Seriously, I am tired of the stereotypes of leftists in the west looking like they all grow soy beans, as the fash call it ie weak as fuck. And almost to a large degree, it’s true.
I see chuds everywhere when I go to the community garden, and their plants are fucking huge ngl. They take care of their tomatoes. I don't care if you're growing potatoes, cucumbers, squash, artichokes, you have to have those fruits and leaves fucking huge and shooting to the sky and looking good. You want to help the cause? Help yourself. Do it for vanity, do it for others, do it for the greater good, I don’t care. Fucking weed and fertilize the best you can and get those veggies the biggest they can be.
It’s hard, but so is literally everything. Just know this is going to take 3-4 years of consistency. If you’re starting out, don’t worry about a garden layout, and just plant good shit. Your biggest goal at this point is consistency, watering 5 days a week. Do that over 3-4 years, and progressive growth every single day whether that be lettuce or whatever.
I want you fuckers to be fucking vain jesus fuck. Fuck your organics, use Miracle Grow for all I care, but have a green thumb while doing it. Slowly start doing more functional things such as eggplant or mushrooms w/e to truly maximise your gardening potential.
my peppers are fatty, they're enormous, they pack heat, they got bite, they're angry and red and ready to go
Hell yeah comrade, I still struggle with producing good peppers tbh, especially larger varieties, not sure if I should fertilize them regularly.
I have had fertilizer troubles often in the past, this year I picked up a sack of 13-13-13 and that stuff is like pepper crack cocaine, as soon as I see the green starting to get a little pale I sprinkle in a small bit and water it in and the plant gets dark green again within a week or two
OH! and I got a super cheap soil test kit so when I plant something I test the soil in the pot and then amend as needed
this is entirely dumb guy gardening, I enjoy doing it but I hate reading about it so i mostly fumble around in the dark until I hit on something that works and the 13-13-13 is like fertilizing on casual mode
I've been fertilizing most of my plants regularly this year but was kind of neglecting the peppers because I figured they'd be fine. Tomatoes are getting massive though and I've never had a cucumber plant get so large, it's covering an 8x8 area and is starting to overrun some of the other plants.
I've never had luck with tomatoes or tomatillos, bugs and birds get them before I can every single time. Eggplants are real fun though, I didn't plant any this year because last year I kept getting too many and didn't eat them all or made too much ajvar that never got eaten. They're really pretty plants on top of being super easy to grow, at least in my region (east texas). Wish I planted cucumbers this year.
Might be worth hitting the plants with something like Neem oil to keep the bugs off of them, not sure about the birds though. I've had people say I should put up netting or some kind of cover but I'd never forgive myself if I found a dead bird caught in it. First time I tried growing strawberries every time I went to pick a ripe one I'd find a beak sized chunk taken out of the side. I haven't gotten eggplants completely dialed in but I really enjoy the Japanese ones for being just overall easier to cook.
Yeah I'm not too worried about the birds, the bugs annoy me though. With peppers it's just easier to spend a few minutes every few days examining them and just remove and relocate the offending critters. The japanese eggplants are fantastic
Fresh amended soil (ie: composted/whatever) generally doesn't last longer than a month and a half before needing more juice. Youll know for sure with stuff like peppers/other nightshades bc the fruits will look smaller/stunted and you'll get leaf yellowing.
Fish emulsion with kelp is usually an easy liquid organic amendment (but obviously not vegan). Right now I'm just using Masterblend which is a synthetic water soluble fert intended for hydroponics but can be easily used in soil. Very cost effective. 50lbs will last a regular person an insane amount of time.
If you garden straight into your dirt and not containers I would say to take the time to learn how to continuously feed your earth. It takes more knowledge but honestly it's kinda more hands off than having to juice up stuff synthetically.
I think it's just insect byproduct, so yeah I think it counts as vegan. Granted maybe there's a vegan out there who would count the was frass is made as abusive to the insects? Someone else can chime in, I'm definitely not the right person to have the last word on this one lol
I used fish emulsion one season but it's kind of expensive. I'll definitely keep the hydroponic mix in mind though, doesn't look like that brand is available where I am but I'll probably give something similar a go next year, been getting good results from hitting most of the plants with water soluble fertilizer once a week.
My weed always grows in thick and strong as a motherfucker, having put people who've been smoking for 50 years on their asses after a hit or 2
My mushrooms can make you trip good and hard on one of the fat ones, or just buzz you if you have a small cap
My raspberries were eaten by my goats they were so good (broke down a fence)
My blueberries are the main ingredient of my most popular ice cream
My watermelons are YUGE. Like, I wanted to see if I could enter the first one I ever grew because it was bigger than winners at my county fair but I fucking DROPPED IT ON MY WAY TO THE END IF THE GARDEN TO GET A PIC AND IT SHATTERED JUST LIKE MY HEART
My trick is to have purchased plant nutrients by their individual content (ie I have a nitrate supplement and a calcium supplement, not a plant-specific or combo supplement) and I adjust real-time what I feed and nutrient them based on their reactions. Once the soil is stable and healthy I only need to fertilize once a year and I can use my ranching compost pile for that, thank god. If a plant appears to be experiencing a deficiency I can add a little of whatever it is and observe.
It helps I had Aggie (UC Davis) friends in college and some of their nerdy knowledge stuck
Used to get mushrooms from a guy with a degree in botany that were hands down the best I've ever had in my life.
Strongest musshies I ever had the guy said "I shit on them myself."
… DROPPED IT ON MY WAY TO THE END IF THE GARDEN TO GET A PIC AND IT SHATTERED JUST LIKE MY HEART
That’s so weird… my grandmother tells the same exact story about herself and her dad when she was little. Watermelon drops on the way to county fairs must be fairly common.
my most successful edible garden plant thing is berries
i get some fat blackberries off my house vine. size of a thumb
Hell yeah, I'm thinking about starting some berry bushes next year.
I like gardening, but apartment living+a voracious cat makes that tough.
Could maybe see if there's a community garden nearby? I know that's a pain if it's not down the street though. I've fortunately never had to worry about cats getting at any plants I have.
Yeah, the community gardens do exist, but wind up being too much of a pain to get to. It's just way easier when they're right next to you.
If you grow wheatgrass you can help keep em off your plants. You gotta be good about making sure there's always a plot of wheatgrass going though. It's not hard to grow honestly (but it can be annoying to keep alive past a certain point).
And even a small apartment space can grow herbs for cooking which is a nice reward
I keep procrastinating on some small hanging planters. 90% chance my cat will still try a vertical leap, but it's still tempting.
I was a gardener in another life, that time has gone now though
I'm looking to put in some veggies in my partners garden soon though
my weed is growing strong outdoors. it's basically my first time growing it. didn't have money for seeds, but my weed came with seeds already in it, so who can blame me for planting them?and me n my community have a bunch of food growing. it's our first year growing much, but it's going pretty well. struggling with the fact there has been a drought for 4 years and all the water fucked off, but we're learning to cope with it.
Hell yeah, I'd just recommend keeping an eye out for infestations, I've had trouble with caterpillars, mites and scales at different times. The caterpillars are particularly aggravating because they literally shit all over your buds.
ty for the advice unfortunately i am stuck in a shittier country for the next week and a half. my weed is basically just living off of a thing i learned a while back, where you put water into a ceramic pot in the ground and the water passes through the walls of the pot slowly to reach the roots. we are in a v bad place with water and can't really spare any rn. it's been doing incredibly well all considering. but it seems to like the outside, particularly since i watched my friend kill some indoor weed he was growing a few years ago. but when i get back we're gonna sort it out (the water situation)
One of my houseplants is a Dieffenbachia that just won't fucking get it together.
I'm doing everything right, it's in an appropriate soil in an ideally sized pot, getting the right levels of water and sunlight. (I even checked with a lux meter and supplement the natural light with an artificial growth light)
It just keeps putting out these new leaves that then immediately die. It's driving me crazy.
Yeah sometimes you can treat them better than some people treat their children and they still struggle. I have a couple I think Pothos plants that were on their way out a couple months after I finally put them in soil until I adjusted my watering to twice as often with half as much so the roots don't get rotted out. Got some orchids shoved on me by a relative that didn't want to bother with them and I recently threw the last one on the compost pile after the leaves all fell off, have a couple others that are doing fine and putting out new growth even if I haven't gotten them to bloom yet.
Comrade try using terracotta spikes they’re a god send. Just plop an upside down wine bottle in them and it automatically slow-releases directly to the root system. They’re designed specifically for addressing drought affected environments.
