Meanwhile I am trying to praise my good cooperative babies in the hopes that that will work better than shaming the bad ones
My first zucchini are starting to fruit! I've gone for a variety this year, so the harvest should be pretty af. (a ball type, a golden zuke, and tromboccino, which is twisty :D)
Uuhh we got some MATERS Spoiler Cherokee purple, Carolina Gold, Celebrity, Eeearly Girl??? Maybe? Better Boy?? Maybe both? I cant remember which ones I got and I lost the little stakes with the cultivar names on them. I also have some Roma and Mr. Stripey plants and possibly a Pink Brandywine?? I honestly can't remember I bought these guys back in April ANYWAY they're doing good! Tho I didn't put any tums in the hole when I planted them this year and made no effort to supplement them with anything except 1 dose of miracle grow but I'm STILL offended that several of them are getting blossom end rot
I've noticed Cherokee purple seems particularly vulnerable to fruit crack. which is sad because I like it???
consistent watering/moisture level goes a long way to preventing blossom end rot. if they dry out too hard the fruits start going downhill. and of course, 'too hard' is sometimes different for different types :/
I gotta say I'm mad jealous of anyone who lives in a climate where tomatoes grow easily. You have to coddle the fuck out of them here in the UK and half the time they refuse to ripen properly :/
So... does anybody know wtf is happening here??? Spoiler: weird bug stuff This caterpillar is frozen on one of my peppers. On its back are a bunch of wriggly hanging things in what look like little webbing sacks. What the fuck am i looking at here?? some kind of parasitic wasp? Just a super weird caterpillar? Other than that nonsense, my garden is doing pretty ok! I lost all my cucumbers and my squash to what I suspect is cucumber mosaic virus, but my tomatoes and peppers are doing good. By far the hardiest of them are the sweet peppers I got from aldi and saved the seeds from last year. They're proving to be nearly unkillable and extremely prolific. Go figure of all my lovely heirlooms it's those that are my garden champions.
@theprettiestboy Those are parasitic wosp larvae! that caterpiller is done for, but it'll help out your peppers. It's frozen because the mother wasp stings it and paralyzes it and then the larvae consume it when they hatch.
Despite my name I have a black thumb and cannot keep plants alive for any length of time. I have just aquired a succulent, and this time I am hoping to not kill it, wish me luck!
Hopefully you already know this, but terrariums and enclosed planters with no drainage holes are the WORST POSSIBLE things for succulents. They're very fashionable atm but succulents are typically desert-biome plants and will rot and die very quickly if kept in containers that lack drainage - your new friend will be much happier in a regular pot on a saucer, so they don't have to sit in water for long periods of time. I'm really sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs, here, but its so common these days to see those poor little cactus-kind sat in containers better suited to bog plants* and ferns, and it drives me crazy! *Which includes carnivorous plants, btw! I have a terrarium I made out of an old fish tank with a couple of bladderworts and a little sundew, and they're EXTREMELY happy to never have dry roots :3
Look I know absolutely nothing about gardening! I have killed every plant I've ever had, I am absolutely open to simple newbie advice, please please tell me how to not kill my new plant. Also, my plant is in a hanging metal container thing, I'll take a picture when I get home.
Hey on that subject would anyone like a tutorial on drilling drainage holes in otherwise unsuitable things? I just took some pictures the other day when I was drilling out some mugs.
....I think that's an air plant, and it shouldn't even be in soil. Can someone else chime in? I'm not hallucinating, right?
I bought it like this, and it's in moss, not soil. and yeah googling has told me it is indeed an air plant!
yup, hang it in a nice bright place (no need for direct sun on em, but they don't want shade) and mist it once a week, or dip it briefly in water every couple of weeks
So for folks who want to jump on the succulents and cacti in teacups etc trend without killing their plants, I'm gonna throw the tutorial under a spoiler. Spoiler: long af This is a method that works on ceramic and glass, so teacups, mugs, bowls, shotglasses, etc are all fair game here. So what you'll need here is: Something to drill-I've got some mugs and bowls here, these are perfect for succulents since they're shallow A drill- I use a cordless, but you can use a corded one, you just have to be careful with the power A diamond drill bit- this may be marketed as a core drill bit or a hole saw, the end should be a hollow circle so that at the end you have a little plug. Mine cost about $10, and I just went with a 1/4 in size Some water- this will keep the drill bit cool while you work This kind of container often has a bit of a dip in the bottom, which will make the water a lot easier. If you can, just fill the bottom with water. Otherwise you'll have to rig some kind of drip system, or submerge the whole thing slightly in another container. When you start drilling, you're going to want to start at an angle and wear a groove into the bottom. It's going to want to jerk around and you'll probably wind up with some stray scratches. That's ok though, just put it back in the groove until it's deep enough not to jump out. Once you've got your groove started, slowly rock your drill up and down, going more upright each time. Rocking back and forth like this lets the water circulate and keeps the drill bit effective. Eventually you'll have it all the way upright, so that it's wearing a full circle instead of an arc. Keep rocking the drill slightly to let the water circulate. It should take about 5 minutes to get through, although I've found some things are much softer and easier to drill. Just be patiant with it and don't use too much pressure, let the diamonds do their work. For larger containers, you can either use a larger drill bit or drill more than one hole. Have fun!
So I rescued a small orchid from Lowe’s that was starting to show signs of root rot . I got it home and repotted it in some rocks to help keep it drier and cut off the dead bits, but I don’t know a whole lot about orchids in general. Anything else I should do other then keeping an eye on when it needs watered and away from direct sunlight?
