Ms. Que BanhTell me what is impeding you, on growing food/herbs & flower plants; the challenges you're facing/have faced in your current living gardening spaces. I can try to better help you, on growing some plants, wherever you live - when I know your living conditions better. Every living space has different challenges & all can be dealt with. If there's strong will, there's always a way 👩🌾 Even if you live in a tiny basement suite with very little light coming in.
It helps if you know the wildlife that frequently visit your outdoor living spaces too. I'm huge on #coexistence planting because doing that will reduce your weeding & pest control work - nature #biodiversity will take care of many of those issues for you!
rsp@PhoenixSerenity Grasshoppers, stinkbugs, and blister beetles descend in large numbers and damage tomatoes and peppers before they become ripe.
@rspfau I have none of those & never had any of those issues in my 40+ years of growing food, including well over 50 different tomato varieties.
clewtbf the Salish Sea and environs is MUCH less pest friendly than the Midwest is. I have relatives from KC to the Atlantic who are just bewildered that I don’t have to deal with… so many different things.
@clew @rspfau Another thing to mention is too much #monocropping invites more unnecessary pests. It is really good to research your crops prior to planting & do beneficial companion planting.
When you do too much monocropping - especially with very pest vulnerable & disease prone plants,like tomatoes or eggplants - you're gonna be inviting more garden pests. You can plant basil & put spent alfalfa feed at base of tomato plants, with light sprinkling of raw cinnamon powder to deter pests from trying to attack your tomatoes. I rub some cinnamon powder on base main stem of my tomato plants to deter pests from climbing up to eat them.
@clew
Speaking of spent alfalfa feed pellets - that's another of my cheap frugal gardening supplies for topical fertilizer on heavy feeding plants! You can get a huge bag of alfalfa pellet feed seeds for livestock from local farm feed stores(currently $12 for huge bag). You break them down with water, add some ground up eggshells, add some coffee/tea grinds & mix it all up til it's pasty. Let it sit for a couple days, stir up & use when it starts smelling a bit farmy but not super ranky. Take a few handfuls & pile it up all around base of plants. You'll love the results, after 👩🌾✌️💗
otoh many of them are all “oh we put grass and clover paths between our vegetable beds”! because they get summer rainfall so the paths aren’t fighting the vegetables to the death over irrigation water
Tradeoffs
@clew @rspfau It takes more than that for biodiversity loss, lowering of soil health & increased pest populations. Ecocide around communities is usually a bigger factor with this. I've studied similar sites in Canada & all of them are dying due to decreased biodiversity, lack of studies of nearby ecocidal impacts & also municipal lawn maintenance bylaws.
Birch-o-matic@clew @PhoenixSerenity @rspfau Completely agree. I’ve lived in Indiana and Virginia — in the summer, you needed to douse yourself in industrial grade bug deterrent.
In the PNW, sitting outside: “Oh, it got dark. Wait, no bugs are biting me?”
disorderlyf@MrBirch @clew @PhoenixSerenity @rspfau I'll second that as someone raised bouncing back and forth between Virginia and West Virginia. Actually a bit worried global warming will bring that affect north enough to hit PNW, but I'm enjoying being this close to deer but also not being relentlessly attacked by mosquitoes and gnats while it lasts
@rspfau I kinda figured - when you mentioned those specific pests. The core problem is your government sucks a lot. They created bigger pest issues from their massive ecocides in your home state. That affects all birds/lizards/small mammals/insects life in your state & every single surrounding states. We fight for every single protection in BC. We continue to fight out capitalist corporate sellout governments to this day. Our current governments are super ecocidal & we have a few lawsuits against them that will take years to resolve in courts. Meanwhile, I keep doing my best with local food security, food equity & education on local food systems. Wielding a sword of justice, while wielding working shovels up of hope ✌️👩🌾
@PhoenixSerenity People do have nicer gardens around here than I do. And my immediate surroundings have relative good habitats. I think its more complicated than "Texas bad".
@rspfau I don't think it's just Texas bad. I said very clearly, it is your shitass governments at the core. They've done mass ecocides in & all around Texas. Are your neighbours growing food crops or flowers or what?
Here's how I know when any area is not doing well, ecologically - there's massive imbalances in nature, period. Nature when left alone, balances itself out. Nature, when man decides man knows better than nature - starts to interfere with nature, will pay by nature too.
I'm a science based person with a science based background. It's easy to see why a lot of Texas is fucked, for generations, ecologically. The amount of ecocide that's happened in that state alone, for lesser time I've been alive(I'm 51), will take several generations to reverse, if that will ever comes. Your state is unfortunately super toxified by decades of unfettered industry pollution on multiple levels.
Here's how I know when any area is not doing well, ecologically - there's massive imbalances in nature, period. Nature when left alone, balances itself out. Nature, when man decides man knows better than nature - starts to interfere with nature, will pay by nature too.
I'm a science based person with a science based background. It's easy to see why a lot of Texas is fucked, for generations, ecologically. The amount of ecocide that's happened in that state alone, for lesser time I've been alive(I'm 51), will take several generations to reverse, if that will ever comes. Your state is unfortunately super toxified by decades of unfettered industry pollution on multiple levels.
@PhoenixSerenity I'm not enjoying this conversation.
@rspfau I don't enjoy any governments who keep on committing ecocide
@rspfau Your bio states you're into biodiversity but you aren't behaving like someone very passionate about that.
Texas has suffered countless ecocides. It has been in international news, multiple times, about mass losses of biodiversity & loss of farm crops from corrupt government decisions, including using toxic widedpread aerial sprays. Those are documented facts. Insects are key science indicators of the health of ecosystems - you should know that too.
Texas has suffered countless ecocides. It has been in international news, multiple times, about mass losses of biodiversity & loss of farm crops from corrupt government decisions, including using toxic widedpread aerial sprays. Those are documented facts. Insects are key science indicators of the health of ecosystems - you should know that too.
Trying to get back to growing food — should also say all these relatives have amazing gardens, various.
In the short term, would you be up to row covers? Very fine nylon mesh? You have to be clever for crops that also need insect pollination, and it’s a hassle, but with care it can be reused for years and years. “Frost fleece” keeps bugs out too but I bet you’d have overheating problems too often.
PS - pocket gophers! An interest of mine and also a terrible pest in the beans.
@clew I understand you're trying to be diplomatic here but a full grown white man, doesn't need anyone to defend them. Especially when they put biodiversity & insects in their bio but uncomfortable actually discussing biodiversity loss including how imbalances with insects is a human caused ecocidal imbalance. This isn’t rocket science.
@clew For me & most longtime nature loving gardeners - it's sacrilegious to say you're into biodiversity & insects but adverse to discussions on cause/effect of both. It's as simple as that. You can't claim to be passionate about either if you cannot fully discuss why the imbalances in nature exists in some areas more than others. It is part n parcel.
@clew I tried covers, but 30 MPH winds makes that a no go. Now have root rot nematode. Nature conspires against me.
@rspfau Where abouts are you? What methods have you personally tried out? Your blanket statement here, fails, because I'm not the only one here who has grown lots of toms/cukes for decades without the issues you mentioned in your post here. I'm in zone 8, Southern Vancouver Island.