Dear Twickster,
I have a 1 year-old fig tree in my garden. Last year, when I bought it at the nursery, it had one fruit. This year, it set no fruit at all. There are several well-established fig trees in neighboring yards. What might have caused this, and what can I do to help my tree be more productive?
Dear Twickster,
I have a 1 year-old fig tree in my garden. When I bought it at the nursery, it had one fruit. This year, it set no fruit at all. What might have caused this, and what can I do to help my tree be more productive? There are well-established fig trees in neighboring yards.
Yeah. Hampster madness. When the first post wasn’t there, I wrote it again. The second one is probably clearer.
What are some good plants that black-tailed deer won’t eat?
What are the best vegetables for beginning gardeners to try?
What is mulch, and what should I use to mulch plants? Do I need to put down a plastic barrier, then put bark mulch over top? Can I use newspapers for a barrier?
Do rhododendrons flower in a semi-biannual cycle?
Giant green slugs? Ignore them, drown them with beer, or stomp on them?
If I buy cherries and they are delicious, can I plant the seeds and get a plant?
How do I kill ivy the previous homeowner planted? It’s a regular old “English” ivy, I think?
Do all tomatoes in pots need to be staked?
Why do I only see tomatoes grown in containers?
What other vegetables can I grow in containers?
Are there any true ‘black’ flowers? What’s the deepest darkest purple, then?
I’m in the Pacific Northwest.
freeee-ze gopher This is a good one. Maybe the same problem as groundhogs?
I don’t know nuthin 'bout no groundhogs.
BUT…I never have any problems with gophers or moles in my garden. Despite the fact that I do have them in the yard and pasture.
Why? I plant a lot of marigolds at the ends of my rows and scattered throughout the garden. The roots are pungent (if not toxic) and practically inedible and the bright yellow blooms attract bees for pollenation. They’re supposed to be good as mosquito repellent as well. Although, I couldn’t swear to that.
I know I don’t have a rodent problem in my vegetables.
I always plant flowers among my veggies, marigolds, zinnias and a few others are good too for different things.
If you buy your starting plants in containers (ie: flats, packs, or pots in foam, paper or plastic). When you plant them just cut or tear the bottoms off of the container and plant the whole thing. It’ll make the roots grow deep and help to protect the stalk from critters that like to feed on the young tender starts.
Pine straw makes a good mulch. Keeps the grass away, saves water, helps maintain soil temperature and I think it makes the tomatoes more aciditic. It’s free too, for me anyway.
Stay away from wood mulch, esp. cedar bark… too much will burn the plants up. It composts too hot and if the mulch is too deep you can kill the plants. I’ve seen trees die from people “boxing” and mulching them too deep.
No poisons or hormones. Water the plants from the bottom, washing the leaf bottoms practically, do it early in the a.m. A little soapy water on occassion is okay if you get stubborn mites, lice or aphids. I like to stay away from toxic chemicals for a variety of reasons but mostly because I don’t want to kill the good bugs. Ladybugs and doodlebugs eat the mites, lice and aphids. So, don’t kill 'em.
Use red survey flags to mark your rows when you lay out the garden and leave them when your done. The color is beneficial and the wire helps to turn cut ants.
I could keep on this subject for awhile but y’all probably know all this anyway. I’m just an old country boy from east Texas. Hell, I grew up in pea patch. 
oh… earthworms, gotta have earthworms!
okay, I’m done now. 
Ways to get rid of snails. I hate snails. I like to go out in the middle of the night and crunch 'em, and I use Sluggo, but there must be better methods not involving siphoning my beer supply.
How about a question on composted horse poop. If you use it, what else do you need to use with it? This is a plant, but I can write a question about how to get it. Most barns I know have piles, often have to pay someone to take it away, and probably would love to have a gardener relieve them of some. But how to choose the best part, and how to store it?
(Gardeners care about the yummiest things. )
I’ve got a question I don’t have the answer for - how can you test soil to grow hot jalapenos. The ones I grew in Louisiana were great, but the ones in California are eh. (I gave up this year since they are so cheap in farmer’s market.) Is it soil, climate, or both?
Feel free to email if you need a real name.
Oh, were we supposed to just ASK questions? ooops… :smack:
sorry
~JB
You might enjoy Paghat’s Garden. Paghat the Ratgirl is in the Puget Sound area, she’s quite a character, and has one of the coolest gardening websites I’ve ever visited. 
(The site index is at the bottom of the homepage)
Voyager Okay, I’m just gonna answer one question, okay?
Snails problems? Try a bag of fertilizer. Pour a line of fertilizer around the garden.
They will NOT cross it.
You can distribute it a little around the garden but I’m not big on that idea. It might help get rid of the ones already in the garden.
Done in moderation it shouldn’t hurt the plants and may in fact help but it won’t last long.
That’s all.
My son & daughter-in-law will be moving to a rental house while their McMansion is being completed (supposedly in Oct.). They have a small but sunny patio. They would like to put some things into pots that can then be transplanted to their new place when it’s done. Any suggestions? They live in Lexington, Ky. if that matters.
These are fabulous questions, people! Keep 'em coming!
jimbeam – thanks for coming in with answers and advice! I’m gonna be cherry-picking through the thread for stuff I can use, but it’s not “my” thread – people sharing info is what gardening is all about. And anyone else who wants to offer tips – please do!
elelle – ack, I know I owe you an email – been busy at work ( 
) and then was on vacation – will write a nice long one soon, I promise.
Hilarit N. Suze – great question – I’ve actually got a feature planned on that topic for the April or May issue.
And on critters: that’s going to be an ongoing topic, folks, don’t worry! As I said to Sharky in an email, though, we been researching deer, groundhogs, and voles – but I didn’t realize that I needed to add armadillos to the list.
Hypothetical question:
My garden is very shady; only receiving a couple of hours of dappled sunlight per day; it’s not barren though, as the weeds seem to be doing fine. What can I grow in my shady garden that will be attractive and interesting?
What are the most colorful shade perennials for the Chicago area (Zone 2-3?)?
How do I get rid of Creeping Charlie?
Put on some show tunes and make mai tai’s.
Hope this helps.
Okay twickster since you asked. Stop me when you get enough. Back in the day we used to raise BIG GARDENS.
Peas and deer… they go together like bread and butter. Especially the old timey cream peas. Damned deer just love’em. It’s hard to keep them out if you’ve got a healthy deer population.
About the only thing I found that worked even half-ass was a radio playing constantly on a talk station. They’d get used to the music but talk shows seemed to keep them away. I also would put urine jars around the perimeter but that might not be practical for most people.
They’ll get used to pretty much everything you can think of.
We tried practically everything from timed explosives/random explosives, dogs, electric fences, game fences, flood lights, motion lights, human hair, scare crows, tin plates, and much more. Plus, combinations of the above.
Anybody know a way to deer proof a large crop of peas?
Besides a spotlight and a rifle.
Heh…we have the same question, kinda.
I don’t know if groundhogs and gophers are the same thing, but marigolds don’t keep our groundhogs away. If they did, we’d be enjoying a bountiful eggplant harvest right now. We had some beautiful eggplants surrounded by blooming marigolds, and now they’re stripped down to the stalks. At least we have a bunch of insanely happy marigolds.
I have a yellow squash plant next to a zuchinni plant. I have harvested about 2 dozen yellow squash so far, but not a single zuchinni. Both plants get the same amount of sun, water, fertilizer, so why don’t I have any zuchinni? I grew both yellow squash and zuchinni last year in this garden with no problem.
I’m in South Central PA.
Phlox:
It’s likely powdery mildew and phlox is very susceptible to it. There are some newer varieties that are resistant to it. I would suggest replacing the plants with the resistant variety. You will have to continually spray to stop the powdery mildew otherwise, as oposed to not spraying at all for the new varieties. It’s also a source of infection for other plants like tomato and grapes. Keeping the folage comepletely dry will reduce some of the problem, but not solve it.
Grapes:
They have a fungus, that can’t be eliminated unless sprayed for and likely some small burrowing worms. I don’t want to spray my grapes so I deal with this by some preventative measures.
Has the zuchinni flowered this year? Did any flowers have a bulge at the base that looks like a baby fruit? The ones with the bulge are female flowers, the ones without are the male. Bees have to have both types available at the same time or no fruit will set. The closed flowers with bulge at the base will drop off in a week and leave a barren plant. It’s always a good idea to plant multiple plants when dealing with squash to ensure flowers of both sex are available at the same time. You can try hand pollination by aplying a cotton swab to the pollen and touching it to the stamen. You’ll see the pollen on the stamen, if it was done correctly.