Gardening

I've recently planted some chili plants, and after a week, I noticed that the leaves were yellowing. After running through all the possibilities, I found that the soil stays super wet even in summer in the full sun.

​Does anyone know why this is happening?

And how can I fix it?

Thanks for any help!

This post was inspired by a comment in another thread.

When people think of "medicinal gardens," likely what comes to mind are plants grown specifically for their medicinal properties, such as arnica, feverfew, mugwort, and tulsi: plants that have to be sourced from special seed catalogues and not something you can just pick up at your local nursery. In actuality, tons of vegetable garden staples have medicinal properties! You likely are already growing a garden pharmacy without even realizing it.

For example, basically all culinary herbs have some kind of medicinal use. Probably the best known is sage (its witchy reputation isn't arbitrary!), however many other culinary staples such as mint, oregano, thyme, rosemary, cilantro, and parsley all have their own medical benefits too. Unlike more specialized medicinal plants that can require special processing (e.g. drying the root or creating a tincture), culinary herbs are also super easy to take, either by mixing them into food or brewing a tea (turns out you can just make tea from basically any sturdy edible plant part, including flowers, leaves, stems, roots, and seeds). Probably the best part about using culinary herbs medicinally is that while their medicinal effects may be on the milder side, you're unlikely to over-consume them or experience an interaction or side-effect, unlike other more pharmaceutical-grade plants like licorice root and ashwagandha that require care with use. This general safety, as well as their prevalence, ease of use, and multi-purpose nature, make culinary herbs fantastic entry-level additions to any medicinal garden.

Many popular garden flowers also have medicinal properties, such as jasmine, echinacea, calendula, lavender, and yarrow. It's important to note, however, that many medicinal flowering plants have also been bred for ornamental purposes, and while ornamental varieties probably still retain some medicinal properties, it's best to stick with varieties specifically bred for use as medicine as they tend to be the most potent (and maybe safer? I haven't heard that you shouldn't consume the ornamental varieties, so much as that they're not as effective).

Also worth noting is that for many medicinal plants, the medicinal part isn't necessarily that part that's most commonly consumed. Raspberry (and to a lesser degree strawberry) leaves, for example, are a common treatment for menstrual discomfort, even though the part we usually eat (the fruit) does not share the same medicinal qualities. Flowers, seeds, and roots can also be surprise sources of pharmaceutical effect in plants usually consumed for their other parts.

While there are lots of online resources for learning more about medicinal plants and pharmaceutical gardening, I'd also recommend seeing what print resources are in your local library. Growing and foraging plants with medicinal properties is an ancient human tradition... even non-human animals have been observed seeking out specific plants to alleviate various ailments!

The next time you're feeling a bit unwell, be it digestive discomfort, menstrual cramps, or just a case of the sniffles, look up your symptom online + "medicinal plants" or "herbs" or similar. You may be surprised to find just the thing is already growing in your backyard!

An obligatory disclaimer: before consuming a plant for medicinal use, you should of course always research the plant for potential interactions or side-effects (many herbs should not be consumed during pregnancy, for example, and some can interact with pharmaceutical drugs, which seems obvious if you think about it). You should also be careful which part of the plant you're consuming: many perfectly edible plants have toxic parts (nightshades like tomatoes and eggplants being a great example).

For the unfamiliar, lemon balm is a common herb in the mint family. Grows like a weed, smells and tastes great, drought and freeze resistant, attracts pollinators when flowering, doesn't mind being indoors.

I've started to really like it added fresh to herbal tea — it's mildly yet discernibly psychotropic, with a subtle calming effect. If anyone's managed to pull it off well in pesto or salads, I'd love to hear your recipes.

These insects are plaguing the hot pepper plants in our greenhouse, and last year they killed the pepper plants that we brought indoors. I haven't noticed them being a problem when it was warmer out, I'm assuming the ladybugs were keeping them down.

How best to deal with them? We have an insecticidal soap that didn't work last year, tobacco plants that I could probably extract nicotine from, or I'm open to buying something if someone has a recommendation.

I live in Alberta, I think we're zone 3, if it helps

I cleaned it with isopropyl alcohol just now, in case it's a fungal infection. Last watering was on the ~18th of last month, before it overwinters with little to no water. It's soil is a mix of extreme grit with a mixed shell of more normal soil around the outside. Terracotta pot. It gets exactly seven hours of bright, direct artificial light under a 200w grow light each day.

The only bugs around are a few fungus gnats that rode in on produce a few months ago. Any advice would be helpful! I'm trying not to carve into it unless absolutely necessary, as it's only about as tall as a pencil.

Planted a carrot top a few months back expecting it to flower and give me some seeds. I had to dig it up the other day because of moving and found this insane mess

We made 11 jars of pickled green tomatoes and 21 jars of salsa. Jars are Pint sized (≈.5 L). Unpictured is the 4 gallons (≈16L) of blanched and frozen red tomatoes that we'll eventually turn into sauce.

This took a while. Every window in the house was fogged.

I turned the grow lights on early this year to grow some potatoes, which I'm sure is a totally a great use of energy. I'm really hoping to grow another round of starts after not having a very good year this year due to keeping our potatos in smaller pots and us not getting a ton of rain. Next year I'll put them in a much larger planter.

I'm also trying to get some cherry pits to seed. I collected the cherries, which were delicious, from a tree in our neighborhood. I'm betting the mother tree isn't a graft given its location and age. If any of you have any tips, I'm all ears. The pits are now a year old and spent the time in dry dirt on this table.

Just recently starting growing microgreens. I had 2 trays that turned out excellent. My last tray and now this current one are doing as shown.

We found a recipe for pickled green tomatoes we're trying out. Let you know how it goes.

Hi All - I'm thinking about getting a drip irrigation system for my garden and was curious if anyone here has tried one. Anything that has worked well, or not so much? Brand recommendations? Rain Bird and Hunter have come up in my searches so far. Other considerations a beginner wouldn't think about? I'm in the US, so I also need it to be able to be shipped here.

Might be watering them inadequately, missed the peak growing season, which is summer (most likely, though some are still growing) impatient or all of the above but I feel like that's the size they grow, apparently I've read somewhere that they're of the "ornamental" variety which means they're that size when they've matured, but the picture shows a bigger size. They're Thai Dragon Chilies. Unless I wait until next year to see if they grow bigger or to move them to a bigger pot.

Got frost this morning and decided to pull this lil bugger

I've an issue.

I have a bunch of plants that need to come in for the winter. I have gotten rid of every plant I own that is toxic to cats. We have two.

I've been growing a lemon tree for 4 years now. It's finally in its final pot, and 3-4 feet tall. Meaning, it cannot go up on my winter shelf, and needs to sit on the floor.

One of our cats is, well, chompy. So I looked up if the lemon tree was toxic to cats. I really didn't think it would be, but yay, it is.

We've two bathrooms, in a very small house. My son's bathroom has a skylight, so for now, not knowing where to put this tree, I stuck it in his tub. I take it out and watch for the cats when he showers, and then put it back in.

My husband made comment about my plant shelf this morning, because I'm down to one functional plant light, anyway, I said this is nothing, and told him what I've been doing with the lemon tree the last few days.

He said, well that doesn't sound sustainable. I said, well what else should I do?

He is so paranoid about our cats getting sick. He suggested I should get rid of the tree, that's what he would do. I said, it feels like I cant have hobbies because of the cats, I've already gotten rid of so many of my plants for them.

He then got mad at me for blaming him, I really should hear myself sometimes. I said I wasn't blaming him. And he left for work.

I see people with plants and cats. Like, what the hell should I do? I've been growing this lemon tree from seed, and I don't want to get rid of it.

I already have a tropical plant, that has grown too large for the house, is toxic to the cats, and its sitting outside right now freezing to death. It makes me depressed.

:(

Post from the spring

Got nearly 20 ounces, 566 grams for the more civilized.

Also some volunteer Jack-o-lantern pumpkins, I've had to pick them earlier than I wanted because a ground hog has devoured 6-7 pumpkins already.

It’s been a good year. It’s probably past time to pull out some of the summer stuff and plant some fall crops but I always have a hard time pulling out healthy plants. The tomatoes in particular look good but have very little fruit.

I just got my hands on a small garden! But I have no idea where to start…

There are quite some plants already planted: an olive tree, some small palm trees (that I don’t like), a Japanese maple (?), a raspberry bush and some others I don’t recognize (mostly decorative). Most of the floor is lawn (that I am letting grow wilder). Unfortunately I am not able to include a photo, it’s not loading.

I am in a 9a/9b zone (I think: mild winters rarely if ever freezing, mild summers, quite wet the whole year, continental Europe).

My questions:

• what can I do to maintain the lawn walkable but let it get more diverse?

• what tools do I need for every-day maintenance of a small garden?

• do you have any advice on plants both perennial and annual for newbies? I’m in particular interested in small plants that produce something edible. Ideally would like to start with a small apple tree? And a pumpkin/zucchini plant next year?

Boy, did this take forever!

Bonus pic of the last few Big Jim green chiles roasting on the grill:

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