Spoiler: big fler in the raised beds @roach built for me, i caused this sunflower to come into being. life is a weird little miracle.
is there any plant that could survive in a 100% unnatural light situation? I think the lights are fluorescent, probably. It's a science lab, it's not built for comfort. But I kinda want a small desk plant, provided something could survive there
could you bring in your own little desk lamp? if you could put a plant bulb in one of those it would make a big difference
Pothos are REALLY hard to kill and tolerate low-light / no-natural-light situations very well. I have a bunch. You can forget to water them for a week or so and they're fine.
anyone have tips for stratifying seeds? I gots things I want to grow, but they require this and idk the best way to do it
Depends on the seed. some of them are fine sitting in the crisper drawer for a few weeks before planting, others want a freeze-thaw cycle.
a lot of them don't need even that. i think it's usually perennials that do, but look em up, you might be able to just plant most of them from room temperature.
some of the native plants I'm trying to grow claim to want that, but I live on the gulf coast of tx. none of these plants are actually particularly frost tolerant. I'm actually having to bring in a bunch of the plants this weekend bc of that, what w the freeze that's supposed to happen on monday
I'm impatient, so I'm splitting the difference on the seeds I have plenty of- they're outside in a germination tray for the cold weather
That should be fine. Other option might be fall sowing. Just pick the bed you want then and plant them now and leave it to nature in the spring.
my raised bed is only half full of dirt, so direct sowing isn't really an option rn. trying to get soil for it has been a project that has mostly depended on me being alive and willing to go outside when the lawn service is here on monday mornings (but not every monday in the winter) so rn mostly things are going in plastic pots, peat pots or germination trays, in accordance w/ what it is and what it needs and how interested I am in having it, specifically, survive. native plants that aren't mint varieties go in peat pots that will go in the front yard eventually. kitchen herbs are in plastic pots for the moment, will probably be moved to planters or the raised bed in the spring. things I specifically want to grow or require extra effort are in germination trays, to be moved to either peat or plastic pots once they're ready. and the non-native poisonous plants are going to stay in various pots until I decide on something else for them which reminds me, I still need to look up what to do for nightshade and hemlock, which I have but haven't planted yet. I also have castor seeds, but dad said no to planting those here. something about ricin being bad? and then he said something about not eating anything from my garden
Terrarium update: a year later she is THRIVING! Spoiler: large images here it was last July! the plants sprouted and then didn't grow much until close to the end of the winter, when they absolutely took off. here it was in early March: and then early May: (snail friend or its descendant is still around!) and now here it is today: it's doing so well!! the lid cover has only come off once briefly by accident, so it's been more or less a closed ecosystem in there. there were a couple points where mold started to grow, and at one point a plant died and I was worried that would be the beginning of the end. but apparently I have enough bugs in there to make an effective cleanup crew! the mold went away after about a month, the dead plants vanished without incident, and all appears to be peace and harmony. makes me want to try another one!!
Thank you! :D you totally should, it is actually really easy if you have access to the right supplies! Serpadesign on youtube has some good tutorials - I think this or maybe this is the one I watched and here is a more recent one - but basically what you need is: -jar or other glass container with a sealing lid -charcoal or other filtration medium, charcoal is easy to set up and afaik one of the most effective but might be harder to get ahold of clean charcoal than sand+rocks -clean dirt -non-tap water. I got some from a stream behind my parents' house. probably rainwater or distilled water would also be good -piece of mesh screen slightly larger than your container (can find at a hardware store) -a small pair of tongs is useful for arranging things in tight spaces. I used some toast tongs -some moss. I just went out in the woods with a tupperware and pulled a few square inches off of the prettiest patches I found. -bugs for cleanup crew. you can buy springtails online but I just hoped that my moss would come with hitchhikers, which it did! looking for potato beetles would also be a good idea probably. -some nice rocks and sticks for hardscaping if you want -I didn't intentionally plant anything other than moss but it probably shouldn't be that hard, you could grab a few seedlings while you're getting the moss -all the above is if you want a native terrarium, obviously if you want more exotic plants things will get more difficult and expensive but I haven't done that! clean your jar out and fill the bottom couple of inches with your charcoal (or whatever). pour most of your water in - you want enough to pool at the bottom of the jar, but not enough that it comes near the top of the charcoal. arrange the mesh screen so it covers the charcoal with a bit of a lip, then cover with a couple inches of dirt. design your hardscape, arrange the moss patches around it, and gently wet it down with the rest of the water. then just seal it with something airtight and set it somewhere sunny! if all goes well you will have a tiny water cycle and ecosystem in there. this is the best time of the year for gathering moss afaik so it would be a good time to start one up!!
not much to see plant wise yet (our last frost was like a week ago) but! i got the first half of the balcony cleaned up and organized today! soon the trellises will be covered in sweet pea and morning glory, and my nasturtiums are already putting in an appearance now i just have to do the other half
