Oh you can. Just takes a decent amount of work the first few years so the heat or winter doesn’t kill them. I have 6 in the ground now. They grow much slower here as growing season is only March to October.

I just cleaned all the shit outta my backyard landscaping that has taken it over the last couple of years. That's not too exciting. Just a bunch of saplings and weeds and vines and whatever.

But I did plant some herbs and peppers and got some tomato plants growing so I'll check in here once they get rolling hopefully

I've had really good luck with a gingko biloba I planted when I bought this place ~25 years ago (Shawnee, KS). Growing well, nothing seems to bother it. I like the shape of the leaves and their autumn color. With my memory problems, I probably ought to gather the leaves and make tea - supposed to be good for us.

The dwarf cherry I planted at the same time is sure 'nuff a dwarf, but it puts out lot of small cherries. I leave 'em for the neighbors to share with their kids, it seems to gather a lot of good will - since I turned diabetic after I planted the tree, the cherry pies I was hoping for are moot. This way I'm a nice old guy. Eh, just don't touch my good whiskey, kids.

Mango in Phoenix.

Guava in December of 2020

https://i.imgur.com/8sGO0Zf.jpg

Guava in June of 2023. 12 feet tall, tons of little white flowers which means first year fruiting!

https://i.imgur.com/pQpbyUo.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/iQOKdDb.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/9lfGfet.jpg

100% correct.

My veggie/fruit garden is the best its been ever. I decided to drill post holes and fence it off this year. Carrots, beets, radishes arent getting destroyed by rabbits and maters look great. Also have taters, okra, green been, snap peas, onions blueberries(sorta) and lots of blcack berries

Need to get off my ass and tend to my lawn tomorrow.

Finally got the concrete along the side of my house done. No more ****ing weeds!!!!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...bfde06129d.jpg


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This has been a few years in the making. Nothing short of spectacular for me to see. Monterrey plumeria. Now for the heat to destroy the blooms.........


https://i.imgur.com/jAFTfiD.jpg

I just raised the canopy on three trees. They were getting difficult to mow around. I decided to use my $20 Harbor Freight reciprocating saw with a limb/brush/wet wood blade. Holy crap was that quick and easy. Highly recommend.

“Bengal Tiger” Canna Lily.

I had the good fortune of hanging at lewdogs yesterday afternoon

The pics don't do his space justice

He's got a resort going on in his backyard

Has anyone tried using a mosquito bucket for mosquito control? I've been thinking about making one.

we need rain

I could spend a fortune watering this year. I have a lot of burned areas. It is sad. It will come back, but I am not going to spend 1000 a month to water.


I am also going to put roundup on the thick blades of grass in the yard. I have tried to do it with a paint brush or roller. It works so so. Next will be rubber glove and a rag.

What do you mean ‘thick blades of grass’? Are you referencing crabgrass?

YOOOOO

https://www.sprayersupplies.com/rw02...RoCk7sQAvD_BwE

What kind of grass is it you want to kill?

has to be-they are not the normal grass

Finally built a raised garden this year (had to, as our Husky will eat everything if we don't protect it with a fence). Sicily tomatoes, oregano, and basil for home made caprese salad FTW!!!!
Jalapeno and habanero later this year for hot af salsa. Word.

Much too kind.

Lewdog's personal landscaping travels. I could easily plant dozen of plants in your yard and run microbubblers to them in a day. I don't hand water a single thing in my yard. We can make this happen!

If it’s crabgrass there are two other methods that are much easier than spot application of roundup.

You can use a pre emergent crabgrass preventer in the spring. You need to know that no seeds will sprout once this is activated by rain, so you can not oversees that spring. The other option is they sell a chemical that will only target annual grasses like crabgrass. They sell it in a hose-end attached bottle, but I recommend buying concentrate and mix it a little stronger than the label recommends. Throw it in a pump up sprayer and go to town.

This is the stuff i'm talking abouthttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...decba0c374.jpg

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Yes, we have 2 of them in our back yard and they seem to work. They thin the population pretty well.

I went today with some roundup and nitril gloves. Wiped the grass with roundup with gloves on. Most the the grass was far above the normal grass.

May have to do it again next week. But it is worth a shot.

Since this is the "gardening" thread too....does anyone have any prevention ideas for squash vine borer bugs? They killed my fall squash planting last year, I'm putting a fall crop in pretty soon and I'd be open to any suggestions.

Most suggestions I've seen is to keep an eye out for their appearance and if/when they show up slice them out of the vine and inject Bt into the vine via the slice and cover it with soil. You also need to be vigilant in looking for their eggs which are usually on the underside of the leaves. Those can be removed using tape. Good luck, between them and the squash bugs I just let someone else grow them.

If you know a farmer that has some Cruiser sitting around, use that. Kills every bug imaginable.

You do need some bugs for pollination of the fruit unless you want to hand pollinate.

For some that is easier than others. I am not judging.

So go after pollination if possible.

Used Cruiser on trees for those green beetles. Insta death.

I hate those Japanese beetles, they'll eat everything! Good to know that will take them out.

Bt is a bacteria that is more discriminating what it will kill.

You may remember my post from a few years ago. Where I planted trees on our property line next to my dumbass/asshole neighbor.

My trees are sending out shoots. I almost feel bad about it, but he has a lot on his property.
Almost feel bad.

All he needs to do is mow them over, but with it being so dry, they are growing. Not my problem.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6ea7feb80a.jpg

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So my wife accidentally sprayed our garden with a Jap beetle pesticide that isn't meant for edible plants.

All my tomatoes and pepper plants are probably ****ed, right?

Home Depot has a great deal on a Champion rear tine tiller. $179 regularly $693. Not sure how long this will last.

Any of you pepper gardeners been affected by Peppergate? A lot of Kansas gardeners have had their jalapeno seeds and plants turn out to be a completely different pepper. Lots of banana peppers but other varieties as well. Different seed companies and nurseries involved, seems the distributor screwed up labeling them. I didn't plant peppers this year but I have seen quite a few posts in my gardening group from folks not getting the peppers they planted.

How did this turn out? Did they survive?

I don't live in KS but my peppers were as advertised this year. My shishitos aren't doing very well... maybe I can blame that on the distributor.

Anyone on the board an expert at growing citrus trees and have the ability to tell the difference between a meyer lemon tree and a dwarf key lime tree? Two years ago I bought both to grow in containers. What I thought was the key lime tree did not survive the first winter. The one that remains has started to grow some fruit. The first two fruits did not turn fully yellow before falling off the tree. A few more are ripening up, but also not sure if they will turn a full yellow.

Now I'm second guessing myself and wondering if the one that remains is actually the key lime tree. Any experts?

Picture is hard to see on my phone, but those really look like key limes to me.

Thanks for the feedback. I tried re-uploading the picture in a bit higher resolution to see if it helps any. I’m starting to lean towards it being a key lime tree as well, but I just don’t know for sure. The tops of the fruit on some are now turning a brighter yellow so I could also just be inpatient.

It's amazing how you can go from no grass to needing a baler in just a few weeks.

Any advice on over wintering my strawberries? I have a small patch of about 30 plants. Do they need to be covered all winter or do I just trim the dead stuff going into spring?

My aloe needs to calm TF down before they catch an indecent exposure charge

They're super excited for spring

https://i.imgur.com/QtemYlx.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/TM8y2lr.jpg

Anyone got an idea on how to deal with blight? Last year we (my wife) accidentally bought some spray to deal with it for non fruit bearing plants. Needless to say with her being pregnant we basically 86'd our small crop.

I've read this shit lives in soil and comes out in wet, damp climate. Can you treat the soil beforehand, or should i cave in and move the garden to a new spot? I know they make chemicals for food bearing plants too.

Lots of blooms happening with this mild AZ spring we've had. Most blooms I've had on the plumeria.

https://i.imgur.com/F3tlUYSh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/TfjjiHbh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/0A2yQfYh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/QB6obp9h.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/gfE4OD8h.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/jQ9hkIwh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/qOtARuAh.jpg

Iris

https://i.imgur.com/lH19gXoh.jpg

Pomegranate tree

https://i.imgur.com/SYz2HcDh.jpg

Canna Lily

https://i.imgur.com/zTOzCkA.jpg

That iris is really cool. Is it a particular kind?

Everything is in. 6 raised beds total. Three are fenced in to keep critters out. Those that aren't have onions, taters, asparagus, butternut squash and zuccini. Those that are fenced have tomatoes, peppers, okra, tomatillos, green beans, and carrots. Now just gotta wait.

I built a raised bed for my tomatoes and peppers this year. I finally found a great spot in my front yard last year, the back is just too shady. But you hit clay fairly shallow in that area, so I built the raised bed to give me another foot or so of depth.

Now I just need to fill it in with dirt and other material so I can plant. I'm planning on some compost, manure and top soil to fill it in. I'll turn the existing soil into all that and should have a pretty good place to grow.

Any suggestions on what else to mix in with the soil that's good for tomatoes?

Went with a Prairie Stature oak.

I'm just a fan of white oaks; always have been. Acorns looked cool, really pretty leaves with those rounded white oak lobes. And an oak that gets red coloration in the leaves in the fall is pretty slick.

People plant Honey Locusts? God almighty - the number of those I've cut down at the farm is just beyond count. The things go wild out there. As fun as those giant ass thorns are, they gots to go. They will simply crowd out the stuff I want to live out there.

I do like Lindens. Didn't want to deal with the pods but i really like that compact shape and smaller leaves. Most of them make that oval shape as well. You see them in parks around here and they do pretty well out here.

If I ever decide to take my maple out (because Maples just bore the hell out of me) I'll probably replace it with a Linden in the side yard out front.

I'd probably try to test the pH of the soil. I don't know what the acidity tolerance of tomatoes are, but I'm sure it's googleable.

If your pH is low, lime. If you have clay under there, organic matter is your friend. Id get into the clay as much as you're tough enough to do and mix in some 50/50 manure and something like sawdust and cedar chips. And then do your topsoil/manure whatever mix for your bed. Organic matter is your friend in clay.

I'd also plant some sort of brassica in the fall when you're done. If you can get roots to penetrate it, you'll gain a shitload of water infiltration in wet spells.

God ****ing clay.

I'm jealous maples won't run out here because we have high pH. The calcium carbonate ties up iron and they get chlorotic really bad. And yet mother****ers still chose to plant them. One in my GD yard. I want to **** punt whomever did that.

Are those from the Florida saplings?

Lewdog if you ever get the chance you need to see Monet's gardens in Giverny, France

Lake Mead's water level just dropped!

https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/23409...78d421963d8421

Thanks Lewdog :D

That's because you live in a barren wasteland where no humanity should exist.

Just turn that shit over to the Buffalo...

No, they are the same size as when you sent them! Plumeria only grow 1-2' per year, and towards the lower end of that here in the desert.

All the plumeria are growing so fast this year. I have one of those saplings I cut fell out of the trash on to the ground. No irrigation there. And life is finding a way.

Mother of ****.

Pea Gravel is heavy as hell and does not spread very far. I was worried about putting more than about 1,500 lbs in the bed of the truck - that's ONE damn bobcat scoop. Covered maybe 90 sq feet of area in the stupid kids play area. I'm gonna need about 3 times that to cover the half of the damn thing I'm re-doing.

And god almighty is knocking that shit out of the truck and spreading it a chore in 90 degree heat. And the good news is that the back of my house faces south so good ol' southern sun in the summer beating down...

Gross. At least it's not terribly expensive; $80/scoop wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. But it's gonna take two more of those damn bed-loads to get this done. Not even a little excited about it. And in the event we ever decide to take that play area out - well **** it, I'll just sell the house. I ain't shoveling this crap into to the back of a pickup...

Those are so awesome looking!

The cuttings you sent me are just starting to leaf out. About 50% of them are still alive which is about right. I have plunged them in pots in a raised bed under shade cloth to attempt getting them through summer.

Thanks again!

Go rent a dump trailer. It's worth the money.

I've learned that these are actually octopus agave

They bloom around the 5 year mark, provide nutrients to bees and hummingbirds, then die

This pic is like a month old. I'd say they're around 15' or taller now

Taking the sawzall to them this morning before they come down on their own

https://i.imgur.com/7PbO5HB.jpg

Watch your mowers. I've seen two posts on Nextdoor just this week about people having their mowers stolen out of their yards within minutes of leaving them.

You might have a business opportunity here. “Cool your cooch with soothing aloe.”

I never did get around to testing the pH and clay is not a concern in this area. I ended up mixing into the existing soil; 6 bags of bison manure, 2 bags of compost and 3 bags of potting soil I already had. I bought a small tiller so I got it all mixed in real good.

The bed is 4' x 12' and I put in a Big Boy, a Better Boy, a husky cherry and a grape tomato plant. Plus 4 different peppers; Anaheim, hot banana, serrano and some variety of jalapeno.

Sonofabitch if these aren't the best tomato plants I've ever had. They are all getting big and bushy. Not many 'maters yet on the vines, but there will be. And then that hot banana pepper is going crazy. There are already 4 big peppers on there with more starting.

Had to go Lorena Bobbitt on them but can hopefully get a couple new ones to grow
https://i.imgur.com/vYzqF9j.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/BQgZfmn.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/usuk8Od.jpg

BRC, we have our first desert flower from the Florida cuttings! I have the cuttings plunged in a raised bed under 50% shade cloth. They are loving the heat under there and growing leaves finally! I have about 8 that made it and are fully rooting now. I also put one by my son's window as an experiment, straight in the ground, and it's rooting!

Awesome white on these tips!

https://i.imgur.com/pdHtoob.jpg

I guess this is yardwork...

Tractor story time!!!!

So there's a lake at the farm with a large drain with a steel 'cage' covering it by the dam. A couple logs had gotten lodged in there and needed to be pulled out. So I hop on the tractor, grab some log chains and go on down there to drag them out.

I'm...okay on a tractor. I know what to do but don't always execute it perfectly. I drive out there on the side of the dam at a bit of angle but nothing I'm worried about. Slap the chain on the bucket, get in the lake and wrap the chain around the log. I start backing it out and suddenly I'm on two wheels as the thing is approaching its breakover point. My butthole is now in full pucker and the worst case scenario story I had in my head went from "The time DJLN drove a tractor into the lake" to "When DJLN got squished like a grape..."

Backstory - some years ago we had a bridge we'd built come off its pylons and end up jammed up against the low water crossing. We hooked it to a skid-steer and a tractor and carried it back into place. I was 'riding' the bridge and giving directions to the front and rear to get us there. At one point my buddy in the tractor just comes forward on the front two wheels and lands on the bucket. He'd reversed to hard and the weight of the bridge (made from old hedge) on the bucket just tipped the ****er. His dad (in that sort of terrified fury) absolutely rips BOTH of us (dafuq did I do?) and tells him "If you never learn another thing here, you will learn right this very minute that if hell breaks lose on that tractor, drop the bucket. Full stop. Worry about anything else later, slam the lever and drop the bucket..."

Fast forward to the dam and let me tell you how handy THAT lesson ended up being. I grab the lever and hammer it down, bucket drops and the tractor comes slamming back to earth. I mean any hesitation at all and I'd have had a real problem. Any baseline skill and it would've have happened to begin with (I had the bucket too high trying to 'lift' the log over the shoreline). When my heart rate gets back to semi-normal, I kept that damn bucket maybe 6 inches off the ground while I drag that log the rest of the way out.

Sawed it up, threw it in the bucket, tried to tip the ****er AGAIN (too much log in the bucket; still at an angle and I'm evidently quite stupid; didn't account for the angle of the dam changing as I reverse out). And then AGAIN as I tried to turn it around and get off that ****ing damn. So in the end, I essentially kept it an inch off the ground and backed all the way off the damn, through the gate and back up the hill until I could turn it around on the road.

Then a massive storm absolutely broke lose and I'm having vertical lightning around me as I drop the logs off at the brush pile, but the hell if I'm gonna let rain beat me after all that mess getting the logs loaded.

I maybe shouldn't have been doing that sort of thing with nobody else around but dammit it needed to get done.

DJLN got a lesson in physics.

Glad you’re safe bud.

If you’re going to be doing any lifting as long as it’s not in a tight space, throw a 3 point mower or something on the 3 point. A little weight on the back, especially if it’s got some leverage will help bring the center of gravity down some when you’re using the bucket.

Yep, I always have a County Line disc on the back of mine.

Yeah, if space is an issue, there are balast boxes for 3 point hitches that puts weight back there but keeps it pretty tight.

Yeah, I’m pretty fortunate, space isn’t much of an issue. Only one tight corner between pastures and pens. I just shorten the front by lifting the bucket.

Right?!?!

Next time I'm putting the ****ing drill on the back of it. Lets see you get up on 2 wheels with THAT big ol' bitch hooked to it...

Don’t get cocky. It may not be enough. Leverage is a hell of a thing.

***Official gardening, landscape and yardwork thread***
 

Planted this beauty around Father's Day June 2023. Wanted to watch something grow with my little girl, both will be 2 soon.

Royals Raindrops Crabapple

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d228956df8.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1ddf9972d6.jpg

Gorgeous!

Lewdogs yard makes me want to blow a load. I'm obsessed with it!

The crabapple at our new house is looking nice. The wind ruined it last year so this is my first time seeing it bloom.

https://imgur.com/t7sOENU.jpg

Broke out the mowers this week. Both started right up so thats a plus.

Get an electric. Not worrying about gas or any of that other bullshit is amazing. Also being able to hear shit.