The Backyard: Gardeners, Assemble!

So, after all my efforts to level my yard, A mole has taken up residence there and is making his mounds of dirt. In the ground I've spent a week sifting, de-rocking, and leveling.

Ladies and gentletropers, this means war.

If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~

^^My guess would be that it refers to the heterozygous nature of hybrids. Many hybrid plants are bred for hybrid vigour, which is when heterozygous offspring are healthier than their homozygous parents. Heterozygous plants don't breed true (I assume that's what they mean by growing true). If you had a true-breeding plant - let's say a pea with white flowers - and you paired it with itself, you'd always get white peas. But if you had a white pea which was the result of pairing purple and white parents, and you paired it with a similar white pea, you'd have both white and purple pea offspring. There might also be differences in the offspring due to the effects of codominance, incomplete dominance etc.

"Growing true" might also mean that the plant is unable to thrive or grow at all due to genetic messing about (technical term, that). Plants with different numbers of chromosomes*

are sometimes unable to reproduce.

I hope I'm not ranting too much about stuff you already know. I find genetics really interesting.

And to bring this back to gardening, have a go with the tomatoes. We threw grocery cherry tomatoes into the garden and forgot about them. The result was cherry tomato plants growing out of every nook.

"Doctor Who means never having to say you're kidding." - Bocaj

Yuanch: Ah, that makes sense. I'll definitely try out the seeds, then.

Drunk: Whack 'em.

I know that when I was a kid, we had both tomato plants and cucumber plants growing in the compost pile. (well, it wasn't really a true compost pile, it was just the corner of the yard were we pitched the veggie scraps, coffee grounds, and grass clippings. We never turned or aerated or amended it, and since it was 98%+ grass clippings by volume it never really turned to usable compost.)

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

I've put up some hanging baskets with strawberries in them. That should keep the bastard slugs off next year's crop.

'All he needs is for somebody to throw handgrenades at him for the rest of his life...'

Our yard is slowly but surely being taken over by bahia and other scrubby pasture-type grasses. Is there a good product to use that will kill them but not the bermudagrass that is supposed to be there?

They'll learn how to use crampons. Mark my words. Slugs can be persistent beggars. What you need is a friendly, neighbourhood hedgehog.

Had roughly that problem in South Africa: the only answer I saw anybody come up with was goats. And, no: they're not that selective in grasses, any more than your average herbicide.

edited 11th Sep '12 10:21:46 AM by Euodiachloris

Well, I've been having to borrow my father-in-law's mower this summer because ours is busted, so if someone wanted to offer up their goats for an afternoon or few, I'd say go for it.

edited 11th Sep '12 10:30:59 AM by Willbyr

My brother in law uses the shot gun approach to moles. I find it noisy. We got dogs and the mole problem solved itself. I hates them I do.

I've always wanted a pet hedgehog, but they're technically illegal in California for some reason.

That seems...potentially dangerous.

If I had a shotgun I'd be out there right now. I'll settle for dumping ammonia down his precious tunnels (apparently a co-worker of mine got rid of moles that way).

If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~

It is potentially dangerous, especially is you are a Fudd.

Well, everything is dangerous if you're a Fudd.

'All he needs is for somebody to throw handgrenades at him for the rest of his life...'

Especiawwy ewws.

edited 12th Sep '12 12:04:11 PM by Willbyr

Just got some red-osier dogwood seeds and planted them; hoping they’ll germinate.

Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883!

Hunh, I had no idea Fudd had so many meanings. I was referring to Elmer Fudd and his bendy flexible gun that Bugs Bunny would point back at him.

It's a Scottish thing. Made Loony Tunes even funnier when I was a kid.

'All he needs is for somebody to throw handgrenades at him for the rest of his life...'

It is the attack of everything ripening at once. Cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cucumbers and peppers every where.

Sounds like crudités...

When you want to kill a persistant weed that defies other techniques try this. I used it on bindweed in Upstate NY and it worked when nothing else would. It does kill pretty much everything, so if there are things you want to save, put them in pots and carefully clean the roots so you don't replant your weed. Chemical free, and you can reuse the plastic for other things after.

Yes, yes grade away from the house. A damp garden has its place... far far from your foundations.

A suggestion for keeping kids out, if you are unkind, stinging nettles. They won't cause any permanent damage, but they do dissuade most people. Just be careful as they are root spreaders. Mine get up to eight feet high in the shade, but usually not more than six in the sun. No, I didn't plant them, they were here before me. At that, they're better than the himalayans.

I have detangled the magnolia enough to spot the remains of some bear's breeches, hellebore and hardy cyclamen still surviving. It's where I spotted the tall nettles.

edited 13th Sep '12 8:34:55 PM by Lightningnettle

I got this year's first apple today. Accidentally bumped the tree while cutting the grass.

'All he needs is for somebody to throw handgrenades at him for the rest of his life...'

Well, that's one way to get people to cut the grass.

"I don't know how I do it. I'm like the Mr. Bean of sex." -Drunkscriblerian

My basil was getting all droopy despite regular watering and sunlight. After taking it inside before I go to bed, it's recovering nicely. The nights must be too cold for it now.

edited 16th Sep '12 2:40:44 PM by Leradny

Argh. Whitefly. I've done the diluted soap-and-oil spray on the underside of the leaves.