Many of us think of rice as a plant that grows in flooded fields. And that’s because the kind of rice we’re most familiar with is the long-grain, wetland variety called lowland rice.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) June 15, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Not really… although one never knows…
… Duborskian rice, a Russian short-grained dryland, or “upland” rice, is a highly ornamental plant that can even be grown in containers, where its 2-foot-tall green and gold panicles will lend height and beauty to the center or rear of mixed planters.
But if grown as a crop, cultivating rice from your plants can be a fun activity for adventurous gardeners.
When determining how many plants to grow, consider that it takes approximately 10 plants to produce 1 pound of rice. Since each plant occupies only 1 foot of garden space, a 10-by-10-foot plot will hold 100 plants, which will yield roughly 6 to 10 pounds of rice in a season.
In the absence of purchased starter plants, seeds are best sown directly into the garden in May or June in frost-free zones. Elsewhere, they should be started indoors four weeks before the danger of frost has passed. Expect seeds to germinate in five to seven days…
***********
But seriously…
What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
Baud
Unrestrained growth. I just did some pruning. Rest of the day dedicated to recovery.
satby
It was 78° at 6 am. Heatwave is on and will last officially until Tuesday, but night temps will stay above 70° until the end of the month. So my only gardening will be to go out in a few minutes to water the flower beds and potted plants before the sun is all the way up. And that’s all that’s happening until the heat breaks next Sunday. Early am watering.
Jeffg166
Was reading about rice not needing to be grown in water. It’s grown in water because it can tolerate it. The water suppresses the weeds.
The article I read said to try growing your own rice buy organic rice at the market and see if it will germinate.
satby
@Baud: yeah. As usual, the far back part of the yard is an absolute jungle. If I had the money I think I’d just pave it over, because I can’t keep it under control.
Baud
@satby:
It’s what Donald Trump would do. 😝
satby
@Baud: argh! 😩
As usual, what I’ll really do is pay a lawn service to come clean it all out, after the heatwave is over.
CarolM
I love the idea of growing my own rice! Thank you for sharing that article. Right now I grow vegetables in raised beds and I have harvests of romaine and kale and now growing zucchini, beans, and corn. Last year I was actually successful with the corn, hopefully I’ll be able to get some good ears this year.
WereBear
@Baud: Is that a dramatic way of saying you’re shaving again?
Baud
@WereBear:
I prefer it to waxing.
Gvg
Mulch is for suppressing weeds. Most kinds of plant seeds require light to germinate, especially weeds. Cover the soil, and seeds do not germinate. This does not apply to all plants, but many. You cut down on the weeds. Then the ones that do come up, many of those are weekly rooted in loose mulch at first, and are more easily pulled, rather than solidly rooted in packed soil. Even st. Augustine grass (the type grown in my area) which is a perennial runner grass, grows into mulch with loose roots easily pulled when the leaves are long. It has a trick of becoming iron rooted if the leaves are cut such as from mowing or careless pulling, so grab the runner not the leaves.
Florida has a long growing season with lots of rain and the weeds can become a jungle. Jungles cut down on breeze flow and breed mosquitos. I prefer shade trees with air flow underneath. Breezes are important. And I hate weeding the same things over and over again. A couple of times of year ok and decent temps, but not every few weeks including hot weather. I use lots of mulch and try to grow perennials I root or grow from seed in packs. My mother loves the self sown wildflower look and will weed but leave things saying “oh that’s a good weed, leave it” argh! Good weeds cover up bad weeds which sneak in. She refused to mulch until last year when she had to start using a walker and couldn’t do much anymore, but should have been years before. She was always weeding and not keeping up, even with hiring help and my trying to help constantly. They are moving to a retirement community soon. I am going to have to talk to her about not making garden plans that are too big to handle at the new place and I will be helping to tidy up the yard for selling.
satby
20 minutes of deep watering pots and smaller plants in beds, approx. 30 bug bites. I hate summer. Especially heat wave summers.
Taking a short break from my diet and making my lemon ice box pie today. Just like my grandma used to make! I’ll end up freezing most of it for later.
satby
@Gvg: yeah, I do use mulch because I can still carry 40lb bags; the problems that keep coming back are the invasive trees and vines (including poison ivy) that propagate from the alley and vacant lots nearby. And as I age it’s gotten to be too big a job for just me, but I had to quit using a regular yard service that kept a lid on that stuff because of the reduced income from closing my own business. I’m already planning on the time not too many years from now that I’ll be selling this place and moving. But I hope to get another 5-10 years here. Just to enjoy all the work I’ve already put in.
RevRick
@Baud: Our garden is basically feral, too. For a couple years, we hired a young woman to take care of our much-neglected garden plots. She did a great job of weeding and thinning out the flowers. But she got a regular job, and our tuberous perennials have run riot. And the shrubbery definitely could stand trimming. But hurting knees and backs say not today.
mappy!
Goldfinches are starting to populate the two mulberry trees. Apples on the Fuji. Winter and Seckel Pears. Black Currants starting to ripen. Late Allium, Foxglove, Carnation, hardy Geranium and Mountain Laurel continue; peak Primrose, Bellflower; creeping Bellflower, Coreopsis and Bee Balm buds. Roses winding down. Peonys done. Garden related, new order of paper and pens…
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: One of my Zen things is putting a coat of wax on a car.
NOT on ME.
(anyone remember Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers? My Saturday morning routine was to detail my car while listening to Car Talk. Now if someone would just start Car Talk with Martok…)
EDIT: Dangit, my garden doesn’t exist, but Mrs. B has tomatoes in pots and a hanging pot with strawberries that I hope will start ripening in the next coupla days.
My apologies– gardening was something my dad did, and my daughter does, but I’d far rather turn a wrench than dig in the dirt. Although I WILL eat the produce therefrom… 😉
Good morning, all y’all!!
Spanky
@RevRick:
And the weather radar says it may not be the best day for working outside. That mess to your north supposed to hit A-B?
Spanky
Here in tropical Southern MD things are turning, well, tropical. Highs this week are supposed to hit high 90s to 100 with a dew point on the mid to upper 70s. Today is just the appetizer, with a high of 96 and dew point of 73. “Abundant sunshine”. Yeah, thanks for that.
p.a.
AM showers giving my body a break after 2 days of “why do it it’s so effing late?” garden prep. Love me my stirrup hoe. Rabbits (true population boom here in SE New England the last 5-ish years) must be getting impatient. Where are coyotes when you need them!
Spanky
Meanwhile, back at the OP, Fedco has this to say about their rice seed:
MazeDancer
Growing your own rice might turn out like my attempt to grow my own black beans.
Not so much harvest. Need a whole lotta plants.
Got a packet of NY organic seeds. Had maybe a dozen vines. And harvested, at most, a cup.
Educational. Will not repeat.
satby
@MazeDancer: I had about the same results when I tried to grow beans, don’t remember the variety. Lots of work, paltry rewards. I narrowed down my veggie/food gardening to apple and cherry trees and heirloom tomatoes. This year I bailed on growing the heirlooms too, again a lot of work and ok but not wonderful results for the effort. And farmers locally have discovered heirlooms as a reliable cash crop, so my favorites are available now. Only the fruit trees remain.
BenInNM
Yesterday I finished taking out a cactus that had inexplicably died. I’ve had them sort of fade away or not thrive in a particular location, but this one had been doing well for years but then a couple of years ago the whole thing died. I left it for a few years because the birds liked it but it was getting too ratty so I took it out. I did bring home some cuttings from a nice cactus I found in an alley so I’ll plant those this morning before it gets too hot.
oldster
Pro-tip: if you want to grow white rice, make sure to plant white rice. If you want it to cook quicker, plant Uncle Ben’s.
WereBear
@Professor Bigfoot: Good morning!
I’m an indoor gardener, African violets and cat grass, and it is so much easier :)
Your wife’s strawberry plant is also safer inside. I’d never get one berry with the abundant wildlife around here.
wenchacha
Last year I learned about Asian Jumping Worms. And I have plenty in some of my planting beds, so I have been slaughtering them on the daily, grabbing them from the soil and dumping them in a can of wood ash. It’s kind of gross, and also training my brain to recognize squiggly shapes in the dirt. Not sure I like it.
Squirrels keep digging in my potted tomato plants, but so far no real damage. I got some mulch and still have more to distribute. I’ve had lots of flowers from bulbs, gorgeous poppies and revived peony. Last year I planted different colors of fringed dianthus and they are so pretty. The cosmos are flowering and I am collecting and pressing the blooms in hopes of doing some eco-printing or dyeing or hammer-printing with them.
WereBear
@BenInNM: As long as it doesn’t grow up and demand feeding.
CCL
Veg garden: battling the chippers (munks) and baby rabbits – losing with the corn, but have backups started in pots. Edible pea pods coming in. This year I got smart and spaced out the plantings by two week intervals so we have a continuous supply instead of too much all at once. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers and regular peas up and thriving. Lost cause on the beets … Second year and no luck with them. Have strawberries in planters on the deck – I hope to get a taste…chippers feasted on the ones in the garden. Carrots and potatoes in bags. Dahlias in pots. I love our garden.
JeanneT
I’m on the verge of signing up for a native plant specialist and her crew to renovate my garden beds. It will look like lots of mulch and very little greenery for the next year or two, but I have hopes that by year 3 it will be a link in the chain of native gardens in the area.
Satby, I do empathize with you on the scourge of the weed trees and vines. While its a bit of a comfort to know the wild grape and virginia creeper are native, like the invasive ivy and other escapees from my neighbors yards they sure do climb over everything else.
H.E.Wolf
Loved that show!
Years later, I learned that my Boston-area relatives used to take their car* to the Tappet Brothers’ garage, long before the radio show existed. No wonder that car lasted forever.
*They were the only family I knew (at the time) who named their car. It was “The Ruby Red”.
sab
@satby: Rent a goat herd. They can be very entertaining, and they love poison ivy.
O. Felix Culpa
@MazeDancer: @satby:
I’ve had the same paltry results with beans, so gave up. You’d have to have a lot more plants than I had space for to make planting them worthwhile.
No veggie garden for me this year, having sold the house. Can’t say I miss gardening overmuch with this heat. Plus I can get a lot of good veggies from the local coop. Pricey, but probably not more so than my annual investment in garden supplies.
WereBear
@O. Felix Culpa:
The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden is a nonfiction book
I found it very funny.
Kosh III
We put in a raised bed using straw and not dirt. The bed is at waist level so no bending over. I’m starting to get peppers, lots of determinant tomatoes and the eggplant is blooming. So far nothing is ripe but soon.
Three spots of Morning Glories, almost grown enough to bloom soon.
70 at 540am here in Warren county TN. As soon as I’d had my first cup of coffee I went out and watered them. Summer is definitely here, going to record highs this week.
But of course Dear Leader says Climate Change is a Chinese hoax.
O. Felix Culpa
@JeanneT:
Don’t know what region you’re in, but I’m in the hot and dry southwest. I started a native garden two years ago, and it looked promising quickly and was glorious this spring. So maybe you won’t have to wait too long. Best to plant either before it gets too hot or when things start cooling off.
I also found it was better to start with small plants, rather than the big, more developed ones, even though they look more impressive at the beginning. The small plants are cheaper, so less financial cost if they crap out, plus I think that they adapt better to the replanting process than the bigger ones, so have a higher survival rate. It’s also pleasing to watch the smaller plant babies grow!
O. Felix Culpa
@WereBear: Ooh, thanks for the book recommendation!
sab
We had a three and a half hour power failure last night. Thankfully we installed a whole house generator last year. But the generator was so loud that my husband convinced himself that the air conditioner fans weren’t working. They were but he couldn’t hear them.
O. Felix Culpa
@sab:
I rented a goat herd when I moved into my rural, long-empty home in NM. It was both entertaining and effective to get rid of the years-long overgrowth. But also expensive, so I only did it once.
Kristine
Feeling the heat like satby, hating it, and other than filling feeders and cleaning the birdbath not doing much outside until the fever breaks on Tuesday.
I really loved our cooler than average spring.
My woodland garden needs a major overhaul. It’s been overrun with wild violet and smaller plants are buried. The hosta, wild hydrangea, and astilbes are thriving, but still, overrun. So the summer project is to clear out, rearrange existing plants as needed, then order a lot of mulch.
sab
@O. Felix Culpa: Ohio goats seem to be less expensive. Our goat herd for three days cost about the same as a month of our lawn service.
The owner’s wife said she rents them out in order to feed them when they are not clearing out her own property.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
107 in the Denver core yesterday!
We’re keeping the flowers, bushes and few crops (in the raised beds) hydrated. Too damn hot to do anything else.
RevRick
@oldster: lol
RevRick
@Spanky: I was speaking in the Red Queen sense that there was jam yesterday and there will be jam tomorrow, but there’s never jam today.
sab
We bought our current house last summer. It was a flipper. The yard was a desolate disaster. I cleaned out the previous years autumn leaves from the few flower beds and hired a lawn service since we are old.
This spring all sorts of unexpected flowers popped up. Daffodils first. Then the roses, which are not just root stock. And lots and lots of daylilies. And deer weren’t eating the hosta by the fence. The neighbor was mowing them! So I moved the hosta.
I think I finally have a low maintenance perennial garden yard. Asters are not weeds.
ETA I got a bunch of potted annuals for step-mothers’ day, so that and the potted tomatoes are my only real gardening.
mrmoshpotato
Another scorcher for Chicago today.
Go Cubs! Be safe. And rock the AC.
mrmoshpotato
@sab:
Nominated!
O. Felix Culpa
@sab:
Clearly I should have hired the Ohio goats! :)
sab
@WereBear: Thank you for your African violet tip. I love indoor plants but I thought anything worth having is toxic to cats.Cat grass just doesn’t do much for me.
My potted bouganvillea is thrilled to be out in the yard after a winter in a tiny room with grow lights, caged in chicken wire so the cats couldn’t eat its toxic little leaves.
sab
I went to our local garden store this week, and as I was leaving I saw their table with venus fly trap plants for sale. It had a tiny sign: “Feed me, Seymour.”
I thought that was cute.
Rachel Bakes
@wenchacha: watch out for the also invasive hammerhead worms making inroads here. Toxic, carnivorous, horrid things.
CaseyL
@Professor Bigfoot:
Car Talk with Martok is hilarious; thanks for the link!
My container garden has undergone some changes and may need more:
I had two medium pots that were overcrammed with strawberries, and finally transplanted the contents of both pots to a couple raised beds my neighbors kept until they moved out. I had to plant them in the same clump they came out of the pot as, since separating the plants would have meant ripping their roots apart. (I’m sure there is a way to do this without killing the plant, but I don’t know what that is, so I don’t do it.)
I thought about covering the plants to protect them from birds and squirrels, but then decided not to. I have more strawberries still on my deck (in nice large pots, thanks) and I read that bunnies love strawberry plants. We do have some wild bunnies hereabouts, mostly dwarfs but I’ve also seen a full-size rabbit. So I thought it would be neighborly, and fun, to leave the strawberries uncovered.
It has been interesting watching the strawberries realize they’re in a much bigger home now. Seeing how they can rapidly “move” via propagation runners, I wonder if they know how to untangle themselves and move apart from one another now that they have so much room to roam (as it were).
brendancalling
I have two giant sunflower volunteers that didn’t sprout last year, but have since grown rapidly. Twontomato plants, one gifted, one purchased. Basil. Daisies. Geraniums.
Inneed to order garlic soon—plant in fall.
I also want to plant a cherry, and I’m getting a fig tree clipping for next year.
WereBear
@sab: I indulge my begonia love with an outdoor hanging plant, but we have frosts in June so only one :) I can do them indoors but not with cats.
But African violets, and spider plants, share similar conditions, and are non-toxic to people and dogs, too. I’ve come to see them as similar to roses: a bit fussy, but gorgeous and reliable bloomers.
schrodingers_cat
Growing rice is hard why would anyone want to that? Besides you would have to grow a lot of rice to sustain even a small family.
kindness
I wonder how that upland rice tastes? No one seemed to mention that. Out here in the central valley of the People’s Republic of California they had told us we’d have normal summer (100+ degree days) starting a few weeks ago but it’s been positively balmy. 80’s, low 90’s with a nice breeze. Mind you, we have no humidity out here so our 90 degrees is way less oppressive than you eastern folk’s 90s.
satby
@JeanneT: You’re in the dangerous heatwave zone today too, aren’t you? Ugh!!
My invasive aren’t natives, they’re Tree of Heaven and Sweet Autumn Clematis. Both are difficult to eradicate once they’re settled in an area without chemical warfare. Which I’m going to resort to when I get it cut back enough to reach the stumps. I also have crown vetch that keeps returning from the same vacant lot next to me. Pretty, but insanely invasive.
Nukular Biskits
Good mornin’, y’all! Thanks, AL, for a gardening post. I think we all needed the “palate cleanser”.
I’m having mixed results this year.
Most of y’all already know of my tomato jungle.. The cherry tomatoes are about played out due to the hellish temps that we’ve been seeing. I’ve managed to get a few intact Cherokee Purples off the vine but the rest are still being molested by birds(?), squirrels(?) or other. In a couple of weeks, they’ll probably really slow down production as well due to the heat.
I did buy a solar-powered fence charger and today I’ll string the line but I predict it’ll probably only have limited success at keeping critters off/out of the tomato jungle. Bastards.
As for flowers, the lantana and roses out front are beautiful if I do say so myself. I typically feed them every couple of weeks with one of the “bloom” formulations that I mix up in four 5-gallon buckets which have a small hole I drilled in the bottom. This way, I can slowly water/feed them. Takes a couple of hours to get through both beds but I’ve found this ensures good distribution throughout.
And I have a couple of white crepe myrtles in the front yard . Originally, the idiot landscapers had both of those planted up next to the house. I moved them to the center of the yard and planted Mexican heather around them. If I had known the flowers were going to be white, I would have replaced them with red.
The backyard beds are a different story, though. I have four, plus two round ones at the base of my redbud trees. I’ll get pics later but all six were beautiful earlier this year and something happened which caused the flowers in all but one to die back. One had purple verbena and was absolutely stunning earlier this year. Every single plant died. I’ve never seen anything affect verbena like that.
My sis acquired a bunch of daylilly, caladium, etc, bulbs so I planted those in two of the beds, although I don’t hold out for much success, given you normally plant them in early spring.
Finally, I have a bed on the garage side of the house that has blue salvia. They tend to get “gangly” this time of year so I took it upon myself to prune them back. Unfortunately, one of the plants took great offense to that and died. Yesterday, I planted a replacement, plus a couple more.
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
This is a gardening post, sir, not a self-help forum.
TerryC
I am so excited. I have several intensely interesting ongoing projects at Bratsholme Farm, which is 17.5 acres (just like Mar-a-Lago except that I have two disc golf courses built into my plantings right at home and don’t have to be driven elsewhere to play and it’s only 5 miles from the center of Ann Arbor on a dirt road.) Here is a recent article about my home.
The one that I will mention today is experimenting with Miyawaki-inspired small but dense plots of trees, nanoforests really. In 12 years I have planted 17,000+ trees and gradually worked toward a similar process to Miyawaki’s (and not just because it is fewer circles to mow around).
My previous nanoforests are kind of random but great learning. This year I started an official, experimental nanoforest plot. It is approximately 12’x12′ and has 16 holes augured into it about 2′ apart. Each hole is 12″ wide and 18″ deep. Viewed looking to the north from south of the plot the holes are lettered A-D, E-H, J-M, N-Q
We dumped in some mycorrhizal fungi and some topsoil with chicken poop fertilizer into each hole and then deeply soaked each hole. Then we planted each hole in a variety of ways. Perennials only.
Holes A-D: In hole A we dumped a dozen Miscanthus x Giganteus rhizomes and a couple of cuttings from hybrid poplar; in Holes B & C a red oak seedling each; in Hole D more rhizomes and cuttings from an Ameriwillow (straight, tall)
Current status, one month later, of holes A-D:
Hole A – the Miscanthus is about 3’ tall and two of the poplar cuttings appear to have taken – the Miscanthus will be 13’ in three years, in 10 years the hybrid poplar will be 50’
Hole B – oak is thriving – will be 12’ in 10 years
Hole C – oak is struggling – I am putting a sugar maple in there with it today
Hole D – the Miscanthus is about 3’ tall and several of the willow cuttings have taken – the Miscanthus will be 13’ in three years, in 10 years the willow will be 40-50’
Other trees planted in there so far include paw paw, elderberry, dogwood, catalpa, native plum, and more. I can’t list them all.
AND … For fun, this year we decided to plant some annual seeds in and around our trees and especially in the Miyawaki bed. We scattered squash and melon and bean seeds in various mulch beds. They are doing well and maybe the deer won’t notice them in amongst the baby trees. Today I am planting a flat of already-sprouted and 12″ tall white corn seedlings in-between some trees on a few plots.
Nukular Biskits
@satby:
Did you make enough to share?
schrodingers_cat
@kindness: Exactly. There is a rice that grows in my birth state of Maharashtra which smells like mango blossoms. It is impossible to get outside India.
satby
So did I! My version of perfect weather. I hope we have a long cool fall, but don’t really expect it.
satby
@Nukular Biskits: You wanna drive up here and get it?
Nukular Biskits
@satby:
Remind again where “up here” is.
satby
@TerryC: How big are these holes that you can plant multiple trees in them? Don’t they crowd each other out?
sab
@Nukular Biskits: Indiana, straight shot north for you.
Another Scott
@TerryC: Neato!
The world needs more trees. I’m doing my part by “letting” my backyard run wild, but the vines are outpacing the trees. :-/
Too much to do….
If I can’t make progress this year, I’m going to have to finally break down and hire a team to attack the overgrowth. But I hope it doesn’t come to that.
Good luck with your projects!
Best wishes,
Scott.
satby
@Nukular Biskits: South Bend, IN. Right now (10:25 a.m.) it’s 83°, with a heat index feel of 96°. It’s probably going to stay cooler down on the Gulf.
Nukular Biskits
@satby:
According to weather.com, it’s currently (9:31 AM Central) 86 with a heat index of 97. It’s gonna get warmer, to be sure.
Last night, there was a very large, heavy thunderstorm just north. Never did rain here but it dropped the temp into the low 80s, so I had a very pleasant sit out on the back porch.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
It kind of feels like a post-apocalyptic garden actually, in the emotional weight I’ve invested in this years tomatoes.
I almost always plant a bunch from seed (I just love the idea of starting from seeds) which start out good and then with one thing or another we barely get any survivors, and pests get much of the fruit that does make it to maturity. My wife buys a couple of seedlings from the produce store and from a neighbor of ours who has a small greenhouse business, and grows them in containers on the porch. If we get a significant crop it’s from her containers.
Well we somehow didn’t get around to buying any new seeds, and the neighbor did not put plants out for sale this year, we don’t know why. Early in the season I found a year-old packet of seeds that still had a dozen cherry tomato seeds in the bottom of the packet, and I carefully planted them with tweezers, one to a pot. 7 of them germinated and now comprise this year’s container garden. They haven’t achieved much height but we have some actual green tomatoes appearing this week.
This is a week of 100 degree weather in our area, adding to my anxiety about the plant health. I’m trying to be vigilant about watering. But as long as I’ve tried any kind of gardening, I’ve been asking myself, “what if my life actually depended on this harvest?” The answer is not encouraging.
They Call Me Noni
@p.a.: They must all be here which is why you have all the rabbits!!
They Call Me Noni
@MazeDancer: Rancho Gordo is your friend.
Nukular Biskits
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Same here, but it depends on the crop.
At my old place, I had gallons upon gallons of blueberries and muscadines. I couldn’t grow enough strawberries to make a single damned dessert, thanks to slugs I could never seem to get ahead of.
Ditto for squash. I love yellow squash but I usually can’t get many before stem borers kill the plants.
One year, on a whim, I planted sweet potatoes in my raised beds, thinking I wouldn’t get much. I wound up with 3 wheelbarrow loads.
Big Fly
@Spanky: Thank you for the FEDCO link, @Spanky. I’ve gotten seeds and bulbs from just two suppliers over the years, but I like the ‘feel’ I get from their site; my cart will runneth over.
kindness
@schrodingers_cat: I would expect the premium home grown rice to be expensive and limited supply but I would think there is an export market for almost everything. I guess small growers even joining a co-op might not be able to do it. I’m sorry for you.
WereBear
@TerryC:
Your nanoforests sound delightful.
frosty
Not much luck this year, so far. A lot of the things I planted in the Square Foot Gardens aren’t doing well. The spinach never sprouted. The tomatoes (from seedlings) are falling over instead of growing up. The second planting of lettuce isn’t sprouting.
Worst of all, the raspberry patch appears to be dying. We inherited it from the previous owners over 20 years ago and the birds and I got a couple of pints out of it. Two years ago I cleaned it up after 20 years of neglect, planted three new plants and it did OK. This year there’s leaves wilting and some plants that are just sticks. I don’t know if it’s some kind of blight or if the lawn service I hired to take care of 20 years of neglect (notice a pattern?) oversprayed the weed killer. I need to do some research. I’ll take some pictures and send them to my Master Gardener friends.
StringOnAStick
@TerryC: NIce article, congratulations on the recognition for your impressive efforts!
StringOnAStick
I covered my plants against a possible frost early Saturday morning; such is life living close to the mountains in central Oregon. In 7 days it will be in the 80’s again. Veggie gardening here is tough for this reason and frosts have been recorded in the past in every month of the year, but the warming climate makes that less likely now.
Kosh III
@Rachel Bakes:Toxic, carnivorous, horrid things.
For a minute I thought you meant cultists of the donGod.
JeanneT
@O. Felix Culpa: I’m glad you saw such quick results! I’m west Michigan (north of Satby a ways) – and your rec for smaller starting plants goes along with my consultant’s views. If this hot weather settles in for July, at this point suspect we’re looking at planting in late summer or early fall.
JeanneT
@satby: Tree of heaven is awful – I have a couple that just keep springing new sprouts, which I am cutting again and treating each cut with herbicide. The only clematis that tried to invade my yard did not thrive, so I guess I lucked out with that. Maybe too close to my walnut tree OR not enough light?
Anyhow, stay cool as you can. I’m definitely staying indoors by the window AC today!
TerryC
@satby – Each hole is 12″ across and 18″ deep; in ten years the nanoforest will be 36′ across from 12′ now. And the trees will range in height from 8′-50′ – a lot of pruning will go on in my plots because I will be shaping them for aesthetics and disc golf challenge. For most species I tend to remove lower branches, eventually, up to 12′ or so. My goal is an even underside of a gorgeous canopy.
At least in the first decade or so they coexist well. No doubt there will be winners and losers over time, but fewer than you might think.
@WereBear – Yes, the Three Sisters is part of my motivation and design.
@StringOnAStick – Thank you. It is delightful to get unexpectedly recognized for having fun!