I am making this post because after years of frustration, I have finally learned how to do it consistently. Most sources say that Papaver Somniferum needs to be cold stratified and have light to germinate and this is basically false. Forget about the cold part, that's completely unnecessary. Get a wet paper towel and squeeze out all the water. Lay it out and put the seeds on top. You can lightly mist the seeds but I don't think you have to. Put the paper towel with seeds on top into a ziploc and seal it. Put the bag on the counter in a bright room in your house. Not in direct sunlight, and keep it at room temp. The seeds will begin to open in 2-3 days.

Then drop those seeds onto the soil in a large pot. Lightly sprinkle some soil over them. Put the pot outside and keep it moist by misting it gently. If it's too hot outside to keep the soil moist, you can put the pot in a shady spot. They will sprout in another 2 days. Then move into the sun.

Poppies thrive on neglect. Don't overwater them, don't fertilize, and make sure that the soil drains very well. You don't want fertile soil for this. They would grow like dandelions out of a crack in the sidewalk and be happy. Just when they first begin to make buds, give them Calmag or something similar. I use lime and bonemeal.

The poppies are the most potent 10-14 days after the petals drop off. Look for a brown line to appear just under the round part of the pod. Look at the photo I posted. Do you see that brown line under the pod? That's NOT the one you're looking for. This brown line will appear ABOVE that line, right where the round pod tapers to it's 'neck'.

For years I tried leaving them out all winter, or putting them in the fridge, and nothing worked nearly as well as this method. Now that you're growing them on your schedule you can grow them in 3 seasons. The seeds are easy to purchase online. Look for one called Lauren's Grape. It's beautiful. In the US it's legal to grow them, but illegal to harvest opium from them- so don't do that.

If hybrids produce seeds that aren’t ‘true-to-type’, then how do they keep making the same ones every year?

Just admiring the sprinklers in the morning light

Hopefully you all will be able to help me with some questions I have about growing bamboo.

I just had a fence installed, and unfortunately the ground is not flat, so there are some gaps at the bottom of the fence. I was thinking I could build some raised garden beds along the base of my fence to block the gaps, and pretty up what otherwise is a very crappy yard (no grass, mostly trees).

Since bamboo is pretty invasive, I know it’s not something I would want to just plant anywhere. I was wondering if it would make any difference if I planted the bamboo in raised garden beds? Would that make it easier to control? If not, is there some other low-maintenance plant I could use that would look good along a fence?

I love my Gaucho OTs (Oriental-Trumpet hybrid) - they smell lovely and look a lot like my star gazers, only bigger! This is the 2nd summer - I planted 6 bulbs in spring of 2023 and have several more that sprouted from those bulbs 🥰

Us: Leaves a spot empty because we ran out of plants/seeds.

Strawberry plant in the next bed:

Most of my tomato plants are doing really well. But the one in the cage highlighted in red started failing a few weeks ago. I fertilized with some Miracle grow I had lying around and it didn't improve. Then I got some Tomato Tone. That did nothing. The plant kept getting worse and worse and now it's just a husk. I'm afraid blue is following next and I'm concerned about purple. Here's another angle for some more context. .

Any thoughts?

Hello,

I recently had a coworker mention, " You can't just smash Japanese beetles because it will only attract more through a pheromone they release when dying."

Is this actually a thing or is he misremembering some old gossip's tale?

Thanks, DrHugsyMcFur

Neat time lapse video of a bunch of different plants (and fungi) growing from seed to flowering/fruiting.

Hiya, have got these very simple bamboo plants in my bathrooms as they really like it there. However this one is now well over 2 years old and clearly has grown a lot. How can I safely trim the plant and is it possible to keep the leftover part in a glass of water to make it grow roots? I don't have much experience with these types of plants. Any suggestions are appreciated! 🙌

My butternut squash plants, although are growing very well, seem to have this white patterning along the veins of their leaves.

It looks a bit like powdery mildew, however all of the pictures I’ve seen of that online seem to be more spotty and less distributed like this. This patterning is seen across ALL of my squash plants and I’m not sure if I need to do something or just let it grow!

One of my tomato plants is doing excellent due to the warm weather recently (was planted 2 Weeks earlier).

Also some pics of beans in blossom. They don't seem to be that happy though, any ideas why?

And more tomatos:

Bought a couple star gazer lilys from Lowe’s about 5 years ago and they’ve been multiplying every year. This winter I’ll need to dig out some bulbs cause it’s getting thick and over crowded in that pot.

Love this plant. It blooming has become the highlight of my summers

What the heck? Is this normal?

Birds like picking their seeds that they throw into it back out, and I think the neighbors cats gotten into it a couple times. Working on some critter guards, but I’ve been spending my time modifying under the deck for a larger dog run for when I get a new dog. The sheds new, still in progress, need probably 8 more yards of rock underneath as well.

Slowly but surely, this week is a rest week though.

We planted a variety of plants, at different stages of growth. After a bit of experimentation, cosmos grow extremely well. These were cuttings we put in just a couple weeks ago, and they're already bigger than most of the other plants that have been in there for over a month.

The very young plants did not survive, but the larger ones did. If they're too small, they just get swallowed down into the cups by the bobbing of the water.

Seems like the plants need to be large enough to reach all the way to the bottom of the pots, and still stick out enough.

Going to be interesting to see what it looks like at the end of the season.