Gardening thread! Please join!

amother

OP ↓

Mon, Jan 18 2021, 4:29 pm

Hi! Spring will be coming soon and I wanted to start a gardening thread for all those Imas who have gardens. Let’s hear what you have planned and your best tips and tricks Smile

I’d also love to see pictures if you want to upload! I need some inspiration for my backyard summer 2021.

Can’t wait!!!

Rappel ↓

Mon, Jan 18 2021, 4:35 pm

Thanks for reminding me that I need to put in my Tu Beshvat order! I want bulbs for the shaded patch opposite my door

I'm a bit of a gardening maniac, but it's on the back burner right now while my baby is little. I have plans, but nothing concrete until I see when I can put them into action. Right now, I've basically limited my efforts to cardboard-box gardening (recycle a delivery box, and plant the remains of a lettuce or a celery or a carrot in it and watch them grow.), stone gathering, and weeding out anything prickly from my garden (I'm sorry, thistles! I'll forage you outside the garden!)

So I'm on this thread to comment and help other posters. Hopefully we can make green things happen!

Teomima ↓

Mon, Jan 18 2021, 4:43 pm

Ooh! I live in an apartment so I'm limited to mostly rail planters and a few large pots. Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control I had to let almost everything die last year so I'm looking forward to starting over from scratch this fall. Though space is limited, I really love growing useful food items we can harvest: herbs and spices, of course, but I've also grown carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, carrots, and more, all in the rail planters.

BadTichelDay ↓

Mon, Jan 18 2021, 4:56 pm

Bit early, isn't it? Right now I've got only potted herbs and 2 different kinds of lemons from out trees to pick. I'm planning to have another go at heirloom tomatoes closer to summer and I have some odd flower seeds which I got on the internet. I also have a load of tiny tree seedlings on the deck, shesseq, blood orange, pomegranate and yemenite etrog. They will need bigger pots soon. Have to start also thinking about ways to get the garden shmitta-proof over the summer. One of the more challenging mitzvot for me!
Oh, and I want to start growing my own henna bushes and indigo plants for making organic hair dye. Have to procure seeds still.

amother

↑ OP

Mon, Jan 18 2021, 4:59 pm

BadTichelDay wrote:

I’ve got to get my seeds started indoors since I live in colder temps! So I’m starting now even though it’s still Jan! Your selection sounds amazing. I wish I would grow citrus trees here!

amother

Aubergine ↓

Mon, Jan 18 2021, 5:03 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I’ve got to get my seeds started indoors since I live in colder temps! So I’m starting now even though it’s still Jan! Your selection sounds amazing. I wish I would grow citrus trees here!

We have an esrog tree in the Northeast US! DS grew it from seed. It's in a pot, and we bring it inside for the winter. I don't know if we'll ever get an esrog from it, though.

mom4many ↓

Mon, Jan 18 2021, 5:04 pm

I’m not so good at growing vegetables. Non-finicky perennial flowers worked great for me and a few other things. I’m happy to share what did work - I always say that if something survives by me it must be super hardy!

I’d be very very happy to learn some more tips & tricks.

Also, since I’m in Israel, it’s on my mind even more, since next year is shmitta. AND it’s a leap year too - that means 13 months! I’m wondering if there’s anything I could do this spring that will help for shmitta (other than learn halachos...)

thunderstorm ↓

Mon, Jan 18 2021, 5:18 pm

When we grew our vegetable from seeds , we planted them indoors about the week before Pesach.
Otherwise we purchas the ready plants from Home Depot or Lowe’s.
Our biggest issue are the deer and groundhogs. Deer ate every flower I ever tried planting .
Groundhogs are a nuisance.
We build a big wooden box with 2x4s and we place fencing on the ground in addition to at least 4 ft high fencing all around the perimeter. This is to keep animals out. But these animals are even smarter and stick their hands through and pull out the plants through the holes and eat them too.
When the veggies grow, they usually grow in abundance . I pick the tomatoes before they are completely red and let them sit in a bowl near sunlight and they turn red as they ripen.
We had little success with growing peppers. They always took the longest to grow and by the time the peppers grew the temperatures were already turning cold. The easiest is cucumbers and tomatoes.

DVOM

Mon, Jan 18 2021, 6:36 pm

The first summer in our house I was obsessed with gardening. I planted waaaay to much for me to actually handle. We've since paired it down to our manageable favorites: strawberries and mint.

Our biggest problem was the very acrobatic squirrels in our neighborhood. For this summer I've been collecting old windows and my husband is going to build me a little squirrel-proofd greenhouse. I'm hoping to plant tomatoes, zucchini, and of course strawberry.

↑ BadTichelDay ↓

Tue, Jan 19 2021, 5:49 am

I would be glad if anyone could share good ways to deal with rock hyraxes (שפני הסלע). They eat nearly everything that's green in our back garden and climb like monkeys to defoliate the trees, especially in the summer, after the grass dries out.
(I live in constant fear of the day when they will discover that we've got a front garden, too.)
Electric fencing won't work with our kids.
Normal fences - they climb over or squeeze through gaps.
I've tried spreading all kind of smells, onions, garlic, orange peels, mint oil, toilet spray - no effect.
I've put spikes around the trunks of some trees which partially helps but when they are hungry enough, they'll brave them as well sometimes.
The only things they don't eat are conifers and mediterranean giant reeds, so I have taken to using those around the back but it makes for a boring back yard.
Anyone ever try ultrasound emitters? Any luck with them? Any other tips or tricks?
Is there any professional anti-herbivore spray availabe in Israel?

FranticFrummie ↓

Tue, Jan 19 2021, 6:37 am

You have hyraxes! I've always wanted to see them in person. I love Israeli wildlife. Sorry about your garden, though. They probably thought you planted it just for them. Wink

I have a large concrete patio area, so all of my stuff is container gardening. If I used the lawn, the landlord's kids would destroy it in a second.

I turned over an old Ikea wardrobe on it's back, and removed the doors. Now I have a raised garden bed that I filled with leaves, compost, vermiculite, and potting soil. Then I sprinkled mixed salad greens all over it. I got it done just before this week's rain came, so I think the timing is going to be really good. I have several small containers as well as planter boxes that need filling, too.

As for seeds, I had to weight which vegetables were cheap and easy to get from the grocery store, vs. which ones I wanted to be able to go outside and pick whenever I want. I bought the yellow pan zucchini, because you never see it in the stores. It doesn't ship well without bruising. I also got a bunch of herbs to snip, some nasturtiums, swiss chard, and a few heirloom varieties of veggies.

My main garden pests are slugs and snails. I'm going to try and find some copper tape to put around all of the containers. They won't cross the barrier, and it's safe for dogs and cats to be around. I try to avoid chemicals at all costs. If there are bugs, I'll be spraying with diluted dish soap.

Shmitta question: If the pots don't touch ground soil, and they are on a concrete base, are they permitted?

↑ Teomima ↓

Tue, Jan 19 2021, 12:23 pm

DREAMING wrote:

I would love to grow some potted veggies. Any info is appreciated as I don’t know the first thing about it!!

I've never been organized enough to sprout and plant seedlings. I'm really lackadaisical about how I do it so I might not be the best example. I just buy a variety of seeds and sprinkle them into the top layer of soil in my planter boxes. I tried a bunch of random things, I even managed to grow carrots in a semi-deep rail planter. My favorites to grow were the zucchini because I harvested the blossoms as well which were so novel and delicious to eat. Kale was also fun, I'd pull off a leaf or two each day to add in my morning omelette. All in all, it's not that hard, but don't expect your plants or produce to grow too large.

sky

Tue, Jan 19 2021, 12:27 pm

We plant a lot every year. But are never to successful with lots of produce but still keep trying.
We enjoy planting cherry tomatoes over large tomatoes bec it’s fun for kids, much more instant satisfaction and less time for animals to eat it.
Typical year we plant:
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Zucchini
Eggplant
Peppers
Some type of bean.
We do combination of planters on porch and in ground garden.
Last year we started a lot from seeds and was very successful in that Plants grew nicely - but not a lot of produce Smile