The garden thread is my favorite because of the civility of it, plus hearing how others are doing and getting ideas for things to try.
Agreed!
Tho’ my time is far too limited, I really enjoy trying out new things* attacking problems to be solved - when they turn out to be reasonably solvable, anyway!!!
*I have the Coleus canina Hybr. plants separated and in small pots. (They were 4 to a 3” pot!) So far, so good. The most vigorous plant I already have out by a couple of my tomato plants - probably will want to remove it if it starts flowering, as these have a lot of “weed” characteristics, esp. the roots. (They seem quite tenacious.)
I also bought a few hot pepper plants @ Menards yesterday, idea being to grow hot peppers, grind them up, and sprinkle the bits around plants I don’t want “critters” to dig up! Unfortunately, even composted chicken guano seems to attract these vandals, as does the “organic” tomato plant fertilizer I bought a big bag of on clearance at Wally World last year.
“Cowhorn” peppers, while not exceptionally hot, look like the best bet for quantity of material grown. (??) I bought one pot @ reg. price: It has two plants in it, so, I’ll have to separate ‘em. But, I bought a “weak heat” jalapeno too, as it’s already fruiting in the starter pot. And it was on sale and also actually a two-fer. Serrano was the hottest Menards had - selection was poor. Reg. price, but, that one’s a three-fer. With luck I can get all 3 to survive. Another splitting job. The pots of all 3 are soaking for a few hours this morning to hopefully ease the split(s).
The catnip seeds (opposite tactic: attract our cats to hopefully scare off squirrels) are stratified and sown in small pots down in the basement (to get the soil temp right). Hopefully those will be “up” in a week.
On a “productive” note, the Romas and Golden Jubilee tomato plants are starting to ripen a few fruits. The latter are running small (under 2” diameter). Hopefully that will improve as the plants are growing well, now.
In fact... Some of the the garden areas’ surviving plants, not previously drowned are doing much better, now. There’s a potted “Cherry Falls” tomato plant that’s already almost 7 ft. tall. Just a few green fruits so far... but, it looks like I’ll need to come up with something in the way of a taller stake / “trellis”...
That potted Ichiban Eggplant on the NORTH side of our house has a fruit almost big enough to harvest. I’ve never grown an eggplant with such large leaves. It’s a good sign, I hope!