What Are Your Garden Tricks?

I feel like planting capsicum or bell peppers in red, yellow and green. Anyone have these in their backyard?

Sunflower I saw growing and the pumpkin patch I have that grew fairly well even as late as starting Mid July 2018.

Soil with added iron, Epson salt, fertilizer 10-10-10 and think donkey crap.

Looks like a happy garden!

The harvest and some of the green color skin on a few pumpkins, now a couple week later showing more orange. Five of the eleven pumpkins harvested back a weeks ago, I'll get some pictures tomorrow of how they have since changed color over time even while been cut from plant stem. Keeping them inside at night and in the sun in the day is what they say helps.

I put my Orange tree back outside a few weeks back and replaced the soil and also new half wine barrel. Added soil amendments acidifier, Epsom salt, and fertilizer. The tree was ravaged by insects while indoors and lost about 3/4 of the leaves. I had seen none being replaced either. When it went out side for about 2 weeks I got worried and added some more fertilizer in a liquid form I found at Tractor Supply. Use a capfull in a gallon of water and gave to my blueberry, blackberry, hops, and the orange tree. The tree has new leaves about an inch growing at most so far at the top of the tree branches, but all around the tree and lower trunk and branches are little green specs starting out. I have hopes it with fruit again as the oranges were about 3 years ago last and it has been moved around I guess too much. One day it should be in land I could own and do much better. Hops had the rhizomes become way stronger this year and have hopes to get seed cones if I got a female plant. Its a Cascade Hops. The pumpkins I tossed over the fence to let the dear eat em. There must have been some stray seeds as I have two volunteer Pumpkin plants that are on the grounds I just found. I guess I could see if they will be as good as the prior generation. Saves on buying plant seedlings, eh!

Past picture about 3 years ago, orange tree with oranges.
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A new blueberry plant I will put in a larger planter and the orange tree at dusk you can sort of see many branches without leaves, but that will be changing.

View attachment 101320 2 pictures when the orange tree went inside for Winter and most of Spring. One of the two before pictures is after pruning to fit indoors. Now the new leaves all starting to replace lost ones. Up top on green branches and also along the brown tree trunk and old wood near top as well, the leaves are getting replaced where lost to insect infestation. I used just oil and soap to spray mixed in water to fend off, but still got ravaged.

I'm having trouble with rabbits going through my fence, I see young ones in the yard a lot. I put the fence up to keep deer out, I never thought about rabbits.

Farm store get rabbit fence and go around the bottom, it’s like 2’ high. I live right in town and my fence is about 3’ high. The deer don’t bother ,but nibbled the branches off lower part of my apple tree. In country deer fence has to be 6’ high to keep them out, White tail.........Curt

That’s what I had in mind, our fence is only four feet high but we have never had deer jump it. The rabbits are eating the low hanging beans and possibly the tomatoes. Tractor supply is close so I’ll find what I need there.

It’s odd that the deer in the area that I’ve feed for more than 15 years don’t bother the garden, the picture shows how close my auto feeder is.

Rabbits may not want to bother breaking through the plastic netting I use to keep birds from getting at blueberries, it is very strong with about 3/4 inch squares. I only partially put it on the top of the branches as it got all tangled up over the years. You really need a frame to drape it over allowing the plants to have space underneath. I may in time have to untangle that mess and fix it up better. I never knew plastic netting was such trouble to handle. Don't wear anything with buttons as the net snags on it and your constantly caught. When I have in the past got it caught on buttons it would have been best to have a knife and cut it. untwisting it and unhooking was almost futile as I was just caught again. Tearing it is hard on the hands without gloves. I've seen burrowing around but not in the garden, and anyway everything is in planters currently.

Greg58, it looks like the garden as far as the leaves health looks good all green.

For me in December I had these waxy scale that caused a lot of damage and something else that I think I heard lives inside the leaves and you see leaves cut away like something nibbled on them, but whatever it is is invisible. When the Orange tree is outside it does much better and it can withstand pests better.

Growth of my hops plant now have burrs forming on the plant that eventually become hops cones. The cones contain lupulin the essence of the hops flavor in beer and ale.

Orange tree sprung back from grim looking loss of leaves over the Winter indoors.

1 an 1/2 cup blueberries picked and have some more with the netting protecting the berriesfrom the birds that like to steal them.

Apparently my garden trick is to leave it alone, due to family sickness from mid June till the end of July I didn't have time to work in the garden, barely had time to pick. We had a bumper crop of green beans and big boy peas, we caned 30qts of green beans and gave away enough for maybe 15 more. Peas are still coming in, we have loaded the freezer with them. Our okra has been slow but steady, I cut every other day to get enough for a meal. By the time the season is over we will have a lot of okra also.

Sorry to hear of family sickness, hope things get better.

I've got volunteer pumpkins growing from stray seeds of smashed pumpkins left over last season. Took one pumpkin of last season that had not been other than tossed over the fence, that eventually dried up to about 1/5 its original size, and cut it open. The seeds inside dried perfectly that I tried sproutig a few. They became seedling in 5 days an are 2 inches high now. I was told they had to be dried in the Sun according to someone. I'll have to inform this person it is not so.

Hops have now formed the cones from prior frilly looking things and am waiting a bit for them to mature. They are supposed to dry not on the plant, but outside not in sunlight but warm and ventilated. Oven can be used below 140 F with venting. Pictures when I get time and a ladder to get close up. Found out that cutting the lead part of the stems on the vertical climb of the hop bine does stop it from growing upward and the head of the stem does not ever grow back. As for when the hops reaches its max height and turns around and heads back down, cutting the head of the lead stem only instigates the stem to grow two more lead heads on the stem just below the cut part. This makes sure that more hops cones are formed. Cones do not form one the bine on the way up to max height of the bine they only have leaves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Antonio_del_Pollaiolo_-_Ercole_e_l'Idra_e_Ercole_e_Anteo_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

Hops is starting out earlier now as I live by the coast now. Orange tree can stay outside all year, blueberries already have started forming and I got bird netting over the bluettes. I can go underneath easily to pick berries, but also use my lounge chair and hang out in the garden, bees buzzing. Voles or moles, not sure which, they are cracking up surface soil in areas. I have potted plants, none in ground... not sure if I need worry that much but if I have to put a metal screen on the ground I will. Only for the deer fenced area of my garden though.

I tilled our garden good Saturday then it rained all day yesterday, it will probably be 3 days before I can plant. I opened up more ground, now everything inside the fence is usable.

I looked back to when I posted this picture back in 2012. It has been since after 2017 no buds, now flowers, no oranges. A few days ago I noticed one bud as small as can be. I used this past picture to verify if I saw what I thought was a bud. It has a chance again I expect due to the move back to a more temperate location. No need to bring it inside in the winter. Quite windy and gusty, but all the plants handle that. The deer fence If I remember is 7 feet high keep them out. The bees for a while had to navigate into the half of the garden fenced area through bird netting. The blueberries are in there and the birds are off limits. Soon another application of the fertilizer that promotes blooms. It is where N is much lower than the P an K.

I have been on a mission to plant all 5000 sunflower seeds I harvested from my mini garden last year. So far, so good. I am about half done.
I started planting where I live as the epicenter, and am spiralling outward.
My town will be overwhelmed come late summer.

Don't tell anyone.

Oh, gardening tips?
Epsom salts, hydrogen peroxide, and a lot of weeding.

Baby shampoo...great for the lawn.