[Merged] Anyone need gardening advice???

[Rembrandt100]

Thank you so much Dave, yes, I think that will make the cedars look much sleeker.



LOL - those are the shoots from my Yucca plant - it should be blooming in the next week or two.

I'm such a newbie gardener. I'm sure I'll be asking you even more as I try to tackle other sections of my property. I'm taking it one section at a time so that it's more manageable. Thanks so much for all your help.

That is what I thought was but did not want to stick my neck out that far. Mine is just opening it's side limbs this week. The common name for that plant is Adams Needle.


Dave

[Rembrandt100]

I have an old Cedar about 15' tall and the lower half is beginning to dry out. Im in Toronto and we've had a fair amount of rain and I'll water it when we have a 5+ days of no rain.

Any idea why it's drying out? Can I save it?

I think you answered your own question with the part about "an old Cedar". There could be other reasons for it to dry out but removing the dying limbs would be the best place to start. You could also add a everygreen fertilizer spike or two into the soil about 1 foot away from the tree. I do not think that watering is the answer. If it has been there 15 years I am reasonably sure that it has not been watered every 5 days or so and has likely become accustom to the water that is available.


Dave

[Little Tim]

I had a rain barrel once for a few months. But I had it to do a different test. My ex wife after she had met the new love of her life bought a 10 acre hobby farm near Little Briton Ont. So one day that I was there to take my daughter out there was the smell of a cow barn that had not been cleaned for a few days and I was told that the neighbour had just used manure tea on his fields. Well one idea lead to a different idea and the whole thing ended up with me asking her on the next trip there if she remembered the chit that we gave each other when we were together. She said she did. So I asked if she want to give me some real chit? She did. But this stuff was from the cows she had in the barn. The idea came to fruitarian in the form of an onion bag, hanging inside a rain barrel, mounded on a frame higher than the veggie garden, with a tap and a hose connection at the bottom. The idea was that the rain would fill the barrel and the manure in the onion bag would act like a tea bag in water and I would have manure tea! I painted the south side of the barrel black so that the sun would warm the water and waited 4-5 weeks to test it. It worked! Yes it did! All too well tho. First my neighbour to the south came out and asked if I could smell that awful reek. I lied I said no. Then the one on the north side came out. I knew I was caught when the one to the north said she was going to call the city because a pipe must have burst. So I took the onion bag out of the rain barrel and the other bag I had for the next batch and dug it into the veggie garden between the plants. They could smell that for 3 days.


Dave

That gave me such a chuckle that it deserves a thanks!

[sfrancis]

That gave me such a chuckle that it deserves a thanks!

+1. Not only a very helpful thread but entertaining as well.

[gqbluez]

Hi wow this is a great thread! I went through about 15 pages back but still could not find much about weedkillers. I was wondering if anyone has any really good experiences with weedkillers. My lawn is about 90% weed. I've recently decided to build a deck over some of the yard so that should take care of some of the maintenance but I was wondering if anyone knows of any easily available good quality weedkillers in Toronto/Markham? I tried buying Scotts and others from Home Depot but they were ineffective with my weeds.

Killex, Weed B Gone are some that have gotten good reviews om these forums but I don't think they are sold here anymore? Where can I legally get good weed killer in the GTA? Thanks in advance!

[oni5000]

This is our first garden and it has been growing great, but recently a bunch of the leaves of our beet plants have been drying out and withering away. Also, we've been finding holes in the basil plants and the zucchini leaves seem to be drying out or growing something on the edges - any ideas?

Link to images of garden: http://imgur.com/a/NvI3T

[Rembrandt100]

Hi wow this is a great thread! I went through about 15 pages back but still could not find much about weedkillers. I was wondering if anyone has any really good experiences with weedkillers. My lawn is about 90% weed. I've recently decided to build a deck over some of the yard so that should take care of some of the maintenance but I was wondering if anyone knows of any easily available good quality weedkillers in Toronto/Markham? I tried buying Scotts and others from Home Depot but they were ineffective with my weeds.

Killex, Weed B Gone are some that have gotten good reviews om these forums but I don't think they are sold here anymore? Where can I legally get good weed killer in the GTA? Thanks in advance!

You cant get any good weed killer products in Ontario. Daddy Daulton said so.


Dave

[Mars2012]

Hi wow this is a great thread! I went through about 15 pages back but still could not find much about weedkillers. I was wondering if anyone has any really good experiences with weedkillers. My lawn is about 90% weed. I've recently decided to build a deck over some of the yard so that should take care of some of the maintenance but I was wondering if anyone knows of any easily available good quality weedkillers in Toronto/Markham? I tried buying Scotts and others from Home Depot but they were ineffective with my weeds.

Killex, Weed B Gone are some that have gotten good reviews om these forums but I don't think they are sold here anymore? Where can I legally get good weed killer in the GTA? Thanks in advance!

Being in SK, I still have access to most of the powerful herbicides and pesticides, it doesn't mean I use them though. I actually have very few weeds on my lawn; I make sure they don't go to seed, that's really important. Buy a few of those notched dandelion weeders and keep them in a handy spot (where you will actually use them). Try not to get overwhelmed, just dig out a patch whenever you get the chance. Persistence will pay off eventually. Personally, I like getting rid of the weeds right away rather than spraying them and watching them die a slow death for a couple of weeks.

[Rembrandt100]

This is our first garden and it has been growing great, but recently a bunch of the leaves of our beet plants have been drying out and withering away. Also, we've been finding holes in the basil plants and the zucchini leaves seem to be drying out or growing something on the edges - any ideas?

Link to images of garden: http://imgur.com/a/NvI3T

Holes in the leaves of plants are usually caused by insects. Your zuccini leaves appear to have a mold or mildew type of fungus on them and likely are being over watered. The leaves of the beets are withering but there are new leaves appearing which means the roots are still good but it could also be a sucking type of insect drying them. Beets need manure or compost dug into the soil before sowing. If it is too late for that you could toss some fertilizer that you used on the lawn into the bed but I can not tell you how much because I do not know the size of the bed. If it is just a 5ft row we could be talking about a spoonful.

I am having the same problem with my peas. As soon as they get to be a few inches tall they get eaten back to the ground. My beets are also losing the largest leaves on about 1/2 of the plants so I will start a second sowing tomarrow. Funny thing is between the rows of beets I planted radishes. The radishes are fine and I have been eating them for 2 weeks grated on salads of leaf and romane lettuce growing in my tomato patch.


Dave

[Mars2012]

Holes in the leaves of plants are usually caused by insects. Your zuccini leaves appear to have a mold or mildew type of fungus on them and likely are being over watered. The leaves of the beets are withering but there are new leaves appearing which means the roots are still good but it could also be a sucking type of insect drying them. Beets need manure or compost dug into the soil before sowing. If it is too late for that you could toss some fertilizer that you used on the lawn into the bed but I can not tell you how much because I do not know the size of the bed. If it is just a 5ft row we could be talking about a spoonful.

I am having the same problem with my peas. As soon as they get to be a few inches tall they get eaten back to the ground. My beets are also losing the largest leaves on about 1/2 of the plants so I will start a second sowing tomarrow. Funny thing is between the rows of beets I planted radishes. The radishes are fine and I have been eating them for 2 weeks grated on salads of leaf and romane lettuce growing in my tomato patch.


Dave

Dave,
I've had problems with birds eating my beet seedlings too. My husband built me an enclosure made of wood which is covered with mesh on three sides. It seems to have solved the problem. It is a permanent structure and is removed when the tops of the beets hits the top of the mesh. I actually used black plastic gutter guard from the dollar store to use as mesh and staple-gunned it in place. It takes a bit of time to build but you can use this for years. He also built me one for my peas but the back support is taller than the front (so from the side it kind of looks like an "h").

[Rembrandt100]

Thanks and glad I made you at least smile. A chuckle is even better. It is a true story and the real reason I owned up to my neighbours was I had this picture in my head of the front of my house filled with trucks from the fire dept, police, ambulance, MOE. and city workers looking for the odor. In hind sight I should have only let it cook for 2 weeks instead of as long as I did.



Dave

[Rembrandt100]

Dave,
I've had problems with birds eating my beet seedlings too. My husband built me an enclosure made of wood which is covered with mesh on three sides. It seems to have solved the problem. It is a permanent structure and is removed when the tops of the beets hits the top of the mesh. I actually used black plastic gutter guard from the dollar store to use as mesh and staple-gunned it in place. It takes a bit of time to build but you can use this for years. He also built me one for my peas but the back support is taller than the front (so from the side it kind of looks like an "h").

I agree making a cage or some sort of other protection would be a good idea but I do not think that it is birds. All tho the leaves on my beets are larger than the one's in the posted link they are doing the same thing as in curling up and turning brown from the leaf tip back to the stem. If it were birds the entire seedling would be gone or the leaves would have parts ripped off of them. If it were insects the leaves would have holes in them or the leaves would be skeletonized, but mine and the ones in the post look fine except they are dieing back. Funny thing is not but a few feet away my Romane and Leaf lettuce are fine, not a mark on them, and the radishes are not marked at all. So that leaves me to believe that there is something either lacking or needed in the soil. It could be that I should have added a pail of sand to the bed like I did with the carrots to improve drainage. I will add sand tomarrow before I do the resowing. It could also be that the sheep stuff I added in the spring was too much and the bed is too rich. I am working on it.



Dave

[toisanwu]

Hi,

I've planted squash and melons for years and have never seen this. The plant leaves are mostly eaten out:



And also the Chinese cabbage:



This mostly happened over night to a plant, well, perhaps over couple of days.

I just read that someone is having the same problem in a previous post. I would like to know what the remedy is? Are there any natural solutions, since we can't purchase pesticide anymore, I can use to prevent this?

Also, The squash/melon plants are not growing much over the last two weeks since I transplanted them to the garden. However, the other green veggies are growing well. I do water all the plants often. The only I did differently this season is that I put lots of compost in before I planted anything. Is the soil too rich for the young squash/melon plants? Seeing the size of the squash plant (first pic), is there any hope for this season (for Ottawa climate)?

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

[Mars2012]

I agree making a cage or some sort of other protection would be a good idea but I do not think that it is birds. All tho the leaves on my beets are larger than the one's in the posted link they are doing the same thing as in curling up and turning brown from the leaf tip back to the stem. If it were birds the entire seedling would be gone or the leaves would have parts ripped off of them. If it were insects the leaves would have holes in them or the leaves would be skeletonized, but mine and the ones in the post look fine except they are dieing back. Funny thing is not but a few feet away my Romane and Leaf lettuce are fine, not a mark on them, and the radishes are not marked at all. So that leaves me to believe that there is something either lacking or needed in the soil. It could be that I should have added a pail of sand to the bed like I did with the carrots to improve drainage. I will add sand tomarrow before I do the resowing. It could also be that the sheep stuff I added in the spring was too much and the bed is too rich. I am working on it.



Dave

Hmm, I just took a look at that photo and I'm wondering if it isn't some sort of fertilizer burn? If not, could it be sun scald on the leaves from watering in hot conditions? You could also check if it has some sort of fungal disease. I would hesitate to use sand as a soil amendment; I have read that it doesn't help to improve soil conditions.

[sienna owner]

Hi wow this is a great thread! I went through about 15 pages back but still could not find much about weedkillers. I was wondering if anyone has any really good experiences with weedkillers. My lawn is about 90% weed. I've recently decided to build a deck over some of the yard so that should take care of some of the maintenance but I was wondering if anyone knows of any easily available good quality weedkillers in Toronto/Markham? I tried buying Scotts and others from Home Depot but they were ineffective with my weeds.

Killex, Weed B Gone are some that have gotten good reviews om these forums but I don't think they are sold here anymore? Where can I legally get good weed killer in the GTA? Thanks in advance!

Yup
Like Dave said, no more 2,4D stuff selling legally in Ontario
I get my stuff from the state and sold a few bottles

Hoping to get Bayer grub concentrate this weekend too