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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   3058 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 12, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I've been getting into gardening lately. I grew some herbs and small vegetables many years ago, but otherwise I am completely new to it again.

Two months ago I made the rookie mistake of using "garden soil" in planters (garden soil is to be used in the ground, or in raised beds) and unfortunately nearly all of the plants died. But the California growing season is forgiving, and I haven't lost much time. Last weekend I bought a strawberry plant, a cherry tomato plant, a larger tomato plant, and six zucchini squash plants. This weekend I'm setting up a drip irrigation system to keep the plants watered, as I have quickly learned that the plants I currently have will need a lot of water.

AI chatbots have been very helpful for answering every question I could possibly have, and capturing the nuances between different varieties. (Certain strawberry varieties have runners that you should snip off to encourage upward growth! Zucchini squash may need hand pollination when flowers appear! Switch to liquid fertilizer when fruiting!) What could've been hours of searching in the library, or talking with the local gardening club, in the good old days, is now a half hour conversation at my desk. In one way, I am glad that I am able to kick off a new hobby successfully, but in another way, I'm a bit sad that I no longer have a reason to get up with the local gardening folks to figure out what's going on.

I've got a lot of planters sitting around. What should I grow next? What is everyone else growing?

I'd focus on spices. Fresh bay leaves are useful and you can share them with neighbours. Fresh dill really improves things like scrambled eggs but isn't worth a trip to the grocery store.

Grow mint and invite your friends over for mojitos with mint from your garden.

Plants where the useful part is the leaf / stem can probably just sit in your backyard until you need it. Plants that fruit have the issue where you suddenly have a lot of fruit to deal with.

You should also look into growing ghost peppers or Carolina reapers. They are fun to give away.

Fresh mint is amazing, especially if you're one for making drinks and/or tea.

Don't plant it in the ground, however, unless you've woken up that morning and choosen terrifying bio-warfare.

Fresh basil is incredible for cooking. So are chives, for salad.

There are varieties of cherry tomatoes that are sweeter and more delicious than anything you can buy in-store. Try and find sun sugar types. You'll thank me later.

Honestly if you want to feel amazing about yourself, grow some weed. Pick a variety of ones that look cool to you and grow them and they’ll look just as cool as the pics. Dunno if that’s legal there.

I have the opposite of a green thumb and grew weed insanely well.

This is accurate. Last year, first attempt, we got 8 oz of cured flower starting from 3 seeds (one of which was culled as a male, so 2 plants). This was done outdoors in northeastern US (good soil, but short season). That said, while the growing is easy, the drying, trimming, and curing process is where ot gets to where you can F it up easily)

I'm in a similar position to you and made the conscious decision that the only outside help I'm allowed to seek is from my mom. She's far from an optimal resource, but the consistent back-and-forth, sharing pictures and advice, has been really really nice. I enjoy the enhanced relationship with her more than I care about my garden doing particularly well.

That said, I'm having some good luck with my cherry tomatoes and serrano peppers. My other peppers are struggling in the current heat wave and a squirrel ate my one viable poblano. My modest goal is to be able to make a salsa by the end of summer. I just have a few plants so I can take the time to manually check for and remove aphids and other pests on each plant every day, which is helping cover up my inadequacies as a gardener.

I really recommend giant marconi peppers. They taste like bell peppers, but are sweeter, bigger, and easier to grow.

zucchini

On the one hand they're easy to grow and highly productive which is gratifying from the point of view of gardening. On the other hand you'll be inundated with a glut of courgettes that nobody likes eating that will quickly turn into a glut of giant marrows that nobody likes eating.

strawberry

Now you're talking. People will tell you to propagate more plants from the runners, which is okay up to a point, but you'll end up with a monoculture of plants that all fruit at the same time. If you want more plants consider getting some different varieties that crop early/mid/late to extend the season. I'd also recommend alpine strawberries - they're too tiny for anyone to grow commercially and they taste twice as good.

drip irrigation

I'm sceptical of garden techno-fixes. It's often swapping one form of maintenance for another.

What should I grow next?

For edibles grow things that you love eating, that are expensive and/or rare, and that grow well in your locale. Unless you have acres of garden and are growing for self sufficiency don't waste time growing staples like onions and carrots (or zucchini) that you can buy by the sack for pennies. Soft fruits and fresh herbs are a good choice, cut flowers if you like flowers, or premium vegetables like asparagus. Basically start at the apex of produce and work your way down, not vice versa.

Basically start at the apex of produce and work your way down

That's what I figured as well. The fun stuff are the fruits and vegetables you can't find in the supermarket, either because they're fragile or the market for them is too tiny. Thanks for reminding me about the alpine strawberries, I read about that several months back but it has since slipped out of my mind.

I actually just bought a drip irrigation starter kit last weekend from a big-box hardware store, which hooks into a typical 3/4" garden hose connection. I also bought a timer, which attaches to the 3/4" GHT and will let me run the drip irrigation to send 0.5/1.0/2.0 gallons of water per hour to each planter. For those of us who work long hours away from home and may not be able to consistently water in the morning, it's a good solution.

Drip irrigation is extremely convenient and low maintenance. There is a startup cost, of course, but it's great to have it. It's also like building a hydraulic lego set.

I just finished a small setup on 9 pots, I totally get the analogy now. I'll post about it at the next Friday Fun thread and you can critique it...

I'm far from an expert but would be interested to see what you came up with.

On the other hand you'll be inundated with a glut of courgettes that nobody likes eating that will quickly turn into a glut of giant marrows that nobody likes eating.

Zucchini bread is a godsend when this happens. It turns out people love zucchini if you bake it into a cake that's full of sugar, butter, and sour cream.

You can get a lot of mileage from leafy greens like kale, and also watermelons are pretty cool. The AI advice doesn’t sound super useful. Do you use mulch at all? I’d focus on fundamentals like that. Check out some gardening YouTube videos just to see what you might be missing. I recommend Gardening Like A Viking.

Thanks for the suggestions. That Youtube channel looks excellent. Regarding the mulch, like I mentioned, I just started a week ago so still trying to figure out how well the soil is holding moisture. I used mulch on a couple of the plants, but it's starting to look like the others will need it too.

Yeah, the mulch will also help regulate temperatures throughout the day-night cycle, keeping it cooler during the day and warmer during the night, which plants generally like. Might not be as important in California as in other places, but anywhere there's major swings it can be highly valuable. It will also protect the soil microbiology from the sun and its deadly radiation, and thus create for a healthier root environment. I waited probably half a summer before applying it when I first started, but I now regard it as one of the highest impact improvements a gardener can make.

Last weekend I bought a strawberry plant, a cherry tomato plant, a larger tomato plant, and six zucchini squash plants.

I'll be curious to hear how your strawberries do. Where I am, strawberry season is pretty much completely over by the time tomato plants really start.

What should I grow next?

Depends heavily on if you're interested in flowers or veggies, and what you like!

What is everyone else growing?

No veggies at the moment, but I'm about to put 6 David Austin Roses into the ground tomorrow... hopefully I don't kill them!

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