Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with garden

How much should I charge for my fruit tree planting service?

Sentus — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 10:11:02 -0800

I am doing a lot of landscaping gigs lately, and want to start planting Edible Landscape for folks. How much should I charge for an edible tree package? Hello there fellow Mefi friends!

Fruit trees, Berries and Nut trees.

I will come to the customer, asses and test his soil for P.H and drainage, check the amount of sun the area is receiving, see that the area is large enough to provide space for future growth.

I am not going to push stuff that will not grow well in the area/problematic/high maintenance just to make a sell. Only trees that "want" to grow there, and will prosper without much maintenance, disease and pest problems.

Included:
* Healthy vigorous plants that have been checked for disease, been found free of "root bounding". Specific verities that adapted to the growing zone.
* Beautiful organic soil mixture tailored for new trees.
* Thick Layer (4"-6") of good mulch.
* An information pamphlet about the tree history, the specific variety, growing tips, watering schedules, pruning advice.

My questions will be:

1. What is the price range you would be willing to pay for something like that? How much for one tree? How much for a package of five shrubs/trees?
2. If the client have deer problem/huge dogs I can install a small durable fence. How much extra you think that worth to you?
3. What other services/extras I can offer that you think will make your decision more smooth?
4. Generally speaking, would you want a cheaper younger tree (2'-3' feet tall) or a more expensive and established tree (5'-8' feet tall)?
5. Any other suggestions and nuggets of wisdom?

Thank you and have a great day,

Does Shakeaway cat repellent also repel dogs?

ishotjr — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:49:27 -0800

Will Shakeaway cat repellent have the unwanted effect of repelling my dog, too? My neighbors (one of whom owns the house I rent) feed two stray cats, including an unaltered male (they have tried to trap him to have him fixed, but haven't been able to, so that's not relevant to this discussion)The neighbor who feeds the cats has big dogs (one is part wolf, even) that spend most of their time in their fenced yard, so the cats don't hang out there. Instead, they hang out in my yard. The tomcat sprays on the bushes, and they both poop in our yard.

The problem is that I have a little indoor dog and a dog door that I would like for him to use. I would really like for my dog to be able to go out and use the bathroom at his own discretion between his nightly walks/when I'm not home. However, he started finding cat poop and rolling around in it, which is baaad news. He can no longer go in the yard unattended. When I take him out and supervise him, he takes forever to pee, because he is obsessed with trying to find the cats in the bushes (who are never there when he comes outside) and sniffing where the tomcat has sprayed.

Talking to the neighbor about dealing with the cats is not an option. She's a nice old lady who loves those cats and I don't want to bother her about it since it's really just a convenience issue for me.

However, I do want to use some Shakeaway, which is dried predator (coyote) urine, to keep the cats from wanting to hang out in my yard (they don't spend most of their time there, so it's not like their habitat or anything).

After that unnecessarily long introduction, I basically just want to know whether the Shakeaway would also end up repelling my dog. The website doesn't list dogs as one of the "pests" that it repels, but before I cover my yard in coyote pee, I'd like to make sure that my dog will not be afraid to go out there, and also whether my dog will decide he needs to roll around in it. This would defeat my purpose of having a dog that can go outside alone without coming in smelling horrible and needing a bath.

How do I keep strawberries alive over the winter?

muirne81 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:49:24 -0800

I unexpectedly received several rare strawberry plants. Currently living in USDA Zone 6 -- what can I do to ensure they survive such late planting & a potentially hard winter? Here's the background...

The strawberries arrived out of the blue this morning from the National Clonal Germplasm Repository. Berries were requested last spring and did not arrive during the growing season, so I assumed my request had not been granted. I'm now very excited to have them, but concerned that planting them this late in the season may not be so great for their survival.

I live in Zone 6 (mid-Missouri/Illinois) and have already put my strawberry bed to sleep for the season with the typical top dressing of straw. Next year, I may be moving out of the area, and will be taking any surviving berries with me.

Should I plant these guys in my garden or could they be planted in a pot to minimize transplant stress next year? If so, should the pot be kept inside or outside? Either way, will they survive the winter being planted so late? Is there anything I can do now or over the season to help them along? The strawberry bed is sheltered, and located on the South side of my brick home.

Strawberry varieties include White Carolina, White Pine, Suwanee, and Pochantas, if that info helps the formulation of a game plan. One plant is bareroot while the rest have foliage. [cringe]

Concrete mulch.

boby — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:54:06 -0800

Is using a concrete slab with holes for plantings the best weed prevention in my backyard garden? My backyard has turned into a jungle of weeds and tree saplings and I want to make it civilized again. An area about 10'x30' needs to be tamed. I garden in Boston. I want to plant butterfly bushes in that space. Mulch, weed barrier fabric and constant weeding don't really work. I thought a concrete patio with round openings formed into it would minimize weeding. Any suggestion for other material that would be as effective?

Name this plant/suggest similar ones

melissasaurus — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:00:24 -0800

What kind of tree/plant is this? Someone dug out and stole this little tree from in front of my building. I'd like to replace it with the same or something similar.

Any ideas on what it is?

Any ideas on other plants that don't take up too much space (probably about a 2ft radius for the plant), survive year-round in NYC, in partial shade, and are generally safe for dogs (i.e. no poisonous berries)?

Thanks!

What to do with a giant back yard?

zompus — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:18:47 -0800

What should I do with a (relatively) giant back yard? My wife and I are about to buy a house. The house is around 1400 square feet or so but sits on a plot of land that's just over one third of an acre. The backyard is quite large, probably about 10,000 square feet. This is in Southern California, so it's unusual in my experience to have this much area available.

Here is what it looks like: pic The earth-moving machine is not included with the house. This picture is taken standing at the south end of the backyard looking north.

If we do nothing to the yard, it will become a giant mudpit in the winter and a forest of weeds in the summer. What are some creative and cost effective for what to do with this bounty of land? So far we have come up with growing a plot of grass, laying down a brick section to walk on, and creating a vegetable garden.

Hayfield to vegetable garden - how?

unSane — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:39:45 -0800

How to turn an abandoned field into a productive vegetable garden? We built a house in an old hayfield. Last year I tried planting a vegetable garden (about 100' x 20'). I used a rototiller to break up the soil and planted lots of good stuff but the produce was drowned by the grass which grew up around it -- far too much to weed out by hand.

How do I kill the weeds and grasses before planting next time? It's not just the plants -- the ground is absolutely full of seed. I would rather not use a herbicide if possible.

I've considered laying down tarp but it is a pretty big area. I could get a neighbor to plough it over but I'm concerned that's not gonna solve the seed problem.

Things I have -- 40 Hp tractor, rototiller. I can rent most any implement.

The weeds are mostly hay grasses, alfalfa, clover, vetch, ragweed and canada thistle.

the itchy & scratchy garden show

artdrectr — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 01:06:14 -0800

Poison oak within garden yard mulch (scratch) How long will it be toxic (scratch) Any way to make it less? A worker unknowingly spread a mulch containing poison oak (or poison ivy, sumac, we're not sure) throughout our garden. So anytime we are working the soil in the garden, we get allergic reactions. We wear gloves, but it still ends up giving us itchy patches on arms, etc. Apart from wearing a biohazard suit, can anything be done to let us enjoy our yard again? How long does urushiol take to neutralize?

My very own swampland

mearls — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:00:25 -0800

What do I do with the lower meadow that is currently overgrown with goldenrod? This field is at the bottom of a hill and is relatively flat and fills with water in the spring. I would like to plant a large garden in this area and I've covered the golden rod with a blue tarp and plywood to try to kill and compost that veggie matter. I have enough fencing to cover a good size area and I'm looking for a crop to put in this coming spring. I think I can fence a 1000 sq ft. Grain? Potatoes? Something relatively simple please.

What would be a good crop here in Zone 5? How should I prepare the soil? Should I scrap that idea and get sheep instead? I have more time than money if that helps.

How to garden in basement over winter?

idyllhands — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 17:14:00 -0800

How do I build a basement vegetable garden in winter? I have gardened over spring/summer/fall outdoors. I need advice on what lights to buy, what vegetables can grow over winter, how to pollinate, etc. Also, can I use heat lamps to help with the warmth loving vegetables, or is that too energy inefficient?

Heirloom Garlic in NE Illinois

glip — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 11:17:37 -0800

I'd like to find a source in NE Illinois or even Chicago for heirloom seeds and garlic for my Aunt, bricks and mortar if possible. I couldn't seem to find anything promising online, and there are a lot of online places, but I'm in Canada so I have no experience with the U.S. based companies. I'm looking for some large cloved hardneck garlics, as well as other types of heirloom seeds. Seed Savers Exchange is sold out of garlic but I might point her to them for other things. Ideally seeds grown in a similar climate would be better than getting seeds from elsewhere.

How to remove ornamental grasses?

guptaxpn — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:55:35 -0800

I'm being offered $100 to remove "Ornamental Grasses", any experience with the removal of plants would be greatly appreciated. I need the money, badly, I just have never done this kind of work before. I'm being told that it will be a b**** of a job and that I should be able to do it with a shovel. Brief googling is telling me that people have needed hatchets and axes to get rid of the roots of these plants.

Have you ever had any experience removing this sort of plant?

I believe they just want it gone.

I'm just curious to know how I can prepare for tomorrow.

Thanks MeFi!?

Ideas for a garden in the woods?

priested — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:41:56 -0800

Ideas for backyard garden on heavily wooded lot? Just bought a house in the mountains. Not a super large lot (about a third of an acre). The back half of the lot (past the fenced area of our backyard) is heavily wooded on a downward slope to a run-off that is dry 99% of the time. From the fence to the run-off is about 30 yards or so.

I'm interested in ideas that would accentuate this area but also lead to enjoying it more. I don't necessarily want to tear down the fence, but I do want to do something more than putting a picnic table out there. Any ideas? Has anyone ever done a water feature in a heavily wooded area?

Damn moles, get off my lawn!

Artw — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:28:14 -0800

We've been getting molehills in our front garden lately, and we want them to go away. Which anti-mole technology is best for us? Factors:
* Our garden is about 500 square ft. Only part of it is lawn, the rest being flowerbeds and some planters with vegetables. No sign of moles outside of the lawn so far though. The soil has recently been aerated, which seems to have started our mole problems.
* We have a cat, he catches them occasioanly, but as far as we know does not eat them. Anything which might harm the cat is out.
* Those neat looking plunger traps that skewer have been vetoed as too cruel. Anything that actually harms the moles directly is probably out. Boo.
* So we're probably looking at repellent sprays or some kind of audio device, which of those work best? Any particular brands that are more effective?
* The solar molechasers looks sort of interesting, but it is frequently overcast here, are they going to do anything?
* I kind of like the idea of the windmill mole chasers, but are they going to work with only moderate wind?

Inch by inch, row by row, gonna let these mutants grow.

Mayor Curley — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:09:46 -0800

So for the second year in a row, our cucumbers have grown spherical, small and nasty. We would prefer traditionally-shaped cucumbers that are not essentially bitter balls of seeds. No good cukes this year (I think we got a few normal ones last summer). Any ideas why this is happening? I'm not sure what information to give. Ask me questions. The plants were all of the pickling cucumber variety. The garden is just outside Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

If supermarkets did not exist, I would have starved myself by now.

backseatpilot — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:13:24 -0800

I am a failure as a gardener and a human being. What the hell did I do wrong with the vegetable patch? This was our first season trying a "real" garden (in fact, the first season I've had a back yard to do anything with). We built a raised bed, 4'x8', filled it with top soil from Home Depot, started some seeds indoors, and planted them about April-ish. And then again mid-May after everything died.

Whatever hasn't been killed off is so puny as to be worthless. All of our neighbors have nice big tomatoes growing; nothing of ours has produced any fruit whatsoever. A rundown of our attempts:

-Lettuce. None of them grew larger than half an inch off the ground, and then they all died.
-Basil. Same thing. Only a couple pairs of leaves, followed by death.
-Roma tomatoes. Grew about three or four pairs of leaves, then all the leaves fell off.
-Hot and bell peppers. Leaves all fell off. One specimen was left indoors for very long, got big and bushy, put it outside and then all the leaves fell off.
-Beefsteak-style tomatoes. These were starters, they've grown to be about 5 feet tall, but no fruit.
-Zucchini. I thought these were supposed to be vines; each of them is only about six inches long. One flowered, then all the flowers fell off and it died. Two others withered and died. The other ones are not growing.
-Cucumbers. Very, very small. Maybe three pairs of leaves, and an inch high. These have all flowered, but no fruit. They're not growing any larger.
-Mint. Didn't even bother sprouting.
-Parsley. They still only have two or three leaves, with very thin and flimsy stems.

So, we have literally zero yield for our efforts so far and it looks like we won't get a thing for the rest of the season. With the exception of the beefsteak tomatoes, everything was started from seed according to the instructions on the packages.

It's fairly shady in the back yard, and we just bought bags of generic top soil to fill the bed (it was pretty clumpy and had a bunch of sticks). I didn't do anything to the soil - just dumped it in, raked a little bit, and planted seedlings when I thought they were big enough. Also, being in New England, we had about a six week stretch of rain and low temperatures.

Obviously, I need some help. I could really use some very basic "For Dummies"-style advice as far as a) fixing the garden for the rest of the season, or b) prepping it for next season so it's not such a failure. I could also use some trouble-shooting to identify what went wrong this year. Some thoughts I had:
-Transplanted seedlings to early/too young
-Not enough light
-Not enough nutrients in the soil
-Too much/too little water

We also managed to kill a jade and an ivy plant that were in pots indoors (seriously, how is it possible to kill ivy?!), so we're really not doing too well with this.

And if anyone in the Boston area wants to come over and show me what I'm doing wrong, drop me a line.

I want grass without the fuss

reenum — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:31:31 -0800

I'm thinking of replacing my lawn with artificial grass or some other thing that doesn't require constant upkeep. I'd like to hear your experiences with such horticultural matters. I hate mowing my lawn. Always have and always will.

So, I'm thinking of having Astroturf or some other artificial grass installed. I've also been researching ground covering, which appears to be the growing of ivy or some other plant that will cover the sod, but not require mowing.

Has anyone here replaced their grass lawn with either of these alternatives. Anything I need to watch out for? How often do I need to replace artificial grass or ground covering?

All opinions and suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

Help us identify this plant!

pghjezebel — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:52:46 -0800

IdentifyPlantFilter: A new plant has sprung up in my Mother's rock garden this year. She loves it, but had no idea what it is! Can you help us identify it? IdentifyPlantFilter: A new plant has sprung up in my Mother's rock garden this year. She loves it, but had no idea what it is! Can you help us identify it?

Characteristics:
Perennial
Tall
Silver somewhat fuzzy leaves
Spreads (in clumps) easily
Pink Flowers

I've upload a few photos of it over here on Flickr.

Knot a potato?

Toekneesan — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 08:29:11 -0800

GardenFilter: We just harvested some potatoes and came across these potato-like knot things. We found about five or six in a bed that hosted both potatoes and garlic, though they were found kinda far from the garlic and well under ground—at least four inches. What are they? Cut-up old potatoes, and babies from last year's harvest that we cellared, were what we seeded with. We grow organic and did get a slight case of the potato bug, but again, not sure it's relevant

Inside they have the consistency of a potato or a root. Didn't see them obviously attached to a plant. Thought about them being garlic heads but they seemed too deep when we found them, and they're more solid than a garlic seed head, unless it fused together.

I joked with my wife that maybe they're truffles, and while I really doubt that, I wouldn't rule out a fungus of some kind.

Anyone else ever find these?

Help me fertilize for the first time

gocubbies — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:28:56 -0800

I just bought a brand new house in mid-May. I've never owned a home before and I'm new to yard keeping. The entire yard was sodded in May. Recently my builder mentioned following Scott's four step process. I'm located in the midwest. Can you explain what Scott's four step process is? Can you also point me to a link (preferably on Lowes.com) for exactly which fertilizer I should buy to use this week? Any other tips to help a newbie? Thank you!!

I think it's from space.

fiercekitten — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:25:26 -0800

PlantIdFilter: I've searched all the weed databases for my area trying to id this thing here. No luck, so either it's not a noxious weed or I need more help. The only thing I found that comes close is halogeton but that's pretty specific to SE Oregon. But, then again, I found buffalobur in the backyard, which is also supposed to be specific to the hot and dry part of the state as well.

The strangest thing about it is it seems to start at the little red knot at the middle. This one is about 3 inches across on the widest spot, but I have some that are a foot across. It looks like it just adds length as it gets bigger, so the huge ones have leaves and flowers the same size and such. Here's a closeup of the tiny little flowers, which are so small I can barely see them. The leaves are around 1/2 in in length, on most of them. They cover the reddish stem the entire length. It grows very close the ground, although the section that gets regular water has some that are growing a little more upright, but still close to the ground. It doesn't like shade much, so I haven't found much of it actually under any plants.

We live in the greater PDX area and recently bought a house with no grass. It has a yard, but no grass. It's coming up in the areas where the weed barrier is either one layer or has a break in it. I suspect this is a common contaminant in bird feed, as the mourning doves really like to eat it. Heck, the mourning doves could have brought it in from elsewhere even. It spreads through little tiny seeds, about the same size as salt grains, or through runners, in my case, from the side yard clear under the patio (and through the cracks in the patio) to the other side of the yard.

Roundup (glyphosphate) and Quinclorac/Dicamba (Bayer Advanced All in One Lawn Weed Killer) hasn't had quite the effect I'd hoped for. Both are working, but slower than on regular broadleaf weeds.

Rejuvenate used container soil

boby — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:15:48 -0800

Every year on my porch in Boston, Ma. I grow a few different vegetables in large planters. This year one is pumpkins. After several years of growing crops in the same soil, how can I rejuvenate the soil to make it better for the next crop?

What are these glowing eggs doing on my jalapeno plant?

joeyo — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:07:53 -0800

GardenFilter. What insect will these translucent (and possibly glowing) eggs turn into? Photo here. I'd have to get another look after dark to see if they really are glowing or are simply reflective.

If they will turn into something that will eat the plant or the fruit I'll get rid of them, but I'd rather leave them alone if they are likely to be beneficial or neutral.

Tomato or... not tomato? That's out of the question.

Ambrosia Voyeur — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:25:16 -0800

Help us use our abundant home-grown tomatoes, even though our tomato tastes disagree! So my boyfriend and I have a nice harvest of tomatoes for the first time ever, and will continue to collect them for some time yet.

I need ideas for ways to use them that satisfy my desire to not cook all the fresh flavor out of them, and his dislike for straight, raw tomato. He does like bruschetta, margherita pizza and greek salad, though he often donates some or all of his salad tomatoes to me. He loves salsa, of course.

Can you help me think of other creative semi-raw or appealingly paired tomato applications that someone who likes those foods would enjoy? I'm pretty happy eating them sliced with salt, but there are just too many for that, and I can't bear to let their lovely sunkissed perfection go to waste in tomato soup or something.

Vegetarian friendly recipes, please. No BLTs. *sniff, sniff.*

Free Wifi

4chrisd — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:33:17 -0800

I am responsible for managing a small coffeehouse. We are currently offering free wifi to our customers. We are looking for an option to restrict our internet access. There are two possible options we are considering: 1. Have a redirected landing page for a customer first logging onto our network. This would allow us to capture their e-mail address, have them agree to an AUP, etc. 2. Install a more elaborate software system to give our customers custom access codes, etc. Our wireless router is a Linksys WRT160N. Thank you.