Gardening time

[luce-neidert]

Here is my future tomato crop - right now, my darlings are enjoying the comfort of my office

[colettelewis]

Oooh these look wonderful. Mine are only just beginning to show.  I'll post a pic when I think they might actually do something! 

[bf97c28c]

Thank you Nichola. A litle time and you'll show your plans. 😀

[luce-neidert]

So nice to see your mum's future tomatoes on Upwork 😊

[bf97c28c]

I hope the year will be good for plants, and I'll post some pictures.

[bf97c28c]

Hi Everybody, Here are my Mom's tomatoes for today.  The things that hold tomatoes are made by my )The things that hold tomatoes are made by my )

[luce-neidert]

Cherry tomatoes? Excellent taste, they grow endlessly until the end of the season. I love them in salads. One year, I had so many I starting making tomatoes sauce with them - delicious!

[bf97c28c]

Yea, these are cherry. I like them too 😊

[63cf1a86]

Hi Luce

I too love gardening. My garden has beetroot, marigold, chikpeas baby plants, orange,lemon tea grass,Tulsi,

christmas tree (2), Date palm baby plants (4) , 3 flowering plants (unkown)and i love them.

[luqman_mak]

You can use google image search and sometimes its quite accurate - just take a pic of the plant and search using it on google lens.

[luce-neidert]

I wish I could visit your garden!

[luqman_mak]

Have you read on the hack which is you let it grow to about 1 foot then burry the seedling sideways so that it roots more and produce alot more?
I grew some cherry tomotoes as i like the taste of them - dont know if i can find any pictures but i moved to an apartment and slowly trying to do this growing in pots thing as i am used to just digging the ground up.
2 weeks ago i got a Dendrobium (first time ever dealing with such a plant - when i got it, i actually was shocked that it was planted in coco coir and repotted it in soil- lol), i got a Monstera Aurea and some Aloes - i enjoyed reading your post and the thread it created and i think it would motivate me to keep adding more things in

[luqman_mak]

Monstera AureaAloes in a claypotDendrobium

[luce-neidert]

Yes I've heard of that hack, and tried it many times. It works! I've grown into the habit of waiting for my tomatoe plants to be huge before planting them that way. It helps them become very sturdy.

[mwiggenhorn]

Although I no longer grow tomatoes, I do remember that you should plant a good bit of the stem in the soil to make them stronger.  Also to prune them judiciously so the leaves don't rot (or something).

[luce-neidert]

The most important is to prune the lower leaves so they don't touch the ground, as if it rains and they get wet, chances are they'll catch "la maladie" (= the disease) a name given by gardeners to mildew!

You can also prune the leaves surrounding the tomatoes to help the sun to ripen them.

[renata101]

Hi Luqman,

I wish I had seen this earlier. I'm not an orchid expert, but I know that coco coir is actually used for orchids. I'm not sure what happens if you try to grow them in regular soil, but they're different from other plants because their aerial roots need air.

I think you can probably find a lot of information about orchid growing online. This article talks about media you can grow orchids in. One of the recommended media is coco coir.

https://www.thespruce.com/choose-orchid-growing-media-1315968

[a961425f]

great thread 

gardening is really good at easing the stress

usually my folks grow stuff every year

[luce-neidert]

Your folks have found the key to deep hapiness and good food and health.

[luce-neidert]

This is my new "fad": cuttings.

Last winter, for the first time in my life I kept two geranium plants in the cellar, where it is dark and cold. I did not fully understand how to deal with them, but I managed to keep one of geraniums alive. In the spring, the one geranium that was alive had a weird shape, so I decided to make cuttings out of it. With the help of videos on YouTube, I succeeded, and here's one of the cuttings:

[luce-neidert]

Last but not least, I have to show everyone my "Greenpeace plants":

A few month ago, I received an email from Greenpeace asking me if I would be interested in planting some seeds, in order to grow plants that attract bugs. This because here in France we are getting worried to see that there are less birds than there used to be, which is terrible. This is due to the extensive use of pesticide in the last few decades. The pesticides are killing the bugs and due to the lack of bugs available for them to eat, many birds are dying.

Obviously, I accepted the offer as I had an empty spot available in one of the planters of my terrace, and this is the result:

[mwiggenhorn]

I got free milkweed seeds from the Monach butterfly people and finallly planted them.  The package said 2-4 weeks to germinate but it only took a week. (Of course, we are in a never-ending heat wave, 100 degrees F every day and humid, so I guess I have my own front yard hothouse!).  Milkweed is where Monarchs lay their eggs, where the caterpillars feed, and they will cocoon nearby.  I used to have a butterfly garden when I had a house so we'll see.  So far, so good.  I'm just sad that I planted too many seeds and have to do serious thinning in another week or so.  And I still have a packet of seed left, which I may plant in the fall.  My experience is that Monarch butterfly caterpillars are voracious eaters and can strip a plant in a couple of days.  Should be fun for my granddaughter to watch.

[renata101]

In the last few years, the Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF) has been selling special plant packs in local garden centres. So far they offer a bee pack, a hummingbird pack, and a monarch butterfly pack. I think there are two more, but I can't find that much information about them.


Where I live, there's been an emphasis on protecting pollinators, especially bees.

I'm not promoting Home Depot, but their product information tells you what's in the CWF four-plant bee pack.
https://www.homedepot.ca/product/cwf-cwf-bee-plant-pack/1001535787

Achillea millefolium (Yarrow)
Gaillardia sp. (Blanket Flower)
Monarda didyma (Bee Balm)
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (Aster)

[mwiggenhorn]

Unfortunately, I'm in an apartment complex with lots of kids so bees are problematic.  My niece in Idaho had hives for years and harvested the honey.  I assume her now ex-husband is still harvesting honey but who knows?