• @unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1002 months ago

    Some things are just super easy to grow, others take so much effort its too much for the average person. But hell yeah, grow ur own food if u are lucky enough to own a garden.

    • Neato
      link
      fedilink
      English
      502 months ago

      Yeah. When I lived in NW Florida (ugh), jalapenos grew like weeds in a small pot. Always had way too many.

      Also a fun fact: in early spring you can often see green grass-like shoots growing before the grass starts and are quite tall. Those are wild alliums, the same family as garlic, onions and scallions.

          • @Dasus@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            202 months ago

            Technically it’s poisonous to dogs, yeah. It’s a mild poison, but like chocolate (and grapes and raisins), they shouldn’t have it.

            Leeks are part of the Allium family (which also includes onion, chives, and garlic) and are poisonous to dogs and cats. Garlic is considered to be about 5-times as potent as onion and leeks. Certain breeds and species are more sensitive, including cats and Japanese breeds of dogs (e.g., Akita, Shiba Inu).

            https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/leeks/

            • @kbotc@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              22 months ago

              Grapes and raisins are a different class. Alliums and chocolate are bad, sure, but if your dog has a bad reaction to grapes and really raisins, it can be 2-3 raisins cause kidney failure. They’re not quite sure about the mechanism, only that it doesn’t take much and isn’t an always thing.

              • @Dasus@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                22 months ago

                Oh yes, they’re not a “mild” on the poison scale compared to like, grass onion and such.

                Very true.

          • @EtherWhack@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            2
            edit-2
            2 months ago

            I know cultivated onion and garlic are definitely poisonous to dogs. (and cats) I’m not sure though if wild allium contains the same chemical, and in the same amount, but it would be likely, which could easily lead to the hemolytic anemia.

      • Dojan
        link
        fedilink
        English
        152 months ago

        I struggle so hard with peppers. Jalapeños growing like weeds sounds like a dream.

        • BubbleMonkey
          link
          fedilink
          English
          82 months ago

          It might benefit you to know that pepper plants can be kept alive nearly indefinitely if you give them good enough conditions. So if you keep them in a pot, you can trim them and move them inside over cold months (bare stems is fine as long as they don’t dry out), and then in spring they are already super well established and big and start putting out peppers really early.

          I never do well with new pepper plants, but second season they produce like crazy.

          • Dojan
            link
            fedilink
            English
            2
            edit-2
            2 months ago

            Thanks you for the tips, I actually didn’t know they were perennial. That said, I think they just aren’t too fond of the climate here. I’d need a greenhouse (and space outdoors) or a heating mat and a decent sun light. I tried with chilies the other year, and even got a few fruits, but they were small and never ripened. The plant really struggled. To be fair, the plant was an experiment from the get-go. I germinated it from seeds I got in a cheapo chili flake jar from Lidl so I didn’t have huge expectations to begin with.

        • @Holyhandgrenade@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          52 months ago

          I live in Norway and one year I planted 10 chili plants. I treated those plants like royalty and in the end I got like maybe 2 chilis per plant lol

          • Dojan
            link
            fedilink
            English
            52 months ago

            Yeah, that echoes my experience here in Sweden. I guess the reason we use so much rotted fish in our cuisine is because we had no other way to introduce stronger flavours. 😭

        • @SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          32 months ago

          The growing season is so short here, you need to start them inside 2 months before planting them outside if you want them ready before the first frost in sept gets them.

          • Dojan
            link
            fedilink
            English
            22 months ago

            Right now I only have an inside. My balcony gets morning sun, but not for very long. :(

        • Neato
          link
          fedilink
          English
          32 months ago

          I will note that when I moved to MD the plant did well but grew like 1 pepper all year. Gave up after that. Heartburn also made it less viable to eat so many. :p

          • Dojan
            link
            fedilink
            English
            22 months ago

            I’m not sure what MD is, my brain just thinks “markdown” or medicine doctor. I hope your heartburn is doing better now!

      • @RBWells@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        32 months ago

        Florida gardener too.

        Jalapenos do great, okra grows in the summer! The summer! Mustard greens will too, and the Stokes. Purple sweet potatoes. In the cooler seasons, collards, lettuces, fennel, I’ve had surprising success with broccoli and cauliflower. Tomatoes I can grow whenever but birds eat them. Radishes fail me every time. No carrots or radishes have worked, ever… I just learned asparagus is perennial here, going to try that too.

        • Neato
          link
          fedilink
          English
          12 months ago

          Same luck with tomatoes. Everything surey them long before the were ripe.

        • @TheLoneMinon@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          12 months ago

          My wife and I just moved from a townhouse to an actual house with a backyard so we can garden again. We’re around the Sarasota Area and the yard is really soft and sandy. Pretty sure something’s digging under there which is why it’s so soft… But they were there first so what’re ya gonna do. Any suggestions for planting this summer? Definitely gonna try Okra

          • @RBWells@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            22 months ago

            Congratulations, I didn’t know anyone could afford a house in Sarasota right now, wow!

            Yes to okra, it loves our summer, unless you have the nematodes that love it more than we do. Jalafuego hybrid jalapenos are robust plants and spicy peppers that can survive summer. Hibiscus likes our summer, and you are far enough south to grow mangoes.

            For the garden garden you might do better with raised bed and some better soil over the sandy soil, but mangoes and citrus like it. “Well drained” as they say.

            • @TheLoneMinon@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              English
              22 months ago

              Oh God no we’re still renting. We bounced around the idea of buying something but prices are insane, and we’re not sure we want to settle in Florida. The home insurance cost and the increasing risk of big storms would make me too anxious.

              Thanks for the advice! We were definitely thinking raised beds, but wanted to try our luck with a few in-ground things.

  • mechoman444
    link
    fedilink
    English
    86
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    frantically types on keyboard with the cord stuffed into the dirt

    Just got root access.

  • AzureKevin
    link
    fedilink
    English
    33
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    Babe, let’s play Stardew Valley IRL like omg

      • @DillyDaily@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        102 months ago

        I keep having this glitch where I’m stuck in the opening scene with the jojo cubicle. I’m supposed to get a letter telling me I’ve inherited a farm but that hasn’t happened yet, anyone else got this bug?

  • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    312 months ago

    Neighbor tried to plant potatoes. She got about six pounds worth of top and no tuber.

    We spent weeks debugging and still don’t know what went wrong.

    • @HatFullOfSky@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      392 months ago

      Potatoes you have to keep mounding up with dirt to force the plant to grow more roots (tubers) instead of the leafy tops.

        • @Nimrod@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          44
          edit-2
          2 months ago

          Potato tubers are not actually roots. They are modified stems. So the surest way to force more potatoes is to “hill” them. In the commercial fields this is done with a huge tractor raking soil from in between planting rows and piling it up on the plants. You essentially bury the plants stem as it grows taller. Then the buds on the stem will push out stolons (horizontal underground stems.) these will terminate in tubers, aka: potatoes!

          Source: did potato disease research for my PhD.

          Additional edit: loose/sandy soil is critical. Too dense of soil and your tubers can’t expand well.

            • @Nimrod@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              English
              52 months ago

              Warning: I am not a beet expert. But I believe beets are actual roots. Just like carrots. And I think you only get one beer per plant? Burying the stem would just make it harder for new leaves to come up.

              Potatoes are pretty unique in this sense. Even sweet potatoes are not the same.

    • Panda (he/him)
      link
      fedilink
      English
      222 months ago

      six pounds worth of top

      Where is this neighbor located? Asking for a friend 👀

      • AutistoMephisto
        link
        fedilink
        English
        12 months ago

        The leafy top is called a haulm and on commercial farms the harvester has a header that removes the haulm before the main part of the harvester scoops up the potatoes. Anyone who’s played Farming Simulator is familiar with these machines, such as the Ropa Panther 2.

  • MuchPineapples
    link
    fedilink
    English
    192 months ago

    The trick with garlic is to just bury it everywhere in your garden where there’s space, no need for a vegetable garden. The leaves take minimal space and digging them back up only requires making a small hole, plus they apparently keep some pests away.

    • @Cheradenine@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      92 months ago

      It’s happy in a pot on the windowsill, doesn’t much care about soil quality, can be harvested just for the greens.

      I plant it everywhere though.

    • BarqsHasBite
      link
      fedilink
      English
      122 months ago

      I hear they’re much tastier than what you buy in the store.

      • Captain Aggravated
        link
        fedilink
        English
        102 months ago

        This is accurate; grocery store tomatoes are bred for durability rather than taste. The canned tomatoes down the soup aisle are honestly better than the fresh ones in the produce section. A large pot in a sunny corner of your back porch can do a lot better than your local supermarket.

        • @Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
          link
          fedilink
          English
          22 months ago

          depends on who grows them, we finally started getting domestic tomatoes in stores again here in sweden and they actually smell and taste like tomatoes should.

          They don’t need to use the ones that are bred for durability if the shipping takes like an hour by truck…

          • Captain Aggravated
            link
            fedilink
            English
            12 months ago

            Here in America? If you want higher quality farm-grown produce find a farmer’s market, the supermarket is going to make the most spreadsheet friendly decision every single time.

        • @Teppichbrand@feddit.de
          link
          fedilink
          English
          12 months ago

          If they are not organic they put fertilizers on them which is basically salt that makes the cells swell with water but not nutrition nor taste.

        • BarqsHasBite
          link
          fedilink
          English
          3
          edit-2
          2 months ago

          Supposed to be even more, particularly because you can pick at peak ripeness. Store ones they pick far beyond ripe so they transport and handle better.

          • @noodlejetski@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            22 months ago

            yes, and the same goes for pretty much every other vegetable (and fruit, for that matter) out there.

            • BarqsHasBite
              link
              fedilink
              English
              42 months ago

              You can harvest potatoes at peak ripeness. They don’t bruise like tomatoes.

    • mad_asshatter
      link
      fedilink
      English
      92 months ago

      You can feed your dog tomatoes, and you don’t even have to bother with seeding!

      Or fertilizer!

    • wander1236
      link
      fedilink
      English
      82 months ago

      Tomatoes and garlic, what else could you possibly need tbh

    • @DeviantOvary@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      52 months ago

      Cries in having no sunlight in the apartment. Mine didn’t survive the dark apartment life, so can’t confirm.

      • kase
        link
        fedilink
        English
        1
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        Same, friend. :(

        My aloe vera plant is doing ok tho

  • @Sam_Bass@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    9
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    Picking up gardening at any age is a good thing not only as a way to stay active and keep your pantry better stocked but you also get a good sense of accomplishment

  • Resol van Lemmy
    link
    fedilink
    English
    62 months ago

    New life hack: this is what some of the very first human civilizations did to spend their time