Gardeners of AW, unite

Lavern08

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Dollar store on payday!

I know I'm tardy for the party, but I bought a container with dirt and tomato seeds from the Dollar Tree - because I didn't want to invest any more time and $$$$ in seeds, plants, pots, etc. only to have them wilt and die on me.

Anyway,

The seeds sprung up in a week, and after a month, I re-potted the little plants outdoors.

Much to my surprise and delight, the plants are doing great on my back porch! I just put a tomato cage in the big pot, and I'm waiting with the proverbial bated breath for the first lil tomato to pop out. :D

I'm a city girl to the bone, and the only thing I've ever been able to grow and nurture are Hostas (the easiest plant in the world to grow, right?)

Oh, and I also bought a container of herbs (chives, parsley, dill and basil) and they are doing quite well on the windowsill in my kitchen - also for only $1. :)
 

Fenika

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I have the second tomato out of my sister's garden today, and it's all mine as everyone is still in NY state. Too bad it's just a little cherry.

Everything is looking good. My sister planted beets en mass, so we'll have to thin those out and have some beet sprouts with a sandwich or salad.
 

icerose

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I found two little beet plants, but my two carrots are gone. I need to replant those and hope the wind and critters don't get them again. I planted three rows of potatoes since my lettice never came up. They lost out to the wind as well. None of my garlic came up but I do have some onions. I replanted my basil, cilantro and added sage. Got to bring some home and they smell so good. The corn is doing well as is my zuccini. I planted one new melon to try and cover for all the watermelon plants I lost to the frost. My strawberries are not coming back from the frost either. I might end up tilling those up and trying to replant my letticue and peas there once we hit about August. If we don't get a super early frost again this year I should still have a pretty good harvest. My sweet potatoes never came up either. But I'm not the only one having problems. My MIL had to replant much of her garden as well and she has only two peaches between two trees due to the late frost. All the other fruit trees, apricots, apples, plums and such are a total loss.
 

Fenika

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Wow, that is rough. And those poor strawberries, after you worked so hard to save them.
 

jennontheisland

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The weather seems a little wonky this year. After the two to three times the usual amount of rain I finally got a real sunbeam this morning!

And since the herbs are now all in their own little pots I spent a couple hours this morning rearranging them on the floor so they each got a bit of time in direct sunlight.

I've made a note of where the beam lands and I might put them there when I go to bed at night since the sun tends to wake up before I do. I'll just have to try to remember where they are so I don't step on them on the way to the coffee pot. lol
 

Fenika

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Aww, that's so sweet. Maybe you should get a plant light to rotate them under as well?

I have my light, but I'm not sure what to do with it this winter. It's one narrow bulb, so not good for older, broader plants. I can keep basil sprouts at least, so I'll just have to keep planting more each week ;)
 

SPMiller

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I've decided that "full sun" doesn't necessarily mean the Texas version of full sun. The only cilantro plants that have survived are those that happen to be shaded by zucchini leaves.

Also, "1-2 inches of water per week" actually means "1-2 inches of water per week as long as you aren't in Texas, where you need at least twice that much if not more".
 

Fenika

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Hm, my cilantro isn't doing so well so maybe I'll move it. Mind, I just saved it from certain death by rot at the store...
 

jennontheisland

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I do need to get another lamp for my apartment. It's much too dark in the winter this far north and I'd like to keep these little things alive as long as possible. I'll have to check into getting one that takes those "daylight" light bulbs. I'll probably benefit from the extra light myself.
 

Fenika

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Do your homework first. The cheaper ones usually don't spread as well, and you get what you pay for. I found a nice compromise with mine, which came with hardware and was the better cheap type.
 

SPMiller

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Still getting buried with cukes despite the combination of spider mites and mildew. Threw away four cukes today and harvested four more. It's like that most days.

Getting exactly nothing from the supposedly-high-yield zucchini and squash plants. Never thought I'd have to deal with female flowers that never open for pollination.
 

stormie

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I live in NJ and have cherry tomatoes and Big Boys growing nicely. (Water them every other day since it's hot and dry here right now.) Already picked and ate about 7 cherry tomatoes. Delicious!

Rosemary didn't die this winter and is growing great. I have basil and parsley growing well too. But we have a well water sprinkler system so we can water every other day without restrictions.
 

icerose

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Harvested a gallon bag worth of spinach yesterday as well as a handful of broccoli. I have 6 potato plants already one over six inches tall! My carrots and beets didn't make it at all, but my mil did. I have massive amounts of squash plants while none of hers survived. Needless to say we are sharing harvests because what didn't survive in mine is thriving in hers and what didn't survive in hers is thriving in mine.
 

jennontheisland

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Most of my herbs are doing okay so far. :) I had my first 'harvest' of basil (5 leaves that I used in a thai stirfry).

My oregano though... I wasn't really looking for oregano, I'd been hoping for thyme, and I think the poor guy sensed it. He's mostly suicidal. I've done everything to him that I have to the plants that are surviving and he's still mostly dead. I think I'll have to go get a thyme plant.

Oh, and I've managed to kill an unkillable spider/airplane plant.

The Spider Plant is an especially popular plant with beginners, as it is easy to grow and propagate and is very tolerant of neglect, being able to thrive in a wide range of conditions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorophytum_comosum
 

SPMiller

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Whereas I have a bunch of plants sitting in random places by the southfacing windows that get watered once every week or two, if I think about it. Two of them (hibiscus and croton) are 15 years old.
 
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Fenika

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I'm told one of the banana peppers is ready to be enjoyed, but I'm in Europe atm. When I return, hopefully there will be a bumper crop.

Also, my mom is now harvesting the would-be-organic-if-not-for-idiots-having-a-sevin-fest. *shrugs*
 

icerose

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Most of my herbs are doing okay so far. :) I had my first 'harvest' of basil (5 leaves that I used in a thai stirfry).

My oregano though... I wasn't really looking for oregano, I'd been hoping for thyme, and I think the poor guy sensed it. He's mostly suicidal. I've done everything to him that I have to the plants that are surviving and he's still mostly dead. I think I'll have to go get a thyme plant.

Oh, and I've managed to kill an unkillable spider/airplane plant.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorophytum_comosum

You could very well be over watering your plants. Try spritzing twice a day instead of direct watering and then water only when the soil feels very dry. Overwatering can be as fatal as underwatering, sometimes moreso because they get root rot.
 

icerose

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Picked broccoli, basil, and a radish today. The broccoli didn't make it home, my kids ate it on the way back.

Ironically enough they fought over the last chunk. "That's my broccoli!" "But you got more than me." That sort of thing. I could decide if I was more happy because they're really that enthusiastic about their fruits and veggies or irritated that they were fighting over broccoli...

I settled the fight by promising more broccoli for all when we got home which ended the fight in a truce and they split the last chunk of broccoli.
 

icerose

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Rose. Your kids are freaks.





(they can have my broccoli any time they want)

Oh I know, we walk in the store and what do they do? They thunder past the candy isle, past the cookies and get all kinds of excited about the fruit and veggies. I have more people give me looks over that than anything else. "Mommy can we please pick an apple. Mommy, we're out of broccoli, please get more broccoli!" At the checkout counter, do they want a candy bar? Nope, they want the 100% all natural fruit roll ups they have in a bucket up there.

On top of that they hate store bread. To quote my oldest "It's like opening your mouth and swallowing air." At a barbeque they did not want hotdogs or hamburgers, they wanted the trimmed and marinated steaks I had brought. My MIL told me I was training them to eat high quality food already.
 
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icerose

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BRAVA! Wish there were more parents like you.

It drives me nuts to see some of the garbage our kids are eating.

It really helped that all my kids were allergic to soy for the past 5 years. Anything that came out of a box was off limits so while they were rather young they got nothing but homemade from scratch food. They've since grown out of the allergy, but they've developed their tastes enough to still not want that crap from the box and they can tell the difference even at 9,7, and 4. My 4 year old is actually my healthiest eater. She will pick salad greens out of the fridge and eat them as well as any other veggie over anything else.

And yeah it drives me crazy too, especially seeing elementary kids battle obesity already. I want to smack the parents for that one because it's not like the elementary kids have disposable income to make themselves really fat. One kid being the exception, he has health problems that actually make him fat, but the rest, they're eating junk.