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canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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 Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 5:34 am Post subject: |
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So I just finished building a 3rd raised garden--not as large or high as the 1st I posted pics of--more just shoring up some growing space on the lower levels of our backyard with landscaping lumber because over time it has sagged to quite an incline (backyard is terraced).
We rented another roto tiller yesterday and churned that up adding soil amendments. We also cut our buried telephone line in the process, whooops! 
That took a couple of hours to fix.
Am FINALLY putting in the drip hoses, tomato plants, beans and herbs today. |
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crazykiwi
Joined: 07 Jun 2003
Location: new zealand via daejeon
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| Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 5:28 pm Post subject: |
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a little advice please green thumbs.
i planted my corriander, (salantro (sp)) a month or so ago and its coming up nicely. problem is, the stem down the bottom seems to be too thin for the leaves on top, and some are now sagging! do i tie them to a toothpick type stake or let them groww along the dirt, or are they doomed. also my basil is taking an awfully long time to come though. a few here and there, but no-where near the successes of last season. help! please |
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canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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| Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 6:38 pm Post subject: |
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| crazykiwi wrote: |
a little advice please green thumbs.
i planted my corriander, (salantro (sp)) a month or so ago and its coming up nicely. problem is, the stem down the bottom seems to be too thin for the leaves on top, and some are now sagging! do i tie them to a toothpick type stake or let them groww along the dirt, or are they doomed. also my basil is taking an awfully long time to come though. a few here and there, but no-where near the successes of last season. help! please |
Coriander is really floppy like that at first. Looks pathetic doesn't it?!
Once the plant grows bigger it should stand better. Frequent trimming encourages new growth as well.
Both of coriander and basil (and other herbs) like full sun and well-draining sandy soil. I always mix a few handfuls of sand into the pots of earth when I plant them. |
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krats1976
Joined: 14 May 2003
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| Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 8:58 pm Post subject: |
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| canuckistan wrote: |
So I just finished building a 3rd raised garden--not as large or high as the 1st I posted pics of--more just shoring up some growing space on the lower levels of our backyard with landscaping lumber because over time it has sagged to quite an incline (backyard is terraced).
We rented another roto tiller yesterday and churned that up adding soil amendments. We also cut our buried telephone line in the process, whooops!
That took a couple of hours to fix.
Am FINALLY putting in the drip hoses, tomato plants, beans and herbs today. |
Seriously, you have GOT to stop posting here. You're making me want to move home right now!!
My garden is doing alright though. I bought some spaghetti squash at the butterfly festival and put it in a couple of weeks ago. They've more than tripled in size since. I also put 3 butternut squash plants in the ground & they're doing well.
I dunno what happened with my bean starts. One finally popped up, but then promptly keeled over dead. So, I finally got some seeds in the ground early last week. With the heat & all the rain, they should be coming up soon.
One of my students is trying to help me find corn starts, but I've been too busy to really follow up on it.
Last edited by krats1976 on Sun May 21, 2006 12:20 am; edited 1 time in total |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 11:19 pm Post subject: |
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| endofthewor1d wrote: |
the beans are thriving. there are 12 of them now! that's more than 50% of what i planted. i'm pretty happy with that.
also, does anyone know what this flower is? i saw it the other day in a shop and i had to buy it because it looked so cool. also, do you know where you could go to get seeds for this sort of thing? i'd like to start my own from scratch. when i buy a plant, i feel like i'm cheating.
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Your flower is a columbine.
This is cilantro- the little ones are this year's, the tall ones wintered over on my balcony (not glassed in) with no attention. I was really surprised when I dug out my pots and found two live plants!
This is lemongrass from Cambodia. It wintered over inside, and is making a great comeback. It's great for Thai cooking and for tea. |
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OiGirl
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: Hoke-y-gun
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| Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 2:47 am Post subject: |
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| Very cool. I never knew what lemongrass looked like when it wasn't dried! |
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OiGirl
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: Hoke-y-gun
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| Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 3:49 pm Post subject: |
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| What seeds are best to bring to Korea? What is hard/impossible to find, and what grows well in the climate? |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 4:09 pm Post subject: |
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Most herb seeds are hard to find- but baby rosemary, thyme and mint plants are readily available. Nasturtium seeds are hard to find, but, again, the plants are available and grow well here.
I haven't seen sage, oregano or cilantro seeds here. Basil either- and mine thrived last year, so it grows well here. Cilantro, by the way, does well in the spring and early summer, but the August heat stops it dead in its tracks.
My glorious lemongrass is the result of very risky behavior involving live plants and international borders. 
But root cuttings from my garden are available to anyone who wants some and can come get it here in Daegu. It propagates well from root cuttings, hence how it got here in the first place. 
I don't think you can order seeds sent directly to you, because of customs (I have been told this, I haven't tried). I have gotten a lot of my seeds from Thailand. |
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crazykiwi
Joined: 07 Jun 2003
Location: new zealand via daejeon
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| Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
Coriander is really floppy like that at first. Looks pathetic doesn't it?!
Once the plant grows bigger it should stand better. Frequent trimming encourages new growth as well.
Both of coriander and basil (and other herbs) like full sun and well-draining sandy soil. I always mix a few handfuls of sand into the pots of earth when I plant them |
thanks for the advice! yeah, it does look pathetic, but i used a smidgen of it last night and it tasted great. only thing is, i havent really got much to begin with, so i hope i didnt hurt it! im pretty unlucky as i only get around 5 hours of sunlight on it a day, but hopefully in two to three weeks, when i move, ill have more.
as for seeds getting in the country. we just put them in our suitcases, which were full of food stuffs anyway, and toddled on through immi. try getting someone to send some food stuffs over in a care package and slip them in. basil oregana and corriander oh and chives. |
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krats1976
Joined: 14 May 2003
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| Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 5:31 pm Post subject: |
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| crazykiwi wrote: |
as for seeds getting in the country. we just put them in our suitcases, which were full of food stuffs anyway, and toddled on through immi. try getting someone to send some food stuffs over in a care package and slip them in. basil oregana and corriander oh and chives. |
Last year, I had my mom send me some seeds in one of my packages. She rolled the seed packets up tight & taped 'em so the seeds wouldn't rattle around, then tucked them in some clothes she was sending me. Worked like a charm. I sent for stuff I knew I couldn't find here: butternut squash, green beans & herbs.
When I go home next month (4 weeks & counting!!) I'll pick up some peas & American sweet corn. If I knew I was gonna be here for awhile I'd get some nice apple seeds from Washington, but I really doubt I'll be here long enough to see the fruits of that labor.
So, to the other ROK gardeners: do you put that black plastic stuff on your rows like a lot of Korean gardeners do? Do they really help to keep the weeds down? |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 5:56 pm Post subject: |
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| krats1976 wrote: |
| crazykiwi wrote: |
as for seeds getting in the country. we just put them in our suitcases, which were full of food stuffs anyway, and toddled on through immi. try getting someone to send some food stuffs over in a care package and slip them in. basil oregana and corriander oh and chives. |
Last year, I had my mom send me some seeds in one of my packages. She rolled the seed packets up tight & taped 'em so the seeds wouldn't rattle around, then tucked them in some clothes she was sending me. Worked like a charm. I sent for stuff I knew I couldn't find here: butternut squash, green beans & herbs.
When I go home next month (4 weeks & counting!!) I'll pick up some peas & American sweet corn. If I knew I was gonna be here for awhile I'd get some nice apple seeds from Washington, but I really doubt I'll be here long enough to see the fruits of that labor.
So, to the other ROK gardeners: do you put that black plastic stuff on your rows like a lot of Korean gardeners do? Do they really help to keep the weeds down? |
You have to be mindful of the black plastic. It keeps the weeds down, and moisture and heat in (great for cool nights). But it can also be a problem for bugs and for "damp off"- that is when seedlings get too much moisture on cold roots and they literally rot. Over all though, black plastic beats the hell out of backbreaking weeding. |
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endofthewor1d
Joined: 01 Apr 2003
Location: the end of the wor1d.
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| Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 7:02 pm Post subject: |
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should i be concerned about these bright yellow mushrooms that are sprouting in one of my bean buckets?
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 7:25 pm Post subject: |
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| endofthewor1d wrote: |
should i be concerned about these bright yellow mushrooms that are sprouting in one of my bean buckets?
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I don't know, but they sure are cute! |
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canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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| Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 7:43 pm Post subject: |
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The mushrooms are probably harmless--just spores that were in the soil and you've obviously got some humidity. If they start taking over the pot then you could always throw them into your next omelette 
(Joking, don't eat them!!)
Des, the lemon grass looks great--I want some!!!....wish I could find some here. Next time I'm at the Thai market I'll ask them, I bet they've got their own plants going in the backyard.
Krats--wish I had the space for sweet corn!
This evening I finished putting in about 50-60 little plants-- Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and basil.
What an odyssey to get to this point as I literally had to build the gardens out of lumber first and then add decent soil or mix in amendments, then fertilizer, then water the hell out of it all...then plant...then water some more....and add stakes.
And during the midst of all of that fix the backyard grass and plant other things that were outgrowing their peat pots or getting blighty in their packaging. I've been at it just about every day for a couple of months straight now. Ridiculous, but next year things will be easier.
Now the tomato gardens look like some sort of medieval fortifications with so many bamboo tomato stakes sticking out of the ground--something right out of "Braveheart."
I should post some pics of that--it looks really dangerous
Tomorrow I'm taking a break!!!
My body really hurts.
Last edited by canuckistan on Sun May 21, 2006 8:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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| canuckistan wrote: |
The mushrooms are probably harmless--just spores that were in the soil and you've obviously got some humidity. If they start taking over the pot then you could always throw them into your next omelette
(Joking, don't eat them!!)
Des, the lemon grass looks great--I want some!!!....wish I could find some here. Next time I'm at the Thai market I'll ask them, I bet they've got their own plants going in the backyard.
Krats--wish I had the space for sweet corn!
This evening I finished putting in about 50-60 little plants-- Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and basil.
What an odyssey to get to this point as I literally had to build the gardens out of lumber first and then add decent soil or mix in amendments, then fertilizer, then water the hell out of it all...then plant...then water some more....and add stakes.
And during the midst of all of that fix the backyard grass and plant other things that were outgrowing their peat pots or getting blighty in their packaging. I've been at it just about every day for a couple of months straight now. Ridiculous, but next year things will be easier.
Now the gardens look like some sort of medieval fortifications with so many bamboo tomato stakes sticking out of the ground--something right out of "Braveheart."
I should post some pics of that--it looks dangerous
Tomorrow I'm taking a break!!!
My body really hurts. |
If you can buy some fresh lemongrass with only the slightest hint of roots, you can put it in a glass of water until you have healthy roots. Plant it in an very large pot (the root system gets immense!) and watch it take off. Put it in a pot, not in the ground, because it will never survive a Korean winter.
If you can't find any, you can try to arrange to get some from me. Anyone going to Daegu can pick it up from me. |
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