re: 2022 Spring Garden Thread

I have numerous oak trees, a pecan and others that all drop leaves, I mulch them in with the mower.

I go around a grab bags of clean leaves from the neighborhood - it’s much easier.

Then when I need leaves for compost, open it up toss a few handfuls, fold the bag back over.

With that manure you can get it hot.

Got my new grow light in today. This thing is BRIGHT! I was standing in the corner of my dining room and I turned the light toward the living room and it lit it up like the sun. Damn near blinded my wife and kids.

Why do you put light on them before they sprout ?

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I don’t use heat mats. The light generates enough heat for germination. And once they sprout, they’re already under the lights. So I don’t have to move things around. Been doing it that way for a long time. I’ve had too many heat mats fail on me and I find them a waste of money.

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I gotcha. Honestly i've never used any kind of heat source to sprout seeds. I started a bunch of mine in the garage this year just sitting in the dark on a shelf. Once sprouted i hit them with the light for 15+ hours a day

First year starting from seeds, can I not just put these close to a window that has sunlight all day? Or do I need more time under a light?

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can I not just put these close to a window that has sunlight all day? Or do I need more time under a light?

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You are going to need more direct light then that. 15+ hours is a rule of thumb for me.

I finally get to participate in the garden thread! I’ve tried a vegetable garden in the past but have always failed since I had to travel so much for work and the hose pipe doesn’t appear to work when I’m not home. I no longer have to travel so I’ll be able to tend to a garden!

I’m trying to hold back and start small so I’m starting with a 6.5’ x 3.5’ x 1.5’ raised bed. I bought a cubic yard of “garden mix” from a landscape company expecting it to be junk but I think I’m presently surprised. It has a good mix of organic material, I can smell the compost, and it appears to hold water well. Should I be adding anything to this dirt at the moment?

I'm starting my Thai peppers indoors next week. I've had 5 years of success but I'm anxious to find out what happened to last year's crop. In July something started eating my peppers during the night. It's never happened before since animals don't like extremely hot peppers.

Where are you located? I've always wanted apple trees but didn't know they could grow well in south Louisiana.

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What kind of apple trees do you have?

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I've got a Cinnamon Spice and Winter Banana apple tree. I wanted to try something a little different than the traditional Anna or Golden Delicious varieties you see down here even though I may not be as successful with consistent production. These 2 I found though have pretty low chill hour req's. About 350-400 hrs. I'm right on the line between the 150-500hr and 500-750hr zones below so I should hit my mark most years.

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Have you been picking apples from them?

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I planted both of them in the spring of 2019 so they are both still small. I actually got a couple apples started on the winter bannana tree this past year. I've had blooms on both trees though so I'm hopeful they will both produce with time.

That first summer was rough on them though, especially the smaller cinnamon spice tree. They both got hit with apple rust but it hit the cinnamon spice real hard. I thought I was going to lose it. I treated it and it recovered though. The 2nd year Laura came through and stripped all the leaves on them. 2021 has been the only year they haven't had some adversity to battle through. Of course we have had a mild winter overall so I probably won't hit the chill hour requirement

I'm fine with it though because they are both still pretty small so I'd rather they focus on growth. Any apples I get right now will not have a large canopy to shade it from the sun and probably not do well anyways.




Sorry about the absurdly large image. I don't know how to resize it.