Bay 12 Games Forum

Finally... => General Discussion => Topic started by: Dunamisdeos on June 02, 2020, 06:16:31 pm

Title: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 02, 2020, 06:16:31 pm
Hey folks,

I saw we had a gardening thread that was 2 years old with no posts, and opted to start this to ask a specific question.

Anyone around here familiar with gardening? I'm trying to grow some herbs, and I think what's growing in my rosemary spot is a weed. But also, I'm having a hard time finding out what rosemary should look like in that stage.

If I pose some pics, can anyone tell me for sure?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Telgin on June 02, 2020, 06:33:10 pm
Yeah, post a picture and maybe we can identify it.  I have experience with a single rosemary bush, but maybe that will be enough.

That single rosemary bush gave zero craps about winter and has grown to monstrous proportions, such that I will never need so much rosemary.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 02, 2020, 06:45:35 pm
I actually figured it out!

Some horrid little weed was trying to grow there instead. Sorry to deprive of the opportunity to help lol.

Something called Henbit was trying to grow there according to pictures. I disabused it of the concept.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Ziusudra on June 02, 2020, 07:39:50 pm
This claims it's edible and even nutritious https://www.ediblewildfood.com/henbit.aspx

Doesn't sound a good as Rosemary though.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 02, 2020, 07:48:53 pm
It was killing the other rosemary sprouts lol.

But anyway its not anymore.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on June 02, 2020, 11:57:42 pm
Henbit is indeed edible and nutritious, but not very flavorful, and has a coarse mouth feel.

I can attest from experience.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Reelya on June 03, 2020, 01:17:45 am
digestible, and nutritious, alas, not delicious.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on June 03, 2020, 04:35:34 am
Nettles is good eating!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Jimmy on June 03, 2020, 05:24:28 am
I use planter boxes for my herbs. Anything that doesn't look like the surrounding organisms is treated with extreme prejudice. Think white cop on a black man kind of aggression. Purity of breed to the exclusion of all reason.

Then, when the crop is ripe, the culling.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on June 03, 2020, 05:30:01 am
Quote from: scriver on June 03, 2020, 04:35:34 am
Nettles is good eating!

Actual nettle has flavor when cooked.  Not so much with deadnettle.  Not the same thing at all.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on June 03, 2020, 05:58:25 am
Oh, I was just non sequiteuring. I didn't release there was an actual relation between the two.

I really do recommend nettle (not deadnettle ;) ) though. It's fairly tasty and I usually have it as soup. I'm not sure but I think it could be used in place of spinage in most recipes.

This is my only own current project:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

His name is Tomas Tomasatoaboutnothing
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 03, 2020, 12:58:41 pm
Quote from: scriver on June 03, 2020, 05:58:25 am
His name is Tomas Tomasatoaboutnothing

Gonna name my dill "Dill Tracy"
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on June 03, 2020, 03:19:26 pm
Ah sweet! I love this thread. When my phone is working again I'll send some pics of the mint plant I've been reviving. I had to manually clear it of an aphid infestation. MANUALLY CLEAR IT
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 03, 2020, 03:32:36 pm
Now that's some herb TLC.

I had no idea there was an interest in this sort of thing here. I'll post pics of my herbs too.

My rosemary is way, way behind the others. I planted it wrong initially. You have to put the seed on top of the soil rather than just underneath. Had to replant.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on June 03, 2020, 03:42:43 pm
How easy is it to grow rosemary? I fucking love rosemary.

Also onions are great. I've been throwing onions everywhere and some of them are growing very well
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 03, 2020, 03:43:55 pm
It was the hardest, but only relatively. It's growing fine now, even though it's just a sprout.

Best part about rosemary is it turns into quite the hardy bush. I've got friends whose rosemary plants stayed around for years and years.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 06, 2020, 01:35:24 pm
Yo here's me herbs! Rosemary is still in it's starter cup to the right.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on June 06, 2020, 01:47:23 pm
Quote from: Dunamisdeos on June 06, 2020, 01:35:24 pm
Thyme, Basil, Dill.

Remember me to one who lives there
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on June 06, 2020, 01:57:02 pm
That's parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme bruh. ;)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Reelya on June 06, 2020, 02:08:11 pm
Growing carrot greens is totally going well. I did consider growing potatoes, however potato greens aren't edible, whereas sweet potato greens are edible, so now I'm considering growing sweet potatoes instead since the entire plant is edible, and there would be no wasted growth.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on June 06, 2020, 02:22:25 pm
If you don't mind weeds;  Lambsquarters are superbly nutritious (https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2468/1), (Compare, spinach (https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2626/2)-- NOTE serving sizes. Spinach values are only 2g heavier. Labsquarters beats it handily in many essential nutrients, but spinach wins out handily on K and Folate.) and hardy (being wild pernicious weeds), and taste a great deal like spinach when young.

They have been my mainstay lately. Have a patch of them that is dense that is growing wild beneath a mulberry tree.

It tastes like nothing, and is kinda coarse unless you cook it into submission, but white clover is another good wild green. It contains a surprising amount of crude protein.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 06, 2020, 04:09:22 pm
Huh. Maybe I'll give lambsquarters a shot. I looked it up when dealing with my rosemary weed issue, and its apparently wild to this area.

You can buy the seeds online.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on June 06, 2020, 10:13:00 pm
It gets tall and weedy, being an amaranth pigweed.  Unlike other amaranths, the seeds of lambsquarters are not edible, so don't be tempted to make porridge.

sorta like with lettuce, once the plants get tall and are exposed to strong hot weather, they get a funny flavor and a more coarse texture, which is why you want young plants.  They grow readily and fast from seed. I suggest completely clearing the bed of them before they reach full maturity in order to avoid having persistent and pernicious lawn pests.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on June 19, 2020, 12:50:45 pm
Tomas is growing his first balls!

(https://i.imgur.com/jI4XUi6.jpg)

Also since most of out own grown plants died (why we do not know) we basically had no greens this year (Tomas is my o it project, but my parents have their owns). But happily a kindly neighbour stepped in and gifted us a bunch of tomatoes and sallads so we got a bunch again!

I've also been planting the (remains after cooking of the) mints plants I bought recently. I hope I can get them to survive!

Also our bee hotel has lots of bees buzzing in and out. Sadly when I looked at then yesterday I saw that one of them had a huge larvae looking thing attached to it. Poor bee. I hate parasites! They disgust me.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 19, 2020, 01:07:28 pm
Right now it's growing fast, but a weed killed 3 out of the 4 seeds i put in there.

My thing was that you have to place the seed on TOP of the soil, rather than just underneath like all the other stuff i was growing. So the first set of 4 i messed up, and then a weed almost got all of the others.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on June 19, 2020, 01:15:42 pm
Plants are tricky! It's like they don't want us to grow them
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 19, 2020, 01:22:05 pm
My dill like like 3 feet high now should I buy a bigger pot? How big is too big for herbs do they need more space?

It's starting to flower it has lil' buds.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on June 19, 2020, 01:23:42 pm
RIP my mint

But the leek I threw in a compost bin is now fully mature and has grown this weird bulbous nodule thing. Maybe it'll flower, or evolve teeth
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 19, 2020, 01:42:43 pm
Pictures of doomsday flora please.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Iduno on June 19, 2020, 01:57:44 pm
Quote from: Dunamisdeos on June 19, 2020, 01:42:43 pm
Pictures of doomsday flora please.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on June 19, 2020, 01:58:41 pm
pomme du terr
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 19, 2020, 02:54:02 pm
Excuse me I prefer to be ignorant of the actual plant-run apocalypse until it actually happens thank you very much.

I want to see pics of the Leek-That-Is.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on June 20, 2020, 09:33:49 am
Quote from: Dunamisdeos on June 19, 2020, 02:54:02 pm
Excuse me I prefer to be ignorant of the actual plant-run apocalypse until it actually happens thank you very much.

I want to see pics of the Leek-That-Is.
Saucy leek: evolved

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: full view (click to show/hide)

Why is my leek so smug
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 20, 2020, 10:10:30 am
It's either going to flower or release some sort of murderous bio-drone, obviously.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on June 20, 2020, 11:01:25 am
The Leek That Seeks
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on June 20, 2020, 11:57:33 am
leeki leeki, it rhymes with cheeki breeki
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on June 25, 2020, 06:04:32 pm
Well, since my sister was so kind as to give me a sample of her blue oyster mushroom spawn (and because I happen to have a surplus of old cardboard boxes), I spent some time today mixing up some enriched shredded cardboard, sterilizing it with the pressure cooker, bagging it all up in some crockpot bags, and then innoculating it with the spawn today.

It will probably be about a month before I have any real results to report back.

I did not use all my spawn (nor anywhere near all the cardboard I have on hand), but mushrooms are sufficiently off the normal track that should they get going, pics should be entertaining.


As for the actual garden, I have lots of flowers on my cherry tomatoes, but very few, if any, on my peppers.  Very sad.  The potatoes I planted are up, and so are the fall peas.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Bumber on June 25, 2020, 08:42:24 pm
Quote from: wierd on June 25, 2020, 06:04:32 pm
Well, since my sister was so kind as to give me a sample of her blue oyster mushroom spawn (and because I happen to have a surplus of old cardboard boxes), I spent some time today mixing up some enriched shredded cardboard, sterilizing it with the pressure cooker, bagging it all up in some crockpot bags, and then innoculating it with the spawn today.

It will probably be about a month before I have any real results to report back.

Fun Guys of Color II: The Blue Oyster Culture
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on June 28, 2020, 09:24:49 am
The Fun Guys of Color are apparently doing quite well.

A day or so earlier, I had prepped an old aquarium with non-enriched cardboard shreds, and sanitized it with straight up hydrogen peroxide. (It kills competitor fungus, like mold, without severely impacting mushrooms, because mushrooms typically have enzymes to help it break down peroxide safely, and mold does not.)  The aquarium walls are covered in condensation droplets, so it is hard to tell without getting right up on the stuff, but the surface of the shreds is showing signs of mushroom colonization. (Little hairy fuzz all over)  The aquarium was sitting idle (I had intended to use it to make a mineral oil cooled PC at one point, but never got around to it), and had never been used. It makes a very nice grow chamber, I think.  Air-tight, has fitted lid with light, and is just the right size to seal off from the outside air with cling film.  These mushrooms are light-initiated, so where I have the tank (hidden away in a corner curio, where there is very little light) seems to be doing just fine. When the time comes, I will turn on the light in the lid, and it should make mushrooms.  I left room inside for mushrooms to grow without hitting the top. 

If the bags do half as well, I should have plenty of Fun Guys in my kitchen in just a few more weeks.

Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on June 29, 2020, 07:54:47 am
What do you feed the fun guys to make em grow
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on June 29, 2020, 08:45:56 am
Children's laughter
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on June 29, 2020, 09:09:37 am
Quote from: scriver on June 29, 2020, 08:45:56 am
Children's laughter
A vital part of the ecosystem
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on June 29, 2020, 10:21:05 am
Quote from: Loud Whispers on June 29, 2020, 07:54:47 am
What do you feed the fun guys to make em grow

That particular mushroom can grow on "waste paper  products", eg, it can be grown on shredded cardboard, shredded office paper, toiletpaper, et al.

The substrate you need will be specific to the kind of mushroom you intend to grow, more or less. Some do best on sterilized straw (Button mushroom, several asian straw mushrooms), others do best on sterilized hardwood sawdust. (Shiitake, bunapi, etc..)

Again, this one does well on waste paper.  I have lots of old cardboard boxes, and a paper shredder.  I made shredded cardboard, then sterilized it inside a pressure cooker. To enrich it, I added about a cup of ordinary white flour, shook it up with the paper, then added the water and cooked in the pressure cooker.  This made the cardboard sticky, as I basically added wallpaper paste to it. The added starch and protein from the flour will (in theory) assist the mycelium to colonize the substrate rapidly.

However, I have noted "Very good growth" on the aquarium, which is just straight up shredded cardboard wetted with 3% hydrogen peroxide (to discourage/kill mold.)

Time will tell which set of substrate works out better.  I have 3 bags of enriched cardboard, and one aquarium of unenriched cardboard.  Again, the aquarium is looking fine.

Spoiler: Aquarium full of fuzzy fun guys (click to show/hide)


For the cheapskates among us that want to try and grow mushrooms:

Often, very fresh mushroom from the store will have bits of active "Feeder" mycelium still attached to the growth point at the base of the mushroom. If you collect these "ends", and then macerate them in a sterilized food processor along with some hydrogen peroxide, you can then pour the "Liquid culture" into some sterilized spawn medium (such as milo, birdseed, whole wheat berry, etc...), then seal it up in a jar for a few weeks to get actual "seed spawn" going for that variety of mushroom. After that, you need to process your actual growing substrate, sterilize your work area and your grow bags/chambers, and then mix everything up and seal it up against outside contaminants.

Some varieties of mushroom are more difficult to grow than others. Blue oyster is "Super duper easy" on the difficulty scale.

I first learned of this technique (liquid spawn recovery) from shroomery.net (which is not linked here, because it is a psychedelic mushroom website), but it works just fine for many varieties of table mushroom.

Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on June 29, 2020, 01:50:44 pm
Praise nurgle for your bountiful rot
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 29, 2020, 02:03:56 pm
I have two questions.

One: My Dill has grown a giant stalk with flowers on top, but little actual dill. Should I cut the large stack to force it to grow outward and produce more usable herb?

Two: How does un-sterilized material affect mushroom growth? Aren't mushrooms basically there to break down anything forever? What contaminants are removed that don't exist in the wild? I am interested.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on June 29, 2020, 02:07:11 pm
One:  It wont hurt the dill plant any, you just wont get any seeds for next year that way. If you have insufficient leaves, consider a weak nitrogen fertilizer.

Two:  MOLD! MOLD MOLD MOLD!! Ordinary green and white household mold grows leaps and bounds faster than mushroom, and will rapidly out-compete your mushroom culture if it gets contaminated. For enriched substrate, the development of toxic bacteria and yeasts (that produce substances that poison the mushroom) can also ruin a run of mushrooms.  This is why you sterilize like crazy.  Peroxide is your friend. Use it. Use a lot of it.

https://www.zativo.com/blog/277-identify-prevent-mushroom-contamination

Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 29, 2020, 02:24:16 pm
Interesting! That makes sense. Thanks :D
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on July 10, 2020, 07:08:32 am
Considering the Fun Guys of Color in the large aquarium seem to be doing well (and the enriched bedding bags seem to have failed), and because I *FINALLY* broke down and went to the damn store, because basically out of everything--- I checked out the mushroom section.

Picked up some of those yummy bunapi mushrooms, and some WHITE oyster mushrooms, fresh in the bags, along with 2 small globe shaped aquariums, and enough peroxide to make it happen-- then did the liquid spawn recovery trick on them with a blender.

I have sterilized, added peroxide soaked substrate, and then innoculated (with liquid culture) both tanks, and sealed with cling film.

Now I will wait and see if I get white fun guys, and asian fun guys, to go with my fun guys of color.  Bunapi (it's really shimeji, just a special white cultivar)  really wants to grow on hardwood sawdust, but I put it on shredded paper. We will see how it does.

I am not worried too much about the white oyster; it should grow well on paper.

Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on July 10, 2020, 08:06:34 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
It bloomed! : D
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on July 10, 2020, 09:14:44 am
I know an alien eggsack when I see one
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on July 10, 2020, 09:43:37 am
Quote from: scriver on July 10, 2020, 09:14:44 am
I know an alien eggsack when I see one
Alien invaders are just a tinfoil myth, I personally sleep with my window open and no alien sporocytes have begun to fester in my bones, taking over my central nervous system
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Iduno on July 10, 2020, 01:03:47 pm
Quote from: Loud Whispers on July 10, 2020, 09:43:37 am
Quote from: scriver on July 10, 2020, 09:14:44 am
I know an alien eggsack when I see one
Alien invaders are just a tinfoil myth, I personally sleep with my window open and no alien sporocytes have begun to fester in my bones, taking over my central nervous system

Is this you?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on July 10, 2020, 01:56:38 pm
I don't know who he is, but you really should try the stuff, enough is never enough
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on August 08, 2020, 10:25:05 am
It has been a month-- The fun guys of color have started pinning in the aquarium.  Should have mushies in just a week or so now.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on August 08, 2020, 12:50:45 pm
My herbs are enourmous.

Cutting down the single giant bare stalk on my dill plant has caused it to verily explode with additional stalks of herb which are producing much more.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on August 08, 2020, 03:40:58 pm
I have resorted to sowing the seeds of random onions everywhere in my garden

I will become the onion king
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on August 08, 2020, 03:56:10 pm
Quote from: Loud Whispers on August 08, 2020, 03:40:58 pm
I have resorted to sowing the seeds of random onions everywhere in my garden

I will become the onion king

Spoiler: The prophecy is true (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on August 08, 2020, 04:22:32 pm
Tomorrow I am going into the shallows with a sickle to harvest sharps reeds that's to become bug apartments for the garden. I need the sickle so I can look extra harvesty
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on August 08, 2020, 04:40:02 pm
Quote from: Dunamisdeos on August 08, 2020, 03:56:10 pm
Spoiler: The prophecy is true (click to show/hide)
If only I could be so layered and incandescent, like an onion

Quote from: scriver on August 08, 2020, 04:22:32 pm
Tomorrow I am going into the shallows with a sickle to harvest sharps reeds that's to become bug apartments for the garden. I need the sickle so I can look extra harvesty
I'd love to do the same but the reeds in my area are utterly infested with aphids. On the bright side, I've also seen the fattest and largest ladybugs in my life on the same reeds
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on August 09, 2020, 03:17:57 am
Good thought, I'll have to check for that. Maybe soak them in water before I dry them ;)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on August 09, 2020, 06:43:05 am
Quote from: scriver on August 09, 2020, 03:17:57 am
Good thought, I'll have to check for that. Maybe soak them in water before I dry them ;)
A bit of soapy water kills most of them, water on its own doesn't do much. One on its own is enough to revive a population but as long as you have aphid eaters in your garden I wouldn't worry too much
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on August 09, 2020, 07:12:45 am
Soap is what we use in the garden but I wouldn't want to use it on reeds that I'm putting in the garden to house bugs, it might kill the likeable bugs too
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on August 09, 2020, 07:42:26 am
You can just wash the soapy water off the reeds afterwards with normal water, the soapy water is just to suffocate any aphids on the reeds at the start
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on August 09, 2020, 08:14:52 am
Bit you know what also suffocates? Putting it in water
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on August 10, 2020, 07:25:34 am
The mushies are growing very quickly!

In just a day or two, they have gone from teeny little pins, to things over 4cm long, seeking out the light at the top of the aquarium.

I should have mushroom soup by the end of the week!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on August 10, 2020, 11:39:24 am
Figured I should put the fun guys in the lime light.

Images are blurry because there is heavy condensation (and some mushroom mycelium that crawled up the glass) occluding a clear camera image.

This species is photo-initiated (it starts fruiting from exposure to light)-- so the fruit bodies are seeking out the light source (which is a small white LED strip embedded in the lid of the aquarium.)

(https://i.postimg.cc/nV7KP2S3/20200810-112322.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/RVS3LLk6/20200810-112344.jpg)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on August 10, 2020, 12:37:45 pm
Those are dead men's bones
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on August 10, 2020, 12:45:06 pm
Nope. It is post consumer product.

Shedded food packaging and paper plates. Tuned into mushroom.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Rolan7 on August 10, 2020, 06:35:54 pm
That is *fricking awesome*.  Posting to watch.

(I guess I'm making some kombucha, but it has no nutritional value and is, despite the mushroomy-looking bit, based on bacteria not fungus)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on August 11, 2020, 05:20:47 am
Quote from: scriver on August 09, 2020, 08:14:52 am
Bit you know what also suffocates? Putting it in water
I've done complete submersions over 24 hours where some survived, so I'm paranoid about these things
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on August 11, 2020, 12:25:48 pm
i repotted my rosemary for the first time, finally.

It grows about half as fast as all my other herbs
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on August 12, 2020, 05:01:20 pm
Quote from: Dunamisdeos on August 11, 2020, 12:25:48 pm
i repotted my rosemary for the first time, finally.

It grows about half as fast as all my other herbs
Rosemary is such a GOAT herb. It depressed me to no end that I could find no rosemary in beijing, nor even anyone who knew what rosemary was. At least here there is rosemary in mountainous proportions and I am never without
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on August 15, 2020, 12:14:26 pm
I won't be able to actually harvest it for quite some time, but it looks like it's gotten past that "tiny sprout that needs to fill it's entire container with roots before growing upwards" stage.

So now it ought to grow quite fast indeed.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on August 28, 2020, 02:12:16 pm
Quote from: Dunamisdeos on August 15, 2020, 12:14:26 pm
I won't be able to actually harvest it for quite some time, but it looks like it's gotten past that "tiny sprout that needs to fill it's entire container with roots before growing upwards" stage.

So now it ought to grow quite fast indeed.
How're the rosemary
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on August 28, 2020, 02:23:54 pm
The fun guys of color have flushed 3 times now.  Still looks like there is plenty of life left in the cardboard.

The 3 bags of enriched cardboard actually DID grow mushroom--- The mushroom eventually overtook the mold that tried to grow. Glad I was patient (erm.. Lazy).

I have migrated them into a single, very large ziplock bag with slits cut in it.  It is now fruiting. 


The mushrooms are really only tasty when fried. All other ways of cooking a mushroom, they are just tough and flavorless. Fried they are fantastic though.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on August 28, 2020, 06:35:48 pm
What about butter cooked, with black puddings and rashers
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: feelotraveller on August 29, 2020, 02:02:21 pm
Mushrooms are generally good in soups.  Also mushroom salads are a thing, they absorb dressings (vinegar or whatever) and get very tasty - often a mixture with fresh greens works well.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on August 29, 2020, 02:16:20 pm
Soup is how I tried it first-- 0 flavor, all rubbery.

Fried, it illicits a very nice meaty taste. 

Raw, it tastes like any other mushroom.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: feelotraveller on August 29, 2020, 02:31:08 pm
Mushroom risotto.
Stuff and bake.
Marinate and roast.

Their ability to soak in liquids can flavour them almost endlessly.

But mushrooms will taste like mushrooms, whadya expect?  :P
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on August 29, 2020, 04:10:40 pm
Quote from: Loud Whispers on August 28, 2020, 02:12:16 pm
Quote from: Dunamisdeos on August 15, 2020, 12:14:26 pm
I won't be able to actually harvest it for quite some time, but it looks like it's gotten past that "tiny sprout that needs to fill it's entire container with roots before growing upwards" stage.

So now it ought to grow quite fast indeed.
How're the rosemary

A bit slow now, it's having trouble in the heat. About 6in tall.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on August 29, 2020, 07:03:24 pm
Buy your rosemary some cool shades. It won't help them but it will make them look radicool in the sun
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on August 29, 2020, 07:14:12 pm
Quote from: feelotraveller on August 29, 2020, 02:31:08 pm
Mushroom risotto.
Stuff and bake.
Marinate and roast.

Their ability to soak in liquids can flavour them almost endlessly.

But mushrooms will taste like mushrooms, whadya expect?  :P

Oyster mushrooms arent really... Stuffable.

Here's the latest victims for the frying pan, so you can get an idea.
(https://i.postimg.cc/pLF2znR8/20200829-190908.jpg)



And I take it back a little-- Raw, they taste like a weaker version of shiitake. Same "somewhat fruity" smell and taste.

FANTASTIC fried.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on August 30, 2020, 05:07:59 am
Do they taste a bit like cardboard?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on August 30, 2020, 05:19:37 am
nope

Taste like shiitake, just not as strong.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on August 30, 2020, 06:04:08 am
I don't even know what shiitake is except for a very pun-inviting name for food

(You don't have to tell me I'm going to Google it)

Edit: so apparently it's mushrooms. Are you sure your mushroom taste like mushrooms? Sounds weird.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Maximum Spin on August 30, 2020, 07:09:38 am
Quote from: scriver on August 30, 2020, 06:04:08 am
Edit: so apparently it's mushrooms. Are you sure your mushroom taste like mushrooms? Sounds weird.
You know mushrooms are like an entire kingdom, right? These guys and shiitake aren't even in the same family. This is like saying that cucumbers should taste like radishes because plants taste like plants.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on August 30, 2020, 07:35:33 am
Mario isn't real, Max

The Mushroom Kingdom doesn't exist
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on August 30, 2020, 11:52:57 am
Quote
I don't even know what fish* is <>.
[*As opposed to beef]

(You don't have to tell me I'm going to Google it)

Edit: so apparently it's meat. Are you sure your meat+ taste like meat^? Sounds weird.

[+Meat as in fish]
[-Meat as in beef]

To demonstrate how very much different from normal mushroom shiitake tastes, especially when raw.


Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Bumber on August 30, 2020, 04:46:53 pm
Quote from: scriver on August 30, 2020, 07:35:33 am
Mario isn't real, Max

The Mushroom Kingdom doesn't exist

You have Terminal 7. Brain cancer. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGWs8WYUp8c)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Jimmy on September 01, 2020, 02:48:29 am
Oyster mushrooms are really common in Korean food. They're great cooked on a hotplate with soy sauce and sesame oil. Or just stir fry with spinach for a tasty and healthy treat.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on December 25, 2020, 10:19:57 am
Spoiler: Look what I got for christmas (click to show/hide)

Inspired by I think is was weird or dynanonymous (who is also the reason I spent the entire autumn thinking "monster's got what mushrooms crave" every time I had to deal with a disgusting leaked-up cardboard box at work (https://i.imgur.com/KZAI4ot.jpg)) I wished for a mushroom growing starting thingy and Santa delivered. It's a mushroom house! You put the anchor things in the picturesque house-box and they grow out the door and windows to maximise the creepiness.

Spoiler: Hopefully ending up something like this according to the website we bought them from (click to show/hide)

The type of mushroom is a gray oyster sliceling oyster mushroom (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleurotus_ostreatus). It will be fun to see if I can become a true dwarven mushroom farmer!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Rolan7 on December 25, 2020, 12:31:42 pm
That's amazing!  All I'm growing is an onion I didn't eat.  It's amazing how much it's able to grow just from the body, but it's starting to look a bit sickly so I'm going to plant it in the back yard.

But fungi house omigosh that looks fun!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on December 25, 2020, 08:38:00 pm
Protip:

After the spawn in the bag has stopped fruiting (because it has exhausted its food supply), it does NOT just "Die".  You can instead take a paper shredder, and shred a bunch of cardboard boxes (like from breakfast cereal), get it "just wet enough to clump together and stay stuck when squeezed, without dripping water out", then break up and toss the mycelial mass in your spent kit with it-- and stuff it in a new plastic bag, poke little holes in it, and then wait a month.

It will fruit again. 

You can divide and propagate the culture this way, and have several bags going.

Just be sure you wear sterile gloves, use sterile water, and keep things very clean to keep germs and mold out of your bags.  I have quite a lot of mushroom going from a small (less than 1/4kg) amount of spawn medium my sister gave me early last year this way.

If you keep dividing it and giving it fresh substrate, it will keep right on mushrooming.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on December 26, 2020, 11:34:22 am
I'm growing leeks! They seem to be doing well even in the very cold weather.

I got 4 leeks, gonna make potat and leek sewp.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: MrRoboto75 on December 26, 2020, 02:32:48 pm
I have this potted aloe plant.  It grows well enough but the bottom branches (fronds?) will always wither and die off.

I also have a succulent snake plant that's borderline indestructible in spite of my neglect.  Recently a new one sprouted in the pot, I guess it budded off since the plant never flowered or anything.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on December 27, 2020, 03:00:49 pm
Hey Dunamisdeos do you have any advice for growing mintacious plants like mint and rosemary indoors?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Robot Parade Leader on December 27, 2020, 11:23:10 pm
posting to watch
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Caz on December 28, 2020, 06:15:28 am
Quote from: scriver on December 25, 2020, 10:19:57 am
Spoiler: Hopefully ending up something like this according to the website we bought them from (click to show/hide)

That cat looks so pleased with itself.

Fungi is something I haven't tried growing yet... the most I've done is forage a couple kinds.

Going to have to redo my herb garden this spring because they got mostly devoured last year. I think the only thing I managed to grow was a few potatoes and onions. Even the apple crop was mostly stolen by the squirrels. >_>

Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on December 28, 2020, 01:42:37 pm
Quote from: Loud Whispers on December 27, 2020, 03:00:49 pm
Hey Dunamisdeos do you have any advice for growing mintacious plants like mint and rosemary indoors?

Mmmmm I haven't grown mint before, I'm probably going to this year.

My Rosemary has been growing slowly but steadily. I suppose the same is true for any indoor plant: Make sure you place it somewhere where te sun can get at it half the day. Part of why I couldn't get anything to grow in my last place was I frankly didn't have a window that got any sun in it for more than an hour or two tops, because of my own positioning and neighboring buildings blocking the sun.

Rosemary seems ridiculously hardy, my still-small plant has survived being covered in frost multiple times. Long as it gets good soil/water/light I feel like it could survive basically anything.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Arx on December 31, 2020, 10:16:17 am
I haven't done it indoors (my mint plant lives just outside my back door) but as far as I can tell the #1 key to happy mint is that as long as the soil drains decently it's basically impossible to overwater. It'll get upset if you actually waterlog it, but keeping the soil thoroughly moist is all to the good.


I have an accidental profusion of butternut squash in my tomato bed because someone didn't know they weren't supposed to put squash seeds in the compost bin. Fortunately it seems like the tomatoes are managing to poke their heads up above the sea of leaves, and I do love butternut.

On the other hand, and more thread-topically, I can't persuade my parsley to grow. It's just kind of chilling, a little bit bigger than when I planted it, but not really thriving like most of my plants manage. Not enough sun? Too much sun? Not enough water? Too much water? I live in a warm climate and my soil is extremely sandy by nature, although I mix in a good deal of organic matter when prepping beds to give it some water retention and break the hydrophobic layer.

Any parsley professionals prepared to part with pearls of wisdom?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on January 13, 2021, 08:52:29 am
Spoiler: Growing season has begun! (click to show/hide)

It's a couple of chilis. Apparently you're supposed to start growing them in january-february.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Yellow Pixel on January 13, 2021, 10:10:59 am
Quote from: scriver on January 13, 2021, 08:52:29 am
Spoiler: Growing season has begun! (click to show/hide)
Is it only a picture of two plastic pots with dirt inside?

At least it's a beginning! :D
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Caz on January 13, 2021, 10:14:58 am
Quote from: scriver on January 13, 2021, 08:52:29 am
It's a couple of chilis. Apparently you're supposed to start growing them in january-february.

Ah thanks for the reminder, I totally missed the boat last year.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on January 13, 2021, 10:17:13 am
Quote from: Yellow Pixel on January 13, 2021, 10:10:59 am
Quote from: scriver on January 13, 2021, 08:52:29 am
Spoiler: Growing season has begun! (click to show/hide)
Is it only a picture of two plastic pots with dirt inside?

At least it's a beginning! :D

From such barren beginnings all growing things will stem!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on January 13, 2021, 10:42:09 am
So the poor mint and rosemary I kept in a glass of water then chucked into a pot full of rocks (no soil, completely free draining) have survived. The rosemary may die but the mint is thriving against all expectations of what a plant should require to survive. But it doesn't surprise me that mint will grow anywhere on anything
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on January 13, 2021, 10:47:05 am
Yes, I need to start tomatoes and peppers.

Thanks for the reminder.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on January 20, 2021, 12:00:02 pm
The great shrooming begins!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on January 20, 2021, 05:43:09 pm
great sporulation for the nation
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on January 21, 2021, 12:46:35 am
svamphauset?


If you have more than one, are they svamphausen?

(and is that what my brain says it is? "Swamp house" ?)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on January 21, 2021, 06:35:29 am
Half right! Svamp is Mushroom but Hus is 100% House.

-Et is the postfix that declares definitive form. The plural of Hus is also just Hus but in plural the definite form postfix becomes -En (as in Husen).

So it's the Mushroom House!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on January 21, 2021, 06:39:53 am
I hate to say it, but the mushroom media looks like a bag of VERY low quality hash.  (maybe deep discount tobacco)

I recently ordered some compressed coconut coir potting mix (because of how abysmally low in organic material my garden soil is...), so I think I will do an experiment to see how well the spawn for my shrooms take to straight coir medium. (If they can live on shredded cardboard, they might be fine on coir) 

If that works, I could have a huge amount of the stuff going at once.


The major innovation you have in that kit is that bag with the integrated porous gas exchange area. 
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on January 21, 2021, 06:42:44 am
Hey don't bash we can't get any better quality here in Sweden :P
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on January 21, 2021, 06:46:29 am
Bologna!  You could drive to Amsterdam and get the good stuff!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on January 21, 2021, 10:45:47 am
So what process do you guys even use to make good fungi
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on January 21, 2021, 11:17:28 am
I use mycelial division.  (basically, take the white fuzzy bits the mushrooms grow out of, break it up into pieces, then distribute it into sterilized, damp media, and let it grow.)

I got a very small tupperware container of such material from my older sister last year.  I have been keeping it going all last summer, and all winter. Harvested edible mushrooms several times from the newly cultured media.

Scriver has a commercially purchased grow kit.  It is comprised of a mostly decorative cardboard house, a bag filled with spawn-infused medium, and a care instruction pamphlet.

The bag itself is the fancy bit of that kit.  It appears to have a fancy strip of breathable material around it, which allows sterile gas exchange with the outside environment, while keeping germs, and foreign fungal spores out.

Typically, the bags that these grow kits use have small perforations in the bag, such that when fruit body growth is initiated, they are able to poke through/tear the bag all on their own.


Now, about the general concept:

Mushroom growth is moderated by carbon dioxide levels. 


Very high CO2 levels, and the mycelium starts to die from suffocation
Fairly high CO2 levels, and the mycelium "Runs"-- eg, it spreads into a fuzzy mass, and colonizes the medium quickly. 
Moderate CO2 levels (with exposure to light), and the mushrooms pin, then make long and gangly stalks with small caps (which are prone to abort)
Low CO2 levels, the mushrooms stop pinning, but mushroom pins that formed will produce high quality mushrooms.

The bag Scriver got in his kit is, again, the fancy part of the kit.  It allows ideal gas exchange at each stage of the mushroom's development, but is sadly NOT re-usable.


Simplified:

1) Sterilize your medium before inoculation.
2) Sterilize your growth chamber before putting medium inside.
3) Inoculate your medium under as close to sterile conditions as you can.
4) Allow only low levels of gas exchange during the initial incubation of the culture, but DO allow it to breathe.  This promotes quality mycelial mass formation.
5) Increase ventilation of the medium, so that pinning starts, but do not allow it to be fully open to air. Permit exposure to light. (indoor lighting is sufficient)
6) Once pinning starts, allow full ventilation, but keep mushrooms moist. Continue exposure to light.
7) Allow mushrooms to mature, then harvest.
8] If your chamber permits, restrict ventilation again to restart mycelial run behavior, then restart. Repeat until medium exhausted.
9) If your chamber does not permit this (such as the plastic bag that scriver has), or your media has become exhausted, break up the mycelial mass into small, "shooter marble" sized bits, and distribute it in fresh, sterilized medium, in a freshly cleaned (or brand new) container. (eg, if you are using bags, use a brand new bag. If you are using a sealable tupperware tub, move to a freshly cleaned and prepared tub.)
10) do the process over and over and over again.


Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on January 21, 2021, 11:32:37 am
Ok, that out of the way, Blue Oyster is "Absurdly easy" to grow.  It is HIGHLY tolerant of contaminants, and can overpower most competitors.

OTHER kinds of mushroom, are more weaksauce, and need increasingly high levels of sterility to thrive.

Mushrooms that grow on actual wood can often be cultivated on pressed sawdust bricks, or pellet-stove fuel pellets. (shitake, maitake, bunapi, etc..)
Mushrooms that grow on leafmold, or softwoods, can often be grown on waste paper products. (also coconut coir, and a number of others)  (Oyster, lion's mane, Jelly Ear, etc..)
Mushrooms that grow on grass or straw, do well on wheat or rice straw that has been sterilized.

Some mushrooms really do best on sterilized cow manure.  (White button, ... Psilocybe... (ahem)... etc)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on January 21, 2021, 11:33:18 am
The mushroom house package I got contained mycel-spawn and hay pellets for them to grow on. So all you do is open the ventilation hatched on the house (shaped like generation hatches), put the pellets and mushroom seed in the special filtered bag, shake it all around, and poured some water on it before you put it in the box and close the roof flaps over it. Now it's supposed to rest for three weeks until you open up the windows and doors so the fruit thingies can grow out of them.

Later on you're supposed to be able to transfer the mushroot system to a piece of wood and keep it alive for new harvests.

We bought it from their website here but it's in Swedish. (https://svamphuset.com)

Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Caz on January 21, 2021, 11:40:40 am
What do you do to make them fruit? Water them? Or decrease temperature or something?


Fungi cultivation is very interesting but completely beyond me.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on January 21, 2021, 11:43:30 am
Depends on the mushroom.

For this kind, (oyster), it is initiated when CO2 level is reasonably high, they mycelium is exposed to air, and there is sufficient water and nutrition available.
Once fruit bodies start to form (pinning), the CO2 levels need to drastically lowered, so that quality fruit bodies form.

See also this very informative PDF.

http://www.fungifun.org/mushworld/Oyster-Mushroom-Cultivation/mushroom-growers-handbook-1-mushworld-com-chapter-8-4.pdf

and this blurb.

https://senseair.com/knowledge/application-notes/life-science-safety/agriculture/mushroom-farming/


Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on January 22, 2021, 07:07:50 am
Sounds easy, but then I'm sure I'd somehow become the Mushroom granny from Darkwood.  (https://www.livescience.com/magic-mushroom-injection-case-report.htmlOr this dude who became half mushroom after they started growing in his blood[/url)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on January 22, 2021, 08:02:52 am
I promise to report if I start turning into a mushroom person

Hmm... I have been feeling a bit coughy the last days...
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Loud Whispers on January 22, 2021, 11:36:53 am
Quote from: scriver on January 22, 2021, 08:02:52 am
I promise to report if I start turning into a mushroom person

Hmm... I have been feeling a bit coughy the last days...
I could've sworn I already posted this but if I haven't, turns out it is totally possible to grow mushrooms in the human circulatory system (https://www.jpost.com/omg/magic-mushrooms-begin-growing-in-mans-blood-after-injecting-shroom-tea-655480)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on January 22, 2021, 01:08:46 pm
I remember it, it was in the WTF thread or another -- I've been making heavy use of that story while posting to everyone I know about the mushroom house xD
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Caz on January 23, 2021, 06:18:59 am
Got the chillis sowed finally. I hope there's enough light at the window for them, since it's frozen outside. :L
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on January 23, 2021, 07:38:20 am
I sowed mine 2 days ago, but no signs of life yet.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on January 23, 2021, 11:00:58 am
My first chili popped up overnight today!

It took a good while though, I was starting to get worried. I even bought a new bag of seed-dirt to replant them in, thinking there might be something wrong with my home-mixed dirt.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on January 23, 2021, 11:17:07 am
Noice!

I got 3 new high quality planters for my birthday!

Need to start thinking about planting. My Thyme and my Rosemary survived the winter, so I'm thinking:

Rosemary
Thyme
Basil
Dill
Cilantro
???
???

What else should I plant?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Caz on January 23, 2021, 11:30:55 am
Quote from: Dunamisdeos on January 23, 2021, 11:17:07 am
Noice!

I got 3 new high quality planters for my birthday!

Need to start thinking about planting. My Thyme and my Rosemary survived the winter, so I'm thinking:

Rosemary
Thyme
Basil
Dill
Cilantro
???
???

What else should I plant?

Parsley, sage...

And chives of course, but they're not in the song. Oregano and mint. Just never let the mint escape, or it's mintpocalypse for your biome.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on January 23, 2021, 12:22:44 pm
Quote from: Caz on January 23, 2021, 11:30:55 am
Parsley, sage...

And chives of course, but they're not in the song.
That's because nobody falls in love from a potion made from chives

Quote
Oregano and mint. Just never let the mint escape, or it's mintpocalypse for your biome.

and you have to keep it in mint conditions

edit: geez I butchered that quotationg
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on January 23, 2021, 12:29:58 pm
Ooooo Oregano and chives it is!

I only have 6 planters, you see. Also I think I started harvesting it too early last year. Stunted the growth.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Caz on January 23, 2021, 12:36:51 pm
Quote from: scriver on January 23, 2021, 12:22:44 pm
edit: geez I butchered that quotationg

I saw it, too. You'll never live down this disgrace.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on January 23, 2021, 01:03:45 pm
And I was so proud of that pun too!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on January 24, 2021, 04:08:28 pm
So I dug up my other seeds today because I got impatient and one of them had a little root sprout so I let it be. The other two didn't have any big changes so i gave them a new home in the new dirt. Does it actually matter for the seeds at this point? I have no idea. But I'm hoping they'll feel a little more at home there.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Caz on January 24, 2021, 04:16:36 pm
What temp is the soil? Too low and they take forever to germinate.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on January 24, 2021, 04:42:00 pm
Peppers need ambient temperatures of 80 to 90F to get good germination.

I put my seeds in a disused curio cabinet, and put a ceramic space heater in there (set on barely warm). Seems to be holding the right temp. We will see.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on January 26, 2021, 08:16:00 am
I just keep my at room temperature so I have no idea of specifics. Soil might have been a little cold as we had stored it outside and just brought it in a few days before to let it warm up.

Good news though! The second sprout is breaking through the earth right now! I have already greeted it welcome to the aboveground world.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on February 10, 2021, 05:25:18 am
Today we cancel the apocalypse open the mushroom house!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Caz on February 10, 2021, 05:32:35 am
The cat has been eating my chilli seedlings at the window. :L bad. Maybe should try to make protective cloches for them.

what happens when you open the mushroom house? does the change in conditions encourage it to fruit?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on February 10, 2021, 05:40:52 am
I think so! I opened the windows and cut holes in the bag you're supposed to let it stew in so I think the combination of light and oxygen makes it think it's above ground and thus fruit. I'm not sure how any of this works.

Wierd?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Arx on February 10, 2021, 05:44:00 am
Wierd posted an article saying it's CO2 concentration that drives all this. It's higher to begin with because that promotes some kind of base growth and then you lower it for fruiting because that gives better results. Don't remember the details, you can look up the article as easily as I can :P
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on February 10, 2021, 06:43:58 am
That species is initiated by reduced CO2 concentrations, and exposure to light.  Makes it think that winter is ending, and spring has come.

It needs ideal fruiting room temp of between 65 (18.3c) and 70F (21.1c).
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on February 10, 2021, 07:26:07 am
My booklet says 17-20!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on February 10, 2021, 08:18:56 am
The numbers are ideal estimates.  But glad it gave you the ideal fruiting temp range for your cultivar. (My numbers were for the species in general.)

Be sure to follow the watering instructions, or the mushrooms will shrivel and dry while attempting to fruit.  You got the sprayer?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on February 10, 2021, 08:28:22 am
I got a sprayer!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on February 11, 2021, 01:26:11 pm
"Cinnamon basil" sown today!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on February 13, 2021, 11:30:15 am
the hell is cinnamon basil that sounds rad
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on February 13, 2021, 12:08:11 pm
It's a direct translation of the name on the seed bag! I have no idea further than that, I was gifted it by a friend so I had to give it a grow. I'm hoping it will taste of cinnamon.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on February 13, 2021, 12:09:25 pm
It's another name for thai basil.

I am familiar with it as thai basil, since it is served as the leafy veg for pho' noodle soup with la'ap (laarb, et al).

Many online recipies say to serve with lettuce. This is WRONG.  Lao pho noodle soup uses the thai basil.

(And no, it does not taste like cinnamon.  It is its own kind of thing.  I would rate it as a kind of "metallic" taste, but also fresh and a bit peppery. Wikipedia says it is a cultivar of thai basil that produces methyl cinnimate, and tastes a little cinnamony, so I dunno... the kind I eat with pho' noodle does not taste like cinnamon.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon_basil
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Bumber on February 13, 2021, 05:43:33 pm
I have fooled you! The cinnamon was actually basil! You will now die from basil poisoning!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on February 13, 2021, 05:57:25 pm
I am growing astronaut plants!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on February 13, 2021, 06:15:05 pm
Leeks are hardcore. They been growin with a foot of snow on em.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on February 13, 2021, 06:16:45 pm
What is dead may never die
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on February 16, 2021, 05:20:12 pm
Look at my shrooms, ye mighty, and despair!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I should probably set my phone to take smaller pictures. I don't know why it's decided to have such a humungous uploosening
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Caz on February 16, 2021, 05:30:33 pm
Quote from: scriver on February 16, 2021, 05:20:12 pm
Look at my shrooms, ye mighty, and despair!

A single spore lands, finds nourishment in decay and attains maturity..
In turn it exhales a cloud of life, a thousand spores land... so progresses Juffo-Wup.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on February 16, 2021, 11:25:23 pm
So, after they stop fruiting, do you intend to divide the culture and grow more?

Having some shredded paper on hand is useful if you do. 
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on February 17, 2021, 05:06:44 am
Yes, probably. The booklet describes how to do it, but I haven't looked that far yet.

I've only opened half the house though. It said you can stage the harvests in two by opening one at a time.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on February 19, 2021, 02:07:51 pm
Okay I'm sorry for all the doubleposts lately but

Spoiler: MUSHROOM MUSHROOM MAN (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Arx on February 19, 2021, 02:25:21 pm
In only three days!? Wild.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on February 19, 2021, 03:02:17 pm
"sprout like mushrooms after a rain" is a euphemism for a reason yo.

It is the mycelial culture stage that is slow.  There is also a senescence period after fruiting where the mycelium needs to rest before fruiting again.


Also, those mushrooms look mature, He should harvest them before they get too old.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on February 19, 2021, 03:49:50 pm
Quote from: Arx on February 19, 2021, 02:25:21 pm
In only three days!? Wild.

Haha yeah it's like you can leave them for an hour or two and come back and you can almost already tell they've grown.


Quote from: wierd on February 19, 2021, 03:02:17 pm
"sprout like mushrooms after a rain" is a euphemism for a reason yo.

It is the mycelial culture stage that is slow.  There is also a senescence period after fruiting where the mycelium needs to rest before fruiting again.


Also, those mushrooms look mature, He should harvest them before they get too old.

Harvest time tomorrow! At least for the biggest ones (door and front roof openings, they had a little head start so I'm gonna give the others one day or so more.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on February 25, 2021, 12:40:49 pm
So, did you eat them yet?

I really suggest frying them.


In my own mushrooming-- I have divided my mushroom medium again, between several large plastic catlitter tubs, filled with hydrated coconut coir.  That was about 3 days ago.  At least 2 are showing signs of life.  I have to wait the full 2 to 3 weeks for the medium to colonize.

I think the coconut coir is a superior medium to the paper. It holds moisture better without becoming anaerobic, and the mycelium seems to migrate through it quite speedily,  It is also pretty cheap to get in bulk.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on February 25, 2021, 01:33:14 pm
Yes! I fried them with onion and boiled them with milk and creme fraiche and cheesed them with cheese and parsley (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=107598.msg8251095#msg8251095)

I was going rewet the hay today for the next harvest but i think it'll have to wait for tomorrow, not feeling it right now
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Vector on February 25, 2021, 02:33:03 pm
hmm. how much did the shroomhouse cost?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on February 25, 2021, 03:13:43 pm
Quote from: Vector on February 25, 2021, 02:33:03 pm
hmm. how much did the shroomhouse cost?

It costs 199 swedish crowns, which equals 24,02 american dales! From a quick glance at the home page it looks like they export to the US (and pretty much the entire world) (https://svamphuset.com/en/article.php?id=42281&art=22231849). I will not be ligible for speaking about the legalities of food and plant ex- and importation though ;)

Quote from: wierd on February 25, 2021, 12:40:49 pm
So, did you eat them yet?

I really suggest frying them.


In my own mushrooming-- I have divided my mushroom medium again, between several large plastic catlitter tubs, filled with hydrated coconut coir.  That was about 3 days ago.  At least 2 are showing signs of life.  I have to wait the full 2 to 3 weeks for the medium to colonize.

I think the coconut coir is a superior medium to the paper. It holds moisture better without becoming anaerobic, and the mycelium seems to migrate through it quite speedily,  It is also pretty cheap to get in bulk.

I forgot to ask earlier -- when you divide the shroom, do you mean literally divide the shroom-infested mass, or is there more to it?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Vector on February 25, 2021, 04:41:01 pm
Interesting. Might be cheaper than buying from the grocery, then ...
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Caz on February 25, 2021, 05:00:11 pm
Now, do it with chanterelles.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on February 25, 2021, 05:35:35 pm
No need to do that, we've got chanterelles growing in the garden :P
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Caz on February 25, 2021, 05:44:38 pm
...Do you adopt strays?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on February 25, 2021, 06:00:11 pm
Not any longer, there's not enough chanterelles :P
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Caz on February 25, 2021, 06:01:02 pm
:'(
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on February 25, 2021, 11:59:05 pm
Quote from: scriver on February 25, 2021, 03:13:43 pm
Quote from: Vector on February 25, 2021, 02:33:03 pm
hmm. how much did the shroomhouse cost?

It costs 199 swedish crowns, which equals 24,02 american dales! From a quick glance at the home page it looks like they export to the US (and pretty much the entire world) (https://svamphuset.com/en/article.php?id=42281&art=22231849). I will not be ligible for speaking about the legalities of food and plant ex- and importation though ;)

Quote from: wierd on February 25, 2021, 12:40:49 pm
So, did you eat them yet?

I really suggest frying them.


In my own mushrooming-- I have divided my mushroom medium again, between several large plastic catlitter tubs, filled with hydrated coconut coir.  That was about 3 days ago.  At least 2 are showing signs of life.  I have to wait the full 2 to 3 weeks for the medium to colonize.

I think the coconut coir is a superior medium to the paper. It holds moisture better without becoming anaerobic, and the mycelium seems to migrate through it quite speedily,  It is also pretty cheap to get in bulk.

I forgot to ask earlier -- when you divide the shroom, do you mean literally divide the shroom-infested mass, or is there more to it?

You take the stuff inside your bag, break it up into marble sized chunks, then disperse it amongst new medium.  This gives the now "small" colonies of mushroom sufficient nutrition to initiate a spawn run, and allows for speedy colonization of your new medium.

Since you are dividing the old medium up with more new medium, the amount of mushroom being cultivated will increase each time you divide it.  I have gone from a small sandwich bag sized sample of mushroom culture on some coffee grounds, to 4 catlitter tubs full of medium, in 3 divisions.

Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on February 28, 2021, 04:25:46 am
I received a start of a new mushroom variety from my OTHER sister yesterday.  The spawn is not mature enough to distribute into a culture container, so I will have to wait a bit until it is. 

New species:  Wine cap mushroom.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stropharia_rugosoannulata


I have a large order of coconut coir coming sometime around the 3rd anyway.  Hopefully the spawn start will be mature enough to distribute by then.  It apparently grows fine on sawdust and or, wood pellets for pellet stoves, so it should do well on the coir.   It would be nice to have a more flavorful mushroom to go with the less flavorful blue oysters.  (Even if this mushroom is essentially the rare 'edible toadstool'.  Normally one should simply steer clear of that genus.)


Since it can grow fine (outdoors) in my region, the 'spent' mushroom culture can be tilled into my garden. With any luck, it will become a permanent resident of the back yard.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on February 28, 2021, 08:08:14 am
Garden Giant. Nice!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Bumber on February 28, 2021, 08:59:37 pm
Quote from: wierd on February 28, 2021, 04:25:46 am
New species:  Wine cap mushroom.

♠♠♠
♠♠♠
♠♠♠
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on March 01, 2021, 06:53:20 am
Make Dwarven Wine?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on March 01, 2021, 10:20:14 am
I dont think it would work....  They are named, because when made into a saute, they have a flavor reminiscent of having been brazed in red wine.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on March 01, 2021, 02:31:21 pm
Braise them in white wine, it should be the culinary equivalent of dividing by zero.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: wierd on March 09, 2021, 10:28:59 am
Well, the great freeze has finally released its deathgrip on my soil.

Last year, I struggled keeping the soil hydrated, because of a catastrophic deficiency in organic material in my dirt. (really, the stuff is just practically pure clay and sand tumbled together. Useless.)  As such, I am deep-tilling, and amending with epic assloads of hydrated hardwood pellets, and a potassium bearing fertilizer.

I had ordered coconut coir, but it is too expensive by weight to order in sufficient quantities.  The hardwood pellets are food-prep grade (for BBQs) in 40lb bags, and about 3/4 the price of the delivered coir bricks.  They dont break up as nicely, but I intend to till this stuff together after layering it up anyway.

I am currently building the bed up in 2in thick layers of soil and 1in thick layers of hydrated wood pellet mixed with fertilizer.  With any luck this should improve my gardening experience tremendously, and pay back dividends on investment for several years.

Additionally, with enough wood biomass in the soil back there, once I get these winecaps going, I can till in bits of the spent mushroom bedding, and perhaps get them going in the yard.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on March 09, 2021, 01:55:35 pm
Today is PLANTING DAY! Weather report in my area says no frost for the foreseeable future. I am excite!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on March 14, 2021, 07:28:27 pm
I haven't signed up yet, but I've decided I'm going to sign up for a sustainability project called "one square metre flax" and grow one square metre of flax. Then I'm going to do all the funny sounding verbs that mean things you do to plants and make thread out of it. Possibly oil too. It's sponsored by the swedish handicraft association and I get the flax seeds for free
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Vector on March 14, 2021, 07:39:37 pm
That's super cool. Can't wait for photos and whatnot, Scriver.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on May 19, 2021, 01:04:27 pm
So I harvested my first two leeks! Made some tasty soup with them.

Question: Can I re-use the soil in the pot? It's filled somewhat with little tiny leek roots. I feel like the soil wouldn't be too depleted, it was as a good-sized pot. Do I need to wait a little while for the roots to die off? Will it mess with growing something else even then?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on May 19, 2021, 01:34:57 pm
I can't say I'm knowledgeable, but if in doubt, just add horse manure and it'll be all good again

Also!

Tomorrow is the day I plant my flax! It was supposed to be earlier but there was a bunch of frosty nights so they councilled us to wait a little longer. Then I had to wait for a good namesday, because it has to be sown on a day with a female name that is long (so you get long flaxeses) and preferably has "lin" (ie flax (https://translate.google.com/?hl=sv&sl=en&tl=sv&text=flax&op=translate)) in it, and the 20th is Karolina so it's pretty good fit!

You might think just sowing flax seeds would be a fairly straight forward procedure but no! I am going whole hog, including dressing correctly, funny walking, sowing with a silver spoon (to keep trolls, elves, and other bad spirits away of course) eating egg and drinking burnwine, and reading the correct magical spell of course.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on May 19, 2021, 01:36:41 pm
I'm pleased to note that we haven't had a troll sighting here in at least 7 years.

I've got some liquid plant food that is, in theory, able to compensate for nutrients lost. I'm gonna try and plant some basil in there.

Also FLAX. That's cool and unique, are you planning on using it for anything in particular?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: martinuzz on May 19, 2021, 01:56:15 pm
Quote from: Dunamisdeos on May 19, 2021, 01:04:27 pm
So I harvested my first two leeks! Made some tasty soup with them.

Question: Can I re-use the soil in the pot? It's filled somewhat with little tiny leek roots. I feel like the soil wouldn't be too depleted, it was as a good-sized pot. Do I need to wait a little while for the roots to die off? Will it mess with growing something else even then?
Make a compost heap. Throw the soil on it, get some rainworms doing their job, and re-use the soil next year. Use new soil this year.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on May 19, 2021, 02:03:31 pm
Yes, I'm gonna make linen! I don't know how much linen I'll be able to get out of 1m squared but that's what I'm doing with it anyway ;)

It's part of a nation-wide sustainability project led by the Swedish national hand and crafts association society. So I got the seed for free and get to use all their old timey tools for free too.


Quote from: Dunamisdeos on May 19, 2021, 01:36:41 pm
I'm pleased to note that we haven't had a troll sighting here in at least 7 years.

If you haven't seen them run away, that's how you know they're still around :P

But yeah I'm sure you could reuse the soil at least sometime, particularly if you pour some of that soup into it. Just give it a good rotation so you even out the distribution of nutrients -- I don't know how plants suck up nutrients per se but I imagine some areas of the soil will be more eaten from than others.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: Vector on May 19, 2021, 02:09:56 pm
Quote from: scriver on May 19, 2021, 01:34:57 pm
Tomorrow is the day I plant my flax! It was supposed to be earlier but there was a bunch of frosty nights so they councilled us to wait a little longer. Then I had to wait for a good namesday, because it has to be sown on a day with a female name that is long (so you get long flaxeses) and preferably has "lin" (ie flax (https://translate.google.com/?hl=sv&sl=en&tl=sv&text=flax&op=translate)) in it, and the 20th is Karolina so it's pretty good fit!

You might think just sowing flax seeds would be a fairly straight forward procedure but no! I am going whole hog, including dressing correctly, funny walking, sowing with a silver spoon (to keep trolls, elves, and other bad spirits away of course) eating egg and drinking burnwine, and reading the correct magical spell of course.

This post gave me much joy.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbs!
Post by: scriver on May 19, 2021, 02:25:12 pm
It would make me very happy if somebody were to ask me what the spell is so I have reason to translate it...
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on May 19, 2021, 02:26:51 pm
Please, educate us with your vast knowledge of the arcane!

EDIT: Yo we gotta get some update pics of flax along the way. That's a super cool project.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on May 19, 2021, 03:13:40 pm
Thank you Dunam! It would be my pleasure ;)

Spoiler: Original Swedish, because rhyme and rhythm (click to show/hide)

And hastily translated into English:

Now I have satseeded
Now I have sown
Now I have done what I can
Now it is in the hand of the Lord
to give the flax a lot of win
With sky clear and warmth pure
that disperse the air from all bad
and gives delightful growth
for the children of the earth but not for the dead

(Turn to the east)
Our sun he is the power
who gives to the ground juicestrength

(Turn to the west and bow)
Odin, Thor and the Frey
Will come now with the rain


Then you eat the eggs and drink the burnwine

Quote from: Dunamisdeos on May 19, 2021, 02:26:51 pm
EDIT: Yo we gotta get some update pics of flax along the way. That's a super cool project.

I promise I will post everytime anything happens!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Yellow Pixel on May 19, 2021, 04:19:09 pm
There are a few flax patches in a flower bed in my parents' yard. In every single plant, new flax flowers open early each morning and their petals, of a pretty shade of violet-blue, fall during the afternoon, and are dispersed by the wind. I like flax for that, it's very beautiful to see. But there aren't enough flowers to collect the seeds.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: None on May 19, 2021, 06:06:42 pm
I hope you flax is blessed with much juice and win and love that you went all in on the ritual.

Heck, I just love that magical shit. There's a passion and joy against all sensible logic and I delight in its expression, or at least in reading its colors.

I should get more houseplants...
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on May 20, 2021, 08:21:28 am
Flax planted! All rituals followed!

Spoiler: cat helped out (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: wierd on May 20, 2021, 08:34:16 am
Mine consumed a literal ton of organic matter.

(as in, a full 2000lbs of it, dry weight, were tilled in.)

Despite this, growth is slow.  The only things up are the squash, the pumpkins, and (some) of the green beans.

I installed a sexy mister watering system too. 


I have noted that a teeny number of carrot seedlings have done their thing, but considering I CARPET BOMBED that part of the garden, it should be much more than has come up.  Similar story with the swiss chard, and the herbs I planted.

Oh well.  Time will tell.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on May 20, 2021, 08:35:52 am
Quote from: wierd on May 20, 2021, 08:34:16 am
I installed a sexy mister watering system too. 

clearly you have put too much faith in science and too little in spells and superstition ;)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Loud Whispers on May 20, 2021, 08:52:41 am
I can see how humans might've accidentally discovered farming just from throwing scraps away. I've now got bountiful scores of random spuds, onions and lettuce from scraps I discarded years ago
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Jimmy on May 20, 2021, 04:18:14 pm
Quote from: Loud Whispers on May 20, 2021, 08:52:41 am
I can see how humans might've accidentally discovered farming just from throwing scraps away. I've now got bountiful scores of random spuds, onions and lettuce from scraps I discarded years ago
Life, life finds a way.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on May 24, 2021, 12:19:39 pm
The flax are already sprouting! The magic must be working!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Vector on May 24, 2021, 10:13:13 pm
Quote from: scriver on May 24, 2021, 12:19:39 pm
The flax are already sprouting! The magic must be working!

I demand floto
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on May 25, 2021, 07:26:25 am
Spoiler: I took this with my flotation device (click to show/hide)

focus is not my strong point
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Yellow Pixel on May 25, 2021, 08:28:58 am
Quote from: scriver on May 25, 2021, 07:26:25 am
focus is not my strong point

What truly matters is magical focus!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Bobbop on May 25, 2021, 08:50:16 am
When did spices become a weed?)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: wierd on May 25, 2021, 01:22:06 pm
Well, the blanket bombed carrots seem to be doing something at least.

Still cannot really tell about the various spices I blanket bombed.

I really need to weed, but until I can properly identify friend from foe, this is an issue.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on May 28, 2021, 02:48:50 pm
My magic brings all the flax to the yard
And they're like
It's better than yours
You're damn right
It's better than yours
I could clothe you
But I'd have to bar'd

Spoiler: One week since planting (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: None on May 28, 2021, 03:19:54 pm
Cute! So round, so full of ambition.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on May 28, 2021, 03:33:25 pm
The Flaxoning
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: dragdeler on May 28, 2021, 04:57:33 pm
One week? Pah my strawberries took 3 weeks to sprout and look exactly alike! Weird flax but ok.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on May 28, 2021, 05:24:53 pm
I'm very surprised myself, they broke the earth really quickly
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Yellow Pixel on May 28, 2021, 05:31:08 pm
FLAXPLOSION!!!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on June 04, 2021, 07:35:25 am
Spoiler: He was a flaxy boy, she said she ya later boy (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: dragdeler on June 04, 2021, 10:38:08 am
Is it still coat weather? Aren't your summer days longer, is it still that fresh or are you built like a shelf? Even if you were built like Sylvester Schwarzennorris, flax would go full diogenes on your ass.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on June 04, 2021, 01:37:51 pm
Noticed my tomatillo had blossomed today!

Spoiler: My tomatillo don't want none unless you got sun hun (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 04, 2021, 01:49:00 pm
My tomatoes have begun bearing fruit! Nothing ripe yet.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Arx on June 04, 2021, 02:40:53 pm
Mine are just stubbornly getting taller.

I mean, I did plant them in late autumn but I refuse to be bound by mortal laws on this. They will fruit, dammit, if I have to burn down all of Paris.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on June 14, 2021, 02:00:13 pm
I traded a few of my tomatoes and a tomatillo for more tomatoes, another chili, and a paprika!

Quote from: Dunamisdeos on June 04, 2021, 01:49:00 pm
My tomatoes have begun bearing fruit! Nothing ripe yet.

Very jealous! I just got my first tomato flower this past week.

Quote from: Arx on June 04, 2021, 02:40:53 pm
Mine are just stubbornly getting taller.

I mean, I did plant them in late autumn but I refuse to be bound by mortal laws on this. They will fruit, dammit, if I have to burn down all of Paris.

Fires are a well-practiced way for keeping crops warm during frosty nights! I approve of burning Paris
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 14, 2021, 02:09:56 pm
Holy shit my tomato plants started growing terrifying above ground root nodules because I water them so much.

The vines burst and have little white creepy growths.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: wierd on June 14, 2021, 02:13:40 pm
If you bury them deeper, they will thrive better. :)


For my own gardening fun---  The carrots seem to be doing well.  The squash (including the pumpkins) have started flowering.

I have lots of volunteer tomato plants from discards last year.

Only 2 of the absurd number of swiss chard plants did anything.

I have a few scrawny looking pepper plants going from the seeds I planted.

The basil is trying to do something.

Some cilantro is trying to grow.


Noshows:  Rosemary, thyme, mint, most of the peppers
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 14, 2021, 02:17:50 pm
My rosemary is huge, my raspberry bush has beetles eating the leaves.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on June 20, 2021, 10:03:53 am
On the chilis I traded from my friend the baby fruits are turning purple. Should I be concerned? Is she trying to murder me?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 22, 2021, 01:35:48 pm
My Cilantro and dill plants are dying, I got sick for a couple days and the 97 degree heat started killin em. I think they're starting to bounce back, but I might not get anything else out of them this year ;-;

Also, my tomatoes started rotting on the vine. I probably over-fertilized them. One of the plants isn't showing any sign of this, and my cherry tomatoes are producing well.

Should I be worried about beetles eating my raspberry leaves?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: dragdeler on June 22, 2021, 01:49:35 pm
I can think of one plant that can turn purple if the nights are cold. Apparantly it's just "autumn molecules" (there is different kinds for different colors) it's not something uncommon or worrysome. It doesn't lower the quality of the produce of the plant I know, but it might be worth checking if that goes for chilis too. Might just be a strain that tends towards a more excentric coloring too. Not red tomatoes are often total bangers.



Depends on the beetles, though hardshelled insects are usually not our biggest concern. And maybe flush the tomatoes if you don't risk harming them with aggressive watering. Then again are you sure it's because of fertilization?



I started way too late, my tomatoes strawberries and bell peppers are boring and there is nothing of interest to show. Should have listened to the packaging instead of waiting for 0% frost chance.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 22, 2021, 03:44:26 pm
I did a lot of fertilization, and according to the internet rotting on the vine and growing roots along the vine are signs that i over-fertilized. It makes the plant grow faster but also can cause those problems.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: dragdeler on June 22, 2021, 04:27:41 pm
Quote from: Dunamisdeos on June 22, 2021, 03:44:26 pm
I did a lot of fertilization

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37nwLhIA1zs)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: None on June 22, 2021, 08:12:42 pm
Basilfriend has grown to be about the height of my forearm, so I have cut him down by half and have taken the topmost portion to propagate in a glass of water. With a little luck, I'll have Henry the 2nd!

...You lads happen to have an incantation to promote new root growth? Besides doing a lot of fertilization? :U
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 22, 2021, 08:32:38 pm
Scriver is our local Herbal Hedge Mage. Consult him on the subject of the folial arcane.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: dragdeler on June 23, 2021, 05:20:38 am
There exist root stimulation additives from fertilizer brands, and there exists cloning powder for when you want to grow what you cut to a new plant. I rly don't know if you need them and if so which, just that they exist.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Loud Whispers on June 23, 2021, 05:21:33 am
I am the onion lord
I sow my onions everywhere
Now their flowers bloom threefold summoning bees to the onions
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: wierd on June 23, 2021, 05:38:28 am
Quote from: dragdeler on June 23, 2021, 05:20:38 am
There exist root stimulation additives from fertilizer brands, and there exists cloning powder for when you want to grow what you cut to a new plant. I rly don't know if you need them and if so which, just that they exist.

You mean crushed aspirin, right? (https://www.southernchestercountyweeklies.com/news/aspirin-can-help-the-rooting-process/article_eea2cfef-881e-56a8-8bdc-a6a9151a3542.html) (2 (https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12917501-600-science-aspirin-helps-the-garden-grow/))
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on June 23, 2021, 05:57:42 am
Quote from: Dunamisdeos on June 22, 2021, 08:32:38 pm
Scriver is our local Herbal Hedge Mage. Consult him on the subject of the folial arcane.

May I suggest

Grow some root root root
It's a hoot hoot hoot
Give me basil loot
I am Groot
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: dragdeler on June 23, 2021, 09:37:07 am
I would have bet weird knows a "house remedy" alternative. Interesting.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on June 23, 2021, 09:40:53 am
By the way I allowed one of my basils to flower (apparently that ruins the taste? i haven't tried any of their leaves yet but I'm definitely not wasting them unless they taste hideous) because I want to have my own seeds (which apparently is kinda unnecessary anyway since basil is supposed to be like the easiest plant to take... off-shoots of?) and goddamn do they have beautiful flowers.

Actually wait a second pictures incoming
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: None on June 23, 2021, 10:24:30 am
jesus christ the basilfriend that i cut from grew like a whole extra goddamn inch yesterday he's too strong

and the cutting has reoriented its leaves towards the sun again this plant cannot be stopped
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on June 23, 2021, 10:43:57 am
Spoiler: Beauiful Basil Blossoms (click to show/hide)


I tested one of its leaves while I was out there and yeah it was a lot more bitter. Not uneatable but probably just over the limit of my enjoyment.

Left a very strong liquorice aftertaste that was pretty tasty though.

Spoiler: Bonus Flax still steadily flaxing upwards (click to show/hide)

I think it's about 30-50 cm now. It's supposed to start flowering just below one metre of height


Quote from: None on June 23, 2021, 10:24:30 am
jesus christ the basilfriend that i cut from grew like a whole extra goddamn inch yesterday he's too strong

and the cutting has reoriented its leaves towards the sun again this plant cannot be stopped

It's definitely the spell I read!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on June 23, 2021, 12:45:28 pm
Quote from: scriver on June 23, 2021, 05:57:42 am
Quote from: Dunamisdeos on June 22, 2021, 08:32:38 pm
Scriver is our local Herbal Hedge Mage. Consult him on the subject of the folial arcane.

May I suggest

Grow some root root root
It's a hoot hoot hoot
Give me basil loot
I am Groot

(https://www.pinclipart.com/picdir/middle/153-1533846_gone-into-rapture-on-twitter-pact-has-been.png)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: None on June 25, 2021, 12:54:48 pm
The cutting has a few tiny little root nubbins! Prolly still gonna be a week or two before I can put it in solid earth, but it's trying really hard.

The earthbound original decided it really really needs to be tall, so it's still doing that. Lemonbalmfriend appears to be searching horizontally for new terrain to conquer, the African violet surrendered one fuzzy leaf- I think it went limp after my friends stroked it too much. Pothosfriend is becoming tentacular now that I've moved it away from the sun.

I need more houseplants.

EDIT: I have one more houseplant, a large tendril off a true mint plant that my friend insist I take because oh lawd that tentacle's comin' for new soils. It's not the catnip I hope to grow eventually, but it's one more impertinent mint to adorn my abode. Godspeed and good fuckin' yard, mintacle.

Edit Edit:

The Mintacle has not yet sprouted new leaf growths, but seems happy. I have planted the basil cutting in a vasepotthing featuring pandas and repotted the original basil from its tiny hourglass-shaped vase to a larger, more ordinary looking pot that was probably meant to hold tealight candles, losing most of the rootball in the process.

It's basil, so it'll probably live okay. The newly planted cutting is more or less fine, but I wonder a little if it wasn't too soon. Total Green Thing Count: 7.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on July 03, 2021, 12:13:46 pm
Big news that I forgot to post about here yesterday! Yesterday I found my first flax flower bud in the patch!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

They only blossom for a single morning wilter around noon. I was going to take a photo of my first flower today but u got out of bed too late and by the time I got outside it had already dropped all but one of its crown leaves (and the last one fell off when I touched it to get the autofocus to lock into it)

Spoiler: But at least I got the second flower on picture. The lower arrow on the right points to the wiltered first one (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: NAV on July 03, 2021, 03:15:17 pm
I have a little garden on my balcony. Harvested the first salad yesterday, just lettuce and beet leaves. Also got tomatoes, green beans, and dill growing.

I got a bunch of free glass and plexiglass and wood, so I am building a little greenhouse cabinet thing to put on the balcony. That will give more vertical growing space and extend the growing season.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on July 09, 2021, 03:22:46 pm
Dill and Cilantro get wrecked by heat, if you end up with a super hot week like we had here, make sure to water at LEAST once a day. My cilantro lost two days of watering when I got sick and never recovered. Died in the end.

My dill is recovering, but barely.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: NAV on July 10, 2021, 12:26:35 pm
Yes, my dill suffered heavily from a heat wave and has barely grown.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on July 10, 2021, 01:22:51 pm
My flax is all sad and hangy too.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: None on July 10, 2021, 05:31:45 pm
My mintbasilcatnipfriends have acquired spider mites of varying severity, so I've gone in on some oil spray stuff and diatomaceous earth to treat them. The catnip is suffering particularly harshly from other critters eating into the leaves, and the mojito mint is rife with the mite damage.

The lemon balm is otherwise unaffected, and pothosfriend just doesn't give a shit or hasn't been close enough to pick up the sick. Shine on, Murphy.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: NAV on July 10, 2021, 05:35:23 pm
My wife's spruce sapling got spider mites. She was planning on turning it into a bonsai. Instead it got yeeted into a bonfire.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on July 10, 2021, 05:36:58 pm
I got some pesticide for my raspberries, Japanese beetles were havin' at em'.

They're so bad this year that our HOA bought traps for the community.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on July 12, 2021, 09:36:31 am
I have invested too much emotion into my flax :'(
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on July 14, 2021, 03:22:05 am
I opened up one of my three spetspaprikor (pointy bell peppers) the other day and it unfortunately did not have any seed (they were greenhouse reared, I read that can have a big impact on pollination) but it bad the sweetest, most excellent taste.

I had my first red tomato and ate it. Very tomatey! 5/7 would chew again.

Also, I'll be asking for stuff to do with all my tomatoes in the food thread. Feel free to share if you have any good ideas or recipes!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: wierd on July 14, 2021, 03:27:29 am
Hilariously, despite the "grass has taken over, the plants actually planted never really took off---" ness of my garden this year, the cilantro has been unharmed. (what actually sprouted that is.)

Also, the pumpkins seem to be doing well.

I have volunteer tomato plants everywhere, but none of them are doing anything good.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on July 14, 2021, 03:40:52 am
God, pumpkins would be so much fun. My garden is super dry though, and pumpkins need like a low point (like a "natural ditch", you know, those places that are always green and lush) and lots of water, right? I did see on tv how one guy made a box for pumpkins by stacking old logs and compost. We have a lots of compost in our compost.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Bumber on July 14, 2021, 06:26:30 am
I grew pumpkins as a kid on a dirt mound in the backyard, so I don't think the low point is a requirement.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: wierd on July 14, 2021, 06:50:04 am
Well, again, the grass has taken over... but.

Spoiler: pumpkins (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: dragdeler on July 14, 2021, 01:16:24 pm
Y'all need to stop asking for rain.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Vector on July 14, 2021, 01:18:07 pm
Quote from: Bumber on July 14, 2021, 06:26:30 am
I grew pumpkins as a kid on a dirt mound in the backyard, so I don't think the low point is a requirement.

Yes, I did a similar thing.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: None on July 14, 2021, 02:07:00 pm
I found a pumpkin plant in the dirt pile at the end of the road in my old neighborhood; I think I kept the pumpkin atop my speaker for a few months. It was great.

My catnip has decided it needs to pump out flower buds instead of growing bigger and stronger. I've got phat nip nugs, which are probably more fun for cats, but I'd appreciate it becoming more plant so it can do more of that later.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on July 14, 2021, 03:11:57 pm
I opened up a red bell pepper the other day to find that little internal proliferation thing going on.

I planted it, and the seeds are now growing. I hope I have enough time before frost to get at least one pepper out of it.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: None on July 14, 2021, 04:39:51 pm
You're a proper pepper propagator!

Edit: The catnip has inhabitants. Three inchworms have been pulled from from the one offshoot and some green buggin has been pinched from the other.

I am deeply unnerved.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on July 19, 2021, 04:30:55 pm
Quote from: scriver on July 14, 2021, 03:22:05 am
I opened up one of my three spetspaprikor (pointy bell peppers) the other day and it unfortunately did not have any seed (they were greenhouse reared, I read that can have a big impact on pollination) but it bad the sweetest, most excellent taste.

I opened up the second one: It had three and one third of a seed! I wish I could plant them now.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on July 19, 2021, 05:36:09 pm
I have RASPBERRIES on my RASPBERRY BUSH and I am EXTREMELY EXCITED.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on July 19, 2021, 05:44:09 pm
RASP! :O
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on July 19, 2021, 06:01:53 pm
I ate a RASPBERRY that I GREW from a RASPBERRY BUSH you guys.

Also those fucking beetles are all dead I think, haven't seen a live one in weeks. These raspberries are watered in insectoid genocide. Delicious.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: dragdeler on July 20, 2021, 01:00:49 pm
It's unadvised to use insecticide before consumption, preferably wait 2 weeks at least, even for "natural" products like neemoil. I mean you can rinse sure but you should be doing that anyway.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Vector on July 20, 2021, 01:13:36 pm
[butterfly meme]

"Is this living in harmony with nature?"
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on July 20, 2021, 01:20:16 pm
Quote from: dragdeler on July 20, 2021, 01:00:49 pm
It's unadvised to use insecticide before consumption, preferably wait 2 weeks at least, even for "natural" products like neemoil. I mean you can rinse sure but you should be doing that anyway.

Actually, I've considered this! And thank you for pointing it out!

According to the pesticide I got, it is safe to use 24 hours before picking fruit. It's been more than a week since I used it, so I made sure to wait extra. The beetles seem long gone, the neighborhood put up traps and everything.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: dragdeler on July 20, 2021, 01:26:41 pm
My guess is the stuff you get at the supermarket has routinely been treated with insecticides before harvest, so it's not the end of the world either, but definitly worth considering. I'd wager if it kills insects it kills humans, insects tend to be able to subsist on much simpler (more entropic) food. I am not excluding the possibility of an insect being super specialised, or an insecticide being able to be processed with the kind of enzymes higher animals might have over insects, but I never heard of such things.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on July 20, 2021, 02:35:00 pm
This is something I ordered off the internet! It kills the FUCK out of the beetles on contact, and acts as a deterrent as well.

They were quite clear that it will also kill the FUCK out of humans as well, and has clear instructions for diluting it and making sure you don't harvest within a certain time period (which I've gone out of my way to far exceed).
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on July 21, 2021, 05:38:37 am
Quote from: Vector on July 20, 2021, 01:13:36 pm
[butterfly meme]

"Is this living in harmony with nature?"

Hey, it's not me that's not in harmony with nature, it's the beetles!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: None on July 25, 2021, 06:50:25 pm
african violet is SO STRONG

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

LOOK AT IT GO
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Arx on July 25, 2021, 11:54:36 pm
Africa gang rise UP
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Bralbaard on July 26, 2021, 03:57:00 am
Quote from: Dunamisdeos on July 20, 2021, 02:35:00 pm
This is something I ordered off the internet! It kills the FUCK out of the beetles on contact, and acts as a deterrent as well.

They were quite clear that it will also kill the FUCK out of humans as well, and has clear instructions for diluting it and making sure you don't harvest within a certain time period (which I've gone out of my way to far exceed).

As a person who works in authorisation of pesticides and is involved in writing these labels it warms my heart to see people are reading and following the product label. This is important people.

If you have properly followed the label there is no need to "far exeed" the time periods though, the time period already has all kinds of safety margins build in, so don't let your raspberries rot on the plant after the time period has passed.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on August 03, 2021, 01:50:10 pm
Noice! I'm extra cautious because it's my first time using any kind of diluted substance like this.

Been eatin' my raspberries, ain't had any ill effects, therefore did it right. :)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Loud Whispers on August 06, 2021, 04:43:22 am
Oh dear god there are snails everywhere the rains have awoken them. Shells, shells in the deep
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Arx on August 06, 2021, 01:25:47 pm
Sounds like it's time for murder in the dark.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on August 06, 2021, 01:33:04 pm
Ripped a bunch of long bois out of the ground today

Spoiler: Look at my flax, my flax is amazing (click to show/hide)

Do you think that's enough for a shirt?

Quote from: vcd14 on August 05, 2021, 06:59:07 pm
I've been following this gardening thread for a while, and I guess I will share my pictures of my bumblebee nest here.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That's the cutest bumbleebee-bo!

Did you set it up like that with the holey branch in the ground or is it a natural happenstance?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Loud Whispers on August 06, 2021, 02:09:05 pm
Quote from: Arx on August 06, 2021, 01:25:47 pm
Sounds like it's time for murder in the dark.
That or I leave a beer out for them
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Eric Blank on August 11, 2021, 02:08:18 pm
My family's gardens are producing nothing but tomatoes this year. Weve all been too busy and tired to do any gardening.

The deer were eating almost everything anyway, jumping over the fence and whatnot to get at the good stuff. They even ate my jalapeņo plant. If deer counted as a garden product, I'd say our gardens have been pretty successful.

I found a toad the other night by the shitter, though. Big fat one, very lumpy. Chickens being locked up most of the time the wildlifes coming back. Especially the coyote that's been killing the chickens. Won't fucking give up
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on August 16, 2021, 12:56:21 pm
Are you allowed to...

[mafia voice] take care of...

...the coyote
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: None on August 29, 2021, 07:07:52 pm
Mintacle died. Spider mites are bad, mmkay. Overwatering it in a non-draining planter is bad too. Catnip is looking pretty sparse, but it keeps trying to flower.

I have acquired four teeny tiny clearance succulents, three roundy nubbly leaf boys and one stubby aloe wannabe. They're Phil, Lil, Bill, and Ted, individually, and collectively sharing one planter, I believe I have to call them the succu-bus.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Rolan7 on October 28, 2021, 03:04:49 am
My mother, moved up into the lovely mountains of our state (NC), has been struggling with groundhogs and deer.  We love deer, I dream of them often, and she is considering noise-machines to scare them off from nibbling her plants.

She has the most wonderful herb gardens, I should dig up some pictures in the morning.  She focuses on flavorful herbs and butterfly-attracting flowers rather than staple crops, but she is constantly talking about survival.  She is ready to transition her garden when everything falls apart.

And here I am cultivating a briar over my front door, placing it back against the edges when it slides off.  I love a vine <3

And I fondly remember the potato plant I cultivated.  A couple months of pollen, in my bathroom.  Up against the window.  The "fruit", the potato, was tiny and misshapen.  I would have eaten a bite - except that I feared its nightshade.  It was an experiment, it obviously lacked the nutrients to grow large and hearty.

I'm told that mom and dad's generation (and/or their parents) grew lovely gardens to supplement rations, back in a time when we did nationalism and it was... not good, but literally anti-fascist.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: martinuzz on October 28, 2021, 03:39:07 am
Best non-technological way to keep deer out of your herb garden is a hedge fence  made out of thorny brambles. It will take a few years to grow big enough to be menacing though.
I suppose the noise thingy will work as well, deer are pretty jittery.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: None on January 19, 2022, 02:47:06 pm
Lost a few plants, gained a few plants more. The catnip came back squirrelly, two of the four new succulents died out. Got a few foliages, the poinsettia, lorge tentacle succulent on top (and its five pups!), the orange leafy boy on the middle shelf, two basilfriends that were unwanted flowering heads of a friend's basil plants, a single ivy plant that I propagated into five ivy plants, and little ol' Murph Jr, a pothos node I found detached from the plant patriarch in the house. Murph Jr has three leaves and I'm so proud of it.

Spoiler: happy happy family (click to show/hide)

Fungus gnats still pop up every so often, but I've defeated 80% of the problem, I reckon. Pots with drain holes help a bunch. The fam is much happier with them- I still have a few pots I really ought to drill some holes into.

Oh, and Murph Jr. sprouted a fungus at one point:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This one I carved out. Happy to grow new friends, but I'd prefer they grow by guidance, not as surprise visitors.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on January 19, 2022, 04:22:40 pm
Looks great!

Me myself have lots of stuff to show but I keep procastrinating and forghetting about it. i haven't even wrott up the results of my flax harvest! Some day now I will
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on January 21, 2022, 02:39:52 pm
I need to start my garden back up.

I hope some of my bushes like blueberry and whatnot come back after the winter :(
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: wierd on January 22, 2022, 12:13:53 am
It is too cold to do garden work at this time of year in my state.

In about another month, I will start the process of turning my soil over, and doing the needful.  It has had a whole winter to digest the absurd amount of organic matter I stuffed it full of last spring, and to suck up the fertilizer I tilled in.

It underperformed last summer, but I think this was because the soil had not produced the necessary microbial lifeforms for healthy soil yet.  It has had sufficient time to incubate now.  Once temperatures are proper, I will set out plants.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: None on January 23, 2022, 09:27:14 pm
Murph Jr. sprouted another mushroom.

I'm somewhere between letting him keep the fungus as a roommate for the fun of it and worrying it'll spread spores and propagate to the other houseplants. Internet says it's harmless, fortunately. It's just... Uncanny that there's this fruiting body that sprouts up overnight in the shape and order of my houseplant ecology.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: EuchreJack on January 23, 2022, 10:45:44 pm
It's probably the brother of the previous mushroom.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: dragdeler on January 26, 2022, 07:01:05 am
If the plant is healthy I'd just assume that the mycelium is either harmless or beneficial, and so long as you're not counting on eating your houseplants, and aren't disgusted by mushrooms, I think they're fine and will probably not bother you during summer.

Also I think you can relatively safely add some hydrogen peroxide to the water if you want to get rid of the funguys but not the plant, but doublecheck on that before doing anything brash.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on January 26, 2022, 01:11:07 pm
I wouldn't mind growing some mushrooms. Can you do it outside? I don't really have any inside space for that.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: None on January 26, 2022, 02:42:26 pm
I've read that people quite successfully grow mushrooms in, say, a closet, since it's dark and temperature controlled in there and you can just spritz it with some water every so often to keep humidity ideal.

I don't believe they were particularly legal mushrooms in that discussion, though.

I think scriver had a funky little box like a year ago that just needed priming somehow and then it sprouted mushrooms out all over the place, though? It was like a cardboard house and then the mushrooms popped out the windows.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: wierd on January 26, 2022, 02:54:36 pm
I grew the mushies in the closet. Used shredded cardboard.

Scriver liked the idea, and got the mushroom house kit.

I really should grow more mushies.

In both cases, they were perfectly legal food mushrooms. (Oyster mushroom)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: None on January 26, 2022, 03:00:06 pm
Oh, of course, thanks for the correction.

I've read somewhere else that people quite successfully grow mushrooms in, say, a closet, since it's dark and temperature controlled in there and you can just spritz it with some water every so often to keep humidity ideal.

I don't believe they were particularly legal mushrooms in that discussion, though.

I think scriver had a funky little box like a year ago that just needed priming somehow and then it sprouted mushrooms out all over the place, though? It was like a cardboard house and then the mushrooms popped out the windows.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: None on February 11, 2022, 12:52:36 pm
Did I need to buy the sad-looking money plant from Aldi for nine bucks? Nooooo.

Did I do it anyways?

Yeaaaahhhh.

It might have gnats, so I've treated it with spray and sequestered it to the lit corner of the kitchen. Here's hoping it perks up neatly. I broke up the root ball of the unhappy Prince of Orange philodendron, so I'm hoping it starts recovering.The roots aren't super happy looking, but they're not, like, slimy/squishy, so it's not like root rot has taken hold.

Oh, and Murph Jr., the single-node propagation from the plant patriarch pothos, is growing another leaf. He's gonna turn four!
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Loud Whispers on February 27, 2022, 11:33:48 am
My fern is against all odds, still alive. Still, I am plagued by my own mistake - I have been growing these red and blue wiry plants for ages, and I have once again forgotten what the hell they are called, and lost the thing which has their name on it. I am not sure why they are asbestos red or cherenkov radiation blue either, so if I cannot discover their true name, assume I have become one with xenonature
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Iduno on February 28, 2022, 03:23:03 pm
Quote from: Loud Whispers on February 27, 2022, 11:33:48 am
My fern is against all odds, still alive. Still, I am plagued by my own mistake - I have been growing these red and blue wiry plants for ages, and I have once again forgotten what the hell they are called, and lost the thing which has their name on it. I am not sure why they are asbestos red or cherenkov radiation blue either, so if I cannot discover their true name, assume I have become one with xenonature

'S what you get for visiting Highpool first.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: None on February 28, 2022, 10:00:40 pm
I deflowered the hyacinth. Its massive flower stalk went saggy and droopy since there's so much less water in the soil I put it in by contrast to the straight water it was living in previously, and the smell has gone from pleasant to cloying.

It just wasn't going to look good any more. If the rest of the plant goes too, well.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on March 01, 2022, 03:28:06 pm
I got some of those already-grown herbs from the supermarket to plant, and they immediately died the second i put them in pots ouside.

wat
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Iduno on March 01, 2022, 03:33:54 pm
Quote from: Dunamisdeos on March 01, 2022, 03:28:06 pm
I got some of those already-grown herbs from the supermarket to plant, and they immediately died the second i put them in pots outside.

wat

I have heard that is a very common experience, but I don't remember the exact cause.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: Dunamisdeos on March 01, 2022, 05:20:44 pm
I bet like, Lowes or whatnot has some that aren't trash.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: None on March 04, 2022, 06:16:58 pm
Murph Jr. forsook the third leaf, which was halfway furled upon itself and somewhat split. The fourth leaf, now third, is still unfurling, but is most of the way deployed.

Happy third leafday again, Murph Jr.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: dragdeler on March 05, 2022, 10:35:35 am
Basically you don't throw a fish in entirely different water either, too much change too much shock for the supermarket weeds. Either burned by too many nutrients, or the PH was too different.

That or they allready had them on life support in the store  ;D
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: wierd on March 05, 2022, 12:16:28 pm
It is finally starting to become warm enough to do something with the garden.  Tomorrow, I am going to purchase barrier cloth. The risk of frost still looms on the horizon, so it is too soon to buy and set out plants. However, I can still get the plot itself ready.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: wierd on March 07, 2022, 03:39:51 am
big plans were made, but mother nature is clearly going through menopause, with all the hot and cold flashes she is having.

went from 70F one day, to SNOW the next.

Needless to say, not installing barrier cloth in snow.
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on March 20, 2022, 04:25:34 am
Do the seeds need cold to sprout?
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: scriver on March 20, 2022, 04:08:15 pm
That's cool, I didn't know that
Title: Re: Gardening with herbal magicks!
Post by: wierd on March 21, 2022, 12:10:51 am
some cold-hardy vegetables need this also.