Gardening

Some folks in my area grow this plant. It seems really dangerous.

Brugmansia produces anticholinergic toxins that can cause permanent neurological damage. It's closely related to the Datura genus, also known as jimsonweed, devil's snare, or loco weed.

It's kinda pretty, but it baffles me that it's so popular as a front-yard ornamental plant. If your child or dog eats a flower from this plant, they will probably have a bad trip that they may never recover from.

So why grow it? Are you sure nobody you care about will ever stick it in their mouth?

No trolling. This actually baffles me.

cross-posted from: https://orbiting.observer/post/37238

To the Window! To the Wall!

Zone 6b here in Rhode Island, and this are the first pumpkins of the season to ripen.

This is my first season experimenting with Dahlias and I’m pleasantly surprised at how easy they’ve been to care for. Zone 7 - they definitely seem to prefer morning sun. I tried two different areas and the ones in the afternoon sun did not bloom at all. I relocated those about a month ago into pots and they are blooming now.

The ones pictured have been in the ground since spring and are thriving with little maintenance other than water and deadheading every week or so once they started to flower.

I ordered the plants this year to try and based on my experience I think I’m going to start from seed next year. It’s really nice to have a thriving plant in the worst heat of summer. Everything else is sagging and stressed for a few more weeks at least.

He's gotten around 100 of them this year.

Saw this on FB. I can't believe the size they get. Poster said tallest ones are 5 meters.

[Image description: a rich green cucumber hanging on a trellised vine in the morning sun.]

Feed me, Seymour!

[image description: a hand holding two bush scallop squashes merged at their sides, the squashes are white, with rounded bottoms and flutted upper edges.]

(and yes, I need to diversify my seed sources 😝)

[Image description: a 72 cell seed starting tray filled with a mix of coco choir, vermiculite, and worm casings, next to a line of 12 types of broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage seed packets, all but one from Baker Creek.]

Picked some of our corn today. The further left you go is where we ran out of compost.

I think they're beautiful.

Pretty sure my tomatoes have late blight. Anything I can do? Copper fungicide? Or just nix them?

It's right by our pathway, so I can get a nice timelapse.

UK weather is more and more unpredictable. But I have 250 seeds so I'm wondering if I could/should plant some early?

:)

This is our second year growing garlic. We used cloves from the first year's harvest. We are having fun, but don't exactly know what we are doing! We plant the cloves, cover with dead leaves/cardboard for the winter, uncover in the spring, and wait to harvest scapes and bulbs. That's it.

What are your garlic growing tips/strategies? Do you feed your bulbs at any particular time?

It’s growing out of a daisy which I find hilarious

I planted a wild cucumber because I think the plant looks nice and pollinators seem to enjoy it. Is the fruit edible at all?

Hey all, I'm curious if anyone has experience planting shallots in the fall to overwinter in New England or a similar climate (6a-6b). I'm in the Boston area so we get cold winters but they're not brutal and I have some friends who grow garlic over winter with great success. I've read that shallots are less hardy than garlic but I don't really have any experience with root vegetables over winter so I have personally no clue!

I'm planning to try growing them in a raised bed and could potentially put row cover on them if that changes things.