Thread: What's in your garden?

Originally Posted by Shutree

Those look great.

Welcome back, I haven't seen you here since you kayaked olff into the floods. How did those dogs get on?

My pack are happy and healthy and back where they belong. I lost one dog, Sarge didn't make it, killed on the highway. The other 4 are doing very good.

Originally Posted by Mendip

^ I gave up trying to grow Western tomatoes because every single time they got hit by some kind of disease, blight or something.

I bet they taste delicious.

They are delicious Mendip and big enough to cover a hamburger bun. These started from seed in November, just starting to turn so I should have fresh tomatoes for the next 6 to 8 weeks.

That tomato looks excellent!

Red blister beetle (Synhoria maxillosa). I don't fancy a nip from one of these.

Some kind of katydid, at a guess. About 10cm long.

we've kept an area that we've let go wild with some elephant grass which the weaver birds love and its full of insects, love taking a look to see what's there although it took some persuading the Mrs but she's sold now.

Originally Posted by malmomike77

we've kept an area that we've let go wild with some elephant grass which the weaver birds love and its full of insects, love taking a look to see what's there although it took some persuading the Mrs but she's sold now.

I let a patch of elephant grass go too, just because it looks cool. Elephant grass with scattered Strangular Fig, makes some very tall towers. I let it go for at least a full season and when I decided to clear it out, I found out what else really loves elephant grass, paddy rats. When it falls over, which it always does, it creates a perfect home for a paddy rat.

I still grow giants. Because the law allows registered growers to grow up to six plants, I can easily grow way more than I need [ for my medical purposes.] The top 1/3 of the plant is up to 15% more potent than the bottom 2/3, so I take the top 3 feet for myself and give the rest to neighbors.



I also grow some short stubby ones that give me these nice buds.

Tunk, where do you get your seeds? I could really go for some of those short stubby ones.

The 3 I got on the go right now are healthy and sprouted fast, but really slowed down.

I'll post a pic from my phone next.

My seeds originally came from Laos several years ago, and I've been growing from my own seeds since the first harvest. The tall plant is 10 feet tall, but also 7 or 8 months old. Very few seeds but usually I find a few. In the future if I get a lot, I'll send you some.

Originally Posted by tunk

I also grow some short stubby ones that give me these nice buds.

Looking good. My last two attempts to grow were failures. I must try again.

We haven't seen any snakes at all in the past couple of months. Then today the dogs went crazy. I went outside without my glasses and my first sight of this snake with its head raised was worrying. About two metres long.



Back inside for the glasses and it is a Copperhead racer aka Radiated ratsnake. Non-venomous although a snake this size has a lot of teeth and can give you a good bite.

^ Beautiful snakes, those radiated rat snakes.

Originally Posted by Shutree

We haven't seen any snakes at all in the past couple of months

Same here Shu. Been very snake quiet. Of course 4 dogs and no covered mulch pile and my adjacent neighbor shit canned his chicken coop and off'd his birds not much to bring them around. Did have a issue yesterday as a neighbor cat had kittens and one cut over to get to another area and Judy made short work of it. I ran quick but she scooped it up in full stride and shook it around. Oddly now I am seeing a lot of feral cats. They won't fair well around our place.

I think a lot are sloughing, lots of discarded skins around

In a NZ garden


Wētā are giant flightless crickets, and some are among the heaviest insects in the world.
Generally nocturnal, most small species are carnivores and scavengers while the larger species are herbivorous.
There are more than 100 species of wētā in New Zealand, 16 of which are at risk.
There are five broad groups of wētā: Tree wētā, Ground wētā, Cave wētā, Giant wētā, Tusked wētā
Adult female wētāpunga are heavier than males and can weigh up to 35 grams. That's heavier than an average house sparrow.

Nonny, our big female tortoise, kicked out 26 dinosaur eggs today. About the size of a golf ball.

What's the plan for those?

I have no idea about this, do they need to be buried in sand or something?

Originally Posted by dirk diggler

What's the plan for those?

I have no idea about this, do they need to be buried in sand or something?

I have an incubator and in about 90 to 100 days they should start cracking out. After 6 months we will sell them to an exporter who sells them to various pet stores.

Originally Posted by Looper

Popped it root down and ankle deep in well watered potting compost

Here it comes...

I will have to be careful.

I have discovered that germination is not always the biggest hurdle in a seedlings budding career

It is often the jump from seedling-hood to teenager that presents the challenges

My beautiful Kashmir Cypress seedlings are down to 3 from 11 after getting leggy when they did not get enough light on the kitchen window ledge

^ your compost looks too damp and too much organic matter which means it'll harbour moulds and bacteria - it needs to have 40-50% sand and grit so it drains quickly.

^I hear ya Mike

That is just for the germination phase (I put cellophane over the top for a mini-greenhouse)

Once it pops its firm and rude little sprout out I transplant it to a different drier mix with more drainage.

A flock of mushrooms shrooming under this log today

I am just now wondering if these are the ones that glow in the dark so I might take a spooky wander back down into the forest later to check