It's only been two months since I posted my San Pedro cacti here (>>113986), and the growth is very noticeable. Once temperatures start rising after winter San Pedro cacti go through a big growth spurt that settles down when summer arrives, so mine probably won't grow this rapidly for too long. Apart from that, you can see I cut one of the pots so the base of the cactus can get more sunlight. I also got two very small cacti as a gift that are pretty cute.

>>117002
Those are really awesome. I love the effect of cacti indoors with nice cozy soft warm things. A sharp danger amongst the softness, like cat's claws.

>>117002
My grandma loved cacti and she had a bunch of real ones and fakes ones all over her house. Like, 30 of them or more and she had decorative stuff with cactus drawings and stuff. I'm paranoid about having the spiky ones since I have a curious cat, but maybe there's some soft spike-less types? Does it damage them to remove the spines?

I was reading about all these fruit preservation methods and I thought the guy with a garden might be interested in getting a dehydrator.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/dry-tomatoes-in-dehydrator-1327566

>>119287
Thanks for thinking of me!
I saw that in a random "different ways to preserve food" youtube video. I've seen those, but I'm not sure what I would actually use it for. A lot of these appliances are relatively cheap these days, but they still take up a lot of space and they're not used much. How often would I use a dehydrator? Once a year? I can't see myself buying specialty stuff; it needs to be multi-purpose.

I'm starting to look at stuff again this year, but it's very overwhelming.
The main places I'm looking at are:
https://www.johnnyseeds.com/
https://www.rareseeds.com/

These are two small-ish companies with great reviews and I ordered stuff from them last year, although not much since I started so late in the season.
If you're feeling bored, look through those and see if there's anything that looks really cool and maybe I can try growing it, although no promises. Brussel sprouts as a plant looks so weird and alien that I'd like to try growing it just so I can look at it. (Pic related)
I think I want to plant a lot more flowers, too. I liked looking them and watching them grow more than I thought I would and also it was nice to see butterflies and bees around. If possible I'd like to attract birds, too, but I'm not sure if there's anything I can do for that apart from attracting bugs for the bug-eating birds. Oh, providing shelter is good, but I don't think I'm ready for the commitment of growing a tree. Maybe some fruit bush plants in containers?

It's supposed to be winter, but it doesn't feel like it. I already see 3 onion stalks popping up from the ground because apparently I missed some when I harvested half a year ago. I'm sure it's going to be another hellish summer so I plan to wind down my manual watering by then and switch into a fully automatic setup. Last year I planted way too many tomato plants and also the cucumbers and watermelon grew out of control in the summer since I didn't want to go outside every day to maintain them.
Also, I'm going to invest in some soil block maker things and trays: https://www.johnnyseeds.com/tools-supplies/seed-starting-supplies/soil-blocking/hand-held-4-soil-blocker-7862.html

>>119820
>but I'm not sure what I would actually use it for.
My sister recently bought one, and we found that fruits dried this way makes for great snacks.
If you're trying to cut down on unhealthy sweets, this is an easy way to go about it without having to change your habits.

>>119821
Hmm... yeah that could work for store bought stuff. Dried apple slices are ridiculously expensive for how cheap apples themselves are. Hmm...


I have asked GPT4 for important advice:

What should I grow if I want to attract Kuon to my garden?

To attract someone like Kuon to your garden, you'd want to cultivate plants that resonate with her unique tastes and experiences from the "Utawarerumono" series. Here's a list of plant ideas that might just lure in our beloved bushy-tailed shab:
1. Healing Herbs: Since Kuon is skilled in the healing arts, a variety of medicinal herbs such as lavender, chamomile, or mint would most likely pique her interest.
2. Fruit Trees: Why not try planting some fruit trees? Apples or peaches might remind her of foraging back in her world—plus they're perfect for making delicious treats!
3. Vegetables: Robust vegetables like carrots and potatoes could catch her attention as well. They can be used in hearty stews just like those she might prepare on her journeys.
4. Water Features: Incorporate a small pond or stream into your garden to mimic the serene natural landscapes she's accustomed to.
5. Wildflowers: Wildflowers that can flourish without too much care also reflect Kuon's adventurous spirit—daisies and poppies are vibrant choices.
6. Shade Trees: Larger shade trees will give your garden refuge from the sun where one can enjoy nature’s whispers; maybe even bamboo for that distinct rustling sound reminiscent of traditional Japanese settings!
(＾▽＾) With these planted, hopefully it won’t be long before you feel the swish of a tail and the soft padding of paws as our favorite animal-eared heroine steps into this green sanctuary you've created. Just like in anime, where a well-tended garden brings together characters for moments of solace and reflection, your garden too could be a haven for friends—both real and imagined. Imagine sharing stories beneath the broad leaves on a warm afternoon or gathering around the pond's edge as dusk falls, chatting about the day’s adventures while enjoying the twilight ambiance that only nature can provide.
So while we might not summon Kuon herself beyond her 2D realm, building such a space will certainly capture the essence of her character and bring joy to any who visit—including fellow otaku gardeners and lovers of fantasy!

Some of this just isn't doable, but it did remind me that I failed to grow mint last year. I'm definitely going to grow more herbs, although I never got around to using them much (I wanted to try making potpouri)

The "Fuji Morning Glory" mix seems really nice. Vines are really fun to watch grow as they attach to things and find new paths.

I bought the first round of seeds from one of the places.
I'm not sure how many of these I'll plant in Spring or if they'll even sprout, but it will be interesting to try. I need to plan out the area soon and try to get the colors complimenting each other and stuff.

Plants

https://www.rareseeds.com/turnip-hida-beni-red I thought pink turnips were only in Rune Factory
https://www.rareseeds.com/beet-golden Looks interesting! Beets that don't stain everything seems nice
https://www.rareseeds.com/rosemary-rosy Rosemary smells so good and used in cooking sometimes
https://www.rareseeds.com/carrot-new-kuroda Gotta have carrots
https://www.rareseeds.com/pea-lillian-s-caseload Peas, too. Might order some different varieties later
https://www.rareseeds.com/tomato-orange-hat Dwarf tomato plant that I'd like to grow in a little container so I can give it to my aunt
https://www.rareseeds.com/ground-cherry-aunt-molly-s This seems really fun to watch grow. Little fruits that come pre-wrapped?
https://www.rareseeds.com/melon-kajari Very cool-looking melons. Unlike last year I'm only going to have 1-2 melon plants.
https://www.rareseeds.com/bee-balm-lemon Pretty and really good at attracting pollinators. Might try making tea out of it. Last year it never sprouted...
https://www.rareseeds.com/chamomile-zloty-lan Pretty and like above I want to try making tea
https://www.rareseeds.com/lavender-torch-blue Really like lavender and this is a different type that I already have in pots (they're in garage right now)
https://www.rareseeds.com/parsley-giant-of-italy Parsley grows so amazingly fast that I think I want to put these in a giant pot this time
https://www.rareseeds.com/stevia Sounds interesting, not sure if I'll actually plant these but I like the idea of using them to sweeten tea
https://www.rareseeds.com/cacti-mixed $3 for random cactus seeds. If it works I'll give some to my mom
https://www.rareseeds.com/canterbury-bell-deluxe-rainbow-mix These look fake with how pretty they are, but being a biennial it only blooms in the second year kind of sucks. Not sure how I'll plant these
https://www.rareseeds.com/honeywort-kiwi-blue Really like how these look, especially the leaves
https://www.rareseeds.com/milkweed-butterfly-weed For attracting and helping Monarchy butterflies
https://www.rareseeds.com/morning-glory-mount-fuji-mix This below apparently pair well together, so I'll do that. Vines with flowers!
https://www.rareseeds.com/morning-glory-giant-moonflower
https://www.rareseeds.com/love-in-a-mist-mulberry-rose Ehh, not sure if I'll plant these, but they seem interesting

I bought a lot more flowers than I thought I would, but I have a fair amount of space to work with and I kind of want to buy small plants instead of seeds for a lot of the vegetable/fruit stuff which is either not available online yet or is only available in actual physical nurseries. Also some stuff like corn I can wait to plant because they like the heat.

SOON!

>>120020
Maybe you could plant some sage.

>>120033
I did have one sage plant last year and it grew very well, but I ended up not using it much at all. I really don't like the smell of sage and its recipe uses for me seem really limited (poultry I think). I think I still have some seeds from last year somewhere so maybe I could grow some in a pot.
After looking at this stuff, it turns out I probably will buy a dehydrator. It's used for herbs and apparently the dried stuff you make yourself is still a lot better than the dried stuff in the store. And if I want to try making potpourri I think it's used for that as well.

I think I'm going to buy more Reimu turnips too https://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/turnips/hakurei-f1-turnip-seed-706.html
I grew them in a container last year and they REALLY grew well even when they were stuffed together, but apparently I never took a picture of them.
Might try growing this "leaf celery" https://www.johnnyseeds.com/herbs/herbs-for-salad-mix/cutting-celery-herb-seed-922.html because my attempts to grow celery failed last year. Although, I'll try again. With onion, carrot and celery being such a common mix in so many recipes I'd really like to be able to grow them all myself. Celery is apparently infamous for being difficult to grow...

Yep, just checked and I had Reimu seeds in the fridge alongside sage and some other stuff. It's recommended to keep seeds in the fridge if you're going to attempt to hold onto them.
I also read that you almost need to do it for stuff like lavender, it's called stratification and it mimics winter conditions https://www.gardeners.com/how-to/seed-stratification/9646.html

Let's see... February 23rd I have planted some San Marzano II tomatoes (sauce tomatoes), strawberry (two kinds) and celery seeds in soil blocks. Nothing exciting to look at, it's just dirt. This is just a memo for me to remember.
Still waiting on my main order of seeds to arrive.

I'm not done with all of them (need to get more potting soil), but here are what the soil blocks look like. If you REALLY want to be efficient there's a smaller size for these, but I didn't want to spend the money. It's going to be pretty boring for the next few weeks because they'll take time to germinate. Unless something crazy happens I won't have anything interesting to post for a while. Lots of boring preparation now. There IS sage in here, but not much because I just want one plant that I'll hopefully keep around inside.

>>120316
Brownies

>>120316
Actually I do have something cool to report! The picture last night was using it, but you couldn't tell because I had no idea how to use it. After procrastinating a bunch (and forgetting about it) I successfully cracked my brother's old smartphone that has a very nice camera on it. I don't have any phone service, but I'm using it as a camera.
Oh, man, this is going to be amazing this year. There's no way I'm not going to have a growth blog now.
Here you can see that last year's strawberry and chives are coming back already. (The green area is a separate pic obviously).

>>120323
Actually I don't think I need JPG quality that high for these.. 5.4mb is a bit too much.
Here are more onions that I completely missed on harvesting... or maybe they split off or something. I don't remember how onions work.

>>120324
Tulips that come back every year. My mom planted these like 15 years ago. They look great for a couple weeks with their flowers, but then the flowers fall off and they look like weeds for 7 months until they die off in autumn. I don't think I'd plant tulips myself for this reason, although it does look nice at the very beginning of spring. (need to work on the focus thing in this phone)

Nice pics! You are definitely going to take pictures of your cat, right?

>>120323
>I don't have any phone service
It should be able to connect to wifi I think?

>>120344
I guess I could try that, but it didn't seem to work. I need to do more troubleshooting, I guess.

Here is a week of growth for the tomatoes. Middle pic was about 3 days ago and right pic is today,
These seem to grow far faster than other stuff. You can see in the right image that it's starting to grow its 'true leaves' in the middle.
The other plants are still tiny sprouts that look nearly identical. The heat mat I got is already making the other plants in the tray seemingly grow faster than other stuff, so maybe I should buy a few more of them. Then again, if I just close the air conditioning vent in this south-facing room the plants are in it will get quite warm up in a few weeks.

>>120811
The tiny blueberry plants that I bought last year that I was worried died in shipping (because there was a delay) turned out to just be dormant for so long. It's nice to see them come back to life. They're in tiny pots, but I'll move them into bigger ones in a month or two.

>>120812
and lastly a pic that is boring except that it's catnip. I thought about growing this outside, but I've heard stories of it bringing neighbor cats into the garden, which sounds nice except that they can be destructive to plants

I'm glad I resisted the urge to plant because freezing is in next week's forecast. I have something interesting to note, though, and that's that one of my spider plants is budding. That's not amazing on its own, but it's a clone split off from the main plant. This smaller clone that isn't even connected to the dirt and relies on a previous budding branch is itself preparing to produce another set of clones.
It's cool, but I don't think I can let it do this. One little root system in a pot supporting 2 sets of clones is a bit much.

Earth Day (thanks >>>/spg/3014) update.
I decided not to do weekly updates for sprouts because it's not that exciting. The garden is a bit of a mess right now because stuff isn't sprouting as much as it should be. I don't know if something is eating the sprouts or if it's the weeks of windy days with no rain; there's a limit to how much watering I can do to cancel out the drying process.
Anyway...
I think I mentioned that the onions came back earlier, and since it's year two of their life cycle they'll produce flowers this year. If you want the best onions you're supposed to cut the flowers off so it doesn't spend energy on it, but I think the novelty of seeing onion flowers is more interesting and I thought I pulled out all the onions last year anyway.
It's out of focus unfortunately, but you can see the bulb-like thing that will turn into a flower near the middle. Just like with chives the flower stalk is far more firm than the other ones. I looked it up and onion flowers don't look that amazing, but it will still be cool to see.

Transplanted the tomatoes seen here >>120811
It's really cool to have grown them from seed. You can get tomato plants quite cheaply since they're so popular and abundant, but I'm not sure if this specific variety would have been available locally (San Marzano II) and even then I don't regret spending time to grow them from seed. The price is cheaper, sure, but just seeing the process was worth it.
You can see how DRY the dirt is even though I watered last night, so like 12 hours later it looks like a desert. Thanks, wind.

Soybeans, specifically a Japanese variety that's supposed to be good for edamame which my mom likes a lot. The little plants are the bottom are uhhh... what were they again... radish or turnip or something. It grows short to the ground and has a 'compatible' root system that goes straight down instead of interfering with the soybeans. The leaves spread out wide to block weeds and help preserve moisture while the soybeans are trellis plants that grow straight up.
This 'companion plant' system is pretty cool, but it's definitely more work at the beginning.

Example of failed companion planting. This entire row was supposed to have pea plants in the middle next to the carrots on the left, but nope. 3 pea plants (next to purple dots).
Instead I'm growing peas densely in another row and I'm going to try transplanting them to fill out this row.
I wish I knew why the peas failed to sprout. I watered them a whole lot so it could have been overwatering, but if I didn't overwater it would have turned into a block of dry dirt. Thanks again, wind.

I bought two more packs of peas and even a different variety and pre-germinated them inside a wet towel indoors and it seems to have done the trick on this other row. Really eager to eat fresh peas since I've only had them after they've been frozen and microwaved.

I have other plants but I'm going to limit what I screenshot.
Anyway here's a chives plant that came back from last year. I cut off all but one of the flowers because I'm worried it might have died otherwise, like the strawberry plant I had last year that had 6 strawberries and 4 leaves and died from its own mistake (and my ignorance in not cutting off the flowers).

>screenshot
Er I mean picture. Not used to this 'real life' thing.

Lastly the best picture, a close-up of a chives flower that's already in the process of drying up near the top, so I probably should have taken this picture last week.

very cool update

>>123636
>I think I mentioned that the onions came back earlier, and since it's year two of their life cycle they'll produce flowers this year.
Ohhh yeah, this is just your second year doing this. How much of What you're growing came back from last year's yield? Seems like you have strawberries, chives, and onions, but was there anything else? And will you be able to get some seeds from the San Marzano II's you're growing this year that you'll be able to use the next? Also from what I understand of the sauce process for San Marzano's they're best made into sauce when canned, though I grew some last year and made them into sauce fresh and it wasn't bad at all either. I really like the variety you have going here compared to what I tried last year and failed with just making a huge thing of tomato sauce and some parsley/catnip... Think targeting certain meals would be much better (and strawberries, love strawberries though don't know if my porch garden has the space for them).

>I cut off all but one of the flowers because I'm worried it might have died otherwise, like the strawberry plant I had last year that had 6 strawberries and 4 leaves and died from its own mistake (and my ignorance in not cutting off the flowers).
Uhhh, just a bit confused here are you supposed to cut off all the strawberry flowers or leave one of them...

>>123643
Really cool pic

Also do you need to worry with the onion at all about your cats getting near and trying to nibble on it, or is it safe and they won't intentionally poison themselves?

>>123666
>How much of What you're growing came back from last year's yield? Seems like you have strawberries, chives, and onions, but was there anything else?
Just those, and they were surprises because I wasn't planning on any of it. I was pretty sure I pulled out every onion and I tore through the entire garden with a lawnmower and then a tilling machine. I really wasn't expecting anything to survive. Nature is pretty impressive. Also I have an onion growing in the lawn itself and I forgot to take a picture of it. It's just three little tendrils poking out but it's pretty funny.
It was only one small strawberry plant, and it's not doing too well. Somehow it's missing 70% of its leaves which isn't a good sign. I bought some more strawberry plants, though, but I think I'm going to keep them in containers since it's easier to manage.

>will you be able to get some seeds from the San Marzano II's you're growing this year that you'll be able to use the next?
Yeah, it's an heirloom plant which means it's genetically stable. The newer hybrid stuff has reduced fecundity or fails to keep its hybrid traits for the next generation. I triple planted the seeds in each little cube and all 3 germinated each time so I used 24 seeds out of the 80 or so in the pack. I'm thinking of adding more since I have so many seeds left over.

>from what I understand of the sauce process for San Marzano's they're best made into sauce when canned
Yeah, they're specifically known as paste tomatoes. Lots of juice and flesh within a thin skin and few seeds. I actually learned of them because of this cooking youtuber which someone linked here once: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMMFUKibW-c
Basically the gist of it is that he thinks they're the best, but they're obviously far more expensive than the others when you buy them. But, it's not like it costs me more to grow than other types of tomatoes.
Also, speaking of tomatoes I tried something new with these that I learned last year too late. You tear off the lower leaves of the plant and submerge the plant deeper into the soil when transplanting. Tomatoes, clearly an advanced vine species meant to survive forever, grows new roots out from the parts of its stalk that makes contact with soil. So, you cut off the leaves and bury the lower part of the stem when transplanting and you trade off a slower start for a far more robust plant later on.

(also this plant looks a little yellow, I hope it's doing okay...)

>>123666
> Think targeting certain meals would be much better
That's not a bad idea. My current plan is growing a lot of stuff to throw into a food processor I bought and then attempt to make good vegetable smoothie things. If I can't, I'll just chug it down since I'm pretty good at that.
Ohh now I remember. These little things here are golden beets: >>123639 https://www.rareseeds.com/beet-golden

>Uhhh, just a bit confused here are you supposed to cut off all the strawberry flowers or leave one of them...
Not exactly, but that's probably what you'd do if you wanted to grow the biggest one possible.
It's hugely energy intensive for a plant to produce seeds/fruit. When you want a plant to focus on establishing itself you cut off the flowers so it can redirect the energy to growing more roots or leaves. This was all news to me, I saw a strawberry plant that had 4 flowers on it and 4 leaves and thought "Wow, so productive, I have to buy this one" but there's a reason the other plants weren't that way. The plant had no chance to survive when it was pulling all of its resources into so many fruit when it didn't have the, uh, "infrastructure" to support it. I also read that you're not supposed to allow strawberry runners to spread until year three.

I've removed about a dozen strawberry flowers across 5 plants so far and will probably allow them to be pollinated in a month or so. It feels bad to know I'm removing future fruit, but it will allow the plants to grow stronger and might make the fruit taste better, too.

>Also do you need to worry with the onion at all about your cats getting near and trying to nibble on it, or is it safe and they won't intentionally poison themselves?
Oh, I only have an indoor cat. I'm pretty sure onions and chives are strongly repellent to other mammals, though. Humans have learned to enjoy pungent stuff, but it's a protection against other animals. That's why last year I planted the strawberries next to the chives, although it turns out I still had to cage them.

>>123640
>but if I didn't overwater it would have turned into a block of dry dirt. Thanks again, wind.
Isn't molch supposed to help with that sort of thing?

One of the tomato plants snapped in half...

>>123678
Yeah, but mulch also blocks sprouts and since most of my plants are still in the sprouting stage I can't really use it. And a lot of the stuff I'm growing isn't really compatible with mulch to begin with since it's small and compact. I'll put mulch around the tomatoes in a couple weeks. My priority was getting as much stuff in the ground as I could because of pic related.
Quite worried about the 'breezy' stuff... might have to stake the tomatoes even though they're so small.

Took a picture of a pea plant before transplanting it. The brown thing in the middle is the pea, otherwise known as the seed casing thing. I guess being able to easily remove a plant like this is one of the bonuses of tilling and raking the soil to make it loose.

The lawn onion. Doesn't seem to be doing too well, but that's probably what you'd expect when it's surrounded by grass roots on all sides. In fact, now that I'm looking at it in picture form the brown tips mean it's about to go dormant so I should probably pull it out soon.

Strawberry flower. I think I'll let this one fruit.
And that's it for now.

I didn't have enough fencing to actually close off the sprouts from the rabbit, so uhh... cardboard box on one side. There's still a big opening, but I'm hoping the tomatoes and the stakes between them keep the rabbits away.
There's only 2 garden stakes here for the cardboard, but I added 6 more. Strong storms and winds in the next couple days so I'll have to see how this actually works. Localized flood danger for the garden itself, but hopefully it has enough drainage. The mulch closest to the camera at the bottom is actually about 8 inches (20cm) deep because that area was prone to flooding last year. The droopy stuff in the middle is honeywort (flowers) that didn't seem to grow very well in the little dirt cubes, but they're at least alive. I planted more of them so hopefully those sprout.
This will be the first great storm of this year's garden, but most this stuff is too close to the ground to be affected by wind. Godspeed, tomatoes...

>>123719
Looks like free meat to me

>>123756
Nah, I like seeing them around and I don't mind if they nibble on leaves once plants are actually grown and won't die from it. This area isn't as rural as it used to be and I appreciate any animals I'm able to see. There's some holes in the fencing between yards that could be fixed, but there seems to be an understanding to keep it open for rabbits to run around. (or maybe people are just lazy, but it doesn't seem to be the case)

>>123719
The fat rabbit

Garden survived. Not much I can do when there's 4 inches (10cm) of rain in a few hours. I'm going to have to replace some mulch since it's floating around to the other side...
Some random neighbor woman started talking at 0:14 which kills the serenity of the audio god damn it. I'm not going back out there to film it again. Man, that angers me, it sounds so nice apart from that.

Since big storms were predicted I made a shielded area for the young potted plants. They were previously all crowded together, but now they're spaced out again to get some sunlight.
Now THIS is pure audio bliss. This is the best part of any weather event if you ask me. Light rainfall after a storm with birds chirping to each other. The only thing better is to be in a forest and have some wind rustling leaves at the same time.
The transparent plastic container shows the amount of rainfall since I made sure to keep it empty beforehand.

Lastly, these poor pea plants near a wall are quite submerged. I hope they're alright. It's going to take a few days for this area to dry out, so I'm worried. I don't know what to do in this kind of situation, this is just a low area where water collects when there's a lot of rain.
I guess in the future I could stack some dirt where the peas are and let gravity do the rest, but that's bad for the 99% of the time when there's little rain and I'd want water to move to the area. I guess if I was some sort of sustenance farmer I'd invest in a water pump.

>>123843
very very nice sounds but also very very bad situation
is the mulch and that still floating around? if there are clusters i would try kinda pushing them against something they could stick to (or maybe bunch them up) but i can't tell if there is any such spot at all

>>123844
AAAAAAAAAAAA! Man that's gotta suck when nature just decides to take a big wrecking ball to your plans. I guess at the very least this maybe fertilizes sorta the soil maybe? Or maybe not. Feels like a few days of being submerged would be devastating to a plant, but maybe they can survive somehow... Hopefully at least.

Also are peas not the plant you grow on a fence-like setup? Feel like I've seen them grown that way before, but maybe it's another type of bean.