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Gardening
I had a volunteer milkweed this year in my small raised bed/container garden. Early into the season it developed a yellow aphid infestation. I was horrified! They were disgusting things (and far, far too many of them). While I was interested in an insect garden, I was worried spread to nearby plants, specifically my prized blackberries, affecting yields. I researched and treated the aphid infestation with Neem Oil and basically killed the living population. Success! Or so I thought… After I traveled for about a month, I returned to see the aphids had rebounded in full force. An interesting thing though, neither had they spread to other plants. Even more interesting there were ladybugs, there were beetles, there were wasps, there was even a praying mantis. I wouldn’t say the milkweed is super happy about the arrangement, but it is growing, and it was a volunteer into the garden. Overall it’s been the best plant of the season by far teaching me a little bit about ecosystems. TLDR: my aphid infestation totally allowed my predator insect population to boom
I've been having trouble with several of my plants the last couple of years. I've planted almost 4 blueberry bushes, grapevine and some winterberries that do well for several months then seem to start growing very slow and doing poorly. Our soil is more of a silty soil that doesn't drain well so I did fill the holes in with good potting soil with compost and covered with a thin layer of the silty soil and try to water about once a week. The last year I had 3 blueberry bushes that I planted early spring that put out some new growth and then started to grow very slow and later died In early fall and didn't come back the next year. I've tried to fertilize and add gardening Sulphur to them to help acidity the soil but no matter what I do everything slowly starts to die. I've noticed this year the leaves on the grapevines and blueberries appears to have chlorosis and the winterberries' leaves are turning brown and curling up. It's still ~90 degrees out so I doubt anything should be going dormant yet (I live in zone 5b). I even tried to buy special blueberry fertilizer to make sure I wasn't missing anything important but I'm still having issues. Here is the blueberry bush:  The raspberries:  And one of the winterberry bushes:  Does this look like iron defiency or potentially some other sort of issue? At this point I'm considering getting my soil tested but if anyone has any advice let me know.
I assume the best way is to go off of date on the packaging for maturity days, but with the weather here it’s kinda hard to determine, they were stunted for a few weeks before even doing anything. Could frost here anytime and covering these isn’t really an option! Any advice would be appreciated! 
This came up unexpectedly and I’m waiting to see what it’ll be. I didn’t plant any squash or pumpkins this year. In fact I’ve never planted either in this garden bed. We affectionately call it our “pumquash” while we wait. I have it under a greenhouse because we had our first frost warning this weekend, and I’d really like at least one fruit to mature so we can solve the mystery. This is the furthest along.
Today’s our first frost date, and I haven’t had a single ripe tomato yet. Time to break out the plant covers and cross my fingers. I usually make green tomato relish. What are your favorite green tomato canning recipes?
Too hot for the garden today so have another picture from my phone. If anyones on bluesky tell Aaron Alexovich these things exist.
Cantaloupe, cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, watermelon and weed.
Yeah... This is half a packet of seeds and they are literally hopping from the fence to tree branches literally a couple feet away. I swear it said it was a bush type too and this is more forest.
Well the branch holding my bell peppers fell off entirely from the weight.... So guess it's fajita night. I honestly have so many Serranos and jalapenos but am the only one that loves spice so.... On the plant they stay for another days nachos. And yes I know that is a leek but my onions aren't ready and it's a kitchen scrap garden. So using what I got.
At long last some of the wildflowers I planted last year are blooming. I can see that there are frequently bees on them, so hopefully they are being pollinated. I would like to collect wildflower seeds from flowers that I would like to propagate and then spread them over bare patches to try and fill them in. How do I recognize when the seeds are ready to be harvested? How do I harvest them, just yank the bloom off of the stem? I planted a flower assortment with: Purple Giant Hyssop, Dwarf Columbine, Siberian Wallflower, Shasta Daisy, Lance-Leaved Coreopsis, Sweet William Pinks, Purple Coneflower, Blanketflower, Gayfeather, Blue Flax, Perennial Lupine, Russell Lupine, Maltese Cross, Dwarf Evening Primrose, Mexican Hat, Dwarf Red Coneflower, Black-Eyed Susan, Moss Verbena I probably will spread them after the first frost so they grow in the spring. 
[Seeds for those interested](https://www.reneesgarden.com/products/squash-summer-heirloom-climbing-trombetta). They're called trombettas and they're a climbing summer squash with everything you would expect there - nice, mild flavor, etc. They only have seeds in their 'head'. If you pick them young enough the seeds won't be formed so you can eat the entire thing. If you wait a bit longer, you can very easily scoop the seeds out and slice or stuff the head. Head to tail, these things can easily get over two feet. They can also be a bit curvy. I've found them to be very hardy over the years. They climb really well without encouragement. The vines in the photo are easily 9 feet long.
My summer squash has taken off over the last several weeks and overtaken the neighboring carrots. So I hadn't checked in on them in a while. Found a few good ones this morning!
Between earwigs and wildlife this year, the only plants producing are the ones in my porch boxes. The cucumbers are gherkins so I’ve been picking them small so I can make them into sweet pickles. I have 3 jars put up already and enough cucumbers to make #4 this weekend. I just wish I had a small deep pot to can in, it’s such a waste to pull out my big canner. But until I can find one that at least fits pint jars I have to keep using the big pot. I planted more peas this week and plan to do some more fall planting this weekend. I’m about 2 weeks behind but better late than never. Edit: I forgot to mention, the leaves in the photo are just for our bunny’s breakfast. Although I will soon be drying some raspberry and blackberry leaves for her to enjoy in the winter.
It's so late in the season but I'm finally getting something. I feel like it's a guessing game on when to pick stuff tho, tips are welcome!
Hello, I've had this plant for 4 years now, and I'm not sure what to do with it. The plant is a money tree, and the floral tape and wire there is to prevent the trunk from leaning too much. There is a spot outside to place it, but due to Florida weather I've been afraid of leaving it outside for fear of its pot getting flooded from rain. It is in a pot that has drainage holes, but that only helps so much. Also, the trunk appears unsteady. When I pull it away from the window it's currently leaning against, it leans heavily to one side and I don't know if it will topple over or snap with a stiff breeze outside. Do I risk moving it outside, perhaps with more soil? If not, what other suggestions do you have? I live with cats who like to eat the leaves if they can access it, so keep that in mind. I don't want to trim/prune if I can help it, but it's about to outgrow the window at this point.  
This stephanotis was given to my parents for their wedding in 1961. It bloomed every year for my mom. After she passed in 2019 I took it home and did my best with it. But apparently these plants are notorious for being a bit fussy and resisted all my efforts to get it to flower. Two years ago I read something about how they don't like being rotated, so I stopped doing that and bought a grow light to keep the non-sun side from going bald. That seems to have done the trick. There are about 5 or 6 clusters and this is the first to open up. And yes they smell fantastic!
They got a little stunted from some mid June frost and some heatwaves, but mid July they finally started to get moving. I honestly thought they were goners, but they just needed the right weather.
I recently bought fertilizer for my tea plant. The recommended fertilizer was for hydrangea and Rhododendron. I tried googling other plants that would benefit from the same fertilizer but google wasn't much help. Anyone know what other plants would benefit from the fertilizer?
Not much luck with the purple ones.
Hi yeah so this is a follow-up post. I posted a pic of my garden maybe a month ago and said I'd post more pics over summer, so here is its current state. As you can see, the gladioli are coming and going, the calendulas are bullet proof (those fuckers will flower when temp drops to zero). There's a couple of grafted apples in the mix, my marigolds got nailed by slugs (lotta slugs and snails this year). I'm not growing any food aside from the apples which are too small to fruit and the heritage beef tomato someone gave me. The sweet peas are almost over, gutted cos I love how tarty they smell! But I've been saving seed pods. There's a bit more stuff in the mix. Obviously growing in pots and crates is challenging but as you can see I live in a van and my plants have to be able to move when I have to go. Also there's fuck all soil where I am right now. I'd love a proper garden but I'm doing my best. Anyhoo, the bees and butterflies love it, and so do I.
Hey all, As the title suggests, I got a pest problem. I've tried diatomaceous Earth and spinosad spray, neither of which seem to work. I'm pretty sure they've killed my crop for this year. I'm wondering what you all do. I'm trying to avoid truly nasty pesticides, and I honestly don't have the drive to physically remove them, so for me, those two options are right out. I'm willing to keep trying spinosad, I think it's mostly that it rains a day or two later, and it's gone by the time the next batch of eggs hatch. Any suggestions are appreciated.
The variety is Homemade Pickles by Territorial Seed Co
Kind of a cool mutation, it’s not entirely desirable, it uses up a lot of extra energy and can make it a really dense branch with airflow and other issues.