I went out and thinned my watermelons and cantaloupes today to the three best plants per hill. One entire hill of 'loupes never sprouted at all -- don't know what the deal was there. Next week my husband is going to lay out landscaping fabric around them and put straw mulch out, so the melons will grow on a clean surface ( Read more... )

I was diagnosed last year with rheumatoid arthritis, and that severely compromised my garden last year. I hadn't really planned to do anything this year, because we haven't found the right combination of medications to make it Not An Issue for me ( Read more... )

For context, I live in the SF Bay (zone 8B), where we don't have seasons so much as wet times and dry times. It almost never freezes here, and there's good drainage and no shady spots in my yard ( Read more... )

Hi all :) Gardening noob here. This was my first year doing a raised garden bed (Square Foot Gardening); my previous experience consisted of containers with tomatoes and a few herbs and that's it. I planted tomatoes, basil, parsley, melons, yellow squash, zucchini, swiss chard, beets, carrots, onions, and beans. I was already at a disadvantage ( Read more... )

This year for my seedlings I'm using some Schulz seed starting mix and those 3" fiber pots (not doing that many seeds this year.) The mix was cheap and isn't wetting down well, anyone have tips for this step? I'm assuming it will just seep back into the fiber pots and then into the dirt. I've only used the Jiffy peat pots before which just love ( Read more... )

Every year I plant the same things... tomatoes, bell peppers, and cukes. This year I decided to add in some new stuff for variety. (we are trying to eat healthier = more veggies!)  I got a little excited at Walmart yesterday when I saw the garden stuff out and bought some seeds without researching. So... any tips on growing brussel sprouts, ( Read more... )

I have a few questions I'm hoping the wisdom of this community can help me with.

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So I have three okra plants and they're about waist height right now. I'ts neat watching them grow since I have never seen an okra plant before, since the little okras point up! (also neat watching the peppers that do this too ( Read more... )

So, next year, I want to grow some melon, some squash and install a new rose. My yard is small, so, I can really only do one melon and one squash variety per year - I can't just plant all the contenders and find out which one is a keeper ( Read more... )

So apparently my lidded DIY Rubbermaid compost bin has proven to be a prime growing environment for all the cantaloupe guts I've been dumping in there. I've been seeing seedlings for a while, but about 3 weeks ago I finally pulled a few out of the bin and tucked them in some pots to see what the heck was growing so well.  Now I'm kicking myself ( Read more... )