Gardening Thread--if you can offer help, tips, or experience

[capt_noonie]

We tried celosia last year. Didn't survive. Everything that we've put in the ground is doing at least triply better than ones in pots. It's weird bc our dirt here is so sandy. Of course we put in garden soil when we plant though.

I just used up that one bottle of Miracle Grow and that's it. I read that certain plants needs to be fertilized at certain times and not others. You can't do it year round. Certain plants if you fertilize at the wrong time it can retard the flower growth or fruit development. You just gotta read up on your type of plant bc I wouldn't know!

But as a general rule of thumb (what I read) over watering results in yellowing leaves, and under watering is limp leaves.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by capt_noonie

We tried celosia last year. Didn't survive. Everything that we've put in the ground is doing at least triply better than ones in pots. It's weird bc our dirt here is so sandy. Of course we put in garden soil when we plant though.

I just used up that one bottle of Miracle Grow and that's it. I read that certain plants needs to be fertilized at certain times and not others. You can't do it year round. Certain plants if you fertilize at the wrong time it can retard the flower growth or fruit development. You just gotta read up on your type of plant bc I wouldn't know!

But as a general rule of thumb (what I read) over watering results in yellowing leaves, and under watering is limp leaves.

What a bummer about celosia...I thought it'd be so easy to grow! I love the trippy look to the flower - it looks other worldly somehow, like a cartoon almost bc it's so feathery or something. Frustrated. I wonder if it's just tougher to grow in really dry climates like you and me live in.

[capt_noonie]

Ahh crap! I got celosia and salvia mixed up. I did celosia last year and this year and they are doing well. However, the lighter colored ones seems more delicate and are losing their color big time. The darker burgundy ones are doing just fine and they are planted together in full sun. I didn't have the lighter ones last year. Decided to try those this year, and next year I will go back to the dark ones. Once it got really hot last summer they just exploded and I was able to clip them and bring them inside in a vase and they lasted for more than a week!

The salvia was what didn't work out for us.

But yeah I love all the weird flowers. MIL has a bunch of weird orchids. She got me interested in plants and once bf and I got here we've really been doing a lot of gardening. I'd love to get a tocca plant (black bat flower) and I found one seller on etsy who has them bloomed, and not just the seed but he didn't answer my question if they would do well indoors in Vegas. Jerk.

But if you choose the right plants they should thrive in our climate. I go to our local nursery. They have more detailed descriptions of the plants and their needs. And if we have questions, the staff is more informed, vs the staff at HD or Lowes. The tradeoff if their return policy, or lack thereof as far as if a plant dies.

What other plants do you have? We're actually thinking of getting rid of our succulents bc they don't look good and they only get pretty once a year when they flower.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by capt_noonie

Ahh crap! I got celosia and salvia mixed up. I did celosia last year and this year and they are doing well. However, the lighter colored ones seems more delicate and are losing their color big time. The darker burgundy ones are doing just fine and they are planted together in full sun. I didn't have the lighter ones last year. Decided to try those this year, and next year I will go back to the dark ones. Once it got really hot last summer they just exploded and I was able to clip them and bring them inside in a vase and they lasted for more than a week!

The salvia was what didn't work out for us.

But yeah I love all the weird flowers. MIL has a bunch of weird orchids. She got me interested in plants and once bf and I got here we've really been doing a lot of gardening. I'd love to get a tocca plant (black bat flower) and I found one seller on etsy who has them bloomed, and not just the seed but he didn't answer my question if they would do well indoors in Vegas. Jerk.

But if you choose the right plants they should thrive in our climate. I go to our local nursery. They have more detailed descriptions of the plants and their needs. And if we have questions, the staff is more informed, vs the staff at HD or Lowes. The tradeoff if their return policy, or lack thereof as far as if a plant dies.

What other plants do you have? We're actually thinking of getting rid of our succulents bc they don't look good and they only get pretty once a year when they flower.

Well darn, I don't know what the heck I'm doing wrong w/ this celosia bc they have all faded terribly..I may have overwatered some and underwatered others, I don't even know. Do you water your celosia every day?

We have a lot of plants...on our drip system we have mesquite trees, palo verde trees, fan palms, ocotillo (love!)...one of my faves, bougainvillea (also SO love), hibiscus, lots of grasses - red fountain grass poofs and deer grass, pampas grass, oleander, cat's claw vine on our fence, candelilla (sp?) also LOVE this (attaching picture of candelilla), some cacti.

In pots I have some more bougainvillea and hibiscus, lantana, celosia, pencil plant, and some sedums.

[MarkFromSea]

Originally Posted by capt_noonie

We tried celosia last year. Didn't survive. Everything that we've put in the ground is doing at least triply better than ones in pots. It's weird bc our dirt here is so sandy. Of course we put in garden soil when we plant though.

I just used up that one bottle of Miracle Grow and that's it. I read that certain plants needs to be fertilized at certain times and not others. You can't do it year round. Certain plants if you fertilize at the wrong time it can retard the flower growth or fruit development. You just gotta read up on your type of plant bc I wouldn't know!

But as a general rule of thumb (what I read) over watering results in yellowing leaves, and under watering is limp leaves.

Tomatoes, seems they prefer no fertilizer in order to maximize fruiting. My rhodies also flower better when no fertilizer is added. Add fertilizer to either and the leaves and growth rates are great but there is very little blooms...and subsequent fruits on the tomatoes. Mulch for both, skip the fertilizer all together.

[capt_noonie]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

Well darn, I don't know what the heck I'm doing wrong w/ this celosia bc they have all faded terribly..I may have overwatered some and underwatered others, I don't even know. Do you water your celosia every day?

We have a lot of plants...on our drip system we have mesquite trees, palo verde trees, fan palms, ocotillo (love!)...one of my faves, bougainvillea (also SO love), hibiscus, lots of grasses - red fountain grass poofs and deer grass, pampas grass, oleander, cat's claw vine on our fence, candelilla (sp?) also LOVE this (attaching picture of candelilla), some cacti.

In pots I have some more bougainvillea and hibiscus, lantana, celosia, pencil plant, and some sedums.

Did you get the light or dark celosia? Mine are all planted together and the light ones are faded and haven't really grown much. The dark ones have about doubled in size. I water them every other day about 8am.

I had to look up ocotillo. I see those everywhere around here but didn't know the name. I see them at the nursery and they have them in very sandy dirt. It says once you plant them it could be 2 or 3 years until they bloom. Otherwise just tall spikes.

Our lantana died but we didn't plant it right away. Many of the neighbors have them in red and orange and they are doing good. We got the purple one.

[capt_noonie]

Originally Posted by MarkFromSea

Tomatoes, seems they prefer no fertilizer in order to maximize fruiting. My rhodies also flower better when no fertilizer is added. Add fertilizer to either and the leaves and growth rates are great but there is very little blooms...and subsequent fruits on the tomatoes. Mulch for both, skip the fertilizer all together.

Do you think there is any truth to putting crushed egg shells around the base of tomato plants for extra calcium? I did it anyway bc I read it helps protect the plants from the pesky hornworms (I HATE THOSE THINGS!!!) They won't crawl past the sharp edges. So far this year I haven't had any attacks *crossing fingers* I did see a few of the tiny caterpillars but only about 3 or 4 so far. Last year they took over an entire desert museum tree. I went outside and was like, why are all the leaves gone? And I looked closer and it was covered in about 50 little caterpillars. I was out there for a good hour catching and splitting those F-ers in half.

My tomato is finally starting to get fruit in. I have about 5 golf ball sized ones and another handful of tiny ones coming in.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by capt_noonie

Did you get the light or dark celosia? Mine are all planted together and the light ones are faded and haven't really grown much. The dark ones have about doubled in size. I water them every other day about 8am.

I had to look up ocotillo. I see those everywhere around here but didn't know the name. I see them at the nursery and they have them in very sandy dirt. It says once you plant them it could be 2 or 3 years until they bloom. Otherwise just tall spikes.

Our lantana died but we didn't plant it right away. Many of the neighbors have them in red and orange and they are doing good. We got the purple one.

I got a bunch of different colors...but oddly it does kind of seem like the red ones may be faring better. Odd. I wonder how you know when a celosia bloom is "done" - do you know? If it is done, do you just snip it off?

Yeah, the ocotillo does bloom a few times a year and it looks so pretty. It's a very sculptural looking kind of plant, to me. The really old/mature/tall/full ones are just amazing looking. They are very slow growers. And not cheap either!

[Yorkiemom1]

Have you hot climate/desert dwellers tried growing a "Desert Rose".....I had planted one at our lake property, Adenium Desert Rose Triple Purple Aloha was the one I planted that was a show stopper!.....then I did another one but I cant remember the name....it was stunning as well....just wondered if you had tried these.....

[Yorkiemom1]

I also planted a couple Desert Willows.....Chilopsis....gorgeous pink and purple flowers....and I killed them over watered them....made me sick because they were stunning! May try them again here.....

[capt_noonie]

Haven't tried the Desert Rose but MIL has several of those!

We do have the burgunday chitalpa which is very similar to the chilopsis. One in our front yard is doing very well.

[capt_noonie]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

I got a bunch of different colors...but oddly it does kind of seem like the red ones may be faring better. Odd. I wonder how you know when a celosia bloom is "done" - do you know? If it is done, do you just snip it off?

Yeah, the ocotillo does bloom a few times a year and it looks so pretty. It's a very sculptural looking kind of plant, to me. The really old/mature/tall/full ones are just amazing looking. They are very slow growers. And not cheap either!

I snip them when they get really tall and bring them inside. But I don't wait till end of season, just when I think they are getting too tall. At the end of summer or beginning of fall they just start dying and you can really tell they are done.

Have you seen yellow bird of paradise? The desert one, not the tropicla one. Since you also like the weirder looking flowers, I think you would like these. I love the flowers. Reminds me of the car lashes people put on their smart cars. https://www.google.com/search?q=yell...w=1173&bih=611
We bought two and are doing well but haven't flowered yet. But I see so many around town that are flowering like crazy. We also got the red Mexican one but that one is very slow growing and no flowers yet. And we got that one last year!

[MarkFromSea]

Originally Posted by capt_noonie

Do you think there is any truth to putting crushed egg shells around the base of tomato plants for extra calcium? I did it anyway bc I read it helps protect the plants from the pesky hornworms (I HATE THOSE THINGS!!!) They won't crawl past the sharp edges. So far this year I haven't had any attacks *crossing fingers* I did see a few of the tiny caterpillars but only about 3 or 4 so far. Last year they took over an entire desert museum tree. I went outside and was like, why are all the leaves gone? And I looked closer and it was covered in about 50 little caterpillars. I was out there for a good hour catching and splitting those F-ers in half.

My tomato is finally starting to get fruit in. I have about 5 golf ball sized ones and another handful of tiny ones coming in.

IDK.... but I would venture a guess, egg shells would not hurt any plant, it was always a compost or worm box item when I was a kid. Tomatoes, plant them deep, roots will form from the buried stalk and make them a much stronger plant. I like to work older/composted grass clippings and leaves into the soil before I plant the tomatoes... never fertilizer.... since I did in the past and just got a bunch of leaves and little fruit. BUT, they were SUPER tall! It's almost as if when you mistreat a tomato plant(in our view) they tend to produce better. So once the plant is established well, water a couple times a week, EEK!, instead of daily. I started late this year so I just have flowers so far. I did notice something chewed on some leaves this morning... I'll toss some egg shells out there! Thanks!

[capt_noonie]

I knew about planting them deep. Down to the first set of leaves. And to snip off the suckers. My plant is doing well, about 3 ft tall now. I have two tomatoes that are ALMOST ready to pick, and several flowers in already. My first tomato only got to about cherry size then stopped. It was very windy a few weeks back and I guess the tomato rubbed on the cage and got a big scar on one side. Stopped growing after that but it's red now. I'm going to pull that one off tomorrow. Sad my first tomato is a dud but the others look good so far.

Not having luck with tomatillos though. Everytime I get a sprout and bring it outside something mows it down. I tried to outsmart them by putting plastic wrap over it, and the extra heat helped the seedling grow up until it got to touching the plastic. Then I opened it up and something ate it again! Wonder if it's too late to try again indoors.

And my chinese long beans started off great indoors. Had 8 of them, the last of my seeds bc the others got ripped up by the wind. Five of them survived the transplant, only one seems to be growing, but very slow. These are supposed to grow really fast.

Eggplant and jalapeno also growing really slow. Not even flowers yet.

[capt_noonie]

Oh yeah, also last year I over watered my tomatoes and you get these cracks in the skin of the tomato. That's how you know you're overwatering. The skin can't grow fast enough to accomodate too much water inside the fruit, or something like that.