All About Pocket Knives

Beautiful plants, guys.

In the first pic, notice the two cacti in the middle of the table - my wife had picked them up at an estate sale. This pic was taken Sept 23, 2022 - not quite two years ago.

I took the second pic of those same two cacti today. They are around 6 foot tall now. My wife has had to re-pot them a couple of times. I never knew cactus could grow that fast.

Here are some more.

chickenman62 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 11:02 pm Here are some more.

Nice chickenman62! Very nice!
What kind of bush is that with white flowers? Looks to be pretty old. But nice looking.

Unk wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 1:41 am Beautiful plants, guys.

In the first pic, notice the two cacti in the middle of the table - my wife had picked them up at an estate sale. This pic was taken Sept 23, 2022 - not quite two years ago.

I took the second pic of those same two cacti today. They are around 6 foot tall now. My wife has had to re-pot them a couple of times. I never knew cactus could grow that fast.

My previous boss had one of those cacti in you second picture in his office that grew so tall he had to move the 8' ceiling tile to the side. When my current boss came along 4 1/2 years ago, he hacked it up and trashed it.

The bush is a Rose of Sharon.

There be a fungus among us.

chickenman62 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 11:02 pm Here are some more.

Beautiful chickenman the dang deer keep eating my hostas. Love the way you got yours planted with the hydrangeas, gorgeous.

I luckily am not bothered by the deer. I have a large hosta garden kind of in a grotto area, maybe deer won't go in there.
Here are some plants. Miniature, mouse ear, Empress Wu and curly.

Gorgeous x1000

Some more flowers.

I am having such a hard time with my raised beds this year. My squashes (zucchini and summer), which were overflowing last year, are growing so slowly, and no fruit produced to date.

Cucumbers are growing well, albeit instead of long and thin, they are short and fat.

Tomato plants all booming, but nothing ripening yet, just green ones. I also have had some that are getting a dark spot on just the bottom, which is eventually turning to rot.

Green beans are okay. lettuces were extremely slow growing, but are starting to bolt now.

All in all, a very tough year for my garden...

All of y’all up north are doing great with stuff that bloomed and looked great here in May and June! Now those same plants are struggling here in the August heat, looking plain or ragged. Hostas grow fairly well here, in the shade. But I have trouble getting them to look that good. Daylillies do great here in the sun but they quit blooming at least a month ago.

Ken

Our worst gardening effort in years.Deer have deatroyed about half my hostas, probably around 30. Ate the Rhodies and Chamacyprus too. There are way too many of them around here.

Could be your soil needs some hi calcium lime. Sounds like blossom end rot. Hi cal lime would benefit that. It also raises the brix, natural sugars, That helps deter bad bugs which cant digest the sugars. It also adds a natural sweetness to fruits/veggies. Best to apply in fall. Could be blight as well but im beetin on it needs lime.

My daughter said all here zucchinni and pickles did poorly this year. My usual large crop of cabbage had about half being rotten. However, a good year for potatoes and some of the biggest pumpkins I have had in years.

robpa wrote: ↑Thu Aug 08, 2024 4:35 pm
Could be your soil needs some hi calcium lime. Sounds like blossom end rot. Hi cal lime would benefit that. It also raises the brix, natural sugars, That helps deter bad bugs which cant digest the sugars. It also adds a natural sweetness to fruits/veggies. Best to apply in fall. Could be blight as well but im beetin on it needs lime.

Lime is good, if the native soil is acidic. If you have rhododendrons you likely have acid soil. Here on the blackland prairie the soil is alkaline, so we use molasses instead of lime. It doesn’t help with calcium, but it is sugar. Sugar will increase biological activity in the soil which is beneficial to all plants. You can get dried molasses at most agricultural feed stores, and it works in acidic or alkaline soils. Some use whole ground meal (agricultural grade is cheaper than food grade but either will work), which degrades into sugar and also retards soil-born diseases.

Ken

Waukonda wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 2:27 am Very nice photos, Mel!
BH, what a botanical.garden you have, wow!

Here are pics from my morning ramble, life on a fallen log and an old Oak whose days are.numbered. I am 6'1 and can easily fit into hollowed area of trunk.

Cool pics!!
John

Just a simple sunflower.

chickenman62 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2024 12:57 pm Just a simple sunflower.

Great picture!

A couple of months ago, I posted pics of a Dragon Root plant, and I said that I would post again when the berries turned red. Here is the follow up.

I assume this is a weed, given it came up without my help next to my mailbox.

Should I leave, remove it or pot it?

looks like spurge, kinda invasive. I have the stuff here and there. likes poor soil, around the mailbox, cracks in concrete, the driveway, et cetera. Dig it out. Dig around the plant, fairly deep and try to lift the entire main root. shoot it with Roundup.

Looks like pig weed, go back a page Ike says it good eating.

I wouldnt eat that. pigweed is amaranth of which there are various varieties. Its edible and even good for ya. not so spurge. break it and see if there is a milky sap? ya dont eat spurge. Both are a pain the the azz.

chickenman62 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 26, 2024 12:11 am The bush is a Rose of Sharon.

Oh, I missed your reply. Thanks! I'll Google that.

Beautiful pictures everyone!

bighomer wrote: ↑Thu Aug 22, 2024 12:26 am Looks like pig weed, go back a page Ike says it good eating.

Purslane and Spurge have many similarities, main differences are colors of small flowers and size of stems, look at a comparison of the 2. Purslane is nutritious, and I have eaten it, DO NOT eat Spurge.