Hi, everyone. Your friend Why Tea here. My wife and I do a bit of gardening, and between the two of us and her father, we've got over a lifetime's experience. She was raised on a farm in the Northwest, and I'm from the Southeast, so we've got a bit of range there. At home here we currently have blueberry bushes, strawberries, a ton of tomatoes (of course) and we're also doing cantaloupe and an entire bed of sweet potatoes this year.

Awesome man our blackberries and raspberries are just starting to ripen. About two weeks out. 300 plants!

Stopped growing tomatoes a while back on account of the stinkbugs

We have a huge blackberry bush, but we're going to rip it out, they are big and juicy, but even after several seasons, this variety just doesn't taste sweet. The raspberry bush hasn't ever taken off, unfortunately.

300 plants is serious. I've got acreage and want to fill it with blueberries and strawberries.

@Why Tea Hey there, thanks for doing this by the way.

Is there any gardening books you would recommend?

@Why Tea I love black berries! Do you know if I can grow them in a hot 100 degree climate like East Texas?

berries seem to grow best in the North East or at least to my knowledge black/blue/raspberries grow wild all over NY esp upstate

Can confirm, I see a shit ton of em where I am.

Well, raspberries won't do well, they have to be further north, but blackberries do fine here in GA. There are a number of varieties. It doesn't get quite as hot here, but they still do fine. Really well. I don't have to actively water them or anything. It may be too hot or too dry where you are.

The main thing is to make sure what you're trying to grow, as you asked, will work in your climate zone.

And be sure to get a variety that does best in that zone.

If there are different ones.

For blackberries, there definitely are: https://www.almanac.com/plant/blackberries

Bonus- blackberries grow like weeds. Very invasive, they love water

Just like passion fruit

Definitely a thorny weed!

@Nova check this one out: https://www.amazon.com/Mini-Farming-Self-Sufficiency-Brett-Markham-ebook/dp/B004ULMJ2C

Oh wow that looks useful.

Alright I'll have to check it out, thanks.

@texan- tx Looks like you're in Zone 8 in East Texas, and all the blackberry stock I looked at grows in zones 5-9 so you're good.

Thanks for the informative response @Why Tea

I'm trying to find a particular variety that will do well there.

I know they grow wild here

For example, this: ".A NEW thornless blackberry USDA cultivar called ‘Sweetie Pie’ was released that is resistant to disease, heat tolerant but tastes delicious. This cultivar, tested as MSUS119, came from a cross between ‘Navaho’ and MSUS29. MSUS29 is a seedling from a cross of [Humble x Brazos] x Navaho. ‘Sweetie Pie’ was selected at Poplarville, Mississippi in 1996. It was subsequently propagated and tested at McNeill, Mississippi, as well as in trial plantings in Louisiana and Arkansas. ‘Sweetie Pie’ grows vigorously and produces numerous floricanes, which are thornless and have a trailing growth habit."

I'd say if it does well in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, this will work in Texas : )

So see if you can find that. Bonus--thornless!

Thanks man I'll try and find some seeds online

The wild Blackberries grow to be as big as half dollars here

A picture from this year, they only got up to a little over the size of a quarter at best. Last year they were huge. Biggest I've ever seen

Our first year they were pretty bitter. These year they're much sweeter. We keep em netted now to keep the stink bugs off

Yeah those stink bugs are a nuisance

And for whatever reason they love hanging around blackberries

They suck the juice out of anything sweet up here including corn

Will fence lizards eat them?

There's not many predators for them. Wild turkeys cross bred with domestic turkeys for some reason can eat pounds of them, but their stink power makes them inedible to most predators.

@here does anyone know anything about growing mushrooms?

@Why Tea

Yes.

Are you looking to grow indoors or out?

I've only grown mushrooms from a kit, once, indoors. I'll defer to Alexander on this one.

All I know is that you need darkness and a shit ton of moisture.

Ambient (not direct) light

@Alexander B. - SC I am open to whatever works best

@R O M A N V S I know a fish tank would be a good place to let the spores grow.

Fish tank with a piece of glass inside to spray water on(enough to keep a humid environment, not make mushrooms wet) ambient light (such as in the vicinity of a window, not in the direct sunlight) everything must be thoroughly sterilized beforehand

Thomas has hit the nail on the head as far as indoor growing is concerned. Spores are injected into mason jars full of nutrient pellets in order to create the mycellium (spelling?) which is the "heart" of your mushroom growth. The contents are then removed from the jars and placed in a sanitized container, in ambient light, and then spritzed with water periodically.

When it comes to heartier mushrooms, you can easily grow them outside given the right conditions.

http://www.fungi.com/product-detail/product/shiitake-plug-spawn-approx-1000-plugs.html

^ this is a great resource for ordering "log plugs" which are exactly what they sound like. Simply drill holes in logs, insert plugs, boom - shiitakes. The conditions have to be fair, but shiitakes are pretty resiliant. I imagine you have to spray the logs with water once every now and again *maybe*. But I can't imagine it taking any more effort than that.

You can also use a medium of vermiculite and organic brown rice(ground)

@Why Tea @Nova @Thomas Morrow @Mr. Bulldops

Yes?

Thank you for the input thus far everyone, especially Alex and Thomas. I will do some more research and probably be back to further the discussion.

Ah, yeah your mushrooms. Good luck with them!

You got it, brother

Simple lesson coming soon on how to keep critters and varmints from getting your cantaloupes!

Is it a Ruger 10/22?

@Grenadier lol

Kek

How does one know if a plant is getting too much direct sunlight?

@WhyTea-Gardener i have a kiefer pear tree and the fruit is starting to come to term. The fruit does not taste very well to eat straight from the tree and I was told that it is best used for jams and jellies. Are there any other uses as far as cooking is concerned that you are aware of? I've never seen a pear cobbler or pie etc.

@Dan iiii for some plants it's not the direct sunlight but rather the high temperature

@Dan iiii Depends largely on the plant but the surest way to tell is if it gets sunburned. Yes, plants get sunburned. They affected portion will turn white and papery (I'll post a pic below). If you're asking about time of exposure, remember that plants do their actually growing in the dark so too long exposure can cause the plant to grow more slowly or not fruit, etc.

@Deleted User I'm more familiar with the jams and jellies myself but a cobbler or pie might be nice. Follow the same recipes as for apple and I'd expect it would work out fine.

@Grenadier lol no it's little cages made of hardware cloth!

@Why Tea I like my idea better.

Keeps them off your crops and free meat!

And you get to shoot something!

Have any of you dealt with or been a beekeeper? I think I'd like to get some hives soon

Nice, do often sell a lot of honey or do you end up using most of it on your own?

We have a fella that sells it out. They crank out quite a bit of honey. Tens and tens of pounds

Wow, how many hives do you have?

3.

We've pulled north of 30 so far out of two this year

If you don't mind me asking how much do you get from all that money wise?

A bottle (about half a pound) retails at about eight bucks. Beekeeper charges about 1/2 to 2/3 of that.

@Deleted User could you describe the flavor/texture of the pears?

Juicy as hell, little gritty and have an earthy taste moreso than you'd expect

@R O M A N V S sterilization is key

Nice

Can anyone ID this plant?

Queen Anne's lace, I think.

"Chigger-weed"

carrot?

They're all over the yard at our new place.

Not in a garden.

It's in the carrot family tho

Daucus carota

Wild carrot/queen Anne's lace looks like it.

Thanks!

You may not want to pick or walk around while wearing shorts. Chiggers suck.

Yeah I've had them before. Horrible.

So, is there a way to ID apples? We have a tree and we don't know what kind they are.

post a pic