LearnDirt

Love it 😃 Just added it right below this Community Suggestions board. Thanks for suggesting this!

April 14, 2026

Nothing like a fresh start, and it looks like you're off to a good one! 😁 jealous of the dwarf grapefruit, yum 😋 I've been out shoveling mulch too, now's the time to pile it on heavy before the heat - sounds like we'll all be ready! I was jus…

April 14, 2026

Hi Digger! 👋 Glad you're here 😊 I'm also on a journey to try to find the best ways to discourage critters without having to kill any more than necessary. So much to learn about deterrence! Not sure what kind you're dealing with in Ohio, but do…

April 12, 2026

For some reason I expected the germination to take forever too, but I guess that doesn't make sense in a place where rain is so infrequent. I've never grown any cacti from seed, but you know it sounds really fun so I'll try it It's hilarious h…

April 6, 2026

Ok that's super helpful, I didn't realize how much quicker it would be from root stock. I knew it's a waiting game for a while, but patience is my middle name! 😌 Thank you for all the info, I'm excited to try it 😁 I'll report back in 3 years

April 6, 2026

They've been loving the globemallow here too, I really like the peachy-colored ones 🤩 Hey so I saw asparagus growing in a demonstration garden here last year and didn't realize before that it would grow in this climate and make it through the sum…

April 3, 2026

Wow, how long did they take from seed to get to where they are? I don't know that I've ever seen cacti so small! I saved some seed from the barrel cactus fruit I've been eating, but haven't tried germinating them yet. I assumed they might take fo…

April 3, 2026

Hi there! 👋 I like those clematis too, I'm not familiar with them but they sure do look nice 😃 I'll bet your kids loved growing up with a garden, I know I did! My Mom's garden is what inspired me to get into growing 🥰 We had really compact soi…

April 3, 2026

Hey there, welcome in! Colorado is one of my favorite places to visit, you've got a gorgeous state 🏔️ I think you're the first Colorado gardener here so far, but there will definitely be others soon. I'd guess you have some of the same soil issu…

April 3, 2026

We just got another truckload of wood chips, that's been huge like Redshoe said - it's turned our community garden into one big sponge. Pretty amazing to compare how the rain runs off and erodes the bare sand outside, but inside the chips just soak …

April 2, 2026

Wow, I can't believe you have tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants already, that's wild! 🤯 did they just go right through winter with no frost? Those mulberries look TOO good omg 🤤 glad you're getting some harvests! I was just eating the last of t…

April 1, 2026

Ah I didn't realize there were self-pollinating varieties! That has me excited to do some mulberry research 😃 It's also great to hear about your moringa experience, I want to try again to grow one and time my planting better so it has time to roo…

April 1, 2026

I was really sad to read that mulberries are banned down here in Pima county, because that's one I was really interested in. I guess the concern is pollen? (same with olive trees). They seem to be banned in a lot of places (Vegas maybe, parts of Tex…

March 29, 2026

It was a big shock when I first got here, that's for sure! 😂 I was used to 50" of rain / year in Jersey, and then even more than that in North Carolina. Really love it here though, it's helped me learn so much about building healthy soil, since …

March 26, 2026

I like the idea of the metal barrier, we're putting up some aluminum flashing along the top of the fence at my community garden to keep the ground squirrels and mice out. Do a Google search for "tree baffle" you might find something that works - …

March 26, 2026

Hey Redshoe, nice to see you over here! 👋😃 I think it's been 5 years in Tucson for me, too, after quite a while growing on the East Coast. What a difference as you said LOL 🤣🌵 You really transformed your place, wow!! That ocotillo is huge 😆 Love it

March 26, 2026

Hey J.Rowsom, glad you're here! What are you planting in Vegas right now? I just planted a bunch of cucurbits in Tucson - doing loofahs, Armenian cukes, butternut squash, pumpkins all to climb up an overhanging trellis as a living shade canopy 😁

March 22, 2026

Exhibit B, critter hollowed out the daikon pods to get to the seeds 😂

March 21, 2026

Hi Herb, welcome in! What are those plants?? I don't know that I've ever seen anything like them before 😮

March 17, 2026

Great idea! I just put it on my list of features to build, so I'll let you know when it's implemented. Thanks for the suggestion 😃

March 16, 2026

I really like that first one, it looks like an undersea creature! 🪼😃

March 14, 2026

Oh sorry I forgot. Search the site for "Tucson Planting Guide" or for "March", I made one for each month with the timing for indoor seeds, direct-sow, and transplant. I see you're 9b so you might have to adjust slightly, but it should get you pr…

March 13, 2026

So I don't know if this is universally true in every climate, but where I am in the Sonoran Desert we only have about 2.5 months between our last spring frost, and our 100F+ days at the start of summer. I start mine indoors in January to get a big j…

March 13, 2026

Voting is added! Let me know if it's working for you or if you run into any issues with it

March 10, 2026

Would that be like a hashtag that we all use as a community to stay in touch over there? I don't know, they've phased hashtags out on some of the social platforms so I don't usually use them anymore 🤔 what were you thinking?

March 8, 2026

Yeah I was thinking about this, I've got it on my list but just need to decide exactly how I want it all to work. Thanks for the suggestion 😄 look for this sometime in the next month or two!

March 8, 2026

I didn't realize you're in Tucson too, a local desert dweller! 🌵 the soil sure needs a LOT of improving here for veggies, doesn't it?! 😂 the good news is with enough organic matter, anything is possible!!

Feb. 12, 2026

Hey @Ausetkmt, welcome in and happy Winter! ☃️ It'll be time for spring planting before we know it 😁🌱

Dec. 23, 2025

Gorgeous grow! 🤩 Love that first plant especially, with the frosty buds and super dark leaves contrasting 😎 glad you're here! I want more veggie growers to see that cannabis is just another plant they can grow, and I want weed growers to realize …

Dec. 16, 2025

Hope it's just one! That sounds frustrating to lose a cover crop season, though I'm sure it'll feel good to get the breach taken care of. I'll be spending some of this winter replacing critter barrier at my local community garden too, so hopef…

Dec. 7, 2025

Aw dang, that seems like a tough one! If the tunnel runs straight down, I wonder if you could push some PVC through it all the way down to where it meets the mesh. That would make an unclimbable pipe interior the first thing that voles would meet…

Dec. 6, 2025

I haven't dealt with moles personally, I've got gopher problems myself but I remember reading that moles don't eat plants or plant roots. I think they're insectivorous and also help aerate soil 🤔

Dec. 4, 2025

I like your point about waiting until the plants are dormant, that should help you get more access. Not sure if you get winter rains but that would help too. Steady irrigation is probably important, I think patchy watering might cause worse pocketin…

Oct. 14, 2025

Yeah the lime is is pretty immobile (even more so if your soil happens to be clay), so I'd figure it would take at least a year with a surface application for it to really get down to the root zone and raise the pH. And of course too much tilling wo…

Oct. 7, 2025

Hi GSF713, you're in the same growing zone as me over here in Arizona (but I'm sure your get a fair deal more rain). Love your goals! You can grow through the winter, right? Are you planting anything now for the cool season? We're about to start lea…

Sept. 15, 2025

Hi Nicole 👋 sounds like something's going on, hopefully I can help you figure it out! When I hear few flowers and no fruit, I immediately think about phosphorus. That has the most effect on flowering and fruiting, so I wonder if you may have a ph…

Aug. 29, 2025

Hi LindaFayMaumee 👋 glad you're here! I'm curious about that orchard you're working on, what kind of trees are you growing? Gorgeous photos, I love those coneflowers 😍 are those echinacea?

Aug. 23, 2025

Good to see you here, Beth! Your garden always looks so nice, I love the contrasting textures and color 😊 Hopefully we'll see some NorCal gardeners here soon you can connect with. The community is still super now, but it's growing each week 🌱 …

July 29, 2025

I'd say the most important starting place is finding a good source of carbonaceous "brown" material - stuff like wood chips, dry leaves, shredded cardboard, shredded paper, shredded newspaper, dry pine needles, chopped up dried dead branches, etc. …

June 19, 2025

Hey Shannon, welcome in! 👋 Sounds like you and @themightyfoo are in the same or similar zones and area, so you two can bounce ideas back and forth for your Portland climate 😄 It sounds like you really got a great spot there with everything the…

June 17, 2025

Hi Shannon, thanks for letting me know, I felt like something was off today but you helped me narrow down what it was I think I got it all fixed! 😃 You should be able to access everything now, but let me know if you run into any more errors

June 17, 2025

Ooh yeah that will help, when you harvest the beans, you can mulch with what's left of the bush. My whole world has become beans, peas, chickpeas, hairy vetch, alfalfa, all the legumes! I've gone nitrogen-crazy 🤪😂

May 6, 2025

Sounds like you've got a great pH! You're right the P & K help with fruiting and flowering a lot more than the nitrogen. Before that, in the vegetative stage, nitrogen is key. It's the primary element plants need, so it should make a big differe…

May 6, 2025

It's usually called like a "mention", so @Bonnie means I'm directing my comment at your username. What it's supposed to do is send a notification to the recipient saying "hey somebody mentioned you in this thread" but I haven't built that functio…

May 2, 2025

Hey @Bonnie, love your photo! 🌼 I'm in AZ too and have seen the wonders of shade cloth first-hand on those sweltering summer days 😂 I will say that while my tomatoes and other warm season veggies love the extended season with shade cloth, my 40% sha…

April 20, 2025

Hey @littlefaith! 👋 Glad to hear you're having fun with your plants, I started in a city with a few potted plants too 🌱😊 Now a decade later I'm trying to restore ecosystems and regenerate deserts and help gardeners connect - it got a little out …

April 15, 2025

Nice to meet you, MuckAndGrass! I'm also in zone 9A down in Arizona in the US. I'm honestly shocked that there is zone 9A in Bristol! 🤯 Love the wildlife gardening, and I've turned a couple plots at my community garden into a little food forest t…

April 2, 2025

I always thought it would be hard, but it's actually super easy. I kept reading guides that overcomplicated it, that said you need all kinds of fancy equipment and a completely sterile laboratory environment. Ridiculously complicated processes, …

March 12, 2025

Ooh very exciting! I'm in Southern Arizona in a 9a so probably very similar to your climate (just with more summer monsoon rain). Very sandy soil here, the cover crops have been HUGE for improving it, I can't believe how much my soil has transformed…

Feb. 16, 2025

I forgot how different they look when they're small! What does putting them in the fridge do, is that vernalization?

Feb. 12, 2025

Love artichokes! I just added the ability to attach images to existing replies. Give it a try, let me know if it works 😃 Still working on getting it so we can upload images as we post new replies, but for now we should at least be able to attach …

Feb. 12, 2025

Hi Plot22Mabel 👋 we're looking forward to seeing new faces around here too! Thanks for the suggestion, I love the idea for a seed-starting section and just added it 👌 In general I'm here to support you all, so I love hearing ideas for improvin…

Feb. 10, 2025

Glad they're doing well! It sounds very similar to when I vernalize hardneck garlic in the fridge in case the winter is not cold enough. Make sure the cloves are dry, wrap in paper towel, and then inside a plastic bag. I always worry about mold, but…

Feb. 8, 2025

Oh they like that vernalization? Do you put them in a bag in the fridge so they don't dry out? Yum, strawberries are my favorite! We've been having really good success with artichokes here in Arizona, they seem to like the hot, dry climate and th…

Feb. 7, 2025

Hi Joanna, so nice that you're here! 😊 I used to live in NJ in Zone 7a, so I'm familiar with the mid-Atlantic climate. Admittedly, though, I've never grown a dahlia. *GASP*! Maybe I ought to 🤔

Feb. 7, 2025

For a basic seed-starting mix I usually do roughly 2 parts coco peat, 1 part screened compost, and 1 part perlite. Some folks do peat moss instead of coco peat. I've recently swapped the perlite for sand since it's abundant where I am in the d…

Jan. 27, 2025