Garden and Yard Talk

Huntn said:
I like the jungle. You know when Armageddon cones you can eat Palmetto hearts til they run out. Maybe they’ll already be cooked for you. :D
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Hahaha, you and my Dad, he used to always pull out the center, where the end was really tender and sweet, "Here, try this ..." :ROFLMAO:

This is kind of nutty, the Palmetto berry is super valuable, so we get crazy people coming around asking to harvest them, or sometimes not asking (which led to me almost murdering some fuckers in my yard).

www.naplesnews.com

Southwest Florida sees increase in illegal saw palmetto berry harvest arrests

In the past four days, law enforcement has arrested 14 people in Southwest Florida in connection to the illegal harvesting of the berries.
www.naplesnews.com
 
DT said:
Hahaha, you and my Dad, he used to always pull out the center, where the end was really tender and sweet, "Here, try this ..." :ROFLMAO:

This is kind of nutty, the Palmetto berry is super valuable, so we get crazy people coming around asking to harvest them, or sometimes not asking (which led to me almost murdering some fuckers in my yard).

www.naplesnews.com

Southwest Florida sees increase in illegal saw palmetto berry harvest arrests

In the past four days, law enforcement has arrested 14 people in Southwest Florida in connection to the illegal harvesting of the berries.
www.naplesnews.com
Click to expand...
I learned that in survival school and never forgot. Why are the berries valuable? Never mind, read the link. You could sell them. :unsure:
 
Huntn said:
I learned that in survival school and never forgot. Why are the berries valuable? Never mind, read the link. You could sell them. :unsure:
Click to expand...

I just eat them all and walk around with a stiffy for 3 months ...

:D

This pretty much dissuaded me:

The strong flavor of the berries was described in 1692 by shipwrecked Quakers as the flavor of rotten cheese steeped in tobacco juice.
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Yum.
 
Herdfan said:
Not sure about the inferior product part of it. We get hydroponic tomatoes in the winter and they are not as good as what we get in the summer from the ground.
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Interesting. Maybe it depends on what is being grown and how it's being cared for. From my limited research it almost makes hydroponics sound like it's a one size fits all saltwater fish tank, just mind the overall nutrient and water quality content and you're set. The same can't be said about growing plants in soil. Different plants have different needs.
 
Herdfan said:
Not sure about the inferior product part of it. We get hydroponic tomatoes in the winter and they are not as good as what we get in the summer from the ground.
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Interesting. You’d think they would have to be providing these with the nutrients they need. Maybe corporate knowledge will include the ingredients that make them taste good. Or is it the issue of harvesting them while they are still greenish? :unsure:
 
Huntn said:
Interesting. You’d think they would have to be providing these with the nutrients they need. Maybe corporate knowledge will include the ingredients that make them taste good. Or is it the issue of harvesting them while they are still greenish? :unsure:
Click to expand...

But there is also a taste difference between fertilized and organic. Hydro uses similar salt based fertilizers.
 
Huntn said:
Interesting. You’d think they would have to be providing these with the nutrients they need. Maybe corporate knowledge will include the ingredients that make them taste good. Or is it the issue of harvesting them while they are still greenish? :unsure:
Click to expand...

A lot of the taste resides mostly in their genetics. They're bred now primarily to transport well. Means the skins are a little tougher, the internal structure more supportive of the flesh etc. You really do know when you're eating a ground-grown tomato sprouted from heirloom seed. It's all you can do to wait until you get it into the house before sampling it.

OK clearly we're not all going to be able to grow our own tomatoes. But hydroponics on a commercial scale can be dauntingly expensive and just as risky as a farmer counting on rain and sun to fall out of the sky in the right proportions. Power blackouts have to be considered so must have automatic genny backup except where failure of a resource like solar power is extremely unlikely. Water system failure likewise, you need backup tank supply if the regular delivery can fail. Hydroponic plants are not as tolerant as soil-based ones when it comes to lack of expected inputs. They don't come back well from dryness wilting or temperature surprises either: they're far more likely to respond by croaking, and sometimes within hours.

I still like hydroponic tomatoes better than the ones grown in pots in winter in northern greenhouses though. Those do just taste like cardboard. Somehow they know they're second best from get-go.
 
how is this for the cutest little orchid? he has been growing on a wine cork for more than 3 years. likes a daly water dip.
IMG_3191.jpeg
 
Herdfan said:
But there is also a taste difference between fertilized and organic. Hydro uses similar salt based fertilizers.
Click to expand...
Hydro uses similar salt based fertilizers as fertilized? I don’t have enough experience with side by side tasting of the two options of using manufactured fertilizer vs green/animal manure.

I wonder if you could use animal manures in a hydroponic setting?

Reference link:
www.sare.org

Transitioning to Organic Production

This bulletin from SARE lays out many promising conversion strategies, covering typical organic farming production practices, innovative marketing ideas and federal standards for certified organic crop production.
www.sare.org www.sare.org
  • Use of cover crops, green manures, animal manures and crop rotations to fertilize the soil, maximize biological activity and maintain long-term soil health.
 
lizkat said:
A lot of the taste resides mostly in their genetics. They're bred now primarily to transport well. Means the skins are a little tougher, the internal structure more supportive of the flesh etc. You really do know when you're eating a ground-grown tomato sprouted from heirloom seed. It's all you can do to wait until you get it into the house before sampling it.

OK clearly we're not all going to be able to grow our own tomatoes. But hydroponics on a commercial scale can be dauntingly expensive and just as risky as a farmer counting on rain and sun to fall out of the sky in the right proportions. Power blackouts have to be considered so must have automatic genny backup except where failure of a resource like solar power is extremely unlikely. Water system failure likewise, you need backup tank supply if the regular delivery can fail. Hydroponic plants are not as tolerant as soil-based ones when it comes to lack of expected inputs. They don't come back well from dryness wilting or temperature surprises either: they're far more likely to respond by croaking, and sometimes within hours.

I still like hydroponic tomatoes better than the ones grown in pots in winter in northern greenhouses though. Those do just taste like cardboard. Somehow they know they're second best from get-go.
Click to expand...
Mostly what I’ve heard with the caveat of steady power for grow lamps and water available, is that urban farms, crops under artificial conditions save a huge amount of money and energy. Fertilizer that is not wasted and washes into the river, reliable growing conditions, actually less water usage and less transportation costs.

Now I’ve had home grown tomatoes that are clearly superior! :)
 
Huntn said:
Aug, the Wildflower strip is big and bold, more green than flowers. Many yellow flowers around the bottom can’t be seen in this image. The biggest plants out there have yet to bloom. I took my iPhone out and took a picture with the Plant Snap app to try to identify it and the semi-alarming result is Annual Ragweed. Now Annual Ragweed is not one of the flowers listed in the wildflower seed packet, so I’m hoping that the app mis-identified it. My wife says that some of the perennial flowers don’t bloom the first year so, we‘ll see. :unsure:

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I called the supplier this morning who says the plant is identified as sulfur cosmos that blooms late summer/fall. Finger's crossed that we will be amazed. :)
 
I cant remember the name of this orchid. it took a lot to learn it likes dipped in water every day and a lot of light. it suffered when my wife could not walk and the heat wave. but he still bloomed a lot. they don't last long once open but they have a nice fragrance. it has about 6 spikes going right now.
IMG_3243.jpeg
 
I’ve identified what has been known in my yard as pesky weed, and no surprise it’s called Chamberbitter and Gripeweed. This plant spews seeds like there is no tomorrow, I’ve been battling this since March In the yard and beds.

9142B610-B8F3-41B0-88AC-6D7A0C59A2DF.png

61702ED8-C6EC-49A6-91D0-7955B73B9889.jpeg​
 
Bee House- Anyone put these out? Any experts? :) Just bought one, inexpensive, I don’t know how effective they are in giving solitary bees a place to lay their eggs or how effective they are from year to year without cleaning the tubes out. If the babies break out, then maybe the adult bees come back and clean out the holes themselves.

This one looks bigger than it actually is about 14” tall. Looks pretty though. :D

A10CAB27-FE34-4B40-A345-7C3FE6EBCB49.jpeg​

 
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^^^ Wow, those look great... and I had missed seeing the ones from Alli earlier. Nifty looking plants.

Now that there aren't cats to fend off, houseplants might have a chance in this place. All I managed to maintain while they were around were a jade plant or two and a Christmas cactus and I finally spaced out and killed those one year when I left them on the deck during an unexpectedly severe frost in late September.

The nursery where I buy geraniums and a few annuals every year has a section of nice houseplants but I've never bothered to explore them, want to try that this year. At least get a few varieties of spider plant in here to green the place up a little... they can take a joke on indoor temperature fluctuations and just require care not to overwater. I love spider plants!
 

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