowers, but not too close cus they can create shade but Iβve read that they can increase oil production in your plants!
The soil is so nutritious, but wondering when you all would recommend starting a liquid fertilizer? I usually use a seaweed based one during veg.Attached FilesComment
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Hi amy24 i caution you on outdoors just keep them safe they are way to young for my view to go outside. But you already did it so make something so rain does not drill them into the soil, too little too you for the elements sorry to be a debbie downer just hate to see excited growers jump to soon. -
Soil looks great. They look so small + vulnerable , I wish the best for your plants.ππ»
SoOrbudgal has a point. Maybe you can shelter them from any rain that comes soon.
Your garden looks great π» wish my garden wasn't shared, even tho nobody uses it.
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Beautiful garden, I am jealous of all the work youβve put in. Chamomile smells great, I had some last in my herbs last summer. My favourite part of my outdoor garden is my asparagus patch. A couple summers of work and then they basically grow themselves - the plants last about 15 years and it is a spring crop. Nothing tastes as nice as fresh asparagus!
I doubt you will need added nutes for quite a while. When/if you decide to use nutes try for higher nitrogen in veg and low nitrogen in flower. Some outdoor growers donβt use them at all if the plants are directly in the ground. The one thing I would watch for is making sure the soil isnβt too dense.
Good luck!Comment
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I had a feeling that might be what I would hear π¬ hopefully others will hear this warning in advance, silly of me to not wait.
They looked very happy today, but I will be sure to do that! Someone told me to get kid umbrellas from the dollar store for veggies, maybe do that here?Comment
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Dont worry , I have feeling they will make it. While they are still small, any big plastic bottles or cartons you can find & cut in half will work perfectly for rain shelter.
Mini umbrellas! lol π What's that stuff people put round plants & pots to stop slugs coming near? Is it copper? That be a good idea, they hate eggshells too.
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Also, thanks for the advice on asparagus, I had no idea they lasted for so many years! Two Springs of a global pandemic will do that for a garden, horrible circumstances, but I have a lot of time on my hands. And thanks on the nutes advice too, would be cool to see what they do on their own.Comment
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Yes, they do take a bit of space, although not an extreme amount. The way it works is the roots stay in the ground and apparently can stretch down about 15 feet so it is quite drought tolerant, and it grows for about 15 years before they wind down and die. The shoots come up in early spring and you basically clear cut them for about a month and eat like crazy. After that you let them grow undisturbed for the rest of the summer to feed the roots for the next spring. It is pretty low maintenance for such a great plant. I have a stretch along the fence where they are out of the way but nothing stopping you from digging a row in the Center of your yard. The plants are relatively nice to look at. I think my bed is maybe about 5βx15β. In the early years they grew almost to my chin (I am 6β2β) and are a really soft green fern (I think I said palm earlier - I meant fern). They have a red berry type of seed in the late summer but mostly they are just lush green soft ferns. Now they are a little smaller and winding down their lifecycle. Where I am I should see the shoots peek through in a couple weeks, depending on the weather. They say you should cover the ground during winter with straw or something to protect the plants but I stopped doing that after a year or two and it didnβt matter.
To get them established, if memory serves (it was 15+ years ago), you dig a trench pretty early in the summer, I think it was a couple feet deep. Lay in the crowns (basically an asparagus root system) and cover them a little at a time throughout the summer as they grow. I did a double row in my bed and it worked fine but it is a bit of a squeeze. Leave them alone without harvesting any for that first summer and the next to strengthen and establish their root system. The summer after that you will have more fresh asparagus than you can eat (for at least a few weeks). The best part is you are eating them in spring while the rest of your garden is just starting. If you grow from seeds you will probably start harvesting a year later, but who knows what sort of new faster varietals they may have come up with in the last 15 years.
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OK, after an hour of over thinking this, haha... tell me if this is worth it.
I have three huge totes I used last year that Iβm
planning on using for some clones Iβm going to get this week. Iβve been doing the same routine to them as the garden pretty much, minus the trench composting. Does it make sense to dig wide around the seedlings, transfer them to the totes and put the clones in the garden? Or is this totally pointless at this point? I was thinking how the small plants might benefit from the smaller space, plus I could put the totes under the edge of my house so they are protected from the rain?Comment
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Well amy24 i would if you really want to harvest a decent couple plants outside. Inground is great it just takes alot of do diligence and care to keep the bugs and varments off your garden. Veggies are one thing but as you have seen online all commercial growers it seems they use large fabric bags above ground. No bugs can get into those pots unless they crawl up them as with any outdoor pot. I elevate some pots even outdoors on blocks and such. You get 1-2 chances if were lucky to raise outdoor weed then you have to wait a whole year to do it again. It's really hard to keep MJ from getting chewed up outdoors not gonna lie so give them the best home you can keep up with without pulling hairs out LOL.
I truely wish you the best grow season
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Iβm so torn! I did the fabric pots a couple years ago, a combo of fabric, plastic totes and in the ground last year, and then this year was going to do two in the ground to start and two in the totes, then clone one into the other tote and maybe sneak a couple more clones into the fabric pots if Iβm lucky. Last year I had four in the ground in this location and they got to be taller than my fence and me! But needed more room... sorry Iβm rambling now!
The reason Iβm torn is that I get the clones today anyways! Happy 420!!! So... my thinking now is that I mayβs well protect the ones in the ground and move forward with the clones as backup in the totes. π€π€
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SoOrbudgal Sorry for not listening to the advice, but decision made. The clones went in the totes. Would have agreed with you and moved them if my clones didnβt arrive today. I used these totes last year, and had been dumping coffe grounds, eggs shells, etc on them all winter, just like my garden. Tilled up the totes, breaking any chunks and really breaking down any chunks of roots. Ended up with really nice soil with a bunch of egg shells mixed in. ππΌ Then I added some compost, worm poo, a bit of peat moss just to get some extra stuff in there. At the very bottom, mixed up a banana, some wood ash, cardboard and a couple dandelions with root (very mini version of my garden trenches) and made sure there were a few worms in the totes to eat that stuff. Did the Myke again, making sure it touched the roots of the clones.
More proof that I have waaaay too much time on my hands, haha π fingers crossed the little ones make it but at least I have these for back up. I sure saw what you all meant by not waiting long enough once I saw how big the clones got in their red solo cups! π€¦ββοΈAttached FilesComment
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Ok to any readers on here... LISTEN TO THE EXPERTS donβt get too excited! I think my little babies are going to be OK, but I sure wish I had paused, waited for a response, and listened. They were having such great growth and they were/are definitely vulnerable now. But starting to perk up!
The βbiggerβ little was ok but the littlest one got a bit beat up. I saw a few bites out of it right away and examined my garden and saw a big trail of ants - which in hindsight could totally be a result of trench composting? Not sure but maybe the ants loved all the extra stuff hanging around. I read to use cinnamon and that really worked. I looked over the garden and anywhere that looked like the beginnings of an ant hill, I put cinnamon and now no more ants!
I also realized... why did I think sun then rain was good for them? I had nothing to back that up, I just got excited haha. In hindsight, I think a nice cloudy stretch would be the best. The rain wasnβt so hard on the ones in the ground - I did end up covering the little one because the rain was splashing back up at the plant and I think it appreciated the coverage. But having sooooo much rain seemed to stress out the clones in the totes. They just got droopier and droopier and now there is also some discolouration. They were suuuuper dark green when I got them and they were also under lights before and now outdoors so I think they are just kind of adjusting to their new home? But does anything look like I should be worried? They seem to be perking back up now that theyβve had some dry days.
Thanks for everyoneβs help! I promise not to go rogue again haha.Attached FilesComment
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The ones in the ground are super happy, still doing well...it almost looks like one of them was topped but I havenβt done anything to it- itβs growing out in a Y shape and looks like itβs developing two dominant stems now. Not sure what happened there? So last year my plants in this spot got reeeeeally tall I made a post to see if it was too late to top them, so this year was thinking of trying to train them to grow horizontally, not totally, but just encouraging them to get their lean on. Has anyone ever done this? When is a good time to start training a plant?
The clones look mostly healthy except for some weird discolouration but I still think maybe thatβs just from the shock.... but wondering if it looks like there is anything to worry about? Should I just remove the damaged leaves?
Thinking of starting a weakened down organic liquid fertilizer tomorrow morning, itβs called tomato bloom and itβs 7-3-5. Also last year I started experimenting with mulching at the end of the season after visiting this site https://homesteadandchill.com/how-to...s-organically/ and also read a good read on here last night.. https://www.growweedeasy.com/mulch-organic-growing thinking of starting that up again... my friend recommended building a bit of a moat around the ones in the ground so the liquid fertilizer stays in that zone, was thinking of doing that filling the little moat with some mulch?
Anyone else like mulching? Any other advice or stories about organic outdoor grows? Going to get the diatomaceous earth finally this week, and need some soil for my last tote, saw fox farms ocean forest soil for sale from the same place, anyone else use this?
Happy Growing! β€οΈAttached FilesComment
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Awesome thanks DeadlyFruit I appreciate the feedback, glad to hear they look good
Canuck147 - really??? There seem to be a lot of posts about it being good, even one on this site? Have you had a bad experience with mulching? -
Canuck147 oh yeah Iβve read that about cedar, you should check out those links above if youβre into organic growing, they are more about creating your own mulch. Iβm thinking about chopping up some borage, dandelion greens, and mint for a little βtop dressingβ green mulch idea...
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You can actually like comments if you want but it is a roundabout way to do it that isnβt intuitive. Just click βlatest activityβ at the top of the thread and it splits out the comments so you can like them. As I said, it is a bit roundabout.Originally posted by amy24 View Post
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Iβm experimenting but in a calculated, after reading lots of stuff, kind of way. I like the saying βthe more you grow, the more you know,β so adapted some stuff from last year. Made a moat of fox farms organic soil around the base of the plants, sprinkled a TBSP of Gaia green 4-4-4 a mixture of basically everything Iβve ever read on here: alfalfa, kelp, bone, blood, feather meal plus rock and sand and good stuff then sprinkled a TBSP of neem meal, mixed those both into the top layer of soil inside the moat. They both recommended a lot more but I just wanted to do a tiny bit since Iβm also doing the mulch. I then sprinkled diatomaceous earth around the edge of the moat and filled it in with my mulch (following the mulch lead from homestead and chill link in above post) a combo of chopped up dandelions, borage, mint, lemon balm, and oregano - all things I needed to thin out anyways. Loving the organic life cycle of my garden! The mulching article on here said to do greens during veg and browns during flowering - greens make bacteria and browns make fungi, super cool Science. Like you all have mentioned, almost no need for this when they are in the ground but Iβm crazy and love a project! Also did the same thing to the clones in the totes.
Next project is starting LST to try to get these not too tall, and bushy and big instead! Read Nebula Hazeβs article on here, will follow that plan.Comment
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I was supposed to get a clone from a friend a couple weeks ago, but didnβt so was anxious to get another plant going in my last tote. Just took a clone off my biggest plant, I patiently waited for six nodes, then chopped down to the third node, leaving a little bit of the stem poking up. I was reading about natural ways to clone and read about cloning with aloe the night before and when I went to the store yesterday morning they were selling big stalks of aloe! So... I put some purified water and aloe pulp in my blender, so it was ready for my cutting. As soon as I cut the clone I put it straight in the water. And then I trimmed off excess fan leaves and bottom nodes and put it back in the water/aloe mix. I let it soak over night then this morning made a red solo cup full of a light airy mix of fox farms soil and extra peat moss. Then, I did a couple very light incisions (more like scratches) on the side going along the stem, then stuck it inside the aloe frond pulp moving it back and forth. This is supposed to scratch up the outsides of the stem to stimulate root development. Just to be safe, I did a tiny dip in pro-mix stim-root 1. Afterwards, I thought how I should have mixed a bit of the powder into the soil but oh well! Hopefully it appreciates all my love, I really want to get it established ASAP as a back up plant. π€β€οΈ
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So my original clones are going into flower... π the guy I got them from said how did the same thing and he just popped off the little buds and gave them lots of nitrogen...what do you all think??Comment
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So my original clones are going into flower... π the guy I got them from said his did the same thing and he just popped off the little buds and gave them lots of nitrogen...what do you all think?? Or maybe I should do that to one and not the other and have an experiment? π
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I see this with clones too, I either let them flower or up the light to 16-20 hours and in 2 weeks they reveg.
I dont think what you were told will work, would be an interesting test. Heres my luck, I reveged a flowering clone, got 2 limbs on her and went to trim the "bud" out and cut off both limbs. She has forgiven me and grew more.
Good luck!Comment
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Agreed, my crazy impulsive self wanted to do it right away but I thought hmmm that doesnβt make a lot of sense... I think I will let them flower, maybe do some LST to try to get some big buds and just see what happens! Take it as a learning experience not to get clones until may or June thanks for your help!
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