Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Today I transplanted my Tacca and my dracaena goldieana. Nice plump roots on both of them!! I used a one to one ratio each of Miracle Grow's Cactus Citrus and Palm mix, and Perlite.

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

i planted a 4 ft. cherry bush i dug up out of my moms yard this morning.. my dad ordered it from starks bros. about 3 yrs ago. the roots were massive. and i planted 10 date palm seeds.( thanks cookiecow). i used an 18 inch long planter, and covered it with plastic wrap and secured it with a rubber band to have a little gh for them.

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

many flowering annual plants in between those bananas at my pergola plat as per orders from my dear wife.

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Hey, when those annuals are spent replace them with summer and winter clover! The roots are less agressive than the evergreen variety, and fix nitrogen in the soil!

:woohoonaner:

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

And may bring you lots of company as gophers love them! ;)

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Harvey, I don't worry about gophers. The last gopher I had was3 years ago but I think I drowned it for I really use my hose and let it run all the time until my soil was flooded. I never saw anymore new mound after that. I was expecting it to come out of one of their holes about 4 different places but I never saw it .

Richard please tell me more about these summer and winter clover. That's what I need to put more nitrogen in the soil for my new plat. Will peanuts will do also?

You are a good maestro.

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

It's not so much that clover puts nitrogen into the soil but instead makes it more readily available. All true legumes do this. An old, maybe ancient farming practice is to grow alfalfa (another legume) in your fallow field and then after a year till (or after the snow melt) till it under. Before you go sowing alfalfa, keep in mind it has a powerful tap root and root system in general.

But I use alfalfa on a small scale. When developing my vegetable beds, I sowed alfalfa seed and watered it semi-regularly. After 9 months I weed-whipped it down, got out the rototiller and tilled it in. I'm about to do this again in a 10 x 10 ft area of the front yard.

I have also noticed that rabbits love alfalfa. I observed that they would eat their fill and then fall into a sophoric sleep in the shade. So I ran a soaker hose along the chain-link fence on the perimeter of my property and sowed alfalfa seed so it would grow on the outside of the fence -- in my neighbors' unattended back yards. The rabbits came, ate their fill and fell asleep right there! Of course times change, and now I have new neighbors who are plowing their yards for other adventures. So now I'm on plan B, burying 1 x 1 ft paving stones vertically 6" deep so that rabbits won't dig under my fence.

If you decide to grow alfalfa, then buy the seed from a feed store in your county. There are hybrids of it available for every climate. Don't use the seed sold at the vitamin store or whatever for alfalfa sprouts. It's a different breed.

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Today I finished planting the remainder of my pomegranate trial, eight trees each of:

Wonderful, Parfianka, Sin Pepe, Gissarskii Rosovyi, Sirinevyi, Vkusnyi, Azadi, Medovyi Vahsha, Desertnyi, and Sakerdze. All of these except Wonderful and Sin Pepe came to the USA from Turkmenistan in the 1990s and are not widely grown. I also planted seedling trees of Mridula and Ganesh (from India) and Mollar (from Spain) and one tree budded to Cranberry, a tree of unknown origin.

It will be a small challenge at harvest time when these trees start producing as each tree of a particular cultivar are randomly located throughout the plot of 4 rows and 22 trees in each row (plus "guard trees" at the end which are not an official part of the trial). I'll process some of my photos and have them up on my pomegranate web site when I get a chance.

Harvey

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Harvey, that was a lot of work. Congratulations. Your location should be great for pomegranates in terms of heat units and subtropical winters. Any particular reason you didn't include White Flower?

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Richard, I don't remember if I've tasted White or am just remembering comments made to me by others, but I believe it's been considered somewhat insipid. I did plant one tree of White last year but it never grew for me and I didn't bother to take it back to the nursery for replacement. It wasn't a cultivar recommended for the trial by the repository's pomegranate manager which was then narrowed down by the curator who then left me with the final choices of narrow it down.

Different ethnic groups have various taste preferences, though. I believe many Asian and Indian groups prefer the sweet types. Turkmenistan had 1,117 accessions in the collection at Garygala (sp?) and they sent 40 or so of the best to Davis so they seem to be a good source to be picking from.

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Harvey, your memory is pretty good. I had to go look it up. From p. 26 of the Sept. 2006 Fruit Gardener, Barbara Baer writes:
"Dr. Gregory Levin had sent Davis 60 varieties [from Garrygala], 30 for taste, color and seeds, 30 for diversity".

Then, on p. 29 of the Jan. 2007 Fruit Gardener, Barbara Baer writes about the Fifth Annual Wolfskill Pomegranate Tasting:
"Perhaps the most magical experience happened to a first-time taster from Ft. Bragg who had brought his young daughter named Eden. They lingered to the last and had a picnic in the orchard, savoring the single sweet-as-crystallized-sugar 'White Flower' that has stayed on the tree".

Well, that latter piece caught my interest and stuck in my memory when I placed my cutting order. :)

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Yeah, BB writes with pretty flowery words and I have teased her about that. I think she can make a sweaty dusty farmer sound like a fun time. lol

Based on the ones I tasted last November these are cuttings I got the other day to root. Not part of my formal trial, but something I want to try. I may just graft some of the trees I planted last year with some of them:

Cranberry, Kazake, Palermo, Ink, Balegal

BB has another article on pomegranates coming out in the next issue, I believe.

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

FYI, here are photos I took last October of many of the Turkmen cultivars:
Purely Pomegranates

Fruit size, etc. shown on these pages is not very meaningful because (1) these trees at the repository are not managed for fruit production and (2) this fruit was collected after much of the fruit was already picked.

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Harvey, did you try Vishnevyi ?

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

I did taste it back last October when I had the fruit for those photos but don't remember the details. I was up all night from something like 9:30pm until 6am extracting seeds to send to a friend who is working with Dr. Levin in Israel. Much of the time I was chatting with him on Messenger and had hoped I could go back and read my comments about the cultivars but my computer froze up and the chat session was not archived and my friend did not have his Messenger set up to archive chat discussions. I was really disappointed about that. I remember not liking 2 or 3 at all but I pretty much liked all of the others.

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Ray, my close friend and neighbor of 7 years moved about 15 miles north of here to a new home that he completed a few months ago. Today I potted up some berry plant root suckers for his new orchard:

4 "bababerry" raspberries
4 youngberries
4 "black satin" blackberries

:woohoonaner:

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Variegated Monstera
Philodendron Quercifolium
Philodendron Royal Queen

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yesterday i started rooting 2 monstera. today i planted a root cutting of a babaco.

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Hop bines (Humulus Lupulus) :bananas_b

2 each of...

Centennial
Chinook
Glacier
Goldings
Horizon
Liberty
Mt. Hood
Nugget
Santiam
Sterling
Willamette

4 each of Cascade

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

I planted Bi-colored corn and Pearly white corn.
I'm sure my HOA loving neighbors will be happy when they see corn stalks. :bananajoy:

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Mora de castille (Spanish blackberries)
Zarzamora (Ecuadoran blackberries)


Why wouldn't your neigbors want to see corn? The people who live behind me turned their yards into cornfields and it was so cool to watch it all grow up and mature. Plus now I can trade them for ripe cobs!

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

I grew up in a corn state (Illinois) and I miss it. I planted it in my microfarm and I loved it! My DW hated it, though, and never wants me to plant it again (even though all she does in the garden is look around).

Guess what? I got some 'Candy Corn' for the back fence. I just hope 'Pete' (the horse) leaves it alone.:ha:

I keep trying to kill the blackberries travelling from the neighbor's yard.

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Get some concentrated Glyphosate (40% to 50%), sold inexpensively as "Remuda" or expensively as "Roundup". Some Ag stores also sell it by the metal drum.

1. Paint the blackberry vines (or poison oak, ivy vines) with it, but
2. Put down a rag or drop cloth so it doesn't drip on the ground.

Give it a few weeks to take full effect.

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Thanks Richard. I've used the expensive kind called Roundup poison ivy and tough brush killer. I gotta say, it works well...even on my roses
:0493:

I'll look for the Remuda.

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Ensete Maurelli, and more castor beans

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

where did you get castor beans??? inquiring mind wants to know....

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Hi Mskitty!!:2208:
I got them from jurassicdaryl when I went to his house to get all those Dwarf Cavendish he gave me.
His castor beans were HUGE!!! I started some, and all germinated. He also gave me EE bulbs.

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

im so glad to hear they all germinated. its exciting!!!! and wow, thats awesome about the dc's. post pics if you can, id love to see them.

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With my new camera I plan too! Just want everything planted and looking pretty!

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They're actually considered a threatening and noxious weed on the Galapagos, but in Quito they're actually fairly easy to control. Good thing I live far far away from the islands.

And today I planted out some other "invasive" natives -
Lantana camara and L. trifoliata
Oxalis tuberosum (oka)
Portulaca

Death to the lawn! Give me garden any day. :2791:

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

lorax....the more you mulch...the less you mow. thats my story and im sticking to it!

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Some of the "brush killer" sprays you can buy in the retail stores is the same thing as the Garlon which us farmers can buy, just less concentrated and a lot more expensive per ounce. Garlon works very well kiling blackberries (we have problems with them growing wild along our drainage ditch banks). I will pretty much spray them anytime I find the time but my brother was reminding me the other day that they are more easily killed in the fall.

One thing that works well with many hard-to-kill things is to cut the plant down low and then brush undiluted spray concentrate (I've mixed Garlon and Roundup) right onto the fresh wound for it to be drawn into the plant before the wound is healed over with sap.

Good luck!

Harvey

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Who mows? I borrow a goat. :2623:

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

This morning I planted out in the garden 3 tomato plants grown from seed:
Azoychka
Palla di Fuoco
Persimmon

:woohoonaner:

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

my house is grandfathered for codes and stuff like that. i called the codes guy and asked if i could get a goat( being that i live in town) and he said sure, i just have to keep it 150 ft. from my house. well...150 ft is on the other side of my fence. so unfortunately the goat is out. and the fact i dont know how my dogs would take to a new "dog" in the yard. lol. wednesday i planted cannas, tropical ee's( under protection) and a "hardy" ee's.

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Wow, I planted tomatoes, squash, repotted my Shibatea chineisis (bamboo), and will work on palm seeds later.

Dean

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Way to go, Dean!

Mskitty: some dog breeders keep one goat in the yard to "train" young hunting and work dogs. Basically, the goat won't put up with any puppy nonsense and the puppy learns quickly to leave 4-footed animals that smell like that alone.

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Wow, Ecuador's definitely different; people here keep milch cows just up the street, and I live just off a freeway in the middle of a big city. My next door neighbors, the ones with the corn, keep chickens and rabbits and cuyes (guinea pigs) and it all just sort of runs wild except the bunnies. Roosters wake me in the morning.

Today I planted sweet corn and repotted some volunteer sanseverias.

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after the storm yesterday i planted 3 cannas, 3 hostas(called fried banana),and a yucca pup. today i have to mulch it all in.

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Oh my, you're busy!

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

i would rather be in my yard planting things and playing in the dirt then be cooped up in the house. i hate being in the house thats why i hate winter. as long as my yard looks nice, i dont even care how the inside looks. that is horrible to say but its the truth. if i put a hammock outside id never go in the house. lol!

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

Potted up about 15 rooted small flowered rose cuttings - the hybrid teas won't grow here but the little floribunda types do well in the sun.

Cassie

Re: What did you plant today (other plants)?
 

I'm potting up some hybrid teas, myself.

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Hey Lorax - how high above sea level are you? We are too humid for the HT roses but the little ones do fine.

Cassie

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15 yellow neck squash seeds. 18 iroquois melon seeds( thanks deb). and an angle wing begonia. have castor bean seeds soaking( thanks lynn). and blue corn flower seeds( thanks sandy)

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About 2800 meters (about 10,000 feet) - I'm in the paradoxically named high-altitude humid semidesert. It hovers around 75% unless it's raining, as it does at some point just about daily. I blame the volcano. This said, the soils are basically volcanic sand (super-drainage) and when the sun comes out we push 30 degrees C. I have a little pop-over "greenhouse" to shade my roses so they don't burn when the sun comes out.

You might not know this, but Ecuador is one of the world's largest growers of HT (ie florist's) roses for export. The really big operations are just 30 minutes to an hour north of me. This means, among other things, that I can buy 2 dozen longstems of amazing colour and variety for $2 US. I do this weekly. Today's roses are lime green with pink lips, and I'll be taking a sample to culture from because they're so very unusual.

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i love ht, but i find the more of a hybrid it is the more bugs love them. so i try to stick with the oldfashion roses. like the cabbage roses. my mom has some oldfashion ones i might have to snip to get some going. rose wrangling in my moms yard. wahoo.

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These were not all planted today, but over the last few weeks. I was out with the camera and snapped some pictures.

Chamaedorea microspadix (hardy bamboo palm)


Giant Red Crinum


I nearly fell out when I found a nice size Tasmanian Tree Ferns at HD.

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This is usually done by treating the roots with hormone or dye, so if the plants you propagate continue to show this feature it would be stupendous!

:woohoonaner:

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i planted my cannas and sewed coleus seeds