Useless Gardening @uselessgardening-blog - Tumblr Blog

Does anyone have suggestions for gardening Tumblrs? Specifically Herbs and succulents, and ones that give advice on growing them.

Thank you!

kihaku-gato

Too tired rn to give specific names, but with me reblogging this some plantblrs should come out of the woodwork to declare their awesomness.

uselessgardening-blog

I’m pretty okay at growing things like herbs and succulents and flowers...

Uselessgardening (useless is tongue in cheek, meaning very few veggies and things, not that I’m useless at gardening, lol)

Spring update and Life update

Spring time has arrived in sunny SoCal (well, it never really left, I suppose) and it’s my favorite time of year to dig in my garden!

First, let’s check up on how we did on “winterizing”

Well, here’s a pictorial overview. This winter was unseasonally cold and wet for a SoCal winter, so I’m extra glad I put down that mulch! When I got into the soil, it was still nice and damp, but a little compact. I am ever concerned about drainage in my clayish soil, so I raked the soil up a bit to aerate it.

With a very wet winter, it is a good idea to check on the pH of your soil.

The pH scale is a useful scale that describe how acidic or basic something is. Everyday acidic things include: vinegar (acetic acid), citrusy fruits, soda water (carbonic acid) with pH values of 4.8, ~4, and ~3 respectively. Everyday type basic things include baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and eggs(!!) with pH values of 9 and 8 respectively.

Many plants like to be around pH 5.5 to 7 (slightly acidic to neutral), with many acid-loving plants such as camellias, gardenias, and azaleas withstanding pH values down to 5. There are fewer plants that like alkaline (another word for basic) pH soils than can tolerate slightly acidic soils. Rather than to once again speak where I know not, I will simply leave the heavy-duty explanation to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

In any case, the pH of the soil is very important for nutrient intake! Excessive water and freezing/thawing cycles throughout the winter can cause minerals to be washed away, leading to alkaline soils. There are many remedies for this. I like to use a product called pH Up, which has been praised by organic gardeners as a good alternative to the very common dolomite lime. It comes with a test kit, and dilute phosphoric acid, and of course instructions on how much to use in your watering can should you find that your soil is alkaline. Also, it is fairly inexpensive. I am in no way associated with pH Up--I just really like their product!

Take-away point: spring time is a good time to check the pH of your soil, and adjust accordingly.

Here’s my colette! You’ll recall from last time that it was leggy, stressed, and had very poor drainage, and possibly blight! Ay ay ay, what a terrible plant mom I am! But look, we can all recover from even the worst offenses. The foliage is dark green and glossy, and the blooms are to die for! It’s true what they say: a good haircut is a world of change (someone says that, right?)

Beautiful green leaves...

Yaaaay!

Pull your weeds now! NOW I SAY.

At this time, the young weeds will be the easiest to remove. DO IT. NOW. GO NOW. I’LL WAIT. Oh, I’m still shouting....

I put in some new plants that I saw on my hikes. Specifically, these dainty little mountain yarrow as ground cover.

And this beauty! It looks like ixora to me, but now 100% on that...

All in all, our winterizing procedure paid off. It’s nice to know that there is sunshine (and flowers!) at the end of the tunnel. :)

Other tips for spring:

Put down compost! Unless your compost is soggy...in which case, first fix your compost pile.

clear all the leaves and dead stuff that accumulated over the winter

things to plant now (March-April)--great time to start sowing seeds because the soil is warming up! The list is extensive, but I will name a few of my faves

BEANS

zinnias

daises

marigolds

carrots (harvest in early summer, and can re-sow for an early fall/late summer crop as well!)

cucumbers (and the plant itself is beautiful)

herbs (mint julep, anyone?)

dahlias

nasturiums--definitely check this one out! It’s a slightly odd-looking, but gorgeous plant, and is a gardener’s best friend. They’re easy to grow, perennial without any work at all, and keep bugs away from your precious beans. Pic below

Kinda goofy looking..but who isn’t?

Life update:

Tall person and i are MOVING this sunny paradise for the mountains of Colorado. I am excited, nervous, sad, celebratory, everything at once. And not least because I have never grown things in a) the mountains and b) a Very Cold Dry Place, so this will be an adventure for me and this blog as well. I will be sure to keep you updated with my successes, and inevitable failures. After all, there hasn’t been a lonely plot of soil yet that has resisted my green thumb :)

Onward!

#spring time #spring time gardening #gardens #socal gardens #soil pH #nasturium #colette #coletterose #community gardens #get your seeds #kitty paws #that's my old-man cat #adventures in gardening

It's springtime!!

5-and-a-half-acres

Rose hips.

On depression, self-care, and gardening: how to settle down for the winter.

Hi, friends. It’s been a while.

What follows will be on the personal end, but there will be useless gardening tips, I promise.

On tumblr, I am an avid gardener that incorrectly identifies plants with alarming regularity; in real life, I am getting a Ph.D in chemical physics. The dynamics of graduate school, and in particular, the diversity-free, soul-crushing atmosphere of my lab and general environment make it difficult to cultivate a sense of self, moderation, and gentle discipline. Couple that with my own propensity for nervous over-interpretation, and one gets a mental health disaster, which I won’t describe here.

Thankfully, through it all, I’ve had the love and support of my faithful friends (shout out to the very accomplished @queercatlady!!), my patient and amazing husband, and my family.

During my recovery period, I found myself really leaving gardening behind. Where before my plants and their little lives were a sanctuary, now I rushed by the community garden self-consciously as quickly as I could, my head bowed in shame at the leggy branches, the overgrown weeds, the dead leaves on the ground...I had a moment where I realized I had done the same with my mental health problem: “Maybe if I ignore the fact that I’M IGNORING IT, the issue will go away. “

That is not the nature of depression, nor is it the nature of plants.

Plants are more sturdy than my brain, so when I rolled up my sleeves and said “Enough is enough,” they were still there, still strong from the years of work I’ve put into them. Just because I failed a little once doesn’t mean everything is dead. My plot just needed some TLC. So, I got out my trusty gloves and tools, and enlisted the help of my very talented friend Greg S. to take some pictures. He is a fantastic science teacher, and an amazing photographer!

Without further ado, here are some tips on how to love on your garden a bit during the winter months so that it may blossom even better come springtime (metaphors not included).

Tidying:

Pruning: Interestingly, during the fall months, very little foliage grows, but the roots grow abundantly. This is due to warmer days and slightly cooler nights. In the winter, growth stops mostly altogether, as far as I know. Therefore, this is the time to do some light pruning!

Why prune? I know I get very attached to my plants, but pruning is one of the better ways to keep a healthy plant. It allows you to get rid of dead branches, or weakened branches, so that the plant can focus on growing its healthy parts come the springtime. It also allows for denser, often more beautiful foliage for bushy plants and roses. Pruning right before the middle of winter also helps the plant weather hard frosts, if you live in very cold climates. The rule of thumb is: mid-December to February for intense pruning in mild climates, and after the frost in very harsh climates.

During my bout of severe depression, I let some succulents completely out of control. They grew into my rosebush! This caused mechanical stress on the poor thing. Mechanical stress is the stress caused on plants (usually woody ones) by overt motion, typically wind and animals. It leaves sort of stretch mark looking brown streaks, and will often cause the leaves to diminish in size and luster.

Poor thing...lack of food and water in the fall made it susceptible to this unidentifiable blight...maybe athracnose?? But not quite...if someone can identify it, that would be great

Strangled by pencil cactus...I’m a bad plant mom!!

More and more damage...I’m losing credibility with this post, I’m sure, but I wanted to show everyone that it is possible to come back from a seemingly overwhelming backslide. You can do it!!

My wonderful colette rosebush was getting strangled by my pencil cactus! So, both needed haircuts, but mostly the pencil cactus...Be wary though! The white sap you see is VERY irritating to the skin and eyes, so wear gloves and try not to wipe your eyes while pruning until you’ve washed your hands.

Also, you’ll note my younger rosebush did not get as intense a haircut as the colette. I’ve heard from several experienced gardeners that a rose bush should have seen one or two growing seasons before you undertake an intense pruning. This is going to be its second season, so it is spared the heavy duty shears.

Hint: If the darn thing is too huge now, just get someone else to do it! The cool part is we got a sustainably grown, natural Christmas tree!

The japanese lantern was super leggy from being so productive all summer and fall! I cut it down to a small bush, where the densest leaves were still sprouting. This will allow for it to grow densely starting in the spring, for a very attractive plant!

Poor thing got some

Usually, brown tips on leaves indicate poor drainage. I added some more perlite at this time to my soil to help it drain.

Planting and re-potting

Re-potting indoor plants is a traumatic experience for them. They get torn out of their homes and exposed to the dry air!! Terrifying. The best time to do this is when they’re sleepy in the wintertime. It minimizes the risk of drying out your roots before you get them into a nice big container.

My aloe vera was getting thin where the main plant met the roots, which is an indication that the roots are becoming brittle. During the winter dormancy is when I like to do most of my re-potting, although I know lots of people who do it in the fall, when roots tend to grow more than the pant itself. I think it may also depend on the plant. I take a more “holistic” approach in general, and just re-pot when it seems the plant is getting too big.

Carefully.....

I like to leave a little of the old soil in to mix in with new soil. I don’t know why...my grandma taught me and now I do it. I think as long as you add more nutrients (which may come from mostly new soil) you should be a-okay. Plants need to eat.

I put some carrot seeds in the ground before I got terribly blue, and to my surprise, here were some sprouts! Thanks, SoCal weather! Here’s hoping the bunnies don’t get them first!!

Mulching

I grow mostly perennial plants, so a part of my winterizing routine is to lay down some fresh mulch. “Winterizing” may be a strong word for the fairly temperate California climate, but mulching is primarily for protecting the plant from the freeze and thaw cycle of late fall/early spring. While we may not freeze, the ground can certainly get crispy and chilly, so I go ahead and put in a ~2 inch layer of brown mulch.

To be perfectly fair, I have heard some gardeners use the leaves on the ground as mulch, but my understanding is that they have to be shredded before being used as mulch. The major upside is that they’re easily compostable. I suppose this is up mostly to one’s plant hardiness zone.

Watering

I have heard some gardeners say they stop watering basically all winter, but I have obtained better results with fairly consistent watering throughout the winter. Certainly, it is to a lesser extent than in the spring and summer--about once a month instead of twice a month. One thing I stop doing is adding in compost or plant food during the winter.

If you are feeling down, it’s okay: it’s okay to stay in, to be anxious, to let some things slide. Know that when you’re ready to tackle life again, your garden will be a little overgrown, a little weedy, but nothing a good fresh, sunny afternoon can’t fix.

Take care of yourself, in the best way you can.

Here’s to a wonderful spring!

#depression cw #winter garden #winterizing #sorta...#personal post #gardeninginsocal #mild weather garden #maybe winter should be in quotes

bloomsandfoliage

October rose

Summer veggies

I am probably the worst gardener around, because I want to do as little work as possible for maximum enjoyment, hence my love of perennial flowers, succulents, orchids, etc.

However, I admit there are few things as wonderful as super fresh veggies from the garden.

BEANS! Delicious pinto beans....

A somewhat unwieldy squash...

Something I’ve noticed around my community garden is the tendency to ignore everything other than watering when veggie/fruit plants are growing. It takes a LOT of nutrition to yield fruit/veggies. I often hear complaints from my peers, and I just wanted to address the major ones, as typically, there are very easy fixes:

1. malformed fruit/veggies: Why do my veggies look wrinkly, dwarfed, spotted, etc.

Malformation (buttoning, wrinkling, knobs, etc) is typically due to stress. The plant is trying its best. In my experience, this is mostly due to weather, and not a soil/water problem. Most vegetable plants need around 6-7 hours of sunlight to properly produce produce (aaaahahahahahahahaha). When some plants get very tall, as in my squash plant above, they need a lot of structure. Even blowing around in the wind can stress out your plant.

2. Fruit/veggies seem to rot on the vine/plant first before they even ripen.

It appears there are several different types of rot (brown rot for fruits, blossom end rot for things like squash and zucchini and peppers, and many others!), but the usual suspects are (in no particular order): fungus (like anthcranose, easily treatable with a light spritzing of neem oil), drought, and nutrient deficiency. I have treated blossom end rot (wherein the squash flower dies before even producing) successfully with carefully measured gypsum. The more typical route is to add ground limestone, but my soil was already very alkaline. Gypsum can be tricky, as it can affect other nutrient intake such as magnesium and phosphorus, but it’s best for my soil. If you’re ever concerned about the quality of your soil, I suggest you get an inexpensive soil test, available at any garden center.

Indeed, I would say that we should pay extra attention to our soil. Like they say, you are what you eat, and what you’re eating needs good things to eat too!!

Happy summer!

#summer veggies #summer gardening #gardeninginsocal #cabbage #beans #squash #Ernesto

I got a garden guardian

His name is Ernesto (get it, nest, haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa)

FEAR MEEE

The smaller birds are scared off by fake hawks and they won’t get at my strawberries!! I switch his location periodically to throw them off.

The crows, however...

#ernesto #gardening #garden pests #gardening in socal #queercatlady is the best photographer

chicory82

Well, if this little orchid doesn’t epitomize the extent of my brown thumb in gardening, I don’t know what does. I purchased this mini Phalaenopsis two Christmases ago, and it has been doing well - vegetatively. But as you can see, it has tried twice(!) to rebloom for me, and each time I seem to have killed off the flowering stalk. No idea what I am doing wrong… :( I have a lot to learn.

I do intend to repot it soon, and will find it some filtered light. It’s been in a south window all winter. @uselessgardening, any tips?

uselessgardening-blog

hi chicory!

Okay, so your plant is alive, and that’s good! The leaves look like the plant itself is doing just dandy.

The flowering bloom is a bit sad. Without knowing your watering habits/soil conditions/light conditions etc, the most immediate thing I can note is that you need to repot that thing in a bigger pot. It looks a little strangled.

Let me take a few other guesses, and if you don’t mind, use this as a bit of a general lesson.

Plants need the right balance of light, water, nutrients. Let me address these quickly for orchids in particular.

1. Light: orchids do need light, but typically not very much. FIltered light (i.e. by a sunny window) is the best. If you are not getting enough light, the leaves will become very dark, and almost velvety colored. Too much light will burn them straight off. Your leaves look fairly bright (in these pictures anyway), so I think your location is good.

2. Water: it appears this may be culprit. Orchids do like to be a bit on the damp side, but NO PLANT EVER wants to sit with its roots in water and drown. It appears (I may be mistaken) that your pot doesn’t have holes on the bottom to drain. If this is the case, please get a new one! If you want to keep the pretty pot for decorative purposes, I suggest getting a plastic container with holes that can fit inside your white pot. When it’s watering time, take the inner plastic one out of the white pot, and put it in the sink to drain. When most of the water is drained, you can put it back in the outer pot. Does that make sense?

In this pic, I was trying to get an image of a healthy/naturally dying leaf, but perchance you can see the pot? It has four drainage holes on the bottom. I highly recommend this kind.

And in these pics, you can see that I’ve done sort of what I suggested. The white can is just for looks, but inside, the plastic container has one large drainage hole. I take this part out when I water, and put it back in the white can when it’s done draining.

3. Nutrients: orchids are pretty good at getting their own nutrients, as long as they are not in typical soils. If you have some decaying stuff in there, should be fine. Again, from your pics, and based on your botanical expertise, this is unlikely the case. Also, your leaves would be kinda icky. Actually icky. Like, rotting.

SO: Repot into a larger container, and get a container with drainage holes. Water weekly, unless you leave in a super dry, or super humid area. Press down on the soil. If it feels damp, leave it. If you can hear a crinkle, it’s too dry and water until it drains. I would start with that. Also, it looks unlikely that the stem will bloom this year, unfortunately. I would cut it off with some sterile shears, and wait until the next blooming cycle.

Let me know if you have follow-up questions! >.< Good luck.

Also, thanks again to @queercatlady for the awesome pics!

chicory82

Thanks for the tips, @uselessgardening! I went ahead and repotted it, and learned a few things in the process.

The orchid was actually already in a pot with a drainage hole (clear plastic pot inside the decorative white pot), and I did make sure to empty the white pot after each watering, so it was never in standing water. However, the sphagnum moss it was planted in held onto a lot of water even after being thoroughly drained. I realized the roots weren’t getting any air, which I remember now is important with orchids.

The roots were a little yellow, but still mostly alive. There really wasn’t any more room for them to grow, though. The sphagnum moss was really packed in. I got most of it off and repotted the little guy in some orchid mix I had on hand. A fresh batch of soil should make it pretty happy. Sometimes I forget that indoor epiphytes miss out on the natural leaf litter that would otherwise fall down around them and fertilize them, if they were in the wild!

Still need to clip off that dead flower stalk, but otherwise good to go. We’ll see what happens this summer! Thanks again for the help!

uselessgardening-blog

YAY! Looks much happier already. Those poor roots looked a bit soggy. Let’s hope next year you will get beautiful orchid blooms. :)

By the way, great pics!

chicory82

I would really love to know what caused this phenomenon. Water along the margins of leaves in our backyard… Only on this species, though (Apiaceae of some kind?) The garlic mustard I was weeding out from amongst it was all dry.

uselessgardening-blog

Guttation, perhaps? It happens on my strawberry leaves.

#just a wild guess

portlandplantwitch-blog

When your doing a bryophyte survey for class and your random number generator puts your last quadrat right next to the glasses you lost in the forest a month ago #isthisreallife #bryophytemagic #portlandplantwitch

entoderek-deactivated20220417

I love this with all my heart.

Perhaps someday I’ll be reunited with all those pairs of forceps I lost during undergrad…

chicory82

I wonder if a random number generator will work on forceps lost in herbarium cabinets.

uselessgardening-blog

AMAAAZING.

True story: I once found my phone in a giant field because I got distracted from my search and had wandered over somewhere to look at some mushrooms.