Anyone into gardening here? | Page 19 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Anyone into gardening here?

Time to prepare some seedlings for the spring. Planning to build a miniature greenhouse type structure for getting the plants going outdoors once they are sprouted. Got my hands on a couple feet of this clear corrugated plastic for free a few years ago and have yet to use it. Looking to start everything from seed this year, and thank you for that link to the cottagegardener, they definitely have some interesting varieties I'd like to sow.
Any tips for growing more bountiful beans/peas? Past 2 years my yields have been very low, not sure what I am doing wrong. Garden is a raised bed with full sun exposure. Soil is good and I will stir in some compost in the next few weeks.

Also would like to share this doc, I found it very fascinating:
http://tvo.org/video/documentaries/seed-the-untold-story

Cheers all and happy growing
 
boyoboy said:
air movement is important (fan indirectly) will help to prevent
you can spray with a mixture of milk and water, but..
it is still early season , you might want to simply start over

and as mentioned earlier, do not over water
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pretty sure it's air movement...I'm using an aerogarden and they work pretty well. Watering is from underneath and automatic (capillary).
 
jdmsteR said:
Time to prepare some seedlings for the spring. Planning to build a miniature greenhouse type structure for getting the plants going outdoors once they are sprouted. Got my hands on a couple feet of this clear corrugated plastic for free a few years ago and have yet to use it. Looking to start everything from seed this year, and thank you for that link to the cottagegardener, they definitely have some interesting varieties I'd like to sow.
Any tips for growing more bountiful beans/peas? Past 2 years my yields have been very low, not sure what I am doing wrong. Garden is a raised bed with full sun exposure. Soil is good and I will stir in some compost in the next few weeks.

Also would like to share this doc, I found it very fascinating:
http://tvo.org/video/documentaries/seed-the-untold-story

Cheers all and happy growing
Click to expand...

Peas and beans are awesome to grow also for the nitrogen fixing part. So they use up less nutrients and also help the soil.
Even though they a usually easy to grow, there are many varieties and many considerations including indoor and outdoor sowing.
To compare against how you grow your peas, read here: https://themicrogardener.com/easy-guide-to-growing-perfect-pea/
Different types / methods, related to beans read here: http://www.sundaygardener.co.uk/growing_beans_and_peas.html
matthew said:
Shane,

Do you have any advice on getting lavender seeds to germinate?
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Lavender typically likes sun, heat and dry, so it helps to have some bottom heat of some kind in a well-drained medium in a very well lit area. They should be kept moist to slightly dry without prolonged soil moisture. You could always start them in really small plug trays in a fine sandy seed starting mix and then once they show a few sets of leaves and well developed roots, transplant them into a larger cell. A mistake some people might make is sowing them into larger cells from the start, and then the soil medium (often peat-based) retains too much moisture and then the plants grow in a stunted fashion. The two varieties I have are Munstead (bigger one) and Lady (smaller one) and they were really tiny when I put them in the ground, but now they are sweet. They took about 2 months indoors to be ready for mid-spring planting.

I have all kinds of bulbs coming up, looking forward to a nice April and cleaning up the yard this week. And the spring ephemerals are also coming. If anyone wants a little thing I put together on alternatives to lawn grasses using native, flowering ground-covers, you might like this:> shanekingsley.com/School Stuff/Alter'natives to Turf!.pptx
 
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Should I be putting them in the freezer first? Some websites recommend doing that.
 
Hey @shanekingsley I'm getting a 404 error when I try linking to your page

Sent from my purple GTAMotorcycle.com mobile app
 
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matthew said:
it's a ppt file
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Shouldn't it convert to google slides on mobile?
Or do I have to open on pc?

Sent from my purple GTAMotorcycle.com mobile app
 
matthew said:
Should I be putting them in the freezer first? Some websites recommend doing that.
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I have read that too, but never done that and as far as I know, the seeds we grow for the city are not stored frozen either, but they might be from the vendor. I know growers who currently specialize in growing them - I'll ask tomorrow what they think and let you know.

And yes, the native groundcovers thing was a simple PPT file for just the basics of 20 plants. I did a bigger excel file of 105 Juglone tolerant plants for another project if anyone wants it - much more detailed and useful for me. Click and the file automatically downloads: shanekingsley.com/School Stuff/Juglone Tolerant Plants.xlsx
 
Thanks. I really want to have a nice lavender hedge and it's tearing me up inside that I don't have any germination yet.
 
matthew said:
Thanks. I really want to have a nice lavender hedge and it's tearing me up inside that I don't have any germination yet.
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I spoke with the grower. Everything I said before still stands for germination technique, but he said they do put them in a cooler for a few weeks at 10deg. They do this with all their seeds - hundreds of varieties of plants. He didn't know if they are chilled at the vendor and they do this just because it's good for storage and many seeds need a cold stratification period. anyways They get their seeds from a major wholesaler, so the seeds you are getting from where ever you bought them may also not be as good ie Can Tire). All that said, expect that the seeds will take about 3 weeks to germinate.

Let me know if you have more specific questions.
 
Thanks. I keep all my seeds in a cold room in my basement. I made myself a ghetto bottom heater so I'll see if that will help the lavender to germinate.
 
matthew said:
Thanks. I keep all my seeds in a cold room in my basement. I made myself a ghetto bottom heater so I'll see if that will help the lavender to germinate.
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I forgot about a good resource I use for germination info, which has tons of plants listed - this is what it had to say about Lavender germination:

"Lavandula angustifolia , laciniata, latifolia, and stoechas, Sow at 20ºC (68ºF), if no germination in 3-4 wks, move to -4 to +4ºC (24-39ºF) for 2-4 wks
Lavandula lanata , Sow at -4 to +4ºC (24-39ºF) for 6 wks, move to 18ºC (65ºF) for germ. in 1 to 3 months "

Hope that is helpful too.
 
Last year due to the weird weather my crab-apple tree didn't bear any fruit. I assume that is a one off thing or does it need some TLC along with decent weather?
 
A late frost can kill off the buds and last year we definitely had a weird spring where many trees did not flower or set fruit properly. This spring we have had so far has been pretty good so I'm hoping all will be good. It's worth noting that some crabapples flower more heavily every other year and all apple trees need good pollination to flower well.
Since it sounds like last year was the first time yours didn't bear any fruit, it seems more like it was a one-off thing related to the spring we had. Assuming the tree had enough water in the summer/fall of last year to maintain vigour, is not over/under fertilized and is reasonably pruned, it should be fine.
 
None of my cold weather seeds that I sowed outdoors have sprouted. I may have to re-sow them.
 
Roadghost said:
Just bought this: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1200W-2000W-...hash=item2371437015:m:mhzv8YNS7twGW1Vvwc-LukQ

Using it to start my tomats, peas, canteloup, etc. Went with the full 2000 watt monster. Bright as hell. I can't even look at it without sun glasses.

Hoping for better from my apple tree this year. Didn't get anything last year thanks to a late killing frost.
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That thing looks pretty sweet. and puts out a lot of light for just starting plants. I like that it has a pretty low power consumption, puts out a relatively full spectrum of light for veg and flowering growth and I'm interested to read more about how the IR light affects plant growth.

How much did that thing cost delivered to your door?
 
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