I don’t have a great track record with plants, but this little guy was all alone at Trader Joe’s for the past three weeks and she called to me. I adopted her yesterday and her name is Oliveia. I want to give her the best start I possibly can. I have read that she needs 8 hours of direct sunlight per day and to be rotated periodically, watered once per week or if her soil is dry at a depth of 1 inch, and that I need to make sure there is good drainage for her. My biggest questions are:

1. How much water should I give her when I water her?
2. We are currently in Palm Springs for an unspecified length of time, and I read that she shouldn’t be in temperatures above 104 degrees - how do I reconcile this with her need for 8 hours of direct sunlight? Would taking her inside for breaks periodically help?
3. As you can see, one of her little stems is leaning - should I prop it up, maybe tie her gently to a ruler?
4. Is there anything else I should be doing to help Oliveia thrive?

Thank you for your time and any advice you feel like sharing, wise gardeners!

All the new leaves on one of my pumpkin vines has this two-tone color pattern. TBH I’m not sure if the other leaves ever had this, but I’m noticing it for the first time now. They look otherwise healthy but just thought it was interesting. (I am having a bit of a problem with squash bugs killing the older leaves, no idea if this is related or not)

Also any tips to be more successful would really appreciated. Thanks in advance

The leaves are getting sun damaged and it’s nowhere near the windows. I’ve been increasing watering to see if it’s just dry? I don’t know what I’m doing wrong but its new growth was all dried up.

I’m new to gardening and starting to feel overwhelmed by all the food! I hate seeing it go bad. This is what’s left after giving some to my neighbours

Newbie here, during the summer I built a greenhouse (10x14) zone 7a, Long Island NY I will be housing my lemon, lime, mandarin, and avocado trees for the winter. What else can I do?? Any suggestions?

Also, I have a bunch of bulbs - can I grow them in there for blooms or is there a certain time they needed in the cold ground? (Think, tulips)

Also, any tools you use please send my way too!!

Thanks!!

Hey folks, I have some massive figs that are out of control. How far back can I prune these?

Can someone help me identify this vine growing on my chain link fence? Zone 7a. Thank you.

It smells sort of like yeast and crumbles when I touch it. The "infected" plants do not appear to be suffering.

I just found these eggs on the leaves of my little struggling Oregon grape. Are they a hazard to my buddy's health? Portland, OR.

Hi! I see those little balls on the baby leafs of my tibouchina grandiflora (indoor) i dont know what can be, is a plague? Plis help im so scared

https://preview.redd.it/dzjk7esru8od1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ecb0007fa2a83afe63a1c525f36ec7d30e80c362

The leafless flower on my cannibis plant is something I've never seen happen before. Clone RS11 grown outdoors in a private garden Norcal mountains Zone 9 with Zone 1 influence. Heat stress? We had 115° and a month near that. Ruled out insects...random on various plants of the same clone variety.

Was gonna spray it with soap water but i saw some ants kill the aphids.

Sorry for the blurry pic my camera couldn't focus 😭

Early girl bush tomatoes. From 2pm plants we harvested 500 plus tomatoes.

Not sure if my question makes sense, but basically I live in an apartment in Southern California and I want to get started growing my own fruit and veggies. However, I know I will have some limits with this given space constraints. I eat mostly fruit, and I'd like to start growing my own fruit and some green veggies, but I've read that many fruits can take years to grow and be ready for harvest. My question is, rather than attempting to grow certain fruits from seeds, is there a place where I can simply purchase a fruit tree or plant and just tend to it at home?

From my preliminary research, it seems that growing veggies at home is a little easier than fruit since you can use things like hydroponic gardens. Are there similar options for fruit?

I know a picture would help, and I'll take one next time it happens. I live in Tennessee. For the past week or so, when I walk in my yard, I end up with some kind of yuck on top of my shoes. It looks like several spots of bird poop or maybe a mess of tiny rotten fruits. It is wet and smears when I wipe it off, leaving brown stains. It gets on the TOPS of my shoes, or even on my lower legs, but not on the bottoms. So it seems like it's clinging to the tips of the grass (or some weed) and not on the ground. Like I'm kicking it rather than stepping on it.

I have three acres, and I don't maintain a pristine lawn by any means. I've been here two years and plan to convert a lot to wildflowers, fruit trees, etc. Meanwhile it's grass with lots of clover, plantains, wild hyacinth, buttercups, creeping Charlie, and whatever else wants to grow. We're in a strong drought right now, so much of the grass is dormant and there's an overall crispy vibe. So I think it's not likely to be fungus, unless there's a type that grows in drought.

Any ideas what it could be? Fruit on a weed? Fungus? Animal dropping? I never catch it happening. I just walk across my yard and then look down and see my shoes are a mess again!

Well, at the beginning of summer, the chipmunk situation in our neighborhood had gotten out of hand. They were in the garage, they were digging under the patio, they were destroying potted plants, they were destroying vegetable garden plants, they were digging under our foundation, and they were destroying ornamental flower garden plants at an astonishing rate. At any given time you could look out any window of our house and see 5-7 chipmunks scurrying around.

It was time to cull these little bastards, but some people say it's pointless, and even if I was going to try....how to do it?

If you try and look up info on this, you'll get a lot of people parroting PETA's "you can't affect the local population anyway" BS. And let me assure you my gardening friends: you CAN affect the local population, severely in fact. Hey, you don't want to people killing chipmunks? Fine. Don't lie about it.

I did not want to do the "bucket of death" with sunflower seeds or any other non-discretionary kill trap because you can kill other critters and birds. My only beef was with chipmunks.

I started with a double ended live trap and some nuts on a bowl in the middle. The first few days the trap would literally go off and catch one before I could barely get ten feet away. I took these guys to a local nature preserve about 5 miles away that had a major road and a river between me and them. I dabbed some blue paint on their tail tips through the bars so I would know if I got returnees. I never had any return.

End of Days 1-3(Mid-July): 15 total chipmunks caught and relocated one at a time. I started waiting to set the trap until about an hour before I had something to do so I wasn't making special trips to relocate them.

End of Week 1: 25 total chipmunks caught and relocated.

By now I was really starting to notice a lack of chipmunks compared to before. At this point, I also got sick of going one at a time and got the "Chipmunkinator" online.

End of Week 3: 30 total chipmunks caught and relocated.

End of August: 43 total chipmunks caught and relocated.

I have now not seen a single chipmunk in my yard in over two weeks. I have had neighbors comment how they have noticed there are no chipmunks around anymore suddenly. I believe I have cleaned out nearly the entire neighborhood of the little bastards, and most importantly: no more daily garden damage.

I'm sure some more will wander into the area by next spring, but they will be PROMPTLY evicted.

Lastly, many people feel relocation is too mean because many of the relocated chipmunks do not survive. Well, it's either that or I just kill them outright. My yard is a no chipmunk zone now and it is going to stay that way one way or another.

Hello,

I have a choice between 30% green shade cloth or 50% white shade cloth, as that is what is stocked locally and I'm not sure what would be better for mainly tomatos & capsicums (bell peppers)

Last year every last one of my capsicums burnt to a crisp, my tomatos all had super thick skin and I could see them struggling on hot days. During summer it's common for temperatures to be upwards of 42 celsius (108 fahrenheit), I'm located in zone 9B.

Theres a lot of conflicting information on google about which is better and I assume is due to the variance in location and the environment they are growing. So if anyone knows what would be better of the 2 options for my garden I would be greatly appreciative

Anyone able to help me identify these critters all over my tomato plants? And is there anything I can do this late in the season? I am in zone 6.

Thank you!