Gardening: (2016– )

[shain]

[chromedome]

Took a look at my garden plot today. Still too early for anything to go into the ground, but my garlic is up.

[Shelby]

Picked a nice bunch of collard greens and asparagus just now.

 

Newman is debating on becoming vegetarian.

 

[Jacksoup]

My small victory garden.  Been planting the root ends of scallions and onions.  Three scallions are pushing up new growth and am overly excited. Ignore the poor quality of the soil, the pine needle droppings here are plentiful.  And this was an experiment, I have limited planting space.  

[KennethT]

I ordered some herb starts (and a kaffir lime plant) from Well-Sweep Herb farm - about 60 miles away from me.  They shipped on Monday by the US Post Office and the package is finally arriving today!!!! 6 Days!!  And they shipped it by Priority Mail!!  I hope they all survived...

[KennethT]

They arrived! Most look ok, but the rau ram has seen better days. I gave them a bit of water and light and we'll see how it goes...

 

 

[Shelby]

The lime looks especially good!

[KennethT]

10 minutes ago, Shelby said:

The lime looks especially good!

The leaves are not a dark green like they should be.... maybe because they just spent the last 6 days in a box, or maybe the nursery's greenhouse isn't getting enough light yet... but yes, otherwise it looks pretty good.

[KennethT]

Has anyone grown a curry leaf plant successfully?  Someone was talking about growing them several years ago, but hasn't been around in a while?  I'm just curious if they like more or less water - are they prone to root rot?

[heidih]

2 hours ago, KennethT said:

Has anyone grown a curry leaf plant successfully?  Someone was talking about growing them several years ago, but hasn't been around in a while?  I'm just curious if they like more or less water - are they prone to root rot?

 

It has been a LOOONG time since I did as dirt cheap at Indian markets - just chuck in freezer. However this video (very annoying computer voice) hits the highlights. Condensed version: excellent drainage, let dry out a bit between waterings.  feed lightly. (we use the term weekly weakly) (fish or seaweed are my preferred)  Good luck

[kayb]

My empty garden beds are awaiting a load of dirt this coming week, in between rains. Meanwhile, I think I'm going to try the trick outlined in this story from the NYT today -- put cardboard over the grass in the boxes, and soak it well. God knows, I have a gracious plenty of Amazon boxes in the garage awaiting the recycling pickup. I'll just recycle them myself.

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

4 hours ago, KennethT said:

Has anyone grown a curry leaf plant successfully?  Someone was talking about growing them several years ago, but hasn't been around in a while?  I'm just curious if they like more or less water - are they prone to root rot?

 

I have a friend at work who grows curry leaf.  She said she would give me a plant.  Then COVID-19 happened.

 

[heidih]

2 hours ago, heidih said:

 

It has been a LOOONG time since I did as dirt cheap at Indian markets - just chuck in freezer. However this video (very annoying computer voice) hits the highlights. Condensed version: excellent drainage, let dry out a bit between waterings.  feed lightly. (we use the term weekly weakly) (fish or seaweed are my preferred)  Good luck

 

I guess the url would have helped.  https://youtu.be/yjR6_xGVSDM

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by heidih (log)

[KennethT]

@heidih Thanks. I saw some other sources basically saying the same thing - so I'll treat it the same way I treat my citrus trees - let it dry out a bit between waterings...

[TicTac]

9 hours ago, KennethT said:

Has anyone grown a curry leaf plant successfully?  Someone was talking about growing them several years ago, but hasn't been around in a while?  I'm just curious if they like more or less water - are they prone to root rot?

 

Funny.

 

Not only did I order nearly the same herb order as you (Richter's herbs - great selection) but for the first time I also ordered a Curry leaf plant to play with!

 

I will let you know.  Share you findings as well.

 

Meant to take a picture, so far, I have enjoyed some garlic chives, very young spring garlic and wild arugula. 

 

Planted various types of lettuce and snap peas as well.

 

About 6-8 types of heirloom tomatoes, aurora, Serrano and poblano peppers; cucumbers, ground cherries, prize choy and my first attempt at starting Thai basil (which is working) are under the LED in starter trays.

 

 

[KennethT]

10 minutes ago, TicTac said:

 

Funny.

 

Not only did I order nearly the same herb order as you (Richter's herbs - great selection) but for the first time I also ordered a Curry leaf plant to play with!

 

I will let you know.  Share you findings as well.

 

Meant to take a picture, so far, I have enjoyed some garlic chives, very young spring garlic and wild arugula. 

 

Planted various types of lettuce and snap peas as well.

 

About 6-8 types of heirloom tomatoes, aurora, Serrano and poblano peppers; cucumbers, ground cherries, prize choy and my first attempt at starting Thai basil (which is working) are under the LED in starter trays.

 

 

Nice!  I"ve grown rau ram a few times before - although I've never had to pay for it.  There used to be a restaurant (Pok Pok NY) that served a dish with some sprigs of it alongside... so I'd take a sprig home and sprout it (it clones really really easily) in a rockwool cube in my DIY cloner - although it roots just as easily in a glass of water.  It likes staying nice and wet.

 

I haven't grown kaffir lime, but I've been growing a dwarf regular lime tree for like 15 years so I imagine it would be pretty similar, but I'm giving it (along with the rest of these) a shorter day (about 13 hours or so) to simulate summer in Thailand.

 

I've read that sawtooth coriander likes partial shade - if grown in too much sun it has less flavor and the leaves are less green.... so I've put it further away from the light than the rest.  Right now I've been giving most of the plants about 600umols/m2/s - for a DLI of about 15mol.  The sawtooth is getting about 200umols/m2/s.

 

I figured I'll keep the lemongrass evenly moist - as most grasses like.... and from what HeidiH said (and other videos I've seen) the curry plant likes to dry out a bit between waterings - which is similar to the citrus tree.  I am well aware that citrus is very prone to root rot, so it likes really good drainage.  Most people kill citrus from overwatering.  If you see the leaves dropping and twig dieback on a citrus, it's usually root rot.

[heidih]

5 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Nice!  I"ve grown rau ram a few times before - although I've never had to pay for it.  There used to be a restaurant (Pok Pok NY) that served a dish with some sprigs of it alongside... so I'd take a sprig home and sprout it

 

Andy Ricker's Pok Pok ? -  high 5 sir - great story.

[Jacksoup]

a friend of my son’s gave us a few plants he started.. we have an Amish ‘something’ tomato, a Russian Purple tomato, a sheep nose red valley pepper, a lemon drop pepper and a Habanada pepper.  Not familiar with any of these, I just hope to keep them alive.  

[Jacksoup]

Oops forgot photo, we planted them in the pots we had available.  Luckily I had potting soil.

[KennethT]

29 minutes ago, heidih said:

 

Andy Ricker's Pok Pok ? -  high 5 sir - great story.

Yes.  For a while, he had a few restaurants in NY.  He started here with Pok Pok NY, which basically was a recreation of the Pok Pok in Portland.  The dish that had all the herbs was a northern Thai laap - which had no lime juice, but had all these really interesting herbs and spices.  Served along side was a plate of rau ram, sawtooth coriander and thai basil.  I loved the dish so I didn't really need an excuse to get it, but I would always get it when I wanted to start a new rau ram plant because it doesn't really grow from seed and is only propagated through cuttings - and needless to say, those cuttings (at least in NYC) are really hard to find.  After a while he also opened PP pad thai which basically just focused on pad thai - even though it was really good, probably the best I've had outside of Thailand, I always missed the fact that you couldnt get it with shrimp head fat, which is a common addition in Thailand.  He then opened a bar which also served snacks (and served as a place to wait while waiting for a table at PPNY)... sadly, all three have been closed for a while.  He just couldn't make the NYC economics work.

[Toliver]

If anyone is still in their planting or pre-planting stage, I thought this article about planting certain plants/veggies/herbs together benefits each other, was interesting:

"Plants You Should Always Grow Side-by-Side"

Quote

The concept of companion planting, or planting combinations of specific plants for their mutual benefit.

"The theory behind companion planting is that certain plants may help each other take up nutrients, improve pest management, or attract pollinators..."

I had heard this about "friendly" planting years ago with tomatoes, garlic and oregano (I believe). The companion plants coincidentally go well together in the kitchen. 

Anyone else hear of this?

[kayb]

Well, we always used to plant green beans in the corn, two or three weeks later, so the beans could run up the corn stalks.

[chromedome]

https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/companion-planting-guide-zmaz81mjzraw

[heidih]

3 hours ago, kayb said:

Well, we always used to plant green beans in the corn, two or three weeks later, so the beans could run up the corn stalks.

 

2 of the 3 sisters - corn, beans & squash  https://www.reneesgarden.com/blogs/gardening-resources/celebrate-the-three-sisters-corn-beans-and-squash

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

Around here in the campo the locals plant the three sisters in their fields. These are all local varieties, even the corn, with seeds saved from the previous season. The squash is a very large acorn-type with dry flesh that rambles around the corn stalks, and the beans use the corn for support. At the end of the season the harvest provides just about everything folks need over the winter. In many ways they're better supplied than we are. Right about now the corn is starting to sprout and the other 2 can't be far behind. Soon the rains will start and the countryside will turn bright green. By the way, all local native varieties are generally called "Criollo," which includes corn, beans, squash, avocado (the favored Hass variety is grafted onto Criollo rootstock). This is very heartwarming for an old seed saver like me.