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

Closeup coming through, really slow uploading for some reason.

They "look" like Stayman

Thanks. The don't taste like much.

Cut out sugar and they'll taste like candy

Lol

I don't eat a whole lot of sugar. I mean compared the Golden Delicious down the hill, they dont taste like much.

Maybe it was just that one I ate.

Yeah those are better for cider

Good, were big cider drinkers.

Thanks!

Just poking fun

I know, no worries 👍

I've found a few of these around the property. Not sure what they are. They were under oak trees. Any ideas?

This hurricane is gonna totally ruin my aquaponics

@John M -#7072 looks like spring mix lettuce

I can't remember exactly what it was. I wasn't expecting it to do well in 90° Florida weather. The other stuff is radishes, beets, and onions.

There's a strain of Arizona and Jericho lettuce that does well in high heat. Yours looks great.

Thanks man, I've gotten pretty lucky. It's been overcast about 3 days out of the week every week for about 2 months.

Aquaponics is stupid easy. I highly recommend it. Just feed the fish every 2-3 days

Fish? There are fish involved?

Aquaponics is aquaculture+hydroponics.

Fish poop fertilizes the plants.

Ah cool I had no idea

Look into it. Mine is big and semi-permanent, but you can make a little one with a 2 gallon fish bowl.

Will do. Sounds intriguing.

You should switch to no till organic anyway

When I buy some property, I want to do hugelkultur

You don't need a tree. You can just get a huge pile of green wood chips. A place by my house has a 20 ft pile for free. They're low quality for landscaping, but perfect for composting.

Nice!! Anyone here read "teaming with microbes"

If not then I highly recommend it

https://youtu.be/Jp-5wKaL_oE

This guy does good introductory level hydroponics videos, if anyone's interested

Go no till

What exactly do you mean by this?

You don't till the soil. Instead you focus on keeping the soil life healthy(from insects, to bacteria, to fungi, nematodes, etc)

Basically healthy soil life will make anything and everything your plants need, so instead of administering what you think your plants need, they instead have an entire nutrient buffet in the soil that they can draw from as they need it

It involves learning about the soil food web and understanding the different rolls of the microlife

Basically everything you do will be to support that life rather doing what you think your plants nees

Need

I do green fertilizer in my traditional garden. I've been thinking about all that, but I'm moving soon, so I'm not sure that it's worth it.

Start it up at your new place

And read "teaming with microbes" by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis

The whole system can be used indoors as well

Regardless always go soil over hydro, unless you're in space, even then that's debatable

I just like hydro and aquaponics for the technical aspects. It helps to soothe my Autism.

Haha gotcha

@Why Tea that's a clever set up to protect your cantaloupe

It worked great! Another round of 'em ripened too so I got to re-use that cage.

Have a small backyard garden. Had a bad year for the most part. But want to grow cotton, just a few for the heck of it and was done here by original settlers, so should grow. Ordered seeds twice online, but I think they were duds.Nothing even came up. Anyway, tips on time of year or anything. Never seen a cotton field and fascinated by it, especially being a Southerner.

Take that back. Did see cotton fields on way back from Virginia, but they were in flower stage so doesn't count!

How did you prepare the seeds (if at all) and what care did you provide right after planting?

🤔

@Why Tea No prep of seeds. Just planted as instructed and watered immediately after. Kept moist through the days. Nothing ever grew.

Well that sucks. I've certainly had bad luck sometimes with seeds that just did nothing.

Looks like a tiny plant that subverts and takes over your whole garden.

For some plants we always buy seedlings or young plants, just to avoid the hassle/risk, despite the extra cost.

The wife's dad, however, is some sort of wizard with seeds and grows almost everything he can from seed.

Yeah. I just like more natural way of going by seed. But certainly has it's setbacks.

@Deleted User Low light. Makes sense, likes to be in the shadows as it wonders.

@GoyMeetsWorld If I remember correctly, that's exactly how it got it's name

Of course!

Does anyone have any good informative videos or online articles that would help me start looking into an in-home mini garden? I am in college, and have a small patio deck that I can do a small box garden or multiple plants. Thanks!

Have you seen these garden wall things? You can make it with old pallets to save $$

That looks absolutely perfect and what I want to do. It's nearing the Winter though (Winter is coming lol), so would it be a good time to pick up the hobby now?

Or wait until the Spring?

What zone are you in?

I live in Harrisonburg, Virginia

Eastern Time Zone is that is what you're looking for

No hardiness zone. So you're in zone 6 which isn't good for winter planting without a greenhouse. You can look around for supplies now and start your seeds in late winter/early spring indoors.

That would be fantastic! Would you mind in I reached out to you again at the end of winter for some questions?

Not at all. Here's a pic of a pallet being used as a mini garden. Since pallets are free and everywhere it's a cheap easy way to do these gardens:

I really dig that! Awesome job!

That's not mine but I plan to do these mixed in with my garden to save space.

Very pretty

We love the pallet planters at my house. Be sure to use pallets that are not chemically treated. They have stamps on them with different designations.

^^^Yes. Whenever using wood to make a garden container make sure it's not chemically treated.

@Deleted User O wouldn't use pallets for gardening, fam. It's usually made from pressure treated lumber

Oops, didn't read all the way down

My bounty, from a 4x4 plot of soil

Does anyone have any suggestions for what to plant in a fall garden? I’m limited to an area that has practically full shade, so I’m restricted in what could successfully grow there.

If nothing is suitable for that spot, I could always purchase pots for my porch.

You could try some root vegetables like beets, carrots, or potatoes or some leafy greens. I know they don’t really need full sun but I’m sure they’d want at least a little bit still can’t hurt to try

Ok, I’ll see what I can do. 👍🏻 Thanks

My Japanese eggplants still going strong

Nice. Now bread it and fry to make is sufficiently not healthy 😃

Yes!

Great eggplant!

Thanks!

So this seems like the best place to ask but does anyone have tips for treating pink eye in cows?

antibiotics and eye patches, keep as much sun off of them as possible. That's what the eye patches are for. Back on the farm we'd have some cows get it so bad the vet would stitch the eye shut until it cleared up. But it's been about 10 years since I've messed with cattle so there could be some updated way to treat pinkeye. @varjack WA

You probably need to get the vet out there to check out the situation. They can also give you tips on how to control it, flies help spread it. But that's probably not a problem this time of year.

For some reason whenever we try to grow strawberries they don't do to well here

Is it because of our climate/environment

Can I improve it somehow

Strawberries are usually like weeds. What state are you in?

Anyone have any experience with edible/medicinal mushroom cultivation?

I've helped my mom grow some in logs before. I think they where morales?

Not sure if anyone has posted this guy's videos before, even as an urban farmer in Canada he does quite well and has some great tips. My husband and I have been enjoying them.... https://youtu.be/neqT2bruHwI

First lil red potato of this crop!! It’s so cute I had to share!

Spuds! 😃

Spuds! 😀

Spuds! 😀

@Olivia M Looks fantastic!

Ok. Really excited about this. Not gardening related per say, but anyone use one? Our yard only ironically for Florida needs mowing 5 times a month. Bought some corn seeds while there. Have had some decent success with that.

@Olivia M and I will soon be pulling Winter crops. Back before citrus became king, Central FL did grow cotton, corn, tobacco even etc. Tried cotton, seeds came from Oregon and think were duds. I like to keep garden natural and how it would have been for a settler minus watering. Just no farmland around here anymore and enjoy growing crops you see further North of here.

Corn is hit or miss.

I tried one of those. I never figured it out. In show's about the 50s they always show dads pushing them around like they are going for a stroll. I tried and tried but it either didn't cut, or it jammed up.

I see people in our historic districts use them all the time, grass always looks good, but every one I see isn't painted. So different brand for sure and they are bigger.

@Algrin "Bailey" Bagley - PA You just set it high, and go slow. And then lower it a little bit and cut again to the length you like. Then you best make sure to cut twice a week to keep it that way.

Push...pull back...push...pull back. Kinda like mopping, for that first cut 😛

It's a lot of work, good exercise. You learn fast why gas mowers became so popular lol

Ug. Twice a week? How about twice a month? Mabye I'll I give it another chance. @Phillip Wiglesworth - FL

Wednesday’s and Saturdays...welcome to living old school 😂

Our potatoes are popping up! Grabbed a few for dinner! Exciting!

@Olivia M#0852 I grew a quarter acre of reds and blues once!

Nice! I’m just amped that I was able to do it in FL of all places

Is the soil not conducive to it down there?

The heat is more so the issue I think. But sweet potatoes do great - they love the heat.

What are you guys growing now? I got blueberry bushes for my birthday!

What kind of climate do you live in?

Zone 7ish.

Lol

Ahh im dumb MD

Oof

Well, if you have a fence along your property, jasmine is always a great choice

Gravy.

I don’t own it. These are going in large box planters and relocating when we move. We’re hoping to buy a property in the next year.

Does anyone need help planting their garden?

I need tricks for keeping seedlings from wilting over

What kind of plant?

Well cucumber seeds but also growing pine trees. The pine tree seedlings seem to get wilt over quite quickly

I'm not sure about cucumber but you need to grow the pine tree seedlings indoors until they are between 6 and 12 inches tall.

Yea they wilt over after a week of sprouting

I bought a grow light and it worked better

But now they get fried too. Maybe I shouldn’t use the heat matte

The needles get fried

Cinnamon helped with wilt over to an extent