Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with planting

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]

Will I kill the poor, defenseless plants?

Zoyashka — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:01:29 -0800

Is late October late to plant some shrubs in the PNW? I know autumn is the best time of year to plant shrubs, and I just found these beauties that I'd like to plant.

Is late October too late in the season to plant (I'm in the Seattle area to be precise)? I trolled some gardening forums but couldn't quite find the answer to such a simple question!

Thanks folks!

What vegetables are best to plant in a plot filled with unrefined compost?

jeremias — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:52:21 -0800

What vegetables are best to plant in a plot filled with unrefined compost? I have a small (3' x 4') garden bed that is filled with compost that got pulled a bit too early. (Mostly grass clippings and leaves). So it's very clumpy at this point and no amount of raking is going to make it better. Are there some herbs or vegetables better suited for this sort of soil than others?(I'm in Zone 6/Massachusetts)

Help me beautify my front yard.

desjardins — Thu, 14 May 2009 07:32:52 -0800

I'm a totally novice gardener. What should I plant in my flowerpots? I live in the Chicago suburbs. We have four flowerpots (each about 1' square) on the north side of the house that are mostly in sun, and a 3' x 6' area on the ground next to the house that is almost always shaded. This area has wormwood and snapdragons that come back every year.

Desires:

Widely available and inexpensive
Not much work beyond watering
Can stand up to violent thunderstorms
Not particularly attractive/tasty/poisonous to dogs/cats
Would be nice if they were attractive to butterflies, but not necessary
If it helps with the whole bee situation, so much the better
Does not matter if they come back next year, because we'll have moved by then

I would like to not put a ton of thought into this - I'd like a "grocery list" that I can take to the store, plant 'em and be done with it.

Large decorative plants that will survive in a container on a Seattle deck

matildaben — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:24:55 -0800

What plants are suitable for putting on our deck in Seattle? There's no yard/soil, so they must live in containers. The deck is quite large so I was thinking about large decorative plants like small trees or some form of bamboo. Climate-wise, we have the typical PNW weather of moist winters that only fall below freezing a few days out of the year. Also, we are completely ignorant of gardening and would rather have something that can survive with a minimum of attention.

Plants on my Balcony

barrakuda — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 04:16:08 -0800

What should I plant on my balcony? So I have two balconies in my new apartment, both come with two huge built-in concrete plant thingies. What should I plant?

In terms of the first balcony, I'm looking for decorative plants that would look good (hopefully green) all year round. I like all sorts of ivies, i love lavender (although not sure it would not turn grey and ugly at some point of the years) - can you suggest anything else? Links to pictures of goodlooking plants greatly appreciated.

In terms of the second balcony, I was thinking about perhaps growing some herbs (of the non-smokable variety), not sure however if the climate (Germany) would allow for a year long production? What are some herbs that would keep well year round? Rosemary perhaps?

Please give me your suggestions and any general tips, comments, hacks, views on successfully planting on the balcony. Thanks.

tree in pot in ground

mzurer — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:42:57 -0800

My crazy gardener advised me to cut the bottom off of my avocado tree's pot and put the whole shebang in the ground instead of removing it from the pot. Is he crazy? He usually know what he is talking about, but that seems a little odd to me. He claims it will force the roots down and this will be beneficial for its growth in the long run. Has anyone done something similar when planting a fruit tree?

The pot is pretty big - I moved it from a smaller pot into a ten gallon onee when I bought it because I knew I would not have an opportunity to put in the ground for a while.

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!

Green thumb in a small space

backseatpilot — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 06:46:19 -0800

I'd like to grow some vegetables, but I live in an apartment. I think it would be neat to grow some herbs and vegetables for myself, but my outdoor space is extremely limited. The plan, then, would be to build a smallish planter box and put it either on the fire escape or (if the landlord's ok with it) on the roof of the building. So, here are the things I'm a little stumped on:

-If it goes on the fire escape, the maximum footprint of the box would be about 18 inches square. Do you know of any simple plans for a box about that size? Tools and construction space are limited. How tall would it have to be?
-What plants can grow in that small of a space? Is there a good combination of herbs/veggies that can withstand some substantial crowding and still thrive?
-Is there something I could plant within the next two to four weeks that could thrive into the New England fall?

Cemetery Gardening Ideas Wanted

terrapin — Tue, 01 May 2007 08:54:46 -0800

I am looking for ideas for planting around grave sites. I don't get to visit my mother and father's grave sites as often as I would like because they are buried in western Pennsylvania and I am in Vermont. When I do visit the sites I usually bring potted flowers, but I would like to consider planting something that will live longer and not require someone having to pick up the pot. When I am not around my family cleans the stones and trims the grass, etc.

I will be visiting the sites in a few weeks. I plan to ask the people who maintain the cemetery if there are any limitations or rules. Baring such things, I'd like to plant something or at least get some ideas for planting for next year.

The cemetery is in zone 5b. I am thinking bulbs of some sort, but I'd appreciate any ideas and advise. Thanks.

Planting Lily Bulbs in SoCal?

sdis — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 22:19:17 -0800

I want to plant some Casablanca lily bulbs, so that I may cut them at various times and give them to the SO. I live in Los Angeles, and have sandy soil around my property at different degrees of sunniness and facing different cardinal directions, mostly directly against one wall or another. What should I know?

Idle hands are the devil's playthings.

1f2frfbf — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 08:51:14 -0800

The Devil went to Carolina,
Looking for a place to hide;
He found a pot,
And so he thought,
Now there will be So I have this flower pot with a devil's face (see here).

What can I put in it to play off of the odd visage of this piece of art? Oddly shaped, named or colored plants are great.

Further info:
Zone 8a, half shade, can be moved inside for the mild Carolina winter, pot is about 10" round and 8" deep.

How can I learn to plant a healthy garden?

odinsdream — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 13:25:24 -0800

Please share resources for learning about, selecting, and planting a garden given a particular climate and soil. I'm moving soon, and the yard has great potential. I enjoy growing plants, but technically I know very little about what I grow. Some of my plants thrive, others wither and die.

I'd like to learn more about how to effectively select plants for a given soil type and climate. Of course, I'll also need to learn how to describe and understand my soil (nitrates, pH, hardness, water retention?), and climate.

What are some good resources for learning about what I want to plant, when to plant it, and how to care for it, with a good deal of technical reasoning to back it up?

By the way, I'm interested in herbs, vegetables, and flowers. Thanks!