Experiments & mistakes in pots and ground & lessons learned?
strawchicago z5
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
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Experiences and Lessons Learned (Long)
Comments (4)Hi Soccer Dad, Very helpful. I would like to know if I can put down SBM on my Fescue lawn in August, if I am planning to reseed bare spots in my lawn? I thought I read on line not to use SBM if you plan to reseed within 3 months. But that may have been Cornmeal. My lawn too was tested high in Phosphorus last Spring and I was told to switch to a different fertilizer with no phosphorus in it. I have used Ringer Lawn Restore for the past 10 years. I always get Brown Patch Disease in my lawn and for the past two years I have used Daconil and it is not my preference, but I just could not stand to see my lawn get brown one more summer. We had a lot of rain and once again I had Brown Patch. I used Daconil May 28 and June 18. It stopped it in its tracks. I also used an organic fertilizer the day before I sprayed Daconil. The lawn is green and recovering nicely. I still have to reseed a few spots in the backyard that got brown patch and did not recover. I used Epsom Plant fertilizer on the lawn in June, just throwing in on by hand. I guess that was not a good choice for Brown Patch, as it has nitrogen in it, but the lawn did recover and is now green. Next year I would like to try something natural to prevent the brown patch. I had planned to try Green Cure Fungicide on the lawn if I see the Brown Patch starting again this year. The ingredients in Green Cure are Potassium Bicarbonate, and I was told by one member on the Annuals forum that he uses this on his zinnias to prevent powdery mildew and that it is very safe and will not burn. In the past, I had used regular Baking Soda on my roses, and it caused leaf burn. I had not heard of using Baby Shampoo. I also read about using Cornmeal in the early spring to prevent Brown Patch disease, and that this is also good for weeds, as well as for adding nitrogen to the lawn. I will give it a try in the spring. Also, mulching leaves on the lawn---Do they contain phosphorus? I may try this, if it is good for my lawn. Betty...See MoreNew ponder lessons learned the hard way
Comments (3)#1) Always know exactly where the pipe from the skimmer to the filterbox is buried. While putting the netting frame up, I had to drive stakes in the ground. I found the pipe. #2) DON'T add anything to the pond unless you are absolutely sure you want them. Not that they are a bad choice, but I let husband add a 'few' minnows to the pond. That was a year ago and I still have 3 I've never been able to catch. I didn't know they could get that big. #3) DO NOT wear a $2000 hearing aid while IN the pond. I slipped and almost went under. Fortunately, I managed to keep my head above the water although I will never know how I managed that. I can't hear much without it, but I don't care. Besides, I can 'hear' my goldies just fine. They do fin sign language by nibbling and swimming all around me. I am sure I will think of more later, but those are my top three mishaps. Anyone else?...See MoreTips, tricks and lessons you have learned
Comments (31)I enjoyed re-reading all of these. I have a couple more tips. If you don't have a full 8 hours of full sun, but do have 4-6, and you want tomatoes, plant them anyway. Your yields won't be as good, but I've found this year that if you prune the plants, you will get a decent number of large tomatoes. I'm not preserving my tomatoes in any way, so this only applies if you want a few tomatoes to eat. There are a lot of lovely veggies and edible plants that will grow in partial shade, so do your research and you can still grow veggies and edibles without a full-sun spot. Eat your sweet potato leaves. They are yummy. The tender tips are good raw and the older ones cook up well. The tubers will still form, even if you use some of the leaves. Most ornamental sweet potatoes don't have edible leaves (they taste horrible). I use regular sweet potatoes as ground cover just so I can eat the leaves. I never dig the ones in the ornamental beds, and they come back every year, providing ground cover, food, and a never-ending supply of slips for the edible beds. If you have earthworms, cultivate them by giving them lots of organic matter to eat. If you don't have earthworms, get some. They are nature's little fertilizer factories. You can buy red wigglers from just about any bait shop, or go out into the woods early in the morning and dig some up. They are abundant here in FL. Grow flowers! Even in veggie beds, they attract pollinators and better than that, they feed your soul. That's all. Lots to do today since we're having what I hope is our last freeze tomorrow....See MoreMy EarthTainer Project - Mistakes Made / Lessons Learned
Comments (151)Posted by rnewste 8b NorCal (My Page) on Fri, Feb 27, 09 at 0:49 Hey Big Alan, How are you doing tonight? You air "injection" has some interesting possibilities. It would be interesting to grow the same variety in one 'Tainer with, and one without the air injection, as a comparison. Air to the roots is quite important. Raybo Ray, I will be doing just this. I don't really have any way for mosquitoes to get into the containers other than the tiny overflow hole. Since going with the float valves for the autowatering setup, I was planning on trying an air stone in one of the containers to see what kind of difference it made. I also will be just using water soluble ferts in the resevior instead of a fertilizer strip. I'll still adjust the mix with epsom salts and lime as needed, but I want to see what I can do with the water soluble ferts. My generic plan is to have a 35 gallon trash can that I will fill with the soluble ferts, and have it feed the containers via 1/2" line to the float valves. I figure I'll have to fill it once every two weeks in the summer when the tomatoes are really drinking the water down. I will be trying it on my three already made containers. If it works I will add it to the four containers I plan on making this spring. I'll have 2 cherry, 2 slicing, and the other 2 Opalka plants in the three test containers. The other 4 containers will just have either Opalka or romas in them....See Morerosecanadian
2 years agostrawchicago z5
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoann beck 8a ruralish WA
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agostrawchicago z5 thanked ann beck 8a ruralish WAstrawchicago z5
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2 years agolast modified: 2 years agorosecanadian
2 years agorosecanadian
2 years agoArtist-FKA-Novice Zone 7B GA
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agostrawchicago z5 thanked Artist-FKA-Novice Zone 7B GAann beck 8a ruralish WA
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agostrawchicago z5 thanked ann beck 8a ruralish WAstrawchicago z5
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