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All I have is Aloe plants and a Christmas Cactus indoors right now.
I'll take the Aloe plants outside for the summer, but you have to ease them into the outdoor climate because otherwise, they will get sunburned.

How big are you aloe plants? What are they potted in what kind of soil??
Christmas cactus is beautiful year round as its foliage changes color.
Have you ever had an Easter Cactus?

Bought a roll of snow fence stuff. That plastic fence stuff you see at constructions to try to hold back any erosion. Figured I'll use it as a trellis for the cucumbers, pole beans and peas to climb up on.

Days are getting warmer so transplanting the indoor seedlings into the outside containers is around the corner. I tried herbs from seed a couple weeks ago in pots but they haven't broken ground. I'll try another round of seeds (maybe had a bad batch) but if if they don't sprout I'll go to the nursery and buy some in the 6 pack thingies to populate the pots.

I planted my tomatoes had a wicked wind storm and think I’ve lost 2-3 of 6. I’ll replant I’m gonna hit them hard with fertilizer soon. I start with liquid nitrogen which I wouldn’t recommend unless you’re extremely careful. The nitrogen will give the plant a jump start but you wanna run about 10-15 gallons per acre. So very little. I put it in a dish soap bottle and make a small circle around the plant staying back about 6 inches from the trunk I’ll follow up with a little p and k later. Probably already have enough p residual from the sweet corn patch that was planted there last year that got a heavy dose of p rich fertilizer. Gonna plant peppers soon. Next couple weeks. It’s still very early here. Frost is still a danger. I will cover the tomatoes with baskets or buckets if frost is possible at night for the next couple weeks

I too am a bit leary of frost in my latitude. Couple more weeks or so and we should be out of the frost danger. I'm doing container garden so they will be on the deck and close to the house so they'll get some heat from the house but as of last week we still have been getting mild frost overnight a couple times a week. Hopefully we've turned the corner.

For fertilizer I would like to use compost but I don't have a compost going. Bought some organic soil for outdoor container gardening then mix in some 10-10-10 slow release fertilizer for the season. In the beginning use I'll spike the water with some nitrogen rich fertilizer to promote stalks and leaf growth. Maybe some K (potassium) rich to promote root growth. I don't like to use a lot of fertilizer as long as the soil contains it's own nutrients.

I'd like to mix some shredded leaves and grass clippings in the soil for additional organic matter that would decompose over the summer but I don't have shredded leaves or grass clippings. When it's time to cut the grass I might use the clippings for mulch. I'll sprinkle in some epsom salt in the soil. Some people say no on the epsom salt some say yes. I'm more in the yes camp. I think it's beneficial but I'm rather biased and have had good results using it plus it's a family folklore that has been handed down to me. It may not help but if used the right way it doesn't hurt.

What kind of herbs were you trying to grow? How old is the seed?

Yeah I got some Amazon seed and they suck ass . Went local and did a lot better . Clifton seed check them out ex wife works there . They have great seed I will not deal with them due to that fact .

Germination percentage matters that’s what farmers use . You will always want the highest percentage.

Tomatoes are looking rough. They got hit hard with wind 60 plus mph gusts. Shredded up. Will see if they bounce back. Might have to start over. No big deal but wanted early tomato

My son's collection of succulents and cacti consists of about 100 varieties. Want some cuttings? They all fit in small plant containers and and bowls and are beautiful. I will gladly send you pictures so you can decide what you want. PM me with your email if you want anything or just want to take a peek of what we have going on.

Confederate Jasmine?

Is Star Jasmine called Confederate Jasmine because it only grows in the Deep South?

Mixing coffee grounds into soil to enhance growing conditions.

This a thing?

Bucky is correct, coffee grounds add organic matter to the soil and some nutrients mainly a little Nitrogen The grounds being from roasted beans like all other dead organic matter add carbon to the soil which also promotes the growth of beneficial decomposing organisms in the soil (bacteria, fungi, protozoa, insects and earthworms)
Lowering the PH of soil is not as easy as increasing the PH of soil. Coffee grounds are in no way acidic enough to impact PH.
You can lower the PH of alkaline soil long term by using elemental sulfur (S) but that takes time (sometimes years) since the sulfur itself won't affect PH, that requires the work of specialized soil bacteria that convert sulfur into sulphuric acid which is a strong acid that reacts quickly with carbonates in the soil

Coffee filters are paper which is a wood product, it is mostly cellulose. Saprotrophic Fungi, which are all those fungi species that feed on dead organic matter are the main decomposers of cellulose. So coffee filters are saprotrophic fungi food and important in the composting process.

I think boiling coffee grounds is a waste of time, the organic acids in the coffee grounds are weak acids and get neutralized quickly in compost and soill.

@robert just get a balanced fertilizer to start I run a rate of 350 pounds to an acre so it really doesn’t take a whole lot

Once the plants get a foot or so high they really want nitrogen. You’ll want to side dress with a 100 percent nitrogen fertilizer. I use liquid but you can use anything but corn loves nitrogen. You will not yield well without it. If you have good soil I’d go fairly heavy on the nitrogen

If using liquid do not get it on the plant itself (you’ll kill them)

As far as brands of fertilizer it won’t matter. Just the analysis is what you’re gonna want to really look at

Excuse me for the babbling.

Robert if you can get a 20 pound bag of 16-16-16 (Walmart has it)
Put that on first before you plant or before it comes up

Once they are 6-8 inches tall a 20 pound bag of 32-0-0

I Mathed a little. (I dumbed the math down to 1/25 of an acre)

That’ll get you over 163 pounds of nitrogen. If you want a tik more N you could add a little but that will get you a nice crop right there

Jake I do not know what you do. Are you a farmer or did you gain this knowledge elsewhere?

Hey, thanks Jake. You saved me a lot of time, and trial and error... I appreciate it.

For the 16-16-16, should I spread it around and then till it into the ground before I plant?

Is the 32-0-0 the stuff that cant touch the plant? Should I put it in the space between the individual plants within a row? How do you apply it?

I really want to do it right this year, and hopefully I can build on that for next yr. I have the space to expand.

I have an 8 foot fence around the 70x25 so hopefully with the fertilizer I'll get a big yield, bc I won't have to worry about the deer. I also bought some live traps for the smaller creatures that might sneak in...

I'm going to buy the stuff at Southern States (farm store) one evening this week. Thanks again.

Robert you can work the triple 16 in if you’d like. But just remember fertilizer always works its way down If you’re using a garden tiller yeah but don’t use like a plow and bury it a foot under the ground. I’d set my garden tiller on the lightest setting and just semi incorporate it

Yes the 32-0-0 will burn the leaves. (Liquid especially)

I’m sure you already know but if you can’t get those exact fertilizers just do the figures.

Example 10-10-10 means there’s 10 pounds of nitro phosphorus and potassium per 100 pounds of product. So you’d just need more

Ditto with the 32-0-0. (I use n-sol 32 liquid most often)

There’s 32 pounds of actual N per 100 pounds of product

You can just check out any bag of fertilizer and figure up what you need.

If you find lawn food even at like let’s say 30-0-2 (I’ve seen that blend) just use it. That little extra potassium isn’t gonna bother anything.

If you get that corn in real soon it should come off and give you plenty of time to grow broccoli or whatever you guys eat as a fall crop.

I mentioned for east math I just figured your plot into 1/25th of an acre. And used approximately what I’d try

Obviously in large scale farming you get your soil samples to know exactly what you have out the so we use some whacky blends you’re not likely to find on the shelf.

We have southern states around here too they doa little farm related applications here I just personally haven’t used them much, they’re a good company though. I use mainly growmark FS and nutrien ag

Ok I'll work that triple 16 in with a rake, and I'll buy the granulated 32-0-0 or something equivalent to the 32-0-0. I saw the 30-0-2 on Walmart.com.

We don't have many options around here, as far as farm stores go. The Southern States is about 24 miles from me in the county over. This county doesn't even have a grocery store.Lol

Just curious, what do you guys do about the deer? Do you count the damage they cause as an operating loss and adjust your prices accordingly?

I use tall fences for my small plots, but that isn't feasible on an industrial scale.

If I put in an acre of corn, did ALL that work, I'd be afraid that it all would be for nothing.

So from an exact example.

A 60 acre farm with irrigation growing corn averages 200 bushel

You lose 5 acres to deer. You end up averaging 183

You get no insurance out of that you just loose 6000$ That’s on only 60 acres We till 1500 or so acres imagine how that adds up. Right or wrong I’m gonna start shooting them. Sick of them

Yeah. It would get expensive. I don't like them either, anymore, and you have a lot more on the line than me.

I think they should be treated as a nuisance animal in the rural areas. This county is also overrun with deer. I bet there is more deer than people. They like to hang on my flat and eat as opposed to staying on the side of a mountain.

I basically live in a meadow next to a watering hole (creek), so when they aren't eating our flowers, vegetables, or trees, they like to graze around the property.

I have yet to get a crossbow, but it's on my list. Nobody will hear the bow.

^

Originally the western part of Virginia, my wife is from Kentucky.

Years ago my brother and I got this land as a place to hunt. We never thought twice about this flat or the old farmhouse.

But, in the end, my wife and I needed this old place. Been working on it since November 2021.

We used to go to West Virginia all of the time to hike, camp, fish and hunt. Now we live in West Virginia and most of our time and money is spent working on this place. Lol

Wife came home with small plants for the garden. Scorpions, ghosts, reapers, habaneros for my tub.