Gardening hacks and myth busters

[Briztank]

Taking a wee bit of inspiration from an earlier video where Mark busted a couple of myths growing from different scraps and those tiny potatoes, I thought why not start a thread where we can either share our experiences of seeing or hearing a myth and the outcome after trying it and/or challenging or trying something for each other.

First myth is in the tomato growing

Now i do feel there is a lot of baloney in this, but what better way to find out than by trying it myself! Will let you know the outcome when one gets to this stage.

What other myths are out there you know of to bust or new hacks to learn?

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Adding gravel to the bottom of potted plants!
I did that when I started gardening too. Not only did I not find any improvement to growing my plants, it was a nightmare to repot! Trying to pick out every piece of gravel before upsizing... horrendous. Never again.

If you do want to use gravel for better drainage. Please for the love of... something... add a piece of mesh or cloth on top. That way your soil doesn't slip between and ruin their function, but it also makes for easier repotting in the future.

 

[Briztank]

Adding gravel to the bottom of potted plants!
I did that when I started gardening too. Not only did I not find any improvement to growing my plants, it was a nightmare to repot! Trying to pick out every piece of gravel before upsizing... horrendous. Never again.

If you do want to use gravel for better drainage. Please for the love of... something... add a piece of mesh or cloth on top. That way your soil doesn't slip between and ruin their function, but it also makes for easier repotting in the future.

Bahahaha I did the exact same thing making a mini herb pot garden for a date night! That is one hell of a tip though will do this next time we replant this! May create a mini sifter to try get them out it took so long picking through lol! Like you though, noticed no benefit

 

[Briztank]

Myth busted…kinda. Flavour wise they are much better being left on to ripen, however that can cause some heartbreak too had a one slice covers the whole slice of bread sized tomato that was 1 day off being fully ripened and those dang dirty birds annihilated it! Few lessons learned from that experiment. Anything new to try?

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Have you considered bird/insect netting?

 

[Briztank]

Lol that was most certainly put on pretty much the second my heart was ripped from my chest

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

So I'm not the only one that starts panicking AFTER something has been done to interrupt my "flow"

Currently being SWARMED by grasshoppers and can't spray due to persisting rain.

In saying that: Another garden "myth" buster!
Concept: Garden sprays against insects work immediately and SAVE your plants from harm.
Reality: A lot of garden sprays only work once INGESTED by the critters. This means that, yes, your plant WILL still get damaged, however the pest population will gradually die down as they eat from the sprayed plant. Over time your plant will be reovering faster than it's eating and look right and dandy once more.

 

[Briztank]

Honestly I’ve hardly ever sprayed and when I did it was when the damage was too far gone…I do want to know how to stop the caterpillars in broccoli because that’s a real killer!

Got a good haul of toms this arvo bird netting saves the day once again! If in doubt, net it out.

 

[KIGardening]

To protect the brassica family plants I use a very fine gauze netting that allows only air and water through. Just make sure you keep the entire bed completely closed off. You can order these nettings online

 

[Grandmother Goose]

My repeatedly busted myth is, "You can't grow that in a desert!" You think so huh? Hold my beer.
Microclimates FTW.

Epic Gardening has a few good myth busting videos.

I think the most annoying part about mythbusting anything nowadays is as soon as you do, someone that believes in the myth like it's part of their religion is going to get very upset about it, and if the mythbuster doesn't word things well enough to pander to the believers, they become the bad guy. It's wild. Many social media homesteading and self sufficiency type groups are overrun with people that will believe just about anything so long as it isn't a repeatedly proven scientific fact.

 

[Mark]

Tomatoes left to ripen on the vine as long as possible give the best flavour, and it's the same for bananas and most fruits. That's not to say you should leave every tomato on the vine until it's always deep red because a semi-ripe tomato can still taste good. Plus, it depends on the variety, and we need to remember where the whole point of the argument came from: supermarket tomatoes being picked green so they could handle transportation better, only to be artificially ripened with ethane gas. It's not hard for any homegrown tomato to beat that baseline

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Gardening is always hard, is a myth.
You can make it hard on yourself, yes. But mantaining a small garden (like a few pots) really isn't hard or all that time-consuming. Especially as some plants need very little care.
The teensiest bit of research as to what grows well in your area, and growing those already makes things a million times easier. Like, I wouldn't try growing a pineapple in the arctic (without a greenhouse)

 

[Briztank]

Ive never planted or tried to grow pumpkins but ive grown over 100 I literally have another 20 or more growing right now