LOOK at my parents' peach trees Spoiler: large images This one is producing several pounds of peaches a day right now this one is just about to start producing. I just picked the first ripe fruit off it today. They're a little bigger and a little bit more tart than the first tree and this tree, the oldest one, isn't even close to being ripe yet, thank goodness. Every year it looks like it's on the brink of death and every year it gives us pounds and pounds of fruit. These trees are all so insanely productive that if we weren't here to prop up the limbs I'm pretty sure they would have broken by now. Absolutely no survival instincts, these trees. They're the french bulldogs of the fruit tree world.
we haven't been thinning them so far, just staying very on top of harvesting when they come ripe, but it probably wouldn't be a bad idea. especially with that older tree.
just set up a golden oyster mushroom bucket using this tutorial!! I didn't have quite enough wood shavings to pack the bucket full, so I might pasteurize and add some more later. I don't want it to start fruiting under the lid. also I just learned about PF Tek: and I am VERY interested, it looks really easy and cheap past the setup stage and good for producing small quantities of different kinds of mushroom which is what I'm interested in! I might even try and see if I can get around the need for liquid culture and just do grain-to-grain propagation, which would make the whole thing self-sustaining. that's a future project though.
I'm requesting interested in growing mushrooms but also really paranoid about mold and mistaking mushroom spores for mold. I hope it works out!
I think that's more a concern for some kinds of mushrooms than others. For this method, I just bought a spawn block growing kit from a company that makes those. I want to try doing propagation in the future but probably only with mushrooms that have a very distinct look and are hard to confuse with anything else. I think oysters are one of the better beginner mushrooms for that reason! re: mold, as far as I can tell it's not too hard to tell the difference between mold and mycelium, the hard part is keeping everything sterile enough that the mycelium can fully colonize the spawn without contaminants growing in there first - the concern there being wasting your time and effort rather than growing something dangerous. but I'm going to look into it some more and see just how careful you need to be, if there are any dangerous molds that can grow without you noticing, etc.
There's a lot of flies around my yard in the last couple days and I dunno why OAO They don't seem to be congregating around anything in particular, just... a lot of them, buzzing around and annoying the shit out of me while I try to weed. Really hope that a neighbor hasn't got a pile of trash or a dead animal that they're spawning from cause there's nothing I can do about that. Anyone have any idea why so many would be hanging around, or anything I can do to urge them to be on their way?
Man. Anyone ever trim branches from an oak tree? I did all the ones I could reach (not much rip) and every time I fill my yard waste bin with branches and twigs and leaves, when I come look at the bin a few hours later it'll be absolutely swarming with some kind of little bugaboo, gnats or midges or noseeums or something? wonder why that is. I've never seen the bin swarmed with bugs when I've filled it in the past with ivy or branches from other stuff or all manner of weeds.
with the caveat that we may have entirely different oaks since idk where you are in the world, many oaks have very juicy foliage that is a preferred "nursery" for many insects, especially as it decomposes in a nicely moist but heat capturing manner and has many nutrients. so you may have simply provided new housing for the local insect population on accident :P
more indoor than gardening, but. Several years ago i bought an orchid from the gardening center. Baby was on clearance for 5 bucks, and I thought 'what do i have to lose?' I don't know what i've been doing to this orchid but clearly i've been doing it right. Since acquisition, this orchid (since named Chad) has flowered every single year, routinely producing two flower spikes, or growing a second flush of flowers from the spike. Or both. I've since upgraded the orchid to Lord Chad, first of his name. The last bloom, Lord Chad started flowering in october 2021. He produced one spike, then another, then grew a 2nd flush from the 1st spike. All in all, he flowered continously until the start of august 2022, just before i left to vacation. Today, at the start of october 2022... I see that Lord Chad is showing the signs of budding out two new flowerspikes again. I think i'm going to have to upgrade him to King Chad I now.
new terrariums! :D I really like these, I hope they thrive. the moss, water, and dirt are all from behind my parents' house. it was all in tupperwares for a couple days, so I hope that hasn't hurt whatever insect population was in there, but if I need to I can always find some isopods to add and buy some springtails.
TIL that tomato/potato frankenplants are a thing. somehow I never thought that plants other than trees could be grafted. they seem too delicate. anyone ever tried this? I'm going to give it a shot this year if I remember
