Feeding the Tribe (Gardening thread - Off Topic)

[Ben_S]

From what I've seen/heard, it sounds like you had a rather successful year. I think it's all a matter of standards/expectations.

Yesterday my FB memories showed me that we had ripening tomatoes a year ago and an aubergine the year before that (though we only managed to harvest one as I recall). This year, all we've managed is spinach and even that hasn't been very successful.

 

[Space Truckin]

never any luck with tomatoes here. one day when i retire i'll try hydrophonics or aquaphonics.

despite all the other shit going on in my life this year has been...shall we say.... fruitful.

 

[almic85]

I haven’t looked in this thread in aaaaaages.

Nice looking bananas and pineapples. I’m not sure how well tomatoes will do in the tropics though?

I can take some pictures of our little hydroponic system at home, but we don’t use it for tomatoes, mostly green things and herbs and they pretty much grow themselves once you set up a pump timer to move water around.

Our chickens (5 of the buggers) are now old enough to start making eggs And we are collecting between 2-5 eggs a day. If I had the stomach for it one of them would end up as Sunday roast but I just don’t have it in me to pluck them.

Unfortunately this 5 chickens also like pecking at anything growing in the backyard so I’m not expecting any berries this season as they get in amongst the vines and get them.

 

[MedMos]

I just took the head off a rooster two days ago. I do not enjoy that, but they sure taste good. Our chicks should start laying very soon as well, so looking forward to that. We didn't get much in the way of greens this year, and a huge flock of starlings ate most of the blackberries... But got a good amount of plums, and a crazy amount of late apples are almost ready!

 

[Galtarr]

Our chickens (5 of the buggers) are now old enough to start making eggs And we are collecting between 2-5 eggs a day. If I had the stomach for it one of them would end up as Sunday roast but I just don’t have it in me to pluck them.

I know the feeling, reckon I could do it but as it is our daughter now doesn't want to eat chicken at all. Yet she wants to get fertilized eggs for the broody hen.. Eating duck and turkey is fine with her though... We eat some very chickeny tasting turkey at times,. A neighbor who has also kept chickens said as a kid her dad would swap a chicken with the local farm if he needed to pluck one. Which makes even less sense to me...

 

[Space Truckin]

Havent gotten to chickens yet. The wife isnt ready for more mouths to feed yet..even after explaining they actually feed us.
For work we are helping a family that has a little boy probably around 5 yr old. He was pulling a baby goat around with a rope so i asked him what his pets name is...and he says Curry.

Tomatoes dont grow well here but i miss getting fresh ones! Smaller varieties in the shade w lots of water.. one can hope!

 

[Punktaku]

I have things growing in my garden, and as the season is changing I hope they ripen soon.

 

[Space Truckin]

@Punktaku super jealous of those tomatoes!!!! Really miss those huge heirloom types!

 

[Punktaku]

I’m hoping we get to eat some. We have wild rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, and a ground hog. But we also have a fox and hawks...

 

[Ben_S]

I have quite a few plants - spinach, aubergine [aka eggplant], and one tomato plant - that I didn't even put outside and (perhaps in consequence) most are still quite small. Are they likely to survive over winter if kept indoors, or do they have a short lifespan anyway?

 

[almic85]

My understanding is that it’s the cold that kills tomatoes rather than a naturally short lifespan. If you keep them warm they will keep growing.

Look up overwintering tomatoes.

 

[COLBOURNE]

Roses. I want a nice rose garden, but at the moment my garden is a terrace on top of my apartment which gets the sun all day. The roses I tried to grow this year dried out almost immediately. Anyone got any ideas?

 

[spafe]

Roses. I want a nice rose garden, but at the moment my garden is a terrace on top of my apartment which gets the sun all day. The roses I tried to grow this year dried out almost immediately. Anyone got any ideas?

Is there any shelter or shade you can put them in? Otherwise, large pot, lots of water. Might work. Ideally go on the RHS (or Austria's equivilant?) and look up what species of Roses do well in harsh environments/full sun.

 

[almic85]

Roses. I want a nice rose garden, but at the moment my garden is a terrace on top of my apartment which gets the sun all day. The roses I tried to grow this year dried out almost immediately. Anyone got any ideas?

Roses are pretty tough to be honest. They survive full sun during summer down here in Australia and keep on growing so I’m not sure that the problem is that they had too much sun.

Also keep in mind that they don’t grow all year and for most varieties you need to prune them back pretty aggressively every year at the very start of spring.

Also a common mistake for people buying plan is that they buy plants that have already flowered and have spent all their energy doing so. It means they are more likely to die when being moved around or reported/planted.

Try to buy them before they have started budding and flowering and look after them for the year until they hit flowering time.

Also for roses if you are watering them they want the equivalent of about 1” of rainfall every day watered directly into the soil. If you water the leaves or the flowers they start to die.

 

[Ben_S]

Also for roses if you are watering them they want the equivalent of about 1” of rainfall every day watered directly into the soil. If you water the leaves or the flowers they start to die.

I sometimes wonder how plants this fussy survive in the wild...

 

[almic85]

I sometimes wonder how plants this fussy survive in the wild...

The plant doesn’t actually die, rather the leaves and flowers die and then it grows new ones the next season.

Roses, especially wild roses, are practically weeds. Once the root balm and stalk have matured you need to work really hard to actually kill them.

 

[Punktaku]

Roses, especially wild roses, are practically weeds. Once the root balm and stalk have matured you need to work really hard to actually kill them.

I can attest to this! My back yard is being overrun with wild roses. And they don’t make pretty blossoms at all. Wild roses and briars... I’m gonna need a machete to clear them out.

 

[almic85]

I can attest to this! My back yard is being overrun with wild roses. And they don’t make pretty blossoms at all. Wild roses and briars... I’m gonna need a machete to clear them out.

It’s a bit worse than a machete unfortunately.

You need to get all the root balls out of the ground or they will shoot out and grow back next spring.

 

[Punktaku]

dang. well, i'll still need the machete to even get close to the stem where the root ball is... there's a forest of it back there.

 

[spafe]

Can I interest sir in some napalm?