Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with garden

What is this weed?

maniactown — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 18:44:11 -0800

What is this weed in my garden? I'm located in zone 7b in the Pacific Northwest. Here are a couple of pictures of the plant in question. I've gone through a bunch of weed identification sites and can't seem to find what the plant is. I'm wondering if it's a volunteer veg and/or edible weed since it came up in droves in my garden. I pulled a particularly nice looking bunch of it today and wondered if I was composting something that I should have been saving.

Help eradicate grass in my garden

crazycanuck — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:28:10 -0800

My garden is being overrun by grass. How do I get rid of the grass but keep my existing perennial plants? We bought our house in late 2005, so this is our third summer in the house. The previous owner was an excellent gardener, and took good care of it until she had a stroke a few years before we bought the house. Our house is 30 years old, and I believe that our lengthy perennial border garden has also been established for 30 years. The garden is bordered by the lawn on one side and by concrete stairs, a rock retaining wall, or gravel driveway on the other side.

When we moved in, the garden was overrun with grass in areas. So far, we've done an annual "big dig" around existing plants to get some grass out, and then did a half-assed job of planting. Sometimes we didn't do much grass weeding throughout the year. This year is the first year that I've had the time to continuously make an attempt to keep up with the grass.

I hand weed so I know that there is an extensive grass roots system under the ground. I don't use tools to weed because the grass is intertwined with the plants - namely the columbine, lobelia, and rudbeckia (I'm pretty sure that the first two plants with grass have columbine and lobelia, anyway). All three of those plants seem happy enough to grow, and they're attractive enough to keep, but the grass is ugly as hell and I have no idea how to get rid of it without spending 2 hours a week weeding, which sucks.

I would like to solve my grass problem. Using Round-up or tarp/mulch to eradicate the entire garden is not on the table - I'd like to keep the good plants in the ground, as I also have fuschia, heathers, foxgloves, blanket flowers, tiger lilies, forget me nots, irises, a 20 foot dogwood tree, miscellaneous shrubs, etc in there in various places. Do I have to pull out the weedy plants? Do I need to divide the rudbeckia and get the grass out somehow before replanting? Is there a better technique for weeding - can I use tools if there are spaces between the plants? Do I need to fill in any/all spaces in the garden with grass resistant plants or mulch/bark? Do I need to hire some kind of garden consultant to check out my garden in real life and give me advice? What do I do?

Constraints - I am willing to spend up to 3-4 hours per week on maintaining this rehabbed garden, and I would rather prune than weed. I prefer not to invest a ton of time into special projects (ie, I'd like to integrate garden rehab into a weekly maintenance schedule with only 1 or 2 times annually of more work). I am willing to spend $500/year on my garden, and I've spent $150 of that so far this year. I am a novice gardener so I don't want to get too fancy.

If you have general plant suggestions for a grass-free garden, post them here too. Zone 7b, north-facing garden with a later start than most Pacific Northwest gardens (my tulips tend to open a week or two later than other zone 7b tulips), sun/part shade/shade in various spots. The part shade/shade areas are complicated by either (a) being on a slope or (b) being under a large dogwood tree with an extensive root system, so only shallow shade-loving plants can be accommodated. I prefer perennials or self-seeding annuals. Cost and maintenance constraints above. Thanks

Can I transplant a 10-foot-tall eucalyptus?

biwa-shu — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:36:02 -0800

Is it possible to transplant a 2-year-old, 10-foot-tall eucalyptus? I'd prefer not to just cut it down but sources on the internet seem to say it's not possible to transplant it. Anyone have any positive experiences with this?

Pressure canning help?

peeedro — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:16:42 -0800

Pressure canning recipes and technique? I have more beans and cucumbers than I know what to do with, and I'll have an avalanche of tomatoes shortly. Can anyone point to recipes and techniques to preserve these veggies with a pressure canner.

I have the canner, jars and lids but not much of a clue beyond that. I'm looking for advice on the web or in print.

As a bonus, I will make kool-aid pickles for whoever can help me turn cucumbers into pickles.

How does your butternut squash garden grow?

SpecialK — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:37:27 -0800

I'm growing a butternut squash plant for the first time. The plant has gotten rather huge and I need to knock it back a bit or give it somewhere else to grow, but I'm not sure how. The most I've raised before is tomatoes or peppers. I planted the plant in the back corner of my garden, giving it an area that's about 5 square feet to grow in. It's grown in that area right along my house and completely filled the, but now it's encroaching on my pepper plants. Since it's a vine, I'm afraid that it's going to start growing up the pepper plants, so I need to either guide it elsewhere (can I get a trellis and allow it to grow upwards?) or prune it to discourage growth in that direction. It has some nice fruit forming and has flowered along the length of the plant that is mature. This is in south/central texas, growing in dirt covered in bark dust on a half-sun (morning sun) side of the house.

(Even though squash and tomatoes are supposed to be grown full sun, I learned the hard way last year that you have to be very careful how much sun you let the plants get when there's drought restrictions on watering, like we may be facing here soon. The most I got last year planting on the full sun side of the house was some green dried tomatoes. And yes, I know I need to till deeper with better dirt to help develop the root systems better.)

Advice? Techniques? I'm used to pruning and staking my tomato and pepper plants to encourage maximum growth and fruit, but I've never done anything with ground-growing squash plants before, so advice that's even unrelated to the direct question will be helpful.

What can we do about the greedy pigeons in our garden?

monster max — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 15:55:22 -0800

We love watching wild birds coming to eat the seeds we put out in our garden but we're always just invaded by boring pigeons that hoover up the lot. How can we encourage more smaller, more interesting birds and discourage what our children call the "big fat pig-o pigeons"? We live in the suburbs of a city in southern England with a small garden, which has no trees, though there are trees along the far side of the fence at the bottom of the garden - if any of that is relevant! We get occasional blue tits, sparrows, blackbirds etc and would like to encourage more of those sorts of birds. We currently use a bird table with two horizontal surfaces to put the seed onto, rather than hanging feeders.

When should a garden be watered?

Brandon Blatcher — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:02:29 -0800

What time of day should the garden be watered? I live in the Southeast, grew up in the Northeast and have had or been around gardens most of my life. I've always been taught to water the garden at dusk or overnight, the reasoning being that it allows the plants to fully digest as much of the water as possible.

However, since moving to the Southeast I've seen experienced gardeners water their plot during the day or shortly after dawn. Their reasoning is that it's hottest during the day, so you water the plants when they need it most. They don't really give much thought to the idea that the water will evaporate more quickly during the day and tend to regard my idea of watering as foolishness.

Is there an optimal time to do general watering of a garden? Does it depend on the region?

right name for a type of plumbing thing?

epersonae — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:39:42 -0800

what's-it-called-filter: I want to add a water spigot for gardening away from the house, rather than having it come directly out of the wall. What should I be searching/asking for?! What I want is something like this, but with modern plumbing. I've seen them in our neighborhood, but don't know what it's called. Would like to be able to search, or at least talk to a plumber without going all hand-wavey.

mr. epersonae uses "standpipe" just as a matter of course, but he wasn't sure if that was the right name, and I'm not turning up anything in searching. (Except for crazy stuff like this guy in a Hooverville!) Thanks.

Welcome to the desert, please leave your lawn at the door

davejay — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 18:53:11 -0800

Converting to a drought-friendly lawn, should we use chemicals or not? In Los Angeles, converting front and back lawns to drought-friendly landscaping after letting the grass die all winter/spring.

One gardener wants to use RoundUp as part of the prep, but the other (somewhat cheaper) advised it was not necessary, and finally agreed to do RoundUp "where necessary" (their words.)

So we were set to go with the cheaper gardener, when a minor accident with the sprinkler system let the ground get watered for four days in the amount we used to water it. Two weeks later the front lawn (full sun) is still dead, but the back lawn (much shade) has sprung to vibrant life.

Looking for advice as to whether RoundUp is necessary or not, ideally based on personal experience in Southern California (San Fernando Valley), and also whether you've experienced any issues with animals or kids interacting badly with RoundUp after re-planting is completed (they'll have no access while everything's torn up.)

Thanks!

Garlic and onion growing and harvesting advice

Jupiter Jones — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:39:27 -0800

I’m growing garlic and onions for the first time in my new home. Can I harvest the greens from these plants while they’re growing without harming the bulbs? I’m in a colder climate that is very hot in the summer – Winnipeg. I planted the garlic bulbs this spring. I know that ideally one plants them in the fall, but I didn’t own the land then. My understanding is that I won’t get a lot of garlic out of it this year, but that if I leave it in the ground I will get tons next year. Of course, I’m reading conflicting information on this and am confused. I want to cook with the garlic greens as well – how can I go about this without stunting the growth of the garlic bulbs? I’ve got two types – one crappier type with many small cloves that I got from a garden center, and a couple of cloves of a fabulous garlic that I kept from the Farmer’s Market last year. This great garlic forms about 4 cloves per bulb, and they’re huge and flavourful.

Similarly, I’d like to cook with the greens from my onions – Spanish onions and red onions. Can I do this without hurting the bulbs?

Late start on gardening, tips?

TheDukeofLancaster — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:32:53 -0800

My vegetable garden currently consists of tomato's, sweet corn, and strawberries. What else would you suggest I plant at this late date? I'm in Central Ohio. I've also got a few potted herbs (rosemary, lavender, and mint). What all common plants can I put in the ground now? Is to too late for the following?

Pumpkins
Watermelon
Sun Flowers
Carrots

Grass or weed?

walla — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:57:29 -0800

Why can't I have a weed lawn? I like walking on my lawn and playing with my dogs on it. I like the anti-erosion benefits of grass, and that it keeps us from tracking dirt into the house. But I like most green things, and I see little reason to invest the resources and energy a grass lawn requires if there are other options. I've read a bit - some of it on AskMe - about alternative lawns. I've considered mint, creeping thyme, chamomile, etc., but none of them has seemed quite right.

While tending my lawn this week, someone suggested I pull the clover and plaintain weeds that had taken over some parts of it. I thought, why should I pull them? They're green, they're hardy, they do what my lawn does on their own without the hassle. As long as I contain it, are there any reasons I shouldn't have a weed lawn? Has anyone tried this, on purpose or by accident?

What is this fountain made of?

yellowbkpk — Wed, 28 May 2008 20:29:33 -0800

What material is this fountain made out of? What material should I use to make it myself? I went to Home Depot last night and saw this fountain that I thought looked really neat. It's $140 + tax, though, so I thought it'd be worth attempting to build myself.

The problem is, I don't know what material to make such a thing out of. The one at Home Depot seems to be made out of a plasticized ceramic or plaster-type stuff. It's definitely waterproof, and I can see where they used a drill to go through it and a handheld jigsaw to cut a hole in the back (for the pump access).

If I can't find or use the same material, can you recommend a material to build this thing out of? Wood would be easiest to work with but hardest to water proof. Plastic? Styrofoam?

...hoping asavage will hear me....

Can I plant these bulbs now?

stormygrey — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:46:02 -0800

Bulbs filter...Can I plant these or should I stick them in the fridge? I've never dealt with any bulb except the standard daffodil. An online nursery had an end of season grabbag marked from almost 200 that I ended up getting for 25 with some fancy online coupon magic. I don't know what do with them.

I just got a shipment of way discount bulbs because apparently these bulbs should be planted more like April for summer blooms. So can I put them in the ground? I live in Georgia and we have a looong summer, so it'll be hot enough to qualify for summer way into September.

It looks like I got some glads, satisfaction lily trees,grand paridoiso lilys, peacock orchids, and shamrock iron cross bulbs, then some dahlia, orange glory flower, lady's mantle, and 4'oclocks root clumbs (rhizomes?).

All of these are supposed to be perinneal in nature. I also have a big bag of daffodil's but I guess I can put those in the fridge and plant them in the fall/winter.

So what should I do with all this bulby mess?

Pimp My Radish

electroboy — Thu, 22 May 2008 11:24:51 -0800

What do I do with all these radishes? So, the radishes in the garden have been coming up like mad and, aside from looking neat and being delicious in salads, we're kind of at a loss for what to do with them. So my question is a two-parter:

1. What to do with radishes besides salads?

2. Do you ever cook radishes (not daikons, just your average red radish)?

Back to the garden!

qxntpqbbbqxl — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:54:35 -0800

Advice and plant identification help for a novice gardener? My new house in upstate NY has a garden. It's been neglected for five years, but the neighbors tell me that prior to that it was well cared for by the little old lady that lived here. And now, with spring upon us, there's all kinds of interesting stuff growing, and I'm excited about playing in the dirt. Unfortunately, I'm also clueless about gardening.

So my question has two parts:

1.I recognize some plants amid the weeds: Daffodils, mint, chives, dead-looking rose bushes. But can you help me identify these? [H. is the rose.. can anyone tell what type?]

2. What are some good projects for a novice gardener given 3-4 hours/week and a pretty low budget? I'd love to plant some vegetables; what can be planted this late in the season? I plan on spending a weekend weeding the beds and adding mulch, but what other steps should I take?

Any tips much appreciated!

Can I water my garden from two stories up?

arnicae — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:19:03 -0800

I recently planted a vegetable patch. There is no outdoor water, so water must come from the apartment. My window is around thirty feet from the ground. Would it be bad for the plants if I misted them with water out the window? I live on the third (ish) story of a divided Victorian, three flights up or about 20-30 feet above ground level. My landlords have decided to hold off landscaping their backyard for a year and let me plant a veggie patch (yay!). Due to the construction, there are no outdoor water sources and carrying buckets of water down three flights of stairs is a pain.

The sprayer on my sink has a mist function and the mist easily reaches all areas of the garden patch. Would it be bad for the plants if I watered them out the window with the mist sprayer? I have three tomato plants, a pumpkin plants, two pepper plants, basil, and rhubarb, all smallish established plants, and live in Oakland, if that matters.

Bonus question: if it is bad for them (and I suspect it might be for the tomatoes from half-remembered gardening books I read in high school) would it be worse for me to water daily from the window or occasionally forget to water at all from ground level and end up watering daily only about 70% of the time?

Thanks!

Help me grow some salsa!

azpenguin — Tue, 20 May 2008 10:31:08 -0800

Growing a few green chile plants in the hot desert. Any tips or tricks? We've planted a small garden in pots in our backyard. We have three Big Jim green chile plants, two Roma tomato plants, and two tomatillo plants. We live in Tucson, AZ, so it gets incredibly hot and dry out here. Earlier efforts to grow plants were met with failure, but this was always plants that were in the ground. In a pot we're able to control the soil conditions much better and also place the plants where we want.

We have the plants along an east wall of the house. They're in full sun until about noon. It's just too hot to leave them in full sun all day; when it gets to be 105+ with 10 percent humidity every day, the sun just destroys plants, in our experience. Full sun also means that later in the day the water in the soil gets hot enough to do serious damage to the plants according to plant nursery workers we've talked to. So for this climate, full sun all the time is not a good idea. Since the soil in these pots is not new, and we presume somewhat stripped of nutrients, we're giving the plants Miracle Gro once a week.

So far the plants are doing well. The chile and tomatillo plants are flowering, and two decent sized chiles are already growing. The tomato plants aren't flowering yet but are growing nicely. Here's my questions:

1. Any idea what kind of yield we can expect if we do well?
2. Should I start shading the plants in a few weeks, when it's clearing 100 degrees before 10am?
3. What should I do for plant feeding? (Are coffee grounds good for vegetable plants? That's something that seems to be doing wonders for the sagebush out front.)

If these first few plants go well, I'd like to really expand and start growing more. The idea of being able to walk out the back door and nab the ingredients to make salsa on a whim is something that would make me extremely content. Any other tips are appreciated!

Help me identify this muted-purple plant

aleahey — Sat, 17 May 2008 17:22:43 -0800

Help me identify this live-forever lookalike (sort of) I recently went to Duke Gardens (a local horticultural garden) and my girlfriend was really enamored by this particular plant. It was a small leaved, sort of round-lobed, purple-ish leaved, thingy. The purple was a muted purple, kind of like, dusty.

It had a small friend. It was similar in description, but its color was more of a blue.

The leaves were thick, and densely aligned along the stem. Think of sort of a bow for a gift. About that height, and about that shape.

If its any help, it was in the "english garden" section of the garden.

Thanks for any help you can give, I would really like to get my girlfriend one of these as a house plant. So, any information on the care of the plant you guess, would be helpful as well.

Also, I'd like an order of fries.

What am I smoking?

mzurer — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:45:17 -0800

What herb am I growing? Here's the wide view, the buds, and the leaves. I was told it's oregano, but now I am not so sure. It smells good, and oregano-ish, but maybe a little more minty than I normally think of for oregano. The flowers that are popping out are whitish, but maybe if I let them go a little longer they would have more color.

Help me de-vole my garden. Humanely.

chowflap — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:44:52 -0800

Help! I have voles! How do I get rid of them? Do those repellent sprays work? How about those sonic things? I have a small (about 15-foot-square) vegetable garden with raised beds. It was covered with mulch all winter, and I put landscape fabric on it a few weeks ago to keep down the weeds. I also used to have a nice, healthy poppy plant -- until I visited the garden yesterday, and noticed that my poppy plant was now just a handful of shriveled-up leaves. There was a perfect hole where the root used to be, and a tunnel leading to it (I felt this with my hand -- it's all under the plastic). I had high hopes for a row of tiny carrot seedlings I planted weeks ago, but now I fear that they are doomed. How do I vole-proof my garden, while keeping my vegetables organic and safe? And can I do it without mass varmint carnage? Do those various chemical sprays work? How about those sonic posts?

It's a Wonder I got Through it at All

wittgenstein — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:43:57 -0800

GuitarChordFilter: What are the chords being played in this video? I like this song a lot and here is an acoustic version. I could try to figure out the chords myself but I suspect that some of you guitar-playing Mefites can just a)look at his finger positions or b) listen to the chords and tell me what they are. (They don't sound too complicated.) I think he is playing one set of 4 chords during the verse and another set of 4 chords during the chorus and that's it.
Thanks in advance.

Portable DAB radio recommendation

TheDonF — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:41:46 -0800

I'm looking for a good, cheap, portable DAB radio to use outside. I've got a huge amount of gardening to do in the coming months and want something to listen to whilst I'm doing it. I'd like to get a DAB radio but don't know what's good. It needs to be small, portable, be able to take batteries, last about 4 hours without needing a charge and be under £50. I guess I'll have to make sure it doesn't get wet (unless people make waterproof radios).

Anyone know of such a thing?

Environmentally friendly end to tree trimmings

b33j — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:15:01 -0800

Is there some easy, cheap and useful way to deal with twiggy tree branch trimmings at home? I’m not allowed to set fire to them and transport is an issue. They won’t fit in our compost bins or the municipal waste bins. The last lot I used for mulching but grass (paspalum - not lawn) grew up between the gaps in the branches, so not really successful, even though it was a very large pile. We tried a friend's large shredder once, and it couldn't deal with the volume.

Swamp thing/you make my heart sing

hecho de la basura — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:55:31 -0800

Home Drainage Filter: What can I do about a corner of my yard that develops standing water for ~36 hours after a good rain? So far I have lived in my house now for about 2 and a half weeks. In that time there has been a huge amount of rainfall. We received 3 inches just this past Friday! I've noticed that the right corner of my back yard develops some pretty serious standing water and I am utterly clueless as to what to do to remedy it.

There is a marked low spot of unknown origins there, approximately 5'x10'. The water in the low spot is of a depth to cover the (medium-size/mutt) dogs ankles when they stand and play in it. Which they do often. They have also dug at least one huge hole there, thereby increasing the low in the low spot. The water eventually drains/goes away after about 36 hours. I'm not sure if the spot ever really dries out completely as I have not lived here long enough to see 48 consecutive hours of dry weather. The corner is the corner where my yard and my three neighbors' yards meet. None of their yards have standing water in the adjacent corners.

My original thought was to simply plant a rain garden there but I read that a spot that has standing water for more than 24 hours is not good for rain gardens. I'm hoping this is incorrect information because I would dearly love to have a rain garden.

Is it possible to just fill in the low spot with top soil? Do I put gravel down and then dirt? Is a rain garden out of the question? I am desperately (perhaps pointlessly?) worried about the oncoming mosquito season. The water *does* drain eventually. It just takes a day and a half.

This is my very first house so every little thing is freaking me out!
Thanks!