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Gardening thread


Nova
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I'm a big Organic/Probiotic gardening enthusiast! I focus on building a living soil and taking care of the many bacteria/fungi, and other macro/microorganisms that live within it. In all reality, its the life in the soil that makes the nutrients available to the plants and allows them to defend themselves. With synthetic, salt-based nutrients you're cutting the microbes out of the equation and the salt buildup in the soil eventually kills them off, leaving the soil/plant defenseless against pathogens and essentially turning your plants into drug addicts. With no microbial life to make the organic matter in your soil available to the plants, they rely solely on those chemical fertilizers and if you stop using them, they have serious withdrawals.

I culture wild Lactobacillus and other yeasts to make a homemade, local version of EM-1. Lactic Acid Bacteria Serum, or LABS, can be made so easily and does wonders for your garden as a soil drench and a foliar spray. I also use it to start fermentations, I basically make my own nutrient solutions by fermenting specific plant material.

If none of you fellow gardeners have ever messed with EM/Probiotics in the garden I would highly recommend it. Not only can you have some of the healthiest plants, but the runoff from your garden is actually capable of bio-remediation of the native soil. A lot of the techniques I use can be found in Korean natural farming etc..

 

A jar of wild blackberry leaf ferment, smelled good enough to drink! :P

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Edited by grassfed
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We have a vegetable garden.  We're in northern Virginia so a very good growing season, sun, humidity levels, and rainfall.  The soil is generally red clay but we till in garden soil.   We're having a hell of a time growing onions and broccoli.  Tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, peppers, ettc. no problem.  Any advice?

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Onions require a raised 'bed' of fairly loose soil with good drainage. Topsoil, perlite, and vermiculite mixed does the trick. Broccoli requires a more acidic soil, pH 6.0 preferred, and does not like temperatures below 60 or past 72, so broccoli is thus a fall/winter vegetable for most of the USA.

Awesome, thank you!  You make it easily understandable.

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This is cool. I am not sure I have seen on any other furry board a topic relating to plants and keeping plants.

I was not blessed with a green-thumb.Skills with plants are questionable when one kills every plant they have had left in their care. My record is six hours. I killed a Silver maple tree that I bought from a nursery and planted in the ground from the potted bucket. The leaves even wilted and turned brown. I felt so awful.

Does anyone here know of a good hearty plant that I might be able to start out growing so that I might be able to expand and grow into a new talent?

Edited by Skylar Husky
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If you really want to, I've got some landrace genetics lying around somewhere. Fresh raw material to work with to create a new strain, though they've not been stored in the best of conditions so perhaps it's best I try to get a few bred for fresher seed stock.

I really want some landraces actually, we may have to talk come the end of the season ;)

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Onions... I've been trying to get the seeds by planting store bought ones and waiting for them to bolt. No seeds so far, any ideas?

Wish I could help, I had a couple green onions that stayed alive almost 2 years and never went to seed! I know lettuce will bolt if it gets too hot/dry but my green onions went through it all xD

I just took down all our tomatoes, they werent really producing anymore. gotta top dress the raised beds, water in some EM/LABS and let the soil condition until I can plant an assload of strawberries and broccoli

Edited by grassfed
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Wish I could help, I had a couple green onions that stayed alive almost 2 years and never went to seed! I know lettuce will bolt if it gets too hot/dry but my green onions went through it all xD

I got them to bolt but there's no seed. :(

They don't bolt at the same time though... that might be the problem.

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I feel like a garden failure this year. I had deer come in and eat all my flowers I was growing for the wedding, right when they were about to bloom...even the roses right next to the porch. The frost took out my deer resistant (haha) ones that I had planted in the rock wall I built for the backdrop of where we were saying our vows. I did get some tomatoes to survive though, and a few Gladiolus to bloom. I also managed to get a dahlia grow from seed, too bad frost killed it before it bloomed. What, other than a very expensive fence, will keep out deer? I tried so many things to stop them, fishing line, sprays, blood cakes, scarecrows, dog hair...none of it worked.

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Well, as a deer I can tell you we aren't deterred by any of that nonsense.  You need an old fashioned bow and arrow. :) That's when we see you mean business.

Ha, the funny thing about that is that I have my bow and arrow out. I practice with it nearly every day. I was so close shooting at a deer too. I had a blunt arrow loaded and drawn back, but at the last minute I decided against it. That night they struck my garden again.

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