then and now..great title

[robomont]

im like you deuem ,put a small garden next to house.watered with condensate from window ac.only plants that lived.too hot to work in main garden.here at my place,if it dont get done in spring or fall,it dont get done.
as far as seed,i put them in water with flesh on let set for a week.enzymes break it down better ,then dump out and separate seeds.let them dry out and store in jar with some cheap white rice.will store along time this way at room temp.
also i got a spray bottle for tobacco seeds and seedlings.it works great for tomatoes and other hard to sprout seeds.cant farm without it now.really worth the two bucks.
something i found out recently was how well my crappy clay soil works at starting seeds compared to potting soil.i just skim the top soil and put in a shallow dish.that way the root of the plant is easier to get out.they have plastic deli chicken and cake containers with clear domes.way cheaper than starter trays.

[sky otter]

gardens are work..no argument there  but great rewards

june 16




july 25





aug 10

[robomont]

i hand shovel ,twice a year ,thirty by a hundred feet, because i cant afford a tiller.got the sharpest shovel in the neighborhood.now if i could just get rain.

[Shasta56]

I think a lot of my gardening knowledge is from about 1965.  Grade school science projects and such.  I'm going t do some experimenting through the fall and winter to see what might work.  I can build on the stuff that works and rethink the stuff that doesn't.  All work and no play makes Shasta a cranky kitty.:

Shasta

[deuem]

Oh, I like that AC drip line idea. I have 3 lines in the rear of the office that could have been used!

I will think of that when I move again. Right now it is all piped to go down the drain.

Deuem

[robomont]

the good thing about ac drip water besides being free ,it has a neutral ph and no minerals.plus its full of oxygen.good for roots.

[sky otter]

deuem.. you need some rain barrels



i got a great surprize the other day

i have a butterfly bush .. it's purple and a beauty
last year it put out roots some feet away and a new bush grew..
and it has now bloomed..

it's white..
so big wow

for years a friend of mine and i have played with some plants trying to figure a few things out
mostly if it is the soil ph that changes the colors or if the plant just does it

we took seeds from a stand of foxglove that was totally yellow for years and tossed them in different spots
we got every color but the yellow..

we knew that rose of sharron never stays true to the color of the mother plant
and now the butterfly bush

naturs is a wonder.. and i';m grinning from ear to ear cause i wanted a white one..lol and maybe that's all it took

here's a pic from this morning.. you can see how close they are.. maybe 8 ft apart
and both in my rock garden so i don't think the ph is different.. it's the plant




Shasta.. experimenting is the best way to learn what works for you and in your area..best of luck on your newly found fun

[robomont]

i use bat guano on my fruit trees.sometimes some will fall on some wildflowers.these flowers will sometimes change color.thats awesome your butterfly bush spread like that .i think foxglove is beatiful but i dont know how well it would do here in ne texas.plus it creep me out knowing its chemical properties.i like castor plants too but i dont grow them either unless civil war breaks out.
the flowers i play with are irises and galardias.they are reliable here.

[Shasta56]

I discovered that having cats is not compatible with trying to dry and save seeds.  I still have the seeds from Miss Otter tucked away safely.  The seeds I was thinking about experimenting with?  All over the house, following the showdown on the kitchen table.  Sigh.

Shasta

[sky otter]

wonderfully and sadly there is no place safe
if the cat wants to see what's there

sigh

[robomont]

i use my bbq pit .i only cook outdoors rarely.so its avalable most of the time.