What is your worst garden nemesis?
hosenemesis
15 years ago
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slogal
15 years agolisascenic Urban Gardener, Oakland CA
15 years agoRelated Discussions
your best (and worst!) cheap, thrify, and diy garden tips?
Comments (72)One good tip I learned (from trial & error, then much research) is to plant and harvest things at the proper time for your growing zone- even in places like california where people might tell you "oh you can grow anything there all year round"... not true! some plants are warm season, some are cool season, some like to overwinter, some are annual, some are perennial, some are biennial, etc. Research each plant, and also don't assume plants that seem similar will have the same needs, for example peas and beans both come in bush and vining varieties and grow in pods, but peas like cool weather while beans like it hot- except for a few certain beans that actually do prefer it cool... Also, potatoes can tolerate cool weather while sweet potatoes don't. Kale & lettuces grow best in cool weather while chard seems to do fine in hot or cool. You get the idea. If you plant things at the wrong time you'll be wasting your time and the seeds- I tried lettuce when it was too late to be planting it and in the heat of summer it went straight to bolt. I've planted zucchini and tomatoes when it was too cold for them and they grew poorly and didn't produce fruit. Harvest times are just as important as planting times- I planted radishes once and they didn't seem to get big enough by harvesting time so I thought I could just let them keep growing for a while longer- but found out that if you leave them in the ground too long they get tough and too spicy and shrivel up instead of getting bigger! Also it may be tempting to let a zucchini get huge, thinking it will just provide more food when you let a fruit get 2 feet long... No! Harvest them young & tender and about the size they sell them in the grocery store (or smaller), any larger and you get a hard shell, lots of seeds, and very little (and quite tasteless) flesh. Moral of these stories is to research each fruit or veggie you want to grow & follow the "directions", it will mean the difference between success & failure! Also- healthy soil is #1 important thing for plants - no chemical fertilizer! Compost is your best friend. Mulch is your other best friend- use what is available & free- leaves & pine needles are what I use. Good luck!!!...See MoreWhat have been some of your worst gardening mistakes?
Comments (65)My worst gardening mistake was when I was just starting, and had inherited an old, mature garden. The mistake was to get a lot of books on roses, and read them, and believe what they said! It took me a while to learn that only LOCAL advice re the size, habit, health, & pruning needs of roses was of any use (most of the books I got were written in England or the US East Coast - both equally useless as to facts about how roses grow here, but gorgeous pictures, etc.). The books were so authoritative, and stated things as facts, period, without any qualifications (except for Graham Thomas, bless him, who always said that this is what this rose does where I garden, but I have heard that it behaves differently elsewhere...) that I was intimidated into believing them. Only after years of having some of my ancient roses identified by wonderful people on this forum did I realize that they were not freaks of nature, but behaved exactly as you would expect such a rose to behave in our climate... Knowing how ignorant I was, and wanting so much to take good care of the garden I had inherited, I also unfortunately took the advice of the ARS and others about the need for spraying constantly, but only for one or two years - it was just too silly, and too much work, and I gave up. Then all of the bees and butterflies, etc came back, and the roses were still happy. So, the main lesson turned out to be to trust your own eyes about what is going on in your garden, what grows & doesn't grow, and what you like & don't like, and don't take any advice unless it is LOCAL! Jackie...See MoreWhat is your seed/plant nemesis?
Comments (12)Mine is sweet autumn clematis. This will be my third attempt. Last year I actually had a few wintersown sprouts come up in late August! But they never grew taller than about 1cm. I planted them out, but doubt they will survive the winter. This is a plant I always see everyone complain about saying it is such a rampant reseeder. KMOTGG... I did get a few sprouts on my first try with wintersowing and they grew well for me. It seems the cardinals really like the seed and would take a whole seed head off and sit on the top of the fence and eat it, dropping lots of seeds into my veggie beds in the process. The next year I had a ton of seedlings to pull from there. I have found that my Joe Pye Weed doesn't make a lot of viable seed, so I sow very heavily. It does grow really well from division and cuttings though, as long as you baby it a little at first. I got three totally droopy (like cooked spaghetti) short cuttings of it in a bucket of mud at a yard sale late one May. I planted them right away and tied them to bamboo sticks and made sure it was always well watered. It grew to almost 4 feet and flowered four months later in September. The next year it really took off and grew to over 6 feet. Our soil has a fair amount of clay that holds the water well and it is also surrounded by other plants that keep the soil shaded and moist. Joe Pye Pictures: May cuttings. September Flowering Next summer behind Miscanthus grass....See Moreworst invasive weeds in your garden
Comments (37)Not a weed, but my nemesis for 2009 was stinkhorn fungus. I would gladly, gladly, take any of the aforementioned weeds in exchange for it. It's a perverted-looking fungus that grows from little eggs beneath the soil, and it is damn near impossible to eradicate. Just when you think you've dug it all out, it pops up three feet away. This was happening in an area right by my front door, and when they call it stinkhorn, they're not kidding. The smell is like nothing else. My mom, God bless her, came over one day while I was at work and really went at it hard in that area, digging up hundreds of little eggs and treating with vinegar and baking soda. I didn't see anymore after that. I pray that it's gone. Horrible!...See MoreUser
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